#1 Grateful Diary - Week 3

22.08.08 - For the lazy afternoon at work

23.08.08 - For moments like when I get to drive while C reads the Glamour mag to me :) - And for the cool climbing gear I bought

24.08.08 - For the lovely B&B that was the only place I could find that was available. Laurel Cottage B&B, built in 1613!! And of course for my first multi-pitch climb

25.08.08 - For getting into London at a decent time and not having to deal with too much traffic :)

26.08.08 - For Miss Quiet and the fact she had time to help me get work out

27.08.08 - For pasta that cooks in 3 mins!

28.08.08 - For painkillers - and that it isnt me swimming across the channel!

Swimming the Channel

So my cousin-in-law swam across the Channel yesterday !!! how insane ! He set off at 8am and reached France at 9pm !! 13 hours in freezing cold water swimming as hard as you can while trying to avoid all the ships in the busiest shipping lane in the world and nevermind the jellyfish...all while just wearing a speedo and swimming cap ! unreal!!

So wow - what an incredible feat - WELL DONE RYAN !!!

If you are interested in his route etc and have google earth ....click here... and then click on the link to Ryan Stramrood Channel crossing.

Here is also a friend of his blog with some more info... here

Sunday Afternoon of Culture - #42, #43

I've been meaning to write this post for ages now - well since the 10th of August which was the Sunday we headed off for a very cultural day in London.

I'd finally managed to organise a group of friends to go to The Shakespeare Globe Theater to see a modern play called The Frontline on its second last weekend showing.....

"Saturday night outside the tube; god, strip bars, weed, crack, lost old men, unemployed actors and vegans all collide in a riptide of chaos on the streets of London. There’s Beth the reformed hristian
and Erkenwald the hot-dog seller, old Ragdale on a quest to find his daughter, Mordechai Thurrock the actor-playwright and egomaniac, and Cockburn, Elliot and Carlton the dealers and junkies, whose trade both sustains and destroys the lives of those around them.
In this vibrant and blackly comic new play, a dozen private stories emerge, and their voices give utterance to a storm of subjects and feelings: pop culture and sexual fantasy, the ruins of empire and the delusions of religion, foreign oil and prehistoric London. Ché Walker, winner of the George Devine Award and playwright for the Royal Court, brings to the Globe stage a panorama of contemporary London, encompassing the cruel and the tender, the gutter and the stars."

I also discovered in the week that the exhibition on at Somerset house called Skin + Bones was ending on the weekend and so C and I headed off for the exhibition earlier on in the day. I also discovered the Oyster Travel card offers and therefore got the tickets at half the price !!! Bargain!

The exhibition was all about the parallels in the fashion and Architecture design fields. It showed how certain concepts were explored in both industries with very stunning outcomes. I really enjoyed this exhibition. But of course it did help that I already knew quite a bit about the architecture side of it and the models and images of the buildings on display were really great to see.

After the exhibition we had quite a bit of time to kill before meeting everyone for the play at 5pm. So we strolled along the Thames and over Westminster bridge onto the Southbank. We then decided to actually go and walk along the shore of the Thames on the actual sand !




After our lovely stroll along the Southbank we landed up at the beautiful Nando's under London bridge. It is seriously the most amazingly located Nando's. The space is the archways under the bridge all in brickwork with copper cladding the archways in places. I just love it. And the food goes down well too !


We were still too early for the friends so C and I went and defended a table for 6 in the adjoining bar to The Globe facing the river and watched the weather get worse and worse until it was POURING down. And seriously the only place I've seen a worse downpour is in Singapore during monsoon season!!! It was crazy.

Now let me explain why this is a problem... We have bought groundling tickets for the play ....this means that we get to stand in the open air part of the theatre for 2 hours !! Damn we were praying that the downpour didn't continue the entire time! And luckily it didnt. We found a little bit of shelter and as soon as the play started the rain was out of my mind. At one stage as the sun was setting it was able to break through the clouds. I was def thankful for the hat i bought at download (see pic above) It def kept the rain at bay :)

The play was AWESOME. I love it. So different and unique. I also loved it cause it was about our manor of north London. Well the Camden streets. So I was able to identify the characters and enjoy the colloquial jokes.

So that was our little cultural day out :) Def need to do this more often - it was great!

#61 - Environmental bag

I've wanted to reduce the waste in my life for awhile now and #61 on my 101 list is to start using a reuseable bag for shopping and reduce how much plastic I use and throw away. It may just be a small drop in the ocean of a problem - but at least i'm doing something.

So today I found and bought the coolest looking foldaway reuseable shopping bag. I think they look supper cool and trendy and therefore are more encouraging to use.

The cheapest I found them online was at Quirky Bags which also happens to be a very cool online shop with some great products. So I bought myself the one below and will see how it goes before buying more from them.
They also have a very cool concept of bag liners which you would use to hold all the stuff your normally have in a handbag which then fits inside your handbag. When you want to change handbags then you just take the liner bag and put it in a new one. No transfering of endless little bits and pieces and invariablely forgetting something! Will be pondering that ...but have to sort out my handbags first.

Now I wait for it to be delivered, then can make a habit out of not getting more plastic bags ! YAY

#33 - Implant and rant about doctors!!

OMG - how i absolutely hate doctors sometimes! I'm finding the doctors over here (NHS and Private) even more frustrating!

Once I was all settled in the Uk and finally running out of the huge stash of my contraceptive pill I headed of to the NHS clinic to get me some free pills. I looked into the options beforehand since I tend to do loads of research on pretty much anything that I do and wanted to discuss the option of the implant that goes into your arm and your contraception needs are then taken care of for 3 years.... Now this would be heaven to me. 3 years of not having to remember to take the pill every single flippin day ! I've been doing that for 9 years already and I'm tired of it.

I head off and the doctor I see is so stupid that she cant even look up the equivalent of my current pill online - which I was able to do later myself. So I landed up on this horrid Progesterone only pill that caused hell for 3 months!! why i waited that long I'll never know.

Then when i go back the next new doctor finds the correct equivalent pill (I basically told her) and she wont discuss the implant. So i forget out it.

Then after the 3 month trail period where i have to then go back to the clinic and they will give me a 6 month prescription so I don't have to keep coming back. BUT NO!

Now I get a very nice male doctor (the rest were female) that wants to take me through all the options available for me and after a long discussion it is basically his suggestion that the implant would be the best for me. BUT I have to go see one of the doctors there that actually implants it. So I go and make an appointment with the first available one of the 2 names he gave me. This happened to be 2 weeks after seeing the male doctor!!

So yesterday I head off to go get this all sorted and I don't expect it to be a mission - but I was wrong.

She apparently doesn't do the implant anymore cause she hasn't gone through some sort of re-evaluation of her skills or something. And then says well she will try and remember the information - but just wants to look it up to REFRESH her memory !!! I mean really ! So I'm sitting there just getting angry. She proceeds to be very anti it and doesn't want to encourage me to have it. She freaks out when I say that I have a thing about needles (i.e. I don't like them) but ignores the fact that I inform her that I've had body piercings without anesthetic and this is simply just like that in the arm but WITH anesthetic.

But now I'm fuming about all these fucking different opinions and the fact that she is sitting there telling me that I'm silly to want to come off a pill that is working for me. So instead of getting outwardly angry at her I start crying !! I mean really WHAT were my emotions thinking !! I suppose it didn't help that I was a little PMS-y. Damn was I now even more angry at the situation.

I'm not stupid - I've looked long and hard into this and in my head I'm willing to try something that could turn out to make my life SO much easier and happier. I know that it could go the other way and I might end up having another horrid 3 months. But then I'll just have the thing taken out and it will stop immediately. I'm not going in blind here !!!

So I manage to still get her to give me the prescription - which i will have to go and get the implant for a chemist and then make another appointment with the other woman to go back and get her to put it in.

BUT here is the thing that got me even more fucking freaked out... The doctor yesterday then turns around after talking to me about this for 5 mins and says "well I would like you to come back and talk to me about what is troubling you in your life - because there obviously is something"
OMFG - IS she seriously telling me I need to come for counselling!!!! Fucking hell !! after talking to me after a minorly frustrating day at work (that is all) that I have something wrong in my life. Damn I was just flabbergasted!

Ok - so I admit that my life hasn't been the peachiest but I think I'm one of the most grounded well rounded happiest person I know. I'll still have a positive outlook even when I'm having the baddest day. This has been how I've triumphed over the worse parts of my CFS and not been kept down by it like many many other people.

Right now at this moment in my life I'm so very happy! Its the healthiest I've ever been, the most in love that i've ever been, the most comfortable with myself i've ever been, the most well off financially then i've ever been. So please tell me what this woman could possibly offer me that I dont already have/know.

She does not know me...and I will not be put down by her opinions of me.

But sadly i'm now back at square one about whether to have this implant or not - ARG!

#29 - Boots weight thing

So I know I did this on the 6th of August which was 2 days before my start date in the 101 things BUT it is going to be my August to do for this goal. And since I seem to loose little pieces of paper easily I've scanned and saved it and can now blog it for future reference and comparison.

I was very happy with this reading since when C got me to do this a year ago and it was a huge horrid shock. Firstly this is a machine that takes your weight and height and then works out your BMI. Then you can get it to measure your body fat as well.

A year ago all I remember was that I was 65.5ish kgs!!! And i flipped! how on earth did i put on 20 kgs in 2 years! AND still fit in alot of the same clothes. I promptly lost the little piece of paper in frustration of what it said. It has also indicated that I was not the average weight i should be and that I had a poor body fat %.

Well now I'm much happier since it has come out that I'm about 7kgs lighter after starting climbing and becoming more active. And I know that i've turned some of the body fat into muscle which in turn actually weighs more.

I just have to point out that I'm not doing this cause I'm unhappy with my body or want to obsess about my weight. Because I'm not that kind of girl. I actually like the body I'm in and do not sit around and wish for a smaller butt or better tummy. I think I've foudn something to love about my body through every stage it has been through. I actually didnt like things about my body the most when I was so skinny from being ill.

C and I were just wanting to monitor what benefits our lifestyle is doing for us. I.e as we eat healthier and excercise then our body fat % will go down. If done monthly then you can see what is working and what isnt. So for me it is about a general healthier lifestyle that will help me become a fitter and stronger person. And it will work. I've been the healthiest i've ever been in the last year as i've become more active. This has meant that I've been sick less and able to get over energy slumps easier. And with my CFS then this can only be a good thing for me.

#1 Grateful diary - Week 2

15.08.08 - Am grateful for the yummy yummy cocktails (favorite being a vanilla raspberry caprinina) and that I paced myself well so that I enjoyed the whole evening
16.08.08 - Am grateful that my afternoon nap was able to help my migraine (not always possible)
17.08.08 - I'm grateful for lazy sunday afternoons in the pub eating really good food ! Yummy roast on a sunday ! what more could you ask for!
18.08.08 - I'm grateful for a very caring bf and def grateful for cuddles ...oh and bristish comedy!
19.08.08 - I was grateful for my blog to vent today about yesterday
20.08.08 - I'm grateful that we have SUCH a happy client and a beautifully completed design
21.08.08 - hmmm...hard day to find something - but I was grateful for a small work load

#1 Grateful Diary - Week 1

My very first 101 things challenge/goal. My grateful dairy.... This has been a part of my life in the past and want to continue it for an added positive outlook to life.

08.08.08 - Am grateful for the inspiration to create the list
09.08.08 - Am grateful for the way C watches out for me more then i do for myself
10.08.08 - Am grateful for the interesting friends in my life and reconnecting with others
11.08.08 - Am grateful to be out of the office and site a quiet site - even if I did go loopy from all the surveying !
12.08.08 - Am grateful for the yummy dinner cooked by C - pasta, chicken, sundried tomatoe salad
13.08.08 - Am grateful for the ability to have time off to heal and for the laughter that C brings to my day !
14.08.08 - Am grateful that it isnt raining today

UPDATE
14.08.08 - ok so I spoke too soon and it is now a thunderstorm of rain! SO Today i'm grateful that i'm getting to go home early :)

My 100 things in 1001 days Project

I discovered this project while surfing around last week and I was inspired by it. After reading alot of the lists posted I went off and started my own list. I think this is a great idea and even if people dont go all out to blog or set up the whole list I still think that everyone should write some things down and have some goals in their lives, big and small. I fell like the achievement of more little goals lead to the motivation to achieve the big ones. I've back dated the start date to the 08/08/08 cause how cool is that date and I did achieve some of them already this weekend so this will included them. But i'll blog on that later.

The Mission:Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form.
Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

http://www.triplux.com/dayzero/ - The home of the project

TO FOLLOW THE PROGRESS OF MY LIST PLEASE VISIT THE DEDICATED BLOG HERE: http://gems101.blogspot.com/

Start Date: 8th August, 2008
End Date: 6 May 2011

My 101 in 1001 days

Self-improvement

1. grateful diary - one thing perday

2. read ten Inspirational books (0/10)

3. Learn to ride a motorcycle

4. Identify 50 things I like about myself

5. Join North london ME network

6. Unclutter once a month/15 times (0/15)

7. Start a sketch book

8. Make a house cleaning schedule and follow it for at least 3 months

Self-indulgence

9. get a pedicure & manicure

10. get a massage & Facial
11. dine at fifteen restaurants never visited (0/15)

12. buy one complete sexy lingerie - corset, suspenders, stockings the whole lot

13. Have teeth whitened

Financial

14. Investment & financial planning

15. Put £50 into savings once a task is complete - And a scale accordingly for tasks performed in stages ie. £10 per monthly task

16. Do a will

17. Build special savings fund (parents)

18. Build an emergency fund buffer - 3 months salary

19. BUild savings in SA - send a cetain amount each month (0/33)

20. Buy house in SA

21. Work on budget every month (0/33)

22. Have one "No spend month"

23. Work on taxes stuff

Health and Fitness and climbing

24. take a kickboxing/martial art class

25. Detox

26. be vegetarian for a week

27. Sort back pain out

28. Try to go the no shampoo way

29. Do boots weight thing once a month (0/33)

30. Drink nothing but water for a month

31. Have colonic hydrotherapy

32. Go climbing at least once a week (0/143)

33. sort out implant

34. take a yoga class

Career

35. update resume

36. Create website with design stuff

Fun/Cultural

37. Go to at least 15 concerts/live music (0/15)

38. Host a game night

39. Kew Gardens

40. Go roller blading in Hyde Park

41. Sleep under the stars

42. Go to art galleries/museums every month (0/33)
43. Go to the theater 8 times(min) (0/8)

44. Go ice skating each winter at a classic location in London (0/2)

Creativity

45. Start painting

46. Design a Tattoo

47. Knit a jersey/thing

48. Make photo album books - iPhoto

49. Take a selfportrait once a month (0/33)

50. Mail a secret to postsecret

51. Take drawing course

52. Create and finish 10 scrapbook projects (0/10)

53. Print one photo per travelling trip to create photo wall

Relationships/Friendships/Family

54. send flowers to a member of the opposite sex

55. Surprise partner with a gift for no reason

56. Hand write and snail mail 10 letters (0/10)

57. Write and mail at least one 'thinking of you' card each month. (0/33)

58. Take dance lessons with C

59. Write to Dad by hand every month including inspirational ideas and interesting stuff (0/33)

60. Write emails to the rest of the family

Environmental

61. use a re-useable bag for the shopping

62. Start recycling

63. Start using eco products

Travel

64. go one at least 8 climbing trips (0/8)

65. Visit Marrakesh

66. Climb a mountain

67. Romantic weekend in Paris/brussel/bruge via Eurostar

68. Spa break

69. See the northern lights

70. go on a roadtrip with no predetermined destination

71. stay in a five-star hotel

72. go on vacation and don't check email/facebook/myspace/etc.

73. Go Skiing

74. Take a bike trip somewhere

75. Take the inca Trail to Machu picchu

76. Horse riding weekend

Purchases

77. buy all christmas presents online
78. Buy digital camera

79. buy a computer game - decide on one!

Good-will

80. Donations/sponsorship

81. Donate unwanted clothes

82. Sign up and participate in Postcrossing

83. Build a house for Habitat for Humanity

84. Volunteer with the North London ME Network

Random/To Do’s/Organization/IT

85. Convert drivers license

86. Organise clothing

87. Organise a recipe binder

88. blog every day for a month straight

89. Use Podcasts

90. Organise all my files on both computers and ext hard drive and set up time machine backups

91. Update address book

92. Catalog books I've read properly

Learning

93. Do a photoshop course and self study

94. Scuba dive

95. Skydive

96. Learn Spanish

Home

97. Grow plants, herbs, vegs etc

98. Find, get and move into new apartment

99. Decorate new apartment

THE GRAND FINALE

100. Start a new list of 101 in 1001
101. Give £10 for every list item not completed to charity

OMG the boredom !

So i have offically spent from 9am to 14:30 doing absolutly nothing !!! Our severs at work crashed and we were without access to our email, work files, internet etc !!!

It really is amazing how much we need the computers to do our work. After cleaning my desk off and doing my filing it was only 10:15 and I had nothing else to do !! So it has been a very boring day. All the stuff i needed to go do on site was postponed since my survey partner is the IT guy of the office so was busy all day. Even now that the servers are up and running I've now completed all the work i was waiting to do and now I'm stuck being bored again.

Oh well at least i've gotten a few admin things sorted...I've almost completed my 101 things in 1001 days list - but more on that soon. And made sure that we are not cutting it too fine with the 30 minute transfer of flights to get to Cpt in Dec, bought tickets to the events for this weekend. So now run out of personal stuff...WEird day !!

So happy it is Friday and am soon off to start what looks to be a great weekend.
Hope you all have a good one...
Laters

New Ceramics

So yesterday after weeks of trying to organise myself to go and fetch my now complete vase from pottery studio I finally got my hand on it. Am pretty happy with it but as always I am somewhat of a perfectionist and still worry that there are bits that could be better. But i have to live with the flaws and learn to love them...kinda a good life philosophy there.

Anways...here it is:

Geeks R Us and Work stuff

So other then getting the new bike and going climbing on the weekend the rest of the time was filled with being a geek !! C came running in to show me that he found an open source free version of Civilizations called freeciv...and that you could download it for Pc, Mac or linux even. So after showing it to me and telling we could network, I went and downloaded it. So there we were me curled up in bed with my laptop playing and him at the kitchen table playing the same game. I did join him for awhile in the kitchen and later on he came back into the bedroom. Finally at about 4am when we were both getting our asses kicked by the AI players and not being able to team up against them very well we decided that we def need to get to sleep.

It was incredicbly hard getting to sleep tho even if it was 4:30am by now because I had the game sstill running in my head! I def felt very geeky having spent pretty much 12 hours straight in game play!

Work this week: boring ! I got pretty much everything sorted last week with Trendy away, and now with her back I've been relatively free of too much work.

Annoyingly though a project manager let the wrong flooring get laid on one of our sites and tried to blame the drawings etc. Landed up in a big arguement about it since I could back up the drawings. And then finally I got him to check his email order and the correct drawing was attached so basically the flooring company was going on an old quote and not the drawing. So it is their fault BUT... I have to say what a WANKER of a project manager to not even know what finishes are going in on his jobs. He should have noticed that the order was wrong and that when it was being laid that it was wrong. but NO it took me walking past it on site to suddenly turn around and go how come the floor is green not black !!! And then he wanted me to convince that client that that was the choice all along...I think they would know if they approved a green floor rather then a black slate effect. IDIOT ! I swear all project managers do the flippin bare minimum and expect you to pick up the slack in the job.

Another little work thing is that finally the air con broke ....YAY. I've been sitting pretty much underneath this air con having freezing cold air being dumped on me all day long causing me to wear stockings, trousers and jerseys in summer (I know that the summer is not exactly boiling hot here but this was even on the 29 degree day!) So after lunch time yesterday water came gushing out of the unit all over the carpet - it had sprung a leak. So of course we have to turn it off and call in the mantainance guys.

Now i've been complaining that it is working properly for ages. It dumps air just where I am and then doesnt circulate it so the rest of the office doesnt get anything. I also said it was making people ill and that it was making funny noises. So of course when the maintainance guy was reporting on it I could help but over hear what the guy had to say:

1) The pump in the unit had been broken for awhile so wasnt pumping the air.
2) the water pipes were all clogged up and seriously needed to be "disinfected" asap.

About bloody time that this gets sorted !! Hopefully when it gets fixed then I would be so freezing cold everyday cause it has really been affecting my joints and headaches. We'll have to wait and see.

New Bicycle...

So i've done it - I gave into C and bought myself a bicycle for some recreational days on the weekend and transport to the climbing gym that is also a warm up.

So of course I didnt want to go the whole sporty bike route - I'm def not that kinda person. And you dont want to go the mountain bike route for the london streets. So after going to Holland in May i fell in love with the beautiful old school bikes and how they are just everywhere and everyone uses then for transport. I went in search for one in London and since they have just become so popular here it was a mission finding just the right one at the right price.

My other problem was finding a bike that would fit me since i'm only 5 foot and not taller! I reckon most bikes are made for people from 5ft5" and taller !!

Finally yesterday morning (saturday) I went to see one I had found on gumtree. It is beautiful and brand new out the box. I'm so happy with my find and snapped it up right away. We went for a little cycle around the area and then headed up to this gorgeous cafe which does all organic food. Luckily we only had to go down the road to get the bike (this is very luckily indeed and very rare)

So here are some pics of my beautiful baby....