The Last Supper

Oh oven chips, how I love thee,

But you and me, we're just not meant to be,

It's time for us to say our goodbyes,

As truth be told, you're bad for my thighs!

That's right, it's high time I started getting a little bit more active, eating a little less convenience food, drinking a little bit more water, getting better sleep and generally being HEALTHIER! I've also come to the conclusion, that I need to go full pelt, 100%. Go cold turkey on all the bad stuff, and absolutely crazy with the exercise, otherwise I will very quickly slip back into bad habits.

I'll let you know how that takes shape!

It's all about me, me and.... me!

It's so nice to have a Saturday when there are no plans. :0)

Jon was at work (as usual!) so I had the day to myself (as usual!), but instead of having lots of errands or meetings or shopping to do, I actually had nothing on the cards! Which is great - probably as a result of me being so organised lately (see previous posts), which is gonig really well. I'm loving the whole list thing. It wasn't even my turn to do the cleaning either!

It was an aboslutely gorgeous day, I wish I had taken a picture of the clear sky to show you, and it was really warm so i went for a run (Run number two of 2009 - making progress!) and it felt soooooo good just to be outside in the warm and the sun... and there was a slight breeze so running was really comfortable. I noticed that I can run a lot further in the warm as well, it's easier to breathe!

I took my bank card with me so that I could swing my Sainsburys on the way back, and as I crossed the road who should I see in the Starbucks queue? Marcus. And who was he with? Pearl and Mark! So I went up for a pit-stop and had a nice chat (hopefully I didn't stink too much!) before heading to Sainsburys to get the food in. Came home and had the house to myself. Which was cool...... for a while.

You know, sometimes I really look forward to having the house to myself and I have loads of plans of what I might do, but then..... I do feel a little lonely. It would be nice if Jon didn't work EVERY Saturday. In fact... it's 8.55pm and he's still not home. So glad I made my own dinner!

So anyway, I ended up sorting out some bits and pieces and sorting through my craft bits and then I made these postcards. Really simple to do, but beautiful and they make a nice little gift.

I then curled up in bed and read some more of Sense and Sensibility. I'm almost at the end now and I honestly don't know what's going to happen (I'm sure I've seen a dramatisation before but can't remember the storyline at all!), so I'm excited to get to the end.

So I guess from today I'm doing well on the fitness front and also developing my personal interests, which is cool - a bit of crafting and reading are always good. Let's not talk about the budgeting....... ;0)

As for living life on the front row, last weekend was really busy but I really made an effort to go to everything and you know what? It was a really cool week! Friday was our East London regional party for church, we had a really good turnout and it's so good to see everyone progressing and a genuine community being built out in our neck of the woods.

Sunday was a great day in Church! And I wasn't tired at the end of it either. Towards the end of last year I was quite run down and I couldn't last the day in church, which is really unusual for me. But on Sunday I went from 8am on team and served for the first service and went to a team meeting, had a really nice afternoon with Jon (it's always nice to see your husband!) and then went to the 5pm service before taking a new girl out for coffee afterwards - getting home at 9pm!

On Monday, even though my trains were delayed and I was tired, I still went out for some birthday drinks and then on Tuesday, we had a team night at church and I am so glad I went because it was such a great night. Gary went back to basics and spoke a bit about why we do what we do and what's coming up for the new year, and the rest of the night was prayer for all the different areas of church, driving everything forward etc. Was a good night, although I have to admit I was REALLY tired by the end, but I survived Wednesday and it was well worth it - just goes to show that you can get over the obstacles and make the most of everything, not missing out and still travel 50 miles every day to go to work!

Updates :0)

Budget update
Saved money on different items over the weekend so any area that I had over-spent on is now evened out so we're back on track!

Jane Austen update
Loving Sense and Sensibility! Got through four chapters today! Jane Austen writes her characters so well, even though it is set hundreds of years ago I can still see aspects of her characters in people I know today. It's uncanny!

Health & Fitness update
Unfortunately I haven't managed a lot of activity as yet. I can't run around my area while it's dark so I have to leave that one for Saturdays. And the Pilates? I can honestly say I haven't been at home properly since Saturday (sometimes I feel like I just sleep here!). BUT now I'm back at work I'm drinking a lot more water which makes me feel so much better!

Being organised
I love it! I love the feeling of crossing something off my list. In fact, this evening I did such a lot of housework and worked really hard, but then when I opened my diary, none of what I had done was on my list! And I felt a bit gutted that I couldn't cross anything off! And all of this productivity at home has had an awesome effect on my work. I was dreading returning to work because we are on deadline this week and in studio with another mag so I was sure I would be rushed off my feet - not to mention I had to write a whole feature before Friday too! But then because of all my organising I felt so ready to go back to work and I went through the whole day with no distractions and finished every piece of work I had left to do! Now I just have to tie up a few loose ends and hey presto! All my work is done! I love that feeling!

Area 3: Becoming a well-rounded person

It occurred to me the other day that I don't give an awful lot of time to personal interests. I am a very task focussed person and so unless what I am doing is task-oriented, I don't tend to do it. The flip-side to this is that I waste an awful lot of time doing nothing, because I don't have any tasks, rather than doing something just for fun, just for me, so that I might develop into a more interesting, varied character.

So my next goals, are going to focus on doing things for fun. Developing personal interests.

Now, for those of you who don't know, I am a journalism graduate who studied English Language and Literature up to A-Level and achieve very good grades. What most people don't know, is that I've probably never read a classic piece of literature in my life. The closest I came is Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which we studied in A-Level English Lit. However, I skipped class a lot and to this day do not know what happened at the end of the book - I never finished it. (Thankfully, the exam question centred around the first chapter, and I got an A for that paper!).

So, now at the age of 23 in a bid to become a more well-rounded person, I have decided to rectify this terrifying fact of my life and re-educate myself in some classic literature. And where better to start, than Jane Austen? Having enjoyed the various dramatisations I at least have a starting point of knowledge, so getting my head around the style shouldn't prove to be too difficult.

I found these gorgeous new editions in Smiths the other day and couldn't resist (so now I've invested £15 I have to read them!).

I started with Sense and Sensibility 'cause that's the first one she published. I'm up to chapter 11 already, it's a bit confusing because there are several 'Miss Dashwoods' and I have to re-read paragraphs to work out which one she's referring to (why couldn't they just address each other by their first names eh?). Would love to hear what anyone else thinks of Jane Austen, I'm enjoying it so far.

But, of course, the reading doesn't stop at classic literature. I have an awful lot of other books that I am midway through. They can be seen in the background of this picture:

Destined to Reign, Joseph Prince: Joseph Prince is a Christian author / pastor / preacher who has come to speak at our church and related conferences. He has an amazing understanding of the power of grace in our relationship with God and this is his book which outlines that. I started it a while ago and haven't gone back to it. It's actually my flatmate's copy so I must finish it!

Finding Favour with the King, Tommy Tenney: Another Christian book which I got for Christmas. It's about the Biblical story of Esther - a Jewish peasant girl who is chosen to be Queen after her 'One night with this King'. She then goes on to save the Jews from persecution because maybe she was bought into the Palace 'for such a time as this'. The book uses this story to talk about what happens when you find favour with the King and the long process of preparation that goes before that 'one night'. It's the type of book that you read in small chunks, just so you 'get it'. So I'm now up to chapter 3.

Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales, Edited by Kari Cornell: I got this book from work when we has a massive clear out. It's a collection of essays by various writers who have been impacted by or have special memories of knitting. How it's helped them etc. I'm probably about half way through, but it's the type of book where you can pick up where you left off because you just start a new story. Fun and amusing.

Classic Christianity, Bob George: We have been reading this book as a church. It goes right back to basics about Christianity and the foundations of the faith. The author talks from his own experiences starting from when he was working so hard in ministry that he burned out and forgot what it's actually all about - God! It's a great reality check and also great for new Christians who have a lot of questions.

The Message, Eugene H. Peterson: This is kind of an ongoing project! It's the Bible in contemporary language. Sometimes you read sections of a traditional Bible and you're just like "huh?", but then you read the same passage in the Message and it really comes alive and you totally get what it's saying and the spirit in which it was said. This one will definitely always be on my bedside table to be read alongside my normal Bible.

So.... Goals:

- To read all of Jane Austen's books and then move on to other classics. (Sense and Sensibility - read!)

- To finish reading the other books on this list.

- To read a bit of The Message daily.

- To enjoy all of them!

Health and Fitness update:

I managed a 10minute Pilates this morning before I went out. My legs are aching from yesterday's run - I love that achey feeling!

Budgeting Update:

Ok, so I havn't quite stuck to it what with a couple of things that needed to be spent - but there is some spare cash for those occasions so nothing to worry about. I did get to go shopping for free today though and spend all those lovely Christmas gift vouchers. I came away with a new pair of jeans, some cord trousers and a new jumper and I only had to spend £12! Plus, there's more vouchers to be spent once the crappy end of the sales are over.

I also went to the bank and reduced my student overdraft limit by £50! It might not seem like much but this a big occasion for me, I've been out of Uni for 18 months now and this was the first time I had the courage to reduce it! Every little helps! I'm aiming to do that every month now - I'm hoping to actually pay off more than that, but by reducing the actual limit means I can't delve back into it when times are tight. It's all progress ladies and gentlemen!

health and fitness update - getting going

Happy New Year everyone! I kicked off 2009 with a morning run. I was a bit wary of the cold and debated for a while on the suitability of my limited running gere but when I got outside it was quite mild (cold snap? what's that?). I ran / walked for about 30mins which I thought was ok given it's my first workout for over 6 weeks and my first outside workout for ohhhhh, I dread to think!

I also had a brain wave! When I was doing the SITC programme I took a couple of pilates classes which I really enjoyed and found to really help - ok so my insides (the 'core') didn't know what had hit them but it was good, honest.

Now rather than finding a class which I know I'll never go to, I had thought about buying a DVD, but one of my goals is Budgeting and Finance (more on that later) so this month the pennies won't stretch that far...... so the next best thing? Youtube!

Here's a 10 minute workout I found just now - it's split into two seperate films but you get the idea:



I just need to find a spare 10 minutes in my day when no one else is around to have a go! I'll keep you updated on that.

Area 1 - Health and Fitness

Ok, so the first area of my life which needs a bit of a kick-start is my health. Back in October I took part in a London-based programme called Sweat in the City. I basically got a three month gym membership free and just had to feed back to the organisers on what I did and didn't enjoy.

I really got a lot out of the programme but towards the end I fell off the wagon, slipped out of my routine and never went again! (Ooops!). However, exercising more seems to have kickstarted my metabolism which, if I'm scientifically correct, means that I have to exercise more to avoid piling on the pounds. And I'm now noticing that my jeans are a little on the tight side - no it's not just the post-Christmas bulge either!

I know that I wouldn't be able to maintain a gym membership so I'm not about to waste my precious pennies signing up. However, I've decided to start running again. I won't put any grand targets and plans down because I suffer greatly from the guilt factor if I slip up. So I'm hoping if I go little and often that I will just slip into a natural routine that will amount to three times a week on average...... good plan? We'll see, I'll be logging everything on here so you can check on my progress (and give me a kick up the bum when needed!).

So now, to dig out my dusty trainers!

Goals

- To go running at least once a week, never feeling guilty if I miss a session but starting small and working up from there.

- To keep reading magazines like Zest and Health and Fitness, keeping the topic at the forefront of my mind and so beng healthier simply by 'osmosis' - it works, seriously!