Thursday, February 28, 2013

Feb 28 - Farewell and Flowers

  My last day at Forest Hill Chase, a sad occasion for sure.  I was greeted by a very sad face indeed, waiting for me at my desk.  It was the biggest bounciest balloon I think I've ever seen, but alas, his spirits were less than buoyant.
  It was a pretty exhausting day.  I spent almost the entire day stepping my offsider through what was to be done with various bits of paper and any issues I had outstanding and what was required to resolve them.  We didn't get to billings however, so we'll have to find a way to do that training remotely!
  My right-hand gal came in to wish me fond farewells with her still new bubby, who was generously making cute baby smiles whenever I glanced his way.  She brought me a bunch of pink and yellow striped roses.  They were just gorgeous and smelled beautiful.  She arrived almost simultaneously with our voiceover artiste who had come bearing a large bunch of white lissies from The Lone Hydrangea.  Best name for a florist ever.


  In the end I decided that with one bunch of flowers already at home from my birthday (also lissies), I would take home the further lissies and leave the roses in the office for the girls to enjoy in my absence.  It was a wrench to do, but I have only one vase.  It was lucky I did in the end, for when I arrived in the city to meet Mr Smart under the clocks at Flinders Street Station, he presented me with a floral gift of his own!


  A small potted cyclamen.  I should have better luck keeping this arrangement alive, though I have admittedly black thumbs when it comes to gardening.  I was touched and asked in appreciative tones "What's this for?"  He responded with the brilliantly simple yet romantic, "Because it's a day that ends in Y".
  We were in the city tonight to attend at MTC production of The Other Place by Sharr White.  I am on the MTC e-mailing list and had been wanting to see an MTC production for a while now so when an email popped up offering an 'all tickets $30' special I snapped up two tickets while I had the chance.  I had thought that the seats were in an average location, but what the hell at $30 you go anyway, but they turned out to be front and centre of the circle which was great.
  It was solidly entertaining, gripping certainly, and funny in bits, but it did have a few flaws (as any artistic work might).  I think the thing that took the most adjusting to was the atrocious affected American accents put on by the Australian actors.  Sure, the play is set on the east coast of America, but even so, they laid it on a bit thick.  And they certainly didn't get the right accent for the location, they tried for 'American' rather than New Yorker or Bostonian.  I won't go into the plot related flaws here though, as that would entail going into the plot in quite some detail.
  What I liked about it was its minimalist set and cast of just four players doing eight characters between them.  It was also clever how the main character Juliana, would describe an event by acting it out in the spotlight while the other players would remain on stage in shadow.  It was very effective and quite a raw, revealing technique as you learned more about the character.


  Mr Smart and I headed back to my place after the play and on the way we got talking about lifestyle, the foods we were eating etc.  Neither of us had had much to eat for dinner so when I mentioned how much of a temptation it was, having the Kebab Joint right near my house, it inevitably led to a late night kebab.  We were sensible though, one kebab shared between two.  Next time we might even forgo the bready wrap and just have the lamb shish with salad in a box.

Today's food was:

  •  Breakfast was a Baker's Delight Apricot Delight Roll, toasted in the sandwich press then spread with 40g Philadelphia Extra Light Cream Cheese.
  •  Lunch was a bowl of saffron rice with creamy potato curry and a beef pan roll from Mild n Spicy at Forest Hill Chase.
  • Dinner part one, was a plain croissant and a jam shortbread biscuit.
  • Dinner part two, was half a lamb shish kebab from the Kebab Joint.

  I set my alarm for 9am to make sure I wouldn't be late for my massage in the morning.  The massage at Endota Spa Frankston was a parting gift from the guys at work.  Very fitting that I'm doing something relaxing I think, on my final day off.  I am back to full time hours as of Monday.  I'm pretty sure I won't know myself.
  Jess

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Feb 27 - And Another Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mum!
 
  Yes folks, my Mum's birthday is the day after mine.  Many years ago, thanks to my being born four days early, she spent her 21st birthday in hospital.  On the plus side for Mum, this did net her three birthday cakes.  The family brought one in, her high-school chum Oofa brought another and, lord love 'em, the nurses got her one too. 
  This year of course, Mum didn't get anything near as wonderful as a first born, but she did manage to get a Yamaha YCL650 Clarinet from Dad and a cupboard with many drawers from the rest of us (her four kids and their partners)My Mum is inordinately fond of attractive wooden furniture.
 My second last day at Forest Hill today.  When I greeted my offsider with that this morning she pouted and told me not to say it out loud.  We decided we should have lunch out together somewhere today, just the two of us.  We went up to TGI Fridays and I got to take care of my recent hamburger cravings.  Nom nom nom.
  After my offsider went home today I started clearing away my knick knacks and wall decorations into a box to travel with me to my new role in the city.  It was kind of sad.  At Forest Hill I have this huge white painted brick wall alongside my desk and it was just about covered in comic strips and pictures and photos.  I won't have nearly so much wall space at QV, and I've already been warned off using blutack on the walls, but I'm sure I'll find a way to make it homey.
  It was just a little bit drizzly when I left for the day and the air had cooled considerably since Monday.  It was a great day to be going for a walk as long as the clouds held in the majority of their burden.  Miss Mischief and I did our normal route tonight, but we went in the reverse direction.  It made for an interesting change.  You don't realise just how different the scenery will look simply by approaching it from the other side.  We spotted whole buildings that we'd never noticed before.
  Regrettably, next week Miss Mischief will be unavailable for a Wednesday walkie, is anyone else up for the challenge?

   Today's food and exercise were:

  • Lunch was a bacon cheeseburger, chips and a diet coke at TGI Fridays.
  • Afternoon snack was one Venetian biscuit and two dried apricots.
  • Dinner was three Vita-Weat soy, linseed and sesame lunch slices with Vegemite and three slices of Bega So Light tasty cheese.
    Dessert was two dark chocolate orange-flavoured Tim Tams.
  • Exercise was a brisk 50 minute, 3.8 km walk.

  Last night I stayed up way too late.  I think I put down my completed book The Death of Nnanji a about half past two this morning.  It might be a good idea for me not to start my new book just yet.  I have plenty to chose from but 50 Shades of Alice in Wonderland just seems the most tempting.  I might just play with my phone for a little bit instead.  Or maybe that's more risky...
  Jess

Feb 26 - Happy Birthday To Me!


  It was a beautiful morning on this, my birthday, typically Melbourian weather, nice and cool and drizzly (I mean it, I really like these kinds of days).  I woke up late, but I didn't hurry getting ready for work.. it was my birthday after all.  It took forever getting up Springvale Road and when I got to Waverley Road I discovered why.  The traffice lights were out and police were there in neon yellow waterproofs directing traffic.  Poor buggers, they looked rather sodden.
  It was raining pretty heavily when I got to work so I confess that I parked in the undercover area usually reserved for customers.  Again.. birthday!  The girls in the office all greeted me with cries of 'Happy Birthday' and I got down to business.
  Only three days left in this role so I'm starting to panic a bit about finishing everything off.  Today I was teaching my offsider how to do general ledger journals and I am chuffed to say that she is one of the few people I know who has gotten the concept straight away.  That made the task a lot easier.  Journals can be tricky things if you don't have bookkeeping or accounting experience in your background.
  I got lots of texts and emails and calls wishing me a Happy Birthday too which was lovely.  Mr Smart wished me a Happy Birthweek in reference to the length of celebrations I have been having overall, and within one fifteen minute window I had two phones call involving spirited renditions of the Happy Birthday song from both FlyGirl and Mum!
  At lunch time I got spoiled by my lovely receptionist Runner.  She presented me with a gorgeous bunch of purple and white flowers.  I believe that they are lisianthus.  They are very bright and cheerful.  I used to think of flowers as a waste of money but then I realised that I really liked getting them anyway.  However impractical and illogical it may seem, flowers do cheer up a room and the recipient no end.
  I got further spoiled by Runner and my offsider who at afternoon tea time, presented me with an enormous slab of baked cheesecake.  When I stood there with my mouth gaping wide at the sheer size of it, they both chimed that "You can't have a birthday and not have cake on it".  I did point out that we'd already had cake the day before, but they were having none of it and my arm was not exactly difficult to twist.
  After work I headed home to get changed for pilates and as I drove into the driveway I noticed a largeish envelope protruding from the letterbox.  It was an express post envelope from a company called moonpig.com.au.  Funny, I thought, I don't remember ordering anything but that sounds like the kind of website I might stumble upon.  I took it in side and opened it up.  It was a personalised custom printed birthday card from the Cambridge Rower.  Gub assured me it was all his own idea and he organised it himself from England to make sure it arrived on my birthday.  What a sweetheart my little sis is marrying.
  I went off to pilates.  It was another good session today.  It was very muggy in the room tonight and so the four of us participating tonight were dripping with sweat.  About two thirds of the way through Rush asked "Would you like the airconditioning on?"  One of the other girls remarked "Are you serious? Of course! We didn't even know that was an option!"  She was absolutely right.  There have been some stinking hot sessions in there and the only option given previously was a upright fan.  Needless to say it was nice to have cooling for the final fifteen minutes.
  I headed home and managed not to stop at the fish and chip shop on the way.  I've been craving a burger lately and since Mr Smart and I have given up McDonalds and Hungry Jacks etc. the fish and chip shop seemed like the best idea.  But I thought about the enormous piece of cheesecake and then wondered how hungry I really was, so I went straight home for a small snack meal instead, but not before doing some more time on the cross trainer in front of Jeeves & Wooster.
  The rest of the night was pretty quiet.  A few emails, some chats with Gub, Mum, Dad and getting beaten at Words With Friends by Mr Smart and Earnest simultaneously.  It's different enough from Scrabble to be a whole different ballgame and it annoyingly allows some ridiculous non-words and doesn't allow some genuine words like my very favourite Scrabble word, DZO.. a hybrid of a yak and domesticated cattle.  It can also be spelled ZO, ZHO, DZHO, none of which are allowed in Words With Friends!  Utterly infuriating!

  Today's food and exercise were:

  • Breakfast was a Cheesymite Scroll from Baker's Delight. 
  • Morning snack was 170g Dairy Farmers Thick & Creamy 98% fat free vine passionfruit flavoured yoghurt with four dried apricots and one medjool date. 
  • Lunch was four little lavosh wraps with assorted fillings, some chicken pasta salad and a 200ml San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa. 
  • Afternoon snack was an enormous piece of baked cheesecake.  I shan't lie, that is sitting on a full sized dinner plate.  It was delicious. 
  • Dinner was three Vita-Weat soy, linseed and sesame lunch slices with Vegemite and three slices of Bega So Light tasty cheese. 
  • Exercise was a 45 minute clinical pilates class followed by 20 minutes (a half Jeevesworth) on the cross trainer at load 1. 
  • Weight this morning was 100.8 kg. 

  Between all my procrastination and mucking about with my new phone (of which I'm scarily fond), I only got yesterday's blog written today.  Which is why I'm writing today's blog, tomorrow.. by which I mean now (Wednesday)... it's confusing writing in present tense for a past day!
  Jess

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Feb 25 - A Fun Filled & Tummy Filled Day

  I set off this morning without breakfast, but I knew there was a big lunch in store.  I spent far too long last night playing with my new toy and I know I will have to be very careful to check that I've got a WiFi connection around when I decide to play Words With Friends!  I'm getting seriously addicted to that game thanks to Mr Smart and Earnest.
  Work was more of trying to get things finished.  Thursday this week is my last working day at Forest Hill and then I'm off to start at QV on Monday.  Due to various people being away from the office this week though, today they held a very lovely farewell lunch for me.  The food was fabulous and there were heaps of healthy options thanks to my offsider.


  There was a beautiful chicken pasta salad one of the staff made, yummy little lavosh roll-ups in salami, ham, chicken or vegetarian fillings, party pies, pasties and sausage rolls, sushi and a generous fruit platter.  I had three helpings (they were only small plates!) and they did decrease in size and increase in healthiness as I went on.  I figured I was doing pretty well, when suddenly...

BIRTHDAY CAKE!

  Sure, it wasn't my birthday until Tuesday, but because everyone was already assembled they decided to surprise me today.  My offsider also made her fabulous chocolate balls!  Over the course of the afternoon I had four chocolate balls and five small pieces of cake.  I did not feel hungry for the rest of the day, so I didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day!

  After work I trekked down to Narre Warren to meet with the members of the Changeroom Sisterhood!  Mr Smart, bargain-hunter extraordinaire, had alerted us to a 50% off all clothing sale at Savers.  Not an opportunity to be missed.  After a short wait I was joined by HotCakes, Miss Mischief and our newest member, Miss Kitty!
  The girls had got me a couple of birthday presents, the funniest of which was the 'Savers vouchers' which Miss Mischief had created for me.  We browsed, we tried on, we mocked, we giggled and we all walked out with purchases.  I ended up with a pair of work pants (size 18 thank you very much), a nice going out top, a huggy stretch cotton polo top, two T-shirts for me, two T-shirts for Mr Smart, one T-shirt for my nephew to sleep in (it's a man-sized T-shirt but he loves Angry Birds and it has the red bird on it) and one other item.  All this for the astoundingly low price of $19.45!  For nine items, that's an average of $2.16 per item!  Miss Mischief had the biggest sackful at the end of the night and she still only just spent over $30, so we headed out as shopping conquerors.
  As we milled around saying our goodbyes and watching the Moscow Circus set up on the adjacent lawns (I am not at all joking there) the subject of a head office coworker who is soon to be leaving the company came up.  "It's a shame he's leaving, I only just found out how cute he is." "Yeah and he's such a lovely guy"  "He even raises his own purchases orders" "Yeah, and he follows procedure... what more could you want in a guy?"  That last comment brought on fits of laughter.
  Miss Kitty and HotCakes set off to their respective homes down that way, and Miss Mischief and I piled into my car and headed home our way.  It wasn't long before she was safely dropped off, and I was home and ready to face last night's commitment.
  It was nearly 10pm when I got home, but I had said I would do 20 minutes on the cross trainer and I'd be damned if I was going to make a liar of myself.  I got changed, put on my sneakers, showed Gub my purchases, played with my phone, then went to put something on the TV to watch while I was on the cross trainer.  Disaster!  My television was not responding.  The remote could turn it on or off but no other commands were being heeded.  Putting a DVD into the machine elicited no usual response and it would not accept an alternative input!  I struggled with this problem, getting more and more frustrated and anxious.  In the end I turned it off manually at the main power button and looked about helplessly.  In the end, Gub provided the answer by flicking on some music by Bluejuice and I managed 23 minutes on the cross trainer at load.  I alternated five minutes forward with one minute backwards which is quite a work out.  After that I was shattered and went to bed and read until some ungodly hour.
  Jess

PS: The TV was working again after it had its little rest.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Feb 24 - World of Regret

  Oh god, why did I eat so much?  It didn't feel like so much at the time but my body was definitely rebelling against it today.  There were a fair few unpleasant ramifications from last night's blow out, the worst of which were bloat and a delicate tummy.  I did not want to eat much today as a result, so I didn't.  In fact the sum total of my ingestions today were a Nespresso Dulsão do Brasil pod coffee for breakfast and an Apple & Walnut scroll from Baker's Delight for lunch.  I sipped on water the rest of the time but I really didn't feel hungry, in fact it's almost midnight now and I still don't feel hungry.


  I headed home from Mr Smart's in the morning.  He had further study to do and I had the inevitable weekend chores.  My tummy was very uncomfortable the whole drive home and I don't know how that goes for you guys, but my brain tends not to function very well if I'm in pain.  I therefore took a while to process Gub explaining to me that she'd accidentally left the headlights of her car on and run the battery flat and could I please jump start her and then we could go shopping so that the car gets a drive.
  About an hour or two later, I had finally processed what was being asked and agreed to both the jump start and the shopping expedition.  I should remember by now, but I still rang Dad to double-check the jump start procedure.  Red cable to positive terminal on good battery then bad battery, black cable to negative terminal on good battery and engine block of car with bad battery.  Start the car with the good battery, then start the car with the bad battery, remove cables in reverse order the drive the car with the bad battery for about thirty minutes.
  We decided Forest Hill Chase was far enough away to be the right sort of length drive.  We arrived and found a car park that would've been impossible for any car but the Terios then we went to Big W and bought birthday presents for our nephew (he's only five days after me).  Gub was a little peckish by this time so she got some sushi hand rolls for lunch.  The very thought of them made me feel ill.  I wondered whether a plain sandwich might do the trick, but looking at those in the food court made me feel no better.
  We moved on instead to the Optus shop.  I have had it in mind for a while that I'm probably due to join the rest of you and get myself a smart phone.  Having a phone on a plan will also net me a discount on a new internet plan so it seemed to be the right timing.  The guy who served us was weird to say the least and in my fuzzy-headed state, I was bloody glad to be finished there as it was a little difficult to cope with.
  At one point he was marking significant non-included items on my new contract.  Do I like stars?  He likes stars.  Do I like stars?  And he didn't move on until I managed "Yes fine, I like stars." Of course I was thinking what the bloody hell are you asking me that for??? And at any rate they were asterisks, not stars.  So began the first of my frustrating phone related experiences for the day.  We went passed Baker's Delight on the way out and I grabbed 'something' to put in my stomach.  I didn't really care what, as long as it was relatively plain and sweet.  For some reason I needed it to be sweet.
  My new smart phone is a Nokia Lumia 820 and it's a Windows Phone (please Earnest, stop laughing and/or crying).  I have to say, learning to use a smart phone the first time is not an easy process.  They very much assume that you're only on the next generation of phone, not that you've been living in the phone equivalent of the dark ages.  It took me two hours to work out how to text and by then I had to reset and start again because I didn't realise that putting my hotmail address onto it would automatically import all my hotmail contacts (a lot of whom I do not want on my phone).  The only way to get my hotmail address off the phone (as it was now set as the primary email) was to reset the phone and start again.  I set up a special new email just for use in conjunction with the phone which was a trial in itself!
  Eventually, through the heavy use of online tutorials I managed to get my screen looking the way I wanted it to and I began the arduous task of putting all my contacts in again.  I apologise in advance to anyone who gets a "Sorry, who is this?" text from me in the interim as I may be a week learning to use the damn thing.  I think I have texting and calendaring things right now, but how I will go with 'Apps' I have no clue.  I am under orders from both Mr Smart and Earnest to get Words With Friends at my earliest possible convenience.  I will clearly be needing to find more WiFi hot spots.
  Despite my frustrations with the set up and learning curve (and those described here were by no means all of them, or even the worst of them) I suspect I am going to like my new phone.  In fact I suspect I shall be playing with it in bed for a while tonight before I eventually give in to sleep, and it is already rather late.
  I had a bit of an unpleasant epiphany today too.  I think I am actually scared about my weight getting down to double-digits.  I suspect that that may be in part, a psychological reason I do not much feel like exercise lately.  I think that once once I fall below the crucial 100kg mark, I will feel like any move back over that line will be an automatic failure, a game over as it were.  I know that probably doesn't make sense to any one who hasn't been in the same position but it's a very real and daunting feeling.
  Gub talked it through with me and suggested that perhaps once I do finally see the scales display double-digits that I should be really careful, but not weight myself again for a few months until I am comfortably below the 100kg mark (like three or four kilos under).  Mr Smart's suggestion was that perhaps it is time to focus more on the healthy lifestyle I want to live and less on an actual goal weight.  Both are valuable pieces of advice.
  With all that fear in mind, I know to succeed I will have to face it and conquer it.  I have committed myself to an action item for tomorrow.  Tomorrow I am going to do twenty minutes on the cross trainer and I have informed Mr Smart that he is to 'boot me in the arse' if I make a liar of myself.  I do want to be the healthier, fitter, skinnier me, and I will bloody well get there in the end.
  Jess

Feb 23 - Guest of Honour: Me!

  A bit of a slow start to the day.  Gub and I woke up, had some toast and then she started compiling photos onto facebook and I started a bit of decluttering.  While we worked through our various bits and pieces we watched a couple of Disney movies for background noise, including one of our newer favourites, The Princess & The Frog.
  As a result of my decluttering time, my Christmas fabrics have now been sorted and put into an appropriate place to await use, the kitchen table now looks worse but definitely has less things on it and I managed to get a little bit of laundry done, not as much as usual but enough that I will cope on Monday.
  Gub had asked me if I could take her to a friend's place in the mid-afternoon and so after a relatively cruisey day, we both started to get ready to head out.  I had decided it would be easiest just to head straight to Mr Smart's after dropping her off so I packed my bag and a couple of bottles of wine and off we went!  I arrived to Mr Smart's earlier than I expected, and almost certainly earlier than he expected, but luckily I'd brought my kindle.
  It was actually really lovely to just curl up in the quiet with my book while he finished his study and reading.  Lately life just seems so 'go go go' so I relish those moments where I have nothing to do.  A quiet moment with my nose in a book is bliss because for a brief while my brain isn't trying to focus on a million things at once.  It was so relaxing in fact that I fell asleep at one point.  I'm not sure how long, twenty minutes maybe.
  Regardless of when I arrived and nap timing, it didn't feel like long before it was time to head to dinner.  Mr Smart grabbed a couple of mysterious presents, one of which was wrapped in Christmas paper.  I once remarked to him that "you can't give someone a birthday present wrapped in Christmas paper" and I believe he has taken considerable joy in proving me wrong on that point.  I grabbed the wine, and off we went.
  Tonight's dinner at Maharajah Tandoori Cuisine, with Masterchef, Mr Masterchef and MissM, was to celebrate my upcoming birthday!  We all arrived a little early for our booking but we were seated straight away.  We perused the menu and almost immediately, all decided on Banquet Three.  After we had ordered, and wine had been poured I was handed presents to unwrap!
  The first was from the Masterchef family and MissM and it was a beautiful but still practical, completely wipeable, recipe organiser from the Swedish stationers kikki.k.  Now I won't have to transpose recipes from magazines onto notecards, I can just tear them out and whack them in a plastic pocket and in the folder.  For me this will be a considerable time-saver.  The guys had even prepopulated a few pockets with some of their favourite recipes which was a truly lovely touch.
  The second present, a small but elegant brown paper package tied up with string, was from Mr Smart's sister and her family.  It was a really gorgeous hand balm, not at all greasy and a beautiful subtle scent, kakadu plum & macadamia nut.  It will become a lovely part of my evening ritual I think.  The product name held a special amusing significance for me too.  She has a great sense of fun and I can just imagine her laughter when she came across it.
  The final present, a large festive-looking delight, was from Mr Smart himself.  I had little idea of what it could be but I suspected something electronic as he had inferred that it could be obtained at either JB HiFi or Officeworks and there had been price-matching involved.  Mr Smart is a brilliant bargain hunter.  I carefully opened one end and peeked inside.  A 3 terabyte network drive!!!
  I grinned like a maniac.  That is the last piece in the puzzle that has been my computer to TV interactivity.  Even better, he leaned in and muttered, "And of course it comes with free installation".  Mr Smart, you are the greatest.
  Shortly after present unwrapping, a steady flow of food began to come out.  Everything was delicious and copious.  We thought at first that we were only getting one serve of all of the main dishes, which actually probably would have comfortably fed the five of us but hardly qualified as a 'banquet'.  Our fears were allayed though, when I second dish of the four mains followed almost immediately and even further allayed when we were told, "if you run out of anything, just let us know".  Apparently their banquets are bottomless, however we did not even make it completely through the two serves as it was.
  After dessert we waddled out and headed home.

  Today's food was:

  • Breakfast was two slices of toasted Bürgen wholegrains & oats bread with Vegemite.
  • Lunch was a small lemon crumb fish fillet with small serve of sweet potato fries done in the AirFryer.
  • Afternoon snack was a single original-style Tim Tam.
  • Dinner and dessert were as per the Banquet Three menu.  I had what was photographed, plus a small serve of the onion bhaji, which was done almost like a pakora rather than rings of onion.  I had a couple of bits more garlic naan and one extra kofta.  Yes, I did have both desserts.  I also had one glass of rose champagne and one glass of Dolcetto & Syrah.

  Thank you guys for a fantastic birthday dinner spent in great company, and for your lovely gifts.  I felt really special and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
  Jess

Friday, February 22, 2013

Feb 22 - My Number Is Up

  It was my last official working Friday at Forest Hill today.  A bit of a sad moment, and a panicky one!  I don't feel like I'm anywhere near finished training up my offsider, but the fact is, you never really do get the chance to do a 'complete' handover.  Usually your role isn't back-filled until weeks after you go and there really isn't any realistic way to cram three and a half years of experience into anyone else.  They just have to accumulate the experiences themselves along the way.
  After work I felt a bit at a loose end with no plans for the evening so it was serendipitous that I checked my phone as I readied myself to walk out the office door.  A message had arrived not three minutes beforehand from Mr Smart, asking what my plans were.  So of course my plans were very soon to go to Mr Smart's for dinner and a movie.  I grabbed some ingredients for dinner and headed off.  Traffic between Bulleen Road and Lower Heidelberg Road was horrible.
  When I arrived I settled myself at the kitchen table to make a filling for wraps for dinner.  I finished peeling about thirty prawns... I really do wonder why they call them 'cooked and peeled' prawns when they don't completely finish peeling them!  Mr Smart came in and nicked on for quality control purposes, and I gave Pizza Cat a little taste test as well.  This was a mistake of course.  I went and washed my hands the prawn prep and got back to the table just in time to shoo her away from the tasty pile of prawn meat.
  I finished making the wrap filling.  It consisted of 150g cooked and peeled (and then completely peeled) and chopped prawns, one Hass avocado and a generous tablespoon of Heinz light salad cream.  It's the second time I've used it as a filling and it seems to work quite well flavour-wise.  The salad cream stops the avocado from browning too.
  We ate dinner then watched a movie and then it was time for me to head home.  Ordinarily I'd find some excuse just to not go home, and certainly it was a tough call to make when Mr Smart busted out the pouty face, but we both have things to do in the morning.  We have a dinner tomorrow night in honour of my upcoming birthday so I need to be sure to get some housework and declutter time in before then!
  The ride home was a little different tonight.  Usually I have music on that I can sing along with, but I'd got a little tired of that on the way over and had switched the CDs quickly and without looking.  It turned out that I'd put on my classical music CD.  I got all of the way through le carnaval des animaux by Camille Saint-Saëns by the time I reached home.  My favourite part is Fossiles, the twelfth section of the fourteen section suite.  It only goes for a little over a minute but it's delightful.  Whenever I hear it I imagine happy ghostly bones of pets long lost, dancing around the feet of the elephant.
  I got home and emptied the letterbox.  A large envelope from Run for the Kids!  My bib number and shoe tag were enclosed.  Run for the Kids is a charity fun run/walk held in Melbourne each year to raise funds for the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  The walk is 5.5 km this year, a fraction longer than past years.  If you feel like donating to the worthy cause you can click here.  Thank you to those of you who already have donated!  This is the fourth time I've done the walk, always as part of Team Layla, which I got into through work.
  My work is a really positive place when it comes to encouraging both exercise and charity, preferably at the same time it seems.  The other big one they are doing at the moment is the Melbourne Cycle for MS Australia as one of our colleagues was diagnosed with MS last year.  If you're interested in donating to that one you can click here.  I'm not doing it but one of my new city-based coworkers is.  Enough charity flogging though, I think these last two paragaphs definitely constitute having done my duty.

  Today's food was:

  • Breakfast was Carmen's Classic fruit and nut muesli with Jalna a2 low-fat natural yoghurt, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds and a sliced pluot.
  • Morning snack was 170g Dairy Farmers Thick & Creamy 98% fat free field strawberries yoghurt and an apricot.
  • Lunch was a bento box and a salt and pepper calamari hand roll from Sushi Sushi with a little side dish of Japanese mayonnaise.
  • Afternoon snack was a white-flesh nectarine.
  • Dinner was a Mission Mediterranean wrap with baby spinach, topped with a mixture of chopped cooked prawns, avocado and Heinz light salad cream.

  Must be time for bed and book now!
  Jess

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Feb 21 - An Unexpected Lunch Date

  I awoke this morning to the tune of my alarm as usual.  Unlike usual however, I switched it straight off and got up immediately.  I forwent the four snooze button presses for the sake of Mr Smart who was able to sleep a while longer.  He got up when I returned from my shower and started writing while watching the Barcelona v. AC Milan match and I went on getting ready for work.  All too soon I had to head off leaving Mr Smart to his creative endeavours.
  At around 11am Mr Smart dropped by my office on his way home.  My offsider and reception were delighted at getting to meet him at long last; both gave a conspiratorial thumbs up to me later which was sweet.  Mr Smart had a little shopping to do so he decided to do it at the centre on his way, rather than at the other end of his long drive.  His shopping took him up to noon when my lunch break normally starts, so we were able to have a nice lunch together before he headed off.  It was a lovely surprise.
  After lunch as we made our way back from TGIs, he explained that one of his errands had been to see if JB Hi Fi would price match an item he'd seen on clearance through the ozbargain website.  They had been unwilling to do so based purely on the third party website's say so.  As a result of this defeat, his next try was to be Officeworks, a little further on in the journey home.  I asked what the item was only to be met with a grin and an "I can't tell you that".  It's always exciting when someone tells you that knowing full well it's your birthday next week!
  The afternoon passed quickly, a blur of training my offsider up to cope with my rapidly nearing absence.  I was soon headed home and opening up the house to cool.  It's been a long humid spell but finally it cooled a bit tonight.  For all the thunder and breeze though, there was no storm here to accompany it, and it's not cooled as much as I'd have hoped.
  I made a very simple dinner, toasted sandwiches, and loaded the dishwasher and put the rubbish bins out.  It was much more pleasant to do those little housekeeping tasks in the somewhat cooler temperatures.  As I wrote yesterday's blog I watched a little Jeeves and Wooster and chatted idly to Jack Johnson.  Dad got home around 10pm and headed off to bed and it's very nearly time for me to do the same.

  Today's food was:

  • Breakfast was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic fruit and nut muesli with Jalna a2 low fat natural yoghurt, pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds.
  • Morning snack was an apricot and a white-flesh nectarine.
  • Lunch was a turkey Reuben sandwich with a side salad at TGI Fridays, with a lemon, lime and bitters to drink.
  • Afternoon snack was a just ripe banana.
  • Dinner was two toasted sandwiches, each contained two slices of Bürgen wholegrains & oats bread, one slice of Bega So Light tasty cheese and 65g Heinz baked beans.
  • Dessert was a 40g Cadbury Dark Bubbly chocolate bar (a bit like an Aero but dark chocolate and not minty).


  I think I'm finished in enough time to read a couple of chapters of my book tonight.  Nnanji is wounded, presumably mortally wounded given that the book is called The Death of Nnanji, but Shonsu-Wally is on the case to uncover the leaders of the vicious plot against them!  Is there anywhere a good book can't take us?
  Jess

Feb 20 - Foodie Functions

  I had a couple of functions on today, one professional and one personal.  Both were filled with foodie delights and both were heartily enjoyable.  For the first function, a professional luncheon at head office, I headed to Chadstone and found it in full bloom!  Doesn't the roundabout look resplendent?  It is even more amazing in person.  I believe the gorgeous flowering trees are crape myrtles.  They are simply gorgeous.


   I headed into the office and took care of a couple of errands then took myself off to the boardroom for the luncheon.  I was earlier than I expected, but it gave me time to take in the view of the city from the window.  The Eureka Tower does rather stand out as the tallest building in Melbourne now.


  The catering goddess had worked wonders again and the spread was amazing but I limited myself to a single plateful and one square of brownie with some fruit afterwards.  The purpose of the lunch was to bring together a group of twenty or so staff from across the business to get to know one another better.  The idea is to explore the diversity within our group and get to know a little bit more about what other departments do.
  This was the third or fourth lunch of its kind and from my perspective it was very successful.  We discovered within our midst, a ballroom dancer, a yoga enthusiast, an art historian, an Olympic medal winning netballer, a practitioner of Brazilian jiu jits, a woman mad for music, overseas travellers, and the owner of a jungle python!  It was a really fun group and it was brilliant hearing everyone's stories.
  I've always maintained that knowing people face to face does make intercompany workings run a lot more smoothly.  Being able to visualize a face and its smile when dealing with someone by phone or by email, goes a long way in removing that 'us and them' attitude that can creep in between branches and departments.  In that respect, I feel these lunches are a great initiative and I hope that the top level managers continue to support them.
  After three or so hours of lunch and chit chat, I headed back to the centre to continue on with resolving my role ready for my transfer at the end of the month.
  I headed home after work to collect a waiting Mr Smart and head to dinner at Piccolinos Pizza.  Today's personal engagement was a family dinner due to Dad being in town for a couple of days.  Bertie, Tricky and my nephew were already waiting for us when we arrived.  Dad was unfortunately stuck in traffic but arrived not too long after us.  He arrived to hot garlic pizza which we'd thought to order in advance of his appearance.
  We ordered a hearty meal once assembled and enjoyed food, wine, chatter and laughs until everyone was very full and thoroughly exhausted.  My nephew is still working on his cutlery technique but he managed to cut up a slice of pizza with a little assistance from me holding the plate steady, and he sort of used his fork to eat his chicken nuggets.  It's a work in progress...
  At the end of the meal everyone debated dessert in an 'oh, no I really shouldn't' kind of fashion.  In the end, most had dessert, or at very least coffee in the case of Mr Smart.
  We rolled out of the restaurant and headed home.  It was only 10pm when we go it, and Mr Smart had brought with him the final episode of Utopia!  I'd been eagerly awaiting it so, after dealing with minor technical difficulties, we curled up on the couch and watched as the answers unfolded on the screen before us.  It wasn't until the very end as the credits rolled and some questions remained that the BBC voice announced that that was the final episode in series one.  I had thought it would just be a single series show... oh god, a whole year's wait until the next series!  At least Game of Thrones series three is soon to be released!
  It was midnight by the time we finally slunk in to bed.  Mr Smart decided to read a while, but I opted instead for turning face down into my pillow with Pengi (who has decided to visit with me a while) and going straight to sleep.

  Today's food was:

  • Breakfast was two slices of toasted Bürgen wholegrains & oats bread, one spread with Vegemite and the other spread with a smear of Yumi's Hummus.
  • Morning snack was an apricot and a white-flesh nectarine.
  • Lunch was a slice of lamb with rice and eggplant, a scoop of potato salad, a scoop of quinoa salad and a scoop of Greek salad and two pieces of sushi accompanied by a 375ml can of Coke Zero.
  • Lunch dessert was one piece of chocolate and raspberry brownie, a small wedge of watermelon, a piece of mango and three blueberries.
  • Dinner was three small squares of garlic pizza, two warm king prawns with cocktail sauce then a divine pasta mista.  Pasta mista is three choices of pastas and sauces to be shared between two, in this case with Mr Smart! 
    Our choices were:  Rigatoni Ragu (beef, onion and herbs, slowly cooked in red wine and napoli sauce), Prawn Linguine (king prawns with cherry tomatoes and chilli in a napoli sauce) and Chicken Gnocchi (house-made potato gnocchi with chicken and capsicum in a napoli sauce).
  • Dessert was a white chocolate pannacotta (quite mousse-like) with strawberries and a snap of chocolate.

  Goodnight all!
  Jess

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Feb 19 - Positive Pilates

  Pilates class was really good tonight despite Rush not being there.  Rush's colleague Chris took the class and it was cool to get a different perspective on the exercises.  Chris was a lot more talkative than Rush and tended to assess out loud since he was seeing us do our routines for the first time.  He noticed that when I was doing my 'scooters' that the foot I had on the floor was lifting at the heel when I came up.  He put a phone book wrapped in physio tape under my foot and it felt much more comfortable after that.
  Chris is very interested in the ideas of pain study and neuroplasticity too.  I recommended that he read The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge as a lot of what we discussed is covered in very simple terms in that book.  We talked about brain mapping and how if you don't use a muscle, then the brain groups it with other muscles and starts to see a whole group as one 'map', and how it's possible to retrain the brain by exercising specific muscles that don't commonly get used.  A very enlightening class.
  I did sweet bugger all after that and now it's time for bed!  I started reading a new Dave Duncan book last night The Death of Nnanji which is the fourth in The Seventh Sword series, but it was written 24 years after the original trilogy.  So far so good.

  Today's food and exercise were:

  • Breakfast was a toasted multigrain English muffin with Vegemite and one slice of Bega So Light tasty cheese.
  • Lunch was a Mission Mediterranean wrap with Rosella reduced-joule fruit chutney, 64g of Virginia ham, baby spinach, half a tomato and a third of a Lebanese cucumber.  I followed that with an apricot and 170g of red grapes.
  • Afternoon snack was a white-flesh nectarine and a not quite ripe banana.
  • Exercise was a 45 minute clinical pilates class.
  • Dinner was a fish-burger made of two toasted slices of Bürgen wholegrains & oats bread with Heinz light salad cream, a Coles lemon crumbed fish fillet (74g) done in the AirFryer and some iceberg lettuce.
  • Dessert was 300 of fresh diced pineapple.

  I was very happy with my fruit man photo today so I posted it to an image-sharing website that I belong to (http://imgur.com/gallery/i7AERtC).  So far it's had 11 upvotes and 3 downvotes leaving me at plus 8!  The online community works in mysterious ways.  I think my favourite comment was the top comment as I wrote this, from BillyWilly003.


  Ladies and gentlemen, the internet...  It is a silly place.
  Jess

Monday, February 18, 2013

Feb 18 - Feeling Poorly

  I managed to get up, I managed to shower and I managed to get to work.  I did not manage to make it through the work day.  My stomach had been in knots all day and my brain has not really focused on much else I'm afraid.  I did at least manage to get through training my offsider to run the monthly sales reports before I had to go home at lunch time.
  I made it home and made myself a plainish lunch to eat and sip slowly.  I curled up on my office chair and briefly surfed amazon for new books and grabbed a couple of the freebie ones.  I watched several episodes of Jeeves and Wooster, and a Disney movie curled up on the couch and really did nothing much else.

  Today's food was:

  • Lunch was two toasted multigrain muffins, one with Vegemite and a slice of Bega So Light cheese, the other with Nutella, and a small cup of orange juice.
  • Afternoon snack was 12g of Parker's mini pretzels and another small cup of orange juice.
  • Dinner was 100g pasta (dry weight) with 10g of butter.

  The pain in my tummy does appear to be subsiding somewhat now, 24 hours after it began.  I am hoping to high heavens that it feels better in the morning, I really can't afford to have time off at the moment.  Too much training to deliver before I start my new role.
  Jess

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Feb 17 - Lots Of Little Things

  I stirred slightly as Mr Smart got up this morning, but I soon found sleep again, interruptions from Pizza Cat aside.  I'm not sure how much later the alarm went off but I managed to push buttons until it was silenced.  Not long after that, sweet mild coffee arrived to the bedside table.  I rarely drink coffee, but I've decided I very much love that Mr Smart brings coffee to me while I'm still in bed, it makes me feel so spoiled.
  We watched a little TV and then got ready to head out for breakfast.  We decided on breakfast at The Old Fire Station Cafe Gallery.  It was a nice place with photographic art on the walls and mix n match tables and chairs.  We got a table right in front of some open double-doors which meant a lovely cross breeze kept us cool for the duration.  Sure we had to tolerate the occasional fly but it was worth it for the breeze, it was already shaping up to be a yucky hot day again.
  After breakfast we took a brief detour on the walk home to visit the local library but found that it doesn't open until 1pm on Sundays.  We walked back to Mr Smart's and from there I headed home, eager to engage in a little decluttering before the weekend was gone.
  When I got home I said hello to a very sleepy Gub and turned on my computer.  I gave Earnest a quick buzz and got him to log on Skype so I could say hi to him and his kids.  His daughter, on hearing I had a pet rabbit, insisted that she be fetched, so GoGo had her live internet debut today.  She suffered through it remarkably good naturedly, even staring directly into the camera once or twice.  After the kids had gotten bored with talking to Auntie Jess and her bunny rabbit, Earnest and I had a quick catch up before I decided I really must get on with things.
  I started to declutter the top of the entertainment unit.  I went through a pile of papers and threw out most of them, and then I sorted out the stacks of DVDs and began putting them away.  It was around this time that Gub arose and started making mutterings about needed to shop for a new suitcase.  I mentioned I was beginning to suspect I needed a new handbag, so that was it and off we went.
  As we entered The Glen, the first thing that greeted us was discounted 'end of day' donuts at Donut King, 3 for $5.  Gub picked two for herself and I picked one.  I figured that if I was going to have one I had damn well better enjoy it, so I insisted on having a donut dinosaur, much to Gub's amusement.  From there we went on to Strandbags where Gub found a very durable and lightweight new suitcase.  I started to look at handbags but none of them were quite right.  Flaps in the wrong spots, not enough pockets, too many pockets, too narrow a shoulder strap, too short a shoulder strap, the imperfections were limitless.  All I wanted was my current handbag, only a little bit wider so I could fit my kindle and a few other items in.  "You'll never find exactly what you are looking for" Gub sighed, exasperated (now she knows what it's like to go shoe shopping with her!).
  But hah!  I did too find it!  At our next stop, David Jones, I found this one from Things Terrific which Kate informed me was a knock off of this Radley design.  Apparently my current bag is also a Radley knock off.  So now I know what I want, I have to decide... Do I really want to spend close to $200 on a new handbag?  Fortunately I don't have to decide in a hurry, Gub has gifted me a fabric bag to contain my excess items in the interim.
  We returned home after what turned out to be a really successful shopping trip and I went back to tidying up.  I took all of my Disney DVDs and put them back into chronological order (yes, I'm a bit anal about some things) and then emptied them out of the shelf and into neat storage boxes.  I've thought for quite a while that the shelving on top of the entertainment unit makes the TV look a bit crowded so I'm working on getting rid of them as part of my master declutter plan.
  Gub was working away on various bits and pieces of her own on her laptop so we decided to put on Brenda Starr, an old film favourite from our childhood.  We both admitted to having had crushes on Tony Peck when we first discovered the movie all those years ago.  Work continued slowly for both of us and I eventually conceded that I'd better get started on the weekend's blogs.
  I took a break from all of this at around 7pm though, to make us both a big healthy salad for dinner.  I'm hoping it was entirely healthy though, as I'm not feeling particularly good right this moment.  My tummy is a little unsettled and I feel a bit woozy.  I'd suggest I was dehydrated again but at this point I believe I'm more likely to be overhydrated.  Hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.

  Today's food was:

  • Pre-breakfast coffee was a Nespresso Dulsão do Brasil pod coffee.
  • Breakfast was a pot of raspberry and lime tea followed by scrambled eggs with bacon, mushrooms, a hash brown and a small serve of housemade Boston beans.  I cut the rind from the bacon and discarded it along with the fat, I only ate half of the eggs (they were a little dry for me) and I ate none of the toast.
  • Afternoon snack was a dinosaur donut from Donut King.
  • Dinner was a big salad of mixed lettuces, cucumber, mixed tomatoes, half a Hass avocado, crunchy sprouts, Lemnos marinated Persian feta, strips of semi-dried tomato, strips of peeled carrot and two strips of garlic Afghan bread.

  You may have noticed that I skipped exercise today.  After Friday's big walk and yesterday's cross trainer and walk my right calf is still rather sore so I decided to exercise caution and give it a rest today.  I hope you all had a great weekend and have lovely weeks ahead of you.
  Jess

Feb 16 - Off To The Soccer!

  This morning Gub and I awoke and I cooked breakfast for the two of us.  We ate together and then flicked on the Simpsons and took it in turns on the cross trainer.  My right calf was pretty sore and my aerobic fitness has weakened across the last couple of months so I ended up only doing a Simpsonsworth (twenty minutes) instead of my usual Buffysworth (forty minutes).  After sweating it out, we each took our showers in turn and got ready for the day ahead.
  At noon I drove a primped and preened Gub up to Rokk Ebony, the hairdressers.  She was off to a hen's night this evening and wanted to look utterly fabulous.  Traffic around the Kings Way was horrendous due to a lane closure to allow some building supplies to be craned into the Glen Waverley Train Station works, but I managed to make it through to the supermarket.  I grabbed a few grocery items and headed back home.
  I made and ate a quick lunch, brought in the laundry, and then headed back out, off to work.  I sighed as I typed that.  Hopefully this will be the last weekend I spend any time at work but of course I can't know for sure.  Fortunately, today I only needed to go in for a couple of hours, just long enough to belt through three performance appraisals.  I despise the performance appraisal process, I feel like it's utterly unproductive.  People should (and I do) give their staff feedback all the time, not just once every six months.
  I finished up at work, a little earlier than I expected in fact, and headed straight on to Mr Smart's.  I played around on his laptop for a while, until he was ready for the evening's events, and then we both headed off to the home of the Masterchefs.  It's only a short walk, just over a kilometre so it takes us next to no time but this afternoon it was sincerely a challenge.  It was so hot and humid this afternoon.  By the time we arrived we were literally dripping with sweat.
  We were ushered into a hot kitchen where the Masterchef and the littlest Minichef were shaping the gnocchi into the traditional rectangles.  Mr Masterchef was slaving over a hot stove boiling two pots of water and making the pasta sauce.  A kitchen in full swing.
  It wasn't long before dinner was served and we all retreated with our bowls of delicious pasta into the cooler lounge room to eat.  Masterchef learned to make gnocchi from an Italian Nonna and it definitely showed.  It was amongst the very best dishes of gnocchi that it's ever been my pleasure to eat.  It was just a shame we couldn't stick around for the jovial evening's banter but I had a ticket for the soccer and I wasn't about to waste it.
  We walked down to the train station and jumped on the next train.  Unfortunately, we did not know much in advance that there were partial line closures for track works.  All passengers had to disembark at Clifton Hill and catch (gulp) replacement buses.  It was not a pleasant experience and the idiot bus driver was clearly not aware that he had a bus full of Melbourne Victory supporters.  Instead of watching what was happening when the bus got to Jolimont, he tried to lock me and three other supporters into the bus and drive off with us still inside!
  Bus adventures thankfully over, we walked around the MCG and over the bridge to Melbourne Victory's home ground, AAMI Park (aka Bubble Dome).  We went in and found seats near enough to the cheer squad to enjoy the atmosphere, but far enough away that we weren't deafened by their drumming and war cries.  We also had a good view of the Western Sydney Wanderers support contingent, discreetly tucked away in a corner of the stadium.  Not so discreet when the buggers let off a pre-game flare.  They let off four flares all up I think, I'm just glad our side didn't set any off this match.

Naughty naughty Sydney, just look at all those security guards in yellow vests!

  As the match was about to get underway, on the big screen they showed film of the players putting on their numbers.  They obviously show it every game as the cheer squad and crowd shouted the last names of the players as the emcee finished calling their first names: Marco ROJAS, Andrew NABBOUT, Adama TRAORE and so on and so forth.  It was amusing and fun.  I lost it completely though, when they got to Francesco Stella.  As one voice, the whole crowed screamed 'STELLA' as Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, I nearly wet myself laughing.
  The match got underway, and disaster!  The Sydneysiders scored in the first fifteen minutes.  They scored again in the second half, then it looked for a moment like Melbourne were coming back, they scored a goal too but couldn't find the second they needed for a draw, let alone the third needed for a win.  I said to Mr Smart at one point, "I don't think I can be an avid soccer supporter, I just don't need anything else to be frustrated about!".  I am continually surprised though, by how much I enjoy watching it and how much I've learnt about the game in one short year.  I also found out something un-soccer related tonight, the view of the sunset from AAMI Park is quite lovely.


  As the final siren sounded we rose and joined the throng of disappointed departing fans.  There were a lot of them.  21,638 people attended tonight's match and 90 - 95% of them were Victory supporters.  I realised as we departed that I had forgotten my scarf but it was too late to try to fight my way back in.  I expect I shall have to buy a supporter's t-shirt for wearing at any future games.  It's too hot to wear a scarf here and I can't forget a t-shirt!
  Mr Smart and I were none to keen on catching replacement buses back to his place, so I suggested we walk to the tram stop in the city.  It was only as we walked up the steep beginnings of Exhibition Street that I asked knowingly, "Who's dumb idea was this again?".  We made it though, and caught the packed tram back.  It was hot, sticky and almost as horrible as the buses, but at least it dropped us much closer to our destination.
  We arrived home exhausted.  I was very hot and a little dehydrated so Mr Smart grabbed us each cold bottles of water, and made a small supper and then we went to bed.  Despite the outcome of the game tonight, I don't think either of us would have not gone to the match, it was still an exciting game to watch and a fun night out.

  Today's food and exercise were:

  • Breakfast was  scrambled eggs (five eggs and some milk between two), served on top of toasted garlic Afghan bread.  I also had a glass of approximately 250ml of orange juice.
  • Exercise was twenty minutes on the cross trainer at load two.
  • Lunch was a Mission Mediterranean wrap with skinny capsicum dip, baby spinach, 140g Virginia ham, a slice of Bega So Light cheese and five semi-dried tomatoes.
  • Afternoon snack was a single double choc vanilla Tim Tam.
  • Dinner was homemade potato gnocchi with tomato, chicken and baby spinach sauce and a light sprinkle of grated Parmesan.
  • During soccer snack was a Peter's Tropical Frosty Fruit ice-block and a 600ml Coke Zero.
  • Further exercise was a 2km walk from the soccer stadium to the tram stop at the top of Bourke Street.
  • Tram stop snack was two Brazil nuts, two almonds, two hazelnuts and two pecan nut halves.
  • Supper was three steamed dim sims with salt-reduced soy sauce.

  Until tomorrow!
  Jess