Thursday Tidbit

Well, I lasted two hours at work. Until the nausea and dizziness kicked in and I just couldn't bear to be there any more.
Off home, into my 'nest'. Under the doona, dvd on, teddy bear to cuddle. Achiness, dizziness and nausea are free to leave my body at any time they deem appropriate - but really, sooner would be better. I'm thinking this all a combination of leftover cold/flu symptons rearing their ugly head again and an adverse reaction to the two local anesthetics I had yesterday at the dentist.
Fun times for all.

So what am I watching?
Gilmore Girls
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - nothing like a bit of Matthew to cheer a girl up. Seriously, that man makes the world 'Bullshit' sexy *swoon*

And at the moment, on repeat, I'm listening to Krezip: Sweet Goodbyes (on repeat) J sent it to me in a chat one night and I love love love it. I now have their 'Best of' album, but this song is just gorgeous. It may also make me think of him, which may also make me happy.

Hope everyone else is having a healthy Thursday!
xx

Lust

Given I'm heading to Europe during the Northern Hemisphere winter, I'm rather ill-prepared winter-clothing-wise for the temperatures that I will encounter.
So I've decided to splurge and buy myself a lovely coat, and then I'll stock up on long-sleeve tees, scarves, knit jumpers - cheap basics that will do the trick.
I have found a gorgeous coat that I have fallen in lust with.
Isn't she beautiful?



She's really not *that* expensive, but I'm just not sure if I can justify the amount. So I shall sit and wait for a similar one to be marked down to a bargain price.
The object of my lust can be found here

More Planning

I decided to research my Europe trip a little more yesterday, and step one was to pick what cities I want to visit.
Into my 'Europe on a Shoestring' I delved, laptop at the ready to convert currencies and work out where was going to fit into my budget. Paris: non-negotiable, must be at Eiffel Tower on Valentines Day, so might as well see the rest of the city; Amsterdam: free accommodation, would be absurd to pass up on that; Anywhere in Italy: my guide suggested that it would be double the cost of either Paris or Amsterdam. Hmmm.
Flicky flick, check the map for cities that aren't *too* far away, as I want to limit travel time and maximise explore time. Consider somewhere in Switzerland (dreaming of chocolate here) but decide against it (can't recall why) then recall a suggestion of Prague. Straight to the section on the Czech Republic, tappity tap into a currency convertor. Done. Prague is it. Ridiculously cheap and J advises me that it's an amazing city. I'm sold. Accommodation for about 12AUD a night? I think I can handle that. Yes, it's in a dorm room, but it's only for four nights. Paris accommodation will be a private room, Amsterdam accommodation in J's house. I think I can handle four nights in a 10-bed dorm room if it's going to cost me less than $50.

Basic itinerary as it stands: Brisbane to Paris, Paris to Prague, Prague to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Paris, Paris to Brisbane. (It's cheaper to get a return flight, from what I've found so far, and I'm sure I could handle a jaunt back to Paris!)

But I'm not excited ... Honest?

Wednesday Waffle

I think my body has finally had enough of it's recent abuse (read: enjoying single life way too much, and consuming copious amounts of alcohol, as well as neglecting to nourish it with vitamins) and it's screaming at me to slow down and focus.

After eating a rather tasty lunch yesterday, a wave of nausea washed over me and I hightailed it to the bathroom three times within about 10 minutes. I was **this** close to full-on bolting down the corridor, but decided that running may further upset my stomach and got the power-walk down pat instead.

Back to my desk and 'Holy bejeebers!'. Feels like someone has put a clamp on my head. Oh, wait, and now they're spinning me. Dizziness, headaches, oh and lucky me, the heart starts racing. A colleague sees me and I must've looked a sight, because he appeared somewhat shocked. I stumbled the half a dozen or so steps to my leaders desk, and requested that I go home.

Somehow survived a rather loud but entertaining bus trip (3pm bus = school boys. Teenagers. Oh joy.) and got myself home to the comfort of my bed. The next several hours were spent feeling sorry for myself/dozing/dvd watching/aching and sharing war stories with a friend. We were both feeling about as cheery as each other. Awesome.

This morning, I allowed myself a sleep-in to recuperate. I thought I was fine. Breakfast went down a treat (raisin toast always does, nom nom nom) then off to the shower. Who knew standing up could require so much effort. I managed to stay in there for an age though, just enjoying the hot water on my back, but knew that my body had had enough of it's recent mistreatment, and it would not allow me to endure a days work. Fun times.

So today, I will toddle off to the chemist to stock up on vitamins, and also to the supermarket, where I will purchase the ingredients required to actually cook myself Proper Meals. Bugger how depressing it feels to cook For One. Once again, my mind loves it's lame arse excuses.

This weekend will be All About Gemma in attempt to get my body back into order. Relaxing, reading, time with friends and cooking. Sounds perfect. And no alcohol. Yes, that's right. No Alcohol.

A Moment of Vanity ...

Last night, I made the decision that this morning I would return to the gym.
Then I had a strange night's sleep, although short as I went to sleep later than usual, but still woke up fairly early, and woke up feeling a little less enthusiastic than I was feeling at 10pm.
Peeling my eyes open to check the time on my phone, I thought 'Yep, I can still make it, I just won't do the class'. My body disagreed and the mind/body argument ensued. During this internal battle, I concluded that the only way to settle this was to let my hair decide.
You think I've gone nuts now, don't you?
See, no matter what length my hair is, I always end up with bed hair. Bad bed hair.
I sat up, and looked in the mirror. Frightful. I combed it to an almost public-worthy state, but realised I still have a big foof of hair at the back that clearly says "I've just woken up". I considered just going for a walk so I got *some* exercise, but decided 'Nope, not even acceptable for that'.

So much for making the most of my late starts, and going to the gym to keep myself in shape for winter. I mean, it's important that I look good before I even hit the treadmill, right?

Sometimes I really worry about the thoughts that run through my brain. I'm far too good at making up excuses ...

xx

The Planning Begins!

Over the next 8 months or so, I'll be updating on the progress of My European Adventure plans. I'm so excited, I could blog about it every day, but I won't :)

One of my lovely friends, and her boyfriend, were kind enough to buy me a bookstore voucher for my birthday, so that I could buy myself a Lonely Planet guide. So this morning, off I toddled, straight to the Travel Section and picked up 'Europe on a Shoestring'. I thought about getting a more localised guide, but given that I am having strong thoughts of further travel, figured this would best suit my needs.
All day, I sat and thought about that book sitting in my bag, wanting to rifle through it and fill my mind with all things Europe! Somehow I resisted (the numerous emails waiting to be processed could've had some impact) until around 4.30pm, when I had a bit of a flick through and excitement filled me once again.
There's so much to see and do, I just know that I'm going to want to be back on the plane as soon as I leave. I will contain myself though, and focus on three cities for now. Paris, Amsterdam and somewhere in Italy. Possibly Venice. I'll do a few days per city and explore to my heart's content.

This week will also see the start to my savings. I'll have to live to tight budget to save enough in time, but it be so rewarding to land in Paris next February, on the start of an adventure into what will feel like another world.

*sigh* February, how I long to see you ...

xx

ETA - Eek! Passport application is complete! Photos to be taken, application to be sent. It's happening!!

What the?! Winter already?!

Here we are, dear readers, on the first day of June, and for those of us lucky enough to live in the Southern Hemisphere, the first day of winter.

I'm really not a big fan of winter, but fortunately they're bearable in Queensland. Having said that, in my two winters here there have been some [expletive] cold days. Scarves, coats and boots help, but some days it just plain sucks when you have to roll out of bed and get up as the cold air wafts through the cracks in the floor boards, chilling your poor little feety feet.
Winter is the time for snuggles under the doona (with my teddy bear of course), hot chocolates (must remember to purchase marshmallows!) and comfort food (soups, casseroles, pasta ... Bye-bye waistline ...).

In an ideal a fantasy world, come winter, I'd be whisked away to either the other side of the world to enjoy summer, or to New Zealand to indulge in some skiing. Unfortunately, that's not my life, so instead, I'm left to hope that, as has been the case in my previous Queensland winters, we only get one or two weeks of "[expletive] me dead, it's cold! Why can't I stay in bed?!" days. Considering the season is three months long, I guess one or two weeks is acceptable. I guess. If it has to be.
I should actually be extremely thankful for the fact that we only have a short time of ridiculously cold weather - which, might I add, is probably not all that cold to a lot of people - and harden the [expletive] up. Why? Well, as revealed a couple of posts ago, this winter loving gal (ha!) is heading to PARIS in FEBRUARY. Yes. A Northern Hemisphere city in Winter. Wise move, hey? I can guarantee you I will be shopping up a storm whenever I see winter clothing on sale. Somehow, I fear that my 'Queensland Winter Staples' won't quite cut it in Paris. And I'm not talking about the fashion here people. My warmest winter item is a 3-sizes-too-large dressing gown. Hmmm. Probably a good thing I'll only be over there for two weeks, or my travel budget may need to be re-worked entirely.

Here's to winter, snuggles, hot chocolates and doona-filled weekends.

xx