Start of a new adventure

Goodbye work

Breakfast: Half a punnet of strawberries and a handful of grapes

Lunch: Raw pepper, tomatoes, cucumber and 1/2 pot of houmous

Dinner: Venison burgers, parmentier potatoes with red cabbage

Snacks: No snacks today

That's it. I've left my company. I've gone. 

Despite not telling many people or making an announcement, the people who did know, have been so amazing - I got cards, presents... it means so much to me as they're people I genuinely like and respect and going in this morning, my last day in the office after 5+ years was harder than I thought it would be. My Boss had sent me an invite for a 'Final Handover' at lunch time, so I used the morning to delete anything I don't want 'the woman' to read in my emails (as I think she'll be given access to my emails next week) and sent my last ever email to my lovely work friend, saying that she's amazing, that I knew we could be friends even though I managed her and if she ever needs anything - to let me know. It's not the end of our friendship - I'm seeing her on Monday night to watch 'Judge Geordie', but she won't be 'lovely work friend' any more.

Breakfast was just some strawberries and grapes - not the most filling of things and not something I'd eat on a routine basis, however after pizza last night I just felt like I wanted something quite light. After getting to work, I went to Starbucks with another friend - Before we moved offices, we had a Starbucks really close to us and we always used to go on a Friday, which became 'Starbucks Friday'. As it was my last day today, we did a final 'Starbucks Friday', something we'd not done in over a year since we moved office locations. He's another lovely, lovely work colleague and I hope I can stay in touch with him as well - he's currently trying to buy a house with his Wife and has been telling me all the frustrations they've been having. I've been taking notes, as it's something I want to do with my boyfriend in the next year :-)

My handover meeting happened.... and that was that, I locked my laptop / phone / encrypted USB stick in my locker and put the locker key on my desk and just walked out.... I did feel really sad, but it's the right decision. I then went to Marks and Spencers as I was starving and due to feeling a bit 'weird', went for 'the usual', so much more clean eating... raw pepper, tomatoes.. etc. I also decided to pick up food for tonight, as my plan is to spend the rest of the day inside, getting my head together and then focussing on an amazing weekend ahead - A really short, but hopefully romantic break with my Boyfriend - Who still doesn't know where we're going :-)

I'll freeze the other burgers but will probably throw the rest of the potatoes away and eat all the cabbage - I'm certainly going to try and cook things from scratch as much as possible, however I'm not going to worry about this tonight... I'm just going to chill :-)

At the moment, I'm watching 'My big fat Gypsy holiday', before watching the latest episode of 'Tattoo Fixers' so as you can tell, it's an exciting afternoon planned! I'll be going to bed relatively early as I've got a hair appointment tomorrow at the hair dressers and then... we'll be setting off to a really nice place about 3.5 hours away. Despite a 'mini holiday', I'm going to try my best to make healthy choices but not get obsessed about things.....

It's done... over.... finished.

No matter how much you control things, it never quite works out how you plan

Breakfast: Oats so simple Golden Syrup Porridge Pot with blueberries

Lunch: Wholemeal pita bread with houmous, handful of tomatoes and raw pepper

Dinner: Wagamama's chicken ramen

Snack: No snacks today :-)

After 'Red wine-gate' on Sunday night, yesterday night was much more normal and after dinner I didn't drink anything, meaning that I didn't get the munchies :-) I slept pretty well and certainly didn't want to get up this morning, which I can only think is a good thing. Despite thinking today would be just as dull as yesterday, my friend, the HR Contractor was in (she works at our company 1 day a week) so we were talking about all the office politics and what had been going on in the last few weeks as she'd been on holiday so we'd missed each other for a while.

Coming back to my desk, I got an email from my Boss, offering me an additional notice period with garden leave after I've handed stuff over, but saying he'd expect me to be around for meetings if needed. Cunning... very cunning...Whilst this might seem like a good thing, my new job starts in 6 weeks time and when I get my P45, my end date can't be later than my start date at the new company. I wasn't expecting that as a suggestion, but I guess I'm not a sociopath, so don't think of all these things :-) Either way, my main aim is to leave and look to the future, not be bitter, so I printed off, signed and emailed him my resignation, suggesting we discuss my notice period tomorrow.

So that's it.... It's done. I've resigned after 5 years, 4 months. Wow. It's a shame as I really loved the company and some of the people are amazing. Unfortunately the last 6 months have been really unhappy and whilst I am sad and if I'm honest, a little bit scared - I'm also really happy that I've taken the plunge. I'm also REALLY proud of myself that for the last 2 months, I've been healthy eating and have been taking care of myself. All of a sudden, my life looks quite different, but hopefully really good - More challenges, less politics and best of all, I get a break between jobs :-)

I had 'the conversation' with my amazing work colleague / friend and she took it really well - I was dreading telling her as she and the HR Consultant are the only people in the company who I will genuinely miss. Despite her being all lovely and supportive, I still feel guilty about leaving her, I know she'll be OK as she's awesome - I just hope none of the politics lands on her, now that I'm leaving.

Lunch was 'the usual' and the afternoon dragged again. I did manage to make myself mildly useful by replying to a few emails and also training my lovely colleague in something, but that was about it. Lovely work colleague is currently trying a new detox regime - She was only going to drink water for 10 days but said she had such little energy, she didn't think it was a good idea to continue, so she was only going to eat millet for 10 days, however after 3 days, she cracked and had some Oreos in the kitchen (Did you know they were vegan? I didn't until she told me....) It's funny, as I wouldn't have thought either of those diets were a good idea, however she is really, really slim and has a really amazing body - so compared to myself, I don't really think it's fair to judge :-)

Tonight I spoke to my Counsellor and as she was on holiday last week so it's been two weeks since I saw her. Sometimes, I feel as if we chat for an hour and nothing happens - Other times I feel there's a 'Eureka!' moment and I know why I do certain behaviours or react in a certain way to things. Tonight was quite productive as we were talking about my eating and why I react really defensively when someone comments about what I'm eating - I feel as if it's almost an attack on my person. 

If someone says 'You can't eat that, you're on a diet', I'll eat 5 of whatever it is, just to prove a point. Thinking back, I think it started when I was a child and my Father would say to me 'Do you think you need to eat so much?' I was a growing child! Looking back at photos, I wasn't even overweight when I was 9!

After I saw my Counsellor, I decided I'd grab something from Wagamamas so I didn't have to cook at home. Once again my brain kicked into 'Well, you resigned today so you can treat yourself', but no, I don't want to do that as that's another danger and I shouldn't need to reward myself with food. So despite being rather hungry and wanting to order loads of things, I went with the most healthy option which is still really nice - A chicken ramen. No sides, nor any puddings and guess what? I was rather full after eating it, anyway :-)

When I got home, a letter was waiting for me from my crazy Uncle and Aunt - That's a story and a half and if I wrote it here, it would be way too long! Needless to say, they still both seem absolutely crackers and still seem to believe all kinds of conspiracy theories, however I'm glad they have each other and still seem to be keeping each other company. 

Tomorrow night I'm seeing one of my friends and I believe we're going out for dinner as she's not said otherwise. I don't mind per se, but it's harder to keep track of what I'm putting in my body if I don't cook it myself and to be honest, after Wagamamas tonight, I'd be quite happy cooking an omelette or something at home, however it will be nice to see her :-)