rpoulter

Woo – I was doing really badly at this goal and then I find – I am actually on trend (ok not really I apparently wear the wrong kind of flats since I live in ballet shoes but hey ho)

Need Proof: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/fashion/385263/why-flats-are-officially-back.html

Advantages of flat shoes:
My feet hurt less
I can walk fast, run for the train
Less damage to my ankles knees and spine

Disadvantages:
They don’t make your legs look as good
I am short enough already without rejecting some extra height

So sorry high heels – I am committed to flats, don’t worry though it isn’t exclusive I still love you, I am just saving you for special days (or more likely nights).

I am slashing my goals list, out go the two lose weight goals and in comes this. Focusing on my fitness and making healthy choices is more positive than focussing on how much I weigh.

I want to be able to run and run, have a healthy BMI and keep my GP happy. I choose life, fun and energy.

I used to do a lot of volunteering as a student. It was brilliant; nothing has ever done so much for my skills, employability and social life. When I graduated everything stopped but I think I am ready to get back out there now. I want to find an opportunity which makes me feel part of my community and helps me get to know new people. I am looking for a project and hope to be volunteering my time regularly very soon.

Still no further. Driving around here is terrifying. No one seems to have any patience and whoever designed the road layout here wasn’t particularly clever. Add that to the fact I live ridiculously close to good public transport I have never really felt the need to have a car or drive. I cant carry on like this, so to remind myself why I need to learn:

I might NEED to one day – Armageddon (don’t know why I think driving would help), an urgent trip to a hospital, it could be essential for a dream job.

Freedom – I can be at the mercy of of public transport or my friends at the moment.

Visiting family – My parents moved to deepest darkest Wales (the road signs have English as an after thought) it takes three trains to get a half an hour drive away from their house, the journey takes four hours. I could do it in three if I drove.

I cant enter “win a really fancy car” competitions (there is no point)

More leisure options – picnics in the countryside, trips to rural castles, the zoo, go ape, out of town shopping centres.

It apparently gets harder to learn the older you are.

Isn’t using a provisional license as ID a bit embarrassing when you are over twenty three? (although I get asked fro ID less frequently now)

The songs little red corvette by Prince – “Move over baby, Gimme the keys, I’m gonna try to tame your little red love machine” Oh and Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin “Oh lord, wont you buy me a Mercedes Benz, My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends” – (Sorry I couldn’t help it)

I am trying to consolidate my many goals and realised this summed up what I was trying to achieve through a fair proportion of them. I live in a terrace house in a small corner of a big city. My husband, the cat and I share two bedrooms, one bathroom a living room, a dining room, kitchen, hallway, cupboard under the stairs and a ‘manageable’ (i.e. small) garden. We like our neighbours.

Having recently been married I am now feeling the urge to nest. I would like my house to not just be the place I sleep in but I want it to be the centre from which my other experiences extend. I want it to be the place I feel most comfortable, I want it to be healthy and to work for us. I want it to be a place of love, energy, laughter, friendship, family and warmth.

Things on the to do list include:
- keeping it clean, tidy and uncluttered.
- working on projects to make the space more personal – ie. hanging pictures, I have started making a quilt, introducing more colour.
- Replacing worn out bits and pieces, we recently had a new roof and front door to help keep us warm and dry. We could do with replacing some carpets and sorting out the streaky paint in the living room.
- finding some more cushions for the sofa and having the sofa cover cleaned.
There are others – but those would probably have the biggest impact.

Today I’m taking my inspiration from the the very end of the film Bugsy Malone, “You give a little love and all comes back to you, Da da da da da da da”

In a minute I am going to put the computer down and make some cupcakes – show my kitchen some love.

I did a proper race, ran the whole way round and beat my estimate by 3 mins. I came in at one hour and seven minutes but think I could beat it. Bring it on again.

I did the Nike 10K last Sunday and was really pleased with myself as I come in at 59 minutes. I have signed up for a Cancer Research UK 10K charity run this Sunday so I am going to try and do it again. I am aiming for 1hr10 to allow for the hilly course and the other runners. It will be my first 10K run where other people are running the same route for the same distance as me (I normally run alone). I’m really excited

I will be running on my own in Birmingham, and then will compare my time to the rest of the world. I am not expecting a great time but will hopefully finish it. I have been doing the “taking it easy” training version (remarkably similar to the sitting on a sofa version but with a few more runs) for the last few weeks but I will try and step it up over the next 12 days before the race.

If I do OK in the timed 8K challenge this Sunday I will sign up for the charity 10K race that’s happening locally to me on September 7th.

I am getting married in may 2009 which is pretty good motivation in my book. (Every time I reach for chocolate my sparkly finger tells me off and I put it down). I am aiming to lose one and a half pounds a week which will get me to my desired weight in November. I will then have six months to maintain my weight and tone up so I look as good as I can in my frock. I managed 4lbs this week so feel like I am off the starting blocks.

Go me!

I am so excited. I have been engaged for a month now and it is starting to come together. I think I have my venues and a date sorted and I have some ideas which I think will keep it personal to us.

By the end of it all I will probably have mediating skills the UN would be proud of, penny saving tactics Scrooge would approve of and a head full of brilliant memories. I will definitely have the best husband I could ever wish for.

Woo – hoo!

I opened an ISA today – complete with direct debit from my current account to start saving regularly. I am pleased as punch at me.

I am marking this done as I haven’t touched a drop of it since the beginning of lent. 40 and a bit days later I am still going. Whoop!

Iced and everything. There is of course still half of the bloody thing left but it is tasty!

The delay in counting this done is because of a delay in loading up the Christmas pictures. Honest it was completed by December 20th in time for mulled wine and Christmas pizza. Definitely worth doing next year.

Mmm I turned my kitchen into a sweet shop making what felt like a gazillion lbs of plain, rum and raisin and chocolate flavour fudge for everyone. I think it went down well.

I have to confess I bought presents too but I like that I got around to making a little something for everyone. It felt good.

I finished work two weeks ago for the holidays and after the perfect poignancy of Before I Die, I read two no brain cells needed books:

The Bad Mothers Handbook by Kate Long and Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger both were lovely and provided a relaxing antidote to the stress and bustle of Christmas preparations.

Don’t read this in public, it is incredibly sad, hopefull and inspiring I read it in one go, sobbing as I went through it.

It follows a teenager who has terminal leukemia as she puts together lists of things she wants to do before she dies. I never read books twice but I think I will probably read this one over and over again.

Great book to read in the winter when the possibility of magical beings coming out of the fog or over the frost seems possible.

I learnt a couple of things from the Brothers warped imaginations. For example lets say you don’t fall into the nice, well behaved, well mannered category and have just done something horrible like pretended you killed the dragon when you really didn’t or killed your step daghter. If asked to describe a fitting punishment for someone what had hypothetically just committed the crime you have just committed, don’t say “I think being placed in a spiked barrel and rolled into the river is a good punishment!”

I had my provisional license through the door the other day and now I have four lessons booked. I am doing something about this even if to be honest I am petrified.

Woo go me!

The right heel can make me feel so many positive things. They boost my confidence, make me feel smarter, sexier and more grown up. I live in flats though because they don’t hurt my feet as much and I can run for the train. I am aiming for 3 out of five days at work for atleast four weeks before I mark this as complete.

I made it two weeks ago from the recipe in Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Godess book and it has been sitting in my novelty tin since then. Today I peeled back the layers of foil and generously fed it with Marsala . Plan – get everyone who eats it tipsy so they think wow what good cake! My mum makes a cake every year but then forgets to ice it until she remebers about it on New Years eve. I wont mark this as done until it is iced.