Boxing

Some days you just want to punch something. Whether it's stress, happiness, frustration, excitement,  anger or exhaustion; punching something always feels good. The harder you hit it the better you feel. However I suggest you don't just go around throwing punches...may not end so well (ask my friend who threw a punch at the wall and ended up with a broken hand!).

Go to a boxing class. I box 2-3 times a week, and what is even better then punching a stranger or a friends, twice a week I get to punch my mum! I get to take out 3 days worth of frustration I've built up in 1 fast paced intense hour. I can punch pretty hard, but I can kick even harder and I love to unleash my kicks on my poor mother, she really doesn't enjoy them!

So when the emotion is building up, find a local boxing class...you will feel sooooo much better after!

Believe Board

 

I started putting together my board at the start of the year. At the time I had only just started my new job, I was finding my feet outside uni life, trying to sort out a new daily routine and fitting my active life around my work schedule. Also at this time I was still right into my competitive swimming, so on my board there was a lot about setting up my career as a physio, open water and pool swimming and competing.

It had been a while since I had actually stood in front of and looked at my board. I would glance at a different picture each time I went past it but not actually taken to time to look at the board as a whole.

When I did actually stand and look, I realised that some of what was on my body was completely irrelevant to my life now. For example all the open water swimming calendar's when I have quit professional swimming and have been completely deterred from open water racing - this was almost more a negative on my board and had to come off.

A couple of things I was looking at for inspiration - I have been working on changing my way of thinking to try and develop more confidence in myself and my abilities rather then comparing myself to other and what they do...more that had to come off. Also my career direction is constantly changing and what was up on my board did not reflect my current direction, so off it came.

A Believe, Inspiration, Motivation, whatever you want to call it Board is a great way to provide direction and motivation and makes you sit down and think about what you really want. Give it a go and see if you know where your heading.

War Wounds

Still coming down from the awesome event that was Tough Mudder, and I have the battle scars to show for it! I am bruised and battered all over my legs and elbows, my pec's and adductors are aching and my plantar fascia (foot arches) are so sore. All of which has been making work a little difficult but I wouldn't take them back for anything.

I love it when you have the marks to show the hard work you put in. You committed to yourself and your team; you put your body on the line to get everyone over it and you threw yourself into every challenge...you deserve to show off your War Wounds with pride!

Baby Animals

Spring time is such a beautiful time of year. Flowers come into bloom, the sun comes out with temperatures that are perfect for spending time outside and  most importantly, there are baby animals. SO PRECIOUS!! 

Living close to the river means I get to see lots of baby ducks and swans waddling around the place. I went out for my run this morning and saw these cute little ugly ducklings waddling behind their parents heading to the water.

These little things are starting fresh and have their whole life ahead of them. It reminds me that spring is the time to start fresh, if you want to make a change now is a good time to do it. Declutter your house, your room, your life. Wipe the slate clean and start over....and hug a baby bunny!

A Seriously Awesome Team

Today was the day we have been training for months to complete...Tough Mudder! As a part of the Imperium Tough Bitches and Bastards Team, we drove up there together in our team shirts, hair braided and gloves ready, but the nerves were evident.

Managed to check ourselves and our bags in, have the last of our nervous pee's and scale the two meter wall into the holding pen just in time for the pump up talk before launching onto the 20km course with the other 600 Mudders in the first wave of the day.

While getting split up a bit throughout the running, we congregated together at the obstacles and helped each other over, under, in, out and through all the obstacles...we flew through them! Our training definitely made the obstacles easy, it was more the running that was the test. On the second obstacle we had one member down when she fell off a wall and smashed up her leg. This was an added challenge to her running and made uphills really hard. So the guys pitched in and started piggy backing her up the hills....lucky we'd trained for that!

The electric eel...the one I dreaded the most! Crawling through mud with high voltage wires hanging over the top and zapping you. I didn't realise I was getting zapped until about halfway through. It felt like a pop, kind of what a muscle tear feels like but without the ongoing pain that follows a muscle tear...really hard to describe. I got to the end of the tunnel and luckily was pulled out by some guy, by which point my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest.

Artic Enema...in other words, 10m Ice Bath. Once you go under the wall in the middle your body starts to shut down. You have to keep moving to get out but your body just doesn't go, you see someone reaching to pull you out and the logical thing would be to reach out and let them pull you but that just doesn't come to mind, and you will probably forget to breathe. When you do finally get out, you are numb and can barely put one foot in front of the other.

But team work was the key to the whole thing. Without the amazing supportive, motivating and inspiring team I was with I would not have made it through and not have had such an awesome time out on the course!

To Do Lists

I  write hundreds of these and have them everywhere. I have lists about school, uni, study that needs to be done, house work, social stuff I needed to do, and then just random jobs as well. I have lists about what to get different people for Christmas or their birthdays. I love a good to do list.

I love the sense of order, control and organisation that they give, and what I love even more is the feeling of cross something off that list. If you aren't a big list writer, seriously get into it!

New Nail Stuff

I love painting my nails. But with the job I'm in, you can't pain your nails for a few reasons. With the hands on work that I do chips the nail polish so quick which becomes
a) tacky and unprofessional
b) a hygiene risk

So when the weekend comes around, I get to pain my nails, even if its only for a couple of days. The other day I bought Nail Caviar which are the tiny little bead you can put on your nails. I was so excited about them and they took forever to arrive (bought online). But they finally have come and this weekend I have the perfect opportunity to try it for a 21st I'm going to. So the nails were planned to match my dress, yes I do that, and I have black Nail Caviar on one nail each hand. So much fun!! I couldn't stop running my fingers over this nail for the whole weekend!

The Social Hub Of The Suburb

In the suburb I live in, this street would have to be where it all happens. There is always something going on whether it's people fundraising for the local community sporting groups, or people campaigning for the next government election, people busking or just heaps of people bustling around, the street is pumping.

If you love people watching, this is the place to do it and you could spend hours sitting and watching the public past by. I love being close by to this street, always close to the action!

A Good Morning

Would you believe I took this at 6.45am? It's so light and sunny and almost looks warm (it wasn't but it looked like it!) On this morning I had just finished my bootcamp down at the river and was off for my run. This was the first morning in a long time that there were other people out before 7am with me.

It was a beautiful morning and people were out enjoying it together. There was a warm sense of community encouragement for being up early and making the most of this beautiful morning while we can...because we know the rain will probably be back!

A good morning like this one sets you up for a good day, and who doesn't love a good day?!

Recieving

It was pointed out to me the other day, by a couple of different people, that I like to give. I have never really thought much of it, giving is a good thing right? It makes you feel good about doing something to help others, it makes the receiver feel loved and special...everyone wins!

I give physio advice and sometimes treatment, I run a free bootcamp, I teach people to swim, I bake people stuff, I pay for others meals, I do computer stuff for others...all for nothing in return. But someone made a point to me the other day that maybe I'm giving too much of myself to others that I'm either going to burn myself out or lose the value of my self worth. I put others before I put myself all the time and my health may suffer from it. That I need to be able to receive just as much as I give.

Being a giver...receiving is hard. Sometimes your try to fight it, like if someone says they will shout you coffee, you say nah it's fine I've got it. Or if I'm teaching someone to swim and they say how much do you want for the session, I'm like are you kidding?? I'm just happy you want to learn to swim!  But I did receive these beautiful flowers from my best friend who is living in Adelaide now, and after a seriously hard week, to come home to these made me melt! And it's not like I would push these away, but having her in a different part of the country not only made receiving the flowers much easier, but was so much more meaningful that she had organised these from so far away.

Telethon

One weekend a year, the whole of Western Australia goes into fundraising mode...and I'm talking the WHOLE state. This year on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of October was our annual telethon which is a fundraising weekend raising money for the Telethon Institute and our state children's hospital - Princess Margaret Children's Hospital. The weekend is all about sick kids and raising as much money as possible to help pay for their treatment and the research that goes into prevent illness. It's amazing.

Channel 7 shuts down for 26 hours and instead broadcasts out of the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, where for 26 hours there is a celebrity panel and live local, interstate and international entertainment.

Growing up as a dancer, I did my fair share of performances on telethon. The atmosphere in the PCEC is great, everyone's excited and motivated and there is just a sense of giving everywhere you turn. This year a new fundraising record was broken, and the state of Western Australia managed to raise over $20 million for this amazing cause. This weekend makes me so proud to be a West Aussie!

Making It Just In Time

Went for a run this morning, knew I was tempting fate because rain was forecast. Don't get me wrong I don't mind running in the rain, but I would prefer it to start raining when I'm already running rather then launching myself out into the elements!

Today it wasn't raining as I left the house, but the skies told me it was a matter of time. This only made me run faster...could I beat the weather.

Turns out, yep I could! Practically sprinted my planned run and literally made it through the front door as the heavens opened and the water came down! Winning.

Step By Step Gourmet

If you have ever tried to recreate an Adriano Zumbo recipe from his book, you would know that you need to set aside the whole day to do it, have found the far fetched ingredients over the week leading up to baking day (because you had to drive all over the city to find them) and read the recipe at least 8 times through before you even begin.

It is a mission. And most of the time they don't turn out quite as you'd like. Until now.

The incredible patissier had now turned his creations into packet mix...pre measured and processed so that literally all you need to do is ad water and bake. These 4 step boxes have gourmet macaroons sitting on your kitchen bench in under two hours. Genius!

Teaching Kids

These are my Kindies that I teach Jazz and Tap. This little poppet is 2 years old and is learning to skip. Did you know you actually learnt how to skip? It was probably that long ago that you don't remember, but you have to learn to motor pattern and coordination to step and then hop on one leg, consecutively followed by a step  and a hop on the other leg. Kids have trouble transferring the movement from one side to the other side at a fast speed. You could break the skill down and get them to do one step, then one hop, then one step on the other leg followed by a hop and they would get it. But ask them to go one leg quickly followed by the other....no deal!

But there is one day, and it's like a light bulb goes on in their head and all of a sudden the motor pattern is in place and they can connect each movement rapidly and transfer the movement from one side to the other and back again. That moment is the reason I love teaching kids!

Burpee's

Yep, I'm thankful for Burpee's. There is no better single exercise that skyrockets your heart rate instantly and works your whole body. At my bootcamp, I say this one word and can already hear the groans before the 'ees' come out of my mouth, but I can honestly say they do get easier.

Since I quit competitive swimming 6 months ago, Burpee's weren't on my daily to do list. However now, they kind of have (I feel those strange looks your giving me). Since changing my workout routine to a more land based routine, I would say I'm doing Burpee's daily. I to use to struggle and hate them just as much the next person, but since my daily increase in burpees, I had to chuckle at Tough Mudder training the other day, when our warm up was 50 Burpee's, which I flew through.

So stick with the Burpee's, they will get easier if you work at them!!

Having Someone There

There are those times when you just need someone. You don't need them to do anything and be anything or anyone, you just need someone there with you.

I've had a couple of those moments recently, and slowly I'm learning to embrace the fact that its ok to need someone around and to ask for help when you need it. When I say I'm slowly learning, I mean very slowly. I'm very much an independent person. I like to be in control of every situation and like to do things my way. If something doesn't go to plan, it completely throws me!

I have to teach myself that I can't do and succeed at everything, that it's ok to get things wrong sometimes, to fail and to ask for help...I'm not superwoman!

Yellow

I'm not normally one for selfies...actually I'm never one for selfies at all. But today I was wearing my yellow crop top, which makes me happy, how can this colour not make you happy!

I love the colour yellow. My ball dress was yellow, my 18th dress was yellow, at one point I had a bright yellow pair of training bathers, and I have this yellow crop top. Every time I wear bright yellow like this I can't help but feel more energetic, happy and bright. Let some yellow into your life!

Tea Bags

 

 

But not for the reasons you would think. All those who regularly participate in boxing classes would know that the absolute worst part of the whole session is pulling your hands out of the gloves at the end and the smell that comes with them. Liner gloves help, and transfer the smell to the liners more then your hands, but it's still there...gross!

 

Recently though, one of the girls I box with said she had heard about putting a fresh tea bag into your gloves and leaving it for a while to absorb the sweat smell and leaving your gloves smelling tea leaf fresh...IT WORKED!!!

 

So now I'm lining up the gloves and whipping out the tea bags, blackcurrant or lemon fingers anyone?



The Patience Of Nurses

Following my post yesterday, I have since experienced my brother on morphine. If I though he was blunt and spoke his mind before...I was wrong! I, along with all hospital staff got to listen to every single thought that popped into my brothers mind. And due to the nature of the reason we were there in the first place, he had some real winning thoughts!

But really I couldn't help but laugh, and I suppose these nurses put up with high patients on a daily basis and would be somewhat use to this warped conversation. However I still admire their patience with being able to maintain their composure and professionalism. If I had to put up with this verbal diarrhoea as much as they do, I would just want to punch the person in the face!

Time Fillers

I spent the day in the hospital emergency department with my brother....long story short, he had a complication after cycling (not life threatening) that resulted in serious pain and vomiting amongst other things. With my parents still being overseas, I was the next of kin to my brother. We arrived at the hospital around 10.30 am - where he pretty much crawled through the front doors while I parked. By the time I got back, he had been taken straight through to start his exam and I sat with a clerk and filled out all the paper work.

By the time I was taken through to him, he was in the hospital gown, in the foetal position on the bed. He was quickly given pain and anti-nausea meds (the first round of which he threw straight back up again) which finally started to kick in. The doctor came by not long later and identified two possible diagnoses, to be confirmed by ultrasound. He was put at the top of the list but still waited over 2 hours before been taken off for the scan.

In the midst of the panic of getting him to hospital in the first place, I frantically grabbed my iPad as I knew I was going to have to try and contact my parents at one point. Not only was I able to do that, I had some PD material on it that I finally had a chance to read, once all the assessments had been completed and we waited for the scheduled ultrasound. It may sound terrible, but this reading was the distraction I needed at this point from how my parents (still unable to contact them) were going to react, the possible complications that were ahead of us (well my brother), and the stress of getting in contact and cancelling my clients at work for the rest of the day.

Public Holidays

What is better then a 3 day weekend?? You have more time to get your typical weekend errands done, all those things that just have to be done and before your know it, its Sunday night and your getting ready for the working week again.

We had a public holiday in Perth recently and it was a beautiful day. I went for a midday run done on the foreshore and there were so many people and their families out playing at the park, kicking the footy, walking or having a picnic. The atmosphere was relaxed and carefree and everyone was making the most of the first of the few sunny days we've had in a while.

Public holidays for me also mean car washing day. Every time we get a public holiday tends to be the only time I wash my car. So I was happy to see no rain for the next few days while I made the most of my nice clean car (don't worry the rain reappeared 2 days later).

In my opinion there is so much on our lists on things to do for the weekends that we could do with a 3 day weekend every week!

Colour Coordination

Or in this case, print coordination. Currently dealing with shin splints, I am using Rocktape to stimulate blood flow to my shins and prevent overuse and fatigue of my calves. This cow print tape is by far my favourite of my rolls, and completely unintentionally managed to pair my cow print PJ's and tape one night...HAHA!

But seriously I love trying to colour coordinate everything. My work out clothes (socks and shoes included), my tape to my clothes, even my undies (too far!) If the colours are matching I feel like I have got it all together.

Teaching Others To Love Swimming

For a couple of months now this chick has wanted to learn to swim. Coming from the UK where swimming is not as big as it is here in Aus, she wasn't brought up learning the technique which comes behind efficient swimming, and after being away for 6 weeks, she was determined that now was the time to learn. So with winter almost behind us now, one Saturday arvo, she put on some bathers, I gifted her with a cap and goggles to get her motivated and she took the plunge!

I asked he to show me how she swims at the moment so I had a starting place and worked out what needed to be changed. Straight away - head out of the water swimming like a waterpolo player - so lets start with breathe and blow timing and  coordination. Within half an hour, she had progressed from kicking and turning her head to breathe to the side, to one arm freestyle on a board, to  two arm freestyle on a board, to two are freestyle with breathe and blow with NO BOARD! Not only did she get all the coordination within 30 minutes, she could sustain it over 20m as well.

I'm happy to say that she now has the swimming bug! Calling herself a mermaid she is now swimming every other day and is so close to being able to swim 50m without stopping!

Hill Runs

At the time, not so thankful for these. No not until a couple of hours later once I've showered and eaten something to recover from this killer hill. It is really a b*@#ch of a hill and this morning we ran 10 laps of it. However not just straight running.

3 laps running forwards, 2 laps backwards, 2 laps walking lunges and then 3 laps sprinting (because your partner is holding a wall squat while you are running!

Killed at the time but later, felt fantastic!

Cirque Du Soleil

For those of you who haven't seen a show by this amazingly talented group of performers, I highly recommend it! They will blow your minds! I was fortunate enough to have tickets to see the Michael Jackson, The Immortal World Tour. This show was less like their traditional amazing feats of strength, flexibility, coordination, balance (the list is endless) and more a tribute to the pop icon focusing more on the music and dance components, which they did  just as well as their other incredible stunts.

I'm not going to give anything away for those ever planning on seeing the shows (seriously, go!), but I will say I always walk away from these performances feeling inspired, hopeful and motivated!

Great Smelling Shampoo

This is not my normal shampoo, it was one of the spare ones we had in our bathroom for when one half of the shampoo/conditioner combo runs out. But after how my hair smelt after I had used it, I could be persuaded to use it on a more regular basis! I love washing my hair when the shampoo smells amazing - squeezing it out onto my hand, scrubbing it through my hair and then rinsing it out....wow that sounds so weird! But it's true!

The added bonus of a great smelling shampoo - my hair is normally kept in a bun throughout the day to keep it out of the way when I'm working. It gets thrown up while it's still damp, so when I take it out at the end of my day, I get another whiff of the smell that went through my hair earlier that day...mmm!

TOUGH Mudder Training

21 days until the big day, Tough Mudder that is. Just to clarify Tough Mudder is a 20km obstacle course taking the participants through mud pits, over walls, swinging on ropes, plunging into ice baths and running through hanging electric wires amongst many other challenges. I'm still asking myself why I have signed up for this one!

This mornings training session was heavy...literally! The idea was to go heavy weight for each of the exercises as we were doing 4 rounds of a 6 station circuit, spending one minute at each station. For example, I lucked into shouldering the 20kg power bag (which a couple of weeks ago I was no where near capable of) dead lifting a 24kg kettle bell and running a 10kg med ball up 4 flights of stairs.

Tough was one word I could use to describe it, considering my strength would be the downfall of my fitness. But getting through a session that challenges your weakness like that makes you feel seriously good, especially when you are taking weights that you couldn't do only 2-3 weeks before!

A Community Coming Together

With the West Australian AFL team the Fremantle Dockers in the grand final, WA was in Freo Fever and the Purple Haze. It was all anyone could talk about. Even people who supported were only other West Australian team, the West Coast Eagles were jumping on the Freo band wagon and rooting for the Premiership Cup to come back to WA. Of course there are always those who strongly dislike this team and will support whoever is going up against them.

This stickers have been stuck on the windows of a corporate office building in our CBD for the whole city to see and be inspired by the support of the state. The buzz is everywhere and it's going to be an exciting weekend ahead of us!

Nail Polish

When at uni, I use to paint my nails all the time. Now that I'm working, nail polish isn't really allowed, because my work is so hands on the polish chips so easy, looking unprofessional and can also be a hygiene concern as I get through so many patients in a day.

So nail polish is reserved for the weekends these days. I think that putting on nail polish makes you feel that little more dressed up and feminine and for me, I feel more confident as well. You can change your nail polish to match your mood, what's happening in your life etc. These small bits of colour on you fingers can express so much.

Active Wear Stores

I seriously love these stores! My personal favourite is Lorna Jane, but will happily settle for Lululemon. These brands are not just about making active wear for women (and men) to work out in, but they work to inspire people around the world to live more active and healthy lifestyles by providing motivation, ideas for workouts and healthy meals and some even offer fitness sessions the public can attend.

The only down side, they are so flippin expensive. It does reassure me however to know that while I am forking out the dollars for these items, I know I'm getting really good quality clothing that is comfortable, supportive and will last a really long time. I would rather pay a bit more for a piece that is going to make me feel good while wearing it and do everything I want it to do while training then pay less for cheaper material which I'm going to have to replace every couple of months anyway.

This photo was taken at the opening of the new Lululemon store in Applecross. The vibe there was fantastic. Bright, happy, helpful people going out of their way to help you make a decision on clothing items...such a positive store, you can't help but leave happy.

Balloons and Streamers

The AFL Football Finals are upon us and for the first time ever, the Dockers have made it to the Grand Final. At my work this is a pretty big deal - my boss is the ex-Physio for the Dockers, and most of the guys I work with are massive fans. So to celebrate the team's success, our reception staff have hung streamers and balloons throughout both practices and the boys have been wearing their Dockers Jersey's over their work shirts (looks hilarious).

It is a big talking point with all our patients at the moment and although I'm not the biggest footy fan, it's an exciting atmosphere going on here at the moment. These decorations have made our work place a little more exciting and there is a buzz in the air.