Skirt: Jeanswest. Top: Ambra. Shoes: Target. Earrings: ??? Necklace: Mombasa (I think).
Today's photo:
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Outfit #80 - Hello Arms
Skirt: Jeanswest. Top: Ambra. Shoes: Target. Earrings: ??? Necklace: Mombasa (I think).
Today's photo:
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Outfit #79 - With a Bow
Skirt: Sunny Girl (op shop). Singlet: Hot Options. Top: Sportsgirl (op shop). Ribbon: from a skirt from Katies, I think. Shoes: Zoe & Zac (from Jeannie). Earrings: made by me.
I feel this outfit could have benefited from a necklace of some description. I felt rather bare between my top and my neck. Oh, and that's bow as in tie a bow, not bow as in take a bow.
Today, I nearly had to resort to a mirror photo. I had 2 minutes before leaving this morning, and thought I'd try for a photo. Tripod all set up, but I couldn't find my camera. Grr. After work, I had a few minutes (thankfully) to find my camera (hiding in my room) and take photos before the after school students arrived.
These shoes are perfect, they go with so many outfits of all varieties. The only problem is, I can't walk very far in them. Cue big sad face. Next time - pre-emptive Bandaids.
Today's photo:
Monday, 15 October 2012
Melbourne Pre-Race
Yesterday, I ran the Melbourne half marathon. I flew down on Friday afternoon and did some more New Things in Melbourne.
Friday: I met Jeannie at Flinders St station, where they now have storage facilities (until 9:45pm). We had dinner at ... um... a pub nearby with a fancy restaurant bit attached, but I can't remember the name. Although it was a Friday, I didn't have fish and chips but the Atlantic salmon salad instead. Then we were going to go to a Melbourne Fringe Festival show in which a friend of mine was acting. The venue was in South Melbourne. We put it into Apple maps. There was a station nearby, named North Melbourne Station. We got there and discovered we were on the wrong side of Melbourne. We went home.
Saturday: Breakfast at Las Chicas on Chapel St. Wow. One of those super feel-good places, as organic and local and sustainable as possible. I felt really bad for not being able to finish. Admittedly, my breakfast included a whole crop of spinach... Very friendly service, too - we were wished a great day by about 4 staff as we left.
Chapel St shopping. Flying down and back with only carry-on meant I was not inclined to shop. But some of those stores were so tempting! I did try on a dress but I resisted buying anything. Except undies from the Bonds outlet store but that was more a necessity than anything else. We also passed (and then went in) San Churro's Chocolateria. This was on my list of things to do.
I had my first Spanish hot chocolate (like an Italian hot chocolate but not as thick) - I went Azteca, with added chilli. I love chilli in my chocolate, have been doing hot chocolate that way for years, and at Easter I make a chilli chocolate cashew mousse, but this was the first Spanish hot chocolate with chilli. So good! I thought about buying chocolates. I did not. A new thing (for this year, anyway) - not taking photos of all meals and coffees while eating out. I hope you appreciate the absence of 'oh look, another coffee photo' photos.
Tram to Lygon St - with the trees all decked out in their fresh new leaves, this was so pretty! I didn't get a photo though. We had a late lunch (still not all that hungry after the very filling breakfast) at Papa Gino's, then had a few hours before the next thing on my list, so we went to the movies. Cinema Nova was showing Searching for Sugar Man within about 15 minutes, and it was described as 'heartwarming' so we went for that. After the second sentence we turned to each other and said, "This isn't heartwarming" - but it turned out to be true. A documentary rather than a movie, it was the tale of Rodriguez - an amazing story. I won't be able to do it justice here, so find it and watch it!
The next thing on my list was to see the sunset at St Kilda. After the movie, we were both pretty tired...and my legs were starting to feel it... and it was overcast and rainy... and I could see us getting home close to 9 after dinner... As the primary purpose of this visit was the half marathon, I decided to abort the sunset/penguins mission. We walked along South Bank (the Melbourne version) and back to Flinders St.
Rice pasta for dinner - a new experience for me - I'm tempted to buy some as it was rather yummy. Another new experience was feeling like I could fall asleep at 8pm daylight saving time. I held out until about 9:30, but still!
Friday: I met Jeannie at Flinders St station, where they now have storage facilities (until 9:45pm). We had dinner at ... um... a pub nearby with a fancy restaurant bit attached, but I can't remember the name. Although it was a Friday, I didn't have fish and chips but the Atlantic salmon salad instead. Then we were going to go to a Melbourne Fringe Festival show in which a friend of mine was acting. The venue was in South Melbourne. We put it into Apple maps. There was a station nearby, named North Melbourne Station. We got there and discovered we were on the wrong side of Melbourne. We went home.
Saturday: Breakfast at Las Chicas on Chapel St. Wow. One of those super feel-good places, as organic and local and sustainable as possible. I felt really bad for not being able to finish. Admittedly, my breakfast included a whole crop of spinach... Very friendly service, too - we were wished a great day by about 4 staff as we left.
Chapel St shopping. Flying down and back with only carry-on meant I was not inclined to shop. But some of those stores were so tempting! I did try on a dress but I resisted buying anything. Except undies from the Bonds outlet store but that was more a necessity than anything else. We also passed (and then went in) San Churro's Chocolateria. This was on my list of things to do.
The next thing on my list was to see the sunset at St Kilda. After the movie, we were both pretty tired...and my legs were starting to feel it... and it was overcast and rainy... and I could see us getting home close to 9 after dinner... As the primary purpose of this visit was the half marathon, I decided to abort the sunset/penguins mission. We walked along South Bank (the Melbourne version) and back to Flinders St.
Sunday, 14 October 2012
The Melbourne Half Marathon
Today, I completed my 3rd official half marathon. It had its ups and downs (literally).
Negative:
When I signed up for this (dragging Jeannie along with me), I figured that Melbourne is flat, so this should be a fairly flat marathon. Wrong. Straight after the start line - rather significant rise for a bridge over the river. Everyone was still in the "I'm going to smash this race" zone, and kept running. Another longish (but, in my Brisbane opinion, fairly gentle) incline was met with groans by most around me, and several people started walking. Nothing else was that horrible, until we got to near the end. Horrible. Quite a steep, extended rise into the MCG. Most people started walking - understandably! - and because the path was narrower, it was more difficult to overtake.
Positive:
I didn't walk for any, except when hydrating. There were times when a small part of me thought, maybe just a little bit of a walk... but the rest of me would then shout KEEP RUNNING!!! Thank you brain.
Negative:
Having to think. Part of the course was shared with the full marathon, so there were times when I only noticed there was a difference by chance, looking up and seeing a sign for half marathon go left, that sort of thing. I'd much rather just run and look at the view. The other thing about the course was the twisty nature of it. I would look ahead, see the crowd veering right, move to the right side - only to discover it was veering right and then turning left. A bit annoying.
Positive:
Seeing a new(ish) city a whole new way. Running along the middle of major roads is always exciting; running along tram tracks - how novel! Seeing, all in the one morning, a whole array of Melbourne landmarks is a great way to see Melbourne.
Negative:
Hydration organisation. So, Melbourne, hydration is super important in long running events. I had worked out beforehand which points I would use for water, and which for Powerade, and those I would just run right past. The first 2 went to plan. Then there was one (about 8km) that we were told, water on both sides. I didn't need water, so I ran down the middle (such a good feeling). I knew that I'd need water at the next one though. The next one had no cups with fluid available. I gritted my teeth and kept running. The next one also had no cups with fluid available. I nearly cried. I could have stopped and waited; some people were picking up cups from the ground that had already been used and holding them out to be filled (really); neither of these were appealing options. I actually had to tell my brain, Think Happy Thoughts. Not good. The next one, I sprinted past the people in front of me (I didn't want anyone getting water before me!) but there was such a bottleneck, volunteers holding out cups but that was forcing us to stop if we wanted anything.
Positive:
Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous. The last few days had been rather un-spring-like, quite cold and miserable and wintry. Today was warm but not hot, clear skies, the sort of day that makes you happy to be alive and healthy and able to run a half marathon.
Negative:
Okay, most people probably didn't have this problem - once inside the MCG, there were 3 arches. The middle (and largest) was for the full marathon; to the right was the 10km; to the left, half marathon. So reminiscent were they of the finish line, I thought this was the finish. Everyone else kept running, so I did too, all the time thinking "Why is everyone still running? Surely we can stop now?" - until I saw the actual finish line.
Positive:
Black swans! In one of the lakeside areas, I saw one of those wildlife signs with a black swan - so I looked further afield, and saw a group of 3, long necks curving into the ground as they hunted for food. Looking to the other side, another group of about 5 - keep going, and I must have seen about 30 of them all up. Incredible.
Negative:
So many people. 9, 115 entrants in the half marathon, which is (from what I overheard) capacity. However, if that's your upper limit, I feel you should be able to deal with that number. The hydration problems, the narrowing paths, and the exit strategy all needed improvement to deal with that many people. Getting off the field at the end was poorly organised, the post-race hydration was minimal and brusque (and so crowded), and there was a single escalator to get us all up to the warm clothes drop-off point. Also, that many people meant we didn't spread out at all (well, not much) so there were no good points to speed up.
Positive:
So many people. Yes. I get the same kind of feeling from singing in a choir, or playing in an orchestra. A situation in which there are many of you, and you might not interact with many, or even any, other people, but you are all engaging in the same activity. This I find heartening.
Negative:
I feel my brain is getting used to the whole half marathon thing. I was very excited, but in no way stressed about this. I am hesitant to try for a full marathon just yet though!
Positive:
My flight home was the fittest ever. I saw maybe a dozen people who had obviously run this morning, so no doubt there were quite a few more of us.
Negative:
Um, Melbourne - where were you? I know it felt like most of Melbourne was running, but I know there are more people out there... I really missed the spectators and cheering squads along most of the route. There were a couple of pockets of supporters, but there would not have been more than about 50 people for the whole route until we got close to the MCG. This was disappointing.
Positive:
Recovery Food. Oh yeah. We had a quick breakfast at Grindhouse on Carlisle St (very yummy, great coffee, and mercifully quick service); and I had Indian for dinner. I love recovery food. And I'm looking forward to eating normally again!
Negative:
When I signed up for this (dragging Jeannie along with me), I figured that Melbourne is flat, so this should be a fairly flat marathon. Wrong. Straight after the start line - rather significant rise for a bridge over the river. Everyone was still in the "I'm going to smash this race" zone, and kept running. Another longish (but, in my Brisbane opinion, fairly gentle) incline was met with groans by most around me, and several people started walking. Nothing else was that horrible, until we got to near the end. Horrible. Quite a steep, extended rise into the MCG. Most people started walking - understandably! - and because the path was narrower, it was more difficult to overtake.
Positive:
I didn't walk for any, except when hydrating. There were times when a small part of me thought, maybe just a little bit of a walk... but the rest of me would then shout KEEP RUNNING!!! Thank you brain.
Negative:
Having to think. Part of the course was shared with the full marathon, so there were times when I only noticed there was a difference by chance, looking up and seeing a sign for half marathon go left, that sort of thing. I'd much rather just run and look at the view. The other thing about the course was the twisty nature of it. I would look ahead, see the crowd veering right, move to the right side - only to discover it was veering right and then turning left. A bit annoying.
Positive:
Seeing a new(ish) city a whole new way. Running along the middle of major roads is always exciting; running along tram tracks - how novel! Seeing, all in the one morning, a whole array of Melbourne landmarks is a great way to see Melbourne.
Negative:
Hydration organisation. So, Melbourne, hydration is super important in long running events. I had worked out beforehand which points I would use for water, and which for Powerade, and those I would just run right past. The first 2 went to plan. Then there was one (about 8km) that we were told, water on both sides. I didn't need water, so I ran down the middle (such a good feeling). I knew that I'd need water at the next one though. The next one had no cups with fluid available. I gritted my teeth and kept running. The next one also had no cups with fluid available. I nearly cried. I could have stopped and waited; some people were picking up cups from the ground that had already been used and holding them out to be filled (really); neither of these were appealing options. I actually had to tell my brain, Think Happy Thoughts. Not good. The next one, I sprinted past the people in front of me (I didn't want anyone getting water before me!) but there was such a bottleneck, volunteers holding out cups but that was forcing us to stop if we wanted anything.
Positive:
Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous. The last few days had been rather un-spring-like, quite cold and miserable and wintry. Today was warm but not hot, clear skies, the sort of day that makes you happy to be alive and healthy and able to run a half marathon.
Negative:
Okay, most people probably didn't have this problem - once inside the MCG, there were 3 arches. The middle (and largest) was for the full marathon; to the right was the 10km; to the left, half marathon. So reminiscent were they of the finish line, I thought this was the finish. Everyone else kept running, so I did too, all the time thinking "Why is everyone still running? Surely we can stop now?" - until I saw the actual finish line.
Positive:
Black swans! In one of the lakeside areas, I saw one of those wildlife signs with a black swan - so I looked further afield, and saw a group of 3, long necks curving into the ground as they hunted for food. Looking to the other side, another group of about 5 - keep going, and I must have seen about 30 of them all up. Incredible.
Negative:
So many people. 9, 115 entrants in the half marathon, which is (from what I overheard) capacity. However, if that's your upper limit, I feel you should be able to deal with that number. The hydration problems, the narrowing paths, and the exit strategy all needed improvement to deal with that many people. Getting off the field at the end was poorly organised, the post-race hydration was minimal and brusque (and so crowded), and there was a single escalator to get us all up to the warm clothes drop-off point. Also, that many people meant we didn't spread out at all (well, not much) so there were no good points to speed up.
So many people. Yes. I get the same kind of feeling from singing in a choir, or playing in an orchestra. A situation in which there are many of you, and you might not interact with many, or even any, other people, but you are all engaging in the same activity. This I find heartening.
Negative:
I feel my brain is getting used to the whole half marathon thing. I was very excited, but in no way stressed about this. I am hesitant to try for a full marathon just yet though!
Positive:
My flight home was the fittest ever. I saw maybe a dozen people who had obviously run this morning, so no doubt there were quite a few more of us.
Negative:
Um, Melbourne - where were you? I know it felt like most of Melbourne was running, but I know there are more people out there... I really missed the spectators and cheering squads along most of the route. There were a couple of pockets of supporters, but there would not have been more than about 50 people for the whole route until we got close to the MCG. This was disappointing.
Positive:
Recovery Food. Oh yeah. We had a quick breakfast at Grindhouse on Carlisle St (very yummy, great coffee, and mercifully quick service); and I had Indian for dinner. I love recovery food. And I'm looking forward to eating normally again!
Friday, 12 October 2012
The Asylum Seeker Welcome Pack
Today's photos:
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Outfit #78 - Until Midday
Outfit details:
Dress (as skirt): Jeanswest (op shop). Top: Ambra. Shoes: Target. Earrings: Sportsgirl (I think).
Until midday, I was congratulating myself on such a great outfit choice. Although today was not too hot - unlike the last couple of days - it was very humid. This outfit is breathable (a big tick). It's not very warm, though, so when a storm hit just before midday, I turned from a comfortable temperature into a purple-limbed shivering wimp. The dilemma of getting a cup of tea versus needing to go outside in the rain resulted in no tea. It was a pretty super teaching day, but it was one of those in which I had morning tea at 11:55 and lunch when I got home at 5:15. So, very quick photos.
This was my 2nd attempt at the dress-as-skirt layering (the first you can see here). The dress itself is strapless which meant I was still feeling like I was wearing a strapless dress, adjusting the top all day. I have some other ideas for this dress though so stay tuned!
Today's photo:
It's jacaranda season - I'm surprised this has been my first jacaranda photo.
Dress (as skirt): Jeanswest (op shop). Top: Ambra. Shoes: Target. Earrings: Sportsgirl (I think).
Until midday, I was congratulating myself on such a great outfit choice. Although today was not too hot - unlike the last couple of days - it was very humid. This outfit is breathable (a big tick). It's not very warm, though, so when a storm hit just before midday, I turned from a comfortable temperature into a purple-limbed shivering wimp. The dilemma of getting a cup of tea versus needing to go outside in the rain resulted in no tea. It was a pretty super teaching day, but it was one of those in which I had morning tea at 11:55 and lunch when I got home at 5:15. So, very quick photos.
Today's photo:
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Outfit #77 - Black Spring
Dress: Jeanswest (op shop). Shoes: Target. Earrings: from Jeannie.
I had a couple of necklaces set to wear today as well, which looked fine when everything was on the hanger - but this morning, they looked all weird with the earrings. The earrings won. And they even received compliments at lunch!
Today's photo:
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