No new hair yet!!

No sorry peeps no new hair colour yet - got a text from my hairdresser on Monday saying that she had really bad vertigo and had to cancel all her week's appointments. Have spoken to her since and am rescheduled for tomorrow night so we'll see what happens then. Nothing particularly exciting or interesting to report this week - eating still good - no alcohol - 5 weeks now but still can't get my shxx together and start exercising. But nonetheless my count to ten pile increased again so pretty happy about that. It's been a good week at work - some stuff we've been trying to make happen for years now and which I've been working on for the past few months, got to roll out stage on Thursday so feeling very satisfied about that and have a totally jubilant manager too. Got the final itinerary from the travel agents on Friday so only about 19 weeks to go!!! It'll be here before I know it. Thought I'd better just check validity on our passports - my Australian one (I have two - a European Union one too) expires in July so I had to jump online to get the form to renew that. Got a shock when I saw how much - it's up to $208! I had bid on EBay for a Lonely Planet for Central Europe and was successful so that arrived in the mail on Wednesday so keep dipping into that to get a bit more background knowledge. Due for some new bras and being rather well endowed (12E) my favourite is the Triumph Ladyform Minimiser - usually available in black and chrysanthemum (sort of an ivory colour) and I usually order online from Zodee. But they've been out of stock of the chrys ones for several months now - word is that the Triumph factory are catching up and they should be available by the end of June - I do hope so - I hate when you find something that fits well, gives you a decent shape (not the pointy look!!!) and is comfy too and then they damn well stop making it! Anyway the black ones were available so thought I'd better play safe and order a couple of them so they arrived this week too. Wish my torso looked like this!!! Well that's my news for this week - sorry it's kind of boring routine stuff - but you get weeks like that!! Take care possums! Love Z xx Geez I'm going loopy - totally forgot that we're going to see this guy in concert tonight - will have tea out somewhere first then mosey along to the Entertainment Centre. Saw him at our Jazz n' Shiraz show a couple of years back and he was excellent and our work social club had a special going on tickets so thought ... yes!!

David Campbell (in this pic with his dad Jimmy Barnes)

Trim, Toy and Territory

Another busy week in the life of Zanna - lots happening but still no exercise - I WILL get to that! Went to see my hairdresser on Wednesday night - yet another different style - my hair is incredibly fine so keeping it longer is a right royal pain in the axx, so weve had a bit of a trim. Back again this week for the colour - might do something a bit different there too - you will just have to wait and see what the next post brings! Ive been thinking for some time now that Id like a smaller lighter laptop - especially for travelling as my current one is bloody heavy to lug around. Id been leaning in favour of one of the mini notebooks - about a 10.2 ins screen. But then on Wednesday night talking to my hairdressers husband who is in the PC field, he cautioned me saying that they may be small but they operate a lot slower than a standard notebook. So I did a bit of net research and found he was dead right. So then thought Id look for a 12 or 13 ins notebook which would have the same processor as my current one but would be a lot lighter. I was in no rush for all of this - just looking around, checking stuff out on the net etc. But yesterday our local Harvey Norman had a huge sale so I thought Id just pop in and see what they had. I was captivated by a lovely little 12.1ins Compaq which has as good a spec as my current laptop but it is about 1.3kgs lighter and let me tell you when youre lugging it around on and off plans and through airports - 1.3kgs makes one hell of a difference. (Note to all - never scoff at a loss of just over a kilo!!) Here it is. Looks just like a normal laptop here but is actually quite dinky. (And it was reduced by $600 so as Bloss would say - I couldnt afford not to!!!)

So thats the trim and the toy - the territory - well since Mum and Co left Ive been stopping, starting and generally faffing around with my weight but I am pleased to report that I have been very focussed over the past four weeks and my count to ten pile has finally taken a surge forward. But as well as this I am into territory that I havent been for at least six months so feeling much better about that. Still alcohol free - which seems to make a vast difference for me - not sure how long I plan to keep this up - but its saving me a fortune, encourages Bloss to imbibe less and my weight is trickling away nicely. Did a bit of a new look for the Travelling Tart - like the template but it seems to be a bit wonky with photos and spacing - not sure how long Ill put up with that!! But the two chairs in the header are for Bloss and I to look out over the world and decide where we are going next! Think thats my news for the week, so hoping you are all healthy and happy. Take care Love Z xx ps - Im sitting up in bed typing this on my old laptop so there are still no apostrophes - but that too will be fixed this week and my old laptop will live by my bedside for late night and weekend surfing!!

The Next Travels of the Tart

Ok - time to spill the beans and tell you all about the next trip. As I said in my last post it was a pretty quick decision - heard about these awesome fares on Friday lunchtime, researched over the weekend, fine tuned with the travel agent on Monday and booked on Tuesday. Im going to tell the story of where we are going in pictures. We leave on on Wednesday 9th September, fly to Brisbane then via Singapore to here -

Frankfurt

We spend 3 nights in Frankfurt then pick up a coach tour which follows this route - the little number beside some of the place names means the number of nights we spend there. The tour is for 15 days.

Cosmos Central European Tour

Berlin -2 nights

Warsaw - 2 nights

Krakow - 2 nights

Budapest - 2 nights

Prague - 2 nights

Vienna - 1 night

Munich - 1 night

Then back to Frankfurt where we fly to here -

Edinburgh - home of Isabelle and Lainey and very close to Shauna. then to here - the village I was brought up in and where both my Mum and sister and brother-in-law live.

Drymen - and this is our local The Clachan - the oldest licensed premises in Scotland.

This is Glenalva - the house my mum and dad built and where I lived from I was 2 till I got married . The people who bought it from mum and dad have done a few additions and now run it as a thriving Bed and Breakfast business.

After about 12 days with my family we fly to here -

London - but just passing through on our way to -

Hong Kong

We have two nights in HK - a spot of shopping might be in order! Then fly back to here -

Brisbane

and finally on Tuesday 13th October -

Home sweet home - the view from our deck.

So nothing quite like that to give you motiviation!! Ive a bit more energy this week - still not really exercising but think Ill get back to it after Easter. Still off the alcohol - almost 3 weeks and it certainly helps - Im dropping at an average of 500g a week and just about to strike territory which has been uncharted for the past six months. About 22 weeks I think till we leave so plenty of time and opportunity to get myself in sparkling form for the trip.

It hasnt been a good week at work - as some of you know I work for Rio Tinto and this week there were many retrenchments in central Queensland - 18 and 15 respectively at the two sites I cover. Of the 18 I knew most of them - and one was a former team member - that really upset me. The 15 from the other site have yet to be announced so thats hanging over all their heads for the next week or so. Not good times in our world - and I guess thats why we are Seizing the Day - who knows what the future holds!

Hope you all have a beautiful peaceful Easter with your families and friends - you are allowed a very small piece of chocolate and one hot cross bun if your heart so desires!!! Me - Ill pass on the hot cross bun but my Easter treat is a little box containing 5 Lindt balls ..... mmmm!!!!

Take care bunnies!

Z xx

Blobbing instead of Blogging

I'm so slack (and I still haven't got any apostrophes). I am so busy at work plus my thyroid has been playing up and I am so fatigued when I get home that I just blob instead of blog. I have been reading but haven't been commenting although I did rectify that this morning and think Ive managed to get round most of you to let you know I'm still alive! My new job means that my weeks just fly by but I am pretty exhausted at the end of the day but had also been feeling incredibly tired - not just lack of sleep tired but also that my whole body was fatigued. Anyway when I went to the doctors last week to see how my thyroid results were it turns out that its a bit out of whack so hes upped my medication so hopefully in the next week or so that will kick in and Ill have some more oomph. Haven't been to the gym at all - struggling to drag myself out of bed at 5.30am for work never mind 4.50am to go to the gym. However the good news is that I am very focused on eating - decided to change my plan around and cut out my mid morning snack and my afternoon snack where possible. Also turned my back on alcohol - for 2 weeks now. Feeling the benefits of that and my weight is steadily dropping - still about the same as my sidebar - had to get rid of the effects of the Melbourne weekend! We had a fantastic weekend - got down there on Thursday afternoon - met up with Ruthie who flew in from Brisbane then we went to our apartment - Quest on William - would highly recommend it - very central - two bedroom, two bathroom exec apartment - cost $610 for the 3 nights so worked out at $200 each, add on $75 for our flights so a cheap weekend break. We went down to Southbank that night - had a nice meal by the river then made a donation at the casino and had a listen to the pianist in the Atrium Bar. Friday was lots of shopping and lunch at a lovely little restaurant called Le Cabinet (I think) which was upstairs with a deck looking down on Swanston Street. Then met up with a former workmate at the Old Mint bar then headed to Lygon Street for tea - was yummy but cant remember the name of the restaurant. Saturday morning we had breakfast with another ex work colleague then hit the QV markets. Then it was time to pick up our bags and head back to the airport. Fabulous weekend - lots of laughs, wine, food, shopping and good friends - what else could you ask for?

This was the view from our apartment The lovely Shaz Beautiful Ruthie The lovely Shaz presented both the Beautiful Ruthie and I with some freshwater pearls - aren't they gorgeous (went so well with my black satin PJs)

Last weekend Josh (7) our grandson came to stay. We have set activities that are expected to happen when he comes to stay - amazing how kids create their own traditions! When he comes to Granny's we always bake something and do some painting. We stopped on the way here and bought a papier mache mask at Crazy Clarks so below you can see Picasso at work wearing Bloss Tshirt.

Man at work!

Proudly posing by the finished exhibit Modelling the end result - yes its a bit big - that's his chin you can see poking through!

When in Melbourne I bought another remote and steering wheel for the Wii - so here we have Bloss and Josh playing Mario Karts - Bloss despite trying his damnedest hasn't been able to beat Josh!

This is another game where you ride a cow up a track knocking down scarecrows and jumping over hurdles. You have to move the remote in upwards, downwards and sideways directions - but as you can see they move themselves too. Sooo funny to watch.

Big news coming up shortly about our next trip - thought we had decided and visited my travel agent the other night for some further info then put together an itinerary and emailed it to him yesterday for a quote. Then he flicks me an email telling me about a special which came out yesterday with some AMAZING fares - so we think we might do something different altogether. I'm off now to do some research as if we are going to do the latter option we have to book and pay in less then 2 weeks so need to have some kind of a plan cobbled together so we get the dates right. Watch this space! Love Z xx