Nov 23 - One Sleep To Go!

  Well I managed to get in and out of work in a timely manner this morning.  I got all the leftover tasks done and even fit in two more I'd forgotten about and one that came up just late yesterday. Thanks to all my peeps at Forest Hill for stepping up to cover my day-to-day tasks while I'm away!  At 11:30am I was out of there and off to Chadstone in time for my lunch with JoJo and K-Baa.

Jess & JoJo

  The three of us met at the base of the two story Chadstone Christmas Tree in front of David Jones.  JoJo and K-Baa had gone out for breakfast earlier and were slated to go out to dinner as well so we decided on sushi as a light lunch option.  That was good for me because I felt like a heavier lunch and could easily accomplish this by upping the number of hand rolls I ordered.
  After lunch, the shopping commenced!  First stop was the Swatch shop.  JoJo has three Swatch watches and she needed a new band and battery for one of them.  She was served by a bubbly young lady with the same name as me and she was very helpful and let JoJo pick a new watch band and then she changed the battery, then just as we were about to leave she offered to polish and buff out scratches from the faces of the two watches JoJo had with her!  It was a free service and turned a good customer service experience into a great one!
  Next it was on to the Lindt Chocolate Cafe!  The cafe has thirteen of the seventeen available flavours of Lindor Balls.  I have a special wooden advent calendar with twenty-four little drawers that I can fill with treats of my choice.  So 25 assorted Lindor Balls were selected and $31 later I have my advent calendar treats for this year.  Why 25 for a 24 day count down?  Because you always get a bigger treat on Christmas Eve.  You will see the advent calendar in all its glory come December 1!
  The remainder of our shopping was very fashion focussed and for once, clothes shopping did not seem a chore.  For one thing, everything I tried on today was a size 18 and it all fit!  For another, because I've lost so much weight I actually need new clothes so it was good to start seeing what was available.  In the end I got two new light hoodie tops, one pink and one blue, six new pairs of knickers, a pair of shortie shorts for lounging around the house in this summer, a nice new going out top and a pretty mauve t-shirt.
  After we finished shopping, a good three hours after lunch, I dropped JoJo and K-Baa at the train station and we said our fond farewells, then I headed home via Coles for a few missing ingredients to make my savoury breakfast muffins.  It was a lovely day by the time I arrived home so I opened up the doors and windows and enjoyed it.
  I made a little trip next door to check if my neighbour could collect my mail next week.  Benny the German Shepherd was very pleased to see me and ran circles around me.  He's a big boofhead, but you can definitely tell if he likes you.  Only problem is, he is just as clear about people he doesn't like.  My neighbour was feeling sociable and invited me to stay for a drink but regrettably I had (and still have) too much to do to prepare for tomorrow's departure.
  I went home and put on a load of laundry, including some of today's purchases.  I made and ate dinner and checked emails and the like.  I hung out the laundry while it was still sunny.  I'm hoping that it all dries by tomorrow morning as I'd like to take a fair bit of it with me to Tassie.  Also, I don't really like leaving laundry out for a whole week as it tends to get a bit stretched and occasionally spider-webby around the hems.
  After that I made savoury breakfast muffins.  Because we arrive in Tassie so early on Sunday morning (Apparently there is a 6am! Who knew?), I thought the best way to ensure an inexpensive, healthy and tasty breakfast would be to bring my own.  I made six large muffins so I'll eat one tomorrow morning, take two on the trip and stick the other three in the freezer for future use.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was yoghurt, muesli, a sliced ripe banana, sliced almonds and pumpkin seeds.
• Morning snack was a Royal Gala apple, cored and sliced.
• Lunch was four hand rolls from Sushi Sushi with a little mayonnaise.  From left to right they were: Crispy chicken, salmon, tobiko and tempura prawn.
• Afternoon snack was a 170g Chobani Passionfruit Low Fat Greek Yoghurt.
  I tried this one due to a Coles 'extra flybuys' promo.  It was nice but I prefer the Dairy Farmers one.
• Dinner was a salad of leftover bits and pieces in the fridge: salad mix, 170g of diced mortadella, diced cucumber, sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced Perino tomatoes and some Lemnos Persian Marinated Feta.

  The only two tasks that remain for today are to load and run the dishwasher and to get on with packing and deciding what to wear on the voyage tomorrow so I shall had better go and get on with those!  I also really really want to finish my book tonight so I can take the second one to Tassie with me!  An excited goodnight to you all!
  Jess