Day 313: 30 June

These things, plus my iPod, were my BFF's today. What a freakin day!

Day 305: everyone hearts Mel!

So today was pretty damn awesome! A major project I've been working on was all tied up & had all its documentation signed off! I was a very happy camper & so was my boss who bought me 2 bottles of wine. Thanks R, you rock!

I also caught up with my friend Lesley who had been to the US and bought me presents from Sephora! I cannot even begin to explain how much I heart Sephora. Part of the present was a cute set of OPI Havana Nights polishes which I'll blog about later when I swatch them all.

Day 304: World Cup Lollies

I haven't used my lolly dispenser from Dylan's Candy Bar in ages so when I grabbed these World Cup themed lollies, I thought it would be perfect.

I bought the dispenser at DCB when I was in New York last year. It's a mini version of how all the lollies are sold in store. It's super cute & I make everyone use the little scoop that came with it, which really annoys them as you get about 4 m&ms per scoop haha. Too bad so sad mofo's!

Day 259: Cake #2

The lovely Phoebe and Peta organised this delicious birthday cake for me at work today! I've tried it before and love it - it's biscuit base with a layer of cheesecake, a layer of chocolate mousse and a layer of hazelnut mousse. Droool!

A few of us from work went to dinner at Safi in North Sydney which is middle eastern cuisine. We got a banquet and were all completely full before we even got to the end of the courses. I really enjoyed the food, as did most of the others.

Birthday week has been fabulous so far! Heading home to Brissie in the morning for more shenanigans!

Day 258: retreat round 2, day 2

Today was the big work day of the retreat and I think a few of us struggled due to not much sleep the previous night (I was on the lookout for ghosts but didn't see any. They do ghost tours there and I'd love to go back one night to do it)

We all kicked off with breakfast and a bit of a wander around the grounds before getting settled into our teams to work out what we do well and not so well and make plans for the next financial year. It was really quite enjoyable (yes, I am a bit of a geek) and was great to have everyone in the same room.




I'd highly recommend Q Station ( an old quarantine station) for a visit. The accommodation was really modern which I was quite surprised about as most of the buildings have their original look to them. There is a restaurant down the bottom to the grounds on the beach which looked great too. Plus, you really can't beat the gorgeous views!

Day 257: Retreat round 2

For our second corporate retreat we headed to Q Station at Manly for 2 days. It is an absolutely stunning venue with amazing views over the harbour.

Some people on my fb and Twitter have asked why I've been so lucky to be able to go to 2 retreats. The reason is that the team I work for is a satellite team and works across 2 separate departments. As I have portfolios in both, I was invited to both retreats.



Today was a great day and it was nice to meet a couple of people I hadn't previously met who aren't in our Sydney office. The afternoon was spent adventuring around tge expansive grounds in order to win a team challenge competition thing. Our team didn't win unfortunately but we had a great time.





We played trivia at dinner that was mixed in with a bit of pictionary and charades. Seeing one of my managers act out the movie title "Born Free" was hilarious!! Afterwards a group of us came back to my room for more drinks, some music and hilarious convo. Next time, I think we'll do that in someone else's room tho hehe.

Day 256: Laksa

Today I had the most amazing chicken & wonton laksa for lunch. It made the day so much better!

Nothing exciting to report today, I had to go to market research about eyewear which was ok but meant I couldn't go see Hot Tub Time Machine which had been the original plan

Day 246: North Sydney Art

I walk past this statue nearly every day on my way to work and thought that I just couldn't handle not seeing it on the weekend as well, so I when I went for a walk I had to drop past and make sure it was ok.

Or you know, I was just walking past and thought it might make an interesting photo. Whatevs.

Day 236: retreat day 3

After a super busy and gun day/night yesterday it was really quite nice to wake up to this view from my room in the morning.

I never get out to the country (not that we were actually in the country, there was just a bit of bushland where we were) so I liked waking up to birds chirping and that distinct clean air smell.

I locked myself out of my room when I went to grab some water but thankfully the lovely Liz was there to go get me a spare key from reception as, whilst I was dressed, I had no shoes on and no desire to walk on the freezing cold concrete!!


On the way to breakfast I stopped by this cute little pond area to take some pics but only had 10 mins to get from there, to check out, grab toast & be back in the conference room for our final day.

The final day was work, work, work but really valuable. I learnt a lot more about the company, its strategic goals and a lot of internal focus, programs, strategy docs, KPI's, etc. Obviously I can't say too much haha.
I was exhausted when I got home from the retreat and was asleep by 7pm. Virtually unheard of for me.

Day 235: retreat day 2

This isn't exactly the best photo of me, but whatevs, it's part of the story!

After a big morning starting at 8am (I sometimes am not even awake at 8am on weekdays cos I live so close to work) we headed out of the centre we were staying at to go rock climbing! Woooo!

Was lots of fun and was really good in assisting with building good relationships within the team and promoting teamwork to achieve a desired result. I managed to take 200 photos lol. Here is just one...
After a quick trip back to our accommodation to change, shower and have a few drinks we went to dinner at Limani's in Narrabeen. The food there was fantastic and I'd highly rec going there if you live in the area.We had amazing mixed seafood & Mediterranean platters to start with, which I followed with grilled barramundi and a citrus tart. Very yummy!
We were each required to wear a hat that either had a story to it or was a reflection of our personalities. Now, despite me having an awful lot of hair accessories, I am not really a hat fan. I've got about 6- a Powderfinger train driver hat, a pink pimp fedora, a Sharkies cap, races hat and 2 cloches. None of them really have a story so I decided my silver sequin Minnie mouse ears fit the bill.

They were reflective of my love if cutesy, sparkly things but also had a story from my US holiday to Disneyland last year.

Dinner was lots of fun but most people headed to dinner straight after we got back as they were exhausted from rock climbing.

Day 234: Retreat day 1

As part of our corporate team retreat/conference we were required to bring along a poster outlining our family & friends.

I had a few different ideas but it wasn't until I started pulling pictures together that I realised I had too many ideas for such a small space. Kinda funny considering I initially thought I wouldn't have enough material and had wanted to do a general poster about things I like.

All along I had wanted to set out my poster in 2 sections - 1 for Sydney and 1 for Brisbane to reflect two different parts of my life, however it ended up being easier to break it into a family section and a friends section.

It was really interesting to read everyone else's posters and learn about their backgrounds. Everyone did a great job with them!!

Day 229: I love your rainbow...

Oh no it's winter!!




Some of you will get the reference above, some won't but it is one of my favourite lines from one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands.

Today I played arts & crafts in the office and painted this (not so lovely) rainbow. It is going to be part of an awesome activity that the lovely T is organising.

I've never been on a corporate retreat before but am really excited for it! I work with a fantastic group of people and am looking forward to getting to know them all better.

It really does feel like winter today in Sydney btw. Can't wait to go home, snuggle in bed and watch Gossip Girl!

Day 216: Bubblewrap

This is the kinda thing that happens when I go out for lunch!! Those bitches!!

To get them back I have been popping the bubblewrap alllllllll afternoon. Serves them right!

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 96: My new desk

Nothing special, but its starting to look a bit pretty with my sparkly christmas decorations, hibiscus flower that everyone in the team has, colourful postits, to-do list,cool stickytape dispenser and stapler, Vegas calendar and Britney magnets!

Day 74: Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup is one of my favourite days of the year. It's always a fun day and it gives me a legitimate reason to wear some crazy headwear!

This year was a particularly fun day. At the company I work for, we had a calcutta where the horses are all auctioned off to different teams, and the team I am part of got the winning horse! Hooray!

These are the hats we made:

And one of the funniest things of the day was a few drunk people pushing a car who had stalled haha. Goood times!

Day 61: Fancy Elephants

The last couple times I have been to Taronga Zoo (in fact, the only 2 times I've been there since I was about 4 years old) I have bought one of these cute little sparkly elephants. Apparently ones with their trunks up are meant to be good luck lol. I bought one aaages ago which I had on my desk at work. Dousty named it Ellie! Either Dousty or Wecks were either throwing lollies or flicking rubber bands at me, and they hit little Ellie and broke his trunk!! Those bitches!!

So last  time I went I decided I needed a replacement, and couldnt decide between these two so got them both. They now sit, with their trunks locked together, on my tallboy thing which houses all my crap. That will prob be a photo of the day very soon! 


ETA: Actually, I just remembered, it was a red pen they threw! Fun times back on level 2!

Day 13: Pink ... it's the love you discover

So looking around my desk today, I noticed that pink seems to be the dominant force! Hooray for pink!

Pink - Aerosmith
Pink it's my new obsession
Pink it's not even a question,
Pink on the lips of your lover, 'cause
Pink is the love you discover

Pink as the bing on your cherry
Pink 'cause you are so very
Pink it's the color of passion
'Cause today it just goes with the fashion

Pink it was love at first sight
Pink when I turn out the light, and
Pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be all right
No matter what we do tonight

You could be my flamingo
'Coz pink is the new kinda lingo
Pink like a deco umbrella
It's kink - but you don't ever tell her

Pink it was love at first sight, and
Pink when I turn out the light
Pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be all right
No matter what we do tonight

I want to be your lover
I wanna wrap you in rubber
As pink as the sheets that we lay on
Pink it's my favorite crayon, yeah

Pink it was love at first sight
Pink when I turn out the light
Pink it's like red but not quite
And I think everything is going to be all right
No matter what we do tonight

Day 4: My desk

This is my desk at work for the next couple weeks while I am filling in for one of the girls who is on annual leave.

It's not even my desk and already there is a pile of junk on it that will need to be removed before she gets back haha. I am well known for always having a bunch of cool-looking, relatively-useless office supplies on my desk.

Things that can be seen on my desk include:

• pink post its
• To Do List book
• notebook
• pink peg clip things
• pink paper clip holder that has a little door that opens on the front
• Oroton glasses (love them!)
• random pens, pencils, highlighters, scissors, etc
• mug
• clock
• fan
• phone
• headphones
• sign here stickers
• little money box for loose change
• hairband
• computer

And that's the desk when it's clean!! Wait until I move to my permanent desk. Eeek!