First day

The first day of work is always a combination of excitement and anxiety (at least for me). I like when I've been at a place long enough to know the ropes and have a good grasp on the industry, but I also enjoy the unknown of starting a new job.

Today was day 1 here:

I am loving working on one of the top floors, because you get incredible views of the city. This is the highest I've ever been (floor wise).

Another important factor in job satisfaction is obviously nearby lunch options. Today I ate at an organic place (don't remember the name but I will definitely be going back). They had curries, soup, and salads. I had the pumpkin cous cous with an orange juice.

I resisted the vegan lemon cake, buuuuuut I doubt I will be able to resist the dessert options all week.

The day ended on a good note with my iherb package arriving.

And the Aussie was a good hubs and made us a veg-tastic meal for dinner.

All in all it was a very good Monday.

Off to relax,

B

Celebratory Dinner

It's been a bit of a whirlwind day filled with multiple interviews, meeting with the bank, laundry, researching for the jobs, lots of time on public transportation, and a celebratory dinner.

This girl is finally leaving the ranks of the unemployed to become a contributing member of society and her bank account is soon to be very happy (instead of the dried up shriveled mess it is at the moment).

The job isn't a permanent position, but the work is interesting and the location includes great views of the city. I'm really looking forward to it. I was asked to interview yesterday at 5pm, interviewed at 2pm today and was given the job at 4:30pm. Twenty-three hours must be the fastest turn around time ever. I start on Monday, so I guess they had to move fast. I may have told my recruiter I loved her when she gave me the news.

Obviously a dinner was in order once I received the good news (I support any and all reasons to celebrate). We opted for the Burmese House, which we've gone to before. It did not disappoint.

We started with the fermented tea leaf salad.

I ordered the eggplant curry.

And coconut rice.

Plus I got to stare at this face all night.

It was a good night indeed.

I hope your night was as good as mine!
 
Off to zzz land,

B

Easter Weekend 2013

Easter was filled with puppy cuddles, card games, fence building, reading, sleeping in, good food, and far too much chocolate.

How could anyone ever get sick of this face?

Little Charlie has a favourite chair and she loves to hop on top of the pillow on the chair for a nice siesta.

I didn't get a picture of the mischievous Molly, but I did get enjoy some night time Molly time when she likes to cuddle with you on the couch and early morning time where she sits on your lap on the patio. All other times she is begging for human food or tormenting Charlie.

We stopped by Gisborne to snap the picture you need to have when you buy your first house.

It was just me and the Hubs in the car, so we had to go all high tech with the tripod. Um, our neighbours may already think we're crazy when they saw us setting up (awkward!).

Over Easter, I also went to an art show with my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law's girlfriend. I definitely want to go back next year to purchase a painting for the house (I didn't think it was good to buy a painting for the house without the Hubs and before we move in). My mother-in-law bought an amazing painting, so I'll just have to admire that until next year.

Off to watch tv,

B

Bunny face lift

We're heading to the in-laws for the long Easter weekend tomorrow, so today involved creating (and then subsequently destroying) bunny cookies and flourless peanut butter kiss cookies. And of course since we won't be here for Easter, the Easter bunny dropped off our basket a bit early.

That sugar overload will be shared with the fam.

The best bunny/cat cookie looked like this:

Icing artistry work completed by the Hubs.

Unfortunately, the bunnies underwent substantial plastic surgery (literally when I tried to put the saran wrap over them). The bunnies are hopeful that the Hubs will offer free reconstructive surgery.  

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely long weekend and has as much fun as I plan to have with my favourite pugaliers - Molly and Charlie.

The Workout

I went to body pump and walked 6ks.

Off to read,

B

Melting in the kitchen

Today was the highest day in March in Victoria in over 50 years, and I decided to do some baking. I definitely didn't think this plan through. The title says it all.

At the market the other day I bought a cucumber and tomatoes, so I decided to make a panzanella salad. I had some basil on its last leg (I can kill a plant faster than anyone I know).

I figured I could make a nice basil mix for the croutons - basil, oil, garlic. I thought I could use my vitamix to blend the mixture; I could not. I was able to use my onion chopper though (by the way, you need an onion chopper).

The croutons turned out really tasty (as in a few didn't make into the salad).

I moved on to my next baking adventure - biscuits. I served the biscuits with roasted veggies and the Hubs was a happy man.

Now I have to drag my bum to the laundry mat to dry my sheets after a fight with my washer and not enough time before bed for the sheets to air dry. Wish me luck.

Off to dry,

B

Body pump

Body pump is my go-to for a good weight lifting session (okay, it's the only way I'm lifting weights these days). I first discovered body pump in law school in 2008 and since then I've had phases of loving it and hating it. I'm currently in a loving phase and try to make it twice a week.

Body pump involves working each body part for the length of a song - warm-up, quads, chest, back, triceps, biceps, hamstrings, shoulders, abs. It's always in the same order, which when I'm in the "hate" phase makes for a long hour session, but lately the class has been going by really fast. From the Les Mills website it states that you can do up to 800 repetitions with 70-100 per body part. 

What I love about the class is that you really start to notice increased strength with the moves. Lately I've been noticing that I'm getting stronger with the tricep moves and the lunges. Lunges are something I want to train myself to love (seriously, is there a way to love the ahh-it-burns?). I'm a fan of the squats and really like some of the super intense shoulder tracks. I dislike when the instructor sings.

When we move I'm not planning to join a gym, because the one in our area has really inconvenient hours. I'm hoping that I can buy some weights and get into a good home-based weight lifting routine.

The Workout

Today I went to body pump and walked 5ks. 

Off to clean the house,

B

Week 2 Meals

I really enjoyed having a meal plan last week, although Friday ended up being takeout instead of the cauliflower wings (darn you Thai - you get me every single time!).

Let's see what we can wrangle up for this week.

Monday - Pizza and Juice
Tuesday - Summer pasta and juice
Wednesday - TLT and smoothie
Thursday - BBQ with veggie dogs, corn and tomato
Friday - Fridge scavenging / Take-out

This week should be entitled "I don't feel like cooking" (okay, I'm really just being lazy, but we're all entitled to be lazy sometimes). But meal plans, at least for me right now, are more about organising and budgeting than an amazing meal.

Today I went to the market to get some organic produce and decided to try another variety of carrot.

The golden carrot.

Obviously, I had to use these beauties in a fresh juice. I opted for a non-traditional juice (at least for us) and it included - golden carrots, oranges, spinach, lime, and sweet potato.

It was a delicious juice with a mild flavour.

We followed the juice with a healthy portion of summer pasta (this time I added crushed red pepper - yum!).

Now I need to come up with other uses for the basil bunch I have left (suggestions welcomed).

The Workout 

I walked 5ks and went to body pump.

Off to watch tv,

B