Week Seven

Week seven was another good one, here are the highlights:

The new furniture in the office is lovely :)

My lovely girl treated me to a chai tea :)

I made great pancakes, even if I do say so myself :)

Alfie's leg is all better :)

I saw my lovely niece Alice :)

Dirty pudding :)

I spent the weekend with Paul and we had a lovely walk around Poole quay, the tide was very high and it was freezing!

On Saturday night we had a lovely Valentine's meal, it really was delicious :)

I got up early on Sunday and did my Couch to 5K run along the beach :)

And then had a lazy afternoon reading while Paul did some painting :)

And then I was home with my lovely boy and the weekend was over :(

Now I'm ready for, hopefully, another great week.

Thanks for stopping by

Jo xx

January's Five Favourites

It has taken me ages to find my five favourite photos from January, not because I had so many to choose from but because I didn't seem to take that many!  I have found five that I want to document though and here they are:

The first photo of my and Maddie in 2016, taken just after midnight:

A nice, sunny, springlike day in the park:

I had to include the only photo taken of me on my birthday!

Me and my sister Jemma after our Couch to 5K run, it makes me laugh because she keeps protesting that her head isn't really that big :)

My boy just resting his head on my leg, he's not really after the sandwich I'm eating :)

I need to start working on these as soon as possible because I'm on a mission over the next few weeks.  Some of us at the crop have set each other a challenge to get a certain amount of layouts done during Lent, I've been set 25 layouts.....wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by and do let me know if you're joining in the five favourites challenge.
Jo xx

You Can Have Your Cake.....

And eat it!

On Saturday this week I went totally off plan, it was a friend's big birthday and it would have be rude not to have enjoyed the amazing buffet she laid on for us to :)

This was my first plate, I may have had one or two more throughout the course of the day!

On Sunday morning I was up bright and early doing my Couch to 5K run and then went for a lovely 5K walk.

On Tuesday I may have had definitely did have two of these beauties :)

This old photo of me popped up in my timeline and seeing how far I have come pushed me on to do more running and walking during the week and making sure that the rest of the days were 100% on plan:

And it paid off with another loss :)

It just goes to show that, if you stick to the Slimming World plan, you can enjoy the sweeter things in life and still lose weight :)

I'm feeling very fired up and focused for this coming week because I want another loss next week!

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Five Favourites Finished!

Finally I have finished the layouts for my five favourite photos from December!  It's been a busy few weeks and, despite hauling my stash to and from Bournemouth, I didn't get much done and I kind of lost my mojo :(

But now it's back and it feels good :)

Here's Maddie putting the star on the tree, we have a similar photo every year in the albums so I didn't bother with journalling this time:

An amazing Christmas wedding that I went to.  I'm not sure about the background paper I've used but I love that the "five" is quite prominent because the wedding was on the 5th December.  I had been thinking of using some doilies on the page but I couldn't find a single white one in my stash!  This layout sat on my desk for a few days and I knew it needed some finishing touches but wasn't sure what until Shimelle's challenge this week was to use hearts :)

Another layouts inspired by Shimelle, well Glitter Girl really! Doing a no thought layout was a great way to find my mojo and using a black and white photo meant I didn't have to colour match with my papers :)

Now I have just realised that this one doesn't have a title! I did the layout at Paul's and didn't have the right alphabet with me, once it's added it will say "A Couple of Swells".  Paul really surprised me with his outfit for my Christmas party, he looked amazing!

And finally, the girl who can't touch anything with her hands, playing Rapidough!  I love these papers that were kindly given to me by my friend Lorna, I knew Maddie had the perfect, matching t-shirt, I just had to find the perfect photo to use them :)  The title isn't that clear in the photo but it says "Hands Off"

I really enjoyed using up some stash and getting these memories in my album.

I'll be back with my five favourite photos from January soon.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Week Six

Week six saw in the beginning of February, seriously, where is the time going?!?!?! Here are the highlights:

One of us was pleased to be getting a phone upgrade :)

Alfie had a poorly paw/leg :(

It's very nearly still light when I get home from work!

Alfie normally runs from the camera but this time he kept posing until I'd got a nice picture of him!

The whole office was gutted ready for new furniture!

Cute dirty pudding :)

We had some stunning sunsets, this photo really doesn't do it justice but it was nice enough for me to pull over in the car and snap a picture!

Me and my sisters spent 7 hours scrubbing the office from top to bottom before the new carpet and furniture arrived!

I had a lovely day at the crop, not sure what I was doing here but it certainly wasn't scrapping :)

It was the 10th anniversary of the crop and Emma's special birthday so she very kindly laid on this amazing feast for us, it was delicious.

In the evening I went to bingo, I didn't have any luck but did get a few free gifts :)

On Sunday I went for a lovely walk, just at the right time because it rained for the rest of the afternoon!

And while the rain was pounding down I spent the afternoon scrapping :)

Another lovely week has passed and I'm even further behind with my Project Life but it will get done.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

It's Paying Off!

After having the huge disappointment of a gain last week this week could have gone one of two ways. I could have given up and stuffed my face or I could have dug my heals in and soldiered on....I soldiered on.

Even though I was away for the weekend I still managed to find the time to do Couch to 5k, it was really lovely running along the prom watching the waves :)

Although I did have two treats at the weekend, after all it was Paul's birthday, the rest of the time it was Slimming World all the way.  The was the one pan roast chicken dinner from last month's magazine and it was delicious.

Tuesday's walk took a slightly different route which included a very long path with an incline that the eyes couldn't see but the thighs certainly felt!

Wednesday was a busy day and I knew I wouldn't be able to do my Couch to 5k in the evening so I took my gear to work and did it in my lunch break :)

And it really did pay off when I got on the scales this week!

I normally menu plan and write my shopping list on a Wednesday so I'm all ready to do the food shop straight from my Slimming World class on a Thursday when I'm really focused on the plan.  This week I didn't have time to do it on Wednesday so I actually wrote my list during the class, I added some great things to my list that I would never have thought of if I hadn't been listening to the input from the rest of the group.

I'm hoping for another loss next week and I'm not going to let anything get in my way.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Week Five

Week five was another quiet one, here are the highlights:

I went to bingo with the girls but lady luck decided not to join me :(

I went out for a lovely meal with my friend Clare and we spent so much time talking they were clearing up the restaurant around us!

My sisters were busy at work!

Dirty pudding was very cute....and very tasty :)

I went to Paul's for the weekend to celebrate his birthday :)

And we had the most amazing lunch out :)

I still managed to fit in my Couch to 5k, it was lovely to run along the beach :)

I even managed to fit in a bit of scrapping!

And then I was home to cuddle with my boy who's got a bad paw :(

This week will be another quiet one but I have a fun crop coming up on Saturday.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx