In January 2011 I made a list of 28 things that I would like to accomplish in the coming year - (28 things as I was 28 at the time!). So I thought it would be good for a look back and see how I did.

1. Eat well – more fruit & veg and less chocolate!  Yep, wouldn’t be without my smoothies & juices now!

2. Keep up the exercise (shouldn’t be hard with 2 puppies!) Yea, I guess so.

3. Go to the theatre to see either a play, musical or ballet.Yep, went to see The Nutcracker.

4. Have a massage. Yes, got this for my birthday in March.

5. Have a facial. See no.4

6. Do some volunteer work for a local animal charity. No, unfort not.

7. Start the process of getting my teeth straightened.  Yep, have been to my 1st consultation.

8. Increase my income. No

9. Knit a scarf. Yes, started although need another ball of wool to finish it!

10. Learn how to sew (properly!). Yes, went on a sewing course.

11. Try to be more tolerant. Ahem, ask Gary!

12. Try to be a happier person. Hmmm maybe getting there a bit.

13. Bake more. Oh yes!

14. Get the ball rolling on either a house extension or a new house. Nope, can’t afford it!

15. Learn to use our camera properly. Kind of!

16. Re-design my blog. Nope

17. Blog more frequently. Not really

18. Start a Totally Bike blog. Em.. no not yet

19. Have a holiday in a lovely cottage in The Lake District. Groupon trip bought for March 2012.

20. Love more. Eeek..?

21. Be more “present” and stop sressing about the past/future. Probably not!

22. Cancel my gym membership that I never use! Ah sugar… I did actually try but they couldn’t find me on the system..

23. Plan & save for our skiing holiday in Jan 2012. Haha don’t think this will be happening!

24. Learn how to decorate cakes/biscuits to a good standard. Been on a cake decoration course.

25. Go on a cupcake course. Yep!

26. Win the lottery! Haha nooo – there is always tonight tho!

27. Visit more restaurants & try new foods.Yes, been to a few new restaurants.

28. Keep a “Happy Diary” of 1 or 2 things that make me smile every day! I did do this but only until April…

Well, overall I don’t think I did too badly?! I have some “resolutions” if you must, in mind for 2012. Do you feel like you had a good/productive 2011? x

Well I hope everyone had a lovely, very merry Christmas?! What did you all get up to? I was feeling very nauseous in the run up to Christmas – but I managed to recover in time for Christmas Day so I could enjoy my food! We stayed in England this year for the first time – just the 7 of us. It was nice and relaxing and stress-free. Oooh and guess what Santa got me?! A sewing machine & he made our front bedroom into a lovely craft room for me!

We made sure all of the animals had a lovely day and Santa brought them all some goodies! Here are Holly & Chester in their Christmas hats (which they didn’t keep on for long)!

We went to my brother’s house on Boxing Day for dinner and had a good time. And yesterday we took the pups on a road trip to Talacre Beach in North Wales. They very rarely get to go to a beach so this was a real treat for them – they loved it!

I got cookie cutters for Christmas last year that make a lovely stacked Christmas tree. Today I got round to trying them out. I had a lovely morning baking & listening to the Michael Buble Christmas album (which is v good!) and the Little Mix single (yes, I’m sad & bought one haha)!

This was the first time I had tried to do proper icing on biscuits – where you need to pipe round the edge first with a thick royal icing and then “flood” the centre with runnier icing. The result wasn’t too bad, although you may notice that my icing leaked in a few places!

I am entering my Christmas tree made out of biscuits into English Mum’s Big Christmas Bakeoff! The closing date is tomorrow (18th) at midnight, so if you are quick you may still be able to enter!

Wooohooooo we have the 1st snow of the year today! And it started while I was out shopping – how Christmassy!

I was queuing up at 8.30am at my local Boots to get this:

Soap & Glory set only £25 reduced from £60. Merry Christmas To Me -  From Me!

I enjoyed a festive pralines & cream latte from Costa which made me feel a little hyper & dizzy! (I am very sensitive to caffeine & sugar!).

And I saw the perfect dress for Christmas Day – didn’t buy it though, going to make sure I can afford it first and maybe look for some online discount vouchers!

The snow started getting heavy while I was driving home & I was a teensy bit scared, but I made it home (skidding to a stop in the driveway haha!).

Not sure if the dogs will get a walk today – maybe just around the streets as I don’t fancy driving again in that snow to the local nature park!

Here is my little Holly pops enjoying her first ever snow:

Who else has snow today?! x

I don’t know if many of you know but my OH Gary runs an online bike shop – Totally Bike. Bikes as in mountain bikes, kids bikes etc… Loads of people think he sells motorbikes lol.. He is bike mad and set this business up from scratch, with me doing some helping of course!

If any of you are looking for a bike for a Christmas present – either for a little one (ie kids!) or for your other half – please check out our range. If you see something that you like, please contact Gary through the site and he may be able to offer you some further discount if the product allows it. We try to keep our prices as low as possible, in some cases we only make a couple of pounds profit (yes -really!)

A couple of my favourite bikes for children this Christmas are:

This little Princess bike for girls – how cute is this?! I would loved to have owned this when I was wee:

And for boys – the Spider bike – cute or what?!

Both these bikes, and most other kids bikes come in a variety of sizes – 12inch, 14inch, 16inch etc… and there is a handy sizing chart on the website to help. They look a lot better in real life than in these pics – the colours & finish on them is fab. They are also really well built & sturdy, unlike some kids bikes that you would buy in the supermarkets etc.

Other kids favourites include BMX bikes, and Jump bikes which come in some funky colours!

Please check out our site if you are thinking of buying a bike for Christmas! If you need some advice before buying we have an online chat option or you can always get a fast response via email. Remember to tell all your friends too! LAST ORDER DATE FOR CHRISTMAS IS MONDAY 19TH DECEMBER!

P.S. – We have some great Christmas deals on cycling gift-sets etc (from only £6.49)… which would make a fab gift if your OH is a bike fanatic! These sets offer fab savings & contain top quality products. Check them out HERE!

P.P.S. – If you are stuck for a gift for the person that has everything – how about a uincycle?! They are surprisingly popular this Christmas! I would love to have a go on one! And they come in lots of fab colours including PINK

True to form I am late again with my reads from the previous month. See yesterday’s post for my excuses!

In November I read:

Keeping The Dead by Tess Gerritsen:

Source – lent by Bec. I love Tess Gerritsen and I am usually so fussy about reading her books in order as they feature the same characters in them but I seem to have missed this book out. It was a good read, nice & familiar as I knew all the characters etc but I must admit it wasn’t just as good as some of her other books. It had the predictable “cop gets shot down then manages to drag himself up and rescue the other cop at the last minute” bit. Don’t worry I haven’t spoilt it for you – you knew that was going to happen anyway didn’t you?! I still enjoyed it, just because it was Tess. 4/5

The Secret History by Donna Tartt:

Source – recommended by Bec. Mmm where to start? This was quite a big book with small writing and an ominous black cover. I certainly would never have picked it up if it hadn’t been recommended. I did enjoy it overall. It took me a while to get into it but the middle and end of the book was better. There was a lot of talk about the Greek language etc and I admit I skimmed over these bits lol..! Basically it is about a group of friends who share a dark secret… Intrigued? Reed it, it’s not a waste of time. 3/5

Raw Food Life Force Energy by Natalia Rose:

Source – library. I am still intrigued by the whole raw food thing. I try to eat as healthy as I can most days. I enjoyed this book – it explained the benefits of a healthy raw-based diet without being strict. There are also a good lot of recipes included. 4/5

Book of the month = Keeping The Dead

Book of the year so far = One Day

 You can read my previous months’ book posts HERE and HERE! What’s the best book you have read recently? x

Yes, I know I have been a bad blogger recently and haven’t been writing anything at all. I have just been feeling a bit listless recently and haven’t felt that I had anything interesting to say. Even getting out of bed is a huge struggle for me most days so the thought of stringing some sentences together, adding some pictures and hitting “Publish” is way too much for me..

But today I am making the effort. Because I had a lovely day yesterday and I wanted to tell you all about it.

I was very upset last Saturday for no real reason, I just felt like I had nothing to look forward to. Yes, I know it’s Christmas soon but that in itself brings more stresses. ANYWAY, my lovely OH, Gary (aka The Muddy Duck) said he was planning a surprise for me & Sarah for this Saturday (i.e. yesterday). He was planning and consulting with Sarah’s husband all week and it was all very hush-hush!

Sarah & I were super excited and a bit nervous! Gary has been ill with a flu-like thing (proper flu, not man-flu!) and he still got up out of bed yesterday to drive us for our surprise – which was to see The Nutcracker ballet in Warrington! I love going to the ballet and I used to ballet dance myself until I was about 17. It was a fab show, lovely & Christmassy – if only there was snow on the ground as well lol..

We were meant to go for afternoon tea for the second part of our surprise but I didn’t want Gary to have to come to collect us again and drive us to the next place… so we went to Cafe Nero and had a nice festive drink. I had a cinnamon hot chocolate which was so cinnamon-y it reminded me of red aftershock… yikes! We then had a wander around the shops in Warrington and I bought a bottle of the famous Snow Fairy shower gel in Lush and a lovely bubble bar. I used Snow Fairy last year coming up to Christmas and I loved it! It took me about 10 minutes to decide what bubble bar to get as they all looked and smelt fab! I think I picked Creamy Candy in the end.

So that was our lovely surprise day – rounded off by a trip to M&S to buy lovely food goodies! Big thanks to our other-halves for being lovely & planning our day!

Did anyone watch the X Factor last night – I really thought Little Mix were the best and I do hope they win!

Yes, can you believe that my little Holly puppy is 1 year old (it was her birthday on 1st Dec). Almost an adult now (they say springer spaniels reach adulthood at about 18 months)! Here she is when she was a little baby: HERE and HERE!

And look at her now!

She really is a little star. The last year wouldn’t have been the same without her. She gets on so well with her big brother Chester – they are so cute together and a real comedy duo. It sounds silly but she makes me laugh & smile every day – she really is a “mummy’s girl”.. Here are some pics of her with big bro Chester (all taken on her birthday!):

Gary & I made her a liver cake for her birthday with peanut butter and cream cheese icing and her name spelt out in sausages on the top! Needless to say both Holly & her brother loved it – they nearly snapped my fingers off lol..

And her birthday pics taken with Gary & I – very proud mummy & daddy :