Summer round-up

Back at the beginning of the summer, before the sun even bothered to come out, I wrote this year's Summer Ambitions list:

It turns out that organising a wedding, moving to a different city and starting a new job for the first time in seven years takes quite a bit of time and effort! However, all things considered, I don't think I did too badly:

try stand up paddle boarding - I did this one! If you have't already guessed, this fun day out was my hen do (the British equivalent of a Bachelorette party). It was fantastic fun and I definitely plan on going again.

four ballet classes in a week - this one really has fallen by the wayside. Last summer I had plenty of times on my hands and achieved this aim quite easily. This year I think my "record" is a paltry two. But never fear my ballet-loving friends - I will be back and I will be dancing more.

get a facial and massage - half achieved. I had a wonderful, relaxing massage a couple of days before the wedding, which was perfect in every way. I'm sure I'll get round to treating myself to a facial at some point, and in the meantime I continue to enjoy my indulgent face mask every now and again.

clear out more clutter - this is turning into an annual event! I got rid of a whole load of stuff before the move, but I still feel like I have a lot of stuff. I am now the proud "owner" of a shed-sized storage locker which is quite well packed.

drink a fancy cocktail - managed this one a couple of times which is good. I mostly find myself gravitating towards the traditional mojito though - not very fancy but reliable and tasty.

get my skates on  - I know I did this at some point, but I'm failing to remember exactly when. Sometime this summer I was on my skates.

go running - nope. I have finally realised that running is really not my thing. I was listening to MarathonTalk (still one of my favourite podcasts) and they were talking about how they love running. One of the presenters made the point that, even though you don't always enjoy runs, you should still have a positive attitude towards it if it's something you do regularly. It hit a nerve with me: I don't enjoy running and I almost never have. So, running is off the agenda, to be replaced with all sorts of other exercise activities.

sit in the sun with a good book - this one has happened a few times :) Somehow I've actually read quite a few books. I might even manage a blog post about them at some point. To be honest, I haven't enjoyed them all and I'm currently hunting for great books.

make cookies - not quite, but I did make scones one morning.

get my nails done nicely - I got a pretty manicure before the wedding (nothing wild), and I've been painting my nails quite regularly over the summer. Colours have included: electric blue, pinky-beige, pale pink, purple, bluey-turquoise and purpley-grey (the current colour). It's surprising how much painting my nails lifts my mood.

wear a dress "just because" - this is something I'm definitely getting better at. I admit that jeans are still my first point of call, but there have been several weekends or evenings when I've thrown on a dress without an occassion to go to.

go swimming - I don't know how I haven't managed this one. Unless swimming in a lake after falling off a paddle board counts?!

How was your summer? What did you get up to?
Any good reads that you can recommend?

Finally! Stand up paddle boarding

I decided months and months ago that my next big sporty thing would be stand up paddle boarding. It's been a while since I've tried anything new so I stuck it on my Summer Ambitions list. It just looks fun and is supposed to be really good for your arms and core muscles.

So last weekend, I went out with a whole bunch if friends to try it out. The guys at Engage Watersports were superbly accommodating and helpful.

We started with a spot of kayaking:

Then some of us moved on to the stand up boards:

I found the actual "standing up" bit quite hard, but once I was stood it was pretty straightforward.However, I wasn't great at steering - you really have to pull the paddle right across the front of the board to get it to turn. And I wasn't quick either!

Next we played with getting two people on the board. Despite my slightly dodgy balance, this went pretty smoothly too. I discovered it worked much better for me if I stood at the front :)

Then our instructors happened to mention that they'd never had three people on a board. Challenge accepted!

I think we lasted about 7 seconds the first time and only about three the second time (because I bailed!).

After about 90mins of playing, we reorganised ourselves into two-up kayaks for the trek down the river to the pub for lunch. It was 2.5 miles each way and rather knackering - I thought I did quite well but the next morning my left arm was seriously sore! In a deep heat, ibuprofen and keeping it still kind of way :S

All in all a fabulous (if tiring) day out. I really want to get back on the stand up board sometime soon. Need to work on those arm muscles first!

 

All the photographs in this post are from ClareDowlingPhotography and are used with permission.

Post hen-do exhaustion

What a weekend! I am so tired now - you can tell that I'm not used to late nights and partying any more. I am starting to feel my age!

As predicted, there was a lot of wedding chat. The married girls reminisced about their planning and big day, and us engaged gals discussed plans. Best friend is much further along than I am, having ordered wedding dress, booked photographer and flowers, and generally being much more organised.

Will be filling you in on a few ideas I had over the weekend, but for now I'm still catching up on sleep. In the meantime here's me and best friend looking glam for a night on the town:

pic by friend

Girlie Weekend

Guess what I'm doing this weekend? Hen Do!

Not mine of course - that would be way, way too organised seeing as we've got another year before our wedding. It's one of my old school friends who is getting married next month.

And there are a whole ton of bonuses to this:

• I get to hang out with friends that I have known forever and hardly ever get to see.
• I get to be all girlie and dress up for a night out.
• I get to go dancing (which I practically never do).
• and, most importantly, I get to chat "weddings" all weekend!

I'm even driving down to the event with my best friend whose bridesmaid I'm being in April. I haven't seen her since she came round in February with her wedding box (which was a very fun afternoon!). We will have soooooo much catching up to do, especially with the plans for our weddings. She's not as obsessed with the internet as I am so I'm not even sure if she's seen the blog. Chat chat chat chat chat!