Leopard Print and Other News

I have an unhealthy obsession with leopard print and animal print that has been growing steadily.  I already own a leopard print top, a leopard print vest, a leopard print dressing gown, a pair of leopard print pajamas and slippers!  However in the last 4 days I have bought:  Fluffy animal print coat see pic, chiffon leopard print dress and a leopard print cape top!

Perhaps I will turn into a leopard?

Look at my looovely coat it is so fluffy and warm!!

Mike and I have moved into his parents house and this weekend we will have been there for 2 weeks. Its going well and they are making us feel very welcome :-) Last night they said they are going to put a full length mirror on the inside of my wardrobe as at the moment I just use the little mirror in the bathroom so that is very much appreciated and really nice of them.

Mike has the day off today for one of his Christmas parties (he gets TWO!) but he very kindly got up early and brought me into work even though I offered to get the bus. So now he has gone back to bed for a bit before his mum gives him and his dad a lift into town and they will go for a pint together before going to have their Christmas lunch. They work on the same floor in the DVLA in case you were wondering why Mike is taking his father to his party!
Later today Kim is picking me up at 5pm and I have a bag of presents to give to her for her and the twins and it will be really nice to see the twins as I haven't seen them since the summer. They're nearly 4 now so will have changed quite a bit since I last saw them as they are growing up really fast! Then after Kim has dropped the twins with their dad we are going out for a meal in Chiquitos. Can't wait to see her and catch up and drink some wine! If Mike is still out later I will meet up with him but if not Kim has offered to drive me home (She is not drinking the wine lol)

So I just need today in work to faaaack off so I can start enjoying the weekend!  The only good thing about today is some clothes I have ordered from http://www.asos.com/ are arriving today so that is exciting.  Here is a picture of my purchases...check out the sparkly party dress!!

And of course the leopard print!

 

Rubbish

God I am rubbish at blogging.  Fact.  I have not updated this in over a month even though lots of things have happened....I will do a short summary:

1)  I ran the half marathon!  Except it wasnt a half marathon, it was measured wrong and was actually 0.1 miles too short or something ridiculous.  Luckily I started in the slowest possible pen with all the old ladies dressed in pink cowboy hats so I had to run a good 0.5 miles to even cross the start line.

2) Remember that dickhead that I work with?  You know, the fat loser one?  (I am not "fattist" but this guy deserves every insult going)  anyway he pushed my anger to new levels a couple of weeks ago by winding a lecturer up by telling her she was not going to get paid and telling them to phone me to ask WHY.  In fact they were going to get paid and I had taken the spreadhseet with the payments into payroll the prevoius day.  I managed to calm the irate lecturer down and explain that he (the idiot lazy arse) had made a mistake.  When I confronted him he said he couldnt be bothered to check on the spreadsheet THAT WAS ON THE DESK NEXT TO HIM so just told her she was not getting paid and to speak to me.  So he winds her up and send her my way for NO reason at all. Nice one you fucking tool.  I could have written a post on this, see? 

4)  Other stuff has happened that I can't remember.  In a month all I can think of is those 2 things?!?!

I have eaten a lot of mince pies and chocolate cake but that's not really newsworthy as it is a frequent occurence.  Must blog better to avoid this seive brain when it comes to writing up all the weeks I have missed.

Baking Sunday

Following on from my last post about being an old lady I am currently sitting in the lounge wearing fleecy leopard print pjs trousers, a flowery vest top and a very fetching red and brown apron...or should I say pinny?  Pinny is more old ladyish I think, also it matches my oven gloves which I like....

Anyway I have been making a carrot cake.  I found a recipe for a cake on bbc good food website which I often use for recipes.  I ended up substituting half the ingredients for stuff that I had in the cupboards to save going back to the shops but I should think it's ok.
It's the first cake I've made with oil instead of butter, I don't know why, but this seems to be common with carrot cakes.  I will report back on the taste....it is cooling at the moment waiting for me to ice it with some icing made from satsuma juice and icing sugar...I would have used oranges but this was one of my substitutes!  One of my favourite things about carrot cake is the cream cheese frosting but I would have definitely had to go back to the shops for that, so the icing will have to do!

I am going to make a sunday roast later with chicken thighs.  I made this a couple of weeks ago and put the chicken on a grill over the roast potatoes so the fat dripped onto them.  They were delicious but very unhealthy I am sure!  I wish I didn't like cooking so much, I am going to make Mike and I ginormous at this rate!  Usually I make fairly healthy stuff, but the unhealthy stuff is so much tastier!

Old Lady

I have become an old lady...it's official.

No longer do I spend my saturdays waiting impatiently to be able to get ready to go clubbing...I am now waiting impatiently for Strictly Come Dancing and XFactor to start!  What a loser.  Although tonight is the first of the LIIIIVE SHOOOWS!!!  Loser.  I am excited though.

To be fair though I have got quite a lot planned over the next few weeks...and I did go out last Saturday...so perhaps I had better not start a pension just yet (Although perhaps I should as Mike has been paying into one for years!)

So, today all I have done is:

1)  Cook Mike a fry up...I was good and had one sausage with 2 poached eggs on toast with a grilled tomato.

2)  Got dressed (This is good going for me on the weekend when we don't do anything!)

3)  Walked to the shop to pick up some squash (ESSENTIAL) and some nurofen (also essential) ready for a probably hangover tomorrow after I have enjoyed a couple of bottles of wine with my saturday night old ladyness.  Not all to myself I am hoping Mike will help me out!  Also 2 big peaches from the green grocers.  This should probably be a separate post but the fruit and veg in the greengrocers is twice the size of the stuff available in supermarkets!  The 2 peaches cost me 88p so if I had bought 4 they would have been much cheaper than the punnet in tescos.  And bigger.  This is another example of something a 24 year old should not care about.


4)  Watch this space, I don't know what to do next.  There's still 3 hours until my programmes.  Hmm.

Tomato and mustard

Granary bread + sliced tomatoes + dijon mustard = My new sandwich filling! 

I was eating ham, tomato and mustard the other day but the ham was gristly and it makes me feel sick when I crunch a lump of gristle urgh it just puts me off.. So when I made sandwiches for lunch today I cut out the ham and am happy I did yumyum. 
Although I don't count calories, I do keep an eye on them, and without the meat in my sandwich I can afford to have a packet of salt and vinegar squares which I am eating now with my tomato and mustard sandwich.  A treat!  Although think it would be better for to have the ham instead!

Also, IT'S FRIIIIIIIIDDDDAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I might finish early as I have been coming in at 7.30am all week so have plenty of flexi time to spend....I shall see how my afternoon goes....lie in tomorrow!!
I don't know why I get excited about lie ins, I always wake up at 7.30ish and have to creep around so as not to wake Mike up but it's nice to have the choice whether to get out or bed or not!

3 Recent Things

God I am rubbish at remembering to write this!  Anyway the following things have happened since I last posted:

1)  We managed to get Glastonbury tickets!!!  Mike's phone found a loop hole where he was able to go back and book tickets for everyone in our group!  Otherwise NONE OF US would be going as nobody could get through using a computer.  It would have been a disaster because it's our annual thing, the same group of us go every year and to have some or all of the group missing would be a disaster! Scary!  But ok now woohoo can't wait for June!  Booked my leave yesterday and now on the countdown :) :)

2)  I have finally bought some proper running shoes!  The shop made me run on a treadmill and filmed my feet as I ran to see how they landed.  Turns out they land straight so I have a neutral foot so I tried on 4 pairs of trainers and went with the first ones as they felt just like slippers when I put them on.  I have run in them twice and they are very comfy.  The big test will be a long run this weekend (My last before the race!)

3)  I have FINALLY sorted my hair out!  The hairdresser stripped out the black and then dyed over it in a golden brown to match my (large) roots so now I have my natural colour back...I think...it has been a long time since I have seen it!  Anyway that cost a small fortune and I got conned in to buying some special shampoo and conditioner because all normal shampoo and conditioner has the dreaded SULPHATES in them.  Sulphates (du-du-duuur!!!) is a cleansing agent used in most shampoos/showergels etc which will apparently will make my colour fade very quickly and this is bad cos my hair is orange underneath the dye from the stripper so my brown will soon become brassy and I will have to go back and have it dyed again.  Which you would think they would want cos they they get more money??  But perhaps they know I will have to go back soon anyway?!  Hmmm I think I was conned, but at least the shampoo smells nice.

Snap, Crackle ...Pop?

I think I only have 2 readers and you both probably know anyway, Mum you do for definite!  But I ran my 10 miles on Saturday...with a slight hangover and after a fry up (not so healthy eh).

I took a route which goes down a cycle path in my village and comes out on the seafront, then went up to the tip of Mumbles and up a steep hill to the "Big Apple" (local landmark) which is where I turned around. 
5 miles there and 5 miles back.  I had a minutes breather at the top before setting off again, and stopped for a drink from the tap in some public toilets about half a mile later.  Stupidly I hadn't taken any water when I should have done for that length run.

Anyway then I ran back and by mile 8.5 it had gotten very hard!  I was back on the cycle path sloping gently up towards the village and walked/ran the last mile and a half.  The last half a mile was 2 hills with a main road in between urgh.
As this was my first long run and I was slightly hungover surely it can only get easier??  With more training and no hangover next time it can only get better....surely?

Desperately need my proper running shoes now though, the ones I am using not only give me blisters but they are so uncushioned and unsupportive and I have only noticed that on the long run. 
My ankles were aching afterwards and my achilles made a clicking noise when I stretched...yuk!  Apparently that is when your tendon pops out of place/back into place or something, it doesn't hurt but I am still abit wary about doing a long run again without proper supportive shoes.