Time to get my run on... (sorry quite a personal post)

Yesterday I signed myself up to run the Race for Life! eeek! Quite daunting for me as I am not a runner and have never run three miles in my life, but I'm determined to do it because I want to get into running and also because unfortunately Cancer has affected quite a few of my family members.

My dad died nearly two years ago now. At only 54, very active and healthy (he used to run 5 miles everyday, never drank and ate nothing but salad) he started getting really bad headaches, and started to lose the ability to read properly - like he was developing dyslexia. The doctors told him it was stress but after a while he went for a scan and was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The cancer was very aggressive, he had an operation to remove some of the tumour and he had radiotherapy and chemotherapy but within a year the cancer had defeated him.
My grandparents also both died from cancer and more recently one of my best friends' dad died too.
This is the main reason why I'm doing this - because cancer is one of the biggest killers these days and we need to help the scientists to find a cure for it but to do this they need money to fund vital research.
Unfortunately it seems as though most people these days know someone who has been affected by cancer - whether directly or indirectly.
I would love it if any of you would like to sponsor me - no matter how small a donation (every penny counts) or just words of encouragement would be appreciated!

Please click here to sponsor me online!

(Me and my daddy)

Manths xxx

challenge 28 and 27

These aren't the most exciting of challenge posts so I thought I would put these two together...

28- A photo of your mobile

I don't know why you would want to see a photo of my mobile but here it is... it is an Iphone 4 and yes that is a sparkly cover (every girl needs a bit of bling as my mum always tells me - she actually bought the cover for me!)

27 - A photo of you 2 years ago

(It's supposed to be one photo but I started reminiscing looking at old photos so I thought I'd share a few)

 

me (on the right) and my beautiful friend Rose

Me and the BF

These were all roughly taken during summer 2008. I don't think I've changed that much apart from my hair which is now blonder (I change my hair A LOT).

Manths xx

You really are beautiful....

This time of year, in the run up to summer, seems to be the time when people everywhere (myself included) start excessively worrying about how they look or how they 'should' look in anticipation of wearing less in the summer heat.
Pictures of bikini-clad models with flawless skin and legs up to their armpits are shoved into our faces everywhere we look, in the hope of selling us some amazing wonder product that will make us look like them....
Today was one of those days where I was worrying about having to up my workouts to get in shape and increase my beauty regime in an attempt to banish my cellulite and uneven skin (like these adverts keep telling me I should) so I can look polished and proud when I have to brave it in my bikini on my holiday in two months. *yawn* It's the same process every year...

Then, when reading through my blog roll this morning, I read something that made me smile and gave me a metaphoric slap in the face as if to say 'Samantha stop being so bloody negative about yourself'.


Please please please take a moment to read this post from *Bitch Cakes*

I promise you it will be worth it.
And remember no matter what size you are, whatever supposed 'imperfections' you think you may have,

YOU REALLY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!!


Manths xx

Blog challenge 29 - favourite pair of shoes

This was a hard one for me - I LOVE shoes!!



This is my collection (not all of them, some more are scattered around the house!)
So this was a very difficult dicision for me! But I think my favourite shoes to look at are these...



My Irregular Choice shoes - they are beautiful but are ultimate toe squishers so unfortunately I never wear them!
Even the soles were pretty (before I wore them out and scratched the bottoms)



You can almost see what it was - looks kind of like a scene out of Noddy!

My favourite shoes to wear though (and ones I wear almost everytime I go out at the moment) are these...



Perfect for summer I think and apparently nude shoes make your legs look longer (At 5ft 2 I need all the help I can get!!)

Manths xx

Times are a-changing - Normal sized models on vogue cover!!

At least I hope times are changing.

This is the front cover of Italian Vogue's July issue (Courtesy of Dailymail.co.uk) featuring 'plus -size' models (average size to us normal folk)!
It's editor Franca Sozzani's continuing campaign against pro-anorexia websites and I think it's brilliant.
They are not half-hidden, covered up or made to look smaller than they are but are flaunting what they've got in sexy underwear.
Franca Sozzani I salute you! Keep up the good work!

What do you guys think?

Manths xx