Curiously Charis

Those people who have known me a long time know that I've been in relationships since I was 16 years old. My 32nd birthday was my first birthday as a singleton since I celebrated my sweet 16... and even when I was 15 I'd had a boyfriend up until a few days before, but I felt too guilty about not being that keen on him and him buying me a birthday present... so I dumped him so he didn't have to! Not only have I not been really, truly, properly, purposefully single the whole of my adult life, but I've also never lived alone, always living with family or housemates or a partner. I've now been living by myself for over a month, and for all the worries my needy co-dependent self had about single life before I embarked upon it, it really hasn't been bad at all. That doesn't mean I'm not sad about the end of my relationship - because of course I am - but just that having to stand on my own two feet hasn't been anywhere near as hard as I thought ...

I think a lot of people are like me in this way. You go into a shop and you look on the rails, but you can't find your size anywhere. I normally wear a 14, but sometimes in large running dresses I wear a 12, and in small running trousers or jeans I wear a 16. It's a lottery. I've pretty much always been between these sizes. When I've lost weight I've never been below a 12, when I've put on weight I've never been above a 16 - apart from once - but when my size 16s stopped fitting I decided to start dieting. It's strange to be this kind of in-between size, even though there are a lot of us who are here. If like me you're overweight and look a bit too chubby for your frame, then generally you're not accepted in the 'attractive by society's standards' category. But by the same token, if you're not obese or plus-sized, then you don't really fit into the plus-sized community either. It seems like there aren'...

I've wanted to go to Kefalonia for such a long time! While I was in sixth form, our English Lit class got the choice whether we wanted to study Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and ever since seeing what the island (where the book is set) looks like, I've always wanted to visit. Picking somewhere for a summer holiday, we chose Kefalonia as it had lots of nice scenery and stunning beaches, as well as some cheaper accommodation options, but most importantly, it is one of the Greek islands that (allegedly!) stays cooler in the summer. However, despite averages being around 25 degrees for June/July, it was actually 31/32 degrees all week! Killer! To be honest, we'd have seen a lot more while we were there except for the fact that it was so warm - I'm not great in the heat, so walking round castle ruins etc with no shade in the midday sun? Nah! Not for me! But that only means if we want to visit again we'll have plenty more to see! Here's a guide to so...

The food parcel I had to last me seven days I often do crazy things for features at work, like deciding to visit Auschwitz in a day with a group of local school children. That was a long and emotionally and physically exhausting day! After seeing a local woman take on a month of living from a food bank to raise money for the Trussell Trust charity, I wondered whether it might be worth spending seven days living from a food bank and documenting it for a feature in the newspaper. I collected an emergency food parcel from local food bank, Mission Trinity (with a £20 donation to cover costs), to see how it felt to live on generosity of others - and not be able to choose any of your own food - for a week. This was going to be a real challenge for me - as I'm sure you all know I would describe myself as a generally hungry person who loves food. I HATE tinned peaches I love home cooking and will happily come home from work and make lasagna, risotto, or a moussaka, an...

I have a decision to make. To run the Great North Run this year... or not… I signed up to the ballot this year and was disappointed not to get in, but also quite relieved to be honest. For so many reasons completing the race is such a hard task - it’s nowhere near as simple as running 13.1 miles! For a start, it's such a task just getting up there. You have to stay overnight, but the hotels all book up, the last few times I’ve stayed at air bnbs miles out from the start line. Also, race day is so hectic. Last year, between the toilet queues and the busy public transport system we got stuck on for hours, the day was stressful even without the run. I’m not too sure I want to do it all again. Another problem is it's such a hard course. I’m looking forward to trying the Hull half in June as that one is flat! Also, training is at the warmest part of the year so you know you have to keep running through July and August. If you aren’t good in the heat like me, you kn...

A classic Pinoli pizza at Zizzi Our final week was here! Back from a week holidaying in Lanzarote, we kept our promise of completing our challenge when we got back. We headed to the supermarket and rather than having a set list of meals to make, we decided to just have a look in the fridges and freezers and see what Morrisons had to offer! I was completely over healthy eating the week after I got back from holiday. It was sooooo cold when we touched town, I'd got used to eating big portions on holiday and just thought, well, might as well have another week off the calorie counting... Veggie sausage, mash and a northern amount of veggie gravy... We ate a few different dishes, Phil fancied a curry so we had butter chicken curry with quorn pieces, I made a tagine with quorn pieces another day, we had a lasagna made with vegan mince, and we had some easy meals like sausage and mash when I craved some classic British food after a week abroad (none of that foreign muck, ...

The lovely beach at Playa Flamingo We all love being on holiday. For many of us, the highlight of our year is when we get to set foot in the place we've never been and go explore. Or even reconnecting with good memories somewhere we've travelled to many times. Sometimes holidays are busy and hectic but exciting, sometimes they are chilled out and soothing for the soul. But everyone dreads coming home. So I had a few thoughts about how we can bring that holiday feeling back home with us, to make the weeks we while away at work and home that bit brighter... (some are more serious than others!) Bring that holiday feeling home on the plane! 1. Being friendlier : When we were heading out in Lanzarote, I left the hotel room while Phil was dillydallying and when I realised it was raining out I called back: 'It's spitting!' just as a British bloke walked by at the exact moment and shouted "Everybody in! Everybody in!" a la Peter Kaye... Can...

Los Hervideros I've got to admit, when I thought about Lanzarote I thought it would be all Brits eating fry ups and drinking lager all hours of the day and turning into lobsters on sun loungers by the pool. Don't get me wrong, if that's your cup of tea then who am I to judge? Each to their own! But it's not really my kind of holiday. Me and Phil were in real need of a holiday, but neither of us felt like a chilly Northern European city break, so we looked for somewhere cheap and cheerful in The Canaries where the sun would hopefully shine and we could get some relaxing done and spend some time reconnecting. We found a bargain flight and hotel combination on the volcanic Spanish Island and soon after I started researching the place, not really knowing what was on offer! Cheap but cheerful: Hotel THB Flora, Puerto del Carmen I started on Tripadvisor, where someone who had recently stayed at our hotel praised its location in Puerto Del Carmen next to a sh...