Best Bits: February 2016

Can I just start off by saying Happy Leap Year?! Have you done much with your extra day this year? I, have not. My extra day was spent working. The last time around that we had a leap year I was still in high school and unemployed which, despite only leaving education within the last three and a half years, seems like a lifetime ago. Anyhow, here are my 'best bits' from February.

One of my 'Best Bits' posts wouldn't be the same without the mention of food! Have I ever written one without mentioning some sort lunch date, meal I've cooked or snack I've baked? This time, it's all about the Chicken and Bacon Baguette with Sweet Chilli Sauce that I bought myself during my first of two trips to Jersey this month. My, oh my, it was heaven in my mouth! I made Chloe oh so jealous by sending her this photo below. Much to my colleagues annoyance, I took it back to the office to demolish it. And, of course, to rub in how amazing it truly was! 

Lunch dates. This is another one that has cropped up a few months following now. During the first working week of the month, I went out every day for lunch! But hey, the food was good and I didn't have to worry about faffing around packing lunch for the day - I have a terrible habit of changing my mind on what I want to eat at the very last minute...

I went for an after work drink one Friday evening with some of the girls from work. That 'one drink' actually turned into three bottles of wine. It was such a lovely evening - we all really let off some steam and had a very chatty evening.

Chloe and I spent Valentines Day making pizzas and catching up on our 'to watch' list. Again, we continued with Blue Mountain State and Gavin and Stacey. We are now only one episode away from finishing season one of BMS and have finished the first season of Gavin and Stacey. On another plus side, our pizzas were pretty damn good and when has anyone ever known me turn down a massive bowl ful of chocolate!

One of the guys from my part time job celebrated his last day with leaving drinks one Saturday in one of the local pubs. Far too much alcohol was consumed, which wasn't great the next day, especially seeing as I had a shift lined up! No denying it was a fab evening though and everyone enjoyed themselves! 

I've picked up some permanent part time hours at my part time job. For months now, I've just been doing the odd shift here and there as cover but now I've been given Saturday afternoons. I'll be covering Sunday afternoons for the time being until they recruit a new full timer to claim back that shift. A weekend, you say? Pfft, what's a weekend?! I can't complain though, I've wanted more hours for a while now and having the extra money won't go a miss either.

Tio, my cat, has been pretty darn affectionate over the last week or so in the evenings. He's been joining me for an evening snuggle in bed as well as one in the mornings and has been ever so demanding! He literally won't stop meowing until I give him my undivided attention! But then, after a while he plonks himself in the bottom corner of my bed to fall asleep.

  

It was my Grans birthday last Thursday so to celebrate, I took her out for lunch and joined her for a walk along the beach with her two dogs on Friday as I had the day off of work. She doesn't like a fuss nor is she one for presents so lunch along with some vouchers seemed like the much better option. And anyway, she prefers to have a cooked meal at lunchtime rather than of an evening. We both had fish and chips as a main then shared this AMAZING chocolate fudge cake with ice cream! I was in love with that cake - it was delicious!

One of the girls from work joined me for a quick drink and a gossip after work on Thursday last week. We are only a few months apart in age so it turns out we know, or have at least heard of, a lot of the same people. Our little gossip - which was originally planned for Wednesday - went super duper quickly! It was half past seven before we knew so she came back to mine for some food and more gossip. After a total of four hours of food, wine and chatting, we decided a monthly wine and dine on payday weekend will be our new thing! Luckily, our next session is only three weeks away.

Last month, you'll remember me saying I had a little sort through. Well, I had arranged a catch up with an old friend after finding some old things of ours from about seven or eight years ago back when I found it all last month. Unfortunately, that got cancelled but we rearranged for this weekend just gone and had a lovely catch up over some drinks.

Hitting 80kg on my deadlifts was a highlight, I must say. Although I only managed one rep at that weight, I was still still pleased with myself. Training along with the members does help with the motivation sometimes too.

So I think that's pretty much it for this month. I'm now counting down the days until Easter weekend when we'll have the long bank holiday weekend to get some extra sleep and not have to rush around.

Charlotte