My To Do List?

This week's question from Baby Tea Leaves asks what's on our life's to do list and to be perfectly honest I don't think that I really know, but I am going start a little list here and see what pops out!

1. Finish this Masters that I have only just embarked on!
2. Visit Boston (the one in the United States not the UK!)
3. Get a dog - a West Highland Terrier - those little white dogs are too cute!
5. Visit Australia again - it was so good the last time around that I want to do it again, this time spending far more time in places (a few days in each of Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide just isn't enough!!)
6. Bag a Munro or two! For those of you that don't know, a Munro is a mountain in Scotland and there is a 'sport' called Munro Bagging where you climb as many as you can in your life time!
7.Visit the antebellum houses of the Southern States in America (as well the rest of the States eventually!)
8. Learn how to cook properly! (have just finished watching Masterchef - amazing inspiration)
9.Visit Canada again

Hmmmm, I am clearly a traveller, if subconsciously rather than actively thinking and planning it all! If only it wasn't so expensive!! I'd also like to go back to Copenhagen again as I have a rather soft spot for the place that I lived in for three months.

And this Friday's fat-ticker? I reckon that the scales have broken cos they are not showing any difference from last week. Except that actually it is my willpower and not the scales that are currently broken! But, hmmmm, I really really must do better than this and am already showing slight improvements by drinking more water during the day and eating more fruit for lunch, although I know that I can do more - baby steps, baby steps - as long as I am not going backwards!!

Musings

Fridays are Fat Ticker Fridays over at Baby Tea Leaves, however, not only are we treating the body like a temple as we are also being asked to improve the mind by pondering on a few questions...

What do you want your legacy to be? Or rather, what is it about yourself that you want to be known for? And do you think you've accomplished that so far in your life? Are you the person you want to be? If not, how will you get there?

Legacy?! It's a kinda odd question to think about because I just don't see myself that way, I don't think of myself as having such a thing as a legacy, particularly as I tend to view legacies as being things like a community hall named after yourself! But then again, we all leave our own imprint on the world in one way or another, and in far less tangible ways. For instance there is the speech therapist that I still think of very fondly and I know that without her I would still have a very bad stutter - her legacy means a lot to me.

Anyway - the real question is what is it about myself that I want to be known for and even that I struggle a bit with as I get no further than wanting to be remembered simply for who I am as I have no desire to reach the giddy heights of Director or "Super Manager" because that is very definitely not me. Instead I want to be known for the daughter, sister, and friend that I am, and perhaps even one day to be remembered for the mother that I could be, but in the meantime I am quite happy to be a good Auntie!!

All of the those descriptions of me are all works in progress - I have moments when I am not the daughter I should be, or the friend that forgets to send a birthday card, so I can never say that I have attained the place that I want to be. I do, however, recognise that this is something that will always need work, or at least the shape of what I am changes as the people that I connect with changes, certainly as my niece and nephew grow up my relationship with them will change as I am not the same Auntie to them when they are two as they will be when they are twelve or twentytwo!

So, essentially, I want to be remembered for being ME and I know that I have to work at that because not nobody, even with the best will in the world, can be a good person all the time.

Oh, did you want to know what my Fat Ticker says? Nothing. I weigh no more or less than I did on Monday!! At least I haven't put on any more, but I could certainly do more to ensure that my shirts aren't gaping in the wrong places!

Hot for the Holidays!

Some of you may have noticed that a new button has appeared on the left of my blog! This is the snazzy Hot for the Holidays button - a little challenge as set up by Baby Tea Leaves in order to get us all fit and healthy for Christmas!

This works for me as if I try and do this sort of thing after Christmas and as part of my new years resolutions then I never last much beyond the 2nd January!! This way round I may actually have some success!

Unlike that amazing gal on Baby Tea Leaves, I cannot claim to have run four miles this morning - you go gal! In fact, I am pretty much starting from rock bottom - I rarely exercise and love my sweet snacks far far too much. However, this does mean that I can implement lots of great new things (baby steps mind you!) and get myself just that little bit healthier. So, my main goals are to drink more water (whether with squash or herbal tea!), exercise more (far more eventually!) and eat more sensibly.

I should point out though that I do not believe that dieting works. I am not about to go on some silly cabbage diet that means that I start craving crisps or chocolate, instead I will still enjoy the odd biscuit, just not in the volume that I usually inhale them in!! Instead of going all out to run four miles a day and pulling a muscle and not enjoying it, I plan to gradually up the exercise at a pace that gets me breathing heavily (down boy!) and yet still having fun!

And this is the bit that means most to me - having fun. This is not about depriving myself or pushing myself so hard that I give up after a week, this IS about cranking up the music on the Davina DVD and bopping around the lounge scaring the life out of the cat! This is about considering buying myself an iPod so that I can go running with music in my ears - fun, fun, fun.

Anyway this challenge officially launched today and every Friday is Fat Ticker Friday where we all pop over to Baby Tea Leaves and tell everyone how well or how badly we've been doing, which is great incentive to keep on the downside of the scales! So, if you'd like to take part - head on over to BTL and see what everyone else is doing.