I know I'm turning into my mother when...

1. I decide to join a walking group
When I was younger I hated walking anywhere and would always ask my parents to drive me everywhere, much to my Mom's dismay who is a bit of an eco-freak and loves walking so much that she's been the member of a rambling group for over a decade and she only joined the postal service because of all the walking involved.

Well, I'm now 25 and the idea of hiking around the British countryside to escape the city is massively appealing. I want to aimlessly walk across picturesque fields in the mud, in the cold, in my new waterproof trousers that my Mom got me for Christmas, which are the same ones she got for wet weather days on the post and so assures me that they're "really good". So, I looked up city walking groups today and as soon as I've purchased myself a good pair of boots then I'm going to pay my £41 to join the city walking group and damn I will walk myself stupid around London!

2. Keeping a diary and making plans way in advance

Keeping a diary and track of things is good; it's good to be organised. Sometimes though I think I can be organised to the point of irritation where I loose track of being spontaneous. When I get to the weekend I need to know exactly what's happening so that I can think and plan out the most logical order in which to do things. This is my mother to a tee.

When I was younger Mom and Dad used to 'do diaries' where they'd sit down together for half an hour and write up in their diary what each would be doing the following week, or a month down the line, or three months down the line. I've found myself doing this, much to the annoyance of my boyfriend. Before 2011 was even out, I was already writing plans in the diary for June 2012 of things that we've got on. He's even asked to get a diary this year, so clearly it's only a matter of time before we'll be having our own 'doing diaries'.

3. I'm getting into gardening

Mom's always been into horticulture stuff. Not only does she take very, very good care of our garden back home and cultivate her allotment, but she was even the chair, or head, or whatever for the village trust for a time. I'd get dragged around garden centres, which never interested me at all. Gardening was boring. Again though, until this year and now I find myself applying for jobs on gardening magazines, writing articles about lettuce and for an urban gardening website and actually enjoying it!

4. I admire my Mom's dress sense

There's no way I'm ready to hang up my baggy jeans and skate shoes yet, but as my Mom's got older she dresses way better and there are a selection of skirts in her wardrobe that I really like. They're simple, like proper classic cuts that go with anything. I on the other hand struggle with skirts and so this makes me envious, but at the same time worried that I'm starting to like what my Mom wears!

5. I drink less

For as long as I've been aware, my Mom's never been a big drinker. I think there are only a handful of occasions I can think of when she's been tipsy. Apparently she gave up drinking much in her late 20's because she got really bad hangovers. Before that she was a baby sham swilling, cigar smoking lady. Now she only agrees to the odd glass of champagne.

I used to be able to down a handful of pints and polish off a bottle of wine without a second thought and only minor repercussions. When it came to the drinking stakes I was definitely my father's daughter. Totally can't do it very much anymore and instead find myself enjoying just the odd glass and being happy enough.

Good grief, and there was me thinking that turning into your mother was just an urban myth.

RoseC -x-