The yin and yang of fat-busting

Last night there was the fat-busting run

Today there was this calorific carnival of donuts, care of our boss.

As my mother likes to say, it's all about balance...

It's getting hot in here...

This was the view from my back garden at 5.30pm this evening.

Tonight's outing with the running group was as hot as Hades, a complete contrast to last week's run.

But another 7km down and another step closer to reclaiming my fitness (and my muscle definition, which is proving about as elusive as world peace).

Friendship

A day of catching up. The first with a friend who tracked me down via Linked In who I haven't seen since we were students with part-time jobs at KFC. Yeah, I know (incredible that I spent three years slinging that crap; now not only do I not eat meat, I'd rather grow a third arm than put that kind of fast-food bollocks into my body).

Anyway, our conversation ranged over careers, relationships, kids (his 10-year-old twin girls and my four-legged babies), families (I did a magazine story about his fashion designer sister once) and about how growing up in the tragic suburb we did nevertheless had its merits (the strong survival instinct it honed in us, for starters).

Sadly, we both had to go back to work but I'm sure there will be a round two soon.

After work, I met my friend Heidi to sit in the blazing sun and drink tea and chat until our tongues almost fell out of our heads (sad git that I am, I'm having a dry January so moved our meeting from a pub to a cafe). It was all manner of lovely and as we walked home, I realised how lucky I am to know the people that I do.

Today's visuals are of cute woofers from Tumblr. Yes, I know I may as well hold up a sign saying 'I've run out of ideas' but sweet baby Jesus, these wee treasures make my heart swell.

      

First interiors interview of the year - and bargain city!

Today we drove an hour up the coast to Waikanae where I interviewed a home-owner who has done amazing things to her house with a tight budget. She's the owner of this adorable shop so her home was all manner of cute.

Sadly, I only remembered to whip out my phone at the last minute so these are the only pics I have to share. But, between you and me, I was crushing out hard on the driftwood Xmas tree - might have to get my Martha Stewart groove on this year and make my own.

As has become our practice, the boys went to the beach while I did the interview; but when the Animator came to collect me, Bristol got to play with the home-owner's dog Poppy. They only stopped long enough for me to take this.

Best of all was the home-owner's heads-up of a couple of second-hand stores on our way home; this is the haul from both - six items for the princely sum of $31! Almost, dare I say it, as good as the UK car boots.

  

(Apols for rubbish photo; I am on deadline to deliver this story by tomorrow AM so no time for faffing about with photoshop).

Not everyone wants to be on tee-vee

Yesterday afternoon, while desperately trying to force words from my brain onto the screen, an email plopped into my in-box.

It was an invite from a member of the No Kidding group we joined last year. Seems one of NZ's main current affairs shows is doing a piece about why educated folk are increasingly choosing not to have kids and needed some talking heads. It wasn't a live i/view and there was the chance to set some boundaries, etc around what we were, and were not, comfortable talking about.

As much as I love banging the drum for over-population/depletion of the world's scarce resources/indiscriminate breeding/voluntary child-free-ness, I had to decline. Not only because I'm doing a similar piece for another (print) channel, but also because it's a news outlet I despise and because journos make the worst interview subjects. And, just quietly, because when I worked at TVNZ about a hundred years ago, we got to record ourselves reading the auto-cue at the newsreaders desk (a surprisingly hard task), and I realised then that I was not cut out for TV.

Still, it was nice to be asked...

         
(Pic credit: someecards)

My cup runneth over

You know that thing about knowing your limits/saying no when there's already too much on your plate?

My memo must have got lost in the post. Or something.

Today the courier dropped off these three beauties that I need to digest and then recommend, or not, to readers of a national monthly magazine. In 150 words.

The fee, of course, is barely commensurate with the time involved (no-one ever got rich book reviewing) but since books are my thing, and freebies are never, ever bad, I have been doing the happy dance all day.

      

Disturbing picture #1

This is what getting caught in rain of Biblical proportions whilst on a 7km run looks like.

And yes, that deeply unattractive possum-in-the-headlights look is partly because I discovered the mascara manufacturers weren't lying about their product's 'no run' properties and partly because my trainers were so waterlogged I could barely walk, letalone run, home.  

Less than ideal meteorological conditions aside, my first outing with the running group was fun and proved the point that without others to motivate me, I'm hopeless at getting my lardy arse off the couch.

Apparently they run in rain (tick), sun and earthquakes, so that's my Wednesday evenings sorted for the next wee while.