The Lord said something about Sunday and rest!!

When I was young I distinctly remember sitting with other children in a small timber room off the side of our local Church. Here we listened to our large, friendly Sunday School teacher telling us  many scriptures from the bible. One that holds some water is that the Sabbath should be a day of rest. Well for me it is more like the day of refresh and routine.
As you know I have many students' from many countries who share my home and each group of "children" seem to take on  their own "energy". This means that I can often be making huge breakfasts of eggs, bacon, toast, mushrooms etc. that would make any Hobbit envious, or other times the house will be silent till late in the day when they emerge from their rooms in various states of sobriety.
Either way I love my Sunday routine as it starts my day off as a re-charge, I get up mostly a little after the sun peeks through my blinds, which is usually around 6.30am. Jump out of bed, feed an urging cat and bolt down to the Nundah farmers' market. Now my particular market is only little maybe a dozen stalls, so there isn't the competitive edge that others have, but it does lend itself to that family type feel. Still the fruit and veg is super fresh and more than enough for me to fill my fridge for the week to come. Each Sunday lends itself to what my meal options will be and this week says vegetable ragout, crispy salty Kale chips, fresh strawberries soaked in Grand Manier dusted with icing sugar, and something with those funky purple carrots.

After I roam through this hallowed ground I sneak up to the local Restaurant called Jam where I sit in the sun, read the morning paper and sip my Soy Flat White. Occasionally I stay there and get a very decadent breakfast of eggs and very, very occasionally I order something that usually widens the small eyes of a child near me. Today was toasted Waffles with caramel banana sauce, strawberries and vanilla ice-cream, you should have seen to 6 year girl and her face when it came to my table. Needless to say that is Exactly what she coaxed her mum into buying for her too.
As I said this is my re-charge day, one where I don't care what my children from around the planet are up to. Today is all about me!!

Survival Strategies 101 #2 Complacency

12 hours a day of aerobics at a
Network convention on a bowl of soup

So one of the other biggest issues of starting out afresh is keeping up the efforts and not falling into that dreaded state of complacency. It is a very easy thing to do and if you don't set good goals then you fall onto that slippery slide of idle self indulgence, or whatever that means to you.
Once I had embarked onto the new me within the fitness industry I had the opportunity to buy a Fitness Centre in the city. This took a great portion of my savings to do and once in I wanted to brand it as my own. 

BODYLINE AEROBICS

This involved pulling down the stage no one is more important than the other so we all grape-vined around the room at the same level. We added walls and whilst it was a "ladies only" gym when I purchased it, I quickly changed all that to include the other "specie" provided them with a selection of free and pin weights and for us gals some exercise bikes and stair climbers.


This was a family gym and had all the warmth of a friendly home including the breakfast muffins that I would bake at 5am and bring in for the early birds who liked to blast away a few calories before work; monthly we would have chicken and champagne for the lunch time attendee's and in the evenings occasionally put on something of a show. That way I knew that both the members' and the casual attendees were keen to get to us and work towards their own personal goals. We facilitated both their direction away from complacency and kept me on tract.  

under the sea

This was also a place where I raised my two eldest children, Alex was in Grade 4 and Lizzie in Grade 2 and would be taxied (literally) by one of a few cabbies from EJ Kids Care into the city. Sometimes via MacDonald's for a junior burger or directly to Bodyline and get beautiful salad plates from the downstairs take-away. The two spent many hours chatting to sweaty fitness participants, doing their individual weights programs or getting ready to school balls. This was always a high light for the staff who adored them and love to help them prepare for the big events. 
The kids would often curl up inside upturned Aussie Step boxed and fall asleep whilst we would train models to do complex aerobic moves for fashion shows. Then be carried up to the car by some burly muscle-bound gym-junkies so that I could take them off to bed.
These were wonderful times looking back at them now, but they were "bloody" tuff back then. Many a night would see me in bed way after 2 and up again at 5am to start it all again. I was very strict on my income only taking the barest amount to keep the business profitable. This meant driving a "death trap" but more on that beast later.
I had a solid plan that I stuck to with my goals and tried NEVER to deviate from them. I think that this worked out as we stayed in profit and had loads of happy patrons and energetic, fabulous staff. 

Our release was the Friday afternoon relax and Chardy's, then either complete hair colour changes courtesy of Clairol or ridiculously long acrylic nails. Then the inevitable drawing of straws as to who would take the 5pm aerobic class. Are those were the days!!!!