Day 191: Roast Pork

I had roast pork for dinner and it was pretty damn good! I had a small rack of pork cutlets, added my own herb crust to it and baked it with some veges. Really quite simple if you can manage to get the timing of everything right. I love anything that has a herb crust lol.

I saw the movie Blind Side today and cried my eyes out so needed some comfort food for dinner :)

Day 190: Happy Mardi Gras!

My favourite gays! These two get a lot of airplay on my blog and are two of the most important people in my life. Love you boys!

Super tired so will revisit this post later (maybe!) but wanted to post a few shots from Mardi Gras (plenty more pics on fb that might be a bit inappropriate for this blog)

Was a great night with lots of colour, glitter, sequins, sparkle and a distinct lack of clothing! Good times!

I met up with D, D, R & M for dinner at Suki Sushi (was lovely) before meeting up with B and having a few drinks in the park (we kicked it old school) and then heading up to watch the parade.

 
Didn't see all of it, but what we did see was great. Looked like everyone was having a fantastic time, singing/walking/dancing their way along the route. It was such a fun, vibrant party atmosphere in the Cross with everyone in good spirits.

Look at all that glitter!!!

Day 189: OPI Mad as a Hatter

OPI have released a range of polishes as part of its new Alice in Wonderland collection. Now I'm not usually a fan of glitter nailpolishes (this will come as shocking news to many) but fell in love with Mad as a Hatter as soon as I saw it.

I applied two coats to get full coverage and then used two coats of Seche Vite top coat so that my nails didn't feel rough as the glitter is quite grainy.

This is a stunning colour (so much better irl) but is a nightmare to take off. You have been warned! The prettiness makes up for it tho!

Day 188: Harbour Bridge

I went for another walk to Milsons Point today to hang out and read, and as I was leaving walked under the bridge through the park and took this shot which I thought was kinda cool. There has been no manipulation to make the bridge appear so curved, just a funny angle. It kinda looks like a rollercoaster I think!

Day 187: Dirty Perves Lunch Club

I had lunch with Claire, Damo and Dan today and they are the biggest bunch of perves I've ever met - which is probably the reason that I love them!

I mentioned to them about an iphone app called Grindr which was featured on Mia Feedman's blog today which is a channel for gay men to meet up with other gay men who are using the app. Of course, as soon as I mentioned it, D whips out his iphone and installs it! Turns out there was someone 14m away so we all spent a few mins not so subtly looking around to see if we could recognise the person.

as we couldn't find them, we decide to play with another iphone app called Photo Swap. It's pretty much a channel for gay men to share pics with total randoms. Too funny! It's not intended to be a dirty photo swapping thing but that is totally what it is. we ended up semi-flirting with some random and sent him the pic above & he sent one back calling us cheeky monkeys. lunchtime random perve fail :(  lol

btw, some ppl may take offense to this post, but there was no malicious intentions at all. we were just curious as to whether people really used these apps or not.

Day 186: The Tall Lemongrass

I met up with my lovely friend Robyn for dinner tonight at a place we had seen in Crows Nest called The Thai Lemongrass.  We've been on a bit of a mission to try new places (I think we have managed one a week for the past 3 weeks in the Nest!) and this place looked really nice from the outside.

We definitely weren't disappointed, it looked just as nice inside. The interior is dark with square tables made from dark wood, there light shades are dark woven wood patterns, and there are splashes of red and pink cushions all around. The service was fast and friendly, and not overpowering like other places can be. Loved the monogrammed plates too! really nice touch.

It isn't all just about looks though, the food was really good as well. R had vegetable thai fried rice and I had lemongrass chicken. Both were big servings (too much for us to eat) and really tasty. We also shared some spring rolls which were amazing! Only downside that the water they served us was flavoured with something random and tasted a bit odd. I can deal with that tho!

Overall we had a great experience here and I'd definitely recommend it to others. I'm looking forward to going back!

Their website is not up yet (http://www.thetalllemongrass.com.au/) but they are on Twitter, though don't use that regularly http://twitter.com/talllemongrass

Day 185: Kelly Cutrone

I love Kelly Cutrone and was so excited when I heard that she had a book coming out called "If You Have to Cry Go Outside"! what an awesome title!

I bought this book because I feel like I need a bit of inspiration from someone who is compeletely fearless and doesn't let people or things stand in her way of what she really wants. I walked down to Sydney Harbour this afternoon to get some exercise and then chill out reading Kelly's book. I got roughly a quarter of the way through it and so far I love it! It's clear from the very beginning that the book is going to be very honest and devoid of bullshit.

Will give an update when I'm finished reading - I have more plans to read it down by the Harbour.

I think we can all do with a lesson from Kelly!

Day 184: Slurpee!

I freakin love slurpees! Today's concoction is raspberry and passionfruit which go together wonderfully!  Totally perfect for a hot afternoon like today.

Day 183: Light reading

So I took a pic this morning of books that I have lined up to read, however added a couple more during the day that I purchased, but both were hugely reduced so I couldn't resist.

On my current reading list is:

• Cleo
• Cosmo
• STYD (all are from this month, I've flicked through them but not read anything)
• Curtis Stone's Relaxed Cooking
• Biggest Loser Best Recipes
• Tyler Florence's Ultimate
• How to Make Love (hysterical! everything from grooming tips, meals to make your partner, diagrams of different gem stones, planning a wedding, manscaping, how to make edible underwear, how to pick up a kids soccer game lol)
• Nina Garcia's Style Strategy
• Victoria Beckham's Extra Half an Inch (this was $5!)
• I Heart Hollywood (have read I Heart New York and loved it)
• Things I Want My Daughters to Know

I also have Kelly Cutrone's book on its way to me - wish it would hurry the eff up!

Day 182: Wearing & doing and FOTD ...

Two very popular threads on women's forums is often "what I'm wearing and doing" and "Face of the Day (FOTD)", so here is my version for today.

Going to work is about as exciting as it gets today!
I wore dark denim jeans, and this musk coloured top that I've had for ages but never wear. I live the satin tie at the side, and today I added an Alannah Hill clip to it.

Hair is in a side bun (I've noticed FF has been doing this too, great minds!) which I've been doing a lot over the last 2 weeks.

Dangly earrings that again I've had for ages but never seem to wear. I seem to more go with dark colours over light which would explain this.

Makeup was:
Smashbox hybrid luminizing primer
MAC studio fix fluid
MAC blush in Gently
Australis black eyeliner
MAC e/s in Grand Entrance
Maybelline collossal mascara
Bobbi Brown shimmerbrick in pink

Day 181: Success!!!

I can't talk in too much detail about this, but today was a huge day for a project I'm working on, with 2 documents in the mail that have been in the pipeline for a long time. The good news came at about 4.45pm so I rushed to print everything and get these babies in the post. There are still another 8 docs to go (lol) but the majority of these are very very close to being finalised. I really feel like I've finally achieved something in my current role! I know I've been doing a good job (tickets lol) and have got out similar documents (though with lesser negotiation) this one feels like the big "heck yes" moment! Yay me!

I bought myself a little present to celebrate lol... oops!

Day 180: Peonies

Faux flowers. Because no one buys me real ones.
Actually, I buy myself real flowers all the time but they've been dying so quickly due to the gross heat (and the fact that I refuse to leave my windows open as we don't have screens and I'm scared of spiders) that when i saw these cute faux flowers I decided to get them for the summer months. I've put them in a vase but wondering if I should put some coloured glass pebbles in the bottom or just leave them on their own.

Day 179: Dirty Pop

79

On Sunday I was trying to decide whether to go for a neutral toned polish or something bright. In the end I went for Golden Meringue by China Glaze which is an extremely light transparent peach that has a gold shimmer. I haven't worn a neutral colour in forever and it feels a bit weird. Doesn't quite feel like me when I look down at my nails lol.

Tonight I needed a change so went with China Glaze's Grape Pop from their fabulous Up & Away collection.

If you love your nailpolish as much as I do, make sure you check out this fabulous new nailpolish blog one of my wonderful friends has just started - http://polishproject.blogspot.com/

And now I can't stop singing Pop by NSync lol. Check the link here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7MRwT383qA I love this vid!

Day 178: Saying goodbye

So it's been brought to my attention that some of you are quite fond of my shopping expeditions. Well I am here to tell you that the above pic will be the last one for a while as I am putting my budgeting skilllz into action as of today. That's right, today.

How many times have I said that?

Purchases over the weekend (& today) included:
Shop Til You Drop
Leggings (these will not be worn as pance, I swear)
Purple and orange pastel pens (so pretty! they join an existing pink pastel)
Curtis Stone cookbook
Nina Garcia's Style Strategy
Biggest Loser Best Recipes
2 pairs of Pascal shoes (love this brand, have a few by them now)
Celebrity Slim shaker (no CS shakes tho, they taste like dirt)
Nail polish remover with acetone to remove glitter polish
Weighted ball thing. You know, for all that exercise I don't do.

Day 177: Chocolate peanut butter brownies

Welcome to my very first Masterclass - how to make Chocolate peanut butter brownies!

I was supposed to go to the movies today to see Valentine's Day but due to a change of plans I suddenly had some time on my hands to do some baking. Yay! I had brunch with this morning with some new friends at Fratelli Paradiso and it was seriously delicious! I had scrambled eggs and it comes with a cute little ricotta and pumpkin tart which was to die for! And they serve the most amazing orange juice as well. Will definitely going back there to try out their pastries next time. They were staring at me through their little windows but I resisted. Thankfully, since I got my bake on this afternoon.

So, kids, welcome to Masterclass!

Heat your oven to 170 deg and grease a slice tin & line with baking paper (leaving some hanging over the sides so you easily peel it away from the brownie later)

Chop up 100g of butter and 150g of dark choc and out them into a glass bowl over some boiling water and stir until they are smooth and well combined.

In another mixing bowl, mix 2 tbs of coca, 1 cup caster sugar, 1/2 cup of plain flour. Mix in the chocolate/butter mixture until just combined. Let it cool a little before mixing in 2 eggs.

Pour the mixture into your slice tin and then spoon in approx 3/4 cups of peanut butter

Put the tray in the oven for 5 mins or so allowing the peanut butter to melt, remove the tray and then swirl the peanut butter around so it is spread a bit more evenly.

Place the tray back in the oven for approx 40-45 mins (if you have a dodgy oven like mine, it might need a bit more time, so test it with a skewer to see if it is still wet)

Let it cool completely and cut into slices.

 

and there you have it, an awesome twist on ordinary brownies! Every time I bake this for people it gets demolished very quickly and everyone always wants more. Try it, and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Day 176: What a great night!

More to come on the pic above later in this post!

Saturday was a huge day spent with a lot of my favourite people. Morning started with shopping on my own (I may have bought shoes - oops!) and was followed by coffee with the lovely Dan & Rosey. I adore these two and their little girls who unfortunately weren't with them this trip as they were heading to dinner for Chinese New Year with another of our friends, Kevin, who also joined us for coffee later on.

After this I went home to quickly get changed to head out to drinks to celebrate Damo's birthday and the purchase of his new house. Hooray!  I met up with Damo, Dan, Claire and Jonno at Lowenbrau and we quickly got into the Jager Bombs!! Wooo! I cannot help myself with them and find it very hard to stop at one. Lots of hot boys at Lowenbrau too! Might have to head back there soon hehe. We then moved on to Argyle which I love. It was so damn hot in there tho, invest in some aircon dudes. After a few more drinks at Argyle, we went to go meet up with D&D's friend Rebekah who was at a hen's party for another friend. I feel like I need to do a flowchart to explain how everyone is linked!

As we were walking up George Street, there were a group behind us that were quite rowdy and I heard a girl say "I need to go tell that girl I like her dress" I didn't think much of it and then I get a tap on the shoulder and this girl says "I really like your dress" I turned to say thanks and was faced with Beth Ditto! Holy crap! At first I was thinking, that can't be her, I've had one too many drinks and it's just someone who looks like her, but no she was the real deal. She and her friends walked with us for a couple blocks (they were going to Chinese Laundry, we were going to Retro) and she chatted to us the whole way about all kinds of random stuff! She happily posed for a photo despite the fact that we both looked like drowned rats due to the crappy Sydney weather. Check out her eyeliner, btw! Very cool! I nearly didn't wear this dress because I couldnt find a black belt but because I was running so late I didn't bother changing.

She invited us to CL with the group but we had a hen's party to gatecrash at Retro (which we didn't really end up crashing anyway due to ridiculous cover charge). Barely anyone noticed her but I thought it was pretty cool that she was just wandering the streets of Sydney without security and happily chatting to us randoms!

Was such a good night and I had forgotten how much I love going out in the city. It's also still so amazing to have the D's back and be able to hang out with them! And meeting Beth was pretty damn cool too!

Day 175: Dinner at Capitano's

I met up with one of my old work colleagues, Lesley, for another early dinner tonight (I'm totally getting all nanna lol) and this time it was at Capitano's in North Sydney. This place is pretty underrated imo and does really good modern Italian food. When working for my previous employer, there were a few of us who would often order Capitano's when we were working late and we'd get them to deliver even though it was only a street away!

The food is always fresh and tasty and pretty much exactly what the menu says it will be.

Tonight I had Chicken A La King Penne - penne pasta with chicken, almonds, capsicum, onion and mushroom in cream sauce (yesssss I know, cream! pasta! OMG! You can't eat that!) and it was pretty damn awesome.

Day 174: Sunset

Tonight I had an early dinner with my dear friend Robyn at Planet Thai in Crows Nest. Neither of us had been there before, but we saw it when we were at Il Barone a week or so ago and thought we might try it. The food was decent and service was good, but tbh it was nothing special. Kinda what I expected actually! All good tho as it's close to both our homes so the Nest is always an easy option when we don't feel like really doing much.

On the walk home I spotted this pretty sunset (a bit after 8pm I think) and thought it was super pretty. Then I played with the most gorgeous charcoal grey kitten that was outside our place. Seriously, it was the sweetest little thing. I totes wanted to keep it! I tried taking pics but every time I did it would run away. It was having a great little time playing with a yellow milk bottle lid. Hope he/she got home safely.

Day 173: Stop! Mani Time!

Gorgeous colour isn't it? It's from the new Zoya Reverie collection and is called Adina (I bought Reece also). It is so hard to try to really capture the true colour of this polish as it shimmers different colours! It is mainly purple and then has green and pink shimmer depending on lighting and angles. Green comes through predominantly and reminds me of christmas beetles haha (not the dirty brown ones obviously).

These were my first Zoya polishes and I am really impressed with the quality of them and how well they apply. Safe to say that there will be more Zoya added to my collection in the near future.

Before I applied Zoya Adina, I played around with some of my other recent colour purchases. I went with a bright pastels palette just to see how they all looked. From pinkie to thumb: China Glaze For Audrey, China Glaze V, BYS Mauve-in on Up, China Glaze Sugar High, China Glaze Refresh-mint

Day 172: Dinner at Agave

Dinner tonight was at Agave with some of my wonderful friends whom I met through my old work. These people (plus a couple other people!) are the best things that came out of my old work and I made some really great friendships there that I know will last a very long time.

I had wanted to try Agave for ages after I saw it on Sydney Weekender (who knew Mike Whitney was such a selling point?) where it was highly recommended. To be honest, it was probably a bit of a let down. It was on the more expensive side of Mexican and my dish was pretty bland even though it did have a fair amount of spicyness, it didn't present well (hence why I am not showing a photo, it looked incredibly gross) and everyone commented that the meals were quite small servings. best part about the place (in my opinion at least) was the fabulous frozen hibiscus margaritas! definitely the saving grace.

Day 171: Forever 21

As mentioned in my post from Friday, my wonderful friend Makia did a group order fora  few of us from US store Forever 21. I love being able to buy things from US stores without paying ginormous postage costs (F21 has a flat rate of $35 up to $400 - I wish Torrid would take note of this!!!)

When M gave me the package the first thing I said was "I don't even remember what I bought, except for the jacket" which got lots of laughs from the girls! seriously, I am such a dumbass! So, for those playing a home I got a cute black cropped jacket that has silver detailing on the shoulders, a cloche (!!! love this!!!), 2 headbands, some flower hairclips and some gold bird earrings.

I am totally in luuurrrrrve with the cloche and cannot wait til winter so I can wear it EVERYWHERE!!!

You'll notice only 1 headband in the pic, that's cos I gave the other one to Andrea after calling it ugly! I've just realised that that's probably kind of rude to palm off 'ugly' items to other people. Ooops! It's not that I think it's ugly per se, just that it wasn't what I was expecting and I probably wouldn't wear it. Was happy to give it a new home otherwise it would have just got lost in the rest of my headband collection, possibly never to be seen again.

Thanks again M for doing the order!!! You rock!!!

Day 170: Resisting temptation

I'm really over shops in the airport terminals tempting me to buy stuff! It seems that every time I fly out of Brissie I end up at gate 22 which is where Mimco is located. ARRGGGHHHHH!!!

Today was extra hard because staring right at me was the cute black bow necklace that I want. dammit.

I told myself though that I need to exercise some self control. I sat across from that pretty bow necklace for an hour and only at the last second before my plane boarded did I actually walk into the store and look closely at it. Conveniently the bow necklace didn't have a price tag so I took that as a sign that I didn't need it.

Its now 5 weeks into this year and my plans to be healthy and save money have not fallen into place like I had planned. Time to get real, man up and take action!

Day 169: Puppy Love

I love the family pets (dad & stepmum have 2 staffies, grandma has some little fluffball thing!) and it's nice to be able to see them when I go home. Of course, you can't really get them to sit still all at the same time so I have about 50 blurred shots on my camera. Don't they realise I want to make them famous on my blog?

So today you get 2 of them, the oldest dog Tia, and the youngest pup Pippa. Poor little Jazzy doesn't get a pic because she wouldn't sit still. Such a shame cos she is super duper shiny.

Day 168: Caravanserai with the Bellas

seriously how hot are these girls?!?! and colourful too haha. Love them!

Not only are they HOT they are also some of the most internally beautiful women I know (oooh I just called you all women hehe, sounds a bit old-ish doesn't it) and I am so happy to have them as part of my life. It's always great to catch up with these girls and lots of fun is had everytime with no topic off limits and much boisterous laughter.

Dinner was fabulous, and I am really glad the lovely Donna made the exec decision to go to Caravanserai! Jen and I shared an amazing feta & sweet chilli pide for entree, and then I had the chicken shish kebap. It was really great (the chicken was a touch overcooked, but I'll excuse that as they were so busy that night) and had lots of different flavours. Was very garlic-y & I don't think Jen was too happy about having to sit in the car with me on the way home lol.

The gorgeous Makia bought my F21 stuff that she ordered for a few of us (what a legend!!) and I took this pic of myself so I could see what my new cloche looks like haha. Will post more in the next few days about the F21 haul and the girls' reactions to what I bought.

Day 167: In my best dress, fearless

I LOVE TAYLOR!!!


Her Bris concert was amaaaaaaazing! The girl definitely knows how to put on a great show with lots of costume and set changes. The fans went nuts when she went out into the crowd!! Jen and I had a great night and sang along very loudly to all her songs. Ahhhh good times!

I found it fun and exciting at my age, I can only imagine what all the little 6-12 year olds with their groups of friends and super cute dresses on thought of it! I remember my first concert when I was 11 (NKOTB!!!) and I was out of my mind excited. So cute!

There were lots of hair flips haha

The paper hearts that were shot into the crowd - very cute!

Lots more pics in my FB account xx

Day 166: Packed and ready to go

to Brisbane lol. Woooo!
I'm heading home tomorrow for a few days to catch up with my friends and to see the Taylor Swift concert with my dear friend Jennie Wennie Wool. So freakin unbelievably excited for Taylor!!!

So above is my suitcase, which feels a little odd to me because usually it is bulging out of the seams and I have no room for anything. This time I'll be able to fit everything in and have heaps of room left over. The stuff on the left will be going carry on (AH headband, concert tickets, bro's bday present) but it could fit if I needed it to!

It always feels good to go home for a bit, something oddly comforting when the plane touches down :)

Day 165: Low Carb Cauliflower Cannelloni

I've mentioned on this blog before that I am trying to lose a bit of weight (3kg so far this year) and have been partaking in a low carb diet. A recipe I came across was for low carb cauliflower pizza bases. Who ever knew cauliflower was so versatile?

I now use it as a base for cannelloni. Obviously it doesn't have the same appearance but it really tastes fantastic.

I use 1/4 heap cauli, 1 egg, and a sprinkle of cheese. Fry off the cauli then mix it with the egg and cheese. On a flat tray, spread out the mix into a square/rectangular shape and bake on 180c for 10-15 mins.

While it is baking, mix up a filling. I use low fat ricotta cheese, spinach, zucchini and random herbs ( I didn't use spinach today as I bought the gross chunky one, not the super fine one). Once the cauli base is baked, cut it into strips and place blobs of the ricotta mixture in the middle.

In a dish, place a little pasta sauce in the base then fold up the cauli/ricotta strips and put them in the dish. Add a little pasta sauce and a sprinkle of cheese t the top and bake for 15 mins.

Seriously, this dish is one of my absolute favourites!