2 Working Days...

...and I'm on holiday!

Yay! I need it too, I've been working 12-hour days lately, which is why you haven't heard much from me. Our deadline is Friday.

On Friday afternoon I will be leaving work early to go to a wedding, Saturday is the "recovery barbeque" (seems to be an Aussie thing), and first thing Sunday we fly up the coast to here to go sailing for a week. Oh I can't wait!

Speaking of weddings, last weekend we went to a wedding in the Hunter Valley, a wine region 2 hours north of Sydney. It rained all weekend but stopped for the ceremony and the barbeque the next day, which was lucky. Milord somehow managed to lose 3kg (6 pounds) in a week to be able to do up his suit pants on the day! I wonder if he's kept it off for this weekend's wedding?

The ceremony and reception were held at a little vineyard called Tallavera Grove, overlooking a valley of wet green vines. I liked the flowers hanging in glass decorating things.




Here we are all glamorous (and shiny - note to self, carry powder!). I lurve the red dress, and it will be getting another outing this weekend too!


The wedding was at midday, followed by lunch and so on, and we left the venue at dusk. By this point I had had far too much to drink, so Milord and I headed back to our accommodation for a lie down. I woke up at midnight fully clothed with the lights on, cleaned my teeth and removed my makeup and went back to bed! I think I slept through most of my hangover which was brilliant.

We had brunch with a friend in the area, and her cactus was flowering:


Then we went to the home of the wedding couple for a barbeque. They had roasts on a spit and a band and DJ and unlimited booze. It was a good party, but we grabbed the offer of a lift at about 7pm and had another early night. I hear the party carried on until the early hours and everyone looked very rough when we popped by the next day to fetch our car!

This sheep is actually an icebox:


At some point in the weekend Milord and I passed our 6th montheversary too. That went fast!

Last night was the stag/hen night of the couple getting married on Friday. The hen night was pretty sedate - I got there a couple of hours late anyway because of work so didn't I drink much - and I was home in bed by 11. Not so the stags! Milord got in at 3:30am after about 6 pubs and clubs, slurring and stinky and obnoxious (although it's possible that anyone would be obnoxious at 3:30am). At 4:30am I moved onto the couch to get away from the stinky snoring, and when I snuck into the bedroom to get my shoes to leave for work this morning the fumes nearly knocked me down!

I'm pretty sure he won't be feeling good today!

Right, better get back to work. If you don't hear from me before the weekend I probably won't get a chance to post again until I get. back. from. sailing.... woohoo!

Break open the champagne!

Septsober is over! Woohoo!

I have a very good bottle of "traditional method" sparkling wine in the fridge awaiting my arrival home after work (who else finds it really annoying that we can't label it "champagne" any more?) as well as a decent sauvignon blanc to follow.

Our diet is doing it's best to stay on track this week as we are off to a wedding on the weekend and Milord is 2cm off getting his suit pants done up... that's down from 3cm on Saturday so it is possible he'll get there in time! It's quite amazing how fast my man can lose weight when he puts his mind to it.

I look fine in my dress but it wouldn't hurt me to lose half a kilo or so. The forecast for the weekend is hot and rainy, so I'm not fully decided on what I'm wearing yet. Either a full length red satin halterneck, or a blue/black mid-calf lace/satin number. I'm dying to wear the red, but it might be too hot for a midday wedding in 30C humidity!

I had no takers on the Ocsober sponsorship, so I'll spend that $100 on new earrings and a handbag! Mwahaha...

Roll on hometime and a glass of bubbly!

[update: 20 minutes to hometime and Milord is emailing me time checks...

...in unrelated news check out the view from my office window. Isn't that just totally awesome!]

1.5 days to go!

Septsober is nearly over! Just over a day to go and I can pour an ice cold glass of crisp dry sauvignon blanc, inhale it's grassy goodness and then sip the gooseberry capsicum nectar and feel it tingle all the way down my throat.

This weekend was the roughest craving I've had in weeks. Partly because I was tired and cranky (note to self, do not donate blood when having your period - bad combo), and I think partly because the end is in sight! I only survived because Milord kept me on the straight and narrow.

We went cycling this weekend - I borrowed a friend's bicycle and Milord and I explored a cycle track which follows a river not far from home. Apparently the total distance is 25km, but we just went went for half an hour then turned around and came home. It was lovely with lots of parkland, sports fields and a golf course along the way. We will take a picnic next time, and I must take photos.

I haven't been on a bike in years, and I haven't really cycled since I left school. It does come back quickly, although I had a lot of trouble with tight corners! I also had trouble with my bum - after an hour in the saddle I was in agony, and a couple of days later I am still aware of my butt bones... we may need to ease into this cycling lark!

Septsober almost done, what about Ocsober?

No no not me! I'm not doing another month off the grog until maybe next year... I hear February is a nice short one!

However, I know that a lot of Aussies will be attempting "Ocsober" to raise money for Life Education, a non-government organisation who educate kids about the dangers of drink and drugs. I would have signed up myself but the timing was a bit off for me.

Instead I am prepared to sponsor someone else. None of my friends here in Sydney are interested - bloody alkies.

Therefore: If you intend to participate in Ocsober and you stumble across this post before October 2008, leave me a comment and I'll sponsor you $100! If you're very lucky I might be able to talk my 3 readers into sponsoring you too! I'll give you a guest pass to my blog and you will be required to blog once a week about the experience. If you are in Sydney then I'll take you out for a drink when you are done.

I hope you find the experience easier than I did.

Fridayitis

Friday at last. Man, that was a long week...

Day 5 off the grog. I broke out in pimples a couple of days ago on my chin, upper arms and in my hair. Luckily the face ones never really showed - I know better than to touch them apart from a good cleanse morning and night - and after a couple of days they dried up and disappeared. The others have nearly cleared up too. Damn detoxing! It's a bit like when you give up smoking and develop a horrible cough for a few months as your lungs clear.

Speaking of which, Milord and I were discussing last night how the urge for a glass of wine is exactly like the urge for a cigarette (we're both reformed smokers). We were out for our 5th montheversary dinner and a movie (Tropic Thunder totally rocks!) and as we sat down in the restaurant I automatically picked up the winelist. And put it back down.

A little voice in my head was shouting
"Want!"
"No."
"Oh ok... ...Want!"
"No."
"Oh ok... ...Want!"
"NO!"

Milord said he had the same internal dialog! Then we ordered a coffee and our meals and the need just went away and didn't come back. I had a guilt-free pizza (think of all the points I saved by not drinking) and we came home sober at a reasonable hour feeling frisky... bonus!

So that's a montheversary done sober. Now I need to get through a Friday night sober, and a weekend sober. I sound like an alcoholic... I suppose I am an alcoholic (everyone who knows me just nodded and said "Duh, yathink?").

I made it to the gym 3 times this week so far, and have my kit with me to go today as well. I ran 5km yesterday in 32 min - need to work on getting back to 5km in 30min - but usually I just do 30min on the cross-trainer. We're eating healthy and I've generally been right on my weightwatchers points (what a pleasure to eat 20 points a day instead of trying to save 10 for the booze!) so I reckon the weight will start creeping off soon.

I also expect the detox symptoms to finish soon. I am less achey and I've started sleeping better - Milord has just about stopped snoring which is brilliant!

Remind me why we drink again? Because it's fun, because everyone else does, and because most social events are structured around booze...? Mmm

Remember all those smoking ads not that long ago showing cigarettes as fun and sexy? I saw an ad last night before the movie selling wine as fun and sexy and it reminded me so strongly of the old cigarette adverts! Beer companies now sponsor the events that cigarette companies used to sponsor. In my parent's youth it was normal to take cigarettes to a party to share - now we take booze to share. I'm seeing a powerful parallel.

Just a decade ago I couldn't envision smoking being outlawed and now it's definitely on the way out. Smokers are thrust out of social gatherings to nurse their habit alone, and are regarded with contempt by the rest of us. I reckon in a generation's time alcohol will be regarded in the same light as smoking is today. Health-wrecking and dangerous... and it is.

I predict that my grandchildren will not be able to fathom what drove us to drink alcohol, in the same way that I goggle at a 60s movie where they all chain smoke like it's normal!

Septsober

39 days to my sailing holiday! Squeee!

Time to get serious about losing a little weight and toning up. I have challenged Milord to join me for a month off the grog and he's keen, so here we go! It's not going to be easy but at least we have no major engagements lined up this month. A detox should be good for our fertility too... the poor little drunken swimmers don't seem to be doing their job very well!

There is a charity drive in Aus for people to do a sponsored dry month in October - called Ocsober. It's not going to work for me though, as October is my holiday time and we also have 2 weddings happening then. Septsober it is instead!

Here's my monthly weight graph (just the to date one as I haven't changed much):


I've been awfully lazy lately and haven't made it to the gym for weeks. My weight has somehow stayed steady, but my middle's gone a bit flabby. No more excuses! No more lunches reading blogs instead of getting to the gym!