rainbowtatt

When I first heard about Mummy Mayhem’s Bloggers Without Makeup Day, I was wondering who takes the time to put makeup on for blogging?

But we all have egos and we largely only upload photos after multiple takes or a bit a lot of photoshopping. So the concept of taking and sharing a photo without me sticking my chin out to hide my double chin/s actually makes a lot of sense. Let’s celebrate who we are and how we look when no one else is looking.

Voila, gullet and all:

And now it’s time to focus on this week’s Noice-ities. I’ve definitely got a few things that have made me smile.

First off, my Bulldogs-themed crochet blankie that my great Aunty Val made me when I was… about 11? Sure, it’s not the right shade of blue, but whatevs. I thought this thing was long lost, and have been thinking about it a lot with my recent foray into the crochet world. THEN I FOUND IT! when I was at mum’s the other night. I’ve washed it, aired it and oh hai, now you’re sitting on my lap while I’m blogging:

I have so much respect for this blankie now, knowing how much time Great Aunty Val must have put into it. And the stitches are so neat. I’m trying to replicate the even tension in my own crocheting. Emphasis on trying.

Then today I went on a mini shopping spree and bought (amongst other things) cupcake PJ pants! I’ve got them on now.

The other noice-ity that’s made my week is my posse of intewebby friends on Twitter, Facebook and forums that I’m a member of (you unnamed girls know who you are!). Regardless of how well I know these interwebby people in real life, I’ve gotten so many messages of encouragement and support. It’s made such a difference to my week. I’m never short of reasons why I love the internet, especially on weeks like these. Thanks guys :)

If you haven’t already, you should totally join in with Noice-ities and with Bloggers Without Makeup Day.

Yesterday I got to hang out with a bunch of cool blogger chicks at the Blog Chicks lunch. It’s so nice to spend time with people who understand terms like ‘analytics’, ‘plugins’ and ‘wordpress versus blogger’.

It was fun!

I got to meet:

• Liz from Savvy Cat
• Lucy from Chief Bridesmaid
• Jennifer from Jenius
• Sheryl from One Bite More
• Marilyn from Live first, write later
• Trish from My Little Drummer Boys
• Suze from Chocolatesuze
• Helen from Grab Your Fork

And it was nice to see Emma from Reality Ravings who I met at the last meet.

Leigh very bravely let me do a lap of honour in the Renault Koleos (and discovered I’ve been mispronouncing Renault for all these years) and I didn’t even crash it! Damn that thing drives like a charm, though it’s about 3 times bigger than my little Mazda, hehe.

The highlight for me was watching foodbloggers take photos of my lunch:

Classic!

Suze also got an action shot of everyone mid-conversation and mid-nomming.

Was lovely to spend the afternoon with you, ladies; let’s do it again soon!

I attempted this last year with Leigh (and she whipped my arse, hehe) and I’m willing to give it a go again as part of Blog Chicks Australia.

I have a new level of motivation now and even though I considered last week to be a complete write-off, I somehow managed to still lose a kilo (yay me! Let’s have a cupcake to celebrate).

As a general rule I try to follow the methods of the CSIRO well-being eating guide and get the fat jiggling on the cross-trainer that collects dust in the loungeroom.

It doesn’t help with all the chocolates sitting on the dining table that were gifts from very excitable work friends as well as the chocolate I won from Jen (!). Oh, and the fundraiser Freddo Frogs in the kitchen at work.

Those Freddo Frogs are evil. But also a bargain for $1.20, and the proceeds go to a good cause. NOM.

So last week I was 93.5kg and this week I’m 92.1kg and my goal is to 90kg by September. Slow and steady, yeah?

Ideally, my first real goal will be to get to 85kg in… I don’t know when. Maybe before the wedding I’m going to in November. We’ll see, right?

Leigh, the CrazyMeezer of All For Women fame and my partner in crime at That’s Noice has launched a new web site this week: Blog Chicks – Networking for Australian Women Bloggers.

I’ve joined the forum and have already met some blogger chicks I normally wouldn’t have come across. I have lots of new blogs to add to my Netvibes!

Blog Chicks is also the new home of the Top 100 Australian Women Bloggers, at which, amazingly, I’m #97!

Hullo to the girls who have landed here from my ramblings on the forums! *waves*

Finally my blank cheques have earned their weight!

I’ve been madly refreshing the Top 100 Aussie Women Bloggers list waiting to see if I made the list this month.. and success!

It’s the small things that excite me…and really, my little bits of fluff that I post here are nowhere near the callibre of other deserving ladies like Karen, Kelley, Christie and Riayn.  But it’s nice to be on a list full of interesting ladies, especially some of my lunch buddies from yesterday!

Yay! Number Ninety-Eight! :o)

posting from facebook? now THAT’s what I’m talking about.

Running late for work, must dry hair into something respectable