Anticipation

We'll I am waiting in anticipation to find out when Rachel and Aarons little one enters the world! Can't wait for all the gory details and of course to give the little bundle a big cuddle :) Love your last post Rach!

I have been quite busy over the last few days. Of course always the dreaded W word is compulsory and I am so discontent at the moment with my work environment. Last night G and I went to a seminar run by Kerry and Rowena McEvoy who are the owners of the Australian Institute of Fitness. They are an extremely motivating couple. We both left feeling rather "high". We hung around and had a good chat to both of them. So we left there with lots of discussion about our working future and fears associated with leaving the security of our government jobs.

Wednesday night I had a very energetic session in the park followed by a boxing lesson. I did my first beep test, which is something I have wanted to do for ages. I reached level 9-6. Wanted to be the last female in our group but made second last.......next time : ) So I am planning on doing the beep test in 4 weeks time to check my fitness progress. G's brother did the beep test recently and reached level 15. Neither of us comprehended how impressive that was at the time!

We have had a photo session of the house and it will be in a feature in next weeks paper. We have also found a new development we are interested in buying land in. I am so excited about the prospect of building again. We have to do some research on "Zen" style architecture as we both really like the style and feel. So at this stage this is the plan for the house design.

Only 5 hours to go and we will be flying off to Melbourne to watch the Nationals! I am looking forward to this. I have a picture of the open short figure winners from last years Nationals on my computer. Rather impressive physiques. It will be great to catch up with Sue and everybody else.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYBODY COMPETING! I'll be there cheering you on. I hope you all enjoy the experience.

Personally I hated the Nationals last year. The "feel" of the backstage environment was very daunting and unfriendly. So many people with their heads stuck so far up their asses : ) I honestly don't understand that attitude but there are lots of egos in this sport. I'm quite happy to be the friendly person who acknowledges people!

It will be great to have a long weekend. G's Mum has lots planned for us, including a big do on Sunday with lots of relies we haven't seen in a while. So it should be fun. I might even indulge in a couple of Wodka's!

Shack Pics

Beach Shack For Sale

Well it is now official, the shack is on the market. We signed on the dotted line yesterday, so we will see what happens. We spent most of the weekend doing jobs around the house. Finally cleaned up outside the laundry and put a garden in. Shovelled loads of mulch into a bin and carried it down the back yard to the garden. We are on a steep block and this is a major mission. I did all the shovelling to burn extra calories : ) Gerard killed a black snake in the garden! It was sleeping under the pavers we moved, it was only small thank goodness. We also did a load to the tip. I just love gardening. I find it so therapeutic. Yesterday we spent lots of time inside the house. Scrubbed the bathroom till it was shiny and then the kitchen.

We are heading down to Melbourne to watch the Nationals this weekend. I'm really looking forward to catching up with SUE and getting all motivated by watching the show. While we are there the agent will be taking people through the house. So Arnie will have to go to prison this weekend. No doubt he would scare the people looking through.

We were meant to go on a "date" to the movies last night. But we ended up running late after the agent visited so I made a nice dinner and we watched a DVD instead. We watched the Anthony Hopkins movie - The Last Indian. It was great. I had seen previews at the movies and thought it looked a bit lame, but it was really good.

I trained legs on Thursday afternoon. It has been a while since I did a decent leg session. I finished 2 sets of squats and went to rack up for the third and my legs screamed at me! I thought OMG I am going to be sore tomorrow. They weren't even that heavy, only 50kgs. It's amazing how you can feel it after having time off. So I soldiered on - did walking lunges, leg ext, leg curls and followed with a really good stretch. So I was hobbling around for the following couple of days. I was really tired on Friday so I went home and rested after work instead of the gym.
So I'm rocking and ready to hit my shoulders and abs! Time to start doing some weighted ab work. I don't feel anything when I do unweighted and can go on and on and on without fatiguing. I need to get my shoulders and abs popping for the April comp. My nutrition has been great. The only downfall has been that we are having a skinny capaccino every day! The novelty has not yet worn off from the new gadget. The children thoroughly enjoyed baby chinnos on the weekend.

I felt great on my run this morning. Arnie and I headed out and did a full 40 minutes this morning. He had so much energy. So I've finally broken out of the slug mode and am fired up and motivated!

Loving DOMS

I am sore sore sore,not as sore as Sue sounds but maybe I'll have a sore butt after tonight too as it is leg night for me. I had a great chest and tricep workout last Tuesday night. One of the guys at the gym was at the show on Saturday night and is keen to compete next year. He will be a grand masters!

We did stretching at college last night and it felt soooooo good. I seriously neglect my stretching - do you? I am going to make a conscious decision to stretch more consistently. Several years ago I had a stretching program prescribed to me as I was assessed as having overtight hammies and calves and over developed quads. This trainer was as blunt as a hammer and told me I'd never lose my big butt until I "rebalanced" myself. He's lucky I'm not a softy as I'm sure so many people would have cringed and ran with his bluntness. I gave him feedback about how rude he was : ) Most of the assisted stretches we were doing last night were progressions of the program I was given - and failed to be consistent with. So I'll test his theory and stretch consistently and see whether I can lose that final bit of butt fat I have always held onto when competing.

I am having mixed feelings about Gerard training me for the April comp. I am excited about being pushed and achieving my PB's but I am also scared at how hard he will be pushing me! I know I am going to cop a caning. You know that scared exhilaration feeling?!! I'm already getting nervous.

I had this morning as my cardio free morning. I had a later night to bed last night. Had to watch Survivor after we got home from college. I really need to get my VCR set up to tape. So in order to get a decent amount of sleep I stayed in bed until 6.45am. I could have slept for an extra 2 hours! I am feeling so tired lately. It has made me consider how exhausted people with chronic fatigue must feel.

We bought a coffee machine yesterday with some of the gift vouchers we received for our wedding gifts. Then we went to "House" shop to look at what we could get with our vouchers from there. I couldn't find anything, so thought I'd wait until a need arose rather than buying something for the sake of it.

I am going to do some mulching and gardening this weekend and ring the real estate to organise the paper work to get the house on the market. I've started planning and researching for our next holiday too! We are going to take the children for their first overseas holiday to Fiji. We are going to go straight after the October comps next year. Gerard has decided to compete again in 2007, so it will be great to head straight off after that. We will leave looking all buff and probably come back bloated from all the pina coladas! What's life if you can't live a little!

I am so illiterate

When it comes to computers I am pretty much retarded! I've just set up a new blog as I had obviously arrived at my "Journey to Mrs B". So this blog will document my journey beyond that! I must bring in some pics from our honeymoon as I have some great shots to post. Life has been very full since I last posted. Some of the significant events are:

Honeymoon that was great - had to remention it!

Comps; Watching Penny and Maraina make their competition debut at the Qld INBA Titles - how awesome it was to be on the supporters side of the fence! Sitting in the front rows cheering out to them. They both did such a wonderful job. It was great to see Liz again as well. I might add that her stage presence and confidence has increased out of sight! So wonderful to see. I recall chatting to Liz just before her first comp and she said - I won't compete again! Another addict : )

Penny also followed up the following week with the ANB Qld Titles. We changed her final week diet around and sharpened some of her posing. Her class had 16 competitors and she achieved an outstanding 3rd place. The novice line ups are incredibly competitive. When I watched both of these comps it made me think I'd better get pretty damn serious about my own prep for my next comp.

I was approached by 3 people at the ANB comp and will hopefully pick them up as new clients. So it was a great networking opportunity!

My training I have finally reassessed my own goals and have recommenced training with a vengence! I am sore today. I trained back and biceps yesterday. Off to do Chest and tris this evening. I haven't been for a run for quite a while, so this morning I took my dog for a quick blockie and then hit the pavement. What a slug! I had to stop and walk for about 50metres during a 30minute jog! It won't take long to get back into the swing of that though. I will be doing a beep test for the first time next week so need to kick back into gear before then.

I have made a definite decision to compete in April. I have broken my prep down into 2 phases. Phase 1 will see me reach my 52kg goal for christmas. Then I will have a good rest over christmas (my office closes for 10 days) and then crank up the training for the final prep phase. I must find out the date of the comp, but I think that will give me approx 14 weeks of "official" prep time. Gerard will be training me during this time. I have only ever trained on my own, but I want to be pushed to my limits. I have set myself personal goals to achieve.

This next comp all seems so much more serious now that I have my own clients who will be watching me go through the processes of preparing and performing. I have a sensational idea for my routine as well. Something very different from "the norm". Gerard thought it was a great idea. So you will have to stay posted to see the final product!

Business Setup I have been looking at lots of information about setting up our business venture. We have lots of goals and dreams for the future so it's time to start putting these into action.

We will move one step closer to putting our house on the market this weekend. We have a couple of little jobs we need to do this weekend and then it will go on the market. I never thought I'd want to sell it, but it just shows how our focus in our lives changes. I thought it was my dream house! Reality is it's too big for the two of us. The first resort we stayed at in Thailand was just gorgeous and we would like to model our next house on that resort. The style is called "Zen". So if anybody wants a beach shack weekender there is one for sale on the Sunshine Coast!

I returned to work last week. But that is just plain dull so I won't dwell on that! Stay tuned for some great pics real soon!