January Goals

Posted on January 2, 2012 by nicdempsey

So this month is a getting back on track month. It’s easy after Christmas to carry on with bad habits and I need to use this month to consolidate December’s progress and prepare for February and bootcamp! Therefore January has to be about work and fitness and good habits.

Exercise
Three fitness things a week. That can be going for a long walk (as I did today, up a lot of hills!) or going to the gym but at least three times, no excuses.
100km walking or running. It’s a repeat but I really want to make sure that I track this

Other stuff
Sleep. December was a bit of a slog because I wasn’t getting enough sleep, sleep is my general cure all and I’m pretty sure that the migraine I had last week was in part due to not having regular hours for sleep. So 8 hours a night and in bed by 10pm on schoolnights.

Take proper care of my nails. In December, I broke every single one of my nails. I think it was because I wasn’t painting them and therefore wasn’t oiling them etc. So this month I want to make doing both a priority, I know it’s vain but it makes me feel better and that’s a good thing.

Have a sort out of my clothes. I have too many clothes that are taking up too much room. This month I need to go through them and decide what I’m keeping and throwing away. (Except for the blue jumper and the brown one that belonged to my Grandad…they’re staying!!)

That’s it for January. Just in case you missed it here’s the recap for the 2012 goals.

1) Make exercise part of my life again.

2) Eat mindfully.

3) Set monthly goals.

4) Get to 12st (that’s 168lb or 76kg to everyone else).

5) Take more photos and learn how to use my camera properly.

6) Go on holiday.

7) Buy a new wardrobe.

8) Go to the cinema once a month.

9) Learn to crochet.

10) Have a clear out. Look at the things I have,  clear out the things I don’t need and use and organise the things I have better.

11) Clear down the ‘To Be Read’ list.

12) I will do another bootcamp.

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Dog Days are Over

Posted on January 1, 2012 by nicdempsey

During #resound11, we were asked what our theme sound for 2011 was and I chose ‘A Little Bit of Feelgood” by Jamie Lidell.

I stand by that, it’s totally where I was in 2011.

Krissie from Questions for Dessert chose “Dog Days Are Over’ and man that’s a great song and I can see why it’s a brilliant running song.

Currently my favourite running songs are ‘Tell It To Me’ and ‘Cocaine Habit’, which work brilliantly but I sing along and I’m pretty sure that the guys in the gym think that I’m exercising to get over a drug habit, which I’m not!  Dog Days Are Over is a slightly faster tempo and I’d love that to be next year’s theme song.  The Dog Days Are Over….but I can’t make it my song because of the lyrics.

A long time ago someone I thought a lot of told me that I thought too much about the lyrics of songs..he may have been right about this but he was wrong about so much else and I kind of dismissed his observation.  But this song has these lyrics…….

Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind you
Can’t carry it with you if you want to survive

And they’re great lyrics but I can never leave my love and my longing behind. They make me..Nic. They’re the things that make me want to survive. After Stef died, I thought I would, but my love for him  and my longing to be the person he saw in me kept me going. As did living with Sarah for 18 months and then my uncle for another 18 months. I speak to Mum every day and it was only last year, when she told me she got her girl back (an Ma B and I only came back because of the steel/love/bottom* that we got from you!). All of that gave me family and just simple acceptance when everything else was a mess, when friendships that were supposed to sustain me fell apart because of my need, the black hole of loss within me and that simple fact that I chose badly,  my uncle provided disinterested support, he and his kids are so close and they made me part of that, without actually making me part of it, which is just what I needed. My family, the people I was lumped with at birth (Ma & Ben) and the people I chose and who chose me – Sarah, Ryan, Christelle, Tina & Charles, Jo, Jane, Ruth, Kathy & Adam, Gill, Max and even the people I didn’t chose, who didn’t chose me but are family all the same – Lu, Oli, Michael, Tabs, Helene, Luc, Elly, Josh, Jane’s kids, Danielle, Murphy (anyone else, I might be missing…) they’re why I survived those years. My dog days  are finally over (I hope).  I’m ready to face the new world God created for me, but I survived the destruction of the old worlds because of my love and my longing, for Stef and for connection, for the hope that I might feel like that about someone else, for the hope that someone else might feel that for me, for the hope that I would find the life that God intended me to find, even if it wasn’t the life I had in mind. That love and that longing led me to hang on when I really wasn’t sure that I could, when not hanging on felt like it might be the easier option. Because of that, I feel like a person worth love, worth everything life can offer and I need new lyrics to that song if I want to run to it because me love and my longing are probably the only things I can’t leave behind…..

I need new lyrics…any suggestions?

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2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 by nicdempsey

This morning a small child told me that 2012 was going to be epic..

As it is…

To the New Year may you have an epic year and if it’s not as epic as you think it should be, may you be supported by the love of the people that love you…that makes even disaster joyful and small things and achievements epic!!

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December Goals Recap..

Posted on December 31, 2011 by nicdempsey

December was interesting, I had to re-adjust to full time work, deal with being the new girl and I’d committed to doing things through December assuming that I wouldn’t be working (bootcamp, cooking for Jonny’s resource weekend, having Oli overnight). It was a bit busier than I expected. Despite that, I feel that this has been a calm month with very little drama and with lots of good stuff – this is a bit of a miracle for me in winter, so all good. Right the goals..

Exercise 3 times a week

Pass-ish. I was doing really well with this until this week, when Christmas and a migraine just wiped me out. I did my first body pump class in three years and it felt really good and I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym next week.

Get to a 1.5 minute plank, from my toes

Pass. In fact done on 3rd December. I still don’t like them though!!

Walk 100k in the month

Fail due to lack of measurement. I was doing alright and there were some notable days, like the day I walked 7k without leaving Ealing, this was also the same day I didn’t sit down from 7.30am to 5pm!! Then I stopped to measuring my walking and have no idea how I finished. I’m going to attempt this again next month maybe using a pedometer.

No coffee until 15th Dec and no more than twice a week for the rest of the month

Pass. It may not seem like a big thing to others, but coffee was the thing that I WOULD NOT give up, so to be in a place where I don’t require a vat of coffee every morning to function feels like an achievement. This won’t to be a goal anymore, although I will keep an eye on it because there’s more bootcamp in February and I will have to forgo it entirely for 6 weeks.

Drink 2 litres of water a day

Pass. I do really well when I’m at work but had to be mindful of it when I wasn’t at work. Lesson is to make sure that I have my water bottle with me at the weekends.

Spend 21 days or more without drinking alcohol

Fail by 2 days. Still it was Christmas and I drank way less than usual for December, so I feel good about this.

Continue to eat mindfully

Pass. I think I did pretty well, I didn’t have a Christmas weight gain so all good

Take lunch to work every day

Pass. This really helped keep me on the straight and narrow in terms of my eating and spending too.

Have a clear out of my books

Pass and fail. I took a loads of them off the shelves, gave a heap of them to Max and have a bagful of them in the cupboard but I haven’t got around to giving them away or blogging about them though.

Sew for 25 hours

Big fat fail. I don’t think I did any sewing this month, adjusting to working full time again and just being really busy this month meant that I didn’t get around to it.

Commit to housework spreadsheet

Again with a pass and fail. Did really well in the first half of the month and failed in the run up to Christmas and the flat, whilst not actually a pit, is in need of some attention. Which is how I intend to spend at least some of today!

Did anyone else have goals for Dec? For 2011? How did you do?

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Back to normal

Posted on December 27, 2011 by nicdempsey

So tomorrow I head back to work after 4 lovely days off. Christmas was a joy, time spent doing not much and yes I got some amazing presents..which isn’t the point of Christmas but is always nice!

Also this Christmas is the first that I’ve come out of the same weight that I went in, I did eat quite a lot, these were delicious..

Boxing Day was sheer greed…no-one really needs ice cream after pizza…but I’m not really fussed about it, I’m at work Wed until Friday, so every one of those days is a gym day so no issues…

If work starts for you tomorrow, hope the commute doesn’t do you in and if you are one of the unfortunate people who have been working through Christmas, I hope you get a rest soon!

Full speed ahead until 2012…

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Sunday Music

Posted on December 25, 2011 by nicdempsey

Happy Christmas! As Christmas falls on Sunday…we’re having a carol moment. So as I used to hear them at Mass on Christmas morning…

O Come All Ye Faithful or Adeste Fideles

Always the first hymn at Mass on Christmas Morning Mass.

Once In Royal David’s City

(because I love it and as a Christian child, I don’t think I was ever ‘mild, obedient or as good as He!)

Away In A Manger

Because it makes my Mum cry and was generally the communion hymn followed by…

…Silent Night

My Grandad used to complain that the words were wrong, but Salvation Army words or Catholic words..it’s still beautiful..

 

Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Always the last song for Christmas Mass. I spent several years as an altar server and for 5 or so years (12 to 17) did both Midnight Mass and the 10.30am Christmas Morning Mass. I heard this hymn a lot and the last verse is just beautiful:

Hail! the heav’n-born Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Happy Christmas!

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Mostly Whining

Posted on December 22, 2011 by nicdempsey

Today I will be mostly sick and tired. I have a sore throat and all I want to do is sleep. Everyone except me seems to already be on holiday and I still can’t get a seat in the Tube, I haven’t got to the gym as much as I want to and the presents I’ve ordered for Oli haven’t turned up yet.

Christmas and the 4 days that I don’t have to get out of bed at 6am really can’t come to soon!

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#resound11: Then and Now

Posted on December 21, 2011 by nicdempsey

What was your life like a decade ago? How has your life changed since then? If you’re not feeling wordy today, why not show us some then and now portraits of yourself?

How will you resound?

Strange for me that this was the question for the 19th, you see exactly 10 years ago my father died. So around about the time I’m writing this 10 years ago, I’d spoken to my mum, my brother, comforted Sarah’s sister (who upon hearing the news had started to cry…she was always doing stuff like that, I wasn’t surprised). Mum had just started a new job and legally couldn’t do anything because she and Dad were divorced. I remember that we were worried about Ben, because he was the one the police had told (over the phone – something that still makes me cross) and he was closer to Dad, my relationship with him had pretty much crashed and burned years ago.

In the 10 years that have passed since he died lots have things have changed. Dad dying gave us the opportunity to be a different kind of family, something that wouldn’t have happened if he had been alive.

I have forgiven Dad for the damage he me, he did to us. I mourned the life that we could have had but didn’t and accepted him for what he was.

I’ve also lost friends that were bad for me. I’m happier than I was 10 years ago, despite or maybe because I’ve less friends and money than I had 10 years ago. I think coming to terms with my father’s effect on my live has changed me for the better.

I don’t have any photos scanned in of myself from 10 years ago something I am very grateful for!!

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Christmas pudding truffles

Posted on December 21, 2011 by nicdempsey

So this year, I’m broke and I’m making Christmas presents. Mostly inspired by Max, I’ve made some new things.

 

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The truffles are one of them. The original recipe is in Nigella Christmas as Christmas Pudding bonbons. I’ve used brandy instead of sherry and rather than decorate them with white chocolate and coloured glace cherries so they look like Christmas puddings have, with all due respect to Nigella, opted to cover them in cocoa because I think that tastes better and I’m not keen on whimsy or faffing around. Anyway they’re good, you won’t need too many of them and don’t give them to children (they probably won’t like them and that would be a waste!!)

What

350g cooked Christmas pudding (you could use homemade, but I don’t make them and used Sainsburys!)
125g dark (70%) chocolate
30 g golden syrup (light corn syrup if you’re from the US and don’t have golden syrup and you should complain about that!!)
60ml brandy
Cocoa powder for dusting
Disposable gloves (ok not essential but they will make this a lot easier)

How
1. Line a baking sheet with something non stick (clingfilm, baking parchment, foil etc)
2. Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended above a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave.
3. Break up the cold Christmas pudding in a bowl, add the brandy and the golden syrup and mix up until it’s all incorporated.
4. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix together.
6. Put on your gloves (if you have them!) pinch out small pieces of the mixture about the size of a walnut and roll in your hands until they’re smooth and round. You should get about 30, sometimes I get more, sometimes less!
7. Put in the fridge so they firm up
8. After about an hour, take out and roll in cocoa powder.
9. Resist the urge to eat them and box them up!!

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Weekly Shop

Posted on December 20, 2011 by nicdempsey

Cassie at Back to Her Roots, has a What I Ate post every Wednesday and I find it quite interesting because she always eats quite interesting stuff. Whereas Monday to Friday my diet is fairly monotonous with breakfast and lunch being pretty much identical every day.

On Friday in Sainsburys, 2 people in the queue commented on how healthy my shopping was so I thought I’d share that, though I can’t promise I’ll do it every week!

In case you can’t see it all, here’s the list and what they’re for:

Nectarines  – snacks

7 peppers (yes 7 – I love pepper but never green ones!) – breakfast and lunches

Grapes  – lunches and breakfast

2 pomegranates – lunches and snacks and maybe this sunday for pomegranate martinis!

Carrots – breakfast and lunches and lentil soup

1 packet stir fry veg – dinner

1 packet ready prepared leek and cabbage – dinner

1 packet chestnut mushrooms – breakfast and when I come home hungry I eat some raw mushrooms and then make dinner

1 bunch spring onions – dinner for a new recipe I’m trying this week

Radishes – breakfast

Hummus – lunch

1 large packet of smoked salmon – breakfast (yep I eat smoked salmon for breakfast)

10 slices parma ham – 1 slice for lunch, 1 for a snack, Monday to Friday

2 packets mixed seafood – dinner and snacks – I love seafood

4 perle de lait lemon yogurts – mid afternoon snack

Cottage Cheese – dinner, for a recipe I’m trying

Red Lentils – dinner, for soup

Quinoa – dinner, for a recipe I’m trying

Sleep easy tea – this is the tea I drink after dinner in the hope it helps me sleep better, it also tastes nice!

2 packets 9-bars – breakfast, I am slightly obsessed with these I won’t eat all of them over a week but I’ll want to!

Given that this is the list, you might what to get some idea of what I eat for breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast

Morning Snack

Lunch

Afternoon Snack

There are lots of comments that you can make about this. You can say that it’s not healthy, or too restricting and if you think those things, that’s fine. For me, I’m never hungry and I don’t feel deprived and it stabilises my mood, (I get a piece of dark chocolate it there too!), I also get a dinner every night and I haven’t included those. I am currently about 2 and a half stone overweight and I need to lose that, this helps. If I get to the stage where I feel hungry I’ll change it!

If you want to tell me what you think of it or what works for you, I’ll welcome that!

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