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

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 :

Sylvester was our neighbour’s cat who decided he much preferred living at our house most of the time. The first morning we woke up in our new house he was on our kitchen windowsill to say hello:

Notice our cat Meg peeking out from inside?

He was a real friendly fella and it didn’t take long before he was a regular visitor to our house. He fitted right in with our 3 cats as well, there was never any fighting between them. He especially bonded with our male cat Jinx – the 2 of them used to race about the garden trying to catch each other, it was so funny.

Meg, Jinx & Sylvester

The 2 mates – Sylvester & Jinx

We found out a while ago how old Sylvester actually was – he was 16 this year, although you could never have told until recently.

We didn’t always get on with our neighbour as he told me off for feeding his cat. But if they lock the poor cat out in all weathers, and he prefers to lie in our house I wasn’t going to refuse him.

He really was so affectionate, he used to come bounding in at night time and jump right on top of us and do that kneading thing cats do with their paws and give the loudest purrs. He used to like sleeping on a cushion we had at the top of the stairs for him, or on our bed with some of the other cats.

Recently, however he would only sleep on our stairs and was a lot quieter. He also got very skinny – he looked like a bag of bones near the end, so gaunt and unlike his previous self. He still came in every night and ate his breakfast and slept for most of the day on our stairs but we could tell he was going downhill.

At the weekend, I opened the front door and he was lying outside. He wouldn’t come in for any breakfast so I brought his bowl out to him. He barely sniffed at it, then gave me an awful almost pain-filled look and tried to miaow. He couldn’t even make a sound. Then he ran off. I kind of knew after that that we wouldn’t see him again.

We hadn’t seen him all week. Then last night our neighbour came to the door to ask if our cats wanted the rest of Sylvester’s food. They had taken him to the vets for tests and it turned out he had cancer and they had to get him put to sleep yesterday. I was touched that the neighbour came over to tell us, especially as we hadn’t really got on in the past. He was quite upset too, and I told him I was very sorry and that Sylvester was a lovely cat.

Of course I cried when I found out and ruined my makeup as I was just about to head out for the night. I still feel sad when I think about him and how much pain he must of been in. I’m now wishing we had approached our neighbour when we first saw the signs of him being unwell or took him to the vets ourselves. Maybe we could have spared him a couple of weeks of pain.

It really hit home how much I care about my animals. I had a big cuddle with each of the 3 cats last night and the 2 pups. I don’t know how I will cope when anything happens to one of them. But I just have to enjoy them at the minute.

One of my favourite memories of Sylvester is when a nasty cat from the neighbourhood was fighting with one of our cats and Sylvester ran over to scare the other cat away. I thought that was so sweet!

Here are some more piccies of him:

He really was a part of our family and he will be missed every day… R.I.P. Sylvester xxxxxxxx

Yes, yes I know I’m late again, but as much of last week was a write-off with my uber bad hangover I guess I’m allowed!

So, October’s reads were:

One Day by David Nicholls:

This had been on my to-read list for ages and it finally became available at the library. Three words – I LOVED IT. One more word – ABSOLUTELY. If you haven’t read it and don’t know what it’s about then I’m not going to tell you – just go and buy it/borrow it. I couldn’t get enough of this book, and I thought I knew what would happen at the end, but I was wrong… haha love it when that happens. Don’t know if I will see the film as I will no doubt be disappointed in it. 5/5

Black Sea Twilight by Domnica Radulescu:

Yes I did have to copy & paste that author’s name haha! This was part of the book club at Love A Book and I actually won my very own copy of this book. By the cover alone, it wasn’t the sort of book I would usually pick up – but then that’s what is good about book clubs – finding new things to read! It took me a while to get into this book, I found the first half of it very hard reading BUT I really enjoyed the second half! Glad I persevered with it.. There was a lot of talk about art and things which I’m not really interested in, but I skimmed those bits. All in all, it was a good read although I don’t think I will bother with any of her other books (unless I’m really desperate). 3.5/5

The Only Way is Up by Carole Matthews:

Again, this is not the sort of book I would usually read but it was recommended on someone’s blog as a good read plus it says on the back of the book she can “rival Marian Keyes”. First of all, it is totally not in Marian Keyes’ league. I wasn’t too keen on the style of writing, but the story was quite good and entertaining (if somewhat predictable). A nice easy read. Again, I won’t be in a rush to read any of her other books. 3/5

Book of the month = One Day

Book of the year so far = One Day

Has anyone read any of these books (I bet loads of you have read One Day?!) Any other must-read books to recommend? See my September Books post HERE. x