soz

Sorry been super busy so now blogging. I'm so bad at this. Anyway Tomorrow I leave for Japan again, only for 9days but this time like i said I'll be with my family. Well actaully just my dad and nephew now. My mum can't now so that's a waste of $500. My brother was going to go but dad says it's costing him heaps already. I wanted my bro there for our b'day :(.

Anyway I'll blog from Japan when I get there.

Sorry and Awesome News

Photo taken while I was in Nara.
That day was awesome, I went with this girl from Berlin for this fest where they set the fireworks off and burn the hill.
It was a really nice blue sky day and it kinda snowed, it was my first Japan snow.

Sorry I've been away from my blog, been so busy lately I have had the energy to blog. So what has been happening in my life so far? not much at all unfortunately apart from having to run the restaurant for a week by myself, that was a fun time I'll NEVER want to do again.

Also have some super news; Jetstar has an awesome cheap sale to Tokyo at the moment and I thought I probably won't be able to go so I put it out of my mind until my my dad calls me and says that we are all going because he couldn't resist the price. So Mum, Dad and I are going to Japan for my Birthday! I really want my Twin brother to come for our b'day but I think he's going to Vietnam at that time.

We all had been talking about going away that week, or more like me nagging them, Japan was as always an option, we also had Singapore, Vietnam, New York or Cairns to see my nieces. But when the tickets for 3 people ended up being cheaper to go to Tokyo then it was to go to Cairns my dad was more then happy to pick Japan. My dad is a little annoyed that he won't get his frequent flyer points because it was sale prices.

Now the only problem is finding accommodation, I'm fine with staying in a dorm but my parents won't be, the places I want to stay at are booked out which is such a pain. Oh and another problem is convicing my dad to get a JR rail pass, He wants not to go to Kyoto and I keep telling him it's the cheapest way to get the most out of traveling in Japan. at the moment a 7 day pass is around $450, not as cheap as it was when I went in 07, but it's way better then catching the over night bus with two mid to late 50 year olds.

My parents haven't been to Japan before, so it'll be interesting to see how they take it. I can't wait to show them my fave spots and take them to okonomiyaki and my new fave Moja-iyaki YUMMY!! oh and of course my ab fave 390yen ramen place.

I'm so looking forward to being there again, I would of love to go somewhere else to be honest but I've been craving real Japanese food so bad my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Ohh and more green tea kitkats!!! I had to share my last lot I brought home from Japan but this time I'm not sharing them with anyone!! HAHAHAHAHA lol.

It'll be interesting to be there at the end of spring and I'm hoping that I get to see sumo while I'm there because that's one I haven't ticked off the list. I've seen a sumo but not a match. sucks we only have 8-9days there. I hope they don't want to stay in Kyoto to long, I love love love Kyoto but I can't stay there too long. If I have the rail pass they could stay there and I just visit them because it's only 2hrs away.

It's also good that because it's going to be warmer there now I can pack a lot lighter, but I'll still be taking my trusty backpacker backpack (what do you call them?).

Anyway I have a month to plan, it's always been my dream to be overseas on my birthday, I can't wait.

~J

getting there

I'm slowly getting better, yay! Still not fully well so I'm going to give myself a few more days to recover before going back to my plan.


~J

GHAAA!

Damn it!

I've been sick since Saturday. No I haven't gone to the doctors yet mostly because all they will tell me is rest and drink plenty of water. But tomorrow morning I will go first thing.

This bug is driving me crazy, all I want to do is go out and do something and all I can do is lay in bed with a towel.

I even have a fashion show to go to tonight but I can't go, I really was looking forward to it. Stupid bug making me miss fashion week.

And it's so beautiful outside today.

Sigh totally depressing me and I've eaten some bad things because of it.

And I haven't been able to exercise which makes me feel worse.

OK I'm going to try my best not to think about how bad I'm feeling, starting now!

Monday's outdoor group fitness thing was really nice and once I get better I'm going to try and go regularly. We did this boxing cardio, man did it kill my abs yesterday, but I really got a lot out of it, I just wish I was fitter or even lighter, it's really a pain to carry this weight.

Anyway better go, can bearly sit at the computer for more then a few mins.

~J

all going to plan

Mount Fuji taken while I was on the Shinkansen

Sorry I haven't been blogging much, I've been so busy with work and doing my 12 week plan. I know I haven't written much at all about my trip, I just haven't had the time. But what I will do is post a new random photo I took every time I do a new post. This post's photo is of my favourite volcano Mt. Fuji. Last weeks was of some blossoms in Yoyogi park, Tokyo.

So how's my 12 week plan going now entering it's 3rd week? Not bad actually, it still has some kinks to work out but over all I've been sticking to it and Today's weigh in is a loss of1kg! YAY!!
All that sweating at the gym, not skipping meals, cooking my healthy yummy dinner every night and having a little treat now and then, has really paid off.

I really think that this plan will work, sure I'm going to have some bad weeks, in fact last week I was slightly depressed about it all because my goal seems so far away. But today I feel like I could take on the world. I think it's going to work because I'm also keeping track of my progress in a notebook dairy. I'm really bad at keeping dairies so the fact that I've kept it going for 2 weeks, really motivates me in to thinking that this time I'm really going to get fit and healthy.

Here's a photo of one of my yummy healthy meals I've made myself this week. It's a mixed salad with raw mushrooms and some avocado. Plus little turkey patties I grilled.
I made the turkey patties with 100g (I think it's 100g) of Turkey mince I got cheap at the supermarket, I mixed it with a small amount of breadcrumbs, a little avocado, a tiny pinch of iodised salt (trying to make sure I get a little daily iodine), mixed herbs and chopped baby spinach. They were so yummy!

Most days I've been eating similar to this, usually for dinner lots of salad and some protein on the side which this week has mostly been turkey mince and lamb. I'll probably be having the same this week because I have 6 days worth of lamb which I got for free from the restaurant and that Turkey mince not only was cheap but actually really nice eating.

I did eat out three times last week for dinner, I had tempura and rice and a side gyoza at my fave Japanese Restaurant with my Parents, an awesome Emu main at our restaurant with my friend and sushi train with Dad.

Oh and I was desperate and only had $3 so I had a hotdog from the 7/11, totally my brothers fault.

Exercise wise I've been slightly slack most days, I get my daily 3 km walk in walking from home to work and back and I try to go to the gym for 30mins cardio and 10 mins resistance at least 3-4times a week.

It was nice on saturday when my friend went to the gym with me but mostly I've been working out alone in a tiny boring gym.

Today I'm actually trying out those outdoor group personal training things, that's why I'm up so early. I'm hoping it'll boost my fitness and fix the bored gym feeling I've been having.

Anyway better go, Happy LMFF week!

~J

Motivated!

Photo taken in Yoyogi park, Tokyo, Japan Feb 2009

So most of you all know that I struggle with my weight, I'm fat there's really no hiding that fact.

While in Japan I was hoping maybe I could kick start the year and lose some weight while over there like I have done in the past. Unfortunately I wasn't on my best behavior with food and drinks, I also didn't walk as much as my last trips. Sure I did a lot of activities and still walked heaps, I even walked up the mountain at Miyajima.
But that wasn't enough, I still ended up being the same weight as I was before I left.

The first week back home, I was eating so much junk food and not really doing any exercise. I was feeling shit and I was mad at myself because I promised myself that I'd lose at least 1-2 dress sizes by my 26th birthday (in may).
So last Monday I came up with a 12 week intensive weight loss/fitness plan. Basically it's a simple plan of cardio and weight training while eating healthy balanced diet that I put together from years of trying to lose weight and what worked has for me in the past. I started this plan straight away with daily 30 min workouts for 4 days and eating better (not perfect), I did plan to work out everyday or at least get some activity in each day, eg. walking. But I couldn't because I've been not having the best sleep since coming back from Japan. I also had a bad food day on Friday thanks to my dad wanting to have china bar for dinner.

So after doing ok last week I have lost 1.5kgs! yay! sure it's no biggest loser number but I didn't start out as unhealthy as they are.

Anyway I'm making this pledge that I will stick to my 12 week plan (started 2nd of March) and work hard everyday to reach my goal in 11 weeks time.

I'm still a little unorganised with the plan but hopefully I'll get it sorted this week.

~J

Back Home

Well I've been back home for just over a week now.
Sorry I did a sucky job at recording my travels, I just was non stop busy, I'll try and recount my adventure later this month when I have some time.

Although I have had the week off, I haven't really been resting or getting myself organised.

Anyway I just thought I'd check in, say hi and all that. Over time I'll slowly add photos of my Japan trip and do a little brief summary here about my month there.

Here's a photo of me at miyajima:

And here are three Photo's of me and some of what I wore in Tokyo.