So What Do You Do To Cheer Yourself Up?

Well I go shopping for handbags it seems.  Went to the doctors this morning about my bung knee, she was not happy Jan and is really worried about my inflammatory arthritis ... so off this afternoon for xrays on knees, ankles and feet.  Should that be cankles?  My ankles are so swollen (so are my feet and knee) from the arthritis it is a little scary.  Good news though was my blood pressure was 123/76, woo hoo.

So, feeling a little flat, I decided to take my worn out body for a quick shopping trip, and just because I can, I went to Strandbags looking for some luggage (I will blog about that soon).  They didn't have what I wanted, but they did have the most divine buttercup yellow handbag ... it called my name from across the shop and just jumped into my hand.  It was fate I am telling you.

Now while purchasing said bag, I spied a laptop bag that was so beautiful it just had to be mine.  Black embroidered and embossed leather, 3 compartments, just to die for.  So I bought that too.  Well tomorrow is my birthday after all!!!

It wasn't until I got home that I realised I had bought a Kardashian bag - horror of horrors, but it is just so beautiful, I can ignore that, and just hope no one else notices.

See, isn't it something to covert???

The photo just doesn't do the colour justice, it has a black gusset underneath the bag
and black handles and shoulder strap.

The offending brand - lol 

Lovely yellow accents inside the bag

And 3 compartments - bliss

How divine is this laptop bag, my Mac is going to be so happy tucked up inside.

Embroidered and embossed leaves and flowers - so gorgeous and this
photo does not do it justice in any way.

le Tour de France - Our Time

And so another Tour de France ends, Cadel Evans puts on a good show but fails to win back to back championships.  Bradley Wiggins wins the Championship, a first for England.  Thomas Voeckler while claiming the King of the Mountains, also claims the title of the most interesting face of cycling, the grimaces that flash across his face as he pushes up those mountain stages are a sight to behold.  Peter Sagan wins the Sprinter's Green Jersey and if this year is anything to go by, he will be a GC champion of the future.

I am sad to see the Tour end, I love Phil Liggett's and Paul Sherwens commentary, I love the French countryside and the images of the peleton train stretched out along the road while they power forward to catch the break-aways.  I love the quirky displays the little french towns put on while the peleton races past.  I love the thrill of seeing the cyclist's traverse the narrow streets and the many sharp corners, the steep descents and torturous ascents and those huge round-a-bouts where the peleton spilt and rejoin.

I was impressed this year by the spirit of sportsmanship shown by the riders when the peleton 'sat up' to allow Cadel Evans and others to rejoin after someone threw carpet tacks on the road and caused countless punctures.

Most of all though, I will miss watching it with my hubby.  We have very different tastes in TV shows and le Tour is about the only sporting event that both of us watch together.  So for 3 weeks of the year, we sit down at 8.30 p.m. and share an hour or two in front of the telly (longer on weekends).  We chat about the race, yelling at the idiots who run on the road, we laugh together when Phil gets something wrong in his commentary, we rewind bits to check out the crashes (and weren't there a lot this year??) and we cheer for all the Aussies, and for all the breakaways trying to stay clear of the thundering peleton.

So now le Tour has finished and hubby and I go back to our normal nightly routines, me in my study and him in his ... a little sad really.  Viva le France, Viva le Tour can't wait till you are back next year.

What Am I Doing Here? My Gym Diary

What the hell am I doing here?  Wanders through my thoughts as I walk on the treadmill, gradually getting up to 4kmh, my knee slowly getting sorer and sorer, my hips feeling totally uncomfortable. I feel so awkward, so uncoordinated, so out of place it is scary.

I look around me and see a young woman jogging on her treadmill, her eyes forward, totally focused, never missing a step.  I look forward again and see two women, side by side on spin bikes, pumping their legs in an every increasing race, standing from the saddle, sweat shining on their backs, and again the thought crosses my mind ... what the hell am I doing here?

There is no one in the gym that looks like me, no middle aged overweight women, just young fit ones it seems.  Maybe it is the time of day or maybe this is the norm - sigh.

My 5 minutes on the treadmill is up, and suddenly my personal trainer appears at my side, enthusiastically asking how I am today.  Do I tell her the truth?  Nah, I just water it down a little, not too bad I hear myself saying, apart from my knee being a little sore, when in reality I am aching all over and my knee is killing me.  She smiles and takes me off to the new program she has designed for me.

Chest presses, rowing, arm curls, stretches, twists and more treadmill.  Do I feel endorphins pumping - nope.  Do I feel like a fish out of water - yep.   My knee is even sorer on the 2nd round of the treadmill so after 2 minutes I stop.

So 3 times a week I am supposed to go, and once a week she wants me in the pool, not here as there isn't one, but at the small heated pool in a nearby suburb?  Really I think to myself, when do I fit that in, apart from the fact it is horrible there.

What the hell am I doing here?  It keeps crossing my mind like my new mantra.  Then I look down and see my stomach, the new grabable stomach ad flashes into my mind, yep that's what I am doing here.  Trying to get fitter, trying to lose some weight, even 10kgs would make me happy.

Do I think I can do this, not really.  I am not motivated, my personal trainer is nice but not really for me I think, but then is anyone right when your mind is not there?

Will I keep trying, sure that's why I signed up for 3 months, I don't want to waste my money.  So my gym journey has began, so has my gym diary, lets hope I eventually feel those zinging endorphins and not my pain ... maybe then I have a chance.

ReadyAnytime Ad & Pitching a Tent

Now I know that impotency is not to be laughed at, I fully support people getting treatment if this happens to be an issue to them.  I imagine it would be a horrible thing to have happen at any age.

I have to question though the message in the ReadyAnytime ad that we have seen time and time again over the last three weeks while watching the le Tour.

Hubby and I have sat there with bemused looks on our faces as we try and work out the analogy (subliminal message) in this ad.

So if you haven't seen the ad, it starts with a man and a women gardening, she bumps into him, looks at him lovingly and brushes something out of his hair, then they start putting up a tent, walking over a bridge, suddenly they are in countryside outside the tent that they were pitching in their garden.

So I assume that the reference is to the whole 'tent thing' that can happen in bed first thing in the morning in summer under the sheet (well at our house anyway).  But I am still struggling to be sure that this is the ad's message, and if I was a man, I am not sure that this would inspire me to buy their meds.

Does anyone else struggle with the messages in ads?

Again, I know that impotence is not a funny thing, but hubby and I are beginning to think that this will be our new code phrase for sex.  Hi honey, you want to pitch a tent with me?

On a serious note, if you have erection problems and need help, please seek it, here is the link to the website.

The Last Week or So in Pictures and a Few Words

Last weekend I went to visit my father, all I can say is that I will never get that 4 hours back again, more's the pity.  So rather than bore you all with just how boorish my father really is, I thought I would share some of the delightful things that have happened over the last week or so. 

I was surprised at work by the delivery of some gorgeous bright gerbras

from my youngest daughter, with a card that said "Just because I can"

I found the T2 store at Booragoon and bought these cute little canisters to store my teabags at work

I also bought this very bright orange tea cup to enjoy my tea.  Seen here brewing
some lemongrass and ginger tea.

AJ was 12 weeks old this week, what a bundle of cuteness she is!

A new coffee machine and some bright T2 canisters joined the coffee and
tea corner on our bench at home

Some fairies found themselves a new home at Grandma's house and a little
grand-daughter was thrilled to find them there.

Hoping you all have a great week to come, mine will be busy with a work conference for the first 3 days and then 2 days off to relax, there might be a birthday in there somewhere as well so I am sure I will be lunching with my Mum and Pop at the Kardy to celebrate.