One year today!

I'm a little excitable this morning because today is our -1 wedding anniversary!!

One year today and I'll be marrying my favourite guy & best friend.. Awwh! And I'll have a whole new NAME! (This is kinda freaking me out at the moment!)

Anyway, I'm trying to tempt the sun out today so that I'm not spending the next year worrying about rain putting a real downer on our day...

Decisions to decide

It's been over 2 months since we booked our venues for our big day next September and I'm ashamed to admit not much has been done since...

Now that September is just around the corner meaning we will have been engaged a year and, more importantly, will be getting married in a year, I'm starting to feel like I really should get organised! The only thing we have done is pay off a small chunk of the hefty venue bill. Important, but pretty boring.

When I start thinking about everything that needs to be done my head feels ever so slightly like it's going to explode, so I thought it would be a good idea to break it down into bite-sized chunks so here's are the first few things on my wedding to-do list:

• Plan and arrange wedding dress shopping. Although I have many ideas about colours, decorations and the general atmosphere that I'd like for our wedding day, the dress is something I have no real idea about yet... And I realise that the tone of the day should really revolve around the style of the dress so I need to get trying on some white dresses... Eek! I'm the most indecisive person so I need to plan around the likelihood that this decision will take a few separate shopping trips!
• Plan wedding photography and pre-wedding shoot. We always knew that Darren's cousin Anna would be the photographer for our special day as we know she's really good and should feel comfortable with her :) We're going to meet up with her in the next week or so to talk through what we want & whatnot so I look forward to that!
• Save the dates! Possibly related to the above with organising a pre-wedding snap shoot as I'm not sure whether to go down the photographic save the date route or what we're going to do yet, but I guess we need to think about this pretty soon so everyone can make sure they're free for the wedding of the century.. Hah ;)

So there are a lot of decisions for me to make! And for the girl who couldn't make a decision if her life depended on it, this is going to be... interesting!

It's all go, go, go!

Life has been hecccctic!

Since moving back to Bognor & starting my new job, it's been a bit of a whirlwind. My lack of blogging hasn't been because I have nothing to blog about but because so much has been going on that I've had no time to write!

I'm loving my new job at Strawberrysoup & it's great living back near all our friends and family, there's always something to do! It has been hard sticking to the weight loss thing though with all the pub nights & meals out so things have definitely slowed down a bit.

I'm also missing the gym a lot as I've not managed to join one yet, but I have been jogging a fair bit along the seafront... I've managed a furthest of 5.6k non-stop jogging so far which is such a massive improvement from when I started out with Couch to 5k!

But although the pound dropping has slowed, they are still coming off & yesterday's weigh in saw me hit the 60lb loss mark (that's 4 stone 4lbs!) which also brought me into 'ideal' BMI!! So I'm feeling preeeetty proud about that! That means I have just 17lbs until goal weight and now I really want to focus on trying to tone my wibbly bits!

In other news.... we have finally booked our wedding venues!!! On 28th September we will be getting married in a church in Bognor where Darren was baptised and his parents were married and 'dinner & dancing' will follow in a gorgeous country hotel in Chichester!! Super excited! Now is where the real wedding planning fun starts!

So, along with lots of babies making appearances (friends', definitely not mine!), they're the main highlights of my last couple of months. We're still staying with Darren's dad at the moment but we have a flat lined up which will be ready to move in to at the beginning of July... counting down the days! It'll be great to have our own space again & I'm really looking forward to having a garden & hosting barbecues, so long as the sun returns!

Time for the hectic to take over again as I have a lunch date to get ready for... laters!

xo

What a difference 6 months - and 50lbs - makes

Life has been hectic recently with friends visiting, a lot of packing ready to move next week and we're also off to Scotland today for a wedding this weekend & to stay with family for a week :)

Since my last blog post boasting about willpower, I have slightly lost it a couple of times. I gave myself a few 'days off' around Easter when a couple of friends came over & I gave into wine & chocolate, and last weekend when some other friends were over but this time it was one too many vodkas & savoury snacks making their way into my belly.

Despite this, I am continuing to drop the pounds & have hit a few milestones with my last weigh in, including passing the 50lb/3 & a half stone loss marks! Also in my quest to find an outfit that fits me for the wedding this weekend, I have found that size 10 dresses can actually fit me quite nicely! Although my bottom half has yet to catch up, I'm still pretty damn pleased with seeing a '10' on my clothes labels again!

Feeling pretty proud of myself already, I wanted to try & compare me in a new dress to a 'before' picture. Although I hate the fact that it shows how big I was and neither pictures are that flattering, I thought I'd be brave & share it with the world, so here goes...

The 'before' picture was taken in April last year, 6 months before I started the weight loss journey. I'm not sure how much I weighed here but it was around 50-57lbs heavier than the 'during' picture taken on Tuesday. Also excuse the scarily bright white legs.. I can't remember the last time I had them out for the world to see!

I wish I had a better 'before' picture for comparisons but this is the best I could find... I didn't take or keep many pictures of myself before!

Anyway, I'm off on the epic drive to the Bonnie land now where I will be cutting myself a bit of slack with the manic exercising and healthy eating, although I did get up at 6.30am this morning to squeeze in a gym session first! I'm looking forward to plenty of bubbly at the wedding as well as the chippy with smoked sausage that I have to have every time we're in Scotland :)

xo

Where there's willpower, there's a way

Monday 3rd October was my first 'official' weigh in day, and the first day I started properly watching what I eat and hitting the gym.

Yesterday marked 6 months since then and I'm pleased to say I'm still well and truly on the wagon! Other than a slight gain over Christmas, I've been losing between 1 & 4lbs each week - usually a steady 2lbs - and feeling good!

The biggest change in myself is the huge increase in WILLPOWER which has got me everywhere!

Willpower to not buy those tasty looking treats, willpower to not eat everything in my kitchen and to choose the healthiest options when eating out, willpower to go to the gym after work most days even though I'd rather get my PJs on and sit in front of the TV, will power to just. keep. going. on the treadmill/cross trainer/stair-climber (this I'm particularly noticing with c25k with which I ran a full 20 minutes with no stopping yesterday - a new record!)

Sometimes when one side of my mind is telling me I can't keep going or I don't have the willpower to not scoff down a tube of Pringles or a block of mature cheddar or something, the other side reminds me that I had the willpower to give up smoking, something which contains an addictive substance, so I can do this. It's a great thing to look back on to remind myself that I can do anything if I put my mind to it!

I'm not sure where this willpower has come from to be honest, but I'm just making sure I make the most of it while I still have it!

I'm also keeping in mind that in a few weeks I'll be up in Scotland for a week with family & for a wedding so it might be a struggle keeping to the super healthy eating thing, as much as I'll try! So I'm just making sure I'm being as good as possible until then. I'm aiming/hoping to his the 3.5 stone loss mark by the time we go which means shedding 5lbs in two weeks... Including over Easter weekend... So we'll see!

 

Broken muscles

HII *waves*

I'm finding myself with some extra time this evening as I'm having to skip my after work gym trip (shock, horror) because I seem to have damaged my calf muscles :(

I'm not completely sure what has happened but I'm guessing it's a combination of lots of walking, running, cross-trainering and not enough resting. Anyway, my calves felt slightly tender yesterday after walking a few miles to the gym, completing week 4 of C25K on the treadmill and then walking home again, so I didn't go to the gym yesterday but took a long walk in the sun to the beach instead. But this morning as I got out of bed I was in quite a bit of pain and it has been a slight struggle walking all day and prodding my calf muscles hurts too as if they are bruised.

Ouchie :(

Although I don't feel like I've been going OTT, this may well be a sign for me to rest so I am doing as I'm told and sitting here stinking of Deep Heat. Yum. I'm hoping the pain disappears tomorrow though so I can get into C25K week 5 before I slip out of it!

Week 4 was TOUGH so I won't say I'm looking forward to getting into week 5, but managing to complete the last week (JUST) was a pretty proud achievement for me and I don't want to stall now!

I also decided last week while watching the documentary of John Bishop completing his cycle, row & three marathons from Paris to London, that one day I WILL run a marathon. Now, I know this is no easy feat and would take a lot of training - and I'm not forgetting that I am only in the middle of a programme to get me to run 5 small kilometres and struggling to run for 5 minutes straight - I'm saying that this is something I want to do in a good few years from now... An ultimate goal, something for the bucket list!

This is definitely what I look like while I'm running,
I'm not a hot sweaty grimacing mess at all.

I won't lie, I'm slightly regretting this in light of my current muscle pain but the world wasn't built in a day...

First, I need to complete Couch to 5k (which should be about 4 weeks from now) and sign up for the Race for Life 5k run this summer which will make sure I keep running in the lead up. Then I'll go from there aiming for a 10k event then maybe a half marathon.

It's good to have goals, right?

All change!

Everything has gone a bit crazy this last week & will be for the next few months as it's all change for us and lots going on!

At the end of April we will be leaving Bournemouth (*sob*) and moving back along the coast towards our hometown in West Sussex to be closer to family and friends.

It's been something we've been thinking about for a while since people drifted away after finishing Uni and it got a lot quieter & lonelier around here! But it was always a 'maybe one day' thing.

This week I was offered a job at Strawberrysoup in Chichester as their 'Online Marketing Specialist' and I'll be starting there at the end of April, giving us around 6 weeks to pack up our flat and relocate! During that time we have a trip to Scotland as well so I think it's going to be a mad rush at times!

I am really going to miss Dorset as I love it around here so much, but I'm also really looking forward to being around my close friends & family again :) Everyone seems pretty excited that we're heading back! Well, except my dad who I'll be leaving in Poole, but at least that's a very good reason to come back this way regularly!

I also keep thinking about how much I'll miss my gym... Something I never thought I'd feel! I have been there almost every day since October and am not looking forward to having to spend £40 a month on a local gym after Pure Gym's bargain £9.99!

I'm hoping the move won't ruin my hard work weightloss-wise too much but I'm expecting a little slow down when we're first back as things will be hectic celebrating our return, getting into the new job and finding a new home. I'll just have to work extra hard beforehand!

On that side of things a quick note - I've changed my weigh-in to Saturday mornings now instead of Monday evenings and weighed in this morning with a 2lb loss since Monday. I know it might be slightly inaccurate because of the difference between mornings and evenings, but I'm not going to complain! That's just 1lb away from the 3 stone mark! :D

I definitely have mixed emotions about the move but on the whole it's very exciting, I'm really looking forward to starting the new job and a new challenge even though I'll miss everyone at CW, and I'm really looking forward to being around everyone I love :)

Being back in West Sussex should also kickstart wedding plans again as it'll be so much easier for us to view venues and organise things being in the area.

Who said 2012 would be uneventful?? (...Okay, that was me... but what do I know!)

xo

Chatting with a celebrity chef

Yesterday was fairly exciting as I got to interview Michel Roux Jnr for a magazine article!

He was at Bournemouth University for a talk with hospitality students and we managed to secure an interview slot with him beforehand. He was really lovely and interesting - it was a great morning! Of course we talked food (which left me feeling very hungry!), his cheffing family and I asked him whether he ever gets a craving for a KFC bargain bucket... He also told me I was sad for my love of Twitter and shared his experience of Facebook involving a fake Michel Roux Jnr...

Now I need to get writing the article which I'm sure I'll be sharing with everyone once it's in print :)

xo

Over the halfway point

Just a quickie today as I'm trying to be making a weekly weigh in post a regular thing & I haven't done much else...

SO today is weigh day and I'm pleased to announce that I am another 2lbs lighter! This means that since the beginning of my weight loss journey I have shed a pretty fine 39lbs & I'm half a pound over the halfway mark!

I think it's fair to say I'm pleased & proud! ...and wishing even more that I took photos & measurements at the very beginning so that I had those to compare too... oh well, I'm 39lbs lighter & feeling good! :)

Also I started week 3 of c25k this evening - I was dreading it but I survived & weirdly I think I'm actually looking forward to doing it again...

I'm like a different person!

xo

Bridesmaids & babies

Okay so this is a long overdue blog post, but I have no idea where this week has gone & I was about to publish it this morning when the whole post disappeared & I was left with a blank page.... not fun :(

BUT last weekend was an eventful one so I wanted to share!

Friday night I head to the homeland for a much awaited night out with my favourite ladies. Of course this special occasion was cause for a new dress, especially as most of my clothes are looking quite ridiculous and baggy on me at the moment and I wanted to show off the difference I was noticing with my weight loss!

It turns out I am now comfortably a size 14 which means I have dropped two dress sizes!! Big yays! There was a time when a size 14 disgusted me after hitting that just a year after being an 8-10, but I'm more than happy with a 14 this time around! This meant I was looking forward to this night out more than I already was because I wasn't feeling depressive like I usually do about what I'm going to wear out!

The main reason I was looking forward to this night was because I had decided to ask these three very special girls a very important question!

Officially my beautiful bridesmaids!

I originally planned to wait until we had a venue booked before popping the question to my bridesmaids, but then again I originally planned to have a venue booked by now so there you go!

We had an amazing night full of drinking, dancing, laughing & talking wedding plans and the best ever thing was me later realising that I didn't feel self concious all night - a first in a very long time and a pretty big deal for me!

On Saturday I had a surprise baby shower to go to. This was my first baby shower experience and it was a great night! We played games, laughed a lot, ate cake, tried baby food & wondered why people feed that stuff to their babies, ergh!

It was also really good to catch up with lots of people I haven't seen for a while and I had a few compliments on my weight loss which is always nice! People are really starting to notice when they see me, and also when they hug my "disappearing body" as some have said! This has definitely given me a massive boost to continue all my hard work!

Although I did give myself the weekend off a little after an extra good week, I still logged as best as I could and I hit the gym on Friday morning before work & ate well all day to make room for some of the alcohol I was to consume later.... which turned out to be around 850 calories when I logged what I remembered drinking the next morning! I knew alcohol was calorific, but 103 calories in a 25ml shot of Goldschläger? Woah.

But it was so worth it. I knew one not-so-good weekend wouldn't hinder all my hard work... which it didn't! On Monday evening I weighed in at 3lbs lighter than the previous week despite all the alcohol on Friday and a cheeky bit of cake at the baby shower! This brings my running total to 37lbs - just 1.5 away from the halfway point to my goal weight! Still a long way to go but I've definitely come a long way already! I'm feeling massively proud and confident that I can do this :))) !!

Wishing everyone an amazing weekend - I should probably get out of my pyjamas soon & do something productive.... Or I might just stay cosy & lazy until Darren gets home from work & it's time to head to the gym :)

xo

Thirty-four (ask for more)

So it's Monday which means WEIGH DAY

This week I have managed to lose a total of 4lbs!! Which brings my total to 34lbs & well on track to hit 35 by my girls night out on Friday :) too excited!!

I am suuuuper pleased with this, I was thinking this aim to get to 2 & a half stone on Friday was a bit over-optimistic but it's definitely doable now :)

Im so motivated right now as I'm really noticing the difference with myself & the pounds really are dropping off :) I'm also feeling really proud of myself because I know I'm doing it in a good & healthy way, not using some fad diet or starving myself!

I'm going shopping tomorrow evening (yay payday!) for some presses & bits so I might see what the clothes shopping/size situation is like & maybe treat myself to something new :)

I started the Couch to 5k programme today which I'm really hoping will get me into running - I'd love to be one of those women running along the seafront elegantly, wind blowing through my hair.... Ha! Anyway, this programme seems really good because it eases you into running 5k, or for 30 minutes as you can measure by time or distance. I'll keep you updated with how it goes!

I'm off to get an early night now, as the fiancé is out clubbing & I have an early morning tomorrow hitting the gym to make time for shopping after work!

Sleep tight :) x

 

A toast to Pancake Day

Is anyone as fed up as me with hearing & seeing the word 'pancake' today!? I thought so. So let's talk about jam doughnuts and bread instead.

I've been craving a sugary jam doughnut for what feels like YEARS so I'm pretty sure I'm going to crack soon... but seeing there's around 300 calories in one is off putting as that's more than most of my breakfasts or lunches! This is why the food logging thing is so good for me - it pushes me to make good choices with getting the best and most out of the food I eat.

Anyway, I'm sure when I finally give in to the jam doughnut craving it'll be AMAZING (or really disappointing, but let's hope it's the first one!) Just like how it is going to feel at the end of Lent...

The fiance and I have decided to attempt giving up bread for Lent this year. 'THAT'S MADNESS' I hear you say! I know this, but I can be a little mad sometimes. But there's no point of giving up something that will be easy for you, is there? Because bread is one of the things both of us can go a bit OTT with, so it's a good excuse to prove to ourselves that we can go without it. It's not going to be an easy ride, but I'm hoping at the end of it we will reduce the amount of bread we would go through. I gave up cheese a few years ago for lent which was incredibly difficult for me, but I was proud of myself for doing it and it managed to break my habit of covering practically every meal with cheese!

So instead of Pancake Day, I am renaming today 'Toast Day: The day when Darren & Hayley stuff their faces with buttery, marmitey and maybe even some jammy toast before being deprived of bread for 46 days' (Sundays do count in my eyes!)

But first I must burn some calories to make some room for this carby blowout - to the gym!

Ooh, while I'm here - weight loss things are going well. Despite becoming increasingly bored of the gym (I must start some classes soon), I'm still working out most days and now I'm getting into the habit of taking a brisk walk to Sandbanks beach and back most lunch breaks!

As of yesterday I am now 30lbs lighter than when I started this journey! Yay! I'm aiming to get to the 2 & a half stone/35lb mark by Friday 2nd when I'm going out with some of my besties from the hometown.

Have a great evening, pancakes or not!

x

Two hearts set on two venues and hitting the two stone mark!

I have been a busy bee the last couple of weeks so while that means I have plenty to blog about, it also means I haven't had a chance to actually blog which is just unacceptable!

The last time I posted I was on my way to view our first potential wedding venue out of 7 that weekend. Unfortunately, almost two weeks later, we are still no further with our plans. In some ways it feels like we have gone backwards as we don't even have any options to look at anymore.

We fell in love with 2 particular venues which was all really exciting at the time as I was imagining myself walking down the aisle, having our photos taken and enjoying our wedding breakfast in these gorgeous buildings.... Until reality hit and we realised that we really can't afford a total of above £10,000 for a venue and food (unless we maybe don't bother with a wedding dress, suits and everything else a wedding involves). We even toyed with the idea of getting a loan for part of the wedding, but (luckily) we talked ourselves right back out of that one!

Although this realisation was quite a downer after being so happy with the venues we loved, we had a good talk about it and decided that as much as we want a 'wow' venue, even if we could stretch to the price, it's probably not worth it just for our guests' first impression. We would rather spend more on entertainment and those little extras we have in mind to make it a memorable night!

The other venues we visited that weekend weren't so expensive, but they were very 'meh' in comparison to the two we had our hearts set on. So it's back to the drawing board on that one! If anything, we have a better idea of what we both want and what we don't want, so hopefully we'll find something soon.

It is getting slightly irritating that we still haven't got anywhere for a venue as planning everything else has to wait! We also still haven't even told bridesmaids/best man/ushers that we want them in our wedding as I wanted to wait until we had a date and venue set in stone, although I might crack soon!

IN OTHER NEWS...

Despite a slight hiccup that weekend in Bognor (which included a lot of vodka & pizza, but we'll forget about that!) I am kicking ass at this weight loss/fitness thing at the moment - even if I say so myself! Last week after hitting the gym every day and sticking to my calorie allowance, I achieved a loss of 4lb which took me to the 2 stone mark!! I'm am really pleased with myself and it has given me even more of a motivational boost to keep working hard to lose the pounds!

Gym tonight & then chili cheese fries for dinner (before you raise your eyebrow - Quorn mince, plenty of tomato, homemade baked chips & just a sprinkle of low fat cheese!) I've already totted this up in My Fitness Pal and it's not all that bad... and I'll be working for it!

Another day, another hole

Earlier this morning, we thought it would be a great idea to drag ourselves out of our nice warm, deflated airbed and brave the freezing Bognor seafront for a short jog.

I am really no good at running so it was more a jog-walk scenario (that's interval training right!?) as the icy air grabbed hold of and squeezed my lungs.

After getting back and managing to breathe again, I do feel pretty good annnnd I've definitely gone down another belt hole! Nice :)

We're now on our way to view the first of 6 wedding venues we have booked to see over today & tomorrow... exciting!

Gizza Kiss!

It's my Friday today as I've booked the rest of this week off so we can go and look at some wedding venues! It's also my mini sister's 3rd birthday and a friend's birthday this weekend so I'm looking forward to some celebrations seeing lots of family & friends.

First, though, I'm looking forward to lie in as I'm still feeling shattered from the weekend and a busy few days (or weeks) at work!

On Saturday we had a friend's fancy dress party to go to in Bognor and as I was waiting for Friday's payday I had a frantic shopping trip on Saturday buying wigs & allsorts! I then had to grab Darren from work at 6 & head to Bognor where we met some friends and got dolled up:

Alcohol was consumed, karaoke was sung (badly) & I ended up being a fancy dress Hawaiian-hotdog-sheep-Kiss explosion:

The next morning we battled through headaches to go to our first wedding fayre at Goodwood Hotel... exciting stuff!

We got some great ideas, picked up some brochures & a glossy mag, looked at rings, cars, cakes & all sorts so I'd say it was a success :) I also received an email today from one of the ring companies there saying we won their draw to win £200 off wedding rings! Can't complain!

The rest of Sunday was spent seeing family & friends & talking about our wedding the whole time! Everyone seems so excited which is really nice.

We have about 5 or 6 places booked to view over the next few days, it's all very exciting! Maybe this time next week we'll have found our perfect venue, who knows!

Happy Monday

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself this evening so I thought I'd share my good mood with the WHOLE WORLD... or at least my blog & Twitter followers.

After managing to drag myself to the gym for a pretty good calorie burning sesh even after having a crappy night's sleep and feeling fairly groggy all day, it was time for the weekly weighday ritual. And my scales brought good news!

This week I've shed another 4lbs which brings my running total to 21lbs - a stone and a half! I'm definitely feeling proud of myself and although there is still a long way to go, my goal is feeling more achievable.

Disclaimer: Okay this might not actually be me...

I've also noticed that my new jeans I bought after Christmas after dropping a size can no longer carry off their description 'skinnies', which - as nice as it is to be dropping sizes - is not going to do well for my bank balance!

J x

Calorie counting crazy

After falling off the healthy eating wagon slightly around the festive period, I was finding it tough to get back into the swing of things. Even before this I was struggling to get strongly over the 1 stone mark. When I got to 1 stone loss, I thought I was past the first big hurdle and that from then on it would start to get easier, but how wrong I was. For ages, I was hovering above and below the 14lb mark and it was getting frustrating!

This is how happy I'll be
when I hit my goal weight ;)

This is when I called in My Fitness Pal to whip me into shape.

I've dabbled with My Fitness Pal before but it didn't last long. This time I think we'll be BFFs as after two weeks of becoming a food-and-exercise recording, calorie-counting addict I've already shed some pounds and gone down a belt hole. That's an official measurement y'know.

I signed up under a new username to start afresh and entered all my details - current weight (which I later changed to my start weight at the very beginning of the 'lifestyle change' so I could keep a better note of my overall weight loss - see the badge on the right of this blog!), goal weight, how often I aim to workout, how active my day job is and some other bits and bobs. It then gave me a goal limit of 1200 calories a day... ouch?

But I've found 1200 calories a day actually really easy, especially on days when I manage to burn some 'serious cal' at the gym allowing room for a more calorific dinner if necessary.

I've definitely become slightly obsessed with tracking every single thing I eat or drink on the website - and the phone and iPad apps are amazing too - but I am definitely seeing this as a good thing! I've also noticed that the community on the forum there works really well for people to motivate each other.

So I'm pleased to say I'm well and truly back on the weight loss wagon and feeling good. Last week I lost a massive 5lbs - probably down to a shock to the system after slipping so badly, but I'm sure I can continue to push it in the right direction now.

It's weigh day tomorrow, so let's hope we see the number on that badge head up!

Who, what, where & when?

Since becoming a fiancée, I have become obsessed with all things wedding!

I've subscribed to loads of wedding blogs, bookmarked some great websites, become a complete Pinterest addict (which is a great site anyway but amazing for wedding inspiration!) and developed a stronger love for wedding-related TV.

It's all very exciting but it really makes you realise just HOW BLOODY MUCH there is to think about when planning a wedding!

Now, we don't want some massive celebrity-style wedding (has anyone seen Celebrity Wedding Planner? Jedward ♥), but we do want a fairly big deal - a  day to really celebrate love and the two of us and something for us and our guests to remember for years to come.

So we need to think about venue(s), a bridesmaids, groomsmen, registrars, colours, dresses, suits, food, guest list, invitations, favours, flowers, a cake, entertainment, and those added extras for our personal touch on the event.

Oh and then there's a honeymoon and all that comes with that.

And of course the all-important hen and stag parties (which I'm sure our friends are far more interested in)!

... and I know there's probably a LOT more that I'm forgetting, so if anyone could point me in the direction of a comprehensive wedding to-do list I would really appreciate it!

It can all be a bit overwhelming when thinking about all the boxes that'll need ticking, but before anything we need to figure out what we can afford and what date next year to settle on.

So, who, what, where & when?

Well I don't have the answers to any of these (other than the bride and groom 'who'... you'd hope anyway!) yet, but let's hope it falls into place.

Darren and I have four days off together at the beginning of February so the plan for that time is to attempt those awkward conversations with family members to find out exactly the extent of the financial help they have offered us (we need figures!), view some venues, attend a wedding fayre and decide on a date (or at least which month!)

Eek!

Here's to a year of sweating & saving!

2011 has (as every year, month, week or day does) had its ups and downs but looking back it really has been an amazing year with so many landmark moments - notably graduating, beginning my career, getting engaged, quitting smoking & making a dent in the weight loss target! I definitely didn't expect it to be such a big year at the beginning of 2011!

As the year drew to a close I was sad to see the back of it. I think this was mainly because so many exciting things happened last year and I was feeling as though there is nothing really exciting to look forward to in 2012... We're both just looking at a year of struggling to save a lot of pennies and lose a lot of weight ready for a 2013 wedding!

But once we can truly get stuck in with the wedding planning, I'm sure that will soon take over my home life and be exciting enough for me! Once things settle down a bit for us, it is time to work out realistically how much we can save and come up with a figure for our budget!

Anyway, now I really need to step away from the new toy and get myself to the gym! Happy weekend everyone :)