Mr Alan: An Update

Mr. Alan, yep, it’s official.  He is our fur-baby 

I think he’s pretty happy, and he certainly makes me happy(!)

Who couldn’t love that adorable face?!

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A New Addition: Introducing Mr. Alan

Yep, it’s been pretty quiet over here in my blog world, but that’s because – Drum roll please(!)

We have a new addition to our little family >> Introducing… Mr. Alan!!!

Alan is a beautiful persian short-hair rescue. His previous owner has been unwell for quite a while, so he is in need of some serious TLC.  He tolerated the 3.5hr car ride, and a trip to the vet the very next day, but he is starting to settle in to his new home.

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On the Interwebs

I almost made it to Attack after work today – I had such good intentions all day.  But my headache had other ideas.

So I was lucky enough to have some company on a walk.  Mr. J joined me for 4.29km in 45 minutes.  It is so much nicer having some company.  I need to incorporate some jogging, but I’m not very confident running outside… something to work on.

But – the GOOD news is: – - -> we finally have the internet at our new place!!!  So I am going to try my best to get back to regular posting, and remembering to take some pictures…!

Guess what I am doing tonight – True Blood anyone?  I have a few to catch up on – It’s only been 5weeks or something!  Plus the new Breaking Bad episodes are ready to go too!

Uni work?  What uni work?!   

 

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The Weekender

Friday night after my dreaded interview I wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate it being over   But Mr. J had a headache, so it was a night of chilling on the couch withe leftovers, Entourage S7 and fro-yo!  Oh, and some wine.  My parents’ housewarming gift was a dozen wines, and a wine rack – a variety of white (they know I am not a fan of reds).  So we opened the first bottle and it was lovely.

I think the left over stress left me with left over adrenalin, because I woke up at 4am on Saturday – and I was not too happy about it!

Saturday morning was spent feeling pretty average   So I just did mundane household stuff > washing anyone?  Unpacking (still!).  Plus our carpenter came to do some alterations to our place – the fridge now fits properly, there is a shelf in the laundry, and the open pantry now has doors on it.  Much better

Saturday afternoon we traipsed around Fyshwick looking for bedside tables and getting some tools for Mr. J.  He loves having a place to do some reno’s on it.

After that we chillaxed until it was time for date night 

Le Tres Bon in Bungendore.  We started with a Gavroche beer for Mr. J and a hibuscus flower champagne cocktail for me > Delicious!
We started with escargot – which was suprisingly really good.  The flavour of the sauce and accompanying bread was yummo.  Then I indulged with beef bourguignon, and Mr. J had rabbit – poor lil rabbit(!)  Both dishes were amazing – but I preferred mine
And then it was dessert time: O-M-G   Pear anch french dark chocolate and butterscotch sauce > Check out the little hearts in the sauce: Adorable!
Lovely dinner, and lovely company

Sunday was another slow start, but we hit the apartment with more sorting and packing away – trying to make a dent in the spare bedroom.  Mr. J did really well, and we made more than a dent(!)  It is looking really good, and I would even let someone stay in there – But we have no bed!

Then it was off to Howard’s Storage to pick up a shower caddy, as we’ve just been leaving everything on the floor for the past 3weeks… We picked up a corner one, and a hand towel ring thing 

I was so ready for lunch by this time – we met a couple of friends for lunch at Tongue & Groove.  $10 burgers on Sunday – awesome!  I had a veggie burger, and Mr. J had the sirloin steak burger – which is usually $21, so a pretty good deal.  And tasty too

After a loooong catch up it was a quick trip to pick up our papyrus from Egypt – which is now framed, it only took us a year(!!!)  I will share pictures when they are on the walls   Then off to Bunnings to get a new showerhead.  Hopefully the home-related purchases will slow down soon.

Rushed home, quick change and off to Yoga!  While I was breathing and sweating and stretching Mr. J put up some of our new stuff – the showerhead, shower caddy, a spice rack… our apartment is becoming a home

Watching The Block auctions… good Sunday chilling!

 

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The Big Move

I … am … SO tired.  And so sore!  Some good sore, some not so good sore!  My guns are seriously starting to take shape.  I have never been so active over the past couple of days – my Body Media tells me it is so.  How’s 15000 steps?  Or, 8 hours, 50 minutes moderate activity in one day?!

Four days of craziness.

- Sunday, packing, then loading up the cars
- Monday, hoping we get the keys after the dramas the week before.  Got the keys(!) then doing the first couple of trips.  Monday night more packing, then re-packing the cars and doing a late trip over with a couple extra hands helping  (in the dark, as we didn’t have any power) 
- Tuesday, I made one trip over on my own, then tried to unpack as much as possible, with power(!) … Tuesday night we attacked the fridge, packed up the TV, all the big items.  Then loaded the cars up again.
- Wednesday, removalists arrived at 8am, we helped as much as we could.  Everything was in our new place by 11am   Awesome effort.  Another trip back to the old place, let the cleaners in to do their magic, plus pick up our bedding.  Spent the rest of the day getting everything sorted so we could sleep here.  Plus our carpenter came to help make the fridge fit – It fits(!)  Then washing, unpacking, more unpacking, and furniture putting together and arranging
- Thursday, today – first trip to uni for supervision, traffic wasn’t an issue   Supervision, then a quick catch up with a friend, who is getting married!  YAY!  Then home to do more unpacking and sorting.  When Mr. J finished work, we went to Costco and spent too much money

And now, I am wrecked   But our place is starting to come together -Slowly, but surely.  I will have to do before and after pictures, when it is looking a bit more home-y    And when we have the internets!

It is SO nice to have our own space, no more sharing!

And a little something special from my fam to make it real >>

I could really do with a massage right about now though…

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The Weekender

Saturday morning, after saying goodbye to my friend who stayed over after the ticket terribleness(!), Mr. J convinced me to check out a sale at King Furniture.  Of course the sale is up to 50% off, and the couch that I/we   liked was not quite 50% off!  I like the Jasper, it is like sitting on a cloud!  We picked a design, leather, timber shelving, almost convinced ourselves… then we got the quote -

At this stage, however awesome a new piece for our new home would be, we are sensible and waiting for me to start working f/t.

So forgetting about that idea, we headed home to pack.  The kitchen is done (other than perishables)!  Now we need to sort the attic, our bedroom and bathroom and we should be right to go.

There are some issues with settlement, however it looks like we will be able to move in anyway for the time being.  As it is the vendor’s issue, not on our side of things.

So Saturday afternoon we got to see the apartment empty, and mostly clean.  It is starting to feel a bit more real now.

Saturday night was dinner for a friend’s Birthday and drinks.  We had the second banquet at Blu Ginger (3 courses).  Starting with pappudums, then an entree of different pieces – the chicken tikka was perfect.  Then our main dishes were butter chicken, chicken desi, prawn something and dahl, with naan and rice.  I had mango icecream for dessert, but I wasn’t a fan, and Mr. J ate it.

The service was terrible – there was a mix up with our order, and we waited extra long for each course and our waiter would just ask “are you done?”.  The food was nice, but of course there was too much of it, and it seemed wasteful.

After that it was time for drinks, everyone was very indecisive, so of course we ended up at King O’ Malley’s as it was still quite early.  Mr. J and I didn’t last long, I kinda felt bad, but I wasn’t really feeling it!

Sunday I was not in the mood te get packing, but by 11am, we knew we had to get started on it.  We finished the attic, and even made a few trips to the car by the time we were over it.  Still the bedroom to go, but I guess if we get the keys tomorrow I will be so excited that everything will come together quickly.

Fingers crossed for a smooth occupancy agreement tomorrow!

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The Fury!

Err … I mean Furi Pretty awesome!  Can’t wait to move … 12 days and counting!!

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Level Up

Had another long day, with an assessment, which took ages to score.  But I was all done by 3:30, so decided to hit up 30 Day Shred Level *2* before any of my housemates interrupted me 

It is cra-zy, but in a good way.  I kinda wish it was longer though, I really don’t think 20 minutes is enough.  But it is a great at-home option for crappy days.  I thought that I managed to keep up a bit better this time around, less modification, and less resting!  It’s good to feel my body getting stronger.

And I got two awesome packages in the mail today!

1.  My new hair dryer – it’s pink!  I hope that Parlux is as amazing as everyone says it is!  Was such an awesome deal though – free express post and free comb.  I ordered it Sunday night, picked it up Tuesday afternoon(!)  Can’t wait to try it out tomorrow

2.  Furi knives -  I have been waiting on these for just over a month (which was expected), but I was still getting impatient.  Four knives, ranging in sizes.  Will be awesome to have them on the magnetic strip in our new kitchen

Will share some photos of the goods tomorrow … my iphone just died and I am a lazy picture taker

Ahh just spent all night watching Game of Thrones, does that totally make me nerdy?  If you watch it – check *this* out.  Hilarious(!)  Can’t wait till next season.  For now, I will have to be happy with True Blood.

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The Weekender

Started the weekend with my regular – a brisk walk at the lake. I’m a bit disappointed that it was only 6km again, but my pace is improving. Next weekend if all goes well, I will push it to 8km…

After that it was quick shower, berry smoothie and a bit of a relax before – I was off to the hairdresser for the second time this week. They couldn’t fit in cut and colour, Tuesday, so I was spoilt and got to have a profesh blow wave twice this week. But, it was $$! Still not 100% happy with the whole fringe saga, but I am coming to accept it And I have decided to invest in a Parlux hairdryer to ease the pain

After that it was a coffee catch up with a friend that turned into a 3hr mega catch-up. Mr. J started msging me ‘frantically’ along the lines of: “what do you want for dinner” … “I’m hungry” … and the last one “nom nom nom!”.

So I headed home and after a bit of umm-ing and ahh-ing about where to go, we headed to Le Rendezvous in Manuka because Mr. J wanted steak. That was his only request. But my only request was to use a voucher from the Entertainment Book. I seriously recommend this because we have tried so many new restaurants/cafes with it(!) Plus if you’re in to coupon-ing, this is coupon-ing in a pre-packaged book – no hassles! One of my favourites was Flint, but recently there was a fire. I wonder if it will re-open, definitely hope so.

Anyway, I was a bad blogger and forgot to take any photos. I decided to go with steak too, to stay away from the carbs as it was pasta/pizza otherwise. Unfortunately my medium-rare steak arrived more rare-blue, so I sent it back. Round two was much better. But the prize of the night goes to dessert – a chocolate fondant cake with homemade roche icecream – which we shared. It was amazable (new offspring obsession!). Seriously so good.

And when we handed over the entertainment book card as we were paying, they said hold on to it, gave us 25% off anyway, and just said come back soon. So that was a really nice surprise. And after the less than satisfactory initial steak, I probably would give them another chance now

Oh and check out my calorie burn for the day! Awesome!

Sunday was a lazy start, blog stuff, tea, and a tiny breakfast to tide me over until a late brunch with a friend. She is being a gem and helping us out with boxes.

Which brings me to my BIG news. We have a date! A move-in date! Two weeks and counting – SO much to do!

So after brunch there was packing And then it was off to yoga at the gym. Well it was *meant* to be off to yoga at the gym. I am so pissed. I should have been more strict with myself (and my friend). I love spending time with her, don’t get me wrong, but I should have made it a priority to go.

So disappointed that I will not hit my goal today, and that is the third time this week that I haven’t done what I said I would exercise-wise.

Was pretty successful on the packing front at least – check it out! >>

Haha – Yes this picture is mega, but you can see our NewWave Multi-Cooker and Scanpan set peeking out of the Victoria’s Basement bag

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Mondays and the Snack-Monster

Typically, Monday’s are not particularly productive for me.  Something about being in denial about *still* being a university student?  Or perhaps wanting to stay in weekend-mode and ignore all of the work I have to do?  (which isn’t a case of ignorance is bliss by the way!).  Or maybe, I am just la-zy! 

I think it is definitely compounded by the fact that I usually, well-  always, work from home Monday.  And working from home = poor working environment, to say the least(!)

Somehow I have managed to get through five and half years of university without a desk, or even an appropriate chair.  I worked from my bed on student residences, on various sofas when I moved into sharing, but it is official – we now have an ergonomical office chair(!)  – Just in time for our move into our own place   And so, in an attempt to be all profesh about the end of my masters degree (and get used to working from a makeshift desk), I have been setting myself up at the dining table with said chair.  But I am still using my trusty laptop, which means I have been hunching over all day, I cannot get the height right!

That, along with yoga yesterday, is making my back/shoulders/neck scream at me.  Ouchy, it burns!  Even my obliques are narky.  And I’m trying my best to ignore the fact that my butt and thighs are still sore after Saturday’s walk.  So I have quite literally sat on my butt all day today, and I cannot face going to the gym, nor doing any type of exercise really.  My body needs some repair/rest time.

Which is fine, but I really want to make a difference this month in terms of weight loss.  So that means no detours from healthy eating, and keeping my intake on the low side, to ensure a calorie deficit.  Today I really struggled with snacking, the snack monster was all consuming!  It was easier this morning, a small apple, but this afternoon, I wanted carbs.  I had another apple, and a fibre bar.  But it just wouldn’t do.  So I made one of my monster teas, which helped.

And now, before it’s time to make dinner, I shall procrastinate some more, with another suprise in the mail > Hello August Marie Claire mag 

 

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