Packing, Socks and other oddities

Our annual trip to the Lake District is upon us!  We leave tomorrow and boy, do I feel like I need a holiday!  Sometimes I feel like I'm running on empty all the time and this week especially as I've been nursing a cold - which unfortunately means I've not been for a run since Sunday!  I've been sitting on my backside all week and feeling very frustrated!  Last night, however, I did perk up long enough to fit in a Jillian Michaels Kettlebell workout, so I felt as if I at least made some progress.

Today has been spent packing - probably one of my most hated jobs!  Who remembers Snoopy and his famous "bleah" noise?  Well - that's my reaction to packing!

I've said before that I am not a very organised person and packing requires organisation in abundance!  Bleah!  I hesitate to call myself lazy - because clearly I'm kicking ass and taking names on the fitness front - no way am I a lazy girl!  BUT - when it comes to pairing up socks after laundry, I'm NOT that girl!  Little do I realise that this not only frustrates my husband no end in the mornings when he is looking for a pair to wear to work - but it was also very frustrating for me packing for our holiday!

Sock after sock was pulled from my husband's drawer with literally NO sign of their mates anywhere!  Seriously - where do these socks go?!  Even if they are not paired in the washing machine, they all get washed and therefore they should all end up in the drawer.  I don't use a tumble dryer, so the socks go from washing machine, to washing line, to drawer - somewhere in between these three locations is a veritable Sock Twilight Zone.

Sockie no mates...

Despite the lack of sock pairs, I have managed to nearly complete the packing - including virtually all the contents of my kitchen!  We generally always go "self-catering", which means that despite the fact we're on holiday - I still have to cook.  Strangely, I don't mind this.  I actually really enjoy cooking.  Even more than that, it means that I can still reliably maintain control over my calories while we're away.  By the time you've packed all the dry ingredients like pasta, tins of tomatoes, beans, fruit juices, bottles of water, spices, salt, coffee (a must!) you've virtually filled your car before you've even left the house!  Thankfully my father in law is coming with us and driving his own car, so we can share the load.

This year I'm trying to be as organised as possible with food (food, yes I can organise, socks, not so much!) - so I've managed to get most of our food (apart from the fresh stuff like milk, meat, butter and cheese) here and we will take it up with us.  I've done the 'buy it all from a local grocery store' idea before - but it ends up costing a small fortune!  Another good money saving tip, seeing as I'm on that subject, is packing your own lunches.  Since we mostly go on day walking trips when we're in the Lakes, I always pack our lunch so we can find a scenic stop and enjoy our sandwiches.  This is a must for longer walks, but makes good sense in my opinion anyway!

So - while I'm away from reliable internet access (and it is quite patchy up in the Lakes!), I've arranged for a couple of guest posts, which, all being well, should come up on Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.  In the meantime, make sure you're following me on Twitter (@walksinthewoods), as I'll be tweeting about our summits conquered and other lakeland adventures!  I hope you all have a fantastic week!