Mind dump Tuesday

Hola chicas and maybe some chicos(?)! My mind needs a clearing, some of this could be put into the Awesome part of Thursday but too funny not to share with y'all.

* Overheard from the kitchen:
The A: (burp) oh sorry George (said really quietly)

PAUSE

God George that's disgusting!

You can't fool me A!

* Overheard last night:

The A (sleep talking): Karate Kid chicken tee hehehe!

Then he fell asleep again.

* Why should the Australian tax payers hand over the money to help these guys out? They are adults, who knew what they were doing and decided to climb aboard another boat. Suck it up and deal with the consequences! They want the Japanese to deal with the consequences of whaling (ie having the Steve Irwin and Sea Shepherd always nearby) but aren't willing to take what comes their way when they do something illegal. Pah!

* I never like the fact that I have dishes to do, but once I get started it's actually a little bit fun. (I'm strange)

* We have yet to go to the beach near us. First time that this has happened in a summer. Usually we are dying to get in the water.

* i-cords are a lot of fun to knit

* I wish there was a Costco in Perth. Then we could buy things in bulk and not run out halfway through the week.

* I made frozen yougurt! In shot glasses :p

The joy of being organised

I braved the humid heat today and went to Red Dot to try and find some mini shelf things and cheap buckets. Our bathroom drawers were getting a bit grotty and were becoming a dumping ground (try to find a bobby pin? None. Looking for something else? LOADS of bobby pins EVERYWHERE! The A has stepped on a few)

Anyway, now it looks awesome and I even bought a mini swing bin for about $4!



Brushes and sponge. Mascara, eyeliners and lipsticks in the drawer thing.




Eyes and face stuff in the 1st drawer




Hair and nail stuff in the 2nd

And on the counter....

Mind-Dump Tuesday

* Went for lunch in the city with The A today. We had to make it quick as he only had 40 mins before he had to go back for a meeting. We went to Cheeky Sparrow which the waiter dude told us had only been open for 6 months. It's down the same alley as Tiger Tiger. We shared the Vegetarian antipasto plate, and me not being able to resist Dukkah I ended up having 2 slices of bread (hand slap for naughtiness) but it also had pickled green tomatoes, olives and roasted capsicum. Yumminess! Again no picture as we were there for a short lunch and I wanted to chat to my husband not ignore him and take photos :p

* Nike stores here are crap. Jim Kidd had more recent Nike stuff than the actual Nike store. Boo! Nike, boo!

* We are doing the Dukan, just so you know.

* I have a fitness tumblr

* I sat opposite a Heath Ledger look-a-like on the train home. A tad ironic considering he was from Perth.

* I should go defrost the chicken.... hang on

* Okay done..... Kikki-K is a dangerous shop, but so great for New Years organisation.

France November 2011

Picture heavy post coming up!

In November, I went across to France to visit my parents. I had such a great time and as it hadn't gotten too cold yet I still got to see the Autumnal leaves! It wasn't warm though so I still managed to have a few fires in the evening and a big bonfire.

Lots of walks:

Lots of OLD buildings (my mum translated a book on churches which is why we went to a few):

And all the other stuff that made it so relaxing:

End of year travels

This year for Christmas we decided to take a mini road trip to the south of this big state. In total we (The A) drove 3000 km, from Perth to Albany and Esperance and back again. Phew!

We camped in National Parks most of the time but at New Years in Albany we had to go for a caravan park as all the surrounding National Parks were full.

If you are going to go that way here are some tips:

We thought Albany looked better in grey weather.

You should get to Denmark and take a drive, lots of wineries and crafty places.

Esperance has a wonderful bakery full of fresh sandwich rolls, pies and yummy sweet things. I tried to take a picture inside but every time we were there it was packed!

Esperance also has the biggest junk filled museum we have ever seen. They must accept everything that gets donated cause in the Anzac 'area' there was a collection of little china frogs from the 80's.

Take bug spray. Lots of mosquitos and march flies. And if you stop and camp in the Fitzgerald National Park (which is a 'Biosphere') expect LOTS of spiders and to get dirty as the dirt is black there.

The Amity Brig reconstruction in Albany is worth looking at and isn't expensive.

Make sure it's hot, cause the Southern Ocean is flippin' cold! But definitely go to the beaches as they are voted the best in Australia and the sand is so fine it squeaks when you walk on it!

What do you do when your husband is in the rainforest of PNG, for a whole week with no communication?

1) Eat chocolate cake at stupid times

2) Go to your knitting group and watch someone with their new spinning wheel

3) Buy very adult books

4) Drink a glass of wine at night because it's cold without another person in the house and it's the only thing that warms you up

5) Get a job (woohoo!!)

6) Finish all the paperwork of the second stage of your visa (how do you describe your commitment to one another without sounding like a total sap?)

7) Go to homeware sales and buy new pillows and sheets that aren't beige (god I'm sick of beige!!)

8) Get in your cats face

9) Knit

10) Do loads of laundry but ignore the dishes

Skin in the land of eternal sun

Having moved to a country that has almost constant and harsher sun, I had to change the products I used on my skin. More spf and in the winter, being better about moisturising as it gets quite dry.

I suffered from acne for most of my teenage years and after going on Accutane and possibly buying enough Proactive to entitle me to shares, it's finally under control. I now end up having to use various types of face wash and face creams to keep my face balanced and though I do get spots still, they aren't as bad as they used to be.

So I thought I would share the products I use and why! (not all are pictured)

1. St Ives Moisturising Olive Cleanser: This is great, I use this about 3 times a week in the morning. It can dry out my skin though so it's actually better in the summer months as it's so hot that I need a little dryness!

2. St Ives Apricot scrub: I think this is a staple for most people. It's a great replacement for the Proactive scrub (The A also uses it. But I didn't tell you that, it would be too metrosexual)

2. Cetaphil: I use this every night. Fantastic for when I run out of make-up remover wipes as it gets EVERYTHING off. Doesn't dry out my skin. And it's cheap!

3. Olay Complete All Day SPF 15: My everyday moisturiser. Light and effective, you can't really ask for more than that can you?

4. Burt's Bees Naturally ageless night cream: Why wrinkle cream? Well I definitely hadn't thought that I would be using it already before 30, but since moving to Australia I figured why not? Constant sun and almost no humidity means that prevention is best way to fight it off. This stuff smells awesome too. The A says that I smell like a berry crumble, which is a good thing I think!

5. Proactive: I still have some in the cupboard for emergencies. The face wash, toner and cream. Last time I used it was last week for a breakout on my chin. So if you are an acne sufferer I would never get rid of whatever works for you, keep some hidden, it may come in use.

Missing

To catch you up here's a summary:

1. We've acquired a cat. His name is George it used to be something really crap so we changed it, but he also goes by Pookie, Pooks, Pookie bum, Pookie face and Pig.

2) We've bought a car. It's old and beat up but totally blends in with all the other beat up cars in Fremantle. I'm learning to drive in it (automatic) and it's actually really fun which I wasn't expecting at all! We took a trip down to Augusta one weekend with it and it did well. Augusta was fun but not much there that can cover more than 1 weekend.

I found my dream house and Ross took millions of pictures of the above as 'practice' with his camera.

3) Really in the TMI sector but the Landlady replaced our water heater to a gas one and OMG it's amazing. I just stand in the shower groaning, it's so good. Plus the dishes get EXTRA clean, and I need to wear gloves otherwise I can't put my hands in the water.

4) Related to the above but in the AWESOME section is that the Body Shop have brought back their banana shampoo and conditioner, so I'm stockpiling it.

5) Started another design related blog, I have lots of drafts and free downloads to put in it but haven't published much. I'll post the link when it's more substantial.

6) My laptop died its final death so we got a new house computer...

TADAA!!!

7) I finished school and currently looking for work. It's not fun and sometimes it's downright depressing but you've got to keep smiling.

8) I lost my knitting mojo but it has recently reappeared but I've decided not pot post any WIPs to avoid disappointment from certain areas. So they will be photographed only after completion.

9) After more than 6 months of endless HOT summer it has finally cooled down. My regular rotation of t-shirts is thankful for the break.

AND most importantly.....

10) The A and I celebrated our 1st anniversary at a wonderful restaurant called Star Anise. We had the degustation meal with the wines. We ended up staying there for 4 hours and it was the best meal and company ever. I wanted to take pictures of the food but it was quite dark so you wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.

Tempus Fugit

Happy Fall everyone! Or Happy summer to those in the Southern Hemisphere! The above picture is one of my favorites from a fall Martha Magazine.

Since you last heard from me several things have happened:

1. I’ve been granted permission to stay here in OZ

2. We’ve moved house, and I can see the sea!

3. The wedding is moving on, I’ve ordered my dress and shoes, we’ve decided on the rings (Etsy of course) and will be ordering those soon, Invitations will be sent out early next month and the registry is almost complete.

I’m hoping now that I have the first two settled I can get back into a more regular blogging routine, including showing some WIPs, FOs (lets ignore those that are on pause)

We woke up at 4:30am today as The A had to leave to head up north and as I was already awake I decided it would be a good time to finish the Halloween party invitations that I printed out from Martha (the pumpkin and owl invitations) but my scissors seem to have disappeared in the move (we only moved last weekend) so I will need to go buy some new ones and head to Freo knitting early so I can work on them. Interesting TV early in the morning here, I caught ‘Good Morning America’ and the US ‘Today’ show as well as Thunderbirds. David Grays’ new song also made an appearance which reminded me of studying for my GCSEs.

I hope to churn out some more posts this weekend so you will be hearing from me soon!

Right Now

eating:: orange and poppyseed cake with orange cream cheese frosting;

feeling:: happy that the laundry basket contents have more than halved, that The A will be here until Monday and that he will be gone only for a week, then a week back then again a week away;

listening:: Tori Amos (American Doll Posse) and some birds outside;

watching:: the tv is off and I'm looking at the palm trees waving around in the wind;

loving:: the new shampoo and conditioner I bought yesterday. My hair was getting frazzled and this stuff has worked MIRACLES and was half price at Coles.

admiring:: the paper tissue flowers I tried to make last night. 5 sheets of 500x750mm at $2 each makes these a cheap and lasting craft. I can make loads and use them as fake flowers to brighten up the flat (after I use them in my bouquet of course!)

enjoying:: checking off the things on my to do list, emailing people the forms they kindly said they would do for us;

researching:: how best to cook the two lamb shanks I bought yesterday for dinner tomorrow night, TAFE courses and jobs