Day 366 - Hope

So 365 days have somehow whizzed by since I wrote my very first blog entry for Day 1, here we are at New Year's Eve again. What a year 2012 has been! I mean, come on, I finally achieved my lifelong dream of meeting my childhood heroes Hanson (twice, even!!) for chrissake... any year that THAT takes place is pretty hard to top!

When I was writing up my first blog post on the 1st of January, in the back of my mind I was already getting ahead of myself and was trying to imagine what this day would feel like - how it would be like to be writing my 366th post on the last day of the year. (Ok technically this is not my 366th post because as I'm typing this it's the 2nd of January 2013 and I have 83 unpublished backdated posts to complete!! But my rule is that a post will be done for every day of the year about what made me smile on that particular day, but it may not necessarily be done on the actual day itself (ha nice save Sammie).)

At that time, what this little project would look like by the end of 2012 was a massive unknown for me. Honestly, I was kinda nervous about it. I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough determination or motivation to keep writing everyday, and for all I knew then my blog could have ended up containing just 5 sad posts. Heck, I'm pretty sure Jon put money on me giving up after a month while Brett was kinder and said I'd probably sustain it for 3 months. They probably knew that I loooove proving people wrong (bless them), and knew that I would take their cynicism on as a challenge.

Day 347 - 12 things to smile about on 12/12/12

Seeing that today is 12/12/12 which is kinda special, I decided that I should do something a little different for today's post to commemorate this date. Today I'm documenting not just one thing that made me smile, but twelve!

So here we go, 12 things that made me smile on the 12th day of the 12th month in 2012:

Day 338 - Coming home to a running cat and pretty flowers and girls

After a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong day at work, it's so nice to come home to:

1. A cat that's running towards the door to greet me, with her flabby belly swinging from side to side as she runs.


2. Pretty flowers. There's something very therapeutic about flowers, they can turn a bad day right around. The roses are starting to open up.



3. Pretty girls. These gorgeous girls came in the mail today. Yep, I got MORE girls to adorn the house! 

Day 334 - The best typo, guilty pug, light writing proposal and Snowflake's weird sleeping positions

On this hot day of 38 degrees I...

...could not stop laughing at this hilarious typo.

...found this picture of the guiltiest looking pug and wondered what it's done. That face!!

...came across this pretty nifty light writing proposal which was shot over 3 nights using long exposure, which the final image made up of approximately 800 individual 10 second exposures. I absolutely love proposals that have incorporated a lot of thought and effort as it's always amazing to see how love can motivate and inspire someone.

...watched Snowflake sleep on her back and air her belly in various weird positions (why does she always touch her paws together?! So weird...)

until she caught me staring. So I stopped for a little while, until she fell asleep again.

Day 330 - No face painting and stuff at the French Festival, food marvels and Snowflake's weird sleeping position

Today I...

...overheard a mother saying to her crying daughter outside the Paris to Provence French Festival, "I'm sorry there's no face painting and stuff like that, but this is a French festival. There's only cheese here."

...had a moment while wandering around in Thomas Dux, and started marvelling at how far we, as human beings, have come, because I was staring at products such as truffled salami,

and crab stock made from sustainable Australian blue swimmer crabs. Think about that for a minute - you can buy sustainable crab stock because someone decided to make it and package it and sell it, and you can buy truffled salami that's made in Australia because someone thought it would be a good idea to add bits of truffle to salami... ISN'T THAT INCREDIBLE?!


...wanted to scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING SNOWFLAKE???? to Snowflake as I watched her get into a strange position in the corner of the sofa. She really is a strange cat!

Day 325 - Snowflake stretching on me, more ice cream and a face

1. I was woken up by this at 7am. What the heck Snowflake!?

Bit hard to see from this dark photo, but I think she was walking over me to get to the other side of the bed when she got lazy/tired and decided to lie down for a rest and a stretch!


2. Ice cream #1.



3. Ice cream #2.



4. Aaaaaand ice cream #3! Loving it!!!



5. I wouldn't be very happy if I had moistened tissues coming out of my mouth all the time either.

Day 322 - Waking up to Snowflake, cauliflower trees and Middle Fish

Here are a few things that made me smile today:

1. Waking up to this.
   
   I want to document and record this so that I can remember in the future when I look back and reread this post. This is the sight I've been waking up to most mornings - Snowflake's eyes half open half shut, her oversized flabby belly flopped either alongside me or on my face or right next to my face. I'd open my eyes and see her lying facing me like in the photo above, her eyes fluttering as she drifted in and out of sleep. And she'd be purring loudly like a machine. It makes me smile something big every time.
   
   But it also makes me worry.
   
   You see, Snowflake has never been an affectionate cat until recent years. She was the most ferocious and feisty cat that wanted to eat my hands for dinner up until about 2 or 3 years ago when her age seemed to suddenly kick in and she practically mellowed overnight. I've always thought oh yay she's finally mellowing, she's finally being a nice cat. But over the last few months she's been RIDICULOUSLY nice and overly affectionate, always wanting to crawl onto my lap, sleep on my chest, sleep on my neck, and then even on my face. 

Her (positive) personality change got me thinking... is she dying..?? She's 9 year old but has never gotten sick. Does she realise she's dying so she's being super nice to me?! I've even started wondering about what I had to do if she died.. who would I call? Who would take her away? Do I bury her? Where do I bury her? Who do you call for these things?!

I know this all sounds a bit morbid, but I want to remember this. I want to remember waking up next to her almost every morning; I want to remember seeing her sitting by the door waiting for me as I walk through the door in the evening; I want to remember her purring in my arms as I hit the snooze button and give her a good morning hug; I want to remember her always insisting on sitting on my lap while I get ready for work, but is so smart that she gets off my lap immediately when I do a special signal; I want to remember her always being there for me.


2. Marvelling at trees that look like giant cauliflowers with Dad.



3. Middle Fish's Thai milk tea comes in this cute aluminium bowl, and they do really delicious curries.

Day 299 - Snowflake the ninja

Snowflake sleeps with one eye open like a ninja!

Day 292 - Reason #4 why I love Snowflake

Sometimes she likes to pretend to be a decorative object.

Day 291 - Sheep alpaca, nice email, cute stuff at Daiso, Frankie's 50th issue and being catnapped on

Here are a few things that made my heart sing today:

1. Hahahahaha this kills me.



2. Getting this in an email from someone lovely at work just about made my day too.
   


3. Daiso, you and your abundance of cute stuff kill me.

I mean, you can buy chair socks here. Chair socks!!



4. Wooooooooow I wish I had taken the plastic wrapper off my Frankie magazine sooner, their cover for their 50th issue is INCREDIBLE and easily the most amazing cover I've ever seen. It looks stitched - it feels stitched - but it's not stitched. I can't stop touching it!
   


5. Shhhh Snowflake's sleeping. She pinned me down to make sure I couldn't go anywhere awww.
   

Day 282 - It didn't rain

I checked the weather forecast this morning, and it was supposedly going to rain in Melbourne this afternoon. In fact, it was looking to be a rainy week ahead. On my way to work I counted 6 other people carrying umbrellas.

But it didn't rain. Instead, it was sunny, 18 degrees and beautiful.

I think Snowflake was expecting rain as well!

Day 277 - Why I love Snowflake reason #12

Reason #12 why I love Snowflake:

She gets herself into strange spots like in between my back and my chair's back, and pretends to look comfortable in awkward positions.

Day 269 - Snowflake the hobo

Today Snowflake showed me how to rock the hobo chic look.

Day 255 - Hanson are in Australia and weird looking Snowflake

1. They're here they're here! They're on Australian soil!!!



2. I've been battling with a very uncomfortable bloated tummy for half of today, and while I sipped on some peppermint tea, I almost choked from the crazy giggles when I saw Snowflake looking like.... this.

Day 253 - Fresh clean sheets

Fresh, crisp sheets that are still warm out of the drier make me happy. But they make Snowflake a little bit crazy!

Day 249 - Mom's ok, old friends and surprised Snowflake

Today's smiles are from:

1. Finding out that Mom is ok and unscathed after she got into a car accident. More like a big smile of relief. Kids, always wear your seatbelt. 


2. Catching up with an old friend like Wang Wei just like old times, and laughing over his endless supply of hilarious stories over beer and cheap and cheerful Thai takeaway. There were tales about funny, undecipherable colleagues, to a human-hating ragdoll cat named Sunshine who took a massive dump in Wang Wei's bed (under the comforter!), then left an even bigger pile of crap in the middle of the walkway in front of the door after Wang Wei caused her great distress while attempting to communicate using this Human-to-Cat-Translator app! 


3. This!

Day 240 - Adorable dejected Snowflake

Aww Snowflake, you're so adorable when you look dejected. Like someone stole your lunch. Or took away your snack.

Day 184 - Snowflake sleeping on my face

A few weeks ago when Snowflake turned my neck into her bed, I joked that I was somewhat sure I would one day wake up to find her lying on top of my face.

That day has arrived. It's happened!

I roused from my sleep, and Snowflake instantly realised I was awake through her magical six sense (I don't know how she does this?!). She got up from the end of the bed and started walking up towards my face. Then I felt her paws stomping on my throat.

Next thing I knew, she flopped her fat 6kg self down ON MY FACE, nuzzled her nose into my ear and purred heavily into it!

So yeah. There I was, with a wall of white fur slammed against my mouth and nose, with a wet nose and heavy purring in my ear. I wanted to take a photo, but I was too shocked and scared to move!

Day 176 - Pierre Hermé and Ladurée macarons, happy hair, "I am new stuff", Snowflake looking possessed and affectionate

Here's some stuff that made me smile today:

1. Fresh Pierre Hermé and Ladurée macarons lovingly carried back from Paris. Magnifique!! 



2. Being pampered with a relaxing massage, facial, foot soak, hair wash and blow dry = happy hair and body.




3. The staff's name.



4. What are you doing Snowflake??!?!



5. This cold winter has made Snowflake super affectionate. Me likey!