Not much to report!

I'm feeling great at the moment - feeling strong, training hard, eating clean!   My goals this week were to eat clean all week, not miss a training session and to drink all my water.  I've well and truly achieved that this week, so I'm feeling good.  I did a great leg session on Monday, increased some of my weights and I was really pulling out some fantastic grunts and grimmaces, but was a bit disappointed not to get much lower body DOMS.   It was only the second time of doing that programme too :(  Weird.

Tuesday I did a different back and chest session, and BOY am I feeling it!  My chest is tender to the touch, and my lats are hammered! :))  I did Body Attack this morning and had a bit of trouble raising my arms in the air!  You feel like a bit of a gumby when you cant raise your arms over your head... especially with all those bloody jumping jacks - its like "ouch - clap - ouch - clap..."  hehehe

I went to the dentist this week for my 6 monthly checkup - and was told that I need to have my 3 remaining wisdom teeth out... boohoo!  The good news is that the roots arent embedded or anything so I can have them out in the dentist chair so at least I wont have to take out a second mortgage.  The bad news is that I HAVE TO HAVE MY WISDOM TEETH OUT.  Groan... Probably going to wait until after my eye op is done though - whenever the hell that might be.

And I'm off to Melbourne on Sunday night for a two day training course.  I dont think there will be any time for shopping unfortunately, but it will be nice to be the one who gets trained for a change, instead of ME being the one who conducts the training.   Then only two days at my office and then it will be Easter!  Woohoo!

Here's to a strong Friday and a great weekend!

Photographic Evidence...

Here is the photographic evidence that I DID wear a dress to our friends wedding on Friday! I was totally not comfortable all night, but hey - me in a dress only happens once every few years so I guess its not all bad! It was lovely to have half a day off on Friday, and the wedding was at a winery so it was even better :)

Tonight I am cooking OH's favourite meal - Beef Wellington, roast vegetables and yorkshire puddings. This will be my last free meal for a few weeks - I'm going on a self-imposed lockdown. I really need to work on some new fitness goals because at the moment I feel like I'm just marking time. If I dont have any direction then I tend to get a little sloppy, and that makes me feel yuk.

I'm still waiting patiently (yeah right!!) to find out when my eye operation is going to be, so until that happens I cant work on any big goals. So to get me through to the op, I will now turn my focus onto weekly goals. That way I've still got something to focus on, without committing myself to anything long-term.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and have a great week this week! I'm off to do my ironing... :(

New hairdo, new dress & new shoes!

It has taken me three days to type this post!!!!! Very busy at the moment...

Had myself a little shopping spree on the weekend. Got my hair chopped off on Saturday (am now about 3 inches shorter), dark brown, and re-did my orange stripe. Then I had to buy a dress - we're going to a wedding on Friday and the dress code is "Cocktail"... what the hell does that mean?! I dont get out much! I had to ask the sales chicks what "cocktail" meant!

I seriously hate wearing dresses... I've never been a dress kinda girl. Give me shorts or jeans any day - occasionally I do wear skirts, but I just hate dresses! It means I have to sit like a 'lady' for one thing - lol! Plus I just feel weird not having a waistband. Strange, aren't I? :)

Aaaanyway, after trying on every single dress in the whole shopping centre, I finally found one. Its not exactly "cocktail" because its not a satin material (its kinda like a crepe material) - halter neck, cream with a red pattern, and knee length. So I brought it home and showed OH, who promptly said "you dont have any shoes that go with that - you need to buy red shoes"!!!! Can you believe it???? He ACTUALLY TOLD me that I need to buy more shoes!!!! So of course I went back to the shopping centre and bought TWO pairs... some red strappy heels for the wedding, and a back pair with kitten heel for work.

Had to get the new (flat) work shoes because of some problems I'm having with my feet. For the last few months, every time I get out of bed I have this shooting pain through my arches and my heel, which gradually dies down to the point where I can walk without hobbling. If I sit for any length of time my feet seize up too. So it was either continue to wear my beautiful high heels and not be able to walk (!!!!!) or buy some flat (kitten heel) shoes. I chose comfort over style. I keep thinking I need to go to a podiatrist, because I think its because of my high arches collapsing. Spoke to my chiropracter on Monday who said that the bones in my feet were extremely tight - they just werent moving. He strapped my feet up for me and they instantly felt better - which he said is an indication that I need some custom made orthotics. So I've bought some "Orthaheel" arch supports that you get from the chemist, and will have to order some custom made ones at my next Chiro appointment.

Training and eats have been spot on through the week - weekends still need some attention. I took Shar's advice and did the body balance class again on Tuesday. I cannot honestly say that I enjoyed it, but I do think my body responds well to all the stretching. And I did a different leg session on Monday and now my arse cheeks are so sore!! That's good - I need to lose some more lard off my butt!

Otherwise everything is cruising along - and I have realised that this month it is one year that I have been blogging! Happy blogging birthday to me!!!!

Surgery Delayed :(

Today was meant to be the big day, but unfortunately my eye surgery has been postponed.  The lenses havent turned up yet!!!!   Disappointed :(  - and the worst thing is they cant tell me when they're going to turn up.  So I have no idea at this point if its going to be days, weeks or months.  I'm hoping it doesn't stop me from participating in Phat Camp.

Tuesday morning I did something different at the gym - Body Balance.  I've always wanted to try one of these but was a bit worried about "wasting my time" at the gym.  By that I mean: I generally feel that if I'm not lifting weights, doing some kick-arse cardio, or just generally getting my heart rate up and getting sweaty, then I'm not working hard enough.  Body Balance was different - lots of stretching, holding poses, yoga type stuff, and even had a bit of meditation/relaxation at the end where you just lie there and drift away!  I liked it, I got quite warm and had a VERY light sweat, and it was great to add something a little bit different to my week.  Not sure I'll make it a regular thing though - I still feel a bit like I wasted an hour!

This morning I did the new Body Attack... talk about cardio blast!

I have been 100% spot on with my nutrition, and I am so happy with myself.  It has been a full-on week - and some long days at work.   When I found out I was going to have my surgery postponed I was sooo disappointed, and I really wanted to have a glass of wine.  It was tough, I even went and got a bottle out of the wine rack.  Then I thought "This is ridiculous - I cant have a glass of wine every time something shitty/upsetting/disappointing happens... so I put the bottle back (unopened) and had a glass of diet soft drink instead.   Victory to me!!!!  (hope this doesn't make me sound like an alcoholic!)

On that happy note, I'm off!  Stay strong!!!!

8 years

Today is mine & my fiance's 8 year anniversary!   I have just been surprised at work by receiving a HUGE big bunch of Gerbera's from OH... my absolute favourite flower!  He is such a sweetheart!

I had a fantastic weekend - stayed strong.  It was so good to get back home on Friday night - its the best part of being away!  You should see the welcome that my little kitty gives me when I've been away for a few days... heheheh he runs for a cuddle and whinges his head off, and he being a raucous Siamese, the volume is always turned up to extreme!  After a few hours, after he has calmed down, he turns into an ankle biter.  He hides behind things and then launches himself at my legs when I walk past, then continues to bite me while I laugh and tease him.  I think its his way of saying "THATS WHAT YOU GET FOR GOING AWAY AND LEAVING ME!!!"   So at the moment I'm sporting lots of cat bite marks and scratches.  Its only because he loves me. :-)~ hehe

I got up early on both Saturday and Sunday mornings and took the pooches for a walk.  I'm continuing to take them both at the same time and it saves a lot of hassle having to come home and switch dogs halfway through!  They love it, but its been so hot and humid (even at 7am!) that I do feel sorry for them.  I had really good nutrition and water intake this weekend.  I managed to come back from Townsville weighing less than when I left - so gotta be happy with that!

On Sunday my OH came to do the groceries with me (which he hates doing - but it was his suggestion).  The grocery bill is always through the roof when he comes shopping with me, he's like a kid in a lolly shop... "oooh lets get THIS!".... "mmm lets try some of THAT"  etc - but he did show some restraint.   A few things he picked up, and then put back when he saw the price!  I think he used to wonder why the grocery bill is usually so high - well now he knows!   He did manage to sneak in a few packets of lollies into the trolley, so we now have Chickos and Strawberries & Creams in the pantry.  Thats ok though - I'm never tempted by soft lollies, if I'm going to break out, it will be on chocolate or cheese.  So he can have those all to himself!

I am so hungry today............ gotta stay strong!

*Waving*... from Townsville

Well here I am again, Townsville, Far North Queensland.   This is the place where all my body woes began, I spent a very large part of 2004 here, and put on a lot of weight due to eating and drinking too much, stress, and not exercising enough.    This is where I improved on my "muffin top" look!  This is also where I developed my "wine makes it all better" motto too... ;-)   it was bad news all round!

I'm here for work again, and this is the first time I've been back since 2004.  I was a little bit apprehensive about coming back too.  I know you cant blame a location for adding to your issues, but I guess that's what I was doing.  Anyway, here I am, and I'm doing ok.  I know I am a lot stronger, both physically and mentally since I was last here - so there can be no excuses anymore.

Yesterday I was soooo hungry!   I just wanted to eat everything in sight, but I ate only what was planned - although I was probably a little light-on for protein.  Went out for a huge jog along the Strand yesterday afternoon for 50 minutes (OMG it was so HOT - my head felt like a furnace, and even the breeze off the ocean was hot!), and then went out for dinner.  My resolve broke a little at dinner and I had some white wine, but resisted a few other things that I was tempted with.  I dont know what it is about bloody travelling that makes me weaken!!  It makes me so angry with myself!

Anyway, today WILL be much better.  I have bought myself a diet coke to have with dinner (room service) and all my meals are in the fridge at the office ready to go - so no excuses!  Home tomorrow night - and back to normality.

This time next week I will be having my first eye operation!!!!  (trying not to think about it or I will chew my nails down to the knuckle)

Hope everyone is having a great week.  Unfortunately I cant read blogs while I'm away  :(

Weekend stuff

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments about my ring! I'm pleased to hear that the novelty doesn't wear off, I can be assured then, of it catching my eye for years to come. :)

Well my laser iridotomies went ok. I was freaking out for a week beforehand, but strangely once I was there I felt much more calm. The eye drops before the procedure were to constrict the pupil, rather than to dilate them. (How funny does that look?!!!!) Then I had to wait for half an hour before I could have the laser done. I was surprised that it was just done in a normal room, like I was half expecting to have my head strapped down or something! I placed my head on a chin rest, looked into a green light, and the doc fired the laser at me in little short bursts. It didn't actually HURT as such, but it was a sort of a sharp ache each time the laser zapped my iris. The left eye went smoothly, but the first zap on my right eye saw me jump out of my skin - and then I kept jumping each time the laser hit. As a consequence my right eye looks like a pincushion! No seriously, you cant see the holes unless you are looking for them - they just look like tiny black dots on the coloured part of your eye.

Recovery was pretty good - I had hazy vision for about 4 hours, and just a dull ache in my eyes. So far so good!

On Saturday I went to Di's house for a lunch she had organised while Sue is up in Qld. It was a sweltering day, really humid - and me, being the eager-beaver that I am, arrived WAAAAY before anyone else! Let me just say, Di certainly lives in paradise - both her house and the view is stunning!

I met some lovely ladies too - Kellie (Sue's latest Body Blitz winner), Gill, Maraina and Lorraine. It was also great to catch up with Sue, Di and Rachel (and see Rachel's gorgeous little man Zach.) Thanks so much to Di for being such a great hostess, it was a fantastic day (and lunch was delicious!)

Here's a photo we took early on before we started to melt!

So after spending a lovely Saturday lunching with the girls, I came home to find some new walls inside our house! OH was very busy while I was out enjoying myself, here is one of the walls he built - this is from the dining room looking through to the entry (eventually will have down-lights and chrome rail up the top).

Note the bits of gyprock still missing... the missing wall on the right of this photo looks into our main bathroom! You can also see the most beautiful chandellier in the lounge room (note: I am being sarcastic).

So because he'd worked so hard and I was in no mood for cooking, we headed out for dinner last night. We went to Ashmore Road Seafood and Steak on the Gold Coast. I think that is the first time in my life I have been on the Sunshine Coast AND the Gold Coast all in the space of one day. Anyway, I had calamari - it was soooo tender and juicy. The servings are so huge though that I couldn't get through much of it! This is my OH's favourite place for dinner - its certainly not 5 star dining, but the food is excellent (the steak is unbelievable), the serves are enormous, and you never have to book.

Finally here's a couple of pics of my funny little kitty, Connor. I especially like the bottom one, he looks stoned!

Hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend!

BLING!!!!!

Here is my engagement ring!!

In its box...

On my finger!

So exciting to finally pick this up last night! I've only had it about 12 hours, but I cant stop gazing at it! I was watching Heroes last night, and during each ad break I kept looking at it (my OH was having a few peeks at it too - he's quite impressed with himself!) and even when I was flossing my teeth last night I caught myself gazing lovingly at it... hehehehe :) The novelty will take a little while to wear off I think!

Yesterday I did my measurements, since it had been two weeks since my last weigh-in. I wasn't going to do it, since my frame of mind over the last few days has been less than positive. Well I did it anyway, and was quite surprised by the results. My scale weight hasn't changed since a fortnight ago, but a couple of my measurements have dropped by a centimetre, and a couple of skinfolds have reduced too. Particularly surprising as I've been less than perfect, especially in the last few days. My total bodyfat has dropped a whole percent too (whoopee!) - well, a loss is a loss...

Today I have the day off work, as I'm going in to have the laser iridotomies in my eyes. I am FREAKING out but I'm sure it will be a piece of cake (!!!!) Think of me... getting holes drilled into my eyes....