Oh My Goodness...

Oh my, how have I let almost 3 months pass since my last post?!? That's just no good! I don't even know where to begin because it's been a busy and fun past few months. I think it's best just to dive right into our trip to the States that we just had.

Well, what a trip! It was 3 weeks of amazing family, friends, food and places! I can't even begin to describe what a great time Allan and I had. We headed to Los Angeles on November 12th for 5 days to visit my cousin Jen and her awesome husband Jim. From the moment we got to their house we were treated to loads of laughter, food, fun and love. It was so good to see the two of them and get to spend some quality time with them. We played loads of XBox kinnect bowling, went wine tasting at SIP and Malibu Wines, experienced all of Disneyland, had an amazing meal at Cafe Firenze in Moorpark, drove down Mulholland Drive, saw Christine and Chris and their adorable little boy Benjamin, did some sightseeing in Beverly Hills, and just had some really nice chill time.

Allan and I were driving to LAX to drop off our rental car the night before heading to Texas and I took a different freeway than before so when I exited for Century Blvd I didn't realise quite how far we were from the airport. I was just thinking that we need to fill up the tank with gas before getting to the rental car place, so I mentioned it to Allan not really paying attention to our surroundings. He turns to me and was basically like, 'You're kidding, right?' And then I looked around and saw what he meant, there were tons of sketchy looking characters hanging around the gas station and no cars were in sight getting gas. Oops! We were definitely in the hood, Inglewood/Westmont area. Umm it was scary at night and I won't be going that way to the airport again.

We arrived in Texas on Thursday November 17th, we drove straight from the airport in Austin to Shelly and John's in San Marcos. Since we had a super early morning flight we were able to get there at lunch time. We went to good ol' Mamacita's for a chimichanga and a margarita. After lunch it hit us just how tired we were and we decided to take a nap at around 5pm and what should have been an hour turned into 9 hours of sleep. We woke up at 2am and were up for a couple of hours and then went back to bed until 8 the next morning. Apparently our bodies were exhausted. After that we were all set with energy and ready to go. We had a lovely stay with Shelly and John and did a lot of fun stuff! I got to see Jen and her family over the weekend which was soooo lovely!  Her girls are absolutely fabulous! We also got to visit with close family friends, Rhea and Jeff, that was lovely and they got BBQ from Fuschak's for us. We went to San Antonio on Monday with Shelly and John to see the Alamo, we had plans to walk around the riverwalk and see the market place but didn't get that far as it was so hot and humid that it was so uncomfortable to be outside. We all had sweaty backs and sweat moustaches from being outside for 15 minutes! We decided the best cure for the heat was to head to Chuy's to chow down on some delish Tex-Mex.

On Tuesday the 22nd of November Shane arrived from MN, we picked him up from the airport and headed to Hut's Hamburgers on West 6th Street. Seriously one of the best burgers ever! We all hung out that day and night which was awesome. It was fantastic to see Shane!!! On Wednesday a group of us went bowling at Sunset Lanes in San Marcos...there was a pretty awesome lunch + bowling deal. Yummy. I think you are getting the drift that we did a lot of eating. Oh and how can I forget the amazing breakfast tacos from the Palm Cafe...delish (I think that was on the first Friday we were in San Marvelous).  Thursday the 24th was Thanksgiving, so Allan, Shane and I headed over to Jen's parents house for their amazing lunch. After lunch we headed up to the Fort Worth area to see my family.

Going up to Fort Worth and Possum Kingdom Lake was really great. It was so fun to see the family including my Dad, Grandpa, Aunt Joy, Uncle Russell, Uncle Mike and Aunt Judy. Loads of cousins and their families. It had been too long since I had seen everyone, especially everyone together. We definitely need to make sure to spend more time on our next visit up there.

I believe that I am going to stop here for today because this is really long and I should not bore you to death in one post. I will write more tomorrow...pics will follow shortly.

Birthday Celebrations...

Allan's birthday celebrations that is....I meant for it to be plural because he had one heck of a birthday this year, as he should cause he's such an awesome guy. It all started with dinner at Jenny and Brad's a couple of weeks before his actual birthday. They made a lovely meal of steak and potatoes and other deliciousness. Then we went to Bruges for a little getaway as you saw by the previous post and pics, we celebrated with some more steak and potatoes and other loveliness. From there we had his actual birthday celebration back in London with a wonderful group of friends, this time for dinner we had, yep you guessed it! Steak! Noticing a theme here? He loves steak! Hehe. Then the final birthday dinner was done at his parent's house and it was a yummy roast pork dinner. I was kind of happy that it wasn't steak as I think I had had my fill of it. Here are some pics from his birthday dinner with friends. Hope everyone is well! x

Birthday boy with one of his many cakes with a candle.

The only pic of me from the night as I was behind the camera. :-)

Part of the gang.

More fun.

Kylie and David

One of the birthday cupcakes I made for the night.

Rene and Ben

A nice trip to Bruges

This past weekend Allan and I had a lovely little trip to Bruges. We went last year so went with the idea in mind that we would just relax. Relax we did and it was awesome! It was one of those trips that where everything just fell into place and was meant to be. We were able to go Business Premier to and from Bruges on Eurostar thanks to Allan's uncle, then we got upgraded to an even better room at our hotel and the cherry on top was getting to see Lauren and Justin on Sunday. Absolute great trip even if it did rain the majority of the time.

Finished the 28 day Challenge!

As the title states I did just that! Finished the 28 day challenge! It was hard but the results were worth it. I lost 10lbs and 19 inches! Now I am moving into phase 2 of my workout/diet/health plan and will be starting a different workout regime and tweaking my diet plan a little.  I just don't want my body to get used to the same thing and I hit a plateau. I've got a goal and I am getting closer to it. This summer I've managed to lose a total of 20lbs. I've got a ways to go but I am still really motivated and want to hit my goal.

I really encourage any of my friends and family that are considering starting a workout regiment or diet change to just take the plunge. Starting is the hardest part, believe me I know. I put off doing this for ages, I always had an excuse. Now that I have really been following through it's not as hard as the beginning was. It's my normal routine now. I know how hard starting or staying motivated can be, but just know that you can do it and find someone that will be your support through it, who won't let you stop.

xx

Halfway Through...I can do it!

Well, yesterday marked my halfway point in the 28 day challenge that I am taking part in and I am happy to report that all is going well! After the first week I weighed and measured myself and was disappointed with the measurement results cause I thought that there would be a change. There was a slight change in the weight which was reassuring. I kind of felt frustrated but realised that maybe I was expecting too much too soon. I stepped back on the scale and did my measurements on Saturday and I was shocked! A good kind of shocked...I have lost some more weight but the biggest surprise was the amount of inches that I lost in less than 2 weeks. A whopping 10.5 inches are gone! I mean that is just amazing. That means I am that much closer to my goal. I've got a ways to go but I am feeling really motivated and am just so happy to have an amazing husband, friends and family that are supporting me on this journey. It makes all of the difference.

I am absolutely convinced that these workouts have made more improvement to my body than anything else that I have tried. Maybe I am just more committed to both the eating side and the working out side. Either way I am really excited and happy with the results thus far. I know that this program only lasts 2 more weeks which is why I've created another plan for next month using a workout DVD that I've always wanted to complete but never got around to. It's a 30 day program and I think that the strides that I've made will help me tremendously with completing that one. So that is the plan for September and then for October I am going to repeat the exercises from the 28 day challenge.

Keep cheering for me guys with this cause I need all of the support I can get! One more thing before I change subjects - yesterday I had to do 500 lunges for my exercise...I did them! but I can't walk very well today. hehe

On another note we had a really nice relaxing weekend, didn't do a whole lot. Our neighbours organised a block party BBQ in the garden which was really nice. We got to meet our neighbours which was cool...sad that it took us almost 3 years to get to this point. Just so happy that we had the get together. Everyone is so lovely!

Don't have much news right now. Will keep you updated. Here's a couple of the stinker being his cute self.

What a cute sleeper! hehe

28 Day Challenge!

Hi kids! Been ages but you know I just get side-tracked and forget to update on here. Tisk tisk!

What's new with everyone?! Things here are great, just been keeping busy with the usual life stuff. Been day dreaming a lot about what I want to do for future plans and I've got some exciting things to save and work towards.

I know that you guys saw that I was doing the detox early on but changed my mind and decided to follow the elimination diet which I love love love! I fell off the wagon for a little bit with going to Bath and eating poorly and then just being lazy but I've picked myself back up and dusted myself off and back on my game. Kylie suggested that we should do a 28 day boot camp challenge and I said 'OK let's do this!'. I was of course scared out of my wits cause I am seriously out of shape and the thought of exercising everyday for 28 days straight was daunting. We started on Tuesday officially and it's going great! I can report back that I am seriously sore but in a really good way. I am using muscles that have been dormant for way too long and I think that they are happy to be pushed.  I am cursing in the middle of my workouts but I feel amazing once I have finished them. The end goal is to look and feel better, be a healthy weight and to get my BMI in a good healthy range. The boot camp that I signed up for is the Gavin Walsh program, this is something even my American friends can do since it's done from home and you receive a Youtube video everyday...plus a bonus is that the workouts aren't ridiculously long!

I decided that it truly was time to get my act together and to not only lose the weight but to also get in shape and just be healthier. The next thing is that I'm quitting smoking. That will come next week - I am going to get my teeth whitened and I figure that is a really good incentive to not smoke (outside of the obvious massive health reasons!) so that I can keep my pearly whites nice and pretty. Anyways, lots of big health changes which I am really excited about!

I've been daydreaming about my business idea for San Marcos and am so very excited about it! It will be a few years before Allan and I are able to move there because we want to do it right, but when we do and we are able to set this business up let me tell you exciting times my friends!

More updates to come the further along I get into my 28 day challenge.

Last weekend we had a wonderful BBQ with friends and family. We totally lucked out with the weather and were able to enjoy a beautiful day of amazing people and yummy food. It was one of those days that went so fast because it was so much fun, even though we weren't doing a whole lot except talking and eating. I am gutted because I didn't take any photos...will have to get some from friends that took them and post on here.

xx

Lovely Saturday

After returning late Friday night from our trip to Bath I literally fell into bed and passed out.  I can't remember being so tired, I think between not getting enough sleep and trudging around all day in the rain on Friday it took it out of me. I woke up refreshed on Saturday and so glad that I did because Allen and Steph were in town from Austin. It was so lovely to see them as it had been ages! We met up at the Tate Modern for a bit and then headed to dinner.  What a lovely unplanned day!

Allen and Steph - their first trip to London town!

Allen checking out the Beach Huts that are down on the South Bank right now.

Steph and Me.

How cool is that?!? A sand couch!

Steph and Lizzy at the Tate Modern

Allen and Steph at the Tate Modern

It was so lovely to see the two of them! I love when friends from home visit.  Can't wait for our trip home in November!!

Bath

Here are some photos from Bath which we visited on July 7th and 8th.  I can't enough wonderful things about this town. If you have the chance definitely visit!

Bath Abbey

Bath Abbey taken from the Roman Baths

Bath Abbey

Lovely Bridge in Bath

Roman Baths

Allan at the Roman Baths

I love this place in the Roman Baths - people have thrown loads of coins in there so it's got a beautiful shimmery quality.

At dinner at Hudson Bar and Grill...Awesome steak!

At Sally Lunn's for a Bath Bun...so yum!

Outside of Sally Lunn's - historical note: the house that houses Sally Lunn's is the oldest house in Bath dating back to 1492, I believe.

Afternoon Tea at the Pump Room

In the hallway at our cute B&B - One Three Nine

Beer Garden - I absolutely loved this bar! My favourite in England.

Just one of many cute passageways.

I really liked this square and the tree in it.

A man fishing.

Inside the Roman Baths

Inside the Pump Room.

Beautiful rainbow at the train station while we were waiting for the train.

Roman Baths

Outside of Sally Lunn's

My hubby and me at the Roman Baths.

The delicious treats at afternoon tea at the Pump Room.