New Love

Hey everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your week, I know I actually am for once. I presented an assignment today and it is a wonderful feeling having that weight lifted off your shoulders. One week left of uni after this week is over, plus an exam in a few weeks and I couldn't be more excited to get this semester done and dusted!

Lately, my boyfriend Kieran and I have been going out and doing something I never really though I would enjoy- fishing!

We have been fishing the last two Sunday nights now and we actually want to make it a regular thing.

I'm not very good at it and I get sad if I can't catch a fish (who wouldn't) and even though it's always freezing cold at night, we have fun.

Last Sunday when we went fishing, Kieran caught a decent sized fish that we actually took home. He prepared the fish from scratch and cooked me dinner with fish, chips and rolls and I was so happy because it was such a thoughtful thing for him to do. It's easy to buy food, but this time he caught our dinner and made it from scratch and it was so cute I was so happy (lol).

Kieran's flathead he caught 

Flathead I caught last week

There's something fun and exciting about going fishing as well. I think maybe because it is so different from anything else I used to think I would enjoy. The fact that (with Kieran's help) I can also catch fish probably makes it a bit more fun and exciting as well.

I enjoy sitting back and not doing much and to me that's the escape I feel these adventures are. We get to spend time together and just relax before we start the week. We get to travel around to different places 'near' us. We go local or we travel up or down the coast. It's a good mini-adventure for a Sunday afternoon/evening and I'm really glad we started doing it.

Thanks for reading my little post about my newfound love for fishing.
Kristelle xxx

What if...

So today for some reason I am just feeling down. I have so much motivation in my mind to do everything I need to do- workout, cook meals, study & do my uni work and go to work, but there's just a dark grey cloud hanging over my head questioning everything today.

I know I need to do all of these things, plus more (aka clean my room lol) but today is just one of those days where I question everything.

Why should I workout? Because I want to be fit, healthy and have an amazing body.

Why should I cook meals? Well I need to eat.

Why should I do my uni work and study? Because I want to get good marks, so I can finish my degree, graduate and get a good job.

Why should I go to work? To earn money to save for the future and so I can have the things I want now and live my life the way I want to without having to depend on anyone for anything I need or want. 

It all seems to be very straightforward and obvious. There is a clear answer as to why I need to do all of these things. It just isn't an option (for me) to stay in bed all day and not do my uni work or not have a job. Some people may be content with that (lol) but not me. 

I just don't know what goes through my head sometimes. I want to do everything. I want to concur the world. 

I just have something in my mind that stops me and says what's the point? 

What if you're not good enough?

What if you're wrong with what you think life will be?

What if you ruin your chance to get something you want because you lacked initiative?

What if you can't achieve what you want in life? 

What if all the goals you have set for yourself just fall apart and you never reach them? 

What happens if you can't do anything?

What happens if you try so hard for something and you still fail?

...

what if...? 

Life is full of what's if's, but I know I need to focus on the bigger picture. Even if I am stressed out, tired and don't really know how to make sense of what is going on in my mind right now, I know things are going to be okay. I believe everything happens for a reason, so I am going to focus on that to get me through each day. 

How I met my boyfriend

Hello to all of my lovely readers. I'm not sure whether this post will interest you or not, but I know on tumblr and in real life with new people I meet (or people who haven't always known me) I get asked a fair bit how I met my boyfriend. I know it's lame but I always love hearing these stories from other people because sometimes they are so interesting and people meet the people they know they are going to be with forever in the strangest/ most random ways. So I thought I would share my story with you all.

Long story short: we met in high school and started going out towards the end of Year 9.

If you care for the details, feel free to read on and I will let you have a little insight into what it was like. 

I first met my boyfriend Kieran when we were in Year 8 (I was newly 13 and he was 12 hahaha). We were put in the same classes in school so that is initially how we first met. The standout classes I can remember being in together were: Science, Home Economics (or cooking class) and Woodwork. 

Cooking class, the standout memories involved my friend and I basically doing the cooking for him and his cooking partner because, well because they sucked. One time I remember he asked me to butter his bread roll for him because he couldn't even do it. Who knew that those Year 8 cooking sessions would turn into 6 years down the road, me actually cooking and meal prepping for him. Bet you didn't see that one coming at the time hey Kieran? (Because I know I sure didn't). If you had of told me back then, "Hey Kristelle, you know you're going to end up meal prepping for this guy in 6 years?" I would of laughed in your face. I didn't like him, he was a silly, annoying and kind of a mean boy. I just didn't like him. I would help him out just to get them to leave us alone. 

Woodwork, the memories are limited. I remember 

1) not wanting to do any of the work myself

2) thinking it was payback to get boys to do it for me

3) being mean back to all the boys (even though they were doing my work projects for me)

I would like to take a moment to just reflect and say wow, these stories so far make me sound so sexist lol. Boys do the woodwork projects and girls do the cooking? No. I promise I don't think like that, I was obviously just lazy the same way the boys were. I didn't like woodwork and they did, so they did it for me. The same way that I enjoyed cooking and they didn't (mostly).

Now onto science class. We used to sit near each other with one of my friends (the same one from cooking class) and we used to run wild in that class. There were fruit loops thrown at heads and a lot of inappropriate jokes made. I would say he was still sort of mean and I was mean back. We used to tease each other like no tomorrow. He was a lot nicer to my friend which annoyed me a lot because well I started to like him and had a crush on him. There was no way I would ever tell him that though (because well hello, embarrassing and boys were still yuck). Not long after he started 'going out' with my friend and I got over it because I liked a different boy at the time (lol). 

Year 8 ended, as did the brief 'relationship' between Kieran and my friend. 

Year 9 started and we didn't really have much to do with each other at the start of the year. We weren't in any of the same classes anymore because we got to choose ours (sport and design & technology for me and woodwork and cooking [the irony in this is hilarious] for him- and yes I remember this). We were also graded into English, Science and Maths classes which resulted in us having nothing to do with each other. 

I saw him around every now and then and when I did I remember thinking "do I like this boy? I don't know lol". We spoke every now and again on MSN and in person, I think he even had my phone number so we might of texted a couple of times lol. I sort of did like him, but not that much. Anyway...

Later that year, I was hanging out with a friend (a different one to the last stories) and we happened to run into him and his friend (from the previous stories) at the park. We all hung out for ages that afternoon. I remember giving him a piggyback, believe it or not I used to be taller and he was not heavy at all haha. When my friend and I went to leave at one point he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so awkward and embarrassed I kind of just walked away and pretended I didn't hear him. I was freaking out to my friend and she was like to me "just say yes, I think you like him" and she even ended up answering for me. 

We all met up at the park again later and talked for a while. 

That evening when it was time for my mum to pick me up (lol, the life of a 14 year old) he hugged me goodbye.

We had our first date and our first kiss two weeks later. 

About 6 months later, I realised I loved this boy.

Eventually I told him that I didn't really like him at first and I only said yes because, well my friend actually did it for me. He admitted he was a nervous little chicken shit (well for not kissing me goodbye when he had the chance lol) and because at the time he used the excuse "oh it was a bet with my friend. I thought you were hot and he said you would say yes to me and I bet you would say no". So romantic don't you think?

A few years ago he also admitted to me he actually liked me back in Year 8 as well and talked to my friend more because he was trying to make me jealous and was mean to me because he liked me. He never ended up asking me out because his mate did first (that is a whole other story that is not even important).

Yet, here we are almost 5 years later. Still together through all of our ups and downs and our ever so romantic start to our relationship. But yet, I wouldn't trade anything for the world. He grew to be my bestfriend over the years and I trust him with anything. If people tell me a secret, it's a given he will know by the end of the day (sorry everyone) and vice versa. 

Here are some happy snaps of us over time (from what I could quickly just find on my computer)

first holiday together at Narrabeen camping, Summer of 2011/2012

My Year 12 formal, 2013 

My 18th birthday party, 2013

Some random night out, 2014

Paddleboarding adventure at our favourite place (Narrabeen), 2014

So if anyone read all the way to the end of this nonsense, thank you! Special shoutout to Kieran, hey babe. He reads my blog. Even though it's awkward and a bit embarrassing, I appreciate the support.

Kristelle xxx

Week 1 Update

Hey everyone! So as I promised in my last post about health and fitness (which for all of those who don't know what I am talking about, it can be read here) I am going to be writing weekly blog updates about how I am going with the BBG (Bikini Body Guides).

Week 1, like anything, is when I feel you have the most motivation. You've started something new, so you want to stick to it. I don't think I know of many people who swear by something and then give up in the first week. I may be wrong, but then again I am not one of those people. I usually like to give something a bit more of a chance before I quit (not this though, I swear I will stick it out). 

Sunday

My start day. It might be weird to a lot of people because they think their weeks start on Monday. But this is the day that I made my fitness post and I already spoke about this day so I will briefly recap.

I did 45 minutes of LISS (I walked a moderate rate) and I did not eat one piece of junk food. I had a roast dinner with lots of veggies so I felt really good about myself.

Monday

I woke up early today. Today I decided I would give the legs and cardio Week 1 workout a hit again. I completed it. Sweaty, muscles aching, sore. I know it was worth it. 

I ate relatively well all day also. Oats and fruit for breakfast. Yoghurt, muesli and fruit while I was at  uni. A toasted sandwich with cheese ham and tomato when I got home. I drink so much water during the day so I suppose that's always a good thing. Also for dinner I had an amazing salad, couscous and a piece of salmon. 

Tuesday

Woke up not feeling to well today. I had a chicken snitzel and sweet potato roll for lunch and tacos for dinner. I spent the day doing groceries, cooking and cleaning the house. I got in about 40 minutes of LISS today which is what I wanted. It wasn't a good day, I spent most of it feeling pretty crappy. I also ate a banana and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream for dessert. 

Wednesday

Woke up today feeling even crappier. I haven't been able to sleep very well the last week which is annoying because I know it impacts on how well my body functions and how efficient my exercising is.

I ate tomato, eggs, salad of greens and a piece of Lebanese bread for lunch. For dinner I ate steak and veggies. I also had some corn chips after dinner because for some reason I was still hungry. 

I didn't get to my arms & abs workout today, but I swear I will try tomorrow. Instead today I spent about 2 and a half hours mowing the yard. Due to all the rain recently and then the sunny days, the grass grows uncontrollably fast. Plus, when the ground is wet you can't mow. So I think mowing my backyard and front yard totally counts as a workout for the day because my arms and legs were so sore the next day.

Thursday

Another uni day. I almost didn't even get out of bed this morning. I didn't have much of an appetite this day either. I completed about 30 minutes of LISS when I got home from uni (I would've kept going but it was dark and I don't feel very comfortable being outside at night in my area haha). 

I ate a salad roll for lunch, some fruit for a snack and mango chicken and rice for dinner. 

Friday

Almost the end of the week. Today was pretty average. I got in my arms and abs workout during the day. I can't even remember anything about what I ate during the day, but oh well.

I worked from 4pm-12am today so that was my night gone. I ate butter chicken for dinner and pineapple as a snack later. I feel like I get a lot of exercise in during my shifts at work because all I do is continuously walk around the very large store.

Saturday

I had to wake up early today because once again I had work. Work means more exercise walking around for 7 hours. I ate a 'healthy' burger for lunch. I didn't get any real workout in today which was sad and I ended up eating a cheeseburger meal for dinner. Oops.

So this pretty much quickly sums up my first week back at the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guides. It was a pretty good week for me. Obviously I am not going to be 100% perfect with my workouts and with my eating habits but I believe in the end I will get there. Each week I want to improve. But at the same time I also want to still live my life how I would before. I don't want to sacrifice too many things I love, I just want to incorporate the healthy lifestyle into what I currently know.

To date I have lost 5kg and I don't have any plans to lose anymore weight. All I want to improve on is what I see in the mirror.

Thanks for reading,
Kristelle xxx

Happiness

Happiness means a lot of different things, to a lot of different people. I have spent too much of my life worrying about things and focussing on all the wrong things. I used to think it took a lot to make me happy (and it used to). 

In recent years, I have changed as a person in many ways. I'm not even sure how to explain how I have changed. I think I just grew up. I got rid of a lot of negative energy I had in my life and I now try to focus on the lighter side of life. I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with me about this. But this is how I see myself. 

I believe in karma and the power of positive thinking. There is too much sadness, stress and cruelty in the world without me adding to it. 

Now, all it takes for me to see happiness in the world are small things. 

Like sitting out on the balcony at the bar in my university, looking out onto the beautiful campus on a sunny day. This is what I am doing right now and what inspired me to write this post. 

Listening to a song that makes me feel good things. Also currently doing this. 

Seeing my boyfriend smile. (Wish I could see this right now).

Doing something good to help my mum out and hearing the gratitude in her voice.

Watching the sunset. 

Hearing a child's laugh.

Bird's chirping.

Getting a good grade when you put in a bit of extra effort. 

Being acknowledged when you do a good job at work. 

Making a new friend when you didn't expect it. 

Sharing your thoughts and happiness and good vibes with others. (This without a doubt always makes me happy. There's just something about it, I can't explain it). 

There is so much to be happy about in life. I think a lot of us just need to open our eyes and learn to love and appreciate the smaller things in life. 

Anyway, thank you all for reading my ramble post about what makes me happy. I will post again soon.

Kristelle xxx

An Era Over

I would say that anyone who knows me well or basically just follows me on social media or even has a conversation with me, will know that I get a little obsessed with things I like. This can be said for TV shows. For years I have lived and breathed Greys Anatomy. It has been my favourite show for years. It has been on the air for a decade... an entire 10 years. 

Forever my OTP

I have laughed with the characters, cried with their pain and felt their joy. Shonda Rhimes has just had a way of making me feel as if I knew them. 

My favourite character was always Cristina Yang because I could relate to her so well. She was my spirit animal (in human form). Everything her character stood for, I saw in myself. I was heart broken when I found out she was leaving the show at the end of the 10th season. But I was so happy when she got to leave as a happy and independent women. Not leaving or chasing after a man. She was content with herself and accepted who she was. There was really no better way for her to leave. I cried happy tears for this departure. 

Now my OTP has always been (and will always be) Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd. Everything from the start (from meeting in a bar), through everything they have gone through. I don't know what it is but their story together just made me feel love. It's dorky I know, but those two just made me feel things. So you can image my crushed heart when they decided that they would kill him off during the 11th season. He's there (after being absent for a large part of the season) and it's like he is going to be happy again with Meredith. Then BAM, hit by a truck. Bam, dead. Two minute scene for a funeral. Nothing. It was not the ending I think he deserved. The grieving of the characters over time, I understood. But Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd deserved more than that as a goodbye. 

And this is why it is the end of an era. The end of my OTP. This is the last season of Greys Anatomy I will watch. Meredith is the main character, after all the show is named after her, but I can not (and refuse to) watch it without McDreamy. Too many main characters are gone, they try to replace them with new interns, but it's not the same. The show has run it's course. Many people believe that it should of stopped a few seasons ago. I love watching Greys Anatomy after a long week on a Friday afternoon so naturally I never wanted it to end. But I think it's time now. 

It will always be my favourite shows and the characters I loved for years will always be remembered (because I am naturally the biggest dork and lamest person ever).

But seriously, I would love for someone to tell me I am not the only person who is crazy obsessed with a TV show like this and cries when their favourite character is killed?? 

Thanks for reading my crazy rant. Until next time!

Kristelle xxx

Fitness and Health

Hey everyone! I think I will start this post by saying I love Kayla Itsines! She is amazing, her plans are amazing and her followers are amazing. The BBG community is something I just love and I am proud to be a part of the #k2movement. Something with so much power and support for each other is truly inspiring. You can check out my journey on my Instagram at @ krristelley  

I purchased the Bikini Body Guide quite a while ago now and I have given it two attempts. The first time, I was mentally not prepared and it lasted only two weeks. I barely even bothered. My head just wasn't in it and I wasn't excited enough to workout and get fit. So I stopped and I left the guides waiting for my motivation to come to me because I knew it eventually would. I continued to follow and admire girls who are really into their fitness and the bikini body guides. 

The turning point came for me on Valentines Day. I went out with my boyfriend and we found some amazing views at the beach over a cliff. We had the GoPro with us so naturally we snapped up a couple of what we thought would be amazing looking photos. I was in my bikini top and shorts for a few of the photos and looking at the way my body looked, I felt so uncomfortable and uneasy. I loved the photo but looking at my body, I couldn't handle how awful I felt I looked. 

Check out my journey on my Instagram, @krristelley

I started the following Monday on the bikini body guides. I did the four weeks of pre-training to try and build up a bit of fitness before hitting the real thing. I got up to week 5 of the real thing. I was eating well at the start, stopped eating take-away foods and cut out the junk food completely. I ate healthier and I felt better. I could see the progress in the mirror. I had photos with a few weeks in between and the difference was amazing. 

Then I got sick. Life got full on and I got lazy. I was extremely busy with working, which resulted in my eating habits sliding off towards the end. I had stopped working out and it honestly had been 3 weeks. I gave up.

But this morning as I scrolled through my Instagram feed, I made the choice to stop making excuses. A one hour workout is only 4% of my day. I can spare that much. If I need to get up an hour earlier to start my day with a workout I can do it. Meal prep when I know I am going to be at uni and work so I won't be tempted to eat chips or sneak a few chocolates. I am motivated. I went and did my 45 mins of low intensity steady state (LISS) workout after I posted my confession/photo on Instagram and afterwards I was sweaty and out of breath and it rained on m multiple times, but I felt so much better. It makes me happy, so why wouldn't I give something that makes me happy my all?

I am going to make weekly posts now about my BBG progress to keep me up to date with it. How my exercises are going and roughly what I've eaten. I would love to be able to post up progress photos and be incredibly happy with how I look and feel. 

Here's a progress shot of me. Top photo is before I started the BBG and the bottom photo is the progress shot at the end of week 4. 

In the above photo (the bottom one) I was semi-happy with how my stomach was starting to come along. But I would love to be super confident all the time in how I look in photos and not have to question whether it is just a 'bad angle' making me look bigger than I am. 

I don't take measurements and I don't really believe in weighing myself either. Although I can say I have always fluctuated between about 55-57kg and before I started the BBG I was up towards 60-62kg. That made me extremely upset that I had let myself gain weight like that. I am now back down to 56kg on most days and I'm not overly fussed with that. If I can see differences in the photos and mirror, that's what will make me happy, not the scales. 

Anyway, thank you all for reading and until next post.
Kristelle xx