Scuba Diving

A couple of weeks ago Dan and I did a Scuba diving course. We'd booked it through Zoupon and got a great deal. Of course there were added extras such as snorkel, fins gloves etc, and we had to upgrade to Open water course (which is 18 meters)  rather than a 12 meter course, but that happens.

It took a fair bit of time - online learning, 2 nights theory, one day in the pool, one day at Rye pier (on two dives), and then two open water dives the next week, but it was worth it! It really is another world under there. I can't wait to get out there!

Because I'm a bad blogger I don't have any proper photos (and Dan took video footage rather than photos), so here is a stock standard picture of a weedy sea dragon:

We saw these guys at Rye Pier and Portsea Pier, as well as leafy sea dragons, which are a little more ornate and well, leafy. There was also a couple of little fiddler rays, as well as a black manta ray that I didn't see (the joys of having bad eyesight). 

Now to start getting out there and exploring Port Phillip Bay. Any suggestions for good diving (or even snorkelling) sites? 

In other news, I suck at sticking to challenges. I did Shred a couple of times, and realised that I only had three workouts. I didn't quite realise that you're meant to be doing the first workout for 10 days, then the second workout for 10 days and so on... I do enjoy it though, but I think I'd get really bored doing it that much. I also got dumbells for Christmas (thanks mum!) so I will be using them. 

Tough Bloke Challenge

I probably shouldn't be doing this since I can't really run atm (it's been over a week now), but damn I'm excited.

Tough Bloke Challenge 2012. Bring it.

Meanwhile, how is it the first of December already?? Today is the first day of Summer! Carazy!

Tough Bloke Challenge

I probably shouldn't be doing this since I can't really run atm (it's been over a week now), but damn I'm excited.

Tough Bloke Challenge 2012. Bring it.

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Bah

The thing with getting very excited about training and running and new blogs about running, is that it makes me want to run. A lot. So I do. And I love it, and it brings me joy.

And then I realise that my knee is still not healed, and every run I do is probably causing me more damage.

This is not good.

Things I Love Thursday

The good thing about not writing a gratitude list this morning is that everything that I write here is new and exciting! What things are making me smile today?

• The idea of doing a long and epic hike, like this one through the Sierra Nevadas 
• Sunny Thursdays
• My amazing 17km run through the rain on Saturday (yes, it was that awesome)
• Meeting interesting and inspiring people at and through work
• Giving leftover (but still good) food to my local homeless people, and to the Salvos. 
• Puppies. 
• Feeling inspired by blogs 
• Do life

via Pinterest

Blog love - Ben does life

I just discovered a new blog. http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/

There was a link to a youtube video on Runners World, so I had a look. It was about a guy who was morbidly obese and depressed, and one day decided to start running. He ended up losing 120 pounds (54.5kgs) and and ran races, marathons, and even an Ironman. There was a link to his blog, and I've been reading it all afternoon.

I just read the bit about completing the Ironman, and got a little teary. I feel SO inspired right now!

I also bought the shirt.

Things I love...Friday?

It may be a little late, but sometimes you have to stop and think about the little things that make you smile. 

Things making me smile this week are: 

• My best friend having an amazingly wonderful wedding! <3
• Impromptu riverside ciders with friends
• Eating well all week (it was only one cider!) and feeling good about it
• Rediscovering The Living End. White Noise is a brilliant album!
• Finally finishing of a task at work that has been lingering
• Starting a new exercise challenge
• Seeing my kitty gorge herself on fish (she can be fussy at times)
• Knowing that I have many opportunities available and am very lucky
• Summer weather
• Bananas being cheap enough to buy again. Oh how I've missed them!
• This: 

30 Day Shred

After reading about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred here, I became a little intrigued to try it as she was talking about how she only used to love running but thought she should try something different. Since I'm still a little cautious running because of my knee, doing something else apart from running and random workouts seems like the way to go. Then a friend on Facebook mentioned she wanted to start it, and that it was it.

For those that don't know, the 30 Day Shred is a DVD by Jillian Michaels, who is the trainer on the American Biggest Looser (which I've never watched). I've seen some of her quotes on Pinterest and like her vibe, so figured I'd give it a go. There are 3 levels with 10 workouts in each, and they are meant to be done daily. Each workout has 2 circuits, so there will be strength for 3 mins, cardio for 2 and abs for 1 minute. Repeat. The entire workout goes for 30 mins with a warm up and cool down.

How did it go?

I did the first workout last night, and it was good. Some of the exercises were tough (i.e. the side lunges with the dumbbell lift - my arms!), but the rest were pretty cruisey although I could still tell I was working. I'm a little sore today, but nothing major. All up I would like a little more ab work, but since it's the first session it's probably just starting slow.

Despite the name, I didn't really realise that it actually meant 30 days, and that there is a workout for each consecutive day. I don't think I'll be doing it every day, since I'm not sure that's the best thing for your body (what about a day of rest?), and there's other workouts I'd like to do. But I'm looking forward to it, and will update on how it's going.

Things I Love Thursday

• Scoring a perfectly fitting white deb/wedding dress for a Halloween gig.
• Defacing said dress and dressing up as a corpse bride complete with wounds
• Seeing one of my favourite bands at said gig!
• Having a Halloween party with my wonderful housemates and tarting the house up evil style
• Dressing as Flora, the Goddess of Spring because it's actually Beltaine in Australia on October 31st
• Running 15kms for the first time in a long time
• Deciding on some new fitness and health goals 
• Purring kitties

Because I haven't really spoken to people about whether they are OK with their images in a blog, I'll only show you me, Bear Grylls, and those that can't actually be seen...

Can you pick which movie the cupcake one is from??

I love Halloween!!

Camping trip to the Grampians

This weekend Dan and I took a much needed camping trip to the Grampians, which are a mountain range located in Victoria's north-west. I had only been there once before, and even then it wasn't really a proper trip there. So I was pretty excited to be going somewhere new!

Working for a farming organisation, I was pretty excited to be driving through new country and able to check out the tiny baby lambs and canola that's currently flowering. The country side looked amazing!

We stopped off at a couple of wineries on the way, because that's how we roll (This may be the time to comment that the detox of last week was...well, not a fail, but not really a win). Mount Langi Ghiran was the second winery we checked out, which was actually by the same people as the first one. Langi means 'home' in aboriginal, but the meaning of Ghiran has been lost in the sands of time. Which is sad considering this is our culture that is lost, the culture of our land and it's original inhabitants.

Once we reached the Grampians and decided where we were going to camp, it was a 30km drive on a very crappy road which our little girl car didn't handle well. I couldn't get over the terrain though - it was very Outback/desert -like, which I just didn't expect at all! Red earth, grass trees, and even an friggen emu! In the wild! In Victoria! Phenomenal. We also saw a black snake, an echidna, and an overturned four wheel drive who had lost control trying to avoid one a stumpy tailed lizard

When we reached our campsite it was perfect - gorgeous view, far enough from other people but not too much to feel isolated. Sadly it was my first camping purely for the sake of camping trip - every other time has been at festivals or hiking. So it was nice to not have much to do at all. Dinner was cuppa noodles with broccoli (yes, I love that shit), and plenty of toasted marshmallows over the open fire. We then gazed awestruck at the night sky for a good several hours. Living in the city it's easy to forget that there are SO many stars out there. Absolutely stunning.

After waking up early with the dawn chorus and seeing a kangaroo just hanging out near the tent, it was time for the best meal of the day - breakfast! After scoffing at how Dan was making the cheese toasties, I realised it worked and had to get in amongst that action.  

A cheese toastie, two coffees and some vegetarian sausages later and we were ready to ROCK! First stop was Hollow Mountain, a two hour walk which was hopefully not going to destroy my knee. I dosed up on anti-inflammitories and off we went. It was a lot of fun. The first section was again quite desert-y, and then the rest of rock scrambling to the top. The view was phenomenal. Stupidity was had.

All in all, it was a great weekend! 

Monday Detox time

I did it again. This weekend I ate entirely too much cheese, drank too much, and didn't do enough exercise. In my defense, I have Runners Knee, or Girls Knee as my doctor likes to call it (thanks doc). Basically this means that my knee cap isn't tracking smoothly and is rubbing against one side of the knee joint so the cartilage surface is irritated. It can be fixed with a lot of exercises to strengthen the (non-existent) muscle near the knee, so I am allowed to keep running. But it hurts and I am worried about damaging it further so I'm taking it slow and cautiously.

But I really miss running, and when I don't run or exercise I tend to eat a whole lot of crap and feel sluggish and tired. So this week is semi-detox and exercise week! I think I said something similar a couple of weeks ago, but I swear, I mean it this time... ;)

Semi-detox rules:

• Coffee is allowed. I mean, really. I don't want to lose the will to live now do I? 
• More fruit (at least two pieces a day)
• More herbal tea (one-two cups a day)
• More water (1.5 litres, plus the herbal tea. It's all good). 
• More plant based foods 
• More 'real' foods (eg oats are OK, toast and Vegemite preferably not). 

Exercise rules: 

• Just do something decent every day

Dan and I will be embarking on the exercise thing together. Today I think it will be a run and then chin-ups, tricep dips and push ups at the park. Tomorrow a walk and ab work, Wednesday a run and yoga, Thursday some more arm exercises etc. We're going camping on the weekend so there will be hiking, but probably bad food. But that's ok. Every bit of nutritious food helps :) 

In other news, I really want to sign up for a half marathon in November. It is in Marysville, which got decimated in the bush fires a couple of years ago, so it will be a bit emotional I think. But it's regenerating well, and there will be trails rather than just roads, so if I train properly and cautiously, I think it will be doable. And it will supporting a region that lost so much, which in itself makes it worthwhile.

Steavenson Falls, Marysville

Things I Love Thursday

Sometimes when you're having a bad day, it's important to focus on the awesome. So here is my Things I Love Thursday.

Big umbrellas on rainy days <Fried eggs for brekkie and good coffee<PD days with great women<Massages by my wonderful fiance <The idea of a big pint of cidery goodness tonight<
Bicep curls<Walking to work <Dr Who <Tickets to Creepshow, AND good costume ideas for it <Adorable kitties purring on my foot< Conversations with good people <Other people who use the word awesome entirely too much too! Awesome.

I do feel better now :)

The Royal Melbourne Show, aka Tiny Baby Lambs!

This weekend I attended the Royal Melbourne Show for the second time. I'm not really a big fan of the Show since it's a financial death trap (entry! rides! showbags! food! miscellaneous crap!) so getting free entry helped. I attended a forum relating to work, and the caught up with my housemate and ran amok. Well, not really. But we had fun.

Now, since I work for a farming organisation and was attending a farmer's forum, I thought I should pay attention to the agricultural aspects of the Show, which is really what it was all about back in the day. Luckily, the thing I most wanted to do was to pat a tiny baby lamb. You may think that the tiny baby part of it is encompassed by the lamb part of it (lamb does mean young sheep after all), but no. I wanted a TINY BABY LAMB! And I scored with these little guys that had just been born that day. Possibly that hour (I think there was still placenta...).

They were frolicking and gambolling and just being adorable. I may have let out several delighted squeals of things such as '"s that not the cutest little fucker you've ever seen?!?!" 

I failed in my attempt to get a photo with one of the tiny baby lambs, as little kids like the ones below kept on cock-blocking me. Damn kids! ;)

After the animals and showbags (hello Bertie Beetle!), it was time for rides. Or, one ride. The XXXL. This bad boy flings you up, over, around and down, and frankly, I was scared for my life. It was awesome. I'm glad the guy told me to take my glasses of though, because otherwise they would be somewhere in the Maribyrnong by now I think. When you're as blind as a bat and not wearing glasses, the world looks like this:

The XXXL

When you have your glasses back on, it looks more like this: 

If you're thinking about going to the Show I'd say do it. Any day that makes you learn something, squeal with delight and fear for your life has got to be a good day!*

*It also helps to go with someone from Tasmania who has never seen anything like it before. You can laugh at their quaintness, and enjoy the fact that they are having a friggen awesome day! :)

Tofu of Win™ with soba and vegie soup

After having a bit of a health scare on the weekend and cutting short our weekend away, I decided it was time to eat less cheese *sob* and a bit more healthily. This is how Dan's Tofu of Win™ came into being!

Buckwheat soba soup (with Tofu of Win™)
Serves 4

1 large handful of dried shittake mushrooms that have soaked for about an hour (keep the water for the soup)
Water 
1 large teaspoon sambal oelek (or any chili would work)
Half teaspoon dried ginger (or 1 full teaspoon fresh/crushed)
1 or 2 teaspoons of crushed garlic
1 sachet of miso paste
A splurt of mirin
Salt
A heap of Vegies (we used broccoli, carrot, corn from the cob, red and green capsicum)
Diced spring onion
Soy sauce
2 packets of buckwheat soba noodles
Tofu, diced into chunks
Vegeta (vegetable stock)
Peanut oil


Make the broth first and when it gets to a boil you can blanch the carrot, then the broccoli. You don't want to leave it in there as they will go all mushy, so use common sense. Other vegies will be added last, but it's all up to you. You can also use the mushroom soaking water as that will add flavour. Soba can be added last as that will also go mushy. 


Whilst that's all happening coat your tofu in vegeta and fry it. I was skeptical at first, but holy crap. THIS IS DELICIOUS. I couldn't stop eating it. It's tasty, great textured, and just awesome. Try it. You'll never look back. If there's any left it can then be added to the bowls before you pour the soup in. Sprinkle with spring onion, add a healthy dash of soy sauce and voila! Instant awesome. It won't make leftovers since it will all go mushy so make enough to eat, or give some to your housemates!  

You'll note that you can't see much tofu. This is because I ate the rest of it :-/ There is more in the bottom of the bowl, but personally I would prefer to eat it as is. 


And, because I realised I haven't posted a picture of me on this blog yet, here is a shameless pic of me at the farm we stayed at in the Yarra Valley (before I got sick). Although I work for a farming organisation, I don't think I could look more like a city girl if I tried! 

Tough Mudder

As I was trawling the interwebs the other day (well, facebook), I discovered a little ad on the side called Tough Mudder. It looked interesting so I clicked the link...and fell in love. If by love you mean instant excitement.

Tough Mudder is billed as 'probably the toughest event on the planet'. I don't believe it's that' tough, but I'm sure we'll see. It involves a 12 mile (which equates to 19 kms...eep!) obstacle course with things like mud pits, monkey bars, dives into icy water and other vaguely masochistic challenges. Awesome. Actually, looking at some of the individual challenges has made me wonder what the hell I was thinking! Particularly since it will be two weeks before our wedding!



BUT it does tie in nicely with some of my challenges - eg one of the requirements is to be able to do at least 6 chin-ups and at least 25 push-ups. So I can think of it as epic way of achieving my goals, yes?

I was hoping that my friend Anna would do it with me, but she said hell no. But I live in hope! (although I didn't realise it was 12 miles rather than 12 kms...this does make quite a difference).

Now to buy me some kettle bells or at least a dumb bell bar. Good times ahead! :-D

30 before 30

Hello! Finally I have time to revisit my 30 before 30 list and see what I still need to do in the next 3.5 months.


1. Go to a new country with a different culture and language

2. Learn another language

3. Run a half marathon

4. Learn to surf

5. Learn to sew (properly), as in take a sewing course.

6. Climb a palm tree

7. Go scuba diving - booked in for this year! 

8. Swim with sharks - half done, if you consider snorkelling with sharks in Sea World as swimming with sharks.

9. Travel around Australia - half done - I'm slowly making my way around, but I haven't seen the outback yet. 

10. Go to Tasmania

11. Go skiing

12. See snow
13. Go to the Amazon - half done. I've been to the Amazon Basin but not the actual Amazon River. 

14. Get a degree

15. See the full moon over water (ideally a beach)

16. Live inner city

17. Go camping under the stars

18. See Macchu Picchu

19. Attend a High Tea, preferably with my mum.

20. Go to a gallery

21. Go to the Museum (I have been to museums, but not the Melbourne Museum...)

22. Do the Oxfam Trail Walk

23. Have a stall at a market

24. Go to Canada

25. Buy a brand new car

26. Do Bikram or Hot Yoga

27. Do 10 chin ups/pull ups

28. See Rammstein Live

29. Go to New Zealand

30. Go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival

I thought I was doing pretty well actually, but I've only done 16 out of the 30...crap! Some of them have been half done, such as swimming with sharks and going to the Amazon, but they're still ones that aren't completed yet. I have plans on cage diving with sharks in the future, and whenever I see pictures of the Amazon I have pangs of longing so clearly that isn't finished yet. 

Some of these I haven't completed and know I won't. For instance I know I won't get to Canada before I'm 30, and that's ok. Oxfam Trail Walk I physically won't be able to do since it's next year and even then I won't be able to do it. I would prefer to climb a palm tree in a tropical island paradise, which will most likely be Thailand for our honeymoon. I'm not really craft anymore so I can't imagine having a craft store, unless it's for old clothes or a glorified garage sale. Learning to surf and taking a sewing course have been on my list every year for a good 5 years or so, probably longer for surfing. Since we're saving for the wedding I don't think they'll happen this year (again!). 

Overall, there's still a good couple of things that I can do in the next few months to knock off the list: 

High Tea with mum

Visit the Melbourne Museum

Bikram or Hot yoga

10 chin-ups or pull-ups (although I'm not 100% convinced about that. But I reckon I should be able to get up to 5. Can't I?!).

Realistically...that's not too bad. I can knock the first two off in a weekend easy. Sweet! 

But one day I will get back to South America. I will boat or canoe along the Amazon, and I will see these guys, the Amazon River Dolphin, or Boto. Even though they look a little freaky, one of my favourite memories was waking up one morning to see my dad (who worked night shift and had just finished work) watching a documentary on the Amazon. In the river was in flood, and there were dolphins frolicking in the water between the trees. Dolphins! In a forest! Fucking awesome. 

Image via Kevin Schafer @ Nat Geo

My favourite place

This weekend was a beautiful sunny weekend. The kind of weekend where breathing is a joy and you're happy to be alive.

I went to my favourite place in the world for a hike by myself, which I need to do every so often or else I go mental. It involved getting up before dawn to take the dog for a walk and then off I went to the Dandenongs. As tends to happen when I'm at the hills, I was grinning like an absolute fool and almost skipping at a couple of points. Yes, I am a hippy at heart and love my special place immensely. Particularly when I see wallabies just hanging out at the side of the track calmly eying me off! Unfortunately she wasn't calm enough to stay and let me photo her, but, you know. We totally bonded! ;)

After realising that I'm fitter than I thought and could hike a lot faster up hills I never used to be able to, I thought I would take a new track since I had the time. And I'm glad I did because I found a beautiful spring glade!

Even though I hate pretty much everything about the Twilight movie, this reminded me of the clearing in the woods in that movie with some tiny little blue flowers. And even though the air smelt a little like onions because of all of the onion plants, it made it look gorgeous and lush. And you can hold you nose.

Here's to frolicking in the ferns :)

Music to run to

Whenever I am feeling a little shitty, I like to listen to Disturbed. Whenever I am feeling awesome, I like to listen to Disturbed.

When I first started running I had just discovered Disturbed, and have very fond memories of running up my little hill in my pink t-shirt, most likely with a pink face to match.

This is one of my favourite songs: Indestructible

http://youtu.be/aWxBrI0g1kE

Yesterday I was very irrate on the way to work thinking of someone who was irritating me intensely, so I decided I would leave work on time so I could race home and go for a run while there was still some daylight, and therefore WITH MUSIC!! So I did, and it was good. Although I decided not to listen to Disturbed. What music do YOU like to run to?

Sunny Sunday

What a weekend! Friday night silliness dancing to daggy hits with old and new colleagues and random friends (Savage Garden? Don't mind if I do!), cheese for dinner (proof that there is a God), long sleep ins, even longer runs and cooking from scratch...great weekend!

This week I started my 100 push ups challenge. Initially I started doing them on my knees girly style, but when it came time to do the first bunch I felt bad and thought I should start it properly doing proper push-ups. But I only made seven. Seven?!? Not cool. So I started from there and did the challenge the first night, and then later some chin-up preps at the local park on the walk with the dog.

Despite setting a reminder, the next work out didn't really happen. In my defense, I had work functions on and things...and, you know, I'm lame. So today, I started again! And it was good. Although I also realised that I have an app on my phone to do exactly that, so I did a double workout to make up for being crap this week.

I also went for a beautiful 20km run with the dog, off lead the entire time. It was a gorgeous spring day and we ran along a local river and kept on going. It started getting wilder and wilder, which is phenomenal since we were only 15-20kms away from the city. Cookie cooperated well and all in all, life was good. I keep on meaning to take photos of my runs but my Cardio Trainer app doesn't allow photos - I'd need to stop the run to take it and start again. Which I'm not too cool with.

One of the highlights from the weekend was also this guy in someone's front yard:



This yard also had a zoo of other (more traditional) gnomes, and a 'cantankerous cat' who was actually quite lovely. A bit more interesting than your standard grass and flowers set-up hey?

New Challenge: 100 Push ups

Since I did the half marathon, I have been trying to figure out my next challenge. I'm not sure if I want to keep doing random half marathons (well, I do, but I really need a racing buddy otherwise it's boring for the people who are patiently cheering me on from the sides). I could try a full marathon, but that would involve more half maras first. So we'll see how it all goes. I'm still loving going for long runs, particularly with this amazing Spring weather we are having here in beautiful Melbourne *love*

However. I discovered an awesome new blog (via Pinterest of all places. That Pinterest...will it's awesome ever end?), called (never home) maker. It's about a couple who love running and eating. They are seriously my kind of people. It's part food blog, part running and fitness blog. So of course I love it.

One of the things that Ashley has done is the 100 Push ups program. As it sounds, it's a program to get you to do 100 push ups in 6 weeks. My upper arm strength has been crappola since I stopped going to the gym, so this is a good kick up the bum.

I did the initial test and did 32 (girly-on-the-knees) push ups, so now I can start training. Once I can do 100 girly ones I'll start on the proper ones.

Hooray for new goals! And hooray for Spring!

Source: Dr Google

The most amazing necklace

I saw this pic on Facebook. Unfortunately the necklace is not for sale on her website http://www.beckettstudio.net/, but... wow... just wow. I am in love.

I did it!!

2 hours and 59 seconds baby, grinning the entire way :-D

Via Pinterest

Run Forrest, Run!

I am very happy. Today I went for my first run since I buggered my rib almost a month ago. And it was good. It didn't rain, the dog was cooperative and didn't pull on the lead (mostly), and I didn't hurt (mostly).

So the half marathon is ON! WOOT!



via Pinterest - where else?



Food for Thought



Source: Pinterest



The week that was.

Well, it's been a crazy week. Mainly for good reasons.

We had our work conference this week, which I attended for the first time. It was great, and I learnt a lot and networked a lot, but I still have a lot more networking to do and a lot more 'stuff' to figure out in relation to the industry - being a city girl and getting my head around agriculture and rural Victoria does take time. But I'm getting a crash course in the next few weeks with a heap of conferences to attend, including the one in WA, so I'm sure I'll be a pro in no time!

It was Winter Solstice this week, the shortest day of the year and longest night. The great thing about Yule is that even though it's just the beginning of winter, from here on in the days will get longer and the nights shorter. Woohoo! I feel like I haven't really connected with my roots for a while, so doing something for it this year was good (even though I only really did stuff last night). The official Solstice was celebrated with lots of mulled wine (possibly to much for a Tuesday, but such is life) and warming, hearty foods such as black bean enchiladas.

This week I've learn that black beans, whilst awesome, take ages to cook. After getting ridiculously excited at getting black beans from the Queen Vic Market (Black Beans. In Melbourne!), I found out they need to soak for a day. And then be boiled/cooked for about another two hours. So the black bean enchiladas were epic. But totally worth it. See?





Nom!



Yesterday Dan and I took the dog for a walk along the river for just over 12 kms. It was a gorgeous sunny day in Melbourne, and my first bit of exercise since hurting my rib. So it was spectacular! We went further than we expected and it was just really nice. And today I took the dog to the usual part, and we had a great time and met a heap of other dogs (and owners), and it was just really nice. All in all, it was a really nice and chilled weekend.  And my rib is hurting less and less! I reckon with luck I'll be able to compete in the half marathon. And Goddamn if I do I am going to finish it!!

This is the dog I've been talking about, a little knackered after her walks. And yes, she is in a cat bed. The bed the cats rejected. Sigh.







30 before 30

Upon starting this blog, I really wanted to have something that made it worthwhile. It is just a random stream of conciousness (well, yes, kind of), or will it have a purpose (hopefully). Will it help me grow as a person? (ideally). Will it be interesting for others to read? (I'd like to think so. I don't though. Yet. Mwahaha).

Anyway, one of the things I like to read is people's lists of goals. What do they want to achieve with their lives? Have they achieved what they want to? Goals are very telling about a person. And since I am turning 30 in January next year, I figured I would list what I want to achieve by the time I'm 30. Some of them I have done, some I haven't, some I won't. Yet (I think yet is becoming my favourite word). So, without further ado, here it is, in no particular order: My 30 before 30(TM) .

1. Go to a new country with a different culture and language

2. Learn another language

3. Run a half marathon

4. Learn to surf

5. Learn to sew (properly), as in take a sewing course.

6. Climb a palm tree

7. Go scuba diving

8. Swim with sharks

9. Travel around Australia

10. Go to Tasmania

11. Go skiing

12. See snow

13. Go to the Amazon

14. Get a degree

15. See the full moon over water (ideally a beach)

16. Live inner city

17. Go camping under the stars

18. See Macchu Picchu

19. Attend a High Tea, preferably with my mum.

20. Go to a gallery

21. Go to the Museum

22. Do the Oxfam Trail Walk

23. Have a stall at a market

24. Go to Canada

25. Buy a brand new car

26. Do Bikram or Hot Yoga

27. Do 10 chin ups/pull ups

28. See Rammstein Live

29. Go to New Zealand

30. Go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival

Here they are. My 30 before 30 list. More information to follow about what I've done and what I haven't done.

Isn't having a blog a wonderful time waster?

Rad graffiti

Bad day? Here, have this

(If you click on it moves. Like magic!)

Like a lead balloon

Over the past week or soI have had a sore muscle in my chest, which I figured was just strained from coughing my lungs up. It started getting worse, particularly when I was in bed - sitting up was agony. Yesterday morning Dan checked out my rib and realised that it was out, so we thought it was just a rib that had popped out. After getting more and more painful and finally seeing a doctor, it turns out that I damaged the cartilage around the and have to take it easy for the next 3-6 weeks.

My half marathon is in 6 weeks.

Damn.

The Long Weekend that was

God I love long weekends. And this was a good one.

Friday night involved watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on TV. They're all so little!! I feel a bit weird for having a small crush on Daniel Radcliff now...Saturday was awesome. I got up and had my first coffee in 9 days. Oh. My. God. It was wonderful. Breakfast involved multigrain toast with Vegemite, which was a treat from my thin white bread with butter. Life was good.

This is me with the coffee and toast the day after Living Below the Line:

Then it was to the airport to pick up my best friend Ange who was down from Brisbane for her Hen's Party. Unfortuately she was early and therefore I was late, but it all worked in the end. I dropped her home and went to Mel the other bridesmaid's house to set up for the secret kitchen tea. We went to lunch up in the Dandenongs and much food was consumed, and only a little bit of wine since I was driving. Then back to Mel's place for the kitchen tea and games like 'put the apron on while keeping a balloon in the air. The peg game was my fave - it's where everyone has two pegs and they can't say certain words or will get their pegs taken off them. I lost both my pegs, and then starting kicking arse at the game. Too late! D'oh! After a very civilised day it was off to mum and dad's for a girl's night watching Burlesque with my sister. I have heard it described as 'sparkly brain rot', and that's exactly what it was. It didn't try to be anything that it wasn't, and it was awesome.

Sunday morning I got up and went for a run. It was a gorgeous morning - foggy and mystical, and I didn't have the dog since she was at home. I had planned on going for 16kms, then figured I would try for 18km, and then realised that if I wanted to get to the boardwalk it would mean that it would be about 20kms all up. So I ran it all. Every track that came on was exactly perfect (until 15kms in when my music stopped unexpectedly and I couldn't get it going again), and I was in the zone. It was a perfect run and a perfect morning, and all up it ended up being 22.7kms. Fuck yeah. I ran a half marathon before breakfast!!! This was in stark contrast to Tuesday when I was coughing and spluttering and struggled to run 10kms. I was kind of in shock because I still don't know how I did it, but it was great. And I'm feeling much for confident about the actual half marathon in July. Now I can work on improving my times. Hooray for goals!!!

The rest of the weekend has been relaxing, with lots of How I Met Your Mother, walking the dog, eating fresh vegetables (sooo good!), drinking coffee and mending clothes to make awesome new outfits. Queen Lizzie, thank you for having a birthday!

Things I Love Thursday

It has been 7 days since my last coffee.

Today is day 4 of my Living Below the Line Challenge. Whilst it's been easier than I thought, I caved yesterday and had a square of chocolate. It has been ridiculously cold all week, and my train had been delayed for half an hour, I was waiting in the cold wind and rain shivering, and then my housemate wanted chocolate. So I caved. But goddamn was that good chocolate!

I've learnt a couple of things during this challenge: How much of eating is a social aspect. When you're not eating anything very interesting, you don't want to make a big deal about it. I tended to eat by myself in the kitchen and come out afterwards and socialise. Likewise with booze: a glass of wine with dinner is always great, but not this week, so again there was nothing to really do.

I also realised that you don't need to eat much. I am someone who eats a lot - I eat large portions and was brought up to eat everything on my plate (within reason - I'm fussy). So realising that I can survive on smaller amounts of food was quite freeing actually. I often tend to eat because I think I'll be hungry later, whereas this time I ate because I was hungry.

Finally, I realised just how lucky we are. Although I am raising money to fight global poverty, it really brought home the fact so many people in our own town are struggling. After rent and bills, many people don't have that much and really, $10 a week for food is quite common. It's been in all the local papers how food charities are struggling because of the increased demand in services for food. So it's not difficult to believe that this is quite normal for some people. And that sucks. It really does.

So I don't know where to go to here. I think I am going to change one of my charities from Greenpeace to the Salvos or Feed Melbourne. It just doesn't seem right that there are people eating 2.5kg burrittos at Taco Bills while so many others go hungry.

But, onto a lighter note: Things I Love Thursday. Woot!

Little things that have made me smile this week include:

• The temperature increasing 2 degrees. I could feel my hands today!
• Finding a wedding location which is AWESOME!
• Getting a seat on the train today and generally having a pleasant ride in. Unexpected, but nice.
• That square of chocolate. Top Deck rocks my socks.
• How I Met Your Mother. Can you say addiction?
• Ange's upcoming hen's party!!
• Positive developments at work - including going to WA in July for a conference! Fun in the sun :-D
• Finding the holy grail of cupcake decorating stores at exactly the perfect time.
• Running about 14kms tonight. The half marathon will be MINE!!
• This picture:

 Puntastic :-D

Living Below the Line - Day 2

I am currently on Day 2 of Living Below the Line, and am feeling good so far. My inadvertant coffee ban last week has helped a lot, so I'm not really craving coffee this week. Hooray for illness! ;)

On Sunday night I went back to Coles, and this is what I got:

Bread: $1.09
Butter: $1.39
Pasta Sauce: $1.59
Pasta: $1.00
Frozen vegies: $2.00
Pears (4): $1.23
Potatoes: $0.98
Apple: $0.16
Mi Goreng: $0.54
Total: $9.98

The bread and butter is a bit of a splurge, but after having oats and water last week when I was super sick, I just couldn't face the idea of it. And I've often said I could live on toast, so we'll see how it goes!

Day 1 diet:
Breakfast: 3 slices of toast with butter
Lunch: Small bowl of pasta with frozen vegies and pasta sauce, baked potato
Afternoon snack: 2 slices of toast with butter, baked potato
Dinner: Bowl of pasta and vegies.
Dessert: Pear! And it was the best, juiciest, most un-refined, un-carby thing I have eaten! <3

Day 2: Repeat.
Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with butter
Lunch: Bowl of pasta with vegies (slighly larger than yesterday).

Lunch yesterday:

It doesn't seem that bad. The choices that I made this week were the right ones for me. Although I would kill for some fresh vegies, and possibly some milk, I think I've chosen well. My pack of Mi Goreng will be a welcome change either tomorrow or Thursday though. I also have marathon training tonight, so that could be an interesting challenge. We'll see how it goes. I'll have my potato and probably more toast before hand.

Despite it being better than I thought, I am VERY glad that it is not my life.