Tuesday: Journal Day

 *Image source unknown*

I was catching up on blogs today and came across a neat post by Danielle over at Sometimes Sweet. She used to be an english teacher, and she was saying how she misses writing - especially the kind which came about from 'Journal Day' - that she used to 'teach' to her children each week....

She posted a prompt.... 

Describe a "first" (first date, first lie, the first time you experienced something, first time in a particular setting, etc). Include as many details as possible to paint a picture.

and here's my answer...

The first time I saw Brad (my bf)I was out with the my new girlfriends in Geelong at a club/pub called 'Lambys'. I'd known these girls for under a week, and some I'd only just met that night. We dressed up in our finest clothes - I wore my favourite denim mini skirt (my very first Sportsgirl buy) and a pink boob tube from supre, and grey metallic disc dangly earrings. I'm sure we had started the night on residence at University drinking goon & orange juice, doing each other's makeup and dancing in someone's room.

We would've been drinking beer (the cheapest option) or goon sunsrises (cheap wine, OJ and red cordial), dancing on the dance floor to the cover band, 'Test Pilot Molly' (who I'd come to know as the band that plays at Lamby's every Sunday night). Being an underground tavern like beer hall, Lamby's has dim lighting, loud music and it would've been stinking hot too (being late February). I was quite intoxicated by the time I met Brad. Julia, one of the girls I'd met that night had a brother who was out at Lamby's that night with Brad.

Julia introduced me to Brad(re: pushed over to dance with him). I can only just remember the conversation we had, and the whispers and quick glances. I remember thinking, "this guy's pretty cute", "looks like a local surfer". Never did I think that while indeed he is a surfer that we would still be together almost 6.5 years later! :)

'Detox' review

A few things I learnt last week while on my mini 'detox'...

+ I love chocolate and no diet/detox will take that away from me ;)

+ I have a new found love of 'Seasame Snaps'

+ Quinoa mixed with a bowl of veges with a little butter, pepper, garlic salt and homemade tomato relish is amazeballs

+ Bread makes me bloated

+ Drinking more water = more energy!

+ Muesli, greek yoghurt and frozen berries - fave (and filling) breaky right now!

+ Smaller servings at dinner time are better than HUGE servings.

+ Healthy snacks during the day

+ Low fat soup (aka Soup Diet Soup) is not that nice...
+ Yay for foods in moderation and smaller serving sizes!

Exercise review:

+ Resting my 'almost' stress fracture is hard (I so wanna go and pound that pavement!).

+ RPM is my new Body Attack

+ My gym program is amazeballs - already upped my weights!

+ A good mix of cardio & weights completed.

+ I need to incorporate yoga/pilates/body balance for stretching.

What I aimed to complete and didn't:

Tuesday - RPM (and cardio and crunches)

Wednesday - Gym circuit x2 (weights), 6.30pm Body Balance

Thursday - 6am RPM

Friday - 6am Body Attack, Gym circuit x3 (weights)

Saturday - 9.30am Body Attack

Sunday - Gym circuit x3 (weights)

What I actually completed: 

Tuesday - Gym - eliptical 5mins, crunches + RPM (589 cals)
Wednesday - Gym program: Circuit x 3 and extra (590 cals)
Thursday - RPM class (650 cals)
Saturday - Gym program: Circuit x 3 (423 cals)
Sunday - RPM class (432 cals) 

Last week was a great week! I feel so much healthier (not as bloated), and strong. Yes I ate chocolate, and licorice and bread on sunday and a glass of wine and a beer - but does that make me a bad person? No I didn't think so. :)

Swap it - Don't stop it.

 The current “Swap it - Don't stop it” campaign by the Australian government is interesting. I really like the idea behind it and got me thinking about my own eating habits.

Recently I’ve been swapping my own ‘not-so-healthy’ food choices for more healthier choices:

Some options included:

Afternoon chocolate/sweet treats from work – swapped for – slice of homemade banana/walnut/date loaf (made with wholemeal flour).

Too many sugary cups of tea – swapped for – green tea

Leftovers for lunch – swapped for – low fat vegetable soup

Evening meals meat& veg – swapped for – veggies and quinoa, salmon and stirfry's

White rice – swapped for – brown rice

And always trying to remember to drink more water

I’ve also been incorporating more fruit (apples, bananas, grapes and mandarins), eating sesame crackers and eliminating as much chocolate, white bread and rice (and other refined grains/wheat) as possible.

What healthy options have you been choosing lately over 'not-so-healthy' options?

A little detox...

This picture above is a picture of the last glass of wine before a week of detoxing... 

While I exercised regularly last week, and ate 'pretty well' - over the last couple of week's with a winery tour, mum's home cooked meals, a bit more take-away food, ice-cream and a few wines and beers, and more bread than usual I've been feeling a little more bloated and 'yuk' than usual.

So tonight after a meal of spaghetti bolagnase and a glass of All Saints 'Durif' and a small bowl of ice-cream, I'm giving up crap food for a week, focusing on exercise and good food.

So for this week I cooked up a batch of low-fat soup (basically tomato, cabbage, celery, carrot, leek and vege stock) to eat for lunch and dinner. I'll be eating a lot of fruit and vegetables and nuts. So while I'm not 'dieting', I'm just refocusing on cleansing and re-adjusting my diet.

As for exercise:

Tuesday - RPM

Wednesday - Gym circuit x2 (weights), 6.30pm Body Balance

Thursday - 6am RPM

Friday - 6am Body Attack, Gym circuit x3 (weights)

Saturday - 9.30am Body Attack

Sunday - Gym circuit x3 (weights)

What sort of detox are you looking to do lately/or have you done?

A lovely long weekend indeed!

How was your Queens Birthday Long Weekend? Mine was fantastic! It was the first long weekend in three years that I had to MYSELF! You see for the past two years I've gone to Brisbane for a craft/scrapbook convention. This year, I had the Long Weekend to myself and I didn't have to work!

I took full advantage and the boy and I took off to the countryside (North East Victoria) to my parents farm.

While there I: Slept in. Indulged in beer & wine, chocolate & cheeses. Spent time with my brother and his girlfriend. Ate roast pork. Caught up with extended family. Spent time with my mum. Helped cook. Went on a 'Winery Walkabout' in the Rutherglen area. Purchased two bottles of wine and a block of Brie. Enjoyed the frosty mornings and cool sunny days. 

Yesterday (Monday) while sleeping in the car on the way back to Melbourne I also took time to think how lovely the weekend had been just relaxing and not worrying about anything (blogging, housework, facebook, twitter, cooking etc). 

On arriving back in Melbourne I caught up on some of those things (cleaning the apartment top to tail was the main one). I also took time to get to the gym and exercise, watch some AFL footy on TV and then go out for a lovely dinner of Thai followed by a Heaven icecream! 

What's your ideal weekend?

She & He: May

 

She & He: May

 

She ran in a 11.3km fun run in her (almost) home town.

She had a fantastic facial at Ella Bache in Geelong thanks to a gift voucher received from last year’s birthday from her boyfriend.

He and She went out for a lovely dinner at Number 8 restaurant for his work break up (one construction project over).

 

She celebrated her 25th birthday on Mothers Day this year with his family over brunch and a surprise cookies & cream cheesecake and candles.

She had an new gym program written at the gym – a circuit style one and found she loved it!

He continued to hand wash his new ute every Sunday.

She also had her body fat percentage calculated and realised she’s lost 3.5% since mid-March.

She went out for cocktails with her friends from Kaisercraft and celebrated till 4am in the morning.

He and She went out for Malaysian with their friends, and also met their gorgeous little puppy, Poppy.

She had her last day at Kaisercraft, and ‘celebrated’ with friends, sweet treats, a little speech and received some lovely presents.

She started her new job at Natio.

He and She learnt to spend more time with each other and to work efficiently together as a team.

She celebrated her birthday in style at Bar Pizza with fabulous friends, food and cider!

He and She went out on several date nights in Melbourne – Thai, Gelato in Lygon street, cold rock and more.

He and she enjoyed going for walks after dinner.

June Goals & May Revision.

May was a terrible Month for completing goals. It was quite a busy month work wise that saw me change jobs and change my living situation. I discovered I had quite a sore ankle which resulted in me only running 28km (rather than the 70km I aimed for). Scrapbooking and crafting wise I only created 1 scrapbook layout and didn’t complete any of my other goals. As for cooking, I cooked the SAME OLD meals, and the boy made our vege garden box (but nothing has been planted as yet).

Let's look at my goals I set, and how I went:

• Create one 'logo to layout' scrapbook layout
• Use my day spa voucher that Brad got my last May for my birthday
• Finish my book I'm currently reading
• Start and complete another book
• Complete 'week in the life' mini album
• Complete Thailand mini album
• Start USA digital album (3-4 pages)
• Make time to catch up with more friends (2-3 different friends)
• Scrapbook six 2011 layouts
• Scrapbook a layout about working at Kaisercraft
• Try 2 new recipes
• Run 70km
• Plant a vegetable garden

So I’m keeping it simple for June. With only three weeks left in the month here are my goals:

• Cut down my Cropper Hopper paper storage to fit in my new Ikea Expedit bookshelf.
• Organise the Garden Shed (build racking & sort out storage).
• Create one 'logo to layout' scrapbook layout.
• Scrapbook one 2011 page, one 2010 page and one 2009 page.
• Scrapbook a layout about work at Kaisercraft.
• Get to one pilates/yoga class.
• Try a Body Pump Class at the gym.
• Decide on a type of quilt to make over winter.
• Send a gift to a very important friend overseas.

Do you set monthly goals for yourself? Do you achieve them or let yourself down??

Exercise and injuries...

+Image via weheartit - source+

At the start of May after I’d completed my last fun run and continued to run after that I noticed a lot of soreness in my right ankle, to the point where I was limping after a Body Attack class and after a run. I had a friend (who is a podiatrist) strap it for me. After a few days of limping, it seemed better – but still tender to touch.  After a getting myotherapy treatment, it seemed a little better. I tried to run but still couldn’t. So I went to see a new physiotherapist and and later an X-ray… The results came in that it’s most likely an ‘almost’ stress fracture. My physio seemed to think I was pushing myself too hard, and increased my running (my distance and effort) TOO quickly. After that I calculated the km’s I’d run over the past few months:

January – Total = 13.1kms (3 runs)

February – Total = 21kms (3 runs) (Increase 60%)

March – Total = 35.02kms (6 runs) (Increase 66%)

April – Total = 50.18kms (6 runs) (Increase 43%)

May (to the 9^th) – Total = 16.73kms (4 runs)

Most fitness experts only recommend an increase of 10% each week. So I was working overtime, and in turn a previous injury (sprained ankle) just couldn’t cope with it.

So after already having four weeks off running all together (except for a trial 1.5km run – when I found my ankle still couldn’t handle it) my physio has recommended a further 3 weeks off high impact exercise (running/body attack/indoor soccer etc) - or until it doesn’t hurt to run anymore. It’s only after NOT exercising for these past few weeks that it’s vital to programme in breaks, and low impact training otherwise injuries do occur. I’ve done a little review of my exercise routine which used to either involve running outdoors (high impact), Body Attack classes (high impact) and strength building gym programs (low impact).

Over the next few weeks I’m restricted to low impact exercise.I currently held a membership for a gym in Geelong – but because of my new job commitments which involve me living in Melbourne three days a week – it seemed ridiculous to pay $70 a month for a gym I’d usemaybe twice a week.

So I visited Fenix Gym in Coburg last Friday – and signed up on the spot! The best thing – I can use this membership in BOTH Geelong and Melbourne! Yipee! And it’s only $10 more expensive than my old gym.

I’ve written a plan of attack for the next four weeks – and will try and stick to it. It mainly involves low impact classes and my gym program which is a circuit involving free weights and core strength exercises. Gradually I’m going to add in cardio on the elliptical trainer, walking/jogging and eventually short runs and Body Attack classes.

This week:

Tuesday – EVENING: Gym program (circuit style) & possibly Yoga at 7.30pm

Wednesday – MORNING: 6am Body Pump

Thursday – MORNING: 6am RPM / EVENING:  Gym program (circuit style) & possibly 7pm pilates

Going forward my aim to is continue to build in low impact exercise such as yoga, pilates and body pump classes along with my usual high impact training to build a better-for-my-body exercise program.

What’s your fitness goals at the moment?

Around here lately...

A new job

Lack of internet (hence the lack of blog posts)

Birthday drinks to celebrate my 25^th birthday with much loved friends.

Commuting to work

Living in the city

An injured ankle

A break from the gym

As mentioned in my post last week I’ve recently started a new job which involves me living in two different places (Melbourne and Geelong). I’m now spending time in both places, adjusting to commuting (getting up at 5.30am two mornings a week), living in the city, sharing an apartment with two males and adjusting to a new lifestyle. Recently I also injured my ankle (more on that in another post) which has affected my ability to run and exercise).

It’s been a super busy couple of weeks, but as time goes on I’ll become more organized to stay on top of my blogging. Stay tuned this week for more blog posts!

Currents V2

Blogging from my iPhone while in melbourne...

Listening: To some boring footy talk back program on the tv (I'm in the living room sitting next to two blokes- I get no choice!)

Eating: I just finished dinner- yummy chicken & cashews with steamed rice.

Drinking: fruit cup cordial

Wearing: leggings and a big warm 'all about eve' jumper.

Feeling: a bit pissed off to be honest. I've got an injured ankle and tonight I went to the physio which resulted in a possible diagnosis of 'stress fracture' and a referral for an xray! :(

Weather: it was such a nice day today but it started off so frosty!

Wanting: to be able to run again! With three

Weeks off already, and possibly another three... :(

Needing: a sleep in.

Loving: fantastic friends

Who I've caught up with recently!!

Missing: scrapbooking and seeing friends from my old work.

Thinking: how good it will be to go to ikea this saturday!!