Losing my head in the heat

Oh, weekends - how I have such a love / hate relationhip with you!

I've had a dreamy, sunny, summer weekend - one of those where you have very little planned and it turns into an epic of fun.

Friday lunchtime after work, I beetled off to meet up with my friend Claire who is on maternity leave at the moment. A couple of the other girls from work were there too and we had a lovely catch up on all the news over lunch, in between cooing over how gorgeous little Maddie is (just 7 weeks old!).

I left there a little later than I'd intended and had to rush home, grab a bag full of clothes and shoot off over to Lissa and Jo's for the weekend. Our friend Katherine, who's getting married in July, popped over for the evening and we had takeaway and sat in the late evening sun in the garden chatting and catching up.

Saturday dawned gloriously sunny, and since surfing plans were shelved due to lack of organisation, we decided a day in the Cotswolds was in order. Shorts, vest tops and little summer dresses at the ready, we piled in the car and headed off for lovely Bourton-on-the-Water. We had a picnic by the river in the centre of town (us and about 5 million other people), browsed the shops and boutiques, bought homemade fudge, played in a maze and tried to solve the puzzle in the middle, and finally slumped in a very nice sun-trap of a pub garden on giant outdoor sofas to recover with icy cold shandies. Lush.

We were supposed to be having a BBQ when we got home, but the coals resolutely refused to light, so eventually we put the food on the grill indoors and relaxed with a Pimms and lemonade. Clearly I'm getting old as I fell asleep on the sofa afterwards watching Sherlock Holmes.

Yesterday was ANOTHER gorgeous day. How lucky are getting with this weather???? After breakfast in the garden, I pottered from the girls' house to the shops, and spent a happy couple of hours in air-conditioned comfort browsing for summer clothes.

I'd been home approximately 10 mins before being dragged back out the door by my flatmate Sheena, for an afternoon of live music. Just enough time to shove a bowl of cereal down my neck as a late lunch and change to another pair of short shorts and a clean top. Trilby and aviator sunglasses at the ready for that cool summer vibe.

First stop - the park for an afternoon of musical classics played most excellently by a military brass band. Picnic rugs and icecreams at the ready. From there onwards to a pub up on the hills holding a weekend long music festival - sweltering heat, some really good blues music, cold drinks, and later on, our friend Moss doing his DJ thing with a mix of funk and reggae for a sunny afternoon.

Finally, back home and collapse in a very humid flat to eat dinner, tidy away the mess of the weekend's packing and fall into bed.

The downside of weekends like that is that I still struggle to hold it together eating-wise. After my recent weeks of making an effort, I can see elements of my eating that have improved, better habits that are creeping in. Things like lunch on Saturday when I automatically picked up a prawn mayo sandwich and Walkers Baked crisps because I know they're healthier. Choosing one scoop of ice cream instead of two, or an ice-lolly instead of a Magnum.

But there's still areas I slip up.

1) Lager shandy may be deliciously cooling in the heat but it's crammed full of sugar. Best I don't get too attached to them and instead stick to my usual vodka and slimline tonic or just diet Coke. At least I had my Pimms with diet lemonade on Saturday night.

2) Little Starfishies can't count. An accountant I maybe, but when it comes to keeping count of my points on the weekend I suck!!! During the week I stay accountable by the simple method of having a pad of post-it's on my desk which I jot down my intake on daily. It's quick, it's easy and it's THERE - I can see at a glance what I've had and what I've got left for the day. Come the weekend there's no desk and no post-it's, so there's no on-the-spot tracking. I'm trying to train myself this week to use the notes function on my phone to do my tracking, to see if I can do it over this coming weekend too. That would be a vast improvement if I could, because I tend to forget what I've eaten til much later otherwise.

10 weeks til Costa Rica - I need to figure this out. I think I've got a little too comfy where I am - afterall I wouldn't have dreamed of wearing short shorts this time last year, but I should bear in mind that I can still be much more comfortable in this heat and that bikini season is coming soon - eeeeek.

Oh - and I bought a new swimsuit at the weekend .... if it's too hot to walk / run / bike then it's time to take it to the pool!


- Posted from my iPhone