Monday, January 07, 2013

Photos!

Right before I had my body lift surgery life got really busy and I didn't get a chance to post some photos that I had put together in a draft. I know we have moved onto a new year now, but I still wanted to post them because I use my blog as my own personal diary to remind me what I did in each year. These are photos from the month before my surgery and some of the funnest times I had in 2012!

MORNINGTON PENINSULA

It was my sister-in-law Connie's 30th birthday so I organised a private little family food and wine tour of the Mornington Peninsula to celebrate. It was such a fun day with lots and lots of good food and wine... and silliness of course.


The early morning bus ride to the Mornington Peninsula, maybe too early for some of us...
 

The first stop was a goat cheese farm, everyone (except me of course) was more interested in playing with the goats


Me and my two sister-in-laws at the first winery (they are the blondes)
 

AJ (left) and my brothers looking a little less enthusiatic about the picture taking


Our group enjoying lunch


Our group being photo whores out the front of a winery
 

Another winery, another tasting...
 

AJ and Juanita pretending to know about wine
 

Enjoying the scenery
 


Connie doing god knows what to that suspicious looking grass sculpture


We had drunk enough wine by this stage to play games on the bus
 

AJ at a cider tasting this time


Slamming down the cider tasting- yum!
 

Oh my god, the best strawberries ever at the strawberry farm
 

We all got an ice cream included in the tour, I think I ate mine and everyone else's too...
TASMANIA HOLIDAY

In late October AJ and I went on a long weekend break to Hobart. We had been to Tasmania last year and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to go back and explore some more. We had another lovely and relaxing trip and we are already planning the next visit!


Being the good Catholic that I am, I had to visit the oldest Catholic Church in Australia


Then the excitement continued with a look at the oldest bridge in Australia...
 

Finally the fun began when we hit some wineries
 
 

Then to our gorgous hotel to get settled for the weekend
 

AJ sitting on the patio of the hotel enjoying the wine and the scenery
 

A trip to the Salamanca markets
 

At the top of Mount Wellington


AJ climbing on rocks... as usual... the wind was so strong up there it literally knocked me over when I tried to climb up


Drinks at a cute bar called Side Car


Before having dinner at the famous Garagistes


A morning walk through the rain at Tahune Airwalk
 

AJ showing off on the air bridge...


Enough with the walking, time for some cheese tasting thank you very much


I so wish I had bought this sticker!
 

A delicious dinner at the hotel
 

Later AJ demonstrated that he has no class-- cannot take him anywhere!


A sad goodbye to our lovely hotel
 

Breakfast... probably the only thing I ate all weekend that didn't involve wine or cheese!
 

The main reason for the trip... MONA (Museum of Old and New Art)


Out the front of MONA


Sampling the wines at MONA before heading to the airport



DERBY DAY

I have only been to the races one time before and that was with work, so not much fun... Seeing as we live so close to the racecourse we decided that we had to attend one of the big races in 2012. We chose Derby Day because it is on a Saturday and it would mean we would have the Sunday to sleep off our hang overs. Plus, it is traditional to wear black and white on Derby Day and we all know that black is slimming!


Getting ready at my place where AJ was the official hair dresser/bartender


Walking into the races and our shoes were already hurting our feet
 

I don't gamble much, but I picked a winner and won $64, this was as exciting as winning a million dollars for me!



Me trying to be classy and drink champagne out of the bottle
 

Connie and Juanita (sister-in-laws) trying to undertsand how the betting works

Me and my high school BFF, Katie, laughing when we were trying to pose for the camera
 

It took about 20 photos to get all four of us in this selfie!
 

As you can see I had another 'big win' as I display my winnings (and arm flab)
 

It was a long day in the sun with a lot of champagne and I promptly fell asleep on my balcony when I got home... at least I crossed my legs...


The others partied on regardless and the boys even joined us (they didn't see the fun in dressing up and paying for drinks at the races when they can drink in their shorts at home for free. Boys...)


Later on AJ grabbed me from the couch and somehow underestimated how light (???) I was and threw me head first into the bookshelves by accident. It was baaaaad... I had to have an ice pack for the rest of the night and a bad bruise and lump for the week after! I had my body lift surgery a few days later and the nurses kept asking me what was wrong with my head.
 

The girls getting their singing on
 

We headed out to a local bar to dance and were pretty much the only people there, but it was still hilarious. AJ took this photo of us walking down the street and I love how his cigarette smoke covers the lense, how very mysterious!
 

The aftermath the next day... fascinators, vodka bottle, a high heel, hair spray, band aides, fake tan... what a night!


Catching AJ eating cold pizza in his underwear behind a tower of empty booze
 

Katie was not feeling it the next day!
 

Me, being the neat freak that I am, had to clean everything before I could even shower



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Friday, January 04, 2013

Salad Recipes

No doubt it is hot, hot, hot here in Australia right now, 41 degrees here in Melbourne today (106 fahrenheit) and it's only the beginning of the expected summer heatwave. So it's the perfect time to be eating some fresh salads and sticking to those healthy New Year's resolutions. I have never been hugely into salads... limp lettuce, cucumber, tomato... but now that there are so many delicious recipes out there  I really want to get more creative with my salads this summer.

I have bookmarked the following mouth-watering recipes from Taste to try over summer:

Avocado, spinach and walnut salad

Mango, avocado and macadamia salad

Asian-style chopped salad

Roasted beetroot and baby spinach salad with walnut dressing

Eggplant and lentil salad with yoghurt dressing

Avocado and corn salad

Apple coleslaw

Lamb, mango and pecan salad

Chargrilled pear and walnut salad

Spicy eggplant and chickpea salad with paprika yoghurt

Chicken and barley salad with avocado and grapefruit

Quinoa salad with asparagus and feta

Yum! I made the last recipe for a New Year's BBQ at my brother's place and everyone went back for seconds-- which is amazing because my family normally prefer to go back for seconds of the meat, not the salad! So who says you don't make friends with salad? I think they all look delicious and I can't wait to try them. Please let me know if you have any great salad recipes to share, I love finding new favourites.

Now I am certainly not a healthy eating salad saint (shock) I also found a pretty amazing Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream recipe that is making me drool just thinking about it!
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Thursday, January 03, 2013

8 Weeks Post Body Lift Surgery

Whoops, with Christmas and everything I missed my week 7 body lift surgery update, but I am back for a week 8 update... just a day late.

I feel almost 100% normal around my tummy, but my back continues to be swollen and uncomfortable. My surgeon had to do a lot of work on my lower back because all of my excess skin and fat sat above my bum, rather than attaching to my bum and hips like most women. I am hoping that this is why the swelling is so bad and it will eventually go down. I know it can take 3-6 months for the swelling to disappear so I have my fingers crossed it will clear up. I have my next follow-up appointment with my surgeon at the 3 month mark so if I haven't seen some major improvement by then I will get him to check out what is going on.

When I saw my surgeon for my second follow-up appointment at the start of December he told me that I didn't have to wear my compression garments anymore. I have kept wearing them about 95% of the time because I feel like I still need the support and I figure that it may help with my swelling too. I thought I might be able to get away with wearing some spanx instead of the full garment, but they were too painful to get on. I guess I forgot that the special medical garments have clips and zips down each side to make it easy to get on over swollen body parts and you need to pull those tiny spanx up over your thighs, hips and bum. Ouch.

My surgeon also removed my surgical tapes at my last appointment and replaced them with some silicone tape to help with scarring. He gave me siltape to use and recommends I continue to use it for the next few months. It is expensive to buy here in Australia ($30 a roll, which only does a couple of applications) but the good thing is that it does stay on for a while and I don't have to change it too often.

Aside from my back swelling I am feeling really good and my only other problem is the amount of food I keep shoving into my mouth. You would think that having my new body would inspire me to do better, but I have been eating terribly over the holidays. My head tends to get in a bad place over the holidays because they can be a tense time and I tend to let the stress get to me. As soon as January 1st comes around I feel a sweep of relief and calm and my eating goes back to normal.

I know I have gained a fair bit of weight since my surgery 8 weeks ago, but the weird thing is that the weight has gone on my body in different places than normal. Once you undergo liposuction the fat cells are removed and the fat won't go back to those areas. So all the weight I have gained has gone to my arms, upper back and boobs and I am looking a little top heavy like the Hulk. I must say that I don't mind the bigger boobies I have grown, especially in contrast to my smaller waist, but unfortunately I am gaining the weight in other less desirable places too... I am not too worried about the weight gain because I am confident I will work it off.

Here are some truly terrible photos taken of me on New Year's Eve that give a better idea of how my shape is coming along at the week 8 point. I hope that improving my eating and getting back into exercise over the next few months will help me tone up and give me some better proportions in my shape.

Looking normal from the front


Demonstrating those massive boobies from the side


The worst photo of all, my Hulk like back and shoulders

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