a fasting feast!

So....day Nine and a week+ gone on the fasting/feasting new eating regime and so far so good!  I have to say that NOT thinking about food seems to work.  On my fasting days I am keeping the calories consumed to under 300, and drinking lots of tea and water and a cup of soup.  BUT on the feasting days I am finding that I am not over eating but enjoying again not having to think about what I eat, just eating.

In the past I have tried all sorts of other diet from Atkins to Slimming World, and each time I find that I become food obsessed, wonder about every little thing and having to plan meals turns into a chore!  Now I am not saying that this is a breeze as my job involves me being out in the evenings in peoples home's who lay on food!  And some yummy food at that, in fact last night my hostess had cooked up a very tasty Paella and a white choc chip cheese cake, an thankfully it was a feast day!  BUT it felt great to not have to worry about how much I had of it, had it taken me over my calorie, fat, sins count and I am pleased to say that I ate a small piece of cheesecake and a small bowl of Paella and that was enough.  Of course I had also indulged in some doritos and a fabulous zesty lime salsa, of which I really want the recipe as it was delicious!

Soooo onto the weight loss, a pound, yes just a 1lb but that is 1lb of fat gone!  Now I am sure that when I start upping my exercise again then I can double that figure easily!  But for the rest of this week I will be enjoying a free meal at Jamie's Italian in Birmingham as part of an achieved VIP trip, and with fingers crossed will be partaking in some Olympics of my own on Saturday night ;-)

Scrambled excitement!

There are some things in nature that are just amazing, and dragonflies are one of them.  They are not something that I have seen around the garden at all, so when one flew into the house today, closely followed by my terrier I was in awe!  I am not sure if it was male or female, but it was beautiful and I believe to be a Golden Ringed Dragonfly

Trying to get a picture while desperately opening a window to get it outside and keeping the terrier away was a challenge!

live longer by starvation???

Last night, after being alerted to this program by my mum, I tuned in and watched the Horizon program - eat, fast and live longer! 

Fascinating is an understatement, and in my head it made sense of why, when dieting , you don't eat one day and then gorge the next I have still managed to lose weight???  And how when having an emotional few days and therefore eating a lot less, I lose weight and the bloating!

It brought to light the gene IGF-1, which it seems is responsible for your body being in a go go go mode leading to what I perceive burnout, or ageing of the body.  Makes total sense when you think that you cant always operate at maximum drive.

So, today after doing some further internet research I have decide to give it a go and day 1 is now!  After all why wait.....  Over the years I have tried all sorts of things in the name of 'dieting', and have had some success with the healthy eating plan and exercise.  But what makes sense to me about these facts are that the body is reacting to it's environment and one that seems to me correct when presented with the science.

So far so good, and if I am honest I find it easier to not eat than have to worry about what I am eating and how many times a day.  So quite happily I have had my black tea and one cup a soup during the day. Yes I have had some hunger pangs, but I drank tea when I had them and they went away, and it is just for 24 hours, so really is that such a hardship, and boy have I got some fat reserves to draw on!

Exercise is the thing to bring into it, I have not been to step for a few weeks, however having a look on http://www.theiflife.com/ Mike recommends weights for exercise so perhaps I should return to body pump, or of course just go work out at http://www.mikemundsfitness.co.uk/

Follow my progress here folks :-)

I did it!

If I am honest, I am not much of a goal setter...... there I've said it! I'm one of these people that knows that if you want something to happen then you need to make it happen, but I really am rubbish at making it into a goal. In my head I know what needs to be done so I seem to just do it. When I joined Jamie at Home, I knew that one day I would meet the man himself in person and on the 5th July 2012 I did just that :-) The event of the year is Pimms and Pizza, mainly as it is where the best of the best get to hob nob with Jamie in his garden as his house in Essex. To do this you need to either be a draw winner (nope not leaving it to chance), A top 20 company consultant on sales (something achievable from your hard work) or a top 10 recruiter (which needs the recruit to achieve a sales target) One thing I know I can rely on is myself, so I aimed to make it the category of top 20 sales consultant. So I booked a ton of parties into my diary and set out to make the best of them that I could, I told those at the parties my intentions and it was such a pleasure to know that they wanted me to achieve Pimm's and Pizza as much as I did. Halfway through the qualifying period I yo yo'd from 24th place to 6th place to 21st place and then on the last day it went blank and the agonising wait to find out if I had made it back into the top 20 started. I was at an event with two of my super team members when the call came, and my squealing filled the casino. Donna and Charlotte knew instantly what had happened and were jumping for joy with me. So despite the long journey I have to say that the day at Jamie's house was worth it, and the sun shone! The only day of the week that it did. It was fantastic to be there with our executive Director Sue Turpin, our area draw winner Holly Gunner and fellow top 20 sales consultant Sue Heyland and of course about 40 other ladies.

Talking with Jamie was very surreal but totally normal, he is exactly like you see on the telly! Although he does think I am a bit bonkers due to my telling him of a trip that my sister and I are planning to Europe in a camper van taking in the sights of a giant pink knitted rabbit in Italy!

So my final picture is the one that I have been working hard for, of me and the man himself.  

OMG how exciting!

I'm a guest blogger whoop! whoop!

SO pop over to Chic Bride and see what you think!

It's about my Jamie at Home party plan business and how as a bride or groom you can have a second job without putting in a ton of extra hours/evenings!

Fantastic February!

At the beginning of 2012 I felt that change was in the air. Everything around me seemed so positive and willing to move forward out of the past years of economic misery. I was not expecting it to change so fast and so quick, but what a ride so far!

My 'job' is with Jamie at Home as a Senior Team Leader, it involves working with some great people and some super products, and yes I love it. However other perks of the job are achieving free products (over £3000 to date), incentive trips and my favourite, helping others to achieve a dream of working for themselves! And this month it all fell into place!

Fact: I have a fantastic team of consultants!
Fact: I have tremendous support from Jamie at Home

Amongst them are some who wish to take their career with Jamie at Home further and become a Team Leader like myself. This is no easy task and takes hard work, self motivation, a thick skin and having a sense of humour. To qualify you need to introduce 6 new consultants, help them to book parties, offer further training on all aspects of Direct Selling and building a business with party plan and then as a team in your qualifying month meet the criteria needed. It's extremely thrilling to see someone grow and as their team leader you are there to help them achieve their goal!

This month I am delighted to have my first promote out, it's a lady who has worked very hard in recruiting and motivating her new team. It has not been an easy ride for her and despite suffering with set backs with her health and a major operation for one of her daughters she has strived to realise her dream of giving up her day job and become a full time Jamie at Home party planner! This month she did it!

It really is fantastic to see people grow and develop in business, and Debbie has been fantastic in inspiring her team members to achieve what they want. As a thank you to her achievement she has earned her place to hob knob with Jamie at a private party in August, and a fantastic bonus for me is that I get to go with her! AND there are now three tickets in a draw for her to win a holiday in Arizona! And yes I get to go with her on that too if her name is pulled out in April :-) It really is true that together everyone achieves more.

For me as Debbie's business grows, mine does also and I am one step nearer to my goal of Area Manager and my dream of being able to financial give back to my parents after all the years support they have given me. All this I can achieve thanks to one of the best direct sales companies in the UK, all the tools are provided to us free of charge, the running costs are low and the incentives and financial rewards fantastic.

I truly believe that Direct Selling within the party plan industry offers people from all backgrounds to have a business for themselves,and with Jamie at Home you are backed by a very powerful household name which really does give people the confidence in you and your products.

Don't dream it, believe it and LIVE IT! Take that leap of faith in yourself......

Second Helpings :-)

Last night my sister and I headed off to a secret venue in St Ives for our second visit to the Clandestine Cake Club. I do love spending time with my big sis so I cherish this event as it's two of my favourite things!

This months theme is 'work of art', with sunflowers being one of my favourite garden blooms I created my homage to Monet 'Bouquet of Sunflowers' and our place of clandestine meeting took place at the very welcoming Queens Hotel in St Ives



Fortunately this picture was taken before what I will simply refer to as the 'boob' incident! My masterpiece made it safely in the car, lovingly held firm on my sisters lap on the hours trip down west, however whilst walking from the car to the Venue my damn boob managed to lean on one side of the cake flattening the piped frame - GASP, horror and hilarity as my cake was presented to the club and my bustline now covered in icing! But I would add that due to not being able to see the underneath of my chest it took us a good 5 mins to work out how the 'flattening' had actually taken place! Of the encumbrance's of those FF's!

Anyway moving swiftly on..... Some great artwork was laid out before us all on cakes! A very tasty 'Matisse' a chocolate 'Jackson Pollock' and 'Giant Sunflower' to name but a few graced another calorie laden table, oh I am sooooo sorry Slimming World, may not be a loss at weigh in tomorrow!

We ordered our usual pot of tea for two and settled down to again some great cake and conversation. Again we have made some new friendships, swapped details and talked about our love of cake, our businesses and hobbies. We discovered that those sat on our table were in fact living just down the round! You have to love fate and providence in bringing people together :-)

Being single!

After realizing that hoovering today is useless until I have emptied it and cleaned the filter, it inspired me to write a post about being single in all aspects of my life! Valentines day to me is my friends birthday :-) I love her to bits so quite fitting really as being with loved ones is not always about it being your partner, however as a singleton it is not high up on my list of things to remember! In fact it has been 7 years since I spent Valentines day with someone who was special in my life.

As a single mum in business my daily life is never too easy, as well as cooking, cleaning, washing, making cups of tea, running a business, school runs, shopping, breathing, I then take care of a team of consultants which requires motivating, meeting planning, emailing, phone calls and more. And yes I love it!

But sometimes it would just be so nice to come in and find that the washing up fairy has been round, and I do believe in fairies I do! I do!

However as single parent you are often judged by circumstances that have been beyond your control! I, in no way chose to be a single parent. That decision was made for me when the father, who with full knowledge of consequence actively engaged in the fun part of baby making, decided he did not want to be part of his son's life. I cant make him, nor would I want to.

Today I want to tell you about the army of single mums out there that not only successfully run their household, they also run a business! We are not all benefit scrounging baby factories that society has labelled us.

Many are hard working, and I mean really hard working mums who successfully juggle the daily household chores with that of running a business. As an example, this morning I have loaded the dishwasher, sorted breakfast, booked parties into my business, emailed hosts and customers, attempted to hoover and sorted the washing, exercised the dogs AND built some lego men! And my day has only just begun!

Would I change things? Nope, not at all. I have tried the 9 - 5 and have found it very hard to balance with family life, whilst my childminder is a super special person I hated the fact that she saw my boys more than me, that I only had breakfast and bedtime. Working for myself changed that, and whilst it has added a little extra pressure into my life, I am happy to offset that with having the option to take a 'family' day whenever I choose. This week we have been ice skating and geocaching, enjoyed loads of cuddles during the day, snuggled up to watch a dvd, and have a meal with our best friends (on valentines days as well) as well as do my job of being a Jamie at Home Senior Team Leader.

So next time you hear reports that single mums are a strain on the finances of the country, spare a thought that an enormous amount of them are in fact 'mumpreneurs' working from home and making it happen for themselves and their family.

Right where's my screwdriver and fix it hat!

Cake, cake and more CAKE!

Social media is a wonderful thing, some may disagree but today I am glad that I am on facebook! let me explain......

Last year a facebook friend posted a link to the CCC, intrigued I had a look and to my delight discovered a Clandestine Cake Club, well I just had to become a member of this! So I checked the directory for a local club and found the next meeting to be January, instantly I booked a place for myself and a guest. Said guest was of course my fellow cake loving sister.

Each month there is a theme, with January being 'Re-tox', a cake of indulgence! Looking at the list of fellow cake lovers already attending it seemed a chocolate boozy theme was on the menu, knowing that my big sister is allergic to alcohol I set about making a lemon lush cake filled with raspberry's, mascarpone with lemon curd zing, topped with fresh raspberries and whipped cream... nom! nom! nom!

Now part of the secrecy is that you don't know where you are meeting until a few days before, all you know is the geographical location, which this month had been indicated that it would be somewhere on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall. When the email arrived to tell us exactly where I was delighted to see it was to be held at The Quaterdeck, Nares Head, a stunning part of Cornwall.

So after being up uber early to decorate my lemon sponge, and dropping the wee one at school I whisked over to my sisters and off we went full of anticipation of our first meet up.

Even in poor weather the drive down to Nare's Head is breathtaking. Dispite blowing a hooley the view from the Quaterdeck did not disappoint and I will add that we will be back to enjoy the pool and to see the palm trees in the sun rather than getting battered about by the high winds.

We were a tad nervous walking in, but what a welcome! We were greeted by the lovely organiser Ellie and soon we had gasps of oohs and ahh over the cake - here it is sat proudly on my cake stand amidst some indulgent yummyness




After lots of photo taking it was time to tuck into sheer cake overload, it was great that the venue had also joined in and made a beautiful chocolate iced 'petit four' surrounded by moulded chocolates, which in a burst of flair was wrapped in silver paper for a grand unveiling :-)

The event was simply a wonderful affair, the pleasure of having tea and cake is divine, mix in with that some great company of like minded people getting together to talk about cake, eat cake and swap cake making triumphs and disasters is 'the icing on the cake'.

We came away having made some new friends and a massive sugar rush! We drove back in happy bliss discussing what we can create for the next meeting in Feb with the theme of 'a work of art'

Cake clubs are fast becoming the new place to mingle and make friends, so have a look to see where your nearest one is, and if there isn't one start one! You don't have to be a baker and it is not a competition, just a group of like minded cake lovers indulging a passion :-)