Week three weigh in

Wednesday. I think that is a good day for a weigh in. Not on Monday, because in my case I think that my weight would not change just because it's Monday. Not on Friday, because after work I want to go straight home and enjoy some time for me, doing everything or nothing, depending on the day. So Wednesday middle of the week, works perfectly for me. 

Again I went to consultant around 7, she gave me the the products, I told her how I'm feeling, how everything is going, etc and then came the time for stepping on the scale. My guess before it was Maybe 1,5kg but not more than that. The scale showed -2,7kg from last week. I could not believe it. M did not believe it first, thought that the scale was not properly balanced so I went there three times and every time the same amount. Feeling so awesome. So enthusiastic about everything at the moment, even tomorrows pizza day won't sway me. 

Tomorrow at work we are having a Disney Theme day. Lot's of pictures from there tomorrow.

Sitting at the bottom, looking up

Today is not a good day. The rain and sad songs are telling that. Don't feel like doing anything, just staying in my own space, drinking tea, trying to forget the hunger that seems to be my constant companion. I've eaten today, porridge for breakfast and soup for lunch. I'm not hungry, but my brain tries to tell me that I am. It's the cravings trying to come up and remind me that they exist. But they don't, not to me, not today.

Who am I kidding. Food has been something that is always there for me, food doesn't judge, it comforts me, especially all the wrong kinds of food. The one's with fat carbs and fats, with no nutritional value. At the moment the craving for Reece's Pieces is huge and that is one reason why I'm not going to leave the house today. Just staying inside, drinking lemon water and normal tea. 

There could have been so many things to do, places to see, but no. There is this constant struggle for trying not to eat unhealthy, trying to be like everyone else, fit and beautiful and everything I'm not. I feel like I'm not strong enough, it's very hard for me and I feel like I'm going to be left behind. I'm forgotten and then I forget myself and start eating again as a comfort.

Moving here was my choice, could have stayed in Finland, seeing friends and family more often, enjoying the time spent there, but I chose to come here. And some times I regret it so much, why I could not be happy there? Why did I have to leave? At the moment I would be having a movie night with V, eating good food and just being there and talking, maybe staying the night. Now I just feel like I'm losing my mind or at least what's left of it. 

I could quit, just say f*ck it and walk to Tesco, buy these huge amounts of junk food, eat them and then I would hate myself more than I do at the moment. I'm not going to quit. I'm having soon some pasta and water with it. But I'm not going to start over, I'm continuing the path I'm on. Even with the depressed thoughts and feelings of misery. 

Could be worse.

When it rains, it pours

Today has been the kind of weather that I waited to be when I arrived to UK, exactly one month ago. Whoa! I have been here already for month, but doesn't feel like that. Time really flies when you're having fun.

This day has been really normal, but nice. I left earlier from work and when coming home, decided to go for a walk. Yes, I know it was raining, but there are waterproofed clothes. That's an excuse that has been really easy for me to say; it's too cold, too hot, its raining, I don't feel like it, etc. There are so many, but today I decided to that screw the weather, I'll go walking. First it was a good idea, walking was nice and my waterproof jacket held the water away. Halfway on my route my shoes and pants were completely wet and jacket felt that it wasn't that waterproof. Maybe its only water repellent? I could have stayed dryer, but the road I was walking, had cars driving next to it so after few big trucks driving past and of course I was just walking next to puddle. You catch my drift. When I came home, I was completely soaked. I need to get better shoes and pants, Northface jacket will do for some time.

Before and after rain :)

But this is me going outside from my comfort zone. You know the place where development happens. I do not like rain or puddles that much, but today I did not mind. There was this huge grin on my face, so maybe all the other people thought that I had forgot to take my medication. But the first time is always hardest. Now I know that even if its raining, I'm going to have a walk and enjoy it. The route is nice, there are side walks, so not that dangerous and today the route was 9,3km which is really good. Shower after walk was heavenly and now staying inside and enjoying good music aka Eminem and stretching the muscles.

I also took some pictures before the walk, so that I'll have later some that I can use in comparison. Maybe I should try the Lush hair colour tomorrow. Change feels so good.

Weird poses ;)

Week two weigh in

I feel like laughing. Today there was not great surprise and big weight loss. I lost 0,5kg aka 500g. That's not motivating at all and now I really feel like eating so much junk, but not gonna go there. It's normal that you gain weight when having period and my coach said that usually happens. So now I just wait for the next week and and smaller number in the scale. Because that is going to happen.

Now I'm going to talk about normal bodily functions that that you usually do not talk with anybody, but I think that it is good that tell about them, so if somebody tries Cambridge Weight Plan after reading about it from my blog/other place, they know what kind of side effects there are. Constipation has been a problem with me. I drink lots of water and tea, but that just means I'm going to the bathroom quite much. But with these products there are not so much fibre and of course that affects you. Before CWP my bowel movements were daily, now luckily max twice a week, not so nice and I feel bloated. I asked about the CWP fibre, but my coach said that I should first try over the counter laxative and next week I get a sample of the fibre. So a trip to Boots.

Hopefully they work

This time I also bought some of the bars and I really can't wait to test them, hopefully they are good. I also got a blessing to start doing light exercise, so happy. This week more walking for me, just to make me feel good. 5k daily sounds good or maybe 10 000 steps? Lets see how everything goes. I also bought a shaker from Boots, a smaller one than the "normal" size. I do not like using almost one litre shaker, not good.

Not completely my style, but it's good.

Last week I was so motivated after the weigh in and even I only lost 0,5kg, I'm motivated for the next week and that I'm going to lose more. Succession here I come.

Happy Go Lucky Feelings in the morning

Sleeping. That is one of my favorite things, but usually its not that easy for me. Too much or too little, never enough. Well actually last night I slept enough, because I woke up refreshed before the alarm and sun was shining! It really was awesome and I think that was one thing that has my day so great, even when I'm feeling bloated because of my period and nervous of today's weigh in. I got five and half hours before it, and already nervous. I have this feeling that nothing has changed  and if nothing really has changed, I'm afraid that I'll eat something unhealthy and then I'll binge.

Tea and water really helps me during the day, especially if there are cravings.

Tea and water helps me quite a lot. Today my co-worker said that my lunch looks "dinky", in other words small. Well quite many times it feels small, but I have used to eating this for lunch and I like it. The Pasta even tastes good. There was some cake again at the office and I stood there staring at it for few minutes thinking if I should have some, just a little bit. Everybody said that the cake was really good, you should have some and for the great shame of mine, I did. This really small slice of cake and it wasn't even that good. That made me wonder that do British complement something if it's not that good, but they want to polite? I think that sounds more American to me.

Now I feel bad, because I ate the small piece of cake and I'm starting to get these urges about eating more unhealthy stuff, because I already screwed up. But it doesn't go like that. Yes, I ate some cake, yes, it's not good for my diet, yes, I know that I'm not in ketosis anymore and I know that soon I'm craving more of everything that is not good for me. But now I'm going to forget the piece of cake that I had and continue towards the future. Because if I'm going to think about it all the time, I will feel like eating more of it.

I've been trying to find more weight loss blogs, especially if somebody is writing their experiences about Cambridge weight plan, so feel free to tell me good ones! I have read this really good one, that is in Finnish. there this person lost over 32 kilos and looks amazing! I want to succeed like she did.

Now it's time to continue writing my thesis plan, finally getting somewhere with the whole thing. Wish me luck.

Lazy Sunday walk

Weekends goes so fast. Feels like that is Friday and after blinking once, it's Sunday evening. Too fast for me, did not get anything done. I was so tired yesterday, took a nap during the day, which was not a good idea, but could not help it.

I skyped yesterday with my sister A, and we talked for almost an hour and that's not even much. Sometimes we have had these marathon calls that last around three hours. She had been playing board game with her boyfriend during the day and I would like to play too! She also asked me how my Cambridge plan is going and I told her the good news, almost 5kg has gone down, but big part of the weight that I lost, was water. Talking to her about also motivates me to do better because she used to be overweight and now she is not. So I'm going to succeed in this.

Today I woke little before noon, took the morning very easily, not doing much. I had a Butterscotch shake for breakfast, it tasted okay, but not that good. I have to start thinking about my next weeks shopping list, if there are any products that I haven't tried yet. Soon I might start having the bars on some days, if I like them. I tried the water flavour, but did not like it. Too sweet for my taste.

I did some research again about the gyms around here. My coach told me that gym is not a good thing on the first step, because you really do not get that many calories during the day. I know that, but I feel so lazy because I'm not doing any exercise so I have been doing walks here in Reading, getting some fresh air and getting to know the city at the same time. When I first came to Reading, I visited this gym in the city centre called The Gym. It looked okay, not that fancy, costs under 20£ per month, open 24/7 and you do not have to make a contract for many months in the future. I did not like the feeling I got there. I was planning to visit another gym called Pure Gym, it was located quite near the train station, not bad. It would have cost also under 20£ per month, open 24/7 and no contract. My co-worker L said that her sister have used it and its quite good, so maybe I should try it in the future.

So today I did some research about swimming pools in Reading area and I found that there is Reading Sport and Leisure Facilities and they are quite cheap to join, there is a gym, swimming pools and fitness classes. They are not open 24/7 but they have quite good opening times, especially Meadway Sports Centre, it opens 6:30 on week and closes at 10pm so I can work with that. I think I would have chosen the Pure Gym, but I also do like swimming so points for that. The RSL has different levels that you can choose from, depending what you want to do. I think I would choose Silver level. In that level you can choose two from three, Swim, Gym or classes and in the beginning my choice would be gym and swim. Lose some weight before going to the classes. Next Monday I'm going to test the place, hopefully it works for me. It costs 22£ per month, but that is not a bad price to pay for gym and swimming. To Meadway I can walk there in about 30min and I could also take the bus number 33. I'll have to see how long it takes with a bus.

From home to Meadway, from Meadway to home via the bus stop

I also tested that how much it would take from the Meadway to the bus closest bus stop when going to work, so I could try and go there before work. So today I walked over 7km and it felt good, even if sometimes it feels like walking might not be the best sport for me, so that is another reason why I want to swim, good for the knees.

Morning in London

St James Park

On Tuesday I was informed that I'm going to visit London on Thursday to deliver a document to the Legislation office, wait there until it's ready and then collect it. So in the morning taking the train from Reading to London Paddington Station, continuing with the tube taking Bakerloo line till Chargin Cross Station and from there I walked to the Office, did not take that long. The legislation of the document took around one hour, so I had some time to walk around the city. Close by to the Legislation Office was St James Park and Buckingham Palace. I walked there, behaved like a tourist, took pictures of so many things and I was lucky, because I saw the change of guards.

Buckingham Palace

After returning to the Legislation Office, I decided to start walking towards SoHo, because I read that there is this Scandinavian Kitchen, that sells different kinds of sandwiches, salads and groceries. They also have a website and internet store. At the website they have a wider variety of products and for a foreigner in UK, I think it is really good thing to have here, if you happen to get homesick during your stay. I decided to different Finnish and Swedish sweets and bring them to the office, so they would have something new to taste. I bought some Turkish Peppers, different Liquorice from Haribo and Fazer Chocolate.

Ducks from the Park, really friendly

Around one I left from London, because had to get back to the office, so a train from Paddington to Reading and from Reading to Basingstoke and then finally a bus ride for 20 minutes and then you are there. Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, just waiting to work end, going to the Reading Central Library and then meeting with my consultant. People at the Office were not that enthusiastic about the licorice, but some of them were brave enough to taste, but even fewer said that they enjoyed them. The sweets are probably going to there a long time. Maybe even for 11 weeks and then I can have a taste after my Sole Source step is completed.

Week one weigh in

Thursday, the day that I have been waiting for sometime, because it's the first weigh in that I'm doing. There has been this feeling that nothing has changed, no loose clothes and now the food cravings are awful. Yesterday I  was visiting London, had to take few documents to Legislation office, wait for few hours to get them back and then off to work. I did do some sightseeing, but not that much, because going to do more when V comes here in the end of August.

I had a salmon salad yesterday for lunch, because there were no shakes left and did not want to anything unhealthy. There was also this pear that I ate on Monday, but then the question was, pear or cake, so happy to say that the pear won the competition.

Before the meeting with the consultant, I was so nervous. I really thought that there would be no difference. Like nothing at all. First we talked how everything had went on the first week, what kind of problems there had been, what I should expect in the future. Then came the moment for weigh in and as I stepped on the scale, there were these nightmare scenarios that I had gained weight. It took few seconds as the numbers went and evened out. I was looking at a number of 120.5 so from last week I had lost 4.7 kg! It's amazing.

Yes, I know that in the beginning its the fluids that leave the body, but that still motivates, because the scale shows a smaller number. Especially when you have much to lose, it would be quite depressing to lose under 0,5 kg per week. Maybe at one point that is going to happen to me, but now I still have so much to lose. I also went down two BMI points, at 125,2 my bmi was 41 and that means very obese, but now I'm at 39,3 and its only obese. The line between overweight and obese goes at 30 so I have 10 bmi points to drop so I'm not obese any more. Can't wait that to happen. I do also know that muscle weighs more than fat, but at the moment I'm not doing any weight exercise, just trying to walk over 5k daily and stretching. There is also that sometimes the numbers do not change on the scale, but still your clothes start getting too big, because you're losing inches. That is a good reason for me not to own a scale. If I would own a scale, I might check the weight way too often.

My normal lunch at work, luckily the pasta is good. 

Cravings are killing me!

Today has been hell! Well maybe not hell, but really close to hell. Quiet day at work and I have only been thinking about different kinds of foods, sweets, pastries AKA everything unhealthy that I would regret immediately after eating. Day begun quite well, woke up later than normally would, but still had the time to do everything before catching the bus. When arriving to the office, there was different kinds of cakes in the kitchen! Not a good thing. That would not be a bad thing if it would be once a month, cakes in kitchen are like a weekly thing. I had my breakfast, today's choice was normal porridge and it tasted okay, not too good or not too bad. For lunch there again pasta and around 4:30 I drank a toffee and walnut shake. It tasted okay, better than the mango one. I almost took some of the cake, but I did not crack. Even skipped going to the library, because though that I would crack, walk to Tesco and buy something bad. Like Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream.

Just came home, washed makeup away, took contact lenses off and changed more comfortable clothes on. Then sent a text to my consultant, told her about my cravings and she asked if I had some. I was so happy that I could say no, I did not have anything. I have started to have the soup in the evening, around eight is a good time for me, I start watching NCIS at the same time, but I never finish the episode thats going on. So been used to not having a television, so the one in my room is just there, never been on while I have lived here.

I also messaged with my friend and I think she has bought flight tickets to London in the end of August! I'm so happy. I have known her for twenty years and I'm going to know her for the next twenty something years. I have moved quite many times during my life, so sometimes you don't keep in touch with all of your friends and they just drop off. With some friends, it may be that you do not see them so often, but can continue from where you left it. I have those too, but I like to keep in contact more often than twice a year.

Here some strawberries that I can imagine eating..

I'm satisfied that I got the cravings, now it feels like there has been change happening, not just eating these products, but no weight coming off. But on the other hand I wish that I did not have these cravings, thinking about food is annoying. Just trying to think about Thursday. That is going to be an interesting day. I'm guessing that I've only lost under 3 pounds. Been reading about these success stories, where people lose from eight pounds till eleven pounds. How do they do that? No thinking about how others do it, I'm doing it too, slowly but surely.

PS. I have to come up with a Disney character that I want to dress up as.. No ideas so I'm listening to suggestion. Nothing too major though, have to have the costume on the 30th.

5 days of Cambridge weight plan

What? Is today really the fifth of of eating Cambridge products? Where are my hunger cramps, headaches and day dreams about normal food? I have read from so many places that the third and fourth day are the worst, but not for me. For me those days were during the weekend and I can honestly say that I did not have any headaches or other side effects. I should be happy about it. I have been drinking water and tea through the day and going also to the bathroom quite many times.

That doesn't make me so happy. I feel like I'm not in the same page as every body else would be when doing this. This have been going so well that I'm also little scared of what the future brings. Maybe on Thursday I'll notice that I haven't dropped anything, just been gaining weight even with eating/drinking these products. Maybe the symptoms came later for me? We'll see in the future how it goes.

Monday. Usually everybody hates this day, just like Garfield, but I have learned to like this day. Yes, the weirdness lives in me. Mind over matter. I would like that the weekend would be longer, but I like working, my job is interesting, I'm learning new things and the people are nice. So I'm having four products per day, and before I started, I had to really think about the eating schedule. If I would have my first around 7am, the other meals would be at 10:30, 2pm and 5:30pm and that would not work with me, not at all. So in the mornings I'll drink hot water with lemon and cold water, so that my metabolism wakes up,  take the bus to work and then have my first product, that has been a porridge or shake, between 8:30 - 9:00am. I've even noticed that I'm not hungry so early in the morning, so its better to wait. During the week, my lunch hour is usually after 12:30am, and by that time I'm already hungry, but not that much. It's not like my stomach would be gnawing its way out. After 4pm I'll have another shake and the last product is going to be between 7 and 8pm, so that its good time to have the last meal.

I bought quite big variety of the products, because I wanted to test them. Some of them taste really good, some okay and some I would not like to eat even if I were payed. One of the most disgusting ones were Maple and Walnut Porridge. I could not eat it completely, left some on my plate. Risotto is good, could eat it every second day, but the pasta is awesome. It's going to be on my everyday diet, because it doesn't taste funny or like a cardboard. I have tasted the Vegetable, Tomato and Basil and Chicken and Mushroom soups and the best one for me was Vegetable and after that Chicken and Mushroom. Tomato and Basil soup had this funny aftertaste, so not buying more of that taste. Then there are the shakes and I'm really happy for those. Easy to do, even quite yummy and works well for me. I have tasted the Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Mango, Vanilla and Banana. The best ones were the Mint Chocolate and Chocolate. Tasted real, not cardboard. Still have flavours to test, hopefully more of them are like Chocolate one.

After few weeks I can add the bars in my diet and I hope that they would at least taste okay. There are six different flavours and I want to taste them all.

Even if I haven't been craving foods like candy, bread, sodas or chips, there is this very annoying thing going on at work. People buy there cakes and candy for no reason. Luckily there are people who eat away the cake, but when I want to use the scanner, the candy boxes are just next to it. Dislike. I scan something everyday and walk past it many times a day. Maybe I should think of it as a training, staring at the sweet boxes and telling myself why I do not want to eat the sweets. I also heard that on the last Friday every month, there is a meeting and they buy huge amounts of pizza to the meeting. That is not going to be a good day. I really like pizza, especially cheese pizza. Maybe I should be indisposed during that day?

On the left my drinking jar, Vanilla shake and water bottle.
On the right there is the yummy pasta.

Sunday nights thoughts and musings

Its Sunday, I'm laying in my bed and listening songs about change, hopelessness and death. Yeah I know, not a good combination, but those songs got me thinking about all the changes I have wanted to do for a long while. Especially concerning about my own body and how unsatisfied I'm with it.

Last fall when I started my internship at the Finnish Government, I was full of motivation and energy for my lifestyle change. I woke up early, went to the gym before or after work and I ate okay. Not too little and not too much. I started losing weight, I could see it in the pictures and feel it when buying new clothes, because the old ones were too big for me. Then came the student cruise. I knew I was going to be drinking too much and eating at the buffet, but it was okay. I knew I could continue eating healthy and exercising.  I was dressed up as Ursula from the Little Mermaid and I even won the first prize. That doesn't usually happen to me, because I do not like participating in competitions.

The cruise was going from Helsinki to Stockholm and back, it took around 20 hours. On the second night I had been participating in a drinking game with some students from Metropolia UAS and some time after two in the morning, I decided to have some fresh air and then go to our cabin and fall asleep. If only that would have happened. I was so plastered, so only memories about going outside were talking to two guys about that there were no handle in the door. Now I know that I stayed there talking with them and later went dancing with one of the guys. From that sentence only you know I had way too much to drink, because I don't dance. At all. Not good at it. Short story even shorter, I did not end up in my own cabin for a long time. The guy was nice, funny and I did not think that I would see him again after the cruise. But I did see him again. We started hanging out weekly, going to student parties together and just having fun. I started getting feelings, that I did not want to get, because something in me told that he did not want the same things, and that something was right. During the spring I went and said what I want, asked what he wants and he could not answer that so I just said to him that maybe it would be better, if he left. And he did. I waited until I heard both of the doors close and then I started crying. I also kept thinking that how he could like me, because I do not like what I see in the mirror.

From that point on began my really depressed period. My school work suffered, I did not see my friends that much, I stopped completely exercising, ate only junk food and almost 24/7 I stayed inside. That continued until late May. There were sometimes that I saw the guy in student parties and it really hurt me. I did not want to see him, but I did want to see him. During the spring I had applied for many jobs in Finland, but got nothing. I became even more depressed. In the beginning of May I started applying to jobs in Ireland and UK. I was so depressed, that I did not even think that I would get a job from anywhere. Then in the end of May came and I got a job offer from UK. I answered the email immediately and said that I would take the place. Anything to get away from Finland and bad/good memories. Still during June, I ate very unhealthy foods and drunk quite much alcohol. I dreamt about being thin, skinny and looking pretty, but when I looked in the mirror, I became more and more sad.

One week after flying to UK, I decided that I'm going to lose weight. The journey have started last Thursday. I did a very throughout research about different kinds of diets and nothing seemed to fit myself. Thought quite much about juicing, but that would be a big hassle in the mornings. Then I found Cambridge weight plan site. In that plan you have different steps and a consult during the whole thing. I sent a text to one consultant, but she did not answer so I decided to try another one and this time sent her an email. She answered me and we decided to meet on the 8th of July. During the whole Wednesday I was nervous. Would I be too big? Could she help me? Would I have the backbone for eating only different Cambridge plan products, such as shakes, soups, porridge and pasta in the beginning? My consultant is really positive and nice woman and I really think that she can help me with this. She sends text messages, asking how its going, are there any problems and just making me feel that she cares really if I succeed or not.

So on Thursday I begun my journey. Because I am 175cm tall, I'm eating four Cambridge products per day. The first few days went okay, little headaches here and there, going to the bathroom many times because I drank so much water. Saturday I felt ravenous about food, I kept thinking about all the foods I'm not having, but I kept eating the products, drinking tea and water. And thinking about if I want to write about this journey I'm starting. But I want to so here I am. Normally if I start dieting or going to the gym, I don't tell anybody, because if/when I fail, nobody knows about it. I can suffer alone and continue eating junk. But this time I'm going to succeed. Fourth day going and I should be in ketosis soon. Hopefully. No more food cravings.

Some of the products taste good, but some are really yuck. Especially Maple and Walnut Porridge. Never again that one. The pasta and Risotto are good, and the soups too. Sometimes the shakes taste maybe little too sweet. I'm not eating the bars yet, hopefully they are good. I started from the step one that is Sole Source, meaning you eat three or four products a day, four in my case. The maximum time for that step is 12 weeks. If you want to continue, you have to have a week of eating more food and then you can continue with it. On the step one I'm eating between 440-555kcal. Not much. But not that hungry, lucky me. Maybe its the water I keep chugging down.

I have tried to find so many different blogs and forums about this, and some of them were even good, but there were not that many. Maybe because this is not that "in" at the moment. Diets change so fast, first there is this and then there is that. But this is for me. Mind over matter.

Products for the six days from Friday on. 

LUSH

I have an addiction and the addictions name is LUSH. I have written before about the products that I do have and after moving to UK, I have bought more. I wasn't even planning on buying more, but then I walked past the Lush/store here in Reading and I had to look what they have and the rest is history.

Before my addiction started, I did not know about all of the products that Lush have, but I visited their web page and read about their Henna-hair colours and I got from a small sample that I can try on my hair, to see it goes with me. I'll write about it more, when trying it. I also bought some new shampoo and hair conditioner, because I like to have some variety, its good for my scalp. I choose the I Love Juicy-shampoo, because its supposed to be gentle and clean greasy hair easily. It has worked for me quite well. For the hair conditioner I chose the Veganese, because the care for my scalp. I have tried so many products for my scalp and some are really bad and I scratch my scalp until it bleeds. Not nice. I think that I even burned my scalp few days after flying to UK, because here was so hot and I wasn't wearing a hat. Let's hope these products work well for me and my scalp.

For my face I bought the Eau Roma Water AKA toner water. I copied here what was written about the product, because it explains why I bought it. My skin is really sensitive.

This is an elegant formula that's suitable for even the most sensitive skins. Rose water will help to calm and reduce redness, whilst lavender water will balance and soften the skin. This was created as a way to hydrate and soothe the skin both gently and effectively. Use it for a quick, refreshing spritz or to remove any traces of makeup or cleanser.

I also bought an Ocean Salt face and body scrub. Have only used it once so do not have that good opinion. After the one time I used Ocean Salt, my skin felt so much softer and nicer and I love it. At the moment I have so many different, but good products so that they are going to last for a long time. I also bought two makeup products, Jackie Oates foundation and Power lipstick. I'm not so sure about the Jackie Oates yet, because I have used to using the Everyday Minerals Jojoba based powder and I like it so much, but I'll give it a chance. It was expensive, but it really matches with my skin tone. Pale as I am. The Power lipstick is a really nice shade. In the last few years I have learned to like using lipstick even if it's not party or anything, just a normal day. It makes me feel more sophisticated and pretty.

Just after I left from Finland, there was the Pride walk in Helsinki and at the same time it was in London, and USA finally has allowed to gay people to marry in every state. So Lush produced this "love-soap". I had to buy it. It's so pretty. Haven't used it yet, because there is no need. I also want to support them, because #gayisokay. If I would have to label me as something, it would be straight. I have few gay friends and I'm really happy to be their friend. When a guy marries another guy or the same with girls, how does it affect me? Is there something that affects my life when gay people get married? No, there are none.  I'm not the most vocal about the different things that I like and support, because I feel that I don't have to vocal about it. But this is something I like to vocal about.

The routine is starting to build

Time to write again! There has been so much to do and see, and after the work started, I have been so tired in the evenings, so I haven't been updating in more than two weeks, sorry about that.

So my work started on the first of July and boy, I was nervous. On the first day, my boss told me to come there around ten, because she had some conference call at nine, but normally I'd start around nine. I took a train from Reading to Basingstoke and from Basingstoke to Aldermaston where my job is. I know, a really small place, but I do not mind, because I still live in okay sized city. Normally I will travel my journey to and from work by bus and it takes under an hour, so not bad. Of course the traffic affects the journey times.

On the first day I did not even do much. My boss L held me this little info session, what the company does, different departments, what my duties are going to be etc. So mostly I sat there and watched as our IT-technician L worked his magic to make my computer to work and have all the necessary programs. Around four, I was told that I could leave little earlier because I really had nothing to do there, so L ( not my boss but my coworker) drove me to the bus-stop so I would know where to go. Did I tell you that that my first day at work was really hot day? Like around +30 degrees celsius and I was suffering. But the worst thing was when I came home and in the evening I could not sleep so well because of the heat. Luckily I found a fan in my room so that helped a little.

Now I have been working for a week and a half and I would say that everything is going fine, I#m learning my tasks, getting to know my co-workers and I like it. The days go so fast and I'm home around 6:30pm and thats okay. I just have to get used to getting home that late.

Last Wednesday I had a day off because I had to visit Jobcentre in Oxford, for getting a national insurance number. A national Insurance Number or NIN, is needed when you pay taxes, get some benefits from the government or something like that. Few days after I came to UK, I called to a Jobcentre and made an appointment for the interview. They told me what I need to have when coming there; a proof of identity (passport), proof of living in UK ( tenancy agreement, bill of something sent to your address) and a number that they gave you. Well I had everything needed, but when I was there, they only asked for my passport. Lucky me. In the interview part they just asked why am I in UK, how long have I been there, do I have a job, am I married and do I have other nationalities than Finnish. It was quite easy and took under 25 minutes, including the waiting time.

Before I went back to Reading, I visited a O2 store and wanted to change my Pay as you Go-simcard in to a monthly bill. For that you need to have a bank card from a UK bank and luckily I had that. They also did not do a credit check, because I took only just a Sim card, not a phone with it. I read so many times that people could not pass a credit check for some reason, and I was happy that I got the monthly contract. So now I can say that everything is okay.