Me and my mate Jack...

OH. MY. GOD.
I completely forgot how bad it feels to be at work after a night on the grog. Seriously.
So I swapped my normal Saturday shift at work with my mate Rox, who does Sundays normally, and toddled off to a bbq yesterday. My friend Andrea, who was coming along to my posing classes, is moving to the Gold Coast next month, and decided to throw a farewell/Christmas bbq at her place. Now I should have predicted the messiness that came along with said bbq, when I told her I possibly wouldnt be there til 5 if I couldn't switch my work shifts (bbq was starting at 12). She replied that would be fine as several ppl were planning on staying the night so they could have a few drinks.
So I got there at about 2pm, and took a mere 4 voddie cruisers with me. Figured I would go the lightweight drinks, and only a few of them, as I had driven there. WRONG. I was promptly (think it took a whole 3 mins after arriving) talked into calling my mother and asking her to pop over to my place in the evening to feed my dogs and give Trixie her meds in case I didn't make it home.
Enter the following:

YEP. Black sambuca shots. Actually, that's slightly inaccurate. Double shots would be a better description.
Well we ran out of black sambuca pretty quickly, so we found a designated driver, and off to the local IGA to restock on the grog.
We got back to the bbq, and resumed the shots.

I was alternating drinking a bottle of cruiser with double sambuca shots...and when the cruisers ran out (didn't take long, those things literally disappear in 2 gulps!) I moved onto:

Now, let me just say for the record (I think I am telling myself this moreso than anyone else)...JACK IS NOT MY FRIEND. I thought he was, in fact just last night I was sure of it. But I can say now, hand on heart, that he most certainly is not my buddy today.

So anyway, I recall having some kind of D&M with a few randoms, fuck knows what about exactly, but I am sure they are much better people having had me pass on all my wisdom last night. I also recall (and thanks to modern technology, aka sms 'sent items', have confirmed my worst fears) sending several random text messages to people I am sure could have done without said text messages (note to self: do not take mobile phone on drinking expeditions), and lastly I recall curling up on the couch for a little rest...I think it was only about 9.30pm...and waking up at 3am feeling slightly seedy and wondering where the fuck everyone was!! I managed to get back to sleep for a couple more hours before rising at 6am and having the worst imaginable 40min drive home...unfortunately there was no choice involved as previously mentioned - I had to get to work this morning. So I did my best to down my usually favourite meal, brekkie, then came to work early and trained legs. Now, it's been a while since I did this, but for the record...leg training with a mighty big hangover sucks arse. Big time. Squats were probably the worst of it so gladly got those over with first, and had to forego the deadlifts - wasn't sure tipping my head downwards was going to be a pleasant (or pretty) experience.

Anyway managed to hold onto my breakfast through the session and have downed about eleventy-eight thousand coffees (I know, water is what I should be guzzling but it's caffeine I need right now!). I would give my firstborn (not that I have one) for some sleep right now!

Speaking of which...before I leave you I gotta share some exciting news...my gorgeous friend Rachael had a baby girl about an hour ago...I can't wait to go visit tonight!!! :)

Anyway party people, better jet, talked your ears off enough already...so til next time...train hard and be good...

Vic x

Early Christmas :)

OMG. How fricken hot has it been! Not that I am complaining at all, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the heat. I would swap winter for endless summers ANY day. In fact I have purposely done many an overseas holiday to the Northern Hemisphere just to miss winter :)

Thursday was a bit of a scorcher, I think it reached about 38 degrees where I am, but I worked through most of it so didn't feel it too much. In fact in the gym because the air con is cranked right up, I spend most of my days in a jacket - much to the amusement of anyone entering the gym and escaping the outside temperatures. The gym was abso-bloody-lutely D.E.A.D on Thursday, and I am assuming the heat was to blame.

Yesterday was even hotter. It was in the low 40's...melting temperatures. I got up and trained early even though it was my day off work - figured I would get the training done before it got too hot. Smashed out a rip-snorter of a chest/shoulders/tris session...LOVE it. Then I went home to eat, have a nap in front of the air con, etc... The plan was to take my white butt to the beach and hopefully get some colour...however I quickly decided that I probably wouldn't be the smartest person in the world to by lying out in the sun in such hot weather. So I stayed home and spent lots of quality time with my loungeroom (where the aircon is lol). I even put up my Chrissy tree :) YES I know it's not December yet but, I justify it in the following ways:

• It was too hot to be anywhere other than my lounge room, therefore I was smart to do things that needed to be done in there;
• Christmas trees are so pretty and make you feel all cheery. Why limit that to a measly month?
• I spent the last 3 years living in Newtown, and anyone who knows Newtown knows how cramped the houses/terraces are. I had no room for a Christmas tree and therefore went for THREE Christmases without one. So dammit, I want to enjoy having one up for as long as possible this year!
• Christmas trees take sooooo bloody long to erect and dismantle that I want it to be up long enough to be worth the fricken effort!!

So once it had cooled down slightly, mainly thanks to the galeforce winds we had (WTF!!) in the afternoon, I took myself off to the supermarket as I needed to stock up on some grocery items. Anyway I got there and decided I needed a caffeine hit so took myself off to Gloria Jeans for my regular long black with a dash of soy (yep, even in this heat...) and bumped into one of my girlfriends. Now this friend of mine was one of my best mates, I was even Maid of Honour at her wedding 6 years ago, but we have fallen a bit out of touch in the last year or two. She moved out of the area a few years back, and I can't even tell you the last time I actually saw her, so bumping into her was great. We had coffee together and then I ended up going back to her mother's place (that's where she was coming from, she was visiting there for the afternoon and her 3-and-a-half year old twin girls were there). OMG they have gotten so so so big and cute, they speak so well and copy everything the other does. We also organised for me to go to a bbq at their place after work next Sunday - I can't wait to have a proper catch up with her and her hubby, who I also love to death.

I am at work at the moment (it's like 39 today and I am in here with jacket on again), finish at 4 today and then off to our staff Christmas party tonight. We are off to a Greek restaurant that specialises in parties...ie after the food is over, they clear the tables out of the way and it turns into a night club. So YAY for yummy Greek food while not dieting and YAY for cowboy shots (did I say that out loud??) and YAY for dancing the night away :-)

Stay tuned for the messy photos...

Til next time, train hard and be good

Vic x

Water logged week wrap up

So another week over with...and another weekend with it :( Suffering pre-Monday-itis tonight and really CBF at the moment! Hmmm must be drawing towards the end of the year!! lol

Training and nutrition have been really good this week. The tummy bug kinda stuck around for a little longer than I had hoped, but mostly in the form of nausea and sporadic tummy cramps. So I soldiered on with my training and ate well all week. Thursday morning I did a rip-snorter of a leg session. I know it was a rip-snorter session cos the DOMS kicked in, hmm, maybe a couple of hours after training. And the session-type was confirmed when on Friday evening, some 36 hours later, my legs were still visibly swollen. And further confirmation was granted when I realised just how much fluid retention was going on, when it literally felt like the skin around my calves was going to split open. Now we are talking 11pm Friday night I was in agony. The training session took place on Thursday morning at 6am. The fluid was gone by Saturday morning (OK maybe with the aid of some pre-bed herbal diuretics) and back down to normal weight, which I was stoked about. Leg DOMS subsided by Sat evening, just in time for me to give them a caning again this morning ;)

On a personal note, weekend was pretty good. Aside from the shit of having to work Saturdays (it sucks having a split weekend, my days off are Friday/Sunday....WARNING - RANT TIME... I usually waste Fridays as all my mates are at work during the day, so I tend to not really do much with my day. Friday nights I usually spend at home as I have to get up super early to train before work (I start at 8). Saturdays at work are DEAD and so I spend the day doing NOTHING...unless you count surfing the net for 8 hours as doing something...which makes me tired, so I usually don't want to do anything on Saturday nights!! ANYWAY by Sunday I am normally so bloody knackered it's not funny.

OK rant over - not sure where I was going with that.

So my weekend. On Friday I actually got to socialise a bit. One of my closest girlfriends is due with her firstborn on Christmas day and has had some problems, so is now on forced bedrest until delivery (which looks like it will be in the next 3 weeks or so), so I went and hung out with her for a bit...poor thing is going mad being stuck at home in bed all day every day! Her baby shower was supposed to have been today but she had to cancel it for obvious reasons :(

Friday night I basically did jack shit (for reasons stated above) then last night after work I went to one of my friends' places for some drinks. It was supposed to be a farewell for a friend who is moving to Brissy - but he ditched it at the last minute!?! WTF??? Oh well, we were there and so were the drinks so we had them anyway.

This morning I was up early and went to the gym before opening to train legs, as I had my Goddaughter's 1st Communion today. So I went to that and after the church bit we were going back to their place for a lunch. Firstly I should explain that my Goddaughter is my little 8 year old cousin. So it wasn't a massive 'do, all the aunties/uncles were invited, a handful of the 4,000 cousins that us Italians have (only the ones around her age were invited, none of the older ones...there is seriously about 100 of us otherwise lol) and her best friend. So safe to say pretty close family/friends. And one of my Aunty's workmates. Who happens to be male, close to my age, and single. WTF? If it wasn't the most blatantly obvious attempt on my Aunt's behalf to set me up, it was then made worse by the "Oh Vicki - did I introduce you to Michael?" the second he entered a 15m radius of where I was...followed by making sure we sat opposite eachother at lunch, followed by the "SO - what did you think about Michael" the nanosecond he left!! I actually found it all pretty amusing to be honest.

Anyway had my cheat today...God it was good to indulge in some yummy homemade food... did I ever mention that occasions such as Communions are like Christmas day to us wogs? As in there is enough food to feed a large army. We started with antipasto (like olives, bocconcini, ham, salami, prosciutto etc etc), then had a bowl of home made gnocchi, then had the main course of creamy mushroom chicken, meatballs, and salads. And of course then there was cake - vanilla mudcake...and home made crostoli which was so light and crispy - just divine, and so much nicer than the bought stuff!

So feeling a bit bloated this evening, although I went for a bit of a walk when I got home and the full feeling subsided a bit so that's good. Back on the wagon again now, it was roo and salad for dinner, one of my faves!

Anyway bit of a rant post I know but it's over now ;)
So til next time, train hard and be good.
Vic x

Post with a difference

Dear readers,
Today's post is a little different. Today's post isn't about me and where I'm at. Today's post is about others, and a simple step we can take to help those who are struggling in life.
For those who haven't checked out the fabulous Shelley's blog - I am requesting that you do so today. Shelley has pledged to donate $1 to the Inspire Foundation for every person who leaves a comment. So click here to head on over there...and spread the word.
No matter what we are going through...there is always someone facing bigger demons. It doesn't take much to help out...
Vicki x

Nope, not food poisoning

GODDAMN TUMMY BUG!!

Yep...it's hit me :(

What I thought was a minor bout of food poisoning or something late Saturday arvo (no didn't stop me from going out and getting my drink on) and had written off as a bad Thai food experience has turned out to be a stupid ass tummy bug. I thought it was out of my system but it returned yesterday afternoon, woke me up during the night (love *those* kind of toilet trips mid-sleep, don't you just?? i know, TMI but hey it's my blog dammit) and has hit me with a vengeance today. Got up this morning and went to train back/bi's after brekkie...but by the time I got to the gym the cramps were killer! I did a lighter than normal back workout and called it a day. No biceps. No cardio. Listening to my body today and leaving the training where it is (didn't have much choice to be quite honest...it's a bit hard to bicep curl in the fricken foetal position).

So it's couch time for me today. Time to catch up on some DVDs me thinks. While snuggling with my hot water bottle and puppy dogs.

The end.

Mmmmm Tim Tams...

Gosh I'm getting so lazy at this blog thing. Just never seems to be enough time to sit down and write a post. Which makes me laugh due to the amoung of time I drain on the net, but most of the time I have it on in the background while doing other stuff. Anyway...'nuff of that.

Training wise it's been an awesome week. Have made some strength gains...one of the benefits of extra fuel :) Nutrition wise I have been pretty good. Have had a couple of treats this week...Friday I did 2 training sessions so was extra hungry...slipped some sushi rolls in at lunch time (mmm sushi...how i've missed you!) and a Thai stirfry for dinner. OK OK so a couple of honeycomb Tim Tams may have also entered the equation...lol GOD THEY WERE BLOODY GOOD. So here is my plug...IF YOU HAVEN'T TRIED THEM...GET OFF YOUR BUTT, DRAG IT TO COLES AND PICK UP A PACKET. YOU WILL NOT REGRET. PROMISE (see picture for more detail...little honeycomb chunks in a Tim Tam)

Work has pretty much sucked this week. It has been the *LONGEST* week in the history of the world. We had a shoe sale thing at work this week (yes. I work in a gym. And we had a shoe sale. As you do.) It was a warehouse sale so the company that sells the shoes brought in 1000+ pairs of ladies shoes and set them up in a fairly empty (well it was empty after we moved all the abs/stretching stuff onto the main gym floor section) corner of the gym and we literally had thousands of women flock through the doors from Thurs - Sat to view said shoes. Don't get me wrong, I picked me up a cute little pair of leather ballet flats (bright red, very noice) for like $20...but seriously. Have you ever seen a hundred women at a time flock through a shoe warehouse sale?? Fuck me. It was insane. Thursday (day one of the sale, the day most of em turn up cos they don't want to miss out) was, hands down, the longest fucking day of my life. 8 hours felt, no joke, like 8 months. Yesterday was no better - given it was the last day, everyone wanted to make sure they didnt miss out on some last minute bargains. I thought my head was going to explode.

Thank God that week is over.

So caught up with an old friend last night who I haven't seen in ages, we went to one of the locals and had a few bevvies. When I say 'a few' make no mistake. I am seriously the cheapest drunk in the world these days. Pretty amusing given the copious amount of alcohol I used to consume on any given weekend (and maybe Thursday...but that's close enough to the weekend, right??) I have had no more than 4 hours sleep but my fricken body clock won't let me fall back asleep! Tried for a while before giving up and having brekkie.

So now it's off to the gym for a legs session...then heading to Newtown for the annual Newtown festival...good times :)

Anyway have dribbled enough shit for today so on that note, train hard and be good.

Vic x

Cruising along

So things are plodding along nicely for what feels like a very nice change this year!! Training is going well, nutrition is going well, headspace is going well...and it's OFF SEASON!! When I think of where I was at last year, one week after the last comp for the year...I think I was about 7kg heavier than comp. And about a week after that I was about another 5kg heavier. It went on so fast, but on reflection I was justifying shovelling a LOT of shit down my throat with excuses like "I've earnt it", "I've worked so hard, I deserve it". Really? Does anyone deserve to eat about 3,000 calories in one sitting (which is what I would estimate I consumed the night of the last comp, in the space of about 3 hours...and no unfortunately that is *not* an exaggerated figure). Does anyone deserve to cram pizza, ice cream, chocolates, lollies and pasta in excessive quantities down their throat pretty much all day, every day for a week or two, straight? Or go to a certain ice-creamery week after week and eat an entire take home pack of ice cream with add-ins in one sitting...and then go back for seconds? Sure it was funny at the time...but the reality is that the headfucks that followed for most of this year was definitely not worth the indulgence (binge?) at the time. I am not against allowing guilty pleasures...not in the least (in fact I indulged last night but more on that later) but this year I have decided that my new favourite word is moderation.
SO...I am sticking to a mild cheat mid-week (when I say mild cheat i mean like a small treat, if i feel like banana bread for brekkie one morning or something...) and then a full cheat meal on the weekend. It's working for me, I am still sitting 2.5kg above stage weight.
Anyway enough of the serious stuff. I took me to a friend's Halloween party last night and cut loose properly. Knowing that I was going to be a very cheap drunk given that I can count how many nights on the piss I have had this year on one hand (God things have changed...I have probably been out drinking this year the amount of times I used to go out drinking in one week once upon a time!! lol) I thought I would take some lollywater drinks with me... my usual drink of choice once upon a time would have been JDs or beer but I don't think I could handle any of that right now!! haha...So I discovered these pomegranite vodka cosmos...YUMMO!! And for the first time in my life I was a VERY cheap drunk...I felt tipsy on ONE!! So imagine me after 4 of them plus a cup of Sangria...mmm yep Vic was drunk lol. The friend who was throwing the party works at Fernwood, the first gym I worked at, and I loved all the girls there. It was awesome to catch up with a few of them, I haven't seen them in AGES! There was loads of yummy treats there...Rasha (party thrower) is quite the cook and her and her flattie had spent the day making homemade sushi rolls, quiche slice, pastizzis, chicken and beef sausages, veges with homemade dips, mini cupcakes etc...not to mention the malteser and jaffa bowls scattered around the place...mmm yum!!
Anyway all in all it was a good night but I can't do it like I used to...I was bloody exhausted by like 10pm!! I soldiered on a few more hours though :) Only one way to get back in the swing of things, and with the Festive Season coming up God knows I need to pull my finger out!! hehe
Trained legs today, did a bit of cardio and spent time writing some diets and programs for clients...and sleeping (yep, Nanna over here still needed to recover from last night haha)...let's just blame the Sydney heat for that one lol.
Anyway big week coming up work-wise, we are a couple of staff members down so will be pulling in some OT shifts, so on that note gonna get myself ready for some snoozing :)
So til next time, train hard and be good.
Vic x