Learn & move on!

I have by my own admission have had a pretty tough year so far, and I have had a little bit of a reality check. I believe that its in your time of need that you find out who the true people are in your life, and this is a massive thing for me. My mum sent me an email the other day that had a paragraph that really stood out to me,

There comes a point in your life when you realize:

Who matters,

Who never did,

Who won't anymore...

And who always will.

So, don't worry about people from your past,

there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

This couldn't be more true! I am guilty of trying to hold on to the past, maybe because it's scary to move in to the future, especially when the future holds lots of change. I am not very good at dealing with change so when I had my accident and my whole life changed in a split second I found it very hard to deal with! But in every bad situation must come good (or so I keep being told!!), so rather than gripping on to the past for dear life, let it go and move forward, like the quote says there's a reason those things or people are in the past, find the positive and focus on that. Only take the truly important things into your future, your life is too important to live it for other people!

Grace xx

Weight Loss Wednesday - week 7!

Ok Ok I'm going to confess straight away....things didn't go quite to plan this past week! The scales show

+/- 0lb

Which is definitely better than putting on, but still slightly annoying at the same time. Anyone who has ever done a diet will know that's just how its goes sometimes so hey ho, one thing I did notice when I looked back through my food diary is that I only had one lot of salad all week....How naughty! So I have given myself a talking to, have stocked up on veggies and fruit and am determined to get my five a day this week!

Talking of five a day, I have three foodie items that should be every dieters best friends!

Butternut squash, is a great substitute for chips and other carbs, simply chop it up in to wedge like pieces and bake in the oven until they are soft (200 degrees will take 60-75 mins). I like to spray mine with low cal oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic flakes! YUM!

You can also make soups, add them to a warm salad or eat them cold! 

Grapes, I like to try and kid myself these are sweets! It doesn't always work but is worth a try! One thing I like to do is freeze them, simply pop some loose grapes into a freezer bag and let them freeze, this is a great alternative to an ice lolly and is great when you are low on points but still want dessert!

Green Tea, sometime green tea can be a bit of an acquired taste but if you add a slice of lemon that will help! Green Tea helps boost your metabolism which is great when trying to loose weight. So try and get at least one cup a day in, every little helps!

All of these diet friendly items are zero pro points so get stuck in!

Grace xx

Bristol Balloon Fiesta

Every year in August Bristol hosts the International Balloon Fiesta. I remember going when I was really little and to be honest I still get just as excited now as I did then! A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to actually go up in one of the balloons, It was quite honestly one of the best things I have ever done in my life! We are really lucky as where we live has an amazing views of Bristol and the normal flight path of the balloons is straight past our house!

This year the weather was fairly good and they managed to get at least one flight up every day, on Friday evening they not only flew over our roof tops but they landed on right opposite our house so we headed over to have a nose!

 These two were a little too close for comfort!

Don't you just love my artistic photography!! 

The Red arrows also did an amazing air display

 I was a bit slow with my camera and missed all the good bits! You can see the red smoke though...

...and if you look carefully here you will be able to see a faint heart they made in the sky!

If you have never been to the Balloon fiesta you really should, its something everyone should see at least once!

Grace xx

Weight Loss Wednesday - week 6!

Ok Ok, I know its not Wednesday, I forgot to do this post yesterday (and last week, but who's counting!!).
So this weeks weigh in is a combined weight loss for two weeks and the scales say......

-3lbs

That is 2lb last week and 1lb this week, which I am thrilled with! That's brings my grand total to -11lbs Last week was a bit of a test as I wasn't in control of all my meals through out the week due to eating at a friends one night and going out another, but for those of you who know about the weight watchers plan you have a spare 49 pro points a week that are there as your just in case points, this should help if you know you have a big night out planned or a meal at friends where you don't know what you are having. Well in the end the two meals turned out very healthy and pretty much on plan, but I did have a couple of treats that took me over my daily allowance but as you can see even when you use your spare points you can still lose weight!

I said I would put some healthy recipes on here a couple of weeks ago which I haven't but I promise I will!

Grace xx

"Quote of the day"

"Never let success go to your head, 

but Never let failure go to your heart"

...Anon

Weight Loss Wednesday - week 4!

Well this week I'm not too disappointed but I'm also not jumping for joy as the scales showed

-/+ 0lbs

My reasoning behind this weeks non budging of pounds may seem strange to some but I didn't eat enough! I have always found that when I eat small amounts regularly I will tend to maintain my weight or have a steady weight loss, but when I am a little more speradic with my eating habbits it all goes wrong! With weight watchers you are given a set amount of points to eat on a daily basis which is worked out taking your current weight, height, gender and age in to consideration. The amount will then be the correct amount of food you need to eat to help your body lose weight and by not eating enough this will not happen! So my aim for this week is to be more organised and make sure I'm not ending up with lots of points left in the evening that I don't feel like eating!

This past weekend we had a BBQ for my dad's birthday, now for anyone on a diet an event with a free flow of food is somewhat of a danger zone! But not this one, we freshly prepared salads so that I could point the whole recipe and then work out how much of each thing to have! We made a coleslaw with a natural yoghurt, extra light mayo, mustard and lemon dressing, Cous Cous and roasted vegetable salad and a greek bean dish which is one of my favourites with butter beans covered in onions, garlic, tomatoes and plenty of oregano (I will put some of the recipes on here next week)!

The other diet friendly tip I have is to swap your meat for quorn (that is if you like it!), the point value is so much lower and it doesn't actually taste too bad, you can always cover it in ketchup!

So even when you are following a diet you should never feel deprived, a little forward planning goes a long way!

Grace xx  

Tough Love

We all have one of those friends that comes to us for a shoulder to cry on. They ask us for advice which they never listen too, still expecting us to be there when history repeats itself, we listen attentively nodding our heads at the appropriate times and by the end of it all no matter what the issues were we send them off saying "I really hope it works out for you"!
Well I would class myself as a good friend and would always hope my friends felt they could come to me in their time of need but something I have learnt over the past couple of years is that to be a genuinely good friend you need to be prepared to hand out a little bit of tough love every now and again!
I'm not saying you should look your friend in the eye and say "well that was stupid", but sometimes they may just need to be pulled back down to earth and a few tactful words from you could do just the trick.
I recently had to dish out the tough love when a friend of mine (in her head) was being made to feel bad by other people, but as an outsider I could see that actually this wasn't the case! As lovely as my friend is, she is guilty of asking for advice but taking no notice at all so I had taken to nodding and smiling rather than advising, but on this day something just clicked and I couldn't sit and not say anything this time, when I found myself saying "actually no body is making you feel that way apart from you and I think maybe you need to try and sort out the issues that are making you feel like this" it was like time stood still for a few seconds whilst she looked at me as if I had done something awful but then she said "Thank you! Your such a good friend."
I can tell you now, that was not the reaction I was expecting, but by being honest yet kind people should realise that you actually only have their best interests at heart and that you care enough to to be truthful.
So next time your friend calls you because her boyfriend has cheated on her for the tenth time or flatmate never seems to get past the first date, Don't smile and nod, give them a small handful of tough love.

Grace xx 

Weight Loss Wednesday - week 3!

Well this week has been another success with the scales weighing in at 

-2lbs

Which brings it to a total of 8lbs!

As you can imagine I am extremely happy with the results so far. Last weekend I went to London to stay with my sister who very sweetly phoned earlier in the week to find out what things she should stock her fridge with to ensure I stayed on plan! On Saturday we went to pizza express in the evening and as I had managed not to eat anything other than breakfast I had 33 points to use up just for diner! I know its not sensible to do that but everything went a bit pear shaped!!

So I got out my ww eating out guide and worked out what yumminess I could have and decided on a Quattro Formaggi which clocked up 20 points, I can honestly say it was totally worth the wait to eat it and I enjoyed every mouthful! 

My mum and sister had been into Covent Garden and popped into the Australian shop and picked up my favourite biscuits ever Tim Tams (3points each) so I decided that I would have a cuppa and two tim tam experiences (I will tell you all about that in another post!) back at home for my pudding! I was completley stuffed by this time so was happy to forget about the extra few points I had left over!

So all in all I have had a successful weight loss and enjoyed what would normally be classed as BAD food! Just goes to show how a little of what you fancy (in moderation of course) isn't always a bad rule to go by!

Grace xx

It's ok to LOL!

One thing I love more than anything is laughing! No matter what you are laughing at you always feel brighter after. A couple of years back I went to a laughter group (please don't stop reading, I promise I'm not completely mental!), I don't know how I heard of it but it sounded like fun so I took my mum along for what promised to be therapy through laughter!

Well what a bunch of nutters!!!! The man that ran the class was eccentric to say the least (and a little sweaty!), he started the class calmly with a few breathing exercises and a gentle giggle, before we knew it we were told to walk around the room in a circle and interact with other people, that doesn't seem to bad I hear you say? It was fine until he said now pretend you are a dog! I looked at my mum with a 'I'm so sorry I brought you to this, please don't make me walk home' look on my face, we carried on in our circle pretending to be a dog when he said now you are a blade of grass....and now its raining, well I stood quite close to my mum, I thought it could look like we were huddling together in the rain, when a man huddled into us and said I'm coming under your umbrella! What Umbrella you plonker, there is NO umbrella, we are blades of grass we don't have arms!! Whilst all this is going on the whole room is laughing, so although it was weird it was working!
At the end of the longest hour of our lives he told us all to laugh when ever we could and not inside, it should be aloud to get the full benefit! Hmmmm...

The next morning I woke up and headed for the shower, next thing I know I'm laughing hysterically out lout all by myself for no reason at all, but you know what, I felt great! Since then I no longer keep my laughter to a little giggle inside, Im more than happy to LOL!

This picture of me and my mum always makes me laugh!

So the moto of my story is that it is ok to LOL, infact it should be compulsory! The feeling when you laugh so much you actually cry is one of the best feelings ever, and I challenge you all to do it as often as you can!

Grace xx

Weight Loss Wednesday - week 2!

Well last week saw the beginning of my weight loss journey and this week has been another successful week with the scales showing a result of

-2lbs  

Woop! I am very pleased with that, especially considering the amount of food I'm having to eat!

I found when I followed weight watchers before that I was eating more food than ever which is sometimes frustrating when you get to the end of the day and find you still have 10 points left to have! That's when I find Haribo come in handy!

Over the past week I kept feeling the need for something sweet in the afternoon to go with a cuppa, I looked at the fruit bowl for inspiration but an apple just wasn't going to satisfy my craving! Then I remembered I had some Carmel Snack-a-jacks and it was then I created .....

The Caranana Treat!

For this you will need 1 banana (0 points) and 2 Jumbo caramel Snack-a-jacks (1 point each)

 Peel the banana and split in half, simple mash it up and spread over the two snack-a-jacks!

 Have with your afternoon cuppa and your sweet craving will be satisfied! This sweet treat is 2 pro points.

Yummy!

What do you have when you are craving something sweet? 

Grace xx

The night my life change..... a lot!

On Friday December 10th 2010 my day was completely normal until 6:30pm when an event happened that threw my whole life up in the air (almost quite literally!).

I was on a bit of a high as the night before I had hosted a pamper evening for a few of my clients at my house as a way to say thank you to them all for their love and support through out the year, it had gone really well, my mum and I had sent them all off with goodie bags and festive cupcakes. It left me with a really good feeling for 2011 in regards to the business.

Friday envolved my normal routine of travelling around to my clients houses, making them even more beautiful, having a gossip and numerous cups of tea, I left one house and was on my way to my final client of the day and that was it.....

I was involved in a huge car crash, I was hit from the side by a van and was trapped in the car. It was quite honestly the scariest thing I have ever experienced! Luckily the time went quickly, what felt like half an hour was actually closer to two hours. There were paramedics, police and fire men every where (unfortunately no good looking ones, you would think in my time of need they could of sent at least one!).

They had told me I was fine and that I was just going to be a bit bruised and sore but everything was ok! First they cut off the roof of my car, then the drivers side and then I was going to simply move out to the side and they would get me out the car, that plan was working well until I couldn't actually move my legs, I have to admit I started to feel a tad panicky at that point, but they popped a line in my arm pumped me full of morphine and ketamine and next thing I know I was on a stretcher and being put into an ambulance. My first memory was waking and saying to the paramedic "I hope my feet don't smell" (my shoes had fallen off whilst they were taking me out of the car!) Once at hospital I was rushed through A&E, a large bearded man approached me with a pair of scissors, he continued to cut my clothes off which was fine until he came near the snood I was wearing, I said very sternly "that will go over my head!", I actually think I was worried he might cut my hair!
I was taken to have a CT scan, and it was after that I was told that I had two fractures in my pelvis, one in my sacrum and a bruised lung! My mum, dad and sister were all there and we were assured I would be fine.

I was to be admitted but had to wait a while in A&E for a bed on a ward so my dad sent the others home and sat with me, I think he might have wished he hadn't after I threw up all up his arm, his reaction of have you been eating lettuce definitely kept me entertained.

After a Four day stay in hospital I was allowed to go home but I had to move back with my parents as I couldn't have looked after myself.

Its now seven months since the accident and I'm still on crutches! It has been a horrible time but it has made me sit down and has given me time to think. I have so many mixed emotions from this experience, guilt for my mum having to receive that phone call and then having to stand and watch her daughter being cut out of a car! Anger, at the whole situation, the way it has impacted my life. Relief as I know how lucky I am, Confusion as some days I just cant get my head around it all but most of all the sense of a new beginning. Because so much had to change its almost as if my old life isn't there any more and I have to start a fresh, the world is my lobster and if there was ever a good time for change it is NOW!

The biggest thing I have learnt is that life could be a whole lot shorter than you imagine so you have to make the most of yours, enjoy every moment and do what you love.

I've shared this with you partly as a bit of therapy for me but also so people can see where my inspiration to set up this blog came from, out of all bad things must come good, or so they say! So I apologise for how long this post is, Its actually the shortened version, I could go on for hours!!

So until the next post, go and do something you love!

Grace xx

Weight Loss Wednesday!

So as I may have mentioned before I am on what I'm hoping is my final weight loss journey (as in once I lose the weight it will stay off!). I have always been on the bigger side, I have curves and I am under no illusions that I will be skinny and to be honest I don't want to be!

My goal isn't a specific weight, I would instead like to get down to a size 14-16, I was this size when I was 20 and was very happy and comfortable with my weight, so I'm aiming for that again! Over the past 9 years my weight ballooned and at my biggest I was verging on a size 24, I couldn't have been more unhappy with the reflection I saw in the mirror! I started to lose weight slowly over the last 2 years and have so far lost three and a half stone, but I want to make that final push and get to my goal!

In my quest for a slimmer figure I am following the Weight Watchers Pro Points plan, I have done it before and know it encourages healthy eating, It also means if I fancy a bit of cake I can have it with out feeling really bad about it!

Well, I completed my first week and the scales told me I have lost

-4lbs 

Which I am very happy with! I am actually following the plan at home, I will go back to weekly meetings once I am back on my feet (or more to the point off crutches!).

This weekly post will hopefully feature any little tips I pick up along the way, yummy recipes and anything motivational I can think of! So if any of you are on a weight loss journey I would love to hear from you, do you have any great tips? What are your favourite diet friendly treats?

Grace xx

let me introduce myself

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog. I thought I would take a moment to tell you a bit about me!

My name is Grace, I'm 29 and I live in Bristol. I'm a beauty therapist, Hairdresser and Make Up artist. I have run my own business for the past 9 years. I would class myself as a generally happy person, I'm kind (maybe too kind) and sympathetic (to a degree!) and I would definitely say I'm a good friend to have. I am a big family girl, my family means everything to me.

I am single and on a quest to find my prince charming, If any of you know any please do let me know, they seem to be in short supply and I have kissed enough frogs to last a life time! My main goal is to find what makes my ultimately happy, other than cocktails and chocolate of course! I am also searching for the slim girl that I know is trapped in my currently not so slim frame, all hail Weight Watchers (watch out for weight loss Wednesdays)!

My down side is that I do take things personally and I definitely dwell on things, but one of my many goals for this year was to work on that, as my sister says I need a bit more Bitch in me! So maybe this could be the year of the semi bitch, I don't want to take it too far, remember I wouldn't like it if people were mean about me and I would dwell on it for ages! haha.

I would also say I'm a bit of a perfectionist, which is good and bad, It kind of means I'm constantly striving for goals that are sometimes not very realistic, what I want to know is how do fully except you for you? how can you just be happy with your lot? Well challenge excepted, I'm making it my mission to try and find the answer to those questions, watch out now!

What makes you happy? Have you got any tried and recommended ideas for brighten up your life? Please let me know. I would love to hear about you all, who you are, what you do and if there is ever anything you would like me to cover please shout! You can leave comments here (if you want a personal reply please leave your email) or follow me on twitter.

Until next time,

Grace xx

Hello

I have been thinking about writing this blog for a little while now and keep talking myself in and out of it! But when I mentioned it to my mum she said "if your thinking about it you should do it!" so here I am!

I already have a beauty and style blog, but I wanted this one to be a bit different. More personal I guess. I have had a tough few months and have over come a few challenges along the way, and I started to think, well I wont be the only person that goes through things so maybe I could put myself out there and lend a helping hand when it comes to finding ways to deal with everyday situations that life throws at you (all too often for my liking!)

I want to cover everything here, maybe even work my way towards taking over the world one day, one issue at a time! Ok, maybe not that but I do want to have a laugh and make life a little lighter!

From relationships, confidence issues, weight and friendships we all come across times when we just want to hide under the duvet with a big bar of chocolate and not come out again until its all sorted itself out, but unfortunately we all have to pull ourselves together and sort it out ourselves! Every person deals with things in different ways, and no way is necessarily right or wrong, I'm hoping to share with you my life whether I chose the right option or if I grabbed the chocolate and am still hiding under my duvet!

I don't want it to be all doom and gloom, I think you have to find the best in most situations and if you can look back and laugh you will feel all the better for it! I do tend to laugh a lot (quite often at myself, and not because I'm a comedian) and I think laughter can be the best cure so feel free to laugh at my expense!

I really hope you will enjoy my future posts, If they help then mission accomplished, but if they just give you the chance to think you have found someone with more funnyiosities than you then that's great too!

So get ready for the life of Grace!

Grace xx