Late Again

Aaaaargh - where did the week go already????  Sooooo much to update on, and the time is just flying by without me noticing!

Ok - first things first - last week's weigh in.  It actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was a gain and I fully deserved it.  1lb on, taking me back to 12st 10.5lb.

Accept it and move on.

This week has been absolute chaos, and I can't believe how quickly it's gone by.  On Friday night I had some leaving drinks for work - although I'm actually on sabbatical and therefore coming back to the company next year, there were demands for drinks so I capitulated.  Pub at lunch time and drinks in the evening, which were really nice and relaxed.  Yeah, I ate a bit too much during the day and then downed about 7 gins in the evening, but I then rolled myself home, ate a bit of healthy dim sum and poured myself into bed at a reasonable hour to get some sleep.

As a consequence of my good sense the night before, I was awake bright and early on Saturday morning and managed to get to the gym.  Sadly spin class was full when I got there, so I inflicted my trainer's circuits routine on myself instead (and successfully made myself ache for several days afterwards in the process!).  The rest of the day was taken up with collecting some parcels from work that I'd left there on Friday night and trudging home through the rain to dry out and cozy up for the day - no point spending more time in the pouring rain that I had too!  Especially as Saturday night was my (now-ex)flatmate's 30th b'day.  Amazing Carribbean food, a lot of rum and some good times before again pouring myself into bed at 3am.

Sunday was a chill day - a much-needed lie-in, some washing and pottering and a trip to my favourite coffee shop just so I could say I'd left the house.  And also because it would be my last chance to spend lazy time there before I left my beloved Bristol for the winter!  Sad times!

Monday and Tuesday were crazy busy work days, as they were my last two days in the office before my sabbatical started, and I was frantically meeting up with friends to say farewell before my adventures - my lovely, crazy ex-flatmates threw me a Fake Christmas evening on Tuesday, since I'll be missing the festive season here, complete with full roast dinner, crackers and warm mince pies with ice-cream for pudding.  They also bought me a whole array of lovely birthday / leaving presents.

In fact, I've been totally overwhelmed with amazing presents from various friends and colleagues.  I've been given gorgeous elbow long fingerless gloves, socks that won't smell (they contain bamboo ... and they're covered in pretty birds - what more could you want?), super bright bobble hats, with gin and tonic in cans for the coach trip, gel hand warmers, amazing chocolate to take, butterfly bunting for my room and photos of all my friends and me to take with me as mementos / decorations, a travel journal, comedy plasters and playing cards, fleece lined mittens - I'm just fantastically lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

Yesterday was my first day on sabbatical and ended up being pretty hectic as I ran round collecting contact lens supplies and my hire car, packing everything from my temporary digs into the car and cleaning my room up, and then rushing home to unpack and finally get to the pub in time to see my home friends last night (giggles aplenty - I'm so glad I did).

Imagine my surprise though, after all that eating out and drinking, when I stepped on the scales and saw quite a drop in them.  I moved them and stepped on them again, just to be sure, and then went and stepped on my Dad's scales to compare.  Somehow, I seem to have lost quite a bit this week!  My final official weigh in isn't until tomorrow, but if the scales stay where they are I'll be mighty happy!

Then what?  Well, tonight is my last night at my Dad's - I'm spending the evening in with him and tomorrow I have to say goodbye for 6 months and drive back to Bristol to take my car back.  I'll have to finalise all my packing this afternoon (for what seems like the eleventy billionth time), and when I return to Bristol it will be with just three bags - everything I'm allowed to until next Spring.  Then I'll be catching a coach to London to spend my final night in the UK with one of my oldest friends and then ... I'm leaving.

Eeeeeeeeeeek.  The longest I've ever been out the country before, and therefore away from all my friends and family for, is just over 1 month.  This trip will be 5 times that and I'm nervous and excited and anxious all in one.

I'm still trying to finalise my packing in my head, and work out what I've missed.  I have a few last things to get today and errands to run, and I'm still trying to work out how best to maintain my weight whilst I'm away.  Do I try and track?  Do I just rely on having a job / lifestyle where I'm likely to be running around the mountain most of the day and then scavenging food from the chalet kitchens when I get time to keep my weight stable?  And what about this first 10 days when I'm on training in a very nice lodge and being cooked for at every meal?  I just don't know.  All I know is I won't be able to weigh myself for the next 6 months and I'm looking at there being a lot of bread, cheese and booze, so I'm going to have to find some way to deal with it!  I'm sure my clothes will tell me soon enough if I'm overdoing it!

I'll try and keep checking in here though and updating on my adventures!