It's Sunday, right?

So who knows what day it is?

That isn't my way of admitting I'm sat here writing this blog post drunk...far from it...it is my way of capturing a time of year when we all lose track of what day

The past 7 days have no doubt been as busy for you as they have for me.
It was of course Christmas week! And I hope you have enjoyed yours as much as I have mine!
This is always, a week filled with last minute present buying, gift wrapping, gift giving, food buying, preparing, cooking and finally eating!

Not that I will bore you with the details of my Christmas week, needless to say it has been filled with last minute present buying, gift wrapping, gift giving, drinks with friends, food buying, preparing, cooking and of course eating!

It is however, a week in which we all say we're "off" but in truth we are more switched on in this week than any other as there is always so much to remember that come Christmas night we can't help but collapse into the nearest armchair and "just have 40 winks"!

Somehow, this one week coupled with unusual amounts of time off together and visiting friends and relatives we haven't seen since the year before leads to a very surreal feeling of waking up each day and basing our day around activities rather than the habits of the other 51 weeks of the year dictated by what day it happens to be.

Now of course I am full of the festive joys that this time of year brings, the food, the presents, the time with family all help reaffirm the world around you...but there is also something else bringing an unexpected cheer to my heart and affirmation for the passion that I have...writing!

That's right, by completing and publishing this blog post, I have somehow managed to complete the final (and arguably hardest for me) #RandomTask of the year!

I've done it! I've only gone and blooming well done it!

For those of you regulars, or at least recent regulars you will remember that on 16th November 2014 I made a triumphant return to this blog post after a 3 month absence and decided to challenge myself to not only return but be more prolific than ever before by publicly committing to the following #RandomTask:

"#8 Between now and 31st December 2014 I am going to publish a minimum of one new blog post per week (Monday to Sunday)"

For anyone who thought I was a dead-cert to fail a task that required regular blog posting (to be honest, from the outside looking in I would have thought exactly the same), I apologise for any bets lost or for making you question the reality in which you live.

Truth is, this hasn't felt like a task at all and has actually been the one that has given me the most pleasure and impetus to complete!
I have enjoyed having the ever impending countdown looming over me each week.
And most importantly, it has helped me find my voice again and end the year on a bigger high than I could have expected when I first started these #RandomTasks!

So why not carry this on?! That's why I am making my first #RandomTask of 2015 a continuation of my last for 2014:

#2015-1 Between now and 31st January 2015 I am going to publish a minimum of one new blog post per week (Monday to Sunday).

Unfortunately, my poem last weekend hasn't led to the Children's book deal I was hoping for, so no poem this week but I did receive some very kind feedback on it and the habits of how and when my blogs are read this past week, which is always enjoyed and nice to hear!***

Also back in my post from 16th November, I mentioned that I was still a long way from getting around to completing Danny Wallace's "Charlotte Street" (otherwise known as #RandomTask 7) so marked that #RandomTask down as "Ongoing".

Well, it's always good to carry the lessons of the years gone by with you into the year ahead so as not to make the same mistakes again. So with that in mind, I shall carry that #RandomTask forward in to 2015...but alter it slightly...

#7.5 Read one chapter of Danny Wallace's "Charlotte Street" each week until the book is completed.

See what I did there? Surely that's made it slightly less of the mountainous task it has become...surely?!

So with all of that tidied up, the final #RandomTask count for 2014 stands as:

#RandomTasks Set = 8 Completed = 5 Pending = 1 Failed = 2

Now, a 25% fail rate (not counting the Danny Wallace fiasco) may sound like a disaster, but as the intention of creating #RandomTasks in the first place was to improve my ability to commit to New Years Resolutions for longer than the first few months of any given year, I would say that the 62% success rate is the far more positive figure to focus on!

In fact that's exactly what I'm going to do...use that figure and aim to improve on that in 2015!
Let's agree to see what the year ahead holds and meet back here same time next year (obviously I encourage you to come back far more regularly than that but I was just trying to create some early suspense...I'll get better at it I promise!) and see if #RandomTasks have evolved and surpassed their inaugural year!

#2015-2 Achieve better than 62% success rate in #RandomTasks by the end of 2015

Technically that's 3 #RandomTasks to start the new year with...a pretty good start but I'm sure I'll be adding to that figure sooner rather than later so watch this space as for me, 2015 has so much potential to be the best year yet and I will be doing all that I can to make sure that potential is reached...and will no doubt be updating you on all that unfolds throughout the year!

And so I guess all that is left for me to say is...
Happy New Year to all my lovely readers, regulars and newbies, I hope 2015 is the happy, healthy and successful year we all hope for!
Do whatever works for you to make the resolutions you feel you need to make as successful as you need them to be and keep checking back here for updates on how I'm getting on with my #RandomTasks!

See you all next year!

p.s. For anyone wondering, the beard is coming along nicely, my grooming skills are improving and my girlfriend appears to have embraced my facial fuzz by buying me a "Beard Grooming Set" for Christmas, so be prepared for a future blog post solely inspired by all things beardy...tentatively entitled "A Close Shave" (thanks Nikki)!

***Hello Hannah and Scott, hope you enjoy this week's instalment, sorry there's no poem but you never know in future...now get up and out of bed, make a massive breakfast and enjoy all that the day brings!

Twas the Sunday before Christmas...

You could be mistaken for entering this blog post on the allusion that you expected my twist on a classic festive poem and if that is the case then I apologise to you, for it was never my intention to deceive nor to get you here under false pretences.

However, if you did venture this way for that reason then there is a good chance that you are in the festive spirit and one thing I can assure you is that this blog post is full of that!

For it is the Sunday before Christmas and my now weekly ritual of settling down to write some words of reflection from the 7 days gone by has coincided with me in high spirits for the week ahead...as it does this time every year!

It does help the week started with only 3 days at work (even if they were a little busy!) before officially breaking up until January 5th 2015! THE 5th...of JANUARY...2015!!! January of the 5th variety! I am only repeating it so many times as I am still in a state of disbelief that what lay ahead of me was 18 whole days away from work!

Now I'm not trying to rub it in for anyone who hasn't finished work for Christmas or have to work over the festive season but I am merely relaying my thoughts on why you find me in such high spirits.

Anyway, next on the festive agenda was a Thursday morning spent pounding the streets of Shrewsbury finally finding time to complete my Christmas shopping...a whole week ahead of the big day...and after 4 hours all decisions had been made, purchases completed and every site even vaguely Christmas related in my hometown had been taken in...I challenge anyone not to feel festive after that!

And if that wasn't enough, Friday was finally upon us...a day that had been pencilled in for months...a day that meant my girlfriend and I would be venturing back down to Ol' London Town for the 3rd and final time this year to stay with friends and gratefully participate in a trip to the Theatre on the Southbank to see the comedic PowerPoint genius called Dave Gorman!

Now I could go on for hours about my love of all things Dave Gorman over the past 15 years but I realise that that sentence alone kind of speaks for itself and I don't want to come across any geekier than I already do, neither do I want to bore those not interested or give away anything for those yet to see this tour.
Needless to say, the man who inspired my style of writing and love of all things graph and PowerPoint related was as incredible as ever and a wonderful time was had by all...well in our party of 4 at least, I can't speak on behalf of the other couple thousand or so people but you catch my drift!

Of course, afterwards as we strolled along the Southbank and back towards our homeward bound destination, we took in all the sights and lights that London had to offer, providing the perfect festive ending to a magical day!

(The London Eye by Night)

Then once Saturday arrived, the festivities just kept on coming as we decided to brave a trip in to Central London to join the hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers and peruse the offerings so called "Panic-Saturday" had to offer...even if no panicking was seen, neither were there more shoppers than usual and no hustling nor bustling occurred!

Add in to the mix joining our friends on their drive back up to Shrewsbury for their Christmas break, a road trip filled with Slade, Wham, Girls Aloud (who knew they made a Christmas album?!) and of course Chris Rea, let's just say it was like Top of the Pops Christmas Special...minus Fearne Cotton of course!

All of this topped off with a Sunday spent watching Four Christmases (never seen before but worth a watch this time of year), The Holiday (Manly I know and even though it was my girlfriends' choice, I didn't exactly protest), Sister Act 2 (one of my all-time favourite feel good films and one I'm not ashamed to know word-for-word) as well as Gavin & Stacey, all whilst wrapping the remaining Christmas presents and eating plenty of food, leading to the perfect festive ending to a week of festivities!

So let's do the maths...

18 Days off work + Christmas Shopping + Christmas Lights of London + 3 Hour Christmas road trip with friends + Christmas films and wrapping presents = One very happy and festive Andy!

And as this is more than likely the last blog post from me before you all wake up on Christmas Day to see what delights Santa has left for you, let me wish all my lovely readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...although I will re-empathise this sentiment next week when I post my final blog of the year, a nostalgic look back at 2014 as well as all that 2015 may hold!

p.s. For anyone wondering, the beard still exists...even if the grooming is still a little sketchy!

p.p.s. For those of you lured in by the title, here is your reward for sticking with me...

Twas the Sunday before Christmas

And as I sat on the couch

Hopefully no creatures were stirring

Especially no mouse!

The festive cheer was high

And the big day in sight

As I typed on my keyboard

Hoping to fill you with delight

Only 4 sleeps til Santa

Too much excitement to contain

It seems all the joys of Christmas 

had taken over my brain

So fill your days with loved ones

Your nights with festive cheer

Remember to be good boys and girls

And St. Nicholas will soon be here!

To Beard or Not To Beard...

So here I find myself once again, having had all week to write down the countless thought starters for blog posts, the hours that I wake in the night, feel too lazy to write down the thoughts that woke me and then forget them by morning.
The 45 minute commute to work and then the same back again where my mind wonders off on to full paragraphs...which then turn in to incomprehensible half-sentences by the time I'm able to write any of it down.

Now, I'm not saying that these lost thoughts would provide the solution for world hunger, end wars or topple corrupt governments, but at least they would provide me with a little more material to chose from and limit the potential that what you are left reading here is simply pure drivel (I've set myself up here I know)!

Instead, each of the past few weeks I've found myself sat on the sofa late on a Sunday night, racking my brain and hoping that the words that pour out make some sense and resemble something readable!

Truth is however, this Sunday night ritual is becoming quite therapeutic!

What started as a final attempt to end the year of blogging on a high (quite a simple task, seeing as more than one blog post in 3 months would have been a successful outcome!) by committing myself to blogging at least once at some point of each of the remaining 6 weeks of the year, has turned in to a mad dash on a Sunday evening in the feint hope that I may recount a tale from the 7 days prior that you may want to read.

With that in mind, the past 7 days have once again been slightly overtaken by work but one recurring theme has underlined this week even more... Facial hair!

Now regular readers of my blog posts will know the many brushes with my masculinity...or lack of it...over the years but one of the 2 main things I appear to have inherited from my dad is my ability to grow facial hair at a pretty alarming rate but until recently I have always opted to keep this down to the bare minimum designer stubble...(in case you're wondering, the other one is an ever expanding forehead, so the less said about that the better!)

However, as the cold nights have drawn in over the past couple of months I have been slowly introducing more and more hair to my face (through growth, not literally introducing my face to other people's hair).
Much to my girlfriends initial despair!
But sometimes, you have to play the long game and eeking out time between shaving longer and longer each time.

Until the past few weeks when I have avoided shaving completely and all of a sudden, as if from nowhere, I am suddenly a man with a beard!

I am literally growing myself masculine!

And it seems to be growing on my girlfriend as well! Well, not literally, that would be weird! But as the days pass and the beard remains, a new normal is being created...one that would be strange if I were to remove it!

But with increased masculinity, comes great responsibilities! All of which leads to all manner of decisions to make...What style? How long? How often to groom? Do I go professional? Do I just grow it out? Is it worth all of this effort?

In fact, 2 of my 3 open pages in my Safari browser are Beard Grooming related...which may be a little more than you wanted to know about me...but it just shows a) how seriously I am prepared to take this new part of my life and b) how desperate I am to ensure that this one shred of masculinity isn't ruined by all my other emasculated parts!

It really is a minefield! There are hours of videos available to the budding beard grower to help sculpt, style and pamper hair that happen to grow around the chin, neck and cheeks!

Thankfully, the research seems to have paid off and the first attempt at home grooming the beard didn't leave a chevron or two accidentally shaved in to my cheeks or one side-burn longer than the other.
Have no fear, you will be kept well informed of all things beard-related, whether you actually want to be or not!

I've actually conducted a few surveys of friends and family on the beard (even post-grooming) and so far all responses seem positive...so guess in the question of "To Beard or Not To Beard?", the answer is "A beard is for life...not just for Christmas"!

So, no moral tale this week and a relatively short narrative in comparison to many of my other endless ramblings but I hope you'll agree that on this journey of life even the simplest of things can have the greatest impact...even Facial hair! (Oops, maybe there was a thinly veiled moral tale)

p.s. For those of you wondering, the 3rd open page in my Safari browser is an Avocado smoothie recipe! I know what you're thinking...wish I hadn't asked! Yeah...I'm pretty rock and roll!

The Journey Continues...

Well it seems like only last week since we were last here... oh wait... you know what I mean anyway...essentially, doesn't time fly!

So since I spoke to you last my life has pretty much been consumed by... Work! Working 12 hour days Monday to Friday AND going in to work on a Saturday, you would think that the me you have grown to know so well through my periods of blogging inactivity would have let the busiest week of my year so far, get in the way...

Well this is the new me! Or the latest me at least but whilst this latest challenge I've set myself seems to be spurring me on I won't question it and hopefully long may it continue!

This is a new me that also reached the end of one journey this week and as of today starts the beginning of another!

I know what you're thinking... "That all either sounds very metaphorical or he's been Indiana Jones this whole time and we've never even realised it!"
But alas, I have not been deceiving you, nor have I taken to the metaphorical ramblings of Yoda!

Both of which would have been far more exciting and film script worthy than the tale that is about to follow...not that I'm trying to put you off...forget I said that and continue to read on with all the excitement and expectation of a Spielberg classic!

Instead, this a tale over 3 years in the making...but don't worry, I won't waffle on and bore you with the details, building a back story etc. Suffice to say, I had a sudden change in health that has taken on numerous forms, been tested in numerous ways and caused numerous amounts of uncertainty and very few answers. Something made all the worse by my very real phobia of all things medical...especially when it comes to tests!

So roll forward to August of this year... and after much deliberation and multiple conversations, it was during a busy social spell that I realised that something had to change.

I had noticed changes in my appearance, my energy levels and my overall awareness levels...all of which meant that a test was looming over the horizon.

I guess in the next scene came the lesser of multiple evils, a finger prick blood sample (which wasn't an easy experience either...just ask my sister and girlfriend!) sent off to the people of YorkTest to potentially provide me back with a list of food groups that I was showing an intolerance to.

Which, after what felt like an eternity, they certainly did...

And despite a knowledge at the back of my mind that it would definitely show something. Nothing had really prepared me for it to say this...

"Reactionary: Avoid Gluten, Wheat and Dairy"

Gluten, Wheat and Dairy!!! That's practically my entire diet!

This wasn't going to be easy. This would as big and drastic a lifestyle change that I have ever faced and surely it would be easier to just carry on as I was?!

But now it's there in black, white and red, something told me that I couldn't hide from it anymore. Here is the reason to make the change.

A change that would start with a prescribed 12 week journey of going "Free-From" these troublesome ingredients and in to the unknown. 

An unknown that saw me effectively go through the withdrawals symptoms we lovingly referred to as "cold turkey" in weeks one and two, a time in which I wasn't the easiest person to live with (sorry Zo!).

It has also been 12 weeks of increased food bills, as for those of you with any intolerances or allergies know, the alternatives don't come cheap!

But it has also been 12 weeks of eating more fresh and varied foods, expanding my horizon and monitoring what I am putting in to my body.

It might be a pain to read labels and be the "awkward one" when out with friends and family but you would be surprised just how many places cater for one, two or sometimes all three of these and many other strange requirements!

All of which has led me to this moment, 12 weeks on, feeling improvements, however slight but also realising that I'm not alone in this. Th research, conversations and help and support from friends and family all drive you on and ensure you turn your mindset from feeling like a victim, to simply being a part of life!

It was back in February of this year I wrote a blog post about how habits are formed (feel free to check out that post here...but do come back and finish this one straight after), during which I used a mixture of stats and even an interview with a close friend and personal trainer to basically make myself feel better about my inability to stick to new years resolutions or change my ways!

Now I don't expect you to remember that posts word for word (or even at all), especially with it being one of my more lengthy posts but as a quick reminder there is one paragraph within it that seems to be quite poignant at this moment in time...

"...resolutions don’t have to be drastic or negative.They can be little incremental changes that make the greatest impact and they should always be for the positive.
It’s often how you approach them that can lead to whether they will be achieved or not!
Nor do they have to be made just at the turn of the year. The desire to change or improve can come any day or night of the year.
It’s making sure that this change is the thing that will have the greatest impact on your life and that the desired outcome is the thing that you want more than anything."

Little did I know just how true some of these ramblings would turn out to be!

It's pretty safe to say that removing gluten, wheat and dairy from your diet is pretty drastic and could definitely be seen as a negative...but having the right support around me and approaching it in the right way certainly helped more than you would ever realise.

And last time I checked, August certainly isn't the turn of the year! The desire to finally focus on the change that would make the biggest impact to my lifestyle and help me achieve my desired outcome came shortly after my 28th birthday during the height of the summer!

To say it hasn't been easy would be an understatement...but sometimes the biggest drivers come unexpectedly and just stay with you throughout!

Trying to set myself #RandomTasks throughout the year to help make resolutions a success worked to an extent but as it turns out it was necessity that was my biggest driver to date.

And when it comes to your health, well that's the biggest motivator you can ever need to make a change...however small or large!

Now I don't know how long this next stage of my journey will be, when it will end or if this is the path that I am being led down for life.

All I know is that these first 12 weeks has seen the biggest change in my approach to all things food related and no matter how many ups and downs are to come, the improvements that I have seen so far have been enough to change my mindset from doing this in the vain hope that I'll be able to get back to eating the foods I once could...to actually finding enjoyment in a new healthier lifestyle and break myself out of my "comfort food zone".

So as we ebb nearer and nearer to the annual resolution time once more, take a second to think about what you really want to achieve...and if the answer doesn't come to you by January 1st fear not... some resolutions are for life, not just after Christmas!