Proud to be Australian !

We are home after having had an absolutely wonderful break away in
Noosa. The resort was first class and when I have managed to download
the photos, I will load some of the pics for you to see.

When we were driving up to Noosa on Friday - we went via Redcliffe,
Glass House Mountains, a lunch stop at Maleny and then drive throughs
at Montville and Mapleton. While we have celebrated 7 Australia Days
in the country, and we have been citizens for the past 5 years, this
is the first time that I have felt really proud to be Australian. We
drove past I don't know how many houses flying the flag, cars with
flags on their aerials or sticking out of windows, hanging from poles
at picnic spots - it was just amazing. Maybe it was so noticeable
because it was the first time that we had really been out driving on
Australia Day - generally we stay at home and enjoy the day off work.
But, it was something which, each time I saw the flag, made me proud
to be Australian.

Foodwise I had the best weekend that I could and I made the best
choices that I could (most of the time). I did have a 99% Fat Free
ice-cream as well as a Heaven ice-cream but it was so hot I really
didn't mind the extra points. I also had a couple of M&M's, two
little Mars Lite bars and about 6 crisps when we were watching some of
the cricket. But, on the whole, I had a good weekend without making
everyone's lives a misery with not wanting to eat this or that or
constanting spending the time working out points (which would have
been most guestimates as I didn't have the nutritional breakdown for
most of what we ate). We had salad sandwiches or rolls for lunch each
day so that worked out well. Last night I had the most delicious
pizza from a little Italian place along the river. The good thing was
that there wasn't a lot of cheese on it. We bought some lovely grapes
and strawberries from the Eumundi Markets on Saturday so that was good
- I made sure I didn't eat too many of them as I know that they can
add up rather quickly when you are just picking out the packet and
have no portion control happening.

We didn't do any walking as such although 5 hours around Eumundi
markets on Saturday as well as up and down each nursery which we
stopped at would have clocked up quite a few steps had I been wearing
a pedometer. We did quite a bit of walking in and out of shops -
bought a couple of birthday presents, bought ourselves some presents,
bought the house some presents. K was a model child this weekend - am
not sure where we left the impatient, full of attitude, always right,
has to be heard, it's all about me child when we left but that
certainly isn't the person that spent the weekend with us - she was an
absolute delight to have around. She bought herself a dress at the
markets which looks really lovely on her - but at the same time so
strange on her as she isn't a 'dress' person - she is always in shorts
/ jeans / 3/4 pants / dungarees. She looked absolutely wonderful.
She asked me if I could give her a French manicure - how could I say
no ???? She stayed in the top unit and Al and I stayed in the bottom
unit but she was very good about keeping it tidy and going to bed when
she was supposed to - such a wonderful change from the whining
teenager that she can be when it suits her !!!!

I am all fired up to keep on doing what I have been doing since the
beginning of the year - this is the last time that I want to go away
on holiday and be embarrassed about how I look. Last night when K was
all dressed up for dinner and I stood next to her, I felt awful and I
felt that I looked awful. She kept on reassuring me that I looked
fine but I know I didn't. Al was very diplomatic and said that I
would get to a weight that I am happy with again and not to be too
hard on myself. K then proceeded to tell me about what a hard time I
had last year and that it would all come good in the end. I have had
my leave approved (in principle) for later this year (Sept/Oct) so we
are now going to look at making those plans for our overseas holiday.
Will let you know how they are progressing as we go along (will try
not to bore you all to tears with too many details). There is no way
I want to go over weighing a lot more than when we saw them last year
so that is a really good incentive for me to get these kilos off and
KEEP THEM OFF !!!!

I will be walking on the treadmill tonight - am not sure how far, for
how long or at what time but I will definitely walk. We were up at
4.30 this morning to leave to get back to the Coast in time so I
shouldn't imagine we will be having a late night tonight. I have
taken tonight as a days leave so that we can get home, unpack the car,
unpack the bags, get some washing done and be organised for the rest
of the week. I really feel revitalised after the weekend away - the
change from the normal day to day chores was just what I needed (long
may the feeling last !!)

TFTD : The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me.

TIAGF : A lovely break away and the re-kindling of a better
appreciation of my family