Day 132: A Year in Review

On NYE, I always like to reflect on the year that was. Here is a list, both good and bad, of things that happened in 2010:

• Kicked off the year in Vegas
• I discovered makeup highlighter and now have 3 of them
• Spent a looot of money on makeup - it's my new addiction
• Found a hairdresser I love
• Went to Canberra for the first time
• Cut some dead wood out of my life
• Became addicted to nailpolish
• Finished HR Diploma
• Rekindled some old friendships I shouldn't have let go
• Fell in love with Twitter
• Got over lost love
• Put on a lot of weight (hopefully next year I will be saying that I lost a lot)
• Took voluntary redundancy during the GFC against everyone else's advice
• Started a new job with a great company which has now led to a promotion and a new career
• Went to Disneyland!!!
• Found the best Chinese restaurant ever
• Started this blog which I had been talking about forever
• Fell in love with dresses and wore jeans less
  
• Saw a psychologist for the first time and found it wasn't for me
• Started properly dating again
• Fell in love with Taylor Swift
• Got to see Britney in concert after waiting for yeeeaaars
• Made a lot of new friends (Twitter girls, I'm talking about you!! Love you all)

I hope you all have a fantastic night tonight and a truly wonderful year in 2010.

Mel xox

Day 131: All grown up

Caught up with my aunt and cousins from mums side yesterday as I hadn't seen any of them since my bro's 18th birthday in January of this year. Amazing how much they had all changed and grown up in a year.
My bro is far right at the back, and my sis is on left at the front.

Day 130: Wii Challenge!

My cousins (from Dad's side, the ones that were in day 125 pic) got a Wii for Christmas so we decided that a Wii Challenge was in order! Loves it!

We played a combo of games from Wii Sports, Sports Resort and Ultimate Band. It was safe to say that I came last lol. Still good fun tho! I did pretty well in UB, but the sports ones were too hard. Much the same as real life!

Day 129: Mt Tibrogargan

The lovely Jen and I went for a drive to Montville and Maleny today, and I couldn't resist taking a pic of the gorrilla mountain, also known as Mt Tibrogargan. From the right angle, it totally looks like a gorilla!

It's such a gorgeous area, and is even better when its raining (preferably cold and raining). We didn't spend heaps of time up there, just wandered around and grabbed some lunch before cruising through North Lakes to do a quick spot of shopping on the way home. There will be a pic of all the stuff I bought, but will wait til I get home hehe. There is still more to buy!

Day 128: Dinner with the gorgeous Bellas!

I seriously LOVE these girls!!! Whenever I see them I end up with a sore stomach from laughing so much, they are some of the funniest, craziest girls I've ever met. And the hottest!

All I have to say is....

Tommy Lee
Ginger Balls
Wang
More reading, less tweeting
(hehehehehehe)

Pics of dinner which was at Ginga at Southbank (I also spent the day at GoMA and wandering around Southbank which was fun)

Tempura Set and Gyozas

My Eager Ninja cocktail - so effing good!

Day 127: Pics from the car by Tingy

So Tealan (Tingy) and I went shopping at the Boxing Day Sales and it was hectic! Heaps of fun and we both bough a heap of stuff. On the way back we stopped by the Story Bridge to take some pics, cos for some random reason, I am totally in love with the bridge, First pic was from the car when we were driving over the bridge.

This pic is the christmas tree in the city, which was also taken from the car.

And one of us, cos she loves taking pics of herself more than I do! hehehe. She is totes a mini-me.

Day 126: Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that it was spent with loved ones.

I was overseas last year for Christmas (in the much much cooler and snowy NYC) so hadn't had a big family christmas in 2 years. It might have been something to do with being away last year, but I had a moment mid way through lunch where I thought "god these people are crazy but I love them and am having a great day". Was a bit odd, cos I've never really had that nice, warm, glowy feeling before.

Only downside was that I was kicked out of our backyard cricket game cos I hit the ball over the fence! I think you should be REWARDED for putting in such a great performance, not banished to the sidelines hehe.

had to post this pic of my Dad lol, its hard to get him to give a slight smile for pics, but he was messing around with my camera cos the kids were all taking photos of themselves and decided that he wanted a self portrait too. He is totally getting a framed copy of this for his birthday!

Day 125: Flying home

There really is nothing better than flying home.
This morning was a bit of a struggle as I had to be up at 3.30am - yuck! I actually woke up a few mins before my alarm - must have been from the excitement of getting back to Brissie!

I love getting back home and cannot wait to catch up with everyone. Love you all!

Day 124: Darling Harbour Christmas Tree

Prettty!!!

Day 123: Sydney Buses

So there was no one else on the bus the other day except me. Weird.

Day 122: My new shoes!

I needed a second (well 5th or 6th in the end!) opinion on whether I should buy these shoes or not, so posted this pic to the twitter girls asking what they thought. The answer was YES! So I bought my cheap $15 KMart shoes and I loooove them! They are soft and comfy and the silver pattern on them is different to any other shoes I've seen out there recently. How funny that I debated a cheap $15 pair of shoes, yet don't think twice about buying a dress for $150. Go figure!

Day 121: Cupcake Christmas Tree

I made cupcakes for everyone at work as my christmas present to them all. I lvoe making cupcakes but was exhausted after making three batches of them!

Was worth it tho as everyone loved them. 30 were demolished in a day and a half!!!

Here they are in the cupcake courier which I finally got to use.

Day 120: The Harbour really is stunning

I took this pic on a walk down to Milsons Point. It is one of my fave spots in Sydney to just sit and watch the world go by.

Day 119: Bark

I was wandering home from the Oaks the other arvo in the rain (thanks bus strike!) and walked through North Sydney park and thought this tree was pretty awesome. I love looking at the different colours and textures of bark, it's always different and unusual. I find it really fascinating.

Day 118: Oh Christmas Tree

This is the stunning Swarovski crystal embellished christmas tree that is in the QVB. It spans four floors of the shopping centre!!

Day 117: Sexy Lady

It's no secret I love nailpolish!! This is the gorgeous barbie pink shade of China Glaze's Sexy Lady.

Day 116: Mini Lime Cheesecakes

I bought the AWW Cookies, Cupcakes, Cheesecakes books a while ago and have never made anything from it - until now! These cheesecakes were a hit at work and I have to say, I was pretty damn impressed myself.

Will post recipe later.

(also made some cupcakes as a christmas present for my two fave people from NDY, Lesley and Vina)

Day 115: Secret Santa!

How awesome is my Secret Santa present from the gorgeous Miss Kitty?? It is seriously the most perfect present for me. I was stoked t receive it and really appreciate all the effort she went to in getting such a personalised gift.

Day 114: Chicken in a can

Ewwww. Are they serious? I'm totally freaked out by chicken in a can, it just seems wrong. There are so many flavours, just like tuna. Its a very odd concept and I think I am so freaked out of it from seeing pics of this gross whole chicken that was covered in jelly fat that comes in a can. Google it. and spew. for real.

Gross. Just gross.

Day 113: Krispy Kreme Christmas Donuts

Anyone remember the band 112? Totally not relevant to today's post, but as soon as I typed the heading I thought of them and their dirty songs such as Peaches & Cream lol. (I got post dates wrong and have changed them later, hence this reference no longer applies lol)

I went on a shopping mish today to exchange a dress I bought (mistakenly took the wrong size) and Krispy Kremes were the only thing that got me through the day. The shops were insanely busy and packed with morons. I had so much shopping rage that I left without getting everything that I needed to cos I just couldnt handle it any longer.

What is it about busy shopping centres that people feel is a good training ground for their toddlers who are just learning to walk? Its seriously not the right place and is freakin annoying trying to dodge toddlers, people who just stop in the middle of the walk way, people who walk soooo slooooowly, those who change direction with no prior warning, perople walking 3 or 4 abreast and those that run into you with their goddamn trolleys.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Day 112: Christmas Party

The theme for our Christmas Party was Monster Mash Ball. When I heard this I freaked the hell out. I am soooo not a fan of fancy dress parties. It took me a while to come up with a non super scary looking monster - Cruella DeVille! The costume was fairly easy, wore a gorgeous floor length black dress (I've worn it to an NDY christmas party a couple years back and have been dying to wear it again), a crazy wig and some dalmatian fur (faux of course!).

Costume effort was well worth it - I won best dressed female! Yay!! Tim won best dressed male for his portrayal of the Joker. Good times!

btw - I'd had a fewwww glasses of champagne by this point, so excuse the crazy expression. Plenty more pics on facebook.

Day 111: AOTD - Accessories of the Day

I love accessories! I think that they can really make an outfit. Today I wore a plain black dress with the following accessories:

Cream and black headband from Diva
Black earrings from Diva
Black flower ring from Diva
Black bow and elephant necklace from Untamed Menagerie on Etsy.

Day 110: More nailpolish

Well kids, this will be my last nailpolish purchases for 2009 (unless of course I can magically find OPI Dazzled by Gold).

From thumb to pinky we have:
China Glaze C-C-Courage
OPI Sapphire in the Snow (looooove)
China Glaze Sexy Lady
OPI Mod-ern Girl
China Glaze Golden Meringue


Also picked up a couple polishes as a christmas present for a really lovely girl I've recently become friends with. I love sharing the polish love hehe.

btw, my fave top coat is Seche Vite fast dry top coat. It is so glossy and really locks in the colour and prevents chipping.

Day 109: The D's

I got home today to find this lovely Christmas Card in my mailbox. I had no idea who it was from but I could not get the grin on my face after I opened it and saw these two hotties smiling back at me with their cocktails!

These are two of the most amazing, fun, happy, together, smart, HOT!!, generous, kind, caring, inquisitive people I know and my life is so much better for having them in it. I can still remember my first interaction with Damo over work email because he was enquiring what "mufti day" meant as the boys in his team were telling him it meant he had to come dressed as a girl! haha. Our email conversations from there didnt stop and within about 3 days of that first convo, I had spilled to him all about how messed up I was over a huge breakup and it was like we were best friends right from the start.

There is nothing I wouldn't tell these boys, and I always know that they don't judge but just offer their advice and support and those big grins!

Damo, Dan - I love you both so much and cannot wait til you get home.

Day 108: Christmas presents!

So this year I have really struggled to find wrapping paper that I like. I mean, nothing out there is suiting what I wanted this year, but I found this paper at Coles of all places, and whilst it isn't really the pattern I was wanting, it is in the colour scheme. Plus it goes with my awesome glitter ribbon!! Must get some more of it actually.

Next year I will start sourcing paper earlier so I have more time to prepare. So frustrating!

Day 107: Cafe Sydney

Prawn Gnocchi

Lunch today was had at Cafe Sydney with the gorgeous Sydney Bellas! Was such a fun day catching up and chatting to everyone. I think we spent nearly 5 hours together and I could have easily spent another 5! I haven't been as involved as I used to, but when I catch up with these girls I always have a wonderful time.

The food was fantastic and the view is absolutely stunning. Definitely want to go back soon!

Banana Tarte Tatin

Day 106: I want a present THIS big!

As if I didn't get enough shopping in yesterday, today I braved the crowds at Chatswood - ugh never again!

Did decide though that I would really like someone to give me a present this big haha.

Day 105: Paddington Reservoir

The lovely S and her friend Z came to Sydney for a visit! We had such a fun filled day! Started with breaky in the city, lots of shopping and playing with makeup, lunch at the famous Counter Burger, more shopping in Paddington, back to Circular Quay, Z went to Wicked while S and I met up with B for dinner in Darling Harbour. Hectic!

This pic was from Paddington Reservior which I never even knew existed. Would like to go back one day and try take some more artsy shots.

Day 104: Lollies

One of my friends from my old work was sick so I took him in a box of lollies, as he loves anything sweet and always used to steal whatever lollies I had at my desk hehe. Very glad to report that his trip to the hospital went well and all is good in the hood now.

Day 103: Yep, more Cabana Bar

hahaha, I went to Cabana three times in a week. Oh the shame! The cocktails are just too hard to resist!

Day 102: Blue Moon, Saw Me Standing Alone

Does anyone remember when the mice sang this in Babe? My little bro and I used to crack up and sign it to each other all the time haha. The moon was looking kinda cool tonight but I couldnt get a decent pic so just took a streetscape one.