Our week in Lanzarote.

Not long after Paul and I started dating we established that we both NEEDED a holiday, and that holiday had to be a week of lying by a pool doing abso-fruit-ly nothing. A friend of mine recommended a place in Lanzarote and said it was ideal for an all-inclusive week in the sunshine at the end of September, with cava flowing all day and night, a good selection at the buffets, and spacious clean rooms. We were sold!

That week away was absolutely perfect. All our stress from work was left behind and we spent a week lying on sun loungers, people watching (but avoiding eye contact so as not to accidentally make any friends), eating well, drinking well, soaking up the boiling hot sunshine (a little too much on the first day, "hello" white rings round the eyes Victoria!) and getting to know each other better, having only been dating 3 months at that point.

Next year I think our holidays will be more action packed (potentially New York or Florida) so it was nice to squeeze a lazy holiday in and also get some sunshine before the baltic UK Winter arrives. My week in the sun also seemed to alleviate my glandular fever. It's the best I've felt in months. If only I could pack up and go back to Lanzarote to get 100% better ay!

5 good things.

1) When you're STILL ill with Glandular Fever and in the no-appetite-not-even-for-a-cuppa-tea phase, and you're upset because you're hungry, but your boyfriend pops to the shops when you get a craving for something because he is bloody ACE.

2) When your favourite group on one of your favourite tv shows covers one of the best songs of all time, it is perfection. And makes me very happy indeed. MMMBOP!

3) Buying fresh flowers to dot around the house. Since living on my own I'm all about stocking up on beautiful (and cheap!) flowers when I'm doing my food shopping at Aldi. They make such a big difference especially when you live in quite a small space like I do.

4) Realising it's 2 months until Christmas Day which means it's not as shameful to be listening to Michael Buble's Christmas album at every opportunity.

5) Finding a whole shelf dedicated to American chocolate/goodies in Tesco including crunchy Cheetos and Baby Ruth's. They just need to stock Take 5s and I won't be able to stay away!

Health and happiness - a catch up and goals!

I think it's fair to say that 2015 hasn't been my year (apart from meeting Paul and becoming an Auntie of course). My health has taken a real hit and I have gone from rarely catching a cold to gaining a non existent immune system as a result of being stressed, resulting in being ill ALL the DAMN time!

I mentioned in my last post that I have been ill for a little while now. It all started at the beginning of August when my glands flared up and I had flu-like symptoms which knocked me for six for a couple of weeks. The other symptoms cleared off but my glands were still sore and an overwhelming wave of fatigue washed over me, where I was physically and mentally exhausted by routine things such as getting dressed and cleaning my teeth.

I put it down to stress/being run down but when my glands were still sore in September, and I was battling through some serious fatigue on a daily basis, I thought I had better get checked out. After lots of blood tests and trips back and forth to the doctors and hospital (the first lot of tests went missing, brilliant!) it detected glandular fever. 

So that explains everything. I've got cooties! And I have never felt so fed up in my life. This will be the 12th week of being poorly every day and doing very little with my time. Having to cancel plans and miss out on doing fun stuff. Not exercising is driving me insane. I have no appetite except for lovely stodgy things like bread and cake. I have been told it could be another 2 to 3 months before I feel back to normal, and quite frankly that makes me want to cry!

The inability to exercise (coupled with relaxing my diet and being loved up) has resulted in me gaining weight and as much as my boyfriend and family tell me I look lovely (and "less gaunt", cheers Mum ;)) I don't feel comfortable in my own skin and I hope, when I'm back to being fighting fit, to doing something about it.

photo borrowed from weheartit.com

It has been a bit of a wake-up call to be honest. All those years ago I loved losing weight and becoming more confident, but in the process I became way too restrictive, counting every calorie, putting my body through really rigorous and exhausting exercise routines, denying myself treats and finding social occasions a complete nightmare. I think I have confused my body and my metabolism, and I definitely set myself unrealistic goals. So here are a few things I'd like to do going forwards to be a happier and healthier Victoria:

- Keep finding ways to relax to be as stress-free as possible and stop giving myself a hard time if I spend a whole evening or weekend doing absolutely nothing. Sitting on the sofa reading or stitching, cuddling Lily and Lola, seeing more of my friends and exploring the outdoors a bit more are just a few ideas.

- Embrace my new varied and non-restrictive diet but don't go overboard. i.e. a whole tub of PB cup Ben & Jerry's once a week is okay, but every day probably isn't.. Find the perfect balance!

- Drink less caffeine and more water. Yes, that old chestnut!

- Exercise regularly, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. Keep the momentum going and try to make my workouts as varied as possible. Get back into jogging on a morning before work and build up to running 10k without stopping. But listen to my body and know when to give it a rest.

- Stop trying to get back to the weight I was when I was at my slimmest, because it was totally unsustainable and made me miserable.

- Believe it when people say I'm pretty/have a nice figure/am a nice person.

Thanks for reading guys! x

Life lately (September 2015).

September has gone by in a blur, probably because I spent most of it counting down to my holiday then the last week of it on holiday! I've also spent the whole of September (and most of August) being poorly so to be honest I am thoroughly fed up.

What I initially thought was a virus (sore throat, swollen glands and fatigue) seems to have lingered on for all of eternity and 2 months later my glands are still swollen and painful. Hopefully October will be the month I get to the bottom of it once my blood test results come back and I can get back to feeling 100%. I have put a lot of weight on but I'm not well enough to exercise so it's pretty rubbish and I will be glad when my glands sod off wherever they came from!

My niece was born on the 31 August so September was ALL about baby Mabel Lucy. I flew over to the Isle of Man for the weekend and I could have stayed forever. I love her so much. She's absolutely adorable!

Paul and I had a rare weekend together before we went on holiday (he works shifts..boo!) so we cooked a roast dinner with all the trimmings. Our first ever attempt at making Yorkshire Puddings was a complete success thanks to his lovely neighbour Jean who supervised our measuring/mixing. Thanks Jean!

We spent a week in Lanzarote at an all-inclusive resort eating and drinking ourselves silly, sunbathing, swimming, sleeping and reading. It was absolute BLISS and confirmed that Paul is just as wonderful as I thought he was. We're planning our holidays for 2016 and I couldn't be happier. Did someone say Florida....?! Hurrah! I'll pop a few photos from our holiday up next week.

September has seen lots of walks with the Pugs, enjoying the last of the sunshine, eating far too many donuts and sweet treats, and being totally loved up!