Reality Beckons

So I'm now at the end of my holiday... (sob, sigh) I'm going back to work on Monday.

This week has gone so fast though, but its been good. I've organised a few more things for the wedding - got my shoes... absolutely gorgeous strappy silver heels - they're a lot higher than I'm used to though, so I've been walking around the house trying to practise. Dont want to be stumbling down the aisle now, do we!!?

We've also chosen my wedding ring, but not ordered it yet. Because my fingers are so skeletal, I have to have it custom made, as its not possible to resize down more than a few sizes, and my finger is a size H.

I keep thinking to myself: I’m getting all organized with everything, but we’ve neglected to actually SET A DATE yet!! I keep getting bogged down in the nitty gritty, like choosing the invitation designs, or looking at jewelry, we’ve even talked to the people where we’re thinking of having a short 3 or 4 day honeymoon, and keep forgetting that we actually don’t have a date yet. D’oh!

Anyway!

This week we had a brief getaway to our favourtie spot in Australia, Montville. We stayed at these beautiful new cottages, which are very modern and stylish. Each cottage even has a coffee machine, everything was presented beautifully, and all really good quality stuff - huge king size bed, Weber Q bbq on the deck, beautiful bed linen, even the crockery and cutlery was good quality!

The view from the deck, overlooking rainforest. It was so relaxing and peaceful, I didn't want to leave! The only sound was birds chirping, and the wind in the trees...

This cheeky Kookaburra came and stole a sausage from OH's breakfast plate yesterday morning! While I was sitting right there! Scared the absolute crap out of me, I thought it was going to attack me, but no, it just wanted one of his sausages! They are very well fed, and not at all scared of people.

Well I'd better start thinking about going back to work I guess. Training has been a little hit and miss this week, what with going away. We did have a bush walk, and a very energetic game of tennis while we were there, so that has to count for something, right?! Back into it fully as of now though.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wedding Dress... tick!

Yep, after just one day of wedding dress shopping, I am now the proud owner of one couture gown.

I think we went to every single bridal shop in the Queen Street Mall! I actually found it a very strange experience. I've never been one of those girls who dream of getting married, never wanted a big white wedding, never wanted to be a princess for a day etc. So standing in a change room, while the sales girl helped me on with my first gown was a little surreal! I actually stood there thinking "Shit - I'm actually trying on a wedding dress Oh my god!!"

There were some good sales on, and lots of bargains. I was actually surprised at how inexpensive some of them were. Of course, there were plenty that were $2000 - $3000, but they were all a little, um... over the top for me.

I was going for something simple, elegant, but plain. No "flouncy" skirt, no elaborate beading. I wanted to look like the bride, but not be... how do I explain this... too BRIDEY. Does that make sense?

I had the good sense to wear a strapless bra, but the bad sense to wear black undies. Dumb.

Anyway, after hours and hours, I thought we were going to go home empty handed. And then the very last place on my list, we found it. I walked out of the change room and mum went "THATS THE ONE!! We've found it!"

It was off the rack, and on sale. And mum bought it for me - cant get any better than that!

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

Last Friday I did a bit of a circuit type training session at home, it involved lots of pop squats, jump lunges, deadlifts, barbell squats, high knees etc. I just used light weights, and oh-my-god my legs, glutes and hammies are screaming at me now! I'd had 2 weeks off weight training, and I'm so surprised at how sore my lower body is.

This morning I went back to gym too - although I'm still on holidays so I didn't get there until 6.30am. Man, was that tough getting out of bed at 6 this morning!! I'll have to ease back into my 5am starts I think. Anyway, I did shoulders, bi's and tri's this morning, plus interval cardio - felt good.

My goal for the next 3 months is to be a buff bride. I have about 4kgs to shed - and the last 4 or 5kgs are always the toughest, so I'm really cleaning up my act with my nutrition. Its going to be a fantastic year!

Christmas, New Year, and everything in between

I love being on holidays... all this sleeping in til 7am is heaven!!


We've had a great week. Christmas day was lovely, and fairly quiet too I have to say. I didn't eat too much rubbish actually, so I felt kinda good about that. I think I made up for it in the days that followed though! Thankfully nobody gave me any chocolate this year, and I didn't buy any. The worst damage was caused by the home-made rum balls that mum gave me to take home. OH doesn't like them, so I ate them all myself! Oh well, its only once I year I suppose.


The trouble with being on holidays is that we tend to go shopping! OH bought himself another pair of sunglasses, and I scored myself some absolute bargains at Lorna Jane, and a Guess handbag and matching purse in the sales. Goes well with the Guess watch that OH gave me for Christmas :)


On Friday I am going shopping with mum, this time for a wedding dress. Yes you read that correctly, we're finally going to get hitched! I suppose after almost 10 years together, and almost 2 years of being engaged, its high time we got around to it.


So far we have nothing booked, but we're thinking of having a mid-week wedding, sometime in the first half of 2009. It will be fairly low-key, and we're only going to have family to the ceremony. Then a week or two later we're just going to throw a big "wedding celebration" and have a party! This suits us to a tee, as we both dont want the whole white-wedding thing.


So I have lots of stuff to organise now!


With all that in mind, I have a new goal to be a buff bride. I had last week off training completely, which was nice, but I'm back into doing cardio and some light weight training this week from home. Next week I'll be back into it full throttle - its so great to have a fitness goal again!


Tonight for New Years celebrations we're just going to a friends house, I think we're getting old, because our last couple of New Years have been very sedate! OH is driving, so I'll aiming to just have a few glasses of wine - there is nothing worse than one of us being hung over and the other one isn't!


So Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2009 is everything that you hope for!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a lovely day, full of lots of love, laughter, and good friends and family.

This time of year is an extra busy one - lots of birthdays. It was my nephew's on the 11th of December, then OH celebrated his birthday on Sunday (the 21st). My sister in law's birthday was on Monday. Today is my OH's nieces birthday, then of course we have Christmas. Mum and Dad's anniversary is the 27th, and mum's birthday is the 28th, and then its New Years!!!

Christmas Day for us will be spent having brunch with OH's family, and then we're going to my parents in the afternoon. Mum volunteered to do a traditional roast dinner for us, so I'm REALLY looking forward to that! There is just something about mum's roast potatoes... its never the same when you do them yourself!

Anyway, have a great day everyone!

Frosty

Yesterday my work organised a spit roast lunch for all the factory and office staff, and they announced we would be having a special guest... Mark Winterbottom (aka "Frosty") from the V8 Supercars series!

Frosty drives for Ford Performance Racing - and my OH is a MASSIVE Ford Fan. I mean, he is a Ford NUT. So I took great delight in gloating that I was going to meet one of his favourite drivers! Of course I had to take in a few things to get signed, so I took his billiard cue, and one of his Ford shirts to be signed. Got to have a bit of a chat with Frosty too, which was cool, and got OH a signed poster with his name on it - so I earned some big-time brownie points yesterday!!

Me and Frosty... dont you just love the hi-vis vests we all have to wear in the factory!

The rest of the week has been quite boring by comparison! Today we are doing secret santa and having some nibblies. Most of the company is finishing today, but I'm going back on Monday and Tuesday unfortunately - and then we close til the 12th of January - I'm so looking forward to having a break!!

This morning I was so tired when I got up for gym, that I actually fell down the stairs at home. I landed on the edge of one of the steps and came down heavily on my left arm, so I'm sure there will be a nice bruise there next week. Ouch. Managed to do a step class without tripping over though, so thats a bonus!!

I'm still here!

I'm still here, I've just got bloggers block! I dont really have anything thrilling to write about.

My days go something like this:

Get up. Go to gym, train. Go to work, eat some meals, come home, water the veggie garden, cook dinner, watch tv/catch up on emails/read, go to bed.

Very exciting stuff!!

I am HANGING OUT for Christmas holidays. We shut down from the 23rd, until the 12th of January, and I cant tell you how much I'm looking forward it - I have been counting down the number of sleeps to go - only 8 more "work" sleeps! We're not going anywhere for Christmas, so it will be nice to just catch up on some sleep, and maybe do some day trips here and there.

Last night I had my first taste of Christmas - I had a shandy! Neither myself or OH drink beer (I drink everything BUT beer!! and OH is a bourbon boy) but we really like to have a shandy on a hot night. We make it with about one third beer, and the rest is lemonade - and the first sip just reminds me of summer, and Christmas for some reason!

Have a great day!

Shoes

Recently I have gone out on two separate occasions with the intent of buying some shoes for work. Normally I wear kitten heel, black pointy toe shoes to work, because I drive a lot they are more comfy than high heels.

But do you think I can find shoes that fit this description, that I like??

On both shopping trips I have come home with a pair of shoes, but not the ones I went out to get!!

Came home with these:

... which I'll probably wear to work anyway, and these:

which are Ipanema's (Gisele Bundchen) and I could't resist!

Last night we went to my Step class' Christmas dinner, it was nice to catch up with everyone dressed in normal clothes, with make up on and without the red face that accompanies every class! Tonight I think we're staying home - might be nice to have a DVD night and get to bed early - I need to catch up on some sleep.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

How is it possible...

How is it possible that I can go to gym this morning, have indigestion and feel exhausted because insomnia is rearing its ugly head again, and STILL beat my effort from last week on leg press?

After that though my legs were shot so I changed my next two leg exercises at the last minute, to something a little easier than front squats (which I was dreading!). Oh well, I guess with very little sleep its ok to slacken off occasionally :)

I've been very down in the dolldrums this week, and sleeping issues are starting to happen again. Not happy!

Anyway, I got my hair cut on Saturday, and got a lovely purple slash of colour down the left side. She's layered my hair quite heavily, so that when I tie it back for gym now, the pony-tail is about as thick (or thin!) as my finger! I'm trying to grow my hair because OH likes it long. But I dont like it now with the layers, and I think it wont be long before I get it all chopped off into a bob again.

We're surviving the wild storms that have hit Brisbane lately- we seem to be in a really good little pocket on the southside that misses the worst of it (touch wood!) - its still raining though, and we had some wicked wind on the weekend. Our driveway is just littered with debris, bark, tree branches etc. The really good thing though is that I haven't had to remember to go water the veggie garden! AND the rainwater tank is super full!

Only 19 more working days til Christmas - yahooo!!!!

Staying strong, and hormones

Thanks for all the suggestions re my fish dilemma! Looks like thai fishcakes are the clear winner - will have to give them a go this weekend. Although OH is not a big fan of thai flavours, so we'll see how we go.

I'm having another fantastic week this week and staying strong, despite being hugely hormonal. PMT has hit big time, and aren't I just miss-cranky-pants! I spent the whole day yesterday scowling. Its not so much that I'm having mood-swings, for the last few days I've pretty much constantly been in a foul mood.

BUT - I have been training my arse off! Yesterday did a PB on leg press (woohoo!) and this morning, (although I almost talked myself into staying in bed) I did an fantastic cycle class. We've had this substitute cycle instructor for the last few weeks, and he does things a little differently. He doesn't tell you how hard you should work (ie the others tell you that the tension lever should be 8 out of 10 etc) - he just tells you that "if you feel like it - PUT SOME MORE ON!!" - so you can work as hard or as easy as you like.

This morning after the class he told me that I had awesome power. I left gym feeling all chuffed with myself! LOL!

I've also been really pleased with myself that I've been eating totally clean all week. The last two nights I've had to do some SERIOUS self-talk to keep myself away from the Lindt dark chocolate that's in the fridge. I have to ask myself "will you really feel any better AFTER you eat it?" "Will it really taste as good as you think?"... NO! I also could have done with a glass of wine last night, but I didn't cave in! Go me!

Fishy

I'd like to eat more fish. I like fish that is really mild in taste, without that "dirty" spot that they all seem to have.

Yesterday I decided on a whim to have tinned pink salmon with salad for my afternoon snack. One girl at my work seems to have this every day for lunch, and it always looks nice. So I thought I'd try it. After I dumped the salmon on top of the salad I started to have regrets. The first few mouthfulls were ok, as long as I paired a morsel of salmon with something strong tasting, like a bit of cherry tomato. Then I struck something crunchy - a bone ...shudder... ICK! Almost gagged then and there.

So I ate the rest of the salad, and dumped the salmon. Bleurgh, wont be doing that again. I felt sick all afternoon just thinking about it!

I used to like Basa, until I found it that its Vietnamese Catfish. After that, every time I tried to eat it, I kept mentally picturing whiskers. So I dont eat it anymore.

I can stomach tuna in small doses. Barramundi is ok until you strike one of those "dirty" patches that all fillets seem to have. Dont like smoked salmon. Have tried to cook fresh salmon fillets, but its too strong in flavour - again - yuk.

Anyone got any ideas or suggestions?

I've had an awesome week this week, I've trained hard, done 6 cardios and 2 weights - just gotta fit in a chest/tricep workout this weekend and I'm done. Food has been spot on this week too, which I'm super happy about! Now I just need to be consistent, and keep it up. Cant wait to start seeing some results!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend - we're having a low-key one - I'm about to go weed the veggie garden!

Spoiling myself...

Look what I got! I just fell in love with this Guess handbag at Harbour Town yesterday, so I had to have it! It was on sale too, so there was no way I was going to walk away without it :) Its a little small for everyday use, but good for going out. Last night we went out in the city for some drinks so I had to take the new bag with me - I even kept it on the top of the table all night so I could keep looking at it LOL! Sad aren't I?

I had a great girly day shopping yesterday with one of my closest girlfriends, a long lunch and lots of retail therapy - long overdue!

I'm having some blood tests tomorrow - one of them is a glucose tolerance test which I've had to eat a diet high in carbohydrates for the last 3 days for. I'm feeling a bit bloated from all the carbs I've been eating, but if you dont do it apparently it can cause a false test result.

Anyway I'm off to get dinner organised and go look at my handbag some more... :)

Check out the shiner...

Isn't she a beauty!!!

This is my knee this morning, after I took a rather embarrasing stumble at work on Thursday. I was out at a customers site, walking back to the car. My (male) boss was walking behind me, and there were two tradies sitting having smoko - they had a front row seat for my spectacular stack!

I slipped on the driveway (no it wasn't wet, I'm just a klutz) and went sprawling... ended up looking like a bit of a contortionist but managed to land rather heavily on my right knee cap - ouch.

Of course I got straight up and started laughing it off - "oh THAT?? Naaaaah- doesn't hurt a bit! Dont be silly, I'm fine, REALLY!" and started limping to the car.

All the while my knee is screaming and felt like it was burning. SHAME. So embarrassed! I've been using Arnica to bring out the bruising, and its starting to go a little yellow around the edges already, so thats good.

This afternoon I'm having another massage - cant wait. Hoping she can really get into my shoulder and loosen it up some more, and also I'm suffering DOMS all over from a super effort at the gym this week. Cant wait to see a little more arm definition come back, I've missed it.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

Buns...

I love it when you train legs and then for the next few days you feel like you've got buns of steel... unfortunately its only a feeling, my buns look more like jelly than steel at the moment!OMG my butt is so sore today, after my awesome leg session yesterday. I switched a few things around, and boy am I feeling it. Also tried out the Dumbell Iron Cross for legs and shoulders, good to try out new things. I love training shoulders, its my fave.

Last night I had an awesome 7 straight hours sleep, ah it was heavenly! When I got up this morning, OH said to me: "Wow - you actually look refreshed! Did you sleep?"

Hopefully the dark circles and bags under my eyes are starting to shrink!

I had 4 nights last week without sleeping tablets, and while I was a bit sporadic with sleep, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere. But then I had a dreadful night on Sunday night, so I reluctantly put myself back on half tablets. Its just a matter of getting a routine established I think. I'm trying to get back into taking my glutamine, as I feel that helps a bit too. I think the worst thing is the fear that you wont be able to sleep - once you've lost that confidence that you can fall straight to sleep its hard to get it back.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to thrash it out in a cycle class, Thursday morning cycle is always a good one. My goal at the moment is consistency and re-establishing routines; and I have to say it feels good. I felt fantastic when I left gym this morning, and this is the feeling that I need to focus on. Cant wait to start feeling my clothes get a little looser!

A good week...

I've had a good week!

I sleeeeeeeeeeeeep! Whatever it was seems to be out of my system, my sleeping patterns have been improving every night this last week. To the point where on Friday night AND last night I slept 7 or 8 UNINTERRUPTED hours - and I cant tell you how amazing I feel! Now I've just got to do it without the sleeping tablets. Last night I only had a half, so I think I'm on the mend. YAY!

I also trained 3 days straight last week - go me! Suffering some big time chest DOMS now though, even though I only lifted piddly little weights :( Thats my punishment for not training for a few weeks... although at the time I DID think that trying to sleep was more of a priority!

I did have some upsetting health news this week, but I'm not going to go into that just now. Nothing life shattering, just a little upsetting.

Yesterday I went to the INBA Nationals, I think its the first time I've been to a comp where I didn't really know many people competing. It was a HUGE turnout - I couldn't believe how many competitors there were! For the first time I actually enjoyed watching the guys too, some of them were real showmen - good to watch, especially the open classes.

Got to catch up with Sue, Carolyn and Eleni again, and also meet Kristin and Kerry! What a great bunch of ladies to spend an afternoon with...

It was also good to catch up very briefly with everyone else - the venue was quite jam-packed with people though, so it was hard to spot the familiar faces in the crowd!

Oh yeah - I must post some pics of our veggie garden - we have actual cucumbers, and zucchini (as in the vegetable bit, not just the plant anymore)! So exciting, and the amount they grow every day is astounding, - cant wait to eat it!

Sleep Glorious Sleep

Hallelujah! Last night I got a decent amount of sleeeeeeeeeep~!

I've been at my wits end this week. Not being able to sleep because of stress or anxiety is one thing, but 3 weeks of insomnia for NO APPARENT REASON has been driving me up the wall.

I even caved in and went to the GP and got some very mild sleeping tablets. Which did nothing. I hate taking medication like that, so believe me it was a last resort.

I have had three chiropractic adjustments this week, and I also tried acupuncture. I wasn't totally sold on the acupuncture, it was a chinese lady who told me I had too much "fire" in my system, too much acid. She said if I sort the acid out (ie go on an alkaline diet for a month) it would sort out the sleep situation. I've kinda thrown her suggestions out the window - I'm all for natural therapies, but I think a big part of it is believing in it. And I didn't believe her.

So I took some suggestions from my chiro on board, he said we need to break the cycle, so he told me to get "bombed"!!! And it worked to a point - I slept for 5 hours straight on Wednesday and Thursday nights. But then I woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep.

Last night the 5 hour thing happened again, but I was able to get back to sleep - and slept until 8am. I cant tell you the relief I felt!

Today I went and had a deep tissue massage of my back and shoulders, and it feels amazing. They have a floatation tank there which I'm going to try next time, it sounds heavenly. Apparently an hour in the floatation tank is equivalent to 4 hours of REM sleep.

Psychologically I'm working on letting go of a few emotions. I'm setting myself some new goals, and the main one is getting back to my happy self, which is something that's been missing for the last 6 months or so. I'm also going to work on letting go of the pressure I've been putting myself under, and just go with the flow. Getting myself back to the gym is also high on the list of priorities. The last 3 weeks my training has been either sporadic, or non-existant.

So wish me luck that my sleep patterns are on the mend! Its amazing how having a good nights sleep can make you feel like a new person!

Awake is the new sleep...

...at least it is for me anyway.

I'm cursed with insomnia lately.

Its been an issue now for two weeks, I'm so sleep deprived that I dont know what to do. Its taking me at least 2-3 hours to fall asleep. Then I cant seem to stay asleep for any more than 3 hours. Once I wake up, it takes me another hour or more to get back to sleep.

The stupid thing is, my mind is calm, I'm relaxed. I'm not stressing over anything (other than not sleeping, that is) - it seems to be a physical thing. Its like, I'm simply too physically alert. The lights are on in my brain, and although I can easily still my mind, I just can seem to slip under into sleep. The longer this goes on, the more frustrated you get - then you start tossing and turning, cant get comfortable, get more frustrated, get upset...

I have tried meditation, I start to nod-off while I'm doing it, but then go to bed and just lie there for hours not sleeping. I tried counting backwards. I have got some herbal insomnia tablets, I have tried drinking myself to sleep, and muscle relaxing techniques... why cant I sleep?!

I went to the naturopath yesterday, she thinks its a reaction to some herbal remedy she gave me last month. She believes I'm sensitive to alcohol (which is highly concentrated in the herbal liquid) which would explain why when I do drink wine etc, I feel the alcohol coursing through my body. I just assumed that everyone got this - apparently only about 1 in 1000 people experience this. So this is effecting my liver function, which is also not helping my sleep situation.

Whatever... I just want to sleep.

Last night I was sooooo tired, and the neighbours rudely decided to have a party. Lots of "doof-doof" music. We put the air conditioner on to drown out the noise, and I also put in ear plugs. This time it only took probably an hour and a half to fall asleep - but then I woke up again at 3am when the A/C went off - it was so hot, and then couldn't get back to sleep again.

So now its 4.40am, I've had 3 hours sleep. Today we are going to the Amberley Air show, I dont know how I'm going to make it.

Sorry for the whinge.

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!

Stuff...

Oops been a bit slack with posting lately... we've been busy!

Last Monday (Labour Day holiday) we had a bit of a fun experience. All weekend OH had been saying that he ought to go dig some post holes for our new carport he’s building… and he put it off, and put it off… finally he decided that 4.30pm on Monday afternoon was the best time to start digging holes.

I was in the lounge room halfway through a kickboxing DVD, when I looked out the window and thought “hmmm – its raining!” – and I could hear water on the roof. Then I did a double-take – it wasn’t raining, OH had dug a hole and hit the water mains! We had a gigantic geyser spraying 10 metres into the air!

So he had to turn the water off, and then try to fix it. And of course, he didn’t have the bit of pipe that he needed to fix it, and being 5pm on a public holiday, nothing was open. He was all muddy from digging holes, and I was all sweaty from kickboxing, so we had to head up to the in-laws to have a shower. Then of course we had no water all night, so I had to shower at gym the next day while OH had the morning off work so he could fix it.

He’s having a bit of a bad run, my poor dear other half. This weekend just gone he wanted to chainsaw down some overhanging branches from some of our big gum trees. He did a great job, until I found that I couldn’t connect to the internet. I tried everything, turning modem off and on, turning computer off and on, re-installing modem, trying another USB port… and then OH discovered that one of the big branches that got cut down had dropped onto our phone line, severing it… luckily he was able to reconnect the wires and its all working again.

I’m now waiting and wondering what the third thing will be… :-)

We went to the movies on the weekend and saw Ironman in Gold Class (we had vouchers that had been sitting there for almost a year - had to use them up!). It was a pretty good movie - we even got a sundae delivered halfway through - yum, what a treat!

Looking forward to the weekend ahead – its going to be a big one! First the INBA comp on Saturday, it will be great to catch up with everyone again and meet some others for the first time. Then dinner on Saturday night, and then the IBO photo shoot on Sunday. Cant wait!

Toast

I bought myself a couple of new appliances last weekend...



About 10 years ago I bought a cheap and nasty 2 slice Tiffany toaster... and I've been using it ever since. Since we dont have toast very often, it didn't seem like a big deal. I've been eyeing off those lovely stainless steel 4 slice toasters for years, but since we eat it so rarely it seemed a bit pointless.



For the last two years I have been battling with the poor old Tiffany toaster, every second time I used it I would have to use some plasticy tool to stick down the guts to force the prongs back into alignment so it would work. Yes I know that's a stupid thing to do, but it was always unplugged, and I only ever stuck plastic stuff down there... :)



Anyway, I splurged and bought a shiny new one, and it was on sale too! Isn't it lovely:

I also bought a new stainless steel cordless jug , so the minute I got home I asked OH if he'd like some vegemite and cheese on toast, he did, so I was able to do all 4 slices at once ... how exciting LOL! Then I made myself a cup of tea with the new jug!

Its the little things in life that make me happy!

Oh and I also got a brand new company car yesterday... very exciting! So I'm feeling all special this week!

My injury is much better now after my extra chiro adjustment on Wednesday - thanks for all your comments. He gave me the all clear to do cardio and lower body weights, but no upper body weights until its settled down. Its feeling ok now, but I might proceed with caution next week and not train back or shoulders - see how it goes.

Oh and for Magda... this is how I make my oats with cottage cheese:

Mix half a cup of raw oats and half a cup of cottage cheese. Nuke in microwave for 60 seconds. (I dont add any water because it makes it too runny for me). Take it out and stir. Then add a spoonful of jam. For those who aren't allergic to artificial sweetener, you could use diet jam, which is runnier. Stir, and put back in microwave for 80 seconds.

And thats it. Mine comes out sort of all flattened down, but the really great thing is that all evidence of the cottage cheese has been melted away, and its more like a soft sort of muesli-bar texture.

Hope you all have a great weekend - we have a public holiday in QLD on Monday - yeeehaaa!

Stupid

I threw my stupid rib/neck/back/whatever it is out again on Sunday... its just so stupid! So once again I couldn't turn my head. I was only leaning over something, and I had all my weight on my right arm, and then I felt my back go into a crampy spasm. Grrrrr

So back to the Chiro again yesterday, and he couldn't fix me!! Apparently the whole area is frozen solid and he coulnd't get it to move, so I have to go back on Wednesday so he can have another go. Meanwhile I am becoming a misery to be around. I take my hat off to anyone who suffers chronic pain - I dont know how they do it!! I've only had this stupid thing for a week and its so frustrating.

I said to OH last night "Do you think I will be right to train in the morning?"

His look clearly told me he thought it was a stupid question!! LOL. Its so easy to tell other people they need to rest, but its quite a different thing to take your own advice. So I havent trained since Sunday. I will see how I go tomorrow.

And to all you "oats with cottage cheese" lovers out there: you will be happy to know that it iS possible to convert a non-lover! Yes I have been converted. I missed my oats so much since I had to stop having protein powder, that I persisted with the oats/cottage cheese combo. I gagged and held my nose for the first couple of times, but now I have perfected the art and got just the right timing on the microwave. My tip is, dont add any water. And I'm enjoying it more and more every day - go figure!

Babies...

... of the furry variety. Here's a few recent snaps of our beautiful ones...

Connor - walking up his covered ramp to get into the house...


Mum and dads' little one - Ben... with his Kong...

First time at the beach! Shavez and Elke experienced the waves for the very first time today. Shavez was not impressed!

Elke, just before a mini wave came and nearly washed her away LOL!

So this morning we took the dogs to the beach for the first time ever, and they loved it! Well, Shavez didn't particularly like the water, but he loved the rest of it. We took them to an off-leash dog friendly beach, and I couldn't believe how many people were there with their dogs. It was great, and definetely something we'll do again. We didn't dare let our two off their lead though, they're not used to being around other dogs and we weren't sure how far away they'd run with all the excitement! Maybe next time. Luckily they are due for a hydrobath tomorrow to get rid of most of the sand and salt-water.

I had an interesting experience on Monday at the gym. I was doing dumbell side raises, and halfway through the first set I felt something go "ping" in my right shoulder blade. I gritted my teeth and finished the set (stupidly) but then couldn't continue. So I got on the cross trainer but found I was unable to turn my head to the right due to the shooting pain in my neck and shoulders... grrrrr.... so I went home and got ready for work. All day I was in pain, it was awful not being able to turn my head. I rang my chiro and got in to see him that day. He initially thought it was my trapezius - but instead it turned out that I had thrown a rib out of alignment in my back!!!

So I had a rather painful adjustment from him, and its slowly getting better. I'd say I now have about 80% range of movement now. I go back next week, so hopefully it will get sorted out completely. Its just so stupid. I kept saying to OH - its not like I did anything differnently. I didn't go up in weight, I have been doing that exercise for the last few weeks, perhaps my form was a little off or something? Makes you realise how easy it is to hurt yourself from something so simple.

The rest of the week has been great, I've been training hard (after a day off due to neck/shoulder) and eating clean, so its all good! Have a great weekend all!

Peace... Interrupted

Busy week! I'm back from my little trip, and it went pretty well. I surprised myself with the fact that I quite enjoyed driving long distances on my own. Who knew? In fact, the only time I found myself yawning was when the single lane highway turned into a dual lane... that's when I started yawning again.

I had an interesting moment in Hervey Bay on Wednesday. I decided to go for a jog along the Esplanade instead of staying cooped up inside the motel room. So I packed up my ipod, phone and keys and drove off to the beach. I went for a lovely 30 minute jog/walk, but unlike Townsville or Cairns, you cant actually see the water from the Esplanade, even though its right beside it. So when I'd finished my exercise I thought I'd do something new. I locked the phone and ipod in the car, and went for a lovely stroll along the beach. I'd never done this before on my own (its not as romantic on your own LOL!) so it was good to have another new experience!!

Anyway, it was a gorgeous afternoon. The sun was just starting to go down behind the trees, there were a few kids running around, a few beach fishermen etc, and because I'd deliberately left the ipod behind, the only sound I could hear was the gentle lapping of the water on the sand. It was just glorious, so I was walking along kinda meditating on the peace and tranquility of it. I stopped at one point and just looked out at the bay, watching the little waves roll in. I started to think that all the silly things I worry about are just that: silly things. You sort of feel insignificant in the face of all that nature and peacefullness.

I stood there for a good 5 minutes, until I heard a mans voice behind me - quite close... asking me if I was "absorbing the power of the waves... feeling the force..." unfortunately the man was quite drunk and I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying. He sort of stood there, slurring at me and gesturing out to the ocean... I felt a bit nervous so I just smiled and walked away... unfortunately my peace had been shattered!

Today we went to a first birthday party at a park, and it was a really nice afternoon. It now seems that OH and I are the ONLY couple on the planet without kids though!! If I had a dollar today for every time someone said "its YOUR turn next!!!"... well - ... I'd have about 5 dollars... :)

Have a fabulous week.

Hello Bundaberg

Once again, here I am, blogging from another exotic location LOL! (No offence to anyone from Bundaberg)

Today saw me drive 5 hours to Bundy, and I have to say, it’s a LOOONG drive. I knew I was in trouble when, after driving for a measly 10 minutes, I started yawning…

I made it here safe and sound though – once I bought myself a VERY strong Long Black (upsized it too – thought I might need the extra caffeine) I was buzzing along.

My (company) car does not have cruise control, or a CD player – yes its old! So I am very glad that I listen to Triple J radio, I just had to keep changing the frequency as I made my way up the coast.

So with some cool tunes, a long boring drive and only myself for company, I came up with some useless, pointless trivia to pass the time!!

- I have lived in 15 different houses
- I went to 7 different schools
- I have been to 9 countries
- I have had 7 different cars: Holden Barina, Daewoo Cielo (how embarrassing!!) Honda Civic, Mitsubishi Pajero, V8 Ford Fairmont Ghia (my favourite), Nissan Xtrail, Toyota Camry
- In the time that we have been together (9 years) OH has owned 17 different cars – yes you did read that correctly - 17.

Anyway…

I didn’t make it to gym on Monday morning, so I did some afternoon cardio instead. This morning I trained legs… I’m feeling it already. I brought a kickboxing DVD with me on this trip, so this afternoon after I checked into the hotel, I was punching and kicking in my hotel room !! Except that I kept getting a hamstring cramp when doing one particular move – hope I’m not too sore tomorrow.

I wont be visiting a gym while I’m here, so tomorrow morning I’ll be doing some pushups, tricep dips, lunges, crunches etc in the hotel room again. I’m off to Hervey Bay and Maryborough tomorrow – home on Thursday – Yay!

Stuff

I've been stuck for things to blog about lately... maybe I've got 'bloggers block'!!

On Saturday night we went to a friends "Wedding Celebration" party. Their actual wedding was a month ago, which only involved their family. Then they had their honeymoon, and then when the came back they had the party!! Sounds like an excellent idea to me - then you dont have all the huge stress of organising a great big event all in one go!

You can probably tell that I'm not really into the whole 'white wedding' thing - I'd much rather we eloped to be perfectly honest.

Anyway, the party was fantastic, everyone got all dolled up - I even wore a DRESS (yes, can you believe it??!!) and we all got quite drunk and rowdy. Everybody let their hair down and we just laughed all night, it was so much fun. Both OH and I were fairly plastered, didn't get home until 2.30am. And that is super late for us (we're normally the ones who leave parties by 11.30 because we're tired!).

So then we spent the most part of Sunday feeling very very seedy. Yuck. It was such a fun night, but I dont think I'll be doing it again any time soon!!

I'm definetely back on track with my fitness, I've tightened up my nutrition these last two weeks, and boy what a difference!! Its like, "der!!" no wonder I wasn't seeing any changes in my body with all the little extra's that managed to slip into my meals! Anyway, its all cleaned up now and I'm feeling good. Measurements are slowly moving in the downwards direction. Trained legs yesterday, then after work did a kickboxing DVD at home. This morning did some interval running followed by another 30 minutes steady-state cardio. Feeling good!

Anyway, better go - enjoy your day!

Check out my new "litte brother"!!!!

Naaaaawwww.... soooo cute!!!

Mum and Dad popped in for a visit on Sunday afternoon, and brought this beautiful little boy with them - they had literally just picked him up! They've been talking about getting a little dog for ages now (its been 8 years since their last dog - their last place didn't allow pets) and now that they've moved house they thought it was high time to get a little companion... so meet 'Ben'! He is a Yorkshire Terrier, 8 weeks old, and just the sweetest little thing ever! I just didn't want him to leave - OH and I just LOVE puppies. Yorkies are arguably the smallest dog in the world (I think chihuahua's also claim this title though LOL!)

Right now I'm eating oats and cottage cheese for breakfast, and I'm trying not to gag :) I mixed in some strawberry jam, but it hasn't helped much... It seems that my stomach wont tolerate ANY protein powder any more, even the stuff without artificial sweeteners. I had two serves of "stevia-sweetened" protein powder last Tuesday, and then developed a pain in my upper stomach for the next 3 days. :( So it looks like all of my protein needs are going to have to come from whole foods, which is fine - just needs a little more preparation and organisation!

Yesterday morning I was so slack - it was so nice and warm under the doona, and the air outside felt so cool... I slept in! I had been having a 'delicious' sleep - one of those really GOOD, heavy sleeps that you dont get very often - so I thought "bugger it" and skipped gym.

I think it did me good though, cos I trained legs and shoulders this morning and absolutely CAINED them! Did weighted walking lunges at the end of the leg session and OMG my legs were burning - gotta love that :)

And then this morning I finally broke through the 60kg barrier - 59.8!! Its been probably 6 months since I was under that - so I am stoked. I have been hovering between 60 and 62kgs for ages, gaining and losing the same bloody 1-2kgs each week, so its nice to finally get a breakthrough. Just gotta stay focused!