a little planning ......

February has certainly felt a little like a hibernation month for me. With a cold blast freezing most of the country for the first 10 days it only now 3 weeks in does it feel like there are signs of spring and that winter is very slowly falling back to sleep. This has given me lots of time in between working and walking to think about what I would like from 2017 and also some small things that I can give back.

I have definitely found that I do like to have one lovely thing to look forward to each month and that kind of makes up for the weekend working and juggling of calendars with friends and loved ones to see everyone and fit things in. I now have planners for planners and also a lovely countdown app which helps me countdown that days to the lovely things booked, which currently include trips to the rugby, opera, holiday and concerts.

2016 was a huge year of change for me with a new job, weight loss and lifestyle and  I hope to continue with those during 2017, although not planning any big changes, I'm still on a path of discovering and lots of new things in my life.  One of the things that I am continuing is my fitness, it has been an instrumental part of the weight loss (especially the last 3 stone) and I know that to maintain the loss that I need to keep active. I have finally invested in a Fit Bit and have spent an hour last night setting it up and I am already having little competions with myself J

I am hoping that it will also aid my last stone of weight loss that I have set myself along with track my training and activity for some challenges that I have set myself for this year.

As some of you know actively took part on the 10,000 steps a day challenge in September for Cancer Research and will be taking up the challenge again for March. Here are some of my memories from last year. I am looking forward to this again and I hope that I have as much fun with it as last time.

I have also signed up to a 10k walk and a 10k run (although I am having serious doubts about my capability to run 10k – still struggling to run 10 minutes) and then later in the year I’m  planning a big walk with a friend of mine. Here's to a fitter February and 2017. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Good Bye January..... Hello February!

So January passed in a whirl of winter weather, tube strikes and little downtime, but what I did manage to grab I spent catching up with friends and loved ones. January also gave me a little time to update the blog with festive activities and also my Slimming world journey in 2016. I have received some lovely comments and messages from blogging and social media friends – thank you for all you encouraging words. I am now on my final stone, which will probably be my hardest to loose and have spent time with my new food planner and slimming world magazine looking for inspiration and motivation.

It was definitely a month of catching up with friends that I haven’t seen for a while, my lovely friend Penny popped up from Cornwall to spend some time with family and we caught up for a long chat over lunch and then coffee with our friend Chris, we had lots to talk about and I hope that one day she will move back nearer. Another friend that came up to London was my lovely friend Caroline, we caught up for drinks when she made her annual post-Christmas trip to the city with her Mum from Devon for a few days. As always it felt like yesterday since I had seen her and it was great catching up over a glass or two, for a friendship that was born out of blog-land I have definitely made a friend for life.

January also saw me say goodbye to a very special friend who passed away quite suddenly. I met her on my first day at work at the tender age of 16 and she took me into her heart and her home and made me feel like one of her own, I have grown up with her boys and although we didn’t see each other lots, I knew that she would be always be by my side if I needed her. I will miss her dreadfully and cherish the time that we shared.

With changing weather conditions (-4’ some mornings) to mornings with beautiful sunrises, January also saw me dust off my trainers and get back to a little running in the park, I was surprised how well I did and will actively step-up the couch to 5k in February. The Zumba classes are definitely paying off with fitness. J

January was definitely a bit of a hibernation month, but I did venture out for an evening at the Theatre to see the fantastic Beverley Knight in The Bodyguard and look forward to seeing her in concert later this year.

So with January over, what does February have instore…….As with every month it’s time for a little blog make-over and also time for some goals and plans for the month:

 With friends celebrating birthdays, it will give me a great opportunity to catch-up post-christmas and just generally have some time chatting and chilling. Also have a special little ladies 14^th birthday in the diary which I am sure will involve cake!

The lighter mornings hopefully will kick start my butt into a little more running and walking, this hopefully will help me to hit my 5 ½ stone target award.

I have a date night with M planned to the theatre to see Dreamgirls which I hope he will enjoy, along with some movie nights and lazy Sundays and rugby fuelled Saturdays (love the 6 nations tournament)

Curry night with the Curry club ladies and a Dinner Date for Valentine’s day are on the agenda along with friends for Sunday Lunch. It’s definitely shaping up to be a friends filled February.

I hope everyone’s February plans are equally as lovely and look forward to reading all about them …….💖