The second best thing I did while I was away...

DC's brother and his girlfriend had been planning their birthday house party for ages... with a Hollywood fancy dress theme! It was the best party ever. I had so much fun.

We kind of left it a bit very late to decide what we were going to dress up as, and on holiday we had a few chats trying to figure out what would be a good character to go as. We didn't really get very far, all I knew was that I wanted it to be homemade as they're the best kind of costumes. And cheap as chips.

Three nights before the party I decided what I was going to be...

Wilma Flintstone of course! Although I'm sure she was never seen with a beer in her hand but anyway.

I was really pleased with my outfit and couldn't believe it came together so well. The scariest bit was eyelining my eyebrows - I had finished my whole face of makeup and sat on the chair with the eyeliner close to my face thinking, hmm, this is either going to go REALLY well or REALLY wrong. But I think I did a pretty good job!

My wig was a red bob from a local fancy dress shop that looked more orange than red so it turned out pretty well. I bunned the back of it and tried to recreate the housewife quiff at the front.

My bambam was from the same shop, and my dress was made out of a king size fitted bedsheet from Wilko... thanks sis for taking hours to chop it up and pin it in for me! My necklace was a bit of a gem find... I found lots of polystyrene balls at a local haberdashery and just threaded some string through and voila there was my Wilma necklace!

DC's outfit was amazing too... he decided to go as the Papparazzi!

We made his big camera out of a Shredded Wheat box and one of those secret santa plastic pint glasses that twist down flat and back up again.

Here's the rest of the guys who made such a huge effort.. see if you can guess who they are!

Can you believe this was home made?!

 Dans x

Minute by minute: the first run after a month off

So I've been putting off running for a while, using the excuse that I was 'having a rest'. I knew that I just had to get the first run out of the way, but I also knew how hard it was going to be after a month off, so I've been chickening out. And I've definitely not been getting up to my 5.30am alarm to try and run in the mornings.

So today after work I bit the bullet and went for it. I was aiming for 20 mins, and I managed 25 mins down the trail near to my house. Here's how it went.

Minute 1: Wow, I forgot how good it feels to run
Minute 2: Ok, I forgot how hard it is to get into a good rhythm
Minute 4: Boy, running in the heat is really lame compared to running in the winter
Minute 5: Must remember to buy some running shorts, these leggings are no good in the sun
Minute 6: I wish I had bought some music on my run
Minute 7: Was I struggling this much by minute 7 before?
Minute 9: Almost half way there, but jesus am I going slow!
Minute 10: Maybe it's easier if I remember to breathe
Minute 11 (going across an industrial estate zebra crossing): "Lift your knees up!" said the car letting me cross
Minute 11.20: Who the hell is that trying to tell me how to run?
Minute 11.40: Ok maybe I'm doing a Phoebe run and everyone's watching me thinking how bad my form is
Minute 12: Why do I care how my running form is and what other people think of me? I'm running for fun now, remember
Minute 13: OK maybe I should just lift my knees up a bit and see what happens...
Minute 13:30: Wow, this really makes you go faster!
Minute 14: Forget this, it's far too much hard work, I'll just run how I want to run
Minute 15: I need to thank that man for these last 4 minutes passing so quickly
Minute 16: Here comes the sweat
Minute 18: OK, I can do this, it's not so bad
Minute 19: I'm sure my legs just.won't.move.any.faster
Minute 20: 6 minute 45 average km? Wow I've really lost all of my fitness in the last month and all that hard work has gone down the drain
Minute 21: Maybe I should have drank more water
Minute 22: I am so close to the end now but I just.can't.run.any.more
Minute 23: How the hell did I used to run for an hour?
Minute 24: Ouch, ouch, pain in my chest, but can't stop, can't stop, so close to the end...
Minute 25: THANK GOD FOR THAT

Dans x

The best thing I did while I was away...

DC and I finally had our summer holiday. It was bliss. Perfect. Loved it. We booked it with only 2 weeks to go, so we didn't have much of a wait and it came around really quickly. It was so hot at home that the Met Office told me it would actually be hotter in Leicester than in Tenerife. But of course they were lying because who ever predicts the weather correctly anyway, and it was hot hot hot.

The hotel was lovely. We were situated on quite a big hill but we knew that before we went. Our apartment was also six floors up with no lift so I can safely say we had a good workout every day and the end result of this was a loss of 2.5lb at my return-from-holiday weightwatchers meeting. I know, who loses weight on holiday? Wahoo I do.

I can honestly say that I didn't have a single thing on my mind whilst I was laying there on the beach, by the pool, on the pedalo in the sea... it was bliss. I left our house in the capable hands of my good friend C, and I didn't think about it for the whole time away apart from on our final day when we had 2 missed calls from C because our house alarm reset itself in a thunderstorm and went off the moment C stepped in our house the next day. Note to self for next holiday: always give someone the house alarm code even if it is not set...

We went to Siam Park. It was amazing. It's a huge water park in Tenerife that hosts the most scary water rides you will ever see in your whole entire life.

 

This was the first ride we went on. Yes I was weeing myself. It's a 28m drop that goes down through an aquarium that holds sharks and other scary stuff - not that I would know as I obviously had my eyes closed the whole way down. It only takes 5 seconds to get from top to bottom - can you believe that?

 

We also got a pedalo out for the day and made use of our underwater disposable cameras.

 

 

I'm a bit of a scaredypants so I never thought I'd jump into the sea but I braved it on our last holiday and now you can't stop me, even though those pedalos are completely impossible to get back on and you end up hoisting yourself back on like a beached whale.

 

Our hotel was in Los Cristianos but because I had been to Playas de las Americas quite a few times I knew there were some great restaurants there and it was a bit more busy / commercial than Los Cristianos so we walked to Playas most nights along the beach front. It took about an hour but it was a lovely walk and the time flew by.

 

There was also a night where I got completely drunk but we'll skip that part.

 

Oh and I almost forgot, DC locked himself out on the balcony on the first night. I went to bed at 2am when we got in from our night, he was going outside for a cigarette then to bed. He didn't realise there was no handle on the outside of the balcony door, so once he closed the door that was it there was no getting back in. He said it felt as though he was bashing the door down but he should know that once I'm out, I'm out. Especially after a 4.5hour flight, 34c heat and a couple of mojitos. I woke up an hour later wondering where the hell he was, once I'd finally got my glasses on I did another sweep of the apartment and opened the balcony door to find him laying down on the floor between our beach towels. It's funny now thinking back but I felt so guilty at the time. Especially when he said he was considering jumping the balcony and getting a spare key from reception (we were only about a meter off of the 6th ground floor).

 

My headband saved me from burning my scalp off.

Obvs my new favourite photo of this man.

A teeny bit jealous of his tan.

 

DC found his home.

 

A week really wasn't long enough but for our last minute, cheap as possible summer hol, it was perfect for us and gave us the chance to get away and relax and spend some time together. Please don't make me wait another year until our next one!

 

Dans x



R&R

So I kind of took a month off from blogging. And a month off from running, stressing, worrying and also a week off from working. Well I would like to say that I had my feet up for the whole month. But the truth is I have been sooooo busy out and about but I am happy to say that it has all been FUN.

But now everything is back to normal and I'm back to blogging and I've also set my alarm for 5.30am tomorrow morning to get in my first run in about 3 weeks. Not that I'm 100% confident I will be rolling out of bed at that time, but the intention is there...

Dans

My life in pictures #15

Here's Jack enjoying his morning breath chew (he needs it!) before I popped off to work yesterday morning.

He's much more docile than he used to be now that he's older, he's good as gold on walks and we love looking after him! We have him until Sunday, so lots more walks from now until then!

Dans x

The pros and cons of a weekend alone

So last weekend DC was away doing this...

...trekking up three mountains in 24 hours.

No thanks.

Here are the pros and cons of DC being away for the WHOLE weekend.

CONS

I miss him a little bit

I have the sleep with the lamp on all night because I'm a wuss and I've not slept alone in the new house for more than one night

I had to go food shopping by myself... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Um I think that's it!

PROS

I can throw my clothes on the bed when I get home from work and not have to put them away

I can watch as many girlie programmes on the TV as I like without have to watch Game of Thrones on repeat!

I can say 'yes DC I cleaned the house whilst you were away' and he'll never know that I only hoovered the lounge rug and dragged an antibacterial wipe around the bathrooms

I can have the girls over and we can chat girlie chat without any male eavesdropping from the corner of the room

I can do my holiday shop and bring the clothes home without having to hide them quickly in the wardrobe or knock a tenner off of the price tag

CONCLUSION

DC can go away more often!

Dans x

This week at ww

I stayed the same for the third week running - not bad! I consciously tried to eat better but I did have a night out with DC that included a good few drinks and a McDonald on the way home...!

3.5lb to go!

Dans x