Ugh

Feeling very tired and emotional lately, I haven't been sleeping well at all. Last Sunday night I got 3 hours, Monday night got 4 hours, Tuesday 5 hours etc - I was on a roll and by Friday night I had worked up to 8 hours sleep - bliss!! OH thinks its a bit strange, but hey - I dont deliberately NOT sleep, I'm just having so much trouble dropping off lately.

Despite the tiredness, I still managed 4 days at the gym last week, and had a really clean week food-wise. I had a few aches and pains though - on Thursdays cycle class my lower back was pinging, and my right knee was hurting. Then on Friday morning at Step my lower back was still hurting a little. I tried to take it a little easier, and stretch, but it didn't help much. I dont know what I've done to it.

Come Friday though I was knackered (as you would be on so little sleep) and so decided on a whim to crack open a bottle of Moet that I've had sitting there for AGES. I'd been saving it for a 'special occasion' - but that never seems to happen, and I'd never ever tasted the stuff before, so I thought 'bugger it' and opened it. I dont drink much anymore (it really makes me feel ill lately) so by the second sip I felt quite giddy! I could feel the alcohol coursing through my veins - I cant believe I've turned into such a cheap drunk! Well, not cheap on Moet, but you know what I mean! I finished the bottle off on Saturday night, and felt quite disgusting for doing so - I felt drunk but in a horrible queazy way.

I'm still not sleeping well this week - as witnessed by the staff at the specialist centre where I went yesterday morning - at 7am, for an appointment. Turns out I got the date wrong, the appointment isn't for another two weeks! D'OH!

And then this morning I accidentally put black eye-liner on my eyebrows (I thought I had picked up the brown eyebrow pencil) so I had to go wash my face because black eyebrows aren't a good look!!

I think I need a holiday!

You know you're getting old when...

...you get excited about kitchen-ware purchases!

I've been down in the dumps all week, so on Saturday OH and I went shopping. He got a new mobile phone (Nokia E71) and I got some kitchen stuff from a Kitchen warehouse near us.

We were like kids in a toy store - I couldn't believe how much cool stuff there is in a kitchenware shop! OH got some new drink shaker bottles (for protein shakes etc) and he was quite obsessed over a juicer, and some potato slicer/V slicer thingy - he never cooks, so I dont know why - I think he just likes gadgets!

I bought a new chopping board, my old white plastic one has needed retiring for ages now, so I bought a spiffy new bamboo one, very similar to this one: AAAAAND I got a new frying pan - its a Scan Pan 32cm 'saute' pan, we opted for that one over the regular 'fry pan' because the saute pan came with a lid and had slightly deeper sides.
I cant believe how confusing it is to buy a good quality non-stick fry pan, we stood in that shop for about an hour, quizzing the staff on this one or that one, picking them up and comparing... OH is good at this kind of stuff! So now I have a super-duper pan that should last a LONG time.

Apparently all this time I have been doing the wrong thing by my old non-stick fry pans. Apparently Olive Oil is one of the worst things you can cook with (in terms of wrecking your pan) because it has a fairly low 'burn' point. Its better to use Grapeseed or Avocado Oil instead, as it has a much higher burn point and wont leave a residue on the non-stick surface as much. Also, apparently spray oil is bad too.

I cooked a few things on the weekend (had to try out my new toy) and only used the smallest drop of Grapeseed oil - I was amazed at how the food just slid around the pan LOL!

I'm super tired today - I think I had about 3 hours sleep last night. I feel like a bit of a zombie.

I love Spring

It is such a beautiful day in Brisbane today, the sun is shining, and I'm actually wearing a singlet outside and its HOT out there! Summers not far away!

I forgot to post a pic of Shavez without his tail, this pic was taken not long after the op, so he still had his bucket on... he's going great now, doesn't seem to miss it at all, and that funny little "bunny rabbit bum" is just too cute!

Also, as promised, heres a pic of our new vegie garden, this was taken just after OH had completed it, before we planted anything...



And here's some pics from today - that is pumpkin sprouting in the background, and beside it to the left you can just see some little tufts of carrot. In the front is zucchini and cucumber...

And here's some snow peas starting to climb the wire...

We've also got tomato and lettuce starting to sprout... . So far the celery and capsicum have yet to show any signs, I have my doubts that they will now.

Beside the vegie garden we've got this great big mulberry tree - it grows like crazy, OH is constantly lopping it back, but right now its laden with berries, I've picked a few - they are delicious, but now I'm wondering what I'm going to do with them! Might have to do some internet research on what I can cook them into...

Well I'd better get back out there and enjoy the sunshine, might go wash the car soon - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Busy!

I was Wonder Woman last weekend, trying to fit everything in! Life just seems to be getting busier and busier for some reason, or maybe I'm just getting old and not adapting well to fitting everything in! Anyway, hence the lack of blog posting.

The weekend just gone was a blur... late Friday afternoon I got my groceries done, then had a Naturopath appointment which ran late, then I went straight to a Partylife Candle Party - dinner ended up being crackers and cheese and dips... not good, but it was that, or starve!

Saturday morning was housework and washing, and then we had to head to Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast for a wedding... which we were late for, but luckily the bride was traditionally late too so we didn't miss a thing! After that we had to go check in to our accommodation - we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Coolum which was just gorgeous - we got a great deal on Wotif and scored a King suite!! The weather turned out to be spectacular too... then we headed straight back to the wedding reception at Twin Waters... didnt get back to the hotel until 11.30pm - very late for us early-birds!

We didn't even get a chance to enjoy the resort facilities either, because after breakfast we had to head straight home because of Fathers' Day. So Ma and Pa came over and had a cuppa, and we showed off our new vegie garden, which is sprouting now after 2 weeks, which I'm very excited about! I must remember to post a pic so you can see!

Then after M & P left we had about an hour to ourselves before we had to head to OH's parents place, and then out for dinner with them.

Phew!

So after a lot of crap food over the weekend, I was feeling VERY bloated and horrible on Sunday night. I feel a lot better now that I've got a couple of clean eating days under my belt. I've got leg doms today after I changed my leg training session again yesterday, and my triceps are screaming nicely after Monday's session too. This afternoon I'm going to take my poor neglected doggies out for a nice walk, might try to convince OH to come with me.

And I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend this weekend!

Late night humour...

One of the many things I love about my other half is that he can always make me laugh. Sometimes, he makes me chuckle when he's not even trying... I'm sure this wont be funny to anyone but me, but here's what happened anyway:

Last night OH went to bed around 9pm, he was pretty tired. I stayed up to watch this strange show on SBS called "The Mighty Boosh", which my TV Guide appropriately described as "like The Goodies on acid"... very accurate description, but I kinda liked it... this is not important to the story, just a piece of trivial information for you. :)

When I went to bed after this, I crept quietly into the bedroom as I normally try to do, and as I approached the bed, OH turned on the bedside lamp and sat bolt upright. Then he leans over his side of the bed, and peers at the floor. Up and down, left and right, he is clearly looking for something on the carpet.

I said "whats the matter, what is it?" remembering that a couple of nights ago he had to squash a spider that had found its way into the room.

He says nothing, but looks up at me with wild eyes... and a look of utter bewilderment and confusion on his face. Then he looks at the floor again, even leaning over to peer under the bed.

Again I say "Whats wrong, whats is it?"

And he says "There's a fish down there"...

I fell apart into giggles, that took me some minutes to contain! He promptly went straight back to sleep!

I was still chuckling about it this morning, and OH had a very sheepish laugh about it himself.

***************************************************

I'm really glad to have my mojo back with regard to training. I missed it. I'm into my second week of training hard and tightening up my nutrition, and I feel much better. I'm even getting out of bed early with no problems anymore. Maybe I just needed a bit of a rest?

Tomorrow is leg day and I'm incorporating some burpees into the session. I dont normally do things in the gym that draw attention to myself, so I'm a bit apprehensive about doing these, especially as I know I'll be gasping for breath afterwards!

My calves are suffering some really bad DOMS at the moment, that's what I get from not doing Step class for so long! My finger is also still numb from when I crushed it in the door jamb last week, but somehow I avoided getting any bleeding under the nail. So hopefully I wont lose the nail, fingers crossed eh?

Sooky-bum

I've been a real sooky-bum this week - lots of emotional stuff, coupled with hormones and not enough sleep in the last two weeks is catching up with me.

I think if I could catch up on sleep, the world would be a much nicer place! Yes a bit of it is my fault from staying up a bit later to watch the Olympics (and I'm a sucker for watching any of the gymnastics - to the point where you forget what time it is) but we've also had neighbours having mid-week parties (HOW RUDE!) and dogs barking, as well as some personal stress at the moment, which means my brain wont stop churning when I go to bed.

Last night OH was starting to come down with a bit of a cold, so when he went to bed he spent the entire night clearing his throat, or coughing. When he finally DID get to sleep, he was so blocked up that he snored... I ended up putting ear plugs in. Then at about 3am my cat decided to start howling in the hallway, and because he sounded like he was sick, I got up. (There is a definite difference between Connor's "I want some attention" yowl, compared to his "I dont feel well" one - other Siamese cat owners will know what I mean!)

So I tiptoed out of the room and very quietly tried to close the bedroom door - because it was dark and I was tired, I didn't realise that I had my finger resting in the door jam (opposite side to the handle), so as the door closed over, my finger got crushed... aaaarrrrggghhhh! I was hopping around in the dark, silently screaming "F**K!!!!!!!!" - and wondering to myself why I was trying to be so quiet - when every other bastard in the house had kept me awake all night!

Then I had to go clean up cat vomit, and go back to bed with a throbbing finger. So I had me a little pity-party right then and there.

Quick reality check: this is probably what its like when you have kids, except it probably happens quite regularly. Get on with it.

So I got up at 5am and went to step - and burned 744 calories. So there.

Stumpy…

“Stumpy” is Shavez’s new nickname :) Who knew that a dog could cope so well without his tail? I had visions of him falling over because he’d lose his sense of balance, but apparently that’s more of a cat thing. Dogs, well, its more for social signaling. Now when he wants to show he’s happy, he’s just going to have to learn to smile more, or wiggle his new “stump” LOL.

Both OH and I have calmed down considerably since last week, particularly since Shavez seems to be back to his old self. Well, as normal as a dog can be with a big plastic bucket on his head. He has been getting spoiled rotten of course, which has set off some jealousy from little miss Elke – when we brought Shavez home from the vet on the day of the amputation, she growled at him all night! I wondered if she didn’t recognize him without a tail :0 I’m doing my best to shower them all with affection (cant leave the cat out either can we?) in the hope that they will all start to play nicely again.

We had a nice weekend, we went to a friends wedding at Sanctuary Cove on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, and quite emotional too because the groom spent most of the ceremony in tears (of happiness!!), which set off the bride and the entire gathering – not a dry eye in the house! It was nice to get frocked up too – I bought a new Cooper Street dress for the occasion, OH was most impressed (he loves it when I dress up) – wanna see?
Yesterday I caned my legs at the gym, so as expected, I wasn’t able to walk properly today. It felt good though, its nice to get back into it after a little break.

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments of support over our beautiful pooch too – very much appreciated!

Vet update

We took Shavez back to the vet on Monday and had the bandages removed. Unfortunately because he'd been licking the bandages so much, they were wet through - which meant that the wounds hadn't healed properly from being wet. Also, the bandages had stuck to the wound, which obviously made it very painful to remove. We had to have OH hold him in a headlock, I held his body, while the vet tried to cut the stinking bandage off.

I have never heard a dog scream until that point, and I never want to hear it again. He screamed at the top of his lungs, and it seemed to go on forever. Then the poor bugger had to have an Elizabethan collar put on to stop him from excessively licking his tail.

The last 2 nights none of us have slept, poor Shavez not only has to contend with this E-collar, so he bumps into everything, but he's been in a lot of pain so has cried non-stop for 2 days and nights. Its heartbreaking, since there is nothing we can do for him.

This morning his tail was looking worse, the skin was going blue, the black spots were getting bigger, so OH took him back to the vet, and the decision has been made to have his tail removed - tomorrow.

The vet seems to think that this is the best solution and will heal much easier due to there not being so much stretching of skin. And hopefully it stops the spread of any further cancer.

Exercise has been a little sparse this last week - I managed to do a weights & cardio session on Monday, and 25 minutes on the cross trainer tonight. Hopefully once I'm able to get some sleep I will have the energy to train again. Eats have been on track though, so I guess that's something.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Bad News

Its bad news from the vet. They took a biopsy of the tissue they removed from the back of Shavez's tail, and its turned out to be a malignant tumour.

We go back to the vet on Monday afternoon to get his stitches out, and also to find out what we can do. Basically I think we have to wait and see if it grows back or if it has spread. Of course, our animals are like our children, they are so much part of the family - we dont want to think the worst, but its hard to keep the fear out of your mind. I'm finding it difficult to stop getting emotional about it, there's been lots of weeping this week :(

Time for an update!

This is a bit of an update/rambly post about nothing much!

Hmmmm ok so I had a bit of a light bulb moment last weekend. The last few weeks its been a bit colder than normal, and I’ve struggled to get out of bed at my normal 5am. Its cold, its dark, and I just didn’t want to get up! At my old job I had to be at the office at a certain time, so I trained at 5.30am because of this. For some unknown reason, when I started my new job (6 months ago) – I never changed my schedule. So I've suddenly realised that, because I go visit customers and drive around all day, I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn any more to fit in my training. Derrrr.

So now that I’ve had that little revelation, I’ve been getting up at 6am instead, and getting to the gym for 6.30. Much more civilized. Its also not as dark or cold. Brilliant! I’ve also decided that I only need to go to gym for weights or cardio classes, since we have a cross trainer at home. So I’m doing 3 mornings at gym, and 3 mornings of cross trainer in front of the TV in the comfort of my living room. Niiiiiiice.

The other thing I’ve realized is that I’ve always classified myself as a “morning” person. Truth is, I’m not. Out of habit I have forced myself to be a morning person, but the reality is, it takes me ages to wake up properly and I’ve usually got puffy eyes for the first half hour. I also tend to grumble words rather than have actual conversations at 5.30 in the morning. Bright and chirpy I’m not. In the evenings, although I SHOULD be tired because I got up at 5am, by 10pm I’m forcing myself to go to bed – because I’m just not sleepy. So that's been my other 'revelation' this week.

Last weekend when we had the dogs bathed, the dog-wash lady found a sort-of fluid filled sac underneath Shavez’s tail. For the last 2 years, he’s had a sore/spot on the top of his tail near the base, about the size of a 50c piece. He licks it until it bleeds, so its been ongoing with the vet for the last year. Antibiotics make it go away, but then it keeps coming back. Anyway, so with this new “sac” we took him straight to the vet. They were completely unconcerned about this new growth, they were more concerned that the spot on top of his tail had come back AGAIN. They started throwing horrible words around like “tumour” and “cancer” and “biopsy” etc. They did say though that the worst case scenario would be that he loses his tail.

So poor Shavez, 12 years old and never had anything more than an injection in his life, had to go under the knife on Friday. They completely removed both the new growth and the gland spot on the top of his tail, and we’ll have the results next week sometime. OH was pretty freaked out, he took the day off work so he could stay home with Elke (she stresses when Shavez isn’t there – she becomes Houdini) and also so he could be close in case he had to rush up to the vet. Poor Shavez was a bit dopey last night! He looked totally stoned! They’ve shaved his tail and bandaged it, so he has this Lion’s tail with a fluffy tuft of fur at the end LOL! Today he’s back to his old self, but very whiney. I suppose it must hurt, the poor puppy. At least if you’re human you can have panadol to ease the pain!

Keep your fingers crossed for him! Here's a pic of him enjoying some 'treat' time in the house the other night, destroying an empty milk carton:

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting Pip! It was lovely to meet her and hear all about her experience at the Gold Coast Half Marathon - I'm in awe of anyone that can run for more than 5km! Pip is such a lovely person and has some really great goals for the future! I felt all motivated after our cup of tea!

Finally, we have decided to get cracking with the house renovations. We've been putting things off and not doing much lately, mostly because OH is stuffed and hasn't wanted to spend his weekends working on the house. But we've really got to get our buts into gear, so today we got stuck in and finished one of those jobs that's been waiting to be done for months.

I was the official helper today - we put the stainless steel wire on the stairs - I attached all the swages to the ends of the wire - go me!! Here's the before:

And the after:
And the finished product from a distance!

Right! I promise I wont leave it as long next time so you wont have to read so much rubbish all in one hit! (that's if you made it to the end LOL). Have a great night!

Inspiration-less...

Hmmmm my blogging "block" seems to be continuing - I'm struggling to find things to blog about lately!

Work has been busy - sometimes I really just love the fact that I can get in my car and drive around for the day - its nice not to be chained to a desk all the time. It does have its drawbacks though - it means that I cant have stir-fries or hot food for lunch unless I've organised to be in the office that day. In winter I really miss my stir-fries and rice - unfortunately a salad doesn't really cut it when its cold outside! I've been having sandwiches, although I'm not a huge fan.

One day last week I was out of the car for a good couple of hours, and when I came back I was starving for lunch - but horror-of-horrors, I had left the lid off my cooler bag, and my food had gotten all warm - yuk! So I did something I havent done in a VERY long time - I headed for the golden arches. I ended up with a lean beef burger, which wasn't too bad, at least it wasn't huge and I still felt like I had a bit of portion control. I have definetly learned my lesson though, keep that cooler bag shut tight!

Last week I had another go at front squats and deadlifts, and I think I must have done it with correct form this time - I didn't really add much weight to the bar, but OH MY GOD I was sore for the rest of the week! I could barely walk on Thursday and Friday, and to be honest they are still feeling a bit tender. The thing I like about those front squats is that they seem to work your shoulders too - so you get a two-for-one workout - bargain!

Anyway, must go and organise my meals for tomorrow. Good luck to everyone competing at the All Females this weekend!

Speed cleaning

A couple of weeks ago I bought this book – speed cleaning…

And I’ve been cleaning up a storm ever since!!!

Most of the stuff is just common sense, but there’s lots of good tips in there, and also includes a section on what products you should use to remove which type of stain. Last weekend it spurred me on to clean in areas that I just DON’T remember to clean – like cleaning out the fridge, dusting blinds, cleaning the grout in the tiles in the bathrooms and sweeping the deck. I managed to get the kitchen looking spotless, well, as spotless as my kitchen can get before its renovated (just don’t open the pantry door – I haven’t made it that far yet!) and have kept it looking that way all week (YAY me!!)

I’ve never been a tidy person, so this is a big accomplishment for me. Its nice to get up in the morning and see it all shining and sparkling!

Its been a bit cold here this week – its making it tough to get out of bed in the mornings. I seem to have lost my mojo a little bit lately, and I need to work on getting it back, so I’m going to re-read Fattitude this weekend in an effort to get me fired back up again. That should do the trick!

Lead feet…

… is what I have at the moment. I woke up this morning feeling absolutely shattered! I feel otherwise ok, so I don’t think I’m coming down with anything. I’m told that it could be the herbal detox stuff that I’m taking – today is day 5 so it could be that my body is just starting to clear out the toxins in my system. I got up this morning at 5am when the alarm went off – stood in the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror – puffy eyes, puffy face, super tired and with aching legs (from my new leg session from Wednesday) and thought “there is no way I can drag myself to the gym feeling like this…” so I turned out the light and went back to bed. I’m sure nobody at the gym wanted to look at me in that state anyway LOL!

I was talking to one of OH’s mates (who is a Personal Trainer) on Saturday about my niggling leg issues – namely my right hamstring, which has been tight and pulls sharply whenever I stretch it, and my knees which are a bit iffy at the best of times. The hamstring issue has been bothering me for about 18 months – but it only ever hurts when I stretch. My chiro said it was more likely a tendon, and the acupuncturist couldn’t find anything wrong with me, so I just kinda forget about it until I stretch.

Anyway, he suggested that since I have some niggles, I should stay away from any “machine” based weight training. So, no leg press, smith machine, leg extension etc - and instead use only free weights. This will force my body to use more muscles (which may help balance out other muscles around my dodgy hammies and knees), and also improve balance and co-ordination.

SO! This week I did barbell squats, followed by front squats. OMG these are hard – have you tried them? Takes a lot more balance and I found that it also worked my shoulders as I tried to keep the bar balanced in front. Then it was on to deadlifts. The funny thing about deadlifts is – I found out that what I call a normal “deadlift” is actually a straight legged deadlift. A normal deadlift looks kinda different!! It was a PT years and years ago (like 8 years ago) that showed me deadlifts for the first time. So I tried to do ‘proper’ deadlifts – and wow it felt weird! Not sure how you do it without the bar hitting your knees on the way up AND the way down. Might have to grab one of the trainers at my gym and get them to check my form – I’m sure I wasn’t doing it right.

Looking forward to the weekend – really just want to have a sleep in actually! We’re off to a friends house for dinner on Friday night, and Saturday night might just be a DVD night, not sure yet.

Have a lovely Friday and a great weekend!

Naturopath

I had my naturopath appointment on Saturday, and it was very very interesting!

Firstly, when I got there I had to complete a full-on questionnaire about my health, my nutrition, and my health goals. The naturopath then gave me a dose of some liquid that tests your zinc levels, and asked me how it tasted? My options were metallicy/minerally/dry/sweet/watery

My reply was that it tasted like water with a teeny bit of vinegar in it. Apparently this is bad - it means my zinc levels are really low - the stuff is supposed to taste foul! I also had my blood type taken, I cant believe that it took me 33 years to find out I am a blood type O!!!

So we went through my questionnaire and talked about different things. She did a little iridology on me and found that my digestion isn't too great, that my body is a too acidic and I need a liver detox. My nutrition is good - because I'm an "O" blood type its good that I eat more protein apparently!

She then said she was going to "ask" my body what it needed to balance everything out. Hmmmm... ok - so she started doing Kinesiology on me. Strange. So she sits in front of me, and gets me to hold my left hand out, palm up. My thumb and pinky finger have to touch. Then I have to hold them together as hard as I can, while she tries to pull them apart. She put a bottle of supplements in my lap, and then asks my body a question out loud- such as "Does Hilary need XXX supplement to heal her muscle imbalances" and she would try to pull my thumb and pinky apart. If they stayed together, the answer was yes, if they came apart, the answer was no.

I ended up having a range of supplements placed in my lap, sometimes the answer was yes, more often than not the answer was no. This went on for almost an hour as she tried to get the combinations and dosages right! I started to think it was all a bit of hocus-pocus, but it was strange because there was no way I could have known what question she was asking, or have faked it in any way. If she thought that I was losing focus on holding my fingers together, she would ask the question a couple of times. She would also ask the question a number of different ways, so there was no way I could predict what she was going to ask!

I also think that if she was faking it, I would have walked out of there with MANY more bottles of pills than I did!

So anyway, I have started taking all of the remedies she gave me, so hopefully I will start to feel more in balance soon!

Ten simple steps...

Today I was flicking through my copy of You Cant Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought and I came across this statement:

If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, then you don't really want it.

This definetely struck a chord with me today. There are certain things going on for me that I need to make a firm committment to, otherwise I think I am just kidding myself.

And this little excerpt certainly rang true, and can definetley be applied to anyone wanting to achieve their fitness goals:

Ten Simple (but not necessarily EASY) steps to getting what you want:

1. Focus all of your attention on the thing you want. Be interested, be "obsessed" by it.
2. Visualise and imagine it
3. Be enthusiastic about it
4. Know exactly what you want. Write it down, use a model, use pictures
5. Desire it above all else, above everything else, above all.
6. Have faith, but with involvement. Know you can have it, that its already yours. Be involved with whatever you need to do to get it.
7. Do the work required. How do you know when you've done enough? When you've got it, it was enough. Until you've got it, its not enough.
8. Give up all things opposing your goal.
9. Pretend you already have it
10. Be thankful for what you already have.

This morning I trained biceps, and now my neck/traps arent feeling too good. I think I've slightly strained something again. I'm going to a naturapath on the weekend so hopefully I can get everything in my body functioning properly again. I'm interested to see how the naturapath works actually, apparently they do tests for bodyfat and hydration levels etc, so I'm curious to see how I go in that department!

Lorna Jane Addict

I'm becoming a bit of a Lorna Jane junkie!! I went back on Saturday because they had a sale on... although most of the stuff I was drooling over wasn't on sale :(

I did buy two more singlets - "I earn my chocolate one step at a time", and "Save the Planet (its the only place with chocolate)"... noticing a theme here??? Anyway, I think I'd better stay away from there for a while now - its just too dangerous!

Its been a lovely relaxing weekend. I even got to watch another DVD in my "ROME" series, which I only ever get to watch when OH isn't around - he just has no interest in ancient history that boy!! So he's been happily tinkering on his car and I've been happily watching a nerdy history series with my ugg boots on... gotta love long weekends!

On Saturday night we went out for dinner and the movies. This is the second time in a month that we've been out to the movies... I think thats a record! We went to see Indianna Jones, which wasn't too bad, but not as good as I was expecting.

It was funny at the cinema seeing all these women dolled up in their dresses and sparkly heels - quite obviously going to see Sex and the City. I think I might be the only girl in the country who has no interest in seeing that movie??

I'm nursing some shin splints at the moment, after a walk on Saturday. I was planning on walking again today, but I might ice my shins instead. I'm ready for another big week of training, felt so great to get back into it last week.

Have a great week!

Retail therapy

I went shopping on Saturday with the idea that I was going to buy a new keyboard for the computer, and a present for a party we were going to on Saturday night.

Instead I had a spur-of-the-moment bit of retail therapy!

I finally spent my Lorna Jane voucher that I got for my birthday (in January!!) Not for lack of trying, I usually go in and have a drool every couple of weeks, but just couldn't decide what to get! (so much to choose from!). I originally was going to buy some more 3/4 workout pants, but I decided that I should go for something different and ended up with casual pants. Tried on a medium, but they swam on me so I had to get the small! Always a good feeling! These are what I got:
And then I meandered into Myer and decided that I needed to buy some new jeans (I dont know what came over me! LOL!) so tried on these Riders... the material is so soft and they are very comfy, so I'm happy!

I have my mojo back this week and I'm feeling good. This morning I trained my back for the first time in a month, and my traps feel ok so fingers crossed that all the muscles and bones stay put! I deliberately went light on the weights, and was on the lookout for the slightest niggle - but so far so good. I was slightly appalled at how much strength I've lost though!

I've also been focusing this week on making sure I'm drinking 3 litres of water - lately I've been slipping in that department a bit, and waking up feeling all dry-mouthed. I'm just downing my last 750mls right now, and then I'm done. Got to get it all drunk by 7pm or I'll be up all night!

Anyway, better go get dinner organised I guess!

I hurt...

OMG I'm sore!!

I trained legs on Tuesday - did a different workout this time (it had been a while since a change) and I AM SO SORE! I did some barbell squats, which I havent done for a VERY long time, and I'm paying for it now :-(

Followed that up on Wednesday with a new chest and biceps session + abs, and my whole body is screaming. I haven't been able to train upper body successfully for a while since I had my neck/rib/shoulder blade injury last month, so while it was nice to get back into it - I knew I'd be in trouble this week!

I am so sore that it is super painful to roll over in bed. I had planned on hitting the gym this morning for a cycle class - but when the alarm went off I felt so awful that I didn't get up. I felt like I was coming down with something - my eyes were puffy and my inner ears felt itchy - so I went back to sleep. I actually almost slept in but my naughty Siamese cat started yowling at the bedroom door which woke me up. I was glad he woke me up so I wasn't late, but annoyed at the same time - I was having a lovely dream that I was meeting Ewan McGregor at a party! *Sigh*

I think I have managed to fight off the lurgy at the moment - the Olive Leaf Extract does a great job at warding off evil germs.

Anyway I had a chiro appointment before work this morning, where I'm still suffering from my trapezius pulling my shoulder & neck out. He says I need to watch my form when lifting and make sure I'm not straining my head forward, as this could be causing the problem. Its funny how all the injuries I've ever had have all been down my right-hand side. I dont get that.

Well this is a bit of a rambling post about nothing, so I'd better go do something constructive! Have a wonderful night!

Lookee what we got!

Our latest ebay purchase! OH picked it up yesterday and assembled it - so its now sitting in our lounge room ready to go! Now there are no more excuses on a cold morning... :)

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!

Amazing weekend...

All I can say about my weekend is that it was FANTASTIC!! Wow, wow, wow, where do I start???

The comp on Saturday was great, all the girls on stage looked amazing - and Carolyn just shone up there, what an inspiration! I got to meet some lovely new friends, Shelly & Nate, Kate & James, Zita, Eleni, and Raechelle and also get to catch up again with Sue, Carolyn, Doris, Andj, Selina, & Liz.

Saturday night we all went out to help Carolyn celebrate her post comp feast, and I enjoyed a very decadent slice of mud cake, which I regretted for the rest of the night - bleugh I couldn't sleep that night because of the huge sugar overload! Big thank you to Doris for the lift into town - it was lovely to get to know you better (even though we train at the same gym!)

Sunday - it was so much fun at the IBO photo shoot at Southbank! I thought it was just the coolest to get to meet and hang out with Lindy Olsen for hours, she is so inspirational. I spent the rest of the day going "wow - how cool was THAT!" Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best - it was sunny but SUPER windy. Very annoying because our hair kept sticking to our lipgloss LOL! So Dallas had to keep waiting for the wind to die down (and for us to stop shivering) before he could take his shots. Cant wait to see the pics!

So not much time for anything else on the weekend, I didn't get any training done either. This week has turned cold, we've had the fire on for the last two nights so its getting really hard to get up in the mornings (I know, I know - no excuses!)

Here's a few pics from the weekend:

Doris, me, Eleni and Zita

Carolyn, me and Sue

Me and Lindy Olsen!