Special Delivery to my front door

Not bad Amazon, not bad at all...

Today started off well, considering I was lying in bed, listening to the rain outside my window. This was slightly frustrating as I had planned to go to the New Forest and go for a 5 mile walk with my camera, however sadly I can't control the weather! Whilst lying in bed, I thought about stuff... my life, my boyfriend, my work... I tend to keep myself really, really busy, so I don't really just sit down and think about things, let my mind wander as it were...

I got up and read my emails - One was from Amazon, saying that they had dispatched my order. Considering I'd only ordered things on Friday afternoon, I was impressed to see that they had dispatched it already, especially on a Bank Holiday Monday. I'd 'treated' myself to a spiraliser as I'm keen to try and continue my healthy eating and thought I might make some 'Courgette pasta' and other interesting shapes with vegetables. It might just be a fad, but hey.. It was quite cheap, so why not? I also decided to buy 'Dream Phone', which sounds rather crazy considering I'm a 30-something woman in a serious relationship, not some teenager in the 80's who wants to dial the massive pink 80's phone and find out who is her secret admirer.

.. But come on, doesn't that sound FUN? Think of it - You plus 2 or 3 friends, Saturday night, few bottles of wine - You play 'Cards against humanity' and then DREAM PHONE.... OK, so maybe it's certain people's idea of Hell, but I know my sisters and friends will find it amusing :-)

After I got out of bed and made myself breakfast, I decided to slob out on the sofa under a duvet - something I really rarely do. I decided to watch 'Animal Park' (the one at Longleat) and got quite emotional whilst watching the baby monkeys try and find fruit in some wooden brush heads that the keeper had set up for them, to keep them busy. Hrm... Is this PMT or something else? I guess I'll find out by the end of this week... :-S

Breakfast was a banana, a slice of Orange malt loaf and some prunes - I only ate half the prunes in the photo as by the time I had eaten my banana and malt loaf, I was rather full. I did want to get out of the house, however, so went to grab some food for my Boyfriend who was getting back from his LAN gaming event in Milton Keynes. He hadn't asked me to, however I thought he'd probably be knackered and having eaten rubbish for the last 3 days, might appreciate some tasty and more healthy food. In the process, I also bought food for lunch (Marks and Spencers fuller for longer range, chicken Yakatori skewers and some BBQ Wholegrain crisps) and dinner (I am making myself a BBQ Chicken wrap with salad and for pudding - grapes!).

M&S seemed to have a lot of reduced items and I'm certainly no snob when it comes to grabbing a bargain. Best before today? No worries, happy to oblige! 

Unfortunately, it continued to rain for most of the day. I mostly vegged out on the sofa, watching random TV and then my Boyfriend texted to tell me that he was home. I popped round with his food and we had a quick chat - Everything was good... until I burst into tears and told him that I'd been quite lonely today and was worried that everything was 'so good' between us, that I was petrified of us breaking up.. I mean.. What.. the.. actual.. f**k? Seriously? this is not me... :-S I'm not a crazy, mental person who worries about stuff to this level...

As per usual, my Boyfriend was lovely and supportive and wasn't edging nervously to the nearest door, or to the phone to phone the men in white coats to say 'She's crazy, take her away'... However I am certainly feeling a bit odd at the moment. I didn't stay long - as I said, he was really tired from all the things he'd been doing over the last few days, but thanked me very much for the food and said he was likely to eat and then fall asleep on the sofa.

After I got back, I realised that Amazon had actually tried to delivery my package! However as I wasn't in, they'd left it with my lovely neighbour. I knocked on her door and collected the package (I'm very lucky to have such lovely neighbours.. we don't really talk, just a friendly 'Hello' but we always take each others packages in and that's about that...) Hurrah! My things have arrived! I'm certainly going to be doing some spiralising this week :-)

Dinner is currently underway, I am just oven baking my BBQ chicken before creating a lovely BBQ chicken salad wrap and following it up with some grapes if I get peckish later on. It's a shame I'm back to work tomorrow, but I am certainly not feeling the same level of dread that I felt a few months ago... 

Now.. what interesting spiralising recipes can I find on the internet..... ?

A bank holiday is not excuse to eat badly..

.. Unless you want to, that is.

If someone 'preached' to me that I should eat a certain way, I'd tell them where to go - and as I want to do everything in moderation, if I had wanted to eat something unhealthy for a change, then I would have. However, I'm feeling really motivated at the moment and this was spurred on even further when I got dressed this morning and wore a purple top that I've not worn in about a month. A month ago, it looked OK, but my stomach looked kinda 'bulgy', even when I was wearing my famous 'fat pants', however not only does it look a lot flatter (sadly I'm not confident enough to wear it without wearing my fat pants), but the belt I bought a little while ago is now on its last hole and is actually getting too loose.

I'm still not going to weigh myself for a while as I need to stop being obsessed with the scales, however I'm in a really good place with my head.. my job... my life and I want this to continue. So today I got up early and decided to go in London. What's that? go into London? On a Bank Holiday weekend? Are you mad? Actually, I got a seat on the train really easily and managed to wander around quite happily, going to all the places I wanted to without any trouble at all.

I was going to go to the Nottinghill Carnival, however I'd heard one of my new work colleagues tell me it was quite rough. I also read up on how busy it was and looked at the weather forecast. So, I decided to change my mind but go into London anyway for a bit of a mooch around. 

One of the things I did was go to the National Portrait Gallery. Breakfast was a slice of malt loaf and a banana and after scoffing that and drinking a cup of tea, I headed to the train station and subsequently, to the gallery. Bearing in mind it was a weekend, it was fairly quiet and I spent a good 1.5 hours just walking around the paintings and reading the descriptions. Some of them were fairly famous - Like the ones of Henry VIII and Anne Boley - I think I remember seeing them in some of my GCSE history books when I was at school.

I didn't realise how much I'd walked, however after 1.5 hours it was nearing lunch time and I felt rather hungry and thirsty. I went down to the cafe and had a cup of tea. It was hard not to order any cake, however I managed it and felt very virtuous, sipping my tea and whatsapping my sister about her date tonight (His name is Ben... she's met him 3 times and he seems really nice apparently. I've nicknamed him 'Triple B' as in 'Big Boy Benny'... apparently she's told him this and he finds it funny) 

Lunch was an easy one - straight to the Japan Centre for some sushi... I got enough so that I could eat it tonight as well. I love sushi, it's even more tasty when you're not the one making it yourself! Tamago nigiri (egg sushi),  A crispy chicken seaweed triangle, Inari pockets (Tofu pocket with seasoned rice inside) and for dinner... It was a vegetable and prawn tempura pot with more rice.. 

I then went and wandered around Covent Garden and did a spot of shopping as it was my friends Birthday last week and I'm seeing her on Wednesday so whilst I had a temporary reprieve of buying her a present, I wanted to buy her something personal and London was the best place to achieve it! I went into Foyles and found her a lovely book of the Irish coast (she's from Ireland). Stunning photos and lots of history behind the places - She's from Cork and it had one section about Cork, so fingers crossed she likes it :-)

After more wandering around I headed home - I checked my 'S Health' app on my phone and it told me I'd walked 13,000 steps (over 10km) which had apparently burnt off 555 calories. Whilst that's awesome, I don't want to fall into the trap of thinking 'Oh well, I've got another 555 calories I can use up on chocolate', so just stuck to my sushi tonight and am now in my PJ's, about to watch another horror film.

Imogens review for 'Robert' - Pretty crap. Kinda more like Eastenders than a typical horror film. You could tell it was done on a very low budget in England and the 'scariest' thing was seeing the cameraman in the mirror in one of the bath scenes at the end, as well as seeing the reflection of other camera people in the reflection on the cooker in the kitchen. The doll is kind of creep, but the best acting is done by the child, which means you have no sympathy for either of the parents (whilst it wasn't said, I swear the Dad was shagging the secretary) and the Mum's constant moaning and simpering meant I just wanted her to get killed by the doll ASAP.

I'm now about to watch 'Invoked'.. Hopefully this one is better! 

Home made Fajitas

Bank Holiday Weekend Excitement!!!!

2 weeks down already in my new job and I'm loving it. Fridays seem to be so relaxed and as there are very few people in the office, it's really chilled and just... nice, really. My Team seem lovely (Not 'my' team.. just the people I work with, all of whom seem to be older and more experienced than me!) they're very inclusive and seem to just want to do a good job which is a massive breath of fresh air. 

Today started off well as I checked my bank balance and I've been paid my final salary from my old job and also 2 weeks from my new job. This is great as I was very broke last week... I spent way too much when I was gallivanting around the countryside on my month off. Breakfast today was slightly different - as I mentioned before, the bananas I bought yesterday are too green to eat yet, so I had some malt loaf and some prunes. It didn't look overly pleasant, however did taste a lot nicer than it looked. 

Work went pretty well - I've been getting on with quite a few things now and there's definitely enough to keep me busy, which I appreciate. I was actually quite shocked when I looked at the time and realised it was near lunch time. For lunch, I went with one of my team to the canteen and found out that he also does wedding photography (I used to do it... I don't any more) so we spent a good 30 minutes 'nerding out' about cameras... lenses etc. It was really nice to find common ground with him and the photos he's taken of his wife and kids are just absolutely lovely. I had another salad for lunch which was really quite filling - I think I chose pretty healthy.. chicken.. one boiled egg, only a small finger slice of cheese and a lot of chickpeas etc.. I'm not going to lie - I was quite jealous of my colleagues fish, curly fries and beans... but hey :-)

I left ever so slightly early today - 4:50pm.. and the difference 10 minutes made to my journey was amazing. I got back over 30 minutes earlier and am now in my jeans and T shirt, already chilling. Tonight's food will be home made Fajitas. I was going to buy one of those Fajitas kits, however I'm not keen on the salsa as it comes in a packet and isn't overly great, so I thought I'd make use of the peppers I already had in the fridge and the fact I have some Fajita spice I bought ages ago and never used. Added to the fact I already had some grated cheese in the fridge and really, I only had to buy some wraps (which can be used for other things, tomorrow), some chicken and some salsa and we're onto a winner!

I've not done it yet, however I will get cracking after I finish this blog. I've got quite a busy weekend planned - Tomorrow I've got my major hair appointment (where I get it chemically straightened) and then I'm seeing my gastric bypass friend. Sunday I'm off to London and Monday I think I'll try and find a really nice place to do a long walk which doesn't sound very busy, but knowing me, I'll find God knows how many things to fit in. My boyfriend is at a 3 day LAN gaming event in Milton Keynes so I won't be seeing him until Tuesday. I have to say, it's weird... we've been together a while but I don't think we've ever been as close or I've been so happy and content - I'm so excited about buying a house with him next year, getting Persian cats and of course, (potentially) having a family.

.. Which technically could happen this month, but I have to wait and see if Aunt Flo will pay me a visit...  :-)