Night In

How I love a night with the house to myself! Or a day! Or... anytime really.

My parents are visiting my grandmother, who is, thankfully, getting better. She has her good days and her bad days, but the good seem to outnumber the bad now. I'm so grateful she wasn't hurt worse than she was.

So, with my parents out of town, I have the house to myself today/tonight/tomorrow morning. So, after working the lunch shift (which I don't normally do, but the money will be helpful), I did a quick detour on my way home to see about ordering some yellow roses for my grandmother. I'm hoping I can get over to see her next weekend. She loves yellow roses, and of course, they're the ones you can't always get, but the florist said she should be able to order some in, so I'll call in early this week and order a bunch for her. I also bought a few more notebooks for my uni study that starts again next week, and a few snacky things. I love red frogs :D

So, after I got home, I spent at least 2 hours re-organising my study and getting all my uni stuff sorted and put back into place. I burned my new scented candle (can't do that when dad's here, he's sensitive to it), turned my music on, and lost myself in printing, and organising, and labeling, sorting folders and papers, and notebooks. I also went through some older notebooks, throwing out pages I no longer need, finding things I thought I'd misplaced, just generally making my space feel more study orientated, rather than the mess it's been since exams a month ago.

Then, a wonderfully long hot shower where I did all the things I don't always have time for (or the hot water, coz I think our water heater is on the way out). I shaved my legs (thanks god for fair body hair, and not a lot of it so I don't have to do it very often), exfoliated, used a face mask, washed my hair and used a treatment, and relaxed under the hot water.

Following that I slathered myself with body lotion, foot lotion, hand cream, face creams, and settled in with a very yummy dinner to watch Pirates of the Carribean. I love that movie :D Then I painted my nails (toes in a wonderfully vibrant red, fingers in s clear hardener). Love these days.

I'm currently sitting in my PJ's, with a cup of milo, watching Batman Begins. Love it.

The other thing about having night on my own that I love? It gives me time to reflect on me, myself and I. It allows me to look back on the past month, or 6 months or year. It allows me to look back on this time and work out what I want out of the next month/year etc. This time on my own has come at a good time... the end of the month... the end of the first 6 months of 2013. I find that this is a great time to reflect on the first half of the year and to decide how you want the rest of the year to go.

Did your first 6 months of the year go the way you wanted it to? Did you achieve what you set out to do? What are your plans for the next 6 months? How close are you to your goals?

Me? My first 6 months went kinda to plan. I didn't really have a complete set out of what I wanted to achieve this past 6 months, but I did achieve some things. Not everything, but I've come to realise that that's ok.

Firstly, I went back to study as you all know. I've decided to study a Bachelor of Sports Science (Clinical Exercise Physiology), and this first semester has involved studying things I haven't even looked at for at least 8-10 years (wow that makes me feel old). Chemistry, biology and maths. I passed Chem and bio, but not math. I'm amazed that I passed chemistry because I really struggled all semester, and I felt terrible walking out of the exam. Biology I was ok with. I have a basic understanding from previous studies and I knew I wouldn't have a great mark (spent all my time on math and chemistry), but I knew I had done enough to pass. Math... I struggled with it throughout the semester (as I did in high school), but I thought I had done enough to pass the exam. Although, the exam was worth 70% of my grade so... I'm not too upset. I may have the chance to sit another exam in October (have to email my lecturers on Monday) and if not, then I just sit it again next year. No biggie.

Weight/fitness wise... disaster. While I haven't put on any weight, I haven't lost any either. I started really strongly with going to the gym a few times a week and running on a regular basis, but I just couldn't get my eating in line. Then, when the last few weeks of term came around, and exam stress, the exercise fell over too. So, I need to get back on the wagon in this regard too.

I also need to save some money :D I think this, like the weight/fitness goal, is an ever moving goal post, but that's ok too.

So, looking ahead to the next 6 months:

Study:

• I want to really get a study timetable sorted out, and stick to it. 
• I have to make sure that I don't get carried away studying my exercise science, and sports psyc units, and neglect chemistry, which I know will be even harder this term.
• Focus on my time management, and get my assignments done BEFORE the day they're due! I'm a horrible procrastinator, so it's something I need to work on.
• I would like a distinction in psychology and exercise science, and a pass in chemistry. While I would love to get a distinction in chemistry, I'm all about being realistic, and I just don't think it's gonna happen. I just struggle to get my head around some of the concepts, and I don't want to put the bar too high.

Weight/Fitness:

• Get the junk back out of my diet. It's crash landed, hard, back into my diet and I am feeling horrible. I'm tired, sluggish, and just feeling off. I know I feel better when I eat fresh, and whole and healthy, and I need to get back into it.
• I need to get back into the gym. I want to go 5 times a week; 3 strength, 2 cardio days, and go for a run/walk on the 6th day with a rest day thrown in there somewhere. My fitness has suffered lately, and this will fix it. I'll start slow though, and go with 3 times a week to start.
• Also, trying to get to bed before midnight on school nights. I've been staying up way too late, and that just has a ripple effect on everything else in my life.

Money:

• This all comes down to saving. I need to save more money, and spend less. Not that I've been spending a lot, but I do need to save more.

Morag and I are moving at the end of the year. (Notice I say we are, not we want to). We've booked in 2 weeks at the end of November to go job hunting and house hunting, and then we're moving to Sydney. We both just need to get out of this town, and out into the world. We need to start living our own lives without our families breathing down our necks. I'm so excited, I can't wait. As usual, I'm counting down:

Uni starts on Monday

8 weeks of uni

2 weeks of break/res school

5 weeks of uni

2 weeks of exams

then about a month between the end of exams and when we have the time off. I'm going to use that month to job hunt, set up interviews etc, and search the housing websites so we have something set up for when we get to Sydney. And of course sorting accommodation for the 2 weeks we'll be there. And set up some stuff for us girlies. Maybe a show, some clubbing, some relaxing at the beach. Lots to plan, lots to anticipate.

The next 6 months are going to be AMAZING!!!!

What are your plans for the next 6 months?

Lots of New Stuff

Hey guys!!! What's been happening in blog-land? Soo sorry for the lack of updates. Life, as usual, has been really busy. Between work, PT sessions and uni, and a few weekend where I've been driving or flying all over the country, I feel like I'm running myself all over the place.

Firstly, how was everyone's Easter? I hope you all had a great long weekend, and even if you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you enjoyed the time off with friends and family. My Easter was a bit hectic. Easter Thursday was hectic with car troubles (will expand on this later), and working both lunch and evening shifts, uni work etc. Then on Good Friday I was woken up early to my mum telling me that we were going to my grandmother's for the night. Dad was heading to Stockton on the train early Saturday morning, so mum and I headed to Gran's on Friday for the day/night. It was nice to spend the day/night with her. I made her a Rocky Road (but I forgot the Malteasers!!!). She hasn't been well, and she hasn't been eating a lot, so I was hoping that this might help her eat a little more. She has currently eaten most of it, so I'm counting that as a win.

Then on Saturday we got up early and sat around in the sun eating breakfast and chatting. Before we knew it, it was heading to lunchtime and mum and I had to be on the road. We headed back home, threw some clothes into a bag (and my study stuff for me), and then headed to Stockton. We had a cabin at the caravan park, and it was right at the path to the beach.We stayed until Monday. I do love it there. Mum and I walked along the beach on Sunday afternoon. There was so much shit on the beach, washed up from the recent storms. I don't have any pictures from the weekend, unfortunately though.

The weekend before that (the 23rd) I headed to Melbourne to catch up with some of the people from Contiki, many of whom I haven't seen since we got back. It was so nice to catch up with Charlotte and Jane. I shared a room with Charlotte for the tour, and I really miss her (she's from England). The weekend was kind of a bust, due to a disagreement with one of the girls when I didn't find anything I like in the stores we went shopping in on the Saturday, that kinda continued on til now but that's ok. I had a mostly good time. And it was nice to catch up with Penny (my bus buddy). We hadn't met before the tour, but we sat together practically the whole time we were on the trip, and became great mates. It just sucks that she's in Melbourne. But that means that I have an excuse to go down regularly. I actually have a few friends in Melbourne now.

The Wednesday before I flew to Melbourne, Charlotte and Jane came up to my area to see the dolphins and do a winery tour. I met them for breakfast on one of the days. It was really great to catch up and chat without everyone vying for the attention for everyone else (which happens when there's a group of 10 or more of us).

Jane and Charlotte

The red velvet cupcake, chocolate frog and chocolate spoon I bought after breakfast in a cafe on the Saturday. They were so yummy and I loved the spoon.

Drinks before our flight

My HRM is now back and working!!! I actually had to take it to the shoe repair/watch repairman and have him put a new one in because I couldn't get the back off it to replace the battery. I know the guy who runs it (I used to work for him) so he only charged me $5 for it. The battery probably cost more than that, but who am I to argue with him. Now I just need to get my butt moving again. I've been really lazy for the last 2 weeks. But the gym at the uni id open over Res School, so I'll try to get there while I'm in Armidale.

This weekend I had one of my best uni girlfriends come to visit on Saturday and I loved it. Nat and I are so different in the way we dress, and some the the ways we think (politics in particular) but she's one of my best and closest friends. We've been friends since our second year of uni (almost 8 years ago) and she's been there through a lot of things. It's always nice to catch up with her. She only lives 2 hours away, but we never get to see each other. She works Mon-Fri, and I work weekends. It makes it hard to catch up but we do when we can. There are so many people I really need to catch up with. I want to make this year the year I meet up with people who mean a lot to me.

Res school starts next week, the 17th of April actually. I'm kinda looking forward to it... meeting people doing my courses and degree, meeting my lecturers and actually being able to ask questions about anything that I don't understand, being able to discuss things with people who actually understand it. I really like my uni. I like everything about it. The open space, the amazing gym and fitness area, the amazing lecturers, and the people who are there. I met a lot of amazing people while I lived on campus for my first degree, and I'm sure I'll meet many more amazing people who are doing my degree/classes online. It'll also be nice to have almost 2 weeks where I can just focus on uni, and study. No work, no PT sessions. Just uni, study and understanding anything I don't at the moment. I have actually just received an email from my math lecturer asking if those of us doing res school would like some tutorials. I think she read my mind (and a few other's of us) because I was actually going to email her and ask if I could get some help. I'm really struggling with math at the moment, so I'm so grateful that Bea is offering these tutorials, especially as math doesn't have a res school component, only bio and chemistry.

I bought a new car last week!!! I was going to buy one later, like June/July in the end of financial year sales, but my old car made the decision to bring the date forward. On the 28th of March (I remember vividly because it was a Thursday) I was on my way to a PT session at 5am. I got halfway there when my car started losing power, and revved really high. I kinda managed to pull over (half off the road half in the lane) and put my hazard light on before it started smoking. So I grabbed my bag and practically jumped from the car. So, I'm standing on the side of the highway, in the dark (thank god for a fog free, full moon night), waiting for my dad to come and get me (and the NRMA to come look at my car), and not a single person stopped to see if I was ok!!!! I was a little pissed, but whatever.

So it turns out that it blew a hole in my water pipe. And it fried the engine. And the engine would cost to much to replace than the car was worth :(

Sitting on the side of the road with my car waiting for a tow

So I left my car sitting on the side of the road (it was towed a little further up the road to a place where it was actually OFF the road). I called a few car places to see what they had for test drives and prices, and decided I wanted to look at a Honda City, or a Holden (Chevy for my Nth Americans) Cruise. I went via the Holden place in town on my way to strip my car, and spotted a green Cruise and instantly fell in love with it. After a test drive later in the afternoon, I was pretty sure that I wanted it, but I really wanted to test drive the City too. On Monday (after a weekend spent at the beach in Stockton, and a day looking at cars I'd rather forget), I drove the City and really, really liked it.

In the end I decided on...........

THE CRUISE!!!!!

Isn't it pretty!!!

 I love it. It's a 2011 model, only about 16-17 months old, and so much nicer than my old car (my old one was a '98 model; nearly 15 years old, so there's a lot of improvements). It is going to have to be cleaned every week because the colour shows up every bit of dirt, but I love it. And I love that the floor mats are stuck to the floor so they don't end up scrunched up under my feet. I had that so often with other car mats (I went through 3-4 sets) that I ended up driving without them. So that's a nice bonus.

And it has cup holders!!!! I know that doesn't seem like a major thing, but my other car didn't have any and it's not until you don't have them that you realise how much you need them.

So, now I'm in even more debt, but that's ok. I needed it, and was planning on buying a new one anyway :D

M and I went to the movies yesterday!!! We saw The Croods!!!

I loved it. It was such a fun movie, great for kids and adults. I love Belt, it has some of the best parts of the whole movie.

Dun Dun Duuuuuun!!!

Haha. I love it. There's so many great characters, and the interactions between them. I was worried it would be one of those movies where all the funny stuff is in the trailer, but it's not. it really is a great movie. I love, love, love it!

But them I'm a big kid at heart, which I'm sure doesn't surprise you. The woman who served us at the counter actually knew which movie we were going to see. We didn't have to ask. I'm not sure if it's because she knew what was on, or if we've been so often she just knows what we're going to see now before we do? Could be either honestly.

After the movie, we went shopping. I know, you're all surprised. Actually I have a gift card for Jeans West I needed to start spending, (I got it for Christmas), and M wanted to see what Just Jeans had in stock, so off we went to the shopping centre.

I got a pair of khaki skinny jeans (I'm in love) and a green and black stripped rugby shirt. It's so light, but it will need to be hand washed (didn't think of that when I bought it). I've been looking at coloured denim for a while but didn't want to jump in the deep end and buy bright blue, green, purple, red or something like that. I saw these and just went... 'I have to have these!'. So I bought them.

Pretty bad pic, but you get the idea

My dad finally got his jukebox yesterday. He saw it in a catalogue just after Christmas, and he's been bugging everyone about it ever since. He was convinced it wasn't coming, but yesterday it was delivered. You'd think he was a big kid with the best, newest toy the way he was acting with it. Pushing every button, making the lights change colour, turning the volume all the way up. It was actually nice to see because there really aren't a lot of things he asks for.

I booked in to try to do my scuba dive course again. It's the 1st and 2nd of May, a few days before the color run. I'm hesitant to try it again. I hope that I can actually do it this time. Hopefully, being the middle of the week, there won't be a lot of others, so they can spend time with me if I freak out again. Fingers crossed that I don't, and I can do this. *positive thinking

I need to get back to the study, and clean my room. It kinda looks like a bomb went off. oops. Math due yesterday, but I'll hand it in today. It'll be fine. I'm just struggling a little bit.

Cya soon blog-land. Hope you're week is off to an amazing start!!!

D!

Back To School...

Back to school... (you're singing it like Adam Sandler now aren't you?)

Ok, so maybe not quite, but I am going back to university. And while class doesn't officially start until the 25th of Feb, I've been obsessively checking the university website for the unit information (things like lecture notes, assessment guides etc) to be up. And last night I found the Math and Biology ones are.

Which, for math, is a good thing for me. You see, I haven't studied math since I graduated year 12 (8 years ago), and looking at the notes for uni, it's like reading Japanese to me. I mean, I recognise the questions, I've seem them before, but I have no idea what it's saying. Like

y = f(x) = x2 + 2x - 1 = 2

Ah ha, I completely understand that.... not.

I'm looking at this stuff and I'm already worried. Especially because if I don't pass math I can't complete my course. My whole course is riding on this one unit!!!!

ARGH!!!!

But I'll get there. I just have to have faith that I can do it, and devote my time to it.

Oh well, at least biology looks easier to understand, and I still remember what I did in chemistry in high school.

I need to come up with a timetable. One that includes study, gym and work. I'll do it sometime this week I'm thinking.

So...as I said before I really want to get out of my hometown and move into a city. Ideally Sydney, but I'd move to Newcastle, or even Melbourne.

So, as I do, I look a little too far into the future, and I've been looking at acting and dance classes. I've always felt a pull towards the arts like music, drama and dance, just like I've always felt a pull towards sports and being active. Most of the acting classes though, they want you to audition. And I'm not looking at it as a career. I mean, if someone was to offer me a job as an actor I wouldn't turn it down, I love acting, but I just want it to be something I can do more as a hobby. And a lot of the dance classes I'm finding, particularly in Newcastle, are for kids, or advanced adults who want to do it as a profession. Now I love dance, but I don't want to do it professionally. I'm sure there's classes out there, I just have to do some research and find them.

image via heraldsun.com.au

But... I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'm trying to study my math now (I bought the yr 12 HSC excel textbook, but I think I'm going to need the yr 11 one to help me learn some of the basics again). It's not really happening. I have Tangled on in the background (did I mention I'm a big kid and a little addicted to Disney movies??? No, well I am). I keep watching it instead of doing my study...

Oops :D

But I love this movie. I love the horse, and the way he and Flynn fight. It's funny. Disney always leaves me with a smile on my face.

I'm having a girly day with M tonight. When she finishes work later tonight she's coming round and we'll do dinner, and maybe have a few drinks. We'll do a movie marathon, and gorge ourselves on too much junk food, maybe paint our toenails or do face masks. It'll be fun. It's been ages since we've been able to do this. Not since before I left for Canada. She works days, and I've been working nights, and when I have time off she doesn't and vice versa. It just hasn't happened. Sometimes all you need is a girly day/night.

Can't wait... it'll be so much fun :D It always is when we get together.

Girly Day

What's a good way to beat the 'return home' blues???

A GIRLY DAY!!!

I had an appointment with my hair dresser this morning. It's been booked since before Christmas, and I needed it when I booked it, so I definitely needed it now. It was dry and brittle at the ends, and my streaks had grown out so much that I really noticed it, even when it was freshly washed. (My hair is a reddish blonde, so when the blonde foils grow out it's not always noticeable).

When I sat down in the chair, my hair dresser asked what I wanted and I replied with 'anything'. So, I had about 2-3 inches cut off, and a side fringe cut into it. It's been years since I had a side fringe (long one), and I think I was about 8 or 9 when I last had an actual fringe. It's going to take some getting used to. I also had copper and blonde foils put through it. The copper is quite noticeable right now, but after a few washes, the colour will settle. For some reason, the colour doesn't fade in my hair, it just settles.

I didn't take a photo of my hair before I had it all cut, so there's no real 'before and after' comparison, but there is a 'during and after' shot :D

During

After

I also had an at home spa day. I used a face mask and read a book while it dried, used a yummy smelling nut body scrub in the shower, made my own foot spa and gave myself a mini pedi and painted my toes.

My pretty bluey green toenails :D They've been purple or red for weeks, so this is a nice change

And.. what girly day is complete without chocolate...

I'm slightly obsessed with this chocolate. It's got things in it that remind me of pop rocks, and smarties and it's awesomly amazing!!!

It's been a good day. I'm heading to work in about an hour, but having the day to laze around and be girly has been a really good thing. My head is definitely in a better space. Today was just what I needed.