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Just over 3 years ago (well 3 years and 1 week) I completed the first of my challenges in my goals that would change my life. I am sure you have all read about my story to change my life. Looking back I looked very different back then, I look very different now compared to that day as well. From start to finish it was a total transformation. The thing that most people assume though is that everything in my life is all hunky dory and that it is all 100% guaranteed that I have lost all the weight and it won’t ever come back. That is far from the truth.

Each day I wake up and I struggle. I still have days when I wake up and think to myself “I don’t want to do this” right before I head off for a workout. 5 more minutes or sleep, or a day of rest is all I want some days, but i push through it and keep going. This is my life now, I could go back to the way I was but I don’t want that. I still run (well after this injury is worked out, I will be) and I still challenge myself all the time. My nutritionist once said to me that if I could keep the weight off for 3 years straight, that the chances of me keeping the weight off for the rest of my life would be 90% higher.

It’s that 10% that worries me sometimes. I still struggle with the food some days. I have to stop myself so much from eating to much crap and lately since the injury it has been even harder to stop myself from eating the stuff I shouldn’t be and saying to myself “well when I get over this injury I can just lose it all again”. But that just won’t help me much at all. Those kinds of lies are just dumb. So I have to constantly be tough on myself, work hard, give myself those slaps to the face that I need at times. Right now I wish i could run Punishment Hill to remind myself just what happens when I screw up. It was as it says my punishment for when things went not the way they should.

So to all of those who struggle with weightloss or getting fit or staying fit, don’t worry, we all do… no matter what!

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Last year on the 4th July I was in LA, spotting for the a full day for the first time and doing my first US Based trip. Well this year, since I had spent most of the last weeks of May/June travelling and would be spending the end of July/Beginning of August away, I figured it was better to just kick it at home and see what happens.

With no invites from friends for any parties and to be honest, was dying for a chance to just stay at home for once. That’s what I did. I took the opportunity to explore more of my own city. I took the bike down to the Burke Gilman trail early in the morning and took a nice almost 10 mile ride. It was nice to watch the city wake up by the water and not knowing where I was going was a bit of the fun. I just kept riding till I hit like 8km and then turned around and came on back.

After that I came home, did my laps in the pool since I have found that if I do it in the morning at 9am when the pool opens up, it’s usually empty and there are no children around. I was pretty angry on Tuesday when there was so many kids in the pool I couldn’t even get a single lap in without hassles. So the bliss of an empty pool at 9 in the morning was just amazing.

After a quick breakfast it was time to begin some fun (for me at least). A recipe had been teasing me for quite some time. To give you an idea of what kind of cake, heres a shot of me prepping the cake batters:

From Seattle Life 2013

And here they are prior to going into the oven

From Seattle Life 2013

Yes it’s a rainbow layer cake. An amazing cake that is 6 tiers tall, each a different colour. When frosted with a bright white frosting it lets the colours stand out brilliantly. The cake and frostings itself was nothing special. It was the assembly and the striking nature of the colours etc that make this cake a challenge and worth the effort. I played with Instagram Video a bit and uploaded it to youtube as well:

The cake turned out brilliantly and the guys at work were super impressed by it.. to be honest, I just loved seeing their reactions as only one of the staff knew what I was doing and she was super psyched to see it all come to light.

From Seattle Life 2013

I also took the cherries that I had picked last weekend and made my first attempt at jam. Mind you it was a messy effort but it was well worth it. I made a whole heap of jam and I tasted it today for the first time. It is not super sweet, it’s sugar free (used honey instead to help with the gelling) and what sweetness comes from the cherries themselves. Just the way I like it. Although on the day I wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out but i am quite happy with it.

From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013

I finished off the day by working on a heap of photos in the backlog and just generally bumming around. I tried NOT to do to much work remotely from home but I did do a bit to make sure that I had a manageable Friday.

A quiet day, way better than my quiet attempt at a Saturday… but thats a different kettle of fish.

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I wanted to get out and see more of Washington State this year, well I have done just a little bit of that. Last Sunday my friends Dan & Shawna invited me along on a little adventure they wanted to go on. I happily said yes and although I apparently lost the coin toss to drive, Dan was the chaeuffer for the day. I was the “navigator” although that function was actually performed by the GPS. I just took photos and watched the scenery pass me by!.

Our adventure was out over the Cascade Mountain range, out east to the Yakima Valley to go cherry picking. It is the cherry season and they are super super cheap compared to back home in Aus. After an early morning start, a quick breakfast it was time to hit the road out east on I90 for my first time over Snoqualmie Pass. The pass thankfully had not a glimpse of snow (though some of the mountains around here still do) and on the other side we made a brief roadstop at a Gas Station for some coffee and a bathroom break and then it was time to let Dan loose on “Canyon Road” so he can enjoy himself.

From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013

Canyon Road was twisty, windy and full of nice smooth bends, tight turns and lots of fun. I can see why Dan wanted to drive it and I think i got duped on the coin toss for this one reason 😉 But I will let him take the win, cause it sure was a lot of fun. Even got a nice giggle out of a guy on a motorbike in front of us.

From Seattle Life 2013

Once into the Yakima valley we headed to a little town called Naches where we went cherry picking at “Thompsons Farm” and it was so cheap. $1.50 a pound to get out in the sun, enjoy some time with my friends, eat… i mean pick some cherries and think to myself just what I can do with them. We really had no idea what we were doing really so kind of went through testing a bunch and if they tasted good, picking them from there.

From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013

We got a pretty good haul and all three of us were set back less than $17 for all of our cherries. A true bargain. I picked up a good heap of Bing to turn into some Jam and some Rainier cherries to snack on and also share with my coworkers. It was certainly worth it. As you can see our haul was fairly decent and for what we paid it was a steal. Add on the “samples” that we had and it was a good mornings work if you ask me.

From Seattle Life 2013

We headed out of Naches, made a brief stop at the farms market in town to take a look and headed into Yakima for some lunch. Shawna grew up in the area so she was determined to let me experience a true icon of the area, Miners. This place has that old school American burger joint written all over it and the food was good. The burgers were HUGE! and the fries were ok. The curly fries and Tater Tots (aka potato gems) were better than my fries but the show was stolen by my shake. A Peanut Butter Snickers Shake that had a fantastic ratio of goodies in the bottom of it. At the start it was so thick I couldn’t even get any of it into the straw, I had to let it melt a little. Wasn’t so bad though, got to enjoy the sunshine, friends and a fantastic lunch. What more could you want?

From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013

After lunch we hit up a few wineries to visit and I spent some time walking one of the vineyards taking photos (which I have barely even looked at mind you) and then we headed home. Traffic over the pass looked bad, so a quick decision after some checking (thank you traffic apps) we headed home the longer way via Leavenworth. This was my first introduction to Washington State’s own little piece of Bavaria. Dear god in heaven had I been consuming something? It was Bavaria everywhere!!! Every single place in town had the signs to show it! It was truely crazy. We spent some time stretching our legs after a number of hours in the car and I was enjoying the high temps (it was around the low 30s at this point).

From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013
From Seattle Life 2013

Before long we were back on the road, this time on US 2 up and over Stevens Pass (the highest point I have now been in Washington State) before we were back down, through Snohomish county back to my house.

From Seattle Life 2013

I had an amazing day. It was long, almost 12 hours but I would not take it back or complain at all. Pretty soon I need to get back out there and explore some more of the state. This time I get to drive but where to next? Pumpkin picking will begin in September/October so looking forward to that (though I won’t be around much of october). The snow will pick up though so that will make things interesting. Maybe head out further to at least Moses Lake, to get me some touch and go shots of all the Boeing jets using the Grant County Airport for training? Who knows, but if my friends ask me to go somewhere again. I won’t say no. They were fantastic guides, so to Dan & Shawna I say thanks for making this tourist feel a little bit more at home!