Got my job

Got my job - yippee!! An OK payrise, no more people working for me and a promotion. How cool is that? Start date Jan 1st.

I'm sooooooo happy!

Boobs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=497224&in_page_id=1879

I can honestly say that I don't think my boobs have this appeal.......

I'm back

Did you miss me? Did you wonder where on earth I'd gone? Well.... I went to England for a week. As it was a surprise for my parents I couldn't blog that I was going. needless to say I got really worried about eating crap and not exercising. I had lost 12lb, now it's only 10lb. Not so bad considering I spent 9 days eating all the stuff I can't get at home and hardly any exercise.

Had a great time catching up with family and friends. Didn't get to see everyone but did have a lot of fun with those I did see. Thankfully I didn't get sick either - and given the number of sick people I was with that is an out and out miracle.

On the eating front I didn't do too badly. I kept to the diet on the whole although there were a few meals I just blew it (like at my favourite Thai I ate noodles with my chicken....how could I not?) but there were others where I could be choosy. Tim even tried to start dieting with me....so we'll see.

I had every intention of blogging while I was away, but it just didn't seem to work out that way. Too busy doing not a lot.

I was really good when I got home - same day, straight to a spin class and then with the trainer yesterday. It's always good to get back to it. While I never feel the urge to exercise when in England I always feel like a million dollars when I get back into it. Maybe it's good to give the ol' body a rest once in a while.

So, I'm going back to trying to post daily. Penny, you need to get into the habit too. I just figured out how to email blog posts so hopefully I'll be able to blog from my Blackberry.....now there is dedication, right??

Oh C'mon

Now people....it's the holiday season. Regardless of your faith, we're all used to seeing Father Christmas in stores, right?

How silly does it get?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_asia_afp/lifestyleaustraliachristmasoffbeat

Positive thinking

I've been pondering this for some time. Did I teach myself to think positive in any situation or is it part of my make-up?

I'm thinking primarily about work, of course. When things don't go well or as I wanted I think about what I could have done differently to influence a different outcome. While I might think others didn't behave appropriately or unhelpful I do naturally turn back to myself and wonder what I could have done.

If I have a project to complete I always have a "what do we need to do to get it done?" rather than a "we can't do it because...".

Is this just me? Why am I surrounded by people who bitch and complain about every little thing and never ever ever take accountability for their own actions?

I know things and people are difficult but isn't it a waste of time and a complete demotivator if all you do this think about how unfair life is or how awful the situation is? Wouldn't it be better to channel that energy into the positive?

I think so. I'm still baffled as to why I always have a positive attitude. I'm racking my brains to figure out if I learnt it somewhere, but I can't remember where.

I'm worked/am friends with lots of my readers......what do you think?

See? It works

OK, so the moment I start blogging away about what I eat I lose weight. Works for me.

It was a long day yesterday and I didn't feel I had a lot of energy. That said, I made it through the gym OK.

Food:
9am breakfast - cereal and milk
11am snack - handful of almonds
1pm lunch - turkey meatloaf and green beans
3pm snack - handful of almonds
4.30pm snack - apple, peach and blueberry smoothie
7.30pm dinner - veggies in peanut sauce, sugar free jello

Gym - 20mins stair master, 1 hour weight training with Billy.

I've now lost 12.2lb. Pretty good for 6 weeks I think. Yeah!! Let's hope through the holidays I can keep this off.

Is Target that stupid?

Ok, a quick rant here. I bought a new shower curtain a couple of months ago from Target - it was pretty boring and plain white but it did the job of hiding the liner pretty well. This past weekend I decided to wash both the liner and the curtain.

WHO THE HELL MAKES A SHOWER CURTAIN THAT IS DRY CLEAN ONLY?

Needless to say I was back at the store buying a replacement last night as it had shrunk by 30%. I didn't even look at the label - as I assumed as it was so near water every day that it'd be at home in a washing machine. How wrong I was.

Needless to say my new one I can sling in the washing machine. Rant over.

Back to food

OK, so I tried a week without posting what I ate and what happened? I snuck a chocolate bar, or some other bad for me thing. So as of today, I'm back to being honest about what I eat. I can't believe that I have to resort to a blog, but hey, if that's what it takes then that's what I'll do.

On Saturday morning the biggest sin of all - I ate a bacon and egg roll. It was cooked relatively healthy, but on this protein vs. carb diet it's completely off limits (no bread and meat together). I have to say i felt like crap so I'm back on the diet now.

Yesterday's eating
9.00am breakfast - turkey and spinach omelet
11am snack - handful of almonds
1.30pm lunch - yogurt and banana
4pm snack - more almonds
6pm snack - banana, peach, blueberry smoothie plus a Crunchie (aka chocolate bar)
8pm dinner - left over thai food (just meat and veggie, no rice)

Gym - 10min stair master, 45 min spin class

The smoothie was a really good way of getting lots of energy. I didn't feel tired at all at the gym and couldn't continued. I'm working out with Billy tonight and if I still have that energy then I'll probably stay for another spin class tonight.

On the plus side, the job thing is starting up. I'm smarting up my resume now, so hopefully this will work out.

An Ikea geek moment

So you all know I'm a geek. You also know I love Ikea. I sent our duvet (comforter) to the cleaners and it came back queen size rather than king. So, given I live 15 mins from Ikea I decided the best course of action was early in the day drag Trev along and we'd choose our new duvet. Yeah!

That was the easy part and we had a duvet chosen in a few minutes. On a side note, did you know you can buy a duvet there now for under $10 for a full, $12 for a queen and about $14 for a king. They were crap I might add....but even so...

Ok, back to the story. We still managed to drop $500....which is usual for an Ikea visit, right? Got a new rug, some cheap kitchen stuff which is always useful, our duvet, a new duvet cover, wrapping paper etc etc. So.....the coolest thing we bought were new lamps.

Now that doesn't sound geeky, does it? But it is. These lamps you plug in. Then to turn on you touch the stem, same to turn it off. That was good...right? Here's the coolest thing. To dim it, you hold on to it.... now they weren't cheap. But they are coolio.

OK I'm done - geek moment over.

Pics as promised

OK, so now I've figured out how to embed an album from Picasa photos there's no stopping me. Here are pics from The Police concert, my friend Heather's NYC Marathon and the celebration drinks the day after.

The Police



Heather's NYC Marathon



Celebration Drinks

Nick's 30th Birthday

We had a great time out with our neighbours on Friday night - it was Nick's 30th birthday. He felt so old poor boy - as I said to him, life is great the older you get.

A first

This is a work story. Part of my job, especially with so many people working for me, is to give feedback - good and bad. Usually if it's giving constructive feedback (ie criticism) I think carefully about it, the person and it ends up well. I have an individual on my team who just thinks he's "The Man"....walks around and talks to people like he's a really really bad CEO. No-one likes working with him and he just thinks he's fantastic. While he does deliver outstanding work to our clients he lets his behaviour negate all that good work. Well, this week he erupted loudly on our floor at his account manager.....needless to say this didn't go unnoticed and i've spent 3 days dealing with "he needs to be fired" to HR proceedings to counselling to dealing w/my boss.

I have never delivered feedback like I did to him. Usually when you talk to someone, ask questions they know what they've done and they can work through fixing it. This guy is something else. he got roasted by his major account manager and then called me in a room. He started blaming lots of other people....and then he aske dfor my feedback. I asked him if he wanted me to give it to him straight. He said yes. So I did. Right between the eyeballs. I have never done it quite like that before.

It was quite cathartic. Saying EXACTLY what is on your mind is I guess. I have never seen him speechless, or humbled. I'm hoping this is the start of a positive change in this individual. He has a lot to offer the company and if we can turn him around he'll be very successful. Here's hoping.

We're off out with our neighbours tonight, so headaches all around tomorrow!

Oh yeah, and I'm still at 10lb loss....so very excited. 3 people in the gym have now noticed this week, so I'm really encouraged. Yeah for a thin me:)

They're kidding, right?

OK, so I read the title and was thinking positively. I thought it sounded good "how to get healthier in the office". I'm always looking for ways to get healthy so I clicked on the link

http://food.yahoo.com/articles/eatingwell/20863/7-great-ideas-for-a-healthier-workplace

All I can say is...."oh yeah, right in the middle of Times Square, let me bring in a farmer". What planet are these people on?

Did u notice?

The weight loss ticker - I hit the 10lb mark. Yippeeeeeeee for me!

Vent

OK, so it's late. I didn't pay my car insurance - boo flipping hoo. Blinking Geico shut me out of my online account so I had to call. No biggie thought I - I'll call, give a credit card # and then we'll all be fine and dandy.

What is it with these flipping people that they think the best customer service is a voice recognition system THAT DOESN'T RECOGNIZE ANYTHING. Blinking idiots.

Now I'm mad and agitated just before trying to sleep. Perfect.

A mega update

OK ok, I've been gone. Can you believe it's Weds night already and I've not updated since last week. Catch here updates on everything from dieting to The Police concert to my friend Heather finished the NYC marathon. Isn't it amazing that when you get out of the blogging habit, a week flies by. I'm endeavouring to get back to each day again.

Dieting - I'm not doing too bad. I've lost 9.5lb since Oct 1st so I think that's not bad. I'm definitely in the groove for protein, carb, protein, carb etc. I always cheat for sushi, but then that's not bad. I really can't be arsed to keep writing what I eat - my brain never remembers anyway.

Exercise - I have a schedule, I work out a lot, I can see changes although I'm missing pilates classes. I do this usually in a week: 2 (or 3) spin classes, 2 weight training sessions, 1 hour of cardio on stair master and then maybe a class or 2. I don't think that's bad at all - and hopefully with the diet will result in a few dress sizes lost by the new year. Here's hoping.

The Police. OMG it was FANTASTIC. They were brilliant. We had awesome seats and they did a good show. I have a story about getting to Atlantic City....thanks to our GPS system. Anyhow what we didn't realize was that our GPS system in the car was set to "avoid toll roads". Now I have to say I know it's an easy drive and I also knew within about 20 minutes that it was doing something funky. When it took us off the highway and drove us to Staten Island, NY I thought it was odd....even more weird when it put us back over to NJ about 10 minutes later on to the original highway. To cut a long story short we took the scenic route....and instead of taking under 2 hours, it took 3.5. I was not too happy. The worst bit? A husband who wouldn't admit it was all weird until we finally got to AC. When I took over the driving and I got onto the "Atlantic City Expressway" (a big hint eh?) I ignored the GPS when it wanted to take me off. We were in our hotel in under 20 minutes. Sometimes it takes a woman to make it happen! Anyhow....on the way home we configured the system properly and it took under 2 hours. Good job as we had to be in NY for the marathon.

The NYC Marathon. I've never been to something like that before. Because we drove back from AC we couldn't watch from the 4 vantage points that had been agreed. So, we targeted point 4 in The Bronx. We timed it brilliantly - and I'm in such awe of these people. At that time we were at about mile 20 and they were still running. It was amazing. Then Heather ran past, stopped to say hi for a sec, swore blind she'd never do it again and ran off. We then got on the subway and hot-footed it to Central Park ready for the big finish. We only had to wait a few minutes and Heather shot past again with only 300 yards to go. While we had to shoot off before we saw her when she had got her medal (Trev was off to the airport) but it was still cool to see. One day later we were having a celebratory beer and she was talking about doing it again next year. Amazing eh?

In other news...

I'm one step closer to getting a different job. I'll probably stay in the same area, but looks like I'll have some kind of program manager role which will be great. I got the job description today so all that remains now is understand expectations and the most obvious - how much more moolah will I get. Watch this space for more info.

My boss. On the whole I like working for my boss. She's supportive, I enjoy the autonomy and I like what I do (most days). What's pissing me off right now is that she takes 3 hour lunch breaks at least 3-4 times a week. I wouldn't mind, but I don't even get out. That's what worries me about the new job - but I guess with none of the direct reports I'll have more time....right?

I do actually have pics to upload of The Police and the Marathon, but I'm having issues with blogger. The buttons aren't working. I'll post it when I get to work (as it'll probably work then).

OK that's enough rambling. I think I've done enough and now I'm off to watch telly.

How happy are you, really?

You Are Very Happy

Your life is totally together, and you enjoy every day. And you don't need a quiz to tell you that! You know how to find pleasure in the little things... And even when life isn't so great, you have a good sense of perspective.

How Happy Are You, Really?

Not bad for a Friday

Friday wasn't a bad day at all. I had lots to do at work, but managed to achieve a few things. I also met with a couple of friends for a drink and then went out for dinner with Trev. I even ate chocolate and did OK.

9am breakfast - cereal and milk
11.45 lunch - roast beef, carrots and asparagus
3pm snack - fruit rollup
4.30pm snack - popcorn and a gin and tonic
8pm dinner - sole with spinach, soda water
9.30 snack - Galaxy Minstrels (ie chocolate!!)

No gym

It was a good day. I saw the scales this morning finally go past a "zero" point so I'm really egged on now.

Yeah!

Oh yeah - celebrity sighting yesterday - John Oliver of the Daily Show jogged past me at 7.05am in Times Square.

What character are you?

A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.

Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.
Yoda is a is a character in the Star Wars universe.

More Yoda information is available at the Star Wars Databank.

Feeling better

One thing I like about being more healthy is that when you get a cold you recover quite quickly. I have to say that I didn't take any cold medicine yesterday although I did take some to make sure that I slept well, and while I've gravelly today (think 1900 voice) I don't feel so bad at all. I managed double-duty at the gym yesterday and eating was good.

8.15am breakfast - ham, spinach and cheese omelette
1.30pm lunch - sushi (tuna/cucumber roll, salmon/cucumber roll), 1 fruit rollout
4.45pm snack - 2 handfuls of almonds
6.45pm snack - banana, mango & blueberry smoothie
8.00pm dinner - sugar free jello, bag of mini cheddars

Gym - 20min walk, 5 min stairmaster, 1 hour training w/Billy, 45 min spin class

Wow! Not only did I eat pretty well but I did a huge amount of exercise - and felt good! I also have now lost 9lb in just over a month - not bad eh?

We're off to see The Police in Atlantic City this weekend so really looking forward to that.