Tag: weekend

Reasons to be Happy

Reasons to be Happy

by TartanJogger ♥ 3 Comments

Welcome to my occasional series of posts on positivity, and reasons to be happy. Sometimes, counting your blessings is a really good thing. 🙂

This week I’m very grateful for:

1. My health. A little niggle in my ankle is nothing!

2. Planning. Lists, lists, lists are my friend, as always 🙂

3. Making a lifestyle decision, and sticking to it, seems to be reaping some benefits.

4. Having a weekend of Homeland ahead of me. Since Series 3 isn’t on Netflix, we’ve gone ahead and bought the box set, so that we’re up to date before series 4 begins.

5. Finding that my local Co-op was selling bottles of Chablis half price tonight. I love a bargain!

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What are your reasons to be happy this week?

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 12 Comments

Whooooooooooooosh!

That was how last week was for me: it ran right past me, and disappeared into the distance!

But this weekend has been our first weekend at home for weeks, with very little planned except cleaning and gardening, of course 😉

So I’m starting this week refreshed and raring to go. And there’s a new series of The Biggest Loser US on right now: motivation overload!

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Now, go out there, and embrace this week!

 

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 3 Comments

My goodness, August has almost drawn to a close, and I noticed that the leaves on the trees in Lochgilphead are turning a little yellow – autumn will be here all too soon!

We had a brilliant weekend once again, it’s always great fun catching up with family. I have a really busy week coming up, followed by the Foodshare 5 miler on Saturday. And we’re doing our family Secret Santa draw at the weekend, too – happy days 🙂

Just to underline the news that autumn is on it’s way, its our Fantasy Football Draft next Sunday too. Wowee!

I’ll try to get my outstanding blog posts up soon…..

Meanwhile, here’s something I’m going to be putting into practice this week:

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Does this strike a chord with you too?

 

Reasons to be Happy

Reasons to be Happy

by TartanJogger ♥ 10 Comments

I’m sure that most of you have seen, or participated in the ‘3 days of positivity’ posting on FaceBook. I was lucky to have been nominated by Allison the Running Princess earlier in the summer.
I really enjoyed it, and I’ve now decided that a ‘Reasons to be Happy’ post might be a nice, regular addition to my blog.
I’ve slipped with blogging recently- life does sometimes get in the way- and that’s something I am using as a positive: I’m lucky to be so busy!

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So, this week I’ve had many reasons to be happy.
1. I get to spend time with family tomorrow: I can’t wait!
2. It was @TheWelshWookie’s birthday yesterday and it was also my nephew Kieran’s birthday too, so Kieran surprised @TheWookie with a FaceTime call last night!
3. I had a busy, positive, productive Dream Team meeting yesterday.
4. My GSR t shirt AND my GB Relay medal both arrived in today’s post. Hurrah 🙂
5. It’s 50 days until our trip to Disneyland Paris!
What are your reasons to be happy this week?

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 5 Comments

Well, where did that weekend go? It whooshed right past me!

We had a fantastic run at the Tarbert 10K. The weather wasn’t great, but it was such a fun race with the BEST support of any race I’ve taken part in.

I’m afraid that I’ve been really busy lately, and I’ve yet to fill you in on both the Kilt Run and the TT10K, but I’ll get to those whenever I can: bear with me!

You might remember me complaining about mentioning my ankle being tender during this summer, which had curtailed my training this year. Well, it has taken it’s toll, and my ankle is yelping at me after Saturday’s run. I know now that I’ve definitely done the right thing postponing the GNR and my first marathon attempt.

This quote really got me through Saturday’s run: I was really relaxed, and quite content to sit near the back of the field:

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I have another busy week ahead – I’m sure you do too – enjoy!

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 6 Comments

Happy Monday!
I hope you have been enjoying glorious sunshine today and not the dreary rain we’ve had here. I’ve had a wonderful weekend, including running a fantastic 5k at the Perth Kilt Run.
While we didn’t achieve the world record, it was a great day. More about that later in the week.
I was caught in a photo taken by one of the official photographers and, well, I knew I’d gained a few pounds since the wedding, but being confronted by the photographic evidence is something else!
So, when I saw this tonight, I had to share it:

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I’m now firmly back on the bandwagon. Nine weeks until Disneyland Paris, so it’s time to refocus!

A Break from the Games, Back to the Village

A Break from the Games, Back to the Village

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I thought you might appreciate a little break from my posts about the Commonwealth Games. While I’m watching the gymnastics, including another gold for Team Scotland, I thought I’d share a local Tarbert festival, which I missed this year.

While @TheWelshWookie and I were sunning ourselves in Tenerife, my family were at our house, enjoying Tarbert Seafood Festival! I enjoyed last year’s festival so much that I split my review into two posts, which you can read here and also here.

They had fabulous weather, and they told me that there were even more stalls than there were last year. They enjoyed sampling the seafood delights:

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Enjoyed a little beer:
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and basked in glorious sunshine.
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Stacey was a winner this year: she won a fishcake! No, not a fishcake, but a Fish Cake! Nom nom nom.
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And on the Sunday, they enjoyed the music at Beer on the Pier. They took the boys over to the outdoor gym, and were able to enjoy the music from the other side of the harbour. Smart thinking, guys!
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There is no way we’ll be missing the festival in 2015 😀

The Vikings Were Here!

The Vikings Were Here!

by TartanJogger ♥ 11 Comments

The week before we went to Tenerife was a very special one in Tarbert.
For months, villagers had been working on building a proper Viking longoat. It was made by hand, using traditional techniques. And, it was ready to celebrate the inaugural Tarbert Viking Festival, and the traditional boat festival.
So, during the week leading up to the festival, the village was overrun with Vikings, who sailed the boat to ‘raid’ local villages. It seemed like lots of fun!

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We missed the main event on the Saturday, which was a reenactment of Magnus Barefoot’s historic claiming of Kintyre as part of his kingdom. In 1093, Magnus and his Viking hoard laid claim to all of Scotland’s islands. An island was described as any body of land that his boat could circumnavigate. When he arrived in Tarbert, he and his men carried the longboat from the East Loch to the harbour, thereby circumnavigating Kintyre. Hence, Kintyre is known as the Mainland Island 🙂
On the Friday, the Vikings made a victorious return to Tarbert from their marauding and we celebrated with a big barbeque, music and a ceilidh.
The weather was great, and it was lovely to see the village busy.

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The music was provided by villagers, and was brilliant. There were folk groups:

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And choirs:

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A barber shop group:

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And even this guy did a few songs…… do you recognise him?

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We had a famous attendee: Rory McCann, who plays The Hound, Sandor Clegane in Game of Thrones. To be honest, he didn’t seem very pleased to have been spotted. I asked if he’d allow me to have a photo taken with him, and he said ‘no’, and walked off 😦 Good casting, maybe?
Anyway, we had a lovely evening, and it set us up very well for our holiday!

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Have you ever been refused a photo or autograph before?

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!

by TartanJogger ♥ 11 Comments

Sorry, I felt the need to shout that out!

This evening, @thewelshwookie and I are going to enjoy some music in the village, as its the Viking Festival this weekend. It’s also the traditional boat festival, and for those coming along, it will be a great weekend.

We’ll miss the rest of the weekend fun in Tarbert as tomorrow we’re off to see my brother Joe bungee off the Titan crane! Eek!

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And then, on Sunday, we’re off to our other favourite place on the planet, Tenerife.

Can’t wait to see this beautiful island again!

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I’ll be posting from time to time over the next couple of weeks, when WiFi and time allows.
Do you have any plans for the next fortnight?

Celebrating World Gin Day!

Celebrating World Gin Day!

by TartanJogger ♥ 19 Comments

I  mentioned yesterday that @TheWelshWookie and I had been to one of our very favourite places on Saturday: Portavadie Marina.

We were looking for any excuse, really, to take a trip on the new hybrid ferry, MV Lochinvar 😉 What better excuse than to go for lunch – and celebrate World Gin Day – at Portavadie!

The weather was absolutely beautiful: it was gloriously sunny as we strolled down to the ferry terminal. We popped into a few shops on the way, buying  bottle of white grape & elderflower presse for adding to gin later on in the evening.

The first thing we noticed about the new ferry was how quiet she was! The engine, being a hybrid, merely purred, making for such a pleasant journey. The interior lounge has much more seating than before, and there are two observation areas with seating on the upper decks. Impressive!

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We arrived at Portavadie, and walked around to the marina. We saw that construction is now under way on the leisure complex: I can’t wait until the pool and its facilities are built!

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by Chris, who’s service is always fantastic. We took a seat on the sofas while we perused the lunch menu, and ordered a Botanist gin each. Oh, my. It’s definitely my absolute favourite gin of the moment: it’s from Islay, which is much more famous for its whisky. We had a chat with Ian, the General Manager, and it was so great to hear of the future plans for Portavadie: it’s exciting times ahead!

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When we were ready we were seated for lunch. Most of the other guests had opted to sit outside, but I much prefer to eat indoors (I’m weird, I know). I had the smoked haddock with mustard potato salad and pancetta crisp; @TheWelshWookie had Tarbert scallops with black pudding and roasted potatoes. Both were -ma-zing!

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Of course, we also had dessert. I had a white chocolate mousse with mini toffee apples and raspberry sorbet; @TheWookie had pineapple crumble with coconut ice cream. Yum.

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After taking a stroll around the marina, having a look in the shop (of course), we had another G&T before heading home on the ferry.

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We had a fabulous day, as ever!

Did you celebrate World Gin Day on Saturday? Do you prefer to eat indoors or outdoors?