read and reading.....

The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards - This was a great book but quiet depressing. It's well written but I just found it a bit draining!













Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - I was so into this book I couldn't put it down. Thankfully this was when I was on holidays so I could spend as much time reading as I liked ;)







I am now reading the modern Australian classic 'cloudstreet' by Tim Winton - so far so good I think.









My mother-in-law has heaps of books so I have been borrowing books from her to read, it's like my own personal library...

Can anyone recommend some good books or authors as I am loving reading at the moment?

our trip to the zoo in pictures

joke of the week

A man takes his Rotteweiller to the vet. 'My dog's cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him?'

'Well,' says the vet, 'let's have a look at him'. So he picks up the dog and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth. Finally, he say: 'I'm going to have to put him down.'

'What? Because he's cross-eyed?'

'No, because he's really heavy'

by invitation only...

I have been out of the loop in the blog world lately, writing on my own blog and commenting on others. But I have a few things to write about so maybe that will kick start my blogging again! If you haven't heard from me in a while, I haven't forgotten you!

Last night SP and I ended up going to the Sydney Swans opening night launch of their new members 'club'. I wasn't meant to be going and we weren't even invited, it was SP's Dad who was invited as he is a patron for the Swans but he couldn't make it so he gave the tickets to SP and I. It was an interesting night mingling with people from the sports and TV world, well I didn't actually mingle I just talked to SP. There were only about 150 people there, Damien Leith sang a few songs and of course a lot of the players were there. I got to meet a few of the players, including my fav player - Adam Goodes but the best part of the evening for me was meeting Sophie Delezio's parents. I had a really great chat with them, about how I had heard them interviewed and how in the midst of suffering they remained firm - they are really an inspiration to me - the real life 'stars' of the night. Her Dad told me last night that it was his faith that got him through.

changing your world one diaper at a time

As some of you know my beautiful friend Marla writes books. Her new book is coming out next month and it's called 'Changing your world one diaper at a time', you can click here to read the first chapter...

I am sure it is going to be awesome just like her other two books. If you want to order any let me know and I will point you in the right direction.

wake up

our weekend

So it had been a busy end of the week.

Thursday night we had a friend over for dinner - the one who is a missionary in China. He came over with another friend of ours. We ordered pizza (I was being slack as I knew we had guests over on Friday night too) and talked about what he had been doing in China and what his plans are over the next year or so. It was so lovely to see him and catch up on life. He is heading back to China tomorrow for at least another year. On Thursday I also went for my first 'Curves' session it was great - I think I am going to love it, I love that it is so close to home!

Friday we had some other friends over for dinner, they are a couple from our old church who we haven't caught up with forever! I cooked a beef, spring onion, mushroom and snow pea stir-fry - YUM! They stayed around till almost midnight - that is WAY past my bedtime... But it was fun to hang out with them.

Saturday morning I got up and walked up to curves, did my workout and then jogged (yes I said jogged!) home. We then went to the beach with some friends, SP and Pete surfed and Vini swam and I just sat and watched - I plan on swimming each Saturday too now. I saw SP catch a really cool wave which was very gnarly? In the arvo our friend came over for left overs and a movie. We watched Along Came Polly - I liked it!

Sunday was church - it was awesome! I love our new church. Then we went over to friends for coffee and croissants.. We hung out with them for a few hours and then went home. It was chucking it down with rain all day yesterday so we resumed positions on the couch and watched 'Heroes'.
The Australia 'Biggest Loser' started last night followed by 'So you think you can dance Australia - I love both these shows - woo hoot!

Today it is really chucking it down AGAIN! What is going on with this weather? It is still quite warm but wet, wet, wet!

curves - sign me up

I cancelled my gym membership as I wasn't getting to the gym (read: I have been totally lazy!) I think getting to the gym has been the big thing and wanting to get home in time to cook. Anyway excuses, excuses, excuses.

I cancelled my gym membership but became a member of Curves! There are a few reason why I think this is going to work better:

1. It is literally a 5-10min walk from my house.
2. The totaly workout time is 30 mins (yes I said 30 mins).
3. It has been created for women.
4. I have heard heaps of great stories of women losing weight.
5. You can do it when you are pregnant (no I am not pregnant yet but if and when I do you can still go to curves).
6. You don't have to sign a contract so you can cancel whenever.
7. You apparently see results fairly quickly.
8. They recommend 3 times a week (as it is right where I get off the bus I might try and go a little more frequently).
9. It has been shown that interval training is better for women to burn fat and lose weight.
10. They take all your measurements and get you to come up with some goals, then each month they measure you again so see if you are heading in the right direction to achieving those goals.
11. It's ladies only.

So yesterday I had my first workout, it was really good. It's a combo of weight machines, the hydraulic kind - which means you can adjust how hard it is just by how fast you go. The faster you go the harder it is.

Every other piece of equipment is one of these machines working different parts of the body (arms, back, legs, abs) and then in between you have little stations where you jog on the spot, do jabs or just march (you can do what ever you feel like really it's just to keep the heart rate up but it can also be a rest station).

Every 8 minutes you check your pulse to make sure you are working within your fat burning category (they let you know how you work this out).

You do two circuits, stretch and then you are all done after 35 mins.

Women of all ages can do it and you can adjust how hard you work out and after my first workout I would thouroughly recommend it.

Will keep you posted on how I go!