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.

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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.

What happens when you're sick...

...is that you are so pissed at the world for a. making A sick on his holidays, b. then passing it on to me, and have it hang around for 2.5 weeks, and c. you have so much going on that you don't actually have time to rest and get better.

I woke up yesterday and felt so incredibly wonderful for the first time since Thursday 14 November 2013. Yup, it really was that long. Such a pain to be so ill, but not much can be done about it now.
In that two and a half weeks, once A was better, we rearranged the entire house. Thank goodness it's a large 1 bedroom apartment! While he did most of the furniture-moving, I supervised and helped out when he couldn't do it on his own. I also unpacked and strategically placed items and things from bookshelves etc. which was fairly draining. I'm still in the process of decluttering, but hopefully now that my energy stores are near on being replenished, I'll be able to attack it with ease and enthusiasm and get our little place back to tip top condition.

I haven't felt much like eating whilst sick, or stepping out of my pyjamas, but I had to do both, on occasion.
But, before I got sick, we went to Geelong for a haircut. We can both get our hair cut in Geelong for, on average, less than I can in Melbourne. 
This is what my hair was looking like pre-cut: a side fringe masquerading as a front fringe with ends going every which way. 

Here I am, day of cut (below), waiting in the car to head into A's doctor's appointment. Ironically, it was after this trip that he became ill (we were visiting for something unrelated).

For the first time in 5 years, I have a front fringe. And in this photo, I'm sporting my natural hair colour. The previous one still had a wee bit of colour from when I coloured my hair in March.
Three days later, on the Thursday, I coloured my hair. I was expecting my hair to become similar to the middle shade, based on the approximation of the colour sampler on the pack.

This is after applying the colour and washing out the excess.

It's not even close to ANY of the colour samples pictured. I wanted to be a light amber auburn, not deep auburn bordering mahogany! 
This was also the day that I got sick. Thursday 14 November was clearly not my day.

I had two interviews for uni placement during that time. I wasn't successful with one, and still waiting to hear from the other.
I'm becoming more confident in my skin (even if I have put on a few kilos) and wearing clothes I'm comfortable in. Behold outfit selfies.

Interview One outfit - cold and miserable; 21 November

Interview Two outfit - warm and sunshiny; 26 November

Five days between interviews and two completely different climates. Anyone would think I live in Melbourne.

By Saturday, 30 November, I was starting to feel much chipper, and gladly so as our beautiful friends married that day (see A and I with The Bride below). I wore the same dress I wore to Interview Two, only I froze all day, so also wore a beautiful shawl that I picked up at Forever New DFO what feels like a million years ago, but in reality was less than four.
'Twas an intimate and loving gathering, and one we feel very blessed to have been a part of. As The Bride and The Groom said in their vows, til death, or zombies, do us part.
The food, ambience, and mocktails at Centonove were beyond anything I could imagine. Just sensational. The portions were perfect, the dishes were perfect, and the service was amazing. All the fluids I consumed (no booze; mocktails and water only) made me feel super full, and super fat! Talk about fluid retention.

A, me, The Bride

'Twas late in the eve when this was taken, and my fringe was falling out of its curl, but it's still a beautiful picture!

Post weekend, despite hardly eating a thing given all the festivities (there was also a post-wedding barbeque on Sunday), all I could see was fat. Fat everywhere. My clothes agree. Garments are a touch on the snug side in some places, and not particularly flattering.
So, it's back on MFP for me. Day two of tracking and I haven't missed a thing yet. Today I was ravenous though, so when A walked through the door with cold chips and schnitzel after work, we demolished them. Not something I'm proud of but we don't have much in the way of food at the moment. I also think my body is trying to reclaim nutrients it missed out on whilst sick. Anyways, into MFP they go.

So, a bit of ramblings, not my usual style, but that's what's been going on in my life these last few weeks.
Wednesday Weigh In tomorrow, so will report back then.
For now, it's time to hit the hay!

The swimsuit journey continues

Why hello there. How are y'all doin' today?

I'm terrible, I said I'd try and write at least three times a week, and that didn't even happen. Perhaps I should aim for once a week instead. I was never good at keeping a diary as a kid, and a blog is pretty much that, only I don't tell you my deepest and darkest secrets ;)

Over the last few weeks since my last entry, I've kinda been laid up in bed in worlds of pain. You see, my back isn't taking too kindly to this coldish weather we're having here in Melbourne. So, I've just been laying here, doing not much of anything. Perfect time to blog, you say? Well, maybe not. I gotta have stories to tell y'all in order to do that!

A week ago, I got a message from Nicole at Turning "I can't" into "I can" asking me how I'm doing. I found Nicole through my friend, K. Nicole's from Canada, from the area K grew up in. K and Nicole's brother went to school together. But, I digress.
Nicole was checking in to see how I was doing, so I told her I'm not fabulous, but that I'm not bad, either. It also got me to thinking about content for this little ol' blog. 
I've realised that my swimsuit journey is still continuing, not because I'm not comfortable in my body, but because I actually haven't purchased a new swimsuit! Yup, I didn't end up getting myself a new one last summer. I was content that I was able to fit in to my existing one (plus the funds didn't really allow for a new suit). 
The other thing I've been thinking about is just writing about how good I feel, and what it's done for me mentally (even though I'm not out of the depths of doom and gloom, (and I really hope that doesn't offend anyone)) I'm still feeling MUCH better than what I was 18-24 months ago.

So, aside from the fact there is a family wedding to attend in February that I want to try and lose 5 - 7 kg for, I'd also like to get that new swimsuit. I want to spend time on the beach this summer!
The link earlier is last season's suits, but definitely still designs and cuts I'm chasing.

Suits Me Just Fine: Polka Spots by monsoonprincess featuring one piece swimsuits

One piece swimsuit
myer.com.au

Bettie Page one piece swimsuit
96 AUD - modcloth.com

Esther Williams red one piece bathing suit
96 AUD - modcloth.com

One piece swimwear
myer.com.au

Halter top
myer.com.au

Baku Amalfi DD/E Cup Maillot One Piece
birdsnest.com.au

What do you think? Which one's your favourite?

Oh, by the way, I'm going on a small hiatus til my exams and assignments are done, so my next post probably won't be til end of October-early November.
Take care, and remember, one day at a time.

xx

"You look like you've stepped out of an Alannah Hill magazine!"

Last night was my work's Christmas function. It was the first function I'd been to, given that I've only been there four weeks.

I rocked up an hour late (traffic and appointments booked well in advance held me up) but slipped in unnoticed during speeches.

Figuring out what to wear was a curse. I had wanted to wear the red dress with white polka dots, but it didn't look flattering, so I was going to wear my gorgeous Sweet As A Rose Princess Highway Dress. Problem solved. Then I had a stroke of luck and was able to wear the red dress with white polka dots after all.

This outfit is styled almost exactly to what I wore last night, but only a few things are exact: cardigan, makeup, perfume, nail polish, and watch. The dress and remaining accessories are the closest matches I could find on Polyvore.

I found my friends, and one of them, who is quite gorgeous herself, said to me: "Oh my God, you look hot! Gosh, you look like you've stepped out of an Alannah Hill magazine!" Well, that was it. My night was made. I didn't care about anything else. I finally feel like I've made it in the world of fashion! Never mind the fact I felt completely overdressed as most other people were in denim (they'd declared it a casual day at work), I finally felt amazing! Thanks, S!

I got quite a few compliments throughout the evening, so that lifted my spirits indeed  (along with the free moscato, cheers!).

For the record, it was not intended to look so Christmassy in my attire, and fortunately no-one picked up on the colour scheme/party theme. Further, the shoes I wore, from Zu's 2009/2010 summer range are aptly named Holly.

"You look like you've stepped out of an Alannah Hill Magazine!" 

Emily and Fin cherry dress / Cropped cardigan, $93 / Caparros shoes / Jane Norman glitter handbag, $29 / FOSSIL stainless steel jewelry / Marc by Marc Jacobs bangle bracelet / Bracelets bangle, $235 / Georg Jensen diamond earrings / Charm pendant, $300 / Waist belt, $83 / Nina flower hair accessory / The Body Shop body shop / Burberry perfume, $77 / Sally Hansen beauty product / Gloss - Mirenesse, $42 / Nude By Nature Mineral Cover Medium 15g at Terry White Chemists / Eyes Right