Retraining....

BabyCakes and I started on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet on Monday. The first thing that hits you as you prepare to start (by going shopping), is how much food there is... It is hard to believe that one could feel hungry by following their plan - but I do. I think it is because I've been very carbohydrate heavy in my eating style in recent years and this is a low carb, low fat, high protein eating plan. I try to balance the occasional hunger pangs with drinking more water, and keep in the forefront of my mind not only my goals, but that it will take time to retrain my body as to what is enough food. BabyCakes is finding it pretty easy to cope with, and is only hungry in the lead up to dinner time.

What am absolutely excited about is the fact that the meal plan has been designed so as to include all one's vitamin and mineral needs without the need for supplements. It is nice to be able to think that I do not have to cringe every time one of those two-and-five ads come on TV, each time I hear another thing added to the seemingly endless list of things one *must* do each day to remain healthy/sane/whatever. I can be confident that some scientists have done my thinking for me on that front!

BabyCakes' dog also moved in on Monday (which was not especially coincidental), and he keeps us honest in so far as our 20 minute daily walk, to be ramped up as we all loose a bit of spare tyre.

We had a lovely gentleman named Mark build the last required fence for us which enabled the transfer of Dog to his new home. Dog was very disoriented on Monday eve, having only had one home since the pet shop, but seemingly is much more confident of his place as the time goes on. We also decided to try and create the illusion of more height on a worryingly low fence, and created with our own gloved hands and chicken wire and star picket height extension which seems to be doing its job thus far. I have to plant the passion fruit vines (one each of black fruit, yellow fruit and red fruit) once we get a shovel, to beautify and bountify it!




On Sunday evening we had a delightful dinner with BabyCake's parents and aunt. The roast lamb (those Australia Day ads work) was very tasty, the conversation was interesting



Saturday saw us put our wedding bands on lay by (mostly so they can store them in their safe, and we don't have to worry about them at home)... another tantalizing step closer to finalising all our plans.




I Intended to write more on this post... but got sidetracked, so shall post what I have anyway....

Returning From the Hunt - Girl Style

Today I had a lovely day. I met up with My step Mum, two bridesmaids, sister in law and niece and spent a good part of the day in the city.

We met up to discuss the plans and needs of the impending wedding day and I thought to start the process of trying to find frocks for the bridesmaids. As it turned out, I showed them a picture I'd pulled from a magazine of a pretty frock. All thought it looked pretty - and well priced. We found the store and discovered the dress, on a sale rack no less! The girls tried them on, they fitted, they looked good, they were bought. All before lunch!!

We had lunch and I reeled off where the plans were at. Questions were asked from all angles. After lunch we moved on to a hunt for accessories. We found necklaces and earrings that worked for everyone. The hunt then stalled somewhat, but was still fun. We looked for gloves but didn't find any - we found a whole heap of hats to try on, which was enjoyed by everyone - little-miss-almost-two joined in with the hats she could reach and posed happily when the mirror was placed at her level - she also loved the shoe stores! She had a very cute mini purse bought for her, and toted that about for the rest of the day, having to stop alternately to put her new bracelet in the bag, and take it out again.

I'm so glad we managed to find dresses with the minimum of fuss!


BabyCakes is yet to return from Big Day Out, so I'm having a very restful night in this evening.

Wedding Minus Fifteen Weeks

How scary does that heading look? I can also tell you that it is 105 days away - and that's not because I counted, but because a piece of wedding planning software I have tells me.

This week I've really kicked back into thinking about wedding plans. I've ordered favor components, new return address labels (that's what a move does for you!), spoken to the dress maker, revisited the budget and guest list, confirmed the ceremony location, spoken to a chair supplier for the ceremony, and tomorrow I'm meeting up with most of the women who will be involved in the wedding to have a catch up, girlie day and planning session. I've decided to start BabyCakes and myself on the CSIRO Wellbeing Diet. It looks like a lifestyle option and is specifically balanced to ensure all daily guidelines are met... and comes with shopping lists too - how cool is that?

I've also taken to writing lots of lists. Having said all that, it doesn't particularly stress me. I keep wondering what I've not thought about that I need/want, and most of it is organised. Most of it is able to be organised and most of it is affordable. I'm glad that I have relatively simple tastes and sense of balance. I can see how easily everything could get out of hand if one was remotely extravagant.

Mostly, I'm glad to hear the reports of relatives buying their airfares. That makes everything that much more real. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, all together. It doesn't happen often.

I'm looking forward to the dress being made, that will be exciting - it's the first time I've had clothing custom made for me, and the more I go shopping, the more I'm glad I found a reasonable dressmaker, because off the rack just doesn't fit me at the moment (big boobs are not the joy most people expect them to be).



I'm getting married... and I'm looking forward to it!

And I thought I Was Odd...

Biting the Facebook Bullet - Where it Leads

I resisted the Facebook monster for quite a while. On Christmas Eve I finally succumbed and created an account. Almost straight away I was drawn to the potential for linking in with my geographically diverse family.

Most of my Facebook "friends" are related to me, and it has been a lovely informal way to keep in contact with people, some of whom I would have met only a handful of times in my life.

I also managed to locate a school friend with whom I'd fallen out of contact with which was reason enough to join for me.

I must say that I've had fun with a lot of the games and applications that one tends to join up to willy-nilly in the initial euphoria of learning how it all works.

One that stood out for me as an application that helps identify family and create a family tree. I was however concerned about the potential for public access to it and the information it contains.

This is not the first time the lure of understanding and tracking family history through a computerised form has inspired me, but the last time (maybe 10 years ago), the software was not quite as sophisticated as I needed for my large and somewhat confusing family.

Today I revisited my search for a piece of family tree type software, looking for something that was (at least initially) free but sophisticated enough to cope with the gnarled and twisted family tree that is mine (the ability to assign more than one family/parent etc.).

I think I have found just such a piece of software.

I have inputted the 30 or so people that make up my only-just-extended family (siblings, parents, partners and children), and it seems to be coping fabulously. I also found a review that places it top pick of genealogy software, which is pretty cool, given that I already started using that one!

I think I'd like to do some more to follow the tendrils of all the tree, to learn about how easy it is to become interlinked with so many people. I know my Dad's uncle has done a lot to trace their family line, and I'd like to be able to digitise it help future generations search it and understand it more easily.

Mostly, I would like to know more about the people around me.