Day 45 - Happy Valentine's Day

So it's Valentine's Day today - the day when you either give in to the commercialism of the industry, or stubbornly refuse to give in and refuse to partake in its silliness, or you gloat about your loving partner and all the flowers and presents they shower you with, or you wallow in self-pity if you're single and scoff at silly people who pay inflated prices for flowers. At the end of the day, it's really just another Tuesday, with a lot more people than usual walking around carrying flowers in their hands.

As for me, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day itself as I agree that it's over commercialised and a great excuse to push stock of chocolates and flowers, but I think it serves as a good gentle reminder for all of us to be grateful for what we have, regardless of whether we're in a relationship or not, plus sometimes its fun to just give in and indulge in all the silliness!

Today, I was one of those bitches lucky ducks who was walking around with flowers. Thank you Bretty for always spoiling me, today and everyday.


I overheard a girl on the street saying to the guy next to her while pointing at my flowers, "Look, that girl got a whole bouquet of roses and not just one lame rose on its own!"

Brett and I went out for dinner at a new French eatery, Mr Mason. I actually made the booking and kept the venue as a surprise because, well, Brett is a Mr Mason, and I thought it'd be funny to see his reaction!

His reaction was, "Are you serious?! Are we eating here?"


And eat, we did! We started off with an amuse bouche of smoked salmon and beetroot jelly, which we thought resembled a pretty garden in a glass...


...then chased after it with an entree of crisp confit chicken with tabbies, smoked butter and leeks, paired with a glass of Domaine Joseph Cattin Pinot Blanc 2009 (which was lovely - very soft and fruity)...


...followed by a main of pork belly (mmmm crackling) with vanilla apple puree, balsamic onions and cavalo nero, which we enjoyed with a Louis Jadut Beajolais Gamay 2009...


...by then we were quite full, but had to make room for a peach melba, which came with a glass of Forrest Hill Nobel Riesling 2008.


It was a fun yet relaxing way to spend Valentine's Day...


And I was even lucky enough to spot a face!


Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Day 44 - Mission accomplished

It took a  M O T H E R  F R E A K I N  T R U C K L O A D  of effort which included lots of sweating, vacuuming, dusting, sneezing, swearing profusely, disinfecting, wiping, more swearing, grunting, muscle grease, more vacuuming, lifting, pushing, shoving and even more swearing, but I got there eventually.

In 3 days, I turned this...





...into this, all by myself!



Whew I need to go lie down now!

Day 43 - Fairy floss for breakfast, pink Clarisonic Mia, a face and bed-hogging Snowflake

Today has been a great day. Let me tell you why.

Earlier on today, I ducked into Bunnings to return some door knobs that didn't fit. I gasped out loud when I spotted a fairy floss machine (in operation) there.... FAIRY FLOSS AT BUNNINGS OH MY GOD!



There are not many things I love more than fresh fairy floss. Holding it in one hand while tearing off clouds of whispery thin sweetness and stuffing them in my mouth with another made me so deliriously happy (something to do with all that sugar?) and really made my day! I am clearly a simple girl haha..

In the afternoon, I popped into Myer to check if they had received any stock of the pink Clarisonic Mia. Let me put this into perspective - late last year I made up my mind to splurge on a Clarisonic after reading countless rave reviews, and at that time there were 3 different models available for sale. I spent some more time understanding the differences between the models, and finally settled on the Clarisonic Classic. Alas, that was a few weeks before Christmas and there was no stock anywhere. A month later, they had replenished their stock and just as I was about to make my purchase, I was told that they would be receiving stock of the Mia model soon. Drats. After MORE reading, I was convinced that I'd be happy with a Clarisonic Mia. But then they ran out of stock.... A few weeks later, they restocked Mia. Yay! HOWEVER Clarisonic Australia then announced that the pink Mia would be in stores by February. Argh FFS!! So of course I now wanted the pink Mia, because it wasn't just any pink, it was light pink which was my favourite shade! Since the first day of February, I've been ducking into Myer every second day to see if they had any stock. I was always disappointed - they either had the Mia in plain white or no Mias at all.

Anywaaaay... when I approached the shelves this afternoon, prepared to face disappointment yet again, I gasped when I thought I saw a tinge of pink on one of the boxes. There was only one Mia on the shelf, and it was pink. OMG freakin' finally! I later learned that the staff had just unboxed this baby not long before I picked it up.

Oh my sweet pink Mia, it's so nice to finally be able to bring you home...


While doing a few loads of laundry later in the evening, I laughed when I saw a face that's been staring straight at me for years.


I've spent this weekend diligently cleaning my brother's room, and I've been quite pleased with my progress so far. I have now vacuumed every inch of carpet in the room and wiped down all surfaces. As I switched the lights in the room back on to pop a freshly laundered bed skirting onto the bed base, I was startled when I noticed a furry white blob had dominated it. Snowflake you retard, you make me laugh.


Yeah, it's been a great day.

Day 42 - Pretty stuff for my niece and vacuuming in Louboutins

Q: What never fails to put a smile on my face?

A: Seeing something extremely pretty, and buying it!

Q: What never fails to put an even bigger smile on my face?

A: Giving said extremely pretty thing to my niece.









Q: What never fails to give me heart palpitations?

A: A stunning pair of Christian Louboutin Decollete heels.


Every time I look at them I fall in love over and over again. My heart flutters and skips a few beats. Unfortunately these shoes will probably never see the light of day because I simply cannot walk in 4.5 inch heels. So I do the next best thing, I wear them when I vacuum!



They make the tedious chore of vacuuming seem a bit more fabulous, darling.

Day 41 - Freebies, macarons and Engrish

Tonight we returned to Kokoro Ramen for dinner (I've previously written about our first visit here). Alongside bowls of ramen, we also ordered a plate of gyoza to share. When the gyoza arrived, I thought, "$5.50 for 10 gyoza ain't bad!". Halfway through our meal, a waitress appeared at our table looking rather embarrassed and apologetic. She put down a plate of 2 pieces of gyoza and said, "So sorry, here are more gyoza because the kitchen gave you too few." In other words, freebies! Score!


For dessert, we had delicious morsels of macarons from La Belle Miette.

(Left to right: Raspberry, ‘Bastille’ – Moet et Chandon and Blackcurrant, Earl Grey Chocolate, Hazelnut and 2 x Salted Caramel, because Salted Caramel is mmmmmmmm)

I got a new screen protector for my camera off eBay as the current one was starting to peel at the corners, and the bits of dust that kept getting caught really annoyed me. It arrived in the mail today, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read the text on the packaging.

I really appreciate good Engrish, and how professional they try to be...


Wow I think this screen protector might be able to cure cancer. It's anti-dusty, anti-scratch, anti-dirt, anti-aging, and even anti-strike. Wtf is anti-strike?


Best. Instructions. Ever!

Day 40 - It's Christmas all over again

Earlier on this year I wrote about wrapping Joanne's Christmas presents here. Yes I know Christmas was... too long ago... but we finally got around to exchanging our presents today.

I actually don't mind exchanging presents so late - it's like Christmas all over again!!


Without fail every year, Joanne picks a cat card for me and it's always filled to all sides with font size 3 scribblings of love and thank yous for our friendship of 23 years.


Her presents are always thoughtfully chosen and neatly wrapped.


One of them was an adorable cat bank, which I haven't quite figured out how to use.


How cute are the illustrations on the side of the box!


There were no presents for Snowflake, but she had lots of fun getting herself tangled in the ribbons!

Day 39 - Awkward cat sleeping positions, plain marshmallows, a face, a delicious meal and excitement

5 things today:

1. The 25 most awkward cat sleeping positions. Best. Link. Ever. Soooooo cute! 


2. While hunting for bedsheets, I stumbled upon a pack of plain vanilla marshmallows. No one will understand how this discovery made my day. NO ONE. I freakin' love marshmallows. Years ago I could consistently find packets of plain vanilla marshmallows for sale at supermarkets everywhere, then suddenly they vanished off the shelves... the shelves were always filled with vanilla and raspberry, or vanilla and peach and raspberry, or swirls of vanilla with passionfruit, or swirls of vanilla and strawberry and forest berries... I was devastated. I don't want stupid raspberry or peach or berry flavoured marshmallows, I just want plain and simple vanilla ones for Chrissake! I would only come across packets of plain vanilla ones once every couple of years - I kid you not.
   
   So when I saw this today, I literally gasped aloud and froze on the spot. 



3. I spotted a stingray looking face on one of Wang Wei's bags.



4. I can (sort of) taste again!!!! Since falling sick over a week ago, I haven't been able to taste or smell very much. And that makes me very sad. Most things were either tasteless, bland, or had pangs of sweetness or saltiness towards the end.
   
   I made some bacon, zucchini and lemon spaghetti yesterday, but it smelled overwhelmingly heavy and all I could taste was salt in my mouth. As I had a serving of it tonight, the savoury, salty, slightly charred aroma of bacon and refreshing notes of zingy, zesty lemon filled my nostrils and had my tastebuds doing a happy dance. Oh my gosh. It was delicious. It was a revelation.



5. My smile list increased from 4 to 5 just then, when my absolute favourite Death Cab for Cutie song started playing. Knowing that I'll be seeing them in concert in just 2 weeks' time got me so excited I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.