HELLO my little bloggy, It's been too long.
Today's theme is HERE.
I admit, I don't watch AFL, I haven't for years. I used to watch it when I was very young with my grandfather and back then I had a few teams I went for, mainly Hawthorn and Geelong. However, my uncle Timmy was an avid Collingwood supporter and I remember him playing his single track record on our record player over and over which is why I know the team song so well. I think my mum or other uncle still has the very record. My grandfather was also a passionate Collingwood supporter, and he is the only reason I ever watch AFL. AFL is a rather strange game when you put the rules on paper, even what they wear is a little weird. Anyway so why do I barrack for Collingwood, The black and white, The magpies? My uncle Timmy who was renown for buying tickets to the grand final in belief that Collingwood would be playing, passed away in 1990, the year they won the grand final. His request was that his ashes were scattered on the Collingwood football ground, which his brother and children fulfilled. My Grandfather, although he had other personal requests for his own ashes; my family only found it fitting to have his coffin painted Collingwood black and white. It was a site to behold. I have a photo somewhere, I promise to show you one day.
Until then.... enough AFL...Enjoy some photos. Its been a while. X

Click on photos

First time in the Snow
Green glove monster
Stacking amazingness

Im off to copacabana


Beautiful Marion Bay Beautiful Oscar


Solitude

Stay tunned to this channel please - we'll be right back.

Hi bloggy, sorry for the absence. I'm in the process of changing my service provider so I'm out of action for a little bit longer. I will be back with vengeance and photo's galore I cross my heart, I have finally lost all patience with my current one, its worse than dial up. Dont loose faith in me though, because I'II be back
x

Fight Club

Hello Bloggy!

Today I'm listening to the soundtrack for The House of Flying Daggers
Its melancholy, peaceful & powerful all at once which is kinda how I'm feeling today.

I'd had a rather uneventful week... up until the other day that is and I have ALOT to say about it! For starters I need to report that I've almost lost 3 kilos and to be honest, I haven't been as good as I hoped in the dieting department so I'm super stoked! Yes I fell off the band wagon a couple of times with pizza, buttery popcorn, red wine & chocolate..but only a couple! I haven't stopped working out though and I'm actually starting to really love jogging again. Once you get past the first wall (about 5-10 mins), you can get into a comfortable rhythm, its actually really peaceful for me, my brain stops ticking over silly things and I just run to the beat of the music. I guess its sort of primal as well. When I was super fit I used to get off on the endorphins that kick in when you actually stop after a hard work out. Its really like a full on natural rush, but I think it must take a few more walls to get to that stage. This week I hope to start incorporating some decent weight sessions into my workouts too. GUNS OF STEAL. Ew that picture just made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

So what have I got alot to talk about I hear you ask? Well on Wednesday night, 21st July at around 11pm (my time) my old friend Paul 'Hurricane' Briggs stepped into the ring with Danny 'The Green Machine' Green. Paul is a friend from my own kickboxing days when I lived in Brisbane and fought amateur muay thai and through the power of facebook we've chatted recently a few times. If any one ever had anything to do with kickboxing or muay thai you will know who Hurricane is. So I guess in about 1999 Paul turned to professional boxing and did pretty bloody well. Since I knew him, he was married, had two kids, I even heard he'd become a pretty devoted christian (burk) but I dont know if thats really true. He had a very tough childhood and when I knew him he was living a very hard (drug and party fueled) life but somehow managed to still be the world champion. I guess it doesn't really surprise me that he turned a completely opposite path in his life and it worked for him. He wrote a book about it all that was a best seller, I will have to read it one day. Heart soul Fire
So in 2007 my friend retires from boxing, there are rumors that he has been suffering neurological issues, his (two) fights with Tomasz Adamek are just brutal and to date the boxing world questions how he lost. I guess with his family and all, he decided enough was enough. So he works hard with fundraisers, he does commentating, he trains fighters, he trained the fighters on the contender . Hes a bit of a tv celebrity as far as boxers go, (hes good looking, speaks well). I guess a few things started to go a bit sour in his personal life because he splits with his long term wife. Now I don't know how this fight offer came about, Danny Green is infamous for fighting fighters past their prime and somewhere somehow Paul was offered a large sum of money to get back in the ring after almost 4 years retired. Not only the four years out of retirement but Paul has 6 weeks to train for a world title fight. Now I used to take at LEAST 8 weeks to train for a pissy amature fight and I was fit!. I guess in Pauls heart he really thought he had a chance and for that amount of money, I would get in the ring with Danny Green. Anyway have a look at what past champion boxer Jeff Fenech said about this fight 3 days before the fight. HERE
If you can't be bothered reading it all here's a little extract:

''What Danny Green is doing to Paul Briggs is criminal, when you give someone six weeks to prepare for a world title fight it is criminal,'' Fenech said. ''Briggsy has been out for more than three years. Your body cannot get back in shape in six weeks. It's impossible.

''Paul has got a puncher's chance but if he doesn't catch Danny early, he has no chance. This is another nail in the coffin for boxing. Why do you think the [NSW Combat Sports] Authority stopped it from going ahead in NSW?''


So now I guess you need to see the actual fight. Paul Briggs VS Danny Green
If you can watch the after math too (the fight only goes for 29 seconds) that would be better too, too see the response from Danny Green and the reaction of the (hideous bogan) Perth crowd.
There are a few points I'd like to make about why Paul did not 'Dog' this fight.

• Paul had been writing his training progress on his facebook account and I quote 'FEELING LIKE A MONSTER' & 'PUNCHING F**KING HOLES IN BRICK WALLS'. Okay obviously not most eloquently expressed phrases but this is a man who is training hard for something he really thinks he can do. If he had any intention of diving in this fight why would he even bother hyping himself AND his fans up.

• People keep saying about bets that were made in the last few hours for 10,000$ for Paul to be knocked out in either of the first two rounds and yes they are having a formal investigation into it. The inquiry is also investigating why the WA boxing authority allowed the fight to go ahead when the NSW boxing authority had already refused to let the fight be held in Sydney due to Paul being unfit, questions about neurological issues and out of professional boxing for too long. Paul was making enough money for this fight, there is absolutely no way known that he would varnish his reputation, his career, his fans, his wife or his children for a bet of 10,000 to be knocked out early.

• Okay its perfectly clear to me from watching this fight, Paul was shitting. He was f'cking nervous, you could see it all over him. He weighed in 3.5 kilos over contracted weight, which didnt help the situation but maybe he is guilty of using that for his benefit. I mean look at Danny Green. The man is built like a brick shit house (as my pop would say). He is in his peak, his Prime, in his home town, under his own promotion company. Paul had said...'just one more.' As far as I can see if he faked that attempt to get up after 8 counts...he missed his acting calling because its pretty bloody convincing to me.
  

Okay I cant think of anymore at the moment but I would also like to add, in the aftermath of this it has become clear that Paul was taken to hospital after the fight on doctors orders where he stayed for two days having head injury tests. Danny Green had a broken knuckle. You dont get a broken knuckle from NOT hitting someone people. I would also like to add Danny Green has made a full turn around in a statement the following afternoon saying:

"I felt the crack to the head and saw him go down, I thought what's going on here, I could see his eyes rolling around his head and I could tell he was hurt."

Green had some choice words for Briggs after the contest, but he has no regrets about what he said.

"When you've prepared for 12 rounds of war and you go in there putting your life on the line for the fans and the passionate fans of Australia that pay to see you put your life on the line in the ring, which I do, and which I anticipated Briggsy doing, it's disappointing and very frustrating," he said.



Read the full article HERE


I would also like everyone to read this beautifully written article about the events that occurred and the reasoning for this outcome. HERE (seriously read this if you still have doubts)

So now I've gotten that off my plate, and we await anxiously to hear from my poor old beautiful Paul that will always have a piece of my heart I want to share a couple of photos of the Champion I knew back in my Kickboxing days. I took all these but as they are photos in an album and I dont have a scanner I've had to re-photograph them but they didn't come up too bad.
It sort of sounds like I'm mourning Paul I know, but I just think it's fair people know what really happened and don't go around saying Paul Briggs ruined boxing for Australia because if anyone has tarnished it, its Danny Green. If he is so angry and so sorry why doesn't he refund everyone? Why doesn't he fight someone who is actually in his prime and will give him the war he is always whinging about wanting. And lastly, what a frikken bogan. Honestly...great face for Australian boxing.

Yes he is a god.

Okay I accidentally took some of my fights too.

This is Jim Cass (my trainer) and I.

This is moments before my first fight. Its a bad picture in that you cant see my face but look how super ripped my tummy is!!



This was my third fight, the last photo is a classic. Blown up you can actually see her nose squished under my glove.

The look on the losing girls face is just priceless.
Yay Im the winner!
Again!

I also went out to MONA yesterday and took alot of photos but I will upload them later I'm all blogged out for now. Tada x

This just in. Okay I know I've said enough but I found this interesting after checking Danny Greens facebook page the last three entries :

Andy Novis

I`m told by people in boxing that you & Paul have been mates for many years, that would explain your phony outrage in the ring. How much did you earn for the 16 seconds of `action`? We predicted your backflip on his purse money. Without a refund to the victims of this shameless scam it is your legacy that is tarnished not your good friend`s. What was your cut out of the betting money?

about an hour ago ·
Ben Hogan

Your full of shit Green! You set up the fight. You picked the date. You moved the fight when it wasn't sanctioned in NSW. What the fuck did you think was going to happen. Your a joke and a disgrace!

27 minutes ago ·

Warren Pearce
I love both Danny Green and Paul Briggs. Both are warriors and deserve our respect. But Danny needs to apologise for calling Briggs a dog and explain to the block-heads that it was said in the heat of the moment. He also needs to apologise to the fans for accepting this fight in the first place because it SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. Briggs wasn't ... See Moremedically right and should never have stepped back into the ring - nothing proves that more than this farce of a situation. Danny should be chasing the bigger fish overseas - looking at challenging champions in other organisations and fighting guys that are up to the challenge. Fight fans wanna see great fights - not guys protecting their records against lower-level competition.

20 minutes ago ·

And now Paul's last three entries on facebook:
Nathan Monaghan
Hope all is ok, best wishes as always bud.
30 minutes ago.
Amber Tiarne Nerad
Warrior.Inspiration.Legend. x
56 minutes ago.
Megan Turner
Hold your head high Paul, you are "Paul Hurricane Briggs" utmost respect to you, you will always be a champion for all you have achieved in your fighting/boxing/kickboxing career!
Open up a Briggs Muay Thai and teach what you know for all the up and coming next generation....and maybe for all those who just want to learn to protect themselves. I hope you feel better soon xo
About an hour ago.

colours

These are the colours I see when I go to bed

These are the colours I see when I wake up.


These are the colours we have for breakfast.

Huge strawberries.


Mt Wellington in all its glory


Fruit of my neighborhood.
Top is kiwi fruit bottom is banana passionfruit.
No photo here was manipulated in any way, raw beauty.

Sunny Winters Day

Goodmorning bloggy!

What a pearler of a day it is too here in ole ye Hobart town. The sky is blue, the air is crisp and the mountain is dusted with snow. Finally it feels like the perfect winter's day.

Today's theme music is Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo with Diamonds on the Soles of her shoes. God I love Paul Simon, God I love LBM, combined and live...there isn't much I wouldn't give to have experienced this. HERE

Well once again I must report a week of emotional highs and lows. Its seems to be going around though, alot of my friends and family have been feeling the same. Do you think its a by product of a full Lunar eclipse on July 11th? Am I hippy enough to believe that? I think I am. After all I've always been restless on nights of a new moon, not so much full moon though. I often wonder if there is anything in that as well. If werewolves are turned in full moons, what is turned in a new moon? Hmm I think I need to google. No enlightenment at all there.

So last Saturday night my poor son was having a terrible time coughing and wheezing which became too disturbing to bare and at around 830pm we went for a ride down to the after hours doctor. The doctor (young and cute) was either extremely tired or extremely thoughtful, as he had a few very blank moments of staring off to his own little world considering my child's symptoms;I concluded with both. I had to hold a defibrillator mask over my son's face for 45 mins which was no fun park I assure you. Luckily he was so tired and exhausted that the initial trauma of the whole experience passed fairly quickly and I was able to make it seem like a game. It helped immediately much to my relief and the (young & cute) doctor even praised me for doing such a good job in a potentially (tear jerking) stressful procedure. I figured I've done enough over-reacting in bad situations for an army of people in my life time and it's about time I take a calmer path when things like this come up. Drama & tears really don't do anyone any good. So after an extra long visit at the after hours doctor, a huge extra long after hours bill, another extra expensive bag of puffers, spacers, masks from the chemist and a note slipped to the (young & cute) doctor about the extra late party in my pants. (I know, Im funny.) My son finally got a fairly decent nights sleep which means so did I.

Today he is at day care, moved up to the next older kids classroom
(called moonbeams) and I'm so happy that he absolutely loves it there. The girls are just fantastic, he runs and gives them leaping cuddles when we arrive which makes me feel very happy.
After being mostly stuck inside for three days (no kinder gym, no swimming lessons, no play dates, no parks) I think it is safe to say that a day away from each other is essential for our sanity. Bub gets to play with other kids, trash someone else's house, get spoilt, play games and more;I am having a nice relaxing home day. Give love to my snake house, my fish tank, do a spot of house work, go for a jog, slow cook a curry, watch the latest episode of true blood. Simple and I love it. So I better get to it before the day gets away from me and I will try and write some more later.
Here are some photo's I took through the week. Enjoy. x

Here is my snake Wren, I took him out on my lawn through the week for a stretch. He wasn't too impressed by it, that coil action is a striking pose, then he tried to bury himself in the cold dirt. Silly thing.

Frost on the grass outside this morning, chilly goodness!!



Breakfast of champions.



My little champion.



My son wins the bluest most beautiful eyes competition hands down.



Silly billy in mummys Ugg boots and just a silly billy.

Ladies of Lesuire plus weigh in day dont quite belong together.

Well the last few days have been pretty interesting and slightly painful.
I've suffered a small dose of man flu Here, I've had a few personal issues that seem never-endingly unresolved. A bit of an emotional roller-coaster at times, but so are the days of our lives. I hope you roll over that link for some added atmosphere.
I am pleased to report however regardless of having some shitty days I've kept up exercising, mainly jogging and sexy pram walking and am actually starting to feel stronger. In today's effort I pushed out the last bit of fuel in the tank to sprint the last 100 meters ...and then spewed. :)
Just Kidding!
I decided to do weigh-ins in the morning because I'd planned a pretty luxurious lunch at a very fancy pants restaurant for my best friend (it was her birthday on tuesday) and her partner;Weighing after that would just be silly! SO drum roll I weighed 71.2kilos which isn't a bad loss for one week! I'm happy with it anyway, at least its a result in the right direction and everyone always says its worse to loose alot quickly so slow and steady will suit me just fine thank you very much. No bikini shots just yet though.

On Wednesday I took my baby boy to his first ever concert which was called Power Hip Hop

" Ten young, talented and culturally diverse hip hop artists have been mentored by Tasmania’s best musicians to create new works for the Symphony Orchestra. Power Hip Hop debuted at the Peacock Theatre in December 2009 and received rave reviews from the TSO audience and hip hop fans alike.

Many of these mentored artists are refugees or at-risk youth who have lived through war, poverty and very difficult circumstances. Their art provides them with the opportunity to tell their stories and voice their concerns about the world they live in.

This concert is a triumph of creativity and collaboration between one of the world’s best orchestras and Tasmania’s leading youth Community Cultural Development company. "

It was so ...cute? I don't know if that's a good word to describe it at all, but it was all I could think of at the time. There were a few very serious songs with nervous serious kids ..and then the very RnB style 'one love' kids that had their dance routines perfected and clothes straight from a snoop dog film clip. CUTE, yes they made me smile and feel happy. The show was at the Theater Royal which is Australia's oldest operating theater, a really magical place, these kids must of been so hyped. My Little man squirmed for a bit, then bopped away for a song, then azzzzzzleep he went. My genius cousin Dameza played as well which was absolutely the highlight. I may be bias but I think when it comes to skill in scratching turntablism his are unsurpassable and only getting better. Yes Eric San be afraid. Okay maybe slightly bias however when he played his piece with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra I had tears. It was incredibly moving how the sounds blended so perfectly. A part in the middle had the violin section doing a really random little fluttering set of notes that created so much mood and texture, I think I even gasped a little bit. I'm so annoyed with myself for taking the crappiest camera in the world, because it is hand held and hard to lug my good one around esp with the baby but GRRR. I took a few shots but there were completely un-photoshop-able, the only one Im willing to show very vaguely shows a group of the RnB kids doing their little dance routine.

Its a terrible shot I know.

So today was the long awaited fancy Masterchef style lunch at the beautiful restaurant at Moorilla called The Source. Wow this was fancy to the MAX. Again, in my dickheadism I took the crappy hand held camera, never again sorry for the photography fans out there, I know it hurts your eyes.


Everyone was extremely impressed with my choice of birthday present.
When I picked it up earlier in the day a man at the shop asked if it was for my boyfriend, I told him No, its a birthday present for my best friend. Persistently he asks 'Oh how old is he?' I reply 'She..is -age censored for blog-'. Classic. They were even more impressed.

Birthday girl looks pretty happy too.

So enough typing, here are the pictures of our delicious lunch. Again pardon the terrible quality.



This was scallop entree with a bed of the most delicious cous cous I've ever eaten, baby tomatoes that tasted like little oranges and milky mousse stuff that all obviously had a much fancier name than I have described. Mental note, take a photo of the menu as well.

My Wagyu beef cheeks with caramelized onion, spinach and the tastiest orange stuff in existence.



Birthday girls slow cooked Pigeon with all sorts of vegies and very rich stock sauce. Very French but I have made it sound like something you could whip up in Franklin Square with a Bunsen burner.



Birthday girl's partner had the winner in my opinion.
Duck with artichoke and some kind of super awsem coffee sauce. It was the most delicious meat.

Sides of brussel sprouts (gag) with bacon & the most intense creamy rich mash potato that ever existed. I swear it was 70%butter..Full on..and we got two orders of it thinking we wouldn't have enough food.

Last but not least birthday girl had pistachio panacotta for desert (luckily because the staff had arranged to write her a little message and I had worried she may not want desert). God bless her insatiable appetite. We had hand made chocolates and coffee which turned out to be on the house, and they only charged us for one bowl of the mash potato. There were probably more calories in that lunch than I've consumed all week but its all good because big fat losers weigh in isnt for another week and best friend's birthday isnt for another year! x

Sitting here in my dining room with the sun hot on my back, I can hardly believe it's winter.
I want a Little Sugar in my bowl by Nina Simone is my theme music today. HERE This woman has the most amazing voice, I only wish there was more footage of her singing live.

Well Very pleased to write I am keeping up with my diety exerciseness no boozy regime and thought I would do (in the fashion of Big Fat Losers) a weekly weigh in, which will be on Thursday.
Ran 2km in 20mins yesterday on a running machine. Im very lucky to be able to use these facilities when ever I want however, its about a 20 minute drive to get there which can be a pain. Oh the woes of living in Hobart, such luxuries to be complaining about a 20minute drive...

Because its obviously so not worth it!


Mum even gave me some of her home-made rissoles for
lunch and bub's dinner (mum's not the greatest cook at the best of times) but they were YUMMY and she assured me they were full of vegies.
Tip to mum use egg to bind rissoles better but still I no complain!
It is certainly a treat when I don't have to rack my brain trying to think about what little bubba might eat for dinner.

Here's a few little extra pictures of my main man feeding himself breakfast and feety sleepy in his pram after our walk.

So whats the thoughts about internet dating? Everyone seems to be doing it today, people getting married all over the place. It seems like a pretty common way to meet people and as a single mum my options are very slim. Ive had a few bad experiences though "being recognized" with internet suitors and (esp now with my obvious tattoos) I'm even less inclined to give it another go. I have a good friend who thinks I shouldn't be deterred but I beg to differ.

Bad Experience 1) Get cyber kisses from a tattooed fairly decent but serious looking (from picture) male. I respond. Chat opens up (he has to pay for that) and we chat for a few days on and off. My 'bubbly' (drunk) personality has apparently won him over and he wants to meet. Apparently I agree and Im set to meet for a coffee during his lunch break taxi driving, (CLassy). Meanwhile, my best friend has caught a taxi and low and behold she text me from the back seat (after seeing his picture) and tells me its him. She proceeds to strike up a conversation and gets a stone cold block head of a personality. I weigh up my options, decide there is no possible way I'm going to like this guy, no point in getting any kind of fake friendship/relationship even started by meeting and don't turn up to the set meeting. Call me lame, I didn't swap numbers and I didn't really give a toss. Anyway skip two YEARS plus, and another (girl)friend and I have been out drinking cocktails most of the night and hail a taxi to ride home. She lives up the road from me so its easy to travel together. I feel leering eyes on me even in my drunken state and look in the rear view mirror and GUESS WHO! No he couldn't possibly remember me, Id sent him a photo which was probably 10 years younger (in my heyday.. as you do) it will all be fine, he wouldn't say anything anyway. We stop at the petrol station to get munchies and just for good measure I ask my friend if I can be dropped off first I really didn't want to be alone in the taxi with this guy. Shes even more drunker than me (thats another rant about when people are drunker than me I tend to sober up stupidly fast) and yeah yeaaah yeahs it off, we get in the taxi not two minutes and she asks 'mizzzter taxii draver can u drop me up thiz street pluzee my frienz got to go down the hill.' Oh Hell No. Thanks ALOT mate. This kind of thing seems to happen to me alot! So she stumbles out of the taxi, slams the door, and he IMMEDIATELY turns around and says 'Hello Misty'. Talk about awkward.

Bad Experience 2) Location: My old place of work, a (basically) call center. Always completely brain fried by the end of the day, I wander out to the car park looking at my phone, open a car door thinking it was mine and finding it was not only someone else's car; he is actually sitting in the drivers side; I profusely apologize and get into my own car thinking nothing of it. Next day there is talk around the office of the 'incident' and that the (much older, totally not compatible on any level I might be interested in) fellow worker is asking questions about my availability. So then next few months continued with this, office workers teasing, probing, insinuating which is annoying but okay cause I know they are just as bored as me. Well one day he approaches me. 'Hello, my friend thinks he saw your picture on "internet dating website" and I was wondering if you are looking for a date because so am I' ... I immediately deny any knowledge of "internet dating website" any thoughts of looking for a date go home and delete my profile.

Bad Experience 3) Okay this isnt so bad, the guy was actually really cool but its a bad experience because I majorly fucked it up by getting nervous, drinking too much wine, getting a big red head and laughing like a lunatic at anything remotely funny he said. He contacted me once a few weeks later and said he'd been stationed in NSW for a while and would call me when he got back. He never called, but regardless I started seeing someone else and fell pregnant end of this story.

These are the stories I care to share ... hmm internet dating? Bye for now x