Losing and Finding 101

I’m about to tell you something and I know exactly what you’re going to think as soon as I tell you, ‘As if, whatever this chick is kidding herself!?!’, but just wait til you’ve read this entire post before making any conclusions/judgements of any kind – got it? Sheesh, sometimes you lot are a hard bunch to please – but that’s why I love you!

Anyways back to my story. Ever since I was a little bubby, fresh out of high school I seem to have had this weird ability(you know like a Heroes kind of one), you see my belongings are kind of like a boomerang – take this Saturday night about 5 years ago, it was a beautiful summer’s night and I had my pink, patent Sportsgirl clutch with me………..

……Inside my clutch that night were the few necessities that every girl should have on a night out – lipgloss (duh, have you read the title of this website), mirror, I.D, money, hip flask (only if I'm on a budget that is). When I go out at night I usually only have a clutch with me. It’s super annoying having to hang onto anything else. What’s that you said? A Cardigan? Meh – who needs them. But, on this particular Saturday night I just happened to get home to my friend's place – let’s call her Brooke, our heads hit the pillow and we were out for the count (you see we were so, so tired coz we’d been up talking and dancing all night at our local pub).

I awoke, abruptly, to the sound of Brooke’s house phone going off.

***

RINGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!! RINGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UGH – Someone GET IT! I hear Brooke’s mum answer the phone and she rushes into the bedroom, ‘Girls, are you OK? Bella – where’s your mobile, your mother has been trying to call it all night?’ Oops. Forgot to tell mum I was staying at Brooke’s house. Mistake Number One. Mistake Number Two, um rewind, ouch my head is pounding – do we have to do this now, OK, a little slower this time, here goes, my. Mum. Has. Been. Trying. To. Call. Me. All. Night……Ummm s#$%! Where’s my mobile? My beautiful flip, pink, Motorola with a built-in camera that I had been saving for like 2 years to get is nowhere to be seen? Double s%#$!

OK, stay calm, by this time Brooke’s mum is shoving the house phone in my face and I can hear Mum on the other end, tsk, tsking away, “Where have you left your phone now, Bella? Hang on there’s a knock at the door, I’ll call you back!” Phew. That yelling wasn’t good for that headache of mine. I scratch around Brooke’s room for my clutch. Now, where did I fling that thing when I came in last night?
It’s not here, it’s not……anywhere.
I started to get that feeling in my throat – you know the one where you throw up in your mouth and have to swallow it again? It's getting you ready for 'that' moment. That moment when you’re about to completely freak out.

RINGGGGGGGG!!!! RINGGGGG!!!

I nearly jumped out of my skin (again), that damn house phone. I pick it up – ‘Hello?’
It’s Mum. ‘Bella, where’s your clutch bag?’, she screams, ‘My clutch, it’s ah, it’s right um. Hhmmmm. It’s not here.’ I finally spit out. ‘Well, lucky for you a nice man just dropped it off, with your phone, I.D and the rest of your crap.’ Oh. Mi. God.

So that’s how that story ended.

Then there was the time ooh, only two days ago where I came home from work and got to my front door ready to have a relaxing night in, I reached for my keys and my apartment keys had mysteriously gone missing from my keyring. The rest of the keys were attached (to my keyring) and I’d only just used them that morning so I searched in my car, on the ground, in my bag and in the car again and couldn’t for the life of me, locate them. I had to drive to my boyfriend to retrieve his keys and then all weekend sat in my apartment scared that someone was going to waltz on up to my apartment, let themselves in and go crazy on my belongings – you know, like, steal them. I got to work on Monday morning desperately searching high and low for my keys but they were still nowhere to be seen. Then as I’m walking to lunch my mobile starts to ring, ‘Hello?’, ‘Hi is this Bella?’ ‘Yes?’ Have you lost a set of keys Miss Bella?’ ‘Yesss?!’ I think you should come down and see us (Centre Management at my local mall); someone has handed in your keys with your Macro (wholefoods supermarket) membership tag attached to them. ‘Ah, great!’ I screamed, but couldn’t figure out how I had managed to attach my name and phone number to my set of keys, the lady must have caught on so continued to explain her findings, ‘It seems that the lady who found your keys contacted Macro and the nice people there gave her your number, then she passed your details onto us.’ Oh. Now it makes sense. Wow isn’t that just dandy.

So you see, every single one of my belongings is a boomerang in its own way.

I guess you could also call it some damn good luck with a dashing of some pretty nice people on my side.

Cheers to them.

Peace Out,

Girl Next Door xoxo

Airy Fairy Thoughts

Just so you know blogettes, I have not gone anywhere but am just currently experiencing a delay in my writing thoughts/posts. No, it’s not writer’s block, it’s just that I have a few things I’ve needed to attend to in the last couple of months (like saving some mula on my Internet bill) and finding that perfect writing job, you know the one where I become a beauty editor and dictate what you next put into your beauty case?

In the mean time I will be posting you updates on my life and the things I am thinking about. Today I have been thinking alot about one of the women I look up to so much, Miss Zoe Foster. If you hadn’t heard this lovely young lady who is very quickly becoming one of the most famous beauty writers in the world, was beauty ed at Cosmo for a few years, then beauty director at Harper’s Bazaar and now Editor-In-Chief of Primped.com.au, oh and ah did I mention she has her own book? Air Kisses, is about a girl who wings her way into becoming a beauty editor and gets dumped by her boyfriend via text message, she decides to get her own back and you can only imagine what happens next…? Well, you could keep imagining or you could go nab yourself your own copy from any good bookstore and at $32.95 you’d be stupid to be sitting there staring at the computer screen – go buy yourself a copy you silly girl!

I’m on my way to Borders right now. Toodles!

Peace Out,

Girl Next Door xoxo

P.S If you've just had lunch/dinner and you're craving something sweet, then head to Zoe's blog, for a dollop of fat free fruityness, it's the perfect way to relieve that choccie craving (minus the calories)!

Is Yoga really that good for you?

I’m one of those chicks you’d refer to as a Gym-Junkie, no, I’m no anorexic but I do care about my body, what I put in it and how I treat it is one of the most important parts of my life (isn’t it everyone’s?). I’ve been a member of Fitness First for nearly 4 years now and in that time my relationship with the gym has had many stages.

Starting out I just couldn’t get into it, I started going with my friend Bec at lunchtimes, then before work – meaning, getting out of bed at ridiculous hours of the morning and even tried the after work workout. It was just all bad timing, I had nothing to work towards, then I scored myself a full-time boyfriend and it was time to think about how I wanted him to see me and how I felt about my body. Slowly, I started to lose weight, tone up and regain my confidence. Now that I’ve been going for so long, I’ve stopped seeing results, it’s like my body is telling me it’s time to change my workout and move onto something that will start showing results again, you know, mix it up. My mum has always told me (and I hate to admit it, but, mum’s always seem to be right!) I need to get into Yoga, not only for the body benefits but the mind and spirit ones too.

I’ve always thought of Yoga as the easy way out of exercising, the cheater’s guide, if you like. I mean, how can you possibly burn calories when all you’re doing is stretching? Although on the other hand, Madonna, Geri Halliwell and many more trim celebs swear by the Ancient Indian art.

I had to try this ‘exercise’ out for myself, I took advantage of the mid-year sales and bought a Yoga DVD; 10 Minute Solution, Yoga. I have been partaking in the DVD every second morning before breakfast. The good thing about it is that you can make up your own workouts, there are 5 x 10 minute workouts to choose from, each session focusing on a different part of the body. Abs, legs and butt, relaxation, burn and basics, I did 30 minutes this morning – basics, legs and abs and let me tell you I worked up one hell of a sweat, I could smell my armpits from a mile away and when my boyfriend walked in to the lounge room he was wiping sweat from my forehead! I can barely hold my arms up as I type right now, they’re killing me.

I will continue to trial the DVD and let you know what the results are, if I start seeing any more. The teacher on the DVD says that if I practise the DVD regularly I will start to see and feel the difference. I have already noticed there’s a sense of calmness in my body and my day when I combine Yoga into my morning routine.
Maybe my Mum is onto something?

Peace Out,

Girl Next Door xoxo

Choice lovers beware......

I was doing my fortnightly shop with my boyfriend this morning and we always make a list – you know so we don’t ‘blow our budget’, what we buy is pretty much the same week to week. The necessities for us go a little something like this: bread (gluten/wheat free and normal), milk, vegies, fruit, rice noodles, sultanas, nuts. From week to week we’ll sometimes buy something a little naughty as well, whether that be a tub of ice cream (Connoisseur or Sara Lee), pack of lollies (Natural Confectionery) or a block of chocolate (Swiss Dark) – we usually go for the same brands each time and don’t think outside that square unless absolutely necessary.
I know when my parents go shopping they reach for the brands they know as well, if dad wants a choccie biscuit he’ll reach for the traditional Tim Tam, if mum wants some coffee she’ll reach for the Nescafe traditional flavour. I mean why wouldn’t we, we love the brands and quality we’re getting and there is no need at all to think outside the square – especially if we don’t have a lot of funds to support our decisions.

Which brings me to my point – why do brands such as Tim Tam feel the need to keep introducing more and more flavours of the biscuit when everyone already loves the original flavour? I know for a fact that the new range of Tim Tams aren’t doing well, honeycomb clusters and mocha clusters are bombing at the checkout so have been moved to the ‘on special’ rack at the start of any old aisle. They’re left to expire on their shelves in the hope that someone walking through the cereal aisle will look past their ‘list’ and grab a pack just coz they’re ‘on special’. But the thing is, the reason they were moved to that aisle in the first place is coz they’re not even being picked up.

In a world where variety is the spice of life is there in fact too much choice?

Think about when you head down to your local Gelatissimo or Cold Rock Ice Creamery, there are about 30 different flavours to choose from (at least!) then you can choose what cone you want it or whether you want it served in a cup, what toppings you want on or inside the ice cream. Don’t know bout you but, take me back to the good ol’ Neapolitan ice cream days where the only flavours to choose from were chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

Do you think dropping all the choices we have these days (the ones we don’t ‘need’ but ‘desire’) see a drop in the amount of cash we’re ringing up at the register?

Today we have never had so much choice and although a range of choices is always good I do believe 2008 marks the year that obesity has well and truly hit rock bottom – literally. In the year 2000, the Australian population alone had over *47% of women and 63% of men overweight - that was 8 years ago - imagine what that percentage is like now. Don’t even get me started on the United States. I really believe that if we did get rid of all the un-necessary choices in the market right now – i.e Pizza Hut and Domino’s ever expanding pizza flavours, random milk/juice/cordial flavours and yoghurt/desserts our world would be a happier and less greedy place. If the supermarkets went back-to-basics and used the ingredients that were all made and produced from the land, soil and animals the world would be a better (and less pudgy) place to live in.


Let me know your thoughts.

Peace Out Food Lovers,

Girl Next Door xoxo

*Info courtesy of Nutrition Australia (2000)

The discoveries of the world waiting to be made......by us!

“Riding on camels and donkeys at sunset, sailing down The River Nile on a felucca boat, smoking Shisha, dancing with a Nubian tribe and visiting mummy tombs…”

No I’m not on drugs, I just received the most magical postcard in the mail from my bestie who is currently riding a wave of unbelievable experiences. Packing up just 4 weeks ago and leaving her dream job in a bid to discover new cultures and explore this amazing and magical world we live in.

If you hadn’t guessed from the extract of the postcard I printed, my soul mate (in a bestie) is in historic Egypt – oh what I would give to travel to such an exciting place! As Ancient History was one of my favourite subjects back in school I know the history of the place is just unspeakable. In the 20cm postcard Phoebe sent me, I can almost smell the aroma of the musty, 38 degree, arid, desert. Apart from the fact that exposing yourself to a country like Egypt you jeopardise you health; the experiences had and seen are far worth the sacrifice of clean water and food.

Although I have been lucky enough to live a few overseas family holidays in my time I know I haven’t even begun to see the world. Vague memories of California, Detroit, Hawaii, Paris, Italy and Spain are stamped in my memory and photos take me back to those moments in my life that can only be described as incredible.
The only thing that stands between me and my next trip is 6 months, that’s right I’ve decided that life only comes around once (not to mention you 20’s) and it’s time for me to break free of my Northern Beaches bubble and do the one thing that I am best at; have fun!! I swear if there were jobs in having ‘fun’ I’d be the Director!

On the 23rd of December 2008 (at approx. 3.15pm) I fly out of Sydney and into New York City (JFK Airport where I meet my bestie Phoebe), for 13 whole days we’ll explore the shopping, sites and food that NYC has to offer – did I mention I’ll be in the city that never sleeps for Christmas AND New Years Eve? Oh, it must have slipped my mind! Then on the 4th of January 2009 (at approx. 9.15pm) I’ll wave goodbye to Miss Liberty, fly out of NYC and into London, Heathrow Airport (at approx. 1.25pm, 5th of January). The plan is to stay in London where my dear friend Phoebe will be living. For approx. 15 days – give 5 more perhaps, where we’ll never give up on the good times - Spice Girls style. It’s what we really, really want – zig-a-zig ah! Sounds like a whirlwind of fun – right? I know you're getting super jealous right now but you know what you can all do it too! Its just a matter of finding the right moment, friends and money to make your dream a reality! Whatever it is just do it coz you only live once!

Here’s to 6 months of saving and enjoying every minute of it!


Peace Out,


Girl Next Door xoxox

P.S Thought you knew everything there is to know about Thoughts? well think again coz good friend of Thoughts, Frangipani Princess grilled Girl Next Door only a couple of weeks ago to find out what really makes me tick - check out her entertaining blog at: frangipaniprincess.blogspot.com

Goss galore!

First of all my apologies go out to all my regulars who have been waiting patiently on the next instalment of Thoughts. Unfortunately my current job doesn’t allow me access to a computer for the entire day, which means my relationship with Word and Blogger has become quite inexistent (I know I wonder how I’m still living too).
I promise you that whenever I get a chance now I am on here coming up with potential story ideas and ways that I can keep your undivided attention – even those days where I don’t post!

There’s a couple of things I wanted to touch on today, firstly that scandal that’s hit the entire media circus of Sydney. What all began as a simple story in ‘The Sealed Section’ in CLEO mag – just a few loved up couples showing their affection towards eachother and being kind enough to share it with us. One parent complained to the school where Lynne Tziolas taught at (who probably hasn’t had sex. Ever. Not even to conceive her child) complained to Narraweena Public School’s principal and in one afternoon one of the most loved teachers in the school was given the boot. The story first featured in The Manly Daily (my local paper) over a week ago on the front page (Friday 9th of May 2008 to be precise) as you may have guessed not much happens round The Northern Beaches and I’m not kidding you – every issue of The Manly Daily since that first one has had some update of the incident. Whether it be about the many petitions that the parents and friends associations are starting to get Tziolas back on the books, yesterday it was all about how one child (in year one) started a petition to get her teacher back. Being an intern at CLEO nearly every week, I am outraged at the accusations towards such an influential and empowering mag.

Thanks to smh.com.au for the pic

Since when has a 9 year old even taken interest in a mag with as old as a readership as CLEO mag – in saying that I mean these kids are barely reading Girlfriend and Dolly – let alone CLEO. I have the issue sitting right next to me and the shoot has been done in very good taste – I’m not that into perving on naked couples but, hey, it has to be said – they look hot. Not that you can even see ‘anything’. Pfft with whoever is being so close-minded! Get over yourselves!

I’d love to know your thoughts on the scandal!?

Next thing – the count down to the Sex and the City Movie is on! Only 23 days to go!! Can you wait? Coz I know I can’t!! Did I mention I am visiting the before meantioned home town of NYC? No?! Oh well, let’s just say the city that never sleeps and myself will be getting very acquainted in approximately 7 months from now (and yes, that is Christmas and New Years!)!!!

The awesome foursome looking trendy as in down town NYC

The last of my yarn ends on one of the most anticipated series returns of the year (not) Big Brother 08 – yawn! Despite being very excited to see how Kyle and Jackie O tackle The House I was a little disappointed. I mean, what’s with the house mates this year??? Kyle and Jackie O I love you both long time and congrats on the new gig, but, I’m just a bit confused by the bunch of freaks that are in there this year? All Dixie does is eat and sleep, Saxon – well he was the first evicted and that says it all, then there’s Nobbi – who’s probably the most entertaining out of the lot, grandma needs to take a trip back to her home town and Blondie needs a slap across the face straight back into reality, right after slap Princess Sparkles back there too. Corey is probably the most interesting in there and even he annoys me how he doesn’t want to get under anyone’s skin – he really shows how young he is when he declines tasks from Big Brother. Not that I’m watching it or anything – this is just from speculation forums you know – hehe??

Love, love, love these entertaining/glam hosts but the housemates are another story......

Anyways Bloggettes please send me an email about anything – what you’re doing if you’re enjoying Thoughts, if you miss me writing often. Any of your thoughts would be lovely. Thoughts@live.com.au

Peace Out,

Girl Next Door xoxoxox

"Why would you wanna watch over-weight people lose weight?"

"Umm, because it's inspirational for a start! Watching people overcome their fears and obstacles helps you get through your own. Why do you think the 'reality' of such a series does so well and is worth thousands of dollars? Like, duh!"


Just a little extract from a conversation my boyfriend and I were having with one of his friends a couple of weeks ago. Obvi, we were discussing the show where transformations are a reality and over-eating is merely a thought (and for those who took the plunge an extra 6 hours in the gym)from last week's 'Temptation'. I am of course referring to one of the biggest make over shows currently invading our prime time hot spot: The Biggest Loser.


Finishing up last week the monster of all shows took us through 3 months of 12 overwieght Aussie's and their journey's. The trainers (what I would do to train with them!) Michelle Bridges and Shannon Ponton delved into the contestants private lives and brought out the reasons behind what exactly made them 'fat' and brought their problems to the surface, somewhere where Australia could see them too. They overcame their obstacles with hard work and determination and showed the nation how strong they really are. Then, in all their glory, new outfits (and spray tans) came out onto the stage on Thursday night and flaunted their brand new bodies to Australia.


Although I love this show I do have to question it. These people are thrown into an extreme exercise and eating routine as soon as they enter the house - there was one week where the two teams got to choose their meals for the week. The choice was either cabbage or unmarked tins of food. Never in the outside world would they ever be faced with this dilemma. It's unrealistic. Surely a task where they were sent to the supermarket to pick out their own ingredients for meals for the week would have been more educational for them?


And what about the 'Temptations', where the contestants were faced with meals of up to 3000 calories? In an attempt to gain Immunity for the week (to stay in 'The Game') they would gorge themselves on the first thing they could get their hands on. This was happening right up until the second last week of the reality show. Then they'd be punished in the gym for up to an extra 6 hours that night. I feel like running til I can't run anymore when I eat a Maxibon sometimes but do I actually do it? 60% of the time, that answer is no. They shoudl be teaching the contestants it's not evil to eat something 'bad' from time to time, we need to otherwise our cravings will get the better of us and we'll end up eating that whole block of Cadbury Dairy Milk or that whole packet of Tim Tams.


The exercise routine they were involved in was up to 8 hours every single day of the week. That's alot of exercise for someone who's never set foot on a treadmill before, sometimes I find it hard to get up the energy/motivation to go for 20 minutes and I'm a gym-junkie!

An inspirational weightloss from Sean

In past Biggest Losers many of the contestants have put the weight straight back on as soon as they're back home. It just goes to show how easily and quickly they can slip off the band wagon, as quickly as they jumped onto it. Take a contestant from this year, for example, Sean who's starting weight was 174.6kg - one of the biggest on the show to begin with, his goal weight was 94kg. He's now at 94.8 and looks like a different person - I didn't recognise him when they brought him out on the finale night! He lost almost 100kg in 3 months. It's not healthy to lose weight so fast - if you spoke to a personal trainer they'd tell you 1-2kg every 2 weeks is what's healthy. Remember the fireman last year? He was super thin when he was on the finale but has now put a few kilos back on - enough for us to be able to notice. Even the gorgeous Fiona from 2006's series has put some of it back on. I have spoken with alot of my friends about this - even ones that are personal trainers and they don't really rate the show for this reason. It should be part of the program that when they get out of The House, they get involved with a personal trainer regularly and get as much nutritional help as possible. Cause the journey isn't over yet - it's not even close. They've been lucky enough to be monitored for the past 3 months, their next obstacle is to keep away from the kitchen in the coming months.

Don't get me wrong though, these people have come a long way. Losing weight when you're that overweight takes alot of courage and determintation. The amount of weight each and every one of the contestants lost is inspirational - my congratulations goes out to them and all of their families - best of luck in the future guys, now you can go on living a long, and healthy life.

The Yummy Mummy all of Oz are talking about

I can't sign off though, without giving a special mention to my fave contestant, Yummy Mummy Alison. Her starting weight was 121.7 kg and she now weighs 66.5kg - her goal weight 60kg. She was grams away from taking out The Biggest Loser crown this year and becoming the world's first female Biggest Loser. You were always a winner in my eyes Alison - Girl Power! And what an inspirational transformation!

On that note, I'm off to the gym.

Peace Out,

Girl Next Door xoxoxo

P.S Thanks to biggestloser.com.au for the pics.