Week 1 - The One Where....

The first week of the year has been great, here are the highlights:

Alfie got caught up with the Christmas episode of For The Love of Dogs :)

I had to do my shopping but I wanted to get some walking in so I got my trolley out and didn't give a damn if I looked like an old lady :)

The weather has been lovely enough for me to walk in the park on my lunch break :)

Alfie took a shine to my ripple blanket and decided that's where he was going to sleep :)

I had a lovely 6 mile walk after work on Wednesday, it was nice getting back in to a walking routine after Christmas.

I've also pledged to #walk1000milesin2017 so I've been pounding the pavements at every opportunity :)

I was so pleased to lose the pound I gained over Christmas as well as losing a little bit more :)

Dirty pudding doesn't look much but tasted AMAZING.  A client had sent them to the office as a thank you gift and I can't describe how good they were.  They came from a company called Konditor & Cook and are well worth the money.

I was delighted when my weight loss journey featured in a local paper!

But I was sad that Christmas had to be packed away :(

Saturday was crop day and I had a fantastic time :)

It was also my friend Sarah's birthday so I went out out!

For a lovely meal with the girls :)

And then had lots of cuddles with my boy when I got home :)

I was up and out early on Sunday morning for a 4 mile walk :)

Before working on my bullet journal and catching up with Gilmore Girls.

In the afternoon I ordered a ton of photos and then got started on the Attic24 Moorland CAL. I've only done a couple of rows but I know it's a pattern I'm going to love :)

But now it's Monday again and back to work :(

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

New Year, New Me

This isn't a post telling you how I'm turning over a new leaf and this year there's going to be a whole new me.  Oh no, this is a post showing you that in the past year I have become a new me!

When I first started my Slimming World Journey I looked like this:

I did manage to lose about 3 stone and I was very proud of myself but there was still a way to go.  I then spent a whole year putting a few pounds on and then losing them again so, by the end of the year, I weighed virtually the same as I did when the year started!  Last year I took this photo and promised myself that I would make a change:

:

I also took this photo and declared that I would fit in to those jeans by the summer.

Well I got myself focused and I worked hard.  I found food that tasted great and helped me lose weight as well as exercise that was so much fun that it didn't feel like a workout.  By the summer I did manage to fit in those jeans!

The photo I took at the end of 2016 looks very different to the one I took at the start of the year. I have now lost a total of 6st 9.5 lbs (93.5lbs) and in the last year I have lost a total of 30 inches from various parts of my body! I can't believe how far I've come and how close to target I am getting.

This year I am going to share more of my journey and the route it's taking me.  I'll share tips and recipes as I work hard to shift the final 2 stone (28lbs) and make my own dreams come true.

I've gone from a size 26/28 down to a size 14/16 and my final target is so close I can almost taste it :)

I hope you'll join me in the final stages of this journey but, more than anything, I hope that I inspire others to make their own weight loss dreams come true.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

My Word Of The Year

For many years I've seen people choose their Word of the Year or One Little Word and explain why they've picked it.  This year I've finally decided to join in and pick a word for myself to see me through 2017.

My word for the year is:



There are a few ways I am going to use this word in my life:

• I will challenge myself to exercise harder.
• I will challenge myself to try new things.
• I will challenge myself to not always go for the easy option.
• I will challenge myself to procrastinate less.
• I will challenge myself to get all of my WIPs finished.
• I will challenge others if I think they are treating someone else wrongly.
• I will challenge others if I think they are treating me wrongly.

I'm sure the list will grow as the year progresses and I'll be updating my blog, hopefully weekly, with all of the new challenges I've done.

Have you picked your own Word of the Year?  I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Reading

I love to read and so does Maddie.  Between the two of us we have four bookcases that are positively groaning under the weight of the books we have!

I always have 3 books on the go at any one time.  I love to read books on my Kindle. 

Just as much as I love to hold a real book and read it.  I love the feeling of opening a brand new book just as much as I love the feeling of opening a pre-loved booked.

I always have two book marks in a book, one to mark the page I'm on and one to mark the page I want to be on by the end of the day.  This is a method Maddie uses to keep her reading on schedule, she divides the pages by the number of days she wants to take to read the book to get her daily total.  It's a method that really works for me if I find I'm neglecting a paper book.

I also listen to books using Audible.  This allows me to 'read' while I'm on one of my many walks or when I'm in the car driving down to Paul's.
 
When I was younger I read the Enid Blyton books and I still own many of them.  The one book from my childhood that has always stayed with me and has always made me smile when I think of it though is this one:

It's a younger fiction book with an age range of 7-9 years and it made me laugh out loud.  It's the story of a class of school children who go out for the day and the adventure that happens when they get caught up in a bank robbery. If you've got kids (or even if you haven't) then read it :)

I'll be using my blog to share the books I've read and would recommend to others because that's the way I found great authors that are new to me.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

The Grand Finale

The final week of 2016 is over, here are the highlights:

These two little pixies decided to give me a makeover with some makeup they got for Christmas!

Me and Paul spent an evening with Sarah and Chris playing games :)

Alfie was a lazy boy and didn't want to get out of bed!

When he did finally get up he watched We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

I got back on plan after my little Christmas break and went to the pool for 60 lengths!

I did old style data transfer :)

I spent some time with these crazy little people!

And started my first ever bullet journal :)

I was so pleased that I only gained one little pound over Christmas :)

And delighted to win Slimmer of the Month :)

Dirty pudding tasted wonderful :)

I got back on with Project Life, I was only up to week twelve but I've managed to complete another 8 weeks in the last couple of days!

After all of the Christmas and birthday makes were done I decided to do some knitting for me :)

We started the New Year's Eve celebrations with a game of bingo :)

Where everyone apart from Sarah had a win :)

Then we went back to Sarah and Chris for more games and some Cinzano and lemonade with cherries in :)

How cute is that cushion and how cute does Bingo look laying on it?!?!?!?!

Our first picture of 2017 :)

On New Year's Day we fancied a sausage sandwich but I think everyone must of had the same idea because Sainsbury's were virtually out of them!

I sat in front of the tree and ate an ice-cream :)

And then I got one of my socks finished :)

Happy New Year to everyone, I hope 2017 is amazing for you.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx