This Past Week and a Bit

I've been wanting to blog for a while but have been having trouble trying to think of something substantial to blog about. Instead I have lots of little things to note which I think that's what Twitter is for but I'm blogging it all anyway.

So for starts there was the Edinburgh Rugby 7s which was on 30^th and 31^st May. It was a really good weekend. The sun was shining, the chips were hot and the beer was cool enough. I had to go out on the Sunday and buy shorts and vests to wear as I discovered that all my summer clothes are at my parents' house. I also have a nagging suspicion that none of them will fit me anyway.

I always like the 7s because it is a rare chance to surround myself with my fellow kiwis and there are loads of people in fancy dress and silly outfits. My favourites from this year were the really brave guys in Morph suits, the buff looking cavemen and of course The Stig.

Later that week, I met up with a friend of mine who now lives in San Diego and it was really good catching up. The conversation always flows so naturally and I hope I'm not offending Rosie, when I say that I think we are quite alike in a lot of ways – we have similar tastes and similar thoughts on many things. Later on we met up with hubby and pub quiz team where sailed to victory! Another £50 bar tab under our belts!

And then on Saturday it was my cousins wedding. It was held at Forrester Park Resort which was a lovely location for a wedding and everyone agreed how lovely it was inside. I discovered an unfortunate side affect from having to do the dance-offs at the pub quiz so often is that I have almost forgotten how to dance normally. It took a few attempts before I was dancing normally again, but I did treat the others to a few of my classic moves including the robot.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching the last of the Big Bang Theory and the start of Greys Anatomy season 4 and I've started knitting a singlet. So I expect knitting and Greys Anatomy will be how I spend the majority of my time over the next while.

As well as knitting, other plans include Resident Evil 5, getting creative with this blog layout and my Twitter page, and reading about how to get skinny and putting it into action. Well that's the plan anyway.

Couch to 5k - Week 2 Day 1

A tougher run today, I don't think the graph gives a very accurate picture.

Couch to 5k: Day 2

A second run! I'm making progress towards my goal of keeping this up for 3 weeks. I must admit though, that today my quads are particularly tight and I feel a little stiff throughout the lower body. My yoga mat is at my parents house so I might have to retrieve it and do a little yoga in the evenings.

Here is the graph of my second run. I messed up the warm up at the start but generally it's the same as yesterday.

Couch to 5k

I'm flirting with running again after a very long hiatus. The plan this time is to use the CoolRunning.com couch to 5k plan. It's a 9 week plan that does what it says on the tin; it gets you from zero to 5k hero in 9 weeks.

Robert Ullrey has made some podcasts to go along with this plan. I've never got beyond week 2, but those first 2 podcasts are really good. They tell you when to run, when to walk and give advice and motivation. The podcasts can be found on iTunes or from ullreys.com.

The program is designed to be run 3 days a week, but I personally prefer to run 6 days a week because it helps me to keep going. If I take a rest day after one run then I find it hard to do a second run. If I can keep this up for about 3 weeks then usually by that time it's become a habit. It's a real challenge getting to the 3 week mark, so that's my first goal.

Anyway, here is the graph of my first run:



This includes a 5 minute warm up at the start and then intervals of 60 second runs and 90 second recoveries.

I <3 my PS3

The PS3 arrived yesterday and already I am so in love with it. I never noticed how much I missed having one. It's so much more than a games console although we did have a bash about in Tekken. Without needing me to do anything, it automatically found our Buffalo link station with our media on it and we were able to play music and watch TV shows.

Part of the reason for getting the PS3 was for PlayTV. When we move, we'll not have cable any more or the ability to record all our favourite TV shows and that's where PlayTV comes in. You can watch, pause and record all the Freeview channels. An additional feature is that you can use your PSP from anywhere in the world to watch things you have recorded on your PS3. So if your PS3 is at home recording all your favourite TV shows whilst you're on holiday in, say, Greece, then you can use your PSP and an available wifi connection and watch them at your leisure. I don't have a PSP but I am tempted by this.

Singstar, Rock Band 2, Tomb Raider, Unreal Tournament, are just a few of the games on my wish list, and I want this PS3 Drum Kit so bad!!

I know, at this rate I'll never have any money saved to get to New Zealand!!

Looking to the future

I'm pretty happy about selling our house. We move on the 20^th June with the official handover date as the 26^th June. We're taking over 2 rooms in my parents' house and I hope I'm not causing them too much disruption!

It will be strange living with my parents again and it will be strange and sad to leave the flat that we've been happy in for the past 11 years. It's exciting too because this is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. Many people are curious of our future plans and I am not being cagey or coy the truth is, we don't have any firm plans yet but the loose plan is that once we have settled in to my parents house, then we will start making plans for moving to Auckland, NZ.

We would like to save up some money before we go, because the money we make on the sale of house will go towards buying a new one in New Zealand. It's not cheap moving to the other side of the world, we have to decided on what stuff to ship over and what stuff we'll just buy when we're there, and then they'll be the costs of getting set up with rent, utilities, changing driving licenses, buying a car etc – that'll take a lot of planning! When my parents did it, they arrived with 3 children, a few suitcases and a weeks rent money!!

Right now the task in hand is to decide what gets packed for NZ, what we need to keep handy, and what we need to get rid of - and then actually do these things. We procured some boxes and bubble wrap at the weekend and since then they have sat in the middle of our hovel we call home (ever since we no longer need to show the flat it's cleanliness has gone into decline).

So an industrious weekend is planned, however our new PS3 is due to arrive any day now ...

I'm sad to say that Pyewacket died on Friday 8^th May 2009.