With thanks… November 2014…
I am grateful for a day and a night with Jillian, hanging with my workout buddy, the magic of creating a novel during NaNoWriMo, and all the cups of tea Juz made me while I wrote…

With thanks… Saturday November 1… RushFit day 41… Fitness Challenge and NaNoWriMo (1050 words) day 1… And Jillian!
Today I am so grateful for the most amazingly wonderful day!
I’m glad I got up super early (so much to do today!), and sweated my way through day one of a Fitness Challenge I’m doing with a few friends. It hurt, especially after yesterday’s body combat and yoga double, but I loved it!
I’m happy that I wrote 1050 words for day one of NaNoWriMo – the beginnings of Into the Light! It was hard – I haven’t prepared at all – not a clue what will happen yet – but I was very glad to make a start, and even though I knew I wouldn’t have time to do the full word count today, at least I won’t be too far behind…
I’m grateful for a beautiful morning with my workout buddy – Claire and I went into the city and paused for a cuppa, a long chat, lots of laughs and a hilarious attempt at a selfie – guess it’s a good thing we’re not experts at that… Then we walked down to where the Jillian class was on – I felt a little bad when I looked it up later and realised it was a 3.3km walk, but we’re Fit Witches, so we were fine 🙂
It was so cool to meet up with Janine and Julia then, as we hung out waiting for Jillian to arrive – and we were all so grateful that we were going to work out with her – she’s meant so much to all of us over the last few years, but I was surprised how moved I was when she walked in, can’t even really explain why. But she’s a force of nature, so charismatic and inspiring, and just amazing. She apologised for the ridiculous heat – it was 36 degrees or more inside, and got hotter once we started – but there was no way we were using that as an excuse to slack off! Then she said sorry that it was her toughest workout yet (although she kinda smiled with an evil grin when she said that, so I don’t think she was sorry at all!)… It was one of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done – burpees, rock star jumps, burpees with rows, some weird extreme form of mountain climbers, one-legged serving bicep squats, kick ups that I thought I wouldn’t be able to do, but tried anyway (how can you not at least try when Jillian’s there shouting – I mean motivating – us?), and I managed to do them, even though they nearly killed me 🙂 There wasn’t a single second of rest, and I did once or twice wonder if starting the fitness challenge that morning was the best idea, but I loved it! I was a sweaty, exhausted, red-faced mess by the end, totally spent, but it was exhilarating too – it felt so good to have gone so hard and pushed myself so much – especially when we discovered later that quite a few people sat down and watched after the first of the four rounds. We’re all desperately waiting to find out when her BodyShred program will be available – we’re guessing (or hoping!) this workout was from week ten, not week one 🙂 Then as Jillian was leaving at the end she was walking straight towards me with her hand up to high five me, which was kinda cool (I almost didn’t, cos I was shy, but I figured that would be a bit rude!)…
Then we had to race back home for a super-quick shower and get ready for the show, and I’m so grateful to Julia’s sweet hubby for giving us a lift back to the car – not sure the 3.3km walk would have been quite as much fun after that class! And OMG the air conditioning was bliss! After a quick chat to Juz we dashed back in and met up with Janine, Julia and Francis for dinner, which was fun, then we picked up our VIP laminates and headed down the front for Jillian’s show, which was amazing. She’s so inspiring and so tough and so real and so down to earth and just so sweet (yet sassy). It was really moving, and she was amazing – I have so much respect for her.
And I’m grateful that after the show we got to meet her and get a photo (which we’re anxiously awaiting to be uploaded), and she was just so lovely and warm and sweet. Greets everyone with a hug and makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room. She’s amazing.
And then it was home to try to get to bed by midnight, after the most incredible, albeit somewhat exhausting, day. I had a bad head for most of it, but there was no way I was going to let that ruin this day! Painkillers dulled it to a manageable roar, and I just focused on all the awesome good 🙂

With thanks… Saturday November 15… RushFit day 55… NaNoWriMo (3617 words) day 15…
Today I’m grateful to my sweet beloved for making me cups of tea while I wrote, and for a fun lunch break with cheesies and an episode of Big Bang Theory, before I went back to my little purple office to keep writing, and a beautiful night chilling out together…
I got up early this morning, cos I wanted to finish typing in yesterday’s NaNoWriMo effort, and make a start on today’s word count – so I didn’t make it to the gym for the early Combat class. Instead I did the final workout for RushFit, Explosive Power Training, which is a totally bad ass workout that got my muscles aching, my heart rate skyrocketing and the endorphins flowing – so much so that I followed it with the Stretching for Flexibility workout, which usually drives me crazy 🙂 Feeling happy to have finished another program!
And I’m grateful to my NaNoWriMo buddies, for encouragement, support and inspiration, and so glad that I made myself sit down at the computer and crank out 3600 odd words. So, as the halfway point looms, I have two days of spare words up my sleeve, which is a relief 🙂 And I loved writing today – not the physical aspects of it, the sitting down and forcing myself to concentrate, to not get too distracted by FB and emails and other things, but to just write and write. And sometimes it flowed, and other times it didn’t, but I kept going regardless, and I’m pretty happy with how it’s all weaving together…
And now I am grateful for bed, and for getting there by midnight… Sweet dreams! xx

With thanks… Saturday November 29… T25/PiYo day 13… NaNoWriMo (837 words) day 29…
Today I’m so grateful I could help Juz with his video, since he helps me so much with making my dreams happen…
I’m happy I got up at six so I could work out (PiYo Sweat) first…
I’m glad we were early, so I scribbled out another chapter of my book while we waited, and typed it in throughout the day…
And I’m so happy I validated my NaNo novel! I could write more tomorrow if I feel like it, since it doesn’t officially end until midnight Sunday, or I could have a day off and hang out with Juz, and spend some time with Mum before she has to go back home Tuesday morning… Either way – I did it! I pasted it into the site – and I wrote 53,045 words in 29 days 🙂 Book three isn’t totally finished, but a very large chunk of it is, and now I know what the story is and the bits I have to add to it to get there. NaNoWriMo rocks! I love that I could start with just the title of the book on November 1st, and by the end of the month have pretty much written a book – worked out the story, and discovered new characters and new plot threads – the process fascinates me, and I’m not sure I could write a novel any other way now 🙂 It’s a kind of magic for sure. I’m so grateful for Juz, for being so patient with me all month, when I disappeared into my little purple office to write, and for making me cups of tea, and I’m grateful to all my NaNo buddies too, for making it so much more fun, and so proud of them all for what they achieved this month too…

With thanks… Sunday November 30… T25/PiYo day 14… NaNoWriMo day 30 – the end!
Tonight I am grateful for dinner with Mum, Juz and the Diggers, before Mum goes back home to WA, and a lovely night…
I’m grateful for a day at home to chill out – and happy that I validated my novel yesterday and didn’t have to write anything today 🙂
I’m glad that I got my workouts done – PiYo Core and T25 Stretch…
And I’m happy that Labor won in Victoria, and the fact that Abbott has broken so many election promises (no cuts to health, education, pensions, ABC etc etc etc) is finally starting to get some attention.