Developing 6 - New Camera Day!

I seem to be so busy at the moment - always on the go. It's tricky to find time to get to my blog and then, when I do, I have so much to say and am so excited it takes even longer than it used to. I've been reading everyone else's blogs as I haven't had time to post mine!

Had a great day yesterday (Saturday). I was up early to meet Steph (Kittycat) in Glossop where I had arranged to buy her old camera and lenses and other kit from her. As you can probably tell, I have been bitten by the photography bug but have not yet taken the plunge with a Digital SLR. So now I have! Steph was great (and very slim looking!) and brought her boyfriend too (also very slim looking). They were very helpful regarding the workings of the camera but frankly are so far ahead of me in terms of photography ability that it was all terribly bewhildering. Still, I hae managed to retain a couple of tiny morsels of information and am very excited about really getting into it.

The above pictures will mean absolutely nothing beyond the fact that they were my first tentative forays into it so I thought I would post them as a historical marker - I mean,when I'm a famous photographer (LOL!) these will be priceless - you'll all be able to say you saw my work when.....!!

Check out the wilderness that is our garden behind the decrepit little tractor thing. We have some task ahead of us. I will post stuff on the garden when we're nealy there as it has been such a major endeavour in our lives.

Anyway, after Steph, I met up with the very hunky Huw who is to be my new (and very expensive!) personal trainer. He looks exactly like a scaled up Action Man! Perfect physique. tall with short cropped brown har and bright blue eyes. I had to restrain myself from checking whether there is a little button at the back of his head to make his eyes swivel....lol!

He is frighteningly fit and professonal but really nice and sort of caring and seemed very positive about the diet. He already has one LL client so knows the drill. He remembered me from the gym where he used to work and I used to go and was well impressed by the weightloss. He tried to work out what would be good weight target for me using a series of complicated mathematical calcultions and it kept coming out at 12 1/2 stone! Now I know I will probably be a size 14 then but I'm not willing to stop there. Want to be genuinely slim and toned, not just nearly there. So we've agreed to tkae it as it goes and he will keep on measuring my stats like body fat and lean mass etc etc to check my progress.

So I'm going to Huw once a week and will then try and add a shorter version of his workout into my home routine on top of the running 3 times a week - sounds a bit daunting when I put it like that!

Next stop - John Lewis (Cole Brothers) in Sheffield to swap my evening dress. I really needed a second opinion but the sales assistants were well into chocolate fireguard territory "yes, that looks lovely Madam" - "no it doesn't - it doesn't fit properly you dozy mare..."! Still, I eventually bought the va va voom one from Friday even though it needs a bit of pinnng round the bust. I just love the overall look and think I can make it work. Didn't want to go for a safe old black dress this time!

Then onto the curtain and cushions dept - much more my scene. Have ordered some fab slightly retro print curtains and complimentary cushions for the bedroom - curtains are oatmealy background with lime and chocolate print and some zinging kiwi/lime/floral print cushions. Think the scheme is going to be really exciting which, if you could see the current drabness which we have put up with for FAR TOO LONG, is a very welcome change. Will post before and afters of that room too.

Then home, gardened for a couple of hours, took the dog for a walk/swim and then to the pub for a marathon session (well it feels like it on water and coffee!) with Kate and Pete. As I've mentioned, Kate hasn't been coming out as much due to the kids so was great to have an evening with the pair of them - like old times. We saw others too but had a lovely time. Kate is very excited about a big shopping session in Manchester when I'm down to goal - she's got great style so I think she wants to whip me into shape. She dresses very dramatically so I'm looking forward to being inspired and joining her.

She has also lost a fair bit of weight last year although hasn't had the lifetime of being overweight that I have. She knows what it means to feel slim and was inspiring about how determined she is to stay slim and how she doesn't find it that hard. I know she has been a big eater so it was heartening to hear that being slim feels better than tucking into big meals.

So, that was my Saturday - very hectic and I've got another big day going down today too. It's brilliant to have all this energy and feel so positive and happy. Just brilliant.

Have a great day everyone!