The week that was...

This week has been pretty uneventful consisting of the usual work days with the added excitement of the pending public holidays complimented by Easter eggs and hot cross buns. We celebrated Good Friday (today) with lunch with Alex's family including the little ones (niece and nephews). It's always lovely to see children enjoy Easter and makes the holiday all the more enjoyable for us so called adults.  This year I decided to avoid the usual lunch with one family then dinner with the other. We are always too exhausted after a big lunch and plenty of drink that the last thing we want to do is rush away to do it again. Plus the dinner family always ends up ripped off as we turn up sluggish with little appetite when they have prepared a beautiful feast. Instead we will spend Good Friday with one family and Easter Sunday with the other. I felt at first like I was being a little rude and unsocial but this works so much better for us. It means we are able to spend a little bit of these days with just each other. Today we came home after our long lunch and were able to relax, I even had a nap. So far I am a big fan of this new holiday arrangement and may have to find a way to make it work for Christmas as well.

An unfortunately blurry iPhone photo (I am still cameraless) of Riley finally enjoying some chocolate.

We finished off Good Friday with some Hungry Jacks, yes that's right I had a lovely juicy cheeseburger full of beef on Good Friday. I vowed for this blog to be honest so here I must admit that Alex and I don't believe the story of Jesus, we aren't religious whatsoever and I may even call myself an atheist. I am not here to argue so please don't take this as an invitation to debate. I may not be religious but I am more than happy to have religious people in my life, I wont push my views onto others unless theirs are pushed onto me, it takes all kinds to make an interesting and diverse world. What the religious holidays will one day mean for Alex and I is still yet to be determined, for now we choose to celebrate as our extended family do for the point of spending time with our loved ones, when we have our own children I am not sure what we will do. With my views of religion I do find it hard and a little contradicting to embrace these holidays as the western world tend to do. But that could all change when children come into our scene. 

I have managed to make a lot of progress on our wedding thank you notes which I will post about once completed as well as catch up on some Downton Abbey, my newest addiction. 

My brace and improving scar with still some minimal bruising.

My knee is slowly improving, although improvements aren't really noticed due to spending day and night in a movement restricting brace. My scar is slowly healing and I am coating it in Bio Oil daily to help the healing process. I really need to get motivated and take control of my diet, with limited movement and things like Hungry Jacks I can feel myself putting on some weight. And why is it when you can't move properly you feel as though you could get up early and run? or go for walks! I am not sure where this motivation comes from, we always want what we can't have! Lets hope it continues when I take my brace off on 9 May 2013.

Well I think I'll get to bed and watch another episode of Downton Abbey! Happy reading.

 

Blogging

Argh I am so sorry I haven't blogged since April :(  I seriously considered no longer having my blog as I obviously can't commit the time I would like to but I do love it so I will continue to blog when I can.  I will try to move it up a little on my priority list though!

The reasons I haven't blogged over the winter break?  Well I have been seriously immersing myself in wedding planning like mad.  I have so many wedding updates to do it just isn't funny, invitations, centrepieces, dress shopping, accessories shopping, cake tasting, music listening, the list goes on!!!!  And with only three months until our wedding date I still have so much I would like to do.
I have also been completing Certificate IV in Business Administration, which I am 2.5 modules away from finishing!  Thank god!  Work is flat chat acting in a different position and being short staffed most of the time, I barely have time to go to the loo!  Not really we have plenty of fun but there is heaps of work to get through.  

My mind is now in an awesome place and I feel content with myself, this is awesome.  More on that to come.
I am sad to say I haven't lost any weight :(  I really am hopelessly reliant on food and comfort eating.  But I have bought a bike and ride 7.2km to and from work every work day, 4-5 days a week.  So I am content knowing that I am being active and am reasonably fit.  I will continue to try and gain control over my comfort eating.  

Today I am off to a Tupperware Party at my mum's house, my sister-in-law has recently became a demonstrator and today is her first party.  Good luck Annalese.
Talk soon.

Recipe of the Week/Month

As the days are getting shorter and chillier and the need to watch my waistline has gotten stronger I have started craving healthy, nutritious, warm, toasty soups. So my latest recipe is my mum's ever famous pumpkin soup. I love this soup, it is one of my favourite winter comfort meals and is pretty easy to make. My only advice: if you can have a male peel and cut the pumpkin for you unless you're a pretty strong chic that is. Pumpkin peeling and cutting can be pretty hard.

Mum's Pumpkin Soup

1/2 pumpkin (I used a Kent), peeled and chopped 

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 large carrot or 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped

1 tsp curry powder

100g diced bacon

Salt and pepper to taste

500ml chicken stock

200ml of carnation milk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1. Combine pumpkin, potatoes, bacon, onion, garlic, carrots, salt, pepper, parsley and curry powder in soup pot. Almost cover ingredients with cold water. Bring to the boil and reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Add 500ml of chicken stock, stirring so it doesn't stick and bring to the boil.
3. Add carnation milk and reduce heat to low stirring until soup begins to bubble. If you would like your soup to be smooth, blend with a stick mixer at this point. 
4. Turn off heat and stir through cream and further salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with cream, parsley and croutons.

Notes: if you would like a smooth soup but don't have a stick mixer, strain the liquid from the soup into a bowl after step one. Then blend the cooked vegetables in a food processor in batches and add liquid and vegetables back into the pot continuing with the recipe. Enjoy.

My New Lifestyle

After a weeks annual leave I went back to work this week hence the lack of blog posting.  It looks like I will only have time to post on weekends but I will do so as much as I can!  With only 336 days until my wedding day I desperately need to begin a health and beauty regime.  I already have regular facials and spend a fortune on my skin and I am lucky to have really long naturally blonde hair so the only thing I really need to work on is my weight and boy do I have my work cut out for me.  Now don't get me wrong, as much as I want to lose weight for my wedding I want to keep the weight off this time, this is no fad craze diet to shed kilos fast.  Notice I said 'this time'? Yes I have been here before and lost it before, this time I want to keep it off.  Having put on 17 kilos in the last three years I really have my work cut out for me! 

But I am pleased to say in my first week of my new healthy lifestyle I have already shed two kilos, the weight comes off a lot faster the more you have to lose!  Last year I began having regular appointments with a naturopath to try and work on my energy levels, then being diagnosed with depression I realised I had a lot more to work on.  Half the reason my energy levels are so low is because I do not do regular high intensity exercise but it's a bit of a catch 22, too tired to exercise but exercise will make me less tired!  And when I say tired I mean tired!  Without an alarm I sleep naturally between 9 to 12 hours every night, of course having to work means I don't get this much but I easily get 7.5 to 8 hours on weeknights and was still complaining of being exhausted.  This steals way too much of my time and is something I am desperately trying to fix.  After Googling 'how to out of bed', 'how to get motivated to get out bed', 'how to stop feeling tired' etc etc.  I realised I just needed to stop damn procrastinating and start exercising and eating as healthy as I can.  This week I have been to the gym for three 55 minute sessions with a mixture of weights and cardio, I have also done a interval walk/run and home resistance training.  Today is my second day off from exercising for the week (I know lazy right) because I am so sore all over (legs, tummy, arms and shoulders) I am walking around like I literally have a stick up my ass.  And don't get me started on trying to sit on the toilet, I get half way and my legs give way and I free fall to the seat!  Weights are a very important part of an exercise routine for me, the more muscle mass you have the more energy/fat you burn at rest, so girls reading this don't ever be scared of weights, you would have to be lifting mighty heavy weights regularly to even begin bulking up and who doesn't want to shed kilos while resting!  My energy levels have been amazing this week I don't think I have complained once of being tired and that's a big thing for me.

As for my diet this week, my lovely facial girl inspired me to take my own salads to work for lunch.  I was spending up to $10 a day on lunch and could really use that money towards my wedding.  I used to be a 'salad doesn't fill me up' kind of girl but this all depends on what you put in it.  I have been pan frying up half a chicken breast mixed with lettuce, carrot, alfalfa, cucumber, mushroom, boiled egg, avocado, light cheese and Red Kellys Tasmania Traditional Dressing, this makes a killer yummy salad that is really satisfying!  And for everyone who hasn't tried this dressing, it is amazingly good for any salad, get your hands on some ASAP. For snacks I have a banana, unsalted raw mixed nuts, a rice cake with light cream cheese and maybe even a little ham.  I am not a big fruit eater but this is all getting me through the work day perfectly.  Breakfast for me is some gluten free cereal with almond meal and tea is usually meat and vegetables or stir fries.  Weekends are definitely my down fall, without the routine of the work day I just eat whenever and whatever but so far this weekend I have been doing really well, sticking with some type of salad whenever I can. I have over the week had far to many chocolates.  I have been advised to swap a chocolate for jelly beans or licorice as I believe (I may have this wrong) these are simple sugars giving you the sweetness hit you're craving without the extra fat.  I am not saying licorice or jelly beans are good for you but they may be a wiser choice when you just must have something sweet.

Okay that's enough babbling about my weight loss week!  I plan to regularly update you on my weight loss/healthy lifestyle journey and would be very interested in tips, tricks or advice that you may like to share.  Now I am off to watch some True Blood without scoffing any chippies :(