Today

My birthday today February 2nd when I turned the big 3.2. Unfortunately I feel like I turned 64, so I am dreading the day when I actually turn 64 as I'm probably going to feel like HELL.

I had a pretty nice day today.  I took the day off work (yesterday too, so I had a four day weekend) and we went to Butterfly Creek which is a mini zoo with fish, reptiles and farm animals.  I actually only really went to see the bunny rabbits and I have been going around for the past two weeks calling it "Bunny Creek". They have a mock farm yard there with about 20-30 bunny rabbits there!  I was in bunny heaven!  They were all so cute and had quite a few baby rabbits there.  One thing I wasn't too happy about was the fact that they bred rabbits there.  The fellow that worked there was trying to get me and Matt to take a bunny home.  He said he normally only approaches people who he thinks will give the rabbits a good home.  I guess he saw me baby talking and fawning over the rabbits HAHA!  Firstly, since we don't really have room for another rabbit and secondly I don't really support places that breed animals I wasn't really keen to take one home, even as cute as they were.  If I'm going to get another rabbit it will be from the SPCA where no one loves them and they need a home. I did feel sorry for all the little baby bunnies that had silly children handling them, especially the ones that were screaming that "they wanted to hold a bunny too!!" (cry me a river kid!!)  Although rabbits are docile creatures (most of the time) once tame, they still are prey animals by nature so do get scared easily and aren't as confident with people as cats or dogs.

Here are a few pictures I took of the animals

This lil fella was rolling about in the coral.  So cute!!  I love Clown Fish, they're so colourful

 

 

 

Moth or butterfly?  It was huge!

These red and black butterflies were pretty.  Matt was wearing a red t-shirt and they kept landing on him!  I was wearing a floral dress, but none of them liked me!  Perhaps I didn't smell like a flower? LOL

Cute little babies resting

I is washing my ear!

This beautiful girl had given birth that morning.  She was busy fussing about her pen.

Recovering from being tormented by devil children

Soft, fluffy and adorable *melts*

Yesterday was awesome too.  In the morning I had a Chinese Pedicure at Bliss Reflexology which starts with a foot soak, then they scrape all the dead skin off your feet with sharp blades and then tidy up the toenails.   It is WAY better than a regular pedicure as it is more hygienic (your feet soak in a disposable plastic bag in a wooden bucket) so no toe jams floating around from the previous person. I don't think I'd ever have a regular pedicure at the run of the mill mass produced places again. Although the massage chair is nice and having the nail polish is fancy, all I think about is getting a fungal infection! In the afternoon I had a lovely face and body treatment and About Face.Work kindly gave me a gift voucher for Christmas for a beauty therapy treatment so I redeemed that.  It involved a foot soak, back scrub, back massage and then mini facial.  It was lovely and the therapist Nancy was so kind and professional.  After all that relaxation I went to the movies and saw Black Swan; great movie but kind of disturbing in some parts!  I also must add that I walked everywhere yesterday! I walked to all my appointments and the movie which probably adds up to almost 2 hours of walking at a good pace in total so by the end of the day I was pretty tired.

Back to reality tomorrow with an 11 hour day at work *sigh*

Get Well Soon Daisy!

Daisy went in to the doctor's for her spay surgery yesterday. She's not having sex with boys or nothin'; I got her spayed because rabbits have the propensity to develop uterine cancer as they get older. The loose statistics are by the age of 5 years, 80% of rabbits will have developed some kind of reproductive cancer (uterine most common). 

I really put some thought into doing this to her; she's only a little girl and I would be crushed if she didn't make it through the surgery. She seems to be doing well for now. We took her into the vet today for her next day follow up and they were happy. The wound is looking good so she hasn't  been fooling around with it or trying to take the stitches out. She is not eating on her own yet; that is to be expected, but they want her to be taking in food by herself at least by tomorrow. For now I am syringe feeding her which is messing up her fur and she is not happy about that! We have to give her Metacam twice a day which is going to be fun (not!). She has been a little cold after her surgery so I covered her with blankets. 

Here's a photo of her all cozy under the covers:

The Awesome Post

I thought I'd do a post on the awesome things that I've seen, done or had happen to me in the past week or so. There are always things to be grateful for!

1. Losing your wallet and having the person that found it hand it it to the local police station with nothing taken. Not only awesome, but bloody awesome.  It restored my faith in humanity a little.  If I could hug the person I would!

2. Home made pizza. Observe:

ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, buffalo mozzarella, onion, tomato, green bell pepper, fresh torn basil

you know you want me

3. Christine from For The Love Of Cookies, squatting 215lbs for 5.  Awesome.  She's only a little thing at 114lbs!  Most women can barely squat their own bodyweight once.  She's squatting almost double her body weight for reps!

  4. Trying a new beer.  Awesome.  I really enjoyed this one, and like the label suggests it has a hint of honey in the flavour.

a thing of beauty

5. Spiders.  Especially when they eat the flies that come into your house.  I am actually scared of spiders but I adopted a spider and named him Harry.  We try and feed him now and again. He's awesome.

6. Upcoming annual leave. Enough said.

7.  Food blogs, in particular Angela's blog at Oh She Glows.  Her blog really inspires me to eat better.  I tried her lentil walnut burgers the other day and they were awesome.  Even my husband thought they were really good and he looooves meat (as most men do).  Thanks Angela!

burger in progress

I know the burger is the focus of the conversation, but do you see the beer in the background??

8. My new vacuum cleaner.  Either my house gets incredibly dirty after a week or it is picking up a crapload  stuff in my house.  That's what I'm talkin' about. 

9. Today.  It is spring at the moment and it was a perfect spring day: sunny, lovely temperature, birds singing, flowers blooming *sigh*

10. Massage.  I had one today for the first time in over one year and it was AWESOME.  I feel so good right now.  I saw Shelly at Bodyneed. I used to get them every 2 weeks a couple of years ago and I felt the best I have ever when I did that.  I want to try and do this again.

11. My bunny being bunny. She is so cute!

12. Going for a run and beating your time from last week by one minute. Awesome!

This Weekend

I had a pretty good weekend this weekend.  I got a few things done that I've been meaning to do and we also went out on Saturday night.

Here's a list of what I did:

Went out for dinner at the Sky Tower.

Watched a couple of movies: The Blind Side and Universal Solider sequel.

Re-potted Willy the Christmas Tree (yes I named my mini Christmas tree)
Potted my cherry tomato plant

Bought a new vacuum cleaner and got rid of my POS old one

Vacuumed the whole place with the new vacuum cleaner

Went for a run

Planted more vegetable seeds for my family: bell pepper, summer spinach and cherry tomatoes

Finished sewing my top

The new vacuum was really expensive, but by golly it cleans the carpet good.   I spent quite a bit more than I anticipated, but I must say it is worth every cent. It has a power brush which is self-motorized unlike the turbo heads which are air driven.  I bought the Sebo K 3 Airbelt Vulcano, a German brand (and made in Germany).  It has a very high standard HEPA filter system so is excellent for people with allergies.  I really noticed the difference after vacuuming with the Sebo; we only live in a small one bedroom 1/2 villa, so the carpeted area isn't very huge.  Even so, I filled half, maybe three quarters of the bag today.  It just pulls so much crap out of your carpet....disgusting!  I even used it to vacuum our mattress, I reckon there must be so much crap lying in there.  I noticed quite a big difference smell-wise after vacuuming, just a "nothing" smell really; no mustiness from dust.

Whenever I buy a new appliance big or small I always try and save up and buy quality products.  I've been wanting to buy a new vacuum since January this year but I've been saving and saving and waiting off because other bills have come up.  I don't see any point in buying cheap stuff that won't do the job properly and then having to spend more money in a year or two.  In the long run it ends up being more expensive as you have to replace the appliance more often.

I see this kinda thing in my job all the time, except people expect the cheap stuff to last such a long time.  I don't understand that mentality at all!  They buy the cheapest product in the store and expect it to last as long as the best quality product in the store....DUH!

In My Lunchbox

Steamed Kale, Radish, Tomato, Grated Carrot, Yellow Pepper, Avocado, Sea Salt, Pepper and a side of chicken breast (not shown).

Yum, I love big salads.  I find that if I use a variety of vegetables and a couple of juicy ones (like grated carrot and tomato) I don't need any other dressing apart from salt and pepper.  The vegetables just taste so good.

What was in your lunchbox today?

Today I got my hair cut.  I woke up this morning looking like Medusa, then I couldn't be bothered straightening out my hair.  I went to work with it tied up in a pony tail, but looking boofy.  By the afternoon I was fed up with it and went to the hairdresser on my break and got it cut.  She didn't do as good a job as my last hairdresser but it was better than when I went in for sure.  I am happy with it for now, but I think I will go back to Laurie next time.  He made my hair look fantastic!

I don't have a workout to post today.  I got up a little too early then went back to bed and when the time came for me to actually go to the gym, I was all dozy and couldn't get up.  I will have to do both my workouts tomorrow - focusing on clean & press and deadlift.

Ta ta until then!

Saturday

Not much to report today.  I had a full day and work and I don't usually train on Saturdays so again it was a rest day for me.

I have got my hands on a Yoga DVD and a Pilates DVD.  I got Rodney Yee's Yoga for Beginners and then the Stott's Pilates Core Challenge.  I do feel I need a stronger core.  It is strong already, but I don't feel like I have a good mind-muscle connection for that area of my body like I do other muscles.  It actually takes a lot of mental energy for me to focus on keeping my core/midsection tight when I am performing exercises.  I'm hoping that by doing this Pilates routine regularly that I will improve the mind-muscle connection and therefore I'll be stronger and be able to lift a little more.  The Yoga DVD is to get me into a routine of stretching and relaxation because I can be SOOOO lazy with stretching on a regular basis.

Food Today, in order of appearance
Green Monster
Chicken Breast & Large Salad
Handful of Raw Almonds
A few Marshmallows
Home made pizza - I made two flavours: caprese (tomato, basil & buffalo mozzarella) & Chicken, Camembert & Cranberry
Sparkling Wine & 2 beers

I love making home made pizza but I hate making the crust.  It's not really labour intensive, but it is so sticky and I hate how the dough sticks to my fingers.  You almost need a helper to sprinkle flour for you.

Things

I'm going for my second treatment tomorrow for my hamstring.  My physio ended up diagnosing it as a grade 1 strain so this was good news.  He thinks I'll be ready to play after a couple weeks rest and a few treatments. The first treatment wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be.   I mean, I was gripping the table like I thought I would be and I did sweat so bad from the pain he had to change the covering on the table.... LOL....BUT, I thought it would be worse.  He went pretty hard out, putting a lot of his bodyweight onto his thumbs.  The plan is to go for my treatment, have a weight training session and a cardio session tomorrow.  I will probably go to soccer practice this week, to see how my hamstring feels.  I also need to gently start sprinting to see how the hamstring holds up later this week.  I am debating whether to play or not this Sunday - might lean towards not playing to take the time to really heal my leg.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about how I was going to start meal planning.  Well, it's been going quite well actually and I'm enjoying it.  It saves the "what am I going to make for dinner tonight?" dilemma that I was encountering quite frequently  (and I'd end up having no dinner because I had no idea what to make).  It's also encouraging me to actually read through all my cookbooks and recipe magazines I have accumulated so I can figure out what to make.  I've also noticed less wastage with the fresh food I buy, because much of what I buy now is only for the meals I have already planned out.  I used to just buy what looked good or what was on special at the supermarket and try and make meals from that, but a lot of the time the food was going bad before I had a chance to actually use it!  I'm not noticing much difference in my grocery bill but eventually I hope it will reduce that a little too.  We do spend A LOT of our wages on food, because I like to eat well. I don't want to change eating well of course, but I hope that by planning and therefore only buying what I need and planning around specials that the food bill will go down.

I'm up for a day of housecleaning tomorrow.  We're having a flat inspection on Tuesday.  Although the place isn't really dirty, whenever I have inspections I try and make the place sparkling clean so the agent can't bitch at me about anything.  Often the place looks better than when I move in.  I am armed with my baking soda again!  Although I like using the stuff, it is actually more expensive to use it than regular cleaning products.  I'll see if I can find a bulk food store that sells it a bit cheaper.'

That's all for today!

Hair

I went to the hairdresser yesterday to get my hair cut and he told me that my hair was almost "too healthy".  I thought that was quite funny, but he said something about my hair being on the acidic side.  I was super impressed with him anyway.  For the first time a hairdresser did not freak out at the fact I use my hair straightener frequently and he was pretty much able to read what I needed for a hairstyle based on the condition of my hair, how I like to wear it and how it will "act" in certain weather conditions.  The best haircut I've had ever. Most hairdressers I have been to in the past either 1. Can't believe that I used a hair straightener almost daily or 2. Freak out that I use a hair straightener almost daily, and then look at my hair and realise that no, it's not as damaged as they made out it would be. Morons.

I have noticed a huge difference in my hair over the past few years and wonder if it has something to do with my diet.  First of all the texture has changed -- it used to have a natural wave - not too curly but enough to be nice.  Now it's full of curls (HAET!!).  Secondly it has turned almost oily.  I have had to refrain from putting too much conditioner in my hair.  When I do put it on, I just put a little in only and just enough to detangle my hair.  I don't leave it in, I basically just quickly massage it though (kinda like I'm shampooing the ends) and then wash it out.  If I put in slightly too much, my hair is an oil slick.  Now, my hair used to be quite dry - I used to buy deep conditioning treatments all the time; those V05 oil capsule things.  I used to treat it like a newborn baby - combed it gently, never pulling it roughly.  I even gave up using brushes because I thought it damaged my hair.

My hair's current state has it's pros and cons.

Pros
1. I can use the crap out of my GHD irons and not worry about damaging my hair.  I don't even use a heat treatment product with it (perhaps I should?).
2. My hair is always sleek and super shiny


Cons
1. HAET curls.  My natural curls anyway.  I look like a damned poodle.  I also hate the feeling of too much hair around my face, which is what it feels like when my hair is in it's natural state; like a huge bush around my face.
2. The oil slick thing.  The feeling when your hair has been freshly washed and dried and it looks oily...gah, I hate that.  Funny enough, I can still go 3-4 days between washes, because I don't keep producing more and more oil.

So anyway, I mentioned that I think it might have something to do with my diet.  I've noticed this change over the last 2-3 years and this coincides when I really started focusing on my diet and training.  My diet changed from moderate everything to pretty much high protein, moderate fat and low to moderate carbohydrate.  I also take omega-3 fatty acids (6-10 per day when I remember), kelp,  women's multivitamin and Vitamin D.  The omega-3s and multivitamins have been pretty consistent over the past few years.  The other two I have added over the past year due to change in location.

Just wondering, has anyone else out there noticed a change in their hair since they adopted the bodybuilding/high protein type diet?

Chinese Lantern Festival

Beautiful, but what a clusterfuck.  We were there like 10 minutes and lost one another.  We intended to get food but it was just SO packed in the food area, we would not have been able to get food out of there without spilling it all over ourselves; so we left. Here are some photos of the event:

 

 

This Weekend

No workouts this weekend.  All I did was go for a 1/2 hour walk this afternoon.  I'm planning on doing a quick power workout tomorrow and then a step class; I'm looking forward to it.

Eats this weekend have been awful actually.  We had KFC for dinner last night (I had 4 pieces of chicken + potato and gravy).  Today I hardly ate anything: Yoghurt with Pumpkin butter, 100g of Lindt Chili chocolate, some chocolate covered popcorn and a Steak dinner with vegetables.  Not nearly enough protein.  I don't know what it is, but on my days off I don't really feel hungry at all.  It's kinda strange.

I didn't do much today: did some house work, napped, watched a movie and went shopping for an hour.  I saw some nice stuff while I was out shopping so I think I might have to save up to get a new outfit.  It will be mainly for work.  This is what I bought today with some birthday money I got:

 

Just a top for casual wear but it's made of 100% fine merino wool.  I have a few tops in the same brand and they're awesome.  As it's made from natural fibers you can wear it for a few days and it doesn't smell at all.  I hate it when you buy t-shirts and as they get older they start to stink even if you wash them regularly.  This type of top doesn't do that - it's fantastic.

RIP

Sad day today.  I went to my friend's father's funeral.  I'm a baby at funerals... even if I don't know the person very well I still cry.  I did know my friend's father fairly well, he was a very nice man.  He loved to talk and we had some interesting conversations about the most obscure topics.

Some of you may have also heard of the earthquake and tsunami in the South Pacific which affected Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.  Well, my Aunt, Uncle and my cousin's two babies were killed by the tsunami.  They apparently had about 5 minutes to try and save themselves but did not make it.  Along with them, my mother's family home perished.  So much destruction.

Anytime people I know die, I always lie awake at night thinking about them and life in general.  So, this week I've had quite a few late nights lying in bed thinking.  Anyway, I don't really have much else to say about it so I'll leave it at that.

Sewing!

I've almost finished my first garment! I spent a few hours sewing today.... and I was so tired by the end of it! It makes sense I guess because it takes a lot of concentration, especially since I haven't sewn for a long time. I remembered a few things from many years ago such as setting up the machine to sew. I was also pleased to discover I can still sew straight... LOL. Just a few things to do before my skirt is finished.

I just bought a new cordless upright vacuum for our apartment on ebay then discovered a 10% off voucher in my email inbox *me throwing a tantrum here* I could have saved $20....GAH! I get really annoyed at this kind of thing...LOL.

My bench workout didn't happen today. The gym is open limited hours on Sunday and I got up late. Tomorrow! Do I sound like a procrastinator or what?

In other news, I've reached the peak of my fatness. I'm actually nicknaming myself "Tubby" :-P So this week in between having some drinks for New Years I'm going to be watching my diet - good, "clean" protein, fruits and vegetables. My diet this past week has been TERRIBLE. Too little good food, too much alcohol and a few too many sweets. It's been a fun past 3 months since my competition.

Merry Christmas!

Everyone!!

Hope you all had a great Christmas, I had a nice quiet one at home. I made roast pork, garlic roasted asparagus and red onion and potato gratin. We snacked on chocolates and fruit cocktails during the day.

I received a very nice an unexpected gift from my husband. A sewing machine!! I am very excited as I've wanted to learn (or re-learn) to sew for a while now. Today I went out and bought some cheap material to practice on and a pattern and good material to make a nice simple skirt. I hope it turns out okay. I shall show you the end result :-P My aim is to make my competition suit for next year among other things! Here it is:


I just got home tonight from dinner and some drinks. We went to this place called Outback Jacks and I did the 1kg rump steak challenge. You have to eat 1kg/2.2lbs (raw weight) rump steak, potato wedges and vegetables in under 30 minutes. With the potatoes and vegetables it ends up being 1.7kg of food. I was the first girl to do it The amount of food wasn't the hard part - I started to get sick of the taste of steak. It reminded me of the time I couldn't eat my tuna during comp prep because if I ate another bite I was gonna barf. I got close to that with the steak but I managed to eat it all.

I got a t-shirt from it too and it's a nice one My friend told me to wear it at the gym as there are heaps of guys there that tried it but couldn't do it LOL. Not sure if it's something to be proud of, but I got a half price meal and a t-shirt out of it so it's a score!

Tomorrow I'm off to the gym to get my 91kg/200lb bench press. Wish me luck. All that rump steak should make me strong.

Happy Beer Day

Well, I didn't end up going to the gym today. Instead, I went to the bar *lol*

Had a breakfast of eggs, hash browns and spinach then in the afternoon we hopped off to the bar to practice my one arm beer curls.

Dinner was some shared nachos and Thai Beef Salad. Yum!

I am looking forward to the gym tomorrow! :-D

The Cleaning Workout

The only thing I like about cleaning is how it looks after it's done. But I absolutely had to do it today. The only other good thing about cleaning is that it actually burns a decent amount of calories - more than sitting on your butt watching your dirty dishes anyway :-D I think if you're trying to lose fat keeping active via housework, general activity is just as important as making sure you get your workouts and cardio in. I had to laugh though, I was washing my floor and I had this little insect/cockroach follow me around. It looked like he was licking the floor where I had washed. I was using sugar soap and it made me wonder if it was actually sweet :-D No I didn't take a swig of the bottle.

So as you may have guessed I didn't work out today but I did clean and I did go for a run when I got up. The run was fantastic - since I'm not on super low calories I have much more energy. I love running in the morning too; it gives me time to think.

I'm trying a new recipe today. It's probably more suitable for winter, but I haven't had turkey for a while and bought some at the store yesterday. It was beautiful! Very tasty yet not too heavy - Dad's Turkey Stew.

Tomorrow we're off on holiday. I was going to be competing at the WNBF Asia Pacific show in Sydney but due to my tanning/skin problem that's now not happening. We're spending a few days in Sydney and then off to New Zealand for a week. Woohoo! I can't wait to go visit my family and friends and hang out at all the bars/restaurants I used to frequent.

First Post!

Today marks my first day off my "offseason". I just finished a long stint of contest dieting for a bodybuilding contest. My goal this year was to surpass my condition from last year and have a good time and I achieved both, so I consider this year very successful. Unfortunately my contest season was cut short due to a tanning mishap but I think I have that all figured out for the future should I compete again.

I went to the supermarket today and it was the most glorious affair I have experienced for a while. I was actually a little disgusted by how happy grocery shopping made me. Although I don't really restrict food groups while dieting, being on a strict calorie allowance really restricts your choices sometimes. It was nice to just be able to get the stuff I had been missing: a variety of fruits, feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes in oil, whole grain rye bread, hummus, camembert
mixed dried fruit, greek yoghurt. I only bought one "bad" thing... the Christmas goodies are out for sale already so I got this packet of mini chocolate Christmas puddings. Okay, I did go back later and buy some of those pudding cup things and a Christmas Cookie (see below).

Now that I'm not dieting I definitely intend on honing my baking and cooking skills. I *love* trying out new recipes. Gordon Ramsay is one of my favourite people. He makes healthy, simple but yet tasty food. I'm quite intent on trying to make as much of my own food as possible to avoid those hidden preservatives and badness. Home made always tastes better anyway!

So anyway, if you're interested in heavy weights, good healthy food, beer and having a good time then stay tuned!