The Eve of something exciting

2007 is hovering. I know it's going to be a good year. But before we launch head long into a new year, I want to steal a moment to reflect back on the events and happenings of my life during 2006. It was a year that was peppered with ups and downs, good and bad.

The most monumental of events were:

• Lap band surgery - July
• Rob accepting a contract in Kuwait – September
• My grandmother passing away – October
• Cancer scare (luekaemia & breast) but declared disease free – July to November (I couldn’t bring myself to write about this in my blog)
• Loss of 16.4kg after bulking up to 96.4kg
• Starting a new job (developing new service for the hospital) – August
• Job hunting for work in Kuwait & Middle East in general – September to December

Although this year and it’s events challenged me in ways I would never have expected, it’s reward was that I learnt a little more about myself. I have developed a small sense of peace about myself.

So, the idea of 2007 fills me with excitement and anticipation --- the year that will be. I don’t know what for … but I have a gut feeling it’s the right time for a lot of things to happen in my life!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YOU GORGEOUS FOLK!

It's over! Hallelujah!

*Groan*

Thank the Lord Christmas is over! You know that you’ve been indulging just a little too much when a tin of Cadbury’s Roses is cracked open and you instantly know which chocolates you like/want without even having to look at the little guide to what’s what!

Mind you, I didn’t really eat that much real food but I did manage to guts down a shite load of chocolate, cheese and red wine! For shame.

So, in the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas and the grand event itself, I put on a total of .4kg. Not great but I bloody well enjoyed it!

Here's some piccies of our cosy little Christmas day in London sans the snow!:

The Christmas tree and table setting looked gorgeous and made you want to break out with spontaneous carol singing!

Sandra standing proudly by her turkey that was sufficient to feed 7-10 people even though there were only 4 of us!

.... Any yet another shot of the bird

A little tipsy photo taking ... champagne and raspberries

The girls ... (L to R) Sandy, me and Sandra

Santa baby

I am soooo excited and heartbroken all at once. I am really looking forward to spending Christmas with my girlfriend, Sandra ... but at the same time I can't believe it's going to be yet another Christmas and New Year that Rob and I are apart. Sigh. So over it.

I'm heading to Sandra's tomorrow afternoon, as public transport ceases entirely all over London from midnight Christmas eve for 36 hours! (I'm dead serious!) ... and trying to get a cab of any description on Christmas day would likely involve signing over the life of my first born as well as forking out a substantial amount of cash ... so, it's just easier and less manic to do it this way!

We're even planning to do midnight mass - at 9pm! - tomorrow night at the local Catholic parish ... carol singing, stern words and freezing cold ... it's a sure fire recipe to get us into the festive spirit!

Merry Christmas to all of you and your loved ones. May it be a peaceful, safe and happy time for you.

Is that a baby belly or were you just a guts?!

*Waddles in nursing a psuedo baby belly*

Aaaaaaww! My tummy hurts! I think I ate a little too much ... but it felt so good at the time. And as Sheryl Crow sings: if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. That is until you have to reguritate a good portion of your gastric contents because it feels like you've swallowed a brick!

I went out for dinner with a friend of mine tonight and without realising it, reverted to an old eating habit. It use to be one of my worse habits: talking while eating. I found myself so absorbed in converation that I didn't pay too much ... actually, make that any ... attention to how much I had eaten or to the fact that my body was desperately signaling "whoa, girl!" with a song, dance and flashing neon lights!

Subsequently, I put away:

• Small glass of red wine
• Two small pieces of fresh mozarella cheese
• A slice of fresh buffalo tomato
• 5 small green olives
• 1/2 slice of garlic bread
• Small portion of lasagne
• Baby pana cotta with raspberry sauce
• Cafe latte
• Pina colada

Oh my gawd! That is the most I've eaten in ages (although if I was to compare it to my pre-surgery meals, it would be nothing)! Is it any wonder why my tummy hurts?! It was all fine till I stood up and then I felt like I had been filled with cement. As we meandered down the cobbled London streets, our conversation was puncuated with me belching in a most unladylike manner! Thank gawd Nick isn't too hung up on me adhering to the Debritt's Etiquette for Girls handbook 24/7!

Admittedly, it was such a mad day today that thinking back ... up until dinner, I had only ingested two 1/2 shot skinny lattes and six chocolates from the choccie box ... not exactly my finest day of eating, huh?!

Bring on the new year, another fill and some food sanity! *belly laughs ... closely followed by an agonised groan!*

The bloody wagon needs seatbelts!

Okay. So. To be honest, the whole ... umm, healthy diet and regular exercise thing? Well, it kinda went AWOL during the past 5 tumultous weeks. Maybe you got a feeling in your waters (as Kath Day-Knight would say) that that had happened. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a complete write off (how could it be when there is NO way on God's earth you can overeat?! *belly laughs!*) but I was less than dedicated to beating down the path of the Holy Grail. The combination of 3:30pm sunsets, ever dwindling temperatures and the general frenzy of the season saw me curled up in bed with a book or DVD by early evening. Yeah-huh! No exercise for the wicked. And certainly no guarantee of something nutritious going down my neck when one was in hibernation mode! But before you get all worried, let me assure you Dorothy is now safely back in Kansas. Eating well and moving her arse. But I do think it strange though, that when I am exercising and eating well I get this complete kick, an endorphin high and feel on top of the world. Yet, after a while the whole thing becomes, quite frankly, rather boring ... and I will find myself straying from the path of righteousness. Sometimes I will find myself crashing and burning and then other times it's only a trip or a wee stumble. But everytime I fall off the wagon, all I want to do is get back on again. Guaranteed. Weird. Maybe I just have a small masochistic streak, I mean ... I fall off the wagon, I get back on again, I fall off the wagon, I get back on again, I fall ... pardon? oh, you get the picture already?! You could've said so sooner. I tell ya what, the bloody wagon needs seat belts ...

My nutritional intake has improved and become regular ... which I became a little remiss with. I would find that I would not eat all day (not because I wanted it that way but due to either sheer laziness or because I was tending to have small spits/chokes nearly every time I ate ... and I simply did not have time in the day to allocate for spitting-after-meal!) and then only eat at night ... and even then that wasn't guaranteed if I felt exhausted. But I'm back in the swing of things ... eating (and not spitting as much), slurping the fizzy multivitamin and guzzling water for England. Go you good thing!

Exercise has once again become a joy not a chore. Did I actually just write that?! (I think I might just go lie down for a while now). I have been running like the wind the last two days ... okay, it's more like a three legged dog but in my mind I am the Cathy Freeman of the gym treadmill, the Marion Jones of the local running track ... *is that Chariots of Fire I hear* ... Bandit Girl leaves no footprints but dust! Hush - don't spoil my grand delusion, people! *giggles* Buts seriously, it has been good to feel the sweat and exert my body again. It is, after all, a fine piece of machinery.

I do have a couple of pieces of news for you about my changing body (despite the blips of the past four and a bit weeks):

• I stepped on the scales at the gym today after my session and saw 79.9kg! Nooo way! But I am not going to get prematurely excited because I need my HOME scales to spell it out sista, for this to be the God's honest truth. Of course, I promise to spill the beans to you next week when I weigh myself. Are we there yet?!
• I can now run for half an hour without any back pain. Before, when I first started running and weighed more, I would find 14 mins into the run I would start to experience right lower back pain (not surprising considering I have a severe spinal deformity). Which would mean for the remaining 16 mins I would run bracing my back with both hands which is probably not the safest or prettiest way to run! And now? Without even realising it, I have run x2 1/2 hour runs without even giving it a second thought! You little beauty!
• I no longer get pain in the arches of my feet when I do the cross trainer. I normally get pain in the arches of my feet (particularly my right) after 10 minutes on the trainer. I then have to slow the pace or stop. But, no more! Arch pain is banished ... I will now be the Master of the Cross Trainer. Mwah ha ha!
• I can now wear leggings and a short t-shirt onto the gym floor without looking like an embarrasment or fat chick try hard. I even think I don't look half bad in them ... I have a pert bum and some slick calves coming on! &
• I can now fit everything in wardrobe ... everything, peoples!

Am I happy? *smiles* Just a bit!

PS. Some of you may have read the original post - there are some slight alterations as blogger deleted my post somehow and I had to re-write this from memory!

Out with the old, in with the new

As a am a list Nazi, this entry is only about lists. Okay, okay ... it's only two lists. Pretty simple lists at that. The first is all the stuff that's bound for charity and the second is all an entire and honest list of all my purchases (except essential items) over the past month.

STUFF FOR PERMANENT DISPOSAL:

• Jeans (x2) (which I can get on and off over my hips without undoing the button or zip!)
• Black pants (which once fit but are now soooo big I look like I have no arse when I wear them and the crotch is located mid-thigh. Noice1)
• Black pleated skirt (below knee) (I never wore this but it's not even sexy!)
• White skirt (ankle length) (how on earth did I think a white skirt on a size 20 arse looked good?!)
• Cargo pants (x2) (too big & too old - 4 years+)
• Several blouses & tops (size 18-20 & XL)
• Crusty housewear (which honestly, is so hideous it shouldn't even be worn when no one's looking!)
• Underwear (too big &/or too holey!)
• Black & dusky pink 3/4” heels (I no longer need to wear low heels as the balls of my feet don't hurt anymore when wearing proper heels ... & besides they've accumulated a little mould along the way!)
• Black boots
• Black flip flops (very beaten up)
• x2 handbags
• Old makeup

AND THE NEW?:

• Jeans
• 3/4 denim pants
• Yoga clothes (tights & singlet for Bikram)
• An array of tops (including two mediums!)
• Strapless summer dress (in grey, pink & black)
• Corset & knickers
• Bras (underwire & strapless)
• Brown cardigan
• Black jacket
• Shoes: boots - in brown & black (different styles) & a pair of black kitten platforms
• Suede gloves (after leaving my black mittens on the tube accidentally!)
• Hand crocheted beanie
• Pashmina scarves (x3)
• Patterned tights
• Accessories (earrings and a bling-bling fake ring)
• Makeup & brushes
• Body Shop body products
• Dermalogica face wash & cream
• Tresemme hair curler
• Oral B electric toothbrush and accessories
• Books: Nigel Slater Cookbook; Debritt’s Etiquette for Girls handbook & Wedding Blessings
• 2007 diary (in silver)
• DVDs: CSI – seasons 4 & 5; Just Like Heaven; Shooting Dogs & Take the Lead
• CDs: Acoustic Love, Beyonce & The Killers
• Box of Jasmine Blossom tea imported from China
• Tulips (for the house)
• Small Christmas presents including: chocolates (from Thornton’s) and gorgeous bamboo and green tea shower gel (from Sen)

Um, is it just me or is the 'something new' list disproportionally longer?! LOL! It's funny ... I use hate shopping but now I'm kinda starting to enjoy it (as you can well see!). Although I'm not convinced my bank will be happy about this new found interest!

*Wonder Woman meanders in*

Ooooh hello!

I know, I know ... an extraordinary amount of time has lapsed between updates - but don't you be giving up on me!

I don't even really know where to begin .... so you know what ... I won't even try till the weekend where I can sit down and sum up the past couple of weeks.

But I'm dying to tell you about the unit Christmas party last night (the full blown, no expense spared hospital party is next Thursday at Lord's Cricket Grounds in London no less! Oooo la la!). I pulled out my cocktail dress, the 3" black stilettos and the new black strapless bra (oh my gawd! I'm down from a 40E to a 36H! H peoples, H! What the!?) courtesy of Rigby & Peller (the Queen's corsetieres - oh, I am sooo posh these days! LOL!).

Throughout the week I practiced the art of applying evening make up and I was so keen to do something amazing ... but in the end, I failed to give myself enough time to to the full monty with the makeup ... but I have to admit it still ended up looking better than I have ever managed previously.

I went to my gorgeous hairdresser (Gary at Cutting Crew Willesden Green) who whipped my dead straight hair follicles into luscious curls (in no more than 15 minutes - why is it that I can NEVER replicate that at home?!)

I spritzed myself with the ever sexy scent of Jadore, donned the bling bling pretend-but-looks-almost-real accessories, chucked a pair of flat dancing shoes in my "Mary Poppins Carpet Bag" (no elegant clutch purse for this chic!) and hit the town feeling like sex on legs.

I felt so amazing. One dear colleagues of mine walked passed me even after I said "Hi' ... he did that hilarious movie double take and said, "No way! You look amazing! I'm so sorry but I didn't even recognise you!". I gave him the look that said "Are you suggesting I usually look like a scruff?". I have to give it to him, he seems to be quite the master at the non verbal, body language and immediately began to spout, "I mean, you normally look good but tonight you really do look like a magazine model!". Bless his cotton socks .... Mum, can I keep him? LOL!

Several other colleagues were also quite floored including my boss who just looked at me and said, "My dear, you look absolutely stunning!". Sigh! Mission accomplished!

With comments like that, how could you not have a great night? Other than only being able to eat a couple of peanuts, two mouthfuls of lamb and a couple of glasses of champers and oj?! Pfft!















Only a couple of piccies at this stage - the one on the top left is of (left to right) our hospital interpreter and his wife, my very good friend, Sandra, myself and a darling colleague of mine, Julie (aka the new Mrs Notman!) and the one on the bottom right is of myself and Sandra (a little out of focus I know but it's still gorgeous!). I've got to harass friends for more pictures as my bloody camera battery died 6 picures in but a couple of friends got some really great shots!

*Smiles shyly* I love my ever evolving body ... but I must admit, it needs a little love and attention in the nutrition and exercise department. And I have just the plan for it in the new year!