Thursday 31 October 2013

5 things I'd rather do than celebrate Hallowe'en

Trick or treating isn't really what is says on the tin, is it?  Kids come to ur door, all dressed up, you give then sweets.  They look at you dissapointed that you didn't give them money.  They all go home and discuss which house gave out the best stuff.  All the monkey nuts get thrown out for the birds, the sweets get eaten and the parents have a hard time getting the kids to settle down and go to bed.

Who wouldn't want that?

Instead...why not do something?

1. Spend time as a family.  Watch a movie together.  The Nightmare before Christmas is a great movie.  Why not settle down, as a family, snuggled up under a cosy blanket with some popcorn, and relax.

2. Go to a fireworks display.  The kids can run around, get scared, stay out in the dark, and feel they have done something fun.  Then you can get them home and into bed and they will be so grateful to be cosy and warm after being outside all evening that they will settle quickly and go to sleep.

3. No kids?  No worries.  Why not go out for a meal in your favourite restaurant, there won't be any kids in tonight making noise so its win win.

4. Turn all ur lights off, so the pesky kids don't knock your door, and go and have a long candlelit bath.  With wine of course.

5. Leave your lights on, encouraging children to knock your door trick or treating, but dress up and when they knock open the door dressed as something freaky...see how many kids you can scare before they stop knocking ur door!!

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Someday I will...

Someday I will..

Do you wish your life away, are you constantly telling urself that tomoro it will be different, or when you lose those 5lbs, or when you get ur hair cut, or meet the right man, or get that new job, or move into that better area?

Someday I will..

sounds great doesn't it?

We all have someday I will tendancies, but instead of being pie in the sky here I want to make someday I will resolutions.

Instead of silly, someday I will wear size 0 clothes I want to say something smart

So my someday I will statements are short, simple and hopefully going to stuck with.

Someday I will be at a healthy weight and be strong and fit.

Someday I will be able to plan my meals for a week at a time.

Someday I will be on time for work every day.

Someday I will have money left at the end of the month.

What are your someday I wills??

Tuesday 29 October 2013

29 October 2013

I was at a wedding yesterday.  It was luvly.  It was the first wedding me and R have been to since we got married.  I kept catching him staring at me smiling.  But I was smiling at him too.  Marrying him was one of the best decisions I ever made.  That man is goodness and kindness all wrapped up in a human body. 

Looking around the room at other couples I got caught up in imagining how happy their relationships are.  You never really know what is going on inside someone else's relationship, do you?

On Saturday I was at a tea party for a friend's birthday, all girls, half married, half single girls.  The conversation, as it does, got round to our partners, how we met, how they proposed and how they have changed since then.

It was so lovely listening to these girls talk about their husbands with such love in their voices.  These are girls that aren't "showy" about how in love they are, but without a doubt each of them got a little dreamy when talking about the man in their lives and how he shows them that he loves them.

It was really nice to hear it.

I kept looking at the singles hoping they were paying attention, hoping they would learn that the man you have built up in your head as your ideal man won't be the one you marry.  That the man you marry won't be the same man in ten years.  You have to wait for the perfect man to come along, the perfect man for you.  God has him picked out for you, just be patient.

That man will change over the course of your relationship, and marriage.  But you will change too.

The best relationships evolve together.

Keep on listening to your heart.  Keep in mind why you married that man lying beside you snoring his head off.  Don't give up.

Friday 25 October 2013

When is it too far?

How often do you look at a blank page without knowing exactly what it is you are going to write, without even having any kind of an idea what you want to write about? 

Probably not that often, unless you are a "blogger".  I am not one of those brilliant bloggers who pplan my week, or month ahead of time.  I have no notebooks full of ideas.  I have no sponsors to please.  I have no giveaways that must get posted.

I just come here and spill my guts every so often to the loyal readers that come back day after day and read my words, and look at my pictures.

I tell them about my exploits at the gym.  How much work sucks.  What I was up to at the weekend.

I share pieces of my life with them.

But I don't share everything, cos that would be weird.

There aren't many people in the world that would really care when I last went to the bathroom, what colour underwear I have on, and what I am planning to make for my dinner tonight.  :-)

So I sit here, in front of my computer again, trying to decide what to write about today.

This week has been gym, eating, drinking, watching Australian Masterchef and The Almighty Johnstons, sleeping, work and hanging out at home.

I say a picture on Facebook where a gil had taken too many steroids to get a bodybuilder's figure and was starting to turn into a man.  Then in Cosmo there was a picture of a girl who had worked out so much she had a pretty manly looking figure too.  It started to scare me a little.

Was I going to turn out like that?

Why did these girls not stop what they were doing when they noticed things starting to change.  Did they see their arms and chests and shoulders developing huge muscles and think "that looks good"?  and then just keep going?

Why do we keep doing things to the point they can't be changed?

Why can't we stop things before they go too far?

Wednesday 23 October 2013

whoop whoop

31 1/4 inches

31 1/4 inches

31 1/4 inches of fat that is no longer on my body

31 1/4 inches that I have lost off my body since I started the gym in January

31 1/4 inches

Can u tell how proud I am of myself? 

Every time I think of those 31 1/4 inches of fat that i no longer have I smile.

I still have a while to go, but Oh.My.Goodness look how far I have come!!

31 1/4 inches

I am so pleased.

Monday 21 October 2013

It always makes me smile

It happened again at the weekend.  Sitting around chatting with some people and the subject of kids came up.  Some were talking about the second child being easier than the first, I said I didn't know as I only had one, I was asked how old mine was and when I responded "23" the person's mouth just fell open.

Its a luvly feeling to know I don't look old enough to have a 23 year old daughter.

I am extremely grateful to my good genes for that!

Also today someone asked me if I had lost some weight, when I responded proudly that yes I had in fact lost 3 1/2 stone they were shocked and asked for my secret.  I have no secret, I just work damn hard at the gym.  But it feels good that people are noticing, because I am at the point where I still see my flaws, and how far I have to go, rather than how far I have come.  So it is good to get that reminder.

I am grateful for that reminder too.

on Saturday one of my friends was discussing my weight loss with me, and stated that I was starting to loose my boobs.  I don't want to loose them altogether, but have definately noticed there is less of them than there used to be.

I am not sure if I am grateful for that or not.

What makes you smile?  What are you grateful for?

Thursday 17 October 2013

Look around you.

Sometimes we forget to look around and actually see what is around us. 

When we go on holiday we take pretty pictures of the new surroundings, we take pics from our hotel room window, and pics of the lovely countryside and pics of the beach.  How many of you take those same kind of pictures in your own country?  How many of you have looked around and really appreciated where you live? 

I was looking through my memory on my phone today and realised I have all these pictures from the country I live, and no one else gets to see them.

Perfect I thought, my blog today is sorted. :-)

These pictures have all been taken in Northern Ireland.  It is a beautiful place and I am happy that i live here and get to look at its beauty every day.  I love going on holiday and seeing new things, but I love coming home again.

Recently R and I have been talking about moving, upping sticks and going to another country.  He pointed out, however, that he would miss the views and countryside here.  So maybe we won't go.  Who knows?



The source of the Lagan




Hillsborough Lake

Giants Causeway

Dundrum Bay


North Coast, Antrim


Road in Annalong

Mourne Mountains, Annalong

Annalong

White Rocks Beach, North Coast

Dark Hedges (Recognise this from GOT?)

Mourne Mountains, Newcastle

Oxford Island

Oxford Island

Wednesday 16 October 2013

16 October 2013

Hi blog world

Its been a busy time for me recently.

My gran was unwell, then unfortunately passed away.  We all really miss her.

Then I went on holiday to Spain.

Last night we wemt to see Jessie J in concert.



My gran was the type of women that you would want to be.  She was strong.  She had balls.  She had opinions, and spoke them.  She taught us to stand up for ourselves and not to take anyone BS!!

She learned to drive when she was nearly 70, what kind of woman does that?

She had an active social life, going on cruises, on holidays, to dances, to play bowls and out shopping and for meals regularly.

She was simply out AMAZING.

Spain was good too.  Although it wasn't as warm as it can be during the summer season it was still warm enough to walk about comfortably in shorts and t shirt.  We wemt to the pool, the beach, we walked about Barcelona, Blanes and lots of other places.  We went to museums and we ate out a lot.


Me and R.  :-) <3

We had fun.  :-)
Just walking down through the streets, you will spot the coolest buildings


The view from the castle in Malgrat de Mar

The castle in Lloret de Mar

Just one of the lovely things we had to eat
A yummy desert

The castle in Lloret de Mar, which is actually a private residence.  Who lives in a castle??

The Arc de Triumph in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona

Gaudi building in Barcelona

Jessie J was great.  She started with a bang, didn't stop for an hour and a half then left us wanting more!  A really great concert experience. 

Plus we were the first date in her first ever arena tour!  And she cried!!