Is This Mutton?

I'm not a big fan of the New Year's resolution. How many of us sign up for #DryJanuary, #nospendjanuary or #Veganuary, buy expensive gym memberships, and then feel bad when everything has fizzled out by February?

This time of year is challenging enough as it is without being so hard on ourselves, I always think. But, having said I don't make resolutions, I do plan a few tweaks to my routine. Hopefully these can be sustained.

Summer holiday motivator

One thing I like to do at the start of the New Year is book the summer holiday. This year we're back to the normal schedule of a June holiday and we're going to Parga for the first time, on the Greek mainland. A couple of things sold it for me. The hotel is right on the beach - I prefer swimming in the sea - and there's a water taxi to whisk us to the town, 2km away. That's the way to travel!

I find that booking the summer holiday automatically makes me think about eating healthily and wanting to go to the gym, and it doesn't seem like an effort. For the last week I've been eating a vegetarian diet (albeit with eggs and fish) for health reasons. I was appalled at the amount of fat that sits in the pan after the Sunday roast. I don't know if I'll sustain it but I'll give it a try. I bought a recipe book called Bosh! which has some fantastic ideas.

I'll never get Mr Mutton to eat this way so I have to prepare two meals now for dinner, but I used to do that anyway to be honest because he likes quite a lot of pasta (all the exercise he does) and I don't.

Last year's spending

One of the things I do every year is write down all the clothes and beauty products I buy. Mainly it's an aide memoir for when I'm blogging about something and need the exact name of a product. I had never counted up the number of items before. I had quite a shock when I did do it. I'm too embarrassed to give you the number of clothes, but what's shameful to me is that I don't wear a lot of them.

So I'm not going to buy anything until summer because I don't need to. I will be "shopping my closet" gals.

A couple of sale purchases were made at the end of December but they count as 2018 expenditure. Smile.

I need to reconcile myself to the fact that my life style has changed and I don't need certain clothes. At work the vibe is very casual. Most people wear jeans every day. I don't have the regular meetings in London with trendy ad and PR agencies that I used to have, and there are no glitzy award dinners to attend. When I need to dress smartly, I have enough jackets, trousers, skirts and blouses. I don't need new ones.

And as for putting on the glitz, forget it. My sequinned numbers and LBD's hang forlornly in the wardrobe waiting for an outing that will never happen.

Making more friends

One thing I consciously want to address this year is finding more women to socialize with. Over the years, I moved around a lot, and some of my dearest friends live a very long way away so I don't see them very often. I live a long way away from where I work, and it was the same in my last job. Doesn't help with socializing.

I used to go out with various Meet Up groups, and had a lot of fun - it's a great way to meet people. I went to recitals, on lovely walks and visits to cultural attractions. I don't have a lot of time for it now, except Saturdays, but I'm keen to do more. On Saturday I'm meeting some fellow bloggers for an afternoon tea, and really looking forward to it.

What are your plans for 2019? Do share in the comments.

It's time now for #WowOnWednesday where you're invited to add your fashion and beauty posts. Last week's readers' favourite was fashion blogger Nancy's reminder for the The Good Buy/Goodbye book: Coats. I considered myself reminded, and submitted a picture. You'll have to wait to see if it was a good buy or a goodbye!

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