Life has been hecccctic!
Since moving back to Bognor & starting my new job, it's been a bit of a whirlwind. My lack of blogging hasn't been because I have nothing to blog about but because so much has been going on that I've had no time to write!
I'm loving my new job at Strawberrysoup & it's great living back near all our friends and family, there's always something to do! It has been hard sticking to the weight loss thing though with all the pub nights & meals out so things have definitely slowed down a bit.
I'm also missing the gym a lot as I've not managed to join one yet, but I have been jogging a fair bit along the seafront... I've managed a furthest of 5.6k non-stop jogging so far which is such a massive improvement from when I started out with Couch to 5k!
But although the pound dropping has slowed, they are still coming off & yesterday's weigh in saw me hit the 60lb loss mark (that's 4 stone 4lbs!) which also brought me into 'ideal' BMI!! So I'm feeling preeeetty proud about that! That means I have just 17lbs until goal weight and now I really want to focus on trying to tone my wibbly bits!
In other news.... we have finally booked our wedding venues!!! On 28th September we will be getting married in a church in Bognor where Darren was baptised and his parents were married and 'dinner & dancing' will follow in a gorgeous country hotel in Chichester!! Super excited! Now is where the real wedding planning fun starts!
So, along with lots of babies making appearances (friends', definitely not mine!), they're the main highlights of my last couple of months. We're still staying with Darren's dad at the moment but we have a flat lined up which will be ready to move in to at the beginning of July... counting down the days! It'll be great to have our own space again & I'm really looking forward to having a garden & hosting barbecues, so long as the sun returns!
Time for the hectic to take over again as I have a lunch date to get ready for... laters!
xo
Showing posts with label my life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my life. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Thursday, 19 April 2012
What a difference 6 months - and 50lbs - makes
Life has been hectic recently with friends visiting, a lot of packing ready to move next week and we're also off to Scotland today for a wedding this weekend & to stay with family for a week :)
Since my last blog post boasting about willpower, I have slightly lost it a couple of times. I gave myself a few 'days off' around Easter when a couple of friends came over & I gave into wine & chocolate, and last weekend when some other friends were over but this time it was one too many vodkas & savoury snacks making their way into my belly.
Despite this, I am continuing to drop the pounds & have hit a few milestones with my last weigh in, including passing the 50lb/3 & a half stone loss marks! Also in my quest to find an outfit that fits me for the wedding this weekend, I have found that size 10 dresses can actually fit me quite nicely! Although my bottom half has yet to catch up, I'm still pretty damn pleased with seeing a '10' on my clothes labels again!
Feeling pretty proud of myself already, I wanted to try & compare me in a new dress to a 'before' picture. Although I hate the fact that it shows how big I was and neither pictures are that flattering, I thought I'd be brave & share it with the world, so here goes...
The 'before' picture was taken in April last year, 6 months before I started the weight loss journey. I'm not sure how much I weighed here but it was around 50-57lbs heavier than the 'during' picture taken on Tuesday. Also excuse the scarily bright white legs.. I can't remember the last time I had them out for the world to see!
I wish I had a better 'before' picture for comparisons but this is the best I could find... I didn't take or keep many pictures of myself before!
Anyway, I'm off on the epic drive to the Bonnie land now where I will be cutting myself a bit of slack with the manic exercising and healthy eating, although I did get up at 6.30am this morning to squeeze in a gym session first! I'm looking forward to plenty of bubbly at the wedding as well as the chippy with smoked sausage that I have to have every time we're in Scotland :)
xo
Since my last blog post boasting about willpower, I have slightly lost it a couple of times. I gave myself a few 'days off' around Easter when a couple of friends came over & I gave into wine & chocolate, and last weekend when some other friends were over but this time it was one too many vodkas & savoury snacks making their way into my belly.
Despite this, I am continuing to drop the pounds & have hit a few milestones with my last weigh in, including passing the 50lb/3 & a half stone loss marks! Also in my quest to find an outfit that fits me for the wedding this weekend, I have found that size 10 dresses can actually fit me quite nicely! Although my bottom half has yet to catch up, I'm still pretty damn pleased with seeing a '10' on my clothes labels again!
Feeling pretty proud of myself already, I wanted to try & compare me in a new dress to a 'before' picture. Although I hate the fact that it shows how big I was and neither pictures are that flattering, I thought I'd be brave & share it with the world, so here goes...
The 'before' picture was taken in April last year, 6 months before I started the weight loss journey. I'm not sure how much I weighed here but it was around 50-57lbs heavier than the 'during' picture taken on Tuesday. Also excuse the scarily bright white legs.. I can't remember the last time I had them out for the world to see!
I wish I had a better 'before' picture for comparisons but this is the best I could find... I didn't take or keep many pictures of myself before!
Anyway, I'm off on the epic drive to the Bonnie land now where I will be cutting myself a bit of slack with the manic exercising and healthy eating, although I did get up at 6.30am this morning to squeeze in a gym session first! I'm looking forward to plenty of bubbly at the wedding as well as the chippy with smoked sausage that I have to have every time we're in Scotland :)
xo
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Chatting with a celebrity chef
Yesterday was fairly exciting as I got to interview Michel Roux Jnr for a magazine article!
He was at Bournemouth University for a talk with hospitality students and we managed to secure an interview slot with him beforehand. He was really lovely and interesting - it was a great morning! Of course we talked food (which left me feeling very hungry!), his cheffing family and I asked him whether he ever gets a craving for a KFC bargain bucket... He also told me I was sad for my love of Twitter and shared his experience of Facebook involving a fake Michel Roux Jnr...
Now I need to get writing the article which I'm sure I'll be sharing with everyone once it's in print :)
xo
He was at Bournemouth University for a talk with hospitality students and we managed to secure an interview slot with him beforehand. He was really lovely and interesting - it was a great morning! Of course we talked food (which left me feeling very hungry!), his cheffing family and I asked him whether he ever gets a craving for a KFC bargain bucket... He also told me I was sad for my love of Twitter and shared his experience of Facebook involving a fake Michel Roux Jnr...
Now I need to get writing the article which I'm sure I'll be sharing with everyone once it's in print :)
xo
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Bridesmaids & babies
Okay so this is a long overdue blog post, but I have no idea where this week has gone & I was about to publish it this morning when the whole post disappeared & I was left with a blank page.... not fun :(
BUT last weekend was an eventful one so I wanted to share!
BUT last weekend was an eventful one so I wanted to share!
Friday night I head to the homeland for a much awaited night out with my favourite ladies. Of course this special occasion was cause for a new dress, especially as most of my clothes are looking quite ridiculous and baggy on me at the moment and I wanted to show off the difference I was noticing with my weight loss!
It turns out I am now comfortably a size 14 which means I have dropped two dress sizes!! Big yays! There was a time when a size 14 disgusted me after hitting that just a year after being an 8-10, but I'm more than happy with a 14 this time around! This meant I was looking forward to this night out more than I already was because I wasn't feeling depressive like I usually do about what I'm going to wear out!
The main reason I was looking forward to this night was because I had decided to ask these three very special girls a very important question!
I originally planned to wait until we had a venue booked before popping the question to my bridesmaids, but then again I originally planned to have a venue booked by now so there you go!
We had an amazing night full of drinking, dancing, laughing & talking wedding plans and the best ever thing was me later realising that I didn't feel self concious all night - a first in a very long time and a pretty big deal for me!
On Saturday I had a surprise baby shower to go to. This was my first baby shower experience and it was a great night! We played games, laughed a lot, ate cake, tried baby food & wondered why people feed that stuff to their babies, ergh!
It was also really good to catch up with lots of people I haven't seen for a while and I had a few compliments on my weight loss which is always nice! People are really starting to notice when they see me, and also when they hug my "disappearing body" as some have said! This has definitely given me a massive boost to continue all my hard work!
Although I did give myself the weekend off a little after an extra good week, I still logged as best as I could and I hit the gym on Friday morning before work & ate well all day to make room for some of the alcohol I was to consume later.... which turned out to be around 850 calories when I logged what I remembered drinking the next morning! I knew alcohol was calorific, but 103 calories in a 25ml shot of Goldschläger? Woah.
But it was so worth it. I knew one not-so-good weekend wouldn't hinder all my hard work... which it didn't! On Monday evening I weighed in at 3lbs lighter than the previous week despite all the alcohol on Friday and a cheeky bit of cake at the baby shower! This brings my running total to 37lbs - just 1.5 away from the halfway point to my goal weight! Still a long way to go but I've definitely come a long way already! I'm feeling massively proud and confident that I can do this :))) !!
Wishing everyone an amazing weekend - I should probably get out of my pyjamas soon & do something productive.... Or I might just stay cosy & lazy until Darren gets home from work & it's time to head to the gym :)
xo
 |
| Officially my beautiful bridesmaids! |
We had an amazing night full of drinking, dancing, laughing & talking wedding plans and the best ever thing was me later realising that I didn't feel self concious all night - a first in a very long time and a pretty big deal for me!
On Saturday I had a surprise baby shower to go to. This was my first baby shower experience and it was a great night! We played games, laughed a lot, ate cake, tried baby food & wondered why people feed that stuff to their babies, ergh!
It was also really good to catch up with lots of people I haven't seen for a while and I had a few compliments on my weight loss which is always nice! People are really starting to notice when they see me, and also when they hug my "disappearing body" as some have said! This has definitely given me a massive boost to continue all my hard work!
Although I did give myself the weekend off a little after an extra good week, I still logged as best as I could and I hit the gym on Friday morning before work & ate well all day to make room for some of the alcohol I was to consume later.... which turned out to be around 850 calories when I logged what I remembered drinking the next morning! I knew alcohol was calorific, but 103 calories in a 25ml shot of Goldschläger? Woah.
But it was so worth it. I knew one not-so-good weekend wouldn't hinder all my hard work... which it didn't! On Monday evening I weighed in at 3lbs lighter than the previous week despite all the alcohol on Friday and a cheeky bit of cake at the baby shower! This brings my running total to 37lbs - just 1.5 away from the halfway point to my goal weight! Still a long way to go but I've definitely come a long way already! I'm feeling massively proud and confident that I can do this :))) !!
Wishing everyone an amazing weekend - I should probably get out of my pyjamas soon & do something productive.... Or I might just stay cosy & lazy until Darren gets home from work & it's time to head to the gym :)
xo
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Who, what, where & when?
Since becoming a fiancée, I have become obsessed with all things wedding!
I've subscribed to loads of wedding blogs, bookmarked some great websites, become a complete Pinterest addict (which is a great site anyway but amazing for wedding inspiration!) and developed a stronger love for wedding-related TV.
It's all very exciting but it really makes you realise just HOW BLOODY MUCH there is to think about when planning a wedding!
Now, we don't want some massive celebrity-style wedding (has anyone seen Celebrity Wedding Planner? Jedward ♥), but we do want a fairly big deal - a day to really celebrate love and the two of us and something for us and our guests to remember for years to come.
So we need to think about venue(s), a bridesmaids, groomsmen, registrars, colours, dresses, suits, food, guest list, invitations, favours, flowers, a cake, entertainment, and those added extras for our personal touch on the event.
Oh and then there's a honeymoon and all that comes with that.
And of course the all-important hen and stag parties (which I'm sure our friends are far more interested in)!
... and I know there's probably a LOT more that I'm forgetting, so if anyone could point me in the direction of a comprehensive wedding to-do list I would really appreciate it!
It can all be a bit overwhelming when thinking about all the boxes that'll need ticking, but before anything we need to figure out what we can afford and what date next year to settle on.
So, who, what, where & when?
Well I don't have the answers to any of these (other than the bride and groom 'who'... you'd hope anyway!) yet, but let's hope it falls into place.
Darren and I have four days off together at the beginning of February so the plan for that time is to attempt those awkward conversations with family members to find out exactly the extent of the financial help they have offered us (we need figures!), view some venues, attend a wedding fayre and decide on a date (or at least which month!)
Eek!
I've subscribed to loads of wedding blogs, bookmarked some great websites, become a complete Pinterest addict (which is a great site anyway but amazing for wedding inspiration!) and developed a stronger love for wedding-related TV.
It's all very exciting but it really makes you realise just HOW BLOODY MUCH there is to think about when planning a wedding!
Now, we don't want some massive celebrity-style wedding (has anyone seen Celebrity Wedding Planner? Jedward ♥), but we do want a fairly big deal - a day to really celebrate love and the two of us and something for us and our guests to remember for years to come.
So we need to think about venue(s), a bridesmaids, groomsmen, registrars, colours, dresses, suits, food, guest list, invitations, favours, flowers, a cake, entertainment, and those added extras for our personal touch on the event.Oh and then there's a honeymoon and all that comes with that.
And of course the all-important hen and stag parties (which I'm sure our friends are far more interested in)!
... and I know there's probably a LOT more that I'm forgetting, so if anyone could point me in the direction of a comprehensive wedding to-do list I would really appreciate it!
It can all be a bit overwhelming when thinking about all the boxes that'll need ticking, but before anything we need to figure out what we can afford and what date next year to settle on.
So, who, what, where & when?
Well I don't have the answers to any of these (other than the bride and groom 'who'... you'd hope anyway!) yet, but let's hope it falls into place.
Darren and I have four days off together at the beginning of February so the plan for that time is to attempt those awkward conversations with family members to find out exactly the extent of the financial help they have offered us (we need figures!), view some venues, attend a wedding fayre and decide on a date (or at least which month!)
Eek!
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Here's to a year of sweating & saving!
2011 has (as every year, month, week or day does) had its ups and downs but looking back it really has been an amazing year with so many landmark moments - notably graduating, beginning my career, getting engaged, quitting smoking & making a dent in the weight loss target! I definitely didn't expect it to be such a big year
at the beginning of 2011!
As the year drew to a close I was sad to see the back of it. I think this was mainly because so many exciting things happened last year and I was feeling as though there is nothing really exciting to look forward to in 2012... We're both just looking at a year of struggling to save a lot of pennies and lose a lot of weight ready for a 2013 wedding!
But once we can truly get stuck in with the wedding planning, I'm sure that will soon take over my home life and be exciting enough for me! Once things settle down a bit for us, it is time to work out realistically how much we can save and come up with a figure for our budget!
Anyway, now I really need to step away from the new toy and get myself to the gym! Happy weekend everyone :)
As the year drew to a close I was sad to see the back of it. I think this was mainly because so many exciting things happened last year and I was feeling as though there is nothing really exciting to look forward to in 2012... We're both just looking at a year of struggling to save a lot of pennies and lose a lot of weight ready for a 2013 wedding!
But once we can truly get stuck in with the wedding planning, I'm sure that will soon take over my home life and be exciting enough for me! Once things settle down a bit for us, it is time to work out realistically how much we can save and come up with a figure for our budget!
Anyway, now I really need to step away from the new toy and get myself to the gym! Happy weekend everyone :)
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!!
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... ;)
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... ;)
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