London Town

The Scotsman and I are on the night bus to London tonight for 4 days of being tourists,escaping Glasgow greyness and general debauchery and decadence.

Oh,and yeah,the first step of our visa process.EEK! All going well,hopefully this time next year I will be married and living a lovely hippie-punk life in Kiama.

Anyways,being the geeks that we are,we are hitting the Natural History Museum,Emirates Stadium for him (I must clarify I am not an Arsenal fan - the EPL bores me if I'm honest),hopefully some sun in Hyde Park and just being happily lost tourists eating our way through the delights we can't get in the culinary abyss that is Glasgow.

If there's any hidden gems that we must absolutely see please drop me a line.
Oh,And I am off to track down the new Grace Kelly 'To Catch a Thief' barbie.I've developed a habit of collecting fierce bitches in plastic form (and yes,she was a princess and oh so elegant but to me,Grace Kelly is still a fierce beeatch - and that is meant in the most complimentary way.)

Lovely dress.

I <3 this dress.....................

Claire Pettibone

It is way out of my budget though.Le sigh.

Hola! And a lil' frangipani obsession.......

Firstly I have to say CONGRATULATIONS to the fabulous and gorgeous Linzerello on her engagement and her fantastic loss so far.

Well,after a long absence due to total shame and embarrassment of falling of the wagon for yet the millionth time I am back and will keep climbing this here damn weight loss mountain till I win!

Yes,I'm an Aries.Too stubborn and determined for my own good sometimes.

And thank you Miss Margarita for kicking my ample ass into gear

And,I think I may have found my (registry) wedding dress........and it's got frangipanis on it!!!!!! FRANGIPANIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is totally epic in my world.Oh yeah,I blogged about it before,didn't I? Well that's the kind of delirium that a lack of frangipani's and hibiscus for 7 years has done to me.

Anyways,enough floral talk.

Well,the budget cuts have come into effect at work and it's probably been for the best.Yeah my wallet has shrunk from a 'beer wallet (as in 'champagne taste,beer wallet') to a buckfast wallet.Don't know about the Scottish delight that is buckfast? Check this................

However I am less psychotically stressed out and seeing the lovely Scotsman on a regular basis.And I have my Sundays back after 13 years which may be slightly,but only just,more epic than frangipani wedding dresses.

The Scotsman and I have a whole week off together starting Saturday afternoon at 5pm and we are hitting London town.Not much relaxation for us though,it's all in the name of his Aussie visa.Recently I feel my life has been consisting of sleep,work,visa stuff,sleep,work,visa stuff,sleep,work visa stuff..............

Fingers crossed it will all be worth it in the end.We dream of a hippy punk lifestyle.Veggie patch in the garden,morning walks on the Kiama beach with a Harlequin great dane,sunshine and frangipanis in the air,me cooking and baking for all my loved ones and him doing all the cleaning ;P And maybe a wee baby frangipani one day............................

I was going to go back to the gym today but apparently there's a small chance of an apocalypse tomorrow and we could all..............well,you know...............die.

Should the Apocalypse not eventuate I shall resume tomorrow with the wedding dress plan of action (i.e. re-start 2,089,756).

In the meantime,check this out for major food envy........ 365 days of breakfasts Seriously making me re-contemplate my breakfasts or lack thereof.

Blogging will resume after the Rapture.........or not.

O.M.G

I have just discovered where I can buy a frangipani print - pin up - wiggle dress,featured on the cover of Vintage Life magazine.

This has been motivation enough for me to go for a long walk and eat a salad for dinner.

Total FAIL!

Sorry I've been away so long and dropped off the blogosphere.

I've been in a self imposed exile as I was so ashamed of being a total FAIL on the weight loss front.I have so much to tell you all and lot's of photos to share on what you are about o read but I've lost my camera USB.Promise they will come soon once I haul my ass to Boots to put them on a CD.

So much has happened since my last post on stress..........

I turned 31.

My awesome wee sister whisked me away to Barcelona for 3 days as a birthday surprise where much stalking of Messi,Iniesta and Villa ensued..........as well as much inebriation and gluttony.

The cuts have come into work and I think I will be able to get by on what I've got.

The Scotsman and I now have every Saturday night and Sunday off together.

I'm feeling so much happier and stressing far less,though I'm probably a stone heavier :( FAIL!

I.GOT.PROPERLY.ENGAGED!!!!!!! The ring hasn't left my finger since.

Stress!!!!!

UGH! Thank feck that week is OVAH! It's been a horrible,horrible week and as a result I've ate everything in site to combat my emotions.Yes,I know it's totally the wrong thing to do,but I had literally no time to go to the gym or do anything active to get out the stress and rrrrrrrrage.

I know I need to get on top of the emotional binge eating but I just don't know what I can do,short of seeing a shrink! I've mentioned before,but I am soooooo unhappy at work and getting unhappier by the minute.

To summarise,I took a total tumble down the career ladder when I came to Scotland and have now hit a brick wall and can go no further.There is no point me studying any further here,as we (all goes well) will be outta here by the end of the year and my workplace,as with most others,stipulate that I would need to stay 2 years if they put me through my SVQ,plus it takes at least a year.

And the annoying thing is I have ample qualifications and training and experience,both from here and Oz,just not a damn SVQ.So long story short,I have been working 50 - 60 hour weeks for the last 2 years and still don't have a full time contract.I work my arse off and am totally underpaid and undervalued.I work with challenging children who are 2:1 ratio in school and yet I am expected to deal with them and take them out into the community on my own,and I'm seeing people with half the experience and training I have in full time contracts or managerial positions and colleagues totally taking the piss with sick pay and work in general.

And if I hear one more manager saying 'well we're all lucky to have jobs' I am gonna be dragged off by the men in white suits.

I know it's a really hard time economically and people are really struggling for jobs,but sometimes I feel companies (not just mine,but the Scotsman's and friends etc) are just using this to take the piss and make us work like donkeys.

I am actually getting to the point where I am contemplating chucking in support work altogether.What else I would do,I don't know,but I would even happily take a job at Asda or something if it meant a stress free 7 months till we get to Sydney and I work my way up again.

Which brings me to the next moan.My heart is just not in Glasgow.I want to be home.I want sunshine and beaches.I want 40 hour,5 day weeks.I want double the pay I'm earning now (yes my pay would literally double).I want regular time with the Scotsman not a day or afternoon snatched once every 10 days.I want a nice 2 bedroom house,not a flat share.I want to be able to afford to go out on a regular basis.I want 17% tax and no National Insurance. I just don't want to be here.

I know that I'm lucky I have a roof over my head in a huge tenement flat,with chilled out flatmates,full cupboards,a wonderful partner and sister who moved to the other side of the world for me,but I can't help feeling this down.I don't feel like I am living,but merely existing here. So,that's where I'm at and why the horrendous week.Thankfully the damage was only 1lb gained.

Still not an excuse tho.I need to shake off this dark cloud and get on with weight loss and getting to the gym and trying to focus on positives in my life.