LBN is over!

It is official – we look better naked – and we even have a certificate to prove it!

After our little blow out in Week Four, we were all on best behaviour for the last two weeks leading up to the final weigh in.

Six weeks of intense trainings, no chocolate, no long lunches, no alcohol (ok well maybe a little bit!) and lots of carrots have paid off!

We are proud to announce that together we reached our goal and collectively lost 15kg. And that is no mean feat - 15kg is the same weight as 3 sacks of potatoes, 20 bottles of wine, or 441 crème eggs!!

More importantly, with the generous support of our clients, family and friends, by reaching our goal weight, we have raised $1000 for Oxfam.

And although we are all winners, we were all too competitive to leave it at that, so we also had a Biggest Loser prize for the pr shopper that made the biggest changes. Our “Biggest Loser” is Sally who lost 5kg and 20.7cm in the six weeks.

This has changed our lives and habits for the near future and hopefully, thanks to your support, our donation will help change lives on the other side of the world as well.

Again, we reiterate there will be no stripping, but we will be sipping (some wine) soon and we hope you can join us.

Giddy-up

Remember those TV ads with Mark Todd and Charisma showjumping their way over to a piping hot cup of Bell Tea? Well history repeated itself this weekend when Mark came out of retirement to compete at the Horse of the Year in Hastings. Pippa and I flew down for the day to see what all of the fuss was about.

Bell Tea have supported equestrian events since 1978, and, if my maths serves me correctly, that's a whopping 30 years, which is nearly my entire lifetime (plus or minus a couple of years). It's pretty impressive stuff.

There's nought as queer as horsey folk, that's for sure. We saw hundreds of them all dressed in funny tight pants and frantically cleaning their horses bums. Not being a farm gal, I've never quite understood it. Pippa however, used to ride horses as a girl (until she got flung off one, broke her arm, got rid of the horses and discovered the city). We even saw some clever horses that can dance to rock music. For real. Then, when we'd had enough of the big horses we checked out some small ones, and had the good fortune to meet Angel, a 3-month old miniature pony, who stole our hearts (even though she had way too much wax on her mane). So, while we didn't have to contribute to making the 10,000 cups of Bell Tea that were served, we got in amongst the action and got a feel for what it truly means to be a heartland brand.

Special thanks goes to Bill Ralston, our knight in a shining Sport Hawkes Bay car, who gave us a ride to the airport when it looked like we were going to miss our flight due to an overload of taxis. Grateful? You bet. Bill, you're a friend of the pr shop for life - there's some tea on it's way to you.

LBN - Week Four

Well it has to be said that we hit an all time low with our attempts to look better naked last week. Bought about by the stress of presenting to 100 people, launching a new magazine and generally getting fed up from surviving on protein shakes and thin air. The result was a blow-out on Thursday night after our Schmooze presentation where the entire pr shop team disco danced until the wee hours (well 1am, but that's a fair effort on a school night!). We were invited to the re-opening of Boogie Wonderland, which was a fine way to celebrate - by showing off some night fever body language of our own.

Needless to say that our personal trainer, Cindy, was none too impressed with our efforts, and didn't think that two hours of disco dancing counted as a cardio workout. So after a poor show with our training session on Friday (sweaty, hungover, bad form) we were reprimanded and told to swear off alcohol for the remaining two weeks. We've since decided that honesty is not always the best policy and have made a pact that what goes on tour, stays on tour. So we're not telling her about the Creme Egg, six beers, two burgers, bottle of wine and fruit covered in chocolate fondue that we collectively consumed over the weekend.

With just over a week and a half to go before that all important weigh-in, it's back to the celery sticks and water for us.

Schmoozing

Sally and I have always had a fear of public speaking – love a small group, but give us a crowd and stage and the performer in us usually shrinks away. Well – look out world – no longer. We faced this fear head on by presenting to a group of 100 young professionals at EMA Schmooze networking event last Thursday. And what pretty heads they were too – amazing what a professional blow dry, makeup, new outfits, professional lighting and a Madonna headset can do for a couple of girls! The topic was “How to Be Body Lingual in Business”, so we called upon our skills as communicators, our experiences in business settings, some brilliant visuals, cracking examples and our experienced media trainer Greg Ward to present a humorous (the audience laughed!), light hearted yet practical overview of how to get the upper hand (pardon the pun) in the work place. The crowd lapped it up – the sky is the limit. Check out event listings for the next Pippa and Sally show near you!

LBN - week three

It was a tough week - we were busy juggling frantic workloads with demanding lifestyles AND going to the gym three times - all while trying not to binge on chocolate and alcohol due to stress. Ironic that we were so busy with a client with the word food in it (see picture). There may have been a few hiccups but we are trouping on and you'll never guess what - the clothes are getting a little looser. We celebrated the end of the third week - halfway people - with a team outing to Katchafire at Zoo Music. Cindy - our PT- came along with her family too but we strategically planted her in front of us so she couldn't watch us nibbling on biscotti and swilling red wine out of plastic cups. We deserved it. We are on the downhill slide and hopefully that is where the rest of the weight is going too. Stay tuned for the date announcement of the binge and purge for all supporters, sponsors and US.

Live Life to the Limits

Some may believe this to be the motto of Pippa and Sally - lord knows we couldn't possibly fit another minute into our days. Others may know it as the strapline for Jeep. Well today the two collided in blissful harmony as we picked up our new company cars. We can now be seen around town in identical black Jeep Compass's- or lovingly referred to as the Compai - five star green rated diesel beauties. Now before you go harping on with lines like "clearly we are paying them too much" or "my aren't they getting flashy" please note that they should be sign written with the strapline "sponsored by Westpac". Celebrating our joint partnership in the fastest growing consultancy in the west (well we may have made that up but it sounds good) we decided we needed a bit more of an image around town - call it advertising! The branding is currently being developed -and will warrant it's own blog entry - but until then look out for PRSHOP and PRSH0P living life to the - legal - limits.