Run Forrest run!

Hola Blogworld!

Moi? Slacking already? Never! Just been a manic few weeks promise! Just had a check through the day zero list and I've not made as much headway as I would've like.... quick update for you:

So No 1 on the list: Run a half marathon..... I've of late been getting back into the habit of regular pavement pounding and so the thought of enduring a half marathon later on this year isnt quite as horrendous as first consider. Although when I attempted 5 miles on Sunday some sort of thing pinged in my foot, which led to shin pain and altogether uncomfortableness which ultimately meant 1 mile in and I was done for. But, not one to give in, new trainers have been ordered (think the 6 year old ones I was plodding may have been slightly past their run by date) so will hope to regain some miles next week. I am also considering something a bit mad for charity close to my friends heart along the half marathon vein..... will post more if I dont come to my senses soon. I blame that Eddie Izzard.

Another dream for 940 days time is to have safely fallen in love. If not with a member of the opposite sex I have a fall back in the guise of my BF baby Toby, whats not to love. But in the hope that there might be a member of the opposite sex out there who isnt repulsed by me I've relogged on for a free trial to online dating. Dare I say there appears to be a slightly better calibre of fellow singletons out there, either that or my standards have dropped since crimbo. More than possible. Anyway. am considering being a fully paid up member again so watch this space......

No 81 get my toenails sorted out, won't elaborate on this as theres never a good time to discuss feet but have been to the doctors and am on the tablets to hopefully sort it out. If I could just fast forward to 6 months time please...... great timing as ever by me, the flip flop season will have come and gone before I can show off my swanky new and improved feet.

Still comping daily, have won something else...... a cuddly koala. That had better not be my third lucky thing, I would have preferred the £10,000 GMTV giveaway if I had the choice??

Right, think thats me dayzero accomplishments up to date, busy weekend coming up where I am hoping to give the drink more cocktails a good going over when in London!

x x x

Week 3: Spring is here = cleaning time!

God what a boring title - I might as well say switch off now..... don't though, I'll fill this with fun, promise!

So how has the last week been with the Day Zero? Well as the title suggests, as the sunshine broke out I decided that its officially Spring and therefore naturally time to spring clean the gaff! Well, when I say Gaff, I mean 1 and a bit rooms, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day, TC's house wasn't cleaned in a day. True story. But I did achieve another tick this week 'clean the undersink cupboard out'. Now, bearing in mind I hadn't actually removed everything since I moved in 4 years ago (sssssssssssshhhhh I dont want Kim & Aggy after me!) it was traumatic but I found out that I had enough dishcloths & wire wool thingys to last me a lifetime. If I could find a spare 5 mins (well 5 hours) in my week I do intend to pursue this cleaning burst before the dust settles on what I've just cleaned.

Improving my Excel knowledge is also a work in progress that is going well. I have been impressing myself at work and have been making a spreadsheet at every opportunity, formulas and all, with a bit of shading thrown in for good measure (thanks dummies guide to...... ) Next stop Powerpoint!

After the lucky streak thats been following me around, the third thing has yet to materialise - still been plugging away at the comps & the lottery.

Saying Si instead of Nada is always a toughie with me - set in my ways & sometimes lazy. I may have not said yes instead of No but I have definitely kept to plans this weekend where maybe in the past it would have been easier to say sorry I can't make it anymore & made up a rubbish excuse. As a result of this, I've had one of the best weekends I've had in a while.... not straying further than 5 miles from home..... hadn't actually thought of it like that. hmmmmmm.

Anyway, this coming week is going to hopefully involve lots more cleaning, cocktail drinking, cake baking, laughing & who knows, I might even leave a post it note in a random place! No, I'm not telling you where.... that'll spoil the surprise!

God, it didnt really get much better did it - apologies for a sleep inducing blog. Must try harder! x

Week 2: Am I going against fate?

Week two of the day zero project and already I am experiencing the 'wall'. Its actually proving harder than I thought, maybe its been one of those weeks where time slips by & before you know it its Sunday. I think I'm also on the back foot, because I've either failed at achieving a challenge or I've gone against what fate may have sent my way....

Item 57 on the list was go to Wimbledon and watch a tennis match. I'm a huge tennis fan, especially of the mens games (it has nothing to do with the Roddicks legs or Nadals 'guns' I promise!) & every year whe wimbledon is on, I'm swearing that next year i'm going to be there, fanning myself on centre court - cos obviously the sun gods would be shining. So last October, I entered the ballot and low and behold I had notifcation that I had been allocated tickets for the semi finals on centre court......... but the only hitch is that they are for the ladies semis. Now not to be ungrateful but it does seem to be money I don't have being blown on tennis I don't actually follow. So, I've made the brave decision to go against fate and let them go. Part of my Wimbledon experience will now be more than likely spent queuing up from silly o clock next year.... hope its not a tick I fail to achieve due to my meddling with fate.... time will tell I'm sure.

I went away for the weekend to Bristol & had a super time. Laughed, drank, ate & danced (repeat to fade) my little socks off so I managed to slurp a few cocktails, another work in progress tick. Need to add a small something though....... I had given up chasing boys for lent in the hope it would kickstart me for the rest of this project, but due to the influence of aforementioned cocktails, I fell off the lent wagon in spectacular style. RUBBISH! Do I feel I learnt from my slip up, honestly? No. One thing I've probably learnt already in the early stages of this journey is that you can't alter human make-up. That may be a work in progress for a long time to come.

Before I go, one bit of exciting news resulting from my project, remember last week I told you in order to make my appreciation known more I had written to my favourite author? Well he only replied didnt he! Albeit a short a sweet oneliner, but he called me ace so thats more than fed my little ego. Being nice pays kids.

So.... short and sweet from little old me this week. Have decided that in order to tackle the items on the list I need to make another smaller sublist (told you I had an addiction) each week to make some progress otherwise this blog is going to make for pretty dull reading (if its not already!)

Have a great week! x

101 things in 1001 days...... pfffffttttt no problem!

So, its been on my personal to do list for some time - the to do lists to top all to do lists....... The Day Zero Project. Now for those that aren't aware of what this is (shame on you) its a to do list of 101 things that you have a 1001 days to complete it in. No sweat. No pressure. The idea is to have items on the to do list of things you have wanted to achieve for some time, be it minor or major which you the have 3 years to complete.

I finally managed to come up with the 101 items, which in itself is harder than it sounds,if you are interested in the things that float my boat and that are going to make me complete then check it out here.......

http://dayzeroproject.com/user/teecee1979

I decided it might (or might not) make interesting reading to blog about my weekly achievements so that when I finally get to the end of the project on somewhen in 2012, (I did try and work it out bit it was too much for my little cold filled brain on a Sunday morning) I can look back over the blood, sweat, tears and sore fingers (see item 14) and reflect on my achievements whilst stroking my new mulberry handbag (see item 44)

So here goes week one..... bear in mind there is alot of work in progress at this stage:

Enter more competitions: After my astonishing win of BRIT tickets a few weeks ago and my attendance this week wishing I could look as good as Cheryl Cole & Lady Gaga (I just want her body not her mind I promise) I decided that maybe, just maybe, this was the start of my winning streak. So this week I have been entering competitions online on a daily basis.... watch this space to see if I win a 32inch LCD TV or a holiday to Oz.... I've decided to aim big, if there is anything such as a winning streak I might as well win the best things eh?

Contact old friends: Sometimes its nice to take stock and realise that you don't need a special occasion to make contact with old friends. With the convenience of social networking websites, you can see what friends are up to without having to ever make contact. You can see where they spent their holidays, how their children are growing up and what 'they are doing' in the big brother world of facebook. So I set about emailing an old friend to catch up on all their news & to fill them in on my less than interesting start to the year.....although after I hit send I did wonder whether they would think it slightly strange to find an over enthusiastic email from me asking for all their news. No fear, 2 days later I had a lovely reply and it made me realise that is definitely worth taking the 20 mins to catch up with people on a personal level - definitely gave me feel good fuzzy factor.

The start of Lent has co-incided well with another to do item, let me explain:

Don't chase boys: Now, I am a typical female. I like a boy, I chase him. For reasons I cannot work out, the boys don't like this, they want to chase me.... but only if they want to. So therefore, I want to free myself from the horrendous cycle of 'i've contacted him, why hasn't he replied' I decided that I need to STOP CHASING BOYS. To kick start this compaign, I decided I would give this up for Lent (Jesus would be proud) if I can get through the 46 days then I am hopeful that I will be free of this dreadful disease. One can hope.

Express my gratitude more: The reading of Mike Gayles To Do List was part of the reason behind my finally getting off my backside and doing the dayzero so I decided he would be the target of my first expression of gratitude (read arse lick) I have written a lovely email to Mr Gayle....... am still hopeful he might reply.

I will end the weekly update with results of the full ticks I have achieved, end on a high as they say. This week, to wean myself in, I went for an easy one, sort out car insurance. Well, I say easy, the dark, mystical confusing world of car insurance renewal is not a place I want to return to anytime soon. Confused.com was supposed to be for like minded peeps who too, struggled with this process and was going to take the confusing part out of it all. It didnt. In the end, after much note scribbing and calculating I found a policy which should hopefully save me £1.64 a month. RESULT and so worth it.

So thats it, over and out list fans.

You know that small low key music awards ceremony? Well I got to go!

So yesterday was the day when I, ‘Tracey ‘I never win anything’ Cooper collected my tickets to the hottest show in town that I had won in conjunction with my lovely local station Midwest Radio. Understandably this was very exciting for an extreme fan of all things music. I am an avid Brits follower, every year I watch from the sofa, not always in agreement with the industry’s decisions but equally keen to see who they feel deserves the silver statuette to sit pride of place on their mantelpiece. So, after many wardrobe changes and with crucial killer heel decisions made (a girl never knows who she might meet in a strange town) we were whisked away, chauffeur driven no less, to Earls Court, home for the night of the Brit awards 2010.

For once, the pouring rain didn’t phase me (okay okay I might have complained once or twice but this is at least 122 times less than I would’ve normally done so) & once inside we loitered in the foyer to do some celeb spotting as they arrived coming in off the red carpet, all looking ultra glamorous and making my hours of deciding what to wear seem slightly insignificant - although I spied Alicia Keys has a make up lady in her shadow to touch her up every 30 seconds it seems, don’t worry Alicia your secret’s safe!

Now to the good bit, the reason you’ve all stuck with me and my ramblings so far, my review of the show…. and my alternative awards:

'Underwhelming opening of the show' award goes to…… Lily Allen. Not convinced, it certainly wasn’t showstopping. She had also clearly been on the grape juice so I’ll mark her down for that, how unprofessional ;) and not because I had wine slurping envy obviously). And Best British Female….. hmmm me thinks Florence & the Machine was robbed.

The ‘I thought this show was sponsored by Mastercard but clearly not’ award goes to –The Spice Girls well the ginger & scary one, I was beginning to panic that they were the only guests booked for the evening, phew they weren’t.

The ‘I wish they had put fewer clothes on’ award goes to …..JLS who put on a great performance. It was fantastic to see them be accepted at the Brits only some 18 months after winning a rather contrived reality show and even though their two awards (best British single & British breakthrough act) were public voted rather than industry awarded, you cannot take that away from them and I am sure that won’t take any of the shine off of winning at all.

Brings me nicely on to the ‘I wish they had put more clothes on but only because I am jealous of the body’ award which goes to…. Lady Gaga. Now, this creature can do no wrong in my eyes. I am in the ‘yes she may be slightly bonkers but heck she is fantastic at what she does’ camp and I was thrilled to see her pick up three hugely deserved awards (international female, international album & international breakthrough) My only criticism, and I use the term loosely because its only a small flaw, is that she should have sung one of her hits, but hey that’s why she is so successful, she does her own thing and is proud of it.

Award for ‘Most courageous performance I’ll even let you off the lip synching’ goes to Cheryl Cole. I was excited about seeing her perform, she is one of my guilty pleasures. The irony of singing ‘fight for this love’ to 10 million people it even brought a lump to my throat. Enough said.

The ‘I’m so far up my own **** even though I wasn’t the real talent in the band’ award goes to Mr Gallagher. Whilst I am in total agreement with the award going to Oasis for best album of last 30 years, I am not in agreement with Liam. That Brit award will be on eBay before the day is out I am sure……..

All joking aside, my personal highlights of the evening were Florence & the Machine picking up the best British album award. For those that don’t know, I am a MASSIVE fan and this was most deserved of the night. If you don’t own a copy of Lungs, firstly get your head read and then go and purchase a copy, you won’t regret it. Also, aside from Robbie, my favourite performance was Alicia Keys and Jay Z – she looked gorgeous & has the best voice I have heard live in a long time, whilst he is so cool it’s unreal. Everyone was out of their seats, even the industry big wigs were indulging in a spot of dad dancing.

Now, Robbie Williams. Ironically, the last time I was in that very arena was in 1994 watching Take That minus 1 as Robbie had decided to jump ship 4 weeks earlier leaving me a heartbroken 15 year old. Forgetting all about my 16 year grudge, I let myself be truly entertained by this born to do it performer. He flawlessly jumped from one Robbie classic to another, (even throwing a Take That song in for good measure) which I hope will silence any critics still unsure over his live performing ability of late, there were certainly no sign of nerves on his part, it was a well polished, humbled performance. Not surprisingly he welled up at the whole of Earls Court singing Angels back at him – it was a real special moment and one I am so glad I was there to see.

So that’s a wrap, I was thrilled to be at the Brits during a time when British music seems genuinely exciting. This is a happy if a little hoarse Tracey Cooper signing off. Thank you Midwest!