Body = shutdown.

My body now feels as if it's gone into a total shutdown, so giving it a rest until Sunday again.

Will try to eat sensibly this weekend, although I'm going out for dinner with my friends tomorrow and then lunch with faithful travelling companion on Saturday.

I'm quite excited about Saturday, because we're planning a day trip to a part of the country that I've never visited before. Fingers crossed the rain's not too heavy.

Day three of the fitness regime.

And on the third day my body couldn't take much more, with the combined hit from three consecutive nights of painting, three days of work and resuming my walking/exercise routine.

Tonight I rest.

Banishing my evil twin

From today it gets serious. I've decided to say goodbye to my evil twin, the one who sits around eating too much rubbish, drinking too much cola and "grape juice", not exercising, taking the bus to work instead of walking....I could go on, but I won't. I'll only depress myself.

So I've decided, starting today, to draw up a six week fitness plan, listing achievable goals and trying to get the old Laura back, the one who actually can achieve something when she puts her mind to it. A bit like my old "Slim for Sweden" plan, only there's no Sweden at the end of it :(

There will be a summer holiday though, somewhere, announcement coming soon!

Of course there are other bits to it too: earlier nights during the working week, and spending less time on the computer = so no late night blogging from Monday to Friday then!!

Worn out.

Today: painting. Lots of it.

Me shattered.

Now going for a well-earned bath.

Anyway I'm very busy at home at the moment so there probably won't be too much blogging this week.

:(

oooh it's exciting!

I didn't realise I could get so excited about housework, but Saturday was one of those days when all those outstanding jobs came up, tapped me on the shoulder and said...."how about it??"

So after an early-morning burst of retail therapy and the rush for the new Argos catalogue (yes my life is that exciting) it was off to the garden to cut down trees, hedges, pull up stubborn weeds and do a few things in the house too.

And then tonight I relaxed.

Now I'll need to get on my time-management tomorrow, and work out how I'm going to fit in all those leftover summer-rewind blog posts, amid Sunday cleaning/hair colouring/ironing etc etc, oh the joys....

When life gives you carrots, make carrot and coriander soup

Cuddles is still around, although we are no longer feeding her, on the advice of the animal welfare people. Haven't had too much blog-time in recent days but I'm hoping to post more pictures of her on here at the weekend.

Question: what do you do with a carrot-surplus? Answer: make carrot and coriander soup, which I haven't done for a while. I made some last night and had it for lunch at work 15 minutes ago. Very nice too. I like to add crushed black peppercorns to give it a bit of a kick.

Rabbits, ringtones and other random stuff

Having formed such a bond with Cuddles over the past 8 days, both my mum and I now admit that we have to let go. She is not a pet after all; she is a wild rabbit and we can only hope that if and when she leaves us (most likely soon), that she move on to a place where she is happy and free to roam.

I seem to have discovered a previously hidden talent for producing made-to-order ringtones. Having done one for my own phone (this is going to be a really difficult guess, right? Clue: "I was aiming for the sky") I did one for my friend at work who wanted a specific song which was in the charts a couple of years ago, and she's very happy with it. Just call me Jamster. Only without the Crazy Frog. Brrrrr-ding-ding-ding...aha happy memories - NOT!

The diet, or whatever you call it, has completely gone off the rails this week. With about 8 weeks to go until our as yet undecided summer holiday, I still haven't given up hope. Will need to get a grip. You can tell how committed I am at the moment, so committed that I went out with faithful travelling companion to our fave local Cantonese restaurant.

The weather - everyone's favourite conversation topic - has been depressingly wet for the last couple of weeks, just call it monsoon season. The shops are still full of summer clothes, but you wonder what's the point of buying them when you're probably only going to wear them for one week on a summer holiday abroad? Thus I have hit on a credit-crunching solution. If I go to a hot country in September, as is likely, I will wear last year's summer holiday clothes, which have been unworn since last summer's holiday. And the ones from two years ago, and so on. Because I haven't seen anything in the shops which I like better than what is already in my wardrobe.

Although I don't like the winter weather, I love winter fashion more than summer clothes. I love coats and boots and winter hats and scarves and big cosy cardigans....can't really say the same for short shorts and vest tops. Or the ultimate summer wear for that matter: an anorak.

Cuddles.

Hoppy has now been renamed Cuddles, as of yesterday.

Yes she is still with us, and enjoying the carrot-feast that we've been providing over recent days. She has also benefitted from the non-stop torrential rain of the last few days, as I haven't been able to cut the grass, therefore there's lots more weeds for her to munch on :)

I've taken a few more photos which I'll try and post in the next couple of days if I've got time.

Hoppy.

We got a new friend today. This morning my mum was looking out of the window into the back garden and spotted a little mocha-coloured rabbit, sitting in the grass, chewing away.

It wasn't long before I got my first sighting of this lovely little rabbit, which we think is a girl, and we named her Hoppy.

We don't know if she's a domestic pet or something wilder....one thing's for sure, we've completely fallen in love with our new little friend.

I hope we see her again soon...

Ten items or less

Would one of these items be a moose, perhaps?

Found this today: the supermarket shoppers of Kongsvinger in Norway got a bit more than they bargained for....check out http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hedmark_og_oppland/1.7208584 for video evidence!!

Bastille Day Boules Tournament

OK I know it's not Bastille Day yet (2 days to go!) but one of our little annual rituals is the Bastille Day Boules Tournament, an indoor event in which faithful travelling companion and myself compete to see who's best at mini-boules. As you do. We usually hold this event on or near 14th July every year, so tonight it was time for this year's contest!

It's been going on for a few years now but I can't remember ever mentioning it on the blog, so I thought it was about time too. For the past year I've been the reigning champion which has meant lots of gloating etc etc but my reign sadly came to an end tonight :( oh well same time next year eh!!

Musical accompaniment for this evening: Johnny Hallyday's "Sang Pour Sang" CD, which still sounds excellent even after 10 years in our respective record collections.

On the up.

In just under two hours the World Cup final will be starting: Holland v Spain, soundtracked by an orchestra of vuvuzelas....I'm going to miss vuvuzelas. Everyone hates them, but I actually quite like them. That seems to be the story of my life: I get on well with some people that others hate, I like music that others hate, and I like vuvuzelas. Probably because they appeal to my juvenile sense of humour: listening to a football match is like a whole stadium of people all breaking wind at once. Just as well it's not smell-o-vision.

Since the World Cup started, I've been parked in front of the TV most nights watching football, gorging on nibbles, and getting so fat that I'll soon be a prime candidate for a Channel 5 shock-doc. This also coincided with a period of extreme chronic back pain which meant I couldn't exercise, and a period of extreme stress which I decided to address by...comfort eating.

So now that the World Cup is over, there are no more excuses. Tomorrow the new regime starts, and this time I mean it!! Exercise, careful eating and staying focused - that's the plan.

I'm also quite excited by my return to full-time blogging next week :)

Same old, but that's ok

Weight stayed the same this week, didn't lose but didn't gain either.

Quite happy with that, after the three lunches and the comfort eating binge.

Back in the zone next week....

The summer of limited blogging, disappointing football and hating my hair

July already. Recent weeks have been very nice, weather-wise, you could almost call it a summer. And it even feels more like summer when you get the chance to get out of town and get down to the seaside, as I did yesterday (along with faithful travelling companion of course).



I've rediscovered Sunshimmer by Rimmel lately, which is a joy for someone like me who could very easily get mistaken for a milk bottle in an identity parade, and is the ideal short-term solution to avoiding fake tan disasters.

Putting EuropeCrazy (the blog) on hold for a few weeks (all things being well, it's back on 19th July) has allowed me to concentrate on some stuff at home - mainly decluttering, nothing too exciting - as well as the daily ritual of watching the World Cup, which has been one massive anti-climax so far. Although having said that, we've missed the football over the last couple of nights....normal service resumes tomorrow. And then it will be time for my favourite sporting event of the year: Le Tour, which begins on Saturday.

Happy summer things aside, I'm going through a lot of stress right now. (I'll give you a clue: in the work/life balance, it's not the life bit) On the one hand, I'm trying to get fit to deal better with it all, on the other hand I have completely crashed into a phase of comfort eating. You can't win :( But I am still very thankful that I have a job at all, in this current climate. And in spite of everything, I do like my job, and I work beside lots of lovely people too.

The thing I really hate at the moment is my hair. You can tell I'm not any happier with it since it was cut a few weeks ago. As time goes on it's beginning to resemble a bad footballer's mullet. *Stands in front of mirror and recites 'it will grow back.....it will grow back...."*