Jan 31 - Happy Fulliversary!

Merri Creek, Coburg Lake Reserve

   Today was Mr Smart and my first anniversary, or fulliversary as he put it (a reference to our halfiversary of six months ago).  To celebrate I packed a picnic lunch and we headed off to Coburg Lake Reserve, the park where we first met.
  We found a picnic table in the shade by the lake on which to lay out our feast and settled in amongst the seagulls, pigeons, black ducks, moorhens, swans and native wood ducks.

  Veggie sticks, hard-boiled eggs, stuffed bell peppers, roasted garlic hummus, spinach dip, smoked salmon quiches, sugar free soft drinks and grapes.  None of it was given to seagulls but we certainly didn't eat it all either, there is still some in the fridge now!  A wasp floated around the table for a while, presumably on a scouting mission, but we used the Tupperware lids to shield the mouths on our open soft drink cans.

  As we ate we saw an unusual sight, a heron in full flight, swooping about at something like a martin does.  There were martins around too in fact.  As we were finishing lunch, with tummies burgeoning, Mr Smart spotted a black duck coming out of the lake with two fluffy ducklings in tow.  He followed them around like a regular paparazzo while I tidied away the picnic things.

  We put the things away in the car and then went for an explore around the park.  We found some really awesome stuff!  For starters, we found a giant twister board!

  Around the board there was also a collection of chunky wood carvings painted in all manner of ways.  One was a curled up dragon, two others were painted like beanbag-style chairs, another a fire place with a surreal pendulum clock on the reverse.  There was a pentagon of swings facing inwards which made me wonder if children would end up hitting each other mid swing.  There was a low level maze that Mr Smart cheated on, using his height to his just stride over the walls.

  The most awesome thing we found though, was the flying fox!  You can click here and click here to see us being big kids.  After much fun and giggles, further down the track we found an adult 'playground'.  Outdoor exercise equipment, a rowing machine, stepper, cross trainer and weight machines that work on using your own body weight as resistance.  It was a pretty awesome thing to have provided free for public use.  We continued on around the track and slowly made our way back to the car.

  I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and after such a big meal, Mr Smart and I were both a little on the lethargic side, so by the time we got back to his place it was off to the land of nod with both of us.  There is nothing quite as peaceful and warm as afternoon nap.  Even Pizza Cat settled atop a box of paper and dozed silently along with us.

  We awoke after an hour or so and mucked about on the computers a bit before deciding that a trip to the chicken shop for dinner might be a good idea.  Yummy!  Chicken Souvlaki followed by a 50g Whittaker's Peanut Slab.  After dinner we watched Magic Mike of all things.  It wasn't a bad movie but it was nothing spectacular, and that goes for Channing Tatum too, shiny rippling muscles bulging out of every pore are just not my style.

I have an important meeting in the city tomorrow at 4pm.  Everyone wish me luck!
All will be revealed once I know how things pan out.
  Jess

Jan 30 - Busy Bee!

  I remember today was a busy day but owing to unexpected (but not unwelcome) visitors, this edition of the blog was written late on Friday, two days after it actually happened, so some of the details are lost to the sands of time.
  I was quite busy at work, completing things off so I could calmly take Thursday and Friday off without dwelling on anything unfinished and then I headed over to Miss Mischief's and we went for a lovely long walk again.  Wednesday walkies is a lovely mid-week activity.  It keeps me active but it's gentler than the cross trainer which is good for the day after pilates when everything has been worked a bit harder than normal!
  On my way home from Miss Mischief's I stopped in at Woolworths Chadstone for picnic supplies for tomorrow!  When I got to the shops it occurred to me to check my mobile as I hadn't taken it on the walk.  There were three missed calls from Bertie and no message left.  I called her back straight away and she asked if I was home.  Not yet but I soon would be.  Good, she'd meet me there.  A mystery which shall remain so for now.
  Bertie was there when I arrived and we talked as I laid away the groceries and got started on various chores.  I put on a load of dishes, made individual smoked salmon quiches for tomorrow's picnic (thank you so much Bertie for helping me get the pastry cases right) and made a card for Mr Smart for our anniversary.  There was much activity and talk as I simultaneous played homemaker and hostess.
  I was exhausted by the time I crawled into bed but alas, my stupid brain wouldn't let me go to sleep, so I read.  In fact, I read until 4am.  I finished the kindle book I started reading on Tuesday night which was one of the many freebie's I downloaded.  This one was called The Secret Diary of Alice in Wonderland, Age 42 & Three-Quarters by Barbara Silkstone.  I really enjoyed it.  It was just the right mix of real world meets Wonderland and the characters were written to be as jarring as they should for an adult suddenly finding themselves stuck in a Wonderland-esque nightmare.  Recommended!

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was a yellow-flesh peach, a blood plum and a 35g Carmen's Yoghurt Apricot & Almond muesli bar.
• Morning snack was a salt & pepper calamari hand roll.
• Lunch was a Mission Whole Wheat mini-wrap with two slices of pepper Mortadella (76g), baby spinach, tomato, a slice of Bega So Light tasty cheese and Lebanese cucumber followed by some more slices of Lebanese cucumber and another blood plum.
• Afternoon snack was another yellow-flesh peach.
• Exercise was a 50 minute, 3.8km walk.
• Dinner was most of a 200g tub of Chris's Corn Relish dip with cucumber sticks and eight Vita-Weat multigrain rice crackers and since I was still hungry after that, 60g Don mild salami.
• Dessert was a Honey Macadamia Drumstick ice cream.
• Supper was a small smoked salmon quiche... because quality control!

  Today was very draining and I was up very late and really didn't think about the blog, so apologies for this short and sketchy entry.
  Jess

Jan 29 - Nikola Tesla

  When I got home from work today there was a stiff cardboard envelope in the top of my mailbox.  I pulled it out and was very excited to be greeted by the name Tesla!  You see, in August last year, I donated to a fundraising campaign called 'Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum' as a result of reading a well known internet comic called The Oatmeal by Matthew Inma.  In particular, the edition of The Oatmeal entitled 'Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived'.  As a result of my donation I was to receive a perk!  An 8 x 10 glossy photo of the great man himself, and here it is!

  It took them five months to send out my perk but that's kind of understandable as the support they received for the campaign exceeding their expectations.  They had just under 33,300 donations received from 108 countries and they raised $1,370,000 towards the purchase and restoration of Wardenclyffe, Tesla's last remaining laboratory.
  Their aim had been $850,000.  The property was listed for sale $1,600,000 and on the proviso that they raised $850,000, New York State agreed to make a matching grant towards its purchase.  Well they well and truly did that and are currently negotiating the purchase.  If you're curious at all about it beyond what I've told you, you can check out www.TeslaScienceCenter.org.

  After having a little happy dance about my newly received wall adornment, I got changed for pilates and headed off to the physio.  It was a quiet night tonight which was great.  Normally there are three or four in the class but it seems that often people only come for one class to learn exercises they can do at home.  Tonight it was just me and one other lady who comes every week.
  Because it was just the two of us, Rush added in some different floor exercises, slightly more complicated than we've done before, and the session was a lot more chatty as Rush didn't need to show either of us how to do things.  It was a lot of fun and I discovered that the other lady has lost almost as much weight as me in the last seven months!  She looks great, really fit and healthy, and she has previously told me how much she values the pilates as a part of her process so that is all hugely encouraging to me.
  As my warm down exercise, I've started sitting on the gym ball without touching the ground.  I managed five minutes without overbalancing tonight!  I definitely feel that the pilates is making a difference.  My weight is still hovering between 102 - 103 kg but I have a feeling it's time to take a new set of measurements as my tummy is certainly starting to feel firmer.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was two and a half yellow-flesh nectarines with 90g Roaming Cow Greek style reduced fat yoghurt and slivered almonds.
• Morning snack was a blood plum and a 35g Carmen's Yoghurt Apricot & Almond muesli bar.
• Lunch was a Mission Whole Wheat mini-wrap with two slices of pepper Mortadella (76g), baby spinach and Lebanese cucumber followed by a serve of four belVita Fruit & Fibre breakfast biscuits.
• Afternoon snack was a Pink Lady apple, cored and sliced.
• Exercise was my 45 minute clinical pilates class.
• Dinner was homemade bolognese sauce with 64g (dry-weight) pasta.
• Dessert was 25g Yarra Valley Chocolaterie sugar free dark chocolate.

  A few weeks ago, the Masterchefs visited the Yarra Valley for a day trip and on that visit they enjoyed the delights of the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery.  Knowing that Mr Smart no longer consumes sugary treats, they bought him a block of sugar free dark chocolate to try.  Alas for him, Mr Smart is an all or nothing kind of guy when it comes to food restrictions and he felt that the taste of chocolate, sugar free or not, might lead to too much temptation.  His loss was my gain.  It's quite a nice sugar free chocolate.  Very smooth with a nice flavour that is ever so slightly reminiscent of compound cooking chocolate but in a good way.  I really enjoyed it and I have three serves still to go!
Big thanks to the Masterchefs!
  Jess

Jan 28 - Brekkie, Bus and Buffy

  A lazy morning, Pizza Cat was grateful to be allowed back into the bedroom and jumped up and settled with me while I drank my coffee.  I read a little more of my book while patting her as Mr Smart built yet another Sim City.  Apparently the beta version doesn't let you save and limits game play to an hour at a time.  Seems a little silly to me if they actually want useful feedback.
  Eventually I got up and ready to face the day.  Mr Smart and I decided to go and have a late breakfast or 'elevensies' so we walked down to Tasties.  We found it closed for the public holiday (without any notification to the effect in their windows) so we changed direction and walked to Pomona Cafe instead.  Mr Smart had tried it before but I had yet to experience it.
  Pomona Cafe has a beautiful atmosphere.  It has its own veggie and herb garden and some tables sneakily set within, but we remained under the shade of the umbrellas.  Service was slow but friendly and nothing was mucked up other than a slight over-poaching of eggs, they do make their own hollandaise though so that can be forgiven.  It's not a place to go every week as it's on the higher end price wise at about $17 for a breakfast, but it was definitely an enjoyable way to pass the morning.
  We walked back and Mr Smart drove me to the bus stop at Keon Park.  There are closer bus stops to his place of course, but Keon Park gets me straight on to the bus that passes the end of my street.  I had never caught the bus home from Mr Smart's before so I thought I'd give it a shot.  I don't think I will do it again.  It took slightly more than two hours and reading on the bus appears to make me feel incredibly ill.  It did not help that I forgot to grab a water bottle before I left either.
  There was however, one advantage to having caught the bus, I made two new friends.  The bus arrived at Westfield Doncaster and a young couple heavily laden with backpacking gear got on, being sure to check the final destination of the bus first.  They were speaking German to one another and sat down on seats adjacent to me.  Eventually I got the courage up to say hello and ask why they were headed to Chelsea of all places.
  They were happy to have someone friendly to chat to so we talked about where they were headed and what they had done so far.  They turned out to be Austrians spending three months in Australia.  We chatted about Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide.  I suggested they try Healesville Sanctuary and wrote down the name for them.  They asked for my email, which I gave, and I sent a text to their friend to let her know that they were on their way but running late.

  It may seem odd, to be so friendly to perfect strangers, but when I travelled in America, I experienced this same wonderful friendliness from no less than three Americans who generously lent me their phones before I had managed to get on of my own.  That wonderful generosity of spirit has only encouraged me to be the same.  My new found friends were obviously quite touched and they searched about and found an Austrian coin to give to me for good luck as a thank you.  It is a two Euro cent piece and features the Austrian mountain flower, edelweiss.
  I departed their company at my stop and walked the remaining distance home.  I was still feeling very very queezy so I lay down in bed and at last finished my book.  I loved it, though the lead up to the end worried me substantially.  I was very invested in the characters and I wasn't sure I would like how things turned out for them, but I did in the end.  I would thoroughly recommend The Seventh Sword trilogy by Dave Duncan to anyone who wanted an enjoyable fiction read.
  With my books finally complete I got up and found I still felt lousy.  I took a Panadol, ate a little fruit, and settled myself on the couch with a bucket and a box of bag seal clips to snap up for Bertie and a stand up comedy special on TV, Thoroughly Modern Millican by Sarah Millican.  It was very funny and I got through the whole box of strips and found myself feeling slightly better afterwards.
  It was about 8pm by this time and I logged on to my computer, thinking I might start the blog a little early when I was greeted by the following conversation: 
     Mr Smart:  How did your buffy'sworth go?

     Jess:        I didn't do a buffy'sworth?

     Mr Smart: Get to it then!

     Jess:        Lol.. I walked into that didn't I....

                     Ok, I'll pay that one, be back in an hour-ish xoxox

  We had in the morning, been talking about how hard we were both finding it to get back on track after Christmas and with the continuing events and functions that were still coming at us unceasingly.  He was once again cleverly cajoling me to make the right decision for myself, so off I marched and on Buffy went. 

 

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Pre-breakfast was a Nespresso Dulsão do Brasil pod coffee.
• Breakfast was Green Eggs & Ham at Pomona Cafe in Preston; two poached eggs on spelt toast, smoked virginia ham topped with basil, pine nut & parmesan pesto; served with roasted beetroot & ricotta on rocket.  I also had a 375ml Sunzest organic orange juice.
• Afternoon snack was a yellow-flesh peach and two small plums.
• Dinner was three Vita-Weat soy, linseed and sesame lunch slices, each with Vegemite andone slice of Bega So Light tasty cheese.
• Dessert was 20g Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.
• Exercise was 42 minutes at load 2 on the cross trainer with Buffy and two Zanders, neither of which turned out to be a demon.

  That's all for today folks.  It's a little early yet so I shall go to bed and start a new book.  A paper book this time, one borrowed from the library at work, Drive by Daniel H. Pink.  It's a book about what motivates us as people.  Hopefully I'll learn a few new things about myself from its pages.  I doubt I'll read late tonight though.  I may only have two days work this week but they must be started earlier in the morning than usual.
  Sleep well all and have a nice week.
  Jess

Jan 27 - Monsters and Kitty

  I woke up relatively late today after a late night reading.  I am halfway through the last book in The Seventh Swordsmen trilogy now.  I got up, showered, dressed and finally got around to having a proper breakfast after weeks of improvising.  Then I headed off to Forest Hill Chase.  It was nice to be heading there for something other than work!
  I met Captain Cupcake at the Hoyts on Level 3 and we bought tickets for today's screening of Monsters Inc in 3D!  Hoyts often shows older kids movies during the school holidays and when it's a much loved movie that I've only seen on the small screen, then it can be a lot of fun to see them on the big screen.  I still find that the 3D doesn't really add much to the story but it's a fun day out nevertheless.
  After the movie we had lunch in the food court, we bumped into Danger Mouse and had a little bit of a chat, we did a spot of shopping and I found a cute dark grey singlet dress for $5 at Abbey Rose then headed home.  I got home to a basket of goodies on the doorstep, my lovely neighbour Swervyn had visited in my absence.
  I checked emails, facebook, imgur, sorted my basket of fruit and veg, called Earnest and packed a bag for tonight before setting off to Mr Smart's.  Somehow in all our weekend activities I ended up with both cars at my place so for once I had to drive Mr Smart's car home to his place.  I'm used to a small car these days but I learned to drive in a big car, very similar to his, so I didn't have a problem but it was funny getting used to the reaction of the brake and accelerator again.

  I arrived to a Mr Smart engrossed in the new beta Sim City game, and Pizza Cat curled up under the blanket.  There was no hurry to do anything so I grabbed my kindle and curled up next to Pizza Cat and went on with my book.  I found another thing I love about the kindle too; you can pat a cat and turn pages at the same time.  She was pretty happy about it too.
  Eventually we got hungry and walked down High Street to grab some dinner.  We brought it back to Mr Smart's and watched a few episodes of Community while we ate.  Then we settled in to blog writing and more beta game play.  And now I'm done and my book is calling me to bed again!

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic Fruit & Nut muesli with 90g Roaming Cow Greek style reduced fat yoghurt, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds and two diced dried peach halves.
• Lunch was a toasted butter chicken wrap with saffron rice, spinach and rocket leaves from Mild n Spicy at the Forest Hill Chase food court.
• Dinner was two and a half steamed dim sims and combination fried egg noodles from Preston Noodle Served in a Box.  The combination is: thin egg noodles with prawns, squid, beef, chicken, pork, crabmeat, fishcake, onion, carrots, bokchoi, bean shoots, mushrooms and baby corn.

  Hope all you Aussies out there have a wonderful Australia Day in Lieu public holiday tomorrow.  I'm stoked about this week, only two days of work for me!!
  Jess

Jan 26 - Happy Australia Day!

  Today was the mighty annual Australia Day party at Bertie and Tricky's place!  Mr Smart and I headed down and arrived shortly before lunch time.  First order of business was our Australia Day tradition!  For three years now, Bertie has obtained a large canvas and a couple of pots of poster paint and all guests have been encouraged to immortalise their hand prints.
  The first year it was blue and red, the second was green and gold and this year we went with the colours of the aboriginal flag, red and yellow on a black background.  After we had made our marks, we noted our names against them in silver Sharpie and washed the paint off our hands.  With our hand prints now recorded for posterity, we went to the garden to say hi to Tricky.

  Tricky was manning his beloved lamb spit.  It was loaded with 10kg of marinated lamb rotating lazily over the powerful radiant heat of the coals in the trough below.  As more guests arrived, it was not surprising to see the men congregate around the meat, sneakily taste testing bits of it before it was declared 'ready'.

  Captain Cupcake arrived and joined in the festivities.  We were all bringing a plate today.  I brought a huge bowl of broccoli salad and Captain Cupcake brought a really yummy curried pasta salad.
  I ate lots of the wrong things today, though I'm pretty sure that the bulk of my 'naughty' calories came from the two alcohol-free slushie machines.  While we waited for the declaration of 'ready' from the boys, cola and raspberry slushies were consumed and they nibbles were laid out.
  Kabana slices, cheese cubes, corn relish dip, chocolate croissants, Jatz crackers and fairy bread (made by the fabulous Allmix).

  The boys started serving up the lamb, carving off chunks and strips as they were deemed ready.  My first plate was a slice of white bread with tzatziki and chunks of lamb with broccoli salad and pasta salad.  I had a second plate full too, a little more lamb, a sausage and some more broccoli salad and some greek salad.  By the end of the day, the lamb was gone and so were all of the salads!

   Mr Smart's sister, brother-in-law and nephew came to the party too which was a lot of fun for me.  They are really fun people and it was so cool to see our two nephews playing together.  There were so many kids at the party today and my nephew happily shared his toys and trampoline with them all.

 

  Once everyone had eaten there was yet another Australia Day tradition to be completed.  The boys relocated the trampoline to clear the lawn and out came the backyard cricket.  Mr Smart took turns at both bat and bowl and it was a fun game.  So many dads at the game which meant many kids took turns to bat.  At some point, with Mr Smart bowling and my nephew batting, my nephew figured out that if he picked up the ball in play and ran with it, he couldn't be declared 'out'.  Everyone had a laugh at his tactics.

  At around 4pm I had to make a quick run out to take Mr Smart to the train station.  Australia Day is important for more reasons than Bertie & Tricky's mega party after all.  It also happens to be the annual Melbourne Victory vs. Sydney soccer match for which Mr Smart and Miss M managed to get tickets!  They are both big soccer fans.

  Mr Smart suffered through a one-hour train trip on the Frankston line to be at the match (a trip which was unfortunately not yobbo/hooligan free).  Luckily, his dedication was rewarded as Victory triumphed 3-1 over Sydney at AAMI Park.

  By the time I got back to the party everyone was starting to mill about, comfortably dozey after a huge meal.  There were still more nibbles, more slushies, a four-layer Mexican dip, a spinach cob dip, salsa and corn chips, chocolate crackles and more that we all grazed on idly while we chatted.  But soon it was time for the final tradition of the day, the Australia Day cake!!  And I must say, the marvellous Muttley from Party Supply Haven in Hastings really outdid herself this year!
  Muttley is a friend of Bertie's with her own party supply and cake making place so she always brings an 'Aussie' cake to the party.  This year it was a pair of Aussie Flag Thongs with green and gold cake hidden inside.  The cake looked and tasted amazing.  I need the recipe for the beautiful moist sponge cake within!

  After cake I continued shooting the breeze with a few of the girls but it was soon time for me to be heading home.  I was starting to feel a bit exhausted and I knew I now had two blogs to write up.  I headed home and began.
  I noticed after a bit of typing that I was beginning to feel a bit hot and scratchy.  I went to fill up a water bottle, knowing I should take care to replenish fluid if I'd perhaps got a bit dehydrated today.  It was just after that as I walked through to the bathroom that I noticed in the mirror, I'd fallen prey to one of the traps of Australia.  It was a pretty overcast day today, but the sun was still throwing out its UV rays apparently, and I have a rather large patch of vivid pink skin on my chest to show for it.
  Back on the wagon again tomorrow.
  Jess

Jan 25 - Another Dinner and Movie

  Work today was relatively fun.  The receptionist had the day off today, so my offsider and I were handling all of the phone calls and dings of the front desk bell today.  It's fun to do it every now and then, it's a break from routine and covers tasks I don't normally do so I tend to learn new things.  Despite the change of routine though, time seemed to stand still.  Maybe it was just because I was so looking forward to my Australia Day long weekend, but I could swear that it took six hours to get from 4:30pm to 5:30pm!
  When I finally got out of there, I raced home to clean up a bit before Mr Smart arrived.  I only just managed to get the dishwasher loaded and going and was wiping down the bench when he arrived.  We planned to have a restrained treat dinner tonight from Raju's Indian Restaurant.  We ordered just one entree to share and just one main, and instead of ordering rice or bread to go with it, we cooked our own quinoa instead.
  Quinoa worked really well as a substitute for rice.  It's lower GI than most rice (53) and was easy enough to cook in the microwave in my Starmaid Rice Cooker (25 minutes on power level 6 for my LG Microwave, stirring twice during cooking).  It has a funny kind of a smell when it's cooking, but we were pleased to find that once it was mixed in with the rich prawn malai sauce, it simply carried the characteristics of the dish without any trace of the cooking smell.  We tried mixing some with the remaining mint chutney and tamarind sauce and they both worked well too!
  After dinner I had to take a brief break in order to make broccoli salad for tomorrow's traditional Australia Day barbecue at Bertie and Tricky's place.  It's not a difficult salad but cutting the broccoli up into little pieces can take quite a long time.  The chopping up can take 40 minutes and the rest of the salad is completed 5 minutes after that.
  With that little task completed it was time to chill out on the couch with Baileys and milk on ice, a blankie on my legs, and a good movie on the screen.  Our movie choice followed on from our Psycho viewing of the night before and was even more enjoyable.  Once the movie was over, it was almost midnight!  We had planned to play Scrabble while I did the blog but that would've seen us up a lot later than midnight so I decided I could do the blog the following day (which I am!).

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a Cheesymite Scroll from Baker's Delight.
• Morning snack was a white-flesh nectarine and a kiwi-fruit with skin on.
• Lunch was a deluxe sushi pack and a salt & pepper calamari hand roll from Sushi Sushi with a little Japanese mayo and some soy sauce.
• Afternoon snack was a Pink Lady apple, cored and sliced.
• Dinner was a poppadum and a samosa with mint chutney and tamarind sauce followed by prawn malai with white quinoa.
• Dessert was 50ml of Baileys Mint Chocolate with milk and ice, followed by 50ml of Baileys Creme Caramel with milk and ice.

  As we got ready for bed, I encountered a bit of a dilemma.  I normally don't mind daddy-long-legs as they are wispy thin and harmless.  They leave me alone and I leave them alone.  However, when one gets to be large and close up they can be every bit as scary as other types of spider.  Imagine my shock and surprise when I reached for the toilet and found this nasty chappy sitting there.

  Luckily, there were other rolls of toilet paper handy so I used that instead (by the way, I didn't have the camera with me in there, I had to leave the room and come back to take the picture).  The dilemma was... kill or relocate?  In the end I opted for a frantic struggle to get him to the floor then employed a squish and flush maneuver.  Mr Smart, a kinder, gentler soul than I, proclaimed dismayed "But they're harmless and so easy to take outside!"  So which path would you have taken?
  Jess

Jan 24 - Dinner and a Movie

  A quick one tonight as it's already half past eleven as I type this first sentence.
  Today was a lovely day.  At work, things continued progressing with my extended trade calcs and I got rewarded for saving the company money!  I worked out that over the last eleven months I've saved the company just under $5,000 ex-GST by scrutinizing the hell out of a particular supplier's invoices.  I was given a token of appreciation for my efforts which was a huge surprise but happily accepted.  I felt very chuffed at such recognition.
  After work I went straight round to Mr Smart's place with a boot load of groceries to make us a nice dinner.  I ate very little today because I ran out of time (and dishes) to have a proper breakfast so I was very hungry by tea time, luckily so was Mr Smart so I set to work preparing straight away.  Dinner was ready in about twenty minutes and we settled on the couch to eat and watch Psycho!
  I'll admit this right now... though I can probably name a half a dozen or so Hitchcock films off the top of my head, I had never watched one until tonight.  There is a film out at the moment called 'Hitchcock', set during the filming of Psycho and I really want to see it but I felt I should at very least see Psycho first.  I knew that the character of Norman Bates was based on the infamous serial killer Ed Gein but until I saw Psycho I had no idea how much detail Hitchcock had gone to.  It was perhaps not as scary as it was when it was first released but it did see me in goosebumps a few times.
  After Psycho we watched the second episode of Utopia.  It is still crazy and weird and frightening and intriguing.  It's been shot in hyper-realistic colours to emphasize the fakeness and unreality of the world (it's a very conspiracy theory type drama).  The colours and wide open landscape shots in it are amazing beautiful and they make the violence and underground nature of the characters seem all the more stark by contrast.  It was extra stark after having just watched a black and white film too!
  After both viewing pleasures, Mr Smart did his best to convince me not to go, but alas, I have work tomorrow.  He pouted and went wide-eyed on me and even started another movie in the hopes that I'd get hooked in.  He very nearly won the battle, but here I sit typing away before running to my own now rather lonely seeming bed.
I expect he'll win the war.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was a white-flesh nectarine and a 35g Carmen's Yoghurt Apricot & Almond muesli bar.
• Lunch was a Mission Whole Wheat mini-wrap with 40g Extra Light Philadelphia cream cheese, 70g of Steggles spiced apple stuffed turkey breast and alfalfa sprouts followed by a kiwi fruit with skin on.
• Dinner was insalata di spaghetti.  A mix of fresh tomatoes, chopped into quarters, bambini bocconcini, kalamata olives, pieces of mild salami, fresh basil and delicious Mendez Olive Estate olive with warm spaghetti.  One of my favourites.  So easy!
• Weight this morning was 102.1 kg

  That's your lot for today!  I have a few chapters to read before sleep becomes an absolute necessity!
  Jess

Jan 23 - Wednesday Walkies

  Having trouble getting motivated for blog-writing tonight, I've had a lot on my mind this evening and I'd rather just go and read my book so that I can block it all out for a while.  None of it's bad stuff, it's more excited nervousness about potential opportunities.  It's just a bit draining at the moment because at the moment there is a lot of 'missing data' which means I can't make any decisions or resolutions about any of it.  I guess those are the sort of frustrations that are not really bad to have though.
  Tonight after work I headed straight over to Miss Mischief's house.  She has kindly agreed to be my partner for Wednesday Walkies!  The plan is that I will drive over every Wednesday evening (well, most) and we will go for a walk together.  Tonight Miss Mischief had planned out a course of 3.8km which took us about 50 minutes.  It went through the Malvern Urban Forest which I had passed in the car many many times and never noticed!  It's just a slim stretch of bushland in the middle of Malvern.  It runs between Dandenong Road and Waverley Road.  You can see Chadstone from it!
  After we finished our walk we both started to wonder what each of us would have for dinner.  I had bought a couple of things for mine last night, but needed a few more ingredients.  I was going to get them on the way home but Miss Mischief pointed out she needed to do a small shop herself and there was a Woolies just across the road, so off we set together to shop for our dinners.  With ingredients sourced and walking now completely done, I headed home.
  I'm really glad to have a regular walking date lined up now.  Exercising with others, particularly walking, seems to be much easier to commit to and invariably more rewarding because you also get to have a damn good natter.  I think walking is also definitely the right type of exercise to do on the day after pilates as it's good aerobically but relatively relaxing on the muscles and keeps my back upright.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was two small plums and a wholemeal English Muffin, toasted and spread with margarine and homemade apricot jam.
• Morning snack was a white-flesh nectarine.
• Lunch was a Mission Whole Wheat mini-wrap with 40g of Extra Light Philadelphia cream cheese, 50g of smoked salmon, cucumber slices and alfalfa sprouts.  After this I had a kiwi fruit with the skin on, a dried peach half, three Brazil nuts, two pecan nut halves, two hazelnuts, four almonds and some sunflower seeds.
• Afternoon snack was a Pink Lady apple, cored and sliced.
• Exercise was a 50 minute, 3.8km walk.
• Dinner was 120g of Maggie Beer Duck, Sherry & Green Peppercorn Pate (reduced to clear to 49c!!), 200g Yumi's Hummus, three Vita-Weat Soy, Linseed & Sesame Lunch Slices, raw broccoli florets, mini cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks, snow peas, red capsicum and carrot sticks!

  I'm honestly not sure if today constitutes over-eating or not... the pate was probably overkill but I love Maggie Beer's pates, pate is a good source of iron, and it was down to 49c which is practically unheard of!  Even marked down it's usually a few dollars.  I definitely feel very full at the moment so that almost certainly means I have over-eaten but I guess at least I'm over-eating the right things.  On nights in the past when I didn't feel like cooking it was not unheard of to have mashed potato for dinner.
  Anyway, enough rambling, time to escape my brain and disappear into my book!
  Jess

Jan 22 - Dreams

  I thought I'd share the above inspirational motto which Miss Mischief shared on facebook yesterday.  It's a bit trite perhaps, but I think it is better than your average 'inspiropic' in that it covers two very important thoughts.  Firstly, it is clearly talking about dreams as goals, rather than dreams as fantasies.  Dreams like I hope I win Tattslotto are all very well and good, and I do my bit to accomplish that particular dream each week by buying a ticket, but the fact is that it's a fantasy, not a realistic or achievable goal.  Secondly, it reminds us that to achieve a dream you have to try, try, try and try again.
  Those are two things I definitely need to remember.  Lately there have been a lot of possible directions for my life appearing on myriad potential horizons.  Thoughts of these have been swimming about aimlessly in my mind occasionally swamping me.  Possible directions, but nothing certain, nothing definite, nothing confirmed.  There are too many variables to spend too much time dwelling on the possibilities now but still it makes me wonder.  What is important?  What are my dreams?
  I dream that eventually I will be able to borrow clothes from my substantially skinnier sisters.  I dream that one day I will live in a less cluttered space that is truly 'me'.  I dream that maybe, just maybe, some day what I get paid to do and what I love doing might be the same thing.  There are other dreams of course, but a girl has to keep some secrets.
  So what do I do to live my dreams?  Well I write this blog for one thing.  I enjoy doing it and it keeps me honest on my weight loss journey.  I don't feel guilty for having an ice cream tonight but knowing I'd have to fess up to it here certainly made me think twice, three times in fact if you count the five minutes I spent in the supermarket contemplating the purchase.  The blog can get tiresome when I am busy in the evenings and just feel like enjoying myself or if I don't know what to write about but in general I enjoy having a place to brain-dump at the end of each day.
  What else?  I try again!  I've tried to lose weight before but it didn't stick, so I'm trying again, and if it doesn't stick this time, I'll bloody well try again.  As far as decluttering goes, I have read a good book on the subject (on my kindle, thus not bringing another physical object into the house) and I have started to very slowly take baby steps towards that goal.  I think that's the key for me, break the dream up into little achievable dreamettes.  I don't know, I certainly don't have all the answers, I can't even answer my own questions most of the time, but it seemed like a valuable enough idea to share.
Keep trying.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic Fruit & Nut Muesli with a 170g tub of Dairy Farmer's Thick n Creamy Vine Passionfruit 98% fat free yoghurt, slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and two halved fresh plums.
• Morning snack was a white-flesh nectarine.
• Lunch was a Mission Whole Wheat mini-wrap with Masterfoods Corn Relish, approx 50g of roast beef, a slice of Bega So Light tasty cheese, a sliced tomato, Lebanese cucumber slices and alfalfa sprouts.  After my wrap I also had a kiwi fruit with the skin on.
• Afternoon snack was a Pink Lady apple, cored and sliced.
• Exercise was a 45 minute clinical pilates class.
• Dinner was two small pita bread pizzas.  Both were spread with Leggo's Pizza Sauce and topped with 30g of mild salami, then one also had a large sliced mushroom and some broccolini stalk, and the other a mix of pineapple and corn, then both were finished with Bega So Light grated tasty cheese.  I am quite relieved that I have finished off the pita bread now, no pizza tomorrow!
• Dessert was a Honey Macadamia Drumstick.

  I didn't really need a dessert tonight, but I wanted one.  The good thing is that I didn't eat it because I was bored, lonely or frustrated, I just wanted one.  The other good thing is that it was definitely on the sweet side, so even though there are three more in the freezer, it's not a dessert I'm likely to want often.
  Time for bed I think.  Goodnight all.
  Jess

Jan 21 - Still Tidying Up

  I finished The Coming of Wisdom by Dave Duncan last night, only one book in the trilogy left to go,  The Destiny of the Sword!  I know what I'm doing tonight!  I have really been enjoying this series, I'd recommend it to any fiction fans.  It's definitely fantasy based, but it has a consistent world, good characters and a few twists I've not experiences in traditional fantasy before.
  My desk at work is getting clearer and clearer, I think tomorrow might be the day to tackle extended trade set up and calculations!  It will be such a huge relief to get that off my plate.  The empty in tray policy is still working for me.  It has it's advantages and disadvantages but I think in general it is leading to a quicker turnaround on paperwork that hits my desk.  It is certainly helping me to feel less swamped.
  Tonight my desk at home has started to follow suit.  Egged on by Gub as she packed for the next leg of her trip, I began breaking emotional ties to little pieces of paper and throwing things out!  There is still a huge pile of filing to be done but the files themselves are getting into the right spots in drawers and will be easily accessible when the time to complete the filing itself comes around.  I'm not too far off now I think.
  There are other rooms in the house that it might be easier to tackle but I felt comfortable starting on the office tonight.  There is still an enormous amount to do, but it's all down to baby steps.  If it gets too hard I can always move to another room for a little while.  Apart from working on the office, I am also trying to take something with me whenever I leave any room.  If just one item that doesn't belong can be removed (laid away, thrown out) each time I leave a room, then all the rooms get gradually tidier.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a wholemeal English muffin, toasted, spread with margarine and the Masterchef's homemade apricot jam (delicious!), a small cup of orange juice and a 170g tub of Dairy Farmer's Thick & Creamy Field Strawberries flavour 98% fat free yoghurt.
• Lunch was a Mission Whole Wheat mini-wrap with Rosella mustard pickles, approx 50g of roast beef, a sliced tomato, Lebanese cucumber slices and alfalfa sprouts.  After my wrap I had a white-flesh nectarine and a kiwi fruit with the skin on.
• Afternoon snack was a large almost ripe banana.
• Dinner was two small pita bread pizzas.  Both were spread with Leggo's Pizza Sauce, then one was topped with approx 50g shredded ham, approx 22g kabana, three sliced mushrooms, a little broccolini stalk, some Lemnos Marinated Persian Feta and Bega So Light grated tasty cheese, the other was topped with approx 50g shredded ham, approx 22g kabana, some tinned pineapple pieces, and Bega So Light grated tasty cheese.
• Dessert was 20g Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.

  Tomorrow evening the house will be quieter and to be honest, I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.  Perhaps both and neither.  I love Gub to bits and the Cambridge Rower is a wonderful addition to the family too, but it is nice to have your own space.  They certainly haven't outstayed their welcome, but it can get taxing reminding yourself daily not to run to the bathroom in the nude.  On the other hand, it's been a joy having the noise of company in the house, it does wonders to stave off loneliness.
  Gub and the Cambridge Rower are off to Canberra tomorrow to see our Uncle for a three day hiking trip to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko!  Mum is joining them too and it sounds as though it will be a great adventure.  Good news for you dear readers, they have agreed to write a guest blog about their hiking trip which will follow some time after its completion.  A tale to look forward to for us all.
  That's it for another day, I have a book to start!
  Jess

Jan 20 - To The Park!

  This morning Mr Smart and I awoke, had a coffee, watched the match highlights for Liverpool v. Norwich (we slaughtered them 5-0) as we had failed to stay awake long enough to watch it last night.  Then watched the first episode of a new British television series called Utopia.  Eff me but that shit is weird as hell but engaging nonetheless.  Looking forward to the next episode next week!  After that I had a quick shower and got dressed for a day of babysitting!

  Mr Smart's sister had asked if we could take his nephew out for the morning so that she and her partner could get some of their renovation works done in peace.  He's such a cute little man so how could we resist such an opportunity?  We loaded him into his pram and grabbed the toddler essentials bag (water, clothes, nappies, wipes, sunscreen, hat, toy cars) and headed off.
  We took the Merri Creek Trail for about 3.2 km, arriving at the CERES Environmental Park about an hour after we set off.  Mr Smart and I both normally walk a bit faster than that but with a pram and toddler we did find we were stopping a bit more often, partly due to the toddler in question and partly due to our apparent ducky fixation.

 
  CERES seems to be a great place.  Community gardens, community chicken coop, a bike fixing and recycling workshop, sculptures, a stage and lawn area, meeting rooms, a plant and garden market and a tres chic hipster eatery.  We couldn't get a seat anywhere in the eatery so we found ourselves preparing to settle ourselves on some steps.  As we did so, Mr Smart, who was wearing his Liverpool top, received a hug from a passing man.  "Great game!" he cried.
  I went to order us some food while Mr Smart stayed with his nephew who had fallen asleep halfway on the walk.  The wait in line took forever!  When I finally returned with sustenance I found that Mr Smart's new friend had visited with him for quite a while, discussing the match with him until his nephew groggily awoke and wanted attention.
  We ate lunch and then Mr Smart's nephew had a small play on the playground but it was perhaps a little advanced for him yet (he's only two) so we went on to peruse the surrounding grounds.
  We saw a large wooden and car tyre depiction of a goanna which Mr Smart's nephew enjoyed saying hello to, we had a drink at the aquabubbler, we saw some amazing sunflowers ranging from saucer sized right up to dinner plates and a beautiful flowering thistle that I suspect was actually an edible artichoke, we watched and listened to a bunch of chickens buck-buck-buckawing and spied wild rat carrying a baby rat disappearing under the chicken coop!
  We saw all sorts of artwork, murals on walls and stones, a decorative Mongolian Ger, mosiac benches and sculptures, a giant wooden scarecrow and a pair of sacred kingfishers fashioned out of wire and beads.  It was a really interesting and eclectic place.
  After an hour or more exploring the grounds Mr Smart's sister rang to see if we wanted collecting, but we weren't yet exhausted so we opted to walk back home again roughly the way we came.  It was a long and hot walk but luckily Mr Smart is very good about making sure his nephew and I both have our sunscreen on, so I didn't get burnt.  We did forget to take any water for grown ups though, so we'll have to remember that next time.
  With his nephew thoroughly tuckered out, back home and ready for a nap, we had a few big drinks of water then headed back to Mr Smart's place to watch a full length 3D movie, Frankenweenie!  Fortunately today we had two pairs of 3D glasses at our disposal as Mr Smart's BIL had lent us a pair of his.  It was a fun movie, silly but fun, if a little dark but then that's Tim Burton for you.
  I could have happily stuck around and enjoyed an afternoon nap with Mr Smart after the movie had finished, but much as he tried to convince me, I knew I had things left to do before I would be ready for work tomorrow.  I set off home, happy at having had such a wonderful day.
  I stopped at the supermarket on the way home.  I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted for dinner but I knew I fancied something slightly junky.  It was when I saw pita breads on special that I realised homemade pizza was the answer.  I grabbed enough to have it a couple of nights in a row (the pita breads need using pretty quick) and went home to get on with the remaining drudgery.
  I did laundry, one load in, one load out, then made and ate dinner, watched one of my favourite movies, Oscar, and then some standup comedy while I tackled the first of three boxes of bread bag tags.  A mundane task, but it helps Bertie and keeps my hands busy.

  Today's food and exercise were:

 

• Breakfast was a Nespresso Dulsão do Brasil pod coffee.
• Exercise was approximately 7km of walking along the Merri Creek Trail to CERES Environmental Park and back with lunch in the middle.
• Lunch was a baguette spread with pesto and topped with roast pumpkin, onion jam, feta and salad.  I only ate the bottom half of the baguette itself as it was a bit too bready.  I also had a 330ml Parker's Iced Tea (Green Tea with Moroccan Mint flavour) and one sixth of a very small vegan banana cake which was actually rather yummy.
• Afternoon snack was 12 salted cashew nuts.
• Dinner was two small pita bread pizzas.  Both were spread with Leggo's Pizza Sauce, then one was topped with approx 50g shredded ham, approx 44g kabana, two sliced mushrooms and Bega So Light grated tasty cheese, the other was topped with approx 50g shredded ham, dried basil flakes, two vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and two bocconcini.
• Dessert was a 160g tub of Gippsland Dairy Twist mango and blood orange yoghurt with slivered almonds and pumpkin seeds, and two dried peach halves and 20g Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.

  So that's it, another weekend bites the dust.  Sigh.  And it's back to work tomorrow morning.  A full week this time, and one of those days will be receptionist-less (groan).  Still, the week after I only have to work two days, so it's not all bad!  And now, to escape once more into the "pages" of my kindle book.
  Goodnight, and have a lovely week all.
  Jess

Jan 19 - Dinner at Cafe58

  I had a nice sleep in this morning, waking at 10am, then I got up, wondered why, and went back to bed to read for another hour.  Once I got up to the next section of my book I got up properly, showered, dressed and started writing up yesterday's blog.
  At around lunch time, Gub and the Cambridge Rower arose and we all had a very late breakfast.  They then headed off to the gym which left me free to complete my normal weekend tasks, I put on a load of dishes and finished off the blog while the dishwasher did its thing.  Then I put on a load of laundry and was just starting to empty the dishwasher when my plumber Daz arrived.
  While I emptied the dishwasher, Daz set to work fixing my leaking toilet.  It's been running a slow leak for a few months and using a surprising amount of water, so much that it gave Yarra Valley Water cause to send me Higher Water Usage Alert with my last bill.  It turned out that the washer was hugely degraded and the pins holding the mechanism were rusted through. So he managed to tear out the rusted pins, replace the washer and improvise new pins from wire to reinstall it.  The whole visit was only $50, a huge bargain and I trust the quality of his work.  Three cheers for tradies you can trust!
  I hung out my laundry and then cut my nails while watching Alex & Emma on my computer screen.  Then I did a little paperwork, packed an overnight bag and headed off for a relaxing dinner at Cafe 58.  Gub had gone out a while earlier for a meeting with some friends of hers so the Cambridge Rower and I proceeded in to town together.  It was nice to get to spend an hour with my future brother-in-law just to chat undistracted and get to know one another a little better.  We found a park on Johnston Street almost opposite Cafe 58 and headed in.
  We were brought water and a bowl of prawn crackers and an ice bucket for my Puddleduck Bazil Signature Sauvignon Blanc which was lovingly selected in Tasmania last year.  Shortly after we arrived Mr Smart joined us, having caught the tram in, and then just 15 minutes later, Gub arrived.  By that time the rest of us had already decided on entrees to be shared and perused the ample menu.  We shared our choices with Gub and were able to suggest possible mains for her.
  The food as always, was amazing and delicious.  Just look how excited Gub was by it!  Needless to say, they had to roll us all out at the end of yet another fantastic meal.

  After dinner Gub and the Cambridge Rower headed back to my place and Mr Smart and I went back to his.  I got spoilt as I got to try out the 3D mode on Mr Smart's new monitor.  I watched a section of Avatar, followed by a section of The Avengers and then we settled in to watch Melbourne Victory play Perth Glory.  Victory were victorious in part because Glory failed to be glorious.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast at lunchtime was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic Fruit & Nut Muesli with Jalna Greek yoghurt, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, two small plums and the flesh of one passionfruit followed by a small cup of orange juice.
• Dinner Entree was, prawn crackers, a curry puff, a satay chicken skewer, two minced beef wrapped in betel leaf, two pieces of rice paper roll, two pieces of spring roll and two slices of fish cake with sweet chilli sauce.  I also had a small glass of the Sav Blanc.
• Dinner Mains were Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce, plum duck, black pepper lamb, chilli kangaroo and basil chicken all served with coconut rice.  Yummy!
• After dinner back at Mr Smart's I had a very generous glass more of the Sav Blanc, a small wedge of Red Hill Cheese's Point Nepean with cumin and six salted macadamia nuts (thanks MinxB!).

  So that's it for today.  A good day in general and a great dinner with great people.  I will no doubt be reading a little tonight, it's already midnight but the Liverpool v. Norwich match doesn't start for two more hours!  Good thing we don't have to be up too early tomorrow.
  Jess

Jan 18 - Down Peninsula Way

  This morning after breakfast, Mr Smart and I headed down to the post office to pick up a package I had missed during the week.  It was three new SD memory cards that I had ordered online from Dick Smith thanks to a bargain price tip off from Mr Smart and ozbargain.com.  After collecting the package we headed off to Baker's Delight, then the greengrocer and finally Coles, to collect goods for a Mornington Peninsula picnic.  We figured a picnic would be a less expensive alternative to eating somehwhere down there.
  We returned home and collected Gub and the Cambridge Rower and set off down to the newly opened Peninsula Link!  It was a fun novelty to get to drive on a brand new freeway on its very first day in use.  It looks good and has some interesting sound block walls covered in the names of the surrounding suburbs and some fabulous sculptures.  My favourite was an enormous ram's skull done in iron.
  We hopped off in Mornington and made our way through to Red Hill.   We stopped at a likely winery and found a picnic table.  Perfect, we thought, and went and sat down and opened up our basket of goodies and began eating and talking, fully intended to go and enjoy a wine tasting afterwards, until that is, a member of staff approached us and told us we'd have to leave as we were on private property (no shit Sherlock) and that picnicing was not allowed.  Picnicing not allowed?  With a picnic table sitting right there?
  It turns out that the winery leases the garden area and restaurant to an external restauranteur and they understandably don't take kindly to people bringing their own food and eating it on land they lease.  Understandable yes, but we'd be damned if we were going to taste their wine now, let alone buy any!  He handled the situation really badly and why not have a sign up that says 'No Picnicing'?  We would've gone somewhere else had that been the case.  However, we were asked to leave and they were within their rights to do so, so we packed up and moved on.
  We came next to Ashcombe Maze, a place I'd been wanting to visit and it intrigued the others as well.  We parked and Gub went ahead to scout out prices and such.  She came out shaking her head "no picnics here either" but she went on to explain that the girl at the counter had been very helpful and given us directions to the nearest picnic table in Shoreham and said we were most welcome to return to do the mazes after lunch.

  We journeyeddown the road to the grounds of the Shoreham Tennis Club and recommenced our lunch.  It was fairly breezy by this point in the day so we had to keep securing bits of lunch and related rubbish that kept trying to fly away.  After lunch, the Cambridge Rower had a little play on the playground as Mr Smart watched.  He got so high on the swing he was at right angles to the support beam!

  After finishing lunch, we tidied away our rubbish and packed everything back into the car and headed back to Ashcombe Maze.  We entered the gardens and found the first maze and the fun began!  Gub and the Cambridge Rower insisted that getting through the mazes should be a competition so off we went into the South Maze.  Though Mr Smart and I valiantly tried, successfully collecting photographic evidence of each mosiac corner tile, somehow Gub and the Cambridge Rower still beat us out to the centre garden!

  The fun continued in the North Maze.  It was supposed to be more difficult than the first one but Mr Smart and I were not about to lose twice!  So while Gub and the Cambridge Rower were debating which entrance to take, we ran back and entered the maze, completing it at a run!  I'm so glad I have lost all that weight because I'm quite certain I've not run that fast for years.  We got out just seconds before them!
  We went on exploring the gardens and completed the third maze.  I'll be gracious here and call the third a draw.  The objective was to get to the centre of the Rose Maze and then out again.  Gub and the Cambridge Rower got to the centre first but then apparently forgot about the getting back out again.  We tricked them into having their photo taken in the centre, and then we bolted!  So we made it out first, but they made it in first.

  After all the mazes were done and the grounds had been thoroughly explored, we headed back to the cafe to have a small pitstop before we continued on.  We were very lucky that we did as it was hear that Gub spotted a wild koala in the tree above the rest rooms!  Everyone was very chuffed at having seen it and a small crowd of other patrons gathered around to catch a glimpse of him too.
  Happy with our maze adventure, we headed off in search of some of the Peninsula's cheese, beer or wine and lucky for me, cheese was first.
   We grabbed a five dollar tasting plate to share between three.  Gub is not a huge cheese fan so she was designated official cheese splitter, carefully cutting each piece into three for us.  The plate is designed to be started at the mildest flavour and then you work your way around clockwise to the strongest, with a piece of plain wafer between each taste to cleanse the palette.

 
  The favourite for all was the Point Nepean with cumin, described as a robust and savoury goat's milk semi-hard cheese.  Mr Smart bought two pieces of the Point Nepean, one for each of us, and a piece of the Venus Blue for Mr Smart Snr.  Their cheeses are certainly not cheap though.. those two were $75/kg and $85/kg respectively and they don't redeem the cost of the tasting plate from the purchase price which would perhaps be something good for them to consider.  After our cheese tasting it was well into the afternoon and everyone was starting to feel a bit sleepy, so in the end we did no beer or wine tastings for the whole day.  We still had a lot of fun though.
  We got home and soon Mr Smart needed to head off for boys night with Mr Masterchef.  Despite my best attempts to get him to stay, his mind was made up and off he went leaving me to go for a walk with Gub, eat a lovely dinner with Gub and the Cambridge Rower and write up yesterday's blog.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was a small serve of saganaki with fresh lemon juice.
• Lunch was a picnic in Shoreham containing, olive mortadella, pastrami, mild sopressa, smoked salmon, a Baker's Delight pipe loaf sliced for sandwich, vegetable sticks (carrot, cucumber, snow peas and broccolini), Vita-Weat multigrain rice crackers and three dips (Black Swan roasted garlic hommus, Wattle Valley Delish peppersweet and feta and Wattle Valley Chunky beetroot with cashew and parmesan).
• Afternoon snack was a cheese tasting plate at Red Hill Cheese, see description above.
• Exercise was a lot of running around in mazes and gardens and a 35 minute, 2.9 km walk around my neighbourhood with Gub.
• Dinner was four half slices of crusty bread, green salad, two hard-boiled eggs, pesto pasta salad, four Thai-style prawns, and a spoonful each of salmon and eggplant dips.
• Dessert was four very small pieces of a Mars Honeycomb Bar.  Not so much 'honeycomb' as it was, mildly honey-flavoured nougat dyed a vivid yellow in an otherwise completely normal Mars Bar.

  Once I finished the blog I did headed to bed with my kindle.  Halfway through reading, my kindle blooped that it needed its battery charged.  The first time since I started reading on it so I'm pretty impressed with its battery life.  I could of course, have stopped reading and gone to sleep, as it was already past midnight, but no... I was in a good bit!  So I turned on my laptop, placing it under my bed, plugged in the kindle to charge, and went right on reading!
  Jess