My Inspirations ~ It begins... *buries head in hands*

It would appear that I've sparked a revolution amongst other quirky peeps and we're now on a group mission to be awesome! My goals turned out to be very similar (scarily similar, we think it's due to some form of mind control) to a pair of equally insane friends of mine Kimmy and Natalie whom I've known since the beginning of time (not that many of my friends AREN'T insanse, it's sort of a requirement) and so Ninja Sex Missiles was born! We now have our own page to plot our world domination! MUWAHAHAHA or, you know, to encourage each other in our own personal weight loss journeys and personal mods. That too :p As for the name... well perhaps staying up late on facebook chat throwing random name ideas into the mix was not the best option...in the end when we had run out of sanity and decent group names we somehow ended up with Ninja Sex Missiles. Suits me fine! Leave the world guessing I say! Does it sound a bit like a cult name or some kind of adult performance group? Maybe just a bit! LOL It's not... really *shifty eyes*

So anyway, as per yesterdays post where I talked about my vague plans and beginning my 5 month journey, I thought today I would talk about my inspirations. Would you believe me if I said I just woke up and suddenly decided 'I want to change my life'? Well that's pretty much how it went! And I just decided to go with it! And here I am! :o) It was beginning to dawn on me that a lot of my clothes weren't fitting and as I was sorting through my cupboard I found so many gorgeous summer dresses from last year that just looking at, I knew I'd have no hope of fitting into this summer. That really brought it home for me that come Summer, I wouldn't be able to hide in my long sleeves and jeans anymore. Not only would my clothes not fit but I wouldn't feel comfortable showing my arms and legs to the world outside my house; that's when I really knew that something HAD to happen to change that. I weighed myself yesterday and found that I'd put on a lot of weight since my Wedding last October when I'd worked so hard for the year beforehand to drop a dress size.  A year before my wedding I was 81kg, then last October I weighed 75kg which I was happy with, and now I weigh 85kg. As you can probably guess, that much gain in such a short period of time is not healthy for me.

I then had the idea that if I was going to really truly do this, I'd need to set myself a time frame and decided that 5 months from now, Christmas, seemed perfect. I'd be ready for the hot weather and I'd be ready to tackle the new year with a whole new vigour if I was successful. If I'm gonna change my weight, why not go ahead with some other little plans of mine to boost my sense of self while I'm at it! Very much a butterfly out of a cocoon effect! Have that hair cut and colour I've always thought about, get that tattoo I've wanted, work towards achieving my dreams through study and research...know where I need and WANT to be in 2 years time!

All I need to remember to give myself the motivation I need is:

• Supanova Pop Culture Expo comes around again next year, and after having missed this year I am keener than ever to get there in 2013. I've been putting together ideas for a Steampunk cosplay and for me to feel comfortable, in character and gorgeous I need to get back to being a healthier weight for myself. SQUEEEE I can't wait for Supanova!!!!! Epic geek-fest!!
• Again, the fact that it's going to get very hot very soon!
• All those lovely dresses of mine that'd I love to be able to wear again..... *sigh* I'd incude photos but my damn camera still needs batteries :(
• The fact that within the next few years hubby and I will start a family, I want to be physically and emotionally satisfied with myself before then.
• Where will my career path lead me? Do I want to sit back and dream about the life I could have without taking steps towards it for the rest of my life? Not really! Not when what I want is within reach, I just need that all important plan of attack and off I'll go! I'll have to decide what my ideal career is first...

 ... so all I need now is to start! First things first I'm going to be setting a daily exercise plan for myself. I'm not going to start off too extreme because as we all know I have difficulty sticking to my commitments. I consider yesterday day one and today day two, both days I have dusted off my Wii Fit and gone through my yoga and muscle workouts for 30 minutes. It mighten't seem like much, but it's getting myself into a routine that I'm going to have the most trouble with. If I set myself a run to complete each day, I'll find a way to put it off...I won't find any socks, or it'll be too cold, or some other inane excuse. Starting small is the way to go...at least then I can feel like I've begun my journey. So for the remainder of this week all I'm going to do is work towards completing that 30 minutes each morning. If I do more, then great! Also this week I'm going to focus on keeping my nail biting habit at bay, so far so good!

Tomorrow there will be photos! You need to see me to understand why this is so important to me, so I'll be brave and take some 'before' shots....

Bring on tomorrow! WOOOOO!

Want to know how awkward I am in day to day life?

Hey there quirky beans! :o)

I was in town thismorning BY MYSELF I know don't die of shock (I haven't been into town on my own in months...I usually go with hubby so I don't get scared, yes I'm being serious) I bought a coffee whilst waiting for the Post Office to open and whilst I was at the cafe, kinda awkwardly sitting there with people bustling around me attempting to sip my coffee without missing my mouth and pouring it on my shirt (It happens, trust me) and me being paranoid about the fat rolls showing through my jumper whilst I was sitting so I was fidgeting and pulling my shirt down and trying to flatten my stomach as I sat. Welcome to my world! I am truly THAT awkward in public! I was even aware of my facial expression, I felt like I should have bought a book with me so I wasn't just sitting there looking...well AWKWARD!

But anyway, so the coffee was fab as always...it's the same cafe we buy our ground beans for our coffee machine from, I could have had a coffee at home but it's not the same as when someone else makes it for you. (I would have taken a photo but I was afraid I'd look stupid) so you'll just have to imagine what an amazing coffee looks like. Then I hopped along to the Post Office down the road. Which wasn't open yet. And then I realised I'd left my umbrella at the coffee shop *slaps self in forhead* DAH! It would have to wait, I'll get it later. Finally getting into the Post Office I stood in line for a few minutes before I realised I was holding my drawing in my hands and was going to post it as is. Another superb DAH! moment, so I left the line and found a post bag, jotted down the address, popped in the drawing and resumed my place at the end of the line. What fun times I have when I'm alone! HA!
The letter is now safely posted, and should HOPEFULLY arrive at it's destination in one piece.
So then I trotted back off the coffee shop to collect my umbrella, and they gave me a free blueberry muffin :o) Apparantly they'd been overcooked in the oven that morning and couldn't be sold, I think they took pity on my and gave me one...maybe it was because all the other customers were so thin and I wasn't, so they figured I'd accept one....either way it would bloody delicious! Free food is a WIN in my books! It was still warm and absolutely chokers with yummy blueberries! Again, I'd share a photo but I ate it :o)

Umbrella in hand, I went to try the library again hoping to borrow The Great Gatsby, the next book I want to read in my quest to complete the 100 Best Novels of All Time BUT turns out the library doesn't open til 10am. I checked my phone, it was only 9am. Poo I thought to myself, I can't have another coffee to fill in an hour!  So I started off home. Suprisingly the breeze wasn't too nippy thismorning, I was lucky to be out in an Armidale morning where I DIDN'T get frostbite from 5 minute wind exposure. I was passing an op shop when I thought to myself, 'when was the last time I had a peruse?' the answer is over a year ago!! Having no spare money at your disposal does that.. but hey I had $10 so why not! It didn't open til 9.30am...at this stage it was only 9.10am. DRAT, oh well, I'll wait. Another eager early morning op-shopper arrived and we had a nice chat out front whilst waiting :o)

Let me just say, I ADORE op-shops! Alas when you only have $10, there's not a lot you can buy...I tried not to look too closely as there were tons of lovely dresses and tops and jumpers and coats and even a gorgeous fedora hat which I so desperately would love to own! I made a beeline for the fabric, zippers and buttons section *drool*..but still only $10. And I also have a fair amount of those things here at home already, I really shouldn't buy more...SHOULDN'T being the operative word there. I resisted. I was just about to leave when I noticed a medium sized long white box in the window marked 'Newcastle Surgical Appliances'. I was pretty convinced that the box did not, in fact, contain surgical appliances but I got closer and opened it... turns out it was somekind of surgical appliance. I think!...I'm not sure, to me it looked like an underbust corset of some kind, but now that I have it home and am inspecting it a little closer, noticing all the steel boning, the heavy duty lace up system it seems to have going, it is a surgical appliance! It's a size medium Surgical Back Support Corset! I did a bit of research and I found this!

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=135642

Mine is very very similar though there is less to it! I don't think it's circa 1955-65, but it is a very close make and design, perhaps just an available variation. Either way that just makes it even more AWESOME! I like finding oddities, and this is certainly an odd find! And whats more, the buckles and steel boning will make for an amazing Steampunk cosplay! And hey I'll have great posture all day!

It kinda resembles a straight jacket, which I love!

The staining I can bleach out, I'll replace the ties up the sides with black ribbon or chord and I'll dye the whole thing black and rub the bones down with some bronze boot polish. I'm going on the lookout for an old alarm clock that I can frankenstein and make jewellery out of the cogs with. It's been too long since I got to play with a soldering iron! All in all... a GREAT day!

Oh! Also, last night I started a new crochet project, Pineapple Crochet Shawl with the same dark burgundy red I made my top hat with..I have plans for it ;) At first glance the pattern looks confusing, but I'm working through it row by row and it's alot simper than it looks. I promise to share progress photos :o)

Happy Wednesday guys!

P.s I also have had the pleasure of dealing with a nasty virus that affected a certain social networking site... if you find something called 'Amazing Apps' in your computer's ad-ons, I'd disable it if I were you. I can't go into too much more detail but I'd just check that if you have a spare sec.

I got featured on Crafting in my Closet!! Yay!!

How awesome is that! I got featured at Crafting in my Closet this week! Well actually, my nappy/diaper wallet tutorial Guest Post did but still :p That made my day, Teresa you are AWESOME! Geeky birds of a feather stick together right?

Unfortunately though I have to admit my Dr Who scarf project is currently in stasis as due to my stupid tooth getting infected at the wrong time we can no longer go to Supanova Pop Culture expo next weekend :( I am completely heartbroken BUT it's ok, that just gives me more time to make a kick-butt costume for next year! As for my scarf, I haven't given up! I am still going to finish it! All 30 feet of it :p It's all good though, it is winter here in Oz so a nice long scarf won't go astray!

GO NOW and check out Teresa's Crafty Weekend Link Up! Find and meet other bloggers who love nothing more than to craft and get a chance to be featured yourself!