The Studio

Luke has been on holidays for the last two weeks so that we could get our studio ready in time for my 30th Birthday (tomorrow). As of today it is officially done. We have turned it from this:

To This:

Just this week alone. I am officially knackered. I am now settled down with a beer, I'm going to leave the birthday cake making until tomorrow morning!!

The Rankeloffice

We are in the final stages of converting our big solid brick shed into a studio... the floor boards are down, the new glass doors and window are in, almost all the gyprock is up on the walls and ceiling.... pretty much just the painting is left to do.

And this is where our small problem lies.... Delilah (3.5 years) has commandeered one of the large wardrobes that will cover a wall, and filled it with all sorts of things.... hers and Mackenzies out door chairs, ted and baby doll can often be found insitu along with many of Luke's tools that sneakily go missing, infact both D and M go missing in there quite often too. When we asked her about it the other day she told us it's her rankeloffice....
I have no idea what this means, but I do suspect that once this room is finished we may have to consider a cubby house...... or on second thought maybe if I mention the words cubby house to luke he might be inclined to leave the cupboard empty, just so he can avoid any further building:)

These Feet Were Made For Running

I've been running regularly as my exercise of choice since I was 13...... that's an almost 17 year love affair with sneakers and fresh air. I remember the first time I ran 2.5km in a row with out stopping and how proud of my self I was after... I even later wrote an english essay about it, I was in year 9.

My relationship with running hasn't always been healthy... I had times where I ran too much, and didn't eat enough. I did have one year in that time where I mixed the running up with a short relationship with the gym.... I went back to running, it was convinient and FREE!

When I became pregnant with Delilah, I stopped running, I was too scared to, so I had 8 months off... and then another 3 months because she was so big (9 pound, 9 ounce) the physio suggested it might not be a great idea to start again any sooner. When I became pregnant with Mackenzie I stopped again then too, I have no idea where the fear of running while pregnant came from, there is no basis for it, anyway, another 8 months off for me and as she was not quite so big (8 pound, 9 ounce) I started up running again when she was 6 weeks... that was actually quite enpowering.

It's pretty safe to say that my attitude to excercise had been pretty relaxed when the girls became part of my life, I often used the excuse of being a mum and not having enough time to excercise to cover up the fact that I just couldn't be bothered. I had forgotten how good it made me feel, when I did go running I'd kind of jog along half heartedly...... but then something funny happened, I walked the City to Bay with my big sister last year, I was quite unwell and had done no training, but none the less we managed it in quite a speedy walking time of 1 hour and 20 mins.... and that was my turning point.

Fast forward one year, and I have lost 10kg and am back running at least five times a week. I only miss out on Tuesdays and Fridays because I work. On the weekend for the last 6 months I have been doing a long run with my best friend, with City to Bay training in mind, two weeks ago we ran 14km, the longest distance I have ever run. On the other days of the week I mix it up with shorter distances, anywhere between 6 km and 3.5 km and I throw hill runs into the mix.

The most amazing result in all of this is how good I feel. Strong and in control, and best of all I have reclaimed precious thinking time, one of the reasons I have always loved running so much, the quiet time to ponder the many things that go on in my head. I can leave the house feeling stressed out and come home blissfully relaxed.

So next week, when I run in the City to Bay, for the first time in almost 10 years, I will be thinking about what a difference a year makes..... and how much of me I have reclaimed in that time:)

Grateful Sunday: Father's Day

Today I am most grateful for this man, my husband Luke (like my daughters he's difficult to take an unfuzzy photo of because he never keeps still):



And my precious babies:



I have blogged before about how grateful I am for my family, but over the last few days, I have thought more and more about how lucky I am to have them, as my heart goes out to a friend who has had to say goodbye to her angel baby.

Today, I am hugging my family just that little bit tighter. We have enjoyed a family breakfast, glorious sunshine and a fun couple of hours at our local swimming center. We do have a very charmed life.