My Journey

After climbing out of a bath filled with Natio Spa - Rejuvenating Bath Salts and slathering myself with the Moisturising Body Souffle (thanks Linda) I can almost hear the muscles in my legs that have traipsed at least 20,000 steps on Saturday (forgot the pedometre - damn!) and pushed to the edge in the "Amazing Boat Race" saying "Thank you".

What a wonderful weekend I have had. On Friday I picked Linda up from the airport with both excitement and trepidation. The "what was I thinking" thought popped into my head for about one second and out again as I recognised a face that I have seen on the blogs for almost a year. I had brought along DS1 for protection and as he was instantly bribed with a thoughtful gift I knew the game was up and we were hooked. Luckily her daughter was as easily pushed over as she agreed the car I drove made me a suitable candidate to entertain her precious Mum. And so the weekend began. Filled with lots of talking, and laughing, and solving the problems of the world, I am sure I have made a friend for life.

The lunch on Saturday at Chinta Ria was fantastic and was hard to accept we have all known each other for such a short time. For us (Linda, Mary, CKK, Julie, Jodie, Michelle, and myself) it seemed like we knew each other a lifetime and the flow of conversation and laughter attested to the fact that we were having a good time. After lunch we headed off to Cockle Bay Wharf to watch the Dragon Boat Races where I promptly removed both my t-shirt and my shoes. No I was not acting out on an impulse to jump in the water to join the race, but to give myself the opportunity to catch a little sun (I did have a singlet under my top thank you very much!) However I caught quite a bit of sun and now sport a lovely tan of the reddish variety. Which will go brown by morning. Which Mark is extremely jealous of. Which he would be seeing as how he is a pale skinned, freckle faced, red head. *chuckle*

Then, not happy just spectating, we decided to hold a boat race of our own and Mary and I, with CKK and Linda, hopped into the paddle boats for a bit of a laugh. Bloody hell if someone had told me what a workout it would have been I am not sure I would have taken the challenge. LOL. But crashing (accidently!) into Linda and CKK made up for some of the pain. :D I was definitely a bit wobbly in the legs but considering Linda, Michelle and I had been walking all over Sydney since 10.00am it was justified.. And as a huge bonus I finally got to meet Daniel who joined us as we went our separate ways.

Then to finish it off Linda, Michelle and I headed into the QVB for a spot of window shopping until we headed back to the trains to take us whence we came.

Sunday has been spent doing the normal things I would do on a Sunday. Leisurely walk at Balmoral Beach, swimming lessons with the boys, drive around some of Sydney's great spots, lunch at Bondi (after travelling hours! out of our way to fill the car with petrol - DH's fault) LOL
I had a fantastic time.


I am so glad that Linda took the risk to book a flight to Sydney. I am pleased with myself taking the risk inviting her to stay with us and for Linda to accept it. I am grateful that we all took risks to meet up with each other. These things are really hard to do. The first time. Before Linda came up I was grilled (as was she) about the why's, who's, why's, what's, why's of what we were doing. It was very hard for people in my life not associate with Blogging to understand. I know that what we were doing was risky. I also know it was an extremely calculated one and one that I was happy making. I have known Linda - and most of the people who came to lunch - for almost a year. In that time it is very difficult to keep up a front on the blogs and your true self can't help to come out. If you are not yourself it would make it very difficult to succeed in a weight loss journey as you are hiding the core of the reason you got overweight in the first place. So I was very comfortable that the Linda portrayed in her blog is the Linda I would meet. And she was. I also am smart enough to know to minimise any risk. Things you need to do to ensure people are who they say they are. Linda needed these things from me too as she was putting herself in my hands for an entire weekend. For us this worked really well and if my children have not scarred her for life I am sure we will meet up again. :D

Life is a risk.

I choose to take risks (albiet calculated ones). Well you have to when you get a dodgy paddle boat ;D


Thank you guys for a great Saturday. I had a ball and have learnt so much more about you. Which I will not divulge on threat of death LOL. Looking forward to catching up soon

Posted by Margaret on Sunday, February 12, 2006 at 9:34:00 pm | Permalink