I’ve recently started going out on a Saturday night with a friend. I really enjoy these (drunken!!) nights out, it’s great to get out and have a dance and just enjoy myself. My friend knows everyone it seems so we can’t go anywhere without her being stopped by someone - it’s like being out with a celeb!!

I went out on Saturday with her and was surprised to see the sky starting to get light behind us as we drove home (or rather, were driven home, I don’t drink and drive!!!) and it’s rekindled my thing about wanting to watch the sun rise again (if you’re a long time reader of this blog you may remember I had a thing about wanting to drive to Skegness to watch the sun rise over the sea). One day I will do it - maybe next time I’m out I’ll just not go home until after it’s risen.

If you know me then you’ll be most surprised to learn I sat out in the garden yesterday. I hate sitting in the garden, it’s really not my thing. I hate it when I go to friends houses and they want to sit outside. But, there I was, sunbathing, and getting a bit of colour. Ok, a bit too much colour…. I wont share any pics with you but just imagine a lobster wearing a white vest and you’ll get the idea!!!

But I actually enjoyed it and plan to do it more often. So much so that I bought a bikini today. Now, you will never ever see me in a bikini. As much weight as I have lost my legs and bottom are horrible and I will never let anyone see them. Hopefully they will tone up a bit more but the cellulite is pretty horrendous so I will keep it hidden in public!! I would like to sit in the garden in them and get a bit of a tan - and yes, I will be using sun cream from now on too. Bought a huge bottle of it today (and a bit bottle of after sun for my currently sore bits!!!)

We even sat outside and had dinner which was nice - we have bats living somewhere near us so it was lovely to watch them flitting about and listening to the birds getting ready to settle down for the night.

Five years ago we split our back garden in half so we could keep chickens. We didn’t mind too much losing the space as we have another garden down the side of the house for the children but as the chickens don’t actually need so much room (we only have three now) and because they don’t even stay in their pen anyway, they roam free, we decided to pull up the fencing and give them a much smaller pen and reclaim the lawn. It’s made the garden seem three times the size and it’s lovely to have it all back again. The children’s playhouse has gone on the concrete slab the chicken house was on (that’s moved into the far corner of the garden) and we have the whole patio back.

Hopefully this year I’ll spend more time out there and hopefully I’ll be a lovely shade of brown and not milk bottle white (or lobster red!!!!!)

I’ve got a tough week at the gym this week - my personal trainer is away so I have no one to motivate or push me (or sit and have a coffee and chat with either but I probably shouldn’t admit that bit, lol) I really enjoy my training sessions (I’m sure I’ve said it before). No matter how tough the workout is I still laugh most of the way through it. Hopefully I wont gain any weight this week as I’m changing my diet again. I was doing high protein/no carbs but I was getting to the point where I knew I was becoming scared of eating carbs ever again, they are too evil, so I’ve decided to reintroduce them and just watch the calories.

Did I mention last year we made our own wine? I finally tried some the other day - the pear one. Oh my goodness! It was gorgeous but very very strong. There will definitely be another dozen or so bottles made of that one again this year!!!