Merry Christmas!!

***

I hope you and your families all have a wonderful Xmas.

Stay safe, stay motivated, have fun

& I look forward to hearing all the Xmas/New Years events soon!

It's a new year coming, time to re-evaluate how we went over the past year and learn from the year!

We all have it in us to become what we want

- we just have to believe in ourself.

Luv Mel.

xxx

PS - would have posted fun Xmas icons but have no idea how to do it!!

Holiday Goss....

Hello lovelies!!

Well I guess you have figured that I’m back.

So I am just taking a "moment" from all the backlog of work here to fill you all in on our "Eating and Drinking Tour of Australia"....yep that's pretty much all we did - eat and drink! From the moment we left I said I won't drink today, I will have a break and what happened....two and a half full weeks of alcohol every day - it took its toll, trust me!! Hehe

So I am back on the wagon and after 2 days of being sober I am feeling much better, not to mention looking much better - my skin was soo tired looking. Can’t wait to get into some exercise, I am all pumped up and have made some goals for myself, which I will write up later in the week.

Right now we just did soo much in a short time so I kinda have to remember back to what we did! Its gonna be long.....

New South Wales - Sydney

We arrived very early on Thursday morning into Sydney and as Hubby was working for his race team we actually stayed out near the Eastern Creek track....I would equate the suburb to being along the lines of Midland (an improvement from last time's Oran Park which was like Balga!!).

We went and saw Priscilla Queen of the Dessert that night, had dinner along the harbor and some drinks and I have to say that Priscilla was awesome - I recommend seeing it when it comes over and I think I will buy tickets from me and Mum to go see it, as it was really good - very very funny! They even did the PING PONG bit from the movie...hehe

Friday & Sat Hubby went out to the track so I just went shopping at the centre near where we were staying - got a few good bargains...not mention spent 4 hours in the hairdressers trying to fix the BAD job I got done before I left. Yep went back to my old hairdresser up here the day we left and she (for some reason beyond me) coloured my hair in stripes of blonde and VERY DARK BROWN, I was mortified but she insisted it would wash out in a few days. Well by Saturday it didn't and I had had enough, with the mix of colours my hair looked grey - honestly! So I had to get my hair stripped and recoloured. Its not the best now but its heaps better....$500 from both jobs later...Hubby is not happy - he wants the hairdresser up here to give me my money back...I will let him handle that!

We got to finish up early and booked into the Sebel Pier One hotel right to the left of the Sydney Harbor Bridge on the Sunday....Oz Idol was on that night and we could see the fireworks and hear them from our room. We went for a walk along that way as it was like a 5-10 min walk to the Opera House - it was soo busy...didn't get too close!

We also had our first Yum Cha experience - it was amazing, we pigged out, its now our fav! Did some shopping, went to the Minus 5 bar - yep that is an ice bar. Its like minus 18 degrees. You go in for only 30 minutes and you have to put on big boots, gloves and a big furry jacket with hood. It was soo spun out. Everything was made of ice, chairs, tables, the glasses you drank from - it was a vodka bar so you only got to have vodka cocktails - very yummy.... Then after that we went downstairs to this very trendy (very $$) vodka bar and had some Polish vodkas...was heaps fun!

We also did the ferry trip to Manly for the day and walked across the harbor bridge, checked out Luna Park and Hubby's favourite of the holiday - we walked to Harry's De Wheels and he had a Pie topped with mashed potato and mushy peas - a specialty, its like our Alfred's Kitchen in Guildford. Its a caravan take out place and has been there for like 40 years or something and there are photos everywhere of stars visiting it etc...anyways Hubby was in heaven (I've got pictures!), and actually it was the best pie I had tried before!

Then we made our way along the coast, driving, to Victoria. Our first night we stayed in Batemans Bay and it was just the cutest little town - it was awesome and the holiday village we stayed in was just the best - if we had kids it would be the best holiday ever for them and even with a group of friends it would be awesome - again will send pics so you know what I mean. Plus all along the coast they just have the best seafood - so I am an addict now :)

It took us 2 days to get to Melbourne- full days, the next night we stayed at the Lakes Entrance, which is just inside the Victorian border - again nice, a coastal town, yummy food.

Victoria - Part 1

We arrived in Melb on the Thursday which was Hubby's birthday and we stayed at Crown Casino that night. OMG its awesome, the rooms are deluxe. That night we went out with friends for dinner.

Friday Hubby had to do work so I hit the streets of Melbourne - OMG, OMG, OMG. The shopping is awesome. I still really love Chapel Street but I spent pretty much the entire afternoon in the Myers store - yes, I got lost soo many times and almost gave up after an hour of being stuck in the electrical goods section but alas I finally found the clothes..aghhh...stupid me, the Myers goes over like 4 blocks and I was on the wrong floor, wrong block - of course!

By the time I saw Hubby that arvo I had told him to not let me go shopping for the rest of the holiday, that's how shopping mad I went (it didn't last long).

Launceston, Tasmania

Hubby’s boss decided he wanted to ride his new motorbike in Launceston over the weekend, so he organised for us to catch the "Spirit of Tasmania" Ferry overnight on the Friday to take his bike over. He then flew over where we met up with him and some friends. The ferry was really cool but I must admit that I did wake up about midnight in our cabin thinking we were going to die....it was really rough and scary (apparently Stu says it wasn't but it WAS!). It takes about 10 hours to get across so we got in early Saturday morning.

In Tassie it actually rained and sleeted and was freezing. We went along past Cradle Mountain to the other side of Tasmania (so east to west) and stayed the night in a coastal town in this really nice hotel with fantastic views of the bay! Sunday was spent driving/riding back and having lunch etc....

We flew back to Melbourne on the Monday morning - being our ONE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY...yes we made it ;)

Victoria - Part 2

So we took a little A3 Audi and headed to the Great Ocean Road. Hubby was in his element, it’s some turbo charged little beast with the same engine as Audi TT...again, thought I was going to die on numerous occasions but Hubby being the expert driver did a fantastic job at top speed around the VERY windy cliffs....he had fun!

So if you haven't done Gt Ocean Rd, you really gotta!!!!!!!! It is soo beautiful along there and the little towns and beaches and everything are gorgeous. We checked out Bells Beach, but the surf just wasn't big enough for us to even bother entering the water (ha!). We saw the 12 Apostles, London Bridge & the Arch, all amazing! WE also did the treetop rainforest walk whilst we were down there - I sprinted through as it was a bit high and windy for me but Hubby spent awhile looking around up there and going up the big tower and on the hanging bridge up there...

WE stayed from Monday to Thursday morning down at Chris' Beacon Point Restaurant & Villas, which is just outside Apollo Bay. Again, highly highly recommended. We were perched on top of the hill overlooking the ocean with floor to ceiling windows everywhere in our villa and nothing in front of us (its very secluded only like 4 villas up there)...it was just amazing, had dinner at the restaurant on our anniversary (I saw it on Getaway so that's how I picked it) and then the other nights ate on our balcony - it was very relaxing. Its all very beachy and surfy and laid back along there with great little pubs and stuff...and the beaches are amazing, I have now changed my tune on the beach and love it!

Came back to Melbourne on Thursday. We caught up with a friend of mine out in the 'burbs', I used to work with her over here, it was really good to see them and their kids! That night we went out to dinner with another friend in the city. Then he took us to a few very "spun out" bars. The first one was like this reggae hippy bar, which was really just an alley way full of alternative type folks smoking and drinking....was different. Then we went to a cozy little like jazz bar - bright red and very laid back, that was cool and then the last place was called MOO and it was quite an expensive place where you can eat or just drink, it was all antique and felt like you were back in the 1920's, it was very groovy. It was good to see him - it was all a very tame night though!

Oh and on the Thursday Stu’s boss had bought a new collector’s item car or something so Hubby had to pick that up (this is before dinner) and I had my first driving experience in Melbourne being Chapel Street, peak hour in the work Ute, yep I was packing myself especially as Hubby just zoomed off...and you have to give way to pedestrians in Melbourne, so a few near misses, but all good...everyone alive still ;)

Friday Hubby had meetings for hours so I got my shopping bug back and since the workshop (where we were staying) is just off Chapel Street, I walked myself down there and shopped my little heart out. Funnily enough Hubby was feeling neglected so I actually mainly bought him stuff that day, he is very funky now. Now I love the Playboy shop over there so I spent quite a bit of time in that shop buying for myself....got a cute belly ring and a dress come jacket, yep its kinda short...agghhh it was fun!

That night we headed out with some more friends - ended up back at there place after dinner and stayed til ummm 3.30am when we realised our flight was at 6am and we had to get back to the workshop to get our stuff and hightail it to the workshop....I have no idea how we made it or how I managed to get our contact outs in a drunken state and change etc in the space of like 5 mins - it was certainly from super Hubby's efforts of packing everything up whilst I floundered around disorientated - sorry sweetpea!!!

So that's it, we are back - it is good to be home but perhaps not at work :)

I will post photos when I get some time during the week!

xxx

Wahooo…

Hey everyone!!

Weight loss

Yep that’s right, last Friday I had a PT session and I weighed in and had lost a kilo. I was soo happy. Now after my weekend I have probably put that kilo back on but the thing is I finally actually got the scales to move DOWN which means they can, which means I can do it! I hope that makes sense, basically it put some enthusiasm and more determination back into me. I can achieve what I want to make myself happy – so yah for Melly ;) haha

This week I am cramming what I can into the 3 days we are here as we go away on Wednesday night…I just got back from another PT session and then tomorrow and Wednesday have some body circuit classes.

I have to say, I’ve noticed my upper body is becoming a bit more defined which I am really happy about as I just love defined arms!! My body circuit classes are really paying off and last week I was just soo sore so that’s a good sign that I am actually working out!!!

Weekend

As ever, it was pretty full on. Saturday we spent all day cleaning out the final parts of our house, cleaning the windows etc…oh yes it was fun – NOT! But am happy to say its all done and now I am just waiting for Tuesday morning for the settlement to go through and that’s one more tick off the ole list. Yippeee. I shouldn’t sound soo happy as we really did love our house but its just gone beyond that and having to look after 2 properties whilst being away heaps was a bit tiring…at least we aren’t all sad that we are saying goodbye to our “first” house!! After jump starting my car, yes Mel left the key on just to top off a busy day *whoops* we headed home and had people over for a bbq, so needless to say the bed was very welcome that night!

Did anyone go and watch the Red Bull Air Race yesterday???!!!! We went down and I have to say I thought it was awesome. Now I am kinda scared of flying but I can realise talent when I see it and boy are those guys talented and fearless! It was very impressive. We had about 5 of us head down from our house, we just walked down with our esky and picnic basket and had a great day of lunch and drinks in the sun. It was sooo hot though and we had to constantly apply suncream, I am happy to report I did not get burnt, I just have a very nice brown tan at the moment J It was also good to see that (where we were at least) there were no fights or anything, everyone was happy and cheery and the police were really good and let people drink as long as no one went over the top, fair call!!

Holiday

Yep we are off on our holiday on Wednesday night. I soo can’t wait. We are off to Sydney for 6 days and I have booked what looks like an awesome hotel in the Rocks so hopefully I can enjoy the Sydney I didn’t get to see properly a couple weeks ago. We are then going down to Melbourne, where we will spend hubby’s birthday and our one year wedding anniversary – we are planning on going along the Great Ocean Road and staying down there for a couple nights. I’m really excited, I’m just soo looking forward to a holiday, finally just relaxing and taking in what’s been a full on year. Bring it on baby!!

So I won’t be blogging for a good 2 ½ weeks, I’ll be back mid December – everyone stay safe, stay motivated and I will catch up on everyone’s blogs when we get back – and I promise to update with some holidays piccies!!!

Love,
Mel.
x

Now where do I start....

I'm back and busy...there just seems to be no "me" time at the moment....but diet & exercise are certainly still on my mind..will go into that shortly...but to update the adventure so far...

Mt Buller & Melbourne

Let's see...we flew out on the Thursday night midnight flight, I was a little stressed out so I got really nervous about the flight and almost didn't hop on but in the end did (as Stu said he was going without me anyways..what choice did I have?) and actually fell asleep so again was in Melbourne in no time! We got in about 6am and then went to the workshop, which has a loft with a bed, shower etc, and had a 2 hour sleep before heading off!!

Got to MB about 6pm just in time for dinner and a night of drinks....

Anyways Saturday arvo I went down the bottom of the mountain with hubby, that is where the rally starts and the cars climb there way up the 16km winding road. Now let me just say, its a bloody scary road without racing up it, in summer or winter, so I have no idea how these people do it (I stress at doing just 60km)! There were a few accidents but nothing to major. Unfortunately the turbo on the Subaru we were working for went so Saturday was the end of our weekend...so we actually got to go back to Melbourne on Sunday morning and spent 2 days there before flying back home - it was pretty boring during the day as hubby just worked the whole time on cars - oh the fun!

BUT....I saw Jennifer Hawkins (aka Miss Universe) and her boyfriend Jake walking past me whilst I was checking our Chapel St - she is absolutely stunning, not sticky thin either but just perfect and very stylish and OMG Jake is just sooo spunky - I had to try and be cool and not stare too much but it was hard.

**I soo wished we lived in Melbourne its just the hottest spot and it just feels like "home" every time we got back!**

So there you go my weekend in a nutshell - it was actually a really funny weekend and certainly not as busy as when Stu races...

Diet & Exercise

Well I had a little sad the other night, everything just caught up on me on the realisation of my 1kg weight gain hit me. My trainer had really told me off about the gain and now every time I see him he really lays into me and questions everything I eat/do...so I think it finally hit home and I just cried.....but then I was like "all this crying is not doing me any good, I gotta start doing something rather than just saying or thinking about!".

To be honest I am still in the mentality of when I was really thin and although I am not massively overweight or anything I'll be heading that way if these increases still continue. I realised that I am not that "thin" person that I once was and that I have to do something about this to get back to being happy because I'm not happy with myself at the moment and the only person I can blame is myself. There is no point asking people if they can tell I have put on weight because in reality not many people are going to tell you the truth, so I have been deluding myself and with my weight gain it kinda hit home that this is the biggest I have been since I was overweight in high school...boom, lightening has struck - I've finally got it.

Soo in that respect I am trying the best I can at the moment, considering how busy we are. Our house sale goes thru next Monday (19th) and the place is still full of junk as we have been away soo much. Today we have to go sort out what we are selling in our garage sale there tomorrow and setup for that, then tomorrow is the garage sale and trying to empty the house out...then we only have next Saturday to get everything else out and clean it - I have absolutely no idea how we are gonna get this done, but I'm not thinking too far forward because I will only get stressed out.

Work is also flat out with a lot of changes being made and a lot of afterwork paperwork and agreements to work on - aghhh!

So I'm still doing my PT sessions, my body circuit classes, I went to our local gym yesterday and did some cardio and unfortunately its the weekend and raining but I'm really concentrating on doing exercise each day and have salad with dinner and no pasta or heavy carbs and to be honest I am feeling better already. So 2kg is the goal for before Xmas, I think that's realistic, if I can manage my nightly meals I can do this as I think that is where this weight is coming from.

I also bought some XLR8 tablets from the health food shop to help speed up the ole metabolism and burn some fat, so we'll see how I go with those, has anyone tried this before??

Right I'm off to check on everyone's blogs - will update on the ole new "determination and lightening bolt" adventure soon...

Love,
Mel.
x

Inspiration...

I know I've posted this pic before but it was months ago and I thought a bit of re-newed inspiration in the form of Kate Bosworth (pre her well too skinny days) was needed!!!

The Chaotic Life of Mel....

Yep life is just a tad busy at the moment.

Last Wednesday night we flew out to Sydney...of course, we got stuck sitting in the plane on the tarmac for 90 mins (yes this is at midnight!!) whilst some alpacas were removed from the cold storage section on the plane and put into a slighter warmer cargo hold...so they wouldn't freeze to death!!! Yes, strange I know but true...I thought my tablets were having wierd affects on me when I heard the pilot make that announcement..haha

So really the weekend was a blur. We were non stop busy. We stayed out in Campbell Town because it was close to the track - I hope no one is from Campbell Town reading this because but I have to say, it was horrible (equivalent to our Balga/Midland) - I walked into town once and didn't dare go back again by myself, so lesson learnt and consequently no gym due to that fact as I didn't have a car when Stu wasn't with me.

But moving on, spent our days at the track, I did the very good "wife" thing, I worked on my lap top whilst Stu played with his car etc and also did some video cameraing of his races - but I didn't do too well with that as my hand was shaking soo much from nerves watching him...hehe...but he did awesome as usual!

Friday night we went into the Rocks and went to dinner at this chinese place, Imperial Peking, or something like that. OMG, it was just the best chinese I have ever had. I actually haven't had chinese for years as I prefer Japanese or Thai but this was just amazing. Stu's boss took us and picked out what we ate and it was just brilliant - I can't say enough about it!

Saturday night we all went to the Sydney Motor Show, I got to sit in the new Audi R8, and it was pure bliss, I could only dream of buying one of those, it costs as much as our first house cost us!! The guy we were with has purchased one...hmmmm....anyways finally at like 10.30pm, with me looking to eat the artificial flowers on display, we finally went down to the harbour and had dinner. We ordered this massive seafood platter with lobster, crab, prawns, oysters etc...it was soo nice. I have never had oysters before but now am addicted!!

Sunday night we had a presentation night to go to and again the food was absolutely brilliant - finally had a bit of a big night that one - alcohol wise...was not good going to bed at 1am and having to be up and out of our hotel at 5.30am to get to the airport...very ill....

So really I had a great weekend - a little annoyed I couldn't do any exercise but anyways...I have made up for it a bit this week. I've done my 2 body circuit classes, which I love and this arvo is my PT session - we have measurements today and I am meant to have lost 2kg but its more like I have put on 2kgs, so I'm really not looking forward to it...things are just soo hectic at the moment but I have my goal in mind and I know that when I can exercise I certainly do, so it will happen....

AND we actually fly out to Melbourne (my most favourite city!!) this evening. We are off to Mt Buller for a rally this weekend. We are staying at a realllllly nice hotel this weekend and I've been to Mt Buller before so I'm hoping the uni gym is open so I can go there - Stu's not racing this weekend, so things will be a bit more relaxed and we can be a bit more flexible, just gotta so stuff for his boss, but otherwise we can drink and gym it and stuff...sooo yah!

Anyways I am outtie, I hope everyone is going well and I'll be catching up on blogs later today - see ya next week!

Melly.
x

Quick update...

Just a quick one as we fly out tonight for Sydney - we get back on Monday - yah! And I just found out that we pretty much have all of Thursday to ourselves so we can actually venture into Sydney and do some sightseeing and then we don't have to pick up the rest of the team til 10pm that night so we can even eat in town there...am getting excited...except for the plane ride part, which is freaking me out!!! (I have flown heaps of times, I am just a whimp).

Otherwise things have been good. I did the John Hughes Big Walk on Sunday. 20km, Perth to Fremantle. This is my 4th year of doing it and it was easy peasy, although I was over it by the end of it!!!

Anyways I kicked my butt into action with regards to food this week and have been feeling heaps better. Although today for lunch I succumbed to my favorite turkish bread roll for lunch and now i feel all stodgy and yuk - lesson learnt, they are no longer my favorite! Plus I couldn't make my body circuit class this morning because we are just soo busy trying to sort work stuff out before we leave....I am taking my laptop so that whilst Stu is on the track I can draft up some new work changes that need to be implemented by our staff etc...

And I also found a Fitness First just near where we are staying over east so I intend of doing some exercise whilst I am there otherwise I know I will start feeling gross.

Ok, so I better go - I've had all my waxing done today, so I am hair free and also did a quick bit of shopping so I look somewhat stylish before hitting Sydney...wonder if they will have any good bargains over there (note to self...must save myself from splurging til our "proper" holiday at the end of November)...

Kick ass crew!!
Mel.
x

Feeling a bit …..

Well I should be feeling quite good as I have (like I promised myself) upped my exercise a bit but food is still the major culprit in ruining my good efforts.

Let’s start with the exercise…starting from where I left off last Thursday…(I’ve had a horrible cold for like 2 weeks now so Friday was a write off as it kinda fully kicked in…or maybe alcohol from the night before may have been part of it?!)

Ok so I’ve been really good since last week and walked around the river (with little jogs in there when I could, just easing my knee into it) on Saturday and Sunday and yesterday (Tuesday) as well.

Then yesterday I also did Jacob’s Ladder in the arvo, my legs were already tired from my morning walk/run and I pushed myself to do a bit more running than normal on my walk, so I could really feel them. I haven’t done JL for years so I was quite proud of 6 sets in just over 20 mins. It’s probably pretty tame but I am definitely going to go a couple times a week and build up to more and quicker….

Today I did another one of the Body Circuit classes, which I love.

Tomorrow (Thursday) I have a PT session and my trainer promises he is going to kick my ass for going out drinking and eating thai last night (doh).

So then it’s Friday, I actually have to work this Friday so dunno if I will get a chance to do any exercise, probably just walk the boys in the morning and then it’s the weekend and I can get stuck into JL on Saturday and walking/jogging the river again.

So I’m getting there with upping my exercise, I just have to keep pushing myself.

At the moment my legs, and I mean all of my legs not just my calves, are so soo sore. I can’t imagine what they are gonna be like tomorrow, coz at this stage its very hard to walk…haha…also they are soo tight and thick feeling – I actually feel worse than usual, I feel soo thick and fat. Grrrr…I know its just that my muscles are swollen and full of blood but still….

Last Thursday night my feet were soo swollen from wearing my new shoes in for 2 days and when I got home my legs had actually got all swollen too and I couldn’t do up my knee high boots without the zip pinching my calves….yes, there were tears – luckily Stu came home and promised me I hadn’t just put on a huge amount of weight in one day and that I was all swollen up – eeek! Not nice at all.

Right so food – this is where I seem to be going wrong. Numero Uno problem is after dinner – I seem to be craving something sweet these days…I never never used to and now in the last couple months I have become a complete chocolate/sweet tooth…the next major problem is I cannot stand “salads”. I really don’t like lettuce, any type, it boring and flavourless…so no matter what my good intentions are to plan a meat and salad dinner by the end of the day I just cannot do it, I can’t stand lettuce/salads, unless of course we are talking lots of cheese or avocado…see soo slight problem. Tonight is a prime example I have chicken out and we are meant to have a salad (and Stu will have chips as well as he needs more) but just thought of the gross salad is doing my head in – so I’m trying to think of what else I can be having instead, some veges…oh yes, I think some sweet potato and some nice steamed veges…we could be on a winner…

Baby steps…its all about baby steps….

PS – my pysco PT reckons my aim for the month is to lose 2kg, well the month is almost up and I am more than likely to put on 2kg than lose it….great!

xxx

Party Pic...

Stu and I had to go to a "G" themed fancy dress party the other weekend. Just to clarify, we do not look like this normally and Stu = a Gothic and I = Gwen Stefani...just if you couldn't tell...it was soo much fun!!!

xxx

Crazy, Crazy…

Wahoo….we accepted an offer on our house on Wednesday morning. So a week on the market and its all gone now! We are really really happy with the offer we got and we didn’t want to be too greedy and what we loved is that the people that put the offer on it loved it the first minute they saw it just as we had. And it was a really good offer so its all smiles all round. Its also a quick settlement and should be all done by mid to late November!!!

On Wednesday morning I did my first body circuit class at my gym. I have been putting it off as I am just such a whimp at trying new things and have already cancelled twice but alas I dragged myself to it and I loved it, totally!! It was awesome fun, really hard but got your cardio right up. So I am gonna try and do that class twice a week. Plus an RPM class down at Vic Park.

I don’t think food is my problem I think its pushing myself harder to do more intense exercise.. I am such a whimp and get really shy so always put things off – even going for a run in public, I know stupid but that’s me. But this body circuit class was really good for me as it got me out of my groove and kinda got a little competitive streak happening with me. So I have promised myself to up the anti and I reckon that will do it as I have just been cruising with the same/easy-ish cardio for ages now. No wonder I am not seeing any results and slowly losing the battle of the bludge! But never fear, I’m gonna be kicking my ass and looking hot for summer very shortly!

Tonight we are off to dinner and drinks at Burswood with a friend that has flown over from Melbourne for business, so I'm really looking forward to that - I really like Sirocco's down there...hmmmm

Tomorrow I have off so I’m gonna go do Jacob’s Ladder in the morning before heading out for more furniture shopping with my Mum. Then its just the usual cleaning the house and walking the boys in the arvo. That night I think I am meeting a friend for Friday night bevvies and the rest of the weekend is just a go with the flow one at the moment, although I think dinner out at our new favourite Italian restaurant with friends is in the pipeline…

What else? Oh bring back the summer weather – pllleaaasseeee!!!

Ohhh how could I forget? Last night we went motorbike looking for Stu and he picked the one he wants, he's hoping to get it delivered for the weekend then I get to get a leather jacket...wahoo - I can just see us cruising around in summer...haha

Ok, I'm off....have a great weekend all :)
Mel
x

Rolling along...

Howdy all….agh, what a weekend. Yuk, I ended up getting gastro on Friday night and recovered properly on Sunday!

Well exercise is getting more on track. Did my first big walk around the river on Friday morning. OMG it was just soo lovely, the weather, the views etc…I am building up my summer tan (on my upper body) already – I just gotta break out the shorts one of these days, I’m just too scared of scaring people with the shade of white that they are!

Yesterday I went for another walk around the river on my day off but this time in the other direction and as stupid as it sounds it was harder in that direction – I was puffed but mainly my knees got really weak and I couldn’t wait to get home!

So finally exercise is getting on track and I see our local recreation centre has RPM classes in the mornings. I’ve never done one of those before but Stu’s keen to go so I think we will schedule that into one of our mornings before work – I’m looking forward to it.

I’m actually just about to hit the gym for my weekly PT session – I seriously hope its not as hard as last week, he tried to kill me, I’m sure!

Eating is going ok, I never eat chocolate but lately I have just wanted some each day so I gotta keep from giving in each night – I am strong I can do this….I wish I loved fruit but I’m just soo damn picky!

Not sure what the go is tonight – normally I would just veg on the couch but strangely since we have moved I have loved going out and doing something each night and the thought of just plodding home is a bit boring so maybe Stu and I will go for a quick walk just for something different (ha) near the river and then cook a stir fry or something together – or perhaps we should have a spa before dinner…aghhh, decisions..haha

Ok, off I go…. Xxx

PS – Em, if you had seen me walking the boys this morning you would have been in hysterics!! Seriously they were soo overexcited and Basil kept eating things off the ground (i.e. slice of pizza), he was soo quick I could never catch up and then when I did he refused to open his mouth even with me sticking my fingers in it to get the food out – he is very strong when it comes to food ;)

The Adventures of Chester & Basil….

Well my baby beagles. They have actually taken some adjusting to the new place. I really didn’t expect, I didn’t think about it that much really and just thought they would settle in as normal. But no so, there has been lots of crying and Chester, who is normally the most well behaved of the two, has been quite naughty whereas Basil has been amazingly well trained – except for the running off with my favourite Napolean lip gloss – but never fear I did retrieve…the end did get pulled off but if I transfer it into a little lip gloss pot it will be re-usable…thank god…!!

Anyways so yes this post is about our “boys”….

As part of moving to a smaller property and closer to the river, I have to walk them every morning before work (I work 3 days a week) and then each day of the weekend – on my days off I dare say I will take them out too….they love it. They get soo excited. We have just been soo busy up here in the hills lately that we have really neglected walking them during winter and to be honest I just didn’t want to walk anywhere around here. I am now excited about walked around the river and even along Albany Hwy if I have to go the shops – the boys just love all the attention they get from other people walking. They are soo cute and look pretty much exactly the same.

But let’s get onto my adventure of walking the boys before work for the first time this morning. Yep I braved it…actually I bounded out of bed at 5.50am – Stu went off to swimming and I collected two very over excited beagles and headed out. Now to start with it was a hassle even putting the leashes on them. One of them jumps all over the place and one of them is scared of the chain, so yes it is very amusing to watch me…I am sure!

So off we headed…two mad dogs and one getting very “over it” Mel. Normally Stu and I walk one each. I have walked them both before and they aren’t too bad but seriously this morning they were just soo excited.

I have to say it is just soo beautiful along the river – the view is sensational.

Now my little adventure is about “dog poop” – so just a pre-warning. Anyways as I said Stu and I normally walk them together so I always get him to do the picking up off and in Kalamunda there is heaps of bushland so we are normally lucky to get away with having to pick it up.

So the entire way I prayed and prayed that they wouldn’t stop to “do” anything. But I know Chester always just loves to save himself up for our walks whereas Basil rarely does. Now Mr Chester somehow found a vacant lot with bush on it and hid himself in a bush that I couldn’t get to – so yah, very happy about that. I have to say it was soo trying walking them this morning, for anyone that doesn’t have beagles or know beagles, they love sniffing…nose to the ground and sniff – once on a scent it can be hard to deter them…so here I have two hyperactive beagles on sniffing missions and luckily for me, going in opposite directions today – NOT! I was very very over it. Then to top off my morning walk as I am thanking my lucky stars that Basil hasn’t gone and we are a mere 100 metres from home. Out comes a lovely old gentleman to his front lawn to put out some bins and before I know it Bas has stopped dead set in front him and you can imagine what he did. I swear, I was soo embarrassed but then I had to face my fear and pick up…so double bagged I went, both dogs pulling on me…to pick it up and pop it in the bin, breathe held, eyes closed – I am sure I looked a sight, but I did it and I survived!

First “poop” adventure done – am now bracing myself for tomorrow morning – haha J

Long Weekend – the Big Move!

Howdy all,

Yahh…we are all moved in (well kinda) to our new pad. It feels like a little holiday house – even my father in law said that the other day when they came down to check it out.

Now let’s see if I can remember back to how the weekend went, it feels like ages ago already!

I spent Friday madly running around with Mum shopping. I ordered some bookcases, which I will get this Friday. I also bought a lovely new mirror for our entrance way, a big cream shag pile type run and a funky square coffee table. All from Freedom – I totally love Freedom. We did go into Ikea, but it was just madness.

We also had our new plasma and our fridge/freezer delivered and all set up. The new telly is awesome – even better that they connected it to our stereo and dvd player etc…so all I had to do was learn how to use it.

Friday night I went to the casino for drinks with my friend – got home about midnight, it was fun. Paddy’s had a really good fun band playing so we jumped around for a bit…made me feel better about drinking…kinda working it off at the same time…haha!

Saturday was very hectic. I accidentally looked at my watch wrong and got us up an hour early and was at the truck hire place at 7am instead of 8am – whoops! But it turned out ok coz my Mum flew up to Broome to go on the True North boat for a week and I had to pick her car up from the airport so we got that out of the way nice and early…anyways then the boys moved all our big furniture to the new place and set I all up looking good in time to watch the GF. WOW, what a game… After that we all had drinks so we retired for the day and just sat around chatting and drinking, had a bbq and then had a spa – got out about 2am…yep, oophs again – but it was awesome fun and a great way to celebrate our “proper” first night at the new house!

Sunday was up at 7am to take the truck back (YUK). Then we took our beagles for a walk along part of the river (they are not fit enough for longer than an hour at the moment). The rest of the day we did house stuff i.e. put up extra fencing to keep the Chester & Baz safe and then we had friends come over to check out our new place. It was nice but we were soo exhausted. We both just managed to keep our eyes open til 11pm to watch the first lap of the Formula One – we both soo wanted to watch it on our new big screen….haha

And then there was Monday – I got a call from the real estate agent to say he had two people that wanted to see our house on Tuesday so we had to go up the hill to clean the house – a good 4 hours later and it looked spic! Then Stu’s folks came down to see our new pad – yes, we are having lots of visitors now…haha

Soo our weekend was really go, go, go…we are just exhausted at the moment and things haven’t even slightly slowed down.

We have however managed to start our fitness regimes this week – I had a kick ass PT session, he almost killed me I swear….or I almost killed him with my whinging…haha. And this morning I walked the boys along the river again – more of that in my next post! Tonight is squash (if we can make it, as work is really busy and not sure if we will be out by 6.30pm!).

I have to walk the boys every morning before work so I get that extra bit of exercise too plus on my days off I will do Jacob’s Ladder and walk/run around the river (if my knees hold up, whole other story, yet again). Plus my pilates and PT session so I reckon summer is gonna be great – bring it on!

I totally love Vic Park at the moment – I’ve found an awesome butcher and fruit/veg place and its just soo close to everything and everyone. This Friday night we will go and check out a couple of the pubs…our new locals!! Wahoo…with all this exercise and watching my food, I am sure my social drinking will balance it all out – and pleasseee, you have to have some fun in life!

Right this has been a tad long – I wonder if anyone made it all the way thru…haha

Cheers bellas,
Melly.
x

Back again...

Well I am back again - I've been reading posts but just not posting anything from my end.

This week and last weekend have just been crazy with packing and moving. How does one end up with soo much stuff? Seriously I feel soo good about myself as I have donated soo much "good" stuff to Anglicare and the Good Sammy's - my good deed for the year! But I hate clutter and I just looked at all this stuff that is virtually new that I never use or wear and thought "why hold on to it when there are lots of people that would need this stuff"....

Anyways so we got the keys to our new little pad on Tuesday and I had the day off to move and unpack stuff there. I was all happy about the place until I got home late that night to our home up here in the hills and realised just how big our beautiful house is compared to the Vic Park one and I had a bit of a cry...yes silly I know its just a house but I guess its my first house and I was feeling a bit sad. Plus all our gardens have been freshly done and mulched so they look hot and the weather is getting warmer and I just want to jump in our pool and have a swim, which won't be able to happen anymore as the new place doesn't have one - oh well, at least our spa is coming with us. I just keep thinking, we can stay in this place for 6 months and then if we like Vic Park I will start looking at buying our own place again but down there - I'm toying with the idea of buying an older house and doing it up as I notice there are some gorgeous looking houses down that way that are soo cute and very "melbourne-ish" when done up....will see.

As far as food and exercise goes - well exercise has been non existent. As soon as I finish work we head to the house take boxes to the new house and unpack and then head home about 10pm and then start the day all over. I'm not stressing about it, there's not much I can do and we will be in on Saturday (having a Grand Final BBQ and drinks at our place with friends) and Monday is a public holiday so I plan on starting fresh then with a walk around the river and doing JL a few times...so there's no point stressing myself even more with worrying about exercise. Food has been fine, too busy to over eat. Dinner have had to be take out stuff but I've managed to keep that healthy i.e. Nando's chicken and a bought salad with no dressing from Coles and then japanese and miso soup, no deep fried stuff and I'm actually feeling quite light in my stomach and good.

I've had a bit of a stressful day with other crap that is going today so I'm thinking I might have to have an alcoholic beverage tonight - but we'll see how I go.

So I guess my next post will be next Tuesday with all the goss on the new place and what I think of the new suburb - bring it on baby!!!

Mel.
x

Quick Update...

Hi all,

Well just i have been quite absent lately...in the last week soo much has been happening. A few really bad things - which I'm not going into but a few major changes have been made in ole Melly's life.

Anyways just wanted to let you know that I am still hear and reading everyone's blogs.

My diet and exercise was total crap last week - it was just the last thing I could do or think of. But I am getting back into exercise this week and starting to eat and eat better....

One last bit of exciting news is we are actually moving. I am really excited but sad at the same time. We are selling our absolutely beautiful house up here in the hills and leasing a lovely house down in Vic Park, just a 10 min walk from the foreshore!!! Basically we are just going to invest our money until we decide if we like Vic Park etc....the house up here is too big to manage when Stu goes away all the time i.e. the gardens etc and I will know be travelling with him so it will make it doubley harder so we are moving to something with a smaller yard and also closer to the city and my friends and family and all the nightlife etc...so in that respect I am really excited. We get the keys next Tuesday and then will start moving small stuff next week then next Saturday (yes Grand Final day) will move the big stuff in the morning, then we will well and truly deserve a rest to watch the GF. But so at the moment I am madly trying to organise stuff to move. Once we are settled we will have a big garage sale to get rid of stuff we don't want and also the other stuff get put into storage and then the house will be put on the market.

So I think my exercise will be put on the back burner for a bit - still doing my Pt sessions and yoga but once we move down near the river, we will be walking our dogs daily and now I have my totally wonderful orthodics I will start running again - yah!

Ok, things are majorally hectic up here so I gotta mosey - big smiles :)

Mel.
x

RIP

Not much I can say, being bought up with motor racing everywhere, Peter Brock was an icon and did soo much for Australian Motoring racing...I feel for his family and for his supporters - this is very sad, again an unbelievable tragedy - regardless of the risks involved in his profession, this is still a sad day...

It's been awhile...

Yes, I have been slack with blogging lately - not sure why, just really busy at work and haven't had the time to get really into a good blog, but I have been still checking up on everyone...seems like we are all busy at the moment!

Well let's see what have I been up to....last night went to the Eskimo Joe concert at Capitol in Perth. This is the second time I have seen them play live and they are just brilliant live, the vocals are just as good, if not better, than their cd - so always impressed. What I wasn't impressed with was the venue...could a worse venue be picked, I don't think so! Unless you were right up the front or against the front railing you could not see a think and it was packed like sardines - the upstairs was like a sauna, so that was actually very disappointing. Last time I saw them at Metros in Northbridge and usual that was an excellent venue, with viewing everywhere!!!

Anyways onto my health and fitness. I am loving my pilates, am doing it 3 times a week at the moment (except on 2 times this week due to sleeping in on Wednesday morning), I already feel my legs feel longer and leaner (hehe), you do soo much leg work, particularly the beloved "leg circles" that you really can feel it, I better have a great butt soon - ha! Also loving my PT sessions, he is really pushing me each time and I feel my fintess is starting to improve - yah!

So my gym membership expired on Tuesday and for the first time in like 10 years I am without a gym membership. I really thought that would stress me out but I'm really relaxed. I think in the end I just dreaded going to the same ole boring gym day in day out and I need this time now to do something different because now i love my pilates, I love my pt sessions and I have my orthodics now and am going to start jogging. First day was meant to be Thursday and today but for those in Perth, it is absolutely WINDY and freezing at the moment, so I will just wait til hopefully Sunday when the weather should (?) be better - but yeh, so I am really loving the idea of doing outdoor summer exercise and not "dragging" myself to the gym - I'm sure in 6 months or so I will be ready to go back but at this stage the new exercise regime is making me feel really good and helping my anxiety levels and happiness heaps - I don't seem to be pressuring myself as much....if that makes sense?

Now food wise - OMG, what have we done with Melissa!!! I am going great guns! I'm not saying that I am perfect at all but I have slowly been changing some habits and I am really proud of the way its all falling into place. I havne't been having carbs at night with my dinner, besides the minimal found in salad and veges, this is a huge thing for me because I was addicted to stir frys with rice or cashews and because its not portioned controlled I would majorally over eat - so I have finally kicked that habit and been having like a chicken breast and salad each night and I feel lighter afterwards and in the morning etc....as for alcohol well I have put myself on a minimum alcohol consumption type "dare" for the next 4 weeks - I'm actually one week down and went through a whole weekend (including a girls night in) with no alcohol. Last night I had one glass of wine the whole evening then water all night. I have found I am starting to really think about what I am having and only having it if I really love it, the wine was great last night and they didn't have the drinks I felt like having so instead of just continuing to drink I didn't - that is just amazing for me because I wouldn't have done that a couple weeks ago and I find that is the same with food now, I'm really thinking about if I really want it and if its going to be worth it...I hope that all makes sense but I am just really proud of my new thinking.

I haven't noticed any weight changes or anything like that but I have noticed my attitude and positiveness changing - I'm not as worried and stressing about my weight - I kinda just feel calm and "happy" and I am really trying to concentrate on that....so yeh, I'm happy with things at the moemnt - yipppeee!!!

Next weekend is one of my oldest friends 30th birthday and she is having a fancy dress "G" party - am going with Stu as Goths...so can't wait to don the black fishnets and heavy black makeup - speaking of make up, which I love, I used my new napolean eyeshadows in purples last night and did my eyes nice and black with the purples shadows and shimmer....I got lots of compliments - I just love playing with makeup these days...haha!

Ok, this one is dragging on a bit - so I better go - hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I will chat more next week....PS - my weekend is a family roast tomorrow night (no alcohol for me) and Sunday will be clearing out the spare room to paint and start putting together a home office for Stu to do motor racing stuff from, I got the new ikea catalogue and am in love with some of the office furniture so I can't wait to get that (go look next week) and of course new a new lap top...goodness there is always something!!!

Melly
xxxx

Still shaky...

hehe..yep just got back from my first PT session with my new trainer/gym. Was fun, fun. I was actually really nervous as I knew he would really push me and I haven't done much the last few weeks due to my knee...plus I get really nervous (and I REALLY) doing new things!

Anyways back tracking a bit to Saturday when I had my appraisal. It was very thorough and imformative, I was very impressive, just not with the results. My fitness has gone wayyy down hill this year and my body fat just has never ever been this high, to be honest, I was taken back abit by it...but so be it, I know now and I can work on it!

Yesterday arvo I had my first pilates class "Gentle Pilates" and I loved it. I seriously wasn't sure what to expect but I really enjoyed it, a great bunch of people in that class and it was more challenging that I expected. I am old school when it comes to exercise and classes etc...I just couldn't get my head around actually working out without doing heaps of cardio etc...but it really did make me feel like I worked - I'm not sore or anything today but during the class I definately felt it. I like the way its subtle but you really are working...if that makes sense! And with all the breathing you do feel relaxed at the end of it and on a bit of a "natural high"...

Right onto my session then - let me say, I thought I hated the rower...I have in fact discovered I do not hate the rower, I have a new dread and I'm not even sure what you call it but its this bike that you can work both your legs and your arms. The arms are just little like levers and I had to do it without using the legs, only for 5 mins, and it was bloody hard - my poor little arms almost dropped off, and it was on the hill program, so it certainly caned me. Anyways I really really enjoyed the whole work out and the mix up of it, considering this was my first session with my trainer and he was just getting to grips with what weights I can do etc...I was proud of myself in the end - bar that bloody bike thingy machine...

So I think I have recovered somewhat now....thank god! Tonight we have our ballroom dancing class at 6.30pm - 8.00pm. Kenz - we are doing it as part of the Tafe short courses that they do and its at Como Senior High School....now let me say we are by far the youngest people there and our teacher is about 100 but she is damn good on her feet and its FUN..we had a great time last week. Unfortunately I am not sure if we will make it tonight - its almost 5pm and Stu seems to be flat out here and it takes us a good 30 mins to get there...will see...plus Stu is looking very grumpy over at his desk...hmmm...will see!

I also have (for some reason unknown to the "normal" Melissa) booked in to do the 6am Pilates class tomorrow morning...but I am determined to get my lazy ass out of the bed at 5.30am tomorrow and get up to the gym for the class..why? BECAUSE I know that once I have done it I'm gonna feel damn good and its also gonna feel good to stretch out my body after today...then its squash tomorrow night..ekkk!

I also got my book on fitness, carbs, fats, protein, muscles etc AND my nutrition plan...I can do this - as most nutrition plans are, its not sparing on food, its just a matter of choosing the right foods - I can soo do this. Last week had 3 awesome food days and I felt HOT so I want that feeling again. My biggest hurdle will be alcohol (must say very proud of self, on weekend went out with friends for 6 hours and only had 2 alcoholic beverages!!)...BUT this Sunday is the Eagles -v- Dockers derby and I have arranged for us to meet people at the Paddo...hmmm, have volunteered as skipper but still.........2 drinks, 2 drinks...will keep chanting this!

Now I must be off as need to eat my apple - am getting those tummy rumbles as I missed it earlier today! PLUS for all you Perthies...how BAD is this weather - I don't think I have seen soo much hard, sideways rain before...its a bit scary - actually if it does keep up (as I type its getting worse, OMG)...we might give driving out a miss tonight!!!

Love to you all - send me some goss ladies!
Melly.
x

Saturday - quick one...

Well its Saturday...its raining & I am working til at least 1pm...oh well, am taking next Friday off to go visit my grandma in the country, who I have not seen probably for about 5 years...yes very BAD grand daughter!

Anyways so here I am, we are actually really quiet at work today, which is very unusual, guess its raining and everyone is in bed, no doubt they will all wake up about 10am and come in all at once! I have only spoken with Stu on sms this morning, I don't think he is having that great a weekend at Phillip Island so far - having some car troubles...best I just wait for him to call me.

Ok - so at 2pm its my first PT/appraisal session at my new gym/body studio - I am really excited. I dare say we won't really do much training, mainly just testing my fitness and my body fat etc...I am really interested to see what they come up as.

Now I have to say, following on from my last email, that another reason I am really excited about starting up pilates and stuff at this new place is because I get really anxious and I have a lot of trouble with my breathing, also one has no "inner core (aka ABS) strenghth" and I really think that over the next 6 months this new regime is going to help me de-stress and relax a bit more.

I seem to be one of those people that doesn't actually do much but is always busy - i.e. I generally rush home to clean up, cook, pressure myself to get it all done quickly and then wait around for Stu to get home for work late by about an hour (it happens everyday so I don't know why I continue to rush)...what I really should be doing is slowing down and enjoying myself, as I do LOVE cooking. Sooo I really think this "new adventure" is really going to help me....I'm soo excited..da, da, da!

Okay I bette go - gotta ring HBF to make sure my orthodics are covered by them. Will blog about my first PT session and my first Pilates class on Monday.

Have a great weekend all - OH, no detox as such this weekend but I have been incredibly good with my eating whilst Stu has been away, I am soo proud of myself..wahoo....

Love,
Melly.
x

Excited Mel...a new journey!

Yep, I've been excited for a few days now but have been a tad busy to get into blogging about it. Probably not the best time now but I really want to!!

Firstly, I dropped Stuey off at the airport last night *boo hoo* he is back on Monday morning. I was meant to go out this Sat night for my friends birthday but she has cancelled so I am thinking about doing a little mini detox over the weekend, nothing major, just no alcohol, wheat, diary etc...just try to keep everything as close to green and nature as possible - will see how I go, much easier when Stu isn't here of course!

Anyways onto my reason for my excitement..hehe...welllllll my current gym membership expires in the first week of September and as I keep hurting myself and I'm a bit bored with it all I thought I would try something different. Across the road from where I work is this body studio where they are really into all that pilates and one on one training - they only allow like 50 memberships to their gym so that you get as much privacy as you want etc.... so i went across there the other day and I was just soo impressed with them. I am really synical about places offering you everything and then once they get your money they forget about you, of course, I did tell them that and quizz them thoroughly.

So basically I have joined up. I joined up for the studio to do pilates etc and also for the one on one PT sessions. A few things that got me hooked:-

• Upon joining they give you a whole book on the body/muscles, nutritional information on carbs, proteins etc and what they are and what is required etc and heaps more
• They do a test which not only shows your body fat % but your metabolism at rest and during activity so they can cater to your fast or slow metabolism better
• They are all fully qualified from uni
• Each week for the first month they give you a sheet to complete with all your meals eaten etc so they can then design a nutritional plan for you based on the results that you want along with your daily nutritional requirements e.g. vitamins, minerals etc
• They assess all clients in the last week of every month and also do "spot checks" to make sure you are keeping on track
• The gym equipment is just AMAZING, soo much more advanced than the poxy ole gym I am currently at
• You "book" in to do any classes which then makes you commit a little more as you gotta let them know if you can't make it - and they have a max of approx 10 ppl per class
• The variety and times of classes are awesome - they have heaps of classes ranging from easy pilates to really hard, plus really hard circuit classes, which I've actually heard rave reviews about

I could just go on...but I keep getting interrupted and I am starving - I need to go across the road and grab some lunch!

Now quickly though (I will try) I have my first PT session on Saturday then have regualar bookings for PT sessions every Tuesday and Saturday. Next week I have my first pilates class on Monday arvo and then again on Wednesday morning plus have dancing Tuesday nights and squash Wednesday nights - so am getting back into.

Gosh I actually have more goss too re: podiatrist but I'm under the pump, really gotta mosey!

Keep smiling bellas :) Melly xxx

Some pics...

The first is of my two little beagles, (left to right), Basil (4 on Dec 1) and Chester (5 on Aug 28)...aka Chesty & Baz...my boys!!

The second one is the beautiful flowers that my goregous Stu bought me yesterday - remember I said I had had a bad weekend...what a sweetie! They smell soo deluxe!

INBA Natural Olympia...

For some reason I thought the Natural Olympia was on 14th October - the INBA website says November 18th, just wanted to check this was correct as my friend and I are planning to come and see the WA competitors - wahoo!!!

Side tracked....

Well my weekend was really NOT a good one - not going to go into it as I'm over it all now. Its the start of a new week and I am just going to concentrate on that now.

I think I need to re-evaluate my training/eating. I was on such a roll til I injured my knee and now I have really been side tracked and just haven't done anything. I think I'm a little nervous to do cardio as my knee still seems to be a little tender and my other knee is starting to hurt now too..grrrr....but the podiatrist appt is on Wednesday afternoon so that's not too far off and hopefully it won't take long to get my orthodics because that will start to help straight away.

Hmmmm...we did play squash on Friday night - I have to say I absolutely LOVE playing squash, not that we play the rules at the moment we are just getting into it but I do have to read up on the rules and soon we will start playing properly against each other.

Anyways so as I am hesitate to do much cardio at the moment I am going to try and walk to work and back each day (6km round trip up & down hills) - surely that has to be better than nothing! BUT I will get up tomorrow morning and head to the gym and see if I can use the cross trainer.

Ohhhh, am excited, tomorrow night Stu and I are off to our first dance class - you know we get to learn all sorts just like "Dancing with the Stars" - it goes for 10 weeks. So that will be our Tuesday nights occupied.

Not even going to go into my diet at the moment - eek! Stu goes away again on Wednesday night to Phillip Island and is back Monday morning - so that will give a bit of a chance to get the diet under control more....

But positive, positive, its a lifestyle choice and you just gotta keep pushing on!

Ok, I gotta mosey - gotta get some more work done, I have been very productive today - yipppe!!!

Melly.
x

Almost the weekend...

Howdy all!!

Well I can't believe its Thursday already - this week has flown by. Funny that, as I have been quite bored without being able to do any exercise. I'm actually a bit over it so will be back to do some light cardio at the gym tomorrow morning, then squash tomorrow night - yipppee!!

I kinda have tomorrow off as I'm getting my hair coloured (don't you just hate that regrowth look!) in the morning then physio in the arvo so I think I will just take the day off and go clean the house so I don't have to do it on Saturday - yippeee...

Oooohhhhhh...I was soo bored/unmotivated at work today so I ducked down to Jim Kidds and bought a new pair of asics - I love them and I got $50 off and a pair of sport socks to match for free. I can't wait to wear them. **I can just see me walking around the house tonight in my jammies with my new sneakers on** HA HA

Hmmmm....now for all those other Perthies out there....how beautiful was the weather today??? It got me all excited for spring to come!

So I'm looking at the weekend now. Stu is back from Melbourne (got back late last night) so this weekend we MUST dedicate time to doing a bit of gardening and housey stuff. Since he now goes away soo often our poor house and puppies seem to be getting neglected. So I think on Saturday arvo I will take the "boys" down to the river and go for a walk - I discovered that one of my limestone pots on the back patio had had the dirt dug out everywhere so I'm thinking they are a tad bored! Then might head to Herdsman Fresh and pick up some yummy treats from there.

I'm calling this weekend our "retreat weekend" - I intend on making up some yummy salads and new healthy recipes. I am only have a bevvie on Sunday arvo after all the work has been done as my uncle is coming up here and we are going to the pub as haven't seen him for awhile and he is just hilarious!

All in all, not a bad week considering I have been a SLOTH doing nothing but I have to say my knee and arm/shoulder are feeling better - tomorrow will be the test *fingers crossed* Am hoping the new shoes do wonders...ha!

Take care all and hope everyone is plodging fantastically!!

Miss Melly.
x

Boo hoo...
A few things really...went back to get my test results from the doc today - of course nothing really showed up so am off to a specialist to investigate further - but that's not til October.

BUT I have had a sore knee since I ran for 10 mins a week and a half ago and to be honest I have had a sore arm for a couple months now which I ignored but after showing the doc my knee he sent me to the physio...just got back!

My knee is caused from having flat feet and therefore the more exercise I have been doing with my knee/foot out of alignment the worse my knee alignment gets and everything gets inflamed, so luckily nothing is torn or broken but all the joints are rubbing because they are soo inflamed. So he has bandaged up my knee, referred me to a podiatrist, which I go to next Wednesday and I am going back to the physio for more knee exercises (just like holding a position against a wall for a bit) and also for my arm.

My arm is a result from something in my left shoulder being weak and consequently something about the bone going over & under instead of together and then a tendon stretching over the top and its all inflamed - when I go back on Friday we will go over arm exercises and what else I can do to fix it as we ran out of time but hence no weights this week.

I had a bit of a fainting experience because (a) he was pushing and pulling my knee/arm and it bloody hurt and then I just started feeling sick...he said it happens all the time its some sort of nervousness people get - I think thats true because once it hurt and I started feeling sick, it was like shock and I think it all just got to me...so embarrassing! Am SUCH A WHIMP!!!

So today has cost me a fortune AND I can't really do much exercise this week.....now my knee is taped though I think I can do cardio i.e. cross trainer as it doesn't really have any impact so will try that tomorrow morning but no weights til I see him on Friday to see what I need to do with my arm.

Anyways so that is my little whinge/sob story..haha...otherwise I had a great weekend - Stu pampered me lots and bought me a few little pressies when we went shopping on Sat arvo, so that was a huge treat AND we spent the whole weekend together-mainly because we had a few drinks on SAturday and hence Sunday couldn't actually do anything...whoops! I have to be super duper good this week due to not being able to exercise much....grrrrr...you really miss it when you can't do it!

Spose I better get back to work - oh have to say everyone seemed to have updated/re-vamped their blogs over the weekend, must have been something in the air!!

Take care all - Melly. xxx

Weekend Hello...

Finally I got my act into gear and added links to my blog and also a new template - a bit more PINK..hehe

I am really really bad at computer stuff other than the basic standard word, excel etc...anything too complicated just does my head in - but I mastered this - wahooo....wish I could just get my kodak printer to work so I could print out all our honeymoon pics! I am soo annoyed I have had it since May and it just won't load - so I am dropping it off at my parent's place tomorrow and hopefully my step-dad (who is a wizard at everything) will be able to load it on his computer and if so, it means there is a prob with my computer - pity he lives 40 mins away from me otherwise I would get him up here to have a plan...hmmm...note to self "bribe step-dad with dinner to come up and fix computer" hehe

Well I better go - Stu's racing is just about to come on the telly - he raced a porsche at Phillip Island a month or so ago (it was on Speed Week ages ago but now Channel 9 are replaying the round)...what a cutie!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend :)

Love,
Mel.
x

Try again....

Wahooo...it worked!

Disneyland, Hong Kong...

Well I don't seem to have any digital pics of my boys so here is a "fun" pic of us at Disneyland - which I soo loved, am such a big kid!!! Will take some pics of Chester & Basil this weekend and post next week!

Have a great weekend everyone - wahoo!!!

Big smiles,
Mel.
x
PS - okay maybe not I can't seem to load any images - grrrr - will try later!

Beagles, Beagles, Beagles....

I soooo did not want to get out of bed this morning for cardio but my gorgeous husband pretty much pushed me out so I really had to get up - I thanked him for it later as now its all done and over with for the day - although still got squash tonight - looking forward to that!!

So all is good up this way. I have taken on board what Andj & Hillary have been saying lately about "visualisation". Instead of getting upset about not being happy with myself I have been pushing those thoughts away and each day visualising how I want to look and to be honest it really has made me feel better - I find I am not dwelling on things which then derail my efforts - instead I am thinking positive and just getting on with - thanks ladies!!!!

Otherwise no real goss from me. We are off to dinner with my father-in-law tomorrow night at Indian, I am determined to pass on the alcohol, I really don't like drinking mid week, it just throws you too much!

There is truck racing at Wanneroo this weekend so no doubt on Sunday Stu will have to go out there for work but hopefully that will only be for a couple of hours as we really need to re-organise our spare rooms - we need to make one of them into a study so Stu can do his motor racing paperwork and calls at night time rather than interrupting him here at work all the time - so looks like I have to get the internet connected at home now, which means we need to get a home phone number again - we just use our mobiles and it ends up soo much cheaper, noooooo line rental fees etc....oh well, we need the internet now so its gotta be done.

I must post a pic of our two beautiful boys (don't be fooled, they are beagles!) - they are such a treat to go home to each night, although they do seem to love Stu more than me as he pays them more attention whilst I do chores, but still they are just adorable and their big floppy ears...awwww.....I'll post a pic shortly - hopefully I have some here at work....actually I went to post some more honeymoon pics, this time at Disneyland, but I couldn't get blogger to work - doh!

Right I shall post that big and then go check out what everyone is up to on their blogs.

Melly.
x

Rainy Thursday....

Yep the weather is pretty ordinary up here at the moment. I just took Stu to the airport, as he is off to Tasmania to help out his boss race at Rally Burnie, and seriously the rain was soo hard, we had to pull over because I couldn't see where I was driving...very scary.

So yeh, back at work now.

My week has been okay. We didn't play squash last night as we wanted to relax at home with our puppies before Stu went away today. And we didn't get up for the gym this morning either...opphs! Oh well, that's life, not going to stress too much over it. I seem to stress myself out over things too much lately....if I get out of here at a reasonable time I will go to the gym this evening otherwise I will ride our wind trainer while I watch telly tonight and do some sit ups...better than nothing! Tomorrow morning I will back up and at em though ;)

Yesterday I went to the doctor as I had had enough of my stomach. The constant bloating and "gas" is driving me bonkers. Now I have had this on and off for the last 5 years and I have been to the doctors soo many times, and they never really help, they just give laxatives, which is not a solution. So I have been noticing that it has really been affecting my mood lately as I constantly "feel" fat and I just get really down and sad. Soo off I trundled to the doctors. I ended up with quite a good doctor actually and he went over some stuff with me and sent me off to have a blood test *ouch - such a whimp*. I go back in a week and a half to find out the results to see if I am lacking in anything or allergic etc....so will be interesting. Otherwise I think he will refer me to a nutritionist as it will then be classed as IBS and we'll have to find out what the trigger foods are. I was speaking to Stu about it and I really have no idea what the trigger is, whatever it is, it must be a few things as I eat pretty healthily and have cut out things but it still seems to be a problem. Anyways I am positive that we will work this out...I just can't wait to wake up one morning and have a flat (well relatively) flat tummy...oh the dream!

Oh the doctor did give me some tablets which I am to take one a day for three weeks - something to do with the acid in the stomach, he said there was no harm in trying them, they may work and if they don't well they don't. I took one yesterday and I did wake up this morning feeling a tad better - so maybe maybe it has something to do with acid...in 3 weeks we'll see....hehe

Okay well I shall go and check out everyone's blogs now and see what the goss is..haha!

Love,
Melly.
x

Friday, Yippeee.....

I totally love weekends I have to say!!

Well this week has been really good - I had my low energy levels for a few days there but I kept soldiering through and I woke up on Thursday feeling really good. I have fitted in all my scheduled trains (bar one, but I went for a walk instead) and today I got up at 6am and did my 45 mins cardio at the gym then at 11am went across (to a different gym) and trained with my PT legs. So no doubt over the weekend I will be sore. Last week we went really hard with legs and I could not walk properly or actually do any cardio for 2 days - seriously that's the sorest I have ever been. This week we concentrated on up the cardio reps instead of going really heavy...it was still hard though!!

Anyways I am very proud of myself, which is good because I can't do a train tomorrow because I have to be social and catch up with some of my friends that I haven't seen for yonks. Then we are going out to Indian (again!) with Stu's Dad for dinner, I love the new restaurant they have up here...hmmm YUM!

But will be back at the gym for some cardio on Sunday so its all good at this stage :)

I was a little disappointed today though because I was sure with all my efforts this week I may have gone down slightly on the scales even a few hundreds of a kilo but alas was exactly the same. I think my body probably evened out after my really really bad weekend last weekend......I can't train with my trainer next week because Stu has to go to Tasmania for Rally Burnie so I am positive that next time I see my trainer I will be under the magical mark......

Okay I have rambled enough - I hope that everyone has a really great weekend and we all keep our minds focussed and on track for our goals!!!

Love,
Melly.
x

Hump Day...

Well its Wednesday and since my last post a week ago things have been pretty good. By the end of last week I felt like I had made a bit of a break through as was feeling better but then of course things got in the way and Friday & Saturday & Sunday actually did not work out as I had hoped.

Anyways I started again on Monday but I have to say, and this is probably why I haven't posted fora week now, is that I am absolutely exhausted, tired. I have no idea why because I am certainly not pushing myself hard because I am tired all the time. I am thinking of going to the health food shop to see what they have for energy - I don't take any supplements or anything (except Vitamin C tablets) mainly because I can't swallow the BIG tablets they have...grrr

So will see what they recommend and see if that helps. Not sure when I will go across the shops yet, with no energy seems to come no motivation as I also seem to be really clumsy too...I have broken soo much stuff in the last week! Doh!

But nevertheless I am pushing on with my morning trains etc...am very sore from Mondays chest & arms, tonight is squash (which was sooo hard last week but I loved it!), tomorrow is back & shoulders and Friday is legs & cardio...so it will be full steam ahead, just have to get over this little hurdle...

A massive congrats to all who competed in Melbourne over the weekend - I think you are all totally amazing!!!

Love,
Mel.
x

Keeping it going...

Well soo far soo good *touch wood* haha...

I have really been enjoying training in the morning. I have been going to bed a bit earlier each night so that I get a really good sleep, as I am such a sleep person. Normally you cannot budge me in the mornings so I am really proud that i have been bounding out of bed each morning this week...I know its only Wednesday but still!!

Its just such a great feeling getting your train in first up and then knowing you have the rest of the day for anything else that you need to do. Its also great eating breakkie at home and coming home that night to no dishes as I get to tidy up before I leave in the morning now...so I just stay at work a bit longer then head home to have a nice relaxing shower and cook etc....rather than rushing around and trying to fit in my trains and then cook etc....

Stu has been loving it too!

Tonight is squash night. Unfortunately today I am absolutely exhausted, not sure why, might still be recovering from my cold a bit...I really don't want to go but Stu is pushes us to and the booking is pre-made so we gotta go. One of the guys has gone home sick from work this arvo so its put everyone under pressure here and I dare say we will just make it to our 6.30pm time slot tonight - I was hoping to cook dinner before we go but doesn't look like I will get to - I don't dare go and say I am leaving now for fear of getting my head bitten off..hehe

Anyways so just wanted to thank everyone for all your great words - I am definately listening and am just plugging away - I am marshmallow free, watching my portion sizes, eating much healthier at lunch times and finally gyming it regularly now - so I reckon I will notice some tone and definition in no time.....oh actually Stu mentioned on Monday that he reckons my butt has got tighter, thank you trainer, I knew I loved my PT sessions for a good reason....every girl loves being told the effort is paying off - no doubt I will be pumped for my PT session tomorrow - bring it on.

I hope everyone is doing well, shall go take a squizz what you are all up to shortly!

Mel.
x