Lest We Forget - 115.8kg

Anzac day is a very special day. It's a time of reflection and remembrance. I for one am very grateful for the opportunities I have in life today thanks to the work of those in the defence forces past and present. My full respect.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we Forget.

I'm still tracking along well with Lite n Easy. I haven't lost much weight and I seem to be hovering around the same marks unless I accidently miss a meal or a snack or something. So I'm thinking I should maybe drop to the 1200 menu plan. Hopefully I'll get back into some exercise next week though.

I'm back at work now although I am still really upset with the situation I am in there. Nothing has changed a letter sent to me by them is all wrong! And finds that my boss has done nothing wrong. My only saving grace is that my boss has decided to move onto a new club and is gone by this time next week. I am trying my hardest but where I normally join 3 - 5 new members PER DAY, I have only joined 2 new members this week. My work is obviously suffering badly.

I am also covered in eczema at the moment on my thighs and under my boobs etc which is driving me nuts. I'm not 100% over my infections yet and my ears and throat are still playing up. I need more antibiotics but again can't get anywhere near the doctor.

I did a launch party photo shoot Wednesday night which was cool. It was great to catch up with people I haven't seen in awhile. Also met a guy and was talking to him for ages and then when he handed me his card (He's looking to get me to do some work for him) I realised he was a guy Jason had spoken of before and they are friends. Spin out. It's such a small world.

Angie and Jadey

Last night was trivia and we predictably came last again.

I just enjoy the opportunity to have some fun and be away from work. It's rare.

Sitting back catching up on Home and Away today and they have done some shooting in the spot where I want to get married. I need to work on Jase though. He needs to a) propose and b) realise that we aren't having a bbq wedding (Yes I am a princess)

My room is coming along there is something on the set of drawers I have that keeps reacting with the paint and it bleeds through as pink spots. I thought we finally had it under control and then when we put the clear coat on it has come back through. I have no idea what to do wsith it now so I am just thankful that it is coming through pink (As we have pink patches on it for a shabby look) and that I normally have some silk scarf type things thrown over the drawers. So you probably aren't going to see it anyway.

I'm sort of getting sick of having my wardrobe on the floor though. I can't find anything so I am looking forward to having my room back. Although I would love to take over my brothers old room permanently but now my shabby chic furniture is not going to fit with his navy suede walls. And I can't convince Mum they should be painted. Ah well back to my shoebox :-) haha.

I don't have that much else to say so I hope you all have an amazing long weekend. I'm off to read some of your blogs.

Random Thoughts

After a few days on Lite n Easy I'm fairly happy. I felt starving the first day and I have had my hunger patches and cravings. I have noticed that they aren't as frequent as normal and that is probably because I constantly know where my food is from and I am eating quite regularly.

The food is quite nice. The frozen meals actually have quite alot of flavour in them. I was very suprised and so were my tastebuds. Tonight I ate Braised Lambshanks and Vegies. Divine! Almost as good and as tender as you would get in any restaurant. And alot better than my last homecooked effort.

I have had a couple of meetings with work and I'm not entirely happy with the outcome but at the moment I am going to swallow and pick my head up and head back in. I hope there are some changes made. I'll be keeping a journal and there are eyes on them now.

I have also been offered feedback on my last interview AND offered another interview for the assistant managers position. I have hopeless interview skills if anyone can help me there. I can seem to sell anything BUT myself.

I am also very aware of the fact that they may have offered me an interview to placate me with no intention of offering me a position regardless. It's all very nerve wracking so all prayers and fingers crossed are very much welcome.

I have the rest of the weekend off so we are trying to figure out what to do with that as a family since it's so rare for all of us to be free at once. I hope everyone here has a great weekend.

Weigh In 1

Stepped on the scales this morning for my first weigh in, to a suprise. They showed 116.3kg. I haven't weighed in in so long! My last recorded weight was 117+ so I expected with my diet of chips and chocolate that it would be in the 120's. Sometimes life can suprise us.



Never did photos and measurements last night because I have been stressed out about a few things. Maybe why I've lost weight and not gained it. But I need to find the charger for my camera battery and I'll get the rest done and post them in this starting post too.



(I think I want to keep photos out of it right now but measurements sure)

It's arrived

My Lite n Easy arrived this morning just before lunch time. Yay!
I'll do some photos and measurements tonight and weigh in tomorrow morning before brekky and get it all under way.

Back into a program of healthy living. Something I have been missing for awhile. I have it all organised in the fridge and freezer in day order so I just can't go wrong. WELL... As long as I don't get into the chocolate stash. (If you were thinking about telling me to throw it out save your keystrokes. You are probably right but it's not happening.)

I'm having a few issues at the moment at work but I am in the process of getting that all sorted out so I can go back to being happy like I was. Hopefully it will come with a shift in work life balance further towards the life side of things.

Mum has freshly painted my bedroom and nice white. I need to obtain some sliding doors for my wardrobe because the room is too small for opening doors. Mum is currently painting my drawers to match in too. My room is kind of shabby chic. White and Pink. Very girlly. Geez I can be out getting rubber all over me at a car event and be a massive tomboy. Then flip to a girlly girl later on.

Not much else is happening in my life so I will leave off here. I hope everyone is well.

The Things I Do...

The things I do in the middle of the night. I mean seriously! I decided that I should give this a go. I know Monnie and her New Hubby Rob have had tremendous success using Lite n Easy. One of the girls at work has done well on it. Another has just started and is thrilled with just how easy it all actually is and how nice the food is.

It will take me a little while to figure out how to get my meals in order if I'm going to go back to a healthy lifestyle. These guys will deliver on Tuesday. I was sitting here reading the latest Womens Health and Fitness. Ran up to the Living Room. Grabbed my laptop logged on and selected a few meals and away we go.

Quite seriously now. With meals that look like this Chicken Prawn Pad Thai. Who could resist? This is food porn. (I wonder if it actually looks like this? I wonder if there's as many prawns?)

Everyone knows I am chronically lazy. If I can get my food sorted we are off to a good start. Its always been my major hurdle. I've gone for the 1500cal program which was suggested for someone over 96kg with a low activity level. That gives me room to go up one if I need more and room to go down one when I get to a lower point if I continue. At the moment I have it on an on call basis so it's a once off delivery. I can always order more next week if I want to keep it going. It costs no more and no less to do it this way.

I'm actually really nervous about what I've just done. I have chocolate and ice cream in this house. Don't be expecting anything from me until Wednesday. I fully don't expect a thing to change until then with anything. This is just to help me get restarted.

Now I am sitting here at 2 in the morning freaking out because I was listening to my iPod (through my funky sounddock) and blogging and reading and and and....... And the power has gone off. Happy my laptop has it's own power capabilities but not so happy that the modem and router don't.

Still freaking out! Geez I would be so bad living on my own. I have already been on the phone to the other half saying "Hi How are you? Call the Police if we get disconnected or something" And I have a snoring Rottweiler beside me. Seriously people. My parents are at the other end of the house. That's way too far away in an emergency. LMAO

Ok Back to the topic at hand. I think Wednesday morning is going to bring photos, measurements and weight stats. And we are going to see progress from here! $130 is pretty good value when you think of all the shopping, wasted food and preparation I just dodged. Maybe I should buy for Mum and Dad too. Although I don't think I have $390 to spend on food per week. I wonder if they do a family pack.

I hope you are all well. I am going to grab a dressing gown and go out in the rain and double check it's not just me tripping the power to the house (With laptop still shining I have no idea if the street lights are on outside and the one opposite this window was broken the other day) For this I will wake my trusty Rottweiler ("Stormy get up boofhead") .

If I disappear I love ya's all. (Not that anyone will know cause I can't save or publish this post)

xoxoxoxoxox

2:20am And I return. It's a good thing cause it's not just out house. It's a bad thing cause I was really planning on going to sleep before this happened and now my mind is wracked with all sorts of stupid things.

Storm came with me to check what was going on. Good dog. Now she's sound asleep again and doesn't care. The sky is an eeiry red above the houses. Eeiry. And for a quiet estate there sure is a hell of alot of traffic going to and fro at this time of morning.

I wonder if this is my penalty for not partaking in earth hour (I blame simmo for getting married during earth hour :p) Or perhaps residual from the Storms last week (Although our power stayed on through the whole thing and it really isn't raining heavily outside)

I wonder how much I can babble? I seem to be really darn good at it. I can sit here and type crap for hours. Keeping myself amused. Would love to call the power company but I don't know who they are or what their number is. You can't really have a better time for the power to go out than 2am really.

The power goes out here very rarely. We get the occassional flicker where you have to reset the clocks but anything beyond a couple of seconds is a definite rare occurence. I could probably count the times on my fingers and we have lived here for near on 20 years. Oh crap! It is 20 years in August.

Should we throw the house a party? Is it sad that I remember dates when we moved into the house and I was 7 years old? I'm actually sitting in my original room at the moment. The one I shared with my brother until I was probably about 10 or so. We had bunk beds against the window and I had the top although it was always a fight. I remember being in here one christmas and waking up as Mum and Dad were trying to stealthily place new bikes in our room (Ok I must have been older than 10) Then they changed their minds and I stayed quiet in the dark.

Since then I moved out of this room and into the spare room which is now for guests only. It always contained antique furniture and is my Mum's pride and joy. Sad enough to say it's covered in plastic sheets when no one is using it. But that's a dust protector thing I think not a freaky plastic couch type thing.

Then there's my room. Which is the absolute smallest of them all. (Yay for me dumbarse I chose it) I can only fit a single bed in there. Furniture can only go one way. It used to be the study and I remember sitting up until this time of night quite frequently on the commodore 64 playing cops n robbers which was my favourite game.

We've pulled everything out at the moment to paint. Mum is in the process of deciding if it needs another coat or if one will do and then I'll go back in there. I'd like to check out some sliding doors for my wardrobe too because the current ones I have are annoying! There's no realy room to open them. In the meantime I'm in Josh's old room which is now full of boxes and other such stuff that should be in storage.

I don't think it's going to be long before this house is ready for the marketplace. The time is soon coming where I will say goodbye to my life here in Melbourne and move on permanently to my new life in Sydney. It's freaky I probably wont be here for my house's 20th birthday anyway.

I have had a freakout a couple of times in the last few days about turning 30. I was the girl who wanted to be married with 3 kids and live in my own home with a few investment properties by the time I turned 21. Life doesn't always seem to work the way you think you have it planned. I believe we all end up where we are meant to be though. Thank The LORD I never actually married my first fiance. I wouldn't have met Jason otherwise.

Anyway I have rambled enough now. The power doesn't seem to be coming back on anytime soon and I have suitably discussed enought topics with my fingers that I can get some sleep. (This can be the problem when you sleep half the day) Thanks. If you made it this far, I hope you don't require counselling.

(BTW The power never came back until late this morning)

Dave Hughes is Cranky!

Yesterday I rested up all day in preparation for something I had been waiting to do for a year! Go and see Dave Hughes Live!

Last year a few bloggers all got together to see X Rated Muppets which was awesome but Hughsey had sold out. Remembering the risks of that happening again as soon as tickets went onsale I sent out a text message and booked us all in.

Unfortunately I wasn't 100% on the night but I had a good time anyway. It was so great to catch up with Ails, Linda, Beck and Scott. All looked fabulous! And Hughsey was great! I wasn't disappointed in a single aspect of his show. It was only 70 minutes (so ok I was disappointed it wasn't longer) but after the show he came out and had photos with us and everything which was awesome of him.

After the show everyone seemed to have differing agendas. I was hoping we'd all grab some dinner but some had dinner already others weren't hungry some were heading out to other plans. Maybe next time I should be more organised. But it was briliiant all the same to catch up.

I ended up ducking around the corner to the Steamed Bun place and had some buns on the way home in the car. Then I was all tucked up in bed before it was too late. I couldn't sleep though because my room got painted yesterday. I was sleeping in the spare room but it was way too close to the paint.

I'd love to see some more of the comedy shows. If only time allowed.

You know I noticed something about me last night. When we were getting photos with Hughsey I was determined not to stand in front of the camera. So I stood behind them when really I could have stood beside Beckie and been normal. Not me though. I don't want to look fat. I mean shit I am fat. If I don't want to look fat in photos perhaps I should Lose Weight! What a novel concept. I'll work on how to do that right after this chocolate bar.

Idiot.

Oh well. Maybe one day I'll get motivated to do something and make up my mind what. I'm thinking lite n easy. Maybe. I'm making no promises and no plans at this stage. Slack? Yes. Honest? Yes.

I'm back at work on Monday but then I also have to see a surgeon Monday afternoon so I don't know how I'm going to juggle it all. Having a few problems there at the moment with unreasonable expectations. I'm guessing one will no doubt be that I should be at work on Monday and cancel my surgeons appointment. (Not going to happen) Wish me Luck!

Home Sick

I've been slowly trawlling through all of your blogs over the last few days with some of the extra time on my hands. I have a throat infection which means I can't talk so the computer has been brilliant for some communication.

I haven't commented on everyone's blogs but rest assured I have been there. (Or I will have been by the end of tonight)

I've either been on my lappy, been watching tv or sleeping since Friday. I just have absolutely no energy.

I love my laptop! Best present I've had in ages.

I miss catching up with you all like we used to. I can not wait until next week when a few of us are getting together to go see Hughsey at the comedy festival. It's so exciting. I haven't had a proper social night in donkeys! I hope I'm back to 100% by then so I can fully enjoy the evening.

I have an appointment with a new surgeon next week too so I am hoping that I get some good news or at least get myself put onto the waiting list. At the moment my progress is terrible. My private health insurance will kick in before I get to see outpatients and get onto the waiting list. Anyone up for a fundraiser so I can go private? LMAO

In the last couple of weeks I've seen Jase a couple of times. He arrived along with another mate of ours Nick on Good Friday for the Easternats. It's an annual event for us (suprise suprise at easter?) It is one of the first places we have shown our new business name. Previously known as Drift King Photos we have rebranded now to Motor Sport Fotos. (Photo below is from last year)

It was a bit of a different event this year too as normally it's run over 3 days and this time it was just Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately by Monday Jase & Nick were on their way back home and I was back at work (yes on Easter Monday). We are all hoping it goes back to the 3 day format next year. After all possibilities are that we will all be travelling from Sydney for it (Mum and Dad included).

But on Friday we were both on a plane (seperate planes) to meet up in Perth for Simmo and Rob's Wedding. He arrived earlier than me and was waiting for me in the airport lounge with a huge hug and kiss.

The toilets at the bagage collection area had been closed and I had to go back into the security area to use the loo. Why is it only when you are in a hurry that they want to pull you aside for testing? I got pulled across for the explosives test while I danced and crossed my legs. So embarressing.

We were down in Mandurah and stayed at the Lovely Ocean Marina Chalets. The owner was so lovely and always keen for a chat. We basically rested up on Friday and prepared for the wedding. Jason was doing the video for the wedding and we had lost the tripod mount so we went in search of one of those. And I was doing some supplementary photographs.

It is such a beautiful place! Perth and Mandurah both. It's so green as everyone seems to have access to bore water. Only issue with that being that they are frequently not drilling down far enough and the water is staining everything a rust colour. Everything! And it does make it look horrible. Other than that I was so impressed that it was so clean. The roads are excellent. The water is the most amazingly bright spectrum of blues and greens. Like something out of paradise. And the people so polite and friendly and so Okker Australian! It's unbelieveable but definitely the perfect place to take someone from overseas to experience Oz.

I will definitely try and make an effort to visit more often.

The wedding on Saturday was out at Fairbridge Village which is a historical village in Pinjarra. It was so hot I was dying in the church so I really felt so much for Simmo and Rob and the boys as I had my own pool running down my back. Luckily the bridesmaids were in a sleeveless knee length dress so they would have been more comfortable.

After the wedding we headed out to the river in Pinjarra and I hung around for a bit to talk to the boys about their cars before deciding to follow the party down to the river for photos. As I was putting my camera together I was unlucky enough to watch what seemed to be a rather sizeable drug deal happen within 5 metres of me. I kept my head down and kept walking until I heard the car drive off, then I freaked out and did a u turn because I couldn't see the group anymore and went back to the boys and their cars to ask if they'd seen that. So dodgy I was quite scared and pretty glad that a) They left b) I didn't live locally and c) I was using a hire car.

The reception followed at Redcliffe Barn. (At least I think that's what it was called) It was a stunning location. Half undercover half outdoors with a bar and a really cute barman....... Oops I mean a temporary dancefloor and DJ.

The weather was perfect, it didn't get too cold at night and the food was also great.

We finished off with some photos down at the marina and got home at like 1:30am (3:30am East Coast Time) so as you can imagine we both fell into bed.

Sunday we had brekky at one of the local cafes near the boardwalk and then caught up with the Bride and Groom. We all headed out to Simmo's folks place for a bbq before Jase and I left to head into Perth for a catch up with some of my Family. My Uncle, Aunty and Cousin. I see my uncle maybe once a year but have only met my cousin and aunty 3 times in my life so it was so lovely to be out having dinner with them. They are such lovely people and they got to meet Jase as well which was awesome.

We followed up with something I remember from my last visit to perth when I was 14. Gelare ice cream. OMG as yummy as I remember. Their Choc Chip Cookie Dough is like no other.

Monday I was sad to pack up and head home. It did help that the weather had turned stormy though. Although from the Bride and Grooms apartment by the beach watching the storm over the water was so cool. I was happily thinking it was all cool until I realised I had to fly in it!

I'm not a fan of flying in rain let alone stormy conditions and I had every right to be fearful this time.

On take off we struck the worst turbulence I have ever experienced and it went on for the whole ascent. 25 minutes worth of what felt like the plan falling out of the air bucking from side to side and doing all sorts of weird things. I was looking for the chuck bag but my seat didn't have one which put me in more panic.

People were screaming and crying and everything. It was horrible.

But thankfully we arrived safe and sound in Melbourne none the worse for wear.

Back at work this week and I'm off again sick this time. Back to the Doctor tomorrow cause it's not getting much better.

I hope everyone is well!