It's January, so like the rest of the world right now I am on a diet! I might not be very good at it, but I am trying. In my quest to get down to a size 10 (this may be a bit unrealistic because of my bone structure) I have been converted to eating rabbit food and cutting out all of the things I love.... well kind of anyway.
So buying my lovely little Tatiana (my tatty little Polo) has left me somewhat penniless so in an attempt to save some dollar I have been buying in food from Tesco that I can make my own lunches with. As I have for the past few months cut out bread this has lead to a huge challenge to find something that I can have for lunch being as my diet used to consist of toast for breakfast and sandwiches or soups and bread for lunch. I have now taken to eating salad every day. Anybody who knows me will understand that this is a huge change for me as I used to be the world's biggest salad dodger!
It's not actually my food of choice which bothers me. I've actually developed quite a taste for salad. However, if you're looking to make a tasty, crispy salad you're actually looking at quite a hefty bill from the supermarket.
The other day I'd decided to be a lazy moo and drive to work because it was blowing a gale outside. I obviously did not wish to fly away so I decided that rather than take a short drive to work, walk to Tesco and then walk back to the office, getting rather windswept along the way I would drive to the new Tesco Express just outside town.
Sadly, they didn't sell my usual side salad box with everything that I'd usually need so I had to buy a bag of lettuce, peppers and tomatoes all separately costing me £6 as opposed to my usual £1 per box. I know that I shouldn't moan as this was enough for two days lunch but I will not eat salad with nothing on it.
My favourite salad at the moment is sweet chilli chicken - actually amazing, try it! I have never noticed how expensive grilled chicken is before! £5 for two packs.... or just the one for £3.20. Being me I went for the offer, but this took my bill up to £11 - for two lunches that's quite expensive. Part of me is so tempted to go back to my £2 microwave meals, sandwiches or soup and bread but none of these options will help me to achieve my size 10 dream.... and I may not ever get there but I'm going to at least try!
PS. Suffering from major food envy right now.... there is nothing exciting about a salad when your colleague is sat next to you munching on a curry!
Monday, 9 January 2012
Thursday, 29 December 2011
2012.... back on it!!!!!
It's been a while, but I'm still here and still sharing my spending but this time for a different reason. I am proud to say that I am now a store card down and about to take a complete leap of faith.
Since my last post back in April I have passed my driving test, paid off my epic debt on my store card and have completely curbed my shopping addiction to a reasonable amount, meaning I now only buy exactly what I need. I am however, sitting with a brand new MacBook Air on my knee and am about to buy my very first car. What money used to be spent on clothes, shoes and handbags is now spent on necessities - or what I think of as such!
What is the reason for my sudden change? Well, next year I would like to set myself up for a complete and utter change - I'm finally going to do something that I have been longing to do since uni. I want to move move out and possibly to Leicester. Much as I love Market Harborough and my life here it's time to move into a place of my own, somewhere I would like to live.
As many of you know, I absolutely love my job and my friends too, so I will need to be somewhere commutable to Market Harborough but the prospect of city life excites me!
Why am I telling you this? Because I have realised that once again I need an outlet where I can out all of my spending again as I need to save money. Now that I no longer spend more than I earn I actually need to learn how to save!
I know how to live within my means but have come to realise that it is not my need to shop that now costs me the earth. It is my ridiculously busy life! There a few habits (like thinking I'm the richest person in the world whilst drunk, spending stupid amounts on gig and concert tickets and going out all the time) that I need to break. For that reason, I'm hoping that my blog will help me to do that. I am not saying that I am going to become boring or a hermit but I do realise that my lifestyle is ever so slightly extreme.
Take today for example. I am currently off work for the Christmas holidays and woke up ridiculously early for reasons unknown. Hoping to make it to Body Combat this morning at about 9am I got up and started to get ready, until I realised that I was so so tired from being awake at 6am that I went straight back to bed and fell asleep til noon! What a waste of a morning?!
I met my Jenny for lunch in Enigma where I spent £6.50 on lunch and a coke. I also paid Jen back the £3 that I had borrowed on 'Jager Friday: The Festive Edition' otherwise known as the girls Christmas meal when we couldn't get any dollars out from the cashpoint. This was for the champagne (read Cava) which contributed in part to my memory loss of the weekend!
Anyway, we were later joined by Sarah for lunch and unfortunately Jen had to go back to work so Saz and I had a lovely afternoon in Starbucks. Although this also meant that spent £3.50 on a Toffee Nut Latte, £1.55 on a caramel slice (that I really did not need) and £1.55 on a peppermint tea. So that's the good part of £20 gone in a day.... but so worth it as I had a fab impromptu afternoon!
So anyway, to counteract the spend today I am now sat watching Notting Hill with a box of After Eights next to me.... good times!
Since my last post back in April I have passed my driving test, paid off my epic debt on my store card and have completely curbed my shopping addiction to a reasonable amount, meaning I now only buy exactly what I need. I am however, sitting with a brand new MacBook Air on my knee and am about to buy my very first car. What money used to be spent on clothes, shoes and handbags is now spent on necessities - or what I think of as such!
What is the reason for my sudden change? Well, next year I would like to set myself up for a complete and utter change - I'm finally going to do something that I have been longing to do since uni. I want to move move out and possibly to Leicester. Much as I love Market Harborough and my life here it's time to move into a place of my own, somewhere I would like to live.
As many of you know, I absolutely love my job and my friends too, so I will need to be somewhere commutable to Market Harborough but the prospect of city life excites me!
Why am I telling you this? Because I have realised that once again I need an outlet where I can out all of my spending again as I need to save money. Now that I no longer spend more than I earn I actually need to learn how to save!
I know how to live within my means but have come to realise that it is not my need to shop that now costs me the earth. It is my ridiculously busy life! There a few habits (like thinking I'm the richest person in the world whilst drunk, spending stupid amounts on gig and concert tickets and going out all the time) that I need to break. For that reason, I'm hoping that my blog will help me to do that. I am not saying that I am going to become boring or a hermit but I do realise that my lifestyle is ever so slightly extreme.
Take today for example. I am currently off work for the Christmas holidays and woke up ridiculously early for reasons unknown. Hoping to make it to Body Combat this morning at about 9am I got up and started to get ready, until I realised that I was so so tired from being awake at 6am that I went straight back to bed and fell asleep til noon! What a waste of a morning?!
I met my Jenny for lunch in Enigma where I spent £6.50 on lunch and a coke. I also paid Jen back the £3 that I had borrowed on 'Jager Friday: The Festive Edition' otherwise known as the girls Christmas meal when we couldn't get any dollars out from the cashpoint. This was for the champagne (read Cava) which contributed in part to my memory loss of the weekend!
Anyway, we were later joined by Sarah for lunch and unfortunately Jen had to go back to work so Saz and I had a lovely afternoon in Starbucks. Although this also meant that spent £3.50 on a Toffee Nut Latte, £1.55 on a caramel slice (that I really did not need) and £1.55 on a peppermint tea. So that's the good part of £20 gone in a day.... but so worth it as I had a fab impromptu afternoon!
So anyway, to counteract the spend today I am now sat watching Notting Hill with a box of After Eights next to me.... good times!
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Guess who's back.... show week!!!!!
Ok so we're back to the blog with the latest update on my life and spending. I am happy to report that in the past few months I have been able to stabilise my finances - one store card has been paid off and I am no longer dipping into my overdraft way beyond it's means at the end of the month. This has meant that I am a whole £400 richer per month which is amazing!
So now that I am better off financially I now need to learn how to make it go further and save.... hense starting on the blog again. I will hopefully find the time to write it up as the last few months have been mental! I think we've pretty much had something on every weekend and then when I think I'm not doing anything (a la last weekend) they end up being the most manic of them all!!!!!
April so far has been super duper fun but uber expensive what with our trip to see Kylie, Barbs' birthday trip to Hooters and a few bits of general spending. I seem to think that I am rich when I am really not.... this especially happens when I have had a little bit too much to drink, £6.50 cocktail anyone?! This week is Jesus Christ Superstar show week and I've been looking forward to it for weeks.... especially to my lovely week off! Just my luck that on the opening night I come down with a dose of ladyflu.... vunderbar! It might sound like I'm being dramatic but it takes quite a lot to take me down - I'm the girl that lived with appendicitus for a fortnight - I feel lousy!
In an attempt to beat the yukiness of my ladyflu I have pretty much vedged out all day watching E4 and Steel Magnolias in my jim jams. I usually spend my days off on show week baking (Betty Crocker special) cakes and cookies for the cast but I don't want to pass on my germs to them. However, I did make it into town to purchase an industrial pack of tissues (68p) and cold + flu tablets (£1) from Wilkinson and some cough syrup from Boots (£4.07). I am very tempted to down the cough syrup to stop me from barking like a dog.... possibly not my best idea though!
So anyway.... that is all that I have done today. Now I plan to make myself a cup of tea and watch some more trash TV for an hour before I get ready for another round of Jesus Christ Superstar. Need to pay for the aftershow meal on Friday tonight - we are going to Pizza Express, yummy - so that'll be another £14.75 spent but I'm hoping not to spend anymore!
For anyone who is coming to see the show tonight (or last night for that matter) my high notes are just not coming out - I am a saprano - so at points I may be miming or taking it down to alto.... very sorry I can't help it!
So now that I am better off financially I now need to learn how to make it go further and save.... hense starting on the blog again. I will hopefully find the time to write it up as the last few months have been mental! I think we've pretty much had something on every weekend and then when I think I'm not doing anything (a la last weekend) they end up being the most manic of them all!!!!!
April so far has been super duper fun but uber expensive what with our trip to see Kylie, Barbs' birthday trip to Hooters and a few bits of general spending. I seem to think that I am rich when I am really not.... this especially happens when I have had a little bit too much to drink, £6.50 cocktail anyone?! This week is Jesus Christ Superstar show week and I've been looking forward to it for weeks.... especially to my lovely week off! Just my luck that on the opening night I come down with a dose of ladyflu.... vunderbar! It might sound like I'm being dramatic but it takes quite a lot to take me down - I'm the girl that lived with appendicitus for a fortnight - I feel lousy!
In an attempt to beat the yukiness of my ladyflu I have pretty much vedged out all day watching E4 and Steel Magnolias in my jim jams. I usually spend my days off on show week baking (Betty Crocker special) cakes and cookies for the cast but I don't want to pass on my germs to them. However, I did make it into town to purchase an industrial pack of tissues (68p) and cold + flu tablets (£1) from Wilkinson and some cough syrup from Boots (£4.07). I am very tempted to down the cough syrup to stop me from barking like a dog.... possibly not my best idea though!
So anyway.... that is all that I have done today. Now I plan to make myself a cup of tea and watch some more trash TV for an hour before I get ready for another round of Jesus Christ Superstar. Need to pay for the aftershow meal on Friday tonight - we are going to Pizza Express, yummy - so that'll be another £14.75 spent but I'm hoping not to spend anymore!
For anyone who is coming to see the show tonight (or last night for that matter) my high notes are just not coming out - I am a saprano - so at points I may be miming or taking it down to alto.... very sorry I can't help it!
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Day 12 part 2: Back to reality....
So, here I sit at the end of my first working day of 2011. I'm in my PJs, as I usually am when I'm at home, 90210 is on the TV and as soon as I have updated this I will be drying my hair and going straight to bed. I am so so tired today!
I found it really hard to sleep last night, probably because I knew that as soon as 7.15am hit I'd have to leap out of bed after nearly two weeks of rolling out of bed at 11am. I'm very much a night owl, I can stay awake all night but I find mornings really difficult!
Today I don't let myself snooze, because I know if I do then I really won't get out of bed at all. Instead I let myself adjust a bit and watch One Tree Hill in bed for about 20 minutes before I get up to have a shower. My new years resolution is to actually make an effort with my appearance all the time and not just when I go out in the evening, so I style my hair so I can wear it down (bedhead straight from the shower is not the best look in the world) and pick out my Fullcircle grey studded dress and some leggings which I love. For far too long I have been rocking up at work hair in a mad whirlwind style and no makeup so in 2011 I will look and feel fab all the time, even if I am just wearing band t-shirt, jeans, connies and a cardy!
I had aimed to leave the house at about 8.30am, but by the time that I'm actually ready, having sat down to watch a little bit of TV mid-hair and makeup, it's actually 8.55am. I run out of the door and trot on down to work. The iPhone is full of tunage today. As I walk some of my favourite songs are playing like 23 by Jimmy Eat World, Hummer by Foals and Love is Noise by The Verve. I love it when this happens, usually means that it's going to be a good day.
I stop by Tesco on the way, as it was Tamara's birthday I want to get her a present and I already know what I want to get her. I pick up Now 77 as it has all of our favourite songs that we have been singing in the office recently - Katy Perry, Usher, Nelly, Rihanna, JLS.... all the ones we love! While I'm there I realise that I have forgotten to eat any breakfast so pick up a pack of chocolate coissants, then 2 pots of soup, a loaf of wholemeal bread and a pack of four Galaxy bars which will last me for the rest of the week. I'm really trying to cut down on my spending so if I can make my lunches as cheap as possible then that's brilliant! Today my total cost comes to £20.34 but including the CD I don't think that's bad - Tamara loved it!
At lunchtime I always have to get out of the office, as we are in town there's nothing really to do but go for a wander around the shops. In the past week I have become quite a pro at window shopping and browsing the sales without making a purchase! I went into Monsoon today and my handbag is still there - I have decided that I do not need it now! I was a little annoyed to see that my earrings have now been reduced to £2.40.... oh well! I also had a quick look in New Look and go to say hi to the Altered Egos girls without buying a single thing.... this is a big achievement for me! On my way back to the office I pick up some milk and sugar which came to £1.58 and that is all of my spend for the day.
The rest of my day isn't all that exciting, I have been to the gym, come home and that is the end of my adventures for the day. I now have achy joints and muscles - oh the joys of living the spot-free dream of Roaccutane! Like I said now I'm off to bed before this all starts all over again!
I found it really hard to sleep last night, probably because I knew that as soon as 7.15am hit I'd have to leap out of bed after nearly two weeks of rolling out of bed at 11am. I'm very much a night owl, I can stay awake all night but I find mornings really difficult!
Today I don't let myself snooze, because I know if I do then I really won't get out of bed at all. Instead I let myself adjust a bit and watch One Tree Hill in bed for about 20 minutes before I get up to have a shower. My new years resolution is to actually make an effort with my appearance all the time and not just when I go out in the evening, so I style my hair so I can wear it down (bedhead straight from the shower is not the best look in the world) and pick out my Fullcircle grey studded dress and some leggings which I love. For far too long I have been rocking up at work hair in a mad whirlwind style and no makeup so in 2011 I will look and feel fab all the time, even if I am just wearing band t-shirt, jeans, connies and a cardy!
I had aimed to leave the house at about 8.30am, but by the time that I'm actually ready, having sat down to watch a little bit of TV mid-hair and makeup, it's actually 8.55am. I run out of the door and trot on down to work. The iPhone is full of tunage today. As I walk some of my favourite songs are playing like 23 by Jimmy Eat World, Hummer by Foals and Love is Noise by The Verve. I love it when this happens, usually means that it's going to be a good day.
I stop by Tesco on the way, as it was Tamara's birthday I want to get her a present and I already know what I want to get her. I pick up Now 77 as it has all of our favourite songs that we have been singing in the office recently - Katy Perry, Usher, Nelly, Rihanna, JLS.... all the ones we love! While I'm there I realise that I have forgotten to eat any breakfast so pick up a pack of chocolate coissants, then 2 pots of soup, a loaf of wholemeal bread and a pack of four Galaxy bars which will last me for the rest of the week. I'm really trying to cut down on my spending so if I can make my lunches as cheap as possible then that's brilliant! Today my total cost comes to £20.34 but including the CD I don't think that's bad - Tamara loved it!
At lunchtime I always have to get out of the office, as we are in town there's nothing really to do but go for a wander around the shops. In the past week I have become quite a pro at window shopping and browsing the sales without making a purchase! I went into Monsoon today and my handbag is still there - I have decided that I do not need it now! I was a little annoyed to see that my earrings have now been reduced to £2.40.... oh well! I also had a quick look in New Look and go to say hi to the Altered Egos girls without buying a single thing.... this is a big achievement for me! On my way back to the office I pick up some milk and sugar which came to £1.58 and that is all of my spend for the day.
The rest of my day isn't all that exciting, I have been to the gym, come home and that is the end of my adventures for the day. I now have achy joints and muscles - oh the joys of living the spot-free dream of Roaccutane! Like I said now I'm off to bed before this all starts all over again!
Monday, 3 January 2011
Day 11 part 2: A rundown of the last few days....
Right, first and foremost.... Happy New Year! Personally I am hoping that this one is going to be life changingly fun and happy, so I wish the same for everybody else! I haven't updated this since Wednesday, so here is what has been going down over the past few days in the world of Miss Em!
Thursday I woke up feeling horrid. I hadn't been feeling particularly great all week but I woke up with pretty much no voice and a pounding head. Due to having a driving lesson, I debate whether or not to spend the day in bed, deciding to actually go on my lesson in the end as I a) have not had one for a few weeks because of work/the weather/Christmas and b) my driving test is fast approaching so I need the practice. Considering I haven't driven for a few weeks I quickly ease back into it which was quite a relief. I can't wait to be able to drive, it's going to make such a difference with work and being able to jump in the car to see the girls in Fleckney and Leicester will be brilliant!
After my lesson I'm dropped off in town where I meet Sarah for a coffee. I am supposed to be meeting her in Starbucks but it's absolutely rammed with mums, screaming kids and pushchairs, all of which wouldn't normally bother me but today I'm feeling under the weather so I call Saz and we arrange to meet at Nero instead.
I had every intention of my diet and healthy new regime starting on Thursday.... this however was not the case as instead of the peppermint tea that I was supposed to buy I get a large hot chocolate (Nero's are the best) and a piece of chocolate cheesecake to go with it costing £4.40 instead of the intended £1.50. Like I said, I wasn't feeling well so I needed something to cheer me up! We sit and talk plans for 2011, weddings, hen dos and the like until we both realise that it's about time for us both to be heading to Sainos for our provisions for new year.
My friend Danusia is holding a 'fuddle' (apparently a Nottingham word for buffet that appears to mean something completely different in the Urban Dictionary) for new year at her brand new pad in West Bridgeford and I am in charge of providing nibbles. So I head for the party food section and pick up some sausage rolls and cocktail sausages on offer two for £3.... bargain. I'm slightly worried that we won't have enough carbs to stock up on before drinking coupious amounts of wine so I also pic up two quiches for £3, some coleslaw for 67p and some olives for Jessica as she is vegan for 99p. We then head to the wine aisle as I'm very limited with what I can drink then just the one bottle will do. I pick up a bargain bottle of rose which is half price at £3.99.... score. Nush has asked me to buy peanuts too (which I hate) so on Sarah's recommendation I buy a pack of Smoked Applewood coated roasted peanuts for £1.39. My total shop comes to just over £10 and then I get £40 cash back to make sure that my spending money is sorted. After a huge hunt for cream coconut that takes us to Co-op for the curry that Sarah is making for her and Andy, we wish each other a happy new year and head off home.
That evening I pop over to see Lauren to catch up on her Christmas and everything that has happened since. So much happens in the space of a few days with us lot that obviously it warrants a whole evening of tea drinking and chocolate eating to catch up. We wanted to watch Sliding Doors but Lauren's DVD player is messing around so we spend the night chatting which is fab. Lauren is my friend who keeps me most grounded and helps me to reason things when I'm getting upset over nothing so she's a great person to talk things through with.
Friday I wake up feeling really poorly yet again.... which is rubbish! It's new years eve and I have an evening of fun planned with the girls in Nottingham to look forward to. After being told by Kate that I won't need to be ready until 5pm I decide to spend the day in bed watching DVDs to make myself feel better. As I didn't get to watch Sliding Doors with Lauren this seems like the perfect opportunity, I had forgotten just how good it is. I also prepare some rice to take to the fuddle, still slightly worried that we are not going to have enough carbs and savories to eat. I could not have been more wrong though as there's so much food it's unbelieveable!
Kate and I arrive in Bridgeford to pick Chloe up at about 6pm and head off to Nush's to start our new years debarcle. We arrive around the same time as Jess who has come down from Yorkshire and the eating/drinking debauchery starts almost straight away. Chloe has been raiding the offer section ASDA and has found tomato bread, chicken and chorizo on sticks amongst other delights for 25p. There's pizza, wedges, quiche, cheesecake (that Chloe didn't make in the end as she ate the biscuits and cream cheese) homemade brownies, sausages, peanuts, sausage rolls, mince pies, coleslaw, rice, chilli, nachos, pringles, dips and coleslaw. We sit feasting until we all feel like we're about to burst!
We have already made our way through at least three bottles of wine before Kate pulls out drinking Jenga.... things are about to get very messy as Miss Lee has prepared a jug of cocktail for the forfeits using an entire bottle of vodka! It becomes evident that this may not end well.... as I am not supposed to be mixing my drinks whilst on my tablets it is decided that my forfeit will be to drink a finger of wine and I'm quite lucky as I don't get any forfeits until I knock the entire stack over and have to down a full glass..... whoops!
We're quite happy at Nush's and decide that we won't head into Nottingham city centre to see the fireworks, but it would be quite nice to head to a bar round the corner for a drink to see in the new year. After a quick change into a glitzier outfit we're on the High Street of West Bridgeford hunting for a bar to see in the new year ending up at Copper where I spend £10 on two glasses of rose wine.
At the stroke of midnight all five of us girls are together, singinging our hearts out to Auld Lang Syne and to the accoustic set performed by a local musician which was ace. Favourites from the night include Good Riddance (Time of your life), Mr Brightside and Use Somebody. At about 1pm we head back to Nush's get into our PJs and that seems to be when absolute bedlam breaks out. As Nush and Jess go to bed, Chloe, Kate and I are left to carry on the party which got pretty messy. There was violence (Kate pushed Chloe out of the back door because we were teasing her) chair acrobatics, singing, dancing and more drinking! We finally all climbed into a double bed in the spare room at 7am and didn't even go to sleep then as we were shouting things about keyrings, singing songs from Grease and Mary Poppins and just generally wouldn't shut up!
Saturday is then a complete wash out. We wake up at 11am after 4 hours sleep and spend most of the morning/afternoon munching on pancakes and drinking tea before Kate and I leave to come back to Harborough at about 2.30pm. On the way back we decide to pay a visit to The Highcross shopping centre in Leicester. We finally arrive at around 3pm, park up only to find that no shops are open apart from Debenhams. Before we can even think about shopping, we are hungover and gagging for a MacDonalds. As Kate has driven I buy her food for her along with my own quarter pounder with cheese meal which comes to £6.50.
So we're in Debenhams and I find the most amazing dress in the Topshop area, I try it on and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately Debenhams don't accept Topshop giftcards so I am forced to leave the store without it. Here is the link to my beautiful dress which I am going to have to be without for the time being:
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2124816&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208523&parent_categoryId=203984&sort_field=Relevance&pageSize=200
So we leave sad and empty handed without my beautiful dress and for the priviledge of parking when there were no shops open the parking cost £2.50 which I offered to pay for as petrolium money.
Sunday I had every intention of going to the gym in the morning. I managed to set my alarm, get ready and even walk out of the front door to go, when I realised that I actually still didn't feel 100% so back to bed I went for a few hours until it was time to head over to Kim's for her games party.
Stephen was picking us all up from Jo's to head on over. As Jo lives above Londis I thought I'd take the opportunity to buy some cookies and chocolate fingers as a contribution to the little spread that I knew Kim was putting on, I also needed batteries for my camera so I spent £4.47 in total.
When we got there, Kim had laid out a beautiful spread of chocolates, cupcakes, Christmas cake, sausage rolls, crisps, dips and her world class scones with jam and cream! We spent all afternoon playing Articulate, Outburst and Bedlam while muching our way through the feast that had been put on for us and drinking lots and lots of tea. Very soon the Wii Sing and Dance on Broadway came out and as threatre people our inner exhibitionists came out as we battled against each other in tournaments. We were having such a great time that we didn't even realise that it was nearly 10pm and time to go home. I spent the rest of the evening watching Mary Poppins whilst cleaning my room, putting the washing on and tidying the house.
This brings us on to today which has been incredibly quiet. Again I'd set my alarm for 10am so to wake me to go to the gym. I'd already said to Becci yesterday that I would go and so I couldn't back out now. As this is my last lay in before I go back to work I really want to savour my bed.... so I lay there for another hour watching One Tree Hill, enjoying every single minute before having to leave the house to meet Becci at the gym at 11.30am. We then spend two hours working out to burn our 800 calories, then going on to do what felt like a million crunches before finally leaving at around 1.30pm. I may have bought a Twix on my way out for 70p as I didn't have any breakfast before leaving the house.
The rest of the afternoon has been spent watching Grease, Hollyoaks and Police Academy 2 and I am now off to do yet more cleaning, washing and tidying up the kitchen. I really know how to live! To be honest though, I'm quite happy of the quiet time as it's back to reality tomorrow!
Thursday I woke up feeling horrid. I hadn't been feeling particularly great all week but I woke up with pretty much no voice and a pounding head. Due to having a driving lesson, I debate whether or not to spend the day in bed, deciding to actually go on my lesson in the end as I a) have not had one for a few weeks because of work/the weather/Christmas and b) my driving test is fast approaching so I need the practice. Considering I haven't driven for a few weeks I quickly ease back into it which was quite a relief. I can't wait to be able to drive, it's going to make such a difference with work and being able to jump in the car to see the girls in Fleckney and Leicester will be brilliant!
After my lesson I'm dropped off in town where I meet Sarah for a coffee. I am supposed to be meeting her in Starbucks but it's absolutely rammed with mums, screaming kids and pushchairs, all of which wouldn't normally bother me but today I'm feeling under the weather so I call Saz and we arrange to meet at Nero instead.
I had every intention of my diet and healthy new regime starting on Thursday.... this however was not the case as instead of the peppermint tea that I was supposed to buy I get a large hot chocolate (Nero's are the best) and a piece of chocolate cheesecake to go with it costing £4.40 instead of the intended £1.50. Like I said, I wasn't feeling well so I needed something to cheer me up! We sit and talk plans for 2011, weddings, hen dos and the like until we both realise that it's about time for us both to be heading to Sainos for our provisions for new year.
My friend Danusia is holding a 'fuddle' (apparently a Nottingham word for buffet that appears to mean something completely different in the Urban Dictionary) for new year at her brand new pad in West Bridgeford and I am in charge of providing nibbles. So I head for the party food section and pick up some sausage rolls and cocktail sausages on offer two for £3.... bargain. I'm slightly worried that we won't have enough carbs to stock up on before drinking coupious amounts of wine so I also pic up two quiches for £3, some coleslaw for 67p and some olives for Jessica as she is vegan for 99p. We then head to the wine aisle as I'm very limited with what I can drink then just the one bottle will do. I pick up a bargain bottle of rose which is half price at £3.99.... score. Nush has asked me to buy peanuts too (which I hate) so on Sarah's recommendation I buy a pack of Smoked Applewood coated roasted peanuts for £1.39. My total shop comes to just over £10 and then I get £40 cash back to make sure that my spending money is sorted. After a huge hunt for cream coconut that takes us to Co-op for the curry that Sarah is making for her and Andy, we wish each other a happy new year and head off home.
That evening I pop over to see Lauren to catch up on her Christmas and everything that has happened since. So much happens in the space of a few days with us lot that obviously it warrants a whole evening of tea drinking and chocolate eating to catch up. We wanted to watch Sliding Doors but Lauren's DVD player is messing around so we spend the night chatting which is fab. Lauren is my friend who keeps me most grounded and helps me to reason things when I'm getting upset over nothing so she's a great person to talk things through with.
Friday I wake up feeling really poorly yet again.... which is rubbish! It's new years eve and I have an evening of fun planned with the girls in Nottingham to look forward to. After being told by Kate that I won't need to be ready until 5pm I decide to spend the day in bed watching DVDs to make myself feel better. As I didn't get to watch Sliding Doors with Lauren this seems like the perfect opportunity, I had forgotten just how good it is. I also prepare some rice to take to the fuddle, still slightly worried that we are not going to have enough carbs and savories to eat. I could not have been more wrong though as there's so much food it's unbelieveable!
Kate and I arrive in Bridgeford to pick Chloe up at about 6pm and head off to Nush's to start our new years debarcle. We arrive around the same time as Jess who has come down from Yorkshire and the eating/drinking debauchery starts almost straight away. Chloe has been raiding the offer section ASDA and has found tomato bread, chicken and chorizo on sticks amongst other delights for 25p. There's pizza, wedges, quiche, cheesecake (that Chloe didn't make in the end as she ate the biscuits and cream cheese) homemade brownies, sausages, peanuts, sausage rolls, mince pies, coleslaw, rice, chilli, nachos, pringles, dips and coleslaw. We sit feasting until we all feel like we're about to burst!
We have already made our way through at least three bottles of wine before Kate pulls out drinking Jenga.... things are about to get very messy as Miss Lee has prepared a jug of cocktail for the forfeits using an entire bottle of vodka! It becomes evident that this may not end well.... as I am not supposed to be mixing my drinks whilst on my tablets it is decided that my forfeit will be to drink a finger of wine and I'm quite lucky as I don't get any forfeits until I knock the entire stack over and have to down a full glass..... whoops!
We're quite happy at Nush's and decide that we won't head into Nottingham city centre to see the fireworks, but it would be quite nice to head to a bar round the corner for a drink to see in the new year. After a quick change into a glitzier outfit we're on the High Street of West Bridgeford hunting for a bar to see in the new year ending up at Copper where I spend £10 on two glasses of rose wine.
At the stroke of midnight all five of us girls are together, singinging our hearts out to Auld Lang Syne and to the accoustic set performed by a local musician which was ace. Favourites from the night include Good Riddance (Time of your life), Mr Brightside and Use Somebody. At about 1pm we head back to Nush's get into our PJs and that seems to be when absolute bedlam breaks out. As Nush and Jess go to bed, Chloe, Kate and I are left to carry on the party which got pretty messy. There was violence (Kate pushed Chloe out of the back door because we were teasing her) chair acrobatics, singing, dancing and more drinking! We finally all climbed into a double bed in the spare room at 7am and didn't even go to sleep then as we were shouting things about keyrings, singing songs from Grease and Mary Poppins and just generally wouldn't shut up!
Saturday is then a complete wash out. We wake up at 11am after 4 hours sleep and spend most of the morning/afternoon munching on pancakes and drinking tea before Kate and I leave to come back to Harborough at about 2.30pm. On the way back we decide to pay a visit to The Highcross shopping centre in Leicester. We finally arrive at around 3pm, park up only to find that no shops are open apart from Debenhams. Before we can even think about shopping, we are hungover and gagging for a MacDonalds. As Kate has driven I buy her food for her along with my own quarter pounder with cheese meal which comes to £6.50.
So we're in Debenhams and I find the most amazing dress in the Topshop area, I try it on and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately Debenhams don't accept Topshop giftcards so I am forced to leave the store without it. Here is the link to my beautiful dress which I am going to have to be without for the time being:
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2124816&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208523&parent_categoryId=203984&sort_field=Relevance&pageSize=200
So we leave sad and empty handed without my beautiful dress and for the priviledge of parking when there were no shops open the parking cost £2.50 which I offered to pay for as petrolium money.
Sunday I had every intention of going to the gym in the morning. I managed to set my alarm, get ready and even walk out of the front door to go, when I realised that I actually still didn't feel 100% so back to bed I went for a few hours until it was time to head over to Kim's for her games party.
Stephen was picking us all up from Jo's to head on over. As Jo lives above Londis I thought I'd take the opportunity to buy some cookies and chocolate fingers as a contribution to the little spread that I knew Kim was putting on, I also needed batteries for my camera so I spent £4.47 in total.
When we got there, Kim had laid out a beautiful spread of chocolates, cupcakes, Christmas cake, sausage rolls, crisps, dips and her world class scones with jam and cream! We spent all afternoon playing Articulate, Outburst and Bedlam while muching our way through the feast that had been put on for us and drinking lots and lots of tea. Very soon the Wii Sing and Dance on Broadway came out and as threatre people our inner exhibitionists came out as we battled against each other in tournaments. We were having such a great time that we didn't even realise that it was nearly 10pm and time to go home. I spent the rest of the evening watching Mary Poppins whilst cleaning my room, putting the washing on and tidying the house.
This brings us on to today which has been incredibly quiet. Again I'd set my alarm for 10am so to wake me to go to the gym. I'd already said to Becci yesterday that I would go and so I couldn't back out now. As this is my last lay in before I go back to work I really want to savour my bed.... so I lay there for another hour watching One Tree Hill, enjoying every single minute before having to leave the house to meet Becci at the gym at 11.30am. We then spend two hours working out to burn our 800 calories, then going on to do what felt like a million crunches before finally leaving at around 1.30pm. I may have bought a Twix on my way out for 70p as I didn't have any breakfast before leaving the house.
The rest of the afternoon has been spent watching Grease, Hollyoaks and Police Academy 2 and I am now off to do yet more cleaning, washing and tidying up the kitchen. I really know how to live! To be honest though, I'm quite happy of the quiet time as it's back to reality tomorrow!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Day 6 part 2: A morning of fasting!
Whilst I've been off I appear to have been particularly stupid and have forgotten to turn off my alarm that usually wakes me up at 7.15am for work. So this morning my alarm goes off, leaving me wide awake.... incredibly annoying when you haven't actually got to be anywhere for a few hours. Despite the fact that I have eaten my body weight at Saz's the night before I am absolutely starving.
Under any normal circumstances I would potter on downstairs and make some toast to take back to bed or raid the remaining Christmas chocs that we haven't already scoffed. However, this is not the case today as I am due to have my monthly blood test at the hospital and am therefore allowed to eat nothing! You can actually go down for blood to be taken from 8.15am-11am but I haven't arranged to meet Nicola for lunch until 12noon so I figure there's no point in me going into town only to come back again.... or even worse spend lots of time loitering around the shops and all my money with it. So I sit in bed watching whatever happens to be on E4.... luckily it's One Tree Hill, 90210 and Friends, all of which I love.
I soon decide that it's about time I got out of bed and get myself sorted to go down into town so to get my day started I whack a bit of Cee Lo Green on, the not so family version of Forget You is a belter to get a girl going in the morning! Once I'm ready, after a lot of faffing as I tend to forget that I'm supposed to be getting ready to go out and start watching TV again, I finally leave the house and trot on down at quite a pace to the hospital as by this time it's 10.30am and I only have half an hour before they won't take my blood anymore.
I get there with 10 minutes to spare. The weather seems to have warmed up a lot so by the time I arrive I am absolutely boiling and my once straight hair is sporting and windswept, wavy, weathered look that I can't even pass off as planned because of the good old British drizzle!
I soon get called into the nurses office for my test. Despite becoming a human pin cushion for the course of a week last year when I was ill, I don't think I will ever get used to needles. I have to look away as the nurse takes my blood, feeling just a sharp scratch and a sting as she takes the needle out.
I'm given my next prescription for my Roaccutane and I go on my way into town. The sensible girl that I am, I am carrying a huge handbag which in true Emma style is full of thing that I don't really need, I just seem to carry them around. I try to carry this in the hand of the arm which the blood has just been taken and then realise that this isn't a good idea quickly swapping to my right shoulder instead. My arm feels bruised and my left hand seems to have pins and needles so I wiggle my fingers to get the blood circulating again. I hate the after effect of blood tests.
I visit Mercury News to grab myself a chocolate bar and a bottle of water, as I still have another half an hour before I have to meet Nicola. I buy two bottles of Evian as they are two for £1 and a bar of Galaxy as by this time I am absolutely starving for 69p. Munching away on said chocolate bar I then head to Boots to get my prescription. The pharmacist there is super efficient and literally takes two seconds to put my prescription together. I pay the £7.20 and quickly leave before I start looking at makeup and lovely smellies!
Now, as I found out at Saz's yesterday, she already has the new Take That album Progress that I bought for her birthday so off to Sainsbury's I go to take it back. After waiting ages for anybody to serve me and being chatted up by a man who told me he was old enough to be my grandad at which I laugh politely and try to look in another direction, I get the £9.99 put back into my account (for the time being) and go for a quick wander around town before I go to meet Nic.
I don't buy a single thing yet again and head to Enigma to meet Nic. It's really lovely to see her and catch up over a spot of lunch. We both got for the chilli con carne on the two for £10 menu and I have an Appletiser and a glass of tap water to drink, so my bill comes to £6.30. We chat about Christmas, our plans for new year and 2011 in general which is lovely as we don't see each other often. Once we've finished our dinner we decide that it's a good idea to check out (for the second time for me) the Accessorize sale.
Again, all the beautiful accessories are sparkling away in front of me and I want to buy them all! My handbag is still in there too, but I resist the temptation as we decide that turquoise doesn't go with my coat. If I won the lottery I would own the entire shop.... but as this is still yet to happen I leave empty handed. I say goodbye to Nic and pop into Wilkinson to see my mum before I trot off home, as I am still not feeling very well.
The rest of the afternoon, which I had planned to be incredibly productive, is spent wrapped up in my IKEA blanket with a cup of tea watching The Devil Wears Prada in an attempt to feel better. What I thought yesterday was a bug on my chest has now turned into a very sore throat and a headache. By the time my folks return home I've pretty much lost my voice, something that they find hilarious!
I still manage in the evening to make it to Jo's which is only two minutes down the road with a selection of DVDs in tow where I find her, Stephen and Phil already sat watching season 1 of Miranda. It's the episode where Miranda goes on holiday to the local hotel in their town, absolutely hilarious! The episode finishes and they decide that they want to save the rest for another day so we watch The Ugly Truth, a film which I think is absolutely brilliant as I a) love Gerard Butler and b) am a child and appreciate a bit of toilet humour.
After the film has finished and we have finished perving on the rugged manliness of Gerard Butler (or Jo and I have, obviously Phil wasn't and Stephen fancied the Doctor bloke) we sit and have a wee bit of a chat while Friends plays in the background. At about 10.30pm we all realise that we're actually quite tired and decide to call it a night. So off I trot home, straight to bed to watch The Big Bang Theory in bed. I very quickly get bored of this and fall asleep listening to Jimmy Eat World's beautiful track Drugs or Me.
Under any normal circumstances I would potter on downstairs and make some toast to take back to bed or raid the remaining Christmas chocs that we haven't already scoffed. However, this is not the case today as I am due to have my monthly blood test at the hospital and am therefore allowed to eat nothing! You can actually go down for blood to be taken from 8.15am-11am but I haven't arranged to meet Nicola for lunch until 12noon so I figure there's no point in me going into town only to come back again.... or even worse spend lots of time loitering around the shops and all my money with it. So I sit in bed watching whatever happens to be on E4.... luckily it's One Tree Hill, 90210 and Friends, all of which I love.
I soon decide that it's about time I got out of bed and get myself sorted to go down into town so to get my day started I whack a bit of Cee Lo Green on, the not so family version of Forget You is a belter to get a girl going in the morning! Once I'm ready, after a lot of faffing as I tend to forget that I'm supposed to be getting ready to go out and start watching TV again, I finally leave the house and trot on down at quite a pace to the hospital as by this time it's 10.30am and I only have half an hour before they won't take my blood anymore.
I get there with 10 minutes to spare. The weather seems to have warmed up a lot so by the time I arrive I am absolutely boiling and my once straight hair is sporting and windswept, wavy, weathered look that I can't even pass off as planned because of the good old British drizzle!
I soon get called into the nurses office for my test. Despite becoming a human pin cushion for the course of a week last year when I was ill, I don't think I will ever get used to needles. I have to look away as the nurse takes my blood, feeling just a sharp scratch and a sting as she takes the needle out.
I'm given my next prescription for my Roaccutane and I go on my way into town. The sensible girl that I am, I am carrying a huge handbag which in true Emma style is full of thing that I don't really need, I just seem to carry them around. I try to carry this in the hand of the arm which the blood has just been taken and then realise that this isn't a good idea quickly swapping to my right shoulder instead. My arm feels bruised and my left hand seems to have pins and needles so I wiggle my fingers to get the blood circulating again. I hate the after effect of blood tests.
I visit Mercury News to grab myself a chocolate bar and a bottle of water, as I still have another half an hour before I have to meet Nicola. I buy two bottles of Evian as they are two for £1 and a bar of Galaxy as by this time I am absolutely starving for 69p. Munching away on said chocolate bar I then head to Boots to get my prescription. The pharmacist there is super efficient and literally takes two seconds to put my prescription together. I pay the £7.20 and quickly leave before I start looking at makeup and lovely smellies!
Now, as I found out at Saz's yesterday, she already has the new Take That album Progress that I bought for her birthday so off to Sainsbury's I go to take it back. After waiting ages for anybody to serve me and being chatted up by a man who told me he was old enough to be my grandad at which I laugh politely and try to look in another direction, I get the £9.99 put back into my account (for the time being) and go for a quick wander around town before I go to meet Nic.
I don't buy a single thing yet again and head to Enigma to meet Nic. It's really lovely to see her and catch up over a spot of lunch. We both got for the chilli con carne on the two for £10 menu and I have an Appletiser and a glass of tap water to drink, so my bill comes to £6.30. We chat about Christmas, our plans for new year and 2011 in general which is lovely as we don't see each other often. Once we've finished our dinner we decide that it's a good idea to check out (for the second time for me) the Accessorize sale.
Again, all the beautiful accessories are sparkling away in front of me and I want to buy them all! My handbag is still in there too, but I resist the temptation as we decide that turquoise doesn't go with my coat. If I won the lottery I would own the entire shop.... but as this is still yet to happen I leave empty handed. I say goodbye to Nic and pop into Wilkinson to see my mum before I trot off home, as I am still not feeling very well.
The rest of the afternoon, which I had planned to be incredibly productive, is spent wrapped up in my IKEA blanket with a cup of tea watching The Devil Wears Prada in an attempt to feel better. What I thought yesterday was a bug on my chest has now turned into a very sore throat and a headache. By the time my folks return home I've pretty much lost my voice, something that they find hilarious!
I still manage in the evening to make it to Jo's which is only two minutes down the road with a selection of DVDs in tow where I find her, Stephen and Phil already sat watching season 1 of Miranda. It's the episode where Miranda goes on holiday to the local hotel in their town, absolutely hilarious! The episode finishes and they decide that they want to save the rest for another day so we watch The Ugly Truth, a film which I think is absolutely brilliant as I a) love Gerard Butler and b) am a child and appreciate a bit of toilet humour.
After the film has finished and we have finished perving on the rugged manliness of Gerard Butler (or Jo and I have, obviously Phil wasn't and Stephen fancied the Doctor bloke) we sit and have a wee bit of a chat while Friends plays in the background. At about 10.30pm we all realise that we're actually quite tired and decide to call it a night. So off I trot home, straight to bed to watch The Big Bang Theory in bed. I very quickly get bored of this and fall asleep listening to Jimmy Eat World's beautiful track Drugs or Me.
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Bank holiday Tuesday.... not so restrained!
Can I just start by saying that I think that we should have double-wammy bank holidays all the time.... I am quite enjoying being a lady of leisure and I still have the majority of a week off! It's wonderful!
So over the Christmas period I have pretty much eaten my body weight.... as is only right for one to do so at this time of year! I would like to say that as per usual at Christmas I have also turned my bloodstream to rose wine, this would however be incorrect this year with the exception of the carnage that occurred on Christmas Eve. With the excessive calories consumed I felt it only right that I should pay a trip to the gymnasium, especially as I didn't quite make it there on Monday!
I really enjoy going to the gym.... I used to be one of these people who ate rubbish and didn't exercise at all but that all changed last year and now I really am quite addicted! I go to the Leisure Centre at least 4 or 5 times per week now to attend one form of class or another. Today however, I am feeling so frustrated. I am feeling weaker than usual and unable to train as well as normal as I can feel a bug coming on my chest! I really loathe being ill, it's such an inconvenience as I'm always busy. I can usually run for half an hour none stop, but today I struggle to do 25 minutes! I find this so irritating, especially as I want to train to do the Great North Run in 2011. Frustrated by my lack of ability today, I eventually tire and go home. Lauren is picking me up at 1pm as we are going to see Gulliver's Travels.
For once in my entire life I am actually ready on time. My time keeping is rubbish and I am usually late for everything that isn't work. When Loz picks me up, Jen and Dave are already in the car. We spend the journey chatting about our Christmas, Lauren's birthday, what we got, where we've been and what happened. Lauren, Jen and I haven't seen each other for a week which is a very rare occurrence.
When we get to the cinema I am absolutely starving so when I buy my ticket to see the film I also order a cinema hot dog (being the classy bird that I am) and a bottle of water. This all comes to the horrifying total of £14.60. Luckily, as a huge fan of Jack Black I loved the movie so it was all worth it.
On our way back to Harborough, none of us have to be anywhere until later on that evening so we decide that we should go for a wee beverage in The Cherry Tree. So I get Jen and myself a drink each (a j2O and an Appletiser) and a packet of crisps each which comes to the balue of £5.25. We spend the afternoon chatting until it's time to go home to get myself sorted to go round to Sarah's.
So off I trot home stopping by Sainsbury's on the way to get a few nibbles for the girl's night in we have planned at Sarah's. The nibbles together with a few other bits that I needed to buy, including a CD (whoops!) all come to the total of £20.94. A sizable amount that I should be a little ashamed of.
The evening is spent at Saz's drinking water and juice on mine and Sarah's parts following a rather debauched weekend, while Sarah and Cath sit drinking wine. The nibbles go down incredibly well as we watch the copy of Sex and the City 2 that I bought Sarah for Christmas. Like I said, I have eaten my bodyweight over Christmas and tonight is no exception. By the time we leave Sarah's pretty much all of the food, bar some of the kettle chips has disappeared! But I can honestly say that it was all worth it for an evening of true girliness as I love evenings with Saz, Sarah and Cath!
So over the Christmas period I have pretty much eaten my body weight.... as is only right for one to do so at this time of year! I would like to say that as per usual at Christmas I have also turned my bloodstream to rose wine, this would however be incorrect this year with the exception of the carnage that occurred on Christmas Eve. With the excessive calories consumed I felt it only right that I should pay a trip to the gymnasium, especially as I didn't quite make it there on Monday!
I really enjoy going to the gym.... I used to be one of these people who ate rubbish and didn't exercise at all but that all changed last year and now I really am quite addicted! I go to the Leisure Centre at least 4 or 5 times per week now to attend one form of class or another. Today however, I am feeling so frustrated. I am feeling weaker than usual and unable to train as well as normal as I can feel a bug coming on my chest! I really loathe being ill, it's such an inconvenience as I'm always busy. I can usually run for half an hour none stop, but today I struggle to do 25 minutes! I find this so irritating, especially as I want to train to do the Great North Run in 2011. Frustrated by my lack of ability today, I eventually tire and go home. Lauren is picking me up at 1pm as we are going to see Gulliver's Travels.
For once in my entire life I am actually ready on time. My time keeping is rubbish and I am usually late for everything that isn't work. When Loz picks me up, Jen and Dave are already in the car. We spend the journey chatting about our Christmas, Lauren's birthday, what we got, where we've been and what happened. Lauren, Jen and I haven't seen each other for a week which is a very rare occurrence.
When we get to the cinema I am absolutely starving so when I buy my ticket to see the film I also order a cinema hot dog (being the classy bird that I am) and a bottle of water. This all comes to the horrifying total of £14.60. Luckily, as a huge fan of Jack Black I loved the movie so it was all worth it.
On our way back to Harborough, none of us have to be anywhere until later on that evening so we decide that we should go for a wee beverage in The Cherry Tree. So I get Jen and myself a drink each (a j2O and an Appletiser) and a packet of crisps each which comes to the balue of £5.25. We spend the afternoon chatting until it's time to go home to get myself sorted to go round to Sarah's.
So off I trot home stopping by Sainsbury's on the way to get a few nibbles for the girl's night in we have planned at Sarah's. The nibbles together with a few other bits that I needed to buy, including a CD (whoops!) all come to the total of £20.94. A sizable amount that I should be a little ashamed of.
The evening is spent at Saz's drinking water and juice on mine and Sarah's parts following a rather debauched weekend, while Sarah and Cath sit drinking wine. The nibbles go down incredibly well as we watch the copy of Sex and the City 2 that I bought Sarah for Christmas. Like I said, I have eaten my bodyweight over Christmas and tonight is no exception. By the time we leave Sarah's pretty much all of the food, bar some of the kettle chips has disappeared! But I can honestly say that it was all worth it for an evening of true girliness as I love evenings with Saz, Sarah and Cath!
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