Monthly Weight Loss Report: March

I hit my 2 stone target this morning, so thats 28lbs lost in total, which is great. I am really noticing the difference in the way I feel and look, not to mention the clothes I can fit now. I'm down two sizes so can fit into clothes I haven't been able to wear for a couple of years!

My next stage is a 3 month timescale to lose the next stone (14lbs), deadline for which is May 31st. Which works out at an average 4 & 1/2 pounds per month. Easy Peasy Japaneasy! (She says optimistically :-). Will post an update again at the end of the month, so come back and see how I do.

Kaleidescope fun!

I've been having so much fun this weekend playing with my kaleidescope creating program called Dazzling Reflections from Poppy Hill Designs. I even managed to create an animated gif with them, the first time I've tried this. I used a photo of a lovely sunset with dainty birch trees silhouetted against it that I took in Wales last year when we were on holiday in our caravan. I made 5 different kaleidescopes with this particular photo and put them in Serif's PhotoPlus X2 to create the gif. You can see one of the kaleidescopes and the photo below.

I have done lots more as well, many with lovely bright colours and most are in .png format with transparent backgrounds. You can see them all at Flickr. Make sure you view the original size if you want to download a .png. Theres a piece of fun art using some of these more colourful ones below as well.

Happy Valentines Day!

It's Valentines Day, and a very special day for me and Hubby. It's exactly 8 years to the day we got married and we're celebrating our Wedding Anniversary as well as Valentines Day.

We have had a lovely day, he went shopping and came back with 8 beautiful red roses, one for each year we have been married, and a gorgeous romantic card. (He knows not to get chocolates!).

This evening he made a fabulous lobster thermidor with savoury rice and chips. He had gone shopping in the market in Birmingham and came home with Oscar, a live lobster, who we kept in the sink wrapped in a wet towel until it was time for his demise.

Celebrating my 5 Year Blogoversary!

My First Blog Post on 6th February 2004, I hope you enjoy it.

I was clearing out all the clutter on my side of the study on Saturday when I came across a guide book of the Brighton Pavilion which I'd visited a few years ago. Showed it to Ian and he suggested driving to Brighton, which is on the south coast, the next day as he had never been there. So on Sunday we were in Brighton (only took 2 hours from Poole) by 12 o'clock and went straight to the Royal Pavilion (www.royalpavilion.org.uk). What a place! The Banqueting Room with the huge Chandeliers suspended from Dragons, the silver gilt plate displayed on the sideboards and the great dining table laid ready for a banquet.
The whole huge room decorated completely in the most lavish and ornate Chinoiserie style has to be seen to be believed. Then more beautiful rooms until you come to the Music Room,
even more stunning! Then upstairs to see Queen Victorias apartments. There was even a micro mosaic portrait of the Prince Regent made by the workshops of the Vatican out of tiny pieces of coloured marble.
You couldnt tell it was a mosaic unless you looked really closely. I couldnt resist pointing it out to some American ladies behind us who were amazed when they realised what it was.
After lunch in the Princess Adelaide Tearooms in the Pavilion we wandered around The Lanes, a maze of little alleys full of jewellery and antique shops, then wandered down to the (very shingly) beach and had a look at Brighton Pier. Although it was cold it was a beautiful sunny day and we had had a lovely afternoon in Brighton and we are now looking forward to celebrating our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on Valentines Day (Feb 14th) next week.

Monthly Weight Loss Report:: February

It's been a while since I posted about my diet and the reason is, it's been a little bit irregular over the last few weeks. I lost another pound, then put 2 back on, then lost again, then gained it back! But this week I feel confident enough to say I have definitely lost a further 2 pounds so thought it was about time I updated the blog :-)

I have been on the SlimFast diet for 4 months now, started at 280lbs and have lost a total of 26lbs so am quite happy with my progress. It's never been my intention to lose a lot quickly. I've tried that before and then piled it all back on again really quickly. So this time my plan is slowly but surely, and so far it seems to be working. I have lost the huge bum I had when I started and have gone down a size. I just look so much better but know when I lose the rest of the weight it will be incredible the difference I will feel.

I want to lose another 3 stone this year (42lbs) and feel I have made a good start. I will be posting on a monthly basis this year, rather than weekly as I feel that will be more interesting for my readers. Hopefully each month I will be able to give a really positive report so wish me luck.:-)

Scrapbook Saturday 17/1: Belated Greetings

Bit late I know, but I wanted to use the greetings slab I made a while ago using a great new font I found on DAFONT.COM. It's called VTKS Beauty. I've used one of the instant effects in Photoplus X2, my photo editor to give it a great gold look. By the way I use that program for all my scrapbooking and its a great inexpensive one to use, available from SERIF.COM. Haven't had time to do this one up until now, but better late than never!

Don't forget to hop on over to MammaDawg.com and check out all the other great entries for this weeks Scrapbook Saturday and add yourself to the blogroll.

Ruby Tuesday 13/1: With love

Why not join in and post a Ruby Tuesday picture yourself, the rules are simple. Just post a picture with red in it, but it must be one of your own and it can be of anything you like. For more details hop over to The Teach at Work of the Poet and check out the blogroll.