White Rabbits

Can you believe it's the 1st September? Where on earth did August go?

I have a confession to make.... I put the heating on last night! Lesson learnt though, I forgot to turn it off and woke up at 5am baking hot in bed - whoops! Hopefully we'll get out to Argos to buy the fan heater instead of racking up a large gas bill this early on in the season.

I didn't make it to the gym yesterday lunchtime, my thighs were aching really bad. It's definately the downside of DOMS having to sit at a desk all day. I was ok on the Monday, but by the end of tuesday (after sitting down all day), I could barely move! Good news is that I'm much more mobile today, working from home so plan to run or exercise video and swim.

This morning I had an appointment with the doctors regarding my face. The second doctor was equally baffled and has referred me to the ENT clinic at the local hospital. Unfortunately my shoulder has used up my entire private healthcare benefit, so I'm on the NHS waiting list. I'm under instructions to take as many photos as I can next time it happens (I usually only take head on shots).

On my way back from the doctors, I thought I'd nip out to the local watercress farm as I have the intention of making soup for dinner this evening. When I got there, I had a rather pleasant suprise! They have going through a major refurbishment and have embraced farm shop love! OH.MY.GOSH Talk about creating the perfect store for me!!

They are still in the process of setting things up inside, previously they used to sell local cheeses/meats, their own watercress, gifts, cards, furniture and garden centre bits. They appear to have scrapped 80% of the furniture (and I think most of the remainder was in the sale), same goes for gifts and have pretty much replaced the entire inside as a food shop. ♥ ♥ ♥

As a result, my shop for watercress turned into a £20 shop picking up a variety of bits and pieces. This is my haul: * Locally grown squash
* 2 bags of local watercress
* Sugar free gummy bears for Mr H (because I love him so)
* Giant Avocado
* Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams
* Some Halloumi
* Some yummy looking Ham produced in Maldon
* Some Teapigs Chai Tea (I've been looking for Chai tea to try for a while)
* A slice of homemade Rocky Road with Macadamia Nuts ♥
...and finally some freebees of 2 courgettes and an onion that didn't look appealing enough for anyone to buy, doesn't bother me though!

There were lots of things I've wanted to try for a while and couldn't find and a few extras. I can't wait to see how the place ends up when they've finished setting up. I could see trolley's loaded with hundreds of more local products just waiting to get put up on the shelves. I'm excited.

Before I move on, just thought I'd show you a dodgy 'taken through my windscreen' photo of the watercress fields

Our current Sunday Runday route takes us past these Watercress fields.

Talking of running, I wanted to share with you part of the book we bought at the weekend.

What do you think about when your running?

My mind often wanders when I'm running. I'll think about what I'm going to eat when I get home, cake recipes, plans for the week, plans for the future, encouraging my legs to keep on going. I'll play back conversations in my mind and wish I'd thought of that snappy comeback at the time I was having the actual conversation, I'll think things over that are bugging me and try to come to a conclusion weighing up my options, I count... generally in 20's... especially up hills, I sing out loud when I think I'm far enough out of hearing range of the houses, if my ipod dies I'll keep the beat going in my head, if it's a clear morning, I'll just listen to the sound of my feet hitting the road, my heart pounding in my chest and try and make a rhythm out of the two, with the back drop of (often) crazy bird song.

Getting back to my first sentance in this blog about August vanishing, I'm quite glad September has arrived. Today the sun is shining, but there is a still a crispness outside. I actually love this crispness. I love being able to see my breath in the air, I love breathing in the air so cold it makes my lungs ache, I love dewey mornings, I love torchlit dog walks at night, I love spiderwebs glistening in the late sunrise, I love watching the flocks of birds coming home to roost in the early sunset. Autumn totally rocks!

I think I mentioned yesterday that I'd made a bouquet for Saturday, I took one photo of some of the flowers close up and it's really cheery. I love all the different shades of pink and how many petals are on these flowers. So pretty. Anyway, enough of the random ramblings. On to my plan for today...

Breakfast: Berocca (with a 9am Dr's appointment, this was all I had time for after I got up late!)

Mid Morning: Chai Tea with the Rocky Road (the tea was ok actually, but it did have a tonne of Agave in. Next time I make it I'll have to measure how much I put in to see if it's worth drinking at all!)

Lunch: Amaranth & Quinoa Rye Bread with Poached Eggs & Spinach
Mid Afternoon: Green Monster made with skimmed milk, handful of spinach, a frozen banana, 1 tsp flaxseed and a tsp of Dark Chocolate Dreams - delicious!

Dinner: A soup containing Courgette, Watercress and Spinach most likely, served with a fresh crusty bread roll.

And I'll probably get a protein shake in at somepoint too.

As I'm at home today, I'll probably post pictures of my meals as I go. What a treat for you all :P