Pre-Season Training

Hello Lovelies,
I hope you've all been well. I apologize for not writing in ages but I've been so caught up with university exams, the sudden passing of my dear grandmother and my weekend in Melbourne for the AFL Grand Final. But I'm back!

This post is a written commitment to myself and my new lifestyle choices. I've labelled it pre-season training because most of my poor habits form during the football season, when I dedicate more hours to being a good fan rather than being good to myself. In the six months that is the football season, I tend to gain weight. So now during the off season (which eventually hits the turning point and becomes the pre season), I have a lot of weight to lose and a body to regain.

Tomorrow I begin the Kayla Itsines 12 Bikini Body Program. I'm excited because I know a few people who have done it and it's really worked and also for the first time ever I'm embarking on this journey with a friend. Unfortunately, I can't undertake the nutrition program too. Living at home means that I often have to eat whatever my parents prepare for me because we live on a budget and they have a family of 5 to feed. So for me, the nutrition aspect of the program will involve portion control and healthy eating when I'm out at uni and limited unhealthy snacking. As long as I'm not eating badly, it shouldn't affect the progress too much. On top of that, I am iron deficient so a lot of my diet revolves around trying to eat red meat, despite the fact it may not be as lean as other options.

I'm very unhappy with my body. Not only the way it looks, but the way it feels. This last month especially has left me feeling bloated, sick, heavy and tired. I look forward to regaining my energy, my figure and my confidence.

With this comes a lifestyle change that involves training myself out of the habit of turning to Twitter to say every little thing I think of, sleeping consistent hours, enjoying more sunlight to soak up more vitamin D, keeping my room tidier to minimize my allergies to dust, and going to the effort to keep my hair, skin and nails much healthier. Altogether, by the time it's the week before Christmas (12 weeks from now), I should be a much better version of myself and thus a much happier person.

The reason I'm posting all of this on the internet is because I want you to help keep me on track. Should you see a tweet or a blog post about a lapse in my control, I beg you to encourage me, help pick me up off the ground and get me back on track because I know for a fact that I cannot do this alone. I need you guys, my internet family and friends, to help me achieve my goal.

If you too are on a weight loss/ healthy living journey, let me know and we can help each other out!

Until next time,

My Chloe Morello/YSL experience

Hello lovelies,
I hope you're all having a wonderful day because I know I certainly am!
Today I went to an event at Myer hosted by the wonderful youtube extraordinaire, Chloe Morello. It was in conjunction with Yves Saint Laurent and was based all around their new red glossy lip stains. It was quite fantastic. I learnt so much and Chloe was so wonderful and helpful and kind. It was an honour to meet the lady who taught me basically all I know about make up.

The event cost $50 which was then redeemable on products at the YSL counter. We were also given a voucher for $30 off if we spent over $150. On arrival, two men dressed in suits greeted us with sparkling water and macarons. We got the opportunity to meet Chloe and take some photos before sitting down and being given a gift bag featuring all the YSL brochure, a sample of their yet to be released Black Opium perfume (which smells amazing btw), their Forever Youth Liberator Serum and also the Shocking Volume Mascara. Chloe then greeted us and began her make up tutorial on her beautiful model. It was a simple but useful tutorial on a classic winged liner and red lip look. I loved it because it's something I like to wear regularly. After that was finished, all the wonderful workers and make up artists, including the model and Chloe herself, assisted us in purchasing our products. It was crowded but they went to the effort to help everyone which was super kind.

I came away with three lipsticks. For buying three lipsticks I was also given a lipstick stand to showcase them. So what I bought was this:

• Rouge Pur Couture in the colour 9 Rose Stiletto
• Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain in the colour 9 Rouge Laque. This is the one that featured in the tutorial but unfortunately I didn't realize that I didn't pick up the limited edition version and just got the standard version.
• Rouge Volumpté in the colour 1 Beige Charnel (nude beige)

I am so satisfied with the experience and the help and expertise of the Yves Saint Laurent team at Myer. They are truly amazing and this ended up being one of the best days. It was even better that I got to share it with one of my best friends, Stacia. I strongly recommend booking one of the many Couture Services YSL offers because for all of them you get to redeem the booking fee in product. It's really good value. I think it would be great if other youtube gurus teamed up with other high end brands to run the same kind of event. 

Finally, on a personal note, a huge thank you to Chloe Morello. Over the years she has given me the confidence to do my own make up and feel fabulous and look fabulous and I owe so much to her. 

Much love guys,

Monday Rants: Save Jubilee Oval

Hello Lovelies,
I hope you've all been well. Before I start ranting, I'd like to say I've finally hit 550 page views and I'm so grateful to know that someone somewhere enjoys reading my blog so thank you very much.

Today's rant is an NRL post about the proposed changes made to suburban grounds as home grounds. To put it simply, I AM OUTRAGED. Of all my rants, this one definitely means the most to me.

The NRL just can't get rid of Kogarah Oval as the Dragons home ground. There are a number of reasons why crowds were down this year at Kogarah and Wollongong. Firstly, they've already reduced home games to 4 instead of 6 which obviously angered people and turned them off going to the game. Also, not one all Sydney game as played at WIN Jubliee Oval this year. This obviously contributed to the lower crowds in comparison to our games at ANZ or Allianz where we played another Sydney team and so their fans helped boost the crowd. It's been speculated that this is a ploy to make the suburban grounds look worthless as the NRL hopes to cut these stadiums out of the picture. I can guarantee you if the Dragons played local opposition at Kogarah, they'd get bigger crowds than what they got this year and you'd see just how great a suburban ground could be. Furthermore, low crowds are partly caused by poor performance. It doesn't matter what ground you play it, if the team isn't performing, people won't show up. It doesn't help that the games at Kogarah were against other poor performing teams. The games were quite non-eventful. And those that were against quality opposition were at poor times. For example, Dragons played Cowboys at Kogarah on a freezing cold saturday night without origin stars there. They also played the Warriors at Kogarah only a few weeks after they played then in New Zealand making the game less exciting. I also think it was a big mistake to play the local derby between Cronulla and St George Illawarra in Wollongong because Kogarah and Cronulla are far more local than Cronulla and Wollongong and on top of that, there actually is a rivalry between the people on my side of the bridge and those in the Shire.

So why shouldn't they get rid of Kogarah?

• It is the hallowed turf of one of the most traditional and proudest clubs in the comp. St George won 11 premierships in a row using Kogarah as their home ground. There is a legends walk dedicated to the superstars of those teams including three (of only eight) Immortals. To stop using this ground for its sole purpose would be losing a piece of NRL history. It won't be long before it becomes a development site and apartments are build. I couldn't imagine anything sadder.
• Kogarah is as close to home as you can get. I find it quite ridiculous to play our home games at ANZ which is close to Parramatta and Bankstown Territory than it is to St George. Allianz is more Souths and Sydney territory than it is St George. How can you say that is our home stadium when it is nowhere near our home territory? Furthermore, the Dragons will still have to hold their fan days at either Kogarah or Wollongong making it so contradictory to say this is our home ground on some occasions but we play our home games at ANZ. 
• Consider fans in the Illawarra. It is a hard enough trip to go from Wollongong to Kogarah for a home game. Given we only have 8 true home games a season now, it makes it even tougher knowing that you only get four in Wollongong so you have to travel extra to get your regular NRL fix. Could you imagine the extra effort it would take for Illawarra fans to travel the extra distance to Homebush or Moore Park? They'll stop showing up because it takes too much time out of their day. Especially night games. A 7:50pm kick off on a Friday Night means the game finishes near 10pm. Then an hour and half at least to get home. No one will go because they won't be able to bring their children. So much for attracting families. If kids aren't going to games because it's too much effort for their parents to take them, less kids will play NRL and then the league is in all sorts of trouble.
• NRL is supposed to be a working class game yet they aren't accommodating for the working class. The parking and the food at the big stadiums is more expensive than at suburban grounds. Not to mention the extra traffic and the extra petrol it takes. Especially from Wollongong. Moving out of the grass roots area into the big stadiums contradicts the whole NRL philosophy that you have to look after the true base of your fans- the working class, the country and the suburbs. 
• You lose the atmosphere. 18,000 at Kogarah trumps 19000 at ANZ. You need at least 30,000 to make ANZ an interesting atmosphere. You are far away from the action, the crowd is spread out, voices fade before they are even heard. I do not care if you can get an extra 1000 people at ANZ because of the people who go, more will leave satisfied with the experience walking out of a suburban ground than out of ANZ. 

If you think moving to big grounds and getting rid of suburban grounds are a good idea let me know why in the comments below! 

Thanks for listening my dears,