Online Shopping

I don't typically do much online shopping, except for this one store. Lorna Jane. Incredible exercise wear that takes up hours of my months scrolling through.  Getting these email updates about the status of my package is so exciting and I am always anticipating the arrival of my order. When it does arrive....YAY!!!!!!

Getting Out Of The Office

One of the perks of working in a Private Practice, is you get workers comp patients who required some conditioning rehab in order to get them ready to return to work and able to handle the demands of their job. This means I get to leave the practice for around an hour and a half when I have one of these appointments in my diary. It can be such a great variation in my day, keeps things interesting and keeps me motivated!

Today I was with a great girl I have been treating for a couple of months now for her first Hydro session and she was pumped! Patients that are excited and motivated for rehab make my day. They want to be there and are so focussed on getting back on track that they give me everything. And she did, she tried really hard and I left her pretty knackered.

Good Hair Days

Don't you love it when your hair just does what you want it to do? This is a rarity for me, I have really curly/frizzy hair that tends to have a mind of its own! The day I wash my hair - don't even bother trying to do anything with it. Its so light and clean that there are no natural oils or chlorine in my case holding it down. On these days much only options are a bun or plaited to maintain any form of control over my mane!It's all about maintain the balance of the crap in my hair I guess - enough to keep it down but not to much to be totally gross!

As easy as it sounds to produce, I really struggle to get a good messy bun going on. I don't know if its because my hair is so long or I have so much of it or I just lack that talent but it normally tends to look more like a tennis ball in a sock then a messy bun.

Today however I started the braid at the perfect spot at the front of my head, my hair stayed in the braid really nicely, and I nailed my messy bun!! I get my hair right and my confidence is through the roof for the rest of the day. You know what they say Look Good Feel Good!

My Best Friend

My best friend in life, as my mum would call it, is now living in rural Adelaide. She moved there around 14 months ago now for a radio job she got at the ABC. She is the next up and coming host of Getaway or Sunrise, she is just working her way up there...just you wait!

We have the kind of relationship that no matter how much time passes between our chats, emails etc it is like we were with each other yesterday. When she first moved away, I was worried we were going to drift apart. But I shouldn't have worried. What probably prepared my in particular for this separation easy was the year she had spent abroad studying and travelling Canada and the US. In that situation not only were we in separate hemispheres, but we were separated by time zones and our equally busy schedules. this made finding time to Skype difficult. But I survived and when she did finally come home, it was like she had never been away.

She had just spent 6 weeks travelling Europe and stopped in to Perth for a couple of days on her way back home. And just like when she had been on exchange, no time had passed. we could have talked all morning about her travel stories, the very little Perth gossip, work, family and friends from both halves.

And before I knew it she was on another plane and back to Adelaide to launch herself back into working towards the dream job. And even though I don't think I've spoken to her since she was here, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what she's up to...it's a sixth sense!

Community Fitness Events

Today was the annual City to Surf fun run, the day where 48 000 Perthian's take to the streets to run, walk, crawl...what ever it takes to get them over the line at to the surf. This was my first year entered in the race and I was nervous! At high school, our interschool cross country took place on the first half of the dreaded Heartbreak Hill and that was all that was on my mind, knowing that I had a couple of killer hills to conquer before I even got to that one.

At the assembly point for the start of the race I realised just how big a crowd 48 000 people was! Very slowly we filtered through and I was starting in the first wave of runners. Mum and I got ourselves into a good starting position and by the time we were in the streets at the start line we weren't that far from it considering the number of people. The horn sounded and we were off...well not straight away, there were a few hundred people in front of us to move first.

The start of the race is straight up the first of the hills, not the most pleasant. However I was having a slight equipment malfunction for the first 1km of hill - my heart rate monitor was flicking off. By the time I had that back on  (kept running the whole time!) I realised my headphones were caught underneath and were lifting my top up. In retrospect, should have just left it but I know I had a long way to go and I wanted to be comfortable, so while still running I tried to untangle myself. And in the process, I lost a bud of one head phone! Great start! So I tucked the budless headphone into my top and started work out what was going on around me...1.5km post start line. At least I was a little distracted for that first hill!

I just love community events like this. The atmosphere is incredible, everyone is there for the same reason - to exercise and raise money for charity. The feeling as you cross the finish line is of accomplishment, satisfaction, relief and pride...nothing can beat it! I did a time of 56.05 minutes, achieving my goal of beating the hour, one happy chappy :)

So as if a 12km run wasn't enough, I continued on in the arvo to my boot camp which I also participate in. Another free community fitness event I run weekly for women to inspire instil fitness and healthy lifestyles in women no matter what level of fitness, shape, size or ability. So a big day of exercise, in my opinion the perfect sunday!

Monday Mornings

It's not always that I love Monday mornings, in fact most of the time I'm not to keen on them at all. But while one of our Physio's is on holidays, I am taking his classes at various retirement villages. My favourite...these lovely ladies taking a hydro class. They are the cutest set of nanna's and just love to chat. Whether it be the weekend footy or this Wednesday's happy hour down in the new part of the village the conversation barely stops long enough for them to change exercises! They definitely made my Monday morning a little more bearable.

Being Challenged

This afternoon I decided to change up my workout routine. I am normally a runner and there is not much I love more then a good hard run that leaves you in a puddle of sweat and feeling like your invincible. I have a friend who is doing an Epic Transformation Challenge which is all about targeting the fat burning zone while training and maximizing fat loss. I'm one of those people that think if I haven't got my heart rate pumping, then I didn't really get the most out of my workout, and I can get my heart rate up super easy! I'm talking 200bpm. But my friend was saying the aim of her training program was to keep her heart rate between 120-130bpm throughout the whole work out. She was doing this by hiking up the incline on the treadmill with a relatively slow speed.

So I thought I would give it a go - not only change to walking instead of running, but adding in hills which I'm not the biggest fan of, and trying to target my heart rate between 120-130bpm. And challenge me it did, trying to relax and keep my heart rate down was probably the hardest bit as it just keep creeping up. And by the end of my 45 minute walk on an incline of 9.5 with speeds varying between 4-5 I was pretty tired!!

To continue my day of challenge, it was my first session being moved to the advance yoga class at my gym. I haven't really been doing yoga that long, only a few month, but have been blessed with good flexibility, so I took to Yoga pretty well. In this class it was much more self paced compared to the other class I was in and each person was constantly being pushed and challenge with different poses. I thought I felt good at the end of the old class, but by the end of this one I felt like I had achieved so much more and was finally challenging my flexibility which is something nothing has really come close to in the past with my long history of dancing and gymnastics. I now had goals for my strength and flexibility and had something to aim for.

What can I say, a very challenging day!

Wicked

I am a huge fan of musical theatre, but my all time favourite is Wicked. Last time it was in Australia I saw it once in Melbourne (where the love affair began) and three times in Perth....I could have gone so many more times too! The other day it was announced that Wicked would be returning to Australia soon and I could barely contain my excitement.

Driving to work the sound track was blasting and yes I do understand how weird that probably looked, but I can happily admit that I know every word to every song.

While I'm on this topic, I should really say that I'm thankful for all the talented performers who commit a portion of their lives to touring the country, living out of suitcases and working extremely long hours to entertain thousands of people every day. And I'm not just talking about the cast of Wicked here. All musical theatre shows are an incredible demonstration of talent dedication and commitment.

End Of Week Shower

Don't take this the wrong way, I don't only shower on a Friday! But what is better then that Friday night shower to wash away the long week that has just been and to feel fresh and clean ready for the weekend.

Special Occasions

This image popped up in my pinterest feed, and it was like an Oh My God moment for me. So many times, with so many different items have I thought to myself 'I will save this for a special occasion'. Going way back I remember getting given things like bath bombs and salts for birthday and Christmas presents I wanted to save them for a special occasion. Now I don't know what I classified as a special occasion to use these items and I often left them so long that by the time I did get around to using them, they had completely dissolved and were pretty much useless!

Another one that gets me and of people around me is expensive, quality, gourmet produce. People think oh this is really good oil or cheese or whatever, I will save it for a special occasion. By the time an occasion comes around that you deem to be 'special' enough, the produce has gone off and you have to through it in the bin! What a waste that was!

For my mum's 50th birthday she was given a really good bottle of champagne and she said this exact thing - she's going to save it for a special occasion. Her 50th birthday was 3 years ago now and that bottle is still sitting there. The longer this bottle sits there, the more it seems to be losing its meaning and she probably doesn't even remember who gave it to her any more!

Seeing this image reminded me that we need to live every day to the fullest. We are lucky to be able to wake up each day and go with what life has to offer us, so why don't we treat each day like a special occasion. There is something special about every day!

This Girl

Today was my friend Alix's last swimming session with me before she set off to the US for her final semester of her university degree. It was only fitting that her fin, which had been broken for the past 8 months or more, despite my efforts in super-gluing, hot glue gunning and decorating,  to finally completely break though (a little bit of assistance me have been required).

Alix started at my swimming club around 2 years ago and now I could not imagine going to training without her! She made training which would often be a very long and painful two hours, so much more enjoyable, even if that meant just laughing at how bad we were swimming or because we were deliriously tired! She had the smile that could brighten the very dark, cold, 5am plunges into the pool when it was below 5 degrees outside.

I am going to miss this girl, her laugh, her crazy stories about friends, family and the endless renovations to her house.

#nofilterneeded

On this still Sunday morning in the middle of winter, I was asked to run a stretching and mobility workshop for the Women's Academy of Triathlon. They were up in Kings Park - our piece of wildlife in the heart of the CBD for their early morning running session and were then going to stay on for my workshop. I headed up to Kings Park at around 7.30am for a run of my own and got out of my car to this view, and as the titled says - no filter was needed. The light was beautiful.

I love having this huge botanical garden/bushland not even a kilometre for our city. It makes escaping from the busy city that much easier and also creates the most amazing view to just sit and look for a while! It was the perfect morning for a run through the bush, no rain in sight, and to finish the morning off my workshop was really well received and the women and I had a great laugh!

Fairy Lights

A strand of electrical wires with lots of tiny bulbs attached can turn any room or environment from plain and empty to magical. This little lights always make me feel warm inside and like everything is going to turn out ok. Like there is a little magic all around us, but sometimes you just need someone to show you.

Rainy Days

And even more then rainy days, being able to stay inside, warm and dry while watching the rain pour outside. The rain is so much better when you know you don't have to out into it!

Shameless Car Singing

When a song comes on while your driving and you can't help but belt it out at the top of your lungs? Today it was this one. I love it when you are so caught up in the song (and concentrating on the road of course) that you completely forget that there may be fellow road uses giving you that look, and I love it even more when the song you just concluded by hitting and holding the final note is followed by an even better one! There is nothing better then driving on your own and shamelessly singing at the top of your lungs for the full duration of your trip.

Finding The Heat On Chilly Days

Perth winter really has nothing on the rest of the world, but those 0 degree days tend to bite the toes a little. One of the things that makes me love winter so much is being able to stand next to a heater when it is this cold. One this particularly cold day, I had just come home from the pool where one of my coaches had just returned from Tanzania, Africa and was talking about how much it makes you appreciate everything we have in Australia.

I shuffled through the door, still wrapped in my towel making a b-line for the shower and saw that someone had turned on the heater in the corner of the room. It made me think about how lucky we are to have access to so many things we take for granted such as a gas heater and hot water.

Leafless Trees

A strange one I know, but leafless tries remind me of winter and cold crisp air which I love. Yes I get those strange looks and gasps when I say I love winter, but its true. I saw this tree during a break at work, when I has walked outside to go collect some stuff.  Leafless trees like this one remind me of being on the ski fields in Canada which is one of my favourite places in world. I was hit with the memories of skiing and living in the Whistler village...so how could I not be happy when I come across trees like this?

Double Rainbow

I saw this little beauty while swimming this morning. It's not one you see often so was definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time. My uncle told me once that if you look at a rainbow out the window of a plane it would be a full circle...how cool it that? And if you try to look at a rainbow in a mirror, you won't be able to see it? Apparently this form of light doesn't reflect!

So not only was a happy to see these happy bands of light this morning, they brought back the memories of sitting around a table talking about completely random things with my loud and sometimes crazy family.

Friends Coming Home For A Visit

Since we have finished uni, a lot of my Physio friends have moved rurally to work in hospitals. This weekend, one friend came home from Kalgoolie just to say hi to some people. We met up at Duende in Leederville (really liked the interior) to catch up on each others busy working lives over coffee. We both had our horror and success stories to share and the morning flew by!

Multitasking

I took this picture of my friend Alix who comes to my Bootcamp regularly. In this second of time Alix is successfully doing her ab workout, texting, and holding her water bottle for close easy access! It's tough being a girl!

The Passion and Dedication of an Amazing Teacher

This man is not just any teacher. This photo was taken at a cocktail event to celebrate this teachers 25 year commitment to coach my high school athletics and cross country teams… 25 YEARS!! This man is the reason I no run regularly as he made exercise so much fun, something I couldn’t go a day without. He has changed the lives of countless students and their families for the better and for that I am unbelievably thankful!

Calm Mornings

I went for my run this morning and ran over a bridge to come across this as my view, the early morning sun with some still lifting fog and a perfectly flat river…beautiful!

The Feeling Of Giving

One of my friends bought her first unit and held a very causal house warming. I had so much fun colour coordinating kitchen wares for her!

Taking Time For Me

As I do a lot of exercise, my body cops a beating that stretching can only help with so much.

Clouds

Would you pick these clouds to be spread across the sky at 7am? Rolling clouds like these make my insides feel light and fluffy, like I could just float away without a care in the world.

Modern Architechure

…in Perth. Our tiny town has this little corner of modern city living which transports you to what feels like a separate part of the globe.

Flowers, and the people who like to share them

Today I came home from work and found these sitting in my bedroom. A good friend had left them at my front door after quickly speaking to me and thinking that I wasn’t in the best of places. She was right and this beautiful act of kindness brought the biggest smile to my face and reminded me of the amazing people in the world and the ones I’m lucky enough to have in my life.