Lost Again

I'm a loser again, in the best possible way.

I really didn't expect it this week, as I was away at the weekend, and there were lots of cakes on my last day at work on Monday, and dinner out on Wednesday night, but 1.25lbs is missing from the scales.

Which makes me very happy.

It also makes me the exact weight I was when I went off for my ski season last year - hooooorah! I love little coincidences like that.  And after all, it took me 6 months to put on that bit of weight, so makes a sort of sense it would take 6 relaxed months to lose it again. Yes?

Also, it means I'm only a tiny bit over a stone from where my happy weight is, which is back at 12 and a half stone - a stone seems very do-able, especially since I'm in no hurry whatsoever - no deadlines makes the whole thing much more amiable.

The weekend just gone was gorgeous - I went to South West Wales with the girls, to a friend's cottage in the middle of nowhere.  Heaven.  The cottage was down a single track lane and then a mud track, and you could literally walk out the end of the drive, turn 20m right and be on the beach of a tiny natural harbour.  There was a log fire and no phone reception, which makes it a haven and perfect relaxing territory in my book.

The weather could have left a lot to be desired in typical British fashion, but actually the wild and wintry weather just added to the cosy factor of being holed in a cottage with really good friends, a fire and wine.  Mind you, wine is not great for the old healthy eating, but at least I can honestly say that when the chocolates, crisps and dip were put on the table on Saturday night I didn't bother.  I realised I was already full from dinner and enjoying the glass of wine I had in my hand, and that nibbles weren't going to add anything to that.  Winning at life, that's me!

(my friend Stacey at Little Haven, the girls at breakfast, a hidden beach near Dale, and us all messing around at Little Haven)

I finished my current contract on Monday, with my old team and saying goodbye yet again (3rd time round) was weird and a bit sad, but since most of the contracts I'm looking at for my next role are in the same building, I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing them soon.  Since then I've been enjoying some downtime at home (as opposed to downtime on holiday - yeah, they're really different, get over it).

I had an interview on Tuesday for a contract that I didn't really want but allowed myself to get talked into.  Remind me to follow my instincts in future - I really didn't want it at all after the interview just based on the job spec itself, but was also getting a strange vibe from the interviewer that extra-cherry-on-top put me off.  Aggressive and yet intermittently glancing at my boobs .... not a great impression!

Other than that, I've been reading, watching Netflix (sooooo much good stuff!), colouring in and allowed myself a quick trip to the mall to get a few bits I've had my eye on for a while.  I was an exercise in self-restraint and didn't buy anything not on the shopping list apart from a cool t-shirt though.  Yay me.

Oh yeah, and I got a bit bored and booked some flights to flee the grey gloom and cold for some wintry snow and extra cold next weekend ..... I spontaneously organised a last-minute trip to go and stay with friends in La Plagne for the first week of the season. OhmygodI'msoexcitedImightspew.  Mates rates are the best and I'm staying in my friend's amazing chalet for a week of luxury and great company - aaaaaaaah - time off really is the best!!

A Little Bit Of Asia

Hey again!

I'm back from a glorious three weeks in Vietnam, and sort of raring for the rest of the year.  What's left.

First things first, turns out Asia was pretty kind to me on the scales front, and for pretty much the first time ever I came back from a trip lighter than I left.  Yep - that's right - I actually lost a couple of lbs on a holiday, instead of gaining them.

And no, that wasn't down to a dicky tummy or any particular effort watching what I was eating.  Instead, I ate exactly what I wanted, drank beer and smoothies /milkshakes when I fancied them and generally relaxed in a soul-deep way that felt good.

It was a pretty hectic couple of weeks, as we visited eight different places over the three weeks (plus a couple of return stopovers so we could loop back round on our route), so we saw loads but the beach days I'd sort of hoped for were a bit lacking.  There was still time to unwind and let anxieties go though, whilst soaking up such an amazing culture.

(Mekong Delta, Po Na Towers, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Marble Mountain, Hai Van Pass,  Hue Imperial Citadel - selfie and palace gate, Halong Bay - our boat and selfie).

I'm kind of feeling really positive about things at the moment.  I'm back at work one week before my current contract ends and then I'm potentially taking December off work between contracts - I'm sorting contracts out at the moment, but it's looking like it might work out that way.  Shaaaaaaame.

Paradise

It's been a busy but lovely first week in beautiful Vietnam.

It hasn't been at all what I expected in many ways, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and in other places it's definitely exceeded expectations.

We've now gathered the fourth and final member of our group on a fly-through trip back through Saigon, and we've traveled up the coast North to Nha Trang. I'm writing to you from a stunning beach bar overlooking a golden beach, blue sea and white parasols. The fan above me is sending a nice cooling breeze down on my head.

The first week had it's ups and downs. Saigon was hectic, as you'd imagine, but interesting. The Mekong Delta a region of poverty, cottage industry and unexpected glimpses of lush quiet waterways amongst the hustle and bustle of the floating markets and the few cities. After that we travelled to the island of Phu Quoc for a few days of peace and quiet. We definitely got that, along with a bucketload of rain (it's right on the cusp of the transition from wet season to dry at the moment) but we sneaked in moments of sun around the pool on the garden of our little resort, and found a friendly beach bar down the road run by some lovely Kiwis which was a great place to hang and play cards, drink beers and tropical milk shakes and watch the rain and sunsets.

We also hired scooters for the day, but it turns out I suck at turning corners and once we'd got lost in a random town way off the tourist track I managed to topple off at a crossroad and had to be rescued by some very helpful local guys who jumped up to grab the bike off me and help me up. They were so sweet and bought me water to wash off the dust (and some blood) and offered me some salve for my grazes and somewhere to sit until the shock passed. People are good.

Even more amazing were the people we'd hired the scooter from, who far from charging us an arm and a leg for the cracked sidelight and scratches on their lovely shiny scooter, charged us about £10 and were more worried that I was ok and kept apologising. See people truly are good.

Nha Trang where we are now is far more traditional touristy resort than we've been too yet, and I wasn't sure I liked it, but we went to a stunning 2nd century temple yesterday and then out of town to a spa with the local natural mid baths. This mini utopia cost us a whole £8 for the day and the place was enormous and luxurious, whilst still relatively quiet. Coupled with today's beautiful beach bar location, I feel better disposed to this town now!

Tonight we're catching an overnight sleeper bus (sure to be an experience and adventure) to Hoi An, 11 hours North. Hopefully I don't murder anyone on the bus if the famed karaoke / Kung Fu TV is too loud!

Goooooooood Mooooooorniiiing Viiiiiieeeetnaaaaam!

Ha!!! I've been waiting to say that for months. Although it is fact evening as I type this, but we'll ignore that small inconvenience, shall we?

So yeah. I'm currently in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, if you want to be official about it) and enjoying the first couple of days of holiday. Three whole weeks . 

My encounter with the scales before I left put me down another lb which I'll quite gratefully take, although given the amazing food we've had out here so far, I could well come home the size of a house!

It's massively hot and sticky here which is a bit of a shock after the gloomy autumnal UK so I'm trying to get used to sweating my tits off all the time - there's a lovely image for you, eh?

We left Saturday afternoon and just arrived Sunday lunchtime, so whilst trying to avoid jet lag, we've so far walked around the city, visited a Buddhist temple, driven out to see the Cu Chi tunnels used in the war with the Americans. Oh yeah, and I fired an M16 automatic just for shits and giggles. Loud. Very, very loud. 

Tomorrow we're heading off early for a couple of days in the Mekong Delta .... which will probably be even more humid than the 697% humidity here in the city. The joy. 

(Written last week but delayed posting due to wifi!)

- Posted from my iPhone

Holiday Prep

The sound of excitement is in my head today - one week from now I'll be at the airport heading off to Vietnam for three whole weeks!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

It's felt like forever for this trip to come round and now it's FINALLY here - yay! Just seven days to go and between work and packing I think it'll go pretty quick.

Weight-wise, I'm still sitting where I was a fortnight ago, and that's pretty fine with me. I lost half a stone in two weeks at the start of the month and then had two hellish weeks of six day working weeks and somehow squeezing in a friend's hen do last weekend, so I'm happy with maintaining that loss. A few more pounds before I go to Vietnam (that just never starts sounding old to me!) would be lovely, but frankly I'm pretty happy at the moment as it's amazing how much difference half a stone makes to how your clothes fit and your self-image. Yes, there's still more to go, but making a hefty dent in it like that feels positive.

The hen do was lovely, despite how tired I was from work, as we skipped off to Rhosilli in South Wales for the weekend. I managed to get there by 10pm on Friday night after being late leaving the office, but we had fun surfing on Saturday and then a gorgeous late lunch with a walk along the cliff path back home afterwards, and some fun games on Saturday night. I missed out on the mountain biking on Sunday so that I could shoot straight back to the office first thing in the morning, which I was a bit gutted about but it was still lovely seeing everyone briefly.




This weekend is just about chilling at Dad's - a chance to see him before I go and start to recover a bit from the chaos at work over the last few weeks ready for holidays!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Work Carousel and Relaxing

Hey hey,

It's been such a lovely day today and so relaxing that it's absolutely flown by and I can't quite believe that it's nearly Monday again already.

Work is going a bit crazy at the moment so the days are flying by in a rush of busy, busy, busy.  The week flies by and suddenly 7 days have gone - how is it the second week of October already???

Aside from that I've been sorting out visas for Vietnam (3 weeks - wooohoooo!), and trying to find time to relax and decompress from the office stress.  Basically making sure that I look after myself and showing myself a bit of kindness.

Despite it being so hectic, and not getting to the gym as much as I wanted to this week, I had a pretty on point week and lost another 2 lbs.  Happy days.

I had to work yesterday until about mid-afternoon, but then had a couple of hours chilling before meeting a friend for a quick but tasty local curry and really silly old films in our pyjamas at hers (The Rock - can't beat it).

This morning was all about brunch at our amazing local, Rosemarinos (if you're in Bristol, try it, but remember to book because it gets super busy), and a lazy walk round Clifton running errands and generally admiring the beautiful architecture - I love the area so much.

And the cycle begins again tomorrow.

Mini Adventures

Oh heeeeeeeey! It's a bit like I forget this blog exists for a while, or time flies by and I'm suddenly all "whoops it's been about 2 weeks since I posted anything". So soz.

As always, life seems pretty hectic at the moment, as I race between work which is suddenly passing the time quickly right now, and fun social stuff, with a healthy dose of has-to-be-done-or-life-comes-grinding-to-a-halt admin jobs on the side.

The social stuff has been awesome though and I've been a lucky girl, with trips to Dismaland, which was all kinds of fun and thought-provoking:











And World Cup Rugby in the form of Wales vs Fiji at the Millenium Stadium which was a completely chance last minute engagement when I found out friends had some spare tickets a week or two ago:





Somehow, despite all the running round like a lunatic, I've managed to lose about 4 lbs in the last couple of weeks, which is absolutely fine by me - long may that pattern continue. The gym is mostly happening on a regular basis, I'm trying to teach myself that not every plate has to be completely finished every time, and it's crossed my mind that it's less than 4 weeks until I leave for Vietnam now so maybe we'd a) better book a few places to stay and b) I might want to start thinking about my packing list and figuring out where everything I want to take is!

I also have the most gloriously tidy flat I've ever lived in as we've made the momentous decision to get a housekeeping service and they start tomorrow - it's motivated us into to getting it looking at least tidy and organised so they can actually clean for us! I've discovered that this level of organisation and zen calm in the flat is definitely soothing to my disorganised self!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad