On Monday I will visit you about the 'mennooo'......

That's what Laurent said to me on the phone this afternoon. My darling husband knows how much my girlfriends mean to me. He knows that they are wonderful and I love them all to bits. As a birthday present, he offered me a French Chef to come and cook for me and my best girlfriends. How cool a present is that? Laurent does the tuck shop at the high school and by all accounts the food there is divine. This French Chef is coming to cook in my own kitchen. We are going to have this beautiful, French accented man cook for us! (I've never seen him before, but anyone that sounds so good has to look good right??) How awesome. I even made invitations for my gfs. We've invited the fellas along, if they want to come and have a man's night downstairs with steak and BBQ. I thought it was a quirky twist, but it was so that the girls could drink and so my darling wasn't lonely lol..........cause this night is for the girls. These chickies do so much to add richness to my life, that I'm so excited to share this night with them. I still can't believe my Bunny thought of this idea all by himself!!

I didn't jog yesterday, sometimes after a few consecutive days, I need a break. This morning I headed out early (okay it was only 9am, but that's early for me in holiday time) and took Billy-Joe to a friend's place. I'd been asked by the Lovely Lisa to spend the morning at Cotton Tree but I had to say no. Sammy's eyes were a mess, thank goodness I went to the doctor again yesterday and got the script again for his drops. I've been diligent with them today, and they are still not good. When they're really bad, they are light sensitive and spending the morning outside would not have been good for him. Even walking across the road while I did some errands, he hung onto me and shut his eyes until we were back in a store. I had some photos developed and then spat chips, because I was too busy rousing at the kids, that I didn't get all the ones enlarged that I'd intended to. I always feel under pressure on those machines, I should just take my time. The ones I had printed I was just rapt with. I've finally nailed my post processing on my mac, and the Camerhouse in town does a fantastic job. I am really happy with them and their service. I then headed over to Big W and wanted to have a look at some of the Australia Day merchandise. The kids needed new boxers and new thongs, and I thought I'd have a look at a t'shirt or something for Australia Day. Of course, I was early - and the sale doesn't really start until tomorrow, so I was only able to get little boxers which are really cute. We had a cuppa with my parents as we 'found' them. I put found in inverted commas because my parents are even more predicatble than I am (I wonder where I got it from???) so the kids even know where to look for their parked car.

I dropped into Daisys for some inspiration and a quick chat with my sweet gf. She helped me pick some papers and I added some more, and then we headed home. As I started to say in the last paragraph, I didn't jog yesterday, but I did today.

Yesterday I tried interval training, I'd run at 10km/h for 2 or 3 mins and then drop back to 6km/h for a minute. It nearly killed me! Today I decided that I would increase my speed from 8.4km/hr to 9km/hr and just jog at the same speed. I found it much easier. I was able to complete the half hour. It's like my heart rate goes up, up, up and then it slows a little once I'm in a rhythm. It's the same for my breathing, I puff a bit at the start and then it evens out too. I've got the endurance, and stamina, just not the ability to pace my breathing in interval stuff. I was pretty happy with today's effort. I know I need to get to 10km/hr for half an hour before I jog my 5km which is my goal. Actually ultimately I'd like to increase my time and get up to an hour. Now I just have to monitor my diet so that I can lose some weight again. Christmas decadence has show on me, and I need to get back into eating properly. I know when the kids go back to school that things will return to 'normal' eatingwise, but our long holiday break is really too long for me to just eat whatever. I'm not snacking anymore, no morning or afternoon tea, so that will help. I think tonight we'll have finished the divine Christmas pudding I bought at the food and wine show, so then dessert will be back to my yoghurt.

I also scrapbooked a layout today. No doubt a few new papers and some new photos spurred me on - thanks to Suzy's advice. In the last 18 months, I've not spend a lot on my scrapbooking, so my stuff is getting very low. It means I have little choice and then don't feel like doing any, because it makes it too hard. I hope to do another layout tomorrow. I'll upload my layout to my Photo a Day blog, so I've got a picture for it.

I am making Chilli Con Carne for dinner tonight. It's actually a recipe from Jamie Oliver's website, but I'll have to write it out anew, because my recipe bears no resemblance to his.....