25th January 2012

Reblogged from This Is Today.:

I've been determined this year to get healthy and start beating all the health problems I had in 2011. I was set back a little when I had to get my appendix out 2 weeks ago but I'm back on track now. After visiting my Dad at the Peter Mac Cancer Centre I decided to walk the almost 5kms home. I've spent the last week using a Pedometer to get up to 10,000 steps per day and today I finally managed to get over that amount. Overall I walked 8.4kms over the day which was 11,659 steps. But to be honest I'm not …

Reblogged from This Is Today.:

I've been determined this year to get healthy and start beating all the health problems I had in 2011. I was set back a little when I had to get my appendix out 2 weeks ago but I'm back on track now. After visiting my Dad at the Peter Mac Cancer Centre I decided to walk the almost 5kms home. I've spent the last week using a Pedometer to get up to 10,000 steps per day and today I finally managed to get over that amount. Overall I walked 8.4kms over the day which was 11,659 steps. But to be honest I'm not …

96.02 Go to 50 exhibitions

First proper outing since I got my appendix out, and it was a pretty awesome day. I got all dressed up, put on my new bow tie and went down to the City Library to catch Urban Scrawl, an exhibition which is part of Midsumma. Taken from their facebook event: “Emerging from their shadowy haunts for the MIDSUMMA FESTIVAL are Kaff-eine, aerosol dynamo and prolific paster; and Precious Little, street art sweetheart and poetess mess. They are joined by light alchemists Tigtab and Blacklodge, who—through photography and ethereal illuminations—inject intimacy into forgotten spaces and reanimate sites of urban decay.

Navigating the monolithic themes of love, life, death and the minutiae in between, together they lead the expedition into the clandestine corners of Melbourne, from the painted laneways to the subterranean catacombs, snaking like a circulatory system beneath the city’s skin. “

It was pretty amazing…I only wish the space was bigger so they could’ve fit more amazing pieces. I’ve always been a huge fan of both Precious Little and Kaff-eine so this collaboration was bound to see me wetting my pants in excitement. The amazing creatures of Kaff-eine matched perfectly with the dark pondering dymo writings of Precious Little. If you get a chance, head down to the City Library before 29th January 2012 and check it out for yourself.

96.01 Go to 50 exhibitions

As Modern As Tomorrow @ State Library Victoria

76. Calculate my “real age” and make a lifestyle changes list

When I first looked into calculating my real age last year, I found the website www.realage.com. I was pretty shocked when, at 29, my real age was actually 36, but in a way understood – I was smoking and drinking a lot and not really intentionally looking after myself. I decided to add it to the list and take the test again, this time with the idea of making a list of lifestyle choices and getting a little bit of motivation to exercise on a more regular basis. A lot of my 101/1001 goals are written with the intention of creating good habits.

This time around I did a lot better. At 30, my real age is 33. Still not great as it’s 3 years more than my actual age but I’m happy there’s some improvement there from last time…I’m sure the quitting smoking and daily walks is helping. Now the next step is to build on these habits, create more health and wellness goals, and start actioning them into everyday life. I understand there will be a lot of changes to be made so I won’t be doing it all at once. I’ll work on it through out the 101/1001 project, and then hopefully throughout my life. Here are some of my ideas so far to get me started:

EXERCISE: Walking…start simple and try to work my way up to 10,000 steps a day (goal 68.) using the pedometer app I downloaded onto my iPhone. Goal 69 – Couch to 5k Program. Goal 67 – Have a personal training session. Goal 66 – Rollerblade! Lots! It’s fun and will help me get fit. And start riding my bike everywhere again because I love it!

FOOD HABITS: Start by having a detox (goal 65). Also my friend Kat gave me these tips: “ avoid anything white except for yogurt. Eat endless amounts of (preferably raw)brightly coloured vegies. No more than two serves of fruit. LEss sugar. One coffee, but all other caffeine requirements fulflilled with Green Tea. Liquid Chlophyll or lemon in water (balances your alkalinity). Eat heavy early, and lighter later on. Don’t cut out carbs, but eat the right ones and not too many of them. Snack on vegies, not carbs or fruit. Be stringent on a routine until you start to pick up (i.e. no late nights, avoid sleep ins). Extra Vitamin B won’t go astray. Don’t have a coffee after a high carb, or high fat meal – the interaction makes you feel fatigued. Do you have low-blood pressure? If so, have smaller meals more frequently. Eat out of your fridge, not your pantry: generally, if something doesn’t go off within a week, it’s probably not so good for you (lentils, oats etc the obvs excpetions).”

BACK & NECK PROBLEMS: Get them sorted. Goal 77 – Work on a list with my Physio of all the things I need to do to get my back out of pain and follow through diligently – reassess every 3 months. Goal 73 – Attend at least 10 Yoga/Pilates Classes. Goal 74 – 10 Acupuncture and/or Cupping Sessions

So I’m going to start all these goals slowly…but I will start them today.

Inspiration

I think when you undertake any big project such as 101/1001, it’s really important to draw on any source of inspiration you can find to drive you forward, or start thinking from different angles. My friend Penny posted this video on her Facebook and it really inspired me. Jeff Harris started taking daily photos for a lot of the same reasons I did, the visual journal aspect, and the fact that he’s still going regardless of any obstacles is really amazing.

VIDEO: Jeff Harris

29. Make a blog of my niece – 365 first days

http://firstdaysofizzy.wordpress.com/

64.Quit Smoking…and stay quit

What better way to start 2012 as well as my new 101/1001 list but to quit smoking and stay quit.  I tried this a few times during my last list (so say 3 year) and was successful twice, one time for an entire year. I’m really disappointed I started again, but I won’t dwell on that, I thought I had my reasons…or excuses, but none of them are relevant anymore. I need all my energy to go into quitting for good right now. I had been having conversations with my partner that I wanted to give up for good, and since she’s a non-smoker, she was more that supportive…but something in me didn’t feel quite ready yet – not until I talked to my Dad. I had vaguely set a goal of quitting in the new year of 2012, but this was set in concrete after my Dad approached me on Christmas day and told me he would pay anything…any type of treatment I needed, to get off the ciggies for good. He has recently been dealing with cancer, not related to his 30 years of smoking, but it has provoked him to urge me to stay healthy. He has managed to be off the smokes for 7 months now and has remained really healthy…working out, walking, taking care of himself. So if he can do it, I can do it…right? I’m really proud of him, and want that for myself too.

So I did a bit of research because this life style change needs to be sustainable. On RealAge.com they have a stop smoking section that I’ve checked out in the past so I started there. A few of the common themes were:

Preparation: I’d picked a date, 2nd January 2012, so I just needed to lead up to that. One NYE I smoked like a chimney, and when I ran out of my own I smoked everyone elses…feeling like a total scab to feed a habit is one way to feel good about giving up. 1st January I knew I’d be driving home from Falls Music Festival, probably tired and grumpy as my body recovers from all the partying…so I continued to smoke, purchasing my last packet and began weening myself off them. 2nd January was quitting day. I had 3 cigarette’s left so I had them slowly over the day and went out to buy Nicotine patches…I knew I’d need help this time. 3rd January, wake up and whack on a 24 hour patch, no more cigarettes.

Reasons: Write down your reasons for quitting and refer to them when the cravings are bad. Since I’m a visual person I played with my iPhone and put together a little reminder for me to look at.

My Reasons for Quitting

My reasons are too easy to identify…and there’s a lot more to add to that – but these were my 1st four.

Walking: It’s all about starting a new healthy habit. So on my lunch break when I normally smoke about 6 cigarettes in 40 minutes, I walk around and eat healthy food instead. Me and my Partner are also getting into the habit of going for a walk after dinner. It’s helping with the new habit thing, but also the drop in energy levels I’m experiencing.

Find a quit buddy: My partner is pretty great at couching me through this, but my Dad totally knows where it’s at. We had a good laugh about it on the phone tonight…coz you end up doing pretty stupid things like chewing the crap out of a piece of gum then wonder why your jaw is so sore.

So far so good. My plan seemed to work well. I’m on the first week of 24 hour patches (not having nightmares but my dreams are so vivid and totally ridiculous!), and will look at reducing to the next level of patches next week. Plenty of water and lots of vitamins and exercise and hopefully I get through this ok. I’m so determined this time.

Attempt 2

I had so much fun with my first 101/1001 that I decided to do it again, and start it right at the beginning of 2012…the best time to start new projects. My new list is still under construction but I really want to start now so I’ll add a few things as I go along.

Attempt 2:

My Start Date: Sunday, January 1, 2012
My End Date: Sunday, September 28, 2014

98.50 Try Brunch at 50 places

50. Wide Open Road

274 Barkly Street
Brunswick, VIC 3056

 The last Brunch date for this 101 project and luckily there was one place left around the corner from my house that I still hadn’t eaten at…and I have no idea why! This place is awesome. Service is great, really friendly and very fast even though they were packed. The food was beautiful. I had Henry’s White Beans and I was so happy with my choice. Both coffees were perfect and we all left very happy. Yay for a good final brunch.

LEARN/READ

Score: 10/13

Not too bad. Some of these goals were quite big and the ones I failed include:

03. Learn Photoshop Basics
04. Take language classes
06. Get a motorbike license

I’ve been working at Learning to use my Nikon D40 on manual settings with the help of Ash and the addition of my new Holga Lens which requires manual settings. I’ve still got a lot to learn but I feel more confident with the basics. The same thing can be said about swimming…it’s not that I can’t swim, it’s that I freak out and have panic attacks in the pool making swimming difficult! Due to my back injuries I’ve had to spend a lot more time in the pool, and I’ve loved it. I really do want to get better so i’ll be more specific in my next list and attempt to learn to freestyle a lot more strongly.