Revvin’ Out..

Yesterday I made the brave decision to attend my very first RPM class at the uni gym. Marketed as “the indoor cycling workout where you ride to the rhythm of powerful music. Take on the terrain with your inspiring team coach who leads the pack through hills, flats, mountain peaks, time trials and interval training. Discover the athlete within - sweat and burn to reach your endorphin high.”

I was definitely looking for something amazing! And, you know what...I wasn’t too disappointed!

The class was surely a lot harder than most of the others I have been to, but I the instructor was lovely as she helped me set my bike up, and I am not at all as sore as I expected to be, considering I really worked it! I will absolutely be doing this again...as long as my trusty side-kick comes along J

*Disclaimer: This is NOT me. Well, perhaps the 'me' I imagine as I am crazily pumping away with my legs strapped into this gizmo!

Urban Remedy Cleanse Day 2

Woke up feeling pretty good.  Not the ‘raving awesomeness’ that you would expect, but then I haven’t been sleeping so well with hubby away. My skin is clear, and my lips aren’t chapped, for once, however my body has an odour to it that makes me a little glad that hubby isn’t around to smell it!

Juice 1 -  I mixed my unflavoured Fish Oil and a cranberry capsule into this one today. I have to admit that this is my least favourite juice, and I am not sure how I will go having this one another three times! I don’t hate it though...I just find it a bit...pulpy and grassy. I also feel a little unsatisfied after it today, in a way that I wasn’t yesterday. Perhaps I drank it too fast? I can’t wait until 10am comes so I can drink the coconut water!

Juice 2 – I like this much better today, and rather than trying to imagine it as food, I gulp it down as you would an apple juice. I actually have it a bit later than planned, as I was caught up in an osteopath appointment, but while I am starving as I drink it; it feels like barely any time at all until it is time to have my luncheon soup.

Juice 3 – Mmmm. I really am a fan of this soup! It is just a little too much to fit into my large soup mug or one of the bowls in the office, so rather than struggle with an over-full bowl I put 3/4s of it into my mug and drink the rest cold. I know, I know, potentially gross, however my family often had deliberately cold soup during summer, so it wasn’t so bad.

Juice 4 – Celery goodness and so refreshing! Although, my tummy is still gurgling quite hungrily.

Juice 5 – Again, I split this into two mugs of ‘tea’ substitute...and busy myself doing housework while I drink them both, just to pass the time. By the time 5.30 comes around I am starving and dying to have a proper dinner....instead I have a reaaaaalllly long and hot shower and think about how great I feel.

Juice 6 – I heat the first half of this, but although I finish it, it really doesn’t hit the spot and i wish I had saved the whole drink cold. I splash the rest of it over some ice-cubes and sip it slowly as I watch Home and Away. I go to bed early in order to stop thinking about yummy food options.

Ive drank lots of peppermint tea today, and only one green tea. I need to buy a new water bottle for work and hopefully up my water intake a little...

Urban Remedy Cleanse Day 1

Wake up feeling excited to be starting this! Turn the kettle on, and instead of my usual tea and two sugars I have a large mug of hot water and lemon juice. I miss the tea, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the lemon water...I decide to save my breaky juice for work (I start at 7am), so once I have completed the usual morning ablutions, I jet off to work and then have to wait impatiently for 8am to come around so I could have breakfast!

Juice 1 – This juice is a bit pulpy, bit pureed grass, but refreshing nonetheless. Due to a fire alarm at 8.10am, the first juice took me an hour to drink! I sipped it slowly, and swished it around my mouth as was suggested. I did need to go and check for little bits of spinach though...and I set myself a reminder to do so from now on, as I am horrified to think that it was there when I greeted my very attractive female boss!

Juice 2 – The coconut water is slightly sweet, slightly syrupy but nothing too unappealing. Didn’t finish it, however...took an hour to sip through it and by the time I got to the last inch, I felt more like a green tea than more coconut water! I can see that this one could get a bit repetitive...I enjoy the taste of coconut, but not so much the juice from inside them.

Juice 3 – The soup is lovely and it is a really great idea to have something that is a ‘meal’ for lunch. I pour it into a bowl and eat it with a small spoon, to drag the moment out. It is not as thin and watery as I expected, and there is almost enough pulp to warrant chewing. I do wish I had heated it up more (damn microwave!), and also wish I had some pepper or sea salt to sprinkle along the top.

Juice 4 – Another green juice, this one is less pulpy than the first smoothy of the day, and is more alike the green smoothies I make for myself. It is light and refreshing, and just what I need at 2 o’clock in the afternoon...or so I tell myself! My team all go to get coffee, but I stay behind and marvel in my abilities to get loads of work done without disruptions.

Juice 5 – I leave work at 4pm, so take my final ‘day’ juice home with me. I normally put the kettle on the minute I walk in the door, so today I flick the kettle out of habit, pour half my lemon juice into a mug and zap it in the microwave. It’s done just as the kettle boils and I sip it slowly over 20 mins while doing a few household chores. If it weren’t for the rumble in my stomach, you would think that this was any ordinary afternoon!

About an hour later, I zap the remainder of this juice and repeat the same sip-sip-sip. I quite like the taste, and the peppery zing is acting as an appetite suppressant.

Juice 6 – The cacao and cashew juice is just divine! I work through my normal dinner hour, and then all of a sudden it feels like it is dessert time so I crack open this juice. It’s gone in no time, so I shower and head off to bed for what will hopefully be a restful night of sleep.

Clean is the new black

About a year ago, I started noticing this company appearing in magazines, and being referenced in other people's blogs...and let me tell you...I was really taken in by the cute packaging and user-friendly website!

It has taken me a while (and obviously Life got in the way) but finally last week I booked my Three Day Cleanse for this week, while Mr.cake is away..

I have taken Laura from Urban Remedy's advice and started to cut back on ‘nasties’ the three days prior to my cleanse. I am struggling most with the caffeine...my head is pounding and I feel like I can barely see straight. I take a few nurofen at one stage, and give thanks that I am going through the worst of it before I start the cleanse, and comfort myself with some Greek yogurt, blueberries and a drizzle of dark agave syrup. And when I say ‘some’, I actually mean three bowls!

I start to cut out dairy, meat, all white starch foods and settle for a fish and tomato stew for dinner on Monday, and on Tuesday I have a blueberry smoothy for breakfast and a green pear and spinach smoothy for dinner. I could get used to this liquid diet!

Quick Update: I got home from work this evening to find this sexy box on my doorstep. Very well packaged, and am SO EXCITED to begin my cleanse tomorrow morning!

Home Alone

Mr.Cake has left me for three weeks while he goes surfing in North Sumatra. I haven’t quite decided if that is a good thing, or a bad thing! It’s good, because it means I can have whatever I want for dinner, and I don’t need to do any of the chores associated with sending your mining hubby off to work each week (lunches, laundrette, etcet) but I am already feeling a little teary thinking of him off having fun while I lay in bed alone at night L

Lucky I am expecting my delivery of Urban Remedy this week to occupy me!....stay close for more updates!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Awry

Wow. I started this blog with new beginnings in mind. A plan to focus on my health, a plan to focus on my figure, and most of all a plan to focus on ME.

And within a week of starting my ‘new life’ was on the path to a very different one that I had planned! Again, Life got in the way of my best intentions.

My first blog post was January 19^th. What I failed to include in this blog was that on this day I also went to a OBGYN appointment that I scheduled to discuss contraceptive options for my hubby and I, as the ones we had used in the past weren’t quite working for us. We had discussed having a baby, but had decided that although we both wanted to start a family, we should wait until the end of the year. Even though it had only been a few months since my last Pap Smear (October) by gyneocologist suggested he do another before implanting a Mirena. I wasn’t 100% on the Mirena, but he convinced me that it would be the best option at this time...so, swipe away and so forth and I was off!

A few days later, the lovely old lady (grandma-esque) that works as his receptionist called to ask if I would return to the surgery, as my doctor wanted to discuss the findings of my pap smear. I was diagnosed with CINIII cervical dysplasia , which meant that the abnormal cells were throughout the wall of my cervix, but not quite into the layer of nerve endings (which would have been true-blue cancer). Explained this as the cervical wall being three layers, like three layers of bricks, and under these three layers were all the plumbing and electrical for the house...my abnormal cells were all the way through the three layers...

Anyhow...I had a few biopsies, a weird test involving a very bright light and a vinegar solution and a hospital visit where they removed a cone shaped section of my cervix. Only meant to be day surgery, I actually began to bleed heavily after being sent home and had to return to the hospital for overnight observation and a very uncomfortable ‘pack’. Imagine those yucky gauze thingies that the dentist uses to stop a tooth bleeding...but stuck somewhere else entirely!

Another side-effect (if that is what it can be called) was that I need to, ah, abstain, for about 8 weeks. I have to say...I hadn’t previously rated intimate relations as absolutely necessary for the functioning of my relationship, but by the end of the 8 week period I was just about ready to tear my eyes out!

So...we got to it...

And immediately fell pregnant!

We were stoked, if not a little surprised. After the first four weeks or so, we decided to tell our families, and I had to tell work because I started to feel a bit ill at random times of the day. My parents were thrilled, and my mum immediately told all of my eight brothers and sisters. His were not as thrilled, but came around after a few days of getting over the shock.

We started buying small things, talking about names, planning a re-shuffle of our house to make room for a nursery, looking forward to maternity leave...

And then at the six weeks and two days mark I started to bleed.

I know that miscarriages are common and that one-in-four pregnancies end this way, which means that statistically most, if not all, women will experience one...but I can honestly say I had not felt true grief until that moment.

Work was great – my manager is a lovely woman, who drove me home and booked me in to see my GP. He was great...got me an emergency appointment with the radiographer and wrote me a really great doctors certificate. But when it was all said and done I went home alone to wait for hubby to get home from work. You see, hubby is  a miner, which means he is non-contactable during work hours...I have never had to break news so sad to someone, and it was heartbreaking to watch him realise what it was I was saying.

To make matters worse, my grandmother had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and my mother called me this night to tell me that she had passed away.

I could go on with a summary of the ‘week that was’, but I will leave it to your imagination.

So now, as July has drawn to a close and August is fresh on my tongue, I start anew!

What is that saying, about getting back on the horse?

Monday I have Friday on my mind...

After a busy but wonderful weekend, a new week has dawned - a little overcast, and waaaay too quickly after going to bed last night, but a fresh way to start the week ahead, regardless.

I have decided to have two small goals for each week. Small, but significant. So, this week I vow to start an exercise program and to stop having sugar in my tea.

Exercise: Okay, so my body wasn't built for exercise. It was built for lazy sunday mornings and floating in the pool in the sunshine. Any gung-ho exercise plan is sure to fail within a week, as my poor muscles and bones put up quite the argument after a bit of a workout. So, to eaaaaaase my way into it, I am only going to set the expectation of two classes, as well as three 'walks home' from work. The walk from work is mostly uphill (which is why it often gets replaced with a quick cab ride) and takes about 50 mins. I quite enjoy walking, but there is something with this walk that is just painful...no paths, sloping ground in two directions, narrow road liked by speed-gonzales teenagers...BUT, no point in paying good money for cabs AND making extra trips to the gym when I can combine the two in the afternoon!

As for the classes, I think I am going to try to do them in my lunchbreak - I start work at 7.30am so am not able to do any before work....and my motivation after work is severely lacking. So, I have three Pump classes to chose from, a Buts, Abs and Thighs class, and a Body Combat. I used to do combat all the time, however I came to not enjoy it so much...so maybe I will try for a Pump today, and a Pump on Thursday or Friday, depending on how sore I am. Combined with at least 3 x 50 min walks, surely that's enough to start the exercise regime?

Sugar: I never used to have sugar in my tea.....I had it strong and milky but no sugar! Until I had appendicitis....which meant I had to be on a clear fluids diet, which meant my tea had to be drank black...which is EW without sugar. Since then I have really struggled to give it up! I plan to commit to not having sugar at all, except for one cup of tea in the afternoon if I am REALLY STRUGGLING.

Lunch today is accountable: Tin of Tuna in Brine, a salad, some grapes, blueberries and rasberries and a banana. I have also packed a multigrain breadroll, but will only eat it if I am starving.


EDIT: Okay, so I ate the roll. AND I had a bowl of icecream after dinner....but it was a smaaall bowl, and I haven't had anything else bad, OR any sugar in my tea allll day. I walked home from work, and did a few lazy laps of the backyard pool....all better than snoozing on the couch. x

Lessons for the (mis)educated

I have been thinking more and more lately about what it is I am trying to achieve with this rehaul of my life, and I think that my main problem is that I am unhappy with what I have achieved in life.

Yes, I have two degrees, a postgraduate qualification and an offer for further study for this year, but I feel like with all the 'professional learning' I have done, somewhere along the line I have missed out on learning the things I want to learn. I also feel that since meeting my hubby (whom I love very, very much), the passions that previously were integral to my identity have somehow gotten lost in the kerfuffle of making ends meet, buying a house, developing relationships with his parents etc etc. So, by making one of my very studious lists, here are the things I want to change....

Things I want to learn before I die:

• To speak another language
• To graft cuttings
• Play classical guitar
• To be the sort've girl that goes for 'runs'

Things that I used to love, but now no longer do:

• Dance
• Play guitar in a rock-band
• Creating art
• Writing

Now I just have to work out how to get there!

(re)beginnings

With the new year, comes New Year Resolutions. And, with NYR's come the same-old-breaking of said resolutions. Year through year I make the same promises to 'get fit' and 'lose weight' and 'spend less' and 'create more', yet January is not even close to coming to a close and I am over-indulging, penniless-until-next-pay and bored with my own company.

So, this blog is born.

Not out of some irrepressible need to vocalise my struggle, or desire for accountability...I am plenty good at whinging about said issues to hubby, and he is equally equipped at telling me to get off my a** and DO something about it!

Rather, I want in on this blog-world. This gorgeous, creative, emotive and desiring world of art, fashion, cuisine and self-obsessed tap-tapping away each week/day/hour. I want IN!

So, plan is to somehow combine the aesthetic with the athletic...perhaps as this blog comes to a close in some (lithe)distant future  I will have found exactly what it is I am looking for. Until then, I guess this it. Enchante fellow bloggers. Very pleased to meet you.

The wonderful, terrible irony of this post is that as I sit here refiguring my lifestyle, and my refiguring my, well, figure, I am scoffing down a buttery hot-cross bun, with coconut and jam slice in the oven and chocolate macaroons cooling on the counter.