Writing

Back to the start…

(Nearly) 365 days later…

Fast forward a few months...

These are just a few title ideas for this blog post that I had before I settled on one. At what point do you pick up a blog that you haven’t posted on for nearly a year? The last post was when I had just started #hollyruns3652k16 and I’m now only 33 days away from completing it.

I didn’t really plan on blogging about my challenge and I didn’t really have any goals with the blog as a whole as such, but I didn’t plan on it being this long before I posted again.

This year I’ve started reading a lot more than I had done previously. I have always loved to read but as I’m sure anyone with a full time job and other responsibilities can relate, its one of those things that tends to fall by the way side of this thing called life. I’ve been doing my best to make sure I make time for this though. Some months have been harder than others to make sure that I’m making time to pick up a book but I have knocked through some of my reading list.

As I have been reading, my thoughts have also turned to writing. Until right now when I am writing this post, these have just been thoughts. As a child and teenager I always used to write. My friend and I used to write a magazine when we were young and had plenty of time to play and create, then when I got older this turned to writing a journal and eventually an online diary. I’m actually trying to regain access to my online diary from all those years a go, I’m not holding out much hope as we’re talking 10-12 years since I last logged in but I’ve contacted the administrator as it would be great to read it again.

Very boldly for my 16 year old self, I shared my online diary with my friends and a number of them read it and followed suit by starting their own. On the one hand its seems strange that as a 16 year old I was happy to share some of my innermost thoughts and what was going on with my life with my friends and strangers, something I don’t always feel comfortable doing now so publically as a 30 year old. But the internet and social media (which wasn’t even a thing then) has changed so much that it seems quite a scary and alien concept to share the sort of information that I used to.

I never fell out of love with writing but my feelings for it definitely changed. I did a degree in English and was very much made to feel like I needed to write in a certain way, and of course about certain things to meet the criteria of my course. I guess it just became a bit of a chore and once my degree came to an end and I didn’t need to write anymore, I just stopped. It wasn’t intentional but it happened. For me, university wasn’t the most positive experience of my life and I got used to hiding how I felt about a lot of things. I’d stopped sharing in real life so I stopped sharing online, I also didn’t want to acknowledge that a lot of the time I wasn’t having as much fun as everyone else or feeling about university experiences how everyone else felt and wanted me to feel. I felt that ‘if I didn’t write it down, it wasn’t true’ so my online diary stopped when I was about 20.

I regret that I stopped using the written word to document my life but I compensated with photographs, another medium I want to include more in my life next year.  

Whilst I don’t think I would share to the level that I used to before, I would like to start writing again and its definitely on my list of goals for 2017. I’m not entirely sure what it will look like at the moment, but I read a lot of blogs and I have some ideas about what I want to mine to look like. Last night I read some of my past blog posts and I enjoyed it, so if I enjoyed it I can only hope that maybe others will to (though its not my main reason for writing a blog).

I’ve written this post over the last 20 minutes and the words have flowed easily. I have felt how I want to feel when I write so I’m hoping that this is a positive start. Fingers crossed for 2017.

Holly

x

Holly Runs 365 2k16

So, 2015 wasn't my greatest year of running. I completed the London Marathon in 2014 and it was one of the biggest achievements in my life. However since London I felt I'd achieved my goal that I'd worked for 3 years to get to and I struggled to stay focused as I didn't know what was next.

I spent a lot of 2015 wondering what my next challenge could be and it came to me a few days before the new year. 

I know I can train for a marathon but I don't know if I can run every day for a year. I needed a new challenge and now I have one, run a minimum of a mile every day for a year.

Can I do it? Well if there's 366 vlogs at the end of 2016 then I'll know I've got there. Its Day 13, I'm  25.4 miles in and doing pretty good so far.

I'll be doing 1-2 minute vlogs every day to document my year, come along with me? Follow along here.

Happy 2016 and Happy Running! 

Holly

x

Its December the First

Happy First of December!

Yes I am one of those people! December is officially here so my family, friends, colleagues and especially my boyfriend can no longer tell me off for being festive. I've been window shopping all the Christmas decorations and drinking all the coffee shop's festive drinks since the end of October but now it is well and truly an acceptable time to crack out the Christmas jumpers and turn up Michael Buble. 

I absolutely love December 1st and always try to make sure I have something fun and festive to look forward to on the day. As you read this I will be on my way to a conference for work in London. As snoozy and unfestive as that sounds, I've actually really been looking forward to it as its a day of showcasing all the wonderful work that people in the organisation do and seeing people being recognised for what they have achieved (and of course, free lunch). I also get to see some lovely colleagues from other parts of the business that I haven't seen for a while and we're all going to go out for drinks after the conference. So all in all a happy happy day.

And just incase you need to kick start your festive cheer, here a picture of my Mum's Christmas tree that I helped her to decorate yesterday...

And a super cute little tipple of sherry (mandatory when decorating Christmas trees) with the glittery Christmas lights...

Whether today is a normal day, you give it a nod by opening the first door on your advent calendar or you go full on Slade and Christmas jumpers, I hope it is a great one for you!

Holly

x

Forever Living: Clean 9

Is it just me or has Forever Living just sprung up everywhere over the last few months? One minute I'd never heard of it, then the next thing my Twitter and Facebook feeds were filling up with post boasting the health benefits of all the products and friends becoming distributors.

Incase your social media accounts have managed to filter out Forever Living posts, the products are aloe vera based products that promote and support health and wellbeing. 

I have to say, at first I was a little sceptical. As someone who's spent much of her twenties overweight, I finally learnt that when it comes to losing weight and maintaining (thats the hard bit folks) a healthy lifestyle its very much about playing the long game, theres no quick fix. However after success with Weight Watchers a couple of years ago, one thing I do know about myself is that I'm more likely to get to where I want to be with a plan. 

I literally gasped out loud in my bathroom when I stepped on the scales recently and found that I'd put on nearly a stone, I know that in the last six months I had put on some weight but I was a little shocked to find out that it was that much, After this revelation I found myself clicking on the Clean 9 links to see what it was all about. I still wasn't 100% convinced so I read some blog posts on it, including one written by a medical professional. I still wasn't entirely convinced, but slightly against my better judgement I decided to give it a go.

My old school friend Jen from High Heels Baby Wheels has recently become a distributor so I got in touch and purchased my Clean 9 kit from her online shop.

Away we go...

Day 1: I thought this would be the hardest day but it turned out to be one of the easier ones. I think the feeling that I was back in control and a 'fresh start' vibe largely aided this but I was happy to ride on the quest of that wave. I didn't need any of my free foods and the day went without a hitch.

It's true what they say though, aloe vera gel...there's no way to sugar coat it (if only), it's not good. 

Day 2: Definitely one of the tougher days. One day without food was fine but my brain was starting to catch up with the rest of my body and started demanding to know where the food was. 

It was this day that I realised how much extra bits and bobs pass my lips on a daily basis. One of my clients gave me a rock cake that she'd made at college (it quickly went into a food bag into the freezer for a post Clean 9 treat) and there was a box of homemade biscuits made by another client on the side in the office. On a normal day I would have tucked into these without a second thought, I felt quite inwardly smug at shunning the goodies with relative ease. 

By the evening...man was I ready for some food. I stayed strong, had some cucumber and strawberries and held on to the thought of day 3's 600 calorie meal. 

Day 3: This was my first weigh in, I was thrilled to see that I'd lost 4 pounds. Seeing such a good result definitely set me up for the day.

Day 3 was also shake day. I tried Herbalife once and quickly realised that it wasn't for me, a shake in the morning just didn't cut. I was always starving by 10am which entirely defeated the object. However after two days of no food, a shake hit the spot nicely.

I made sure I drank plenty of water to stop me feeling hungry over lunch and the thought of my 4 pound loss plus my first proper meal in the evening kept me going.

We had Zizzi takeaway for dinner and I had a lovely king prawn and roasted tomato linguine dish for my 600 calorie meal.

Days 4 and 5: So I would be lying if I said there weren't times when I wanted to sneak a slice of toast or nibble on one of the oreo cupcakes I baked for my boyfriend's Mum's birthday, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I could see my body shape changing and my skin felt amazing. Even the aloe vera gel started to be 'ok'.

Day 6: Second weigh in day. I lost another pound and I was well into the swing of 2 shakes a day plus a 600 calorie meal. 3 days to go...

Day 7: Today was a tough day, it was my boyfriend's mum's birthday so we all piled round to his sister's house for birthday tea. I had my 600 calories ready and raring to go but I knew I wouldn't be able to indulge as much as I normally would (I confess that I did sample my oreo cakes, I couldn't not). Happily though I was full far quicker than I normally was so I was able to enjoy the evening without ruining my cleanse. Bonus points for saying no to a glass of wine when offered!

Day 8: 1 day to go. Today felt like I was so close but yet so far. I was starting to feel quite ready to finish but with two days to go I knew I just had to push through it.

Day 9: Final day. I felt good today as I knew that it was the last one. I thought I'd be desperate for a Dominos, however as much as I was looking forward to eating proper meals, I couldn't wait to do a healthy food shop and focus on a better lifestyle.

In total I lost a total of 5 pounds and 4 inches round my waist so I was pretty chuffed with that.

So here we are, Clean 9 done. Now for the crunch, would I recommend it. If you're someone that needs a kick start to get you going or gets better results with a structure (like me) then I would definitely recommend Clean 9. I had the added motivation of an important wedding come up at the end of this month so I wanted to feel better about myself and more confident in my dress.

Even if you're feeling a bit sludgy after over indulging on holiday (those breakfast buffets *heart eyed emoji*) then Clean 9 would be a great holiday detox.

Not sure if you've quite made up your mind yet? Here are the pros and cons...

The pros:

Just incase any of you were wondering, I picked the vanilla flavour pack, purely because it's all or nothing with chocolate for me, I can't stand chocolate 'flavoured' things

• Better skin, hair and nails, mine were glowing!
• Weight loss (though this isn't a guarantee)
• More energy, perfect if you do early morning shifts like me
• Motivation to continue with a better lifestyle
• Water intake, its easy to mistake hunger for lack of hydration. Clean 9 ensures that you taking on enough water which helps stop you reaching for the snacks

The cons:

• It is important to say that this is a cleanse and not a weight loss programme, though you would be forgiven for thinking it is. If your rep has added you to the Facebook group 'The FIT Group' then you'll see all the posts saying how much weight people lost. Clean 9 is about cleansing your body which isn't always about loosing weight (I would be very surprised if you didn't shift a few pounds though)
• The cost, it is a little pricey £108.95 so its important to make sure its right for you
• I didn't think it was as bad as everyone made out but Aloe Vera gel does not taste good. If you do decided to continue with the gel after Clean 9, Jen has told me that there are more flavours that are a little easier on the taste buds

Have you done or are thinking about giving Clean 9 a go? I'd love to know what you think or if this post has helped make your decision.

Thanks to Jen for all your support, if you're thinking about Clean 9 please check out her shop.

Have a happy and healthy week ahead...

Holly

x

A little update

So this is going to be a quick one...

After initially doing quite well on the old blogging front, June was somewhat of a wash out. I'm going to use the excuse of life getting a little hectic.

Whilst I love my job, it is both mentally and physically draining and there are a lot of demands, often at the last minute. It has been a slightly turbulent time over the last six weeks and I have been feeling tired a lot. I really hate being tired, I feel a lot of people use being 'tired' as an excuse to be lazy. However that is how I have been feeling.  

I am also moving house on Saturday (eek). My boyfriend and I are moving in together and I cannot wait (2 sleeps to go). However what with viewings, handing over silly amounts of money, signing here there and everywhere and worrying about the endless amount of furnishings and utensils that we still don't have, the blog has very much been on the back burner.

I don't want that flame to go out however, so I'm hoping that I can post more regularly very soon as I have some posts planned.

I shall leave for now on a positive note...a few weeks back I went to Hitchin Bid's Midsummer Ball Midsummer Dinner with my Dad, on the way a very lovely lady called Jasmine came up to me and told me how great I looked in my Myleene Klass dress that she'd seen on my blog post. Apologies if I seemed startled Jasmine, it was totally unexpected but I really appreciated it. 

Here I am in the dress in real life, not just twirling round in my living room. Unfortunately this is 'Dad Photography' so my legs are not in it and its a little blurred (poor posture as well Hol, sort it out). I'm hoping I'll get a few better snaps when I wear it to my friend's wedding in August. For those of you who read the original post...I wore the colour block shoes!

I hope this post finds you all well.

Heres to being back.

Holly

x

100 Happy Days: Day 56 to 65

Day 56: Doing my first ever parkrun at Panshanger...I'm now a little bit addicted

Day 57: An impromptu glass of wine and risotto at my Dad's, I love those sorts of evenings

Day 58: Sampling lunch at The Old George in Ickleford, conclusion...I think I might have to go back and try their grilled cheese sandwich again, just to double check that it really was good!

Day 59: A glass of fizz in my Mum's garden, bliss

Day 60: A day off chilling out in the sun on Windmill Hill

Day 61: Finally plucking up the courage to brave the weights area of the gym #thisgirlcan

Day 62: Funny texts from friends

Day 63: Reminiscing on my London Marathon 2014 experience, this photo of my red and sweaty face will forever be one of my favourites

Day 64: Stopping the car outside Hitchin to appreciate the view

I love how this 9 days of the challenge really represents the small things in life that are making me smile. That's what's it's all about really. 

I'd love to know if any of you have done/are doing #100happydays or perhaps this post has inspired you to start? Send me your Instagram/Twitter name and I'll check it out. You can see all my happy moments by following me at @ohhollygosh on Instagram under the hashtag #ohhollygosh100happydays

Holly

X

A VERY pretty dress

I don't know about you but when I'm looking for dresses I NEVER see anything that I like. My best finds have always been something I have happened upon on browsing my favourite stores online or on blogs, this little beauty was no exception.

I first saw this dress over on Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter's YouTube channel and knew I had to check it out. I have an important wedding of two very good friends coming up in August and I wanted to start planning my outfit early. 

I've looked at the Very website many times but I've never committed to buying anything. However after this purchase the Very website is well and truly saved into my favourites (did you see what I did with the title...sorry). 

This dress is from the Myleene Klass range and I could not be happier with this. The material and quality of the stitching feels like it should be a lot more than the £65 price tag and its the sort of style that would suit absolutely any shape. How gorgeous are the colours and pattern?

Myleene Klass for Very.co.uk Floral Print 50s dress, £65, available in sizes 8-20

And of course I had to do some token silly photos...

I'm sure after a few glasses of fizz at the wedding I will be doing a lot of this, so its just practice really!

Originally I ordered a 12 but it didn't quite close at the back so I exchanged it for a 14 and it fitted perfectly so I would recommend sizing up. 

So the shoes...

These are currently the contenders for choice of shoes. I got the top pair of couple of years a go from Primark, I think they're really unique and its very unlikely anyone else is going to have them. On the other hand, I love the rose gold ones. They're pretty and super comfy as well. I'd love to know what you think, answers on a postcard...or in the comments would also do :)

I do love a good wedding, are you going to any this year?

Holly

x

This is not a sponsored post and this item was not gifted to me. All items were purchased with my own finances.