Thursday 26 June 2014

What's Your Glastonbury Song?

We all have a favourite band, and more importantly we all have that one song that resonates with whatever is going on in our life.  For me it's 'Gold' by Spandau Ballet (1983).  The words always fill me with a sense of pride at what I've overcome and give me the strength to carry on and be 'indestructible'.

This weekend the UK celebrates the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, with acts including the sensational Dolly Parton, The Black Keys, Lily Allen, Metallica, Blondie, Sam Smith and many, many more. 

Tickets to the Glastonbury Festival have a tendency to sell out within hours of being released so I thought I'd use this post to celebrate the history of Glastonbury Festival and point you in the direction of finding your own unique song or recognising a favourite band.

Thursday 19 June 2014

Read it? Loved it? Then Review It!

The support and feedback I've received this week for the release of my new book How I Changed My Life in a Year has been sensational.  My twitter feed, Facebook page and email account have been inundated with positive comments.

As I basked in my five minutes of fame, I thanked everyone for taking the time to get in touch and let me know how much they enjoyed it, I then asked if they had posted their comments on Amazon.

I was met with a host of glazed expressions, 'what do you mean by post a comment on Amazon?'

Reviews are an authors life line.  We crave the golden stars and words of encouragement as much as a child craves ice-cream.  I was surprised at how many of the people I spoke to didn't know about the importance of reviews.

If you buy a new camera or other expensive piece of equipment, invariably you will log on to 'Which' to find out what other purchasers thought of the product and then you can make your informed choice - books are just the same.

Monday 16 June 2014

From Tiny Acorns...

It's been an exciting time for me recently as my new book, 'How I Changed My Life in a Year' is now out as an e-book and paperback.

 
 

Thursday 12 June 2014

Trek to the Top Challenge

All my friends appear to be taking part in a fitness regime these days.  The hugely popular Facebook craze '30 Day Abs Challenge', created by mum of eight, Robyn Mendenhall Gardner, has changed my sedentary pals into crunchers, plankers and leg lifters.  If I knew how to crunch I may have joined them!

Not to be outdone by my toned up, trimmed down friends, I decided that action needed to be taken if I wanted to get the beach fit body I craved.

I may have hung up my running shoes after completing my half marathon back in 2012, but there is nothing stopping me from dusting them off and putting them to good use once more.  Running is out of the question as my knees creak louder than my floorboards these days, so I wanted to keep it simple-ish!

Walking up stairs/steps is a wonderful way to tone your bum and legs but instead of looking at my flight of stairs as just a means to get to the first floor, I'm going to turn it into a challenge of lofty proportions!

Thursday 5 June 2014

7 Year Life Cycles And Where You Fit In

Celebrating a birthday is supposed to be a joyous affair, but as I hit forty-two a couple of weeks ago, all I could think about was how dry my hair was lately and why it was getting so damn hard to shift the pesky pounds around my stomach.


Then I realised I had just entered my seventh life cycle.  Confused?  Stay with me...

Many of us have heard the old saying that all the cells in our body change over a period of seven years, this is in fact tosh as our cells are dying and being replaced all the time.  For example; our red blood cells replace after four months, white blood cells after a year.  Sperm cells last just three days and our brain cells die off but are never replaced. 

So my urgent need to purchase uber-moisturising shampoo and a pair of spanx had nothing to do with my body chemistry.