Shiiiiit, so here I sit on the eve before my 200th day! And how like every other it has been!

I finished my exams on Wednesday and came back home. I miss my Travelodge bed. Lighterlife while I was away was fine. Eating so early in the morning before my exams put me a bit out of whack but we're all back to normal now! I've become hooked on Travelodge's little sachets of decaff coffee. Totally gonna buy a jar tomorrow. OMG, put one in a vanilla milkshake! Seriously, you have to. It is FABULOUS.

Water was a bit of an issue. I'm pee paranoid and as soon as I'm in a situation where there is no loo, guess what? I need to pee! Sooo...the car journey was set to be a challenge and I kept remembering my teachers at school saying stuff like “5% dehydrated, 25% less concentrated”. I had visions of myself fainting in the exams from lack of water or wasting valuable time trotting down the corridor to the toilets. Extremes of course.

Yeah, I do drink a lot but my crazy-fool mind doesn't help much. Let's just say I didn't piss myself or keel over but I did finish both exams with my legs crossed and with a trip to the ladies' in my thoughts.

The end of this week has been so nice because I haven't had to work or study. I've been dreaming about a day without those things since, like, October! I feel a bit weird not having to be the girl who knows everything in the world about land law.

I went to the zoo today as part of my “End of Exam Long Weekend of Fun”. I went with the Boy – let's give him a name, eh? Let's call him A. That'll work...might get a bit depressing with I get to boyfriend Z though! Anyway, he had a cream tea while I nibbled on my cranberry bar and sipped black tea. Sigh.

We talked a lot about my future plans for veganism. It seems strange but we often talk about that. He's genuinely interested (it seems) and has an intuitive knack for offering support. He's usually the one that brings it up to be honest. More than one person recently has suggested or implied that I'm considering veganism as a way to 'limit' my future food choices but, as A knows from our numerous talks, when I think about the future it's never in a restrictive way. I think about recipes, cooking methods, eating out, things I want to try, ingredients, exotic cuisine. I very rarely think 'well, I can't eat chocolate, ice cream, cakes...'. Even if I do, it's more like (and this is a recent thought I've had): 'I think I'll miss cream eggs but they do make vegan chocolate and Green & Black's dark chocolate is vegan'. (note to hardcore vegans: I am aware of the recent issue with the addition on the label!)

I'm fairly happy with the home cooking idea. I have ordered a couple of books from Amazon and found a great website: http://www.vegancoach.com/ (So great. Really useful info on foods like quinoa as well as a list of complimentary foods, so you can make your own recipes). My new project is looking at menus when I visit places (the zoo, Little Chef, pubs) and seeing (a) if they have anything vegan (onion rings, chips, beans on toast) or (b) if I could ask them to leave anything off/switch anything to make it vegan. I'm hoping that the more I practice this while I'm abstaining the more confident I'll get that it is possible to eat out whilst vegan.

I keep looking forward to the summer and thinking about things like picnics in the forest especially: carrots, cucumber, celery, peppers, hummus, pitta bread, guacamole, strawberries, raspberries, apples, nachos, salsa. I have, of course, ridiculously romantic images of prancing around in flimsy dresses and sandals with gorgeous, tousled sun-kissed hair. Oh dear. Foolish notions.

Oh and someone told me what stroganoff was! They weren't vegan or even vegetarian but it gave me some ideas. Apparently it's like stew but kinda sticky and with rice in? Now that sounds like my kinda meal! I like the idea of putting a lot of stuff in a pot with some rice.

I'm considering trying to reacquaint myself with mushrooms. I don't like them but I read on the internet (always a good way to start a convincing argument) that “mushrooms are nature's meat”. Now, see I would think meat was nature's meat but hey, I can't eat meat so I'm not gonna push it.

Anyway, best be off now. Just wanted to tell you one last thing. I got up at 8am this morning before I went to the zoo, so I could go jogging. It was freezing and pissing it down. I did my warm up and started to jog when I car shot past me and I got wet. Ah, fair enough, I thought...gonna happen when it's wet. A little later I stopped to stretch against a fence with my back to the road. It was only spitting at this point. I was listening to my music quite loudly, so I only heard the bus at the last minute. You know where this is going. My legs, my arse, my back, my neck, my hair and one ear. Fucking soaked. Nasty, dirty, shitey water dripping down my bare neck. Oh nastiness. My hair smelt like drains. Oh my days.

Oh, and here's my weight loss. You know I haven't cheated as well!

Week 1    18st 11lb (start weight)
Week 2    5lb (18st 6lb)
Week 3    3lb (18st 3lb)
Week 4    3lb (18st)
Week 5    3lb (17st 11lb)
Week 6    5lb (17st 6lb)
Week 7    4lb (17st 2lb)
Week 8    5lb (16st 11lb)
Week 9    3lb (16st 8lb)
Week 10  4lb (16st 4lb)
Week 11  3lb (16st 1lb)
Week 12  5lb (15st 10lb)
Week 13  4lb (15st 6lb)
Week 14  2lb (15st 4lb)
Week 15  5lb (14st 13lb)
Week 16  2lb (14st 11lb)
Week 17  2lb (14st 9lb)
Week 18  4lb (14st 5lb)
Week 19  3lb (14st 2lb)
Week 20  4lb  (13st 12lb)
Week 21  4lb  (13st 8lb)
Week 22  2lb (13st 6lb)
Week 23  4lb (13st 2lb)
Week 24 - Fratellis Gig!
Week 25 - 7lb (12st 9lb)
Week 26 - 3lb (12st 6lb)
Week 27 - 3lb (12st 3lb)
Week 28 - 3 1/2lb (11st 13 1/2lb)
Week 29 - 1/2lb (11st 13lb)
Week 30 - Exams!