And I'm Back

Before I set off for Wodonga in Victoria, Blake and I had just a couple hours alone out on a date. It was fantastic. I love having quality time with him to discuss our plans, our goals, dreams and hopes for the future..
There are just endless things to say when you're with the person you love with your whole heart.
I want his happiness, above all. I look at him and I feel safe and adored. If I can do just one thing with my existence, it would be to assure his happiness.
Blake is so generous with his heart, his time, his skills, talent and intellect. He makes it overly easy for me to love and care for him. I feel lucky to just have met him. To be his wife fills me with pride.
I know you may think you're the luckiest woman alive because of your husband, but I'm sorry, you're not.
I am. (Listen to this song)
That was off topic. But it's true..
We decided to go out on a date to spend time together because we had family staying with us for over 2 weeks straight. It was easy to decide where to go for dinner. There's this place called The Garden of Eating. So hip, they don't even have a website, so I can't give you a link. There's only about 8 tables in a small, but beautiful garden. I had every intention of taking photos of our entrees, mains and desserts, but I was too excited and hungry, I forgot and just started eating, except for the dessert..

THAT ladies and gentleman is a lavender and rosewater cake, with home made pistachio syrup and ice-cream, freshly whipped cream and a chocolate sauce, topped off with some gourmet strawberry cotton candy. It tasted better than it looks and sounds. I know right.

The next morning, Blake started work early and my set of 3 flights began at 9:30am. I was up at 5:00am to say bye to Blake and finish packing and getting ready for my course. I ended up getting to the airport super early (as I usually do).
For 16 straight days I worked/learned new things/revised and was assessed. I passed everything, thank the Gods! I was nervous and stressed out to begin with. Once I realised it was all okay, and I was ready for this promotion course, I settled down and just got it done..

This was one of the first assessments. Yep 100%. Suck it, world. I always laugh when military instructors put stamps and stuff on our work. It only ever happens at Training Command establishments, so it's nice while it lasts.
They also don't like to say "pass" or "fail" it's just ready or not yet ready (as you can see). But anyway, there you have it. I was so happy with myself I took a pic and texted it to Blake for him to be proud of me LOL.
He was worried about me during the first few days of the course because I was so stressed and nervous and not sure if I should be there. He was just as relieved as I was to see that result.

I got home to Townsville on Sunday night at about 9:45pm. I was asleep by midnight. Blake woke me up at 5:30am the next morning (yesterday) to say bye. He's gone away for work.
So here I am, with time to blog! (The only upside).
I've gotten back into crossfit these last 2 days. My muscles ACHE already. I had lost a couple of kg before my course, then I didn't exercise at all while I was there! Argh! I know, I'm terrible. It was just so cold. We woke up to 0 degrees Celsius one morning. It was so freezing! I love cold weather, so it was all good, except I think I put the 2 kg back on :-(.
It's ok, it's ok. Breathe. I can lose it again.

I'll keep you posted.

I could wake up to this every day

I love cold climates.
I've got 1 more week of this course in Wodonga. I'm heading, back to reality, back to the heat and humidity of Townsville.
It's all ok because I'm going back to my husband.
This course has been stressful and mentally exhausting so I'll be in need of some time to relax.
This place is beautiful. There was frost on the grass this morning. I love it!

Well deserved wine.

Had dinner at a local pub in Albury,NSW last night. Wrote this post while in a car on my way back to Wodonga, VIC and back to reality. Luckily it's a 10-15 minute drive.
I really did deserve that wine.
End Post.

Colder than it looks

I'm here in dreary Wodonga, just on the Victoria side of the boarder.
I'm on a promotion course so I may or may not have much time for Blogger. I should be able to post pics and I'm regularly on Facebook.
Mostly, I'm just trying to keep warm!

What is Perth Like?

My East Coast friends and family always ask when we get home from visiting my mum and dad-in-law; "what's Perth like?"
I usually respond with "...Different. It's flat and there's a lot of sand everywhere. People have sand as their front yards and there's massive fields of sand in random places, like next to big shopping centers."
Other than the sand issue it's beautiful, especially the beaches.
Seeing the sun set over the ocean is a different experience too. I look forward to it each time we visit Perth.

Cottesloe Beach

Cottesloe Beach

I always feel really relaxed over on the West Coast. It's probably a combination of being on holidays and not having to think about work, spending time with loved ones that we don't get to see very often, getting lots of sleep and not waking up to an alarm, being thousands of kilometers away from routine, and spending a couple of weeks of unbroken time with my husband.

Photos were taken in mum and dad-in-law's back yard, Kelmscott, Perth, in January 2012. It's only the end of April, and I already cant wait for it to be Christmas holidays again.
Hopefully we'll be able to afford to go back at the end of this year. I really want to visit my brother Sam, in Esperence as well, which is about an 8 hour drive from Perth (or a $100.00 flight one way, per person.)

But, as per a previous post about our finances, we're living on a budget, paying off debt and trying to save for a house. Aaahh, life.

This morning, this is me. I got up at 4:00am, went to a crossfit session, saw Blake off to work, had breakfast and a nice chat with mum, mother in law? My mum-in-law? Gail? Still getting used to the terminology as a married woman?
Anyway, I bought my laptop outside to the patio, where it is actually pretty cold this morning. I'm looking forward to having the day off work, which is in lieu for working the 32 hour shift on ANZAC Day. Now it's shower time!

The latest scoop

Here are some dot points:
- Kathryn and her two babies arrived here last Thursday night/Friday morning at about 3:30am.
I was up at about 2:30am buzzing on excitement.
- It was their first visit here since we moved and I hadn't seen them since January.
- I've been thinking a lot lately about my life before I joined the Army. Kathryn and I were reminiscing and complaining about how old we feel. I know, shut up.
- Growing up in the nineties was amazing. I feel pretty lucky.
- But anyway, They left on the 24th Apr, the night before ANZAC Day, not even 30 mins later, Blake's mum and dad arrived. We were frantically trying to get the house re-organised for new guests.
- I worked a 32 hour shift, starting at 9am. Soon after the dawn service I started, which means I finished at 4:00pm on Thursday. I got home and went straight to bed. I slept for 12 straight hours and woke up feeling normal again.
- I'm still going to crossfit, in an effort to lose weight, and it's working.
- I go on my promotion course next Friday morning, I'm stressing about it and I don't feel like I have time to fully prepare. But I'll be OK! (*Sigh*)

Losing Weight is Hard

The last 4 days I've been going to Crossfit and my muscles are KILLING me! Lets keep in mind that I also exercise every day at work. I've been going to Crossfit with a work friend, Stasia. It's always good for motivation going to gym sessions and classes with a friend.
Anyway, we went on Monday and Tuesday nights then decided to go to the morning sessions at 5:00am on Wednesday and Thursday. I am so sore. But I weighed myself about 4 days ago and weighed myself this morning and I've lost more than half a kilo in those 4 days. AWESOME! Gotta love speedy results.
It's hardly all about the exercise though, my diet has changed drastically. I've been focusing on the specific blood type diet and keeping it simple really.
Needless to say, the 4:00am starts have prevented me from blogging at night like I usually do.

On a not completely unrelated note, my husband has been even more amazing than usual this week. Blake has been so supportive and understanding of my choices, all while refraining from making me feel like I even need to be on a diet. He's great, and he knows me. He knows I respond terribly to criticism and negative reinforcement.
I am an introvert so my motivation will always primarily come from within. But it does help to be married to this guy...

He was not too keen on having his photo taken while working out in our back yard, but I insisted.
And if THAT hasn't made you totally jealous, then look at what he made for dinner tonight..

Chilli and lime chicken with a FANTASTIC salad

If you're still in denial about whether or not I am in fact the luckiest woman to ever live.. Look at what he bought for me today..

Pink roses. Aaaahhh being in love is the best.

Now that's a slab of meat

When my parents visit my dad brings a souvenir from his work, AMH - Australia Meat Holdings. Which means we don't have to buy steak for the next few months..

Check out that bad boy.

On Sunday I sliced it up into plenty of nice size steaks, plus 1 big piece for a roast this coming Wednesday when we'll have some friends over. I cut another piece that I'll dice up for something like a stroganoff or stir fry.

There was even a nice size chunk left over, which I put in the oven, covered with foil and roasted on a very low heat for 6 hours until we were nice and hungry. When it was nice, tender and almost medium rare I sliced it in two and seared it quickly on an extremely hot pan. Meanwhile, I had thrown some veges in the oven and whipped up a peppercorn gravy to go with it too.
This was the final product..

I know right.
And shut up about my health kick!
I have O positive blood, which is the most common and one of the oldest types of blood - like a cave man.
I'm equipped to handle a lot of red meat and earthy vegetables in my diet. Excuses excuses.
Apart from this meal I've been going really well with my healthy eating. I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow and I just might tell you how much I have lost so far (if anything).

Breakfast has been going a lot like this lately..

Muesli with a bit of natural pot-set yoghurt and an EXTREMELY strong coffee.

For dinner tonight we had something completely new..

It's quinoa with chicken and roasted sweet potato. I've got bits of bacon (fat cut off), freshly sliced ginger, garlic, chilly and some shallots too. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. I'm excited that there's enough left over for my lunch tomorrow.

This ain't Wall Street

We're saving for a house AND trying our hardest to rapidly pay off our debt at the moment.

Here are the figures:

Money Owed

Credit Card Debt:  $   3,058.57
Car Loan:              $   3,349.00
Personal Loan:       $10,185.25

Savings for home loan deposit

9.215%  complete

Forecast of debt payment

Credit card paid off:       14 Sep 2012
Car Loan paid off:           8 Oct 2012
Personal Loan Paid off:    4 Jan 2013

Home loan deposit fully saved

7 Jun 2013


We're your average professional couple. Blake works in the field of engineering and I'm in administration. I'm going on my first promotion course in a few weeks!
Blake has been talking about a career change for a while now. One good thing about jobs in the Defence Force is you can change your mind about what you want to do. You maintain your current wage while training for your new job too. Plus you cant 'get fired' unless you're a drug-taking outlaw.

So I'll update our financial progress and forecasts in future posts. I'll upload pictures of houses in the current real estate market that I'm looking at. We want an el'cheap'o house to renovate, beautify and increase the value of, to sell or to rent out in the future..

 Here's one that I found recently that I would LOVE to get my hands on, but right now we're just monitoring the market.

$229,000.00

Here's another that I know we could transform into a BEAUTIFUL home..

$199,000.00

Even though it's still about a year before we BUY a house, I am enjoying monitoring the market. We will be extremely confident about our choice when the time comes. Plus 1 year just flies by so quickly, so stay tuned.

A Health Kick

Health kicks usually last a couple of months for me.

I wish I didn't crave delicious food!!

After our steamed fish with sesame carrots and greens last night I said "I am so sorry about this dinner Blake."
He just laughed at me and said "It was great honey, don't say sorry."
What a liar. I had just eaten it too. Bland. So bland. Yuck. It's not what we're used to.
Yes we do exercise every morning at work, which in my books means I just cook whatever the eff I feel like.
I suppose I've just gone over-board with that over the past few months and I've noticed it in my butt and thighs.

It wasn't that bad. It just has like NO fat in it.

Sunday morning breakfast.

Something to follow

So, I was thinking last night while trying to fall asleep (how original). My blog doesn't contain any major life experiences to keep track of/monitor.
I started my blog because I'm vein enough to believe my life is worth reading about, but that's the same as all the other blogs! Most of us are correct in our assumptions, so suck it. HOWEVER - Other people have kids growing up and houses being renovated. Plus they don't have rules about what they're allowed to say about their jobs and where they work.. OOOOHHH the shit I could write, but cant, because this isn't anonymous.

Meanwhile, I'm relatively newly married (1 year, 7 months), not pregnant and living in a rental property.  
Why oh why would someone (not related to me) get the urge to check in on my life?

I considered a few options for my blog.

My career progression - stilted by having an incurable illness, so that's going to move slowly. I can write about my daily tasks at work. Stuff is happening all the time there obviously. It can get repetitive, like most jobs. But that's just the way the cookie crumbles. There's always something to say about work, I 'spose.

Blake's career progression - always unknown because he can't make up his mind OR he likes remaining mysterious or some shit. Drives me crazy. Where will we be living next year? What state at least? There's no way of knowing, even though in 8 months he is up for a posting/relocation. Can't bring it up with him either! SO, moving on.. *eye twitch*.

We're trying to fall pregnant - *YAWN!* Who isn't. I've got at least 10 more years of trying to fall pregnant before I'll really freak out. So if you come back to my blog in 10 years time, and see nothing about children - I'm freaking out.

My weight loss - please excuse this next bitchface sentence.. I'm not fat enough for that to be worth following. I mean, 'The Biggest Loser' probably wouldn't take me seriously if I applied for a spot on the show. I did however take some before photos this morning. In 2 months I will take after photos and you can see the difference then.

Buying our first home - I think this is something.. I may even make another page called "Finances". This isn't just about saving money, it's about paying off debt, trying not to deprive ourselves of a yearly holiday and buying new things when we want them. Are you still awake? I just read back over that.. Finances? Boring!
Geez.

Focus on food - Are there already too many food blogs? Probably.

Recounts on my day-to-day activities - Everyone does that! So many people do it splendidly! Can I do that and keep it interesting?

All of the above - You've got yourself a blog!

I should stop doubting myself. If you're interested in keeping track of all of these things as I write about them, then..
See you soon!

100th Post, a VIDEO entry

My 100th post! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Stop Emotionally Punishing Yourself!

I let my mind race, pondering all things sad and awful in the world. I starting thinking about topics like orphans, poverty, murderers, victims of abuse, unfairness in general.

It's hard for me to stop the thought process once I start. I then start to doubt my own actions and lifestyle. I feel guilty about my day-to-day activities. For instance "how dare I buy a new shirt and belt, then a gossip magazine after I collect my $2.00 winnings from my scratch-it, which I will take home and place in our money tin that we're using to save for absolutely nothing in particular." It's so mentally exhausting.

Typical first-world problem and "westerner guilt" or whatever it's called. I just need to slow my thoughts down, think about my own issues and realise there's nothing I can do. No matter how much I donate to charity to ease my guilt and all I can do then is hope to the Gods my donations are making a difference to the cause. But then at tax time I receive all that money back! How dare I.

All this in the 10 minute drive home from Stockland this afternoon. I was sitting in my car in the garage about an hour ago..

The reason I look so exhausted is because I am.
Note; the parcel from Aust Post, it contains a wooden rubber band gun I bought off e-bay for Blake. He effing LOVES it. He was so excited when he opened it and started talking about how he's wanted one ever since he was a kid. It's the best $12.00 I've spent in a while I think!
I've got my new shirt I'm planning on wearing on ANZAC day in the Portmans bag, there's a new leather belt from Cue and of course my trashy magazine.

How dare I.

Recently, out of my kitchen

Blake's Birthday Cupcakes

Prosciutto wrapped chicken and home made hollandaise sauce

Steak with avocado

Cinnamon French Toast for Sunday breakfast

Easter Cupcakes

Why Did You Join the Army?

Good fucking question. Depending on my mood, I give varying responses to the question of why I enlisted. The more specific questions such as "Why not the Air Force or the Navy?" are difficult, because I don't know why I chose the Army - the service which has the hardest fitness test and endures the most physical hardships in general day to day duties. But my most favoured response is "I don't know why I joined the Army."

If I could be bothered to delve into specifics; I say that I want to be proud of myself and of my life when I'm old and grey. I want to hold my head high when people ask "What do you do for a living?" I want to be able to answer with confidence and pride.

However, the decision to pack up my simple-small-town life and become a Soldier was a spur of the moment decision one night in November 2007. My friend Erin and I were driving home from the airport, which is where we used to hang out. We would just sit, chat and watch people coming and going, people seeing loved ones for the first time in a long time. We watched people saying their goodbyes, which is probably inappropriate and an invasion of privacy but who cares. It's an emotional place to hang out.

We were driving home (to my mum and dad's house) and decided to go the long way. This route took us past the small Rocky Army Base, which primarily caters for those Reservists who like to "play Army" in their free time (seems strange to us full-timers). In front of the small base there was a bill board lit up brightly, as it was late at night. It said "THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY" above a big picture of the gold rising sun badge. Underneath it said "RECRUITING NOW" then there was a website and phone contact details.

Erin and I had just spent a couple of hours at the airport discussing what we're going to do with our lives. I was a recent uni-drop out, just turned 18 and selling white goods at Harvey Norman, while Erin was waitressing full time at Hogs Breath Cafe. Both of us were single girls. Neither of us had a clue.

We sat in my car on the side of the road staring at this billboard talking about joining the Army together, until I had made my mind up - Erin not so keen. I went home and booked myself into the next information day. It took me 6 months to actually enlist. I failed the fitness test the first time. I went back a month later and passed.

It took me a while to choose the actual job I wanted to do. Once I had decided on "Air Dispatcher" I was given an enlistment date of 12 May 2008. Before I knew it I was getting off the bus in Kapooka and being yelled at by an extremely intimidating man in his green camouflage uniform.

Holy shit, what have I done?! Was one my my first thoughts.

It all worked out in the end. My now husband also arrived at Kapooka that day. Through a string of unlikely events we wound up becoming friends during our time at Blamey Barracks - 1st Recruit Training Battalion.

My army recruit training story has it's own page here.

I've decided to post a picture of myself in my current location for the majority of my posts. I took the below picture with my phone about 50 mins ago (Just after switching my laptop on).

I've got a "Pro Activ" face mask on because I am disgusted in my skin right now and I'm trying to fix it. A monthly battle most women are familiar with.
Note; I'm outside. This is due to witnessing my dad use his laptop on my patio while (some of) my family were here recently for the Easter long weekend. I thought it was a great idea.
Visible in the background is my yoga mat, which I use exclusively for sunbaking on.