Amelie! You've Got Something On Your Head...

Cats are such regal and dignified creatures. They demand things and generally they get it. Food, snuggles and the best spot in the bed. Unlike dogs, their love is not unconditional. There are conditions. Lots of them. Yet at the same time they give so much as well. 

On a normal day, Amelie will eat, sleep, eat some more, move around to find a better sleeping spot, punch a kitten in the head, then eat some more. But in her hectic schedule, I'm able to squeeze in some 'Toni Fun Time' or TFT.

It pretty much involves placing things on Amelie's head and laughing hysterically for a good minute or so. She normally looks super unimpressed but that actually adds to the enjoyment I get from it. A bit sadistic isn't it? I know secretly she loves all the attention I lavish upon her. Here are some prime examples:

Afghan Amelie.

Festive Amelie.

Party Amelie.

Dr Amelie (to you).

Sea Lion Amelie.

Hobo Amelie.

Asian Amelie.

The Village People Amelie.

Lady Gaga Amelie.

Inception Amelie.

Plotting Amelie.

Garage Sale Trail

So the past four days have been pretty hectic for me. I had an overdue assignment to finish, ran a 13km race, put on a garage sale and attended a wedding. I think I need another weekend just to recover from the past weekend! The most taxing of those four things was the garage sale. I should have done it another weekend to spread the load a bit but May 5th was actually the official 'Garage Sale Trail', a day where you can register your garage sale and get a bit more publicity around the community then just a few dodgy signs on some local poles.

I'm moving overseas next year so I need to get rid of everything - the sewing machine, fabric, my lovely Fleur Wood dresses, even Daisy's dog lead had to go. I'm slowly working towards only having basics to sell at the end of the ten months which meant this garage sale was going to be epic! It took two weeks of sifting through boxes of stuff in storage, ironing clothes and dusting off books to get everything together for the big day. Our living room looked like a scene from hoarders, or my mum's shed. I can't believe that I had accumulated so many THINGS over the past few years since moving out of the parents place. I have a pizza cutter, a cake cutter, cocktail mixer, two sets of scales, salad spinner and so so so many decorative knick knacks that it took probably 20 trips up and down the stairs to bring everything down. It felt like we were moving house! 

A nights work of bringing everything down
before the sale. Running a business is hard.

So on that freezing Saturday morning, I opened up and garage to the world and luckily for me, the world wanted my useless crapola. I had one lovely lady who said she was there 7am on the dot and was disappointed I hadn't yet opened up (and Kevin said there wouldn't be anyone about at that time!). Despite sitting in the garage all day in the freezing cold, it was a very successful day. We had some music playing and one of my neighbours and their kids came to join me to sell some of their baby toys (so they can get new ones of course), so there was a nice party feel to it. 

Most customers were really friendly and almost everyone left with at least one of two of my things. Though who could blame them with my bargain prices of $1-10. We made over $600 (90% my things, 10% Kevin's things - though he did suggest we should halve the profits, the cheek) but more importantly we didn't have to lug too much stuff back up three flights of stairs!

Looking around the apartment, it doesn't actually look like anything is really missing so it really was just extra stuff that we didn't need! As tempting as it is to spend my big pile of coins (I have $300 in gold coins alone - I could almost swim in it like Scrooge McDuck) it's going safely away in the the world trip fund and the next step now is to hit up Ebay, Etsy and Gumtree to get rid of the rest. I feel lighter already.

Nike She Runs The Night

So last night I was out at Cetennial Park with 3200 other ladies for the first ever 'Nike She Run' in Sydney. This event was absolutely amazing! Kevin (my lovely boyfriend) first told me about this 13km female only run a few months ago. I was a bit hesitant at first because I'd only started jogging (at a recreational pace) 6 months ago. 

Was I ready for an official race where there'd be surely a gazillion others out there that would whoop my ass? Well, I bit the bullet and had been a bundle of nerves ever since I got my race pack with my Nike shirt, a bag and an almost expired energy bar. Kevin tells it me it was scrumptious. 

I had to pee at least 10 times yesterday before the race I was so nervous. The event was so well run and there were lockers for storage and a fast moving toilet line (I don't think I was the only nervous one there!). There was even a large bowl in the toilets filled with hair ties and bobby pins. They really had thought of everything. They had Ruby Rose chatting on stage and the vibe was buzzing. 

Then we all walked a short distance to the starting line where they had TVs with karaoke for the upbeat dance music they were playing like Beyonce - 'Girls' and other appropriate girl power songs that got us pumped and dancing. There were three zones for how fast you were going to be and for obvious reasons I put myself in the slowest one. I saw Kevin on the sidelines and got a quick kiss for good luck and then we were off! Just after the start there was a bump that no one expected so a lot of people tripped over that which was the only bad thing of the night. 

Despite getting a stitch right at the beginning (excuses, excuses, I know) which crippled me to a walking pace, I was able to really get going after the 5km mark (they had these massive lit up purple balloons at every kilometre). My eyes boggled a bit when I saw the race leader looping back the other way on her 6th kilometre when I was only on my 2nd! The race itself was beautiful - they had a section where you ran past fireballs, tree's were dripping with sparkles and motivational signs. 

And in addition to Kevin who was at every spectator point cheering me on, there were heaps of volunteers there also clapping and cheering you on as you went past. It really did help keep me going. I got some more crippling stitches towards the end but I just kept running in a hobbled sort of foetal position manner and when I saw Kevin at the end line I just gunned it all the way to the finish line. I got a time of 1hr 31minutes which isn't bad. Not too shabby at all. 

They had these cool Nike bottles, free shoelaces and towels at the end. Also there were free massage tables set up, and it was more of a party than a race! We went and had some pizzas and iced chocolates afterwards. I  figure it was well deserved. 

So overall a great experience,  I thank Nike for putting on a very cool and well organised event, and sadly I will probably be overseas this time next year but I'd love to do it again one day.