Thank you for 14.5 lovely years.

Crap! The Doctor thinks I might have Glandular Fever. Had a huge amount of blood out, got a sick note for today and Monday and now I gotta rest. I hope it's not but symptoms suggest otherwise. :P

That would explain why I've felt ratshit for months. Maybe.

I've never before had a headache where the throbbing went in time with my pulse. I got up some time around midnight to take some more headache tablets which unfortunately didn't kick it as well as I hoped and I found myself sitting in bed crying in the morning. It's so silly when I think about it now but I was feeling quite anxious and a bit lonely. Luckily for me my mum came around and made me tea and took me to the doctors. Seems it's my sinuses playing havoc and I now have two more days off work. I went in yesterday but that was a bad move - I came home with my eyes hurting and in much need of sleep.

Think of the first word that comes to mind when you think of me.

Run a google image search on that word.

Reply to this entry & post one of the pictures from your search, but don't tell me what the word was.

Put this in your journal, so I can post a picture for you!

I'm cooking lots of different things these days because I am sitting down to plan our meals for the week and pulling out different cook books in order to do that. Tonight we had Mixed mushroom and goat's cheese strudel. I took a photo, how sad is that. I had two serves as noted in the recipe for a total of 3 WW points. It tasted great.

( The strudel and the recipe )

I had my first AOT in the city today on the bike. It's very ungainly when the back wheel gets stuck in the tram tracks and one cannot defy the laws of nature. I ended up in a little mess on the road. Nothing too bad but wounded pride and a few bruises. No ripped lycra, THANK GOD! I have lost some skin on my knee and elbow and have 2 bruises on the other knee.

Mostly I just feel silly as I really didn't give the tram tracks the respect they deserve as I had it in my head that they were only really dangerous when riding skinny tired bikes and when it was wet. It's amazing how alive doing something like that makes you feel though - like a kid in a way.

I was on my way to do a Critical Mass ride, my first. It was something I really felt I needed to do and I am glad I did but I can see now that it just makes motorists angry and doesn't have the effect of making motorists want to get out and ride. It was nice and social but I don't really think I will do the ride again.

I've cut back the TV viewing in a major way in the past week or so while the Commonwealth Games was on and we were busy running around seeing different things (more on that later). We are still watching the Biggest Loser and I am enjoying it although I find Ajay (or is it AJ? I don't know what's with the change in spelling) really annoying. So, big Wal is gone. Well, I gotta say it doesn't seem to have hurt him any! He looked awesome and very hot. I like men who aren't afraid to be themselves and whilst Wal was a PITA at times he really did have a heart of gold under that tough exterior. I can't wait to see Wal at the final!

I don't often post memes but this one amused me and it turned out pretty accurate. :-)

( Hot men meme )

Dear husband was putting the bins out and was stopped in his tracks by an orb weaving spider that had spun it's web right where he needed to walk. That's one big mother fooker spider and even more scary looking then a huntsman. Damn huntsman are after me at the moment, everywhere I turn I see another one. :P

I am angsty, my beautiful bike has a buckled rear wheel and is in being serviced. I feel like something is missing which is horribly sad. I have mozzie bites that I am trying not to scratch but I am failing miserably. I haven't been able to get into work for the past few days. I think it's drop. LOL

Anyway, I am busy contemplating my next big ride. In two weeks I'm planning a 65ish kilometres ride from home to Mordialloc, along Beach Road to Port Melbourne, coffee break, back to Mordialloc then home again. In April I want to do the MAD ride with the Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club. It's a 110km ride in the Woodend area. Then there a number of Audax rides that cost very little and will allow us to see all sorts of areas around Victoria. There is a nice looking 50 or 100km ride from Kyneton in February.

Of course I need to fit these in around my triathlons. Hmmm, where are those hills?

Had one of the nicest days of my life today. Rode 45km in glorious weather on my gorgeous new speedy bike. Caught up with one of my dearest friends in Geelong and then watched some seriously good criterium riding with the stage won by my favourite rider Robbie McEwan. Tomrrow I meet friends for brunch and then hopefully take the other bike out for some fun. More to come. :-)

( Robbie McEwan in action )

Woke up about 9.30am which was blissful relief after some early mornings. After a bite to eat we decided to take my lovely bike out for a ride. I hadn't quite got around to riding "Beauty" on the roads yet because I was still feeling very nervous about the way she handles.

It was a shaky start so we rode up to the netball courts to play around first. Hubby got me standing up, turning, avoiding debris, looking back and generally getting a feel for the bike and after about 20 minutes I was feeling confident enough to ride properly.

We rode along Boundary Road, White Street, Nepean Hwy and home via Centre Dandenong Road which was a pleasant ride even though there was a lot of wind. I'm feeling very confident about my ability to ride further next time which should be tomorrow. Beauty rides like a dream and so much faster than the Beast which doesn't come as any surprise.

Time: 1:07:57
Average speed: 18.3 km/h (including the time spent in the car park)
Distance: 26.70km
Max speed: 37.4 km/h
Calories burnt = 682/45%
Average heart rate = 142

We are doing Amy's Ride on the 7th which is 45km and I am really excited about it. I am feeling like a real roadie now. Where's the coffee?

I woke up this morning thinking "Today is the first day of the rest of my life" and this year it really is true.

Taken from The Golden Door website is the inspiration for how I want to manage my health this year.

• Manage stress and relax (Need to start doing some pilates and/or meditation)


• Never over-eat (Hari Hachi Bu is a Japanese saying that means eat until you're eighty percent full)


• Exercise moderately every day


• Avoid preserved and burnt meats


• Minimise exposure to environmental pollution (i.e. cigarette smoke)


• Limit consumption of alcohol (Not too much of an issue for me)


• Limit consumption of caffeine (1-2 cups of coffee or 2-3 cups of tea per day)


• Cut down on (or preferably cut out altogether) the junk food (Um yep, that makes sense)


• Reduce the sodium (salt) consumed (Replace with herbs and spices)

Grumpy Belara doesn't happen very often but it's not pleasant when it does happen. The problem is that I am tired and emotional and I would rather be in bed. Yesterday was busy, 5km run, dropped the car off for a service, drove crap loan car to work, did some stuff at work, picked up my freshly serviced, washed and vacuumed car, went to my AUSLAN 2 course, picked hubby up and headed to Chadstone for late night shopping, home to bed at 10.45pm.

The good news is that there are only two people left to buy christmas gifts for and I already know what I am going to get for one of them. I'm not normally so organised but I'm quite glad I have the shopping out of the way.

It's another busy day today with work, ergo training and a work dinner tonight so I am looking forward to doing NOTHING on Friday night and getting to bed early.

I won a 500 chip poker set WITH dollar values for hubby on Grays Online today. V. happy as they were much cheaper than I might have paid in the stores. It's proven somewhat difficult to find the chips with numbers on them. I saw a 300 chip set on the weekend for about the same price that I paid for 500 chips. Go me! Poker at my place soon!

Silly happy mode engaged... I am getting a new bike and it's really light and sexy cobalt blue in colour and I am finding myself telling everyone who will listen about it. I am 95% sure I am getting a Cannondale R500 Feminine road bike so I can go reallly fast. It weighs about 7kg. LOL I'm still wondering what happened to the person I was a few years ago. It's a good thing, I am gradually feeling like I have always dreamed of being. The outside is matching the inside.

Dinner tonight was chicken stir-fry with mushroom, onion, garlic, baby capsicum, eggplant and snow peas. This is amazing because I don't like vegetables so the fact that I filled the shopping trolley with these and other fresh foods just shows me how far I have come.

I'm much recovered from the recent yuckiness and I am back at the gym. Now I just have my fingers crossed that I am over this run of illness and can focus on getting fitter and faster. Goals, I have goals goddamn it! I have no time for illness!

My parents sent us a beautiful bunch of yellow roses, gerberas and lilies to congratulate us on our first anniversary.