December Round Up

December is nearly over, and I think it's been my busiest month of 2018! I've done so much, and have lots of happy memories.





Ash stayed round early December, and for once we decided to go exploring rather than just going to town or the canal. We ended up walking right (well, left actually) to Minster, up to the beach where we found a nice pub to have lunch in, and then back to mine again. We walked well over 15,000 steps (6 miles) and even though my hips started to hurt during one mile in particular, I felt so much better for getting decent exercise in! Even Charlie got to walk along the beach for a good 10 minutes before his little legs got tired.


The same week, I had Ashs Mum, sister and nephew come for a visit. I spent the entire day beforehand blitzing my home, making sure it was clean and tidy, and that combined with the mega-walk meant I was exhausted long before Charlie went to bed that night. Obviously, this meant that Charlie absolutely insisted on being a pain for three hours in the middle of the night so I woke up exhausted too! Saying that, we did have a really lovely day and they even helped me buy and put up some Christmas decorations. We even opened up some presents, as they weren't going to be able to visit closer to Christmas Day.


The following week, Ash stayed round again and we did more exploring! First, we found Blue Town and were bitterly disappointed. There were three pubs, a fish and chip shop and a sex shop all on the same strip. Although, we did also find a cinema, tea room, heritage centre, music hall...all in the same building. Like I said, a bit disappointing but after looking at reviews it might actually be worth a look inside! Maybe not with Ash though. Once we were done with Blue Town, we also hopped onto a train to Sittingbourne...and were disappointed there too. All we found to do was shopping and neither of us had anything we needed to get. But we did let Charlie have a run round the shopping centre as it wasn't particularly busy, so he was happy. We did ask what else there was to do, and were told of a little railway for kids and a soft play centre! So that's on our to do list. Although we didn't find much to do, we actually had a really lovely day! I love exploring, so just wondering around to see what we could find meant it was a great day for me. Plus, we got lots of fresh air and exercise so what's not to like about that?




Charlie and I even went to Folkestone for a few days to spend some time with his Daddy and Great-Nan, and although we didn't go out at all in that time (Charlie had a rotten cold and the weather wasn't great!) we still had a lovely time.

Christmas was so much better than I expected it to be. We went to Mums for a fry up breakfast, stockings and main presents, then my sisters, nieces and brother in law arrived for finger food and more present swapping! We went out for Boxing Day lunch which was quite nice - though it was a bit annoying that they gave us a two hour slot and then left us waiting 50 minutes for our starters! None of which needed cooking by the way, and they weren't busy. Otherwise, we had a really lovely Christmas, played a ridiculous game and got some lovely gifts.

My December Goals

Lose weight
Once again, I went without batteries for my scales, and once again I'm pretty sure my weight fluctuated. Although I definitely lost weight in the build up to Christmas, and I was very happy/comfortable with myself during the festivities! I've definitely noticed a change this month, and now I finally have batteries I can weigh myself January 1st! Or maybe tomorrow morning, because I'm impatient.

Meal plan 
Week 1: I honestly barely remembered to do this the first week. But I did eat out twice so I feel like for the most part I can get away with it...

Week 2: Meal planning was a doddle this week! Although I did miss out a couple of days, and sometimes Charlie went to sleep without dinner so I had to move stuff around a bit, my meal plan was actually mostly written out! Onwards and upwards from here?

Week 3: I didn't really need to meal plan this week, as I spent a few days at Charlie's Great-Nans so I was relieved of food duty!

Week 4: Christmas week, and once again I didn't need to plan much as we had lots of food leftover.

Regular Exercise
I didn't actually get to work out at all like I wanted to, but I did get lots of long walks in and feel much better for it!

Use my Food Log 
I didn't remember to fill it in every day but I definitely used it more than the last few months combined!

Stick to Budget
Week 1: I did actually go over my budget a fair bit by buying a few more Christmas presents and Christmas decorations. Damn it.

Week 2: I actually started week two pretty strong! I had to do a food shop on the Monday, and I set myself a budget of £40. I actually stayed under it and got (almost) everything I wanted, plus a few treats for under £35! I was so pleased with myself. The rest of the week went pretty much the same way, and I actually ended the week with a good portion of my budget left!

Week 3: I literally only spent £25.10 this week and I'm so so happy with that!

Week 4: There's still a couple of days of this week left, but so far I haven't spent a penny! I don't need to buy much food this week either, as like I said before, we have plenty of leftovers from Christmas, and we're only here for another few days so I don't need to do a full weeks worth of food shopping!

I definitely made up for the amount of spending I did the first week of December, and I'm so pleased with how well I restrained myself, without missing out on treats!

Reading
I managed to get back into reading this month! Well, the very end of November anyway. I finished two books within two days of each other! I only managed three books in total this month, but I'm still quite happy with that. I have joined a book club on instagram for next year and I can't wait to get started!

Did I get into the Christmas spirit?
Not until Christmas Eve! I woke up super excited and ready to celebrate. I'm actually sad about having to get rid of my tree! I might just take the baubles off it and keep it in my garden tbh, I'm not ready to part with it completely. I have to say, although I didn't fully get into the Christmas spirit until Christmas Eve, I certainly wasn't dreading it like I have done the previous years. It's not much, but it's an improvement! I'm already looking forward to next Christmas. 

23 While I'm 23
I actually managed to cross one off that I didn't expect to this soon! Back in January I bought myself a shirt for a date that I never went on. I hadn't worn it yet and set myself the task of wearing it before I turned 24. Well, it ended up being perfect for Christmas! I originally put on a Christmassy jumper, but it was far too hot so I swapped it for my shirt. I felt really nice in it, and I'm hoping to wear it a bit more now I've broken it in!

How was your December? Tell me about your favourite moment in the comments below!