I spent a long afternoon at the swimming pool today, it's definitely my new favourite calorie burner and is great for the winter when it's hard to get outside to run. I came home with a plan to relax though as it was a tough 2 hour session.

I came across the Radisson Blue Quiz on my travels and have managed to while away an hour or so answering questions on Europe in order to try and win some pretty fantastic prizes for a travel nut like me. Up for grabs are 1000 giftcards that can be used at any Radisson Blu hotel as well as weekends away at some of the most desired cities in Europe including Madrid and Helsinki.

I spent so long playing because the questions are pretty easy and I feel like I stand a good chance at scooping one of the prizes if I stick at it, plus it's fun and I am learning a little something new a long the way.

All you have to do is answer three questions about Europe and Radisson Blu and if you get them all correct you will get the chance at an instant prize – spin the wheel and cross your fingers and hope it lands on one of the giftcards valued at €20 – €100. Then regardless of if you got all the answers correct or not you can enter the draw to win one of the weekend stays – drawn once per week between now and January 3rd.

If I won one of the giftcards I would definitely use it in one of the Radisson Blu hotels here in the UK. My fiance and I have been to York in December the last two years and keep saying we'd love to go in the summer as well – so it's not as cold and more things are open. When we were there a few weeks ago the river ouse was frozen and we couldn't walk the walls as they were closed due to ice.

You need to be 18 to enter and can read the full terms and conditions on the website.

Sponsored Post

Share hosted by Wikio

In the last few months alone I have been on 3 shopping sprees where I have bought new jeans, a new handbag and a new coat among other things and I have also had my hair cut (something I do very rarely!) and had a massage. It’s a great way to reward myself

The next thing I need to get is some shoes though, or more specifically some boots – winter is just around the corner

I found a great voucher code for 20% off at Schuh and as it’s one of my favourite shoe shops any way how could I possibly resist? I always check for voucher codes before buying anything online as there’s usually something out there that will save you at least a few pence.

The only dilemma I have now is that I don’t know which pair to go for as there are three I absolutely love – but couldn’t justify getting them all at once.

It’s a good job my parents are visiting tomorrow because my mum is always great at offering her opinion on shoes and every thing else. It’s one of the main things I have missed since moving away from home – shopping with my mum and getting her opinion on everything

The fall fashion season is upon us and I could not be happier, I think it’s my favourite fashion season (also the television is pretty great ) because I just love the idea of wrapping up warm and I love wearing long boots. I have already bought a new coat this season but still want to get plenty more. It’s one of the many advantages of losing weight – there’s always an excuse to buy new clothes as the weather changes

I would love to go to the Liz Claiborne New York Outlets and just dive in. It’s hard to say how long I would be there but given I can spend 4 hours in Matalan alone I am guessing I could easily spend an entire day from dusk til dawn and that would be under normal circumstances, never mind right now when they have 40 – 70% off absolutely everything, this includes all the newest fall items, how could any girl resist?

Seriously what are you waiting for, find your nearest Liz Claiborne store, hop in your car, grab a girlfriend or two along the way and shop til you drop!

I’ve been at it again, treating myself.

This definitely seems to be my new thing, rewarding myself with shopping for clothes and cosmetics and jewellery and other girlie goodness. I never used to bother treating myself so am not sure why now that I am almost at my goal weight I have started to do so, but I like it

Bottega Verde is one of my (many) favourite cosmetics brands but you could only get their products in Italy previously. Now they are coming to the USA thanks to the Internet so that we can order all their goodies online and I am very excited. I absolutely love their aloe products as I have sensitive skin and have always found aloe vera really gentle but still effective.

Check out this gorgeous Italian package they are offering as well, I think I would kill someone to own that as it would sit perfectly in my collection

That will have to wait until my next ‘treat’ though as I just spent far too much to celebrate my ‘normal’ BMI on a gorgeous brand new size 10 coat.

I have just spent far too much time and far too much money on BH Cosmetics, but that’s OK, I deserve a treat. I have reached another weight loss goal – weighing in at 8.13 I am now under 9 stone and have not been in the 8′s since I was a very young teenager. Obviously I don’t want to reward myself with food so shopping for clothes, accessories and make up is the next best thing

I got a gorgeous new coat that is a size 10 – the lowest I have ever been and as I say, just ordered a load of gorgeous makeup goodies from BH Cosmetics. I have never used their products before but a few friends do and they have been telling me how great they are so I decided to give them a go.

The BH Cosmetics eyeshadow have come most highly recommended because it is highly pigmented, bendable and has really strong staying power which would suit my long days perfectly as I don’t want to have to worry about reapplying – once or at most twice per day is plenty for me.

I am excited for when all my packages get here

Things were pretty strange the first few days and we did eat a lot of take away and general bad food but we quickly got back on track and I am pleased to say we are back to good healthy eating and I have even managed to lose a couple of pounds. I weight less than 9 stone for the first time in my entire life now

I have also got back into running, my knee plays up a little bit still sometimes but it’s not like it was – because of the gap in running I have gone backwards a bit and am having to build it back up again, but I hope to be back up to running for around 40 minutes soon enough.

Things are looking good.

Of course this changed when I got older and had to pay for them myself, I had no idea how much they cost before that – my poor parents must have spent $1000s on them for me.

I have missed them since I stopped needing to wear them, but at the same time was happy about the money I was saving.

Now I have found a site where you can get them for as little as $8, yes I said $8. It’s a a well known and respected company, they even had an article written about them in The Examiner recently.

At $8 I think I am going to order some with plain lenses to start wearing – I no longer need a prescription but that doesn’t mean I can’t still were glasses if I want to, right?

I think I am going to go for a nice black rimmed pair, keep it simple and classic – though they have an awful lot of much more funky ones to choose from.

I remember having many times of despair along the way, when it was hard, or weight loss was slow and thinking to myself that at this rate I will still be fat in 3 years – I managed to talk myself around by pointing out that I may still be fat in 3 years, but I’d certainly be a lot less fat and more healthy if I stuck with it than if I didn’t. That 3 years was going to pass either way, so I may as well stick at it – right?

And now here it is 3 years later, and yes I am still technically fat according to my BMI – but only just, I am very nearly at my goal and let me tell you I am infinitely happier and more confident in my own skin that I was then

I actually lost 2lbs.

This makes me very happy as I have not lost any wieght no matter what I have tried recently – however I am not getting too excited, my weight often fluctuates a lot and I will have to wait and see if it stays off over the next week when I return to my regular eating habits.

I will keep you updated.

I have decided to treat myself to something nice as a reward, I had been hinting at my fiance that perhaps he’d like to treat me and take me away for a night or two away somewhere nice, but like most men he doesn’t seem to have picked up on it.

Even though the Accor Hotels 3-Day Super Sale Asia Pacific starts tomorrow and they have some killer prices with rates starting as low as $30 per night, I don’t think we’ll be able to stretch that far – given we’d need to pay $100s for flights as well lol – maybe when I reach my overall and final goal though hey? You can book now for dates between December and April so I may well have actually reached my final goal by then.

I will just have to settle for the nice cardigan I have seen instead, I have had my eye on it for a while and it actually makes sense to reward myself with clothes – I love buying UK size 12!