A lot can happen in two years.

Two years ago tomorrow, my best friend's life was turned upside down. Two years ago tomorrow is the day we remember my best friend's little brother. Two years ago today was the day that changed my life.

************************

A week ago, my girlfriend and I started using MFP again. She's just had a baby (in January), and I want to lose weight to feel awesome at my 30th birthday in August. 

In April 2012, something changed in my life that I never imagined. I lost someone I loved. If you've read this blog before, you will know just how much he meant to me. Losing him sparked something in me, and prompted me to change my lifestyle.
Tonight, I write this post at 81kg. I've put on 3kg since my epic loss, (I lost 20kg) but that's okay. It's just over 10% of my loss, and I can lose it again.

I need to tighten my belt a lot in what I consume. I took my measurements today and while I'm not surprised, I'm still disappointed in myself. Weigh in is now Monday, and measurement day is the 7th of each month.

07 April 2014

Body Part	Measurement
Neck	34.5cm / 13.58"
Upper Arm	34cm /13.38"
Bust	107cm / 42"
Underbust	89cm / 35"
Waist	89cm / 35"
Hips	117cm / 46"
Thigh	63.5cm / 25"
Total Body Weight	81kg / 178.5lb

I'm not going to be writing here as often as my last journey, or my attempted journeys. I'm doing my honours year at uni, as well as my final year. This year is my fourth and fifth years at uni, all rolled into one. Crazy, you say? Yes, yes I am. And at the end I'll have a marvellous piece of paper, industry experience under my belt, and be happy that my life is going in a positive direction.

Here's a couple of photos for you from the first quarter of the year so you can see how I'm looking.

Sunday, 2 February 2014: Alex's brother's wedding
Hair & Make-up by Candice De Ville

Thursday, 13 March 2014: Collins234 Boutique Place Fashion Event

Wednesday, 26 March, 2014: A's graduation ceremony, MCC The Plenary 

Friday, 4 April 2014: Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Two years ago tomorrow, my best friend's life was turned upside down. Two years ago tomorrow is the day we remember my best friend's little brother. Two years ago tomorrow was the day that changed my life.

The third quarter: how did you fair?

Don't worry, it's not about AFL or any other sport. Appropriately titled though given AFL finals begins this week.

What I'm actually talking about is how you're fairing with any resolutions or goals you may have set yourself way back on 1 January 2013.
I hate making a list of resolutions. I have never really been fabulous at sticking to them. On 1 January 2013, I did write a list of things I want to achieve (see this post). If you're like me and don't always like clicking through posts, see here:

2013 - come at me

In this post here, I wrote about what I'd achieved so far 26 days into 2013. Here we are, on day 245/365, some 219 days later, and this is how my list stands:

1. Be confident
   
   I'm not as confident as I was earlier in the year, that's for sure, but I'm not going down without a fight! Onward and upward!
   
   
2. Learn new make up techniques
   
   I've definitely learned a thing or two after attending a vintage make-over/photo shoot in June, as well as playing along with the Fox in Flats Style Dares. Check out my Instagram feed for my take on the Style Dares from March - June.
   
   

   

   9 June 2013: Before and after
   Photos courtesy of Brook Orchard Photography
   Hair and Make Up by The Lindy Charm School for Girls

   
   
   
3. Take risks
   
   I've taken some big risks this year, both personally and in my small biz.
   Let's just hope these big risks will pay off later down the track.
   There was also the fun risks, like mentioned above with the FIFSDs!
   
   
4. Love myself enough
   
   I reckon that seeing as I've gained 3kg, I've loved myself a little too much but also that I'm being too harsh on myself given the circumstances surrounding my weight gain. Working on this one.
   
   
5. Learn Spanish
   
   ¡Hola chicos y chicas! Hablo un poco español porque asisto clases lenguas español en mi universidad.
   
   I do not speak fluent Spanish. I barely speak enough Spanish to get through my classes. I have no idea if this is correct or not. As this post goes live, I'm actually taking deferred Spanish assessments because of my ill health from May - August.
   
   
6. Make new friends
   
   Friendships are circumstantial. I'm learning that slowly.
   I lost my job because of a clash with uni this semester, so the contact isn't really there with those friends.
   There are people in this world whom I am forever grateful to. You support me through the good times and bad, and for that, I thank you and look forward to our future!
   
   
7. Do well at uni
   
   Must say, rather pleased with my efforts last semester.
   If only they followed through to this semester.....
   
   
8. Be the best lover to my partner
   
   Only one person can be the judge of that, but I'd like to think I am doing a good job.
   
   
9. Start jogging again
   
   Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances with my back, jogging is on the back burner. It was there on the front burner in May before I hurt myself, so this is a good thing! At least I know that when the weather warms up and my strength returns, I'll be able to hopefully get back into it.


10. Build my business
    
    Little Goldfish Invitations & Stationery has a website now, and I'm slowly getting more content to it. I won't be doing any more markets in 2013 for a few reasons, but once the weather continues doing what it has been here in Melbourne (sunshiny, glorious, beautiful), I'll be able to get out and take some hopefully nice photos of my wares to sell on my site.
    
    
11. Wear a bikini
    
    Wish I hadn't have lost my mojo earlier in the year. We'll put this one on the list for summer 2014/2015.
    
    
12. Be a better friend, daughter, and granddaughter
    
    Again, I can't answer this, but I'd like to think I've improved. I mentioned earlier that friendship is relative to proximity, and I think this also plays a big part in my not-s0-great ways, but I do try.

Now it's time I take heed of my own words, and love myself enough to get through this next phase of my weight loss journey!

Spring Cleaning is not just for the house

Spring, spring, spring!

Oh boy, it's here, it's here, it's here! Spring! Too many exclamation marks? Here, have another!

I love spring. It's A's favourite season too. Hopefully it's kind to us both after the dreadful winter we had.

First things first - notice a bit of an overhaul to my blog's appearance? I had been searching for something lovely, something beautiful, for quite a long time, searching mostly for 'Free Blogger Templates'. Today, I searched for 'Blogger Templates', and got some fabulous hits. I got this 'Love Me' theme here. 

Second, you may have noticed that I'm actually publishing content on here after a two month hiatus, and prior to that, entries were published sparingly, too.

Thirdly, I said we had a dreadful winter. Three kilos of dreadful for me, a combination of factors really. It could have been worse, but 3kg is still bad enough. My back hasn't been the greatest since May, rendering me immobile for a total of around 8 weeks, though not all at once. This is where my 3kg gain came from. The only way is up! I'm seeing the physio regularly again, and hopefully come time for wedding season (dear friends in November, A's brother in February), I want to be looking and feeling great.

Yesterday, we went on a slow but long walk. I've realised today I pushed myself a bit too far. I've just mapped the circuit out for you to see how far we walked. We were gone for an hour and twenty minutes. This included stopping for 10 minutes (thanks to the queues of people in Acland Street) to get gelato from 7 Apples, and stopping on the foreshore to witness the commotion of the seven MFB (every time I see a firetruck, I still go to say CFA. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl, right?) trucks at the iconic Edgewater Towers. Click here to see what I'm talking about. We saw the aftermath when the firefighters were clearing the building. I think we were stopped here for 5 or so minutes, too. 

Approximately 15-20 minutes of stalling in our 1 hour 20 minute casual stroll. Google Maps says the very exact 5km route we took should take 1 hour and 3 minutes at a regular pace (the average human being walks at a pace of around 4-5km/h).

5km: Elwood - S. Kilda - Elwood

I'm not going to lie, I am rather sore today, indicating I pushed myself too hard, but I can walk this circuit in under an hour when I'm walking at my regular pace (A usually struggles to keep up with me).
Fingers crossed that with continual physio visits and getting ourselves back onto the balanced diet and meal planning bandwagon, 75kg by 31 October might be achievable.
I've started logging on MyFitnessPal again today, and writing here (I'm going to try to do it at least three times a week) to make myself accountable.

Have you been following me on Instagram? You can find the most up to date pictures of me there. But for now, here's one from 18 August when we celebrated A's 30th birthday, and just 3 days before my 29th birthday.

18 August 2013

Hasta luego chicas!