DR LIBBYS BEAUTIFUL YOU WEEKEND IN SYDNEY

The first time I came across Dr Libby, which was only a few months ago, I was glued to her every word. With a PhD in Biochemistry and having studied Nutrition, she was literally deciphering all the big confusing concepts of science into much smaller chunks that everyday people could take away and understand. Myself included. I’m currently studying Biochemistry and I do love it, only my teacher is not nearly as passionate or able to explain stuff in a way I get – every time.

So I went on and watched every You tube clip of Dr Libby’s and came across a weekend workshop she was doing in Sydney. 

Ooh I so wanted to go! But I had kinda just made a commitment to myself to stop spending so much money. Well… B and I had a chat about it and decided to go. I had the money anyway, every bone in my body had already decided I was gonna be there, and low and behold flights that weekend were half the usual price from Cairns. I booked it the following day.

A Chilly Tuesday in Sydney

It's Tuesday morning here in chilly Sydney - yes that's right, I'm in Sydney - but I'm managing to stay warm with the heater on at dad's place, my step mothers wool sweater on, the spare slippers on my feet (yep they've got them for when we come to stay), and both nettle tea and Nespresso next to me.

I've flown down for the P!nk concert (which is on tonight and I am super duper excited - pics will be in my newsletter this Friday and no doubt all over Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) but I always extend a Sydney trip a few extra days to see friends, family, and jet all town visiting, seeing and eating my way through all my favourite spots. So allow me to relive my past few days with you...

+ French Forest Markets; every Sunday this has to be my all-time favourite markets ever! Loads of people always go making this a bustling morning (or midday trip) amongst friends and loved ones. And by loved ones I mean green juices and smoothies, wood smoked salmon steaks, organic produce, superfoods and herbs, tea and coffees, fresh artisan breads, books, music, crystals and so so much more.

Photo from here

+ Bondi; usually to see my best friends and owners/creators/crazy-amazing-business-peeps of Simply Raw bars, but as we couldn't tee up a proper long catch up this time, I sneakily dropped by, buzzed their door, and ran in for hugs and kisses before having to race off again. I also met a girlfriend for takeaway lunch from The Suv(eran), spent the following 90 minutes sitting in pure warm sunshine by the lake at Centennial Park munching away and chatting about life and lessons, before a Bondi walk with Mel (from Path to Wellness), and a look-see at our country's most famous beach. Bliss.

+ Home; this was always mum's place and the home I grew up in for over 20 years, but now it's a new home as mum has moved to warmer sea breezes in the Sunny Coast, and Dad, once in chilly beautiful Bowral, is back in Sydney with my step-mum. So they are in a new place also. There has been a lot of moving in my family but wherever we are, if we are together, it's all good. Having a place to stay, sleeping in big cozy doonas, lazying on the lounge or out in the sun, getting cuddles, eating amazing food, and being surrounded by loved one's makes my life worthwhile.

That's my set-up this morning - not bad hey?

+ Crows Nest; Ingredients For Health (my old beloved job) and Taste Organics (where any new amazing product will definitely be found - like Botanical Cuisine's delicious goodies), as well as bumping into old faces, feel-good cafes, chilling on the grass with friends and new babies, chasing the magpies and thus getting shat on - yes it happened to me. But it's good luck isn't it?

+ Run arounds; always exhilarating! I get such a thrill from knowing I've gotta go here, then there, then over there to see friends, buy things, eat things, or whatever it may be, in and around Sydney. But my sister's zippy little car with an amazing sound system, I have to admit, it a huge part of the thrills for me. Singing, wind in my hair, high on life... I'm sure some of you can relate to this strange little pleasure of mine. Cairns is loads quieter and calmer (and our car stereo is crappola) so the difference is obvious and FUN!
Ducking in for hellos with my yoga teacher, dropping by elsewhere to buy a brand new fancy-pants yoga ma (I am soooo excited to get down and do my dog people!!), tea in the sun with my cousin here, catch up with girls there, loads of chatting, laughing, seeing friends with gorgeous little babies (ooh is it getting to that time already..?), totally lapping up this sunshine, hello, is this not amazingly gorgeous here right now?

So a trip to Sydney town is always loaded with fun, good food, friends, family, and sunshine. The way life is meant to be. And I'm grateful to be living life the way I love too.

Christie xx

Sydney Highs and Lows

I'm still here in Sydney and was going to post an all-pretty-post on what I've been doing, but instead I'm going to get real down and dirty here. I'm feeling like shit --

Well a litte pretty-ing is still nice to begin with -- First up, I've been having a ball chilling with my besties, cruising around Bondi, and enjoying a few cheeky coffees and cuddles with my man now that he has arrived here too (it's been over a week since I got cuddles ok) ... but I needed to buy some clothes for an outing this evening as I've got absolutley nothing to wear (I mean that too - it's not just a girly winge when my wardrobe is busting at the seams; it's legit as my backpack contains half a dozen pairs of running shorts, two tshirts, maybe 3 singlets, and 2 airy-fairy beachy dresses from about 6yrs ago that could potentially be left in Thailand if need be; ie. nothing spesh but super comfy... a pair of thong, sneakers and my vibrams).

So, as the weather has totally changed and it's now freezing, wet and miserable, my Lorna Jane bike shorts, singlet and sneakers aren't quite appropriate even if it is my choice of clothing and all I've got in my backpack right now...
Who am I kidding? Even if it was sunny and warm I dont think I could get away with wearing gym gear out tonight.
So this morning I set off into Bondi Junction to find some clothes. Ok. Not so bad you think. Well, I'll let you in on a not-at-all-secret secret of mine; contrary to almost every other female on the planet it seems, I hate clothes shopping. I always have. I never know what to buy, what suits me, what looks good with what, where to shop and where to buy. I do know what I like though - gym gear. It's comfortable and suits me. Asides from my work tshirt (which I wear with black gym pants), I don't wear much else. But every now and then when I've gotta present nicely and wear something that's not gym gear - I hate it. And Hate is a strong word I know but I'm using it. I feel the pressure to buy, to dress a certain way, to appear a certain way... And sure I can get dressed up with a spin of my style but I've no clue what that is. No doubt my biggest problem.

Shortcut to now so you don't hav to live through my painful teary Westfield experience like I did, and I'm feeling like a miserable bitch trying to perk myself up... I'm sitting here comfy as all hell in my bestie's trakkie daks and my Lorna Jane jacket. With nothing to wear out tonight. What to do? Only time will tell. And as to why I allow all this to happen, what I need to learn from it and all that other jazz... I'm too stuck in it right now to want to care to be frank. I could try and pretty all this up by telling you why this always comes up for me, what it's teaching me, yada yada yada... but I'm yet to nail it, and so continue to avoid clothes shopping, always getting the shits when I've got an invite somewhere that I need to get dressed up for. Yay.

Now let's move along...

More HIGHs from my Syd trip... Last night B and I had a huge Thai dinner with 30 of our friends at Thai Face in Crows Nest. So SO awesome to have seen you all. A great big restaurant with delicious food that's fresh, colourful, and damn tasty. We sat at one long table chatting, laughing, eating and catching up, all having a jolly ol' time. When the restaurant was closing up, the few of us left wandered down to Bravo for sorbets and gelatos, still laughing and talking non-stop in the centre of my old stomping ground. Love love all my friends and family here xx

Tomorrow we fly outta here over to Singapore for 24hrs of fun, food (and fashion? - unlikely)... before we hit Bangkok to begin our 6 week journey through Thailand and Burma. Eeek I am super duper excited!! This is my college break - and the only break I'll get until I finish up in December, so it was a no-brainer deciding to literally and physically get away from it all.

All I want to do (as I'm trying to physically plan less) is:

+ Get massages (after reading Leonie's fabulous post on why daily massages are needed for burnout, I think I might just experiment with these!)

+ Drink and eat coconuts

+ Reading and more reading

+ Yoga

+ Blogging to you lovelies

+ Finishing my online biz course

...and really resting.

If you've been reading me here for a while, you'll know that I've had a few ups and downs with fatigue and adrenal exhaustion, ontop of moving interstate, so now that I've got an extended break from college I intend on using it wisely and actually taking the break so I don't burn myself out further.

And after my coaching sesh yesterday morning, above all else, I am going to commit to being PRESENT. My mind is always off somewhere else and rarely in the here and now, and I can tell you it can cause all sorts of mischief when it's elsewhere.
So perhaps a little challenging, but likely more just a decision to do it... I'm commited to this, so I will keep you all in touch with how I go.

As for now, I gotta jet to finalise travel insurance, hotels, flight meal options (molto importante), and an outfit for this evening... Yippee.

When I next write to you I'll be in Singapore!

Until then...


Christie xx


PS. Have you signed up for my newsletter? Hitting inboxes on Fridays; make sure you're getting the latest goss on food, nutrition, life and more here.

PSS. If you're a clothes-shopping-star, feel free to be my personal shopper next time I'm in your neck-of-the-woods. I'll love you forever ;)

From Cairns - Sunny Coast - Sydney

Happy Easter Monday! 

How was your weekend? I suppose it's still going isn't it? Gotta love long weekends.
As most of you would know (if you're my newsletter subscriber - if not sign up here or Twitter follower) I flew down to the Sunny Coast last week for an extended Easter getaway, visiting mum and my step dad, and then having both my sisters arrive too.

I was so excited to get to mums on Tuesday as it meant my (10 huge) assessments would all have been done and emailed off, my last college class would have been attended do (for the next 2months), our place would have all been boxed up and put in storage, my last days at work and saying bye to friends would have been done, and my bag packed ready for Thailand. And. it. all. was.

So flying down was bliss. I could breathe again. And every moment at mums has been bliss. I love it on the Sunny Coast. I might just end up there at some point. ..

Our Easter weekend was fabulous; plenty of laughter and mucking about, intertwined with delicious chocolate munching, sunshine bathing, forest walking trails and creek splashing, coast jogs that my body loved, a quick catch up with a girlfriend and baby snuggles, and of course a multiple cafe escapades (a favourite past time of all us females in the family it seems)

Buderim State Forest

But now here I am in SYDNEY! And the reason none of you knew about this was because I had to keep it the biggest secret ever as my best friend had no idea I was coming. Her husband grabbed me from the airport last night and I rocked up at her doorstep with a bunch of flowers, super-super excited, and she greeted me with arms, screaming, huge hugs, more screams, disbelief, and questions about the how's and why's I was infact at her doorstep... It was so so good. Just the way we wanted it.
I'll be in Sydney town til Thursday morning when B and I are then flying to Singapore. We were initially flying from Melbourne but with the thought of totally surprising my bestie who is always super busy as she is getting her amazing new biz off the ground... I had to do it!
Opting to crash on her floor so B, my girl, her hubby and I can all get maximus cuddle time, eating time, laughing time and catching-up in, I am so excited to be here!

So Thursday we fly to Singapore for a night, then on to Bangkok where our Thailand adventure will begin, and later onto Burma, we cannot wait to get over there. I will try my best to get your regular posts to you all, and in Thailand I think it won't be too hard, but in Burma - I think you'll have to live without me for those couple of weeks. I've read it's pretty much no-outside-world once you enter Burma. And to be honest I couldn't be more excited!

Until then though, You've still got me for a while.

Speak soon

Christie xx

2012 End + 2013 Beginnings

As I sit here munching away on a brekkie bowl of Coyo yoghurt, acai, walnuts and buckini muesli, looking out at the sunny day it has already bloomed into in Cairns... I feel inspired to (finally) write this post.

It's been over a month since I last posted and as much as I would have loved to keep in touch more, well Summer, Xmas, New Years and 5 weeks on the road all came first. But now I'm back, have begun my year full swing (with assessments and an exam in there as well), back to work, trying to find a new place to call home - again - (minor stress there) OUR NEW HOME HAS JUST BEEN CONFIRMED!!! now to begin moving in!!! That's the fun part tho and I am so excited! College begins in a couple of weeks, and I've also been hugely excited about a few other things in the pipeline but I'm struggling a little finding the time to put my focus there at the minute, so fingers crossed I'll get my schedule sorted a little better when I've got a place to call home now I've got a place to call home :)

So since we last spoke, Brock and I have been from

Cairns to Sydney to Cairns

and everywhere in between

We left here December 13th and got back January 20th. In that time we swam in oceans and rivers, slept under the stars at Prosepine and Hervey Bay, ate at my favourite cafe in Brissie, had amazing smoothies in Byron, visited my mum and step-dad twice, met new born babies of friends, stayed with Brock's 94yr old nan in Alstonville, picnic'd in Rockhampden, celebrated Christmas with four separate food feasts across Sydney and to Bowral, laughed with family, spent New Years with our best friends in Bondi,  visited the Hunter Valley and had a little too much vino, trained, ran, drank way too much coffee, tried to catch up on what seemed like never-ending-lost-sleep, spent 2weeks on the Sunshine Coast with mum, and the rest of the time in our little Toyota Corolla hatch back - filled to the seams with clothes, boxes, yoga mats, water bottles, food snacks, my teddy bear, sleeping bags, a (busted) tent, (then) a new tent, and loads more... driving the east coast of this beautiful country of ours, tunes pumped, horrible singing voices on... with no air-con. Yep. From Cairns to Sydney and back again - no air-con. We had a ball!

But like I said, we're back in Cairns now where it's freakin hot and deliciously sunny! We were very lucky getting here when we did as if were a week later we would have potentially got stuck with bushfires somewhere, definitely been bogged in by floods somewhere else, and quite possibly have experienced our first cyclone - crazy country of ours.

I've got a lot of ideas for my little blog site this year as well so little by little you might be catching some of those changes. As for my posts - they're usually varied as to what I write about but please email me or let me know on the Facebook page, if there is anything you would like to see. I will be sure to inform you all of how my own health issues are going as well - hair mineral analysis results are back today! Bloods have come in also. I'm back seeing my TCM guy, as well as an osteo and physio for other issues I've got going on, and have begun with a few other little things that I'm loving also.

Until next time,

Peace and Love

Christie

My favourite things to do in Sydney

Last week I was lucky enough to get down and visit my home in Sydney - even if it was to pack up my entire life into boxes at my mums house before she leaves and rents the house out (think 25yrs of stuff needing to find a home in a box - manic!). I arrived to beautiful weather and amongst my mad-packing that I knew I had ahead of me, I made sure I had time to fit in a few of my favourite things whilst there...

Views of Sydney Harbour are like no other, and my dad was staying at Kirribili for the weekend so I had this magnificent view to oggle over, before Thai lunch with everyone - my big sis Nikki was in town for literally 2hrs between international flights, so we tee-ed up lunch with dad; who has always been overseas for work the weekend of October 19th (his birthday), mum and my little sister Lisa; both who hadn't seen Nikki in months; our step-sister Amy who lives hours away from everyone and our little nephew Callum, who has never met Nikki! So in the short meal we shared before Nikki had to bolt back to the airport, we all had a ball.

I went out with mum on Sunday morning to the Frenchs Forest Markets which are my absolute favourite!! The colourful buzz about, fresh produce abounds, juices, smoothies, Asian foods, natural lotions and potions, superfoods, baked breads, cookies and treats, elixirs, honey, massage, coffee and more! Everyone walks around saying hello to people they know, munching on their weekly favourite and grinning ear to ear. I got the organic green juice I love, we tried new organic raw honey, got the best macadamia nuts in Australia (Hand N' Hoe Organic Macadamias), and the most delicious raw apple crumble from Flawless Foods. These girls are amazing and their food will have every taste bud in your mouth having a party! Their goodies are sold at the Supafeast stand, and what's even better, is that they change things up every week!

After  my market fun, my girlfriend picked my up  for my all-time favourite yoga class; a 90 minute vinyasa power flow yoga class in St Leonards. My yoga teacher, friend, and mentor is the instructor for the class, and after sweating, stretching, twisting, flowing, bending, balancing and calming my thoughts, I leave on top of the world! I'm blessed that I could see him twice more before I left Sydney too!! (if you're interested and near by, he is offering a free-week pass to new students here)

Later on I caught up with all my old work girls for afternoon tea and chit chats before a relaxing evening at home, happy that 90% of my boxes at home were packed :)

My 2nd last day was pre-planned weeks before and that was to spend the entire day with my two best friends; the creative kitchen geniuses behind the Simply Raw bars. I drove over to beautiful Bondi at 730am after yoga and stopped to take in the stunning ocean and breathe in all the fresh sea air I could, before heading over for brekkie smoothies at their place.

Bondi Beach

Me feeding the chickens across the road

We fuelled our bodies with delicious juice and smoothies and sat all morning catching up on everything that's going on in our lives. And for lunch, we were going up to Earth to Table - Sydney's first raw vegan cafe! I know I'm not alone in shouting out FINALLY! We're a bit behind the 8-ball. But it is here; well it is there (in Sydney) and every time I visit now I've got somewhere I can choose anything off the menu to eat, enjoy it, LOVE it, and leave feeling amazing! Julie Mitsios from Conscious Choice is the wonder-woman behind this little gem up on Bronte Rd, and has decked out the place so it is simplistic-elegance. But you'll have to be patient and wait until my next post for all the mouth-watering pics and food reviews, as it wouldn't do it justice meshing them all in with this post.

We spent the rest of our afternoon lazying around on the beach, getting some sunshine, laughing and being silly before the "see you later's" instead of the dreaded "goodbye's". I'll be back in Sydney in less than a month! And the morning before my flight, mum and I both managed to have time free to grab some brekkie together and have a nice long (proper) girly chit chat :)

My girl Janine and I chillin' at Bondi Beach

Brekkie out with my beautiful mum

Remember to stay tuned or sign up for email alerts for the upcoming post and food-porn pics from Earth to Table; Sydney's first raw vegan cafe.

Until then... Love and Light :)