Sunday, June 28, 2009

Mouse Shoes

Earlier today I blogged about my fashion choices, and I found these shoes. OK, I know I called them cat shoes, but they are really mouses.

Now, I can't see me buying these, mainly because I cant find them in my size, but also as I dont think I would get a lot of wear out of them. Sure i would wear them occasionally, but to spend $400 on a pair of shoes, i need to live in them to justify them to husband.

But they are pretty
Pin It

Virtual Changerooms

I am having a bit of a boring sunday, and went on a blog hunt. I came across the Domestic Goddess on L Plates, and was quite fascinated by her post about the virtual change room. So I went and checked out Polyvore and an hour later came out wishing I a)was a size 10 b) didnt have a credit card limit and c)lived in the US, as our dollar sucks these days.

But it was fun to create a fashion. DG put it out there (actually I think someone else put it out there, and DG was commenting on it) that: "If I asked you to slip on a pair of jeans, a simple top, a pair of flat shoes, and any accessories you liked, what would you come up with? No doubt you'd come out looking vastly different to the next person, but how?"

so this is what I came up with:

Fairly simple relaxed clothes, with a little bit of glam in there, and some pretty different shoes. My engagement ring and pearl/diamond studs are fairly standard in most outfits.

Hmmm, wonder where I can get Marc Jacob cat shoes in Oz?
Pin It

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Laundry

A while back I mentioned that I was wanting to make our laundry look a bit more pretty. Well today, with some moaning, husband and I ordered our bifold do or for the laundry. We originally planned on putting in normal hinged doors on the cupboard and attaching a hanger like this one
but i guess it will now have to go on the wall.


So rather than hang our boring old ugly ironing board on the wall, i brought this one from etsy

Surely it should make doing the ironing a bit more fun

Isnt it pretty? I have also brought matching material to make a peg bag. Pin It

Friday, June 26, 2009

A First in our marriage

Generally when we shop for a big ticket item, it is because I want it. Our tv, Apple TV, computers etc, all because I wanted them. Brian has always been the cheaper one who makes do.

Until the other day, when Brian installed a cooktop for a friend. He was pretty impressed, as it is a flat glass cooktop. And then John showed him how it works. It is an induction cooktop, and they boiled a pot of water in a minute.

Well that was it, Brian was sold. He decided we NEEDED it for our new kitchen. Nothing else would do

So today, we had to go looking at ovens and despite being twice the price of the cooktop I want, he is adamant that we must have it!

I dont think i like being the sensible one :(
Pin It

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Blog This: Nostalgic moments

Blog This: Challenge 5 - Holiday Nostalgia
If you aren't a member of Blog This yet then you should get over there and sign up. Every week there are blogging challenges, this week - Holiday Nostalgia.

Everyone loves Holidays. Everyone has had a holiday - be it a great big backpacking adventure, a luxury weekend away, a caravan trek as a kid with the family taking in Big Bananas, Big Prawns, Big Pineapples et al, Camping in the neighbour's yard under the stars for a few nights. Elaborately planned holidays, impromptu 'let's get out of here' holidays. Blog about a holiday you've had that stands out - adventure, relaxation, family, friends, disaster, hilarious events! Who were you with? Where did you go? What made it so memorable? Share a photo if you want!

Thailand - 2008

For our honeymoon, the husband and I went to Thailand. Can't remember why we chose it, think it had to do with it being the only place of interest where it wasnt the wet season. Now, the husband is one of the least culturally awear people I know. He finds chinese to be the height of cultural dining, hates not knowing the language, and hates the city. Awesome, clearly I am insane for chosing Bangkok for 4 days. I have the worlds most sensative stomach (I get sick on my own cooking, and I'm not THAT bad of a cook). This could be a disaster.

Instead, it was one of the best holidays I have ever been on. Despite having been awake for some 48 hours before our flight, me having broke out in a rash and being rushed to the doctors, and having only just been able to get into our car with all our luguage when my stepdad lost our keys ALL BEFORE WE LEFT MELBOURNE, it was awesome.

It opened both of our eyes to another world, both one more sophisticated and underprivliged to ours, and gave us something to talk about for many months afterwards. I was worried about our honeymoon, that we would get bored of spending 14 days together 24/7, but we coped for 13 days fine (the last day I was sick and just wanted to go home)


We went on the River Kwai tour, and I have to say, it was a lot more emotional than we thought. I have never been a big one on the war and history, but it really touched us. It was very interesting, and I highly suggest you do it, if in that corner of the globe.

Of course, whilst we were down that way, we had to see the Tigers. I couldnt not see them. So we stood in this sandstone valley for 2 hours waiting to pat the tigers, almost dieing of heat exhaustion. Of course, husband being husband, had to 'tickle' the tiger, like he would our cat, on the stomach. Turns out the tiger wasnt such a fan, and started to growl. I have never seen my 6'4" husband be moved so fast, especially by a little thai man (he was about the size of my 10 year old nephew)!
In Phuket, we went on an Elephant Safari, and whilst it wasnt what I expected (I expected real jungle, not just a tiny farm block made to look like jungle), it was good fun. Our guide took extra photos for us. Here is moi trying to not fall off the elephant, and into elephant poop
Now, this one we sort of hid from our parents before leaving. Everyone said not to go on a TukTuk. They lectured us on the dangers, the risk, and how it would be a really stupid thing to go in. Well call us stupid, as we went on one. And whilst it was dangerous, it was also great fun. We chose to go a short distance to the redlight market (Pat Pong? I forget) one night for a bit of a look see, and thank god it was only a short distance, we were almost killed along the way. Here is moi before my impending trip of doom


So in a quick nutshell that was our honeymoon. The last real holiday we took. The best holiday so far. Nothing profound happened, but it was nice to spend time together and relax after our wedding.

Oh, and the shopping wasnt bad either ;)
Pin It

Regrets

The other day I mentioned that I don't believe in regrets.

Well I lie. I have one. A big one.

I regret not doing the Pulp Fiction dance at our wedding. For months the boyfriend had been harassing me for us to do it. And I agreed. But our lazy arsed selves never got around to learning it, so we did some shuffle thing.

Sitting her watching pulp fiction makes me wish we had, it would have been so cool.

Now, if you have no idea what I am going on about firstly get thee to a Blockbuster and hire yourself a copy, best movie ever. Or just watch this scene


Do it, before i shoot every last m'fo-ing last one of you Pin It

The Ritz Carlton

I finally got around to emailing the travel agent about our holiday to Singapore and Maldives.

Now, the Maldives was easy to choose a resort, I looked in the book, picked one that looked pretty, was reasonably priced, and had good reviews on TripAdvisor. Easy peasy.

Singapore I strugged with. Especially when everyone kept telling me the same hotel: The Ritz Carlton. I looked at cheaper options (at $500/night, its not entirely husband friendly). But I thought to myself "well if i scare Brian with this price, he will see everything else as a cheaper option".

So I got a quote from the travel agent, and low and behold, the husband didnt die of shock. So unless the price goes up dramatically in the next year (we are having to base it on this years prices) The Ritz it is!

So this is our room, de-vine isn't it

And this is the bathroom, complete with a bath overlooking the city views! Oh my!!!

Bring on 2011 Pin It

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Getting to know me

Belinda at Journey to a Mini B tagged me in her getting to know you challenge.

Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention & add one more question of your own and then tag eight other people

- * - *- * - *

What is your current obsession?
Currently I have an obsession with vacuuming. Mainly the new carpet in our bedroom. I vacuum once a day :S Otherwise, on a good note, I am obsessed with reading the blogs I follow! Love your work guys

What are you wearing today?
I am rocking the sexy world today, wearing from the bottom up: purple Uggs, Blue Adidas trackpants, a white long sleeved shirt, a yellow t-shirt, and a blue Puma jumper. Like I said, sexy!

What’s for dinner?
Today when in Aldi I saw hamsteaks, and decided to have them for dinner with mashed potato (at husbands request) and steamed veggies. Was quite nice actually

What’s the last thing you bought?
groceries at Aldi this morning, including Chocolate Hobnobs, which I was super excited about!

What are you listening to right now?
We have the tv on currently, and am watching MasterChef. Oh how I want to go to Hong Kong

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Today I am willing to kill for a ticket to HongKong, as it looks amazing. And I want

Which language do you want to learn?
I would love to learn Spanish. My boss is learning Spanish, and it sounds so interesting. Of the languages I have learnt, I would love to be able to speak fluent French

What do you love most about where you currently live?
I love the diversity. There are huge cities, and remote areas. It has something for everyone really! I love being able to see the diversity of the land in the space of time it takes me to travel from Melbourne to home (3 hours)


What is your favourite colour?
Currently yellow, so much so I brought yellow runners!

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
currently it is my black hooded winter coat. So warm and versatile

Describe your personal style?
I dont subscribe to one particular style, unless comfort is a style. I do tend to dress more classic than modern though

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
I would put it towards those sunglasses I so badly want!

What are you going to do after this?
Have a shower and do the dishes before bed

What are your favourite films?
Pretty Woman
Beaches
Bridget Jones
The Devil Wears Prada

Do you collect anything?
not really, I am too much of a minimalist to collect stuff

What makes you follow a blog?
I tend to follow blogs if i read something I like, be it in depth, humor or an insight to other peoples lives

Do you like to comment on blogs or just lurk?
I tend to lurk unless I can really add to the conversation

What’s one thing you dream of doing?
Having children with my lovely husband

What is your biggest regret?
I dont really believe in regrets, as they shape who we are now, but i do wish i hadnt spent so much money and saved more (for those sunglasses ;) )

What is your favourite thing to do on a rainy day?
Lay in bed and read a good book...which is what I did today, minus the rain! I will happily substitute the bed for a wood heater with chocolate.

Do you have a tattoo?
No, I am not a fan of them.

What are you favourite books?
ummm, as much as I read, I cant think of anything right now!

Are you left handed, right handed, ambidextrous, or a little of both?
I do everything with my right hand

- * - *- * - *

Stepford Dreams
Kahlee Rose
Fat Mum Slim
Kir @ Life of Kir
Confussion Soup
Tanto Amore
Love, Bubs and Life on our Little Farm
You Are Nearly There Joanna
Pin It

Photo Challenge


It's really simple. Telle at Fat.Mum.Slim loves how every photo tells a story. Some short stories, some long tales. I want to know what is your favourite photo of yourself. Everyone has one. The photo they look at and smile. It reminds them of something, some time, some place. A moment in time.

So share the photo, share the story and then tag three other people. I want to see photos and stories all around the blogosphere.


So here is my response. I was tagged by Carly at Everybody Wants This


This was taken the day of my 21st birthday (4 years ago now). It is hardly the most flatering, or well taken photo, but it is one of my favourites.

I remember this day quite well, I was on holidays from my job, I had the week before my 21st party off work, and the husband (was then the boyfriend) and my mum took me out to the pub for lunch. I was presented with a Tiffany Toggle bracelet that had been engraved from the boy, and the necklace you can see in the picture from my mum.

That night the boy and I devoured the whole vienetta (damned if i was cooking my own cake) whilst sitting in front of the heater watching tv.

I have no idea how we got the smoke to look like that, I have never been able to do it since.

I wish I had kept that jumper, i really do like it now.

Now for who I tag

Pin It

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Spotlight on a Mac - App Cleaner


App Cleaner is a small program that allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted programs.

Now, when you install a program on a mac it spreads it wings to many areas of your harddrive, which are often hard to find when you want to uninstall the program (damn you).


App cleaner finds this hiding files, and deletes them all when you drag the origional program to AppCleaner. Simple. Easy. And most importantly, quick.

You can find AppCleaner here. And it is free.

I do admit, it isn't a program I use a great deal, but when I do use it I thank my lucky stars I have it. I highly recommend it
Pin It

Friday, June 19, 2009

The present . was settled

Well, Iwe managed to settle the present argument today. I was wondering through David Jones (my new favourite home) and I spotted these pretties



Now I love pearls. Diamonds are fine, but I prefer pearls. Always have, most likely always will. So these babies are me down to a tee.

Soooo, I rang the husband to express my love to him in a sickly sweet manor. He suspected I was up to something (drat) and asked what it was that I wanted.

Seems the scarf is now a hot favourite as a gift, given the price tag of the glasses ;)

Oh well, christmas is only 6 months away
Pin It

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Birthdays

With a birthday coming up, the husband and I had a discussion. It went a little something like this:

Me: I will do you a deal
Him: yes....
Me: I will trade my burberry scarf and sell my current computer, if i can buy a new macbook pro
Him:What exactly is a scarf going to cost?
Me: six hundred-is
Him: well there goes our weekend away for your birthday

Now, this poses the following question: if it is my present, why should i have to share it.

Now call me selfish, but every other year I choose something that will benefit us both (to prove this, my mum brought me overnight bags for my birthday this year, and husband goes away more than I do). Husband however only gets presents he can use, like fishing/camping/hunting stuff (ok, so i could use them if i was so inclined, but I am not, so i dont). So this year I wanted something for just me. Something that I could enjoy and not have to share. Sure if we were going away AS WELL as my present, all good, but i dont want to go away as my birthday present. Husband thinks I am being selfish, which I probably am, but its my brithday, and I will cry if i want to.

So tell me, am i being selfish for wanting a present for just me?
Pin It

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Spotlight on a Mac - Adium


In the last few months, I have urged 5 friends to buy a mac when they asked my opinion.



Now I know I am a little biased, I have been a mac lover for some time now, and I do admit I am a little rusty on my windows knowledge (mainly because the IT Natzi doesnt allow MSN at work). But this isnt a pro or con of eachs programs, its meerly a feature on programs I think every mac user should have.


So this week, I chose Adium.


According to Wikipedia Adium is a free instant messaging client for Mac OS X that supports multiple platforms. This means that in the one program I can use MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Twitter and a whole range of other clients. Awesome for multitasking. Even more awesome for keeping in touch with friends and family


Now, I do admit, I origionally liked this program for the cute little birdie, especially as you can make him blue, purple, green, red and yellow. I fell even more in love when I discovered that I could put 'outfits' on the birdie! (what can I say, small things amuse me).


Until recently, ok tonight, I never knew about the Twitter add in, but seeing as though TweetDeck died on me this week, it is a welcome addition.


The only downside is that you cant use webcam with msn messenger, but seeing as though we only use it with family, and they all use macs, we just use iChat. Hasnt really caused a drama in our household


All in all, Adium gets two thumbs up


PS, if you have any programs you think i would love/want to know about/should review let me know
Pin It

Monday, June 15, 2009

iPhone 3.0

being the nerd that I am, and an Apple fan-girl, I can't wait for 3.0 to be released.

So much so that I have set my alarm an hour earlier for Wednesday so that I can download it before work.

Man I am lame. LOL
Pin It

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Lighting the way

The other day I made an impromptu shopping trip, and this is what I came home with


Well, just the lamp, the phone and Tiffany bag were pre-owned by moi. It is hard to see, but the glass balls have a cracked glass look to them, that is quite cool to look at. I am still debating on whether to change the shades to a latte coloured one, but not sure on that one, the white doesnt come up to bad.

Despite the husband not understanding the need for new lamps (apparently the unmatching of the old ones isnt a reason) I am glad I brought them. Especially when they were on sale too!
Pin It

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Hello followers


Image from Jorsan75 on Flickr

I have been meaning to write this for a few weeks now. I want to welcome all my new followers. Don't be strangers, come and tell me about yourself
Pin It

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Moving

Well today was the day. The day I have waited 11 weeks for.

MY CARPET WAS LAID!

Now, this is quite a simple thing to be thrilled about, but to me it is huge. We never had nice carpet in our house, it was ugly 1950's floral, 1970's floral and some retro blue crap that reminded me of marine carpet. But now we have lovely plush brown carpet.

Carpet in the bottom of our linen press (note that it still is neat, and empty)


Our bedroom


And our cupboards

A close up of our carpet, I dont think I have show you all yet.


And with furniture (must buy new lamps and another Euro pillow tomorrow)
Pin It

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Love/Hate

Last night I tweeted (sorry, i would give you a link to my Twitter, but the work place doesnt allow Twitter, but they allow millions of coffee and smoke breaks *shakes fists*) about what I love and hate about the same item.



What I love about my mac: the duckheads - makes it so much easier to move power between the office and the lounge room.



What I hate about my mac: the USB ports being next to each other. It makes it impossible to use bigger devices, such as my card reader. I much prefer it on my Macbook Pro where they are on opposite sides.



Now, a friend asked me what a duckhead is. I couldnt explain it in 140 characters, so Gem, this is for you


The little plug with no cord is the duckhead. The thing I like most about it is that I have the little plug left in the office power point, and the cord behind the couch. When I want to move power source i just unconnect the charger (the white box) and attach it to the other device. I dont have to get behind the couch to find the cord.
Also, if I go overseas, i just buy that countries duck head. How easy. No converters for me :D What makes it even more awesome, it is the same duckhead for my iPod, iPhone and Macbook Pro. So I have these little duckheads all over the house. extra awesome! Pin It

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

It's Tuesday and I can't wait

To get home from my mum's house and use my own computer. I wish she had brought a mac like I told her to. Instead she asks me a million questions about her windows computer that I just don't know the answer to.

Simple yes, but man I hate her computer!

Oh, and I can't wait for the roast she is cooking me ;) Pin It

Monday, June 8, 2009

All in a long weekend.

So besides the front door being finished here, we did the following:

Put in a bedroom door


Painted the door frames in the hallway (ignore the skirting boards, you will hear about them in a minute)


and, finished our linen press


and look at all that spare space! I still have one shelf to clean out in our old cupboard, but still plenty of space in there!


Pin It

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Before I kill my husband, anyone know how to remove coffee stains?

Remember how I spent some stupid amount on a doona cover recently? One that I was super duper happy with?

Well my husband decided it was the perfect resting place for his leaking thermos. So no it has a lovely stain on the velvet part of it.

Anyone know how to remove coffee stains? Normal stain remover didnt do the trick :(


Oh, and I am taking suggestion on how to kill the husband too
Pin It

Stripping

No, not the hip grinding, becoming naked kind. Instead it was stripping 100 years of paint from our front door kind.

Now I know the results will be worth it. But Oh. MY. GOD. The pain in my back. Really do need to invest in a higher work bench. Though not sure how that will go fitting in my hallway, seeing as though that was where I chose to strip the paint (read: the door was quite heavy, and that was as far as I could go).

So, 6 hours later, a very cold house (maybe should have picked a better day to do this, not the 8 degrees raining day I did chose) I have ended up with this.

Finally the putty was dry and we could hang the door back up (thank god for that, it was freezing in the house!)

On Sunday I gave the door a coat of undercoat
A couple of coats of paint later (still needs another coat, and the trim painted)

It hasnt come up to bad considering there used to be a deadbolt hole, and a number of other imperfections in the door (the current holes are for the door handle to go back on when painting has finished).

We still have to paint the surrounds and side panels and replace the glass. 

Not long now...
Pin It

Friday, June 5, 2009

After Marriage Vent

Husband and I have been married 17 months now, and don't have children yet.

Now, apparently this is up for public comment (must have missed signing that release). Lately I have had more people ask me "soooo, when you and B going to have children" or "time is ticking. tick tock" (yes, because 24 is soooooo old).

Now this shits me on several levels. One, it is B and my life. We shall have children when we see fit. God, it isnt for lack of trying, we have had some nasty little curve balls thrown at us this last 17 months. Not that we talk about our fertility with many people, but still.

And secondly, what business is it of other people? I mean, do I walk up to them and say "soo, had sex lately?" You dont ask those kind of questions. It's just not done, so why do people see it fit to ask about our plans for children? Why? And it isnt just older people, it is friends of ours, young people.

Does anyone else get these questions? How do you deal with them?
Pin It

Thursday, June 4, 2009

OMG, we are almost done

I had worked up some time at work, and decided to make the most of the long weekend this weekend and make it into an extra long weekend...6 days to be precise. So yesterday I had doctors appointments, and we planned to spend Thursday and Friday renovating in attempt to get it all finished, waiting for the carpet people next week.


So after some foot stomping (mine), a tantrum (again mine), and some choice words at the weather (both of ours, it has rained for 3 days straight, making it very interesting to get timber from Bunnings (an hour away) to home.) But we got there

Bedroom mostly painted. I plan to do all the skirtings tomorrow

The robe doors back in, still needing to be painted

The shelves which are currently housing a lot of tools (oh and my lonely work shirt to make sure )

The lights and fan (I put the fan together...twice in fact, due to putting half the blades upside down the first time. Doh! )

The hallway. We still need to paint the front door, and will then have the glass replaced after that. But you get the idea
Pin It

Work-tool Wednesday: Paint Roller Cleaner


Ok, I know its Thursday, I was a touch busy yesterday at the doctors and the dentist.

So my favourite tool this week is a RotaCota Roller Cleaner.

I might have mentioned how I hate painting. The one thing I hate more than the act of painting is cleaning up afterwards. Urgh, the cold water, the mess, the cold water. Urgh.

So on one of my many trips to Bunnings, I came home with this, and I must say I am impressed. It uses a lot less water than the previous method, and it a hell a lot quicker. Good for the environment, and good for my time schedule.

If you are going to paint with a roller, you NEED this.
Pin It

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

It's Tuesday and I cant wait...

for 5pm today!

I have taken 2 days leave this week, and have a public holiday on Monday, giving me a 6 day weekend :D


If you want to play along with other It's Tuesday and I can't wait participants visit LouLou here Pin It

Monday, June 1, 2009

Hats

And on my venture into David Jones to admire the Burberry scarfs, I found this beauty, and I had to have it.

I have my uncles 50th coming up, and I plan to wear it, but I have no idea what to wear with it. I am thinking of black pants, black top and a white/cream scarf. Anyone have a better suggestion?
Pin It

Shoes!!!

Remember a while back where I mentioned I needed new shoes for work? Well it got desperate. To the point where I had to wear black shoes with blue pants. I almost died that day, it was embarrassing beyond belief. I just don't do that wacky kinda stuff.

So on Sunday on my little Melbourne get-away, I took my toosh to my favourite shoe store: Diana Ferrari.

Now I should mention, that whilst I sit back and admire lots of pretty shoes in magazines and on the internet, my days of wearing heels are well and truely gone. Once upon a time I used to be able to run in heels better than I could in runners. Then in my early 20's, I discovered thongs, and how much more comfortable they are compared to my heels. These days anything above a kitten heel is a recipe for disaster. So flats are my wide footed friend. And Diana Ferrari cater for my wide foot in a semi fashionable fashion.

So anyway, I brought these four pairs (much to husbands disgust!)




All in all, I am pretty darn happy. I wore the last pair today and they were so comfortable! Am considering going back for more ;)
Pin It