When the Cheshire emerges...

I scored this dispenser from an antique store in Newcastle on my first trip back in January. The shopkeeper's son had decided to give it up and she was happy it was going to someone deserving. While it's taken some time for the M&Ms to find their way to these guys, I can safely say I'm using it well and good now.

M&Ms are so awesome.

I thought I had at least an extra week when my mother reminded me it was in fact sooner than I thought. I am now making my way home in just eight days time!

There's been a lot to think about, with certain events set in stone (I'm hopping off the plane and heading to AAMI Stadium to see the Crows against West Coast - yep, dedicated I am). But I'm really excited to be spending a week with family and friends properly, the longest timeframe since moving.

At the same time, I find myself wanting to do things that were always around but I took for granted. Like a winter wine tour in the Barossa Valley, or a visit to the Ice Arena to get my skate on. But both of those would be best with company so we shall have to see. I hope things fall into place so I can really make the most of my time home instead of just sitting around. Where's the fun in that? Down time doesn't have to mean snoozing on the couch.

***

In other travel news, I was one of those people who actually managed to snap up some ridiculously cheap tickets with Jetstar last week in their regular Friday Fare Frenzy sale.

But what was THIS?

Seriously, this was RyanAir-type stuff. I was stunned.

They make it pretty hard from the outset, with only late Saturday and early morning/late night Tuesday/Wednesday flights, and my goodness - my efforts took about an hour because the site was running so slowly.

Now that I live closer to the east coast where most of these tickets take effect, I decided to bite the bullet and see what I could get. I managed to buy a return flight from Newcastle to Brisbane from a late Saturday to late Tuesday.

Yes, so I still have to make the drive to Newcastle - but I love that journey anyway. And I have to take a few days off work and sacrifice my time in lieu - but when else do I plan to use it? These tickets are for the summer, so a fair while away - it does mean I'll have to hold out but with other holidays up my sleeve I can manage.

I'm so excited, I've only been to Brisbane once and that was for a day with my family. Three days will be ample exploring time! And with the total cost coming to $20.27 ($17 was a freakin' booking fee, and I paid for my carbon footprint as per usual), I'm laughing even harder.

The beautiful Golden Highway on a frosty winter morning.

Driving along this road in the strongest of summer and winter days, it's such a stunning journey because there's a real mix of terrain and not a lot of stops breaking it up.

I went to Newcastle for the second time last weekend. It was for a number of things: needing to get a hat pin from lack of looking last time (my tourist buy everywhere I visit), the silent film festival making its way through, catching up with whoever I knew was around, and going to get my car checked. That last one didn't happen because it turns out that there wasn't a Citroen service specialist there after all. Thankfully all seems to be relatively well.

I had more time to shop than I would've liked - it's so easy to spend there when Hunter Street is a clearance/vintage haven. Love. But I also got to the screening of silent film Tol'able David (1921) which I thought was adorable. And then I won the door prize before catching a bus for free with four minutes to spare. A good day. A nice brunch with my friend before he gave me an extended tour of the coastline rounded off a good weekend on the Sunday. Also did the most touristy thing you can probably do in Newcastle and went inside Fort Scratchley which was cool. Only place in Australia from where a gun was once fired at threatening naval craft...

Here's a small look at what I got up to. I was lucky I had beautiful weather when I got there, it was actually WARM on the Saturday. No jacket! I've learned quickly living regional that whenever there's heavy fog/frost in the morning, it always turns out to be a beautiful sunny day.

Greater Union King St cinemas. I'm so glad these type still exist! It's so old skool!

Forts built at Merewether for a feared WWII invasion

The 80-pounder gun inside Fort Scratchley

You can't really stop along my favourite part of the drive, but this was a nice place for a photo stop on the way home

My door prize - FairTrade coffee? Tea? Charlie Chaplin doco on DVD? WIN.

Going to the gym has predominantly been about keeping fit for me; I really only ever considered it in the soccer off-season of 2009-10 for the first time.

Finding Curves ended up being more than just going to a gym - for one thing it's not about treadmills or weights. The circuit ended up being a routine but remained a challenge, and an eventual job out of it didn't hurt either.

Holidays overseas shifted my focus slightly to regaining my former numbers. In 2010 I didn't gain much at all so it wasn't an issue. But in 2011 I found it a bit harder. Like, gaining a whole size harder.

With my move looming and no real employment I returned to Curves and did my best to shed the holiday kilos in what I call my 'unknown' month. Luckily for me I seem to do that okay. And a month or so after joining the Curves here in Dubbo I'd actually gone back to just under my pre-holiday weight.

And then I saw this.

I've never had anything like this before. I'd lost 20 centimetres on the road to recovery! I couldn't believe I actually had something significant up there, it was really encouraging. And it's still up with all of the others.

***

Before I went to Newcastle in early January the last time I wore my bikini I was a size bigger. It was in Athens, my last day before flying out of Europe where a really sleazy middle-aged Greek man tried to make me run away with him after coming up to me in the water. So I was experiencing a whole mix of emotions there.

I noticed when I had it on most recently (laying in the amazing Newcastle sand) that it was a little bit loose, top and bottom. Felt a bit smug there. But annoyed I'd stretched it out at the same time. And realised I felt no different to what I usually do.

Moral of this story: you work toward what you feel is right for you.

I could have stayed at that size. I had a lot of people telling me I looked healthier as that little bit bigger. But not fitting into my clothes did NOT want to make me be home. I couldn't even pick out three-quarters of my outfits as daily choices, which was for a short time a terrible loss. Curves has brainwashed me into thinking healthier thoughts about exercise and looking after myself - so don't touch me, I'm a star okay?