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Things I learned during Alcohol Awareness Week

Things I learned during Alcohol Awareness Week

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So that’s it, Alcohol Awareness week is over, and I promised to tell you about how I got on with my challenge to stick to the recommended weekly guidelines: that’s 14 units a week, spread across the week, evenly over three or more days with a couple of alcohol free days. I continued to keep a track of my units with the help of the Drinkaware app, and alongside it, kept a diary of what I had to drink and the circumstances in which I was drinking. Here are a few things I learned:

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Looking at how I drink - designated driver at The Coach, Marlow

Alcohol Awareness Week: my Drinkaware Challenge

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So last week I told you a little about my relationship with alcohol, and my Drinkaware challenge during Alcohol Awareness Week to stick to the recommended weekly guidelines: that’s 14 units a week, spread across the week, evenly over three or more days with a couple of alcohol free days. Last week, I also kept an alcohol diary, with the help of the Drinkaware app (and the notes on my phone to record the actual circumstances). Here’s how I got on:

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Battling the common cold (with a little help from Olbas)

Battling the common cold (with a little help from Olbas)

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It’s that time of year when we all seem to be more susceptible to colds and sniffles. Of course, there are obvious things we should do to avoid catching other people’s colds, like washing our hands, keeping surfaces clean (especially if you have kids who seem bring everything back from school (remember those door handles!) and avoiding touching our faces. If the worst comes to the worst, though, and you find yourself battling the common cold, what should you do? Here are my top tips, shared in partnership with family favourite decongestant oil brand, Olbas:

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Alcohol Awareness Week, and a Drinkaware challenge

Alcohol Awareness Week, and a Drinkaware challenge

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How’s your relationship with alcohol? I’d say that mine’s… complicated. When we were younger, I was always the one who would volunteer to drive. I’m naturally quite chatty and happy, and it didn’t occur to me that I needed to drink alcohol to have a good time, therefore I was generally the designated driver, and happy enough with it. Now, we don’t tend to go out much, so our drinking is done at home, and this has increased steadily over time. Add to this the fact that we really love our wine, to the point that I write about it and we even invest in it, and you’ll see why our alcohol consumption has steadily grown. Next week, 13th to 19th November is Alcohol Awareness Week, and I’ve been thinking a little bit about how (and why) I drink. It’s been an interesting time…

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My Breast Cancer Awareness Month roundup

My Breast Cancer Awareness Month roundup

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and just to make it extra special, this year is the 25th anniversary of the pink ribbon. Breast cancer will affect one in eight women in their lifetimes, and at the moment, one person is being diagnosed every 10 minutes, so it’s really important that we all come together and raise as much money as we can. Loads of brilliant brands have teamed up with breast cancer charities to provide opportunities for you to donate while you shop, and with Christmas coming up (67 days, folks!), it’s a really good time to get a start on your Christmas shopping, and do something brilliant for a great cause. Here’s my Breast Cancer Awareness Month roundup. Read more

SculpSure body contouring at S-Thetics Clinic, Beaconsfield

SculpSure body contouring at S-Thetics Clinic, Beaconsfield

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I’ve never been particularly tiny or particularly big, so apart from the few occasions over the years when I’ve completely and unhealthily starved myself down to a ridiculous and completely unsustainable size 8, I’m generally around a healthy size 12. We eat quite well (we’re experimenting more with meat free, veggie-rich recipes at the moment and loving it) and try to be sensible with alcohol. Add that reasonably healthy lifestyle to the fact that, thanks to the NHS Couch to 5k programme I’m now running 5k three times a week and I’m kind of annoyed that I haven’t really toned up that much. Cue, then, the most exciting email I’ve had in ages from the fabulous S-Thetics Clinic in Beaconsfield, inviting me to come and try SculpSure body contouring: the first ever treatment to use gentle heat technology to eliminate stubborn body fat without going under the knife.

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Five reasons why you should start the positive life plan

Five reasons why you should start the positive life plan

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Did you keep a diary when you were younger? I kept one for a few years when I was in my early teens, and me and my best friend also wrote to each other all the time (this was before the internet, people!) and I kept those letters for years and years too. I’d love to read them again now and get to know my teenage self again. I wonder what happened to them? Think of the positive life plan as the grown up equivalent of those teenage ramblings: a constructive and uplifting way to keep track of all aspects of your life and maybe even make a few changes along the way too. Here, we’ve listed five reasons why you should start the positive life plan.

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The positive life plan: fitness

The positive life plan: fitness, and my couch to 5k journey so far

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If you’re new to the positive life plan, let me recap: it’s basically just a lovely way to keep track of all the different areas of your life: health, fitness, money, beauty/personal style, relationships, work, quality time, aspirations, self, and really there are no rules (apart from one: everything has to be positive, so no being hard on yourself for anything). It’s a great opportunity to spend a bit of time on you and perform a positive life edit that you can continue to work on and update. It’s also a good excuse to buy a new notebook, and you know how happy that makes us. I’m now trying to devote a whole post to each category. So last time was self, and this time the focus is on one of the toughest categories in the positive life plan: fitness.

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The positive life plan self

The positive life plan: self

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About the positive life plan

Regular readers will know that my friend: writer, blogger, and life coach, Erica Douglas, and I originally came up with the positive life plan when we were on holiday together. We were just chatting about life and the germ of an idea started to form: we split the main topics of our thoughts into different categories: health, fitness, money, beauty/personal style, relationships, work/personal brand, quality time, aspirations, self, and added the rule that everything had to be positive, no being hard on ourselves. We thought it would give us the opportunity to perform a positive life edit that we could continue to work on and refer back to now and again to keep ourselves on track. Basically the plan is as simple or as complicated as you make it. Many people have said that they have a notebook split into sections, and just keep track of their thoughts and feelings on each topic, updating and editing every so often, but do whatever suits you. This month, we’re focusing on the first category of the positive life plan: self.

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A Botox update and microneedling

Post 40 beauty: a Botox update and microneedling

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So it’s now been a couple of weeks since I’ve had my Botox treatment at One Stop Doctors, and as promised, I’m coming back to you to let you know how I got on. I’ve also been back to have a microneedling treatment, which, as you’ll read below is quite strange, but wow, the results are really amazing. So let’s crack on, then. Here’s a Botox update and microneedling report - with pictures!

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Singing holidays in Barbados: our Caribbean choir experience

Singing holidays in Barbados: our Caribbean choir experience

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A couple of weeks ago, I received a pretty fabulous invitation to Barbados. Flying out with Virgin Holidays for a week at The Club Barbados, right next to Sandy Lane on the gorgeous, calm west coast of Barbados - a no brainer right? Well, almost. The bit of the invitation that had me hesitating was this: ‘come and be part of an exclusive expert led “Caribbean Choir” singing workshop’. Singing? Me?! I mean, yes, I sing in the shower, but a choir? I was nervous, but in my positive life plan notes, I’ve definitely written ‘be brave’ and ‘do something that scares you’, so I decided to embrace the challenge and replied with a firm yes!

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Post 40 beauty: what it's really like to have Botox

Post 40 beauty: what it’s really like to have Botox

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So if you’ve been following along with my post 40 beauty diary, you’ll know that I’ve been trying hard to take better care of my skin, and trying out a few different treatments with the lovely people at One Stop Doctors, a brand new medical facility in Hemel Hempstead. After my consultation with GP and Aesthetic Doctor, Dr Heidi Miller, I was really excited to take the next step and book in for some Botox. If you’ve been considering having any aesthetic treatments, I thought it might be helpful to give you a completely honest account of what it’s really like to have Botox.

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Rosemary rye bread toasties with avocado, pesto and mozzarella

Easy home made rosemary rye bread

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Last week, I mentioned my need for a few little calming rituals, like my coconut chai tea. My brain is particularly whizzy at the moment (hence, I went to my first yoga class this week - and loved it), and if I’m up really early, I quite like to go downstairs, say hi to the dog and have a little potter in the kitchen. At the moment I’m a bit obsessed with baking bread - I tend to bake two loaves at a time, using my standard, lazy recipe (which doesn’t involve any kneading at all). I’ve mentioned before that rye is really good for you - I don’t make 100% rye bread, which we find too strong, but when mixed with white flour, this is our absolute favourite. Another bonus of home made bread is that it lasts ages when compared to shop bought, which seems to go mouldy very quickly. This particular recipe has rosemary added, which is surprisingly delicious. Here’s how to do it:

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Positive life plan update

The positive life plan update

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So remember a while ago (actually about a year ago) I talked about the positive life plan? It stemmed from a lovely conversation with my friend Erica, and was a bit of a life-affirming exercise in which we discussed aspects of our life and added our thoughts about them (adding the rule that everything had to be positive). I now have a notebook especially for the plan, and update and add bits to it all the time (I’m pretty much a notebook nut - my whole life revolves around notes and to do lists and little snippets of things I’ve copied down).

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Coconut chai tea

Morning rituals: coconut chai tea

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Where’s your head at? I feel like mine’s usually like the scene in the Wizard of Oz (it’s a twister!’) where Dorothy bangs her head and then everything starts lifting off the ground and whooshing past the window. If, like me, you feel your thoughts and tasks and mental to do lists all start to become too much, I’d like to recommend a little ritual. Something that I find comforting and grounding, especially when I’m really busy. I’ve started to replace my morning cuppa with a coconut chai tea. I take my time, stirring the ingredients together and really trying to clear my head, then take it back to bed and sip it slowly.

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How Mickey Mouse changed my life

How Mickey Mouse changed my life #BAHolidayMoments

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This post is sponsored by British Airways Holidays.

It’s 2009. I’m with a small group of fellow mums and we’re walking through the gates of Walt Disney World, Florida for the first time ever. Even though we’ve only just met, our excitement has brought us together and we’re firm friends already. Spotting beautiful Cinderella Castle for the first time, pretty, pastel and huge at the end of bustling Main Street USA, we’re already grabbing each other’s hands, laughing and breathless with disbelief.

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