good morning

I read about #BEDM (Blog Every Day in May) on one of the blogs I visited as part of the Word of the Week link up, and wondered whether to join in. I'm not sure if I will yet, but I thought I would grab five minutes this morning and post anyway.

So far this morning there has been....

Another early start, which is good, especially for a Saturday.

A wander around the garden, while Millie stretched in the sunlight and I visualised our plans for the vegetable patch, and the borders, the cool flags beneath my feet.

A brief spell of yoga.

A cup of tea, catching up on blogs, replying to comments, snuggled up in my dressing gown.

A candle, flickering beside me.

Birdsong, which I never normally notice, spring being sung, disturbed only by the occasional snore from Millie, curled up contentedly nearby.

And now, there has been a blog post too. Wishing you all a lovely Saturday, and a happy weekend.

first things first

The first of May.

The first day of my month of early starts (one of my things to do before thirty). So at 6am this morning I found myself pulling on my trainers and going out for a run with Millie, followed by cleaning the kitchen, making breakfast, getting ready, doing a clothes wash and starting work by 8.30am. I know for a lot of people this is probably standard morning routine, but it's a good beginning to what I hope is the path to being a long-term early riser! I also thought that if I could make it happen over a bank holiday weekend, that had to be good motivation to continue - I'm sure I'll be much less likely to break the habit down the line if I know that I sacrificed three days of bank holiday lie ins! The early start also led to me doing a run this morning, and my first pace of under 8 minutes per kilometre, which is progress since last month's post, and inspired today's word of the week.

The first few steps towards completing some of that list. We tried to draw up a list of top 5 films but ended up with more than 50 - The Husband has always despaired at how few classic films I have seen (by his definition that includes Back to The Future and The Karate Kid) but I guess this was proof. We also have Bank Holiday plans to get our vegetable patch built which I'm getting very excited about indeed. Perhaps even the first barbecue of the year when the garden is all spruced up, although the weather may not comply.

The first dinner at a new restaurant with my mum tonight. We had a really lovely meal and it was great to catch up and spend a few hours enjoying each other's company. It was a wonderful start to the long weekend.

Now the first early night of the month, ready for my second early start tomorrow.

word of the week #18

After our trip to Brussels I had dropped off with my three weekly "runs", and the more time that passed the less enthused I was about starting again. I was convinced it would be like going back to square one, where increasing my pace, even slightly, for any more than a minute felt really difficult, and the thought of ever running at any length seemed laughable. Then the email popped into my inbox last weekend and cheerfully announced that I only had 6 weeks until the 5k I had signed up, in my enthusiastic countdown towards 30 and I decided I had better get my trainers on again.

When I realised that I had built up the part of the training that entails running in 5 minute bursts, I wondered whether to go back to the start of the plan, and then realised that the plan was 8 weeks to 5k, and unfortunately that would require 2 weeks I not longer had. Dutifully I headed out, and was relieved, and somewhat shocked to find that I, just about, managed to shuffle my way through 5 minutes of something quicker than a walk, albeit with a lot of gasping for breath for the final minute (and the fourth and third if we're honest). I got through it though, three lots of five minutes per session, and incredibly my pace was only a little slower than the week before.

Then this morning, up early, I took a slightly sleepy Millie out and did it again, a different route this time, taking advantage of the fact that it was light to go through a woodland path and take in a few different sights (I usually go late at night under the cover of darkness and do laps up and down a small part of the road that has streetlights but no houses!). Joyously I got home to find that not only had I gone quicker than ever before, I had managed to break the so-far-elusive, 8 minute per kilometre pace. I realise this is still a mere meander compared to most people, the sight of Millie dawdling along and sniffing the grass as I go as fast as I can is a regular reminder, but I was thrilled, especially as it means I have reduced my pace per kilometre by 2 minutes since I started a few weeks ago. I hope you have all had a lovely week.

Linking up with The Reading Residence 

you made me feel like the one

(Dakota - Stereophonics)

I got back from London tonight, met at the train station by The Husband and Millie, who was looking very happy see me bouncing around the front seat of the car. It is nice to be home, I got work done on the train, which I don't normally manage, and after a quiet hour catching up with blogs I am planning a run (after a few days break - wish me luck) and a few bits and bobs of jobs, mainly sorting out the recycling. Not the most glamorous of tasks, but I quite enjoy ten minutes of organising things into the containers, it feels quite nicely productive, and there's obviously that slight smugness that comes from having done something that feels environmentally friendly!

As I ate some dinner, The Husband kindly undertook the serious work of removing Millie's hair from my coat after her over-zealous cuddles in the car (thank goodness for our sticky roller gadget - bought when I was completely and unusually won over by one of those bizarre product demonstrations in the middle of a supermarket shop). I spotted this article about this collection of pictures by an artist called Puuung, entitled Love is in the Small Things. I don't want to reproduce them here, as they are obviously original work, but do go and look at them. To me they perfectly captured all those small moments that make up a loving relationship, sitting watching a film, having a silly dance around the kitchen, singing along to a song in unison (if not in tune), sharing the little things. The Husband handed me a cup of tea and we looked through them together, and I felt happy to be home, and lucky to be loved in all of the small ways.

UPDATE: lest I start to present an image on this blog that is verging on blissful domesticity please note the following - shortly after writing this I went to do the aforementioned recycling only to find one of the multiple containers required was missing. Undeterred, I took the proactive approach and went to request a new one on the local council website. At exactly the moment I realised, with much frustration, that the one webpage I needed was inexplicably unavailable, Millie took it upon herself to, without warning, wee on the floor (a habit we thought she had long ago left behind but has made a recurrence more than once in recent weeks). To add insult to injury she targeted not only the floor and the nearby blanket but also the charger for The Husband's laptop which promptly short circuited and tripped all of the fuses for the entire house. The blanket is in the wash, the floor is cleaned, the electricity is back on, the clocks have been reset and I am most proud of the fact that I even made it out for my run. The recycling bag is still not ordered, however, and Millie is most definitely in the dog house.

project 365: week 17

I did warn you that this is a spectacularly unexciting week of photos, so apologies for the lack of inspiration over the last seven days!

109. Ready for a run in the sunshine, having got out of the habit while in Brussels it was good to get back into it and realise I hadn't lost all of the improvements I had built up over the previous weeks.

110. The blossom on the tree in our garden caught my eye as I let Millie out in the morning. 

111. So very, very close to missing a day. After travelling to London and then getting back late from an evening with colleagues, I completely forgot to take a picture. I was so disappointed to think I hadn't managed to keep it up, and then found this screenshot on my phone from this article I was reading. I took the picture because I was struggling to read it on my phone, and thought zooming in might make it clearer, as you can see it didn't (the link takes you to an easier to read one), so I apologise for the appalling contribution to day 111 but I was so very pleased to realise I had a contribution at all!

112. Dark chocolate, a good book, and an early night to cheer me up in the midst of a very busy week.

113. Another by the bed shot, and another blurry shot I'm afraid, of my bedtime cup of tea.

114. On the road with The Husband after work on Friday, to go and meet up with a big group of friends from his university days. Lovely weather, and a lovely journey, chatting, reading and enjoying the views.

115. Just by means of a change, a by the bed shot from the hotel room, after a great night out with friends. This book was brilliant, absolutely captivating, and has brought me lots of enjoyment this week.

Linking up with The Boy and Me

word of the week #17

After a lovely weekend of afternoon tea on Saturday, and meeting up with a friend on Sunday, it has been a bit of a mundane week. There has been plenty of work and long days. I flicked back through my photos for some inspiration, and they were pretty uninspired too (it is not going to be an exciting 365 post on Sunday I warn you now - the heady days of koalas and dolphins are long gone!).

What I did notice was the light. Photos of the warm afternoon walk by the lake with Millie and The Husband on Saturday, the new rosebud on the kitchen windowsill in the afternoon sun on Sunday, blue skies in the garden and rainbow coloured shadows in the hall  on Monday. 

It has been a lovely week of sunshine, glorious skies every day, no trudging from work in the rain or battling with a brolly blowing inside out. There has been a resultant coat dilemma, where my long woolly winter one seems a little excessive all of a sudden but the thought of not wearing one at all seems cavalier (I obviously have a very mild definition of cavalier). We have sat in the conservatory  reading, played fetch with Millie in the garden - although she is still a little unclear on the bringing the ball back part of that game so it tends more towards chase, and even been to a garden centre making plans for a vegetable patch.

Typically, it just started spitting as I have been writing this, as The Husband drives us to meet up with some friends for the weekend. However, it has stopped as quickly as it began and there are clear skies up ahead. Hope you all have a lovely weekend, and thank you for all of your comments on my recent posts, I hope to catch up with my replies very soon!

project 365: week 16

102. View from the Atomium in Brussels, as part of our weekend away.

103. The Grand Place at night on the final evening of our stay. We had a lovely few days in the city.

104. Flowers in the hall from my lovely mum to welcome us home. The shadows on the wall caught my eye as we headed up to bed.

105. The handwritten version of my 30 Things to do Before 30 list.

106. While I was in work in Brussels, The Husband went wandering round the city and met me with a box of personally chosen chocolates - he knows me well!

107. Cuddles from Millie.

108. A lovely afternoon tea with Mum, Mal, Grandad and The Husband, followed by a walk with Millie in the sunshine. A great Saturday.

Linking in with The Boy and Me