A Great Speech

My favourite part of a 21st by far are the speeches! Those embarrassing stories that you hope would never come up in life again, they do. And all at one time! It doesn't take much to make me laugh, so most of the time these speeches have me in stitches!

We recently had my cousins Military themed 21st. Growing up he was very go with the flow and embraced each situation he was put it. He had plenty of big and far-fetched ideas but often didn't have the plan to achieve this result, which resulted in some hilarious failed attempts. He would always take them on the chin and turn what could have been a disaster into something that had the rest of us rolling on the floor laughing.

And as per any 21st, his Mum, Dad, Sister and girlfriend had all these stories in the bank and ready to be pulled out again on his night. Along with a brilliant slide show, the speeches didn't fail to deliver and had me and all other attendees laughing very hard.

What Did You Do This Year?

About a week ago I was treating a patient at work one day and he said something that really made me think. This session was just before Christmas and we were talking about how the year had gone by so quickly (like every other year), and he said to me "Well what have you actually done this year?"

It was a really good point, a whole year has gone past and what have I actually begun, finished, attempted, achieved this year? What was I proud of doing, what changes have I made - for the better and the worse?

So for the past week now I have been putting it down on paper. I tried to break it up into work/career, exercise, lifestyle etc. but a lot of it all seemed to merge together. And I don't think I'm anywhere near finishing it yet (hopefully I will be by the time the year ends) but when you put it all in one place like this, you can see that although a whole year has gone by, a lot has happened and I have more accomplishments than I thought I did.

So, what did you do this year?

Converting Another One

Not many people in the group I train with swim. But I'm slowly getting them into the pool one by one. Two of them have now decided that we a forming a Rotto Team (19.7km swim across the Rottnest Channel) for 2015 ...we missed the cut off for 2014, so we have 14 months to prepare.

My biggest challenge was getting someone back in who I fought to get in the water around 10 months ago. The first obstacle was not owning bathers. So I made her a spread sheet of online websites selling training bathers so she could find a pair...and she did - TICK! Then I gave her a pair of goggles - TICK! Then 10 months ago, with two other chicks, I got them all in the pool and started working on technique with them. This probably lasted a month.

10 months on we formed a deal...if she got in the pool, I would go in the gym. And today she did it! She couldn't find her bathers, and forgot her goggles (lucky I have a million back ups) but she got in a covered around 500m. WINNER!! Probably wasn't her most ideal way to spend a Sunday morning and she might not yet be a convert...but I'll get there!

The Morning After

No, I'm not hung over...one of the perks of not drink = never been hung over! I'm talking about the morning after a big long day/couple of days prior where people come out of the wood work a little worse for wear, regroup, and start to work off the festive few days prior.

I put on a free boxing class, as the gym had cancelled all group classes for the two weeks over Christmas and New Year which I advertised to my family, friends, training groups and boxing class regulars; and had a surprisingly big turn out of 15. It was good to see people of all ages and levels of fitness come down and punch the crap out of their partner.

So my 'morning after's' are not about pulling myself out of last nights clothes and swearing to never drink again, but instead reconnecting with my fit fam and working hard!

Christmas Take Two

How my family celebrates Christmas is it is split over two days. Yesterday we were with Dad's brother and sister and their partners and children, today it was Mum's sides turn. Her parents live down in Mandurah which is around a 40 minute drive from where we live. Mum has a sister who, with her husband have two kids also. So our second day of Christmas is spent with the 10 of us down at my grandparents Mandurah house, again another tradition I couldn't imagine straying from.

My 8 year old cousin definitely keeps us all young. Just as we were starting to outgrow the whole Santa thing growing up, this little poppet was born and launched us straight back into the Christmas magic. Her belief in Santa keeps the magic alive and keeps us all excited about Christmas which makes the day that little bit happier.

I love the way our families split Christmas over two days. This means we are not rushing around from house to house, family to family and we don't finish the day absolutely exhausted. The festive season lasts that little bit longer.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day for us is full of family time. My morning saw my waking at 4.45, up and out the door for a 10km run to get myself going to for the day. Once my family was all up and going after my return we sat around our tree for a bit exchanging gifts and just chatting. 

Today, the day was being spent with Dads side of the family at his brothers house. There are twelve if us on this side of the family and the day is spent sitting around p, making fun of each other and ourselves for literally hours. Years in the past we have had less to talk about because we were all located and living in Perth. Now however one of us kids and two parents are now living in Sydney and had made the trip home for Christmas. We thought we'd have the whole family back together for this day, however another cousin, had booked a trip away with her boyfriend who is a professional footballer, so had no other options due to training commitments. as much as she didn't want to miss the family Christmas, she had to make the most of the time she had with her boyfriend and called us from the Maldives midway through the afternoon. We had our annual family photo and left a place for her in the photo where we plan to photo shop her in. 

For us it is a big day spent with the family reunited again, many debates, stories and laughs and could not imagine it any other way. I hope everyone out they had a fantastic Christmas Day spent with family and friends. 

Christmas Eve

Most people have shut down for the remainder of the year and are in full holiday mode. For our family, the tradition is the Christmas Eve Morning Swim.

A group of 40 or so keen swimmers gather at Cott Beach at 6.30 for the annual handicapped swim. Everyone was relaxed and carefree and in holiday spirit, coming together for a bit of healthy competition and making the most of our beaches. There is a huge range of ages and abilities that congregate each year, which is why the race is handicapped. You submit your 1km time and the race organiser determines your start time from there.

This year, as per every other year, I am off dead last with a lot of catching up to do. Unlike every other year though there were no stingers, so no one came out of the water in pain and covered in welts. The swim sets up the day for finalising gifts, running around to pick things up and organising everything for tomorrow.

Christmas is upon us!

Kind Patients

With Christmas closing in on us, the practice is starting to wind down and I'm having get patients booked in next year rather then in the week time I would get a lot of them back in, which is not ideal for some of their injury management but is the best that can be done. Our practice is closing for a few days over Christmas which I am so excited about, considering I haven't taken holidays all year, these 6 days off are very much needed!

Seeing some of my patients for the last time before Christmas and the new year, many of them have gone out of their way to thank me for helping them and their families through out the year. The smallest of thanks is all that is needed to make me smile and makes me feel like I have made a difference to these people, their functional abilities and helping them return to the things they love doing.

A Great Cause

The Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal is a community fundraiser that happens around Christmas time nation wide where the Kmart store asks for donations of gifts to give to families that are less fortunate at Christmas time, so everyone has something to open on Christmas morning.

The owners of Imperium Personal Training, myself and another training partner went along to a 24hr Crossfit Challenge where a WOD was started every hour, yep for 24 hours! To gain entrance into the event, all that was required was the donation of a gift to the Wishing Tree Appeal.

Having already trained earlier that morning, we just went along for 3 of the WOD's which were challenging but fun. What could be a better way to spend your Saturday arvo...throwing yourself into a work out and helping kids at the same time!

Outdoor Cinema's

Summer time means the beginning of the outdoor cinema season. In recent years Perth has grown from one location, to five. Definitely a trend that is catching on. The very warm weather that we have had recently means that come movie start time at 7.45 the bite of the sun has gone down but its still warm enough to sit around without the need of a jumper. Perfect.

My friends and I went to see About Time. Arriving at the venue, I wasn't sure what the movie was actually about - I'm not usually a movie goer, so I just get told when and where and I show up. But I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie. Not normally a Rachael McAdams fan, but she did a good job and I would recommend this movie.

So much better when being caught in a cinema, I almost managed to sit still through the whole movie...almost!

Practice Makes Perfect

This morning was the last of the boxing classes I instruct for the year. So I threw everything at them. We did a '12 Days of Christmas' set where they added on the progressive number of combo's for each 'Day'. It was huge! And on the 12th day of Christmas, I gave them 12 times up and down the tree - kick knee upper cross, jab upper knee kick.

I finished with this one specifically for these two guys. They hate it!! All year they have been working on the order and coordination and keeping their pace up, but every time they have messed it up, gotten lost and just started throwing punches at each other, very funny to watch.

So today, after having to work through 11 combinations before even getting to Up/Down The Tree and their brains already popping out their ears from having to concentrate so hard, they NAILED the tree! Got through all 12 rounds without one mistake and kept their pace the whole time. That just proves, you practice something enough and it will be engrained into you, and men can be coordinated!

Back Yourself

There has been a lot of this going on at the moment. Christmas is around the corner, people at work are taking time off which means my patient load is increasing, changes happening left right and centre. I'm finding myself worrying about things that either one, I don't have any control over, so worrying about them is not going to change the outcome or two is just resulting in me being even more stressed and often not being able to complete what ever task it is to the level I would be able to otherwise.

This image popped up just at the right time. Why start yourself off on the wrong foot? Put your best foot forward, back yourself and believe you have it in you. If you think you can, your more then half way there.

Plank Challenge

This is my mum on Day 1 of starting the plank challenge. She is not like me, she tends to give up pretty easily and is not the physical challenge type of person, she likes to get through on the easy road. I was talking about this 30 Day Plank Challenge at boxing on this same day, and she pipes up 'I'll do it!'. I said mum, you know this results in you holding a plank for 5 minutes by the end of the 30 days?? She said well maybe I wont get that far. There we go again, setting herself up to fail.

She had already talked herself out if it before even starting. However she is not at day 7, that's right a whole week into the challenge and she has stuck to it. One the third day she had forgotten to plank and I was heading out, not going to be seeing her until the following day, so I left her a note "Drop and give me 40 (seconds)". When I saw her the next day she had gotten my brother to time her and she did it. So 7 days down 33 to go...stay tuned!

A Clean Car

Washing my car, as I'm sure for most people, is just one of the jobs I put off for as long as possible! My rule is when I get a public holiday, I will wash my car. So the start of the year, my car feels so loved because we get a public holiday almost every month. But between July and December we have one. So true to my typical fashion, I washed my car on that one day in September (despite also having gastro on that day so was totally not able to enjoy my day off). It's now December and my car is feeling particularly unloved!

But with Christmas just around the corner, I was holding off. I have a full 5 days off over Christmas and am not going to know what to do with myself, so I figured saving the washing of my car would occupy almost 2 hours of those days.

My mum however decided that she was going to wash her car one morning - she has a very nice car and likes to keep it looking that way. I was working from home that morning and was walking outside with a friend when she was just finishing up with her car. Going out on a whim, I jokingly said 'Do you want to wash mine too?'

'Alright' she says. I almost fell over! Scored!! So now I have a nice clean car, that is feeling the love again and I didn't even have to do it. Not only I'm I thankful to have a clean car which is much nicer to drive in, I'm thankful to my mum for doing this horrible task for me.

A New Direction

3 months ago, I thought I had my career path all mapped out. I had a 5 year plan and the steps in place to get me there. Throughout the last few years of high school and all through uni I knew I wanted to finish my degree and become registered in BC Canada to move over there and work, indefinitely. Which is why it was only a 5 year plan...I would reassess when I got there. In May of this year, I applied for the Alliance of Canadian Physiotherapy to start the registration process.

I knew it was going to be a long, time consuming and expensive application and I had heard stories about people getting fed up with the board and changing their pathway, but I was sure it was what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. So I went back to uni, paid my fees to get my transcripts and all the stuff I needed from them, got together all the supporting documents and had them all officiated by a Notary Public member (more money) and sent them off. There was a lot of back and forth about signing in the correct places, etc. and finally I was accepted as eligible to sit the exams BUT before I could do any of this, I needed to complete a 10 week online health systems course.

I was starting to second guess my decision. Did I really have it in me to fork out another $4000 plus all the travel and accommodation expenses to finish this, potentially 3 years later? I was also starting to question my profession as well. I like working as a Physio and helping people return to activity and achieve their goals, but I wanted more. Something that has played at the back of my mind for a while now...becoming a Personal Trainer. This would involve me more in the side of health and fitness that I love.

So after a good two weeks of tossing up between continuing my application which would not teach me anything new and take a lot of time stress and money, and becoming a certified personal trainer, the PT course won and I applied. The best thing being, this course is internationally recognised so can still go with it to Canada is that's what I decide in the long run.

Outside

To be honest, today I was really struggling to find something to be thankful for. Don't get me wrong, I know I have thousands of things in my life each and every day that I should be thankful for, but today I couldn't appreciate them. Normally when writing my post each day I don't really have to think too hard about it. I see something, do something or remember something that makes me smile and that's it! Another day down. But today was truly one of those days. I normally write my post in the morning, but it had gotten to 2pm today and I was still stumped.

I was feeling trapped and claustrophobic. I was trying to distract myself with work, study, even Pinterest didn't cut it today. So when I couldn't handle it anymore the only thing I could think of to do was go and sit outside. I have always been an outside person, but had you told me that 6 months ago I would have disagreed with you. I don't know if it's the fresh air or the open space of the fact that my family might leave me alone when I'm out there, but sometimes things are just better when your outside. 

So I sat. I couldn't focus on anything. I had a book there, I'd brought some work out with me to do but couldn't bring myself to do that either. I just sat there. For an hour. When it came to me, thank god I can get outside.

People Taking Out Time

Last week I was in the Christmas Pageant with my dance kids. On some of the floats were Channel 7 stars and other known celebrities. On the Aladdin's Genie float my dance school was allocated, we had a reported from Today Tonight's, Cassie Silver. Given most of the 8 year olds I had with me don't watch Today Tonight so had no idea who she was and proceeded to ask her 'Are you famous?'.

I am thankful for how good she was with my kids. With the fame question she replied 'Oh not really, I'm just a reporter on Today Tonight'. My kids respond with 'My mum watches that show!'. And as your typical 8 year old tends to do, they just kept fire questions at her. She was so good with them, answered all their questions, gave them all a hug and had photos taken with each of them.

On the float two behind us was Samantha Jade. So at the end of the pageant, when the floats were pulled into a holding pen and lined up next to each other, the girls were held on the float until all the surround floats had arrive, for safety reasons. So they saw when Samantha's float was drawn in as well. Despite being cold and out for a long day, she came over to say hi, have a quick chat with the girls and again got me to take photos with each of them. I am thankful for these people who take the time out of their busy lives to absolutely make these little girls nights!

A New Challenge

Your body gets use to the exercise you do on a regular basis. The best way to keep it guessing and continue to smash your fitness goal? Try something you haven't done before.

For me today that was inverted kettle bell push ups. It was probably only 6 months ago that I found regular push ups difficult and I was really lacking upper body strength. By constantly challenging myself, working hard and being consistent this week I have been doing these kettle bell push ups on both my knees and a few on my toes (still working on them) I have been trying to do triceps push ups and clapping push ups.

There is always something more you can do, don't just stay within your comfort zone. Keep challenging yourself and you will be surprised at what you can actually do when you work for it! Next up: Pike Push Ups...give me a few years!!

Endurance

I have talked about my fighting fish Franklin before. He is now almost two years old which I'm sure in fish years is something close to one hundred but he just keeps swimming! And just when you thought he would be content with life underwater, he tries his fin at living on land.

I was cleaning his bowl, and when I do so I keep him in the measuring cup you can see above while the water is neutralized with the stuff I put in it. He has to stay in the cup for around an hour and during this time, I was treating a friend from home.

Once I had finished with her I came out to put Franklin back in his bowl, and looked from cup to bowl and back to cup again....he was no where to be seen. What on earth has happened to my fish?!?! I looked up slightly to see him lying dead still on the bench. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I gently touched him and he started flipping around so grab a spatula from the kitchen draw and tries to get him back into his bowl as quickly as I could. The amount he was jumping around was almost like he didn't want to go back into the bowl...hard core fish!

I have no idea how long he was lying there for, but the fact he was so still yet still alive, I recon about half an hour. So what can I say, in my family we like to challenge ourselves and do things at an extreme level, and my fish is no exception...living in water? Too easy! Let's try dry land!!

When Flowers Bloom

This was a bunch of flowers I was given by one of my tiny dancers. When I received them they were all closed up. Two days later, it was like they had exploded!! Such a beautiful colour which really brightened up my room and make you feel happy each time you walk past them!

Christmas Trees

Normally every year our house has our Christmas Tree up on the 1st of December without fail. It is marked on the calendar, there is time blocked out in the diary and up it goes. I'm very sad to say that this was not the case this year. December 1st just so happened to fall on the weekend of the dance concert so I wasn't home for more then 20 minutes at any one point throughout the day, my parents were interstate and my brother....well who knows where he was but it's not like I can rely on him to get the tree up anyway, he'd just do it wrong!

After the craziness that carried over from the weekend, and getting my parents home, the tree didn't go up until Tuesday the 3rd, devastated! But now that's it up, actually we have two this year, I get my daily dose of sparkly lights and colour. I was excited to put all my new decorations that I had been given from my dancers this year as well.

I love seeing really well put together trees. You can always pick those ones that have been planned and where a lot of effort has been put into the construction and decoration of the tree. The beautiful lights and themes of trees are exciting and brighten the day (and night) and just remind me of the happiness that comes with the Christmas season.

Beating The Crowds, And Flies

My friend and I started our Sunday morning early. Growing up as swimmers, your body becomes so use to waking up before 5am that even on the weekends, 5am rolls around an PING your awake! So we were at the beach together and pounding the pavement by 7am.

The best parts about being an early riser? The sun is still coming up, there are no flies, and there are not many people up at this time with you. So everything is peaceful and still and you can find a car park no problems!

By the time we had finished our 8km walk the rest of the world had started waking up and finding a car park was getting a little tricky for them. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day and people were flocking to the beach. And 8.30am must be the wake up time for flies as well. We were happy to be able to escape them as quickly as possible...should have brought my fly disco ball!

The Christmas Pageant

For me the Christmas Pageant really starts off the festive season. Before that, it's just December. But from the night of the Christmas Pageant I feel like Christmas is just around the corner and this event starts the season off with a bang.

Growing up as a dancer I have been in the Pageant more times then I can count and just when I thought I would be done with it, I'm called back for one last year with some of my kids on the float out school was allocated this year.

We practised our smiles and waves and calling out Merry Christmas for the few hours we were held in the Convention Centre before making our way to the float and the girls were so excited. We had a Channel 7 news reader as our personality on the float with them and she was lovely with the girls and kept their excitement alive.

Walking through the streets of Perth I think the crowd continues to grow every year and it was fantastic to see so many people out on the streets waving and smiling. So it's here now, Christmas is upon us!

Pinterest

Pinterest for those who haven't used it before is like an online pin up board. You scroll through pictures and web links and put the ones you like in your organised 'Boards'. You can find anything on Pinterest! DIY craft ideas, workouts, fashion, quotes and sayings recipes, pictures of holiday destinations, gift ideas ...everything is there.

I have recently started a page for my work as well - Sportswise Physiotherapy where patients can go and find diagrams and video links for their home exercise programs, how to do their own taping for their injuries, injury prevention and tips for maintaining their physical ability.

But that reason I'm thankful for Pinterest today is because it made me stay still. After the massive past few days I've had with dancing, work, and everything else that is going on, I am exhausted. But my nature is that I cannot stay still for more then 15-20 minutes at a time. I can't do nothing. I have to do two things at once all the time and sitting for any more that 15 minutes makes me frigidity and restless no matter how tired I am.

So today I sat down with my laptop and managed to stay in the same spot for around 40 mins, distracted by scrolling through this website. So while my brain on really had to process the images that were popping up on my screen, my body got to rest for 40 minutes instead of constantly getting up and going to hand washing, cleaning, packing, unpacking...whatever would cross my mind of things I needed to do.

Palm Trees

We have a few of these trees around the place, mostly down on the foreshore or along the river, pretty much in the places I run. And I think I like to run in these places because I love these trees. When I see them I think of two places - Hawaii and LA. I'm sure these trees are found in other places then just these two, but they are what spring to my mind.

I have been to Hawaii, and while I'm not normally a summer person, I loved the laid back tropical feel of the place, and there were palm trees everywhere. LA, I have never been to but is somewhere I would like to get to sometime soon. I have seen so many photos of the palm trees on Santa Monica Beach which looks amazing, so when I see these trees lining our river, that's where my mind jumps to.

Running along, often struggling when I come across my favourite trees, the struggling is gone just for a few moments and its like I'm on a mini vacation in my mind. Then I'm past the trees and the struggling returns, but it was worth it.

The Big Day (third and final part)

Just a short one to finish off. Getting home from the concert very late at night and still coming down from all the stress, excitement, laughs and tears that there was no way I was anywhere near going to sleep yet. So instead I unpacked all my bags, seeing how many odd shoes and pieces of costume I had come home with and taken all the flowers, gifts and cards out of my car.

Unpacking was done by around 12.30 and still no where near bed ready, I sat down and started reading the cards written by the girls and their parents. The messages I read and the effort all of them had gone to to thank my for working with their children all year was amazing and brought me to tears (again). I felt so appreciated and thankful to have worked with such precious kids and their families, a lot of them for many years now and realised just how much I am going to miss seeing these gorgeous faces every Saturday morning. I want to wish these kids all the best for the big bright futures they all have ahead of them!

The Big Day (part two)

Excitement, nerves and tension every where. From the second I arrive at the venue I am run off my feet. I have kids arriving without their first costumes on, without their hair braided and earrings still in. The photo on the top right was taken by my aunty (I teach my cousin - top left) while I was lining up my Kindies for their tap when I realised that one of them had black tap shoes - their costume was beige tap shoes. So I was running around trying to find a pair of beiges ones we could quickly borrow when my aunty calls out "Chloe are you having fun yet' ....ARE YOU KIDDING! Hence the laugh.

Back stage, I had a one of my juniors come up to me and say 'Miss Chloe, I can't remember the dance at all!' Bless! I told her that as soon as she heard the music, it would come back to her. And it did. All my dancers did a fantastic job. For the first year since I began teaching my Juniors didn't even need to look at me in the wings to see what came next. They smiled big, stretched their feet and smashed their dances.

My Kindies were gorgeous! They made it through both dances without any massive stuff ups and got huge cheers from the audience. I am so proud of all my kids. They all did an amazing job and had so much fun with no tears (except from me) this year!!

The Big Day

People often say that about their wedding day, but that is no where near my radar yet. No my big day is Concert Day. Despite the hours of rehearsals and run throughs I've had with my kids leading up to today, it didn't stop my nerves waking me at 3am. Deciding not to fight it I was up and starting to pack bags of hair spray, safety pins, sewing kits, spare stockings and costume pieces and glitter.

We had out final class in the morning where we brought all the groups in at the same time and ran through each dance once, one final practice and it let them watch each others performances.

I'd quickly run into the office to sort out some music issues and when I came back into the big studio where we were running the dances I was surprised  by all my kids standing in the middle of the room holding a giant card which all of my 60 kids had written in and a big bunch of flowers to say thankyou and goodbye. It was so sweet and started my tears for the day.

The girls left the studio that morning, heading off to have their hair done and to start getting their tights and makeup on, excited and ready for the night they had worked all year for.

Finding Prickles

Another very far fetched one! These prickles are what I pulled out of my hair after a training session at the foreshore. This session takes place on a fairly decent grass hill which always seems to involve us running, lunging, burpee'ing and crawling forwards and backwards up and down that hill. On that hill, there are plenty of prickles and we cover the whole thing, so the prickles are not hard to find.

How I got prickles in my hair though, I have no idea! It's not like I was somersaulting or log rolling down the hill. But I pulled 5 of the things out when I got home. That is what I can skill. So although I may not be thankful for the actual prickles, I am thankful for something that makes me need to be pulling prickles out of places they shouldn't be!