A very chilled Friday night with good news

I am really glad it's Friday

It's been quite a stressful week in some ways - although still nowhere near as stressful as it's been in the last few months. I guess the 'big' news is, that I don't seem to be pregnant which I'm incredibly relieved about this month. As I said before, my Boyfriend and I are of the 'If it happens, it happens' mindset - However if it had happened this month, I wouldn't have been eligible for enhanced maternity at work... and as that's 90% of your salary for 3 months... that would have been a real issue. Not the end of the world, but it will make things a lot easier now. My period is still late, but I think that's just due to the fact I started my new job a few weeks ago, so I think that threw things out a bit.

In terms of healthy eating - today I have mostly been eating... Japanese! I had a banana and malt loaf for breakfast, followed by a salmon donburi for lunch - I went to a new Japanese place for lunch with one of my colleagues and it was really nice. I opted for their 'brown rice and lentils' donburi for £0.50 more, and it was incredibly yummy. 

After work, I took a trip to Picadilly circus to grab more sushi from the Japan Centre and not only got a chicken teryaki don, but also got 3 inari pockets (tofu pockets with rice) but a raspberry and chocolate mochi, which is kinda like a raspberry rice ball, with chocolate inside of it - it's quite small (you can eat it in 2 bites), but incredibly nice.

As I took a detour after work, I didn't actually get back until 7pm and I was really tired - travelling on an extra 3 tubes after work really takes it out of you and I guess I'm still not really used to commuting on the tube in London, at rush hour - especially on a Friday!

I'm now on my sofa, snuggled up in my PJ's and massive bath robe with my slippers on and feeling quite chilled and relaxed. My Boyfriend's parents are now down and they've all gone out for dinner (which I was thoughtfully invited to) however as I had sushi and am rather tired, I'll just see them tomorrow instead.

After I blogged last night, I decided I'd try some of the suit trousers on that my friend gave me a few weeks ago as they were too big for her - I thought they'd be too tight for me, and indeed a couple were - however one suit fits PERFECTLY, I'm actually really surprised but happy that one looks fantastic, so I now have a new grey and white striped suit to wear for work... I recall it being slightly tight when I tried it on at my friends house so that suggests I've lost weight? Urgh.. I want to weigh myself but I will try to resist - especially as I'm probably only 1-2 days off having my period, the worst time to weigh yourself, ever!

It really does seem to be getting colder now, so I think for the rest of the evening I'm going to put some candles on, and snuggle into my bath robe even more and start the count down to my holiday to Mexico! Less than 2 weeks to go :-)

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! 

I didn't expect that.....

Well, there's a to-do...

Having slept very badly last night (waking at 02:11, and 4:31 and not getting back to sleep after 5:45...) due to worrying about my interview today, I got dressed, ate my porridge and got ready whilst the voice in the back of my head kept saying to me 'You could just not go to London, you could watch Game of Thrones all day in your Pyjamas' Even when I was on the train to London and got on the tube, my mind was still saying to me that I was kidding myself, that I wasn't technical, or even good enough to pass the interview and that the last 5 years have been a fluke.

I think my brain works in the same way regarding food: That I can't possibly get slim, I am rubbish at losing weight and I'm just a fat person in general. Why don't I just accept it and eat another large chocolate bar? Why am I kidding myself I can succeed this time? 

I've come to the conclusion that my brain can be a total arse at times.

After getting to the companies address, I was met by a really lovely and friendly HR person. Despite the recruiter screwing up the date / time, they still accommodated me and I did the 90 minute technical test.....Oddly, I thought I did OK. Even more oddly, so did they and whilst other people were thanked for their time and told that they wouldn't be progressing their application further, I was interviewed by a very friendly, technical person who decided to grill me on various I.T. architectures.. For some reason, I didn't panic, nor freak out at any point and it seemed to go rather well. 

They thought so as well, as apparently they are suggesting I come back for the 'second round' of interviews as I left at 1:30pm...

I feel elated and really proud of myself - Suddenly the burden on my shoulders over my horrible workplace seems a little less, almost as if a door has partially opened and given me a genuine exit strategy. It's a really nice feeling - So is the fact that I may not be as useless as I think I am.

I hadn't eaten when I left the Company, so I decided to go the my favourite place in London - The Japan Centre, and buy a LOT of sushi. As I was hungry by the time I go there, I went into my usual overdrive and bought way too much. I was thinking 'I did well this morning, I deserve a chocolate pancake', however actually managed to stop myself before putting it in the basket as I shouldn't be rewarding myself with treats (plus, if you remember, I managed to find out how many calories and fat a chocolate pancake was.. and it was a lot!).

Despite buying way too much sushi, on the train, I listened to my body and only ate 6 pieces of sushi, stopping after each one and a custard pancake, which I assumed would be more healthy than the chocolate one. Hrm... Looking it up on my fitness pal suggests it's 325 calories and 6g of fat. That's an awful lot of calories for a pancake - Why are so many tasty things so high in calories? :-(

As for the fate of the rest of the sushi, I'm going to eat it tonight and tomorrow for lunch, meaning that I'm not going to waste it, nor am I going to overeat tonight. I'm back in the office tomorrow and tonight, I'll be watching random TV and feeling chuffed about my success today :-)