That New Year post.....

So here we are staring down the barrell of yet another new year.

Well if you cant wear Top Hat at new year when can you!

It seems appropriate that since I have been somewhat slacking on the blog front I should do a post to make all my best intentions clear on what the new year will hold.

2013 for a variety of reasons is not going to be remembered as a great year. Family drama, work stress, and a series of rather unfortunate events meant that there was little to smile about for most of the time. However thats where New Years comes along to reboot everything back to zero :-)

My year really kicked off on a positive note when myself and some of my favourite folk headed to Club Noir for the bells. It was nice to make an effort to get glammed up a little and spend the night sipping cocktails with a bit of class (says me that wore possibly the most low cut dress ever!) If you're not from round these parts Club noir is a Burlesque club night thats held sporadically throughout the year in Glasgow. Theres a few entertainment acts but its fun because everyone that goes really gets into the spirit of it. New Year had a glamourous theme so it was a little gatsby/moulin rouge/ 50s-ish. The whole event made a pleasant change from the usual sticking to the dancefloor trying to dodge random drunks kind of place I usually end up at for New Years.

So in that respect 2014 is already kicking 2013 in the ass.

As for resolutions, I could earnestly sit here and proclaim i'm going to go to the gym and blog every day while eating nothing but quinoa and kale. But lets be a little bit more realistic shall we....

My main thing this year is i'd like to plan more. It seems a simple enough step. Taking some time every week to plan out what's happening when. I've purchased a new planner for the job (any excuse to hit the stationary section!) and i've set a reminder in my phone to go off on a sunday night to remind my to fill the thing in.

I'm going to try and meal plan. This is huge for me as in the past while I seem end up spending every night after work strolling the aisles of ASDA aimlessly while blindly filling my basket with cake. These trips are not only a waste of my time, but inevitably I end up spending money on rubbish I don't need and well the cakes are hardly great on the old weight front. So saving money and eating better are covered in one fowl swoop there :-)

As for the saving money...I had been doing so well but it all went to pot over the festive period. Obviously the whole christmas present buying thing was very much an expected expense, but the amount of money I managed to spend on myself over November/December period has essentially wiped any progress I had made. Having said that i am very happy with my new things. I shall do a haul soon, but it was definitely a case of quality over quantity which i have to say was a bit of a nicer feeling than the quick hit of a Boots run.

Do you have any new year resolutions? or more importantly any tips for sticking to them?

My perfect comfort food

I don't know about you but when the weather turns chilly its not only my wardrobe that changes but also what I put on my plate. I mean who really wants to munch an ice cold salad while shivering on a November evening?

My favourite weapon of choice in the winter months is my beloved perfect fish finger sandwich. I have spent years concocting the right mix of ingredients and its perfect every time.

So if you'd like to try this my way you will need:

Fish Fingers
White Toastie Bread
Tomato Ketchup
Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
Salt
and
Lurpak slightly salted butter

It might seem a lot but these components really work well together.

Putting the sandwich together is pretty simple.

Cook the fish fingers, I do this in the oven

Butter one side of the bread and lay your fish fingers on top.

Sprinkle salt over them

Splash the Lea and Perrons over that and finish with a healthy swirl of the ketchup.

Pop the other slice of bread on the top and cut in half.

Hey presto, you have the perfect Fish Finger sandwich. I tend to like to wash mine done with some orange juice. Yum. (this sandwich also has magical healing powers for when you've had a few too many G&Ts ;-))

What's your favourite comfort food for this time of year?

Fat Girl smoooooth!

Better late than never... its 4 weeks until i fly out to sunnier climbs!

So here is my update on my progress on project bikini.

This past week i was meant to be trying out Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and working through Paul McKennas' "i can make you thin"

I've had somewhat mixed success, I haven't really bothered much with I can make you thin. I just haven't had time. my plan had been to use it as bedtime reading and work in the hypnotherapy CD at that point as well. As with many best laid plans the real world got in the way. Work has been so stressful recently that i've been asleep the minute my head hits the pillow!

On the other hand i have managed to stick to the 30 day shred, which i am quite pleased about. I wish i had taken before pictures at the start as to my eye i can't see any difference, but i'm hoping its doing something. Its only been a week though so i'm hoping that it'll kick in soon. What i am finding difficult though is the fact that i don't seem to be getting any better at it, about half way through Jillian bangs on about how folk on day 5, 6, and 7 should be seeing a huge improvement from day one, i'm not one of those people, Level one is still killing me but i will persevere!

So my tasks for this week are less weight loss related and much more superficial (lol) If i cant be the most toned lean goddess on the beach i'm going to aim for the lovely curvy girl with skin as smooth as butter...

I'm putting myself on a strict programme of body brushing and moisturizing. Apparently the body brushing is going to be flushing toxins from my body to reduce the wibblyness of my cellulite (now there's an image for you!) and the moisturizing will give me a nice even glowing appearance to my, so pale i'm almost see through, skin.

You can follow my efforts on the 30 day shred on twitter (link in the side bar) and if you've got any words of encouragement/tips on staying motivated please leave a comment below or give me a wee tweet.

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.

Ramble: You don't ask, You don't get

Don't you just hate it when life goes haywire and you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place?

Yup that's me right now.

The trouble with being stuck between that rock and a hard place is that eventually there comes the point where you have to make a choice. Kind of like that guy that had that accident while climbing, you can sit there and die or you can take a chance, chop your own arm off and maybe, just maybe, you'll make it out ok.

Now obviously i'm not in any immediate mortal danger nor am i suggesting that i'll be chopping of any body parts anytime soon but more and more i'm being drawn to the old saying 'you don't ask, you don't get'

As I've got a bit older I've become more of a laid back, go with the flow, if it aint broke why fix it? type of person but sometimes that doesn't get me very far. Opportunities slip past and chances aren't taken and more and more life seems a bit like its just passing me by. And i don't like it.

The other day i decided to make some changes, I strolled into work asked for a meeting with my boss and asked for a promotion. I didn't get it but the point is i asked and now my boss is aware of my wish to progress and has paired me up with someone further on at the company to mentor me to be in a position to get the promotion when it  becomes available.

I asked and although i didn't get what i want immediately i am now in a much better position than just sitting hoping something would happen of its own accord.

Since this happened I've been seeing more and more opportunities popping up around me. Opportunities that have probably been there for a while but I've just not gone after. The most exciting thing about this is that i just pitched an idea that could give me the chance to do something I've wanted to do for a really really long time. If it works out it'll be incredible but if it doesn't work out? Well at least i tried.

As they say, You don't ask, you don't get!!!  ;-)

What are the words you live by?