20kg Down :)

Hit a milestone this morning in my weightloss journey - 20kg lost since I started this gymming and dieting business. It has been a lot of hard work but I am feeling really proud of myself today.

I had carpal tunnel release surgery on the 23rd of July and since then have been unable to go to the gym. Not only do I not have any strength in my wrist, but any sort of exercise of course makes my blood pump a lot faster, which in turn makes my wrist throb with pain after about hmm 3 minutes?! The osteopath I see and the occupational therapist who has been helping me get back in to working safely have both told me to not go to the gym yet. I should be able to ease back into aerobic activity soon but weights have been ruled out for a long time. The only muscle exercise I am allowed to do at the moment is squeezing a stress ball. :|

I have been going through some old photos this morning and I am shocked at my size in some of them, I really don't know how I let myself get so big and am embarrassed that I didn't do something about it sooner.

I'm currently trying to work up the guts to post a photo... eek!

Deep breath... here goes:

Before:
This photo was taken last year, before I started actually using my gym membership (I know, I thought you signed up and lost weight/got fitter automatically). I was unhappy, hated the way I looked in everything I wore, hated having to buy bigger clothes, hated bawling my eyes out in fitting rooms, or even worse getting STUCK in clothes in fitting rooms, and eventually realised I could do something about it.

So I did. I started going to the gym and realised I loved it. I loved the classes, the instructors, the music, the feeling afterwards of I'm-going-to-die-but-that-was-awesome! All of it. Then I started looking at what I was eating, cutting out the junk food and thinking before I put food in my mouth.

And here I am, 20kg later:

This was taken this morning before I went out shopping with my sister (AND BOUGHT NEW JEANS THAT FIT!) (oops caps unintentional but I'm leaving them as I feel like shouting it out!!). I obviously still have a long way to go. I'd like to lose another 15-20kg but will re-assess that as I lose the weight.

Feeling very scared to click "publish post" and put this out there, but I'll just have to be brave and do it!

The new house - Kitchen

Over the next few posts I will introduce you to our "new" house, although we have been here 9 months now, so it isn't that new.

I will start with the kitchen/dining. When we first visited the house during an open home, we saw a few things straight away that we wanted to change about it - the colour, the benches, flooring, cupboards, okay almost the whole layout of it, but we are planning it a bit at a time.

Here is the real estate photo of it:


As you can see, not only did the previous owners have interesting taste in furniture and decorations (of course you sit a motorbike on top of your rangehood!), they also had strange ideas about kitchen paint colours... don't they know kitchens should be white??!!

So we showed them a thing or two:





'Scuse the mess, I was setting up for a party.

We have bigger plans for this area, including new wooden benchtops, new white cupboards, removing the pantry which is on the left hand side out of the photo and replacing it with long white shelves, moving the pantry out into the laundry, putting in timber floors, installing the dishwasher that has been sitting in the garage for the last 9 months (involves replacing the sink as it won't fit underneath the bench with such a wide sink), replacing the sliding glass doors with wooden paned doors leading out onto the deck, new oven and stovetop, putting in white tile splashbacks... ok it's quite a list.

So that's the kitchen, next time I will show you the lounge.

Magnolias

I adore magnolias. I love that their branches look so twiggy and their flowers are like amazingly coloured balloons. They are just so beautiful. Yesterday hubby took me to the local nursery and I was allowed to buy two.

I picked these ones:

Lennei Alba "Magnificence"

San Jose

I can't wait to plant them. We have had a windy and wet couple of days, with even some snow today so I don't want to plant them just yet... plus we have a bit of clearing to do to for the spots they are going into.

Aren't they just stunning?

Study Lighting

If you have read any of my blog you will know I have a slight penchant for chandeliers. I love the sparkle they add to a room.

I have been on the lookout for a chandelier for my study. I really think it NEEDS one. I haven't been able to find one that suits the room though. Then I remembered something I have in storage...

We bought this for the guest room at our old house (see pic below). It suited the room perfectly and we had so many comments on it. When we sold the house, I had to leave 2 of the chandeliers behind as they were wired in, but this one was a plug-in one that I removed after the real estate photos were taken, before the open homes began.

I have had it packed away since we moved, and think that it is "the one" to finish the study. Luckily we have a friend who is an electrician so we should be able to get it done shortly. Can't wait, I think it will be so pretty!

Study Time

The university semester has started, so I am working on getting used to being a student again. As all of my post-high school education was done via distance university studies, it is certainly a strange feeling to be back on a campus. Admittedly, part of that strangeness comes from being in classes full of people 10 years my junior, but I am slowly finding my place.

The best part of commencing studies has been creating my study area at home. We have moved our guest bedroom downstairs to a bigger space, and I have moved myself into what was the guest room upstairs.

A trip to Freedom ensued and the following purchases were made...

White linen curtains with a subtle stripe to cover the wooden venetians and give extra privacy:
Office chair, though mine is red (white was out of stock and I'd been fighting myself over red or white):A dining table to use as my desk. I wanted wooden and white and it was impossible to find exactly what I wanted in a good use-able size:A simple white wooden bookcase:
I am very happy with how it is all coming together, and will post some photos soon of the completed room.

Pots & Plans

I have found the red pot I have been dreaming about. I haven't bought it yet due to the self-enforced wait-until-the-courtyard-is-cleared-and-ready phase has passed, but I desperately want it and am planning to transplant my lemon tree into it. So here is the little beauty, and some other bits I found at the same store:

My courtyard is currently filled with my husband's prunings and offcuts from the rest of the garden so it has delayed my plans even more. Truthfully though, I am quite happy to stay inside in this freezing cold weather and am using that as an excuse!

I am just about to start studying again, so have decided to turn the guest room into a study for me. It's only fair, as hubby has his study, and our rooms downstairs can be turned into a guest area - bedroom and lounge. I am very excited about this little project as it doesn't involve any painting, and involves me buying furniture, stationery and pretty things. Yay!

Showers and Flowers

So Water Issue #3 happened today.

We have been having noisy showers for a few weeks. When turned on, the taps would make varying noises, from groans to bangs to loud roaring and the water coming out of the shower head in bursts. I contacted our faithful plumber (Google) and found out that it could be caused by a number of things - pockets of air in the pipes, worn-out washers, the pipes not being secured to the house properly, the list goes on!

I decided we would start with the easy (and free) fix, clear the air from the pipes. Ok that didn't work, and may have actually made it worse.

Onto the next cheapest fix, change the washers in the taps, done and done. No difference!

While my Darling Husband was standing in the shower fixing the taps back to the wall, he decided to take the shower head off to see if there was anything in it that could be causing the problem. There is a perforated plastic plug in the shower head to restrict the water flow as we have really high pressure here. Turns out that was causing the problem, it has now been removed and all is working fine again. PHEW! I was worried it was going to become another enormous headache of a water problem.

Let's hope that is the last in our run of 3 bad-luck-with-water moments!

Our jaunt to the hardware store to get new washers also involved a tour of the garden section. I found so many gorgeous pots and urns to fill my courtyard. I am trying not to buy yet until I get the whole area cleared out and am ready to begin.

Helleborus Ivory Prince is one of my absolute favourite flowers. I adore the antique colour of it. Here is the Prince himself:


I also have a thing for Camellias. Sometimes they are so perfect you think they can't possibly be real. Like these little lovelies:

^ Desire

^ Primavera

A pretty bench:

A pretty arch:
And a beautiful pot:

It is so hard not to buy as I see things, but I am showing Some Serious Restraint.

I am on the lookout for a red glazed pot. I know exactly what I want, but am yet to find it. let me know if you see one somewhere!