Florence

Time flies (and so do I)

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

So apparently time flies when you’re having (or not having) fun! I promise that I had started typing up a post back in August but I managed to get side-tracked (by absolutely bugger all) and failed to post it! Before you think it, I’m useless I know I am!

So in the non-posted August blog I’d typed the following opening paragraph…..Well I’m actually rather impressed with myself (and it takes a lot to impress me!) I went to the gym Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday and then I did my third Body Combat class Saturday morning.  The Thursday, Friday and Saturday visits I’m particularly chuffed with as I joined Charlotte for her PT session Tuesday evening (I’ve moaned soooo much that Phil has run off to Mexico and I won’t see him until the 5th September!) and Sammy completely broke my legs (I sense he took great pleasure from this, calling me a Princess due to my bitchy moaning and defeatist attitude – He’s even invited me to join them for this weeks sesh, he’s a glutton for punishment!) I’d then written this…..My gym visits certainly play an integral part towards Mission Love Me; however I know I have many other demons I need to address to graduate with flying colours.  Last Thursday Charlotte was my shrink for the evening, she told me things I already knew (just choose not to acknowledge) she also shed some light on my non-existent love life.  I have always (well perhaps not always, I’m certain when I was around three years old I didn’t) hated myself.  I never think I’m good enough, hence I will always go above and beyond to please others in what ever way I can with the aim to be accepted and loved.  This self-loathing has stemmed from various obstacles throughout my 33 years – being bullied at school, Dad having an affair, breakdown of friendships etc. team this with me being a complete and utter emotional idiot and I’m paving the way for me to completely sabotage my love life and subsequently my happiness.  How depressing is that?!?  So basically the jist of my little therapy session is that my love life sucks because I choose people that I know can’t be with me or who I know will at some point reject me as this confirms my beliefs that I’m not good enough.  When someone tells you this, actually says it out loud, its just the saddest, depressing thing.

I think its safe to say I was still feeling rather mopey and sorry for myself after events with SKoA and a few other things when I was typing last. Hence I desperately tried to channel my hurt and upset into my gym workouts to push myself that little bit more which did help; along with hoping that SKoA’s black halo slips and chokes him at some point, this too has massively helped.

My gym visits had been up and I was feeling heaps better and then on the weekend of Silverstone (Ooh i’ll write a bit about the MotoGP weekend in a bit) my ear felt a bit odd. Over the course of the weekend the odd feeling turned into an ache combined with an annoyingly loud ringing in my ear. I went to the doctors on the Monday and was told that all looked relatively fine, there was a little redness so I was given a spray to use but was told the ringing should clear. Well it didn’t! In fact it got worse. I honestly wanted to go all Van Gogh and cut my left ear off, the ringing was intolerable. So the following Monday I went back to the doctors and saw my GP this time who looked in my ear, pulled a face of disgust and told me my ear looked bloody awful and I had a perforated eardrum! Thankfully 3 weeks on following a course of antibiotics my eardrum is healing and the ringing and buzzing has stopped; I have however had a poxy cold – I think I may have picked up a lurgey on the flight home from Florence (oh yes you have read that correctly – Florence!)

So Silverstone and Round 12 of the MotoGP was a fabulous weekend. It started on the Thursday (which if I’m honest was the best day of the four) with Day of Champions. We arrived just before 10am, contended with a rude carpark marshal before heading into the track. We had a little look around the stores and then got in line ready for our Paddock Pass visit. Now I was on a bit of a mission ( / stalk) and I basically was on the look out for Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa as it was their autographs I’d been hoping to get after missing out on getting them a few years ago. We walked past Rhys Edwards (former Communications & Marketing Manager for Honda Racing Corporation) saw Monster Energy and Crutchlow’s bestie Jake walking alongside Lucy and baby Willow…..so we were getting close, I could smell the leathers haha. Mum and I weaved our way through the crowds until we found Jorge’s motorhome and then we waited……..and waited……..We saw Artur Vilalta, Lorenzo’s Communication Manager and Marc Rovira Jordana his personal trainer come in and out of the trailer…….then we saw his team manager Wilco Zeelenberg……it was just a matter of time and the hour or so of patiently waiting paid off! Not only did Jorge sign my photo, is was an absolute dream and let me take a picture with him (which he may have regretted when I was faffing around telling him to ‘hold on, one minute’ whilst I flipped the camera screen) I’m completely in love, he was so friendly, the perfect gentlemen – Swoon. With aching feet, sunburn and little time left in the paddock I’d pretty much ruled out seeing or meeting any of the other riders…..but with around 20 minutes left on the clock we walked past Repsol Honda hospitality and saw a few people going in and out that who I recognised so had a really good feeling that Dani was inside, and sure enough he was! Yay!! Now Dani doesn’t like crowds of people, so when other people started flocking around him I began to lose hope that he’d sign my photo, but with a little smile and a ‘please can you sign this for me Dani’ he took my sharpie and photo and signed it before zipping off on his scooter. BEST DAY!!! Race weekends are long and tiring we spent the day there Friday for free practice, opted for a day shopping in Milton Keynes on Saturday as it was pouring with rain and then back there at 7am Sunday morning for race day! Dad came Sunday morning so me and Mum met him at the track. Good races, some unexpected results but all in all it was a fantastic and memorable weekend.

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Jorge & Me

One of the many photos I’ve taken of Pedrosa signed by Dani himself – Eek

Hmmmm what else have I been up to? Oh yes, Sunday before last my sister and I drove to Gatwick, for a tour of the South Terminal and a flight to Pisa! Yes! We actually boarded an aeroplane this time and we only blimin’ well made it all the way to Italy!! Yip to the Pee!!!  We hadn’t got excited or got our hopes up just in case the trip didn’t happen, but thankfully it was all relatively plain sailing!  Our EasyJet flight departed on time and we arrived in Pisa around 17:30, we purchased our bus ticket and waited for the next one to arrive to take us into Florence.  The bus was a little late leaving which was a little annoying, however we were in Italy, which was more than we achieved in June so we didn’t let it bother us too much.  The bus dropped us off at the train station so there were lots of people milling around and the queue for the taxi was pretty long so we opted to walk our hotel, it was only 30 minutes away, although perhaps walking with suitcases on cobbled streets at around 8pm wasn’t the best idea (I just wanted to get to the hotel as soon as poss and we did get to see some of the gorgeous city all lit up)  We checked-in at Hotel Home, freshened up a little and then went out for dinner.  Let me tell you Italians don’t do small portions and they also offer like 12 courses (perhaps not 12, but there’s lots!)  After eating lots (too much) food we walked back to the hotel and settled down for some much needed sleep to prepare us for the delights Florence had to offer Monday morning.  Waking up fresh from a good nights sleep we started our day with breakfast at the hotel and then walked along the Arno down towards The Ponte Vecchio.  We crossed over the bridge looking in the windows of all the jewellery shops homed there and continued wandering through the cobbled streets and back across the river until we arrived at the spectacular Piazza Del Duomo.  Honestly the pictures (and I took lots) don’t do the cathedral justice, it’s magnificent renaissance dome, the octagonal baptistery, the white marble teamed with the green Prato marble; it’s just completely stunning.

After our afternoon mooching around and taking everything in, my sister set out to find us a restaurant to go to for dinner.  The restaurant she chose was called 50 Sfumature di Gusto (50 Shades of Taste) with it’s very own ‘red room’.  Sounds ummm intimate right haha, but it honestly wasn’t seedy and the food was amazing!  We both highly recommend it, oh and the melon liquour, forget limoncello it’s all about the meloncello – delicious!  Following our scrummy dinner (and three free shots of meloncello) we walked back to the hotel and asked for access to the private rooftop terrace.  We took the lift to the top floor and walked through door 1000 and made our way up to see Florence glowing in a moonlit sky.  The rest of our time spent in Florence consisted of lots of walking and eating!  Tuesday we started off by walking up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for views across the city and the surrounding Tuscan countryside, then in the afternoon we made our way back to the duomo and we climbed Giotto’s Campanile aka bell tower (or death tower as we like to call it – the narrow 1330’s stone stairs are terrifying) for yet more spectacular views of this dreamy city.  Our four days in Florence came to an end and on Thursday afternoon we caught the train to Pisa for our final stop before the homeward journey.

The train was a little eventful – you have to get your tickets validated which although my sister has mentioned as she’d visited Rome last year we failed to see the machine to do it.  Luckily the train was delayed a little so I dashed off and ran the length of the platform to get the tickets stamped -Such a blimin’ faff!  We arrived in Pisa around 17:00 checked-in at our quaint bed and breakfast, showered and changed and went out for our last Italian meal.  Again my sister chose the restaurant based on online reviews and found Il Peperoncino.  It was fab -the owner was very welcoming and funny (the map had taken us to the rear of the restaurant and all he kept saying to us was “Why you two gorgeous girls coming to my back entrance – I’ve got a lovely terrace at the front, why you come in this way?!” He had us in stitches.  Again we were not disappointed with the food (I of course struggled with the portion sizes as I had all week, an issue my sister didn’t have!) we walked out the front of the restaurant (we didn’t want any more grief) and wandered down in the direction of the leaning tower.  I can assure you that its definitely wonky and it wasn’t due to the Peroni I’d had at dinner; it was just as wonky Friday in daylight!  The tower is rather impressive, and we were both surprised with its location.  The leaning tower is right next to Pisa’s Duomo and is in fact it’s bell tower – Who knew that?!?  We mingled around with all the other tourists and did a stop of shopping, had our last giant pizza lunch before heading back to the B&B to collect our suitcases and take our taxi back to the airport.

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So our Italian vacation was a success as was my weekend at Silverstone.  Gym visits have gone from one extreme to the other (due to stupid holes in eardrum and cold!) I really need to get back on track now I’m back and almost feeling 100%.

I had a fun day today at Friendsfest but given I’ve typed up an essay already I’ll tell you all about that next time.  Oh and I’m starting Spanish lessons Tuesday evening so I’ll fill you on them too!

Thanks for reading – Sorry it’s sooooo long and it’s taken me an age to post!

L x

Hello…it’s Me! Tardy Mizzog!

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been a complete Mizzog and extremely tardy of late with updating my blog, so I figured given I’ve got a spare few minutes I’d try and write a post.

So what updates do I have since I last wrote; there’s holidays (or lack of) I’ve had a birthday (that’s right 21 again!) as has my sister, games are continually being played, there have been engagements (No not me, sadly my ring finger is still very much bare and lacking a sparkly diamond) babies and weddings, party planning, PT sessions and fun with friends.

Well my last post was leading up to my much anticipated holiday to Florence, and for those of you who haven’t seen me in a while, you may perhaps have thought I’d been wooed by some gorgeous Italian and had re-located (believe me I’m not adverse to such scenario) but unfortunately that’s not the case as for such a thing to have happened I would actually have had to of made it to Italy! Let me, in brief, fill you all in…..

I spent the Saturday ironing all my holiday outfits, matching up shoes, handbag and jewellery and packed my suitcase. I picked up a new mini camera to capture all our exciting holiday memories and got my passport, tickets, euros, numerous pairs of sunglasses, magazines and clear plastic bag full of lipsticks, perfumes and anything else that is 50ml and may or may not be perceived as a liquid (after all these years and numerous flights I’m still clueless with regards to what is and isn’t allowed in hand luggage!) together and packed my large handbag for the cabin.  In the evening I got my nail kit out, its standard practice to have gorgeous nails when you go away – I opted for Pink Hibis-Kiss, vibrant and bright which I thought the Italians would appreciate.  Sunday morning, was like Christmas, I was soooooo excited. I love my holidays and this was going to be my first holiday with just my sister since we went away to New York in 2007. Around lunchtime we made our way to Gatwick. The journey was stress free and we were parked and in the terminal building a little earlier that anticipated. We checked in and were told there was a slight delay, only an hour and 15 minutes, not a big deal but a little annoying. Security was a breeze, so we had plenty of time to have a leisurely meal and mooch around duty-free. I always find time flies when you’re at the airport, the excitement of the adventures to come probably has something to do with it. Time was getting on so we thought we should check to see if our gate had been announced; you know that it will be a gate that’s at least a 30 minute walk away, it always is, well not this time! We looked at the board and instead of a gate number we saw “Go to Information Desk” Now I’m not a frequent flyer, but I do go on at least a couple of flights a year and I have never seen a gate called ‘Information Desk’! I didn’t even know where the sodding desk was! Well along with 228 fellow passengers we found the Information Desk and after watching the lady sat behind said desk actually run (she could give Usain Bolt a run for his money) we waited for 30 minutes to be officially told our BA flight being operated by Mickey Mouse Airlines Aka Vueling had been cancelled. The bosses opted to send a child into be slaughtered, shaking holding an email printed off in landscape format (this angered me from the get go) read out the ‘Not Option’ options; these included flights to Barcelona (yep last time I was there Barca was definitely in Spain, not Italy) or taking a flight free of charge at any point over the next 7days! I’m not sure how airlines operate with regards to annual leave, but in general people don’t just wake up one morning, drive to the airport, jump on a plane and go on holiday for a week! Idiots! Before any of these ‘Not Options’ could (not) be considered, we had to be ‘decommissioned’ which entailed queuing at passport control, then making our way to luggage reclaim, through arrivals and then back to Departures – If nothing else we had a lovely tour of Gatwick North Terminal. After hours getting nowhere, quite literally, we left the airport upset and deflated (the closest we got to Italy was the Florence Fizz we had in Jamie’s Italian!)

Since arriving back from our Non-Holiday, I have had to endure the most shocking customer service from British Airways – It’s been appalling and after being told on countless occasions I am still awaiting my refund! The hotel was non-refundable, however again after numerous emails they agreed to let us transfer our dates so we are now re-booked to go to Florence in September!! I’m really not sure I’ll last another 7 weeks without a holiday so I’m seriously considering a last minute deal (my suitcase is still packed after all as it my hand luggage bag) I imagine a holiday to Turkey would cost next to nothing and I’ve always had an amazing time when I’ve stayed in Kalkan; in fact i’ve got a photo of Kaputaş beach pinned up at my desk that I often look at when I want to zone out for a few minutes and go to a peaceful, tranquil, happy place.

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So that’s my holiday debacle in short, I’d like to add that non-holiday blues are twice as bad as my usual holiday blues so I was rather intolerable.

It was my birthday at the beginning of July and I had a lovely day with my sister in sunny Portsmouth. We arrived at lunch time so our first stop was Giraffe for a bite to eat (and a cheeky G&T of course) we then went up the Spinnaker Tower to see the views across the Solent and saw Sir Ben Ainsley out practicing for the Americas Cup. This was followed by a little look around Gunwharf. We made our way back to Newbury and went for dinner with Mother at Mio Fiore – Amazing food, however I wasn’t impressed with the full glass of Prosecco being thrown all over me, drenching my top and making my arm smell like a vineyard! I’ve been 33 for a few weeks now, I’m not sure I’m really loving it if I’m honest, I don’t think its a number a particularly like, but I’m hoping I can make it a good year.

Talking of birthdays, it was my little sisters 30th yesterday – Eek!! Mum and I treated her to a girlie weekend in London – We took the train to Paddington Saturday morning and arrived at The Sanderson around 1pm and fortunately our room was ready so we checked in, dropped our luggage in the gorgeous room and then headed out to grab some lunch. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, before heading back to the hotel to drink Champagne and get ready for our evening in the West End. We’d booked tickets to see Disney’s Aladdin – It was amazing, loved it! The show finished around 10:15pm and we made our way back to the hotel bar. The Long Bar at The Sanderson is really popular so it was packed when we arrived back, so we opted to go up to our room for a bit and ordered some room service as although we weren’t starving we thought we ought to have a bite to eat before heading down to the bar for cocktails. After we’d munched our food my sister wasn’t really up for going to the bar, she was ready for bed (turning 30 takes it out of you!) but Mum was up for a drink or two, so we went back down to the bar and had a couple of amazing cocktails! We stayed in the bar until 1:15am before retiring back to the room. Before hitting my pillow I put some banners up and sprinkled ’30’ confetti all ready for my Sis to wake up to. Yesterday morning, I was the one faffing around taking an age to get ready, once I had sorted myself out we found this cute coffee shop called TAP Coffee and had a late breakfast and then we went for a little look around the shops on Oxford St before heading back to the hotel for afternoon tea. I’d booked us in for The Mad Hatters Tea Party afternoon tea (at The Sanderson) and it was AMAZING!! I’ve never eaten so much and felt so full in all my life! I don’t think my photo’s can even do the cakes justice – They were stunning and utterly delicious. With full tummies we made our way back to Paddington and caught the train to Newbury and to my Dads. We had yet more Champagne and my sister opened up her present, which annoyingly she loves (I was hoping she’d hate it and I’d keep it!) We then ate more food as Dad treated us to dinner, I felt like I was going to pop, it was like an endless day of food and cups of tea!! All in all I had a fab weekend, and I hope my not so little sister loved it too!

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Not only have I been busy organising my sisters birthday to make it as special as possible, I have also got my party planner head on ready for this years work Christmas Party (I know you’re all groaning at the mention of Christmas, but venues get booked up in January/February for parties so really and truly I’m late with my planning). Venues have been provisionally booked, entertainment have been contacted and room and table dressing has been discussed – It’s all very exciting!

My tardiness hasn’t been exclusive to my blog writing, I’ve also been royally rubbish with my gym visits over the past month or so too! I have been, and a few weeks ago now my friend and I actually joined each other for our PT sessions; Phil tried to kill us on the Monday and Sam tried to finish the job Wednesday. Neither succeeded and I even managed to do my first Body Combat class on the Saturday! I found the joint PT sessions to be really motivating, working alongside Charlotte gave a slight competitive edge to the workouts but also we worked as a team to help motivate each other. I need motivating, I’ve really lost my love for the gym of late, my non-holiday blues hasn’t helped. I need to find my A game as Phil is always telling me – If anyone happens to find it before me, please let me know! I’ve done a couple more Spin classes, I feel like I’m dying after each one. The last one I went to I was sat next to an old work colleague from my days at Hitachi, so it was nice to have a bit of a catch up (not so nice that after years she had to see me looking a sweating disgusting mess!)

In summary over the past month or so, I’m a year older (as is my sister) I haven’t been to Italy (I have however been to a few Italian Restaurants and I have spent time with The Italian) I’ve drunk lots of Gin, Champagne, Prosecco and fancy cocktails; I’ve been to the gym but not as often as I should have (Bad Laura)…… and I’m debating whether or not I should start a new game or press play to resume one that has been on pause!

I think I’ve typed enough nonsense for now and I’ll try not to leave it months again before posting again, unless of course I treat myself to a Turkish delight and a last minute holiday in the next few days, I will write a post again next week.

Until then

L x

Ride in Peace Luis

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

This time last year Mum and I were in Barcelona. The purpose of our trip was to attend the Catalunya MotoGP in Montmelo (and we had fun using Instagram to follow in Jorge Lorenzos footsteps)

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My first gp abroad intensified my obsession with the sport (and of course the riders). Fans of MotoGP are very much like massive family – It doesn’t matter what your nationality is or which rider or team you support, we all get along. Mum and I left our hotel and walked towards Passeig de Gràcia, where swarms of people wearing T-shirts with 46 (The Doctor is popular everywhere and rightly so) 26, 99 and 93 (he’s Spanish after all) were walking in the same direction as us; we jump on the train and sat opposite two lovely Spanish ladies, one a Marquez fan (she seemed nice so I didn’t hold it against her) the other a Dani Pedrosa fan (love him). When you arrive in Montmelo there’s a short walk to the circuit – just follow the crowds through the streets (it very much reminds me of Twickenham on match days – people selling food, drinks and memorabilia outside their front doors) When we reached the circuit we saw the warm up sessions and I managed to get some good-ish pics of the boys and their toys before we walked down to our stand to find our seats.
Race time!! We watched the little buzzy bees of Moto3, our very own Danny Kent won – Yay!!  Moto2 followed seeing Zarco win and Sam Lowes finish in 4th. Then it was the big boys turn! I was wearing my I💛VR T-shirt (it was a tough decision between that and my Dani one) and mum wore her Vale one too. We were surrounded by Spaniards wearing Marquez tops and caps. Marc crashed out of the race – I punched the air and my three faves (Jorge, Vale and Dani) went on to take the podium steps.

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Crashes happen all the time, Cal Crutchlow can vouch for this (he’s always in the medical centre, stressing out his poor wife Lucy) I said I punched the air last year in Catalunya, I did; Marc crashing meant my fave riders got the trophies, but I never wish any of the riders harm. Lets say 90% of the time the riders get back on their feet, looking like Michelin men if the airbags have gone off (this was Marc last year, out of the race but absolutely fine just a little bruised); 9.5% they might need medical treatment, have some plates fitted to their collar bone or have an ankle pinned. Rarely does anything really bad happen. Yesterday however during free practice 2 that horrible 0.5% crash outcome occurred. Luis Salom, a proper little cutie, tattooed arms but with the most genuine smile and twinkle in his eyes crashed at turn 12 and tragically lost his life. Racing has its risks, all the riders know this, but racing is in their blood, they have such a passion for it. Yesterday morning Luis worn a T-shirt with this Nelson Mandela quote on “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up” These riders are very much living their dreams. Safety levels improve year on year and thankfully tragedies rarely happen, so when they do its extremely sad and upsetting. Ride In Peace Luis Salom #Mexicano39

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I will enjoy watching the race this weekend from the comfort of my sofa, keeping my fingers crossed for all my favourites to cross the line in podium positions. I’ll next be trackside in September for the British round at Silverstone and then I’ll be jetting off to Valencia in November for the final race of the season – I can’t wait!!

That was a rather sad start to my blog this week, but as in use these posts as almost diary entries I wanted to write something the sport I love watching.

What have I been up to over the past week.  Well in parts (the gym) not very much, in others (socially/dates) quite a bit.  So last Friday I was on a half day at work and when I finished at 12pm I drove to The Rowbarge at Woolhampton to have lunch with my gorgeous friend and her adorable new baby girl.  The sun was shining(ish) so we sat outside and enjoyed a glass of Pimms with our lunch and had a proper girlie catch-up.  I also had a scrummy cuddle with Ellie, the cutest little bubba around.  After lunch, I headed into town to have my hair cut (nothing exciting just a pre-holiday trim / weight loss aid)

Saturday was a rather lazy day, Mum and I popped into town for a little mooch around the shops (somehow I managed to purchase a new skirt for Florence – Oops) we then went round my sisters for a cuppa.  Sunday my sister was out, but mum and I still went on our family Sunday afternoon walk.  We didn’t go far, we drove into town and then had a little stroll along the canal.  Sunday evening, was date night.  I had another enjoyable evening with the cute Italian, we had dinner and then went back to his to watch a film.

Bank Holiday Monday – yay finally a Monday that I don’t hate!  I went to my sisters for lunch so she could update me on the events of her Sunday.  Then Sunday evening I had another date!  We met in Portsmouth and had a delicious meal in Carluccio’s followed by some drinks in one of the bars at Gunwharf Quays.  I had Tuesday booked off work as annual leave, so I stayed the night in Portsmouth and then spent the day shopping in Gunwharf.  Actually I was well behaved and the only purchases I made was a top for mum and a fathers day present ready to give to dad.  I did pick up numerous tops, dresses and handbags but somehow managed to resist (I think perhaps I’m coming down with something, it’s really the only explanation)

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With my somewhat hectic weekend I didn’t go to the gym for a whole week!  My first and only visit this week was Thursday nights HWP!  Very poor show!  I have even treated myself to new gym leggings to go with my new pink bra and top – I’m hoping my new outfits will motivate me and inspire me to get my Kim K down the gym (it hasn’t worked yet – But I’m certain Phil will help kick my arse Monday at PT)

I think I’m in for a quiet week this week.  The countdown to Florence is in full flow now, I’m so excited, the 19th can not come round soon enough.  We need to do some final planning, but other than packing really I’m ready and raring to get there.  I will of course be down the gym throughout the week, trying to get back on track and lose a few more lbs (before I pile it all on with all the scrummy food and drink in Italy!)

Until next time, thank you for reading.

L x

RIP Winston

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

Oh Hi! Yes, I am still alive! Apologies for the complete lack of GGGoL posts over the past few weeks, last night was the first time I’ve had really to write my blog (now I’ll struggle to remember what I’ve been up to – Old age and all)

Now do you recall I mentioned my car failed its MOT and was booked in at the garage? Well sadly Winston didn’t make it, his life support was switched off on Saturday 14th May, aged 10 years. We had some good times together, lots of fun journeys, my first trip to Cornwall, numerous drives to airports for my many holidays, lots of visits to Silverstone for the Motogp (my parking permit was still stuck on the windscreen). As one life ends another begins and I’m pleased to announce the safe arrival of my shinny Night Blue new Golf. He (yes my car is male) hasn’t officially been named yet, but I’m leaning towards Boris.

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What else have I been up to over the past few weeks. Well I’ve been rather naughty and I’ve been shopping (more than once) buying new outfits for my holibobs and I think I’m just about kitted out, I’ve got some new pairs of shorts, playsuit, shirt, vest top, dresses. I like to look stylish when I’m on holiday – Look good, feel good, and I am going away with my gorgeous little sister so I need all the help I can get from my outfits.  I’ve also bought a few new pieces for work (I’m telling you this gym malarkey is costing me a blimin’ fortune). Last Monday I debuted a gorgeous new H&M dress to co-inside with my first drive to the office in my new brum. I love new things.

So Florence is less than 4 weeks away now and I’m sooooo excited!! I’m usually really good at planning and organising holiday things (I’ve been on quite a few solo vacations over the past couple of years) but I think I’m almost too excited that I just haven’t been able to plan – Anything! So my usually not so organised sister has taken control and we have a vintage Fiat 500 self drive Tuscan wine experience booked – Perfect! We have a rough idea of what we want to see and do so things are coming together. I have also been informed that we will be eating at least one gelato a day, and will be eating the Italian way with our antipasto followed by primo, then secondo finished with dolce, all washed down with copious amounts of Prosecco and Chianti – I seriously can not wait; although I’m not looking forward to coming back the size of a casa.

Now, gym. I have been going, perhaps not as often as I should or I planned to this month and I do seem to have lost my gym mojo a bit; which is actually really sodding annoying! I’ve been having my usual PT’s with Phil and I’ve been working out with my fellow Moany Bitch, we’ve been to a couple more Spin classes, and I’ve been attending the Healthy Weight Programme (we did a core workout session last week – I feel like I should have abs like old school Peter Andre). At the moment I feel like I’m actually becoming less fit and fatter, although I know this isn’t the case when the clothes I’ve been buying are smaller than I used to wear (I even had to treat myself to a new pink VS Sports Bra on Saturday due to my shrinking bust!) It was lush shopping with my friend Saturday and being able to pick up smaller clothes off the rails, try them on in the changing room and for them to fit my body perfectly and flatter my ever changing shape. I think I might need to channel those feelings when I’m having my fat days at the gym, to encourage me to work my Kim K that bit harder – Bring the A game as Phil is forever telling me to do.

Dates! Now the cute Italian went home for a week at the beginning of the month, he’s back but we haven’t had a chance to see each other yet, we’ve been messaging and I might be seeing him Sunday.  I had been hoping I’d have another date lined up with someone else, but I’m obviously not in favour at moment – silence speaks volumes right!

It’s bank holiday weekend approaching and so far the only date I have set in in stone is catching up with one of my closest friends on Friday with her new bubba; well she’s five months old, but I haven’t met her yet. I’m so looking forward to snatching some cuddles. Other than that, I will naturally spend time with my mum and sister; we’ll probably go on another afternoon stroll ( we went to Snelsmore again weekend before last – No bog issues this time!).

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I think that’s me done for another week. Who knows when I’ll type again, I’m just so shoddy at the moment aren’t I? Shocking!

Enjoy the rest of your week and the bank holiday weekend (I do appreciate those few Mondays that I actually don’t hate and kinda love).

L x

The Fat Friend

~ lorz83 ~ Leave a comment

It angers me so much when perfectly healthy gorgeous women are labelled the ‘Fat One’. Jesy Nelson from Little Mix has been the target of yet another abusive attack following the bands performance at The Brits Wednesday evening. Why are girls so sodding spiteful?!? How many of the nasty insignificant girls (they’re not women) would have the courage to even get up on stage in front of thousands of people, let alone get up on stage in a skimpy outfit! I know I wouldn’t be able to.  People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!

Having always been the ‘Fat Friend’ I feel an overwhelming respect towards Jesy. Let’s face it if you’re even one dress size larger than your friends you’ll always look bigger. That being said a size 12 is not big, far from it.

I hated school. The reason for this was bullies. I’ve already mentioned that I was the ‘Big’ one (I was around 5ft 6″ and a size 14 when I started secondary school) and I had it all stacked against me; I had acne (the joys of PCOS) my hair was auburn with a natural wave to it (pre Ghds) I had train tracks and I became short sighted at 14 so began wearing glasses (thankfully only to read the whiteboard and my lovely mum bought me Gucci glasses, so they were fashionable at the time). Seriously I was a bullies dream, handed to them on a plate (or school bus).

Weight and size should mean nothing – Personality and confidence is what counts. That being said, when you’re constantly faced with images of Skinny Minnies and you hear or read nasty comments about larger women it’s often difficult to believe that’s true. I mean my ‘Mission Love Me’ is basically about me losing weight so that I will love myself and change my body to became what I perceive men want. Those vindictive words said to me whilst growing up got me to my core, I remember every single jeer, every tear I cried. In many ways I’m thankful to the bullies, they gave me my hard mardy exterior, to which many may get the impression that I’m confident; but really I’m shy and the bullies left me with scars, scars from a battle at 32 years old I’m still fighting. ‘Mission Love Me’ is just that – I go to the gym now (still not as often as I should) to help me feel good about myself. To change my body, and my state of mind. No matter how much my body changes, I will always be the ‘Fat Friend’ and I fear I will always be in the search of ‘perfection’.

Gym visits this week = 3

Not my best efforts I know, and again I do feel bad. I went on Monday for PT for another session of torture fun! I said to Phil that I’m basically the female Karl Pilkington – I’m always moaning haha. I also hit the gym Tuesday and Thursday. I should have gone Friday, but I just wasn’t feeling it this week. It was a really long week, that had got me a little down and more mardy than the norm so I just wasn’t in the mind-set for working out.

On Wednesday I got some news that I wasn’t expecting nor was I prepared to see. It upset and made me angry even though there was no reason for it to which then makes me even more angry for being annoyed and angry in the first place – Does that make any sense at all? Either way my gorgeous sister sensed and knew that I’d be feeling mopey so she came over for dinner with a lovely bunch of roses to cheer me up – Thanks Sissy x

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Last night I went for dinner with one of my oldest friends, we’ve know each other for 17 years now, which is crazy! We had a lovely meal in Bills and I caught her up on my ‘Eastenders’ soap opera life. There were lots of “No!” “I can’t believe it” and “WTF” said through out story time last night, as tragic as my life is, it does make my friends and me giggle and smile.

Hot of the press today – We have booked our holiday to Florence. Yippee!! I’m so excited, June can not come round soon enough. The countdown to gelato, pizza, pasta, wine and espressos has begun!

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Oh I also went on a date this afternoon. Not sure there was a spark, however it went well and I haven’t ruled out seeing him again. So all in all my week of ups and downs has finished on a relative high.

L x