Just call me "snot-queen"

Yes, its gross, but that's what I am at the moment - Snot Queen. I dont know where it all comes from, but I blow my stupid nose every couple of minutes until its empty, and yet 5 minutes later, its full of snot again. My poor nose is red raw, dry and scratched from all the blowing! I'm taking a day/night cold and flu tablets, which are supposed to dry my nose up (yeah right) but I dont think they're helping much. I got up this morning to find that it has travelled down into my throat and chest, so now I've got a phlegmy cough too - ah the joys! If its not better by tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. I actually did NOTHING on my birthday. My wonderful fiance made me breakfast in bed - french toast. It was so sweet, just unfortunate that I couldn't taste it because I've lost my sense of smell and taste at the moment. Then I lazed around the house, did my ironing for the week, had some family pop in for a little while. We went out for dinner to our local Indian restaraunt - but I still couldn't taste anything!

Yesterday was the first day back at work, and boy was I dreading it! It wasn't too bad - spent a large amount of the day telling people about the holiday, showing the photos, blowing my nose and sifting through hundreds of emails. We had a birthday cake (caramel mud) too, which was lovely. I'm trying to get back into my normal routine with eating - but I feel like my system has shut down a bit though. Metabolism has definetely slowed - I had to force myself to eat all my meals, just wasnt hungry. Hopefully it wont take long to get it firing again. I want my appetite (and my tastebuds) back!

Still have not done any exercise - I'm dying to get back into it, when this cold eases up I will start back. Will hopefully be able to go back to gym later this week, and will start hitting the weights again next week. That should help in terms of getting some energy back too. My muscles have ceased to exist - I want my shoulder definition back!!!!

Well thats about it for now, with any luck my next post will see me bouncing off the walls!

I've got a cold again

Grrrr I've got another cold! All this jetting around the world really does nothing for the old immune system. I first picked up a nasty cold in England at the beginning of January, and it never really went away (well it died down to a hacking cough) - and then yesterday it resurfaced. Or else I've picked up another one. Anyway, the runny nose and sore throat are BA-ACK and I'm pretty fed-up with it. Having a cold in Summer just makes you feel worse than it usually does!

Tomorrow is my birthday (32... *shudder*) and I dont think we're doing anything. The holiday sort of counted as our combined Christmas/Birthday treats this year, but maybe we'll go out for dinner or something. If my nose doesn't unblock, I might not be able to taste anything though!

On Monday I go back to work (groan) and I'm also going to get stuck back into training and clean eating. Going to spend this weekend writing my goals which should take me up to my first eye operation, which is the 15th of March. During the eye operation period, I'm not really sure how much exercise I'm going to be allowed to do, apparently they frown on any sport or exercise for a few weeks afterwards.

Kerry tagged me with this a little while ago - I'm a few weeks behind sorry!

A-Z Of Hilary -

A - Available or single? Neither - newly engaged!
B- Best Friend? My fiance
C- Cake or Pie? Cake
D- Drink of Choice? Currently white wine
E- Essential Item? Ipod.
F- Favorite Color? Purple
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Neither I'd rather have chocolate
H- Hometown? Brisbane, Australia
I- Indulgence? Castello Cheese, crackers and wine
J - January or February? – January, my birth month
K- Kids and names? Shavez (Alaskan Malamute), Elke (Border Collie) and Connor (Siamese Cat)
L- Life is incomplete without? My partner and my animals
M- Marriage Date? Steady on! We only just got engaged!!
N- Number of Siblings? One brother
O- Oranges or apples? Neither - I dont really like fruit
P- Phobias/Fears? Spiders, Heights
Q- Favorite Quote? Don’t have one
R- Reason to Smile? Coming home
S - Season? Autumn
T - Tag three people! I think everyone has done this by now
U- Unknown fact about Me? I used to smoke
V- Vegetable you hate? Artichoke
W- Worst habit? Snoring (occasionally!!)
X- X-rays you've had? teeth, head, spine (for Chriopracter)
Y- Your favorite food? Roast Vegetables, cheese and crackers
Z- Zodiac? Aquarius

Still jet lagged

Thank you so much to everyone for your warm wishes and congratulations - it means so much to me!! Thank you!

I am so glad that I took this extra week off to recover - I am still jet lagged! We have been home now for 6 days and I still feel like crap. By the second day I was back to normal sleeping habits, and I'm sleeping like a log each night (having some crazy dreams too) but I still feel like my feet are made of concrete, I feel like I have no strength. I go through short bursts of energy, but the rest of the time I feel so fatigued that all I can manage is to sit and read or watch the tennis.

Yesterday we went out for about 2 hours, but we had to cut it short and come home, because I could barely manage all the walking/climbing in and out of the car/climbing stairs etc.

The bad news is that I have put on about 4 kgs in 5 weeks. I read in a medical book that a diet rich in carbohydrates will help the body to combat jet lag, so I have been having carbs with every meal. I dont know if it is helping or not!!! Anyway, next week I go back to work, so I'm planning on hitting the gym from Monday too - as long as I feel up to it that is. Fingers crossed!

Here's a couple more photos from the trip - I have about 500 to choose from!

Caernarfon Castle, North Wales

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

Inside the Colosseum, Rome

The beautiful ski fields of Schlick 2000, Innsbruck - Austria.

Happy Australia Day everyone!!!

I left with a boyfriend and came home with a fiance...

I'm ba-ack and yes you read that title correctly... we got engaged!!!!!!

It was Friday the 12th of January, we were halfway up the Austrian Alps, alone in a gondola/cable car, and my beloved boyfriend got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him!!!

Of course I said YES!!!! I was completely taken by surprise, it was the most romantic setting ever! This is the view we had from the cable car - not a bad view to get engaged to, eh?

So we are going to buy the ring in a few weeks (now that we're home) but he did make me a temporary ring... he had taken a table napkin from the hotel restaraunt, written the most beautiful message inside, and folded it up lengthways, so he could tie it around my finger - I will treasure that forever... sigh... so romantic...

So - the remainder of our holiday was great! Before we left England we travelled down to London, met my uncle, did a fabulous day tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath. Then off to Innsbruck for the skiing (and engagement!). My fiance (hee hee sounds funny) tried snowboarding, and I skiied (i had skiied twice before) and he was covered in bruises after the first hour, but we had a ball. I managed to stay on my feet for about an our before the first stack.

After Innsbruck we went to Naples, Pompeii and the Isle of Capri. Pompeii was mindblowing - I kept walking around saying "I cant believe I'm finally at Pompeii" over and over. Spectacular, and the Pompeii ruins themselves were really big - far too big to walk around in 3 hours, which is all the time we had.

This is me at Pompeii, with the volcano Mt Vesuvius in the background.This is the bay of Naples - the day was quite hazy, but fairly warm too (16 or 17 degrees C) considering it was the middle of winter.

Finally we headed back to Rome, where we had two days to see the sights. I didnt like Rome itself, dirty, crowded, noisy, and crazy drivers! But Ancient Rome was fantastic. My favourite place was the Roman Forum - ahhh it was amazing. I cant believe I got to walk around and touch ruins that were over 2000 years old.

We went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, St Peters Basilica, St Pauls, Capitol, and finally the Coliseum, where we spent our final afternoon. We both loved it - the history of the place is incredible.

I have many more photos, so I will post more in the days to come. Right now I am exhausted, as we seemed to be coming home forever. I think I have slept about 5 hours in the last 48. Lucky I have one more week off work - I think we need it!

Thats about it for now, I will catch up with everyones blogs in the next day or two!

A few more pics

York (today) ... really cool old place

Me and BF - at Edinburgh Castle
Blackpool

This might be the last post for a while - tomorrow we head to London and I dont know when I'll have access to the internet again.

Today we went to York - really cool place, shame it rained most of the afternoon. We went to the Jorvick Centre and saw all the Viking history of the place - just amazing! My throat is not much better - I'm in danger of losing my voice.

We'll be off enjoying the rest of our holiday (Austria and Rome) until the 20th of January - may not get back here before then, so everybody train hard and see you soooooooon!!!!

PS; I miss eating healthy and going to the gym! I've been eating crap and doing no exercise for the last 10 days, and I'm in chocolate heaven over here. I'm going to have to get stuck back in when I get home!

The adventure continues...

Getting drenched at the Merlion in Singapore!

Seeing the sun rise over the Swiss Alps from the plane...

We are having a fabulous holiday! Here are a couple of photos from the first part of our trip.

Last Monday we went to Leeds to meet some more of BF's rellies, and we went to Haworth (where the Bronte's lived - unfortunately the Parsonage and Museum was shut). On Wednesday we went to Chester (really old Roman town) and to Liverpool, on Thursday we went to North Wales and visited to two really cool castles in Snowdonia. Then on Friday we got taken to Scotland. We stopped at Gretna Green (where lots of people elope - but dont worry, nothing to report from there!!) and then made our way to Edinburgh. We stayed overnight in a hotel in Edinburgh and then on Saturday morning went to Edinburgh castle (which is where they do the Military Tatoo, and we saw the Scottish crown jewels) and then got on the open-top double-decker bus around town. It was bloody freezing and then it started to rain a bit, so we got off!

On the way back from Scotland we went to see Hadrians Wall, which I loved. I cant believe I'm getting to see stuff that is 2000 years old - it just blows me away. We also saw the ruins of an old Roman Fort.

The weather has been fantastic, we have seen the sun just about every day, and rain too! It hasn't been too cold, mainly between 5 and 10 degrees, which feels quite mild. Its only when the wind picks up that you can really feel it. I have come down with a sore throat which has been annoying me since Tuesday. BF has got a bit of a runny nose too. Today I feel quite crappy - exhausted and sick, so we are staying in today and we are having a roast dinner, which we are really looking forward to (cant wait to have some vegies)!!

Tomorrow we are going to York for the day, and then on Tuesday we head south to London to visit my uncle. On Wednesday we have a day tour to Bath, Salisbury and Stonehenge, and then on Thursday we are off to Innsbruck!

I think I'm going to be knackered by the time we get home!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the nice hot weather!

Happy New Year!!

Hi All and Happy New Year!!

Well here we are in the UK - enjoying our holiday immensely! We left home bright and early on Christmas Day and spent most of the day in the plane to Singapore. Singapore was great, not as hot or humid as we were expecting though. Turned out that December is one of the cooler months (still 30 degrees) and is right in the monsoon season... it rained pretty much the entire time we were there! Typical!!

For the 2.5 days we were there, we managed to cram in as much sightseeing as was humanly possible... we did 4 tours all up. A night tour of the city (included a visit to Raffles and a brief tour on the river), a day tour (visited Little India, Chinatown, Orchid Gardens), a day tour of Sentosa Island, and the absolute best thing was the Night Safari... OMG it was amazing to see Lions, African Elephants, Hyenas, Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos, Hippos etc etc up soooo close! It was just an awesome experience!

On our flight over from Singapore, we had a breif stop in Zurich, and when the plane took off again we got to see the most amazing sight of seeing the sun rise over the Swiss Alps... absolutely breathtaking... took a photo of that!

So now we are in England! We've been to Blackpool, which was just so cool - totally different to anything in Australia, but absolutely FREEZING walking along the promenade! Then it started to rain and we got to experience a bit of good old English sleet.

We are going to Leeds tomorrow, and to North Wales on Thursday to see some old castles, and then Scotland next weekend - cant wait!

We've been eating and drinking far too much (its difficult to try to keep up with the locals!) and not a lot of exercise, but hey, I'm having a ball! I have managed to do some tricep dips and some push ups, but that's about it.

Tonight is New Years Eve, and there will be a party here at BF's cousins house, so that should be good. Funny here - you can buy fireworks from the local supermarket (and alcohol too)

Anyway, thats about it from me for now - hope everyone has had a fabulous New Years, and I will post more when I can!!