A Moment of Madness, or, How I Joined the Gym

With four weeks of freedom in front of me, I feel a little bit daunted. I have crafty things to keep me busy, and there's always decorating to be done, but I want to make sure I don't go back to work in January feeling like I've done nothing but watch Mad Men for the last 672 hours. And, as I've said before, being at home means being near the fridge; a danger I can deal with in small doses, but four continuous weeks (and over Christmas no less!) means by January there's a very real danger the only thing I'll be able to fit into from my wardrobe will be the wardrobe itself!


Then, last night, I was having dinner at Fran's house (and watching the X Factor. Don't judge us) and she jokingly suggested I spend the time exercising. I laughed it off, as I always do. Me? Exercise? Aside from throwing shapes in my kitchen, I haven't exercised since compulsory P.E. in 2005. But then I started thinking- why not? I'm 23 and some days feel like I've had liposuction but the hoover thing was on "blow" and the other end had fallen into a trifle. 


So today I visited Lewes Leisure Centre for the first time ever and signed up for a six week gym membership! I also signed up for an exercise class for every night of this week- Zumba, Aerobics, Pilates, more Aerobics, and Belly Dancing(!!). AND I've got my Gym Induction at 7.30 tomorrow morning! If I don't have a six pack by the end of this week I'm going to want answers from the God of Fitness. And a full refund for my spandex onesie.

By Friday, I'll be cupping my ears to better hear the compliments about my abs too.
[image source]

Aside from this Moment of Madness, I've had a really lovely weekend. Friday night was my Old Work's Christmas meal at Wagamama. I ordered a huuuge bowl of ramen noodle soup to warm me up after a day of shopping, completely forgetting how useless I am at eating noodles in a lady-like matter. Especially when they are covered in soup, and my utensil choices comprise a pair of chopsticks and a huge wooden ladle. Thankfully I managed not to cover my neighbouring diners in bits of shittake mushroom, but it did take me over 45 minutes to eat one bowl of soup. 

Ramen: my slurpy, delicious nemesis. 

My Mum came to visit yesterday and we spent the day walking round Brighton and Hove visiting dozens of the free Artists Open Houses exhibitions. We got to see some truly inspiring art and craftwork ranging from intricate felt brooches to exquisite steampunk jewellery, the latter made by a band of bearded men in the boiler room of a hotel on Brighton seafront. Weird and wonderful stuff! We also got to snoop around strangers' houses, which is hands-down one of my favourite things to do, and a trait I definitely inherited from my Mum. Hopefully we didn't offend any of the exhibitors when we spent more time exclaiming over the bannister rails than their cushion covers. 

The perfect combination of Stag and Seahorse. A Staghorse?

I also got to give my Mum her birthday present; a knitting bag I made earlier this week. I love giving people hand-made presents that I'm truly proud of.

A pretty awesome weekend, and one that will be culminating in one of Tom's legendary roast dinners. Did I mention how much I love him?