The dreaded BEFORE pictures!

It's always the same.  I take lots of pictures of my progress and rarely put them up.  Yet for the challenge that will be launching at the end of September, I am going to be asking my awesome participants to take a series of before pictures so that when they finish the challenge they have a tangible view of how they have done, as well as a set of measurements etc.

So while I am undergoing the testing and planning phase of this challenge, before I launch it on 12 excited people, here are my 'before' pictures.  In general I am pleased with where I am, but there is always room for improvement and I do feel that I could do with getting rid of some of the fat that I have around my body.  I want to feel tighter and less floppy (as I told you before it is a highly technical term that...floppy).  Also by being very public about my own trial of the challenge, I am forced to practice what I preach, as all of us personal trainers should to be quite frank. Why on earth would I have you pay me to offer something I wouldn't do myself? Just doesn't make sense.  Also this is most definitely about what the individual wants/feels for themselves, so before any comments of 'but you look great' come through - thank you I feel great, I just want to feel even better and that's no bad thing :)

What will be fascinating, on a personal level, is that during this 12 weeks, I have a hobby weekend, 3 Spartan Sprints, a Spartan super, a half Marathon, my best friend's wedding, and a whole host of gigging on top of working with clients, teaching bootcamps etc and all the daily paperwork that goes with owning your own business. So juggling this challenge and all that as well as getting all the background for the challenge set up is going to make for a VERY interesting and exceptionally busy time. In short of I can do it.... remember, NO EXCUSES! ;)

So here goes, these were taken on August 14th and I shall take the final pictures on Sunday 3rd of November.

If you are interested in learning more about the 12 week Challenge which will be starting on Monday September 30th 2013, and you'd like to register your interest, then please visit the Official KrissieKirby.com Blog

Until the next time, be kind to yourself always

Krissie
x

Challenge accepted

So for those of you that read the krissiekirby.com blog, you will have seen that I'm taking up my own challenge for 12 weeks to improve my eating habits and fitness levels.

I know some of you may be thinking that there is nothing I could/need to change about my current habits but rest assured there are and most trainers fall into a habit of sorting plans and nutrition for their clients while sacrificing their own regimen. Well, I have fallen foul of that in the last few months since I started the business and it's starting to show.  I feel lethargic, lacking in energy, motivation and my discipline has gone out the window with the chocolate wrappers that once held the bars I've been vehemently scoffing.

It's time to reset and get myself back in order, after all I am my product and I can't expect anyone to buy my services if I look all loose and floppy (these are highly technical terms, honest 'guv!).

When I started KrissieKirby.com the idea was not only to have the physical face to face side but also a virtual arm, where I could take on a small number of clients and give them something structured but with a degree of flexibility and be adaptable for their particular circumstances, as no two people are the same.  Of course this virtual system has to be put together and tested, tweaked and perfected, and so far it's taken a bit of a back seat to the rest of the business while I concentrated on getting Forest Fitness and Pole Port Talbot up and running. At the same time, my own training schedule fell by the wayside even though I have had runs and OCRs to train for.  I have been more than lackadaisical. 

So today I put out the initial feelers for the first 12 week programme. The idea is that for 12 weeks, 12 participants will follow my plan, with some minor amendments to personalise the plans to each participant and for me to help them get back on track; with a view to really seeing a change in their lives in general, not just in their waistlines.  But as with all things I do, I'm not prepared to let someone do something I won't. So instead of a focus group I've decided to do the challenge myself and blog, vlog and log about it to show how achievable it is.  Yes, I am putting my name to the test and why not?  I believe so much in what I do that I'm willing to put my own journey out there (or on here) for everyone to see, similar to when I first started this blog. I'm just going to put this here, first as last, that there will not be any meal replacement shakes, or 'nutritional' shakes included in this plan. I firmly believe that with the correct planning and education you can maintain a well balanced diet and a single multi vit tablet is just as good if you are defitient in any nutrients and aren't able to get them from your food.  Just to be clear :)

So here goes!

I believe that the weighing scales are purely an indicator of our relationship with gravity. Most people don't believe that I am over 11 stone in weight when I tell them, but it's true. I've got good muscles ;) but I do have a higher than I would like body fat percentage (currently at 28%) and my waist to hip ratio is slightly higher than the recommended number.  So this is where I want to focus my attention and fat loss is what we're always aiming for. There is a phrase I've just used that is key to this, 'higher than I would like", this is important because fat loss and healthy living is about the person on their journey and how they feel.  So I'm really not bothered what happens on the weight side of the issue, for me personally it's more about the hip to waist ratio and body fat percentage going down.  If I lose a few pounds in the process, I'm not complaining but I don't want to lose muscle, as muscle is most definitely the fountain of youth.

My starting stats:

Weight - 162.2lbs

Waist - 35 1/4 inches
Hips  - 41 3/4 inches (giving a waist:hip ratio of 0.87)

Body fat percentage - 28.30%

I will be on week 8 of the challenge when it officially launches, so as I work towards the launch I will do an update of my stats every fortnight as well as blogs and vlogs in between, so you can see how I get on. It's going to be an interesting experiment and one that I hope will inspire 12 souls to embark on and let me help them show them what they can achieve.

So until the next blog, be kind to yourself always, YOU ROCK!

Krissie
x

One month since self employment, challenges, and life in general.

So it's been just over a month since I packed in the old 7:30-6 and became a full time personal trainer and I have to say I think it is the best idea I've ever had. I am more focused now, than I have been for a very long time. I have more energy, more spring in my step.  I am smiling more than ever and I am happier than I have ever been. It is amazing what giving up your job that you loathe can do for you.

I currently have a mix of PT and Pole clients and all of them are at different points in their progress, which keeps me on my toes to make their workouts as fun and as interesting as possible.  The last I thing I want is for their hour with me to become samey. So I'm continuously researching ways to keep things interesting and it keeps it interesting for me too.  I tend to try all new exercises out on myself first, so I can really feel what's working where, which in turn helps me to explain it better to my clients. It's a win win really.  I am also very blessed that my clients are enjoying it, and keep coming back. They work hard and they make me very proud indeed.  Suffice to say, this is the best move I ever did and I love my job so much that it's really not work any more.  There is no, 'oh god I need to do this that and the other', it's more 'ooh right, that could be interesting, let's give that a try'.  Everything is brighter and generally more positive.

My eating patterns have been a little squiffy of late, and I have fantastic sweet tooth cravings again but I think this is due to the increase in my own training.  I am now able to train three times a week on pole techniques etc so my strength gains there should improve no end as well as regaining my confidence with tricks and inverts. I have also fallen back in love with running, probably helped by the fantastic weather we've had the last two weeks.  On top of that I'm doing some strength training (either at the gym or at home) three times a week and I've also added in 20 mins of flexibility every day while doing vocal exercises which is something I had been meaning to do but could never justify the time with the pressure of the day job. It is amazing the sense of freedom I now feel.

So with the running comes the challenge that is in the title of this 'ere blog.  My bestie decided that, with all this running I'm now doing, he would throw down the gauntlet and challenge me to join him in the Nottingham Half Marathon in September. 

After talking to my physio and being further along the rebuilding road from injury than I thought I was, the physio has said there is no reason (unless my knee says otherwise during the training) that I can't do the half marathon in 22 weeks time.  He also, after we initially thought June was too soon to attempt a 10km, has cleared me to do 10km at the start of July, again on the proviso that if my knee plays up I cease and drop back to where I was comfortable with my training and slow the increase in distance down.  The important thing that I needed to hear was when he commented, 'You are a fitness professional and you know your body better than anyone else, I trust your judgement to be sensible.' A timely reminder that I can't push it too hard and that we all need to listen to our bodies as they will always tell us when something's amiss.  He's a top fella.  And it's true, if I push my knee too fast too soon and the IT band irritation kicks in, I can't work.  I won't be able to demonstrate exercises, it will take at least 4 weeks for my knee to get back to full functionality so that I can demonstrate squats etc and at the moment the last thing I need is to not be able to work. So I'm being very sensible and I've managed to increase my distance to 4.35km without incident. *touches all available items made from wood*.  I am getting my own back on the best bud, and he has to join me in a obstacle course race. I'm thinking it might be too mean to get him to do the Spartan Beast (a half marathon with obstacles) but should he wish to embrace the challenge he's welcome to join me.... *throws down my own gauntlet*.  I will be running the Nottingham Half for Breast Cancer Campaign in honour of my cousin Mads who is doing well from her fight against breast cancer.   And as usual I'll be running the Race for Life in July (this is my 10km race, possibly with CJ again or if she's unable to make the same race she'll be running the Cardiff 10km RFL) and I'll be posting the links to the sponsor pages soon.


As for life in general, all is good.  I love my new career and have had a great session with one of my new clients this morning.  She's done exceptionally well and was happy to give everything a try once.  I absolutely am in love with life at the moment.  I have some pole niggles I need to work out, still having issues with my confidence in my inverts that I really need to punch through and get to grips with (pun intended).  But otherwise, I am having a ball.  Next step is to start the bootcamp training sessions up in my local area, although I have since discovered that the seafront is awash with people doing bootcamps, so forest based bootcamps for my clients it shall be, should be fun either way.  And hopefully I'll be doing some cover of classes for my local leisure centers.

As always, be kind to yourself, you rock!

Krissie
xx

Slip not slide

Argh, I slipped!

This weekend I over indulged.  I freely admit that this Easter Weekend was a time where my brain and I fell out and emotional/boredom eating won out.  I haven't eaten that much chocolate in a long, long time or drank that much cider and though I enoyed consuming every last morsel at the time, by late Sunday evening I was sick of the sight of chocolate.

And sometimes we need to have that binge, that blow out weekend where we say 'to hell with it, I'm in this mood and I need this and this'.  That's fine.  In fact, that's only human.  The trick is to recognise it and stop the slip becoming a slide.

Get thee behind me Sugar monster!

Pandora was back with her usual snipes too. And my skin has told me what it thinks of the extra sugar in no uncertain terms, and thought I had the intention to do lots of working out my poor, tired, brain just didn't want to.  So, in true fashion, I sucked it up like a grown up and I put my trainers and kit on and headed to the gym early Saturday morning, for the first time since February (I can't wait to get in there more now the main bulk of studying is over).  And I felt MUCH better for it.  Sunday OH and I, with a bevy of polers and pals, all sauntered off to the local wetlands centre for a long walk, and much silliness followed by the feeding of a LOT of ducks.  Again having done some activity I felt a great deal better, and being out in the sun was much needed.  It does make a difference when you spend half your time couped up.

Yesterday I intended on going to the gym but found the programme I had written for myself was doable on the equipment I have at home. So a full 1hr 30 min session with long stretch was done and the gym room cleaned ready for my first clients next week.  I also gave myself a stern talking to and reminded myself that although this weekend had been over indulgent, it was just one weekend out of 52 and that I obviously needed to cave to emotional eating.  March proved to be a tough old month with Easter weekend as my only real weekend off, and even then it wasn't a true weekend off as the business kicks off next week so much was done to move towards the launch.

It really is ok to start over!

That being said, I recognised that I was having a slip up from my usual healthy eating habits and that's fine. It's part and parcel of healthy eating. When you adopt a healthy lifestyle, you will get instances where you stumble off the plan you've set for yourself, and that's fine, it's going to happen.  Life's stresses get in the way and there will be times when you just need to have a blow out in whatever manner it takes.  Just don't let it continue on for too long or you'll slide back into old habits and undo all the good work you've done.  This isn't a diet, this isn't something we pick up and put down then harrang ourselves with because we failed.  There is no failure in healthy living, there are just slips every now and then, and we learn to recognise they are needed.  There is lots of trail and error, and figuring out what works for you and how you can plan your time to make things work.  But that's not failure in the form we usualy recognise, it's the type of failure that preceeds success because some parts of the attempt worked. All we do now is refine the process until it works for us, because everyone is different in their mindset. There can never be one size fits all, we are all so very different.

So yesterday my emotional eating trigger got a bollocking, and today I feel far more positive and back to my usual happy self.  I've had my slip, got a little bruised from the fall, and picked myself up, dusted myself off and looking towards a bright shiny new week....my last one in the full time grind (that might also explain the week starting out in a very positive fashion ;) )

So slip, don't slide, give yourself a break for having the slip, mark it down to one of those days and then get back on then healthy wagon as quickly as you can.   You will soon notice the slips become far less frequent andthe slide non-existant.

Have a great week all and as always, be kind to yourself

Krissie
xx

Following your dream......

So today I resigned from my 9-5 desk job (or, as it has been recently, 7:30 - 6).  This is a huge step, this a definite leap into the unknown. But it's been something that I know I've been heading towards for the best part of two years.

When I started this blog I was already getting questions from people on Facebook, about how I had lost the weight and what I recommended. That gave me the inital idea for No More Mrs Fatty McFat; a hope that by documenting my weightloss and the pitfalls, highs, the education I gained etc that there would be information enough for someone to find and say 'That's what I needed to hear, that's the same as what I tried' etc.  I realised through answering some of the emails and comments that I got through, that there was a plethora of people (not just women) that wanted someone who understood what they were going through to help give them some solid advice. Most had said that when they have joined a gym, some lythe young adult not long from Sports Science degree at Uni was asigned as their inductor at the gym. The person that they were trying to get to understand their issues had never been fat, had never suffered the utter deflation that these people had, and to them it was exceptionally off putting.  Many never went back to the gym after that inital induction and are debating still if they should return.

I realised that I had a vantage point that the Instructors these people had been to didn't have. I have been obese, I have battled with the voices in my head that tell me I'd never be good enough, I have had those 3am binges where you eat until you are sick, I have had the angry screams at myself for allowing myself to become so hideous that I was afraid to leave the house.  I have been there, and I remember all too well what it is like to be that scared, unhappy person. So in August 2011, I decided I wanted to change my career.  I had changed jobs the year previous with a promotion of sorts in work. The job was very well paid but exceptionally stressful, often lonely and at certain points of the year had long hours (the height of festival season no less, so that scuppered the band a little) and I was utterly miserable.  I had spent so long on sorting my health out that now my inner peace and joy was being sucked out of me by the one thing that I felt I had no control over.

Wrong!  And I know fine well that that was wrong. Had I not taken back control of my health? Was I now just putting those fears onto something different? Yes, yes I was. That August, after a rather turse few words with a colleague that left me in a bit of an emotional state, I sat with OH and confessed how unhappy I was with my work life. That I had no joy in the bulk of my day as I sat behind a desk, lifelessly inputting, sorting and arranging data; that ultimately I felt as though I was being suffocated from the inside and needed to refocus my life. We sat and made a pros and cons list about giving up my job and the pros serverely outweighed the cons.  We talked at length about whether we could afford to drop to one income for a while, while I worked on building a client base etc, and I often have wondered if that was a selfish thing to ask of OH and a lot of responsibility to place on his shoulders.  But as he always tells me, we are a team, and when one of us needs to pick up the slack to ensure the other is back to a happy medium, then so be it.  (He's pretty awesome). The decision was made. I was going to re-train and become a Personal Trainer.



It really is, it's how we learn.



After much working out of finances, I realised that although I would have liked to have finished in the job sooner, March 2013 was going to be the goal. So the plan went into action. For the best part of 18 months, I have retrained so that I can offer an all round package for a variety of disciplines. I am a qualified Gym Instructor, I am a qualifed Pole Instructor, I can take small group training and am in the process of completeing the final modules for the Certificate in Personal Training as well as the Exercise to Music qualification so I can teach the myriad of cardio and strength based larger group classes that are out there.  I have done it, I have taken a dream that came from something I had once thought would never be, could never be me.  I want other people to feel what this feels like, that you can take back the control on your health and ultimately your life.  It's a pretty amazing feeling.

I was very touched the other day to get the following message from a friend, someone I met through a hobby:

Today I had a University interview, and they asked me to talk about someone who inspried me, and what I feel I could learn from them.  I told them about you, how you've changed your life in such a great way, and are now living the life you dreamed of.  I told them how inspired I've been by your determination, your kick-ass enthusiasm and how you don't let yourself be the cause of your own failure (by not making excuses to work out etc.)  You really show the rest of us how it's done, that if you want something and are prepared to work hard enough anything is possible. Thanks so much for that.

How awesome is that?  I'm so touched that she thought of me for that answer, and I'm fiercely proud that she's following her dream, and requalifying in what she honestly wishes to do.  Go Girl! It's hard to say, 'right that's it, I'm throwing off the security blanket and giving this a shot'.  But if you have things in place and support from wonderful people, (my friend has her partner's full support also, which is fantastic), and you can cleary make a run for it, then do so. Life is far too short to spend thinking 'what if...'.  Take it by the horns, life is meant to be lived.  And if you read this and think 'there is no way I could do that', then's that's fine, too. Sometimes the timing isn't right, sometimes we have to go a little further along the path to really see the exit.  But never say, never!

I'm not so naive as to think that I will walk out of this job and straight into a 10 clients, 4 bootcamps, 10 pole students a week lifestyle.  Oh no, I'm not that green!  I know it's going to be tough.  I know that I'm going to be working most of the day to drum up business and teaching very little to start, but eventually it will even out.  I know running my own business will be a challenge (I have been self-employed before) but I'm looking forward to it. Most of all, I'm looking forward to not having to think of something to make me smile when I get up in the morning, as there will be plenty to smile about.

So here's to the next chapter, it all starts on April 8th 2013!

Be kind to yourself, as always

Much Love

Krissie

x

A revamp to the website coming soon!

Happy 2nd Birthday blog

Wow hasn't the time flown?  Two whole years. This little corner of the web that I started two years ago has grown fairly consistently, so thank you to everyone who has shared my ramblings, the articles and all the general information that spews forth from this adled brain.  I love reading your comments and hope that some of the information I share is of use.

What started as a project to keep myself accountable to my continuation of a better me (in health and in character) has grown into something much more than that.  It's something I am fiercely proud of and something that continues to bring me great joy on a weekly basis.  I say it everytime and mean it with earnest, that I will maintain this blog with more regularity, but alas time has gotten the better of my yet again.  Hopefully with the launch of the full new venture on April 8th (a date for the diary) I will be posting far more regularly and incorporating a new look to these pages.

I will explain more about the new venture when certain things are in place (I know, I'm such a tease). But for now I want to look back at the last couple of months and share what's been going on.  It's been a tad on the busy side.

Since the launch of the album the band hasn't really stopped.  Even in our down time, we managed to maintain momentum with the album and do as much promotional work as we could.  We had a feature in Metal Hammer, had lots of airplay of the new tracks and announced the 2013 leg of the Rage and Retribution tour, Oh and we also got announced for some festivals and as support to Queensryche (I'm super chuffed with that one as I grew up headbanging to those guys).

Over Christmas, Mr K and I proved you could workout anywhere as we were visiting my parent's (who have retired to Spain), getting some much needed vitamin D courtesy of that giant nuclear explosion called the Sun, and using the local park to do all sorts of crazy workouts. My parents are very lucky, in that that the park right next door to their house has football pitches, tennis courts, bleachers, basketball courts and more, making it a fitness buff's dream come true to get a good workout in on a regular basis.  The Spartan WODs came in handy for me to get to grips with training in different environments (which will come in very useful when I take that module next month to finish off my PT training).  I passed my Level 3 Advanced Training Approches and Anatomy and Physiology modules, and also my Beginner Pole Instructor qualification and I'm coming up to my assessment for my Exercise to Music, and the last two modules for the Level 3. So all is on course to have completed all the main qualifications by the end of March.  I must admit to being utterly in love with training others to find their soul mate workouts, to find somehing that inspires them to be healthy.  It's quite a fulfilling job.

I have purchased a weights bench and some spinlock vinyl, sand-filled weights, for my home gym, which have already proved invaluable.  So when I've been working late and get home I can get a fairly heavy lifting session in without having to go to the gym.  There are absolutely no excuses for me not to workout anymore.  I have so much home equipment now, that to not workout is not an option unless it's a rest day (and everyone MUST take rest days or you are going to injure yourself), or when my parents are visiting as they take over the basement. For those days I can just use my local gym.   I am really looking forward to ramping up my client base and being able to offer so many different training methods to get the best possible results.  It's something that I think every Personal Trainer should be able to do, offer a wide variety of training methods as one size doesn't fit all and if I can make working out as fun as possible then my clients are going to see quicker results.

Figured it out finally!

As for the weight loss, well, I'm not worried about it anymore. I do weight myself periodically but more than anything it's what I'm eating that I've noticed has the biggest effect on how I feel.  If I have chips from the chippy, I generally feel sluggish for the rest of the evening.  If I eat a lot of chocolate (I do have some as I quite enjoy it still but nowhere near the amount I was having and not everyday either), the sugar crash is so horrendous that it's just not worth me having more than a few grams.  My eating is very clean these days.  At the start of January I invested in the KiFit bodybugg to monitor my everyday energy expenditure and sleeping patterns. I have discovered that even though I may be lying down for 7-8 hours a night, I'm actually only getting between 3 -4 hours sleep, and even then it's sporadic and not all in one consistent block.  At most I get a full hour unbroken sleep.  It is little wonder that I wake up feeling dreadful.  And that is also impacting on my physical wellbeing, as I'm not getting sufficient rest.  So to ensure that I am getting more beneficial sleep, I am trying not to use my phone or iPad before bed, and I'm using the time to do my reading and research the old fashioned way, via a good book.  Something else that the bodybugg pointed out was that I wasn't eating enough.  Yes really!  I am far more active than I thought, which is a very good thing of course, but as I'd not being fuelling myself sufficiently then my body had reacted adversely. Now I'm more mindful of how I can pad out my meals and am far more mindful of my snacks and the body fat has decreased, and my energy levels are through the roof.  So it's all going in the right direction.

Something that struck me last night, as I got ready to go to a community gala evening, is how seriously comfortable in my own skin I have become.  Don't misunderstand me, it's been a tough old journey and I still have those days where I think 'urgh', but now it doesn't matter what people think of me or how they view me.  I am happy with me, and sure there are little things I think could be improved but isn't that the measure of success?  I've stopped comparing myself to others, because it doesn't matter, it really doesn't.  I'm me, and no one else is.  The only person I need to compare myself to was the person I was yesterday and even then it's not about how I look, it's about how I act. I've completed what I initially set out to do and that was to get healthy and to lose weight.  My goals are vastly different now.  I still want to be the best me that I can be, of course, and increase my own strength to show to myself what my body can achieve but I'm more concerned with how I am as a person and how I treat those around me.

We make mud look damned good!

So things that are coming up in 2013! Mr K and I have got our Season Passes for the Spartan Race UK this year.  That will be kicking off in August and hopefully we will be completing the Trifecta in November finishing with the Beast (a half marathon with so many obstacles it's not funny, but I love it!).  We hope to do at least 2 of the Zombie Evacuation runs, as they were great fun last year.  There may even be a Tough Mudder in there somewhere if we have the time.  I have some ideas for projects that I will start once the new venture has launched (April 8th remember), and I will be starting to teach one to one pole lessons from home for a while as well to build that up, as well as improve my own training and technique when it comes to pole. It's all go presently, and to top it all off we're back on tour with the band which makes me even happier.  Always the performer ;).  I'm so busy I don't sit still for more than a few seconds, unless I'm writing a blog of course.  And you know I wouldn't have it any other way, I am loving life right now and long may it continue. 

htpp://www.krissiekirby.com

new content coming soon

Be kind to yourself, always

Much Love

Krissie

x

That's one off the Bucket List

Last year when OH's cousin Jim passed away at the very young age of 36, it really brought it home that life is short.  Yes it really is, if you stop and think about it for a few moments.  How quickly has 2012 gone by?  Have you noticed that as you are getting older, the time seems to move much faster?  Have you found yourself remarking that 'crumbs, 2013 came around awful quick'? That's life being short, that's life moving fast and if we're not careful there will be things we wanted to do but 'didn't find the time for'...I really dislike that excuse.  So it frustrates me when people say, oh life isn't short at all.  In the grand scheme of things, yes it is, we are here for a fleeting moment so let's make the most of it!

Live!

Sorry, getting on my soap box again, aren't I?

Where was I? Oh yes, so after Jim passed away, I decided to finally make a list of all the things I wanted to try, and to carry on adding to it.  I have started to put them on a board on my Pinterest account (feel free to have a browse around my mad pinnings if you're a Pinterest pinner).  One of the ones on my written list was rock climbing.

I have a very rational fear of falling and hitting the ground as a sloppy mess, I dislike heights for the most part as well but this is something that I know I can get over with some work, the fear of falling though I'm not so sure.  CJ and I were looking for something different to do as part of my belated birthday treat.  The downside of having a birthday so close to Christmas is that it's usually difficult to get everyone together to do something, as we're gigging or there are office parties, or a myriad of other things... oh and Christmas itself of course.  So I tend to not really bother celebrating my birthday, but this last year I decided it's worth doing something to mark the occasion, even if I have to leave it a month or so.

So we had decide we would try rock climbing, and as luck would have a coupon for a sizeable discount appeared in our inboxes from one of those coupon companies the very next day.  I rang the climbing centre and instead of £12 for a taster, it was £5 each.  Wonderful, it appears the Universe agreed that we should go and give it a try. (I love little signals like that, coincidence or not, it doesn't matter I still take it as a sign it's the right move).

Three of the walls we climbed.

Off we went to Boulders in Cardiff to have an hour and half taster session of indoor climbing.  And you know something it wasn't as bad as we anticipated.  Neither of us froze on the wall. Neither of us screamed to be taken down. And although some of the climbs were more difficult than others, we attempted them all and did the best we could. And that's something to be very proud of, by both of us for both of us. We didn't give up, we didn;t stand hands on hip looking blankly at the wall thinking 'there is no whay we can do this'.  Oh no, we took the walls on and no matter what we were going to keep giving it a go.

It's the first 'done that' on that bucket list. And why not? Life is meant to be lived, enjoyed and filled to the brim with the good stuff.  In my last entry, I talked about celebrating the little things, and this is one of those things that I can now look back on and say 'I did that, I took on a fear of mine and I proved I can do anything'.  We celebrated as only we girls know how, with a coffee anda small slice of cake for me and a panini for CJ, and talked about all the other stuff that we want to do together and with our respective OHs.

Sometimes we have to go out of our comfort zone to truly know what we are capable of, and you may surprise yourself at how strong, determined, and daring you can be. So the bucket list is filling up with the crazy, the cool, the scary and the silly and I'm looking forward to ticking more off.

Until next time, be kind to yourselves
Krissie
Xx