I'm in Germany

This photo was taken at a restaurant in corfu. (I can't believe how tanned I look here!)

Wow, so much has happened since last post. I am currently in Germany and staying with friends and their family. There are 17 of us at one house at the moment. It has been a lot of fun and we have been doing lots. Two of the girls are national gymnasts so we have been to the gym and played on the equipment there. We have been rock climbing, go karting and have done a high ropes course. This was so scary as you have to do all these obstcles in the air between platfroms on trees. I will post pictures soon. I felt such a sense of achievement after I had completed it. I was so scared and even cried from fear. We are staying about 200m from the black forrest so I have been running everyday. Today I went for a run and one section was 2 km all on a steep uphill. I was buggered when I finished running after 45 minutes.

Since leaving chewtin Mendip we went back to london for 3 days before flying out to Germany. In this time we managed to find an awesome house that is so big, close to our friends, shops and underground. It is so exciting. I'll post pictures of that soon too. They other advantage is its close proximity to the gym! I can't wait to start my 12 week program when I get back to London.. I am 100% focused and determined to feel the best ever. I really want people to notice a difference when the travel to see me in 3 months.

I must be off to bed as I have an early start in the morning as we are going to a fun park tomorrow.

Love aims
xxx

We went Hashing last night

Ben and I waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower


Some of you may know what i'm talking about but others may say what the hell are you talking about. Hash running is a group of people that get together and go for a run. However there is a twist. You have to find your path that has been laid out with by flour. So some people end up for awhile running in the wrong direction till someone calls out to say they have found it. We ended up running through paddocks with cows and sheep, through long grass, rivers, forrest and lots of mud. All up we ran about 7km. We end up back at the pub. They have a saying they are a runners group with a drinking problem. It was lots of fun. I have never heard of this back home but when I checked the net last night there were lots of groups around. It is worldwide and the next interhash is in Perth itself.

We went running today also in the national park and gorges and there were some really tough parts. There were steep hills with a bit of rock climbing in there. The views were spectacular though. It was well worth it.

So the fitness side is definately going a lot better and the eating part is going quite well. It is so nice to be eating home cooked food and having the control of what is available. Our friends even have home weights that Ben pulled out today so I even got some weights in.

Love Amy
xx

From a small English Village

I am currently in Chewton Mendup which is a small village between Bath and Bristol in England. We are staying with my boyfriend's family friends and enjoying doing very little. We arrived in London on monday night and stayed the night with a friend in their small flat. We then caught the coach to bristol where they picked us up. The underground system is so efficient that we got everywhere so quickly.

I have been pretty sick with my asthma the last few days and been up the last few nights with huge coughing fits. Thankfully I am feelig slightly better today. It is nice to stay in doors and watch DVDs and read a good book after the hustle and bustle of the contiki tour. It really was so much fun but it did tire me out. We will be staying here till next sunday before heading back to London for a few days to look at houses before flying to Germany. We will be in Germany for 10 days and then have to come back to London and set up a house and work. This will definately not be the end of travelling tho.

Ben and I caught the bus into Wells which is a bigger town today. It is so pretty here. I just love all the old buildings and the cobble stone streets. We ate lunch at the cosiest vegetarian cafe and the food was so good. We then just wandered the streets.

The surroundings here are perfect for walks and runs. There are dirt tracks, paddocks, forrest areas and open areas that you could run for miles. I did one on the first day I arrived but not since as I cough with just sitting at the moment. The guy we are staying with is part of a running club and has different runs through the week. He has just done a half marathon but has run heaps before this and a marathon too.So as soon as I am well enough I will be out running with him.

Till next time.....

Amy
xxx

Ps. It is ment to be summer here and i'm freezing- the weather is terrible!

I'm in mykonos!!

hello everyone from greece,

Well we have just finished our 23 day contiki tour. It has been such a fabulous experience and have so many amazing places in such a short period of time. Italy was so fabulous and one of the places I would definately have to go back to. There is still so much more to see and just not possible to see it all in the amount of time we had there. Venice was so pretty and we took a gondola ride. Florence had so much history and so much to see. The uffizi gallery and the academia had waiting lines of 3 hours so unfortunately could not go in these but would have loved too. We waled up the duomo and the views of florence here were spectacular. I indulged in buying a genuine leather jacket which I love. We had dinners organised by the tour in each country and went out every night. Rome by far some of the most spectacular sights. You could be walking down some street and then all of a sudden it would open out into some ruins. The vatican and st peters was so breath-taking and the art work was so incredible. Ben and I were speechless. We saw the coloseum, the trevie fountain and pantheon as well as the roman forum. We left about 20 people in rome from the tour and then the rest of the tour headed to corfu.
We caught a ferry to corfu and spent 3 glorious days relaxing. It was a gorgeous little island. We had one day on a boat doing water sports and swimming. We were lucky enough to ctch up with bens dad in corfu and spent one full day with him. We have dined in some greek restaurants and experienced greek culture and dancing. Yesterday we came to athens and spent our last night here. We saw a few sights yesterday morning and now in mykonos.I am in absolute paradise. Our accomodatin was so cheap nd it is like we are in a resort. We have a pool, bar lounge chairs and sun beds overlooking the ocean. We hired scooters today and went around the island. This place is so amazing. So after the very full on tour I am enjoying doing very little for a few days and working on my tan. So I have now brought you up to loop on what I have been doing.

So we now have a few days in the mykonos before we come back to athens and then fly back to london. We then have to start organising work and living arrangements before we go to germany. I am looking forward to settling somewhere for awhile instead of living out of a suitcase. Ben has already been offered jobs so now I can start organising to meet with agencies. Ben and I are looking to set up just out of london but we will take it as it comes.

Hope you are all well. I hear perth is pretty cool at the moment so i'll think of you while i'm having a cocktail by the pool!!hehehehe

I am looking forward to getting back to london so I can get into routine again with my exercise and eating. I have gone a quite a few runs but these greek drivers are so crazy that i'm scared of getting hit. I weighed myself the other day and I have put any weight on and even lost a bit but I feel different. I need to tone up again. All in good time!!

love to you all
amy
xxxxxx

Hello from barcelona!!
Hope everyone is well. I am currently in Spain at the moment. We only have the one stop here barcelona. It is notorious for pick pocketing so I have been so careful and have lopcks on everything and everything on me at all times. I am petrified of things being stolen. Besides that it is a very pretty place. We spent today touring the city and seeing the sights. It is beautiful weather too.
We met up with the rest of the group in Paris. I am in love. The architecture and gardenms are unbelievable. I went to the louvre, notre dame, sacre coure, arc de triomphe, musee dórsay and moulin rouge. This was all in one and a half days. It was very full on. There is still so much to see as well. We went to a cabaret show. It was so good. Lots of dancing and acrobats and it was a good 2 hours of pure entertainment. It was fabulous. I will definately be coming back here.
From here we went to the wine area in france and stayed at a chateau. We sampled a few of the wines and went for a long hike and ended up having a picnic at the top. It was really pretty. We then drove to barcelona.
Our next stop is the french riveria, then to italy, greece and greek islands. The tour is so much fun and the people on it are a great bunch of people. We have been out everynight and getting along great.
We have made plans to go to germany when we get back to london for about a week. We got flights for 10 pence and have accomodation with jan family. So that should be could. Then I think I may need to start working!!hehehehe
I better be off but that is a quick update of my last week. Take care
Love Amyxxx

Ps. I have been doing so much walking eachday and trying to eat really well. It so hard though while you are on holidays. I feel average for not having time for exercise and I miss the gym. Once I settle in london one of the first things I do is join a gym and get back into it!
hehehehehe

I am back home and i'm starting blogging again!

hello to all bloggers. I have just read everyones blog and caught up on what everyone has been doing for the last 3 months. I have been in America and went to the cricket world cup in the Caribbean and saw the Aussies win. I have had to come back to perth for a weeks for a funeral and I have decided to start my blog again. I have missed what everyone has been doing and I want to write my blog as I travel. I fly out of Australia again on Tuesday and now that my boyfriend has bought a mac in america I have no excuses.

I have been having the best time away. Even though my boyfriend and I had all credit cards, purse, ipods, cameras,psp, mobiles and money stolen in miami and we had to fly to washington to get passports replaced everything has been fabulous. I was sailing for 34 days in the Caribbean sea and went to all of the islands. Some of the things I saw you just could not see from land. It was spectacular. I'll post photos in next post. After the caribbean we went to New York. It was the most amazing place I have been to. I loved it. I kept saying it was so 'sex in the city'! From here we flew to Minnesota where we stayed in a college with some friends who came and studied in Perth. They have $8 all you can drink nights. We had some very big nights. Unfortunately ben's pop passed away and he was very close to him that he just wanted to come home for the funeral. The funeral was very sad but he was so glad he made the decision to come home. We fly to meet up with the rest of our friends in paris. We then have a 3 week contiki before we settle in england for about 8 months.

I have learnt a lot about myself while being away. I have become less harsh on the way I look at myself. I use to be so critical about my appearance and about every piece of food that went into my mouth. I have learnt to relax and enjoy a bit more. I am still very health conscious and have been running at least 3-4 times a week. I really miss the gym. I have been doing sit-ups and push-ups but it is not the same. Eating wise I have been careful but I haven't deprived myself of anything. I weighed myself when I came home and I have not put on any wight but I lost a little. So I am so happy. I left to go on this trip at my goal weight and I am still there.

I will post some photos and I promise to keep my blog going.

Take care,

amy
xxxx

where to start....

Now I know it has been a long time and thanks selina for finally getting me into gear. So much has happened since last post with Christmas and New year. I was so totally spoiled and loved every minute of it. It is now only six weeks till I leave for my amazing trip. I have just finished paying the last installment to the 55 foot yacht I will be staying on in the Carribean. I am starting to get excited. I have already started dreaming about packing and already tears have started to flow about saying my goodbyes.

One of my best friends left on Jan 5th for south america and she gets back only a few days before I leave. I miss her so much already. My mum and dad have been in Melbourne for only a week and half and I miss them too. How am I going to cope. My boyfriend is already worried!! There is also so much to do. I have started writing a list so I don't forget to do things. Work is super busy and have been working extra long hours to get as much money as possible.

Exercise and food wise went really well. I lost 3.5kg in december and am already at my goal weight but you know when you would like to see if you could go that extra bit further. I have lost 9kg and i'm trying now to get to 11kg before I go. I have been really strict with my diet and exercising everyday (combination of weights and cardio) I have been stair climbs and hill runs as well as rpm. I am feeling really good this week. I felt really flat last week because I put on 400g but as my boyfriend said I have not put weight on for about 2 months and it is so minimal that it will be gone again in no time. I know I can do it!!

So that is a quick sum up of where I am at and I hope everyone is well. Even though I have not been writing blogs, I have been following everyone else's. I apologise again

Love always

Amy

Phew!!

Well i have survived my busy social week and had a great time and even better lost 1.1kg this week!! I am so so happy. This was after drinking way way too much at my best friends 21st on Saturday night and feeling so very average yesterday. I will credit myself though the rest of the week i was in total control and I knew that saturday was going to be a big night. However I probably should have eaten something at the party or before because I was one very drunk girl!! But a very happy one at that!! I would have burned so many calories from all the dancing though. I stumbled in at about 4.30am sunday morning!! I will post some photos in the next few days as my friend has my digital camera at the moment (she looked after me!).

All my other social outings were really good too but I didn't drink at any of them and ate before I went or when i came home. I really feel at this stage of my journey that I am in total control of everything. I am feeling really good about myself, my exercise and eating and so proud of everything I have achieved. So go me!! hehehehe

This week social wise is a lot quieter thank goodness. Work wise will probably be flat out. I recieved some really bad news today from my receptionist that my bosses sister (he is only 25 and his sister 22 or 23) had died so he will not be in for work for awhile. I called him and told him i'll take care of the practice but i was totally shocked. I have only met his sister once but I really feel for him and his family. It just really made me think that things can change so suddenly. It really made me appreciate all the people in my life and what is really important to me. Everything just seemed to be put into perspective.

Have a fabulous week everybody. Less than 4 weeks to christmas!! i'm so excited

Love Amy
xxx

This week is crazy

I can't blieve it is wednesay already and I haven't posted since last monday. Time just flys by. I have such a busy rest of the week. I am going out to dinner tonight with one of my bosses to discuss what is going to happen when I go away and discuss future practice plans. Tomorrow night i'm going out with my uni friends for a catch up- for some I haven't seen them since last year when we finished. Friday I have a sporting dinner presentation night that I have to go to for my boyfriend as he is the captain for the WA rugby team. Saturday is my best friends 21st and sunday i have another 21st and a baby shower. So as you can see I have a very busy social calender ahead. In between that I have work, a conference and maybe some sleep!! hehehe

Food and exercise is great. Ire-read Sharleens blog today and what she wrote in the last post is how I feel completely. I am feeling so good at the moment that I don\t know why I waited so long to get into this frame of mind and just do it. I lost another 500g this week and things are really feeling loose on me and i'm loving all my food and exercise and just don't feel tempted by anything lately. I have another 1.5kg to go!! By Christmas I should be at goal and maybe a little bit less would be nice.

Have a good rest of the week

Love Amy
xx

I feel tired

I feel really tired today. I have been waking up ridiculously early lately then can not go back to sleep. I woke up at 4.30 this morning but i didn't get up then. I was going to go for a walk this morning but i'm going to the gym for weights tonight and then going and doing jacobs ladder with my dad after that. I have a funny feeling my iron is down because i get like this when it is low.

Exercise and food wise has been ok but i didn't lose anything this week. I know in myself that i ate fairly well most of the time but i knew more portions were bigger than usual. So this week i am going to be extra good and try really hard for another big loss. Exercise wise tho i had a really good week last week. On monday i went for a 40 min walk, and then an hour ride, tues i did weights and a body attack. On wednesday i went for two walks for a total of 2hrs walking!! Thursday i went for another walk and weights. Friday i did weights, saturday i did 1hr cardio and sunday i did another body attack and weights. So i did quite a bit this week but I think i may up the intensity and throw a few runs in instead of walks (if i'm feeling up to it!)

I had a fairly quite weekend gone as all my friends are doing exams at the moment and all studying hard. I took my boy out to see boytown on sat night and it was so funny. I really enjoyed it. Caught up with two girlfriends on sunday arvo for coffee and a good catch up. So all in all it was very mellow!!

Have a great rest of the week everyone.

Love amy
xx

Another loss

I lost 400g this week. All up i have lost 6.0kg. I was a little disappointed with this because i have tried so hard this week. But it is TTOM so i might be retaining fluid. This week I did 4 weight trainings, 2 long walks, step class, 5 cardio sessions lasting over an hour. So all up i was happy with that. This week i want to loss a bit more than that so i'm really motivated>
have a good week everyone.

Love me
xx

My Trip itinerary

Well I have payed all of my flights and contiki now so I thought it was time to give you a run down on what i'll be doing. So here goes:

2/3/07- Depart perth and fly to Sydney. Here we are going to see our beloved western force play as I don't know how long it will be before I see them play again (ps. my boyfriend is a complete rugby nut!)

6/3/06- Depart Sydney for Los Angeles
Same day depart LA for Miami (This is our first stint of spring break)

TBC- Depart Miami for Acapulco (second stint of spring break- i'll probably need a new liver by here!!)

TBC- Acapulco to Miami

23/3/06- Depart Miami to St Kitts
26/3/06- Depart St Kitts arrive in Antigua (Start of the cricket world cup)
10/4/06- Deaprt Antigua arrive Grenada
23/4/06 Depart Grenada arrive barbados.
3/5/06- Barbados to New york (my fantasies of New York being like Sex in the city come true!!)
9/5/06- New york to Chicago. Same day Chicago to Minneapolis. Here we are staying with some of my boyfirneds friends.
16/506 Fly to Las Vegas
22/5/05 Fly to Sanfransico and the London.
Arrive in London and start contiki tour where we will be seeing: London, Paris, Beaujolais,Barcelona, French riveria, Venice, Florence, Rome,Corfu, athens and then back to london.
The contiki lasts for 3 weeks
I will then need to start working. On the way home i'll then be visiting africa

So there we go guys that is my trip so far in the planning. It makes me so exctied talking about it. I'll post tomorrow night re my exercise and weight loss stuff after my weigh in. I have a feeling it should be ok tomorrow. I have had a really good week.

Love amy
xx

Here is a photo as promised. Here is my new hair cut and my beautiful boy. Hope you all had a great day. I lost another half kilo this week. Yay- i have no time to write but i'll write again tomorrow!!

The weekend goes so quickly

I can't believe how fast the weekend goes. I suppose it is because I technically only get one full day off with work but still! I have a busy end the week with one of my best friends 21st last night. It was really good. We drank too much and danced lots and didn't embarass her too much in her speech. She told me this morning that she was glad i wrote it out for her because she couldn't really remember us saying it!! She was soo gone.

Exercise wise the rest of this week has been really good. I did body attack and weights on tues, went for an hour power walk on wed, did weights on thursday plus an hour of cardio, did cardio friday and sat and did weights and cardio today. So all in all i am very happy with myself. Food has been pretty good too but i feel like i'm retaining fluid this week. Can blame that prob on TOTM. Anyways i weigh in tomorrow so i'll let you all know.

I'm off to bed now. Sweet dreams and have a great week.
Ps. I have forgotten how to download photos from my camera so when my boyfriend comes tomorrow i'll get him to show me again. hahahaha

Have a great week

Amy

I am still alive!!

I am sorry for not blogging but i have been reading reading everyone's post still. I am going to make a promise to myself to blog at least twice a week. This way this will will keep me honest with my challenge as well and I can write about everything that has been happening. Work has been so chaotic the last couple of weeks. My poor boss had chicken pox and that left me to run everything patient wise. Money wise it has been nice for my trip account. It is now only 4 months away till i go. I am starting to get exctied. I did all my passport stuff today and should be here in 2 weeks!! The photo looks terrible though. You can't smile in the photo so it looks like a mug shot.

Food and exercise wise has been pretty good. I had a plateau for about 2-3 weeks where i only lost about 300g but I lost a 1 kg this week so I hope i'm over that. Only a few kg to goal. I am really noticing a difference and everything is feeling more comfortable and less tight!
I did an 18km walk for Princess Margaret hospital on sunday (from perth to Freo for all perth readers) and did it in 2 hours 39mins. I did it with a friend and we talked the whole way at a fairly fast pace. Yesterday i did an hour of cardio and tonight i plan to do cardio (bodyattack) and weights.

I'll send some more photos as I had a ball on friday night at the perth convention centre and i'll have to send them as i have a new hair do. I have gone back to brown hair as I wanted to take all the blonde out of it before i go away (one less thing to worry about!). I also have a fringe. I haven't had a fringe since i was a little girl. I look so different. So many people have not recognised me.

I have to be off to make my class at the gym. But i promise i'll be back this week to post again!!

This is a picture of my beautiful mum (to the left of me), my aunty (to the left of my mum), my grandma (it was her birthday) and my great aunt (not looking at the camera). All these women are such an inspiration to me and we are all very close.

I have had such a great day today. It all started with a sleep in this morning. I picked up my bf from the airport yesterday morning and we were ment to be going out but the poor thing was so tired we stayed in last night. I woke up this morning and then he made me toast and a cup of tea in bed (I haven't had breakfast in bed for ages!!- it is so good). I was planning to go to the gym this morning but I was enjoying just spending time with him. I then came home mid morning and took my mum shopping. She has to go to the eagles awards night on friday for dads work and she wanted to buy a new dress. 3 and half hours later we came home with a dress, shoes, bag, jewellry and underwear and my feet were so sore from all the walking. I was also soo hungry by the time I got home. She is going to look so hot if I say so myself. She looks so good for her age. I'll post photos after the event!! I then came home made a slad sandwich and watched foxtel for a bit. I then went for a long run and ran really well. And now i'm here writing this!!!

Foodwise and exercise wise has been pretty good. I have lost a total of 4.9kg in 7 weeks so i'm pretty happy with this. I was pretty sick last week with a nasty virus which left me in bed for 3 whole days. All i could do was sleep, sleep and sleep. I think I was so drugged by all the pain medication the doctors gave me. Thank goodness that is all over. So this week I have eased myself into exercise and eating properly again. All I could eat when I was sick was toast and soup.

I am so looking forward to my day off tomorrow. I haven't had three days off in such a long time. I have now finished all my extra work. It is such a huge weight of my shoulders. I was getting all upset last week. Everything just seemed to hard. I was really missing my bf, i had so much work andi was still recovering from my virus. I'm really starting to relax now and i'm really looking forward to a nice sunny day in Perth tomorrow.

So that is a quick update on everything. I know I have been very slack with posting and i will promise now that I have a bit of time to do so more often.

Love Amy
xx

Second try

I hope this works this time!

I am the girl on the right and this at my 21st birthday. Nici is on the left and she is my best bud and have known eachother since we were born. She is coming away with me next year. Now that I know I can do this i'll post photos all the time!!

Yay.

I hope this works

I have attempted to post photos up. Fingers crossed that it has worked!

I need help..

I now have photos on my computer to put up on my blog but do not know how to do it. If anyone can please give me simple instructions to do so my photos will be up in no time. I will keep trying. My post for this week is coming.

Love Amy
xx