Well it's been a pretty good 2016 for me.

I decided to embrace turining 50 at the end of the year and started my blog to record my journey.

I finally got to grips with the menopausal weight gain and stopped playing at exercise and got serious about it.  

I learnt to fit exercise into my life.  I learnt I can eat much healthier and still socialise and enjoy a few glasses of prosecco.  

I started and completed The Body Coach SSS Plan!  Yes I actually completed it!  And ended up just over a stone lighter and around 18" smaller.

My son left full time eduction, he started a dream job and he turned 19.  My job as mother will never be complete but I feel I sent him out into the world in 2016 as a well-adjusted, confident young man, who I am incredibly proud of.  

My daugther turned 16 and she continues to be my best friend as well as my daugther and we love spendint time together.

So what lessons have I learnt and what will I be doing in 2017?

Well I am ready to progress my fitness journey, I am not quite where I want to be yet, I have more in me and I need to be 100% bikini confident for our post-GCSE's holiday in July.

I am going to do a blogging course to understand a bit more about the blogging world and see if I can improve my blog and make it a little bit more than a hobby.

I have decided that LESS IS MORE and QUALITY OVER QUANTITY and these will be my style mantra's over the coming months.  I am fed up with clutter and over-indulgence and I will be writing more about this on my blog soon.

I want to spend less time scrolling mindlessly on my phone!  I waste time.  I hate it.  But I also find some of my facebook groups to be tremendous sources of support especially A Big Girls Journey to Lean which has really helped me stick to my health and fitness journey so it will be about finding a better balance.

I'd like to up the glamour a bit.  Dress up more.  Not save everyting for best.  I'd like to improve my make-up routine, update it a bit.

As I head into my fifties I want to spend a bit more time on me.  I will always be there for my kids and to support my husband and our family unit but life should be easier now, they no longer need me as much!

So HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!  I have a sore throat and am feeling tired after a busy week of entertaining and visitors, we don't have any plans for tonight so I will be having a quiet one on the sofa with some good films and a curry takeaway I think.

Love
Michelle xx

It's that strange time of the year again, those days between Christmas and New Year.

There is too much leftover food in my house, too many temptations.

I am desperate to get back to some sort of normal routine.

I have no idea which day the bin men are coming.

I don't feel quite ready to take the decorations down yet but I am looking forward to doing so!

The family are all off work or school but don't know what to do with themselves.

It's been fun but busy.  I was tired after me week of 50th birthday celebrations and then just when I thought I had caught up so Christmas arrived.  

Christmas Eve was spent with my sister and my parents, we started with Mass and then had dinner together.

Christmas Day was just at home with my husband and two children and I have to say it was very relaxing and I was so pleased to have them both with us.  My son is 19 and I am fully aware that this might be the last time it is just the 4 of us for Christmas and I wanted to savour it.

On Boxing Day a tornado arrived at my house in the form of my sisters and my niceces and nephews - OMG it was full on, it wizzed through my house at about 1 pm and departed again at about 5 pm!  But we loved it.  We set the table for 16, we eat leftovers and I made it as easy as possible, we opened gifts, we had a lucky dip sack and we played games.

My older niece arrived on Tuesday from France with her boyfriend, they want to spend a few days in London so they are staying with us for a couple of nights.  We drove them down to London yesterday and took the opportunity to have a look at Winter Wonderland. I went on the helter skelter!!  It was frosty and cold but clear blue skies and sunny.  We walked them up to Harrods then left them to do their own thing and walked back through Hyde Park with our two westies.

But roll on Wednesday 4th January when I can eat properly again and get back into my beloved routine!

How are you coping?

Love
Michelle xx

What a fantastic day and evening!  My husbands sister-in-law kindly blow dried mine and my daughters hair.  I then went off to John Lewis to get my make up done at Bobbi Brown. I came home to grab something to eat and say hello to some friends who had arrived.  I put my dress on and jumped in the taxi ...

My dress, bag and shoes were from Karen Millen

Delicious cakes from The Papercup Kitchen, balloons from Giggles Party Shop and the bags with battery tealights from Not on the High Street

Fun on the dancefloor with my Dad

Great photo booth!

Last Thursday I turned 50!  My party was on Friday evening so I needed a plan for what to do on my actual birthday.  My husband took the day off and my sisters were free to join us so I booked a horse and carriage ride with Ascot Carriages through The Savill Garden and Windsor Great Park.  What a fabulous and fun day out.  

The gardens are stunning and absolutely worth a visit, there is a lovely shop, a cafe and a restaurant, plenty of parking and wonderful walks and things to do all year round.

We went on a 1 hour ride through the park and our driver Jo was excellent at telling us snippets of information about the parks, the area and our royal family.  We were well looked after with cosy blankets to put over our laps!  The weather was a bit grey but at least it didn't rain.

After our ride we met my parents and had lunch in the restaurant, nothing posh but a nice self-service restaurant.  We were each given a complimentary glass of mulled wine and we were very well looked after.

Then in the evening I was jonied again by my husband and our two children for dinner at Tom Kerridge's smaller pub in Marlow, The Coach. 

Over the next few blog posts I will tell you more about my birthday, what presents I received, all about my party and the champagne afternoon tea my parents treated us to at Harrods.

Take a look at my photos below of my day out and what I wore!

Love Michelle xx

I wore my MaxMara Weekend sweatshirt (last winter) with my Next coated jeans and over the knee boots

I added in my bright red skiing jacket, it is so warm and nice to add some colour!

Me with my ever-youthful Mum!

Our horse (Henry) and carriage

The carriage was beautifully decorated for the season.  My sister had a fabulous hat on that she got in Paris!

In the evening I wore my new red boots from Zalando, my faux leather leggings from Mint Velvet and my midnight blue blouse from Boden