Our lives have become mediated to an extent never before encountered. A concert? A kids’ play? A birthday party? Everyone’s got some sort of technology recording every moment. So much so, they’re only ever living the moment through a lens – from the moment it’s recorded to every revisiting of it, the same view and memory will be had. We carry the tools of media with us everywhere, every... 

I have been thinking it must be time to share some pictures, so you who don’t get to see me offline really can see the results those who see me all the time can see. I am about to celebrate a weight loss of 30 pounds. I am already celebrating my daily walk/jog/hike with my dog in the trails of South Boulder. Every day I celebrate putting on clothes that fit. Every day I’m pretty much surprised... 

Many women I know can’t wait to get home from work and take off their bra. The over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder can be one of the most restrictive pieces of clothing a woman has to endure. The larger your cup, the worse it seems to be. To feel good about yourself at a certain age, you need scaffolding not unlike that which supports the Sydney Harbour Bridge to keep the girls in your chest area... 

Tonight QANTAS decided it was time to turn things around. The world’s leading safety airline (we’ve never crashed, mum!) is moving onward to try and get Aussies back on board, trusting the airline to be as true blue as ever. The company decided to launch a little twitter comp, with the requirement being to tweet what would make your inflight experience the most luxurious ever, with #QANTASluxury... 

We don’t have Thanksgiving in Australia (of course, but it still surprises many Americans ). In order to explain to the Aussies, Thanksgiving is about eating and football. That’s all you need to know. The eating is massive. For someone like me, therefore, Thanksgiving is a dangerous time, where I’m very likely to embrace things like Pumpkin Pie (yum) and a very large dinner of roast... 

The first time I got an email from Charlie’s school telling me that there had been a mountain lion sighting, and the kids were being made to go home in pairs or have a parent collect them, I thought it was a joke. But I was assured it wasn’t, so I had a heart attack, and made sure I went to school to pick up the kids – all the while looking around wildly for the impending attacking... 

My Nutrisystem journey has been incredible. I have said to numerous people it has changed my life. That’s absolutely true. I’ve dieted before, been on that roller coaster of going from small sizes into large sizes. Seeing my collarbones appear (and then disappear again a few months later). But I’ve never, ever been on a program that I don’t call ‘a diet’. I’ve... 

As you know, I’m embracing the outdoors and loving being about the fittest I’ve ever been in my whole entire lengthy life! I have been hiking over 30 miles a week, and I truly love it. There is absolutely no “should” in my mental processes as I wake up. I really look forward to getting on the trail and hike/jogging my way through the 4.5 miles each morning. My skin is naturally... 

I’m a Wii fan. Just putting that out there. While my years as a game magazine editor in Australia have long passed, Nintendo has always been a reliable, solid company with technology that truly is family friendly. Having three boys in the house, aged 11 to 17, usually means the video games are focused around zombies, death, destruction – or loud slash guitar playing. All of these have... 

My mum and I are very, very close. Spending nearly two months in Australia this year was perfection. We got to hang out, connect and be a family without thinking of all the things that need to be crammed in if you have the pressure of a limited number of holiday days. My mum is also being treated for cancer. She is in the midst of a series of operations and treatments, all of which will hopefully... 

So with Halloween upon us (well, it’s October), it became apparent that yet again the dry weather in Boulder had evaporated some of the wine in the fridge. Ahem. But I’ve been concerned about replenishing my bottle of white. I always go to the same store, and the people in there recognise me. I was kind of flattered because the same guy kept carding me, and you know what that’s all... 

NCIS is a great show. I adore Leroy Gibbs. But as a leader, he is a little lacking. He has too many rules. I reckon you only need three. All four of my children will tell you Mummy Rule Number One: Don’t stand on things with wheels. This rule came into being many years ago. Every time one of the kids has hurt themselves in any way resembling an encounter with a wheel-based object, I remind them... 

The youngest of my children has a stinging wit, a little (lot) beyond his years. He loves media content, and when combined with his photographic memory, can be confronting to those who don’t know him. Examples: Charlie only needed to hear the Beatles sing Maxwell’s Silver Hammer a couple of times before he knew it by heart. Of course, he loved the lyrics – especially about bringing... 

At one point this week I weighed in at exactly 10 pounds lighter than the weight I used to lie and say I was. Jed was shocked that I used to lie to the ski rental guy. “You could have been on the wrong ski calibration. You could have crashed.” I would rather have crashed than told him what my real weight was. I rationalise it this way: No way was I going to crash due to the skis, because... 

This week the boys and I headed down to Denver for our third year of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. I admit that I truly look forward to the circus, and this year it’s back at the Denver Coliseum until October 9th which has the fantastic benefit of FREE parking. Add to that the fantastic kid ticket price of just $10 (see my link at the bottom of this post), and you’re getting... 

Four years ago I lived in Sydney, and throughout the warmer months I would walk three kilometres around the golf course in the middle of our suburb. I thought that was picturesque – and for suburban Sydney, it was. I also joined the gym there for a while, and used the equipment while watching tv shows on screens above my head. I did a little of that here as well, but fell off the wagon –... 

This week, men are being sent to their deaths. Yep, there was more than one, but most people are talking about just one man. Troy Davis. This man, convicted of killing an off-duty police officer, has had multiple stays of execution. But today he was supposed to go to his death – as the jury and courts decided he should. Now, I’ve said it before, so I’ll simply reiterate – I’m... 

What a great week! I hiked more, walked the dog just a little longer every day, and really have been enjoying this beautiful Colorado weather which is cooler in the mornings than it was just a week ago, making it perfect and crisp for an early morning hike on one of the many spectacular trails around where we live. Over the last year I’ve been introduced to different trails. There are hundreds... 

The thing that changes for me over the summer is an increase in television watching. I basically go from watching a maximum of an hour a day of hulu to watching a couple of hours of normal tv. That’s a big increase. Being in Sydney for a good portion of this summer, it was like being a kid in a candy store as far as tv was concerned. Ads were everywhere. As usual, some were fantastic; most were... 

It’s always the big question. What’s the secret? How do you do a diet program and lose weight, but still eat everything you really want to? How can I cheat? I’ve done weight loss stuff before. It’s worked before. It’s gone back on before. The roller coaster of weight gain and loss is something many of us are familiar with. When those numbers start going down you get excited... 

IVF is a topic that most people are lucky enough not to have to encounter. You know what it is, but not the details of it, and hopefully you’ll never have to experience what emotions and physical invasions are involved in it. It’s easy to say you have a view on IVF if you’ve never had to use it. I’m a lucky, lucky woman. I never had any problems at all with fertility, but my... 

Annnnd… we’re back. Back in the USA. Where the time is freaky, the accent even more so, and the lifestyle, in Boulder – amazing. I was lovely and healthy in so many ways while I was in Australia for seven weeks over the summer. Nutrisystem sent me with tools that helped me, without much effort, to stay on my healthy food, healthy lifestyle concentration. While some of those tools... 

None of us like to say we live our own lives through our children. We recognise that their lives are their own – not a do-over for ourselves. But what do you do when you see your kids be offered an opportunity that you think is fantastic, but that they want to turn down? What if that opportunity is a really big deal? Can you stand back and let them allow it to pass them by? It starts early.... 

  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve last updated on my Nutrisystem journey – mainly because I’m in Australia and completely out of my usual environment. Which is completely ironic. I’m surrounded by things I’d missed (caramello koalas, jaffas, meat pies), as well as things I’d forgotten about completely (OMG sweet chilli philly). Lots of it tastes good... 

My mum has cancer. My mum, who is far too busy with life, helping at church, running craft lessons, keeping the nursing home’s kiosk stocked. My mum, who is far too energetic, far too healthy, and has NO family history – has cancer. She started off just over a year ago with colon cancer. It was operated on, removed, one round of chemo and a few lifestyle adjustments – the outlook... 

The thing I hear from almost all Americans is that they’d love to visit Australia, but are freaked out by our spiders and snakes that apparently live absolutely everywhere and will kill you as soon as you step off the plane. Seriously. I am entirely amused by this. Until I remember that yes, I have seen a red bellied black snake in real life (ie not in a zoo), my dog was bitten by a brown snake...