Ouch, what's that - oh it's a tag from Wanna!

Aim of the game is a one word response - so here goes 1. Where is your cellphone? Work briefcase 2. Relationship? "Bloss"oming (get it?) 3. Your Hair? Shortblonde 4. Work? TrainingAdviser 5. Your Sister? Scotland 6. Your Favourite Thing? Comfybed 7. Your dream last night? Didn't 8. Your Favourite Drink? NZSauvignonBlanc 9. Your Dream Car? Rav4 (what I've got) 10. The room you are in? Study 11. Your Shoes? Flatties 12. Your Fears? None (call me Superwoman) 13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Stillhavingfun 14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Me (Bloss was working) 15. What are you not good at? Inaction 16. Muffin? Pass 17. Wish list item? Longevity (I have a fortunate life) 18. Where you grew up? Drymen (Scotland) 19. The last thing you ate? Ricecracker 20. What are you wearing? Gymgear 21. What are you not wearing? Nosebag 22. Your pet? Dog (Zanna) 23. Your computer? Selfextension 24. Your life? Fantastic 25. Your mood? Excited (Son, DIL,Grandsons coming for tea) 26. Missing? No2Son (in London) 27. What are you thinking about? NextHoliday 28. Your Car? Rav4 29. Your kitchen? Mocha 30. Your summer? Sunny 31. Your favourite colour? Blue 32. Last time you laughed? Today 33. Last time you cried? Weekend (watching Joc's clip of Paul Potts) 34. School? Meanstoanend 35. Love? Living So now who am I going to tag - have to figure out who hasn't done it yet - OK Joc, Airlie and Maria - can you rise to the challenge?

Tripped and stumbled!

I did some really good things this week, but I also did some not so good things - and since the bad outnumbered the good, I'm back up 500g. I had another one of those talks with myself last night and I think I've got the right mindset for the week going forward. Mind you I thought I had that last Monday - and I did till about Wednesday. However today starts another week so I'm going to make it one that counts.

What did I do well?
Steps - I managed over 74,000 for the week - that's a daily average of about 10,600
C25K - I finished Week 6 and then completed Week 7 - that's three days of running for 25 mins. Today I started Week 8 and ran for 29mins this morning.
Walk - I walked only one day this week as my other scheduled walking day was very wet so I gave it a miss.
Water - overall not too bad - not as much as I'd like but certainly better than the previous couple of weeks

What didn't I do well
Alcohol - I know that alcohol stuffs up my fluid balance, but I had all these reasons why I deserved a wine or two for five nights out seven this week. We had some major process issues at work at the end of last week and this meant big, tiring days for both Bloss and I. So of course we'd get home and open a bottle of wine and just sit and relax and wind down - not really a valid excuse - I could wind down with a cup of tea!!
Tracking - started off well then got a bit busy and it sort of went by the wayside.
Points - pretty good up to and including the jewellery party, but Friday was the nightmare day at work and it was all hands on deck and lunches were provided - pizza!! Also had biscuits, cheese and dips for the jewellery party and they've been calling me from the fridge!!

So there you have it! Enough ...... onwards and downwards!!


Now we have a picture of what I got at the jewellery party - the butterfly brooch was my hostess gift, then I got the two necklaces at half price and the earrings for free. We had a great time - ended up with a real mish mash of people there - from age 80 down to about 23, colleagues from work, neighbours and friends. But it was one of those gatherings where everybody just clicked and we had some huge laughs and lots of fun. I've had several people tell me since, how much they enjoyed themselves.


We've had unusually cold weather and unseasonal rain this past week - not that I'm complaining - always delighted to see rain - coming from Scotland I never thought I'd ever feel like that! Anyway the other morning was really cold for us (about 7 degrees C) but we had this magnificent red sky - I took this picture from our deck - aren't the colours and shapes wonderful?

This last one was me playing with my new digital camera - Bloss has the previous one now. I was trying to work out how to take self portraits and generally mucking around to see what I had to sit it on to get the framing right. This is one of my better efforts.

Haven't had time to do much commenting this week but have been reading whenever I get the chance. Hope everyone has had a good week.

Back on track ............. just!

Well I’m pleased to report a loss of 1kg this week, so I’m nearly back to where I should be. I’ve had a much better week but as my title says I feel I’m not quite where I should be. I read with interest Ails’ post of 11 June in which she talks about ‘Maintenance before Goal’ and I think that sums up what has happened to me in the past and is in danger of happening again. You feel and look so much better having lost a sizable number of kilos, that you tend to slacken off and just maintain at that weight and don’t go that extra bit to where you really should be. I’ve been doing my usual review of the week and while I did a lot of good things, there were also some things I did (or didn’t) and these same things are what makes the difference and get you to the finishing post. I’m trying really hard at the moment to get back into that nice little headspace I had before I went to Hong Kong because I can see that if I don’t work at getting back there, I’ll just cruise through the next 8 weeks till I go on holiday again and won’t achieve any further weight loss – traditionally I’ll just faff around – 1kg down, 1kg up – sound familiar?? Anyway what happened this week– Exercise - got back into my daily 5am walk/run routine. I started over at Week 6 of the C25K – since I’d had almost a month off what with holidays and illness. The running went well and I did Day 3 of Week 6 which is 25mins this morning and felt great both during and after – as compared to last Friday when I did Day 2 – 2 x 10 min runs with a 3 minute walk in the middle. I wasn’t having trouble breathing, my legs weren’t sore – I just felt doughy, so it was heartening to feel bouncy again this morning. Tracked pretty well – logged on my WW online up to Friday and continued to track mentally over the weekend. Points – good during the week – a little bit up on the weekend Steps – 57,100 – just over 8,000 a day Alcohol – great during the week – didn’t have any, then Friday night Bloss and I had one of those nice nights where we had lots to share and discuss – mainly related to both our careers – we both work for the same company and some changes may be afoot for both of us. Anyway these discussions were very well lubricated with a couple of bottles of wine. Saturday night we went out for dinner with friends and I offered to be the driver so only had one and a little bit glasses but then yesterday we had a big day cleaning in the house and yard so I felt I’d earned one or five last night!! And that’s where my danger points come from – I count all the food points and they’re great but then if I add on the alcohol – not so good! Gym – I’m not back at the gym yet. The one I was going to closed down while I was on holiday and I need to set up a time with my Personal Trainer for an assessment and programme at another gym. Have now made contact with her so hopefully will get something organised this week

Water - brilliant during the week but bloody hopeless on the weekend So in the week ahead I'm just going to try try try to get my head back into the nice little groove. Having a 5th Avenue Collection jewellery party this Thursday night. I went to one that a lady who works for me had and she needed another party booking to get something super duper or whatever so I said I would have one. My thinking was that it would be a good opportunity to get a few friends together for some drinks and nibbles and if anyone wants to buy anything well and good but I don't really care. What is good about this one is that you pay and take your goods on the night. No me having to collect money from all and sundry and you don't get your stuff for a month. You remember the nice little red jacket I won on Ebay last week? Well it arrived on Friday and when I went to try it on there was a tear in the lining on the shoulder, then I discovered the hem coming down on one sleeve and then when I took it off the lining on that sleeve came out separately from the sleeve! I was a bit disappointed as although it was cheap there had been no mention of these faults in the description. Anyway rather than just jump in boots and all and leave negative feedback, I contacted the seller via Ebay messages expressing my disappointment - not at all nastily. I got a very quick reply from the seller saying that he doesn't sell faulty goods and if I could send him some photos showing the damage then he could arrange a refund if appropriate. I sent the photos and my bank details and then got a very apologetic reply and confirmation that my account had been credited with the full amount I had paid. So all round a win/win for both of us - I left positive feedback describing how well he'd handled the problem - so important for serious sellers and I've got a jacket for free which is rather nice and I'll just get my local dressmaking lady to fix it up for me. This is a classic example of how I have matured over the years - 20 years ago I would just have left very negative feedback - whereas now I think first and try to resolve things amicably and have discovered that nine times out of ten it works and everyone's happy. Mind you I can still fire up like a whirling dervish if the occasion demands it! All right good people - hope you're all focussed on whatever is important to you right now whether it be weight loss, family, holidays or even embarking on a new chapter of your life (as a few of you are) and that you have a great week.

Rings, Wrongs and the Road to Ruination

The above sums up the direction I've been going this last week - and the scales reflect it too. Gain of 1.4kgs - dohhhh!!! Mind you staying the same last week was really a fluke and since I've been so slack this week I've ended up twice as bad. I'm not going to bore you with a blow by blow account, instead here are the signposts I made the wrong turning at:

• had some lovely rain during the week, so didn't exercise
• forgot my pedometer one day so didn't bother for the rest of the week
• still having a drink or two every night
• stopped tracking after two days
• it's been much cooler so want to eat more - and have done so
• because of the above not drinking enough water

In my favour I have been aware of what I've been doing but against that why the hell didn't I do something different. Actually I made a choice about Thursday to just let this week play out (we're having a long weekend here) and that today would mark the start of sanity and sensibility again (that's probably a bit strong - don't think I've been either sensible or totally sane in my entire life!)

Ok, so it's done and now a new week started and next week I'll have a proper review to share with you which should give much better results.

So besides masticating, imbibing and remaining sedentary all week, what else have I been up to?

Well whilst in the sedentary position with my laptop, I've been doing a bit of researching for our upcoming trip - checking out the reviews on all hotels we'll be staying at, finding out where to go and what to do etc. I really wanted to get the Lonely Planet books for several of our destinations but buying them new was going to cost the best part of $200. Then I had a brainwave and decided to check out EBay. So far I've picked up Cuba for $19.95, Los Angeles for $16.99, and San Francisco for $12.50 - all including postage. I've got a bid in for Mexico which ends tomorrow and I already had the Las Vegas one. So hopefully for around $70 I'll have the whole lot I wanted - obviously they are not the latest editions but I can happily live with that - the core information is the same.

Of course having submitted to the pleasures of EBay again - I had been leaving it alone for a while - I thought I'd just check out the Ladies Clothing section and a little red jacket by Blase caught my eye and I popped on a bid and have got that for $12.50. I've put a few other bits and pieces on my watch list and might just put a bid on nearer to them closing. Here's the jacket.

I've taken up the 'show off your ring' challenge (I suspect only the readers from Oz - and maybe NZ see any humour in that statement) - I know it certainly wouldn't mean anything in the UK. Anyway I'm a bit of a bling person - and wear my 'gold' all the time. So here's both left and right hand and 'the bangles'

I've built up the pieces over time - there's a ring I bought at an antique jewellery sale, wedding rings, some I bought myself, one from E bay, one from a pawn shop, a green sapphire I bought in Thailand with money Mum sent for my 50th, one I got with money my ex gave me for my 40th (we were still together - the friendship is not that good!). The bangles include the gate one from my Mum - just cos I was there, the huge one for my 50th from Bloss, another smaller one from Bloss for Christmas one year, another one from Bloss for my birthday one year and one I bought myself . There are still a few more in the treasure chest - another couple of rings, a charm bracelet I got for my 21st and have added to over the years, several neck chains including a heavy one (I treated myself to) for which I've got a smokey quartz enhancer (bought with the money I got for 10 years service with my company) and matching smokey quartz earrings (Bloss's present last Christmas). I tend to jangle when I move!!! and I've only got gold - no silver. I've got quite fair skin and silver tends to disappear into the background on me.

Coming back to earth and talking about things that count - I've had an email from my hairdresser - she's had an op and had the malignant part of her liver removed and is recovering quite well from that. However she now has to undergo another 6 months of chemo. The only good thing about that is she's going to be able to have it done at our local hospital this time. The last time she had to fly to Brisbane every second week. So much less upheaval in her family life and no travel costs although I think the actual treatment is going to cost much more. She's decided to sell the salon and apparently the new owner is going to take over in the next couple of weeks. The stress of trying to raise children, run a business while trying to salvage her own health was just going to be too much. She's keen for us to meet for lunch or coffee so have emailed back and now just waiting to hear from her when we can catch up.

OK that a big enough waffle for me this week. Hope you've all had a more productive week than me - but I'm going to have my name back up in lights next week - here goes!!

Magical 10

It's only Sunday and weekly weigh in isn't till tomorrow, but since we have some beautiful rain and I'm just having a blobby kind of a day, I thought I'd make a start to this weeks post.

Well this bloody traveller's diarrhea has proved hard to shift. This past week, although the diarrhea part of things settled back down, I was left was stomach cramps and pains. I went back to the doctor (my own one this time) on Friday and he put me on a three day course of antibiotics. Today is the last day and I think my insides are nearly back to normal.

Will be interesting to see how I go in the weight loss stakes tomorrow - I think I might even be up a little bit. I still haven't been exercising as it's taken all my efforts just to go to work each day and then of course there's the old 'feel sorry for yourself story'. I haven't actually eaten much that would pose a problem but a lot more processed type foods than normal just cos they're convenient and have been very careful with fruit and vegies till my tummy had settled. Then I've been having a couple of glasses of wine of an evening. So we'll see.

Now the title! Well although I might not be doing anything too clever with the kilos - the inches seem to dropping very nicely. I put on a pair of black jeans (stretch - Size 12) on Saturday and they were really quite big. So that of course gave me an excuse to have a look for another pair. Now just by good luck, Katies were having a 50 per cent off sale and I got a very nice pair of black stretch jeans in Size 10 which fit very nicely. So that made me feel fantastic. I also got a lovely pair of dress black pants - they're 12's but a nice easy fit so came home walking on air! Even what I call my skinny jeans - Peaches size 12 non stretch - are feeling very comfortable.

These are the jeans I got in Hong Kong - no idea what size - the little man just flicked a tape measure round my waist and my hips and said 'these will fit' and they did!

However I recognise the challenge for me now - this is the dangerous time - I'm starting to feel really good and enjoying wearing clothes, have had three different guys at work in the last week comment that I was losing weight and typically this is the time when I start to become complacent and stop worrying about losing the last few kilos. So my commitment to you all is that tomorrow I'll be out walking again, leaving the wine alone for a while and generally aiming to get back into that nice headspace again!

Had to have a passport photo taken so the travel agent could organise our visas for Cuba. Above is the result - still very pale (and interesting!!) after being sick plus I seem to have a black line under my chin - think it must be just shadow.

On the subject of magic - although my bottom half is decreasing nicely, the girls are stubbornly maintaining most of their former glory. They've reduced slightly but not that much - still managing to fill most of a 12E. I stumbled on this website for a supposedly non surgical solution. While the testamonials seem great, I keep thinking of the old saying - 'if it seems too good to be true - it probably is!'. But still churning it over in my mind and thinking - what have I got to lose - a couple of hundred bucks and hey it might just work. We'll see.

Thanks everybody for your comments on the newlook blog - I'm one of those people who succumb to boredom regularly and have to do something different. It's not that long since I did the new hairdo thing so I had to find something else to set about! And re. the new name - well it seems Chris H was feeling a bit lonely being the sole tart, so I'm delighted to have joined her in that esteemed position!!

One last picture - this is my half of the study where all these literary gems originate!

Ok people, I'll stop for now and post this tomorrow once I've had my weigh in.

MONDAY MORNING

Good morning all - feeling quite chippy this morning. Got up at 5 and have been for a walk - thinking I might have to ease back into the running gradually. But the best news is that I've stayed the same this week so really happy about that and have big plans for the week ahead. Have a great week everyone!

MONDAY MORNING LATER

Just realised that the pictures haven't come through - was using Picasa to upload and thought I could just cut and paste the URL - obviously not - will fix up tonight when I get home as I don't have Picasa loaded on my work PC, so check back tonight to get the photos.