Absent

A month, thats how long its been since I gave my blog some lovin...

I'm sure I've had plenty to say, but just not a lot of time or inclination to sit down and say it.

So whats been happening?

Well, I had another birthday... and suddenly I'm staring down the barrel of 40.  Two more years til that lovely milestone.  I remember being fearful of turning 30, and what a pivotal year that ended up being in the life of Hil.  At 30, I finally got my shit together.  I wonder what 40 will bring?

What else?  I started hitting the weights and cardio again at the start of January.  And I cleaned up my act with my nutrition, which had sadly spiralled out of control during Koby's first year.  So while I'm not enjoying getting up at 5am to train again, I am enjoying the benefits of sorting myself out.  Pants are looser.  I'm starting to ditch baggy tops in favour of some of my more form-fitting ones.  Feeling happier.  2.5kgs lost in January, along with several millimetres all over. 

And then 2 weeks ago I suddenly started getting compliments from people that I looked great, had I lost weight?  I was feeling quite buoyant and pleased with myself.  And then for no reason at all I just decided that I couldn't be bothered getting out of bed at 5am, so I started sleeping in.  I started to justify having that mid-week glass of wine, because, y'know, the kids had been horrendous all day and I DESERVED it.  And I started slipping on the ole nutrition side of things too.

Why do we do that to ourselves?  I'm quite annoyed at myself.  But anyway, I'm refocused and recommitted to my goals.  I'm realistic, we all have off days - we just shouldn't let them go on for 2 weeks.  I do love how I feel when the post-baby muffin top starts to shrink, so I will remind myself of this in future.  This week has been back in control.

Other news, I've also become the contact person and co-ordinator for our local Playgroup this year, so thats been taking up a little of my time as well, planning the activities for each week.

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I've been really enjoying my camera and making an effort to take photos at least weekly.  I'm still Instagramming and share most of my photos (mostly iphone but some DSLR) over there - I'm @hilh on Instagram.

A couple of photos from the last few weeks, still a big learning curve but I'm enjoying the process:

Trying to capture water droplets falling...

Nasty little Cobblers Pegs, from our garden.

I was lucky enough to be given a new lens for my birthday, a Canon 50mm F1.8, so I've been madly practising away.  This is a prime lens, meaning no zoom, so I've had to use my feet as the zoom!  The new lens is taking some getting used to, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

Some photos from the new lens:

 Fork reflections

Happy Feet

Looking up

Sunrise through the leaves 

Our little Dutchy

So much to learn, but its so cool to be getting the creative juices flowing again :)  I'm doing minimal editing (if any!), mostly because I cant be bothered, but also because I prefer that kind of look.

Anyway, I drafted this post on the weekend and its taken me until now to get back to finish it, with that said, I'll hit "Pubish" now!  Have a great week!