Monday, March 21, 2016

Who's That Girl: Things 16 Year Old Me Would Think About Me

I'm not sure what it is at the moment, but lots of things suddenly seem comparable to 10 years ago- things I haven't done since I was 16 , places I haven't been or ideas I haven't considered. It set me thinking this week, what would 16 year old think of 26 year old me..?

1. She did what to her hair?!

PicMonkey Collage

16 year old me had made the mistake of having the most ghastly bob cut already (maybe around 12/13 years old?) and swore she would never do it again. 16 year old me would be shocked and surprised, 16 year old me would also wonder how to pull of that dark lip colour, being convinced that all lipstick would make me look like a clown... 

2. Why can't you wear something more interesting than jeans and a jumper for work everyday? Dresses are so much more fun. Yes, they were when I had to wear a uniform all week, but when you have to make effort and choices, just to sit in a home office, not so much. Which leads me onto.... 

3. How do you sleep for that long?! I always like a lay in, but I go to bed earlier now than ever before. How I used to work my pub/restaurant jobs until 10pm and get up for school each day, I'm not sure. 

4. WTF is council tax and why do you spend so much money on it? I'm not sure teenage me would think much to the whole adulting business, come to that, I'm not sure I think much to the whole adulting business when it comes to my council tax bill, letting agent fees, replacing the washing line, finding a weekend to set the lawn.....

5. You call that... fun.... For real? 

L:2016 R:2015. I don't look that different but a marathon and 100km in races later... It sure feels different.

One day, exercising won't be quite the trauma that PE lessons once were... I wish my 16 year old self had worked this out sooner!

6. Coffee, how could you?! I didn't start to enjoy coffee until I lived in Europe, aged 20. This is laughable now as I don't really function without my morning rocket fuel.

7. How did you get to be so like Mum? There's a moment you realise that if turning into your own mother is the worst that can happen, well, things aren't so bad are they. Also, she'll buy you things like this that will remind you of that fact!

Best Christmas gift socks ever. My mother knows me well!

What would your teenaged self make of you now? I've read a lot of posts about things people would tell themselves, but I'm intrigued to hear about the other way round- what you would have thought if you'd met your decade-on self at the time.


Monday, March 14, 2016

11 Things I Learned in the First 11 Weeks of 2016

11 weeks in! That means we're almost a quarter of the way through 2016 already, for me that means HOLIDAY! I;ve been banging on and on about our trip, but I am so excited to go somewhere new, different and rich in adventure! But what else has the first stint of 2016 brough, well...

1. Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance- A military adage that has been a uttered many a time in a our non-military household, and to be fair, I like to plan. I'm one of those people who gets a perverse kick out of making tables and spreadsheets and plotting schedules. This year I really had to get a handle on planning what to eat and when as getting into the kitchen on the days I spend at my mum's can be... challenging. Lists and spreadsheets are my friend, and in January, scheduling my workouts helped me knock about 5 mins of my 10km time, so it really does yield results!

This training business just got serious. @bodymodema better be impressed if I pull this off!

2. Putting more layers on is easier than weaning yourself off huge scarves and cosy base layers
I know I *shouldn't* be cold and I *shouldn't* need the blanket scarf, but it's just so cosy, and the air is still just a bit chill...

3. There is nothing like the struggle of taking off your sports bra after a tough upper body strength session. NOTHING...

4. Facebook Business Manager is still as counterintuitive as a social tool can get. Remind me how I view the page I'm trying to manage again?!

5. No amount of filter will make a selfie in train station shelter look glamorous, black tie attire or not...

Mostly, I don't mind working away from home during the week. Sometimes it sucks though, and tonight I'm flicking back on pics of Faceache & I whilst I remember... It's only 3 nights until I'm home again.

6. It's really not a good year to be famous and over sixty. Hashtag dropping like flies... 

7. If you start drinking alcohol off the back of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that you don't realise you have, bad things will happen. And it will be embarrassing when a room full of people assume you're just blind drunk. 

8. If all else fails, become a letting agent. Because £192 to change the date on a rental contract is perfectly reasonable. 

9. Getting a new stamp or visa sticker in my passport is still as exciting as it was 20 years ago... 26 going on 6! 

Watching ENG v WAL and planning more fun things for our Vietnam trip in THIRTEEN DAYS TIME!

10. Having nice things is lovely, but there is no substitute for time and experiences. I'd still rather have an incredible holiday or hunt down sell-out tickets than buy things.

11. Some conversations will always be awkward, however much you're trying to do adulting successfully. Talking about some things will always be uncomfortable.

What did I miss? Anything 2016 has taught you or reminded you of?

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Month In Review: Feb 2016

Well that's that, when you think that February even on a leap year is only 2 days shorter than the longest months of the year, it's not that different, and yet somehow, a 29 day months feels so drastically shorter than any other. It's been a peaceful-ish one for me, T & I stripped back our socialising and spending fairly because we have a holiday coming in March. But peaceful is kinda nice.

Very lucky to have family with excellent taste in wine & the generosity to give it away. This is delicious.
Really rather nice wine

We're not really big into Valentine's, but tend to take advantage of offers like dine in for 2 to buy things like steak. And a nice piece of steak requires a nice bottle of wine. We are lucky to have family who love their wine, and this is local to where some of our extended family live in Southern France. It went down really very well as we sat on the sofa nursing food coma after stuffing in steak on chips on Valentine's weekend, watching Harry Potter movies. Don't you say we don't know how to live. 

Everalbum also took the opportunity to tell me that February was when I cycled to work for the very first time back in 2013.

I still can't quite believe that it's only 3 years since I wobbled my way through Poplar and out to the Docklands having not ridden a bike in over a decade. Cycling was such a huge part of my life and remains one of my 'joy factor' activities. 3 bikes and hundreds of kilometres later, I have no regrets. You can read a bit more about my cycling journey in this post I wrote: Cycling: 3 years on.

It's been a deep and meaningful month post-wise on my blog, that is when I've had the capacity to post at all. I wrote Food Is Not The Enemy and finally set it live, but it's been a brewing for a while. I think it would be fair to say that my relationship with my training schedule and the requirement that has on my nutrition took a nosedive this month as struggled to find some balance in my life, and writing this post helped me get my head back together again. Yay for catharsis.

And now for the countdown- we're flying out to Vietnam for almost 3 weeks on Good Friday, so it's all system excited here. How was your February?