Monday 12 December 2011

6 months smokefree!

One of the many pivotal things that has happened this year is that the fiance & I have given up smoking - yesterday marked 6 months of us being smoke- and nicotine-free (after having my last fix while dressed as Yoshi!)

I had been thinking about giving up smoking for a while but kept putting it off. Being the complete stress-head I was while at Uni, I really don't think I could have coped with the added pressure of weaning myself off of the nicotine sticks... anyone who spent longer than 20 minutes around me in my final year would probably agree!

As the excuses started to run out, I decided it really was time I ought to go for it and quit! The final decision was made when Darren & I were very hungover after the Bournemouth Uni Summerball & we couldn't face smoking! We had almost gone 24 hours without a cigarette & made a decision on the spot to just go for it and quit!

6 months later & we haven't inhaled the slightest bit of tobacco (other than second hand smoke.. eurgh!).

If anyone is thinking about giving up - do it! Okay, it's hard at first but get past the first few weeks and you'll feel so much better...

I can breathe now! I can taste better, I don't cough as much and I don't get chest pains anymore! It really helped doing it together with my other half, even though we were at each others' throats a lot in the beginning with short tempers!! I think the competing aspect of not wanting to be the first to fail was the main thing that kept me going anyway! The main thing I would think at times I was struggling and wanted to smoke again is why would I want to put myself through those difficult first few weeks again - because if it wasn't now I would give up some time... I started so I'll finish!

Now I barely even think about it and feel great!

Thursday 8 December 2011

Look after the pounds & the stones will look after themselves...

My life has recently been somewhat taken over by the Big Bad Gym and the dreaded task of stepping on the scales each week!

Anyone who has only known me for the past 3ish years might be surprised to know that I was once actually pretty damn skinny and a shade of 'underweight' according to Dr BMI... I never tried to be and I definitely didn't watch what I ate, but I was pretty active and religiously attended a two-hour dance group twice a week.

Since then a lot of things happened that could be 'to blame' for me putting on a lot of stone and going up a lot of dress sizes. It could be a mix of getting comfortable in my relationship, going on the pill, stopping going to dance, starting to drive, becoming a lazy whatsit and eating a lot of Domino's... So yeah... it could be something to with any of those.

Getting fit and losing weight is another of those things I've been wanting to do but putting off so I really needed my recent engagement to give me the shove it did to get down the gym and sort out my eating habits! I'm not aiming to be superskinny but I really want to just be happy with how I look on my big day... and every day after would be nice! And as someone who has lost a lot of confidence in the past few years & who really does have a strong dislike of mirrors & photographs showing myself, this is no easy feat!

But I'm on my way! :)

In 9 weeks, since starting to really focus on regularly hitting the gym & 'dieting' (not following a strict diet, just cutting out crap & eating more healthy stuff!) I've managed to shed 15lbs!

Still a long way to go (I'm hoping to lose 5-5.5 stone altogether, in around a year) but I'm pretty proud of myself so far, especially since getting past these first stone! And that's with a couple of nights out, some meals out, the odd packet of crisps & nibbles of chocolate but mostly concentrating on not snacking, eating healthier meals & getting my arse down the gym!

I'm lucky that my fiance & I are in this together so we're spurring each other on which really helps, as it did with giving up smoking (I'll get to that later!). We weigh ourselves weekly using the Wii Fit (which is spot-on accurate against our bathroom scales) which keeps a tab on our weight & BMI. It's nice to see the charts heading in the right direction!

Let's hope it continues! :)

Saturday 26 November 2011

What is the matter with Hayley Jane?

So I've been wanting to start a new blog for ages now and it's been the name thing (and maybe a bit of the time thing) holding me back... What do I call my blog?

The reason for the new blog is to write about all those things that I've felt don't really match the 'professionalism' of my blog/online portfolio that is HM 2.0. But what I plan to blog about here has no real theme or reason, it's just a bit of everything that's going on in my life at the moment.

My life is actually pretty exciting and eventful at the moment. This year has definitely been a big one. I finished my final year at university and graduated, I've started my career in marketing - the beginning of the rest of my life! And I celebrated five wonderful years with my boyfriend... which ended in a wedding proposal and a very happy engagement!!

My beautiful engagement ring. The photo really doesn't do it justice!

So the next few years in my life should be even more exciting, consisting of wedding plans, getting stuck in and progressing in the big wide world of work and desperately saving every scrap we can so that we can take that leap onto the property ladder and own our very own home!

There's a lot going on in my life and I just want to blog about it, partly to keep track of it all myself, but also because it is exciting and I just want to share it all with family, friends and, well, the world!

But back to naming the blog... with everything going on there is certainly a lot of potential material, but nothing that really links it all together but me. So of course a first choice for a blog name was my name. Boring I know - but don't worry, all possible variations are taken anyway. Then there's the usual username I try and use for most things online - lilyjay. Yep - taken.

I toyed with using my surname-to-be. Although Slaughter is perhaps not the nicest name if you're not a brutal murderer, but I like the way that hayleyslaughter can either be read as Hayley Slaughter or Hayley's Laughter (I know, simple things please simple minds!).

I do still like this and the fact that Hayley Slaughter seems to be a far less common name than Hayley Martin, so for future, optimistic self marketing purposes this might make an appearance in the future.

What I really wanted was something that is clever, fun and sums up the blog completely. But seeing as I'm not really sure what I'm going to end up blogging about - it wasn't easy.

So as I was racking my brain in front of the 'Create a new blog' page for the 1,426th time, this A. A. Milne poem popped into my head. When I was very young I loved A. A. Milne and have great memories of being read poems from 'When We Were Very Young', particularly of - I think it was mostly my auntie - changing the line in Rice Pudding 'What is the matter with Mary Jane' to 'What is the matter with Hayley Jane'.

Et voila!

The URL might be a teeeny bit longer than I would normally go for but, quite frankly, I just want to get blogging and nothing better was showing itself.

Now that I have made you read this ridiculously oversized explanation of 'What is the matter with Hayley Jane?' I bet you can't wait to see what is the matter with Hayley Jane (sorry...).

I promise I will blog something worth reading soon... ;)

Rice pudding

What is the matter with Hayley Mary Jane?


What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She's crying with all her might and main,
And she won't eat her dinner - rice pudding again -
What is the matter with Mary Jane?


What is the matter with Mary Jane?
I've promised her dolls and a daisy-chain,
And a book about animals - all in vain -
What is the matter with Mary Jane?


What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She's perfectly well, and she hasn't a pain;
But, look at her, now she's beginning again! -
What is the matter with Mary Jane?


What is the matter with Mary Jane?
I've promised her sweets and a ride in the train,
And I've begged her to stop for a bit and explain -
What is the matter with Mary Jane?


What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She's perfectly well and she hasn't a pain,
And it's lovely rice pudding for dinner again!
What is the matter with Mary Jane?