Here we go again....

This is it, the last attempt to be a 'proper blogger'... I'm giving it until Christmas and, if I can't stick to it, then it's time to call it a day.

So, the aims are:

1. To do at least one post a week - shouldn't be too hard, should it?

2.  To think seriously about what I want from this blog... do I want it to be a parenting blog, a foodie blog or a creative blog - or a combination of all three. Hopefully by blogging more regularly I'll get a better idea of what I want to do going forward.

3. To read and comment on lots more blogs. This blog isn't going to grow itself and, just maybe, working at it will fire my enthusiam to keep going with it.

And that's it, my three point plan to get back into blogging. If it works then that's great and, if it doesn't, then at least I'll have tried.

Fit by Forty?

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my upcoming 'big' birthday in October lately. Overall, I feel much more positive about it - life is pretty good (if busy) at the moment and I've stopped worrying that it means I'm getting 'old'. But, as usual, there is one thing stemming the positivity and that is the fact that I'm not the size / shape I want to be.

A couple of years ago I got down to a size 12-14 and my lowest weight since my teenage years. I was running regularly and eating healthily. I lost the weight doing Weightwatchers but was managing to maintain it without too much trouble, mainly due to a very long school run (45 minutes each way, often pushing a toddler in a buggy up a very steep hill) and a relatively healthy diet. I'd pretty much stopped running at that point - the combination of the school run exercise and work meant that I didn't have the time to dedicate to it that I used to have, but it didn't seem to matter. 

But then my son changed schools to the one round the corner - five minutes of flat walking (or maybe 15 minutes when the then pre-school age Little Princess was stopping to examine every leaf on every hedge we passed) did not make an exercise regime. And her love of going for coffee and cake at Costa on our days together didn't help much either - I tried to resist the cake, but she always wanted me to have one, and I never really tried hard enough. We baked a lot together too, and then we ate the results... Sure enough, the weight crept back on, my jeans got tighter and now I'm almost back to where I started four and a half years ago. And this time I can't blame it on the baby weight.

So now I'm on a mission to get fit again. I've dusted off my trainers (ok, bought cool new leopard print ones), joined a Sunday morning outdoor fitness class which is a mix of cardio and conditioning (think hill sprints interpersed with squats, lunges and resistance band work) and started running while the children are at school. I'm also trying to walk more - I managed 17,500 steps yesterday - and stop the mindless snacking. If I can lose weight / tone up without doing a 'proper diet' that would be amazing but we'll see what happens now. I've got 5 months to make a difference - we're not doing a beach holiday this year (the plan is Scotland where I'm fairly confident there will be no need for a bikini!) so it's all about looking good for my 40th now.

This morning I'm off for a run - the sun is shining and this is the view on my usual 5K route.

And for once, I'm actually looking forward to exercise. Maybe all this positive thinking will bring me a new personal best?

Project Life - The Beginning

This year I have a new craft project. Project Life is designed to be a quick scrapbooking method, to tell the story of everyday life and capture all those memories which would otherwise be forgotten. I was given a kit for Christmas (thanks Mum!) and the aim is to create a page every week for the whole of 2015. It's a significant year for my family - leaving aside the big 4-0 (which I'm still trying to ignore), both my parents are celebrating their 70th birthdays this year. Hopefully there will be plenty to enjoy as the year progresses - I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Today was the first day of Project Life. Armed with the photos I got printed from my phone this morning and my new kit, I sat down to create my pages for the first two weeks of the year.


I was very impressed by how quickly the pages came together - obviously it helps having a themed kit, and I'm not using too many embellishments other than a few buttons and some letters / washi tape / wooden birds from my craft stash - but I am really happy with the results.

Hopefully this is something that I can actually stick to. I am already realising that it would be amazing to have a whole year of photos and little memories to look back on, and then to start all over again next year too.

Two in a row!

So it's Monday and I'm back with a second weekly meal plan for this year. Last week I did pretty well at sticking to plan. There was a little bit of re-shuffling due to my night out with the girls on Thursday, at which lots of wine was consumed, but I'm proud of myself for sticking to the Indian spiced lamb with butternut and rocket salad, and not feeding the hangover with a trip to the chippy like I usually do. Of course, the less said about the large baguette at lunchtime (and the pain au raisin on the way to work) to feed my post-wine carb cravings the better...

So, on to another week... I haven't online shopped yet (mainly because I haven't needed to) but will do a proper shop on Wednesday.

Tonight - Chorizo and chickpea stew with bulgar wheat (carried over from last week's plan)
Tomorrow - Pork and mushroom stir-fry with noodles
Wednesday - Lamb rogan josh and rice (cooking double to stock the freezer)
Thursday - Salmon traybake with green beans, cherry tomatoes and anchovies, probably served with mash
Friday - Chicken fajitas
Saturday - Creamy prawn risotto
Sunday - Not planned yet, but I'm thinking a roast of some kind


Of course, my not very adventurous children won't eat most of this, but our timings don't really work to eat together during the week anyway - they will definitely share in the Sunday roast but, for them, it will be the less adventurous rotation of sandwiches, fishfingers, pasta and pizza. At least I know those are things that they will eat!

I'm also planning to bake something this week - still to be decided exactly what though! 

Again,  I'm linking up with Mrs M's #Meal Planning Monday with this post.

The Return of the Meal Planning

 

As part of my New Year's Resolutions, the plan is to sit down every week and put together a proper meal plan. No more popping to the shop for something 'quick and easy' on the way home from work, or ordering take-away because I can't be bothered to cook... 2015 will be all about being organised. Plus, believe it or not, I'm actually getting a bit bored of eating cake/chocolate/cheese/Christmas goodies all the time and my body is craving a bit of variety, if not actual 'healthy food'.

This week I sat down at the kitchen table on Saturday afternoon with my recipe books and came up with this plan.

Sunday - Thai-style chicken noodle soup (made with the leftovers of Saturday's roast)
Monday - Asian-style fish parcels with stir-fried vegetables
Tuesday - Meal at my parents as they are looking after the children
Wednesday - Chicken tagine with couscous
Thursday - Was supposed to be Indian-spiced lamb steaks with butternut squash and rocket salad, but have just remembered I'm out with the girls
Friday - Lemon, chilli and garlic prawn spaghetti
Saturday - Chorizo and Chickpea Stew with bulgar wheat

I'm going to have to check the dates on the perishable ingredients once my Ocado orders turns up, and shuffle things around a little bit to account for Thursday's night out now, but that's the basic plan. I think we'll probably end up having the lamb steaks on Friday and spaghetti on Saturday, with the stew pushed into next week's plan.

No baking on the agenda this week - we still have Christmas cake, leftover brownies and more chocolate/biscuits than I know what to do with.

And maybe, next week, I might even think about starting the diet.

I'm linking up with Mrs M's #Meal Planning Monday with this post.

New Year, New Me?

So, it's 2015. Otherwise known as "the year in which I turn 40", as Jedi Boy has taken to reminding me on a regular basis now that Christmas (and the threat of 'no presents') is safely out of the way. And, with the new year beginning, my thoughts have turned to goals and resolutions - what do I want to achieve in the year ahead?

In terms of resolutions, the big one is to become more organised. I know that I am not organised enough - I 'can' do it at work, when I need to, but at home it is all too easy to settle myself down with the iPad and ignore all the things that need to be done. Because of this, I've decided to set myself some goals to help me focus on achieving a greater state of organisation.

1. Meal Planning - I want to sit down at the weekend and plan the meals for the week ahead, and then do an online order for Monday delivery to ensure that I actually stick to it. This will help with both the diet (assuming I plan healthy enough meals) and the finances as I won't be wandering aimlessly round Sainsburys throwing things into the trolley at random.

2. Decluttering - This is my first step to a tidy house. I'm not going to pretend that it is suddenly going to attain show home levels of tidiness, as it's not, but if we can eliminate some of the clutter, it would be so much easier to keep it tidy. So, I've armed myself with the timer on my phone and am aiming to spend 15 minutes a day in January sorting out the problem areas.

3. Using the Calendar - Our brand new family planner is up on the kitchen wall and I am determined to actually write on it this year. All those school letters / party invites are going up on the calendar so I don't forget and end up relying on Facebook to remind me that the kids need to wear 'Victorian dress/Superhero Costumes/dress up for World Book Day/something red...' the next day and then run around in a panic. And, on top of this, I will make sure I have cash for breakfast club and pay the dinner money on time.

And then a few more personal goals...

Do something creative every week - I'm planning to do Project Life this year which should hopefully get me back into the scrapbooking habit but I feel much happier when I'm creative so I will be aimed to scrapbook, make cards, crochet and maybe even try out something new.

Run 100km before the end of February - To be honest, I think this one might be a bit over ambitious but I really need to get back into running regularly and, if I even get within 20km of this goal, I'll be happy.
 
Get back into blogging - I love writing and I'd really like to be a regular blogger. I've said this before and I can't guarantee it is going to happen, unless I can find a way to do it easily on the iPad, but I definitely want to give it a proper go.

So, that's it - hopefully the first steps to an organised and creative 2015. And, I'll just block that impending big birthday from my mind for just a bit longer... it's still 9.5 months away.
 

Another Monday Meal Plan

A  quick post today as I'm still trying to get back into the meal planning habit. 'Officially' I am on my pre-Florida holiday diet which means healthier meals - although today hasn't worked out exactly how I would have hoped in diet terms. I'm blaming the fact I'm still tired from a busy hen weekend.

So, here goes...

Tonight (and lunch tomorrow) - Quiche lorraine frittata and salad 

Tomorrow - Lemon chicken stew (from freezer), jacket potato and lots of green veg

Wednesday - Creamy prawn risotto

Thursday - Tapas style food and beer in front of the football (not diet friendly but England's involvement in the World Cup might not last long)

Friday - Green chilli tacos with salsa and sour cream

Saturday - Out with the husband for a delayed anniversary meal, we're trying out the Hotel Chocolat restaurant, Rabot 1745, in Borough Market

Sunday - Thinking BBQ but all depends on the weather

Thanks to Mrs M for the link and inspiration.

A Campsite by the Sea

After much checking of the weather forecast, we headed off to the South Coast for the second weekend of half-term. The drive down was fairly uneventful - both children fell asleep before we'd gone more than a few, very slow, miles through the London traffic - but then were both awake again well before we'd cleared the M25. This dual power-nap meant a lot of noise, over-excitement and bashing each other over the head with the pillows which we'd had to stack between them on the back seat due to the fact the car boot was stuffed full to bursting with camping gear. Not the best of driving conditions then, but four hours after setting off, we pulled into the campsite. And, once the tent was up, we could settle down with a glass of wine, fire up the camping stove and enjoy the view.

Over the next three days we had a great time. We spent a day on the beach in Weymouth enjoying traditional 'seaside' activities such as donkey rides, fun fairs and eating fish and chips by the sea. We spent a day in Lyme Regis enjoying the beach (and, in the case of my very hardy 7 year old, the freezing cold sea) and then hunting for fossils at Charmouth. And, on the way back to London, we made the Little Princess' dreams come true with a long-awaited trip to meet her beloved Peppa Pig at Peppa Pig World (another post to come on that).

This was our first camping trip on our own. We camped last year with friends who have a bit more 'experience' of camping than we do, so it was a bit of a learning curve. We all thoroughly enjoyed the three nights we spent at East Fleet Farm, just outside Weymouth, and would definitely go back again in future.

The best bits: The sunshine, being so close to the beach, the fantastic playground where the kids could hang out and make friends, sitting outside with a glass of wine watching the sun go down. And, despite the fact I'm addicted to the internet, not having the unlimited access to technology that we're used to was great... I could use my phone, but having to conserve the battery life was a positive as it meant we switched off and talked instead.

What we learned...
A camping stove takes a long time to bring a big pan of potatoes to the boil, which is annoying when you have two hungry children waiting for their dinner.
And, even if the forecast doesn't include rain, it would be a good idea to take wellies - the area outside our tent was really boggy for the first couple of days. Luckily most of the mud on our (not very sensible) shoes came out in the wash!

Half Term Meal Planning

For once, I have actually got round to meal planning on a Bank Holiday Monday. This is partly because the fact that we have spent a small fortune on camping gear this weekend makes me feel like being sensible but, also, because it is a short week as we're heading off for three nights in the new tent on Friday.

So, here is our plan - very simple (as it is likely to be a busy week at work) and all things that I have cooked before.

Tonight - BBQ-style chilli from Nigella Kitchen, served over jacket potatoes and topped with cheese

Tuesday - Dinner at my parents

Wednesday - Thai Red Prawn Curry with jasmine rice (think it is a BBC Good Food recipe)

Thursday - Chicken stir-fry with noodles (quick M&S option as we're both working and then will be sorting out the camping stuff)

Friday - Pasta bolognese (assuming the camping stove works!). I am cooking the bolognese tonight, freezing it and re-heating it when we get there 

Saturday/Sunday - Sausage and mash (on the camp stove), fish and chips, pub food.... TBC depending on the weather.

For more meal planning, head over to Mrs M's

Any sunshine vibes for the weekend would be appreciated - we've promised the kids and they are already bouncing up and down with excitement, so no backing out now...

It's the Little Things

As September approaches, I've been thinking more and more about 'making the most' of the time I have left where it's just me and the Little Princess. I don't want her to start school with me regretting all the things we didn't do - we've had two days a week all to ourselves for almost three years now (since her big brother started school) and it has been great. Occasionally we go for proper days out but a lot of the time we just potter around locally picking up bits of shopping, having coffee (we are such regulars in our local Costa that one of the barista's asked Little Princess how she'd enjoyed her first swimming lesson the other week), hanging out in the local park, library visits, meeting friends at soft play etc. And then at home we bake, do crafts, read books or simply play.

But.... this awareness of 'time running out' has made me want to do 'more' with her. We've got the whole of London pretty much on our door-step (25 minutes train ride away) and there are loads of child-friendly places in the surrounding areas too. So, I offer the Little Princess a few 'exciting' options of what we can do with our day - the farm park, a trip to the Southbank, the Olympic Park and shopping at Westfield Stratford... and she says "swimming" or "the park". Or "let's go to Costa (again)"...

And, thinking about it, if what she wants to do is go to the park, and stop somewhere for a cake / ice-cream, does that really matter? It's still quality time and spending time together is what is really important. It's the 'time together' that is coming to an end, those 'places' will all still be there in the holidays and we can go as a family, it doesn't just have to be me and her.

So, today we went to the park...

We explored the woods and found a basket swing hidden away, which we had all to ourselves. We balanced along fallen tree trunks, saw the cygnets swimming on the lake, played in the playground and had ice lollies. And, all the time, the Little Princess smiled, laughed and chattered away. There was no rushing around, no panicking about missing the train back and being late for the school run - it was just us, together, having fun.

And so, from now on, it's not about the 'big days out' - if she wants to go somewhere special then that's great, but I've realised that we need to spend time appreciating the little things too.

The Trouble with Cookie Dough...

Is that it is simply too addictive...

Today I have been baking with the Little Princess. Originally, we were planning a trip to the Natural History Museum to "see if she is still scared of the T-Rex", but four year old argumentativeness meant that we ended up postponing that until another day. Instead, we have been having a chill-out day - craft activities, games and, perhaps inevitably, baking.

I'm not a natural cookie baker. I'm pretty good at cakes, brownies and whoopie pies, but it's usually 50/50 whether my cookies come out ok. Due to this, we normally avoid baking cookies, but the Little Princess was insistent that she wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies and I was fairly keen to avoid another argument. So, cookies it was...

We measured, sieved, mixed, rolled and cut into heart shapes. And then, with the cookies safely in the oven, we indulged in my favourite bit of cookie-baking, consumption of the leftover cookie dough. The cookie dough was delicious but, the big question was, would the cookies taste as good.

The answer was yes. These are very good cookies - seriously chocolatey, indulgent, slightly soft in the middle - in fact, they even beat the cookie dough itself in the taste test. Definitely a recipe to make again in the future.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

As a child, Bank Holiday Mondays meant walks in the countryside and, fairly often, picnics in the car while we attempted to shelter from the incessant rain (our walks were never dependent on the weather). Now that I've got children of my own, we still often go out for a walk on a Bank Holiday, but only if the sun is shining.

This Monday was a beautiful day, with sunshine and blue skies. We started off with a pub lunch sat on the terrace of one of our favourite local pubs and then headed for Trent Park for an afternoon stroll. And that is where the fun started...

According to my children, North London parkland is inhabited by scary, child-eating bears which meant that they needed to be armed with giant sticks and ready to fend off any potential attacks.

The giant sticks were a slight hindrance to their ability to walk anywhere at any speed, and I felt in constant danger of having my eyes poked out as they waved them around, but it's good to encourage imagination, right? Eventually, we came to the edge of the woodland and persuaded them that 'bears' don't tend to wander round grassy meadows full of picnickers, and we were able to leave the sticks behind. It was then a leisurely wander with multiple pauses to climb trees, jump over streams, play in a ready-made den we discovered in the woods and, in the case of Jedi Boy, crawl up the hill on his hands and knees complaining he was 'too tired' to walk any further. After all, what's a day out without a little bit of dramatism!

I think sometimes in these technology-filled days we're all a little bit guilty of ignoring the simpler pleasures in life like just being outside and appreciating our surroundings. Just wandering through the park with the children, not needing to be anywhere at a specified time, was lovely... even if we never did find that bear.

Tales of a Mini Shopaholic

A couple of weeks ago now, a email pinged into my inbox offering the Little Princess a place at our chosen school where, come September, she will be putting on her little purple uniform and joining her big brother. The overwhelming emotion at receiving the email was relief - we've had a bit of a saga with school places due to moving two months into Jedi Boy's Reception year (he'd been to three different schools before his sixth birthday) - but the relief was tinged with sadness at the thought of 'losing' my baby girl. As a bright, independent (and somewhat feisty) four year old, she is more than ready to start school but I'm not so sure I'm ready...

Since Jedi Boy started school almost three years ago, we've spent every Monday and Wednesday together having our 'Mummy and Daughter' days. We have a lot of fun together - we bake, we play games, we read stories, we do a host of craft activities, we hang out in the park, we have picnics in the garden with various soft toys when the sun shines - and most of all, we go shopping and have 'coffee and cake' together. The Little Princess has been a big fan of shopping from a very tender age - as a baby, she spent many happy hours being pushed around Westfield London in her buggy (well, I had to do 'something' to keep out of the rain and it was a shortish bus ride away) - and now, given a free choice of activity, she'll often plump for a trip on the train to the 'Big Shops' (now Westfield Stratford due to our house move). She loves to browse the shops and is developing a real sense of her own style - she loves everything sparkly, any type of stripes and has a bit of a penchant for leopard print (today she is accessorising a leopard-print H&M tutu-style skirt with leopard-print sunglasses, also from H&M). Accessories are a big deal, she adores handbags, shoes and sparkly hair-clips and a trip to our local shops isn't complete these days without a significant time spent browsing in Claire's Accessories and a trip to the independent shoe shop to 'visit' her ultimate fashion wish-list item, a pair of Lelli Kelly shoes.

Of course, Mummy's accessories are always better....
 

The Little Princess is great fun to be with. She chatters constantly, has opinions on everything and is a fabulous shopping companion. Of course, there are the occasional downsides - the constant demands for me to buy her a new 'lipstick', the occasional stand-off in the middle of the shop, the insistence that she 'really loves' a certain food, followed by the refusal to eat it when I buy it for her - but overall, we do have plenty of fun. I'm really going to miss these girlie days come September...

Back to the Meal Planning

Recently I've been slacking off with the meal-planning,as well as the blogging, but I'm planning to make a concerted effort to get back on track over the next few weeks. Today I sat down with the iPad (and a couple of cook books) and planned out this week's meals.

I've already got a Lamb and Potato Balti simmering away in the slow cooker for tonight, which will be served with some basmati rice. Monday night is always a bit manic as both children now have swimming lessons at 6pm, so I often slow-cook on a Monday to minimise preparation time. The kids tend to just have a cold tea before swimming - they take an eternity to eat anything hot so it is just easier that way. Plus, it's really nice to come home after swimming to the aroma of something tasty!

The rest of the week is looking like this...

Tuesday - Beef in black bean with stir-fried veg and noodles (quick after work dinner for the Husband and I)
Wednesday - Tuna pasta bake topped with crisps (a big favourite with the children)
Thursday - Pesto topped salmon fillets with green beans and new potatoes
Friday - Greek chicken, herby couscous and tzatziki

Not a particularly 'exciting' week but they are all tried and tested recipes which we enjoy, and hopefully next week a bit more inspiration will strike. I haven't planned the weekend as we probably won't be home much so there doesn't seem much point at this stage.

Thanks to Mrs M for the link

Tales from the Olympic Park

Last week the children and I had a day out at the newly-opened Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, along with what seemed like half of London! It was a beautiful day - relatively warm sunshine and cloudless blue skies and we had great fun exploring. Undoubtedly the 'best bit' for my two was the water play area in what is known as Tumbling Bay. Shoes and socks were quickly discarded, jeans rolled up as they got stuck into a complicated game of building / destroying dams and pumping water.  What was really lovely was the way in which so many children who'd never met before just joined forces to play - it seemed like there were two teams, one trying to control the flow of the water and the other trying to stop it by building dams.

Once dried off (stupidly I'd forgotten to take a towel so we had to improvise with the clothes that the Little Princess had discarded... we did have spare clothes for her), it was on to the amazing treehouse inspired climbing nets and rope bridges. Jedi Boy was immediately climbing across the nets and making his way up a fairly tricky rope ladder to the top of the tree... I had my heart in my mouth as he slid down the very high fireman's pole, but sometimes you just have to let them get on with it. This is a great playspace for children - it is designed to blend in with the environment without sacrificing any of the fun - and it isn't as 'safe' as some playgrounds seem to be these days. It even has a properly slippery slide!

We had a fabulous day out at the Olympic Park and will definitely be going back there in the future - there was another playground over by the Olympic Stadium which was too busy to explore properly, fountains which will be brilliant fun to splash in on hot summer days, a climbing wall (for over 11s) and plenty of quiet footpaths to explore. I'm looking forward to our next visit already!

Musings on my failure to blog...

I really want to give this blogging thing a proper go but, as you can probably see, blogging regularly isn't something I've managed to do so far. I need to get my head round the idea of blogging from the iPad so this is a bit of a test post. So far, so good - am stretched out on the comfy sofa, iPad on knees, big cup of tea beside me on the coffee table and typing doesn't seem too hard.

It's the first day of the Easter holidays. Both Jedi Boy and the Little Princess are in the other room, monopolising both the PC and the other iPad with their current obsession, Minecraft. I've stripped the beds, washing machine is spinning (loudly) and dishwasher rumbling away in the kitchen and now taking some time out before I drag the kids away from Minecraft and attempt to do something more constructive with our day, i.e take the library books back before they fine me again... Or, maybe I should just appreciate the fact that for once they are playing together, there is no bickering / telling tales and chill out for just a bit longer.

It is one of those holiday periods where, actually, we don't have much planned - a trip to see what the new bits of the Olympic Park that opened last week are like, maybe Kew Gardens if the sun shines, a Wembley trip for Jedi Boy and his Dad and our family's traditional Easter Sunday visit to the funfair on Hampstead Heath. Hopefully it will be fun!

Monday Meal Planning in the snow

I have been slacking off on the Monday meal planning recently but the threat (and subsequent arrival!) of the snow forced me to be a bit more organised. Given the choice between trekking through the snow to the supermarket accompanied by the Little Princess, or doing an online shop, I chose the latter - and thanks to the Sainsbury's delivery man making it through the snow this morning, I now have both a fully stocked fridge and a proper meal plan.

This week I am continuing my quest to cook more new recipes, re-visiting the speed cooking with one of the Jamie's 15 Minute Meals that I have already tried (20 minutes and 4 seconds to beat) and adding a few old favourites for those after work dinners when I can't be bothered spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

So, here is this week's plan

Tonight - Greek chicken with herby couscous and homemade tzatziki (from Jamie's 15 Minute Meals)
Tuesday - Teriyaki beef stir-fry with veg and noodles
Wednesday - Pasta with Lamb Ragu (from Nigellisima - this week's new recipe)
Thursday - Thai Red Prawn Curry with saffron rice
Friday - Chicken Fajitas (from Jamie's Ministry of Food - a real favourite in this house, thanks to Mrs M for reminding me!)
Saturday - still tbc
Sunday - a roast of some description, am thinking chicken at the moment...

Let's just hope I can stay being organised!

New Years Resolutions

Every year I have the same resolutions - lose some weight, exercise more, don't spend so much money on things we don't need, make more effort to keep the house tidy. To be fair, I do usually lose some weight (in the first part of the year anyway, when I've got a sunshine holiday to aim for), I exercise fairly regularly and I 'try' to do the other two things but usually don't succeed. So, this year I am going for a new approach of setting myself some mini goals along the way. These aren't going to be big, dramatic resolutions. They will just be a few little things that I'd like to achieve each month and will hopefully make me feel more positive about myself.

So, for January I would like to;

Cook Six New Recipes - I have got a shelf literally over-flowing with cookery books and one of my aims for this year is to widen my range of meals as we often find ourselves eating the same old favourites time and time again. So far, on day 6, I have only done one new recipe - Cajun Chicken, Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Fresh Corn Salsa (from Jamie's 15 Minute Meals) which we really enjoyed, so next week I will be adding at least one new thing into our meal plan.

Run 40K - Hopefully if I achieve this goal; I will be well on the way to getting back into running regularly again. So far I have done 9K which is a good start.

Create Four Scrapbook Pages - I love scrapbooking but since the Little Princess dropped her afternoon nap, it is one of those things that has fallen by the wayside a bit. I have a huge stack of lovely photos from last year, a cupboard full of fabulous materials (including birthday and Christmas presents which I am waiting to try out), a new scrapbook to fill and I just need to get on with putting our memories down on paper. So, I am aiming for one page a week this month - and hopefully, 52 pages in the year!

Start the Great Declutter - Unlike the other three resolutions, this one is a bit vague. We have a lot of projects that we'd like to do in the house this year and, to do that, we need to create more space. So this month I am going to start decluttering - just haven't decided what to tackle first!

And, on top of that, I'd like to lose 7lbs (if I ever buy some new scales) and blog more.... that should be enough to get going with.

Meal Planning Monday (on Tuesday!)

After a couple of weeks of spectacularly failing to meal plan (due to a combination of the Jubilee weekend and half-term), I am back on both my diet and my meal-planning mission this week. I am attempting to low-carb which is a new thing for me, the carb-addict, but hopefully it will give the diet a boost.

Yesterday we spent the day dodging the showers / incessant drizzle at Legoland with the kids, taking advantage of an inset day at the end of half-term. Despite the weather, we actually had a fabulous day - both kids were happy all day and we enjoyed ourselves even more because of that. It was just lovely to have a day without a single tantrum / drama queen moment from either of them.

So, on to the meal-planning...

Monday - Fishcakes and caesar salad (all shop-bought due to post-Legoland tiredness)
Tuesday - Tray-roasted salmon with green beans, cherry tomatoes, anchovies and olives (one of our favourite Jamie Oliver recipes)
Wednesday - Lamb Rogan Josh with cauliflower rice
Thursday - Steak, with potato wedges for the Husband and a pile of veggies for me
Friday - Halloumi, chorizo and pepper kebabs with salad
Saturday - Out for a meal for our 9th wedding anniversary (how did THAT happen?)
Sunday - Roast dinner - either at home or the pub for Father's Day.

I think it sounds like a good week - let's just hope I stick to it!

Thanks, as always, to Mrs M for the link...

Hangover Munchies

Last night the combination of free-flowing Prosecco (and free-flowing Chardonnay once the copious supply of Prosecco ran out) and my lack of willpower when faced with waitresses topping up my glass got the better of me...  I'd like to claim I wasn't drunk but, in reality, I probably had one or two (or three) glasses of wine more than I should have had - due to the enthusiastic glass-filling I don't actually know how much I had.

So today I have the hangover munchies - I've been attempting to stick to a relatively low-carb diet this week (lots of salad, protein and no bread) but my hangover is demanding bread. And it is demanding it so loudly that it makes my head hurt. Not only did I succumb to the temptation of the mid-morning bacon sandwich run, I then followed it up with a brie and cranberry panini. And yes, it was good, but I am so going to regret it when I step on the scales next week..

I've also been thinking about my favourite hangover foods - a bacon and fried egg sandwich with a big dollop of tomato ketchup, chips covered in melted cheese, sea salt and balsamic vinegar Kettle Chips, cheese and crisp sandwiches (yes, I know that one is weird), cheesy mashed potato, cheesy pasta... spotting a theme here anyone?

Of course, there is one other thing that will make me feel better, more Prosecco - roll on wine o clock!