The best, most helpful, and I believe most life-changing thing that Peta taught me was to do exercise I enjoy. And not only do it, but become obsessed with it. Our conversation went something like this:

Peta: So what exercise do you like to do?

Naomi: Well, I’ve played social netball which was fun, swimming is ok… (thinking) riding on a reclined bike at the gym is ok, so are those cross-trainer thingies… urgh…

Peta: Have you ever done any activity that you really enjoy?

Naomi: Yoga. I’ve always really liked it. I’ve been meaning to go back. But it’s not cardiovascular…

Peta: I want you to get obsessed with it. Try every different style you can. Don’t just do it once a week, do it more than 3 times a week.

Naomi: Well there’s this place that’s opened up nearby. Maybe I’ll check that out.

END SCENE

I got pretty obsessed with doing bikram yoga, and also went on a couple of amazing yoga retreats. When my health was bad last year I dropped out, but I’m back on the bandwagon again now. As well as being an incredible workout that stretches every muscle, compresses every joint, works into every major system in the body, raises your heart rate to aerobic levels and detoxifies through your skin and lengthened breath, my hot yoga practise has started to become more meditative.

After a lovely temperate December, Brisbanites are now paying for our balmy Christmas with scorching days and nights. Monday a couple of weeks ago was particularly bad, as well as reaching over 35°C in the west, it was very humid. I attempted a 90 minute bikram class that night, and could only do about one in every two postures. And I wasn’t the only one needing a rest – even the skinny minny super yogis in the front row were taking time out.

The amazing thing that happened there, lying in savasana while my eyes fogged up without my glasses, was that I got this feeling of connection. A really deep feeling of connection to myself, my intention of healing myself, and – not to get all hippy on you – but to the earth, and my place on it.* I think this is the closest I’ve ever come to meditation, and so while the super humidity is driving us all spare in our daily lives, in the yoga room it provides a wonderful opportunity for deep reflection.

And I think I’m addicted again.

*Disclosure: I wrote most of this post right after it happened, but didn’t know how to finish it. Since then I’ve been doing yoga 3+ times a week and while I haven’t had an experience of the same magnitude, I feel more comfortable in sharing it now.

Finances. In August 2011 I started tracking my money using an iPhone app called Piggie. I have found it just fantastic. I now have such a better idea of what I am spending my money on, and it has also given me a sense of achievement in being able to see, for example, how much money I am saving, and how much my debt is reducing. I won’t bore you with the details, but in 2012 I will:

• continue to track my money daily
• do a monthly summary showing my overall position
• do my taxes for the years that I haven’t done them…

Friends. One of the things that led to me making the decision to move back to Brisbane from Melbourne was really missing my friends and family. I now of course miss my friends in Melbourne, just as I still miss those in London, and those in Canada. This year I want to spend more time with my friends here at home, and maybe make some new ones. I also want to be in better touch with those who are elsewhere, whether by phone, email, facebook, or visiting (see below). I’m still working on the specifics of this goal, but I’m thinking of setting up individual contact plans with different friends. For example, making sure we email once a month. Or talk on the phone every week and meet once a month. Or something… ideas welcome!

Travel. So much to see in A-mer-i-ca! A major goal I’ve been working towards for the last couple of years is getting to the American Library Association (ALA) Annual conference. I had originally thought I would go in 2011, but 2012 was a much more sensible choice. It’s in Anaheim, so I have booked my flights (thank you Qantas sale!) and registration (conference AND Disneyland!) and lined up my friends in LA, San Fran and Vancouver. It is going to be EPIC!!! Read more about it at my other blog.

Research. Basically, the goal is to finish it. I started a project in 2010 that was really just too big for one woman, especially when that one woman was also working full time and having major health issues, and now I just want it completed. My desire to get a PhD or to do any other study has been almost entirely extinguished. In 2011 I presented at three conferences, and while I work at a university I am not an academic, and no longer have any desire to be one! Here’s what I have to complete:

• journal articles on the project, which will then serve as the basis for the…
• report to ALIA on the project, including all the hows and so forth so others can carry on where I left off
• some kind of presentation at ALA Annual – I have submitted an abstract for a poster, and will submit an abstract for a “pecha kucha” talk on networking and hopefully one of them will be accepted. If both of them are… I will do whichever is less work. Probably.

This post has taken me about 5 days to write, so I’m going to let go of perfection and leave it unfini

We were both rather tickled with Charlie Sheen’s descent into mad ravings last year, and some of the quotes that are simply comedy gold. In 2011 I took up cross-stitching, and am primarily interested in the subversive use of this art. I love this portrait by Ida Stalder in the flickr subversive cross stitch pool, so I shamelessly “leveraged” it (a term I learned in my days in financial services that is roughly equivalent to the layman’s “stealing”).

Once I was about half way through the portrait, I decided a 3-frame cross stitch would be “WINNING!” so I subtly went about finding out what my brother’s favourite mad Sheen quotes are. I sent an email to a few mutual friends with the title “Pop Quiz” and asked them to rank their favourite Charlie Sheen quotes in order of awesomeness. I then rated mine, which are :

1. “I am on a drug – it’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because if you try it, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”

2. “I’m tired of pretending I’m not special. I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars.”

3. “I’m different. I have a different constitution, I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man.”

Although now that I’ve watched the above link I think this is my favourite, in relation to bi-polar:

“Wow, what does that mean? Wow, and then what, what’s the cure? Medicine? Make me like them? Not gonna happen. I’m bi-winning. I win here and I win there. Now what?”

Mental.

Luckily my subterfuge was successful and Paul sent his favourite quotes through.

Charlie Sheen: #Winning

For me it’s simply : #winning

Additional ones that warm my heart:

• I have defeated this earthworm with my words. Imagine what I would have done with my fire breathing fists.
• I don’t have a tuxedo that fits anymore because my chest and my biceps are too big.

And if you haven’t seen this puppy yet – check it out : http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6445764/kids-talk-about-sheen

Pure. Comedy. Gold.

He was quite amazed when he opened his present on Christmas morning (probably more like early afternoon – we’re not really morning people) and found this priceless* art was his to keep forever. He’s quite bemused by how I did it (“It’s like sewing?”) but was quite keen to take it into work to befuddle colleagues.

#WINNING!

*priceless as no-one would pay a price for it

P.S. I made those fire-breathing fists all by myself. #WINNING!

My primary goals this year are all around my health. I have about 30kg to lose, which is probably achievable within the year, however I’m not going to make this about numbers – it’s about getting healthy.  I am also bearing in mind the advice that I read on one of the articles I found on goal setting: be flexible. So this is how I see my goals right now. As to how I make them work for me over the year, that will remain to be seen.

Eating well. In November I re-joined Weight Watchers. I lost a couple of kilos before the Christmas madness began and then just ended up giving up after about my fourth Christmas party. I was happy to not be over my starting weight when I returned to weigh in on Wednesday, but I’ve lost most of the ground I’d gained, so it’s time to get serious. I have the iPhone app, which is excellent, and I have started going through recipe books and made a healthy salad for lunches the other night.My specific actions for this goal are:

• track ProPoints daily
• make one new recipe a week
• put recipes I like into my Food Journal (a dietician I saw last year suggested I make one of these – it’s fantastic as a creative outlet for someone who is not a foodie)
• shop regularly for fruit & vegetables
• try new flavours and types of food from WW recipes
• aim to eat the rainbow every day – as many different colours of vegetables as possible (I love the idea of putting a rainbow on the fridge to remind me of this, and may have to cross-stitch a fridge magnet!)

Exercise regularly. Last year I started doing bikram yoga, which worked really well for me for a few months when I was also losing weight with a dietician. I then had a few really bad months health wise, and I didn’t go for almost five months. I’m now starting back slowly, but realise I need to pace myself better, and not expect myself to suddenly become an awesome yogini overnight. Specific actions:

• attend bikram yoga regularly. Work up from at least 2 times at the hourly class in the evening to at least 3 times a week for the full 90 minute class in the morning.
• do physio exercises for knees daily. I just ignored my knees when my headaches and neck pain got really bad last year, but there are a few things I can do every day to stop me from limping like an old lady.
• ride the exercise bike regularly. Start by doing 15 minutes twice a week at any time, and work up to 30 minutes three times a week in the morning.
• do physical activities as leisure with friends, e.g. hikes and other… exercise-y things. (Suggestions welcome!)

A side-benefit to working towards exercising in the morning is to help manage my sleep. Which I’ve realised is also related to the limiting headaches goal, but may be a goal all on its own…

Limit headaches and chronic pain. This one I’ve already started on, but I definitely need to do more, and do it more regularly, to really get what has been a debilitating issue in the last few months under control. It seems like the skull-botox is working pretty well, and I already see my cranial physio regularly, but there is definitely more I can do. Specifics:

• stop drinking coffee & coke. I have done this since 24th December when my kinesiologist discovered they are contributing to my headaches (not totally surprising, I’ve quit coffee for periods of time over years due to weird symptoms, but the yumminess and my difficulty with mornings has always brought me back.) I have already switched to just tea, which is apparently ok for me (thank goodness) and diet cordial in place of fizzies. Now that work is back I expect this one to require some serious “resolve”. Not to mention a grieving process. Farewell, my sweet nectar…
• do physio exercises daily. I have a stretch band at my desk, and the recommendation is to use it hourly. A specific thing I can do here is put one of those “stop work, do exercises” things on my computer.
• visit with chiropracter? This one is a maybe as I want to talk to my physio about it first, but I’ve heard good things from other migraine sufferers.
• get regular massages. I have a friend who has referred me to a really affordable masseuse and this has previously helped with keeping the pain more manageable.
• practise mindfulness meditation. Start with the Centering exercise daily before bed. Investigate doing a meditation course, particularly one focussed on pain management.

Modify and stabilise sleep pattern. I’ve ended up adding this goal in as I’ve reflected over the above three goals. It’s really important to my health too, and while it fits in with the above, I think it needs recognition as another challenge I face this year if I am to really make a difference with my health.

• Plan for 8 hours sleep a night
• Buy a new alarm that is one of those ringing old-fashioned ones, and put it far away from the bed
• Go to bed at a regular time, and have lights out at a regular time
• Work towards exercising in the morning
• Track sleeping patterns – find a good iPhone app for this.

These are the big ones. There are other parts of my life not recognised here, but I think working on these health-based goals will make a significant, and positive, difference to my life. Bring it on, 2012!

So while I feel that there are certain things in my life that I wish to focus on this year, I hesitate to call them resolutions. For one thing, the changes I want to make are likely to be somewhat incremental and while I hope to keep my “resolve”, I am also aware that having a generic description like “lose weight”and “get fit” can set me up to fail. Partly, because it’s not specific in how I will achieve this (divine intervention would be preferred), and secondly because it focuses on the negative, not on the positive. If I’m not “losing” weight, I’m failing. If I’m not “getting” fit, I’m failing. And if I feel like I’m starting to fail, I tend to throw the whole thing away and settle in front of the TV with a packet of Tim Tams for solace.

I tried to get an idea of what this difference between “resolutions” and “goals” is beyond the vague feelings within my mind. According to dictionary.com resolution is the determination to do something, whereas a goal is the result to which effort is directed. I guess I’m more results-based and don’t feel I have a “will of iron” to just plow through stuff – if I did, I think I’d be one of those skinny people who can run a million kms on the weekend for fun – so I’m going to go with goals. From the few articles I found, I will replace the generic resolution “lose weight, get fit” with the specific goal “focus on my physical health through eating well and exercising regularly” and then have defined actions. This approach also fits in with some training in Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) I did last year which asks you to focus on your values. That led to me realising I was spending too much time in the “work” portion of my work/life balance. I think I’ve changed that significantly in the last few months, which is somewhat explains why my internet presence has declined steadily on twitter, my blogs, and even facebook. I’ve been spending less time “plugged in” because I have so much trouble switching off the work part of my brain, so I’ve annexed it. I hope to get more balance with that this year – but as my rudimentary research on the internets tells me to only have a couple of goals, I will not prioritise social media balance this year. This may be the first of many posts chronicling my goals for the year, or my last. Time will tell.

Back to the point of this post, which is to set out my positive goals , their specifics and ideas as to how I will measure and celebrate them.

1. Focus on my physical health – eating well
2. Focus on my physical health – exercising regularly
3. Focus on my physical health – limit headaches and chronic pain

Wow, that’s already three. And probably more than enough for a year, if I’m really honest. Within all of these goals there is a broader commonality than just the focus on my physical health – in order to achieve these goals, I will need to do a little bit every day. This is something that I am not great at. I have traditionally been a flood or famine, all or nothing kind of person. I am definitely the hare in the famous story featuring a tortoise. My father used to call me “Burns-candle-at-both-ends”, but he didn’t give me a faux-native-American name for the inevitable result of the former, which would have been something like “Falls-in-a-heap-and-sleeps-for-a-week”.

And on that note, I think I will leave the specifics for another post.

Hibiscus Maxi Dress

I wore a bollero cardy for most of today which also has some sparkles around the neckline, to make it a little more work-friendly. I’m also going out tonight, so it’s a nice enough “going out” frock.

I love the pattern on this frock – and it goes around the back too.

Hibiscus Maxi Dress Back

For a last minute frockstocking post, we tried to use my colleague’s desk fan to blow my hair about like in ads. As you can see, it wasn’t strong enough to budge my hair. But it was fun.

Now, I’ve already exceeded (just) my target of $1000 (thank you to everyone who has sponsored me!) but it’s all about the cause, which I feel very strongly about. So I’ve gotten brave and here I am in all of my yellow glory

Yellow frock from Vinnies

It’s not actually as bad as I had feared. It’s a very thin fabric, and up close you can see it’s a bit stained, but I’ve already had two compliments on it – including one that said I look great in yellow! (!?!?!?!?!?!?)

At my 1/3 Century party on Saturday night FrockTara helped me to accessorise. We decided a thin brown belt would work best, and I am very grateful for her help. And jealous of her frocks! She even made two for Frocktober this year. Perhaps a goal for me for next year!

Frockstocking a classic office maneuver

I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this pose – filing is such an office standard.

So it turns out I’m ok with the yellow – I think it’s actually quite pretty belted and with the wedge sandals. There’s an ALIA even on tonight so I may even be able to rustle up a few more donations before 14th November, when you can no longer donate via my site.

If you haven’t already done so, please donate here.

Frocking up for the Cup

Today is the race that stops a nation – that is, if you’re in Melbourne. Here in Brissie we might take a bit longer for lunch and do an office sweeps, but we don’t get a day off. We decided to frock up and put the bubbly on nonetheless.

It’s always a bad idea to put the fat chick in the front of the photo, as it makes you look bigger than you are next to all the skinny minnies, but I was running late, having spilled coffee all over myself this morning and needing to put my frock back on after it had dried. Thank goodness it was plunger coffee and not a cappuccino. It rinsed right out. Phew.

Coral Zara frock

This is actually the frock I bought when I was in Melbourne, for a wedding in July. Coincidentally, the shoes were purchased when I lived in Melbourne about three years ago. I fell in love with them, but don’t have much to wear them with.

I bought the earrings in Turkey – you can tell I love this colour as all these things were bought at separate times but are exact matches. The headpiece was verging on a joke, as I figure if there’s any time a headpiece is appropriate for a wedding, it’s in a Royal Wedding year. I was told at the time that it didn’t reach Beatrice levels though, so I think that’s a compliment

One of my official photographers for Frocktober stepped out from behind the iPhone today. Here my colleague Lynette and I are doing a dual (soon-to-be-copyrighted) KickLeg. I’m constantly lusting over her shoes (she has more than Imelda) and I love this frock – it’s from ModCloth, which I will have to check out in more detail in future, although I’m wary of buying clothes online.

You can still sponsor me for Frocktober here.

I hope you all enjoyed the photo-finish Cup, and then got diligently back to work

Geometric Mexx Frock

For the official final day I chose to wear a dress I haven’t put on for a few years, as I bought it when I was about 20kg lighter than I am now. However with the right undergarments, accessories and attitude, I think I *just* pull it off. I got lots of compliments yesterday at any rate – but I’m not sure I’ll make it part of my regular wardrobe

This frock is my favourite brand of clothing from my time overseas, Mexx. I recall walking into a shop in London and just wanting to buy EVERYTHING. It all seemed to be made for me, colour and style wise. At the time I bought this dress, I went for the smaller size, and have regretted it since – I literally couldn’t believe it fit when I put it on yesterday.

Girl pretends to return a book that is really a folder

Unfortunately the photos are quite fuzzy. After getting my brand new iPhone 4s Saturday a week ago, on Friday night it started randomly turning itself off. So I had to go back to my old 3Gs, which now seems like an incredibly primitive piece of technology (#firstworldproblems).

These boots are the ones I wished I’d thought to wear in my witchy outfit. After hitting up Choir folks last night at rehearsal, I reached my fundraising target by the end of the month! Thank you to everyone who has supported me. If you’d still like to support research into ovarian cancer, I can accept donations via this site until 14th November.

Vintage frock from Ra Ra Superstar

After picking up my reasonably priced 100% polyester frock at about 4:55pm, I ducked into a store I had spotted on my Sunday shopping trip but hadn’t ventured into. It’s called Ra Ra Superstar, and it is an absolute gem. It gains this shiny rating due to the quality of the clothes (vintage wears and recycled/repurposed fabric into new styles), the excellent service from its proprieter Kathy, and the prices. While not exorbitant or more than you’d pay for a new good quality dress, they aren’t op-shop cheap.

What really impressed me was Kathy’s ability to choose frocks that would suit me, shape and size wise. I would normally not look at something like this, with a gathered elastic neck and sleeves that, without the belt, looks very HausFrau. However I tried it on spec and with the matching vintage belt, I just couldn’t leave it behind.

Vintage pose

Some brown wedge sandals round out the look. I wore this to two events on Saturday – The Idea of North concert at the Powerhouse in the afternoon, which was fantastic, and then I hoofed it home for my 1/3 Century Party.

I was really pleased that the frock worked well for both occasions, garnering praise which is always nice. And my eye make-up also worked for the whole day, which was super surprising! Thanks to Seiwkuan from choir, and all the other Roar folks I sat with at the concert, for introducting me to TION, who I am now fully in love with (I tweeted during the concert that I want to be Sally and marry Nick). And thanks to all who came to my party on Saturday night – it was great fun, and Coke gets a shout out for putting my name on a bottle and inspiring silly photos.

Top: Jon can’t wait to have a sip. Manda likes Coke well enough.

Bottom: Rob wants a glass, Paul gets over excited.

You can still donate to this frocking good cause until 14th November.