I've been having a really bizarre week. My stress levels have climbed and I have no idea why. I constantly have this anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach but there is no reason for it. Well, it may have something to do with my imminent move and other such things :) But still! There isn't anything in particular that should be stressing about and it is pissing me off now. Especially this morning! I really wanted to have a sleep in and today was the perfect day for it! But trust me to wake up at 6:30 bloody am! Once I'm up my brain immediately fills with heaps of useless stuff for me to worry about. Great fun I tell you!

This week was fantastic for me exercise and eating wise. I managed to go to all 3 spinning classes that I had aimed to get to and I ate really well. But this weekend was another story altogether. I kind of lost the plot yesterday and ended up gorging myself on rubbish. Why do I do this to myself?

Today I had planned on going for a nice long walk to clear my head but as soon as I got outside I was hit by the icy cold wind and decided against the walk idea. I hate windy days, especially cold ones. So instead I got some healthy groceries for the upcoming week, came home and have sat in front of the TV watching rubbish movies all day! (taking full advantage of the heating in my apartment - before I have to move to my new place which is really old and has no heating.) How boring is that! But sometimes I think we need days like this :) Best of all, I haven't eaten any rubbish and am planning on cooking a healthy, hearty dinner. I hardly ever cook these days so it is going to be a real treat!

Sorry for the rather uninspiring post but hey, it's better than nothing ;)

I hope you all have a great week!

If ever there was an award for the oddest injuries, I think that it definately should go to me. I don't quite know how I do it or why but it just happens... It isn't fun folks!

First it was my nose, but not just my nose, I managed to break the bone that is inside my nose... The one that no one even knows exists and is apparently very hard to break!!! For those who don't remember, I broke my nose by having a gigantic gym mat blow into my face by an extremely strong gust of wind while photographing a lady pretending to jump out of a plane. - don't ask...

But noooo thats not all folks...

This morning I woke up just like I do every morning. I showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, went to work... just like I do every morning! However at around 10am the left side of my jaw started throbbing, I tried to ignore it but it just got worse. So I took two pain killers. This didn't help as the pain got worse and worse. Eventually I deduced that it must be tooth ache. I have never exprienced real tooth ache so I just assumed that that's what it must be. After all, I (ashamedly) have not paid a visit to a dentist in a good few years and i'm sure that my teeth are in need of some dentistry. Not to mention that my mouth was in agony.

So I phoned a dentist to see if they could see me urgently - they couldn't. I tried four other dentists and eventually I managed to find one that was willing to see me today!!! I can't believe how hard it is to find a dentist in an emergency!!! What happens if all my teeth decided to fall out at once? Or if a giant infestation of germs invaded my gums? You'd think they would have a few appointments available for urgent cases? But thankfully I did, eventually find one!

Sooo then I thought, hey! I now have medical insurance (that I pay $150AUD for every month)! Being a non resident of Australia, I have to pay through the roof for something that residents get for free, which I guess is fair enough. But the only issue I have with that is that I have a two month waiting period before I get to go to a doctor, dentist etc after initially taking out the insurance. BUT I registered for the insurance in March sooo thats two months.... or so I thought.... noooo my two month waiting period is up on Monday!!! Just my luck to need it 3 days before I can use it. 

Anyway for the amount of pain I was in I didn't care how much it would cost. 

I had to wait until 3pm before I could see the dentist and then I had to wait a further 40 minutes before she actually saw me. She then proceeded to prod and poke and came to the conclusion that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth (sheer miracle) but that I have somehow managed to injure my jaw quite badly. She recons its from grinding my jaw/teeth (which I have no knowledge of doing), or from stress... She sent me off with a bill for $45 and instructions to rest my jaw and take more anti inflamatories and pain killers.

How does one rest one's jaw??? It hurts when I talk, eat, yawn and even when I smile!!!!

So now I am at home instead of being out for dinner which is where I am supposed to be, feeling very sorry for myself.

At least I didn't have to have a root canal!

I had the most fantastic weekend in Sydney. As per usual it went way too fast but we managed to do quite a bit in the two days that I was there.

Best of all is that I got my quota of much needed cuddles from my nephew :) He seemed to take a liking to me straight away and we got on like a house on fire! I often worry that with him not actually “knowing” me that he won’t want to come near me, or that he’d be a bit weary of me. But luckily so far he and I get on just fine. I can so see myself rapidly becoming the spoiling (get away with murder) aunty *grin*

On Saturday morning we headed off to Berkinhead point to do a bit of shopping. It is a stunning factory outlet centre in Sydney. However neither my sister or I managed to find anything (what is with these fashions at the moment?) But Aaron did just fine! :)

Before going on our shopping expedition, my sister and I decided to see what I would look like with straight hair. I have always been a bit worried about straightening my hair as it is very thin and If a brush even comes near it, it goes instantly frizzy! However I didn’t look bad at all. But having straight hair made me see just how badly in need of a cut it was!

So after our unsuccessful shop at the outlet store, we went to another shopping centre where I bravely had my hair chopped off :) I feel so much better and healthier! And it is so easy and fast to wash my hair now!!! The only problem is that it is not quite short enough to leave loose at gym, but it is much too short to tie up! The hairdresser got kind of happy with her layering. I’m sure I’ll find a way to tame it for gym…

On Sunday my sister, a friend of ours and I did the 8km Mothers Day Classic walk. It was so much fun and the atmosphere was incredible! We managed to do it in just over an hour. It was quite funny because we started pretty much at the same time as the 8km runners and just before we even got to the 2km mark we were lapped by the runners. I WISH I could run like that!!! How the hell do they do it?
 
Check out my awesome number! :) I should have taken a lotto ticket!

Week one of the 7 week challenge has gone well. I haven’t lost any weight though :( But I am not giving up, just carrying on and doing my best. I think my body is still in party mode and hasn’t quite grasped the fact that it should be losing weight again. This week I know will be better. I am now limiting myself to one cup of coffee a day. I will be drinking herbal tea and heaps of water instead. I was getting into the coffee thing, its hard not to in Melbourne. But I have to wonder just how skinny a skinny cappuccino is…

I’m off to Sydney this evening to visit my sister and to hopefully get LOTS of much needed cuddles from my nephew. I can’t wait! Still have a whole day of work to get through but I’m sure it will go fast!

My sister and I are doing an 8km walk on Sunday, I can’t wait for that J I have also been informed by my sis that we are going to be going to gym VERY early tomorrow morning… noooo sleep for me!

I have had a fantastic week with the whole challenge thing. I did have a minor slip up of sorts last night when I went out for dinner BUT I can safely blame it on TOM (yeah right) – You see, there was this specials board next to me and it kept shouting at random intervals “EAT THE STICKY DATE PUDDING!!!” – I shit you not!!! It kept calling to me all evening so I HAD to make it happy and have that damned deliciously bad sticky date pudding!!!! – yip I just had to…

I did walk home though J - it was a very fast walk! I think maybe I burned off one tenth of a mouth full of pudding but it was all worth it! I am human after all!

I can proudly say that I turned down a glass of wine J Just think of what I would have eaten had I had some alcohol in me too!!!! Hehe

All in all I am happy with myself this week and I can’t wait to see what the scales say on Monday.

Wishing you all a happy weekend! And for those celebrating mothers day on Sunday, happy mothers day!

I went to another spinning class last night after work. I really do love spinning! However this class was different. I might actually have to invest in a gas mask if I am to continue with it. (Or if the offending lady happens to come to the next class) I have honestly never come across a person who smelt so bad!!!! I know its gym and people sweat but WOW!!! This woman was putrid! She would choose to sit on the bike next to mine too!!! Every time we had to change position on the bike I had to fight back the urge to throw up. At one point I nearly fell off my bike! Honestly! It was THAT bad!

I thought about moving to the other side of the room but I didn’t want people to think I was odd. I also thought about asking the instructor to pull her aside and spray her down with disinfectant or another, stronger cleaning product. But alas, I did none of these things. I just carried on with the class as best I could without breathing. You should try it some time. It really gets the heart rate up even more!

It brings tears to my eyes just to think about it again…

Perhaps that is why I battled to sleep again last night!

Why do we need sleep? My body/mind seems to think that I don’t. I think it’s on sleep strike. I thought I was over this insomnia thing because on Sunday night I honestly had one of the best nights ever!!! I basically went to bed at 9 (I was exhausted), put my head on the pillow and didn’t surface again until 6am!!!!  I don’t remember the last time I had a night like that but it was obviously not to be repeated last night.

Maybe I should speak to the smelly lady and get her to bottle some of her stench… That should knock me out ;) GROSS!!!!!!!!!

I really love this Jazz festival that is happening in the city at the moment. There is nothing better than wondering down to the river at lunch time and sitting on the bank listening to an Afro Timba band from Cuba. *happy sigh* I think I might have to do it again today. I did video some of it on my phone but for some reason I can’t get the video off my phone so until I figure that out you will have to make do with my attempts at describing the experience. Or you can just go to the website ;)

Now I need coffee!!!!!

_______________later_________________

Today, 06 May 2007, happens to be “International No Diet Day”. Great concept, especially when you happen to wander down to Federation Square on an impromptu visit and are given a free (and might I add, extremely yummy) cup cake!

Today also happens to be the day that I woke up this morning determined more than ever to get back on track with my weight loss…

Isn’t the world a cruel cruel place!!!!

I must add that I feel absolutely no guilt whatsoever for eating that cup cake. The amount of walking I did today more than makes up for it!

Take THAT world!!!

I love days like this. When I wake up in the morning without any proper plans for the day ahead and I end up having a fun filled and memorable one!

I had wanted to have a day all to myself but circumstances had me not wanting to be by myself anymore and I met up with a friend instead. We decided to check out the photographic exhibition but I just couldn’t justify spending $20 a ticket to wander around looking at camera’s. They did have a bit of a photograph exhibit outside so at least it wasn’t a complete waste.

We then made our way through the city to fed Square where, as part of the Melbourne Jazz festival, they had a free stage set up and a band that my friend wanted to see were playing at 2pm. We sat around and watched the people for a while, got some lunch and then had an hour of funk/fusion and fun! Pablo Discobar is a band that I will certainly go and hear again. They sound amazing and really knew how to entertain the crowd!

It was so nice to just sit in the autumn sun, watch all the people who were watching the band. Children played whilst their parents sat and listened to the music. There was even a little old man who got up and entertained us all with some rather surprisingly energetic moves!

People watching has got to be one of my favourite past times ever.

I am now going to enjoy the end the day by sitting on the balcony, watching the sun setting and reading a good book with a nice cup of tea!

*happy sigh*

Before I start, let me assure you that

a) No, it isn’t snowing outside,

b) The world isn’t ending today

d) I am in fact myself, not a strange alien impostor.

Yes, you are indeed seeing two posts in two consecutive days!!! J

Sleep has never been something that comes easily to me but lately it has really been giving me a hard time. I have been plagued by the sleep deprivation demon! (or something along those lines.)

All I ask is to be able to climb into bed at night, close my eyes and fall asleep. But the universe has other plans for me. I think someone up there is having themselves a really fun time making up ways for me to not sleep. It’s not funny anymore!!!! *shakes fist in anger*

Take Tuesday night for example. I worked till about 10:30 on some freelance stuff and then climbed into bed. (I was REALLY tired) I read my book for a while (which I do every night) it normally helps me to clear my head from the stuff that’s happened during the day and it’s my way of telling my brain that its time for bed. Now, I had been sitting in the lounge working for most of the night with the balcony door wide open. The temperature was very comfortable and I didn’t feel the least bit cold. However! No sooner did I climb into bed (wearing my summer pyjamas of course) that I started feeling extremely cold. I curled myself into a tiny ball, covered myself from head to food with the duvet (doona for the Aussies) but I just seemed to feel colder! So in the end, after much fighting between my body and my mind, I succumbed and climbed out of bed, changed into my winter pj’s and that was that… kind of.

Then last night the same bloody thing happened!!! It was about 13 Degrees Centigrade!!! (About 55 F I think) which really is NOT cold!!! This time I wore my winter pyjama pants and a summer t-shirt but my nose-o-meter or toe-o-meter started to go apeshit and I just couldn’t stop shivering!

WTF???

Its not even cold yet!!!!!! So why am I being denied sleep from my body thinking its cold? I think my body temperature gage must be having major technical issues. Perhaps I should call in an expert! Anybody know a good body temperature / sleep-o-meter expert? Anybody have a cure for this seemingly self induced insomnia?  

Wanna know the worst part?

The worst part is that at around 2:15am I woke up feeling incredibly hot! Not just hot, but boiling hot! I ended up kicking off all my blankets! Seriously! How bizarre is that!

I am not sick so the chance of me having a temperature is nil.

*weep*

I did buy myself a herbal sleep spray thingy a few weeks ago but all it seems to do is give me bizarre dreams and I end up waking up more tired than I was before I went to sleep. It tastes gross too!

Perhaps tonight will be the night that I find sleep without the usual issues.

Oooh I also discovered something very interesting and totally mind blowing today! My shoes are NOT water proof! Yip, I knew that would blow your mind! But the rain is very welcoming and I am not complaining J

We've reached the hump in the week but somehow it feels like it should be Friday. Granted, I did spent a good few hours on the computer till rather late last night, which could explain my weariness.

I went to my very first Aussie spinning class on Monday night. I had forgotten how much I love to spin! The feeling of accomplishment afterwards is so worth the hard work. To add to it, I had so much energy the whole of yesterday too! I was going to try out the Yoga class last night but at the last minute some freelance work came up and seeing as it all goes towards my "visit Sydney" fund, who am I to turn it down? Hence the tiredness ;)

Its all for a good cause!!!!

Speaking of which! I have booked another two trips to Sydney to visit my most beautiful nephew who happens to be growing faster than a freshly kneaded ball of dough! (bad metaphor?) Hey, it works for me.

My next trip is on the mothers day weekend (next weekend) and my sister has signed us up for the Mother's Day (Breast Cancer) walk. Its an 8km route J I can't wait!!! I love these organised events, they tend to motivate me so much and I really push myself.

I am trying to get into a new routine. As much as I am enjoying being the social bunny over here, my body and mind are starting to suffer a bit. No, I'm not going mad, just tired! So, my plan is to dedicate two evenings a week to gymming. I am going to try my best not to make plans on those nights and make sure that I go to the gym straight after work. I know that two days a week is far from ideal but it's a good start and I am hoping it will lead to more gymming sessions. It would really help if my gym was open on weekends, but being a city gym, it is only open during the week to accommodate the working world. There are other gyms in the city but they are a real schlep to get to and only open at 11am on Sundays! That really irritates me because it means that I basically have to dedicate the majority of my Sunday to going to gym and when one has so few full weekends, one likes to make the most of every little bit of free time one has!

Can you believe that I have now been in Australia for 3 months!!! In fact, it is just over three months and my "probation" period at work is over too! I can't believe how fast time has flown. It is already almost mid year!!! I will be moving into my new place at the end of June which is still a fair while away but I am starting to worry about how on earth I am going to furnish the place. I pretty much need everything!!! I think I should start scouring the 2^nd hand stores for great deals J I did buy myself a present on the weekend. I found that I was missing my electric wok so much so I got a new one J Lucky for me I still had some birthday money left over *grin* I haven't used it yet but it is set to go on its maiden voyage some time next week. Any good wok type recipes are most welcome!!

I have also decided to by myself a scale. As much as it has been great not watching the numbers (probably climb) over the past three months, I feel that I need to start being in control again. I will let you know how all that goes as soon as I can.

So that's my life in a nut shell! I may or may not have left out some juicy bits but I'll fill you in when the time comes. ;)