2012 Project 52 – Week 8

19^th – 25^th February

I have been a bit slack with taking photos this week. However, on Friday I had a perfume party at home. I used to sell Le Reve years and years ago and I miss having beautiful perfume to wear. So when the specials came through at the beginning of this year I knew that it was time to have a party and get some new goodies. They finally have my favourite fragrance as part of their range so buying some was not negotiable.

I had a full day’s training at a university (I was the trainer) and managed to get home earlier. I then cleaned for about 2 hours in preparation for my visitors. Honestly, people think I am a clean freak but to be honest I normally do a crazy clean before people come around or come to stay. I made sure that I had some healthy nibbles like fruit, wholemeal crackers and hummus etc.

The girls came around and we had a fun evening laughing, trying perfume etc.

Also, my best friend’s husband went out with Mark on the boat to do a bit of exploring.

So really it was a fabulously productive day/evening.

P.S. I managed one walk and one bike ride last week. Pretty slack to be honest. However, my Zumba DVD's arrived...I am beyond excited about trying those out! 

2012 Project 52 – Week 7

2012 Project 52 – Week 7

12^th – 18^th February

I am completely in love with My Fitness Pal to help me track my food and exercise. It is making me seriously accountable for the amount of calories I have been eating for years. It is kind of scary actually! I am also loving Cadbury Perky Nana’s as well…they are amazing. I think I ate one every single day last week. They are NOT conducive to weight loss really.

There are a couple of things that I really love about My Fitness Pal. One is the barcode scanner to add food to your diary. This speaks to my inner barcode “geek”.  Secondly, I love that I can see what my friends eat each day…nice to get different ideas for lunches and snacks and to see what works for them.

I still have not been back to the gym since Friday 16^th December, 2011. That makes me feel really grumpy at myself for being slack. So tomorrow (Tuesday 21^st) we are going to try a new branch of our gym. It means that I have to be super organised and make sure gym bags are packed, lunch is packed and ready to grab out of the fridge and go. Also, the most important thing is making sure that I have my favourite gym songs loaded on my iPod; as I have found that this is crucial to me tuning out the world when exercising.

Mark and Justin have also told me that I will be biking with them on Tuesday and Thursday this week. I am FREAKING out right now!

Wish me luck!

2012 Project 52 - Week 6

5^th – 11^th February

We went to Wellington over the weekend (10^th-12^th).

I love Wellington and whenever we are there I try and convince Mark to move back. After a few Pinot Noir’s on Saturday I even suggested to Mark and our friends that we could buy the house we are in now and move down to Wellington for a few years. They loved that idea.

However, I realised as we landed in a rainy, cold Auckland that I do love where we live. I am not ashamed to say that I am proud to be an Aucklander. I grew up in a home surrounded by beautiful native bush and birds and the west coast beaches are my utter happy place. 

So instead we have committed to travelling to Wellington more regularly to see our friends and family.

It was a shorter trip than normal however we still managed to catch up with a lot of friends and family. It is always a bit of a balancing act to make sure that we catch up with Mark’s friends, my friends and family. I think what helped was that as soon as I booked our tickets I text a couple of friends and Mark’s brothers to let them know when we were coming down. We were also catching up with quite a few of Mark’s school friends at a 40^th birthday on the Saturday night. Mark then played golf with some of his friends on Sunday morning which was great.

I got to see Lou, Cormac and Niamh on the Saturday which was really awesome. I am constantly amazed at just how fast babies grow into toddlers. Niamh is an absolute doll and she is so happy and smiley. I just want to cuddle her all the time.

On Sunday while Mark was golfing I went to see another friend and have cuddles with her gorgeous “petting zoo” of two cats, 3 dogs and a rabbit. We had a fabulous catch up and snacked on beautiful fresh fruit. I had loads of cuddles with her dogs and cats.

The ironic thing is, is that most of my friends in Wellington are people I have met and formed friendships with via Twitter. 

P.S. the Nada Bakery in Johnsonville is the best place EVER!

Rubbish Collection

This week we received our Inorganic Rubbish Collection pamphlet in the post. I have read it pretty thoroughly and seriously there are so many rules.

It would seem the days of leaving your unwanted ‘stuff’ on the kerb is OVER as now you can incur a fine. This really frustrates me.

I am really anti rubbish cluttering up our landfill so if people can take things and recycle them or fix them up then that really works for me. I love the fact that people used to drive around in their cars, vans and even trucks pillaging people's unwanted goodies.

Unfortunately, I think we live in a disposable society. So when things break it is often easier (and cheaper) to buy a new one rather than get the old one fixed.

So I believe that there are other ways you can reduce the amount of 'stuff' going into our landfills.

Reuse – recycle - reduce

Sort your unwanted ‘stuff’ into piles

Trade Me/Garage Sale – if you need money (and do not need to get rid of you things quickly) and have some good quality ‘stuff’ then listing things on Trade Me or holding a garage sale is a cool idea. I am constantly amazed at the sort of things that sell really well i.e. baby stuff, clothes, exercise equipment, DVDs, computers, books, appliances etc. Sell things in bulk lots if it is easier…i.e. 0-3 months baby clothes, chick-lit novels etc.

Freecycle – if you just want things gone quickly and you do not mind giving them away then Freecycle is for you! Sort out the good ‘stuff’ that people could use but may not want to pay for i.e. books, photo frames, office stuff, furniture, appliances, old magazines, plants, televisions, gaming consoles, glass jars with lids etc.

Hospice, Salvation Army, City Mission – good quality goods i.e. clothing, books etc. can be donated to charities. Do not give them rubbish as it is not fair to them to have to dispose of it i.e. stained t-shirts, old undies etc. can be cut up and used for cleaning rags around the house. We have even torn up old t-shirts to tie up plants in our garden.

Hazardous materials – paint, batteries, chemicals etc. can be taken to Hazardous materials collections. You can probably contact your local council to find out where the nearest one is.

Rubbish – Lastly you should be left with rubbish so recycle what you can in your fortnightly collection and then trash the rest.

What are your suggestions for reducing the amount of things that go into our landfills etc.?

Feb 8 - Feb 12

 

Sun – view from our bedroom as the sun goes down for the day. Beautiful.

Front door – this is the gate that leads to our back yard we the cats play and we chill out.

Self-portrait – I hate seeing photos of myself so this will have to do. It is me waking up early in the morning on Saturday and not waiting to leave the warm of the bed.

Makes you happy – I am not a jewellery person at all, however my Pandora charm bracelet is something that makes me ridiculously happy. I bought it for myself a few years ago for Valentine’s Day and every single charm holds special meaning for me. I wear it every day.

 

Inside your closet – this is the inside of our closet before I sort through it. Believe it or not sorting our closet has been on my “to do” list for a few weeks and I honestly thought I would get it done before I had to take this photo. Apparently not! 

Feb 7

Buttons - what can I say...I love this button necklace! 2012 is the year for me to start wearing jewellery, nail polish and a bit of make-up. I feel like being 'girly'.

Feb 6

Dinner - pretty boring dinner. I just had toast with melted cheese and a Fruju. So here's a picture from my mum's birthday lunch. Amazing salad. I love this wood platter and how great salad looks on it.