Monday, May 31, 2010

Day 283: Not Twilight



Tonight two of the stars of the Twilight movies were doing a Q&A session with their fans at Luna Park. I'm not a Twilight fan ( way too cool for that shiz!) but thought I'd be able to get a good blog pic of all the crazy screaming fans. Since I work and live nearby it was a quick walk and easy to get out of there if it was too insane.

Turns out it was dull with no crazy nutcase fans outside. I was expecting people without tickets to go down there anyway, but it seems they all took note of the warnings that there was no point if you didn't have a ticket.

So, I took some pics of the Harbour instead. Much more interesting!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Day 282: Kam Fook Chatswood




Today, after a brief visit from Damo to look at puggels at Chatswood, I met up with Robyn for yum cha at Kam Fook restaurant which is in Chatswood Westfield (there is also one at Bondi Junction, or "The Junger" as Sydney Shop Girl and many others call it hehe)

Every time I walk past this restaurant it is packed and there are huge amounts of people waiting outside for tables (should have taken a pic but forgot) so I usually don't bother trying to get a table but today I was determined to try it.




To be honest, I was actually a bit disappointed. Admittedly we didn't have a lot of dishes, but that was because the ones we did have were very ordinary at best. And it was quite expensive for what it was. We got 5 dishes plus 1 deep fried icecream & 2 cokes for $60. I think that is one of the good things about going with a large group of people though as you get to try more different types dishes for a lower price.


On the positive side, the restaurant is nicely decorated and much bigger than I was expecting. It looks quite small from the entrance but opens into a massive area. Also, the yum cha trolleys moved around the area quite frequently so you were never waiting for food long. Disappointed to know that it's not the superstar place I was expecting but also glad to have tried it so that I at least know what it's like now.


Saturday, May 29, 2010

Day 281: I hate friends


I met Damo and Dan at my much loved Cabana Bar for dinner and to watch the North Queensland vs Manly game. Thankfully for Dan Manly won despite having a shocking second half. Good to see Matty Bowen back for the Cowboys too!




I was telling the guys about a little friend mini drama (preach it like Mary J "no more drama") and how some people can disappoint you in ways that you wouldn't expect and how in some cases they don't even realise that they're being douches.




We were also discussing how the older we get the less we need lots of friends (acquaintances really) and are happy to have a few really good close friends. Dan came out with the cracker "I hate friends" lol. He was meaning the crappy ones and having too many to give them the proper attention they deserve. Hilarious!


It's pretty safe to say that I could never hate these two!

Ps- this is me teaching Dan how to throw down gang signs lol.



Friday, May 28, 2010

Day 280: Blue Nailpolish


When I got home from dinner last night I decided to paint my nails blue in honour of having lunch with the lovely Val who is a fan if blue colours (I generally am not but like this one). Painting your nails at 1am sounds like a silly idea but with seche vite fast drying topcoat it's totally doable.

Turns out when I woke up this morning I was sick as anything and spent the day in bed so couldn't go to lunch :-( Sucks like a mofo. I've been sick a lot lately and it's really starting to frustrate me.

Anyway, this is the Australis polish I bought recently at priceline. Australis is quoting that this is their "best formula ever" but it's still not in the same league as China Glaze. It's not bad just a little too thin for my liking. I'm not sure I'll wear this colour all that often despite liking it. Just looks really bizarre (to me) when I'm looking at my nails.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Day 279: Burlington Bar and Dining


Today was a wonderful day being able to gloat to everyone about the brilliant win the Queensland boys had last night!

The day was made even better knowing that I would be having dinner with 3 of my favourite people at Burlington Bar and Dining in Crows Nest.

I've lived in the area for 3.5 years now and have never been despite always wanting to, so when Damien suggested we go there to celebrate Andy's new job I was thrilled.




Spending time with Damo, Dan and Andy is always fabulous (as I've no doubt mentioned in many previous posts) and tonight was no exception. I love that no topic is ever out of bounds and there's no judgement and no one gets offended when I ask what would be deemed an offensive question by many others. I can't help it! I speak before I think sometimes.




I'm not good with doing restaurant reviews as I never really know how to properly describe the food, ambience, experience, etc. I am someone who knows what I like though and I can say that our night at Burlington was really lovely.



I had the special of crab & snapper croquettes with aioli for entree and they were really lovely. The outside was crispy but the inside was really soft and delicate.




I chose the twice cooked pork belly for my main and it was divine! I often get pork belly at restaurants and this was definitely the best I have tasted. It was served with scallops, white bean purée, fennel and a pastry cigarette that I'm not entirely sure what was in it but it was fantastic all the same.

I love scallops but always over cook them. Tonights dish has inspired me to give them another try.

Recently I've taken up drinking espresso which is quite bizarre as I don't drink coffee or tea and am not generally a fan of hot drinks. Random.




We decided to go to Bravo afterwards to get gelato for dessert. That changed when we got there though as there were too many other tempting desserts. I got the warm mars bar crepes - drool! They were really, really good.

Unfortunately when driving to dinner Andy got a flat tyre so we tried to fix it which caused many laughs hehe. It took some time but eventually Andy changed it over. We were all very impressed with his skillz!

I'd highly recommend Burlington Bar and Dining as the food is divine, the staff are really friendly and attentive, and it has a warm and cozy feel to it. Check out there website - www.burlingtonbardining.com.au

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Day 278: Origin!!



QUEENSLANDERRRRRRR!!

Today's pic will be from Origin, no doubt of me looking like a drowned rat (with curly hair, my straightener can't help me against this type of weather) from this torrential downpour we're having in Sydney atm. Crazy.

Super excited for tonight! Go Qld!!



Update: Origin last night was awesome, especially as the mighty maroons won! Yeeewwww!!!
Turns out the weather wasn't nearly as bad as we expected with none of the thunderstorms and only 1 heavy period of rain during the game. Thanks weather gods!



The usual things happened in the game - QLD were awesome, NSW challenged, a QLDer made an error (Billy Slater's dropped catch), NSW cheated and were awarded a try that shouldn't have been given, the ref lost his contact lenses, QLD got in front, NSW were awarded a few penalties in the last few minutes and staged a comeback, QLD were still too good for them and won the game. Sounds really familiar doesn't it? That's because that seems to be how most Origin games go, especially the part where NSW are dirty cheaters!



The Hoodoo Gurus provided the pregame entertainment from inside the stadium because someone didn't have the forethought to purchase some kind of clear tent to put over the stage so they could be out on the field. It's not like the bad weather came as a shock lol.



Was a fabulous night yelling and screaming and calling lots of people the less polite version of mofo's. ANZ doesn't have the same atmosphere as Suncorp, tho that could just be because there are more people to celebrate with in Queensland.

Wish I was going to be home for game 2, I have lots of fun memories of afternoons spent at the Caxton, watching the buses drive down Caxton St to the stadium and then walking down with a huge mob of people all yelling "QUEENSLANDER".

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Day 277: Hipstamatic


Even a footpath can look more exciting with Hipstamatic. I was waiting for the bus home after attending a training course in the city and took this pic of the Braille markings on the footpath.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Day 276: Random pic


This morning on the way to work I was trying to take a sneaky pic of the clouds with my iPhone but ended up with this instead. Sometimes I feel stupid taking pics of random things hence the sneakiness and subsequent fail of this pic. I like the warped effect tho (the photo hasn't been retouched at all)

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Day 275: Letters to Juliet


Tonight I went to see Letters to Juliet at the Orpheum in Cremorne with A, F and S. I had been warned by Siany that the ending was cheesier and it was even moreso than I expected. Of course, I loved it!!

Overall it was a fairly typical cutesy romance movie which I thoroughly enjoyed (especially with the extra corny ending hehe). I think I'd watch it again on DVD but probably wouldn't purchase it.

After the movie we picked up some dinner and went back to Fi's house to watch another cheesy movie (Take the Lead) and catchup. Was a good impromptu way to spend a Sunday night!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Day 274: still raining...


So more shopping was done! Actually I spent most of the day in bed hungover and with a yucky cold and only hit the shops this afternoon to pick up this Witchery wallet that I fell in love with online. I tried to buy it at the NS store yesterday but they didn't have it. Thankfully Chatswood did! I also grabbed this pretty eyeshadow palette which I think will be good for simple everyday looks (both items had 25% off too - bargain)




Couldn't resist picking up a couple of cute kikki k items as well - to do list post-its, patterned lead pencils and a white gel pen for all my coloured post-its. I also got my favourite shampoo/conditioner/treatment pack, a copy of good taste and a set of three ruffled singlets for the baby which were reduced to $4 at kmart.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Day 273: wine & cheese


I'm in love with hipstamatic!
More rain in Sydney today so Anna, Fi and I decided to head to Fi's place to watch a movie while drinking wine and eating cheese. Perfect!

We didn't end up getting to the movie as we started chatting and totally forgot about it until it was too late and we were all a little drunk. It was such a fun night and I loved our debate about new Kings of Leon compared to old KoL haha. Most of the other conversation points shouldn't be repeated. Good times!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Day 272: new accessories store


I went to Macquarie Centre tonight with my lovely coworker Anne and got to meet her hubby and gorgeous little boy. After dinner we parted ways and I couldn't find anything that I had gone there for (typical!) but of course managed to find some cheap accessories at Diva and Equip.

After leaving those stores I came across a new store called Lovisa which is basically a new version of Diva and even carries a number of the same products. It looks like a slightly more grown up version in my opinion and has a lot more funky headbands than similar stores. Price points are around the same as Diva and Equip, possibly a little higher. I didn't buy anything this time but am sure it will soon become a favourite store of mine.

Here are the things I bought tonight:


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Day 271: crap sleep


So that's a mofo understatement. The graph says it all. Boooo.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Day 270: the rains are here


I am possibly the most tragic person ever. It has been pouring like a mofo today and on my way home I did a little raid through the shops in NS to cheer myself up.

The BH90210 DVD came in the mail which was awesome! Looking forward to seeing what kind of scandalous behaviour goes on in this season.

Can't wait to make little heart-shaped cupcakes. How cute! I actually bought the little individual tin before I saw the six hole tray. They were the same price haha.

Btw, the necklaces were on sale at Diva. Yep, the $5 sale is back on. Get on it!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Day 269: Flower delivery!


The lovely Mel had these gorgeous flowers delivered to my work today to say thanks for her babyshower cupcakes. What a sweetheart!! It was completely unnecessary but they are beautiful and I love having them on my desk at work to brighten things up.

Thanks Mel - you are awesome!!

After work I caught up with Lesley for a coffee before she heads to the US for a few weeks - I'm very jealous! Then met up with Damo and Dan to watch the Parra vs Manly game at Cabana Bar, which was all kinds of awesome - footy, $10 steaks, hot bartenders, great company and ridiculous conversation about some crazy street and suburb names on the Gold Coast. We've decided we're going to name our own estate Paradise Figz.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Day 268: Illin & chillin


How cute are they!!

Today my mate Kevin and I headed up to Newcastle to see some of our friends - the lovely Dan & Rose and their two gorgeous girls! I have been slack and haven't been to see them in ages and was shocked at how much the girls have grown up, especially M. They are just the most adorable girls too, so friendly and happy and well-behaved and full of sunshine. Love them to bits!

This is M, after having eaten one of my cupcakes haha. I think she liked it!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Day 267: Baby Shower Cupcakes


As I mentioned on Wednesday, the gorgeous Mel asked me to make some mini cupcakes for her baby shower today. The only specs I had were that they should be bright and a mix of chocolate and vanilla.

Sounds easy right? Well it should have been but I was unsure exactly how to do it and what types of decorations to use.




I decided that the icing should be pale buttercream with some bright fondant stars on half the mix and some bright coloured sprinkles on the other half.

I'm quite happy with how they look and hope Mel likes them.



Friday, May 14, 2010

Day 266: Cake Pop failure


I've been fascinated by all of the gorgeous cake pops on Bakerella's site and thought I'd give it a go. With no success at all :-(

I made my little cake balls, stuck in the sticks and then melted the chocolate to pour over the balls. This is where the problems started. After the first two cake pops were done the chocolate started to seize and became unusable after the fourth cake pop.

And also, it was messy! The foam that I had used to stick the pops into to let them set then decided it didn't want to hold them and kept falling over. Me being impatient and frustrated by this point decided to just take a photo without waiting for them to set where you can see how messy they are.

Then I threw them all in the bin.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Day 265: WTF Jenny Humphrey?!


Ok so I love Gossip Girl but they seriously need to do something about Jenny's hair.

Or kill her off.

When she is on screen I can't focus on anything except that hideous mess. Spew.



Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Day 264: Birthday present


Today I wore this gorgeous necklace that my friend Jody bought me for my birthday. I absolutely love it! I got a lot of compliments on it today from people all over the place.

In other news I met up with tge old NDY crew for dinner and we saw Matt Lee from SYTYCD. I love him! At dinner the lovely Mel asked if I would make cupcakes for her baby shower this weekend. Yay!! No idea what to do yet tho. Pics to come in future posts.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Day 263: Peacocking


I love the term peacocking and use it whenever I can!

I keep trying on this peacock ring at Diva. I like it but never enough to buy it. Hmmm. One of these days I am sure that I will cave & get it.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Day 262: Big Pineapple


Today started off with a visit to the duck pond where we spotted a whole heap of turtles and sang songs such as "my white bread brings all the ducks to the pond and they're like it's better than yours" lol. The puppies loved going for a walk, they're so adorable!







On the drive back to Brissie, we stopped off at the Big Pineapple!! It's been at least 15 years since I've been here and the pineapple is a lot smaller than I remember. The main reason people drop by is for the amazing parfaits!! Drool!





We continued back to Brisbane and went for a drive through the Clem Jones Tunnel on our way to Southbank. It's not really on the way (we had to backtrack) but since I used to work for CJ I thought I better check it out.

I mentioned on Saturday that I got rockstar parking at Surfers, and the same thing happened today at Southbank. Only issue though was that it was paid parking and I totally forgot to put money in the metre. Hello parking ticket! Thankfully this was the only bad part of the weekend so it's not all bad.

The trip back to Sydney was uneventful and exactly what you want! This is the sunset from the plane window


I had a fabulous weekend in Brissie and am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. Huge thanks and love to everyone who made Birthday Week Fiesta as fun as it was!
Mel xx

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Day 261: The day after yesterday


Yesterday was a hectic but very fun day!
Robyn and I kicked off the day with a recovery brunch at Groove Train at Eagle Street. The food was fantastic and exactly what was needed after a big night out.

We decided to catch the Rivercat and have a bit of a cruise around the river before hitting the Eagle St markets. It's pretty rare that I catch ferries in Brisbane so was nice to get out there and was surprisingly cheap ($5.90 for a day ticket). I bought some cute flower earrings from the market and a little bear bib for the baby. And a slushie haha, I'm slightly addicted.

After this we then headed to the city lookout (couldn't be bothered going to the big one at Mt Coot-tha) to check out the fabulousness that is Brisbane! The city looked kinda moody today due to the clouds, not your typical sunny Queensland day.





We then went to my grandmas place for Emma's baby shower before driving up to my parents place in Gympie. I've only ever driven through Gympie so it was interesting to check it out, not that there's all that much to see!

My bro had made me a cheesecake with a chocolate topping which was fantastic! He hadn't made a cake before so had done a test run during the week haha. I thought it was great and loved the cute decorations. Not as hectic today but I think I was in bed by 10pm cos I was exhausted from the past week.