Tag Archives: Change

You Don’t Win Friends With Salad

Posted in Practicing What I Preach by

It’s time for my first food confession of the year… and while my battle over breakfast continues – although I am glad to report that I am getting better, and so far this year I have been back at work for a week and I have had a good breakfast everyday… but summer has challenged me on another life long bad habit…

Em’s Bad Food Habit no. 2

I really don’t like eating salad…  I love vegetables – in fact I can’t think of a single cooked vegetable that I don’t enjoy… but when it comes to fresh salad… I just struggle… really really struggle… It’s always been like this… even in summer when I was younger, my brothers and I would always go for some cooked veg over salad… despite the fact that a salad would have been much more refreshing.  As I have gotten older there have been numerous occasions when I have eaten salad because I was being watched, or I was at someones house or I didn’t want to be a bad example, but at home… I still avoid it.

When it comes to getting my 5 veggies, not eating salad isn’t that big a deal, but I know that if I am going to practice what I preach… I am going to have to start eating my fresh greens.  (as a side note Dave loves salads, so learning to eat them would also make family meals over summer much more enjoyable for Davo.)

There is no reason I don’t eat them, they just don’t get me excited like roasted veggies do… the thought of sitting down to a salad makes me feel like I am missing out on something better, something more satisfying, something tasty.  But the truth is a salad can be all of those things… I just need to get creative.

So why is salad so important?

Well… it’s not really salad… it’s vegetables and if I am really honest over summer, while I would happily eat hot vegetables everyday, I often don’t want to cook them in the heat, especially in the weather we have had this week… I don’t want to be cooking anything… so I just skip them… which is not ideal… so salad needs to become the way I get my 5 veg in the warmer weather.  And why do we need to get our 5 veg? Well let me tell you…

  1. Veggies are nutrient dense – that is they are packed full of nutritious vitamins and minerals without all the extra calories.  They give us just what we need and very little of what we don’t.  Different veggies have different vitamins and minerals so the best way to make sure you are getting what you need is to eat a variety different types and colour veggies.

  2. Veggies are also high in fibre – they keep us regular and help our bodies get rid of waste as efficiently as possible.

Just like a regular breakfast, getting adequate amounts of vegetables has no downside… it helps maintain a healthy weight, assists with waste disposal and provides us with exactly what we need.   The key with vegetables is variety… lots of different colours and types, as they all offer slightly different things, but if you are including a little bit of all of them regularly you can’t go wrong.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be there.

My goal…

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The reality is I need to embrace salads, not the creamy ones filled with pasta, potato and rice, but the salad salads, filled with salad greens and what not.  I need to practice what I preach and if I can’t have cooked veg, or I can’t be bothered cooking veg, then I have to go with salad… it’s not a meal if it doesn’t have vegetables.  (In fact a good rule of thumb is to make sure half the plate at lunch and dinner is non-starchy vegetables, that is… everything except potato and corn).  I need to take some of my own advice and give it a go, try a few different salads, play around with different combos and maybe even through some fruit and cheese in there to spice it up, but not too much or it’ll be missing the whole point.

I am not really sure how I will measure this… but it is something that needs to be done… I have to be committed and give it a go… in fact the picture above is dinner from Monday night… my first attempt at a friends dressed Greek Salad recipe… maybe I can post some more pictures and some salad recipes of the favourites I find along the way… but most importantly I need to practice what I preach… walk the talk… eat my salad… and be better for it…

Farewell Orders

Posted in Life by

Today has been a funny old day, a real mixture of emotions.  Today was our farewell meeting for our current officers, or ministers, at church.   In the salvos this is something that happens fairly regularly, although not always atmy church, my corps.  Somewhere each year this same experience happens, but this is the first time in 5 years that Box Hill has experienced this change, and if I am honest it’s the first time it’s happened since I have been adult enough to really understand what it means.

Last time our officers changed I was 21, but in terms of my church life I was just really getting started, I had been attending for 21 years and I knew my leaders well, but mostly because they were friends with my parents.  5 years ago, I was just about to take on the children’s ministry leadership role and before this, I had done little bits and pieces around the corps but nothing huge.   I was doing my own thing, worrying about how it impacted me, and not really considering the role it played in the bigger picture… or who else it really impacted.

Now 5 years later, I have had lots of different leadership roles and grown up a little.  I have realised that while my officers and leaders are important, I play a role with them, I am also invested, it’s not just their jobs and my jobs, in a church… its our church,

our community and our ministry.  So today was the first time I had to say goodbye to leaders I had worked with, side by side, people who had supported me and helped me to grow in my faith, and in using my skills and talents for the kingdom in way that I could understand and appreciate now as an adult.

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The thing is, while this is a sad time, it is also the beginning of something new as we welcome new leaders to our church, to our team, our community and ministry.  And while it is hard to say goodbye, without goodbye there can be no new chapter, this season must come to an end so that the next one can start… and this is an exciting thing, new ideas, fresh vision and a change… but change is hard… and right now I am sitting in the middle… and it feels a little uncomfortable.  But regardless of how I feel, it is going to happen… so I wanted to take a minute to write it all out… share the impact Greg and Priya have had on my life and how much I have valued, their wisdom, support, friendship, love and sacrifice.  They have seen the best and worst of my life, from family rough patches to marrying my prince charming, from finishing my education to moving out of home and starting adult life.  They have been there for it all and I have appreciated their input more than I can express in a simple thank you blog.  I hope that their next chapter is an incredible one, and that God will bless them abundantly.

I am looking forward to the next chapter at Box Hill, I know God still has big things in store and as a wise principle from my high school days drilled into me… it’s not good, it’s not bad… it’s just different.

2013 – Through the eyes of my iPhone

Posted in Christmas, Family, Food, Friendship, God, Life, Photo A Day, Project 365, The List by

Another year done and dusted… and once again it’s time to reminisce on what the year has brought.  It’s kind of overwhelming to look at the year in one go like this.  In many ways it feels like 2013 just started, but when I look at all the things i’ve done this year, it feels like a long time.

2013 has been another busy busy years, with lots of excitement, fun and laughter, some tears and sadness but it has all played an important part in the year that was… and without it.. it would have been pretty boring.  There are still things I wish I had have achieved this year, but there is lots of things that I have done which have been bigger and better than I could have imagined.  And just like the last couple of years I have taken a photo everyday, some good ones, some boring ones, and some in-between, but it gives me a good recap of all that happened in 2013… so here is 2013 through the eyes of my iPhone…

JANUARY…

Jan

Highlight: January was fun month full of all good things about summer… sun, friends, family and the beach.  There was a lowlight of my computer dying, but that was outweighed by weddings, new puppies, dinner with family and some time at the beach with rellies from overseas… well played january.

FEBRUARY…

Feb

Highlight: All things outdoors – my new herb garden, a new sleeping bag, moonlight cinema, young adults camp, oh and an indoor night with Keith Urban…

MARCH…

Mar

Highlight: New apple products – a new laptop and my iPad mini… Fun weekends in Inverloch where Dex met Abe oh and Kate got married… March was a winner month.

APRIL…

Apr

Highlight: My Birthday and everything that went with it… crossing things off my list… although I am not sure if bikram yoga is a highlight or lowlight… but the most exciting moment of all is getting the call that said my best friend was engaged!  So much love and joy in one call.

MAY…

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Highlight: Dave’s school production of Les Mis… hands down… it was simply the best, such a wonderful bunch of talented kids and teachers… well done WCC…. Also Jake got enrolled as an adherent and that was pretty awesome.

JUNE…

Jun

Highlight: Camping… I have decided I love it… I love the tent, I love the adventure and I love our new tradition of timer photos.

JULY…

Jul

Highlight: Jake turned 21… and it was fun!  Oh and there was more camping which was also fun.

AUGUST…

Aug

Highlight: Well actually it’s a lowlight, in August we said goodbye to Dave’s Nanny, which was sad, but it did mean I was able to learn a whole heap about Dave and his family, look through lots of pictures and reminisce which I love.

SEPTEMBER…

Sep

Highlight: September was a big month, we went on another road trip, I got an awesome Tupperware haul, the Hawks won the flag and I finished my teaching rounds.  Overall a pretty impressive month.

OCTOBER…

Oct

Highlight: The highlight for October definitely has to be upping the anti on 2012 and completing my 21.1km half marathon at the Melbourne Marathon Series with my Dad and Davo.

NOVEMBER…

Nov

Highlight: Kempy got married, I got a veggie garden and we crammed in a whole lotta date days…

DECEMBER…

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Highlight: Another December, another year of Christmas being the highlight… In particular this year a special mention goes to Carols by Candlelight, the fireworks and Bruce, my penguin snow globe.  Man I love Christmas.

So that’s it… another year condensed into pictures and a highlight or two… so much madness compacted…

Here’s to 2014… I’m hoping its even better…

Practicing Gratitude

Posted in Life, Practicing What I Preach, The List by

Gratitude is a pretty crazy thing… It can change a person’s whole outlook on things… on life even… Recently in a book I was reading I came across the concept of practicing gratitude. In the book it was a simple task of wearing a gratitude bracelet which reminded the wearer to be thankful whenever they noticed the band… it could have been for something big or small, it didn’t matter it was just about taking a moment to stop and be thankful.

Sometimes I think I forget this… I forget to stop and smell the roses so to speak, every now and then it hits me and I am seriously thankful for heaps of things, but then in a moment it can all be gone… back to normal, back to woe is me, or my day sucks… Practicing gratitude is something that I have been trying really hard to do this year, with some success, but not that much… I know it is something that I need to keep working on so that gratitude and seeing the good in a situation is my first response not my last… I want it to be my default position… a heart that is open to seeing the best, not the worst, to appreciating, not taking for granted… and not only noticing the massive life changing things, but being thankful for all the tiny things in between. So to try and help me do this I added it to the list… right at number 38… ‘make a gratitude jar and use it’. I used a jar idea that I found on Pinterest which means it also crosses no. 46 off the list as well, but the jar is there for me to add to… big and small… and I think it has been working to a certain extent… sometimes I forget about it and it’s weeks before I add to it, but other times I am madly scribbling things I am thankful for onto strips of paper ready for the jar. These little strips get folded into little origami stars (no. 40) and popped in the jar so that when I am feeling a little down one quick look at the jar makes me feel happy, thanks to the stars, coloured paper and the pretty fabric lid that I got from Mum’s work, but also quickly reminds me there are so many things I can be thankful for. And if I need more convincing I can always unfold a star and read what I wrote.

Gratitude Jar

I am hoping that by the end of the year I will be so good at practicing gratitude that my jar will be full… and that it will be a daily habit, where I am always looking for the good and positive. That soon I will be able to say I practice gratitude regularly… and I am truly grateful, coz lets face it, gratitude and happiness are much better than bitterness and worry.

‘Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart’
Colossians 4:2 (NLT)

Beating Breakfast

Posted in Life, Practicing What I Preach by

Ok… so this is my first attempt and practicing what I preach and sharing that journey with you, I have decided to set out with a little structure, just so that it is clear what to do and what not to do… because trust me, just because I am currently doing it, doesn’t mean it is ok… So here is how it will work… I will let you in on my secret bad food habits, tell you why it is bad and what needs to be done instead and then tell you my plan… coz lets face it accountability is what makes the world go round…

Em’s Bad Food Habit no. 1

Breakfast is something that I am constantly telling my clients is important, but unfortunately it is also my worst meal of the day… I just find it really hard… so hard that  last year I had 3 breakfast specific items on my list and this years list includes a breakfast ultimatum… coming in at no. 8 is ‘Stop buying breakfast regularly’… it’s time to break my bad breakky habits, which include skipping it altogether, allowing chocolate to be an appropriate choice and various forms of liquid breakfast including up & go and ice breaks.  Now if you want me to I can justify all of these choices, but the reality is its not ok… I need to start the day right… and that means a nutritious and regular breakfast.

So why is breakfast so important?

Well there are a couple of reasons…

  1. Our bodies work with a feedback system, telling us when to eat and when we are full, the second part of that feedback isn’t as quick as the first, but regular meals can help the body better regulate these systems to make them more effective.

  2. Our brains need fuel to work… no breakfast usually means a slower brain, well not exactly but you know what I mean, concentration is hard without food.

  3. Breakfast can help with weight control… research tells us that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight or obese than those who skip this meal regularly!

Basically having breakfast has no downside… it helps maintain a healthy weight, regulates our body and makes us work better… what is there to lose…  The good news is it doesn’t have to be gourmet or fancy… your best bet is a high fibre, low GI choice… from a cereal to multi-grain toast to a breaky muffin (not the store brought variety)… the hardest bit is actually doing it… or maybe that’s just me.

My goal…

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Well it is pretty much what is on the list… stop buying breakfast… when I buy breakfast I make bad choices… usually an ice break from 7-11… it not only expensive… but just lazy…  since I have started my new job I have been making a concerted effort to have breakfast before I leave the house so that I have no reason to stop… and so I don’t buy rubbish… and so far there have been some good days, but some of my old habits have snuck back in.  I have often stuffed up and brought an ice break, but there has still been a whole lot more eating breakfast at home than I have done probably in the last 4 years…  so as a little encouragement for me to stop, and a deterrent from going back… I have done some maths for my weekday breakfasts… an ice break from 7-11 costs $3.80, that’s at the very least $19 (if I don’t get tempted by all the other goodies available) which is $912 a year… wow… which also comes out of my pocket money which I could be using for much more exciting things… compared to having breaky at home… lets take some Weetbix, just as an example… 3 Weetbix with a cup of low fat milk costs about 68cents… that’s $3.40 a week… or $163.2 a year… so by just having breakfast at home I can save $749… that’s CRAZY!

So not only will I save a bunch of money… but I will be setting myself up for the day, helping improve my intake (coz lets face it, everyone knows Weetbix are better for you than iced coffee) and hopefully my weight…  but more importantly I will be practicing what I preach… walking the talk… and being better for it…

What I learnt from my month at the gym…

Posted in Exercise, Life by

It feels like forever ago already, but less then two months ago I was on a trial at fernwood fitness. A friend of mine put the offer of a months free pass out into the world of Facebook… And even though I didn’t think I was probably one of the friends she had in mind when she put it up, I expressed my interest. The truth was I had always been a little curious about whether or not I would like the gym… Whether or not I would get much out of it… Or whether or not the reasons I had for not pursuing it earlier were true. Yet here I was with a Facebook message that said the 30day pass was mine… Enjoy. Now even though the trial finished in February and I haven’t continued at the gym, I did learn a thing or two from the experience…

1. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you can do, people will make assumptions and judgements based on what they see first…
This was probably the low light of my experience, but thankfully it was just a couple of people… just because I am bigger than you think I should be doesn’t mean I am lying about my exercise routine, my weight and what I do… I do exercise regularly, I know my weight and height… if you want it and I am a dietitian whether you like it or not…

2.  I could get used to the gym routine…
I have to admit I really started to get into the grove of squeezing it in around everything else, mostly first thing in the morning, but every now and again before or after something in the evening…

3. I am stronger than I thought…
On my weights intro session I had to use a piece of equipment called the ‘captain’s chair’… I am not really sure if that’s the real name for it… but that;s all I got… Anyway, it required me to lift my legs up while supporting the rest of my body weight with my arms and back… when I looked at it my initial thought was ‘no way… I haven’t been able to lift my own body weight with my arms since primary school and even then I was rubbish at it’. But feeling the need to prove myself I gave it a go and surprised my self… sure I wasn’t amazing but I could do it… more than once… and even if my trainer wasn’t… I was impressed.

4. ‘Free’ is a good motivator…
Because I had the 30day trial and I had already decided I probably wasn’t going to pay to continue I wanted to get as much out of the trial as I could… that meant cramming in session after session, all with the motivation ‘it’s free so you may as well make the most of it’. I have to admit the time limit also helped as I already knew it wouldn’t last forever… all I needed it to do was to kick me into gear again… get my exercise for 2013 rolling… and it worked… I think the fact that it was free made it feel like it a challenge and an opportunity… a gift that I could take and use or waste and I am glad I used it.

So there you go… my month at the gym… worth it, even with the good, the bad and the ugly.

fernwood

2012 – Through the eyes of my iPhone

Posted in Christmas, Family, Food, Friendship, God, Life, Photo A Day, Project 365, The List by

Once again I find myself reminiscing on the year gone by, still finding it hard to believe that another year is over… This year, just like all those gone by has been busy, filled with all things that tell me I am alive, highs, lows, fun, laughter, tears and sadness.  I find this time of year really both happy and sad, I love looking back on what I have achieved, as well as planning some adventures for next year.  Yet I also feel sad about the things I couldn’t or didn’t do, or perhaps the time that I wasted on things that I shouldn’t have, but I know that really this is what makes up a year, it’s all just part of it.

Anyway, I really enjoyed using my project365 photos to help me capture all that happened in 2012… both the good and bad… so here is 2012 through the eyes of my iPhone, with a highlight for each month some big, some small but all highlights… oh and maybe some special mentions…

JANUARY…

Jan

Highlight: January was a list frenzy, everything from cleaning, baking, getting fit and eating… and all of it was heaps of fun, especially because it most of them were crossed off with friends and family.  Time well spent.

FEBRUARY…

Feb

Highlight: Weekend’s away at the beach.

MARCH…

Mar

Highlight: Taylor Swift with some very excited young girls… oh and great food…. Steak Sandwiches… yum yum.

APRIL…

Apr

Highlight: My Birthday and everything that went with it… including my kindle… man I love that thing.  Special Mention goes to the Inverloch house which we said goodbye to in April, I have lots of fond memories and while it may not have been a highlight of this month, that house certainly has played a big part in summer and holiday highlights of years gone by.

MAY…

May

Highlight: Our trip to New Zealand, and being able to celebrate Brian and Jean’s 60th Wedding anniversary… oh and our first one.  Oh and a special mention to my first classroom teaching placement.

JUNE…

June

Highlight: A few bonus trips to Bendigo and all the fun that that brings… it’s a fun place to be especially when you have friends like mine.

JULY…

July

Highlight: Getting my Donna Hay on, not once, but thrice.  July also has a few important birthday’s in it which always deserve a special mention.

AUGUST…

Aug

Highlight: Dave’s Secondary Performance Dinner (SPD) with Jake.

SEPTEMBER…

Sep

Highlight: Getting stuck into my exercise and loving it… no sarcasm, actually loving it.  Oh and finishing placement is worth a special mention.

OCTOBER…

Oct

Highlight: Completing my 10km run at the Melbourne Marathon Series.

NOVEMBER…

Nov

Highlight: Dust and Jess got married… doesn’t get much more exciting than that… although the colour run does get a special mention.

DECEMBER…

Dec

Highlight: Christmas… the food, the gifts, the carols and the fun… always a winner especially the town hall lights… that was very cool.

So there you go… my year… it seems simple when you put it all together like that, but it wasn’t, it was good though and I am hoping that 2013 is just as good… maybe even better.

200 blogs later…

Posted in Life by

This is my 200th blog… well actually it’s my 203rd blog, because being the silly duffer that I am I forgot to post some Wordless Wednesdays and now I have moved this one down the list… anyway, it’s still a pretty massive milestone really, well I think so anyway… It’s taken me just over a year to get here and while it might still be only for me, I hope that others have found at least some of it, informative if not entertaining. I know recently my blogs have been a little disjointed and have had very little words, but they have still managed to do what I originally intended… record my life so that when I look back I can see what I have done and how far I have come…

In fact when I have a look at how far I have come from my very first blog I am actually amazed… and because I love a good stat… check this out:

It all started back in 2006, (on the 17th of June to be exact) with my first blog… which, unfortunately was self titled… but now I refer to it as ‘the original’… and there I posted 125 posts and had 1033 page views… some of my most hilarious work… and my original list of 100 things to do.

In 2009 after a little break there was ‘22 adventures’ which documented my journey to Castlemaine as a 22 year old… this was a particularly challenging chapter of my life and while perhaps not all of it made it to the blog I am so thankful that it is there for me to have as a reminder of how much I grew and the things I accomplished. Oh and on that blog even though it was only a year I posted 213 blogs 1147 page views

While I was posting my life away on 22 adventures I decided that I could also get a little bit of spiritual accountability from the blogosphere… enter ‘immeasurably more’… 50 posts and 276 page views

Once I turned 23 I wasn’t ready to quit… although I did not long after… but I moved on to ‘Just add one scoop of randomness’ which despite the fact that it lasted less than a year still allowed me to share 65 blogs of wisdom… and have 762 page views… and while I was blogging here I also started my very first project365… which had a blog of it’s own containing 117posts and 364 page views…

And now I am here… 203posts later and 5569 page views… and still going strong… well strongish and because I am sick of moving blogs… I am here to stay…

So if you do the math… that actually makes this my 800th blog… and 9151 page views… which… if you are a negative Nancy… or a Pessimistic Paul… is a lot of wasted time and words… but I am not so I don’t mind…

For me that is 800 moments of my life, good, bad, ugly, perfect and everything in between… there have been serious blogs, honest blogs, silly blogs and a whole lot of catching up. Even now it still isn’t quite where I want it to be, but I think it’s getting closer… maybe… I still wish I was more honest and felt comfortable blogging about the things that really burdened my heart, but I am not quite there yet. Sometimes I get super confident and put it out there, but most of the time I end up giving a tamer, more politically correct version of my thoughts, because just because I think them doesn’t mean they need to be, or should be shared… and most of the time it is actually better when my brain filter engages.

I don’t think there have been any life changing moments and I am pretty sure I have written about three of these blogs questioning the purpose of my blogging as well as promising to be more honest… in fact recently I have even been questioning whether I want all this stuff out there on the internet… but I think its too late for that now. Maybe one day in years to come they will dig up this website and I will become one of those anonymous women of history who people try to trace back and find the long lost family of… that would be cool… unlikely, but cool. I guess when I look back I have tried new things, had some fun adventures, and hopefully matured a little as I have gone… but when I look really close I am still the same Curious George I started as… just documenting life so that I can reminisce whenever I want to…