Out with the mad and in with the glad.

Awhile ago I was drafting a blog post that started a bit like this... 'Here is a list of all the things I hate'.

Lately I've been consumed by this feeling of hatred, anger and frustration. I'm not sure if the feeling created the thoughts and the whole thing grew from there or if the thoughts came first but what I do know is that it doesn't matter.

What I know now (thanks to Eli) is that by focusing on the negative and by giving power to my inner bitch, I am just making myself unhappy and coping less and less with all the bullshit that crops up in my life (eg. exams, bitchy people who should grow up, bad drivers, flab etc).

So, in order to turn the tables on the well trodden route of negativity in my brain, here is a list of all the things that I am grateful for.

friends. You guys are the best.
family. I've recently uncovered a heap of information on my Dad's family that I never knew. I'm super grateful to come from a family of strong, educated women who quite literally, ain't need no man.
food. I'm really appreciating pears, banana smoothies, greek feta, silverbeet and whole free range chickens that only cost $6.99.
my body. Even though I don't love the way I look all the time, I do love my body for allowing me to climb mountains, ride my bike, lift things, eat things, excrete things and love other people.
my education. I don't even really know how to put this into words but I just feel so blessed to be able to read, write and think critically in a world that is too often dominated by weak politicians, hearsay and propaganda. Thanks brain.

That's enough positivity for one day.

Dee x.

12.10.14

Things I'm looking forward to this week:

Getting my hair did. Blonde bob, be mine.
Feeling the relative freedom that comes with the end of week 13.
Getting crunk to celebrate said end of week 13.
Watching Gone Girl.
Seeing a physio and hopefully getting my dud knee fixed.
Riding my bike.
Being in Hobart.
Signing up to my next block of Go Booty.
Memorising the names, function and origin of the 12 cranial nerves (mmmm yes, fun).
Dinner dates with friends.

Dee x.

Burnie v Hobart

When the opportunity to spend two weeks living with Alex in Burnie arose, I jumped. I thought to myself, 'nursing prac? what nursing prac? I'm going to spend two weeks hanging with my boyf'. But you see, I was wrong. The nursing prac, although sometimes a bit slow, was all consuming. I was vacant, tired, distracted when I was done for the day and all I really wanted was to be at home, cooking in my own kitchen and eating dinner overlooking glorious Hobart, not staring into the world's ugliest courtyard from Alex's kitchen table.

Here is a totally biased list of the things that make Burnie and Hobart what they are.

Burnie

bakeries fresh out of the 70's
bogans
empty streets
a truly massive woolworths with a disproportionately small range of items
one hours drive from Cradle
beeeeeautiful beaches
tulips
dominant primary industry
young kids, young parents and old people
whale sightings from the main drag.
rain
Waratah (NSW varieties) growing on the nature strip

Hobart

pigeon hole bread
a sentient mountain to keep me company
bonsoy flat whites
people on bikes
french cheese
tree lined streets
traffic
MONA/ tourism/ culture
people between the ages of twenty and thirty
shops that have competition
a sense of community


Until Sunday Hobart, I'll keep dreaming of you.

Dee x.

Things I love about spring in Hobart.

magnolia blooms.

the odd shirtless runner.

the legitimacy of icecream.

uncomfortably warm cars.

getting my pins out.

the short period where winter veg is still sweet and delicious but you can get the occasional mango.

the smell of daphne and jasmine heavy in the air on a warm evening.

grand final day.

not lighting the fire.

how quickly the weather changes.

what I don't love about spring in Hobart.

the bird (a wattlebird I'm sure) that makes a terrible noise outside my window for roughly 30 mins from 5:30AM every single day. 

Dee x

An Exercise Overload.

So, I feel like I should preface this with a bit of a spiel about my past sporty self. I used to play a lot of hockey and most summers I disappear into the mountains and turn into a bushwalking guide (cue huge quads, rock solid hammies and a diet that consists primarily of fruit cake) so my body does know how to move, I'm just lazy. 

This is what happened. Parkrun started up in Hobart and Eli convinced me to go with her. We decided we should go for a warm up walk one afternoon on the Mountain before our first run where we some how decided that we should also start going to a boot campy thing type. WTF was happening? In the space of a few days I had gone from being a chronically lazy person who occasionally commutes to town on a bike to doing 3 separate exercise events a week! On top of that, I soon remembered that I had earlier committed to playing futsal once a week. Shiiiiiiit.

So, I wanted to document how all this exercise was going down...

Did I suddenly feel fit and fabulous?
Was I crippled by the activation of muscles that I never knew I had?
Was I compelled to eat whole bunches of kale in one sitting and drink coconut oil for breakfast?

Parkrun.
I thought I'd take the couch to 5k in a morning approach. It felt pretty good at the time but now, I'm not so sure. Eli and I plodded along, playing jump frog with a few people who were doing the whole run fast then walk thing. I can't do that, I'm all about maintaining a pace. The first week left me feeling pretty bloody sore! In fact I think it might have started off a bit of a knee problem but I'm sure it's nothing that a few Voltaren 25s and the physio can't sort out.

6:30am Boxing.
Boxing, also known as mildly aggressive cardio in disguise. It's pretty great! There was lots of interaction with the others in the class and as a total newbie, I felt myself improving over the space of a single class. The only issue is standing face to face with someone else's morning breath. Alex's morning breath is the only sort I can handle and even that gets tough sometimes.

Sunrise Pilates.
It's not actually called sunrise pilates but I think it makes it sound so delightful and whimsical. It's more accurately described as torture as it awakens looooong dormant muscles like there's no tomorrow. The deep breathing made me feel a bit faint and the foam roller caused all sorts of pain but afterwards I felt like I had been stretched out from top to toe and my muscles were fatigued but I didn't feel lethargic which was pretty amazing.

A paddock full of daffodils to brighten your day. 

Futsal commentary to come! First game is tomorrow; GO YOLANDA!

Dee x


P.S Eli wants me to do Zumba some time. I tried telling her that I have about as much rhythm and coordination as a drunk baby lamb but she didn't believe me. She'll learn.

P.P.S There's been no kale or coconut oil drinking. In fact, I think I've been using all this exercise as an excuse to eat like a football player.

Details:
Parkrun is a weekly event that runs all across Australia. The principle is run for 5km against the clock and yourself, they will time you and compile your results so you can track your progress. It's free and fun and you should all get around it.

Go Booty is run by Mel, a superwoman disguised as a normal person albeit one with great muscle tone. She has established an amazing atmosphere of support and makes you want to go to her classes!

Science, smchience...

At 5:30PM on Saturday the 16th of August I was perched on a rock, chin resting on my knees, watching the setting sun colour the sky pink, then red, then dusky blue. I had Frenchman's Cap on the western horizon, the King William range a little to the south and Mt Gell to the north. I could feel the last warmth in the sun on my face and could hear the carrying on of 8 school kids playing in what was left of the winter snow. To me, this was a blissful moment, an accumulation of my passions falling into one single experience. I was in nature, completely aware of how lucky I am to love and live this life and I was sharing that with others who might one day develop their own connection to the raw and true natural world, just as I have.

There was a small part of me that wasn't present in that moment because in that same moment, under different circumstances I would have been wearing a silly hat and a long robe at my graduation. I will instead receive the very important A4 piece of paper via Australia Post in the next few weeks.

While I don't attach a lot of worth to the ceremony surrounding things like graduations, I could see the value of my degree in that moment. Science has shown me how to not only love nature but to know it. It has given me the tools to write and talk about detailed natural processes in a way that resonates with people who wouldn't normally be interested in or able to understand them. My science degree has helped me in my guiding career, makes me feel closer to my Dad, given me endless exposure to amazingly passionate people who are my role models and mentors and continues to be a blessing as I study nursing.

So while I may bitch and moan about the size of my HECS debt and how I will never work in science because I hate data analysis, blah blah blah, this blog hopefully shows you and may serve as a reminder to me in the future that my science degree has been instrumental in putting me where I am today and for that I can only be grateful.

Dee x.

Eat. Shop. Sleep. Repeat. The Melbourne Edition.

Once again, too many words, not enough pictures. Sorry, I suck at this, I know. 

After a cancelled flight then some lengthy delays and a hypothermia inducing walk across the tarmac, we arrived in Melbourne early on Friday morning (we're talking 1AM). We went straight to bed only to be woken early by the clatter of construction works next door so we did the only logical thing to do; left the hotel to get breakfast.

Two birds, One stone

12 Claremont St, South Yarra

My favourite cafe in Melbourne. The interior is light and open and they have the most amazing pale aqua coffee cups. Laura was still sleeping thanks to her ear plugs so it was just Alice and I for this meal. We shared the veggie breakfast, a huge plate with perfectly poached eggs, sauteed spinach, haloumi, avocado, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes ($19) followed by the house made crumpets with mandarin curd, mascarpone and figs ($13) which was delicious but totally unnecessary given the size of our first course.

We didn't make it back here (other than for a takeaway coffee) but distance makes the heart grow fonder and there's no doubting that I'll be back. They also have Top Paddock in Richmond and the very new Kettle Black in South Melbourne which I would looooove to check out. 

Emporium Foodcourt (foodcourt does not do this place justice).

On the bottom level of the very new and shiny (and still slightly unfinished) Emporium is a foodcourt that exceeds all expectations. We went in search of dumplings that Alice had read about on a blog but also found fresh rice paper rolls, ramen and thai street food. Yum yum yum. A great option if you find yourself overcome with hunger while lining up in the fitting room queue at Top Shop.

Colonel Tan's

229 Chapel Street

After a bottle of Prosecco and a cheese platter on the floor in our hotel room, we finally ventured out to find some food at around 9pm. Still on Hobart time, I was amazed and pretty excited about the fact that many restaurants were still just warming up! We headed up Chapel Street to Colonel Tan's; a thai restaurant that becomes a bar come 11pm. The steep staircase and the winding corridors leave you with no misconceptions; you are about to eat dinner in a place that has no doubt been the site of many indecent acts but I feel that this just adds to the appeal. The low red light and sticky tablecloths aside, this place is happening; awesome cocktails, great (and very reasonably priced) food equals good times all round.

P.S by the time we left the tables were being pushed back and there were numerous people looking a little bit too comfortable on the couches.

Oscar and Cooper

160 Greville Street Prahan

We arrived just before the hordes of lorna jane clad ladies which was lucky because I would've felt a bit self conscious stuffing my face in front of them and their post exercise glow. This place had one of those menus that is hard to order off because everything sounded so freaking delicious. I settled for the thyme roasted mushrooms on seeded bread with smashed avocado and soft Meredith's goats cheese ($16.50) with an added poached egg ($2). It was my ideal meal. I gobbled the first half without thinking then had to savour every bite til sadly, it was over. The girls were wooed by the eggs benedict on potato roesti which was deemed to be incredible. Coffee good, service awesome, vibe wonderful. Go.

Burch & Purchese

Chapel Street, South Yarra

Ah, Darren Purchese, if I was religious I might start referring to you as God but alas, I am not, so instead you are just the King of Dessert. I managed to resist the urge to buy a second jar of salted caramel but couldn't say no to a dessert. I settled on the staff favourite, a plastic tube filled with layers of mint and passionfruit gel, passionfruit custard, a white chocolate mousse dome sprayed with caramlised white chocolate, a mint crisp and finally, coconut caviar. It's a pity I ate this when I was a) full of Kong goodness and b) a little bit drunk. I'm sure it was amazing though.

Kong

599 Church Street, Richmond

So, we arrived at 6PM-ish, well aware that this was a no booking restaurant. We were told there'd be about a 30-40 minute wait so we gave our number and popped down the road for a glass of wine. We headed back before we got a call but quickly found ourselves sitting at the bar, overlooking the kitchen. Our waiter poured us wine and suggested we eat various things and we nodded because we didn't know what else to do. We ate: kimchi 3 ways, wagyu and kimchi dumplings in a light soy dressing, roti roll filled with cabbage, kewpie and lemongrass BBQ chicken, lamb ribs with curry sauce and BBQ chicken. The focus here is on the wood fired BBQ and oven, combine this with the pumping Chin Chin-esque vibe (same owners) then you are guaranteed a good time.

Until next time Melbourne,

Dee x.