Leap Year

Feb 29th. Happy leap year and all that.

I proposed to Milord this morning... because I'd been threatening to do so for all of last year ;-).

He laughed.

5 Weeks

I'm at home with a cold. I woke up yesterday with a sore throat, and by midday I was achey all over so I left work at lunchtime and went home. I had an afternoon nap and Milord brought me lots of comfort food for dinner... This morning I could probably have taken my germs into the office but chose to stay home instead. I'm not chasing any deadlines so not being there today won't matter.

It's a perfect day for being at home - cool and wet. This is the Sydney rain radar right now:


Yes, that is a wall of thunderstorms marching at the city from the west. Marvellous. It's gone really gloomy and even with all the lights on I am having trouble reading my book! I can hear the thunder in the distance...

On a good note, I hit my weight target this week - 67.5kg! That is one hell of a loss since last week... turns out I was pre-menstrual. I lost 1.5kg on Friday, the day before I "came on". Took me totally by surprise...

"How can that be?" I hear the girls thinking. Well, I have been on the Implanon contrceptive implant for the last few years. This suppresses all periods for the first year, after which you get random spotting every few months for a year, and apparently in the final year you can start having periods again. They're not exactly regular though - my last one was in October! Hopefully this means I won't be having one over my wedding or honeymoon. I'll be taking the implant out after the wedding to try for a baby, but I intend to whack one back in as soon it's born. What a fabulous contraceptive - no periods for 2.5 years? Works for me! You can breastfeed on it too. Magic.

Last week was jolly hard work. I was so annoyed with my weight gain that I cut right back on food and worked out or walked for at least 2 hours a day. Plus I was cranky with PMS but didn't know it. Poor Milord didn't know what to do - he's not seen PMS in me before!

It's starting to rain heavily now, and the thunder is almost overhead. The cat is not amused - she hates thunderstorms! A good day to stay in bed I say ;-).

Best Friends

The last company I worked at in the UK was part of a massive US conglomerate, and periodically we would have to fill out a survey on our working conditions which management used to determine the morale or something... There was always one question which had to be clearly explained before we could begin: "Do you have a best friend at work?"

In the UK a best friend is someone you'd walk through fire for, spend holidays with and ask to your wedding. Not many of us work with someone like that! So we'd all answer "No" and our company morale would look bad! It seems the definition of best friend in the US is just someone you can gossip with and maybe vent about your boyfriend from time to time... once this was explained our stats looked much better!

I am lucky enough to have a few best friends (UK version). One has known me forever (hi Mom!). One transitioned from "friend of boyfriend" to "my friend" as we both moved from Cape Town to London in the same week (hi Tara!). One bought a house around the corner and travelled Europe with me (hi Kat). And one is simply my best friend in all the world (hi Shane). I also have a number of very good friends who I'm not going to list here (if you got a wedding invite you know who you are!).

Shane was here last weekend. Sadly a very flying visit as she and her husband are not so much on holiday as a on a fact finding mission to see if they want to emigrate to Australia. I had her for a day and a half - and you'd swear we'd been apart a week not however long it's been! It's so nice being around someone who has so much history with you. Shane's known me since I was 17... and she knows the good and the bad and doesn't judge me.

When I left school I wanted to be a graphic designer, so I went to the local technikon to study art. My class had about 30 people and I remember noticing this tall, beautiful, glamorous and perfectly groomed girl among us. I hated her on sight. A day or so later I ended up next to her in pottery class - and by the end of the lesson I had made a friend for life! These days Shane runs her own graphic design company from home, has two little girls and a lovely husband, and is still tall, beautiful, glamorous and perfectly groomed. I'd probably hate her on sight if I met her today! Dunno why she's hanging with the short, scruffy rude girl... lol.

I ended up dropping out of the course, leaving her city a year later, then her country 5 years after that, and her timezone a couple of years ago, but we've never lost touch and we see each other when we can. Shane knows I'm a cat person, she tells stories about the sandwiches I used to make for us after class, she remembers weeding my mom's lawn in the winter sun, and having frozen jelly tots on ice cream cones... I took her on a London open-top bus in freezing weather, I held her baby when she had her ears pierced for the first time at 32, and we used a picnic blanket as a makeshift rain umbrella in a park last year - sitting under it drinking champagne and gossiping.

God I miss my best friends.

Spinster?

While I was on BlogHer I came across this article too about modern spinsters...

Just a quick note from my perspective - when I was filling out a questionaire for my wedding planner there was an entry marked "Divorced/Spinster?". I looked at it for a long time then wrote "never married"...

Quote Me Happy

Hey I'm famous!

I've just noticed that a BlogHer blogger has quoted me in an article called "What Draws People to You". It's kind of about how we learn to accept ourselves as we grow up into our own skin... I had been wondering why I had a couple of search hits on "comfortable with myself" ;-).

I have a good friend who makes me happy to be myself... that came out wrong. What I mean is that the other day she was complaining about herself and I said "Ok, name me one thing about yourself that you like!". She had nothing. Nothing! This is someone I consider highly intelligent, educated, travelled, adventurous, loving, fit and sexy. She's doing well in her career and is in a solid relationship... this is not that poor fat woman on Australia's Biggest Loser the other day who had nothing nice to say about herself, but rather someone you'd cross the road to meet. How is it possible that she doesn't like one single thing? I started listing her assets for her and she shot each one down, refusing to accept a single compliment. Gawd, how sad to be so uncomfortable in your own skin - it must be like being 13 every day of your life.

I was reading a post the other day on my blogroll - I'm not sure who but it might have been Ms Grumpy - where the blogger dismissed every compliment about her home until her guest stopped giving them. Why is it so hard sometimes to just say "Thanks" when somebody has good things to say about us and our achievements?

Boy Logic

A bit of a slow start today... Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Milord and I celebrated by cooking each other dinner. I made the starter of Scallops with Pancetta and Sage on salad leaves, and Milord made the main of Beef Wellington with Horseradish Potato Cakes. It all turned out lovely and we had fun watching each other cook.

We shared a bottle of champagne while cooking, then moved on to red and white wine with the meal (I don't handle red well so avoid it). Milord started on white wine when he finished the red of course... We ended up having one of those deep and meaningful conversations, finally resolved at 1 in the morning after a bit of a rollercoaster. Ugh, first one of those this year and I hadn't missed it, but I suppose it was good to clear the air!

You know what sparked it? Milord had put a floating candle in the centre of the dining table and mentioned that he'd looked for a flower or two to float with it but we don't have any right now. I answered that this was because he doesn't "do" flowers since I dumped a bouquet on the floor 2 years ago after a fight, and that the way he carries a grudge was a bit wierd, and when was he going to let the damn thing go anyway...

What flummoxed me then was that he said he wished I'd asked him for flowers yesterday, because he'd seen all the other men carrying home bunches of roses and he wanted to bring me some, but he couldn't unless I asked for them... Now why on earth would I ask for flowers when for 2 years he has absolutely refused to bring me so much as a daisy?! Boys! I don't understand how they think.

(He ended up raiding the neighbour's garden at midnight drunk as a lord to get me a flower - I guess we're over the grudge!)

Boring

I feel boring and bleah.

I can't think of anything to post about that doesn't involve weddings, weight or the fact that it hasn't stopped raining all week. How dull is that?

Today was looOoong. Milord and I went out for our montheversary last night to a local Lebanese restaurant which was not good. I've had great Lebanese before so it's not the style, this place was just blah. We got out of there as fast as we could then blobbed on the couch drinking another bottle of wine before lumping off to bed, and both woke up cranky and hungover.

Ugh. So of course I ate junk food and now I have the guilts. I skipped the gym, I'm not walking home and I am utterly uninspired about dinner. And it's going to rain all weekend.

sigh

Latest Photos

Yes, third post of the day - I'm bored!

Here's some pics from the wedding I went to the other day. My dress is not black, it's blue with a black lace overdress - at night the flash lights it up. I got rained on and my hair was driving me nuts!


I never think of myself as tall, because in South Africa I'm not, but in other parts of the world I am. Wierd. The bride looks a little silly in this shot, but it's the only good one of me (sorry Gillian!).


And here's Milord and me looking cute ;-).

Edit: I need to photoshop this to get rid of the creepy guy in the background...

Flying High

Milord took me flying on Saturday. He has a light-aeroplane license and we go for a fly every few months to keep his hours up. I quite enjoy it, although landings terrify me!

This time he said he wanted to go somewhere new and chose Moruya, about an hour and half's flight south of Sydney. We packed a couple of bacon sandwiches and a bottle of water and set off around 10am. It was a very hot day, but once we were underway with air vents blowing it was ok. We headed to the coast, passed Bondi beach, and followed the coastline southwards. It's a lovely flight along cliffs and beaches, and you can really see how underpopulated the country is! Nothing but bush once you get away from the city...

Bondi from the air

Unfortunately, as we got close to our destination we ran into cloud. We climbed above it and carried on going, but at Moruya the cloud was unbroken as far as we could see. You can't descend into cloud in a light aircraft... So we had to abandon our plans and head for home.

We were a bit low on fuel so decided to land at the first airfield along the way - Goulburn. (note to self - never go to Goulburn!) The place is truely the middle of nowhere - hot and dusty and swarming with flies - kind of stereotypical Australia! We had the scariest landing ever coming in too... as we touched down a gust of crosswind threw us to the left on one wheel and I thought we were about to cartwheel off into the grass and explode in a fireball. Luckily Milord got us down ok but I think I lost 10 years off my life! And then they didn't have fuel after all - bastards. We sat in an aircraft hangar and ate our sandwiches, then climbed back into the hot plane and took off again.

Eventually we got back to the start point, exhausted, hot and bothered and scarily low on fuel. What a relief! We got into our air conditioned car and I started talking about a shower and a nap... at which point Milord suggested we go to the beach. I thought this was a bit odd as he's not really a beach person, but agreed and we went to find some sand and sea.

We went to Bondi beach which was heaving with people. I'd assumed we were just going for a paddle as all I had was shorts and a t-shirt on, but then Milord produced a picnic blanket, towels, and my bikini! I was startled and very impressed! He'd packed our beach gear as a surprise, because Moruya airfield is right on a beach and he'd hoped to swim and picnic there. We had a swim which was lovely and then lay on the towels watching the people...

Bondi from the ground

And then, Milord said he'd hoped to do this on a secluded private beach, but anyway... would I marry him? He'd even fashioned a ring out of tin foil! Of course I said yes!

I am so very very happy!

At first glance that looks like a huge rock doesn't it?!

Belated Resolutions

I'm not much of a one for New Year's resolutions - but after a bit of pondering I've come up with a few goals and changes to aim for this year.

Goals:
1. Buy a house.
2. Change jobs.
3. Start a family.

Changes:
1. Save more water - turn off the shower when I shave my legs. doing it
2. Recycle more - rinse and recycle tins in addition to the paper, glass and plastic we already recycle. doing it
3. Stop expecting Milord to propose - it's making me cranky. having trouble with this one
4. Attempt to live on one salary so that when the babies come it won't be such a shock. having trouble with this one too - we live too well!

That's about it - all quite achievable. In fact, I have some exciting news - I've just given notice on my current job! In 5 weeks time I will be looking for something new, hopefully more interesting and maybe for more money... sweet.

Note that I don't list weight stuff in my resolutions... I intend to merely carry on doing what works in that department.

Sun Dreaming

A lot of the blogs I read are in the Northern hemisphere. I've just come from Alice's and she's talking about being snuggled up in bed with her cat while the icy winter wind howls outside.

So I thought I'd share some sunshine shots of my back yard, taken a month or so ago on a lovely day. Not sure where Milord was - playing golf probably - but I was sitting outside with the weekend papers and a glass of wine and thought I'd capture the mood.

Here's the back yard. That's the gas barbeque on the right, and you can just make out the huge shed at the back. We have a scrap of lawn but don't use it because it's too shady and full of ants. Instead we live under a big leafy tree just outside the back door...


You can just make out the cat to the left too... she was loving the sun. I got down on the bricks and managed to get a close up - not easy because she's a cranky old thing and hates it when you get close.


And finally - Milord's bonsai collection, located just past the barbeque (actually they have now been moved around the corner into the shade because it's too hot, but back in late November they were in full sun). He's been collecting these for years and has a lot of fun pruning them from time to time. In our group of friends bonsais are known as F.U.L.T's (F***ed Up Little Tree's). They're not really my thing, but he likes them. Luckily they need very little attention!


There you go - a little sunshine to make your day!

Second Anniversary!

Today is the second anniversary of my arriving in Oz to stay, and of moving in with Milord. Funny to think that just two years ago I was on my way to Sydney with just what I could carry and a tummy full of butterflies!

I won't deny that my first couple of months were perfectly miserable as I came to terms with a new land, new town, new man and jobhunting. I suffered from insomnia caused by stress and his snoring so I was tired and cranky and lonely and it wouldn't stop raining so every day was a bad-hair-day! Milord was in the throes of a divorce and had a heap of emotional baggage to work through... And "Aussie English" is different enough to "Saffa English" to cause some major mis-communications over the most trivial things!

Even at our worst I always knew he was "The One" for me though, and I stuck with it because I knew that underneath the baggage was the bloke I'd crossed the world for. I found my feet, got used to the snoring, learned to translate Aussie, found a job, got my visa, and we began to pull in the same direction. Since then we've only improved, and I can honestly say that the past year has been brilliant relationship-wise (and Milord had his snoring fixed - whoohoo). We have big plans this year including buying a house and starting a family. We might wed, although Milord is still a bit gun-shy since his divorce so who knows!

On the subject of marriage - this past Saturday friends of ours got married. They are Irish living in Sydney, so a mob of friends and family came out from Ireland for it and they also invited many new friends from here. They hired a farmstay property down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere as the venue, two and half hours drive from Sydney. It turned out pretty well, as the party carried on until nearly dawn but we didn't disturb anyone else.

Unfortunately the day was really wet, but we managed to get everything under cover and it didn't affect the spirit of the day - in fact it was a good thing as it kept the flies away during the vows (note to self, farm=flies)! It was a lovely ceremony, the bride was radiant, and we had a brilliant party afterwards. A lot of folk were camping including us, so that was interesting in the rain and mud!

I went to bed at 2am, and Milord followed at 4am. We slept surprisingly well but were woken by the chickens and roosters at 8am. We got up in the rain, rolled up the tent and were headed home by 9am. Once home we showered and went back to bed for a couple of hours, then had a lazy afternoon washing muddy clothes and bedding while sipping wine and reading books and newspapers.

A lovely weekend, but we're still a bit tired today. We will be going out for dinner somewhere near home tonight, but as we're tired and broke it won't be terribly flashy.

PS. I fitted back into a dress I hadn't worn in a over year for the wedding, and I got a lot of compliments! I cheated a little with control-top knickers, but that's allowed eh? Hopefully someone will have taken a decent photo that I can post soon ;-)

Happy New Year!

Here we are at the start of a new year. I have a very good feeling about this one!

It was a very busy and very social festive week-and-a-bit. We threw a barbeque for 25 people on Xmas eve, went over to a friend's the next day for a late Xmas dinner which carried on into the early hours, travelled up the coast for a night so that milord could play golf with his cousins, then went a couple of hours towards Canberra for two nights over New Year's to stay with friends where we lived on champagne and cold ham and I had more than my fill of small children.

I am utterly exhausted, broke, back at work, and looking forward to a couple of days detox before a good friend's wedding on Saturday. She's Irish, so has hired a property out in the bush so that the party can continue all night and into the next day. We're going to be camping, which is interesting... I have never pitched a tent in dress and heels before!

Here's a shot of my first ever Xmas tree... I have to get myself a decent tripod - I really don't suit being viewed from knee-height! Milord turned out ok though, maybe because he's squatting down. Isn't that the cutest tree ever? The presents totally dwarf it. Most of those are for me too har har...



Milord got me several excellent books for xmas, as well as quite a bit of very good sports gear. I got the giggles after the third jogging/gym item and asked if he was trying to tell me something! It's all stuff I had hinted madly about, and I'm very chuffed. Almost everything I got him was along a photograph theme... I got hold of some lovely old wedding photos of his parents and framed them, and framed some fun pictures of us diving, flying and looking generally good. I also managed to collect pictures of all the children of his friends and family around the world and made them into a calendar, because Rob loves children and adores those of his mates - he's godfather to several! He was very pleased.

We also scored spice pots and cookbooks from friends, which was nice. And some less nice wierd knicknacks and chunky jewelery... that I don't wear. These folk have seen me around for nearly two years and I never wear more than a delicate chain or tiny earrings, and they keep giving me huge beady stuff. Must be an Aussie thing. Ah well, better than the big lavender gift pack and Sydney harbour placemats I got last year and still can't get rid of! Some of the naffer stuff might find its way to the charity shop soon I reckon.

The weather over Xmas was cool and wet and over New Years it was lovely and hot at last... very pleasant.

And weight-wise? Well, I was trying to be good most of the time! I managed to get to the gym a couple of times over the holiday, and on non-party days we stuck to salads where possible. I hopped on the scale between Xmas and New Years and it said I hadn't gained so that was fantastic! I haven't braved the scale since my champagne and ham marathon though. What is it with Aussies and cold ham after Xmas? I don't even like the stuff that much but that's all there was for several days... I snuck out to the village for a salad lunch and a bag of apples on New Years Eve-day because I was sick of bread and ham and cheese. Bleah.

Today I am on fruit only, and loving it. I have discovered sun-dried tomatoes as a snack too - they are kind of savoury so hit the spot. Obviously not the ones in oil though! So if tomatoes are point-free on Weightwatchers, are the dried ones free too? I can't seem to find non-oily dried tomatoes on the site to check... what do you think?

Xmas Time!

This is my last day at work until the new year. I may post from home, but our plans are pretty hectic so I might not get a chance... So I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday and festive season.

Spend it with your family if you can - I really really miss mine right now. But I have wonderful friends and a loving man looking after me so that's ok ;-).

Lizzie

On the weekend I was changing the sheets on my bed when a tiny baby lizard appeared on the mattress. Where he came from I have no idea, as we have bug screens on the bedroom window and he can't have got in that way. I managed to catch him easily and took him outside...



Hopefully he'll have good long life catching our zillions of mosquitoes!

I can't see a lizard without thinking of Ms Grumpy Chair and her lizard phobia. I guess I'm lucky that in general bugs and reptiles don't worry me (unless they're huge or lethal anyway). I've made a number of friends here who are English and Irish ex-pats, and they just can't deal with critters. That's in central Sydney too - heaven knows what they'd be like in the bush!

I don't like Mondays

*yawn*

I'm shattered today. I really hate it when I start the week tired, because then I never seem able to catch up on sleep and the week drags slower and slower.

It was a fairly excessive weekend. Friday was our 23rd montheversary (nearly 2 years woohoo!), and milord took me out to an excellent restaurant. They were a bit overwhelmed with huge tables indoors, but we were able to sit out on the terrace away from the noise and bustle. Service was patchy, but we were in no hurry and when the food finally did arrive it was worth the wait. I had the best braised duck ever, and milord's steak was superb... We shared a bottle of very good sauvignon blanc with our starters (marinaded anchovies for me, and tuna carpaccio for him), and a lovely cabernet sauvignon with the mains. We got home around midnight and sat up watching a bit a dvd with a nightcap until very late... that may have been a mistake!

On Saturday milord was off on a stag weekend, so I dropped him at our friend's house then wandered back home for a late breakfast. I cleaned and tidied the house and then Lucy and her kids arrived. Lucy and Peter and the kids were staying over that night as they were going to a party nearby. We shared a bottle of champagne, and then I headed into town to meet up with the other halves of the stag party for a girl's night out. I got home around 1am, a bit worse for wear, and shared my bed with a 5 year old girl... she was very quiet luckily!

Sunday was an early start, as kids don't respect hangovers! We blobbed around with coffee for a while, and then they all took me out to brunch before heading home. I had the house to myself from about midday, and this is how I spent the afternoon:



On the couch.

It was a hot muggy day, and a storm passed through at about 3pm. I read the newspapers and my book, I painted my nails, I did several loads of laundry, and I made a pot of vegetable soup to feed milord if and when he came home... It seems the stag party was doing a bit of a pub crawl nearby. Every so often I'd get a phone call and the quality thereof steadily deteriorated through the afternoon! Milord finally stumbled in after dark, as trollied as I've ever seen him, inhaled a bowl of soup and crashed off to bed. I watched a dvd, finished another bottle of wine, and put myself to bed in the spare room at about 10pm.

Sleeping in that room gives me wierd dreams - I don't know why. Perhaps it is because the windows face the road and all the noises are different. I woke up tired and blah. I definitely feel better than milord though! I took him coffee in bed and had a chat, and he was just about out of bed when I left for work - I hear several others from the stag party have called in sick!

I think an early night is called for tonight ;-)

A Tad Blue

Sigh. I'm feeling blue today...

You know, I've changed countries a couple of times now, and occasionally it has its hard moments. I often get asked "Don't you miss South Africa / the UK?" and my answer is always "No. But I do miss my friends and family there."

I've been in Australia almost 2 years, I have a loving boyfriend and a couple of close mates... but no one here has known me for very long. No one here has seen me through a breakup, job change, house move or even a bad cold. I don't have a history with anyone - all our stories are less than 2 years old. We don't say "Do you remember the time when - " because of course we do, it happened only the other day.

Last night Milord and I had dinner with a couple of his old friends. Their friendship goes back many years: they have been on long holidays together, been to each other's weddings, helped one another through relationships and divorces and job changes and house moves and children. They have history. After a few bottles of wine they began to reminisce about things, and I kept having to say "Wait, tell me the whole story, I wasn't there...". Eventually I merely sat quietly, unable to join in or even follow the flow of conversation. I stopped listening.

I finally wandered off for a glass of water and went into the lounge room and sat on the sofa in the dark... missing my people. I went all tired and emotional, and luckily after a while Milord noticed and took me home. I'm still a bit down today.

I'll be ok - I've been through this before. Eventually I will have been in my new country long enough to create a history, and I will be able to say "Remember when" to someone.

But I miss you guys so much right now.

Port Douglas

It appears I have forgotten to blog about Port Douglas. I was fiddling with my photos and never quite got around to it!

So, Kat and Paul had spent a couple of days in the Hunter Valley and Blue Mountains, and came back to Sydney on the evening of Thursday 11th October. On the Friday they did the Harbour Bridge climb and some other sightseeing, then met me in the bar of the Shangri La hotel overlooking the city and harbour after work. The bar is on the 36th floor and the view is amazing! After a couple of cocktails there Milord joined us and we went to dinner at Cafe Sydney, my favourite restaurant in town. It's on the 5th floor of the old customs house, and we sat outside on the balcony - this was the view from our table:


On Saturday Kat and Paul went sightseeing in town while Milord and I caught up on paperwork, then we all went for lunch in Watsons Bay - a very pretty beach looking back at the city. We had lunch at Doyles, a famous seafood restaurant right on the beach. Milord and I shared the seafood paella which was awesome! Several bottles of wine and a pub crawl later we caught a ferry home at sunset, then went out to dinner with other friends as well... I didn't last very long that evening, but Milord carried on until 2 in the morning and was not very well the next day!


We flew to Cairns on Sunday afternoon, picked up a hire car and drove an hour north to Port Douglas. Kat had chosen a very nice self catering apartment within 10 minutes walk of everything including shops, beach and marina. We dropped our bags and went exploring - ending up in a very nice restaurant for dinner, then had an early night as we would be starting early the next day.

On Monday we did a safari in the Daintree Rainforest with one other couple. We saw lizards and ferns and cycads and aerial plants... it rained all over us several times too - guess that's why they call it a rainforest! We were on the go from 7am to 5pm, with a stop for morning tea and a very nice lunch. We also went for a ride on a "crocodile boat" along the Daintree River, but didn't see any crocs among the mangroves. Apparently that means they're off lurking in the sea... nice. We walked on the beach at Cape Tribulation, and also took a walk to a high waterfall through some lovely ferns and trees. Turns out the bugs in the forest like me just as much as their town counterparts - next time I'll cover myself in repellent!


On Tuesday we went on a 4-story boat cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. The boat goes to a permanent platform which has underwater viewing rooms, semi submersable trips and lots of safe snorkeling. Rob and I didn't see much of this, as we'd signed up for 2 dives so spent most of the day on the dive boeat instead! It was pretty good diving - probably our best in Oz so far - but not a patch on the Red Sea. Kat and Paul looked at the fishies while staying dry, and we met up for the trip back to land again in the afternoon.


Wednesday Kat and Paul snuck out of the apartment early to walk on the beach and lie by the pool. We didn't realise and spent hours whispering and tiptoeing around waiting for them to wake up! We only realised what they'd done once we had crept out leaving a note in search of breakfast and found them by the pool! We'd made plans to visit an old mate of Milord's, Adrian, for the afternoon and night, so after leaving Kat and Paul by the pool and a lovely brunch on the beach Adrian picked us up and took us back to his place in nearby Wonga Beach.

It was a very interesting afternoon. Adrian has sort of dropped out of the rat race and is a hippy handyman. He has built his own beach house using construction site cast offs and pieces from Thailand and Bali... very funky. While we sat on cushions in the garden various friends and neighbours dropped by, and it turned into an impromptu party. I wandered off to bed around midnight, and Milord wasn't far behind... Thursday was a slow start, and then Adrian drove us back to Port Douglas and the three of us went for brunch overlooking the marina. Kat and Paul had gone off to the Kuranda Sky Rail, so Milord and I spent the rest of the day by the pool, resting.


Thursday night was our last night and we booked into Nautilus - a swanky restaurant tucked away in a grove of coconut palms and open to the elements. That was actually kind of annoying, as the only light was candles and they kept blowing out! The food and wine were superb though. We were the last diners to leave.


I really enjoyed Port Douglas, and I will definitely go back. They say it's too hot and too wet in summer, but it is an excellent winter/spring destination.

We flew home on Friday, and had a quiet night in. Milord cooked us his famous lamb curry and we copied photos from cameras and burned them to dvd. Kat and Paul picked up a hire car on Saturday morning and headed south for the next week, all the way to Melbourne. Sounds like a fab trip and I look forward to hearing all about it!

Happy Halloween

Ooh look - it's Halloween! We don't take any notice of it in Australia, so nobody is throwing a party or organising trick-or-treating... The Christmas decorations are up already though, which is a bit disturbing! The good thing about us not noting Halloween has got to be not buying bags of sweets for the trick-or-treaters! I always succumbed at some point in the evening and raided the bowl!

Milord and I went to a Halloween party last year, so here's the pic from that:



A moment ago a girl dressed as a pumpkin came past and handed out chocolates - so I guess we take a little notice after all! Mmm my first chocolate in weeks, very very good...

Life after the juice fast continues ok. We were very good (for us) over the weekend: we only ate seafood and avoided our usual downfall - potato chips. We had a bit of wine, but are such lightweights after a week off the demon drink that it completely floored us! Cheap date, me.

This week we are mostly off the booze, we're doing a fair bit of exercise (I walk home when I can and milord cycles to and from work), and we've cut our evening meal down to a small snack. I've lost another half kilo (71.1kg today), and milord's lost even more. I am almost a third of the way to goal! Gotta hang on in there, even though it's getting boring.
;-)

Tonight we're out with friends so we'll be falling off the wagon a bit. I will be taking it veeerrry easy, as I could get plastered and fall over on half a bottle of wine if the weekend is anything to go by! I'll be having a proper dinner too, as I can't drink on an empty stomach... it always comes back to booze doesn't it? What a shame I enjoy it so much!

Friends like these

What is it with some people that they are determined to undermine your resolve? Dieting or teetotal or detox is hard enough without someone contantly chipping at your willpower.

I have a very good friend who I like enormously and I know she'd do anything for me if I needed it, but she's the very devil when it comes to my eating patterns. When I stop drinking alcohol she tempts me with "just one glass" and tells me I'm boring sober. When I'm sticking to Weight Watchers she offers me "just one slice of cake" - not once but repeatedly. When I'm detoxing she goes on about "eating disorders". I see her doing it to another friend who's also trying to lose weight - "go on, you deserve it" and so on.

The fact that she's a skinny petite minx who not only can eat constantly, but in fact has to or else she goes peculiar doesn't help. In my darker moods I wonder if she likes us plump so that she is the "hot" one in the group. And she is a hottie and wears lovely skin-tight outfits without making them look slutty. I'm about a head taller than her too, and don't I feel like the Incredible Hulk standing next to her sometimes?!

Ok, rant over.

I am 48 hours into my Juice Fast. It's going so well I'm going to go for another day and see how I feel then! My headache is gone and I have a lot more energy than I did the past 2 days.

Yesterday I had celery, apple, carrot and ginger juice for breakfast, orange juice for lunch, and miso soup for dinner. In between I had over a litre (2 pints) of lemonade made with lemons, limes and maple syrup, and few cups of herbal tea with honey. I also drank 2 litres (4 pints) of water. I was sloshing, I tell you! I put my intake through the Weight Watchers points calculator and came up with 17 points - which is what I generally eat anyway - so my nutrients are right up there. Milord and I also take a daily multi vitamin and a fish oil capsule, so I'm not missing anything.

Today I'll be having the same, except I'm cutting back on the ratio of maple syrup in my lemonade as it was too sweet.

I've lost a little more weight, which I'm chuffed about - now at 71.9kg, my lowest in quite some time! Milord is continuing to skip big dinners although he joins me for the miso soup. He's lost a bit of weight too ;-).

Side effects now: Very wierd dreams... I seem to be spending a lot more time in REM sleep because my body is not trying to cope with heavy food or alcohol. Possible constipation although I don't feel bloated.