Well I had a lovely day yesterday. It started with a trip to the post office on my way to work- I had missed a parcel on Tuesday, but I was not sure what it was.
I opened it on the way back to the car, and was so excited and surprised to find it was a birthday parcel from the lovely Lucy! Tea + chocolate = birthdays! Those chocolate pies are in the fridge and ready! I had the cinnamon, cardamom and ginger tea last night and it was delicious, and I tried the chocolate with stevia today (despite saying that when I was in the US last summer I had some iced tea with stevia and it had a funny aftertaste)- anyway the chocolate was yummy- I loved the little bits of freeze-dried berries in it. So thanks Lucy! 🙂
When I got to work I was so surprised to see a bag on my chair with some gifts in it too from some friends at work- how lovely.
I put all the macaroons and brownies in the staffroom and I think they got pretty positive reviews!
I left work pretty quickly, and decided to have a short run (as a birthday treat!)- this week I have done 4 min run, 1 min walk, and have upped the length of the route to about 3 miles now. It is still going OK, although I am a little paranoid about doing damage still. I keep getting stitches, which is unlike me, and the trouble is the stitch pain is right where my actual stitches were (where my scars are) but anyway I have my hospital scan too and I am sure everything will be fine. I did have a moment of sadness (or frustration, or something else) when I realised that last year for my birthday we went to the peak district, and I did that 20 mile race in preparation for the marathon. I mean running for half an hour non-stop is unattainable at the moment, yet one year ago I ran for 4 hours without stopping. But then the sensible voice told me to just get on with it.
After some Earl Grey tea (made my Andy while I had a shower) I opened my cards- I had a lovely message from my parents which summed up how I was feeling- my Mum had written than I have had a year of ups and downs, but it was a fantastic achievement that myself and Andy ran a marathon last summer, and even though I have been unwell I am finally on the mend now. I also had a card from some relatives who mentioned that they will see me on the start line of the Great North Run (I have a charity place for a charity that they are very involved in- they run it for the charity each year)- that made me panic a bit about getting up to the distance. But again I am telling myself off and just taking it a week at a time.
I got to open some presents too- some lovely baking tins (which I am going to use to store my baking equipment in as they are too nice to use), cupcake cases, cookery books, a lovely address book, plus a bag of Lush goodies and a posh chopping board set. I have to wait until the weekend for my present from Andy- and keep the days free so I am quite excited to find out what we are doing 🙂 (Fingers crossed for a tea room visit 😉 )
Also, I treated myself this week to some running tops from Thoosa. I got a racer back vest and also a couple of scoop vests. Anyway I got an email and as they were voted best women’s running clothes by Runners World, if you enter the code RW before 7th May you get 30% off, which is not to be sniffed at. The fabric is sweat wicking, but they are cut in a looser style, so I think they will be lovely in the heat of the summer, plus they are more flattering. And the vest does not have an “inbuilt bra” (which what is the point of anyway? Who would just have that and not an exercise bra???)- so easier to put on! Anyway, it did say to share the email, so I have 🙂
Have you treated yourself to anything recently?Â
And thanks again Lucy- that was so kind of you 🙂
Oooh, thanks for the heads up about the discount code, I’ve been wanting to buy a couple of new exercise tops (you know, now that I do *so* much exercise with boot camp and soon-to-start body pump 😉 ) so I will probably place an order soon…thanks! 🙂
Again, so glad you like the pressies. I’ve just been looking at the website for the raw chocolate pies (https://www.rawchocpie.co.uk/) and discovered that they do an amazing sounding ‘festive pie’ with cranberries, nutmeg, cinnamon etc which they don’t sell in my local shop but do sell online with free delivery, uh oh, this could be dangerous! 😉
I love the look of those baking tins, and the 1 dough, 100 cookies book – fab pressies! & exciting that you’ve still got a surprise to look forward to from Andy, sounds like he’s really put some thought into it! 🙂
I don’t tend to buy myself big things very often, but I have got into the bad habit of “treating myself” to Costa gingerbread lattes everytime I go into town, and buying little things like my new coffee mug (& then I “have” to buy little things for Liam, Izzy & Toby as well…so it ends up not being such a small purchase!) I’m being pretty good at the moment though as I’m not letting myself buy any house stuff until we’ve moved in 4 weeks – we have plenty enough stuff to pack up as it is without me adding to it!!
Oh and I’ve just spotted they sell a raw chocolate relish which sounds amazing, haha, I have a feeling an online order will be happening sooner rather than later!! 😀
Just had a look at that website- I am sure I will be ordering too! If I had a Starbucks closer then I am sure I would treat myself to chai lattes much more, but they tend to be reserved for weekends away!
Hope you like the tops (if you order them)- I think they are so much nicer than the usual Nike etc offerings.
Aww, if I’d known it was your birthday I’d have sent a little something too! I really need to pay more attention: I should have remembered from last year.
Those raw chocolate pies are amazing, but so rich! Because they’re small I ate one too quickly once and felt a bit squiffy afterwards.
Happy (slightly belated?) birthday!
xxx
What? You don’t need to send me anything! Thanks for the wishes . I look forward to trying the pies 🙂
Happy Birthday x x x
Thank you 🙂
Happy birthday again, love May babes (hubby & mini-me jar are May babes :-))
Oooh thanks for the code 🙂
Stitch where your scar is, do you think you are subconsciously breathing differently? And by doing so causing the stitch to manifest around the scar (being a sensitive area)??
I don’t think I am breathing differently but maybe- I think it is more likely that I am paranoid!
And thanks for the birthday wishes too. Yes May is a great time (usually) to have a birthday.
Sounds like you had a lovely birthday and what great presents too! I’ve been treating myself to a few foodie goodies recently which is always nice!
Looks like you had an amazing birthday full of incredible treats!
Happy belated birthday! Sounds like a really special day. Isn’t it crazy how much can change from year to year? Next year, you might be doing another 20 miler on your birthday and will be remembering your recovery right now. Thanks for sharing the discount code, that’s tempting. I’m gonna check it out!
Yes that is very true- who knows what next year will bring. 2 years ago I would not have guessed I would ever have run a marathon after alll.
I just treated myself to three peanut butter cookies as they came out of the oven 🙂
Yum sounds good!
That sounds like such a lovely birthday – how lovely of Lucy, and your friends and what your mum wrote on the card 🙂
I hope you’ve had a brilliant weekend, whatever it was doing, and although it must be horrible not being able to run like you used to at the moment, at least if you look back to Christmas you can see how much better you are now and you’re on the way xx
Yes that is very true! I only had a moment of thinking like that before I banished it away- and yes when I left the hospital I could barely walk and was being overtaken by elderly people (no even an exaggeration) so I have come a long way since then!