A Numbers Game

I think my maths (or math as my adopted kinfolk say) is improving. That's a bold (hehe) claim for me.

My maths is unbelievably unofficially crap {Officially it's excellent as i) I triple check anything that involves numbers and my brain in the same equation and ii) according to my GCSE A* certificate and my (of course impeccable) CV which no-one ever disputes thank god. This is a very good thing particularly considering as most of my jobs involve massaging numbers in spreadsheets to reassure 'le boss de jour' that I've played my part in a) making them a squillion million or b) saved/ found them a bagillion squillion million so they can't fire me just yet. Honestly squillion bagillions are real numbers to me - see - what can possibly go wrong!?} I have a GCSE A* in Maths. I am not a Magician. Until now.

Everyday Crossfit requires that I:

• time my workout


• count my reps (this can be anything from 1-300 - typically I get bored and lose focus around number 5)


• count sets (this can be anything from 1-300 ;-))) typically I get bored and lose focus around number 2)


• recall 500m row times, 400m run times and match/improve on these - wtfoozy?!


• count where I came in the order of things - last always last - except - here mwahaha 


• recall what weight I can/cannot lift


• how many pounds are in a kilo and vica versa (critical for the point above)


• how many sexy legs and 6 packs I've spotted (ok ok not a requirement - that's just a personal perk)

Never mind keep a tally of :

• my snacks for the day (today just 1!!!!!!!!)


• meals eaten (today is a two meal day - breakfast (scrambled eggs) at 10am, lunch (cob salad) at 4pm, and it's now 9pm and I need to go to bedfordshire -see below)


• hours of sleep (5am wake up & 10km run tomorrow = LOTS of sleep required)


• steps taken (today just to the fridge from my desk twice = 16 steps and once to the bathroom and back = 26 steps!)


• kilometers run


• seconds I can hold my weight up on the bar/ rings - seriously, wtfoozy?!


• PBs of double unders in a row (16), pull ups (7), burpees (50), inverted push ups (ZERO) etc etc


• days til 1/2 marathon race death - 25 :-((


• pounds I think I've lost/ gained on my imaginary scales


• callouses I've peeled off my hands - today, 3, if you must know

Plus throw in:

• the ability to recall my US contact details. You just never know, one day I might need to give out my real number not just one I make up - well if you'll put me on the spot ;-))


• translating US dollars to UK currency (secretly: I don't bother, to me $1: £1 = easy peasy! although everything here is so inexplicably expensive ;-) According to my system I spent £19 on a bottle of shampoo today - see: crazy expensive.


• keeping a running mental tally of how many dollars I have left, divided by the number of days until my pride goes broke and I can beg my father for a loan ;-))


• psychically knowing how many gallons of petrol my car requires in it's tank etc etc (It's all prepay here - I am not a mechanic or a magician. CRAZY!!!!!!!) 


• the days: hours: seconds: milliseconds til I return home and relinquish FREEEEEEEEDOM for the office.


• AND most importantly the number of presents I need to purchase before I get on the plane home!!

But one of my increasingly favourite numbers is 57 - this isn't:

• my weight, in kilos - I WISH!


• max age of a potential mail order husband - let's not go there.....................YET


• number of brackets used in this post 


• number of presents my lil sister thinks she deserves


• OR spoonfuls of Justin's chocolate almond butter I've eaten this afternoon trying to make the maths work, in an IT system that clearly never got a A* Maths GCSE!, for my current soon-to-be million-squillionaire boss ;-)

It's.......... (submit your answers on a postcard) xx

Girl got a Makeover!!

Kaye - yes I did steal this from you - you are the original fabulous biatch! xx

This is going on my tombstone if I don't get made into a diamond post demise.

Check out my newer, sleeker, (almost, almost 100% complete) more radiant blogger self - you likeee? Well me likee. A LOT *with extra SUPERsparkles*. Hmmm but is it still pink enough?!

I was thinking that this elegant makeover should mark a transition into more eloquent blogging and less ramblage but as I only went in for the beauty makeover not the complete overhaul (girl is on a budget) my magnificent ramblings (though hopefully with slightly fewer parenthesis!!) will continue.

However to mark this auspicious occasion, today does mark the commencement of Sexy in Six!

In six weeks today I will be back in London (yaysobyay), back at my desk (sobsobsob), back in the land of Cadbury's chocolate (yayyyyyyyy) and autumnal wet and cold (sobsobsoooooooob) and OF COURSE squeezing myself back into my size 10 work clothes (no-emotion-possible-as-taking-very-shallow-breaths)

I was going to set some new SUPERsexy goals but instead I have unfinished business to resolve before I head home so my goals remain the same BUT my focus is back and my window of opportunity is exactly six weeks and narrowing everyday.

Six Weeks To Sexy has (duh!) Six Objectives:

1. 100% Paleo – no dairy, no sugar, no carbs, no crap of any description for the next six weeks. I’m intrigued to see how many of the 24 Stateside gained pounds I can blast off in six weeks. I’m aiming for a 14lbs loss ideally.


2. Taming the Tummy - from a current bloated 104cm – to as small as I can get it in six weeks. To compare on the 1^st Feb this year I was 10st2lbs with a waist of 93cm.


3. Completing 60 sec ring Crossfit challenge – but now it’s an L-sit rather than a straight hold. Crossfitting Curtis pointed out that I’m not really working anything except upper body and actually if I’m putting in the effort, then I should do an L-sit and work my core/abs also.  Thanks Curtis. I should point out that Curtis can do a handstand in the rings so he mistakenly thinks anything is possible.  But since you’ve raised my competitive hackles........it’s on. Bitch I am Fabulous!


4. Half-marathon baby – 18^th September in San Francisco!!


5. Me in a bikini with (non-photoshopped) photographic evidence


6. ABSOLUTE FOCUS on Sexy in Six – doing whatever it takes (‘whatever’ limited to what is legal in the Great State of Texas of course) with 100% enthusiasm and ZERO complaints about being tired, fed up, hot, cross, weak, hungry, sore - well you get the picture.

Special Note to Challenge Han: I hope you appreciate that I haven’t forgotten about our little sky diving bet – Sexy in Six will knock three of my four challenges out of the park. (yayyayyay) That just leaves a fast 10km race for me and a 10km distance to complete for you when I get back!! Just saying – you have 9 weeks to get 10km ready!! I'm thinking this: ShockAbsorber 10km!

Say after me: Bitch. I am fabulous! xx

p.s. For any of you with memories like sieves - this was the old me, prior to FABULOUS K SUPERdesigner intervention:

Some Blog Housekeeping

I've been doing some housekeeping of my little blog today - something I've been meaning to do for the last nine months! What can I say, I need deadlines to get my butt into gear! Something exciting is happening to my blog very, very soon and so I wanted to get my act together and get my out of control label categories down to a slightly more manageable and hopefully coherent cluster. I can tell you're excited by this news but wait, it gets slightly more interesting: It's weird to admit this but I love reading my blog posts the day I write them and maybe read them four or five times (mostly to attempt to correct my grammar and appalling spelling) but once I've posted the next entry, I never go back and review what I wrote days, weeks or months later - that was, until today. I can't say I read them all today - but I read snippets of most of them and a couple things struck me.

Boy do I never manage to have any control over my eating habits!

I seem to be forever saying I'm getting my chocolate and sugar consumption under control and never do. But I never fail to bring up the exact same point days, weeks or months later as if the thought just occurred to me. A severe case of dieters amnesia if ever there was one!

Also I seem to be perpetually tired and knackered in every post - today unfortunately is no exception. I feel like I've been hit by the Sandman's truck head on. Part of the reason I took four months off work was to give myself a rest and try to find a way to be and feel less tired before getting on with the next 40 plus years of work and life. That's another thing I've haven't cracked yet. Oops.

Plus how moany am I?! Well except for all the times that I AM CRAZY HYPER EXCITED!!!!! Good Lord. I thought I was quite well balanced mentally - honestly I really did and I also genuinely thought that over the last 18 months I'd got much more optimistic in my outlook - that was until I had to categorise most of my posts under the headers 'Crazy Ramblings' and 'Random Craziness'! This is probably another such one to add to that pile! Have to laugh - it recently struck me that I treat my blog like a virtual boyfriend - a space to recount my day and tell my story. Looking back at these posts made it a bit too obvious why I am 100% boyfriend repellent - this girl is just too too crazy up and down all the time!! Whoops a daisy. Something else to work on!

But the one thing that struck me the most was just how fortunate that I am - to have a great group of supportive and generous people around me and people who truly inspire my heart, not to mention so many nice things happening to me out of the blue - even despite moaning like crazy most of the time. While my memory of these generosities fades criminally quickly, my accounts of these treasures - however ineloquently recounted - remain to remind me of all the incredible gestures of friendship and support and inspiration that have come my way.

That's a really nice feeling especially in comparison to near vomiting this morning after today's crossfit workout session (haha lowered the tone - told you I'm ineloquent):

Lindsay from Seattle and I paired up today to do battle and 45 minutes later we were finally done. By the end I was completely convinced I had heat stroke as I can't recall feeling so sick. Fortunately 8 hours later the nausea has faded. But the one thing that will remain with me a while yet is cranking out 30 burpees around the 40 minute mark of being on the go in 100 degree heat - with everyone around me long since finished their own workouts - but having three ladies come and cheer me on. One particular lady sat down on the mat next to me as I was still cranking out burpees and said in a low voice - just loud enough for me to hear - 'honestly, you're a burpee goddess'

Not sure I've even been called a goddess before. Thank you so much from the bottom of my crazy and all-too-occasionally psychotic heart! xx

p.s. Han if you're reading this - Monday the exciting news will be revealed (to hopefully co-inside with other exciting developments). Swear on my life. So check back then xx

Digging myself out of a hole

Well first of all you need a digger ..... so VOILA

Construction is clearly in my blood - haha!!

Honest - don't know how the creme egg got there!

It only took me 3 hours to build whilst my dad watched/ snoozed through England v Scotland's rugby match yesterday. (La Digger was a Christmas Pressie for my Dad - the Construction Engineer who finds it normal to have photos of diggers pride of place on his living room wall, whilst pics of his daughters are relegated to hidden corners - we all know your priorities, papa!!) The 56 steps required to build the digger were surprisingly complicated and hard to follow despite full pictorial instructions - lego has moved on A LOT since my sisters and I built our future dream multi-coloured houses from regular shaped blocks (NO instructions required). Back then placing special plastic lego trees in the back garden was considered the height of chic!

The point at which I nearly binned the entire ridiculous set after realising that I would need to dismantle most of the heinous build after I'd positioned the wrong size strut in position 145.

I'm putting lego-build survivor on my CV - I'm so employable!

Well my three day hiatus from:

• my London life


• thinking about what to eat (my papa is an excellent food shopper and chief chef)


• the internet (my papa only has dial up which is basically USELESS) 


• sleeping for less than 5 hours

was BLISS.

During my mini stayca I got MAJORLY inspired during a marathon Magazine session - three monthlies consumed cover to cover during Saturday's rugby matches - total heaven (magazining not the rugby)

I threw and squeaked toys for Daisy dog - it's a very entertaining past-time. Never, ever gets old. I'm training her up for the dancing segment of next year's Crufts. Also HAVE to mention that my loveliest friend, Miss S was showing her dog, Henry, this weekend at Crufts and Henry was awarded 1st in show no less - how AMAZING is that!?

I watched 6 episodes!! of Agatha Christie Miss Marple's weekend on itv3 - only fair after all the rugby I was forced to watch.

I discovered the best ever TV advert - this is BRILLIANT:



I put the car through the carwash - accompanied by my Dad - if you've watched CSI Vegas's recent - Sqweegel episode you will completely understand my reluctance to carwash alone. Scariest episode I've ever seen BY FAR and I've seen about 1,000,000 episodes of CSI!

I swam about in the bathtub and was reminded JUST HOW MUCH I miss splashing about in the pool, practising tumble turns and acing my brand of front crawl.

I got to do two perfect road trips in my car - I LOVE driving alone and singing in my own private sound booth - nothing can beat that on a sunny day like today!

BUT I did DIDDLY SQUAT by way of proper exercise.

Instead I just totally chilled out. Hopefully this means that I'm back on a more even keel and less the epitome of a ferocious eating machine. xx

p.s. Sorry today's post has all the appearance of a 'what I did at the weekend' primary school essay. I have some brilliant fitness themed posts to share as soon as I get around to writing them - If you want to find out how to run faster, recover better or discover the myth busting target training your wobbly bits - well stayed tuned. Plus I have a VERY SPECIAL POST planned to commemorate a VERY SPECIAL MILESTONE later this week - well I'm excited!! xx

Endorphin Overload

I literally have no idea what is going on here - this doesn't resemble any biology I learnt at school?!

Biologists - please explain!

Not sure if it was the three hour workout I did tonight (2 hours of walking = 19470 steps and one circuit class); seeing Lovely Louise back at circuits after too long - I've missed Louise; just being in Challenge Hannah's presence - she is hilarious and F.O.C.U.S.E.D - as demonstrated by her new practise of walking to work and her newest high fashion!! accessory she was modelling tonight; being lapped a ridiculous number of times by Lucinda during circuits who is indecently fast since her Februlous 200km; nearly twisting my ankle running in the dark over a tree stump BUT not twisting my ankle!!; being complimented by Lucinda that I no longer appear to be dragging myself like I'm in SERIOUS pain when I attempt to run!! OR was it finding out about a new 10km Race for Life from - ummm loveliest individual whose name escapes my non existent memory (to be inserted later)?

Add to that finding out that Gemma and Kaye didn't just complete their 1/2 marathons - they ACED it: 2 hours 13 mins and 2 hours 3 mins - I salute you both. (For Gemma's account of the race in her own words - check here) All that, AND my abs got a beasting - and they certainly need it!! Thanks TTST Mel.

All in all today has been a GREAT day. Bring on tomorrow and more training!

My name is Girl on a Mission and I am an endorphin addict!! xx

Wardrobe SOS

“Wearing 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time”

A great fashion truism

In my case I probably wear and wash the same 18 items of clothes (excluding underwear), all exclusively work out gear and work wear, week in and out without fail – sometimes this is probably more like 10-12 items of clothing if I have nowhere to go and no-one to see and so just live in pyjamas and work out gear, otherwise known as “My Day Pyjamas”. Up to 8 additional items of clothing get worn maybe once a month on special occasions – the remaining items in my wardrobe NEVER see the light of day.

I have been promising myself to get my chest of drawers and wardrobe properly organised all Winter but have so far resisted as:

a) I wasn’t convinced I wouldn’t just put all the weight I’ve lost right back on again and thus require the tent like shapes that masquerade as large sized clothes.

b) Clothes shopping is not one of my natural talents – case in point – despite 3 separate trips to two different London shopping Meccas over the last four months to buy a replacement pair of skinny jeans that actually fit me, and despite trying on dozens of pairs in different stores – I have so far failed to find a pair that do fit my legs, bum AND tum. So is it wise to throw the old ones out before I find a suitable replacement?

c) In my cupboard, hangs the manifestations of all sorts of epic emotional traumas – some of these have never been worn as a result or never will, but do I really have the strength to deal with them?

d) Having to deal with the items that don’t deserve to be thrown away but cannot be sorted and neatly put back – is another hassle entirely – the must fix/ get professionally cleaned/ give away task is really the one I’ve been putting off.

e) Reading Lauren Conran’s 'Style' guide on cleaning out your closet – I was really enthused to get going til I read that she had a professional team of four people assisting her for three days to organise her closet – LA Style!! Granted she likely doesn’t own the 80% exact same limited wardrobe as she did when she was a University student 5 years previously and granted that Lauren’s closet has its own designated room – but really is this a task I should or could attempt to go-it-alone?

Major procrastination followed…….every weekend…......for months. But this week’s Spring Fever and the end of London Fashion Week has made me bite the bullet – a Wardrobe SOS has been issued to a major style fiend and in the interim I am thinking of applying the following three wardrobe clearout rules, depicted here as a flowchart - check those management skills!!:

I've also appending the following Four Additional Generic Clearout Principles to my three rules:

1. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE, IGNORE THE PREVIOUS THREE CLEAROUT RULES JUST BECAUSE THE ITEM IN QUESTION *SPARKLES*


2. Does it suit my new hair style? Yes = Keep, No - Giveaway


3. Allow myself a MAXIMUM 5 wardrobe lifelines – 1 to be applied to the bin pile and 4 to be applied, if necessary, to the giveaway pile and the items allowed to return to the deepest, darkest recesses of the wardrobe.


4. If, at the end of the clear out, my wardrobe no longer contains anything suitable to wear to a job interview (V. Important) or a party (Critically Important), retract the best possible alternatives from the bin/ giveaway pile.

So here's to a weekend of "The Great Wardrobe Clearout" for this particular London Singleton. Hopefully I will emerge from the chaos with a perfectly formed capsule wardrobe rather than a closet that epitomises the Emperor’s New Clothes fable!! xx

Day 2 Fitness Advent Calender: Snow Excuse!!

Today's advent task: Snap 5 pics enroute to work.  En voila......

Fresh snow made for the perfect backdrop for some photos, not to mention, a perfectly crisp walk to work. (An old ski jacket ensured that I made it to work without frostbite!!) Hopefully trudging through all that snow counts as an extra resistance workout!

I couldn't believe how deserted the parks were at 8.30am this morning. Normally they are heaving with commuting cyclists, joggers and walkers.

Still, all the more fresh snow for me to play in!! xx

Winter is my Kryptonite

It's mid-week and first time in a long time I'm really struggling with the exercise/ nutrition and point of it all. I am majorly regressing. I have only done one exercise session this week and less than 5 miles walking total. This is not like Girl on a Mission AT ALL.

But MORE than that I can feel just how easy it is to slip back into "the can't be bothered to walk anywhere, do anything" habits of old.  The dark mornings and dark nights are no fun and they are definitely sapping me of my mission motivation.  Added to that I'm getting the hibernation munchies BIG TIME - I've stuck with the PALEO regime to a "T" although NO-ONE needs to eat the amount of nuts I've squirrelled away in the last two days. Nutty Overeaters Anonymous had better save me a seat for when the PALEO adventures are complete.

The high point of today was despite this afternoon's five hour long meeting and going to get supplies for the group, namely cakes and biscuits and some apples (the onsite shop was really limited), I just had an apple and tuned out to ALL the sugary treats, even though they were right in front of me, taunting me for hours.  That's one gold star to make up for the lack of exercise this week at least. 

Plus in my little social experiment, (well five hours is a really LOOOOOOONG time for a meeting!!!!); me, on my nicoise salad (minus potatoes) and an apple, was probably one of the handful in the group who were still mentally alert at the 4 hours 59 minute mark (and believe me that meeting was more than a tad comatastic). On the other hand those sugar slumps and the constant need to keep refueling with MORE biscuits etc were REALLY plain to see.

{My name is Girl on a Mission and I am a sugar temptress to all who befall me?!}

The biggest thing I'm missing from my bi-daily walks and workout session is the HEADSPACE, sense of CALM and the PERSPECTIVE that really all the little annoyances of the day are just that: little, to be overcome with a smile then dismissed.

After nearly three days of inactivity I'm feeling my pressures of work etc building - I feel as though I'm having one of those weeks where I'm trying to schedule what work I can do in the 30 minutes before I get dressed in the morning, what to review on the tube before getting to my desk, when I'll have an opportunity to grab a snack, take a breath etc. I know this is psychological, brought on by not getting outside and switching off enough so I'm off to bed tonight at 9pm - no excuses and will be back walking the full distance to work first thing tomorrow morning WITHOUT FAIL. Hopefully in the dark, I will not bump into whoever stabbed that poor guy in Murder Vale yesterday cos that would really make this week suck.

On that note, I can't decide if I should invest in some high vis clothing and lights (PINK of course!!!) to get me through the winter and to ensure no bikes run into me or whether I should stay a little more incognito and hidden to would-be psychotics with knives/axes/guns/bad tempers. (I live in a nice part of London - honest!)  Thoughts???? xx

By Rflex 360: Sure I'd look cool in these!!!

Last night’s Klumundrum!

“Make me look like Heidi Klum.”  That was my plea to the very amenable photographer at last night’s Cocktails and Chocolate evening. Yup, incredibly fortuitously, a very willing chocoholic, aka AJ!!! came to my rescue and volunteered her taste buds for the evening. (Sorry to name and shame AJ – but as PERFECTLY ENTHUSIATIC CHOCOHOLIC as well as PERFECTLY COMPATABILE RUNNING CHAMPION – this girl needs to be on everyone’s speed dial. STAT.)

Anyway back to the Klumundrum!!! Said photographer had set himself up slightly by:

a) highlighting that could make a vertically challenged wannabe model look as though she every inch of “The 6”0 Body” {Elle M. for anyone who is not sufficiently up on their supermodel dimensions}

and b) he was very quick to emphasise that it was his failures as a photographer, rather than AJ’s very high cheek bones, that was ruining his choco photographic compositions. (Oops sorry to name and shame again AJ – but you really do have amazingly high cheekbones).

Top Tip for anyone else who suffers this affliction – apparently when being photographed, it's best to try and look a bit depressed as you risk resembling a rather delectable hamster when you full out grin!

Before AJ blocks all my future calls!!, I should highlight that:
a) said delectable hamster proved to be the PERFECT photographer’s muse and so basically had a personal photographer ALLLLLL evening
and b) to be honest, I didn’t fare much better at the snaps of the photographer - his personal recommendation was that I get myself to a salon this weekend and try to do something with my hair to cover up my freakishly large and unphotogenic forehead!!

Woohoo. All this time I’ve been thinking that my body fat composition and dwarfism has been standing in the way of supermodel perfectionism, when actually a new hair style is all that is required. Woop, woop, I’m booking in for a hair cut pronto! I'm Kluming to get you Heidi! x

p.s. AJ has, as usual, proven herself to be the all-round superior athlete as despite a late school night and a few too many cocktails, she managed to drag herself to Superchick Training this morning. By comparison, I only awoke as training was finishing (too, too sad ;-))) but to be honest, I’m just thrilled that my Chocotastic goody bag is still unopened. So that’s still 1:1 by my count ;-))

p.p.s. I will post snaps of the very delectable hamster once they go online!!

Yesterday was a BIG day for me.

I made a brilliant discovery yesterday post Running School session – and I don’t mean realising that my left hip flexor is not amused by this new style of running – rather *Westfield* is on my walk home from The Running School. {For those that know me – I am clapping penguin-like- for anyone who doesn’t know me – this is how I show my love/delight/excitement publically. I never said I was remotely cool!}

My new mantra!

*Westfield* for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure already, is the magnificent and surprisingly architectural London temple for all those indoctrinated shopaholics. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, it is an equally inspiring place for any fashion non-believers out there too.

I am the first to admit that shopping centres and clothes shopping has not really excited me in the past. At all. I love the quirkiness of fashion; I adamantly admire fashionable and effortlessly chic dressers and I love spotting what trends are coming online and deciding if and how much I am a convert. I also love that I can mentally conjure up the perfect outfit and moreover how I should look in it.

But I haven’t loved the blunt reality of never being able to make my fairytale of the perfect ensemble come true. Instead I have been a devout follower of the “urgh - pleeeeeease let me find something that fits, that doesn’t resemble a tent typically in a hideous shade of gunk and that doesn’t require me to traipse round every store in a 2 mile radius just to settle on some mediocre cut in black” school of clothes shopping.

For anyone who is or has been larger than a perfect size 10-14 –you’ll be intimately familiar with this nightmare and I feel your pain. For anyone fortunate enough never to have known this hell – now’s the time to get on your knees and give thanks to the all the shopping deities.

However, yesterday stumbling upon *Westfield* – HELL became HEAVEN. The excitement at the now very real potential of a beautiful ending to a shopping trip came back in a BIG way – so much so I had 6!!! items in my arms that I was all set to become the fabulous new owner of before I checked myself – and remembered “not yet, not before I’ve lost those few final pounds, hang on just a few weeks more.”

I'm gonna need a shopping bag THIS big when I finally become Mission Fabulous!

What hit me most during this shopping nirvana was the epiphany of a shop assistant convincing me to try on a size 10. I was totally shocked someone would even suggest such a thing before I remembered I’ve gotton a bit smaller. My habit of immediately checking to see if there is a large size on the rail is TOTALLY ingrained.

So I am off to curl up in bed with my Fashion Bibles – Look, Elle and Marie Claire – as well as the Autumn look books of some of my favourite brands – particularly Derhy, Mint Velvet and Jesire – really anything stocked by the AWESOMELY fashion forward House of Fraser. After all, I have many new perfect slim line outfits to plot so that over the next five perfect Saturdays, I can hone my new perfect wardrobe at *Westfield*.

This thought alone is making the prospect of surviving five more hardcore Saturday Running School Sessions TOTALLY worth it! x

Full Disclosure

“My Name is Girl on a Mission and I’m a Sugar Fiend.” My teeth should be aching after all the sugar I’ve had over the last four days –as ashamed as I should be to admit it, I’ve consumed (in no particular order) – 2 Krispy Cream Glazed Donuts, 6 Smartie Bites (120kcals each BUT AMAZING) 2 x 100g Cadbury’s Diary Milk, 3 Reeces Cups, 4 Twister Ice-creams and I can’t really remember what else.

Worst still there was absolutely no particular reason for the sugar fest: I wasn’t in a particularly bad mood, wasn't suffering from PMS, hadn’t just been dumped (if wishing made it so), wasn’t told to clear my desk (well that’s coming any day now but I’m not quite there yet) and wasn’t even just generally hating myself. There was absolutely no reason for it. More bizarrely than that, after chowing down one of the 100g bars of Dairy Milk in less than 10 mins, I distinctly remember feeling nothing at all, not an emptiness and not guilt but something resembling what I imagine people who meditate experience – just a peaceful tranquillity washing over me. I know you think I sound crazy. You should know that I know that you think I sound crazy for writing this. But seriously that’s how I felt.

It’s weird (though not completely unexpected, if I’m honest) but after all the effort, sweat and toil, ultimately I’m still a chunky monkey with a uncontrollable penchant for sugary treats. I’m not a radically different person just because I no longer have three chins. Although my mindset has altered massively on the exercise front and what feats of athleticism I can accomplish when I put the effort in, my mindset has not shifted even a millimetre with regards to the sugar habit. I do eat more salads and fruit and I’ve even started a tradition in the office to bring in fruit not just cakes (I DID THAT. ME. – SO PROUD!!!), but at the same time I literally have no appetite to cut down on the sugar. (I crack myself up at my own jokes all the time! Did I mention I’m single?!)

Underneath it all I have a sense that autumn’s on its was – I know it’s still August, but honestly I can feel it – the mornings are darker, the grass is wet with dew and the evenings are starting to close in quicker. Plus my summer hols was eons ago!! With the onset of autumn is the knowledge that my summer fitness adventure is ending and I never made it into a bikini (and likely NEVER will). I can’t sustain this level of exercise for that much longer as it’ll soon be just too dark/dangerous to be out walking at 5am in the morning and 9pm at night. When that happens and I revert back to my old habits, most probably I’ll just regain the weight in a third of the time it took me to lose it all. Now I’m definitely not feeling a sense of peaceful tranquillity wash over me!

I don’t know how to solve my sugar addiction. If I did I’d be very wealthy woman and able to shrug of impending unemployment with a devil-may-care attitude, not to mention able to afford as much liposuction as my heart desired. What I do know is that I am still totally shocked to discover that you should only have a small sugary treat once a week and ideally just ONCE A FORTNIGHT. (According to SuperSlim SuperTrainer SuperNutritionist Sarah). Even weeks after discovering this, this is still totally alien, not to mention mind blowing to me. x

Just like buses!!

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it, tra la la la la la la la laaaa.

I'm excited because I have received not one but two amazing guest submissions for my blog today that I literally cannot wait to share with you over the next few days- a tres amusing update from the unruffable Hare and a very special article from a truly amazing lady that you won't want to miss - it is life-changing, I promise you. So remember to pop back to check them both out over the next few days.

Right now I'm so tired I can hardly think straight, let alone post anything coherent which is partly why I'm leaving off sharing my amazing guest posts until tomorrow - I just don't want to mess it up! After weaning myself off chocolate and sugar with moderate success, I had a last Cadbury's Cream Egg last night and woke up this morning at 3.45am with my heart pounding - strange how I've never noticed what sugar and hydrogenated fat do to the body - but it was not pleasant.  Lets just say I made it to my 7am circuit training class with PLENTY of time to spare!

But before I forget, I previously promised to share more details about Boutique Run - the 5k or 10k run on the 10th of July followed by an amazing PARTY in Battersea Park.  Well you can now register and if you do so before the 28th April, with the code detailed below you will get 25% off the entrance fee. Plus don't worry if you don't feel fit enough to cover such a distance yet - this includes me as well as frankly I'm feeling very daunted at the prospect of undertaking a 10k race as well as the Moonwalk. Never fear though as tomorrow's post, I am certain, will have you feeling much more confident and inspired that anything fitness-wise is possible.   Let me know if you're thinking of signing up for the Boutique Run - it would be fab to have some training buddies.

Events and blog posts, it seems, are just like buses - they come in twos! x

cool. calm. collected. NOT

Today I succumbed to one of the BIGgest faux pas (pl) possible and completed today's work outfit with Shock, Horror... Trainers. After years of internally chiding all those women for wearing trainers with an otherwise fab work ensemble, when there are perfectly gorgeous and equally practical flats that could be worn instead, I'm now also guilty of this heinous fashion crime myself. I don't care what anyone says I've yet to see anyone pull of this look and still have the men transfixed - at least not in the way I would want!

However after carrying a change of clothes everywhere with me all week - I decided that as I had no official workout planned today, I should give myself a break and just don my trainers with my work outfit. GULP

Well I pretty much regretted that decision as soon as I departed as trainers, running jacket, skirt, tights and rucksac is NOT a GOOD look on anyone but particularly not me. Not only did I appear to have got dressed in the dark, I also looked a tad deranged in my impersonation of half sporty Barbie, half office Barbie (minus Barbie's enviable BUT ANATOMICALLY IMPOSSIBLE curves obviously.)

         

      Barbie needs a makeover!

Worse was to come however as arriving at work, I realised that my brand of walking is not the low impact, gentle workout that everyone believes it to be. Rather after an hour and fifty minutes of supposed "gentle workout", I was a sweaty mess and CATASTROPHE had nothing to change into. Most problematic was what to do about the all too visible damp patch right down the back of my cotton top as with no hand driers in the ladies I had nothing to dry it off with.

Well what followed was a rather damp morning and a refusal to move from my chair until I could no longer be considered a social pariah. NOT COOL. Think I'd prefer go back to impersonating a donkey with my overloaded rucksac thank you very much.

Morphing effortlessly from action/sports chic to office vixen (eyebrow raised, I wish!) is clearly an art form and one which has completely evaded me. So in an effort to avoid a repeat of today's debacle, I'm off to seek some expert guidance from one of the chicest members of the style elite. x

Anti-Chocolate Arsenal

Building up my love list of non-chocolate alternative treats in preparation of my post-Easter (or as the Hare has called it on her Facebook status "Eater Hols"!!) sugar and chocolate COLD TURKEY MONTH.

List so far:

INK - Be it nail varnish (got a hot pink one from Nail Inc called "Union Street" in one of my goody bags which I cannot wait to try out), new pink lingerie or just doodling on pink post its - I literally couldn't live without pink.  Really looking forward to returning home to my pink bedroom for the Easter weekend.

EONIES - Love, love, love these. To me they are like scruffy but chic imitations of roses. Bit like me on my mission to become a slightly scruffier but nonetheless chic version of an original beauty.

RADA SOAP - One of my main extravagances considering a bar of Dove soap is about 70p and equally good whereas a bar of Prada Soap is about £11.00.  However as I find perfume just too overpowering - I feel this is justifiable. But honestly even if I couldn't justify it, I would buy it anyway. The packaging is so indulgent and even after the soap is long gone, the boxes hold the gorgeous scent so I pop them in the drawers of my chest of  drawers and they keep my clothes gorgeously fragranced.

EACE and QUIET - I love having time to myself when I'm not feeling knackered just to be quiet and still and to think.  I'm always trying to live consciously rather than just keeping up with the fast tide of life so true time to be peaceful and quiet is the ultimate luxury.

So equipped with my anti-chocolate arsenal - after a month I will be a prada scented, pink belt in the art of meditation with peonies in my hair!

p.s. As an early Easter treat, I gave myself a break from training today as another session in the cold and wet would, I fear, have completely broken my spirit for good. Although saying that, I had a meeting on a residential estate down from Elephant and Castle this afternoon and since it was only 1.6 miles from the office I walked there and back (carrying my training kit with me in case the weather improved in time for SuperChicks).  I'm so proud that my first reaction was to check walkit.com (my new favourite love as their printable maps are truly fantastic and they give you directions much like routeplanner but walkfriendly ones of course) and when I realised it was manageable and probably quicker than public transport I didn't even bother checking TfL. REPEAT SO PROUD OF MYSELF. x