The Great Outdoor Playmo Challenge

I awoke at 6.30 in the morning on the last day of the year with an inexplicable desire to get moving. It’s now seven, and I have just finished bouncing around my kitchen singing ‘What’s New Pussy Cat’ with the ever-ready Tom Jones. Now I’m alone with my coffee cup and Ryvita contemplating the year that is drawing to a close.

If life is a journey, 2014 was a road pitted with potholes, slathered with mud and booby-trapped with challenges I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams. Monumental changes and challenges that drained me emotionally – the loss of a loved one, and seeing the first baby fly the nest. My family was there to quietly set me back on my feet. So huge thanks to my parents and siblings for their support through a difficult period. You guys rock, and I love you all to planet Zorg and back. I’m back on track now, but life has changed – and so have I.

Potholes suck. But in winter they can contain unexpected surprises. Does anyone else see the Miro dog?

So I’m on the starting line for 2015. As resolutions are being made across the globe, MM’s shoes are prepared and she’s ready to put her best foot forward. You run a high risk of tripping over if you spend all your time looking in the rear view mirror, yet our past experiences irrevocably shape who we are, and being conscious of what has been can help build a better future. But similarly, when you’re pedalling furiously through life, it’s important to lift your head from time to time and look over the handlebars to see where you’re going.

So what does all this rambling mean, MM? Are you going to tell us what your resolutions are? Good question. Resolutions are made to be broken. So there will be no resolutions. Although there are many things I could resolve to change, nobody would recognize me any more. An organized MM who went to the gym, refused the bowl of peanuts as it was passed around the room and didn’t talk non stop would no longer be MM. Llife’s too short to pretend be something I’m not.

However. I am going to test my resolve. The last time I tested my staying power was two and a half years ago, on the great cholesterol challenge. Since then, I have had all the resolve and self-control of a four-year-old forgotten in a Cadbury’s warehouse. I am a pacifist when faced with temptation – I willingly lay down my weapons, and surrender to whatever is on offer.

Open air photoshoot of Mrs Playmo wearing Chanel handbag, John Wayne’s hat , Batman’s cape and Madonna’s corset. Why this photo? Read on….

So here is the challenge, laid out here on the blog as a further commitment: I have signed up for Dry January. The Rosé Queen is going to lay off the booze for 31 days – not because I feel I am a rampant alcafrolic, but simply to prove to myself that I have the willpower to decide and stick at it.

And that’s not all. I vow to drag my trainers on, stick some music in my lugholes and get outside for one hour with Smelly Dog every single day, come rain or shine, for the same month. Why? To clean out the cobwebs and visually gobble up the tons of beautiful nature on offer on my doorstep. To admire the gob-smackingly blue sky. To take photos. In short, to enjoy the best and simplest things in life. They are free, yet priceless. This will be my mantra for 2015.

In fact, I’ve already started. Mrs Playmo kindly offered to keep me company with her scaled-down version of Smelly Dog. She’s even given me permission to post compromising photos of her every day to prove it. (Gosh, that was a rash decision.) Here she is on today’s walk, being an inappropriately dressed top model on a tractor bonnet  and trying to spot a potential sugar daddy from a scarecrow’s pocket.

Mrs Playmo climbed into the scarecrow’s pocket for a better vantage point. Alas, there was no Playmo Hunk to be seen in the vineyards…

As the day draws to an end, I’d like to thank you all for being there for me this year. It’s a privilege to know you all, and your support eight months ago made me realize just how lucky I am to know you all. I wish you all a safe and healthy journey through the coming year. May the blogging force be with you.

Love n Hugs, MM xx