Emma Appleton's Blog, page 2
September 8, 2013
Spartan Race
I got up too early this morning and I feel slightly disturbed and far too refreshed for a Sunday. My mind and body is in uncomfortable territory, it needs the obligatory Prosecco fuelled hangover to register the horrors that will await me.
Since February I have been training for the Spartan Race, I have lost almost 20kg and finally starting to see my resemblance to Lara Croft, I have spent hours running through fields, woods and rivers. Jumping over logs, climbing through muddy ditches and occassionally hugging a tree. Out of desperation. I have to thank ShaunT and the Insanity workout for kick-starting the well overdue health drive.
My aim was to complete the race in under an hour, a 5k extreme obstacle course. No problem, I have been training for months for this even joining a bouldering club to test my upper body strength. It was all going well until one night four Fridays ago about 11pm. My mother likes to join us on a Friday, the night begins well. Civilised conversation about the week, gourmet food oh and lots of Prosecco. And then Italian Brandy. Dancing, lots of dancing. Anyway a night like this she announces that she is going to run the race with me. Why?
I know the answer. In 2007 my husband and I travelled round Syria. She wanted to come with us and we welcomed the extra passenger. But the truth was, she was too scared to fly to the country and has regretted it ever since. So now, the Syria experience has automatically made her say yes to anything slightly out of her comfort zone.
She is 59. Has done zero training in the last three months. Well if you don’t count her running with me where I can sense her complaining as she jogs slower than I can walk, her knee hurts, no sorry its her toe. She once even tried to blame me because it was "too windy to run" I can’t keep up with her list of ailments. My timings are out of the window because I am secretly so proud that she is doing this race with me and I will stay with her throughout the course even if it takes three hours.
The bond between mother and daughter, aww I hear you cringe. Erm no actually, its just it’s her turn to buy the Prosecco and Marlboro Lights for our celebratory BBQ later today. Protecting my investment :-)
Since February I have been training for the Spartan Race, I have lost almost 20kg and finally starting to see my resemblance to Lara Croft, I have spent hours running through fields, woods and rivers. Jumping over logs, climbing through muddy ditches and occassionally hugging a tree. Out of desperation. I have to thank ShaunT and the Insanity workout for kick-starting the well overdue health drive.
My aim was to complete the race in under an hour, a 5k extreme obstacle course. No problem, I have been training for months for this even joining a bouldering club to test my upper body strength. It was all going well until one night four Fridays ago about 11pm. My mother likes to join us on a Friday, the night begins well. Civilised conversation about the week, gourmet food oh and lots of Prosecco. And then Italian Brandy. Dancing, lots of dancing. Anyway a night like this she announces that she is going to run the race with me. Why?
I know the answer. In 2007 my husband and I travelled round Syria. She wanted to come with us and we welcomed the extra passenger. But the truth was, she was too scared to fly to the country and has regretted it ever since. So now, the Syria experience has automatically made her say yes to anything slightly out of her comfort zone.
She is 59. Has done zero training in the last three months. Well if you don’t count her running with me where I can sense her complaining as she jogs slower than I can walk, her knee hurts, no sorry its her toe. She once even tried to blame me because it was "too windy to run" I can’t keep up with her list of ailments. My timings are out of the window because I am secretly so proud that she is doing this race with me and I will stay with her throughout the course even if it takes three hours.
The bond between mother and daughter, aww I hear you cringe. Erm no actually, its just it’s her turn to buy the Prosecco and Marlboro Lights for our celebratory BBQ later today. Protecting my investment :-)
September 3, 2013
A Reluctant Muse
I have always been interested in the relationship you can have with a person online, one of the reasons for writing "Just Tell Me". I remember when the internet started to become popular, oh sometime in 2006 when it started to be used for more than just the occassional work message. Anyone reading this geeky enough to remember Exchange 5.5 knows what I mean.
Even back then I started a strange friendship with a random guy, everytime an email popped up in my Compuserve account my heart would race. He was probably a 40 something beardy IT geek but to me he was as alluring as it got. He asked me for my URL. I didnt have a clue what he was on about and he ignored me after I said "oh yes please". I was heart broken.
Since then I have always wanted to have the flicker of romance that only words suggest. So it happened again, except this time he wasnt a geeky IT bod. He was a drop dead gorgeous man, with an amazing body, dark hair and smouldering eyes that pierced my soul when he looked at me. In fact I couldnt face looking at him when I walked past his desk at work, he gave me THAT feeling. You know, the embarrassing heart racing sweaty palm feeling. Devestating handsome, he wouldnt be interested in me in real life and yet I hid behind the words in my computer and created a whole new life.
Except me being me I didnt, I just spoke frankly about the life I had and thought he was being funny when he claimed he was just a boring surveyor. As I discovered thats just what he was. I spoke at length about my travels around Israel and the Middle East, Morocco and of course my beloved Italy. He spoke about days at the seaside and roadtrips to Barnsley. I thought he was being ironic. He wasnt. And yet he fascinated me, but why? I put it down to the thrill of the chase, the passion, the romance and the knowing I just couldnt have him.
Sometimes he would send me 20 emails a day, while I responded, looking deep in thought at my corporate desk while secretly feeling the anxiety and anticipation of his words. His geeky words. Why he continued it is lost on me really, I never thought either of us would actually do anything about it. I could hardly even look him in the eye, nevermind talk to him in the flesh. It was during a powercut that things took a step forward and it was still one of the hottest moments of my life to date. Who knew just one kiss could have that effect. Well maybe a little bit more than a kiss, but, you know...
It ended abrubtly one day, I took it a step too far and the last email I ever received from him simply said "Emma!!!!!".
Even back then I started a strange friendship with a random guy, everytime an email popped up in my Compuserve account my heart would race. He was probably a 40 something beardy IT geek but to me he was as alluring as it got. He asked me for my URL. I didnt have a clue what he was on about and he ignored me after I said "oh yes please". I was heart broken.
Since then I have always wanted to have the flicker of romance that only words suggest. So it happened again, except this time he wasnt a geeky IT bod. He was a drop dead gorgeous man, with an amazing body, dark hair and smouldering eyes that pierced my soul when he looked at me. In fact I couldnt face looking at him when I walked past his desk at work, he gave me THAT feeling. You know, the embarrassing heart racing sweaty palm feeling. Devestating handsome, he wouldnt be interested in me in real life and yet I hid behind the words in my computer and created a whole new life.
Except me being me I didnt, I just spoke frankly about the life I had and thought he was being funny when he claimed he was just a boring surveyor. As I discovered thats just what he was. I spoke at length about my travels around Israel and the Middle East, Morocco and of course my beloved Italy. He spoke about days at the seaside and roadtrips to Barnsley. I thought he was being ironic. He wasnt. And yet he fascinated me, but why? I put it down to the thrill of the chase, the passion, the romance and the knowing I just couldnt have him.
Sometimes he would send me 20 emails a day, while I responded, looking deep in thought at my corporate desk while secretly feeling the anxiety and anticipation of his words. His geeky words. Why he continued it is lost on me really, I never thought either of us would actually do anything about it. I could hardly even look him in the eye, nevermind talk to him in the flesh. It was during a powercut that things took a step forward and it was still one of the hottest moments of my life to date. Who knew just one kiss could have that effect. Well maybe a little bit more than a kiss, but, you know...
It ended abrubtly one day, I took it a step too far and the last email I ever received from him simply said "Emma!!!!!".
An Introduction to the dark world of Justice
Hello, well I am happy to on Goodreads, and it feels such a relief to finally have released "Just Tell Me". I think I lost a part of my soul writing that book, it took over my life. Nicole and Daniel have become real people to me, and I even find myself using phrases they do in everyday life. I am becoming more like Nicole, not an endearing character trait but nevermind.
So what is the Justice series about? I can tell you what it isnt, it is not another fluffy chicklit. There are some wine (well actually Prosecco) fueled nights with the girls, but these three friends have an edge. Nicole doesnt, no I take that back, but Anna and Libby certainly do.
Anna is the worst type of hard hitting financial expert, if you have worked in the corporate world you have met her at some point. "Just Dance With Me" tells how she falls in love with the poor innocent FD Edward Wright.
Libby is a travel weary consultant who has seen the dark side of the world, and her story is discovered in the third of the series "Just Love Me".
The fourth in the series, well thats about my poor mother. It deserves a whole new blog, in fact no, a whole website to tell her story.
So what is the Justice series about? I can tell you what it isnt, it is not another fluffy chicklit. There are some wine (well actually Prosecco) fueled nights with the girls, but these three friends have an edge. Nicole doesnt, no I take that back, but Anna and Libby certainly do.
Anna is the worst type of hard hitting financial expert, if you have worked in the corporate world you have met her at some point. "Just Dance With Me" tells how she falls in love with the poor innocent FD Edward Wright.
Libby is a travel weary consultant who has seen the dark side of the world, and her story is discovered in the third of the series "Just Love Me".
The fourth in the series, well thats about my poor mother. It deserves a whole new blog, in fact no, a whole website to tell her story.
