Another manager at work noticed I’ve lost weight again today 😀
Online vs Paper & Privacy Levels
I often find myself torn between my pull to the geek world and wanting to do everything digitally, and my romance with written journals and diaries. I like that digitally I can fit masses of information and photos in one place, It’s easy to search and available to me wherever I go. However I miss the touch of paper and my own handwritting. There is a smell of paper that is familiar and comforting, and somehow feels more private and personal. I suppose a lot of the appeal is also the mystery of carrying around a private journal.
I also struggle with how much to share publicly in this digital age of social networking and how much I should keep private. My aunt recently passed away, and I had to be careful about not putting it on facebook because you never know if everyone has been informed. The last thing you want is a cousin to find out of facebook. So despite wanting to share my feelings with my closest friends, I ended up keeping it entirely quiet. Where is the medium?
I’ve even considered setting up 2 facebook profiles. One for General everyday fun and messing about, and one of a more serious nature. But that seems ridiculous. Finding a comfortable place in the online world is quite hard. Especially considering jobs and employers are likely to see the information and photographs (and others) you throw out there. It’s a very public place to be!
Protected: Made out like a bandit – 30th
August So Far…
My coloured contact lenses arrived on the Wed 28th July. I was very nervous and excited to try them when I got home, but they went in without much bother.
Opinion: They are not the most comfortable to wear, I don’t know much about contact lenses but they feel too big. They move a little every time I blink and this causes blurring until each slides back to it’s correct location. This is annoying and irritates my eyes mildy after a couple on hours. At first I liked that they are rather subtle but now I want to try something a little more striking.
Thursday 29th
I purchased 3 dresses from boohoo.com. They were £8 each and ordered them for delivery the next day, £28.99 in total. Bargain! In the evening I went on a minor clothes shopping outing at Matalan. I got a cute cardi to go with the girly dresses I’d bought online, a handbag, black patent high heels (so cute!), and a suggley knitted top to wear with jeans.
Friday 30th
The dresses arrived at work on Friday to my delight, and I looked at them at lunch time. My boss (female) insisted I try them on and show them. I ended up getting stuck in one and having a panic attack in the bathroom and having to shout my colleague to rescue me out of it. So embarrassing. Had success with the second and third and decided I’d wear the third one out that night to my friend Amie’s birthday meal and drinks.
After work, getting ready to go out and the zip on the dress was giving me grief so Pete had to help me zip it up as it kept sticking. We finally got it up and I continued to get ready when the sodding zip opened BELOW the pull tag! FFFFUUUUUU!
The second dress I was keeping for my 30th birthday party so the idea of wearing a new dress was aborted and I ended up wearing one I’ve had a little while, which is rather tight and short, but ended up feeling good in it.
So we went out to an Indian restaurant for Amie’s Birthday. Unfortunately I am not a fan of Indian food, way too rich for my liking. But we had a lovely dinner anyway, all the usual Argos crew were there and we had some good banter with the waiters. Afterwards we headed into town for some drinks and I was asked for ID on our way into Wetherspoons. I told the bouncer I was turning 30 in a month and he said “Bullshit” but then believed me as it would be a ridiculous lie if I was underage. We had a few drinks there and them went to Rich’s house who works with Pete. We stopped on the way to get booze from tesco and again I was asked for ID (must have been the dress!). The girl didn’t believe me though and my friends weren’t allowed to buy for me so I had to smuggle my money to Amie and them Ade to buy my wine! Crazy!
We had a great evening at Rich’s, drinking plenty and playing guitar hero. A real guitar was out too and I insisted Jake teach me how to play. I wasn’t any good! Left about 4 in the morning.
Saturday 31st we were naturally hungover and literally watched back to back episodes of House. Not a bad way to spend a day really!
Sunday 1st Aug, We made cupcakes!It was loads of fun. They came out really well and decorating them was the best part.
I took it easy most of Sunday though as I started with a cold that had been going around the office at work. Joy! So I and watched loads of House back to back again. The cold ended up taking me down most of the week and I was off Tuesday, Thursday and Friday feeling awful.
Thankfully I was starting to feel better on the weekend and we went to a BBQ at Kevin & Jane’s on Sat 7th. I didn’t drink though because of my cold but still had a fun evening. Drove my cousin Lorraine and her family home to save them ordering a taxi. Andy was totally pissed, it was really funny. Pete also ended up really drunk after the neighbor brought out his homemade Damsin Gin. Lovely stuff! Pity I couldn’t have any.
Sunday 8th Pete and spend the day out together. We went to Trentham Estate and bought a cactus to replace out ever dying house plants (this one is names Edmond). and then we went to watch Inception 3D at Cineworld. It was brilliant!
Had a very busy week at work last week, catching up on everything from when I was off sick. Thursday night we went to watch Toy Story 3 on IMAX. Such a cute movie. It may even be my favourite of the 3. The monkey with symbols was hilarious, as was Ken “I’m not a girls toy! Why do you keep saying that?!”. Very good!
Had a chilled weekend just gone. Saturday I bought a new rear inner-tube for Ethel and also bought a cycling helmet and trouser clips while I was at it. I may look like a dweeb, but I value my head. I met up with Becky in town and we had lunch together which was fun. She’s just got a job, so lunch was her treat. Thanks! Then she came around to our place in the evening and we watched Remember Me.Fabulous movie! I didn’t expect the ending, and Robert Pattinson was brilliant in it. Becks and I swooned quite a bit 🙂
So now I am into my last week of my 20’s. I can hardly believe it! Naturally I am not too happy about it, I’d like to stay in my 20s forever. But I am looking forward to my party this Saturday organised by Pete and Becky, and of course Pete is taking me somewhere on Holiday at the end of August. Hopefully I manage to get a bit of birthday money and can expand my bird tattoo on my shoulder. It really needs a background.
Yoga
I did some yoga last night before going to bed and did 3 Sun Salutes before work. Definitely nice to have a good stretch in the morning, and it certainly gets the blood flowing.
Got home this evening and did another hour and a half following the yoga for dummies video. I’d really recommend it as she explains each pose really nicely, and getting into each pose is gradual so you know exactly what you are supposed to be doing and where you should feel the stretch. She also explains the breathing a lot and keeps reminding you to focus on it as it’s intergral to yoga and it’s benefits.
I’m really hoping the stretching can help with my bad hip and it’s range of motion, I’ve struggled with simple things most people take for granted, like crossing your legs, since I had my surgery when I was 11. I’d be over the moon if I can get some of that movement back. Obviously I’ll have to take it slow and steady though, but I think by challenging it daily and stretching it, it’ll help.
coloured Contact Lenses, 30th Party & Yoga
Pete was working away from home the weekend just gone, they had a catalogue launch in Widnes nr Liverpool. Becky kept me company some of the weekend though and we went to watch Twilight Eclipse for the 3rd time in cinema. Yes we are somewhat obsessed. I think we are going leave it at that now though and wait for the DVD. Afterwards we saw Steve and Greenie in town for a quick drink and then Becky came back to our place for a little while. I however drank loads of cider and stayed up till 4am.
I’ve ordered some coloured conact lenses. I’ve always wanted light coloured eyes, but coloured contacts have always been really expensive and incredibly fake-looking so I’ve never tried them. On Sunday my interest was piqued again, so I did a search for “coloured contact lenses for dark eyes” and found a forum with a long discussion about them, and photos of people wearing them which looked great, so I followed a recommended link and came to contactlenses.co.uk which stocks a wide range of professional contact lenses coloured and normal. Thy have good prices and range to choose from, and the reviews for their coloured contacts were really good, so I’ve ordered some.
I’m both excited and nervous at the same time as I don’t know what results to expect, or if I’ll have the confidence to leave the house with them in. They were dispatched today so should hopefully arrive in the next few days.
I’m getting more and more interested in yoga. I’ve only done it a few times, but the flexibility, relaxation and body & mindconnection really appeals to me. I might try give it a serious go and try do a bit each day before work.
My 30h Birthday party has been organised by Pete and Becky. Luckily my Birthday is on a Saturday, so I get to have my party on my actual birthday. I’m trying hard not to get any expectations to avoid disappointment, but I am actually really looking forwards to the celebrations 🙂 And of course Pete it taking me on holiday somewhere which is all a secret, so i’m very excited about that 🙂
Aunty Sandra, Slimming, Evernote
Aunty Sandra is still hanging in there, just a slow progressive deterioration.
Connie at work commented that I am looking slimmer these days. Just the boost I needed as I’ve eaten more junk this week than I should have. It’s nice to know the hard work to loose weight is paying off, but I still have further to go, I won’t give up now!
I think I’ve finally found the notes/lists/to do manager I have been wanting for ages in the form of EVERNOTE. It syncronises across all my computers (work & home), devices (iPhone & iPad) and has full web access; plus it’s free for up to 40MB of data traffic which is plenty for my needs. I’ve used it for over a year but never properly understood it’s capabilities and functionality, but I’m glad I finally have. I can split all my notes into various notebooks, i.e. shopping, to dos, ideas, etc and store a wide range of info and media, such as audio records, pictures and typed notes. It really is an extension to my brain that is easy to search and recall info from. I really like it.
Race For Life – 20 July 2010
Race for Life
Tuesday evening Becky, Jane & I took part in the 5km Race for Life in Stafford, to help raise money for Cancer Research UK. We arrived at Stafford County Show Grounds at around 6 o’clock, and joined the thousands of other women dressed in pink on the field. As we prepared for the race, pinning out numbers on etc, my uncle Kevin was asked if he wouldn’t mind helping out by being a marshal. So off he went to get a hi-vis and earpiece etc. and be allocated a spot along the course.
The event was very well organised with a stage set up and women talking to the crowd gearing everyone up for the run. We did some aerobics to warm up and then split into 2 group, runners and walkers, for the start of the event. We joined the walkers. Just as the race started at 7pm the heavens opened and it bucketed it down! Thankfully I had thought to bring a brolly as it’s been overcast and showering all day. It took us 2 minutes of walking in the crowd to even pass the start line, but it soon thinned out as we all properly got moving and the rain stopped. The race weaved around the fields and building of the Show Grounds, and looped around so we finished back at the start line.
We half jogged, half walked the entire race probably jogging more towards the end, and stopped for a hug with Uncle Kev when we saw him along the way. It showered quite a lot so we got pretty soggy! I had a camera with me and we asked someone to take our photo at each of the kilometer markers along the way, so we often felt we were jogging past the same people over and over again. We probably could have cut a good 10 to 15 minutes off out time if we hadn’t kept stopping, but it was worth it for the pics, and gave us a bit of a breather.We ran the last stretch and over the finish line in just over 50 minutes, and were handed a medal, water bottle and goodie bag at the end. Feeling really good about ourselves we went home for well deserved hot baths and some food.
Together the 3 of us managed to raise over £550!
