Get Active! Part 1

I am very lucky in the fact that I can eat anything I want and not really put on weight.

The problem with this is that I do eat anything I want! I'm not an extra big meal person, but I snack like anything and choose whatever I fancy, which is usually unhealthy!

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My issue here is that I worry all the bad stuff is building up on the insides, around my arteries etc, and I don't do anything to get rid of it. I'm the least sporty person you'll ever meet, I was literally the person always picked last for teams, and I didn't blame them!

So being active is what I plan to do this year! (I don't want to call it a new years' resolution - I've only ever kept one of them and that was to get my tattoo!) It's my promise to myself that I will get active and healthy. 

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There are so many benefits to being active (I'm trying to avoid the word exercise!) including reducing risk of serious illnesses (heart disease, cancer, strokes...) by up to 50%, reducing the risk of dementia, Alzheimers, stress and depression.

(These health benefits are based on 2 and a half hours and week of aerobic exercise plus 'muscle strengthening activity' according to the NHS, but if you're active for any amount of time it's better than not at all!) 

It also really increases your mood and self-esteem due to all the endorphins (happy chemicals!) it releases into your brain.

So in my quest to get active I started thinking about what I could do. Swimming was my first choice. To me it just feels so much more comfortable and less scary than running - running is always cold and uncomfortable and I think I've been going for ages and completely worn out when I've only been running 5 minutes. Swimming is also very good for you - because of the resistance of the water it is a much better cardio and muscle workout than you originally think.  It's a full body workout as well, toning your arms, tummy, back, legs and bum, all while gliding up and down the pool. 

Even though you have the hassle of swimming costumes, remembering all your clothes for after, driving home dripping wet and trying to get the chlorine out your hair, I still find it so much easier than running (this shows you how much I hate running!).

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So last Friday I dug out a swimming costume, found a towel, remembered to take pants for after, and set off to the pool. I'd set myself a goal of 20 lengths (which is about a 3rd of a mile in my pool). This might not sound much but I hadn't done anything active in a very long time. 

I struggled. 

People make swimming look so easy and graceful, but it really isn't! By length 12 I was really starting to suffer. I was regularly running out of breath and my arms we getting soooo painful, but I battled on. Length 18 I almost gave up, but stood at the edge of the pool and thought 'it's really not that far...' so forced myself to carry on. By the end of length 20 I was exhausted and felt like a giant was standing on my lungs, but it's so satisfying to reach your goal. 

The funny thing was, by Sunday, I couldn't wait to do it again. As I said (and you probably knew anyway), exercise (I said it!) releases endorphins (so difficult to resist a Legally Blonde quote here!), but I didn't realise how effective they were. At the weekend I felt so happy with myself, and really wanted to get out and do it again. If I can keep this up all year I'll definitely be a happier person!

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I have more to say about my quest to get active in 2014, but I think that's quite enough for today - apologies for the long post. I'll update you soon about what else I'm doing to get active!

Bucks x

Remember to follow me on twitter here: @Alicebuckley92 and bloglovin' here 

Mini Wonderland MK

As I mentioned in a recent post, Milton Keynes almost had a disastrous Christmas when it's own 'Winter Wonderland' was cancelled on it's second day after stacks of complaints from visitors and parents of upset children who had had their dreams ruined. You can read about it more here, but basically the promised ice rink was a few sheets of plastic, and 'Santa' was a group of young skinny guys who's beards were falling off and who hadn't bothered to do their costumes up properly so their normal clothes were on full view.


Now, I'm not claiming that all residents of Milton Keynes are fantastic - working in a nightclub in the town centre for a year and a half made me dislike a large proportion of them - but there are some residents who deserve more praise than they get. This includes the group of parents who clubbed together to try and save Christmas for the children of MK.

This group has 5 days to organise their unofficial 'Mini Wonderland MK', where they were going to set up a Santa's grotto and free ice skating for anyone who had booked for the Winter Wonderland disaster. They also wanted stalls such as crafts, cake and a raffle to raise money for charity.

MK Ice, a not for profit ice rink in the centre of Milton Keynes gave their space, and honoured the free ice skating, and the group rallied round local businesses, corporate businesses and local residents for donations to help the event happen. The response was crazy, with some corporate businesses donating very large amounts of money, and local businesses donating their trade (one business printed out all the signs on proper board for free, and 50 Christmas trees plus decorations were donated)

I found out about the event over Facebook, and saw they were asking for volunteers. I LOVE Christmas, I love that you walk down the street and you can just feel Christmas in the air, everyone's happy and everything is pretty. To think that some children had had their Christmas ruined by the Winter Wonderland hit a nerve with me so I wanted to volunteer my time.

When I arrived at the ice rink there were stalls up and Christmas trees being decorated and it all looked very festive, and even just this would have been a feat to achieve in the 5 days the group had to plan the event. But this was before you got to Santa's grotto. The grotto was INCREDIBLE. It looked so magical and Christmassy, it was insane that that could have been done by a small group of parents. There was stars and reindeer and trees and proper grotto buildings (even if they were inflatable). I can't describe it well enough, so have a look for yourself:

Most of the things in the grotto had been rented at a reduced price, or donated. The creativity that went into the grotto was amazing and I cannot imagine that even a real planned grotto that parents pay fortunes for their children to visit would be able to match this.

The feedback from the parent and children was fantastic, they all loved it and had nothing but praise for the organisers. We heard stories from families that had been to visit the original MK Wonderland, and those who had booked. One dad said he hadn't told his children they were coming to Mini Wonderland right up until they got here because he couldn't bare for them to be disappointed again.

One thing everyone was saying was how good Santa was. Obviously parents and adults know that the Santa they are visiting is just one of his helpers really, as the real one is busy getting ready for Christmas ;) But after hearing all the praise for this Santa I went in to see him, and I'm pretty sure he's the real one!

He told me how he's from a big family of Santa's who have been doing their job for centuries, he spoke about how difficult it's getting to fly his sleigh now he has to avoid so many commercial flights, and how he's getting frustrated that all children want now are gadgets, they're not happy with simple wooden toys and imagination anymore. I know he is just a man in a costume with a beard, but he really made you believe he was Father Christmas and made it even more magical for the children.

I was so proud to be involved in an event like that which had honestly saved some people's Christmas, and the group of parents who worked non-stop for 5 days to make it happen, and all the volunteers and people who donated are awesome.

If you want to know more about it check out their Facebook page here

Sorry that was a long post but it needed to be said! Hope you all had a great Christmas, I'll hopefully post something soon!

Bucks x

Follow me on twitter: @Alicebuckley92 and Bloglovin' here

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone!
I've been so rubbish at posting recently, I have a backlog of posts I want to do, but no time to do them! I was so busy over the festive period visiting family and friends, but now things have settled down a bit I'll catch up on this.

Hopefully I'll have a Christmassy post up by the end of the day, and another post by the end of the week.

For now I'll leave you with this festive bunny and grumpy cat:

Photos from here

Bucks x

Don't forget to follow me on twitter: @Alicebuckley92