Fat Girl Slim: Keep Calm and Clutch at Straws

Its the final countdown ( Dana na naaa dana na na naaa!)

The fear has finally set in.

There is a sun lounger in Bulgaria shouting my name and its get louder by the day.

In a little over a month I will be sat on a plane winging my way towards my first beach (read: only) holiday in 5 years and like most women who are no longer 22 I am dreading that moment where I have reveal my not so bikini ready body to the world.

So in a last ditch attempt to not be too self-conscious while i'm there i'm going to reinstate my rather quickly abandoned Fat Girl series.

For the next few Fridays i am dutifully going to check in on the weird and wonderful things i'm doing that week in aid of being a bit more beach goddess and a bit less beached whale.

This week is all hands to the deck as I am going to embark on two rather different ideas. One being the rather self explanatory, well known as being a bit mental and almost guaranteed to do something as long as I actually DO it. The other is a bit more erm..... out there.... well whats the harm if it works, amazing, if it doesn't at least i'm going to see results from the other thing.

So this week it's:

Jillian Michaels: 30 day shred

and 

Paul Mckenna: I can make you thin

I have attempted the 30 day shred on a few occasions now, most recently i little over a month ago when I managed 8 days straight, and even felt ready to move on to level 2 of it, but i fell off the bandwagon when I had some friends stay for a few days, much eating out was had and much wine was drank...needless to say I haven't been back on it since. This will change today.

And as for the Paul Mckenna randomness, this is a book i bought a long time ago when i was on a bit of a 'hypnotherapy will cure the world!' kick. I'm somewhat skeptical about how listening to a CD will help but I've read the first few chapters of the book and there seems to be some simple ideas and tips on how to recognize if your actually hungry and how to recognize when your full. I have a really bad habit of shoving as much food as i can into my mouth as quickly as possible and then i'm stuffed for days, so the idea of putting my knife and fork down between mouthfuls so i can finish chewing what i'm eating is so far helping me realize when i'm full before i'm stuffed. We shall see how it goes.

If you've got any tips or ideas of things I can try (no crash diets though, thats never healthy!) please leave a comment below. And if you'd like to keep up to date with my spectacular achievement/failure in this task please have a click on one of the many ways to follow this blog in the side bar.

Friday Favourite #6 The Q&A 5 Year Journal

Early this year there was a little bit of a craze in the blog community around the Q&A journal.

But just in case you've been living under a rock i thought i'd through in my thoughts.

The basic concept of the journal is that every day of the year asks a question and under it there is space for 5 years worth of answers. Its a simple concept but also quite a clever one.

I reckon it'd be interesting to look back and have a snapshot of how life and probably more importantly my perspective on life has changed. Kind of like writing little notes for your future self.

Maybe it is the fact that i'm evidently trying to have a bit of a early mid-life crisis (see HERE and HERE) but i'm hoping that i can stick to keeping this diary as every time i pick it up it somehow gives me a bit of hope for change in the future (oh dear i've gone all deep again!) Seeing those blank spaces wondering what i might fill them with......

Are you doing a Q&A journal?

i got mine for £6.19 from Amazon HERE

And so it begins...

Today is a little bit of a difficult day for me.

Its Payday.

Its pathetic I know. Having a payday should be a reason for joy, laughter, merriment.

But this month, which i think is the first month ever, i'm filled with fear.

Last months musings about the state of my finances made me wonder about what im missing out on in life. Don't get me wrong i'm still definitely wanting to achieve those things but this fear im feeling is to do with the fear of not being able to not just run out and buy everything in sight.

The theory of not buying random stuff when you have no money is very easy to deal with, the reality of having money in the bank and trying to persuade yourself you still don't need those things is very different.

I knew this would be hard so I've assigned myself a small budget (£40) for buying a couple of new things so i  thought it'd be easy to start and make a change but there's a whole world of pretty things swirling around and my inner teenager is throwing a proper strop about not being let loose in Primark.

Meanwhile in another world....

So my last post was perhaps slightly heavy in the self indulgent wittering front.......this is about to continue.

Since than I've become a little bit obsessed with the concept that the life i would love to live is not actually that far out of my grasp.

I took stock of my bank account, yes ladies  in the cold harsh light of day i took that big bull, grabbed it by the horns and stared it square in the eye (that's a saying right?)

Horrified doesn't cover it. 

I reckon on average I spend nearly £300 a month on unnecessary rubbish. Part of this spent on paying off previous 'buying stuff' misdemeanors (which obviously needs to be done) and part is caused by getting over excited when there's a deal on in Boots (which, not matter how i justify, does not need to be done).

Now some people will think oh that's not so bad, but others, like myself, will see that number and feel a little bit sick.

Imagine for a moment that money didn't wander off every month. 

I wonder what i could do....*if blogs went fuzzy and into dream mode that would happen here*

If i had £300:

I could get myself 'Trev', my beloved imaginary fiat 500- I could even afford the insurance and filling him with petrol and probably the odd day trip, maybe a jaunt to Ikea or visiting friends that i hardly ever see due to public transport being utter poop.

Mind you i'd also quite fancy a weekend in Rome

or

I could spend a week in Marrakech!

or if i could be bothered to hold off for a whole month £600 would get me

A weekend in NEW YORK!! I could be that annoying person that goes to New York all the time, oh how i want to be that person.

Once i get to 3 months worth (£900) things get crazy that would get me

8 nights in Sri Lanka - Random fact: my Grandmother lived in Sri Lanka when she was a child, i'd LOVE to visit there. 

And in 4 months i'd have enough for a ROUND THE WORLD plane ticket.

All this stuff is pretty travel orientated but there really is a whole world out there and i want to see it. I want to be the granny in the old peoples home with albums and albums full of photos bothering the nurses by retelling the anecdote about how i once stayed awake all night because i could've sworn i saw a scorpion in my tent, though that's already happened, but you get my drift.

What would you do if you had the money?

I promise i'll back to more of the lighter nail polish/beauty/tea posts soon but by golly imagine how cool it would be to incorporate some of the above on here????

Fat Girl Run??

As you will know if your a regular reader last year i had a series called  Fat Girl Slim. It was short lived to say the least, i mean Christmas just isn't the same if you don't keep your sugar levels sky high with a constant intake of Quality Street.

But now we're at the start of February and my habit of having cake for dinner really must end. There's a bridesmaids dress to fit into and even more scarily there's a bikini to be donned on my beach holiday. The good thing about these 2 events is that i only need to lose a bit for the wedding (June) and once i get to that its only a bit more and a case of extra toning for the holiday (September) so i have a decent run at this timeline (see what i did there....)

My problem is that when it comes to exercise i have the attention span of a 3 year old. I've lost count of the amount of workout DVDs that I've used once and lost interest in. They get wheeled out from time to time but not with enough regularity to actually achieve anything.

So onto my next fad, running. I've never seen the point, you'd never even catch me running for a bus but i have friends that run and live quite close to a jolly big park so it seems logical that i give it a go.

Now obviously this requited me to go and buy some running shoes (any excuse to shop!)

They're so pretty! The recommendation is that you should go to a specialist store and be 'fitted' for running shoes so you don't do yourself an injury. I haven't done that  but since i'll probably run to the end of the street and pass out before shoving them in the bottom of my wardrobe i didn't want to spend to much. If this works out i'll go and get a special pair.

So here i am ready to go, i should probably stop procrastinating by babbling on here :-)

Are you a runner? how do you stay motivated?
And can anyone recommend a good android running app?

Penny for your thoughts?

I've seen quite a few blog posts recently talking about various "no spend" type challenges where people are challenging themselves to only by things that they've run out of or genuinely need (and things like food and bills obvs!) but not buying things that they just fancy the look of. And I've found myself drawn more and more to this idea.

Now obviously doing something like this would probably do my bank balance the world of good, after all I've a holiday to pay up and i did promise myself that i would pay off those pesky credit cards this year.

However, and this is my dilemma, short of randomly writing product posts about things like how much i like my toothpaste and lifestyle posts that way up the pros and cons of beans on toast versus beans with toast how would being a blogger work without spending a bit of unnecessary money?

I am a chronic spender, i'll buy anything if i can justify it to myself and i work in sales, thinking up reasons to justify buying stuff is essentially what i do all day everyday. But I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and today i was stood in Superdrug with a fist full of nail polish and the oddest thing happened, i went and put them all back and left empty handed.

I seem just to be musing over my thoughts here but i'm genuinely interested in what you guys think about this idea. Do you "take care of the pennies so the pounds take care of themselves" or are you in the same camp as Oscar Wilde and reckon "Anyone who lives within their means lacks imagination"?

Let me know in the comments below or give me a tweet (link in the sidebar)

And just in case you were wondering this is currently my favourite toothpaste :-)

The apt polish (OPI Not like the movies) NOTD

Hey, long time no see!

Feels like forever since I've blogged.

But life just got a bit in the way.

Today's post is inspired by the random way my brain works.

It was Sunday afternoon that I realised I'm prone to a bit of apt polishing. What I mean is if I have a polish that somehow fits my mood I'll tend to reach for that one.

Like using my private jet before boarding a plane, or breaking out beach party for a trip to the beach, or last years favourite for me which was the minute it snows covering any and all manicures with a layer of snow globe.

This time it is Not like the movies from OPIs Katy Perry collection. This is by far and away my favourite polish ever in the world. All the pretty shades of purple silver and green and shimmer. There is really nothing to not like about it.

 

However......

 

This found its way onto my digits as recently as sadly I'm currently more than a little disillusioned on the old romance front. There's a guy, I like him, he's very sweet to me. I can't decide whether I'm coming or going. Guys can be so dumb sometimes........le sigh.


 

Do you ever apt-polish? If so what are you wearing now?

 

 

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25 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

I saw this TAG doing the round on You Tube and thought, as I'm quite new, that it would be a fun way to get to know each other.

Basically its a list of little known things about you (kind of what it says!)

So here's mine.....

1. I used to play in a Brass Band at championship level
2. I once got drunk on a night out, decided I wanted to go to New York, stumbled home, booked tickets and went.*
3. I've trekked across a desert
4. I'm a bit scared of potatoes
5. Tic Tacs make me feel sick, even just the smell of them Ewwwww!!!
6. I don't like Chocolate cake
7. I know how to windsurf
8. I make incredible Spag Bol (really it is incredible)
9. I don't like wet plates, cutlery or glasses (doing washing up is a challenge for me)
10. I love Poirot
11. I have a pierced tongue
12. When i was a kid i had a boat
13. I have a goldfish called Cup (Cake died)
14. I'm obsessed with self help books. Not that i need help, they are just interesting!
15. I have a scar on my bottom lip
16. I've watched all of Star Trek: Voyager
17. I LOVE  peeling the plastic off of new electrical devices
18. I have a talent for putting together flat pack furniture
19. When i was 18 i was a goth
20. I sometimes have Pink hair*
21. My iPod is a curious place of metal, rock, punk and Britney Spears...
22. I went to St. Andrews at the same time as William and Kate
23. All  my significant boyfriends names have started with the letter R
24. I've named my car Trev (but I don't actually have a car)
25. I love aeroplane food.

So that's mine.

I tag everyone that's read this far to do this and make sure you leave a comment below if you do so i can have a snoop ;-)

*Pictures to illustrate the fun facts!!

                                               

Out with the old...

Today was my last day at my current work and i marked the occasion in the best way i know how.....

With a manicure :-)

This is Models Own Beach party, with a ring finger accent of Barry M Tangerine.

Really one Orange polish would have done but this combo was a bit more interesting and throughout the day i had a lot of lovely comments on it from both colleagues and customers.

The Models own polish itself is essentially Neon Orange, very vibrant and uplifting.

The Barry M one is darker with a bit of a shimmer. It reminds me of boiled sweets.

At the end of the day, it'll be sad to take this one off.
But soon a new manicure will be in order.....

Although I've changed where I'm working I've not left the company so over the next few weeks it may get a bit obvious where i work (depending on your level of brand knowledge) especially as there will be another huge change at the end of the month....

I'm not supposed to talk about where i work online but i can show you pretty polishes :-)

If you'd like to keep up with developments please do remember to subscribe, these a couple of options in the sidebar --------->

Went to work...

OK so I'm sticking my hands up here....

I shouldn't be posting......

I'm a bit tipsy.....

Went on a work day out....there was a business class lounge at the airport on the way back....enough said??

Here is some pictures from the day.


Normal service shall resume tomorrow.xxx

I went here

I saw this

I did this (His name is George)
And yes i know I'm chubby!

I bought this!!

So until tomorrow good night my friends. I'm so glad I'm home in time for Red Dwarf!!

CB HQ

Ahh it feels good to be in front of the screen again.

Its been a while.

This desk is where my witterings about my life will now come from. I instagramed (link in the side bar) a pic of this a while ago now. Then my laptop broke. I've got it going again but its still quite ropey.

I'll address the elephant in the room first off..... as you can see my polish collection is looking healthy, some people would call it an obsession but everyone deserves their own little indulgence. Im going to endevour to put some posts up with swatches of my favourites. And yes, i had an awesome time organising them all.

I've been inspired recently to have my own little slice of the internet (as Louise would say) so im hoping that posts will be a bit more often and a bit more varied, it'll be fun to look back in a few years and see all the random bits of my life.

Life has been a bit changeable recently, as i suppose it should be :-)

I had a milestone birthday..............it took a while for me to get to grips with that.

I had an awesome party, I drank a little too much (hic!)

We ate an aweful lot of Costco cake, we named him George.

My lovely friend Kerry made some gluten free cupcakes to match the dinosaur theme (i especially like the nessie three cake series. One cake was the head one was the body and one the tail, bottom right on the stand, too cute!)

Work is a bit pants (read: complete nightmare) at the moment but that is really nearly on the verge of changing so im extremely excited about that. Hopefully i'll have more news on that soon.

If you would like to follow my rambling random posts there are a few links over on the sidebar there.
If not, thanks for stopping by =0)

CB


 

Revlon: Facets of Fushia

It took 3 trips to 3 separate Boots stores and 1 awkward conversation with my boss but I got it!

Revlon Facets Of Fuchsia

I've been eyeing this baby on other sites for a while now and quickly became somewhat obsessed.
Out of the many, and I mean MANY polishes I have I've never once actually purchased a Revlon one. I have no idea why, I guess it's just one of those things!
Anyhoo, the kindly folk at boots had sent me some advantage card vouchers one of which was a £3 off Revlon...SCORE! It was like a sign from a higher power ;-)
So I made it my mission to find this precious polish. I should explain that the reason I flipped quite so badly for this one is that my favourite colour is Fuchsia (I have on several occasions turned my hair this colour, but thats another story entirely). My favourite non-colour is black, and well I believe that glitter is what powers the universe -:)
I traveled far and wide and even boarded a BUS,which round my way is basically the bravest thing you can do. But in the end it took and awkward conversation with the boss to explain why I had requested to go home early that got me it.
Imagine the scene: it was cold, it was raining, in the distance there are the bright lights of the last boots in town, the young adventurer (who'd manage to leave her brolly at home) was soaked but battled on. Finally she reached the sacred place. The doors were closing, but she managed to squeeze in just in time.
The search began.
The was a special stand with the new collection, but no precious, the fear set in.
To the main display! The tannoy is politely is telling everyone to leave...
She turns the corner, there's an empty display :-( she looks at the rest of the polish crestfallen.
Then...
No...
Surely my eyes deceive!...
Behind a regular bottle she sees a twinkle....its been found...the quest is complete!
Melodramatic,yes. But sometimes the occasion calls for it don't you think?

Until next time.
xx

The picture is two coats of Facets of Fuchsia with seche vote topcoat. This us really one you need to experience in real life. It's SO beautiful.