- You’ll have to excuse my absence for the last couple of weeks. The day after I last blogged, I found myself on the train to London to escape things for 24 hours and also to see the awesome, Lisa. We spent a lot of time walking around seeing the sights (that’s she’s already seen numerous times!), eating good food and generally enjoying each others company. I needed it and I’m glad I went. Hopefully I’ll be doing it again sometime in October but for two nights this time. 24 hours wasn’t long enough and I am determined to go for a run in London with her before she leaves! I still have photos of my trip to sort through and I will do it eventually.
- I have been for yet another appointment at Warrington college and also an assessment at Manchester college. I have decided that if I get offered a place at Warrington I will grab it with both hands because I have to go through so many difference processes to get funding for Manchester that I don’t even know if I will have time to do it. I should hear from Warrington this week and if I haven’t recieved a phone call or letter by Friday afternoon, I will be making a call to find out what’s happening. If I get a place then I start on Monday 6th September. Fingers crossed for me.
- I ran this morning for the first time in two weeks. Since I ran the 7 miler, I just haven’t been out at all. Well that’s a lie, I did 20 minutes last Tuesday but that doesn’t really count as I didn’t make much of an effort and the rest of the week was thrown away. Meghan is off school for the summer now but I am determined not to miss another running session.
- I’ve dropped P90X too because I just don’t have the energy to keep up with it. I love the way my body looks and feels after a few weeks of it but I can only do so much. After today, I’ve realised that the reason I am so tired is because I just can’t keep up with working out so much. I ran 4 miles this morning and by 3PM, I was desperate for a sleep. I just don’t have the time or the option to sleep in the day because I have Meghan to take care of and so I am just sticking at my running for now. I know I should be doing weights too because it really does help towards my running performance but I can’t do it all. Things are going to get even harder once I start college and even though this half marathon is important, I need to concentrate on everything else too.
- We all went to see Toy Story 3 on Sunday. I’m not sure who was more excited – me and Alex or the kids! I really loved it. It was quite emotional at times and I found myself wanting to burst into tears more than once. I think Meghan is still too young for the cinema because she kept getting up to use the bathroom and between me and Alex, we both missed parts. I might leave it for another year or so before we go again to see if things improve with her.
- Alex and I are on a bit of a movie bug right now. Like I said, we watched Toy Story 3 on Sunday and last night we watched Shutter Island. We both really enjoyed it and it left us guessing right up until it finished which I loved. Tomorrow night we’re going to see Inception together so I guess it’ll be classed as date night! We’re riding up there on our bikes because although the buses are regular on our way there, they will have stopped running on the way back. It’ll save us taxi fare and the exercise will do us good! It’s around 4 miles each way so it’s a distance but I ran that this morning so it’s not out of reach! We’re both really looking forward to it and it’ll be nice to finally make use of Orange Wednesdays!
- I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love over the weekend. I don’t really have much of an opinion on it which doesn’t really say a lot. One minutes I really enjoyed it (I never loved it) and the next minute I couldn’t stand it. I hate it when I’m undecided with a book like that. I did start on Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult but its due back at the library on Friday with no chance of renewing it because someone else is waiting for it so I’m just going to return it tomorrow. I’m unsure of what to read but it’ll be something from my summer reading list. I have been swaying away from it because of these library books I keep getting but I want to get back onto it. Summer is quickly disappearing as the weather has already proven.
- I have a wedding on Saturday and I’m a little bit stressed out about it. I know I will be fine and everything will go as it should do but I can’t help but panic over it. It’ll be my first time with bride in the morning rather than the groom too so there are a few new things that I’ll be faced with but again, I’ll be fine. I’ll let you know how it goes.
- I have been trying to make use of all the summer clothes sales that are on right now. I bought Meghan a new outfit two weeks ago and I have bought myself two t-shirts and a pair of jeans – for £7! I’m picking things up every week until the sales have finished so hopefully I have at least one more week to get something for either myself or Meghan. It’s Alex’s 30th birthday a week on Saturday so I might see what I can get for him too. Cheaper birthday presents means MORE birthday presents!
- Before I started this blog, I was on the phone to my friend Suzi for almost two hours. Meghan and myself are taking a visit to stay with her and her mum three weeks from today and we’re all really excited about it. The last time I was up there I was six months pregnant so it shows how long its been! She comes and visits me at least once a year but it’ll be nice for us to go to her. I think our 3.5 days will be filled with shopping and visits to the beach as well as spoiling her puppy who I can’t wait to photograph! I think when I get home I will edit, print and frame a photo of him and send it back up to them as a gift for having us both.
Ten Things On a Tuesday: 031
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Reevaluating Life
I went into college yesterday to meet with one of the women on the welfare team to talk about what I thought was to do with me getting funding for the course and it turned into something completely different. Because of a situation I don’t want to get into about my past, it looks like my chances of becoming an English teacher is pretty much zero. I am devastated to be honest and even though I picked myself back up again yesterday, this morning I woke up feeling worse than I ever. The only way I can describe it is that I felt completely lost with no clue what I was supposed to do next.
College told me they have no problem with me carrying on with my application to the course, its just something they needed to make me aware of before I found out the hard way – in my final year at university when I would have been about to apply for my PGCE. I’ve decided to carry on the way I planned out which is going to college for a year and then on to university for another three years. The rules may change in between these times and it may work out that I am able to become a teacher after all. If not, a degree in English Literature will give me a lot of options when it comes to career choices and again, if the rules change five years after that, then I will go back to university and become a teacher then.
I’m trying not to dwell on things too much because there is NOTHING I can do to change it and me being depressed about it isn’t going to make it all go away. Its made me think about other things in my life that I want to do that I just need to do before I regret it.
Life definitely throws some obstacles in your way at times. You just need to learn how to step over them.
Ten Things On a Tuesday: 030
- I ran 7 miles on Sunday morning. Only six more to add onto that before I do a full half marathon.
- I have another appointment at college in the morning to discuss financial help I can get. I have yet another one next week for childcare funding and then one at Manchester the following day.
- I gained weight and inches this week on my workout plan but I think it was a combination of me eating too much (2800 calories on Saturday – let me die of shame right now) and it being that time of the month. Also, both P90X and me running so much will gain a lot of muscle. I’m hoping next Monday I have a lot better results. Only four weeks until Alex’s birthday!
- There has been a skirt on the Topshop website that I have been lusting after for months now but I just haven’t been able to afford it as it was £35. I have been checking every couple of weeks to see if it ever went into the sale when I looked on Monday night it was! For only £15! I snapped it up right away and will wear it for Alex’s birthday and wear the dress for my sister’s birthday the following week. The best thing about it was that I had just the right amount of money in Paypal so it didn’t even cost me a thing! I can’t wait for it to arrive.
- As well as trying to get myself fit, I’m also on a mission to get Daxter fitter too. When I took him to the vets a couple of weeks ago, I weighed him on the scales and he is a lot more overweight than I initially thought. I looked around online to see how much exercise a beagle should get on average and I found out that it should be between an hour to an hour and a half. I’m unhappy to admit that he usually gets around 20 minutes a day and we rush it because we just want it out of the way. We’ve upped it to around 35-40 minutes per day now and by that time he’s quite tired. I plan to have him up to an hour by this time next month. He’s being a lot more well behaved with having longer walks which is always a big plus.
- I’m currently reading Eat, Pray, Love as I saw the trailer for the film when I saw Sex and the City 2 and it looked pretty good. I’ve seen it around obviously since its pretty much everywhere but it never really appealed to me. I’m around 100 pages in and I’m really enjoying it. Its a lot more girly than I would normally read but I’m glad I picked it up.
- I’m a lot more active on Spark People again recently. I need to track my calories right now because like I said earlier, I’m struggling a bit. I’m three days into tracking again and I’ve improved significantly. Tomorrow is day four – the day I find the hardest to stay on track. I’m hoping I can do it.
- I was supposed to be going to see Eclipse tomorrow night but Alex is working so I’m hoping to go next week. I usually wait until they come out on DVD but my sister wants to go and see it and it would be nice to see it on the big screen.
- As well is Eclipse, Alex and I are planning on taking the kids to see Shrek Ever After and Toy Story 3. Its more like me and Alex really want to go and we’re taking the kids as an excuse! To be honest, I would gladly go and see Toy Story 3 on my own! I’m so excited for it. I really cannot wait to see it and have refrained from watching it online so I can see it in 3D. I’ve never seen a 3D film before and I’m hoping its a good one.
- I keep doing this; I plan on going to bed around 9PM and before I know it, its 10PM and I still want to have time to read. I’m off to bed now with a cuppa and my book. I’m having to move my run to early afternoon tomorrow with me having to go into college early. I don’t like running later on in the day but its better than missing it.
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Exactly, Alex! Exactly!!
Me: I don’t know why I’m going to watch Eclipse.
Alex: What’s that?
Me: The Twilight series.
Alex: What’s it about?
Me: Vampires. That sparkle.
Alex: EH?!
College Interview Number 1 & Body Blast Week One Results!
I went for an interview this morning at Warrington Collegiate for an Access to Higher Education course in Humanities and Social Sciences. I went into college thinking it wasn’t the course I was hoping for and came out keeping my fingers crossed that I got offered a place! From what I read on the website when I applied for it, it was a Humanities course with a tiny bit of English in it but its basically a full English course so I’m really happy. We had a presentation followed by a initial assessment to see what level you are working at in Literacy and Numeracy. I got a Level 2/3 for Literacy and Level 1 for Numeracy. I knew I was a little rusty with my Maths but never that much! I’m sure I’ll pick it up again with the Key Skills lessons that are compulsory. I have been given a conditional place which is dependant on whether I can get the funding I need towards childcare and travel, getting a character reference and there being a place available to me. I’m really hoping that I have a place. I was told that I will definitely get childcare funding. I can deal with not having travel funding although it would help. I have another interview in two weeks at The Manchester College but right now, I’m happy with what Warrington can offer me. Even the hours that I’ll be in college are perfect as I will able to take Meghan to pre-school and pick her up again from nursery so I wouldn’t have to sort it out for someone else to pick her up.
Onto the Body Blast results! Last week my stats looked like this;
Weight: 139lbs
Body Fat %: 17.7%
Waist: 27″
Hips: 35.5″
Left Arm: 11″
Right Arm: 11″
Left Calf: 14″
Right Calf: 14″
Left Thigh: 22″
Right Thigh: 22″
Bum: 38″
And this morning they were this;
Weight: 139lbs
Body Fat %: 17.3% (0.4% loss)
Waist: 27″
Hips: 35.25″ (0.25″ loss)
Left Arm: 11″
Right Arm: 11″
Left Calf: 13.5″ (0.5″ loss)
Right Calf: 13.5″ (0.5″ loss)
Left Thigh: 21.5″ (0.5″ loss)
Right Thigh: 21″ (1″ loss)
Bum: 38″
Considering I have been eating VERY BADLY, I’m really pleased with myself! As I said to Lisa earlier, I am now lopsided with me having half an inch difference between my thighs! I must run harder on my right leg which leaves me feeling a little self conscious!
This week, I’m definitely going to eat a lot better and keep going with the workouts. I could only fit today’s workout in tonight which I finished at 10PM and right now, I’m really ready for bed. I need to have a quick shower and then climb into bed to finally finish reading Prep which I have been reading for over a month now. Goodnight everyone!
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