Gosh, time flies through a year doesn’t it? Feels like I’m approaching half-way, with way more than half the things to do on the challenge!
This week feels a bit quieter than previous weeks. On Saturday, I took an opportunity that presented itself, and at the grand age of 30, found myself babysitting – something I hadn’t done since I was about 16. A lady on a Facebook group I’m part of commented that her babysitter had cancelled and could the group recommend anyone – and I found myself thinking that I had a free evening, some work to do, and a few extra pounds could come in handy, so I offered to step in. So off I went, to babysit for 5 young boys (it sounded daunting, but they were all in bed when I arrived, reading books, and were the politest, most-well-behaved kids I’ve seen in a long time.) I then got nearly 3 hours of work done, a free piece of cake and £30. Not a bad for an evening’s work.
In the hair stakes, I found myself determined this week to master the French plait – it has long evaded me, and even evaded my mum, who used to get mummy friends round to teach her how to do it and who all commented that my hair was really difficult to separate when trying to deftly scoop extra strands up with one’s little fingers. After some determined practice, I ended up with a fairly messy pair of French plaits, and despite several attempts since this photo, I’ve not got any better. I have therefore stuck to traditional pigtail plaits this week. I also tried a ponytail with the band wrapped in hair too. Results below. (If anyone dares agree with Matt that I look a little bit ginger in some of these photos.....there'll be trouble....)
This week feels a bit quieter than previous weeks. On Saturday, I took an opportunity that presented itself, and at the grand age of 30, found myself babysitting – something I hadn’t done since I was about 16. A lady on a Facebook group I’m part of commented that her babysitter had cancelled and could the group recommend anyone – and I found myself thinking that I had a free evening, some work to do, and a few extra pounds could come in handy, so I offered to step in. So off I went, to babysit for 5 young boys (it sounded daunting, but they were all in bed when I arrived, reading books, and were the politest, most-well-behaved kids I’ve seen in a long time.) I then got nearly 3 hours of work done, a free piece of cake and £30. Not a bad for an evening’s work.
In the hair stakes, I found myself determined this week to master the French plait – it has long evaded me, and even evaded my mum, who used to get mummy friends round to teach her how to do it and who all commented that my hair was really difficult to separate when trying to deftly scoop extra strands up with one’s little fingers. After some determined practice, I ended up with a fairly messy pair of French plaits, and despite several attempts since this photo, I’ve not got any better. I have therefore stuck to traditional pigtail plaits this week. I also tried a ponytail with the band wrapped in hair too. Results below. (If anyone dares agree with Matt that I look a little bit ginger in some of these photos.....there'll be trouble....)
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On Wednesday, I had a networking meeting with Bonnie Clark, a fellow NLP student and director at a recruitment agency. I asked her for help on getting my retreat business into the corporate market, and she gave me lots of good advice how I can progress it.
Friday night saw a flurry of challenge items met all in one evening. I met up with an old university friend, Phil Whitby (also known in the olden days as the Whitby Monster) who was visiting Edinburgh with his girlfriend, Beth. Phil hasn’t really changed at all, and we had some interesting conversations catching up on news from those we used to know in the mountaineering club at uni. He also bought me a fab gift – a small colouring book, meaning it’ll be much easier to get pictures completed as they are A5 instead of A4 sized. Thanks Phil! Beth counts as a ‘new interesting person met’ – Beth sounds entirely Irish, but grew up in Scotland, and now lives in Ireland and is training to become a personal trainer. The most interesting thing about her is that she puts up with Phil! We went out for a meal at a new restaurant, Tutto Matto, where I had a Moroccan pizza (tomato sauce with cumin and cinnamon added, Moroccan sausage and goat’s cheese.) I also accompanied this with a Frozen Strawberry Margarita, which was a delicious new alcoholic drink for my challenge.
Friday night saw a flurry of challenge items met all in one evening. I met up with an old university friend, Phil Whitby (also known in the olden days as the Whitby Monster) who was visiting Edinburgh with his girlfriend, Beth. Phil hasn’t really changed at all, and we had some interesting conversations catching up on news from those we used to know in the mountaineering club at uni. He also bought me a fab gift – a small colouring book, meaning it’ll be much easier to get pictures completed as they are A5 instead of A4 sized. Thanks Phil! Beth counts as a ‘new interesting person met’ – Beth sounds entirely Irish, but grew up in Scotland, and now lives in Ireland and is training to become a personal trainer. The most interesting thing about her is that she puts up with Phil! We went out for a meal at a new restaurant, Tutto Matto, where I had a Moroccan pizza (tomato sauce with cumin and cinnamon added, Moroccan sausage and goat’s cheese.) I also accompanied this with a Frozen Strawberry Margarita, which was a delicious new alcoholic drink for my challenge.
Despite the pizza, a week of ‘being good’ after my retreat last week has seen me knock another pound of my weight loss. Its very slow, and not very steady, but is at least going in a downward direction!
This week, I have actually played my piano for 30 minutes as well, one of my most neglected challenge items. I am trying to re-learn Fields of Gold to sing at my mum’s wedding in April.
My learnings for this week:
This week, I have actually played my piano for 30 minutes as well, one of my most neglected challenge items. I am trying to re-learn Fields of Gold to sing at my mum’s wedding in April.
My learnings for this week:
- Babysitting is a great job. You get paid to watch someone else’s TV, eat someone else’s food and do work without any distractions. I guess it may have been somewhat different if you didn’t have such well-behaved kids to look after.
- I notice when I’m meeting people for networking that I often want them to hand me the solution on a plate and give me some work there and then. I was reminded this week of how it takes between 7-15 touch points for someone to be likely to buy from you, and that it’s a longer term game. Hopefully, some of the seeds are being sown now that will grow and be fruitful in the future……..patience is needed (and persistence.)
- I may be destined never to master the French Plait.
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