I Dream in Tangerine

I have really enjoyed getting up and running with my blog, however the more posts I do the more I realise how stupid the title is. When I was trying to open a blog I was getting really frustrated that all of the names I wanted had already been taken, so I ended up typing in something long winded and awkward. Which is fine when you are just messing around, but I found that when I got to a point where I wanted to tell friends and family I was too embarrassed. 

So I have started a new blog "I Dream in Tangerine" which is much more me. Most people that know me already know I have a slight obsession with the orange spectrum so this name fits. I am also attempting to make it a little prettier and a bit more me as well as making use of our super duper new camera.

Hope to see you there as I put "Best Intensions of a Serial Procrastinator" to bed. I will still be blogging about the same things just with better pictures and a less wordy title. Laters.

Knitting!

Finally managed to finish my cardigan that I started months ago, don't think I've touched it for about 6 months. I can't remember why I stopped, because I was so close to finishing. 

I just have to pick out some buttons, but it's done! I did mess up on the button holes, not horribly, they're just not in the places specified by the pattern, but you know, other than that I am well chuffed. Fits pretty good too, snug and warm mmmm. Boyfriend was so impressed he has demanded I knit him a jumper of his own. Not that easy to find boy patterns amongst my existing books though, found one so I'm just going to go with it.

Started these beaut's too, I think I'm on a roll. My first proper attempt knitting in the round with 4 needles, I usually try to avoid those patterns but it wasn't as hard as I thought, so next stop socks... after I knit the left one of course. I don't want to look like a jazzy, woollen, rave safe kid.

Have you rediscovered a passion for anything recently?

Running Roundup #2

Feeling a bit more positive about my runs this week, I didn't manage to improve on frequency but I did manage to increase my distance, which I'm really pleased about. It is so dark when I set off though, I make a point of not turning on my music until I'm at the main road, just in case.

So this week I managed my first 3.4 miles which is equal to about 5km, yay. This was my target for my morning runs, so now I know how far 5km is on my route I don't have to use my phone app anymore, I can just listen to my music uninterrupted.  

Wednesday 18th September 3.4 miles

Friday 20th September 3.4 miles

So my plan from now on is to run at least 3x 5km per week, and once I have my routine going I will hopefully start to add in a long run at the weekends. I don't really have the time in the week for a longer run, but if I can continue with my 5km, and improve on my time maybe I can add on a little distance in the future. So onward and upwards.

How do you feel about morning exercise?

Yoga Eureka!

There is nothing quite like a good stretch, and yoga for me is just that. I have to admit that my stretching routine after my run attempts is poor at best, it mainly consists of collapsing on the floor and checking instagram. So I really look forward to my yoga class.

I can feel myself getting stronger and find it easier to ease into deeper and deeper stretches. My only issue is that as I improve and get a bit more bendy, I feel like my body lets me down, in only that there is too much of it. I am not slim, I have been working on it for the last god knows how many years, but as of yet, slim I am not. But now I am finding that this is causing me issues in ways it never has before, and maybe this is the eureka moment I need to change.

It's strange I have my wedding in a year, and am desperate to tone up the bingo wings before then. But it still seems so far away so it feels like I have stacks of time, and I know that feeling will continue, until it's too late, because I've done it before. So now I am hoping that if getting slimmer means that my yoga will improve, I should be able to actually see it on a weekly basis, and those tiny, minute, improvements only noticeable by me will spur me on. That is the dream, but for me knowing what I have to do, and actually doing it are still poles apart. 

Watch this space....

How do you feel about yoga?

Running Roundup #1

Typical, the week when I have decided to start my weekly posts recording my running progress, is the week I seem to have to decided to regress. I haven't done this on purpose and in all honesty am really quite cross with myself. I did consider putting off starting the posts until next week, but ultimately this is supposed to be about my progress, and deep down I know this won't be the last time I have a week like this, I just wish it hadn't been this particular one. I just seem to get those few days every so often (a little too often) when it seems to be all to easy to make an excuse, and lose all motivation. Oh well at least I have an easy target to improve upon...

So I only went out twice this week, I was all set to go out on Thursday too, even got up early and put my running stuff on, looked out of the window, saw rain and my resolve deserted me. Usually I don't mind the rain but for some reason on Thursday rain stopped play. I was even more annoyed with myself when I looked out 10 mins later and it had stopped, by which time I had decided it was too late to set off. I did do some yoga instead though so all was not lost. The rest of the week was a write off though, motivated Chloe had left the building. So I spent the weekend knitting.

Monday 9th Sept 2.7 miles

Wednesday 11th Sept 2.9miles

As you can tell by my distances I am still very much at the start of my journey so hopefully there is tonnes of room for improvement, just need to do something about my commitment issues.

How do you stay motivated?

Say Cheese

Look what we got today. I know I said before that we weren't going to look at getting a fancy camera until after we had done our 365 photo project, but we are impatient. Anyway, it seems silly to try a tackle such a large project with the hope of developing our style and techniques with just a basic camera. That's what we are telling ourselves anyway. 

I'm really excited to start our project now, we have both been snapping away already, getting used to the camera and all it's shiny buttons. It will be interesting to see how our styles develop, and how different or similar they become. We have decided to just have a couple of vague rules, so it doesn't start to become a chore, as opposed to fun. 

1. We must take a photo everyday. 

2. Our chosen photo for that day must be something we would be happy to display.

I think they are pretty good rules to have, if we don't take a photo everyday it won't be much of a 365 photo challenge, and I don't want them to just be for the sake of it type photo's of just anything hence rule 2. Hand on heart I am not convinced we will complete it, but we are going to give it a blooming good bash. I'm going to do monthly post on the challenge to keep tabs on how we are getting on.

Have you got any tips for us?

Blueberry Pie!

Oh my, I made my first pie, and it was a complete success! I have never made a pie before so I thought it was about time. I love baking but wouldn't dream of doing it without a recipe, so the Hummingbird Bakery held my hand on this one.

I chose a blueberry pie because it looked fairly easy, and it helps that we love blueberries, I might try a lemon meringue one next time. I made the pastry, by hand not in the mixer as suggested, it was a lot more fun, and a lot less noisy. You have to use a tonne of blueberries so this is not a cheap pie to make by any stretch, but that is not the point, right? I even got fancy and made little pastry leaves to go on top, (that wasn't in the recipe).

It takes hours to make a pie! You have to let the pastry rest for an hour before rolling it out, then you have to let the pie rest for an hour once you have put it together but before cooking. Luckily I had time so it was quite enjoyable. When I did bake it I had to have my oven 20 degrees hotter than the recipe states, and cook it for about 20 minutes longer, because I have a shitty oven. I had learnt my lesson from the blueberry muffin fiasco. But look I made pie! And it was fecking awesome if I do say so myself. We both had seconds, although to be honest that doesn't mean much cause we probably would have had second if it wasn't very good, we are sweet fiends.....but it was good, so so good.

What's your favourite pie to make/eat?

Blog Series

As a relatively new blogger, I am fully aware that I probably have a long way to go before I have found my feet and worked out how to do all the fancy stuff. I'm still not sure how use pictures that aren't photo's I've taken myself, I will probably end up asking a bloggy friend for some help with that, when I have plucked up the courage....

In the meantime I thought I might try and introduce a series of posts, if only to give a little structure to my rambly mess of a blog. I was thinking maybe a ''Running Rundown''? Weekly update on my running training as I prepare for my upcoming Zombie run, half marathon and any others I enter down the line. What do you think?

My other thought would be to do a monthly update on my 365 photo challenge, with some sort of collage of that months pics of the day. What to call it...any ideas?

Don't worry I am under no illusion that there are probably less than a handful of people that actually read my blog, (thank you lovely friends) but it would still be nice to give them something remotely interesting to look through. Anyway, ultimately this is for me, and I am so enjoying writing my blog, more than I ever thought I would. It has really helped my to think about things in my life in a different light, making me more observant of the things I do, and waking up my internal monologue, which is fun.

So what do you think to a blog post series, would you read it?

Weekend in Worcester

Not so much a weekend as a flying visit, we were travelling down on the Saturday, everything was going to plan and then this happened. Didn't even realise at first we just thought the road had got really bumpy, until we saw the smoke... Burning rubber does not smell good. Luckily it was the passenger side so it wasn't as hairy as it could have been to change on the hard shoulder. 

Motorway driving on a spare is not fun, seeing as you are not meant to exceed 50 miles per hour and we still had an hour to go. I have a little more sympathy for caravan towers now, not a lot just a little. We did manage to find somewhere to get a new one at our destination which I was extremely thankful for, I did not want to travel back on a spare, probably would have doubled our travel time.

This was our beautiful hotel, it's looks ever so pretty from the outside, it's not all that on the inside unfortunately, nice, modern and clean but nothing special. We did meet a crazy old lady in the car park who couldn't work reverse on her car, and expected us to push it, uphill!! She managed to remember how to drive it in the end thankfully, I really think some old people shouldn't be trusted with cars... am I wrong?

This beauty was behind our hotel, overlooking the car park! Bit strange but not an unwelcome site.

The reason we travelled all this way was for a 40th Birthday dinner, it was in held in their local pub, literally opposite the Birthday boy's house. I really enjoyed the food, poached duck egg, belly pork and pigeon finishing up with Toffee Holly Hog. As you can probably tell I tucked into my main before taking a picture, it was good though nom nom. The pub also had some tasty ale on from their micro brewery "This", "That" and "T'other".

The weekend seemed to fly by but it was fun, it's nice to get away and take in the scenery of a different town. Still nice to get home though if only to see Molly Moo.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Caterers Done

We met Darren in a Harvester (don't worry Harvester are not our wedding caterers) sat down with a drink and talked about food. 

Just on a side note Darren does look remarkably like Justin Theroux, you know Drew Barrymores bad boyfriend in Charlie's Angels. Which might give some of the girls a good reason to go up for seconds...

Luckily for us Darren has done tonnes of events/weddings including some at our actual venue, which was a huge relief. It meant he already knew the layout so he could tell us where he would set up and suggest how the day could pan out. He is a hog roast specialist, but we haven't gone for a hog roast. Don't get me wrong I love a bit of crackling and apple sauce, as much as the next meat eating fiend, but personally I feel it has been done. We are still keeping it fairly informal, I just want a little more choice for my guests. With a shed load of cheese for later in the evening. I love cheese I do.

Dessert is not being provided by Darren, but will be oh so scrumptious. I'm going to make our actual cake, and some other lovely ladies will be suppling the main dessert. I can't wait!! 

How do you feel about Hog Roasts?

Keep on Running

The worst thing about going for a run super early, is that you are usually the first person to walk/run along those particular pavements that day. Which means you get to clear the route of all the sticky cobwebs made by the busy nocturnal spiders, and for some reason they always seem to whisp around at head height!!! No fun, and I always get just a little bit freaked out thinking that there may have been a rogue spider still attached. OK rant over.

I have still been going running, although I failed my personal challenge of 4 runs a week last week, (only did 3) and I didn't quite muster enough courage to get out there of an afternoon/evening, but I will at some point. 

But I think I need to scale back on the pressure I am putting on myself, I am still doing 3 runs a week and I do manage to go just a little further each time, which is amazing for me, so I should be proud of myself, not thinking myself a failure. I think maybe 3 runs a week is a more realistic goal and any extra will be a bonus. Otherwise I'll just end up getting really cross with myself and forget that I have actually come quite far. I am not a natural runner, not even when I was little, but I think I am finally coming pretty close to cracking it, with the help of yoga and some handy phone apps.

This is what I was confronted with this morning though, not sure if I was early or Mr. Sunshine is getting tardy, but it was dark out there this morning.

Do you ever set yourself unrealistic goals, and have to scale it back?

Blueberry Muffins

Last week after we had planned to get the tandem, I decided to make some Blueberry Muffins for the picnic, so Friday night I did. I got all my shiznit together and picked a recipe from my Hummingbird Bakery book.

Mixed everything together using my not very fancy £15 hand mixer, (I am desperate for a fancy orange Kenwood mixer, but can't justify the cost at the moment...) it did the job. I did however realise too late that I should have put my apron on, my t-shirt was covered in flecks of muff mix, oh well that's what washing machines are for.

My first batch were a complete disaster, so obviously I didn't take a picture. I think my oven my be on it's last legs, or it's just grumpy and temperamental. I cooked them as instructed at 170 degrees for 20-25 mins, but when they came out they were pretty much still cake mix. We still ate them though, who doesn't love cake mix? Don't pretend you don't lick the bowl.

For the next lot I turned it up to 190 and let them cook for 30-35 mins, they looked better but not quite as I had hoped. Anyway lesson learnt, and it's a good excuse to practise a little more to suss out my crazy oven.

What did you last bake?

Two Girls on Tandem

Yesterday me and a friend hired a tandem, we've never ridden one before just thought it would be fun. And it was once we got going it was, it just a bit tricky to actually get going, didn't help that we couldn't stop laughing. My friend likes to be in control, so I let her go in front to steer and I didn't want to take the blame if we crashed. It was both scary and fun, scary because I couldn't see where I was going but fun because I got to take in all the beautiful scenery.

We headed along the seafront using the conveniently placed cycle paths, we took a picnic with us and stopped in Bexhill, to scoff and enjoy the sunshine. Took a few pictures, cute bell on the bike we had one each, both with Mickey on though. We chained the bike up for a bit and had a wander around, got an ice cream, and had a pint of Pimm's before heading back, it wasn't quite a pint but it may as well have been.

  

It was a hell of lot hotter on the way back and the front was a lot busier, but it seemed to be easier on the way back, I think maybe we had just got the hang of it. It's amazing how excited people get to see a tandem, we got loads of smiles and waves from the kiddies, which made it all the more fun, I think so anyway.

When we got back, we took the bike back and headed straight for the pub for a cold cider, nice. It was a great day obviously the weather helped, only down side I have a very sore behind today. Maybe a few spin classes will help me out for next time, because I'm pretty sure there will be one.

Have you ever ridden a tandem?

New Handbag Arrives

I won some money on the lottery the other day, and it just so happens it was just the right amount to frivolously purchase myself a Cambridge Satchel. I love these bags and of course I had to get it in fluorescent orange. It is amazing, the colour is eye bleedingly bright, and the smell of the leather is perfect. I think my friends would agree that this bag could have been made especially for me.

I will definitely be getting another one, (don't tell Adam) perhaps a fitness challenge reward...

Have you bought yourself anything frivolous recently?

Sherbet Lemon Shoes

These beauties arrived yesterday, I love them, thank you ebay.

They are not my usual style, I usually try to avoid peep toe, but I am trying to be a little more adventurous now I'm 30! Hehe.

I stumbled upon the United Nude shop in London when we were up ther for my birthday. Their shoes are fricking ridiculous, but I found them completely enchanting and got a little bit obsessed. I did consider an metallic orange pair with blue heel struts for my wedding shoes, but couldn't justify the £199 price tag, no matter how taken I was with them. So I did the next best thing, I turned to ebay, and came up with these beauties. They are made out of some strange foam type pastic and super light. In all honesty I don't know how much use I will get out of them, but they are just nice to have.

I still have United Nude on my ebay search alerts, so I may still find the ones I was actually after, fingers crossed.

What do you think of my shoes?

Off Target

I am a little bit annoyed at myself at the moment, I am only 2 weeks in to my 4 runs a week personal challenge, and I am already short on last week! I only managed 3. There was a little bit of disruption last week, and my usual routine was thrown out slightly but that is no excuse. 

I seem to have a fear of running at any time of the day that isn't first thing in the morning. I try to tell myself it's because it's the only time I can feasibly fit in a run during the day, but this just isn't true. It's because I am in fear of strangers, or worse someone I know seeing me run, scrutinising my wobbly bits, sweat marks and baboon bum red face. I know think I can't possibly look as bad as I imagine, but that doesn't stop me getting paranoid about it.

So this week I have an added challenge of going for a run in the afternoon/early evening, when it's busy and people are everywhere. I may stick to slightly quieter roads but I will do it. I will have to if I want to make up for that missed run last week with 5 this week! Wish me luck.

Do you ever lie to yourself, so you can pretend it's not your fault?

Congratulations J & N

It turned out to be a beautiful day, a very long day but worth it. I managed to get my hair dyed, dried and make up on in the morning. I had to be at the venue for 10am to help with the set up of the reception area, and we managed to get all the bunting and pompoms up, tables laid and flowers put out just in the nick of time. We just had enough time to get changed into our glad rags and leg it to the ceremony.

The bride looked stunning, as she made her grand entrance at Swallows Oast, the formal vows were said in the oast, with all their friends and family squeezed into the little venue both in seats and peering down from the balcony. Everyone then made their way down to a wooded area for their personal vows and ring exchange.

With the formal stuff over it was time to party! This was the card we got the bride and groom, it doesn't look like them but the alcohol consumption wasn't far off. So although I think all involved are feeling a little jaded today, it was both a pleasure and honour, to be a part of J & N's special day.

What did you do this weekend?

Boxes

Today I have mostly been putting this beast together and filling it with books and sundries. I love it, I've been wanting one for a while and it has helped a hell of a lot with our storage issues. I just nee to add a few more cupboards in at the bottom, (they are fiddly buggers) and then I'm done. I've got another one for the bathroom but that is most definitely for another day.

Tomorrow is our friends wedding, so I have to get up super early, hopefully fit in a run, dye my hair, and get spruced up by 9:30 at the latest. I have to be at the reception area to help set up at 10:00. Wish me luck!

Are you doing any DIY this bank holiday weekend?

Sky

It seems to go on forever, with the occasional puff of a cloud or a tiny sun lit moon. I love looking at the sky, to me this is the best part of my morning run. We have been so lucky with the weather recently, and it seems every time I go out there are new things to see. My mind just wanders, maybe I am a little crazy making up tales for the little clouds and where they have come from, but I don't care. Sometimes I imagine who else may be looking at the same sky, and how much longer I will be able to catch the sunrise, before the sun is just too lazy and I have to run in the dark. Hopefully a little while yet.

This was the sky on Wednesday morning...

And this was how it looked today.

Do you ever just take the time to look at the sky?

Best Mans +1

We are going to a friends wedding at the weekend, which ordinarily I would be quite excited about, but  for this particular wedding I am the Best Man's +1. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do, and everyone else I know at the wedding is either a bride, groom or bridesmaid! I'm sure it will be fine it's just going to be a little strange going to a wedding on my own not knowing any of the guests. 

I'm a bit shy around strangers, so I have offered to help with the reception set up in the morning, to hopefully get familiar with a few faces before the actual ceremony, so I don't look like a complete sad sack. But this has it's own problems, do I get ready before set up and run the risk of ruining my outfit/ make-up whilst lugging around hay bales and bunting, or do I take a chance and hope there is somewhere to get changed, there. (Going home in between is not an option, it's about 30 mins each way.)

Though once all the set up dramas and ceremony are over, I'm pretty sure we are going to have one hell of a party, and let be honest that's what it's really all about.

Have you have been a best persons plus one at a wedding?

Photography Project

As I have mentioned before both my boyfriend and I are quite interested in getting into photography. However we are both quite bad at getting completely carried away and then not actually seeing things through, so my idea is to pick a project and see it through as best we can with our existing cameras, i.e. a standard holiday snap digital number and our iphones. 

The project I have chosen is a 365 challange, where we take a photo a day for a year. I thought this would be a fun one especially as it won't be long before there is 365 until our wedding day! So then we definitely have a specific start date and end date.

It will also be quite fun to see how our style develops over the year, and to work out if we enjoy it enough to actually see it through. If we do, we are discussing the possibility of treating ourselves to a couple of fancy cameras after the wedding, to help with awesome honeymoon snaps, but that is just us getting all carried away again.

So I'm thinking maybe a flickr account might be helpful, and maybe monthly updates on here?

Have you ever done a photography project?

I Fell Over

This evening, after yoga, I did something I haven't done sober for years, I fell over. Yoga always makes me a little dozy, which didn't help, but I slipped off he curb and fully went down. Luckily I didn't hurt myself too badly just grazed my hand, bumped my knee, and finally came to a stop on my back in the road with my legs in the air. Classy. Thankfully there was a nearby strong man to pick me up, which wasn't at all embarrassing...

When was the last time you embarrassed yourself?

Vintage and Emerald

Weekend over and back to work, why do they fly by so fast. I have been decorating my kitchen, just a bit of a revamp, so big chunks of Saturday and Sunday were spent buying and assembling wall cabinets. I did manage to slip out for some fun though.

Our friendly local tattooist Madam Butterfly, has branched out into vintage clothes and nik naks, and Saturday was the grand opening of her new shop Starfire Vintage. So I popped down with one of her favourite customers, my Dad. There was stacks to look at and definitely something for everyone. I lover her decor, it looked like it had come from an old fairground ride.  

I was quite taken with the beautiful cushions, think I might pop one on my Christmas list...

Sunday we had the perfect excuse to pop out for breakfast i.e. the kitchen is a hell of a state. So we made our way down to the old town and tried out Emerald, we've not been there before but they had Eggs Benedict on the menu so I was sold. It was really tasty and Adam was happy because there was a bit a bubble and squeak included on his full English. The green touches inside were great, and even the ol' guy serving had a green top on!

I love our Old Town, it's a great place to go for breakfast on a Sunday, so many places to try...

What did you do this weekend?

Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I am attempting to get my blog out there, not sure why to be honest but it's something do :o)

Hobby Collector

I have a confession. I, Chloe Donovan am a collector of hobbies.

I think it may be a bad habbit picked up from my Dad, we both do it but to be fair mine aren't quite as expensive or all consuming as his. Although I'm working on it...

Over the years I have had many hobbies, some I still pick up on now and again others I have no interest in ever doing again.

Currently I dip in and out of, knitting which I really enjoy and am still improving in I'm just not that quick so I get bored half way through so sometimes it takes me ages to finish anything. This orange top I did in a couple of months, whilst attending a knitting club, but I also have a big thick cardi which has been on the go for about 8 months....(Might be time to find a new knitting club)  

Crochet is one of those hobbies that I keep picking up in the hope that one day it will just click and I will be amazing, but so far that hasn't happend, I've managed a couple of granny squares, and a flower of sorts (with a lot of help), I have got pretty good a bunting though which is handy...

My go to hobby will always be baking though, it's just so easy to share with others, can be done on spur of the moment (ingredients permitting) and I love that you can see something though in no time, which appeals to my inpatient nature. I just really should do more, especially as I have a cake decorating course on the horizon, ooh exciting...

I think I will probably be adding a new hobby to the collection shortly, both the hubby to be and me quite like the idea of photography, and it could be a good one for us to do together. We have agreed to use the camera we already have to start with as fancy cameras are quite pricey. We will just have to see how we get on, and then maybe treat ourselves after the wedding if we like it. I've got a project in mind that could be fun we just have to make a plan on how to do it together...

What hobbies do you have?

*Sensationail*

I don't think I'm overly girly, but obviously I am a girl and I do like to look like one. Most of the time I have the best intentions of painting my nails but only get around to it every once in a while, even then it doesn't seem to stay nice for that long and either chips off or gets picked off. Not a good look... 

So when my bestie got me a Sensationail kit for my Birthday I was quite excited. A little faff every couple of weeks for pretty fingers, sounds good to me.

Like I said before the sickly Barbie pink that came with the kit wasn't really me, but gave it a go, and actually I didn't hate it. 

You have to make sure your nails are clean, use a gel base coating, base coat, 2 coats of colour and top coat. Using the U.V. lamp in the kit to set each coat in 30 - 60 second. You have to avoid the shin because the polish heats up under the lamp, but I think I did alright for my first attempt.

It lasted perfectly for the first whole week, and the first chip appeared on the following Tuesday, chipped a little bit more but not too much, and I am a picker so most of that was my own fault. So all in all I think it lasted amazingly well. I was impressed anyway, it made my nails feel a lot stronger and you can see in the picture where it has grown up. Picture was taken on the 13th day.

So all in all very happy and will definitely be using it again, in fact I have today. You can use it with normal nail polish you just can't use the U.V. light to dry it as it will melt, which is what I have done they are a nice dark purple now, just have to see if they last as well. 

Mini Milestone

Right so today I actually completed the first week of my challenge, I have managed 4 runs this week!! This may not be a biggie to you hardened runners out there, but for me this is quite an achievement. I just have to make sure I stay focused and carry on like this no matter how tired I am first thing.

The first 2 were good runs, and I didn't seem to have a problem getting up and out, but the last 2 weren't so good, I chose the check my Instagram feed before leaving which took half an hour, so then I was running late getting ready for work, whoops. So that will have to stop. I also managed to get in a hill this morning. I didn't do it on purpose ( I was being a good friend and took a detour to drop off a Birthday card), and I didn't enjoy it, but it showed me that I should probably get some hill training in too. Which shouldn't be too much of an issue Hastings has some wonderful hills.

So yay for mini milestones, now to decide if I should buy myself something pretty now as a reward, or after a month. Probably should wait until I've done it for a month, then I will know I definitely deserve it. What should it be, oh the choices, what do I want?!?

Do you reward yourself for reaching targets?

Little Festivals?

How do you feel about festivals?

I went to V Festival a number of years ago, and I remember enjoying most of it at the time. There was obviously the huge queues for nasty toilets, showers that some scumbags used as toilets, and camping. But other than that, I had a lot of fun with my friends got a bit drunk and saw quite a few cool bands.

I just really am not a fan of camping, or people, I'm really not a fan of them anymore either, the older I get the less I seem to like a crowd.

Though having said that I really feel like I should go to a few festivals, maybe not the big ones but little ones would be ok. And although I feel like I should like camping because it seems quite trendy at the moment, I really think glamping would be more my style. Especially as I am a class 'A' bitch if I don't get enough sleep. 

So does anyone have any suggestions for a 2014 festival, quite small but with good bands and plenty of other things to do, with the option of glamping or similar?

Do you think that might be too much to ask for?

Running on Sunshine

I'm an on and off runner, I'm not very good, I enjoy it when I'm out there but I struggle with my frequency of runs. So I have a plan I intend to run at least 4 times a week. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I can't manage Tuesdays as Monday night yoga seems to make me have a sleep time coma, and I find it nigh on impossible to get up in the morning.

Anyway back to the plan, I have set myself up with everything I need to stick to it, I have an interval app, GPS app and of course Spotify for the actual running, I've got enough P.E. kit and trainers. I even have a goal! I have an obstacle run at the end of October and ideally I would like to enter the local half marathon next year...

Now all I need to ditch is the friggin excuses and negative thoughts. I love how running makes you feel, not so much during but definitely afterwards. I feel more lively, I can get up earlier and have less cravings for naughty food. I just have to remember that when it gets tough.

So far so good though I was out Monday, and this morning, and check out this beautiful sunshine, that makes it worth getting up early too.

Do you enjoy running?