A busy bee

So, I am a busy bee at the moment, hence the lack of posts.

Normally when I am working a late shift I come online before work at least once or twice a week. So far this week however on Monday I walked into town and then came home and did some baking and yesterday I met a friend and her boyfriend for lunch and by the time I got back had just enough time to get my stuff together and make something to take for my dinner before leaving to walk to work.

This last week has been good because

• I had an assessment day and interview and have got a promotion yippee! I'm really looking forward to starting that.
• Also I have gotten some more exercise in, once my sinuses were more normal like and I could breathe better I went for a run. I went on Friday and did the same route I did the time before but managed to run more of it. Then on Sunday I was going to go for a run and my dog was a bit hyper so I thought I would walk him to the fields, let him off the lead and then run with him round there. It was good fun and I ran for quite a bit.
• I have been walking to work a lot and here there and everywhere getting chores done.
• I baked cranberry bran buns on Monday, they are a nice treat and also pretty healthy as treats go. The recipe is my mums and calls for mixed dried fruit which I am not keen on so I thought hmm you know what cranberries could be nice and I was right! Yummy.
  
  My car is getting some welding done today and another MOT which means that once it is back I am legally allowed to drive it on the roads again. It will still need some other work done but it will not cost anywhere near as much as originally thought. I am very pleased as not being able to drive has taken away a degree of independance from me. Silly as it sounds I'm thinking I hope I can remember how to drive lol! I'm sure I can and am itching to go for a spin. I do still want a new car within the next several months but getting my car back on the road will be a great help while I look. Not being able to use it has really made me appreciate my current car, think I've fallen back in love with it!!
  
  Other news to report hmmm, today I have the day off, I haven't really got up to much, I had to pop to the pharmacy earlier and then I tried to walk the dog, he got frightened by a noise though and turned around to go home and wouldn't be persuaded to carry on the walk. So that was rather short lived. It's kinda odd having the day off because over the last few weeks I have worked pretty much every day and on days off done other stuff to help people out. Tomorrow I am working the early and then Friday I am working only for a few hours in the evening. On Friday morning I will go for a run. Saturday I have the day off and in the evening it is my cousin's engagement party, I'm not sure what to wear yet but I am looking forward to it, I haven't been out/to a party for ages, will be great to let my hair down.
  
  I seem to have been doing ok with my eating lately, I have taken salads to work the past 2 days and I must say they were rather tasty, also my snacking after work has calmed down. The problem wasn't the time I was eating as its the calories not when you eat that matters but the fact that I would eat several things mostly out of boredom/habit I think.
  
  Two positives for my healthy future are that I will now be working 5 (not more) days a week and having my car back will mean I can pop to the supermarket and buy myself some healthy foods to either take to work or have for my lunch before work if I'm on the late.
  
  Planning is the key.
  
  Have a good week everyone.

My name is Sophie...

and I'm a chocoholic.

The amount of chocolate I eat has crept up, this is not good!

Hopefully my being stupidly busy will soon calm down and I can get back to planning meals and thinking straight rather than just being like oh crap what I am gonna take for lunch or what are we gonna have for dinner and having whatever's in the freezer/cupboard that is often not very healthy.

On the plus side I have been getting a lot of walking/cycling in that I can pretty much say most of the times I would have driven had my car been in working order so that is good.

I am having a problem with my sinuses at the moment that I initially thought was a cold, that has knocked me back a bit on my running as I can't breathe very well at the mo and am feeling lethargic and headachy. I am also getting nosebleeds a lot, had a 40min one yesterday and then another 20min one later on. Today had 2 gushers before work! Very attractive. I can't believe this is my 2nd illness in not very long but I guess the first one knocked my immune system so the current illness was like mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha we'll get her now my pretties (all said in an echo-ey voice).

So the plan, yes the plan, carry on exercising, get a good rest tonight and although I am working over the weekend to try to get early nights and just take it easy, my body clearly needs it.

What a difference a day makes

Wow I am feeling so much better tonight. I did feel awful awful awful this morning when I was on my way to work and for the first couple of hours, but I am feeling quite a bit better now. I have a busy couple of days ahead so am unlikely to be able to do my healthy you check in until the end of the week. In all honesty my eating habits have been a bit rubbish lately. I need to rein myself in and get sorted. Not having a car is annoying as it means I can't go food shopping so it only gets done when my Mum or Dad can go so we don't have as much fresh stuff that we normally do when I can go shopping mid week.

Sniff, Sniff, Cough, Cough

It's official I have a stonking great cold, my throat is sore (well ok thats kinda normal for me), My nose is very runny, I had 7 nosebleeds yesterday, My sinuses ache, I have a headache and a cough, and I am very lacking in energy.

My friend Gemma came round today and she has been ill with the flu this week so we sat on the sofa under a duvet watching Bridget Jones 1 +2 all afternoon.

I have a presentation to get sorted onto powerpoint, I intended to do it much earlier on in the week but I ended up with so many things to do this week that it's been left. I want to get it finished tonight so that I can practise it tomorrow night ready for Tuesday.

This cold is seriously bad timing!

Oh well, there are people much worse off than me. Just hoping its gone by Tuesday. Have a great week all.

Honest Scrap

Newbierunner gave me this :-) cheers
As a recipient of this award, I am to share 10 things that people don’t know about me.
This is gonna be hard as I just did a post with 6 things people don't know about me

1. My current (broken car) is blue in colour, when I get a new car I would like it to be metallic blue, this is a bit odd because my favourite colour is actually pink.

2. I really like 60s music despite the fact I wasn't even born then.

3. We have a book club come in to work, they sell books and other cool stuff for cheaper than their rrps. I have ordered a set of books: the muffin bible and the cake bible, both books for £5 bargain! They should have been there yesterday but I forgot to check. Looking through the books I loved the muffin book, it's got a great selection of sweet and savoury muffins in, I wasn't as bothered about the cake book as there were a few great looking recipes but not enough to sell it to me. They come in a set and I can't wait to get them and get baking! (yes I know this isn't very healthy you, but I will try my best to make sure I share them round and have them in moderation)

4. People always mis pronounce my surname.

5. My middle name is Elizabeth.

6. In the future I would like a house with apple trees, a vegetable patch, and space to keep hens, I would like 2 border collie dogs.

7. When I was a child and we played make believe games I always wished I was called Sabrina as I loved the TV programme Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

8. I have an important day next Tuesday.

9. I usually give blood regularly despite having a fear of needles, currently I am low on iron so am unable too, but will be back to it as soon as I can

10. I wish they still sold Lucky Charms in the UK. They do sell them but they are about £7.99 for a tiny box which is sooooooo expensive, and that is only at Selfridges which isn't around here. They are a similar price online too. I don't know why they stopped selling them over here. Admittedly they probably aren't the healthiest of cereals but my gosh so tasty, I would love some just for the nostalgia.

I want to give this award to my sister as I think she really is an honest scrap.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Gorgeous Blogger Moi?! Why yes I am :-)

Woo thanks Erin!

So the rule is 6 things about me my readers don't know, here goes

1. I am allergic to the following Mercaptobenzothiazole which is in rubber, latex, washing powders, washing up liquids, detergents, adhesives, astringents, you get the picture. I am also allergic to pineapple and lanolin.

2. When I was a child my mother always tried to get me to eat peas, my brother and sister both like them, I however never did. She made a valiant effort, I had to eat 1 pea for each year of my age at meals when we were having peas. So aged 6 I would have had to eat 6 tiny measly peas, like one mouthful. One meal I thought I was being really clever and said I was going to the toilet mid way through, I took my peas with me and flushed them. Came back feeling very pleased with myself. However being little I hadn't thought to check whether the peas had flushed and when my sister then went to the loo I was caught! To this day I have never lived it down, it's one of those stories that gets brought up around the dinner table rather a lot and we all have a good laugh. I think my mum eventually gave up trying to make me eat peas!

3. I find the human body and anything medical fascinating, I find it really interesting.

4. I have the world's runniest nose today, and have also had 4 nosebleeds so far today, I am trying to fruit and veg it up to get rid of it asap.

5. My hair colours do not match, I have always had black eyebrows, my school art teacher said that noone has black eyebrows they can only be very dark brown but mine are deffo black, when I was a child I had very blond hair, nowadays it is mousy brown with blondy bits where the sun has bleached it so I don't match!

6. My dog is called Milo because he was born in the year 2000 (Millenium)

I've just realised I need to send this on lol I just tried to post it without awarding anyone!
So the award goes to
Melissa she commented on my blog earlier in the week and she seems like such a lovely person

I'm only going to award it to the one person because I don't know many bloggers yet and I awarded 6 people last week.

And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more

So the title is quoting the song by The Proclaimers. I was just listening to it on itunes and singing along. It was stuck in my head the other day but I couldn't quite remember the words I had 100 and 1000 in my head but they didn't sound quite right and now I know I was totally wrong lol!

Also it made me think, I wonder how many miles I will cover in training for my marathon?

Hmmm, and if you add in lifestyle stuff like walking to work etc. If I walk to and from work it is 3.2 miles. So it all adds up.

I am so excited for the marathon yay!

I have work this evening, I am doing the bar.

I have the weekend off from work, but I have some stuff to get done. My plan tomorrow is as follows, get up and go for run, have shower, get dressed, get eyebrows done. Get typing stuff I need to do done and work on my presentation for next week. Then RELAX! If I have time after my shower and before J comes over to do my eyebrows I may well get some of the typing done then.

I will need to practise my presentation to ensure its as good as poss, that can be done Sunday and Monday.

I have been typing away on some stuff I'm doing for someone today and am feeling pretty tired so I think I am going to have a little rest before work now.

Have a great weekend everyone

Hiya!

Hi,

I've just typed out an entry then deleted and rewrote several times, I can't quite get it so I'm happy with it, so all I will say for now is HI and wave at you all with a friendly smile on my face :-)

Have a great week x

I've lost 8lbs so far

I haven't updated in nearly a week, this is very bad indeed, well ok it's not that bad but not that great.

I have lost 8lbs since I started this journey of healthiness, I would like to say I have no idea how because my eating hasn't been great these last couple of weeks. But I suppose when I think about it I am eating less.

I have found myself enjoying my walk to work lately as the weather has been pleasant and if I leave with enough time not to rush there it is quite relaxing. Today I was lucky enough to get a lift as it looked like rain, that sort of occassion is when I don't enjoy walking to work!

For those of you interested in an update on the throat situation I had my blood test last Thursday at 10.30am and was told a week for results, however the last time I had seen my Doc she said to come in next time my throat was inflammed and had the rash so she could see it. Last Thursday after I got back from my blood test I realised it was back so I went to see her on Friday. This was at 9.40am and my blood results were back already less than 24 hours later good old NHS I say! The only thing my test showed was that I am low on iron, my Doc says this can affect healing so may be causing the problem, so I have iron tablets to take. I don't know whether these will heal the problem but if nothing else they should help me to feel less tired all the time. So it's going to be a case of wait and see.

This week is one of those hectically busy weeks and next week seems to be heading that way too. Things should calm down one way or another after next week I hope!

I have the whole weekend off this weekend, I have no plans other than an eyebrow wax and maybe go and have a look at some 2nd hand cars, other than that I intend to chill out, go for a run and maybe do some baking. I need to save plenty of energy for next week.

I just came on my laptop quick to update here, I hope to update again before the weekend with a couple of 'awards' I've been given! As I have a phone with free internet I frequently read blogs on there, I cannot however post entries from there hence why my updating isn't as frequent as it used to be.

Hope everyone else is having a good week, I will catch up on commenting etc soon xxx

Award

Charmae gave me this award!

Thank You :-)

When I accept this award I have to:
Copy these 35 questions and change the answers to suit you then pass it on. Once you have filled it out ~~~ be sure to pass it on to 6 of your favorite bloggers and alert them that they have been awarded!
1. Where is your cell phone? Kitchen
2. Your hair? damp
3. Your mother? kind
4. Your father? fluey
5. Your favorite food? Roast potatoes
6. Your dream last night? Nice
7. Your favorite drink? Squash
8. Your dream/goal? London Marathon!
9. What room are you in? Bedroom
10. Your hobby? Cooking
11. Your fear? Burning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Content
13. Where were you last night? Work
14. Something that you aren’t? A boy!
15. Muffins? Choc chip
16. Wish list item? New Car
17. Where did you grow up? Oxfordshire
18. Last thing you did? Walked dog
19. What are you wearing? Work clothes
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pets? Dog
22. Friends? Lovely
23. Your life? Happy
24. Your mood? Grouchy
25. Missing someone? no
26. Vehicle? broken
27. Something you’re not wearing? make up
28. Your favorite store? New look
29. Your favorite color? Pink
30. When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Last week
32. Your best friend? Kim
33. One place that I go to over and over? Work
34. One person who emails me regularly? Facebook
35. Favorite place to eat? not sure

So the six I am going to pass it on to:

Emma

June

Erin

NewbieRunner

LittleMissFattyPants

Tasha

I would just like to say check me out I finally worked out how to link!

In other news I am not feeling fab still, My sore throat (3months long one) is having a bad day, I finally had my blood test this morning and will get the results in a weeks time so hopefully the mystery cause of it will be solved. Watch this space. (I feel I do spend a lot of time complaining about my throat, sorry but it's just annoying!)

I have done quite a bit of walking today and will be walking to work when it's time, I walked the dog and then the rest was because my car is off the road so I had to walk to get places. This could be quite good for me I reckon.

My eating hasn't been very good ever since I had that sickness bug last week I haven't got back to healthy eating! Must try harder! I also need to try and go to bed at a more sensible time. Today it won't be very early as I have work until 11.30pm, and will be working until a similarish time tomorrow, but what I need to try and do is go to bed pretty soon after I get home not stay up watching tv that I'm not even that interested in just because I don't want to go to bed yet. I think getting more sleep and being less tired would go a long way towards helping me not to feel so run down.

Have a good week everyone x

I will be doing a lot of exercise soon!

So I applied for a ballot place in the London Marathon 2010. It's pretty hard to get into the London Marathon and many people apply for a ballot place year after year without getting in, I applied this year after having wanted to do so for ages. First attempt and I got in! Woo! I am so excited! It is also slightly like OMG 26miles 385yards is a long way.

I did a half marathon this year and it was HARD, I trained but didn't give the training my all and didn't do as many miles as the training plan required. However I finished and my time wasn't too awful. The experience of that means I know now how important training is and also that someway somehow I will get through it however hard it is. The feeling when I cross that finish line is going to be amazing.

I think the whole day is going to be very emotional.

Since the half marathon I have done very little running, I will basically be starting from scratch with my training. The magasine I received with my accepted letter contains 3 training plans designed based on your ability and the aims you have for the race (eg just to finish etc) You need to have a certain level of fitness for these. The plans last 13 weeks and one month before I should receive further info on the last months worth of training, so that is 17 weeks worth. At the moment there are 30weeks until race day, so I think my aim for the time being will be to get up to the fitness levels stated to start the programme and then reassess in a few weeks as to what I should do next.

I am very much looking forward to this challenge. I would like to raise money for a charity in doing this, I have yet to choose which and will be spending some time over the next however long trying to choose one.

I will also be getting a lot of exercise soon because my car has failed its MOT and there is also another problem with it which is very expensive to fix. At the moment I am awaiting some information as to whether I can get it fixed cheaper and if it is worth getting it fixed.

I haven't weighed in this week due to being ill, I may weigh in later on in the week but I am quite busy this week.

Hope everyones week is going well, there is going to be a lot more exercise related stuff on here now!

Sickety, sick,sick

So in case you couldn't guess by the title of the post I'm sick. It came on all of a sudden on Wednesday night and was horrible. The sickest I have been in years, I'm coming out the other side of it now thankfully but still not quite there.

This will have been a good week for weight loss because some days I simply could not eat. So right now I am concentrating on trying to eat! I'm trying to get some nourishing foods in as I have to have a blood test on Thursday and it will be checking my vitamin levels as well as other stuff so if I have several days of not being able to eat then some of them will be affected. (Some show up low pretty quick and some only after long term lack of eating/malabsorption).

When I say trying to get some nourishing foods in I don't mean more than normal but just some. I'm hoping to get back to eating normally tomorrow although it seems a little unlikely.

I think plenty of rest is needed for this week and I might not weigh in properly as I don't think it will be an accurate portrayal. I did weigh on Saturday and I had lost 3lbs in 3 days but I think once I manage to get back to eating more than just nibbles here and there I will not be 3lbs down!

A lot of people both online and in real life seem to be sick at the moment so I wish them all a speedy recovery.

Hope everyone's had a good week.