17 weeks

Hi guys,

Well if you hadn't read the side ticker from twitter, the answer is BLUE! It appears we are having a little boy. I was a little disappointed because I would have preferred a girl. Purely because I have 4 sisters so I kind of get girls plus all our friends have boys and I didn't want to have the inevitable comparisons either from my side or theirs. But that said, I'm happy we have a healthy critter there. GB is ecstatic. As we were walking back to the car I said to GB "Boys pee right into your face you know". It lightened the mood :) We've let a few people in on the news of the sex but will wait till it's confirmed at our 19 week scan just to be safe, before we go nuts with boy stuff.

My sister's wedding went off without too major a hitch on saturday night. She looked stunning! Wouldn't be surprised if the duck is born with boning marks in his head from my dress though. It was so constricting I could only eat one mouthful of food before having to stand up to let it go down! Add this to my boob to knee skinny minny I was wearing underneath and wowser it was a miracle I didn't faint! I would not be able to hack living in the 1800's!!!  At one stage I asked hubby to go to the hotel (across the road where we were staying overnight) and get me a pair of undies to change into but he couldn't find mine so bought a pair of his! I told him I didn't think having visible panty line from men's jocks was really appropriate so I sucked it up. Anyway, here's a pic of me from the ceremony (It was so flipping cold up the bell tower!!!). The wind was pushing the dress against my legs making it even less flattering - oh well!

Anyhoo GB has taken off this morning up to Kalbarri (about 6hrs north of Perth) for a weekend with the boys. He's back on Monday. I am so looking forward to a weekend to myself!! It's my mum's birthday today so my sister and I are taking her out for dinner, but aside from that all the weekend is my own. I'm going to go shopping on saturday to buy some maternity clothes as I'm so depressed about being so frumpy in my normal clothes. It will be nice to be visibly pregnant rather than looking fat. I want to buy some bathers so I can start aqua aerobics, plus some pants for work and a few basics tops. I've bought 10 sessions of pregnancy pilates too which I'll start next Wednesday.

My food intake ... well it hasn't been good. I've been craving carbs like no-one's business! The band is still working, I PB if I eat too much like normal so that's been a reality check. I've put on about 4.5kgs since I fell pregnant which I think is pretty awful. Hopefully now all the wedding/moving (My other sister built a house and moved into it 2 weeks ago) shenanigans are over, I'll be able to get into a regular exercise routine again. It's so hard to see weight go on when the last 2 years have been all about seeing the weight come off. I've had some really down days I have to say.

Anyhoodily, must do some work I guess!
 

Blech

Hey guys,
Sorry for the delay between posts, been busy with work and life.. you know how it is! Anyway just to let you all know I saw Dr Bowater (who frankly is a bit of a sanctimonious twat) who agreed to put in .5ml fill. Not much change though which is a shame. Got another appointment at the end of May so will get in another .5ml. I'm taking it easy because I don't want to get to the same probs I was having before. He did give me this nugget of information in curing those 3pm sugar cravings. Red Wine. Apparently red wine actually will satiate you whereas white wine makes you want to eat and chocolate is.. well.. not good for you. Unfortunately I can't stand red wine, also not sure how the boss would like me sitting in my office with a vino! Anyway, it may help others so I'm putting it out there.

This week I'm finally starting to feel a bit better (7 weeks of being sick is really farking frustrating). Still got a sniffle and a bit of a cough but I'm down to using my puffer only once a day which is great. I'm on a mission to work out 5 times this week. Managed 3 trips to gym last week plus pilates once. Not at full steam though. Yesterday I did my HRM program on the bike for 30mins and burned 300cals which is pretty good. Was planning to get back to the C25K program but got a solid headache with about 10mins to go on the bike so talked myself out of it. Spewing a bit about the running. I'm doing the HBF Run for a reason in a couple of weeks - doing the 4.5km and wanted to run the whole thing, but doubt I'll be able to do it now. Will give it a red hot go of course though!

Oh the half ironman. GB was amazing as were all our friends. He would have been happy to finish in under 6.5hrs but was aiming for 6hrs 5mins. He did it in 5hrs 50mins! And that was with a shithouse start to the morning when 10mins before his swim was about to start, his wetsuit zip broke. This meant he had to swim in the freezing ocean in just his tri suit. More than anything it messed with his mind, he was fuming still after the 1.9km swim! And it wasn't near his best time for that distance either. But he made up for it with a blinder in the 90km ride and a solid 21km run. I made signs to hold up as they went past - will post some pics when I get them from our friend. The other boys who did it did well too. 1 did it in 5hrs 36 and the other in 6hrs 20. My friend from highschool, Alison, has been sick for 6 weeks too and managed to do it in 5hrs 37. She's phenomenal! Unfortunately GB and one of the other guys ended in the medic tent on completion which was a bit scary when we couldn't find them for an hour. We went in there to find his mate laying on the floor and GB on a bed, wrapped in space blankets and looking very pale. Apparently they were really dehydrated (GB forgot to apply sunscreen and got burnt and heat stroke) and started vomiting. GB had a needle in his leg to stop the vomiting (he complained more about how sore he was from the needle than the actual event!). They were both dizzy and had the shakes. After a couple of hours though they were feeling a lot better and against the doc's advice still had a couple celebratory beers. They all pulled up amazingly well too.

GB's next plan is a marathon - he's doing it as part of a team in the full ironman in December but might try the Perth marathon in June too. He's a machine. If you'd said 3 years ago at 127kgs he'd be doing triathlons and marathons he'd have laughed his arse off!

Anyway we had a fabulous 5 days away down south. Went and caught up with our wedding photographer who showed us these gorgeous but outrageously expensive wedding albums. We hummed and haa'd about it for a couple of days. Did some research on the net and couldn't find comparable albums any cheaper so decided to go for it. Our photos are slowly going up on the online gallery - hopefully they'll all be up by the end of this week so we can start designing the album.

And we've booked a trip to Sydney! Jetstar had a "friend flies for free" deal which meant we got 2 x return tix with extra baggage for about $430. Bargain. We'll be over for 10 days in November but will hopefully be visiting my aunty & uncle up past Port Macquarie for a few days too.

Bridal stuff back on our agenda with my sis getting married in 4months. We finally found our bridesmaid dresses on Saturday thank goodness. They're nice too - a one shoulder, full length number - unfortunately not on their website and we forgot to take pics. But my even more noticeable lumps and bumps made me realise I need to pull my finger out and drop this weight I've put on since the wedding!

Anyhoo, busy busy at work so must get back to it!



PS - My previous post was more a reflection on how I'd rather think I was pregnant than admit that I'm putting on weight because of what I was eating, as opposed to disappointment about not being pregnant. For the record, I'm off the pill but not trying to, or not trying to conceive. What will be, will be. But thanks for all the comments!

Stupid cough

Hi all,

Well I was sick as a dog the week before last with chronic asthma. Had to go on a course of steroids and antibiotics. Was pretty much at 80% last week with the cough subsiding. Well in the last few days it's been back with a bloody vengeance. I sound like a fricking barking horse. Had some steroids left still so starting those again. Hopefully it won't get to the stage of last time where I "slept" (and by "slept" I mean watched tv all bloody night) on the couch for 4 nights. GB needs his sleep this week for his 1/2 ironman triathlon on Saturday so will take myself out of the room if I have to.

Had a lovely weekend, gorgeous weather in Perth. Had friends over for lunch on Sunday where I cooked and prepared from Saturday afternoon and then all day and night Sunday! We had tapas style but certainly not healthy food by any stretch of the imagination (the deep fryer got a work out!) but most of it was really tasty and only 1 dish failed on the day! We had a fun afternoon of food and far too much wine and then watched the video of our wedding that they had recorded. It was really fun to relive it and reminded us of how fantastic our reception was - I'd do that part again!

Super short work week for me this week. Friday we're off to Busselton (2.5hrs south of Perth) for the 1/2 ironman. Seeing the doc at 8am before we head off though. DEFINATELY getting a fill. Don't want to make my dilated pouch worse but can I just tell you what I ate last night? 6 party pies, - SIX!, a slice of lemon tart, bowl of icecream and a cold milo. Lordy that is embarrassing.

So yeah getting a fill then off down south. GB's friend's fiancee & I are having facials in the afternoon while the boys check in (3 of them plus 1 of my best friends are doing the triathlon). Have I said what this entails? 1.9km open water swim, 90km bike ride, 21km run. And they're all doing it individually this year not as part of a team. They've been training hard though so I know they can do it. So that's Saturday and then we'll be celebrating Sunday and Monday before heading back to Perth on Tuesday.

Catching up with our wedding photographer on the Monday to talk albums. We hadn't booked one before because we weren't sure about $$$$ so the package we had chosen was just the edited photos on a disc with the rights to print. Still worried the album might be super expeno but I really want one! She said she should have our online gallery ready by the end of this week too. Can't wait to see the photos!

GB and I checked out houses to rent for my birthday weekend (the weekend after is a long weekend) as last year due to the wedding we didn't go away at all. So we might pack up the pooches and go away just our little family for a couple nights. It's heaps more expeno to rent a house or cottage but we love to take the dogs with us so we'll suck it up.

Anyone watching masterchef this year? Glad it's down to the top 24 now. I'm so sick of the crying though! Keep it together people! And if I hear one more bloody sob story I'll scream!

Anyhoo, best do some work! Hope you're all well.

I'm back - grab a cuppa it's going to be a long one!

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your comments on my photos. I mentioned facebook having more photos so if you want to add me as a friend that's cool but pls don't publicly say anything on my wall about lapbanding because as you know, it's a bit of a secret! I've added a little avatar thingy to the right which if you click on it will give you an email address for me - not sure if you can use this to search for me on facebook or not but if you flick me an email we'll work it out between us!

I've started wading through all the blogs I've missed but I'm a bit all over the shop. I use this RSS feed toolbar that scrolls across my browser with unread posts but they're not in any sort of order that I can tell so it's a bit like Blog Post Lucky Dip! I'm especially loving the ones about "lady bits"! I will comment when I can but until I get through the backlog I may not - don't be offended! If you're on my bloglist I'm reading you!

The last 6 weeks have been so insane I don't know where to start! I'll start with my hens night the week before the wedding. My sisters had planned the whole thing and I knew some vague details but that was it. They picked me up mid afternoon and we drove to some hotel apartments in the city. They'd booked a 3 brm apartment for us to stay in over night for the 3 of us plus 2 of my close friends and my cousin who lives in Sydney who came early just for the hens night. We had a few cosmos and some nibblies and then I was told that I had to sit in a seat and they were going to tie me to it and blindfold me. I was having none of that shit! I refused to be tied up but sat there blind folded. They knew I didn't want a stripper so I wasn't too stressed and then someone came in behind me and I think they were playing "You can leave your hat on" and someone started blowing in my ear and giving me a lapdance! I assumed it was one of my girlfriends and then my blindfold was taken off and in front of me was one of my best friends from England! My sisters, dad & mum had paid to fly her over for the wedding! It was amazing, there were tears and screaming! After more cosmos we all frocked up (we all wore masquerade masks and caught the bus to Northbridge for dinner with about 20 other friends and family members. After a bit of kerfuffle about where the table was located, we tucked into some champers and dinner. During the night my sisters had arranged rounds of Emma Trivia. It was heaps of fun. Then about half of us headed off to a karaoke bar where as usual we got shitty about our songs not being picked and were almost about to leave when we finally got some on. We partied on there (numbers dwindled) till about 2am, then headed to a club which had an area upstairs playing 80's' & 90's music. There we came to an epiphany. The girls of today wear FLAT shoes!! Here we were being all hardcore in our ridiculous heels and they've smartened up and worn flats! Anyway at about 4.30am we decide a trip to Fast Eddy's (24hr cafe) is in order for some chips and sundaes (what else would we eat at 4.30am?). We walked back to the apartment and finally fell asleep at about 5.30am. I could only sleep for a couple of hours and I'm telling you I was unwell. I'm far too old for those sorts of shenanigans!

And that started a downward slide that week. I assumed it was lack of sleep and a hangover but all of a sudden food was revolting - I couldn't stomach anything (YAY I hear you say? Not that much fun in reality). Then the reflux started again and it was BAD. I was nearly in tears each night. Tuesday I called Watson's rooms and they didn't have any doctors in that day but got me in the next day. I saw Maria Ingram (think I blogged a bit about it). She was concerned because I didn't have that much fill in to begin with. She took out about half and said she'd left about 1.7ml in - which is less than you have when you're first banded. As I mentioned she sent me for a barium swallow in case I had a slip. I might add that trying to fit in time for a doc appt and a barium swallow while you're trying to get the final bits of your wedding organised is NOT easy! Anyway it turned out I had a band dilation which is a stretched pouch probably caused when my band was too tight (regular readers will know I've had quite a bit of probs with this). Dr Ingram called me while I was having my nails done to say she got the report and basically I need to get back to basics to relieve any pressure on my band to allow the stomach pouch to retract to its normal size. Which has not been easy as the hunger has slowly returned and my portions are getting back to pre band sizes!!! Hard to manage while you're on your honeymoon! Anyway I decided to put that all aside to concentrate on the big day.

I had the beginnings of a head cold that week before too. Then on Friday (day before wedding) I woke up with NO voice. Pretty hard to say your vows when you can't speak! Over the day it came back, scratchy but back. Thursday night we picked up all my family who were coming in from Sydney & Melbourne. It was a great reunion. Friday we all headed to Margaret River (about 3hrs south of Perth). I should mention that since December Perth has had virtually no rain and the weather has been ridiculously warm. Well in Margs on Friday it was cool and overcast. I was not impressed. Everyone said though that its good that there's clouds because it makes for better photos! Anyway, Friday night we all surprised GB with one of his best friends from England. He was over at Christmas and told me he was going to try to come back but with his job and $$ it may not be possible, but it all came together. GB almost lost his mind! Fri night it was a friend's birthday so 10 of us headed to Must Winebar and had dinner (yummo). Saturday morning arrived and GB took off first thing for golf with his friends - the last I'd see him before the ceremony.

A little bit later my sister called from her apartment to see if i wanted to walk into town for a coffee. So we did that. We also had to go to the chemist to see if they had anything to numb her throat. She had the WORST case of pussy tonsils I've ever seen! So bad that one of her glands was so swollen that it was causing a massive lump on the side of her neck! She really wanted to have a good night. The chemist suggested this spray thingo which we used and she said it was immediately better. From then on we moved all the dresses to my apartment, the hair/makeup lady showed up at 11am to get us all started. The day seemed to go quite slowly, and then all of a sudden it was 4.30pm and we were all rushing around to get ready!

I knew that I'd lost a couple kgs in the past week from being so ill but hoped it came off my arse. As soon as my sis did up my dress though I knew my boobs were smaller than at the last fitting. Sure enough I had to keep hoying it up after the ceremony, during the photos!!! Luckily I'd had spaghetti straps sewn into them so I pulled them on for the reception and it was smooth sailing. We arrived at the winery and that's when I finally had a meltdown - I couldn't stop the tears! It was almost funny. I think I was so overwhelmed that the time was finally here! I pulled it together and got the show on the road. To be different, both the boys & gal's walked down either side of the guests (rather than a centre aisle). It was a bit hairy walking in heels on grass and down a few stairs (and I stepped on my dress a couple times), but I had a great laugh when I looked over to see my fiance doing a dance down the stairs to the music. (All you need is Love - The Beatles). The ceremony was pretty quick and I managed to hold it all together! Although it was a bit cold outside it all went really well.

From there the bridal party had a few pics and then returned to the winery for the cocktail reception which was fabulous. We got the 2 very quick speeches out of the way and then did our dance. GB and I danced for a minute to our song (Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol) but as that's a difficult song to dance too (no beat!) we had been practicing with the rest of the bridal party to do a evening quickstep sort of dance to Love Will Keep Us together. There was a bit of confusion at the start but we pulled it together and apparently it looked fabulous! Can't wait to see the video! Then the party got started in full swing. Our DJ was fantastic - I had to ask him to play a shit song so I could go and pee!. The cocktail food was great and everyone seemed to have a brilliant time. We'd set up a kind of photo booth with a backdrop and camera on a tripod for our guests to have photos in front of and there was a little white board for them to hold up messages. It was a bone of contention between GB and I which I won and it was a massive hit! We've had really good feedback that it was one of the best weddings they'd ever been too. After the reception we all hopped on the bus transport we'd arranged back to the hotel and then partied on in my sister's apartment till the wee hours again!

It was like a big 3 day party. The next day we had a lunch just with our immediate families and then put the word out that we'd be having a bbq in the middle of the apartments for dinner which a lot of people rocked up for.

Monday we took my Aunty from Melbourne to a few wineries and the chocolate factory and slowly headed back to Perth. That was the day that Perth was hit by the hail storms and a few of our friends have bad damage to their cars. We were lucky that we were late enough just to hit torrential rain.

Tuesday night we headed off for our honeymoon. Details of that I'll leave to another post.

Today I did an official weigh in and I'm back up to 77.5kg which is disappointing but it has been 4 weeks with basically no fill in my band and drinking wine like it was water and eating out nearly every single day.. oh and no exercise, so a 3.5kg gain is understandable! I've been pretty much fluey this whole time but this past week my asthma has been chronic. Went to my GP yesterday and he put me on antibiotics & steroids. I haven't slept properly in 3 nights which totally sucks. Was planning on getting back into exercise this week but just haven't been able to. Did do pilates on Tuesday and also went to the gym after work for 45mins cardio where I thought I might actually pass out. Will give the weekend for the drugs to kick in and hopefully will be full steam ahead on Monday.

Well that's enough for one post!

Talk to you all soon!

Mrs Em :)

Wedding

Quick note sitting in a cafe in brisbane at the end of our honeymoon. Wedding was perfect! Will try to post a couple of pro photos that have been sent to me but there's more on facebook if you want to friend request me.

Holy Moly

Hey kids,

Forgot to bloody weigh in this morning! I doubt I've lost anything - possibly have even gained (yesterday I was 75.1) because my exercise and diet have been awful this week. Did pilates twice and started week 5 of C25k program on monday but that is it!  Eating has been shite too because I've been so busy I haven't really cooked anything, just been snacking snacking away.

Cara - I did wonder where'd you'd gotten too having been missing your comments! Just assumed you were busy busy busy! Glad I've returned to your blogroll. Oh and Easter is 2nd April (well Good Friday anyway).  Maybe we can catch up the following week or week after. Will flick you an email when I get back from the honeymoon and set something up. Oh and thanks for my sunshine award :)

Have been feeling quite overwhelmed with the wedding stuff and getting quite nervous about the big day. Funnily enough though not nervous about the ceremony but about the actual party side of things! Everyone has been building it up as the best night ever and I just want to deliver! I can't tell you all how much I'm looking forward to the honeymoon, a chance to unwind and de-stress!

Frick I'm having all sorts of probs with this blog post today. My paragraph about Baxter seems to  have disappeared and I can't be buggered retyping it so here's some dot points -

• balls removed


• lump removed


• getting big


• great dog


• graduated from puppy kindy!

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="369" caption=" Even with 20 toys, this is what he plays with!"]

Baxter playing with "red dog"

Easy come, easy go

Well I put on 300g this week. Which I think should have been impossible given my band has been super tight and I've been PBing and having night  reflux all bloody week! I'm not sure if it's related but I went off the pill a couple of weeks ago. It's the first time I've been off it since I was 16! I wondering if my hormones have gone all nuts because of it because for the past week I've felt bloated like I was going to get my period and the PB/night reflux is also something I would normally have around period time but no period has eventuated. Do you think I've used the word period enough in that sentence? Well I won't use it again. Period. I've also been backed up all week, something which I just took care of at work unfortunately post weighin. And that concludes this week's Too Much Information blog paragraph.

If all the night reflux doesn't settle down over the weekend I think I'll have to get some fill removed. Pooey.

Baxter started Puppy kindy last night and he was a little superstar! Then he turned into a devil dog at bedtime and proceeded to hump Westie's bed for a good 15mins whilst looking at himself in the mirror. It was farking horrific. In the end I put him on our bed to settle him down to sleep. And this morning I awoke to find 2 turds & 2 pee stains on the carpet in our activity room. Little bastard. When he's there just with Westie, he does his business outside no probs, we never come home to any accidents. But when we're home he seems to think he has free reign to do it wherever he pleases. Grrrrr ... Fricken puppies.

Wedding wise, things are coming together and the bills are coming in thick and fast! I got pissed off at one of our friends though and this is why. We sent out Save the Date's about a year ago with the date of the wedding and venue. Then the formal invitations went out first week of January with an RSVP date of 5th Feb. At the beginning of Feb, GB sent this friend of ours (as well as a few others) a reminder that the RSVP was due on the 5th. Said friend calls us on the 5th when we were driving back from Geraldton with Baxter asking "when do we actually have to have RSVP numbers finalised because he'd like to come but he has soccer, his kids etc to organise so he's not sure if he can do it blah blah blah". Sorry, but 1 year isn't enough time to sort your shit out? Caught off guard we say the 20th. Then last week I thought screw it, he's had ample time so I told him I needed numbers on the 11th and he says he's sorry but can't come. Which is fine. Which also would have been fine if he said it by the 5th of Feb. I can't believe he wanted more time! People from overseas and eastern states have enough time to RSVP on time! Farker!!! End vent.

Got my final wedding dress fitting on Monday, had hair and makeup trials Tuesday just gone. GB is going to see the DJ in Bunbury tomorrow. Still have a heap of smaller things to do but I think we're on track.

Still doing the Couch to 5k program. Started Week 3 this week. On Monday GB and I did our normal 5km lunch walk as 60 second run/walk intervals. It was really humid and it's so hilly I thought I might actually die, but I got through it! Although had to have 90 second walk breaks up the hills!

Big thanks to Sally too for nominating me for a Beautiful Blogger Award! There are pay it forward rules that come with it so will give it some thought and try to post them over the weekend sometime.

Anyhoo, best be doing some work!

Em :)

PS - Forgot to put in my NSV this week. I needed new 3/4 workout trackies so went to Target as they had 20% off. Walked out with size 12 and they fit thank you very much! mwah ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Exhausterated

Hello friends.

This morning I feel rat-chewed. Incidentally I looked up "rat-chewed" on google images to source a pic for this post but didn't think people would quite understand the connection between a pic of wrecked electrical wire and what I was going for. Phsyically and emotionally I'm exhausted. It doesn't help that GB pissed me off royally last night so sleep was lacking (yes it's not always rainbows and kittens in our relationship but we work through these things). I'm also frustrated that I've been putting in quite a bit on the exercise front lately (back to the gym 3 times this week, wii active 4 times, pilates), eating minimally and today's weigh in? 77 farking kilos. I think that 75kg mark before the wedding is a pipe dream. I'm due for my period on Tuesday so I know I retain the week before but it's no excuse damnit! It has also meant the start of more heartburn, a bit of reflux and re-acquainting myself with the toilet bowl for a week. It's not just that I PB once. When I'm stuck I'm stuck for hours and hours causing severe stomach aches and backpain. It's poo.

I'm in desperate need of a holiday too. GB and I usually go down south or away together every couple of months but we haven't really since we got engaged in December 08. Don't get me wrong we've had holidays - me with the girls to bali and together with 2 other couples to phuket early in 2009. Melbourne for 3days in august (my mum & aunty too) and we were in Yallingup for a few days last december  (for the Busselton Ironman) but it was with other people, not just the two of us you know. So I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the honeymoon. Have I said we're we're going? We've got 5 nights in Vanuatu staying in a honeymoon villa at the Eratap Beach Resort then we fly to Brisbane and drive to Kingscliff staying at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa for 2 nights then we've got a night in Brisbane before flying home on Good Friday. It will be fantastic.

In wedding news, we finally agreed to the 4 songs for our ceremony after much deliberation and the celebrant sent us the ceremony wording - not going to lie - I got a little teary! Still have seemingly so much to do but we'll get there. Have been waiting for something to go wrong given a lot of things were organised a year ago but so far nothing major - the only thing being that the Celebrant's old PA told us she only needed copies of our passports for the marriage license but the new PA yesterday told us she needs copies of our birth certificates. GB can't find his so has had to order a new one and I'll have to go on a search this weekend for mine. As problems go it's pretty minor and solvable so I hope that's it!

I'm thinking about starting protein shakes next week - what is everyone's thoughts on this? And should it be in the morning or afternoon? GB has a big tub of stuff he bought last year when he was going to start weight training (which he didn't, little skinny man he is now) so I thought I'd give the stuff a crack.

OK I'm off now, hope you all have a great weekend!

Em :)

Poopy

I was sure today I'd be regalling you with my delight about the fact that I'd done my measurements for the first time since August and even though I hadn't lost any weight, my how I'd lost sooooo many centimetres from my body proving that the work I was putting in was really showing coz I was clearly toning up. Well I didn't lose any farking cms. Oh a couple off my bust - whoopdedoo! It's so discouraging because I've had so many comments about how thin I'm looking and I honestly feel my upper arms, butt and "bum-bag" tummy have really changed shape and improved. Possibly in areas the tape measure doesn't go? I don't know.

On top of that I put on 200g this week. 76.9kg. POOP. Must get back into a better exercise plan. The lunchtime walking thing didn't happen this week - neither did my swim. Went on a few walk/runs though and bought the new wii active workouts - HIGHLY RECOMMEND - have started the 6 week challenge and so far have done 3 workouts. Make no mistake - sweat was poring down me! The only thing I can think of is maybe I haven't eaten enough this week. Haven't been hungry at all so have been having an iced coffee about 9.30am, yoghurt at 2.30pm and then dinner at 7.30pm. hmmm.

Went and saw Dr Warren Jones one of the fill dudes at Watson's surgery on Wednesday. Told him that there were times that I felt I could eat too much but then at TTOM I'm in agony and I've also been suffering from heartburn lately too. He said definately no fill. According to their scales I'd lost 4kgs since the last time I was there (3months ago). He asked me to book in for another 3 months time because I might need a slight un-fill - especially if TTOM or the heartburn gets worse. I liked him better than Bowater. He reminded me of a 1970's Jack Thompson - kinda geeky surfy dude. He didn't give me a lecture like Bowater usually does which was nice. He also gave me some Pariet to help with the heartburn.

My sisters, mum and I troddled off to take my wedding dress to have the alterations started. It was the first time my mum had seen the dress because she's spent most of the year in Melbourne and she loved it which was a relief. The girls told me I looked super skinny (nice to hear - but probably due to my miracle suit that was sucking me in underneath!!). I'm still worried about my upper arms being bulgy and my oprah wings underneath but not alot I can do about that now aside from my arm weights before bed time!!! I had to have the top taken in about 2-3 sizes but the hips fit well. Hope I don't look too pear shape!

On other wedding news, my sister found a wedding dress today - I had to rush over to the shop to see her in it this afternoon and she looked just beautiful. She's about a size 16-18 which in wedding dresses could mean anything up to a size 22 and of course bigger dressers are harder to come by to try on (I had to take a leap of faith when I ordered mine because it didn't fit over my hips when I tried on the size 12 sample!) Anyway I haven't heard the full story but apparently one of the places today, the lady made her cry coz she was so awful to her. What a farking beeyotch. I don't even know what happened but if I were there I would have given her a piece of my mind! Anyway they went to the place I bought mine from and found this beautiful dress that she's decided is THE one. She looked sooo beautiful and it was gorgeous and flattering and they knocked $150 off the price to put it in her budget. I'm really pleased for her. She's getting married exactly 6 months after us so it's a big year for our family!

Anyway, must go. It's beer o'clock and date night tonight!

Em :)

PS - It was super cool meeting up with Cara and MOTH last Friday night - check out her blog (The Dash) to see a pic of us!

Happy New Year!

Hi all,

Hope you've had a fabulous festive season. I've tried to pop around to all your blogs today and catch up. Nice to see most of you haven't been as slack as I have in the blogging department over Christmas & New Year! I had a great Chrissy. We started with dinner at GB's parents with his brother and his family on Christmas Eve. Had a good night even though the brother gave us these hideous outdoor art things which we hate. Seriously, art is such a personal thing - why would you buy it for anyone else? This is the same guy who has also given us 2 stuffed magpies for the garden which we have tried to leave behind everytime we move and he keeps "finding them"! Christmas morning we had GB's best friend and his wife over for breakfast. This is a tradition and we take turns hosting. We really like his best friend, unfortunately he's married to a massive mole (sorry for the term but it's the only thing that suits!) and the mole is heavily preggers with baby No 1 so now more than ever the world revolves around her. They also have a dumbarse labrador who is 2 now but still worse than a puppy - feet in the water bowl. They keep saying that her behaviour is just a typical labrador but that is just BS it's just they don't discipline her. These dogs are seeing eye dogs for crying out loud - they can be taught! Our Westie hates her too.

We got rid of them then drove to my Nonna's to give my half-sisters (ages 7, 10) their pressies. Then onto my Aunty & Uncle's for lunch with Dad's family (who I can't stand) where GB and I were told adnauseum how MASSIVELY HUGE we were last Christmas (except we weren't.... it would have been the Christmas before) and how much weight had we lost, how fat were we to start with... blah blah blah. I politely told them that I'd prefer not to say and tried to steer the conversation elsewhere. Grrrrrr

Then we cruised to my cousin's place to say a quick hi to some of my mum's family (Mum ended up staying in Melbourne with my Aunty who has just had a brain tumour removed), then back home to our place where we put on a bbq dinner for my sisters and GB's folks. Phew. Tiring much!

GB got 2 photo's that I'd had professionally taken with my 4 sisters about 4 years ago which had languished in a cupboard, professionally framed for Christmas. He also had my 2 degrees framed (and put them all up on the walls Christmas morning!). From Westie I got the Wii Fit Plus disc, Wolverine on Blu-ray and a new memory card for my camera. SCORE!

Over say 5 days from Christmas, I think I ate my (old) body weight in chocolate... soo many lindt balls... soo little time. I'm pretty sure I ate an entire pig too... Love ham off the bone! I didn't really watch what I was eating AT ALL! Obviously quantities were smaller but still. New Years Eve was hosted by my sister and I made 2 lots of icecream sandwiches (one with baileys, crunchies & maltesers and one with mint chocolate). So tasty!  We had a great great night, with mucho champagne! The next day we were going to mum's for lunch (she came back from Melb on NYE) and as we'd all crashed at Sister3's house, Sister 2 and I decided to walk from there to mum's - about 6.4kms. Have we mentioned how hot it's been in Perth? Sweltering! But luckily Jan 1 was a tad cooler and we did it in about 1hr 20 (including a couple of massive hills). We had a feed at mum's that did not agree with me and because I'd eaten some beetroot, all my PB's were a lovely purple colour - lovely!

I think that was the start of my TTOM restriction because I've pretty much struggled food wise since then. Funny that my last blog I was saying how I could eat mostly anything and then this time of month hits and BOOM, can't keep yoghurt down half the time and night reflux rears it's ugly head. I just don't know what to do in regards to a fill - any thoughts?

As some of my Facebook peeps will know, I started NO CHOCOLATE JANUARY on January 1! Regularly readers will know what a humungous challenge this will be for me. I've given myself a few loopholes (icecream & cake not included) but basically the work chocolate fridge is off limits. Today has been my first big challenge with it because it's the first day back at work since the challenge started and here it is - 2.30pm - traditionally chocolate o'clock - and I'm craving like a mofo! I'm going to try my hardest though. GB has decided as support to go without potato chips for the month too which is just as big a challenge for him as No Chocolate is for me.

After all this eating I had to have a sneak at the scales, thinking I'd probably be well and truly back into the 80's but was pleasantly surprised to see no more damage than a typical weekend for me (was sitting about 79.2kg), so phew!

In other exciting news, I got my shoes for the wedding for $25! yay!

Oh and our wedding invitations went out on the 30th - scary. Due to GB's inability to cut anything to the same size, all our guests will receive one of a kind invitations! I really love our invites, but if we ever get married again I'll be getting them done professionally.. what a farking ordeal! Anyhoo here's a pic of our main invites. We had smaller wishing well & rsvp cards in the same style but I forgot to take photos of those. Sorry they're a bit blurry but hopefully you can make them out.

[caption id="attachment_466" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Front of the invite"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_467" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Back of invite"][/caption]

 

Anyhoo, I must be getting back to work!

Later alligators

Em :)

Swimming and other stuff

So last night I beat my personal best in the pool for 1km - 29mins 45 seconds. Last best time was over 31mins so I was stoked with that. I really pulled hard against the water in freestyle and I was flying sometimes! Wanted to swim for an hour but I've got an issue with my left shoulder and it aches after rotating it for that long so I stopped at the 1km mark.

Have been getting quite a few comments about me looking really slim lately despite my stupid plateau. I can only put this down to wearing clothes that fit me. I'm still pulling out my 16's and 18's because I'm putting every cent I have into our wedding account so can't afford to be buying new clothes. But every now and then I've been picking up some things on special from Target, Just Jeans which seems to have brought the comments out of the woodwork. It's nice. For so long GB has been the one to get all the compliments and comments about his weightloss (and rightly so, he's put in such a mammoth effort and looks fantastic) so it's nice that people are finally noticing my changes too. So my advice, wear clothes that fit - it's good for the ego! haha

I'm planning on buying some "pretty" swimwear for the honeymoon. I found a really nice tankini in Myer in the Jennifer Hawkins Cozi range (can't find a pic online sorry!) so might use some xmas money to buy that.

Speaking of the wedding, got a letter to say my dress is ready to be picked up. Very exciting. Will be interesting to try it on because I've bought a size 16 because my hips were borderline 14/16 at the time I was measured and they said it's easier to take it in than to let it out. Going all by my lonesome coz neither of my sisters can come with me! My dress alterations are booked in on January 18th with the dressmaker. Have semi finished the invitations. Well the main invitation is complete but we're working on the RSVP and wishing well cards now. Will hopefully  have them all ready to go by Christmas.

Cancelled my appointment with Bowater on Friday and now booked in on 20th January with a new doctor Dr Warren Jones. Never heard of him. Guess the surgery is getting too busy for just Watson (who I don't think does adjustments at all anymore) and Bowater.

Anyhoo, better get back to work!

Em :)

Week 2 Challenge Recap

Grrrrr... more grrrrr.... yet more grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Have put on 200g this week. I'm so disappointed but only have myself to blame. Have stayed away from icecream since the choc top and have exercised 5 times this week. I have been drinking RIDICULOUS amounts of water. At least 2L a day, sometimes 3-4L! However, it was GB's birthday on Friday. Went out for dinner, had cocktails, wine, dessert... Then Saturday had lunch with his folks (another cocktail, more wine)... Saturday afternoon - caught up with his mates at the Balmoral (more wine plus wedges!). Sunday I surprised him with lunch at Millbrook Winery with all our friends. Great food (fattiest thing I probably could have chosen - Duck!... MORE WINE!!! (Seriously, their wine is bloody awesome!). Anyway, I'm sure you can sense a theme there! Then I ate my body weight in mars bar & chocolate fudge slice, cheesecake on Tuesday after one of my receptionists retired. Come to think of it I was lucky to get away with only putting on 200g! 

I'm also due for TTOM in a few days, so perhaps could be retaining. It sure does explain my mood lately! I'm seriously grumpy. We're off to Bunbury this weekend for a triathlon so the boys can have a trial run before the Ironman in December. We're camping - which I don't mind normally but it's going to be farking freezing. Plus the boys get together and become obnoxious annoying drunks, the only other partner going is pretty much exactly the same (She spent 4 hrs of an engagement party sitting in the toilet), and I just don't have anything to talk to her about, you know? Tried to convince the other partner to go but she has things on this weekend so couldn't. So the only thing getting me through spending a weekend in Bunbury (no offence Bunbury people!) is that I'd planned for us to all go to Casella's Tapas which has a pretty good rep for dinner tonight. But GB just pointed out that we can't do that now coz we're all taking our dogs and can't leave them unattended at the caravan park. So I have fully cracked the shits. Not that I didn't know about the dogs, but I hadn't put two and two together on it.

And you know what else is pissing me off? You people!!! Leave a farking comment every once in a while!!! I'm such a whiny bitch right now! Must try to get out of my mood. Sorry for the outburst, I just wonder if anyone gets anything out of my rambles besides the 3 people who regularly comment and now I've probably alienated everyone else anyway!!! I guess I really do this for my own purpose, sort of a journal of sorts anyway, but being a fatty - I do require positive reinforcement. Even if you want to tell me "snap out of it you whiny ho-bag!"

Wedding stuff is starting to gear up. We're working on our invites wording etc and hope to have them out early January. We were going with the minimilist look at the reception being that it's a cocktail party and I didn't see the point but then I started thinking how it wouldn't look special blah blah blah so now looking at hiring chair covers for the few tables that will be scattered around plus possibly those high bar tables. Looked at ottomans and benches but far too expeno to hire. I'm stressing about money as it is!!

Anyhoo, I'm going to take my mood and emerse it into reading job applications for our reception position...

Hope all are well,

Em :)

Super Challenge

Well after another weekend so far off the wagon that I couldn't even see the wagon anymore I've decided to give myself a SUPER CHALLENGE this week! Here are my vows from Monday to Friday (weigh in day):

1)  at least 60mins of exercise per day
2) at least 1.5L water per day
3) NO CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!
4) NO snacking between meals!

I'm already struggling with No 3 because all I can think about is chocolate.....

In wedding news - GB and I picked out/designed our wedding rings on Saturday so they're off being made. Took the opportunity to have my engagement ring resized too as it's about 3/4 of a size too big. GB was spewing that we were charged for the resizing as it hadn't been done before but they said they only do it free within the first month of purchase. SUCKS. You know what else sucks? I have to have no engagement ring for 3 weeks while all this is being done!! EEK!! So I'm now sporting a rather fetching $10 Diva beauty bling instead. Told the soon to be inlaws that my e-ring just wasn't blingy or big enough for my liking so I had to trade it in for this one. The look on their faces was priceless! Then I was offended that they actually thought I would do that! AS IF! My ring is perfect!

Also purchased a Canon EOS500 DSLR camera. It's a beauty. We were like the paparazzi all day yesterday, poor Westie was not impressed! Here's yet another pic of our beloved pooch.

[caption id="attachment_359" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Westie as taken with our new camera toy!"][/caption]

We're in talks to get her a little brother or sister after the wedding. Went and spoke to a breeder at a show (her bio dad died of a snake bite so can't get the same parentage unfortunately) and she's going to breed her two westie's at the end of the year which will make them ready in April if all goes well. Sometimes I don't know what we're thinking getting a second dog. Double food, vet, grooming bills. Double the mischief.  And of course the inevitable discussion of have a baby and a puppy just seems too much stress for me! But I think it'll be great company for Westie. We've just arranged to get a security door on our back door with a doggy door in it so she can get in and out of the house too.

Anyhoo, I know people are dropping by which is awesome! Make sure you leave a comment to say hi!

Em :)

Quick update

Hey kids,

Sorry I've been absent for a couple weeks. To recap:

Last Wednesday saw Bowater again. I told him in the 2 weeks since having the fill removed I've been HUNGRY HUNGRY HUNGRY!!! Food portions increasing, looking for food, thinking about food, food food food.... So he's put in 1ml again. So far not too bad, have a bit of restriction again and not quite as hungry so happy with that. I did work out like a mad woman for those 2 weeks, doing between an hour and 2 hrs a day at the gym (did a combat class and a step class which is way too complicated for my liking!) According to the docs scales I stayed the same in those two weeks however the first time I weighed in it was like 5pm and this time it was 8.30am so I know there was a bit of damage there. Still floating in the 78's.

Pata Negra (the new tapas place we went to a couple of weeks ago) was really great but way pricey. Still prefer Duende.

Wedding stuff - My sisters and I went bridesmaid dress shopping last weekend and they bought their dresses so that's all sorted. After 2 weeks and about 10 rejections from hair/makeup people in Margaret River and me getting so stressed out that the fiance was freaking out too, it finally all worked out. The very first one I'd called said she wasn't taking bookings because they may be moving interstate. Then I saw her ad reappear on a website so I sent a message to see if her circumstances had changed and they had so we're all booked in!! Best thing is that during the week she actually lives in the city so we can do our trials up here without having to track the 3.5hrs south. Awesomesauce. I have also setup a whiteboard listing everything that needs to be done in the next 6 months. I'll take a pic.. hehehe

I've also been sick since pretty much last Monday. Had a killer sore throat Mon-Wed and then the congestion and coughing started so have been off work since Thursday. I was really pissed because it was the 12km city to surf on Sunday and I planned to run parts of it. I managed to pull myself together and actually do the 12kms - and not an easy 12km either we're talking 3 major hills and not a lot of it being flat. The last time I did it 2 years ago (and 20+kgs heavier) my time was about 2hrs 15mins. Yesterday I did it in 1hr55mins and that was being sick!!! My hip flexors and calves were sore yesterday but not bad today. GB ran most of it (had to keep stopping for people in his way and to let his mate catch up) so he did it in just over an hour. What a champ. Definately going to train for it next year and try to run the bloody thing! Just waiting now for the official results to go up on the net.

Anyhoo, hopefully will catch up on everyone's blogs soon!

Em :)

Breathe just breathe

Hi all,

So yes as you can see from my post below, I'm super disappointed that he withdrew another 2mls. He wanted to take it all out but I had a bit of a tanty at that suggestion! He gave me a sip of water before and it just sat then he removed the 2 mls and as he was taking it out I felt the water go down. Then I had another drink after which was all good. He said that when I spoke of what was going on he was thinking it may be a band slip but because he's removed the fill and it seems to have fixed the problem he doesn't think it is a slip any more. He wants to see me again in 2 weeks. All very well for him at $150 a pop - meanwhile I'm going broke! It's amazing the thoughts that have gone through my head the last 2 days. Since a couple of months post banding I have rarely thought about junk food - in the past two days it's all I can think of! I'm going to have to be careful. I've asked the GB to take out all junk out of the house (chips & lollies!) just to make sure.

The other thing I'm now worried about having gone back over my fill removals is the fact that he told me on Wednesday that I now had 3mls remaining - which means that prior to taking this 2mls I had 5mls. However he also told me last time I had fill in that that took me up to 5mls which was in November last year. Since then I've had 4 removals totalling 3.25mls (HOLY SHIT!) which means I should be down to 1.75mls left. How would I get more fill into my band without an adjustment??? What the hell?? Anyway these are questions I will be asking in 2 weeks.

Anyway to top my week off I put on 600g. Can't really blame the fill removal yet. More that I had a fat old time of it last weekend and then had things on every night this week which meant zero exercise (except pilates yesterday).

Also, my hairdresser who, with her makeup artist best friend were coming to my wedding to do our hair and makeup has gotten herself knocked up and due right near my wedding day so now can't come. I can't be mad with her coz she did tell me that they were doing IVF and she offered to do free trials for us. So now I'm looking for someone to do hair and makeup in Margaret River. Got my feelers out, hope its all good!

GB and I did a tapas cooking class on Wednesday night with Kitchen Warehouse. It was awesome fun - they even gave us sangria and a couple glasses of wine during the night, plus all that food! None of it particularly healthy, but it was yummy! We're off to Pata Negra, Perth's newest Tapas restaurant tonight with some friends. Should be a great night.

Anyway, I'm in a bit of a mood so going to do some work then head home for a vino.

Em

Slowly she goes

Lost 500g this week. God! I so want to hit those 70's!!!! I think I'm not eating enough (if you can believe that!). Still uninterested in food. Exercise wise, I've been going to the gym for at least 30mins on the bike Tues, Wed & Thurs and then the last two nights when I got home I've been on the Wii Personal Trainer. That shit is HARD! And I have it set to easy!!! Lot's of lunges :(

GB's body has decided to freak us all out after losing more weight this week! He's now under 85kgs and here we thought his body must have decided 86kg was the right weight for him! I think it's the pilates (not that he would admit to it) and the swimming. He did the full 3.6km swim in the pool last night in 90mins. I think that's bloody sensational for a first attempt. I'm so proud of him!

For the first time ever I cooked a roast on Sunday! Got Jamie Oliver's Italy cookbook for my birthday so decided to make the lamb roast with stuffing and everything. It thought it was a tad overcooked but everyone said it was delicious. I was very impressed with myself! Not particularly healthy mind you, although it didn't matter because for whatever reason I PB'd the bloody lot! It was very odd. It felt like it was going down ok. Then about half an hour later I felt a bit uncomfortable so went to the loo. Did a very small PB (nothing major). Then turned to walk through the bedroom and felt it all coming back up, raced back to the bathroom and just made it. YUCK!

Wedding update: We were a bit shocked last week at the price of wedding bands at Solid Gold so we're going to have a bit of a look around this weekend. There's no rush but we want to know what's out there. I think i'm definately going to have my engagement ring resized. Some days it seems to fit ok but most days it's super loose.

Also, need a new outfit for my sister's engagement party in a couple of weeks. Thinking about doing the dress/tights/boots look. Not sure if I can pull it off but going to give it a go!!

Work driving me nuts. Feel like I'm repeating myself 100 times and I farking hate that.

Hope everyone else is going well!

Em

Too.Much.Food

OMG. I went out for dinner with the fam last night. I ate maybe a third of my meal and I can STILL feel it sitting there. SOOOOO bloated. But anyway let's back it up.

TTOM helped me achieve another 1+kg loss on Friday... less than a kilo away from the 70's! Unfortunately given the 4 day weekend I just had I'm pretty sure it'll be further away this Friday. I was even too scared to sneak a peak at the scales this morning. Friday, GB and I took the day off to hang out just us. So we went and saw State of Play at the movies. By the way if you're ever wondering where people over the age of 60 go on friday mornings - it's to the movies. I briefly wondered how early was too early for a choc top and decided 10am was fine! We went into the city to Solid Gold to check out wedding bands. Both of us shocked at the prices quoted! Met up with some friends at the Belgium Beer Cafe for an hour or so. Then we went to Coco's for date night (my choice) which was really nice. They have small or large meals there so GB got a small risotto (super tasty) and I got a small red emperor (also very tasty) and I will not deny that I had a piece of cake for dessert. Not to mention the bottle of wine.

On Saturday my sister's took me birthday shopping. I picked up a great red coat from Target which according to my sisters accentuates my tiny waist. Also got a black top from Forever Now (a non big fatty shop!) and both were in a size 14 - yippee!!! Meanwhile GB went shopping BY HIMSELF and bought new jeans, a new shirt and new shoes. He was very nervous about showing the outfit to me but there was no need - super hot! And size 33 jeans - what a skinny minny! We hung out together that night and watched that Zohan flick.

On Sunday GB had organised a lunch with most of our friends at Elmer's in the Swan Valley. Food was ok. I had a chicken caesar (ate about a quarter) and it was quite tasty. Filled up on cocktails and cake :). After lunch (about 5pm) my sisters and a couple friends came back to our place where we sang and danced all night - good times.

Monday morning GB cooked up a big brekkie for my sis and her fiance who had stayed the night and I had a poached egg on toast. Should have finished about 3 bites earlier as that was what I seemed to PB back up. Damn. Then he went off at about 10am and came back with cheesecake for my birthday so I had some of that (half a slice, then the rest a few hours later). Delish! Didn't eat lunch, just watched yet another flick (Eagle Eye - pretty good) and caught up with his folks for an hour. Which gets us back to the beginning of dinner out with the fam and me feeling soooooo bloated.

Some lovely lightening this morning. Poor little Westie was hiding in the walk in robe behind the washing basket. First time we've seen her that scared in a storm. It was so hard to leave her to come to work.

GB and I are starting ballroom dancing lessons tonight. Should be fun!!!

Anyway hope everyone is well! And congrats to Cara who has joined the Bandit world.

Em :)

Bye bye Obese me

Bit of a late update on last week, but the major news is: I'm no longer OBESE! Nope, just plain old overweight now! haha. Just missed out on reaching 35kgs lost since banding too with a major weight loss of 2.2kgs last week. Thank you TTOM! I'm now the lightest I've been since probably primary school!  The job this week will be to not put on as I tend to do the week after. As is usual for TTOM, I struggled badly with food, PBing most days which sucked, but today I can feel the restriction reducing thank goodness. 

We went to Margaret River overnight on Saturday to meet with the cake guy and the celebrant. Cake guy was disappointing given he knew we were coming but didn't have anything prepared and then gave us a sermon on unconditional love which was frustrating. Celebrant was great though, we're really happy with her. Had another fab lunch at Watershed and showed my mum where the wedding would be.

One week to go till we're off to Bali on a girls trip. One of the girl's has just cancelled for personal issues and I was supposed to be sharing with her. She wants me to go into a triple now which means a pull out bed which I'm not that keen on - I'm a bit old for pullout beds you know! I think if you cancel at this stage you should just take the loss. I know it's a bit selfish but I'm a bit pissed off that she's left it this late to cancel when really she was in the same situation when the trip was booked six months ago.

Anyhoo, best be off back to work!

Leave me a comment! I love 'em!

Em :)

Good week

Very happy with my 1.5kg loss last week, even if it was TTOM. I usually struggle the week after so going to try my damndest this week to maintain or lose. GB struggling to get under 90kgs and has decided to put in a mammoth effort this week to do it. I'm still PBing on occassion and with no rhyme nor reason. We went to GB's folks place for dinner on Saturday night and struggled on prawns and cheese and PB'd a few times (including wine coming up through my nose - lovely) and it wasn't good.

On Friday we had our fortnightly date night and I nearly killed GB when we turned up to Jackson's. For those of you who don't know, Jackson's is considered one of the best fine dining restaurants in Perth and has a pricetag to match. It was a degustation menu - a whopping 7 courses! GB hadn't realised this! Luckily they are fairly small portions, that I'm sure a normal eater wouldn't be too impressed about but meant, luckily for us, we could eat most of what turned up on our plates. I started to feel full after course 3! There were 2 dessert courses which we asked to hold off on for about an hour so we could let the other go down. Had some gorgeous wine too. It was a nice meal and we had a lovely night but it was far too pretentious for us (the waitstaff wore white gloves!) and FAR too expensive! I'll try to remember to scan in and post the menu for anyone whose interested.

We played squash last week and I played the best I ever have in the second game. It took 20mins to play out and I eventually won 10-8. I was super proud of myself!

On Saturday, went to a few bridal stores with my sister. Tried on a few dresses but the chick was none too impressed when I shouted "NO VEIL" when she went to put one on my head!!! Saw a couple of nice designs, but I have my heart set on a particular style so I really want to try one in my size (they ones they had were about size 10's) so I can see if it suits before I commit.

Hope everyone else is travelling well and hope to catch up on your blogs soon.

Thanks for all your comments too, I really appreciate seeing them pop up!

Em :)

Not happy

I'm quite disappointed in my rate of weight loss. 300g this week and I think I've been quite good food wise and exercise wise. I've got a check up appointment with Watson's sidekick in a few weeks (1 year bandiversary) but I'm not sure if I want any fill or not. I still struggle at lunch time sometimes but at dinner I feel like I'm eating TOO much.

On a positive note, I have now lost 30kgs in under a year which I guess is a good thing. About 5kgs to go till I'm back to what I was 2 years ago.

I've even been working out on the Wii this week! I've been doing the advanced step which is HARD! and the advanced boxing! It's fun though. I ran for 2 whole minutes on the treadmill the other day (walked the other 15mins). My walking on the treadmill is increasing in speed. Yesterday walked for 7mins at 6.6km/h and then 8mins at 6.8km/h. Then played squash for 30mins. No I did not win, but our rallies are getting longer and I'm actually connecting on 50% of my backhands now!

Wedding stuff is coming along. Went down south last weekend and met with the photographer. She seems really lovely and very open to our ideas. Had another great meal at Watershed and Lisa the co-ordinator talked us into getting a DJ! We managed to get the best one down there which is good. He said we can either email him lists of songs or just tell him what we like and don't like and leave it to him. Have arranged accomodation for our guests to book and a bus to take them to/from the accom and the winery on the day. Save the dates have arrived, so we'll be sending those out this week with the accomodation info. Got a quote on the cake I want - OUCH, so having a rethink. Got quotes on a bridal bouquet - DOUBLE OUCH! So now have asked a friend of mine who did a floristry course for 12months last year and she's confident she can do it for a quarter of the price. I'm a bit of a control freak so the thought of leaving it to a friend to do gives me the shakes - I mean what if it sucks! - but she's going to practice too so I'm sure it'll be fine. Friends of ours had a really funky invite to a wedding so we're going to steal the idea for ours. Found a dress online that I like. Of course it's some international designer which only one store in Perth stocks and I'm 100% sure it's out of my price range - typical! But I'm going to try it on and if the style suits I might see how much a dressmaker would charge to make something similar.

GB bought me a big bunch of yellow lillies a couple of days ago. What a sweetheart!

Hope to get around to all your blogs today!

Em :)

PS.: Fitting into size 16 clothes again now. Bought new pair of pants for work and was more than a little pleased as to how I looked in them :)