This is happening right now

Dans x

Today in a nutshell

Last night was full of m&s pizza, spicy chips, wine and chat. I kind of started the wine early by myself while I blogged and watched Nine Months with Hugh Grant, I had never actually seen before and it's cringey but it made me laugh. 

This is today in a nutshell as I have a half hour run, a shower and get ready and a half hour trip to my friend's house where I have to be by 6pm. Doable? Not sure.

Today started with dropping my lovely friends off at the airport. I was so scared of the motorway not so long ago but I'm getting used to it and I kind of like it now. 

I went straight to do the food shop and DC called me to update me on the stag do shenanigans - he's away for the weekend and I dread to think what they are getting up to. 

I spotted this lovely blouse in Sainsburys from Gok Wan's collection, I would have bought it but it was £25 so if it's still on my mind by the time next week's food shop comes around then I might get it. Then I ran away quick with my shopping trolley because a Sainsburys lady told me off for taking a photo. Apparently you're not allowed unless you are staff??? Cue blush and run away. 

I did a bit of jeans shopping although I hate buying them because I hate the shape of my legs. I loved these Leigh jeans from Topshop but have wanted a grey pair for a while so I bought some from Miss Selfridge and I love them.

I popped to m&s to grab a few bits for my fortnightly food parcel for both my grandparents and great uncle.  

Then I treated myself to a Starbucks skinny caramel coffee frapp and as always found it extremely difficult to say no when the barista (sp?) double checked that I didn't want their delicious whipped cream. 

I headed off to visit my grandparents / great uncle and now here I am trying to gear myself up for a run, knowing that if I go then I will not only complete my running goal for the week but also feel much better when demolishing the wine and goodies with my friends later. 

Happy weekend! 

Dans x

I have to tell you about the most amazing run ever

Do you remember how I thought Tuesday's run was the best run ever? I was pretty wrong about that. I got home from the hospital tonight just after 7 and knew I didn't really have time to run but I also knew that I had made a promise to myself to run 4x25 mins this week, with today and tomorrow having to include a run. I already had it in my mind that today wouldn't be a fast run because Tuesday's was so great, plus my shin had started niggling again. 

So I got out there and beat Tuesday's best run ever with the actual best best run ever ever. 

Week 2 - 25 minutes 

1/4 Tuesday: 3.79km, 6:36min/km av pace

2/4 Wednesday: 3.95km, 6:20min/km av pace

3/4 Thursday: 4.08km, 6:08min/km av pace

I really smashed it today! I don't know whether it was a thought of 'life's too short' coming from the hospital today, but I completely went for it and exceeded myself more than I thought I could. 

One thing I think really helped me was my boss. He's a triathlete. He asked me how my running was going and I explained that I wasn't racing the Leicester Half Marathon in October any more because I hurt my knee and shin on my 10k race and it kind of put me off. So he got up out of his big MD's chair and proceeded to demonstrate how he thinks I am running (foot out first instead of knee) and how maybe I can change to improve (run from the bum and use the knees more to avoid heel strike). 

I have to admit I wasn't really listening to my boss. 

1) I didn't really want to talk about bums with my MD

2) he is, his words not mine, a bad runner

3) all I could think about was the gazillion things on my to-do list to complete before 5pm

But then I thought back to the lorry driver on my run the other day who assumed he was qualified in running enough to tell me to lift my knees up. So I thought I had nothing to lose by doing it. IT WORKED. I ran amazingly. It improved my pace and distance. I may make more of an effort to listen to strangers (and my boss) in future. 

And I'm so happy with my run that I'm even willing to show you a post run sweat-fest photo 

I had to hurry up and take this photo as the sweat was literally running and stinging my poor eyes. I don't think I will ever learn to take my face off before running, because for the 5 mins it takes to cleanse, tone and moisturise I am certain I will lose the motivation to run. 

Dans x

That's what friends are for

My bestest most dearest friend was nee-nar'd into hospital last night so I drove straight from my sister's house at 8.30pm to meet here there. Needless to say she wasn't very happy at the thought of being there and staying overnight! Her health problems started with back pain last year and gradually it got worse with several different symptoms and 21 yes TWENTY ONE trips to the GP still without a diagnosis. 

I got home around 11pm last night and took a half day from work today and got back here at 2pm. Obviously the fact that she is my dearest friend plus the dire state of the UK's hospital's dinner menu, part of my job was to stack up on some yummy supplies for her. 

We've finally been told that she can go home so we've been moved to the discharge unit (17:08 although I'm writing this offline to post when I can find wifi later) where we might be waiting another couple of hours for her drugs and then we can finally go home. 

Hospitals always make me feel uneasy. I just have to help people because I know professionals are busy and overworked but the just aren't enough of them. I don't like hearing elderly people shout out for some help or not be able to open their sandwiches. I just left the hospital at the same time as an elderly man, walked all the way from the main entrance to grab my car which was out of the hospital grounds and parked in a residential area, drove it up a dual carriageway and back down into the hospital to park, and paid for parking in the same time as it took the man to only manage to walk around the corner. It breaks my heart. 

I think my hatred of hospitals (well who likes them anyway??) comes from visiting here so many times as a kid and growing up. Not only does my mum work for the 3 Leicestershire hospitals but she was also in and out of here for long periods of time through Christmasses and birthdays with her own health. 

I'm just over hearing an old man tell someone else that he has been waiting I'm this discharge room since 10:00. It's now 17:36. Is there nothing that we can do to improve this???? J and I are talking about setting up our own ambulance drop off home service. There would be no 7 hour waits to go home, and we will also offer you cake. OK get me to Dragon's Den!

DC's brother and his girlfriend are coming round late tonight to stay over and I'm taking them to the airport tomorrow for their summer holiday. How exciting! It feels like our holiday was such a long time ago! I've bought some yum looking m&s pizzas and chips to have a bit of a comfort food splurge tonight, and they have promised to supply the wine even though my wine rack is looking extremely healthy indeed since my birthday! 

Dans x

How to get going again

So even thought I've officially quit weightwatchers, I still think the plan is an excellent way to lose weight, and it works. And if my weight ever gets out of hand or if I ever have children, the first thing I will do to get back track is rejoin. But I just don't want weightwatchers ruling my life at the moment; with so many other things on my mind the last thing I want to do is check in my weight every week. And anyway I am feeling much better taking a different approach to a healthier lifestyle (minus the crunchie).

I'm not giving up my Thursday night bake off, where me, my sis, her boyfriend, and two of my closest friends get together after weigh in to catch up and ether cook something healthy and new (three out of four weeks) or order a takeaway (monthly treat).

Tonight is takeaway night and I've come to my sister's house to learn that she put on 4lbs this week, and over the last three weeks her boyfriend has gained 9lbs. This obviously calls for action. There has been a holiday, her birthday, his birthday, my birthday and much more celebrating this month so to be fair to them they have had a well deserved month off and now it's back to it. 

My sis got up to a 5 STONE weight loss... How amazing is that!!! And is now back down to a 4st4lb loss. She knows she needs to get back into the plan. So how do we do that?

Where are my Knees have a great post today here on how to get back on track after plateauing. There's some inspiring ideas to take you back to the start of the plan and start losing again. 

Dans x

The best run and a pause in eating well

Isn't it funny how the best runs are always the ones you don't look forward to? I was so uninspired yesterday afternoon that my mentality had shifted and the last thing I wanted to do was run. As soon as I stepped through the door at home, this conversation happened:

Me: "I really don't want to run. How was your day?"

DC: "good thanks I-"

Me: "actually can you hold that thought because I need to run and if I sit down it just won't happen"

So off I went on run 2/4 before I had a chance to change my mind. And I actually did the best run ever. Not as good or fast as I was pre-running break, but it made me feel good all the same. 

Week 2 - 25 minutes 

1/4 Tuesday: 3.79km, 6:36min/km av pace

2/4 Wednesday: 3.95km, 6:20min/km av pace

There's some improvement right there! I have a day off running today but I'll see how the rest of the week goes. Needless to say I came in from the run feeling great and glad that I went. It's always the way. 

DC made sausage pasta and we chilled for the rest of the night watching Boardwalk Empire #3 which has just arrived from Lovefilm. We are addicted. 

BTW I just took a temporary pause from my healthy eating plan for 4 hours. I was too busy at work to eat breakfast so I made up for it with a crunchie. It was actually amazing. 

Dans x

If I said I didn't like pretty things I'd be lying

I would love to still be in birthday mode but it's so busy and hot at work and my party seems like a gazillion years ago. I am on a health kick which means no sugar to get me through the day, although I just popped out on lunch to get some washing detergent and softener and was mega distracted by the sweet aisle. I had a quick glimpse and then remembered how rubbish I would feel on my run later if I stuffed myself full of chocolate now. 

I am planning to get my 2/4 run completed today, I have absolutely no reason not to go so I'm going to get out there tonight and give myself tomorrow off before running 3/4 on Friday and 4/4 Saturday morning, which will complete my goal this week. These small goals are definitely helping me because 

1) they feel small enough for me to know I can complete them and 

2) it keeps things fresh and exciting

So as I'm tired and hot and a little bit bored today, I thought I'd share with you some of the gorgeous gifts I received from my amazing friends and family this year. Btw this is mainly to remind myself that there is still some joy in life when turning 25, and that 25 isn't as boring as the life I have seemed to lead since Monday. 

My sis had a plastic replica of a library lamp that I absolutely fell in love with. When she was about to give it to me, it broke, so as an amazing surprise she bought me this brass one for my birthday, which goes perfectly on my dressing table. 

Ok so it's a fact universally acknowledged that I have inherited wonderfully chubby fingers from my dear Father. Even when I lose weight, the fingers don't budge. I think I'm still having a hard time accepting this although not as much as when I was in school when I used to hide them under my uniform jumper. Anyway, my bestie most amazing friend ever bought me this gorgeous Pandora ring that features my birthstone Peridot. It's SO PRETTY.

I love my new Cath Kidston iPad case from DC's sister. I think it could double up as a hand mitt when it gets too cold. It just looks so comfy. Check out the mess on the floor from where I got all iPad-excited and threw my rubbish. 

Yes is really happened. And no I didn't share it. Well actually I gave DC a bite but he took off much more than I was happy with so I told him his time was up and he had to go get his own salted caramel cheesecake chocolate slab. This was the first thing that was demolished on bank holiday Monday. 

I got a lot of vouchers too which I'm wondering whether to save or splurge, but that's for another post ;)

Dans x

A new goal and some amazing news

My new goal for this week is 4x 25min runs, and I need to get them in before Saturday evening. I didn't run on my birthday, and I completely bypassed Monday, so I thought I'd better get on with it today and  got my first run out of the way. I felt good breaking through the 20 min barrier, but running is still tough for me and I'm going much slower. 

I only took a month off and I can't believe I used to run over 25km a week! I'm hoping to keep building it up again week by week, and then I can work on my pace. I might even switch to miles and try to start racking up one long run a week. 

DC told me to leave dinner up to him today. I got home and fancied putting the potatoes in the oven for an hour to get them really crispy. Usually we cheat and microwave them before putting them in the oven for 10 mins. DC then realised that he had bought everything for a jacket potato meal... Except the potatoes. Men! Must be the return to school. But I can't feel too bad for him on his first day back when he has had six weeks off!

So tonight we got the amazing news that DC's cousin and her partner are expecting their first baby. HOW AMAZING! It will be the first baby of our generation so that's super exciting. I couldn't be happier for them. Eeeeee!!!

Dans x

Some things are worth quitting and my birthday photo album

So everyone knows that the only way to get rid of leftover BBQ food is to have sausage cobs for breakfast the morning after, and another BBQ for dinner. These were the only two productive things that DC and I did yesterday, apart from cleaning the house. The other 18 hours were spent recovering from our amazing weekend, with some of those used getting frustrated at Minions Rush which I downloaded and we are now addicted to. 

I have seen so much meat this weekend that I think a veggie week is definitely in order. I am also back on the eating well wagon after a gazillion glasses of Pimms and far too much food. I think I forgot to mention that I quit weight watchers a few weeks ago. I'm done with counting points, bored of it. Instead I'm simply trying to eat more of the good stuff. So today is muesli for breakfast, a ham beetroot and coleslaw salad for lunch (I did sneak a packet of Snackajacks in there for lunch though) and jacket potato with salad and cottage cheese for dinner. With as much fruit as I like in between. I'm saving all of the good stuff I got for my birthday until the weekends. 

Anyway, I mentioned that I wasn't good at taking photos throughout my birthday on Sunday, so it's a good job that people around me are much better at it than me! Here's some snaps I've stolen:

I bought a new dress from Topshop (of course) to mark the occasion and I love it. 

Me & my most amazing friend, before the madness started. 

My cooking ladies saved me from spending all day in the kitchen. 

Our friends. 

The cutest nieces ever in the whole universe. 

Another one of us before the madness started. I like how I look as brown as DC here, usually he steals all of the tan thunder.

My most favourite ever photo from my birthday. 

Honestly look at that face. 

I was a bit crazy to clean the dishes at 2:47am but it saved my sanity on Monday when there was less cleaning to do!

Dans x

PS

How could I have forgotten tell you that my last blog post was written on my new iPad...! Wow-wee did  DC spoil me this year. 

I woke up at 7.15am on my birthday, which is mega unusual and early for me especially as we walked 50 minutes home from my sister's BBQ the night before (I am definitely feeling the tiredness now). DC was eager for me to open my present so we got right to it. 

I can't believe he wrapped it himself this year and it looked actually pretty good. I usually do all of the Xmas wrapping because he is just rubbish at it but he obviously learned some paper skills in the last eight months. 

I had absolutely no idea what he had planned to buy me and it was the biggest surprise. 

So the BEST thing about this news is that once I have learned to type properly on this thing (my backspace has had the most use so far) I will have absolutely no reason whatsoever not to blog every single waking moment.

I can even ship my new BFF to work in my handbag and blog on my lunch hour. This has many advantages. Think of all of the money I am going to save by not walking to Topshop every day. Bad for my wardrobe, good for my bank balance. 

So I'm super excited about this. Right now I'm sat in the garden in the sunshine, not with a huge heavy hot (get that alliteration) laptop, but blogging away with my new favourite toy. Bliss. 

Dans x

A goal well met and a life changing event

So I met my goals and did 4 20 minute runs this week. Go me! I even ran in the rain on Saturday morning. AND enjoyed it. So maybe I'm getting my mojo back.

So yesterday a life changing event happened. I turned a quarter of a century old. I wonder if this means I have to start being more mature and responsible now. 

We had planned our birthday BBQ quite a while ago but didn't actually add up how many people we had invited until Saturday, and we got to 45, which was not going to be a problem if the sun was out as our garden is a good size, but we definitely weren't fitting them all in our house if it had rained.

I didn't really need to worry anyway, as the sun came out especially for me and it was a beautiful afternoon. DC was completely stressing but I think once everything was in full swing he was happy. We were so busy that we didn't really get a look in on the food. We covered the meat and asked everyone to bring the nibbles. We ended up with a LOT of nibbles. DC was busy manning the BBQ and I was too busy checking my grandparents had enough tea. 

Me: "here you go nana, a lovely burger for you"

Nana: "oh no I don't want that, what sandwiches have you made?"

Me: "none nana, this is a BBQ, we haven't made sandwiches"

Nana: "I'm sure you've got some bread in your cupboard, a cheese sandwich would be lovely"

Grandad: "whilst you're at in Danielle put the kettle on"

So many of our neighbours came which was lovely, and it gave us all a proper opportunity to get to know each other. I do have to admit though that I had to open their birthday cards straight away so that I could find out what their names were to introduce them to everyone. 

It was actually the best birthday ever. I don't think I got around to having a proper natter with everyone but I am so blessed to have such great families and friends. They're the best things about birthdays, getting everyone together in one place. 

I do need to learn to take more photos at these kind of things though!

Dans x

The countdown has begun

It's now only 4 days until my birthday so I think I'm allowed to get excited now! I'm having a BBQ on Sunday on my birthday for our families and a few of our friends - it's always a bad idea planning a gathering on the Bank Holiday weekend as so many people go away, so I never usually do something like this but I thought this year, why not! We are tying it in with a housewarming party as we've never actually had one of those and we've been here for over a year now.

I did the main invitation through the good old Facebook, but here was the invitation I drew up for the wise people who don't use that social networking site. I was quite proud of it seems as it was a 5 minute job on Word.

I've invited the street as I thought that'd be a nice touch, I'm not sure if any of them will turn up but it's always a good opportunity to get to know more about your neighbours! My grandparents are also coming along which will be really lovely because my Grandpa is getting so old now and is in really poor health, so it'll be nice to get them out of the house for a couple of hours.

I'm trying to come up with a few ideas to decorate the garden for cheap but I'm a bit stuck as we don't have many places to hang things, so I'm going to have a look around town this week to see what I can see. I've also got hold of some good recipes for party food so I shall try my hand at that on the weekend.

The best thing about birthdays is getting everyone together in one place and I really can't wait. I'm not sure I'll be this enthusiastic the morning after when the cleanup begins but I'm looking forward to turning a quarter of a century with all of them.

Dans x

Another 20 minutes and inspired by the GBBO

Come on admit it, the Great British Bake Off is probably the best programme ever to be shown on the tele. Apart from anything that includes Ryan Gosling. I love my nana but if I didn't have her, I would want Mary Berry to be my nana. She is the coolest nana on earth.

I completed another 20 minute run yesterday and it felt great. I only covered 3.06km and I usually would have hit 3km in 18 minutes but I know I need to build up my pace again, and I haven't especially been pushing myself. My goal this week was to do 4x 20 minute runs and so I'm half way there already. I've been setting my alarm for 6am each morning to gear myself up for a morning run and I'm going to try and tackle that tomorrow. My running idol Janae over at Hungry Runner Girl loves to run in the morning and she's inspired me to get out there and do it. Tomorrow will be my day!

I didn't run today after work because I knew I'd be busy baking up these amazing delights.

Chocolate brownies

My colleague at work brought these brownies in for her birthday yesterday and they were so delicious that I had no choice but to steal the recipe from her, which is out of a Hummingbird Bakery recipe. She said they were really easy to make and she wasn't lying.

 

The hardest part was melting the butter and chocolate over a pan of water because I always forget to pick up a big heatproof bowl so I have to make do with a small measuring bowl. I actually gave up near the end and microwaved it, which I guess is cheating but I was at risk of 1) spilling over the pan of water 2) burning my hand and 3) setting fire to the tea towel covering my burning hand.

 

Then easily peasily the melted chocolate was mixed in with caster sugar, flour and 3 eggs, and poured into my new baking tin - who else loves a good baking purchase? (I spent zillions today whoops)

 

Into the oven for 40 minutes, and it's just come out of the oven and looks nice and flaky on the outside, hopefully it's gooey on the inside but I'm waiting for it to cool before I do anything to it, because I don't want to ruin it and end up having to eat it all....

 

These brownies are to take into work for my birthday at the weekend. A couple of my bosses are in tomorrow so it's an extra excuse to celebrate early :)

 

Lime pie

 

My second bake off, a lime pie is for my friend's birthday tomorrow, and the recipe was from my lovely friend C who served this up on one of her Thursday night bake off nights for us, and it was DELICIOUS. I couldn't believe how small the ingredients list is and how easy it was to make. If your kind of puddings are the ones that are full of ingredients that are bad bad BAD for you, then this pie is definitely for you ;)

 

DC did a good job of helping me out by bashing some ginger nut biscuits and mixing it in with some melted butter, before setting down my base, which went into the freezer for 30 minutes.

 

I took on Mary Berry's tip of microwaving my lemons and lime for 30 seconds each to help them juice better. Before this I zested all 4 and kept both the zest and juice to one side.

 

The mixture was just 200ml of double cream with a tin of condensed milk (I warned you that this pie will fatten you up), mixed with the zest and juice.

 

It thickened up a lot when stirred, and then it was poured over my base to make this yummy looking pud. Although I maybe grated my fruit a bit too thickly so I'm not sure how it'll turn out! It isn't baked, just goes into the fridge overnight and hopefully tomorrow morning it'll be perfect to take over to my friend's house tomorrow evening.

 

Just call me Mary!

 

Dans x

The latest addition to our house

No unfortunately it's not a dog as that's on DC's forbidden list. I told him that an English Bulldog really won't take much walking and looking after but it's a big fat no.

But I did get this beautiful Tiffany lamp.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I can never get a good photo past 5pm as our lights are really dim. My mum's closest friend sadly passed away a couple of months ago and I always admired this lamp on her fireplace. I think it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and I feel blessed to now have it as an addition to my home.

Our lounge is quite modern so it doesn't completely fit in although I refuse to have it put upstairs where only DC & I will see it. DC actually blew the bulb the first time he tried to turn it on (men) so I haven't had it on yet but I'm sending him out to get some replacements tomorrow so it can light up my lounge with all of it's beautiful colours.

Dans x

Dinner for 5, persuasion and guess what opened in town

 

This is what we devoured yesterday at DC's auntie's house. Don't tell our mums but I've decided she makes the best Sunday roasts I've ever had in my life. It was amazing, especially the leek and cauliflower gratin. And I'm going to steal the caramelised apples recipe for my bake off on Thursday, as it was yum and so easy to do.

 

I was given this mirror by my Great Uncle and it was hanging in mine and my sister's house for 3 years until it fell down the other week (luckily didn't smash) so it was the perfect excuse to finally get it over to my house. I'm currently trying to persuade DC to put it up in our bedroom surrounded by a bit of a photo wall but he doesn't like the mirror at all. I think I might win this one though. I love it.

I was waiting in our shopping centre last Wednesday for my friend to finish work for our dinner date and spotted that only the best ever chocolate shop has just opened in the bottom mall where my other favourite shop Azendi closed down a while ago. I LOVE THIS SHOP. My friend & I popped in on our lunch break last Friday to buy our friend a slab for her birthday, we were given a taster of their salted caramel spread and it was AMAZING. It was so hard resisting temptation and not buying anything for myself. So if you ever come across this shop next week, feel free to pick something up for my birthday ;)

Dans x

Horse Day

DC and I have a running joke that every Sunday is horsey day around our village as there always seems to be too many piles of horse poo left around, and 3 or 4 horses always blocking the road.

Anyway, on a completely different note, last week I went to Leicester Races for a hen do (not mine, obviously, DC doesn't look as though he's going to propose for at least a zillion years) and it was such a fun day. It ended with a Peter Andre performance (let's all do the Mysterious Girl sway), which I only stayed for a couple of songs for because I don't know what people see in him, he had an hour set, and it was obvious that Mysterious Girl wasn't coming on until he had gone through his two albums first.

DC is best man for the soon-to-be-married groom and he's getting really nervous now about his speech as the wedding is coming up on 21 September. But he did a bit of work on it last weekend and read out what he had done so far and I was really impressed. Then we watched a couple of 'best best man speech ever' videos on YouTube, followed by Tom from McFly's groom speech which I hadn't seen before and I have to admit it was pretty fab... anyway.

So I was stuck for a dress for it and had my eye on one in Topshop but wasn't sure as I thought as it was cream it'd get filthy really quickly. But then I saw one of the Downton Abbey actresses wearing it and she kind of stole the limelight as it looks fab on her and she's completely gorgeous. But I ordered it anyway and I was so pleased that I did because I completely fell in love with it.

And I managed to keep it clean for the whole day, even if that meant sitting on my legs on the grass and not being able to feel my feet for the next twenty minutes.

So three of us grouped together out of the hens and cheated a bit by covering all of the horses on each race, ensuring that we won every time, with our money rolling over to cover the next race. We put £4 on each and came away with £6 each so that's a £2 win... and a win's a win!

Dans x

Lacing up the trainers

Well I finally did it! Only a 20 minute run but at least I did it. I would say it was an easy run but that would be lying, it was way hard. But it also really hot. 

It took some tough love from DC. I've been feeling a bit emotional lately and was feeling sorry for myself, and he told me to stop wallowing and do something that I know would make me feel better such as go running. He told me that I was undoing all the hard work and effort I put into getting my fitness up to a great level, and I know he was right but I didn't want to hear it (and I hate it when he's right).

I went without music, down the trail and there were lots of families picking berries from the bushes, maybe I need to get down and do that!

Even though it was tough, DC was right (dammit) because I felt great afterwards. 

So my goal for this week is to complete 3 more 20 min runs before the end of Saturday. I'm determined to do it, e cause I know I can do it. 

However I may need some luck so if you could wish me that, that'd be great!

Dans x

Happy birthday and a lack of exercise

OK unfortunately I just hit some stupid button my laptop and managed to delete my whole post. Which is mega annoying and reminds me of writing novels at 14 and losing a whole chapter and sometimes shedding a tear.

Where did I start?

I think I'm falling out of love with running. I just don't feel like doing it any more. I really need to get my kit on and just get outside in the lovely weather but I just can't be bothered. I thought I would run more once my race was over as I knew I'd be racing for run and not for competition, but obviously it's not gone that way. I went swimming on Monday with my sis, we used to go every week when we lived together and I loved it so I'm glad we've agreed to start going again. Then I ran 25 minutes on Tuesday but this has been followed with 4 days of no exercise. I need to force myself out tomorrow and get it done, and I know I'll fall in love with that feeling at the finish.

My sis is 26 today. Happy birthday sis!! To celebrate, here's a cute pic of us when we were kids, when our parents used to dress up in the same clothes, perhaps to try and make us have more in common - we loved each other to bits (and still do) but we were soooo completely different growing up and through our teens. Love you lots sis.

I have a rule that because my sis and I almost share birthdays (2 weeks and 1 day apart), I don't overshadow her birthday by getting excited about mine until hers is over. So tomorrow it'll only be a fortnight away and I can start getting excited! DC and I are having a birthday / housewarming (only 1 year late) BBQ just a small one for family and a few friends, so that'll be fun although I've told DC not to get too stressy on the morning of my birthday, getting ready for it - perhaps he'll only hoover the house 3 times then instead of 10million.

My parents are asking me what I'd like for my birthday, and I don't have a clue. Clothes are always a great idea but I've been buying myself lots of those recently. DC and I went into Boots today to look at glasses for him and I ended up trying some on and falling in love with a Raybans pair. I always find it hard to find a pair of glasses that suit me (a bit like jeans really) but I love these ones. I don't wear my current glasses as they're about 6 years old now and 1) I can't see through them very clearly through scratches and an old prescription and 2) DC made the mistake a couple of years ago of telling me that they 'just aren't trendy anymore'. Not that he's the trendsetter he obviously thinks he is, by the way.

So glasses might be a good idea, but I can't believe how expensive they are! the frames / lenses are £199, plus an extra £60 for near-blind people like me to get the lenses thinned enough to actually fit into the frames. Plus I expect I'll have to have an eye test at Boots and I have no idea how much that is any more.

We are off to my sister's birthday meal tonight, a glass of wine will go down very nicely!

Dans x

The only way you can wear a dress every day...

Is to go on holiday! Here's my holiday summer style:

2012 Miss Selfridge playsuit

2013 Topshop dress

2013 River Island tunic / Primark denim

2012 Zara dress

2013 H&M playsuit

2010 Topshop playsuit

2013 New Look top / Topshop shorts & sunnies, New Look headband, Tesco beach bag

2011 Miss Selfridge playsuit

 

Dans x