Day 152 - The Bermuda Triangle is ravenous and Thursday night dinner

1. When I got home from work yesterday evening, I noticed this in the Bermuda Triangle. 

Wtf is this? I wondered to myself. Hmmm a table frame..? What happened to the rest of the table? What would anyone do with this crap?! Will it vanish tomorrow morning? No way, who in their right mind would take it?

This morning when I left home, it was GONE! I stood there baffled. Whaaaaa..?!?


2. Thursday night dinner, drink(s) of choice and nightcap with great company, Brett and Keng, at Sosta Cucina.

Day 151 - Rude toe, new Fancy Feast cat food ad, "thanks for scooping my poop" litter box hand sanitizer, strange cat and dog sitting pose

Here are a few things that made me laugh today:

1. My toe gave me a piece of its mind.



2. Saw this new Fancy Feast ad on tv. I don't know what could possibly be cuter than a bunch of (very well behaved) cats sitting on stools around a sushi train with plates of cat food going past them. SOOOOO CUUUUUUUTE!



3. I picked up this hilarious "hand sanitizer for litter box detox"...



4. ...only to find Snowflake striking the exact same pose as the cat on the bottle!! 

I always thought this was her "hello there sexy" pose, but turns out it could be the "go scoop my poop" pose?!?


5. Even stranger is coming across a pug also striking the same pose in an email! 

Day 150 - La Petite Creperie and Temper Trap

There are so many reasons why I love Melbourne, today I'm thankful for 2 of them:

1. Fascinating new things continuously pop up in Melbourne, be it an art installation, a temporary dining spot like Greenhouse by Joost, tapas style eateries.. it seems almost every week there's another new cafe boasting of great coffee and brunch, or an opening of another fancy restaurant to further saturate Melbourne's dining scene. 

Now and then, a gem comes along. This time it's La Petite Creperie, which has appeared in the form of an unassuming newspaper stand.

Inside the newspaper stand holds this adorable setup of a cashier and the tiniest one-man kitchen. It smells incredible - I love how it sends wafts of sugar, butter and flour down Swanston St! It's staffed by French staff with cute accents (who wish you bon appétit when they hand you your crepe) and brings a touch of Paris to Melbourne's streets. That's what I love about Melbourne - its quirky enough to have something like a little newspaper stand transformed into a crepe serving booth.

Choices of toppings are plentiful (and affordable. I almost got 2).

Halfway through gleefully gobbling down my scrumptious salted caramel crepe while skipping along the sidewalk (err tasty food makes me a bit delirious), I had started planning my next visit. Freshly made warm crepe with steaming yummy filling on a cold night = omgwow big win.

Opening hours:
Monday - Thursday: 8am - 10pm
Friday: 8am - 11pm
Saturday: 10am - 11pm
Sunday: 10am - 10pm

1. A lot of great bands play in Melbourne. Today, The Temper Trap performed the first of their 2 sold-out shows in their hometown. What a homecoming they received, after touring extensively overseas for almost 2 years! 

By the time they were halfway through their first song, it was easy to appreciate how Dougy's alluring voice launched this homegrown band into an international sensation. And as they eased into the second line of Love Lost, I was already bawling.

They also had a pineapple shaker which I found very cute! The band delivered old favourites from Conditions and a few new tracks from their recently launched self-titled second album...

...and at the end of the night, by the time they started playing the intro notes of Sweet Temptation, which was predictably left as the final song, the crowd seemed to explode with wild excitement. The extravagant, seizure-inducing theatrical lights, the booming chorus, choppy crowd and deafening sing-along was the perfect high-energy ending to a great show.

Setlist:


1. London's Burning
2. Need Your Love
3. Down River
4. Love Lost
5. Miracle
6. Rabbit Hole
7. Fader
8. This Isn't Happiness
9. Trembling Hands
10. Dreams
11. Science of Fear
12. Resurrection
13. Drum Song

Encore:

14. Soldier On
15. I'm Gonna Wait
16. Sweet Disposition

Day 149 - Cheese flavoured heat

You know that moment when you have a cheesy dish baking in the oven - it's been in there for a good 15 minutes, its contents are bubbling and boiling, and the cheese sprinkled over the top has already melted and you can see through the oven door that its just beginning to turn a delicious shade of golden - and you pull open the door to check on how it's going and to gauge how much longer you should leave it in there for?

And then you get smacked by a hot wave of cheese flavoured heat as soon as you open the oven door??

Oh yeah, it's a great moment!

Day 148 - Appreciating the humble croissant and cute rings at Markit

1. I spent a few minutes today giving thanks to the croissant gods. There is something very special about layers upon layers of golden buttery pastry that's crumbly and flaky outside when you sink your teeth into it (sending crumbs flying everywhere), yet it's soft and moist on the inside. 

It's such a work of art. It was so delicious I almost cried. Thank you croissant inventors.



2. These cute little piggies popped up to say hi at the Markit market.

Day 147 - Winnie the Pooh's wisdom, beautiful mess of autumn leaves and my curious niece

I love...

...quotes from Winnie the Pooh. One of my absolute favourite quotes that I carry with me is of course, the classic, "You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think".

But this one is probably a close second.


...the gorgeous colours we're seeing now,

and the beautiful mess that the autumn leaves leave behind.



...a child's insatiable sense of curiosity and fascination,

and determination to investigate everything very closely!

Day 146 - David Attenborough marvelling at what a wonderful world we live in, nutella craving is satiated, Ladurée is opening in Sydney, free checkup and Korean stew on a rainy night

Here are a few things that put a smile on my dial today:

1. Nothing better than starting out a beautiful new day (despite it bucketing down outside - expecting 1 month's worth of rainfall in 1 day) with this remarkable video to remind me to be thankful of all the beauty in this world.



2. Finally appeasing my Nutella craving that's been hanging around for a fortnight. Nutella on white bread + hot cup of tea = win.



3. Finding out that Ladurée is opening its first Australian boutique in Sydney in July this year!! YAY! Fun fact - the macarons will be shipped in from Switzerland. 


4. Seeing my doctor for a checkup, for free..!  


5. Feasting on a hot Korean stew filled with random bits and bobs like macaroni, spicy sausage, soft tofu, rice noodles, thin sliced pork, kimchi and more on a rainy night. 

Day 145 - Snowflake the lemur

I was eating at the dining table and I almost spat my food out in hysterics when I noticed Snowflake wrapped around the armrest of one of the sofa chairs.

Day 144 - A Star Wars Wedding and another China Photoshop fail

Spent most of today in bed again nursing this bastard of a cold. From the comfort of my bed, I came across a couple of smiles:

1. Stumbled across a traditional wedding on Etsy Weddings where Star Wars was subtly thrown in. How cute is this! It's adorable to see a wedding where each others' personalities and what they love are celebrated and embraced. 


Source: Han Solo Finds His Princess Leia


2. The Chinese officials are at it again!

No, not Photoshopping. Levitating. They're such ninjas at it. 

I can still remember the last time they levitated.

Source: The Age - When Photoshop goes wrong: 'floating' inspectors cause internet stir

It looks like they've levelled up to levitating over challenging shrubbery now! 

Day 143 - Why I love Snowflake reason #5

Why I love Snowflake reason #5:

She's always nice to me when I'm sick.

If I let her use me as a pillow...


...she lets me use her as a pillow back!

Day 142 - Bermuda Triangle likes Hellbender

Found out today that the Bermuda Triangle has trouble digesting folders...

...but really enjoys Hellbender (released by Microsoft in 1996, system requirements: 8MB of RAM; 32MB hard disk space, tagline: "Shoot to Kill, Think to Win").

You have strange taste, O Mighty Bermuda Triangle.

Day 141 - Catvengers, pug-watching, cleaning to Sigur Rós, Magic Eye stereograms and a poodle on my niece's tush

Happiness is...

...launching Safari on my phone and realising that I still had this link, which Soon Yang sent to me yesterday, open. So cute!

Source: Icanhascheezburger

...having brunch while indulging in some people-and-pug-watching. So adorable (the pug)!


...cleaning the kitchen while listening to Sigur Rós. So calming!


...stumbling upon an old Magic Eye stereogram book while I was cleaning out a bookshelf. It was such a huge craze in the early 90's, I remember going over to my friends' place and they'd have massive stereograms framed and hung on walls like prized art. So much nostalgic fun!


...my niece's cute tush!

Day 140 - Snowflake my neckwarmer

When I opened my eyes this morning, Snowflake somehow realised I was awake, roused, and got up from the spot on my legs where she had been sleeping.

She started walking on top of me - having a 6kg cat trod on you is nowhere as fun as it looks - and she was heading towards my head.

Aww she must be coming to nestle herself against my shoulder or arm. She's been doing that a lot recently...

Ow friggin heavy cat stepping all over me.. ok she's awfully close to my face. Awww she just wants to give me a sniff.

Wait a minute.. err.. euaarghhh

Next thing I knew, she plonked herself down on my neck and then purred blissfully.

A 6kg cat lying on my freakin' neck! As much as I was croaking to breathe, it was hilarious!


I'm somewhat sure I'm going to wake up to her lying right on top of my face pretty soon.

Day 139 - Fat Snowflake gets mistaken for being pregnant

Snowflake wandered outside the apartment, and was rubbing her chin against everything within sight when someone had just come in through the front door downstairs.

Usually, she's startled and darts straight into the apartment. But not today. Today, she sat by the stairs and watched attentively as a pair of feet made its way up. It turned out to my neighbour who lived upstairs. Snowflake did not budge, which was very unlike her! She's usually freaked out by people she's never met before, more so if it's outside her comfort zone.

My neighbour sat down on the steps, and Snowflake started to approach him. She paced back and forth for a little while, then proceeded to headbutt his legs.

I had never seen her so friendly and sociable before! He petted her, and she made sure his jeans were covered in as much white fur as possible.

Then my neighbour asked, "She.... she's pregnant, right?"

LOL. I couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard I tried!

Day 138 - Sick comforts

Stayed in bed for most of today to try and come out on top of this damn cold.

I felt dreary and crappy, but it wasn't all too bad because...

...Snowflake kept me company and made sure I was nice and warm in bed...


...receiving a postcard from Pe Yang, sent from Taichung, Taiwan, had me lost in the clouds for a good few minutes...


...and being delivered homemade soup, juice, lozenges and get well soon flowers from Brett is just downright lovely!

Day 137 - Having mothers at work

Being sick is no fun.

But having the ladies at work fluff and worry over me like a bunch of mothers, even shooing me out the door to make sure I go home and get some rest sure made me smile.

Day 136 - Funny birthday cards

I went birthday card shopping after work and came across some funny cards.





I'd have to say the second one's my favourite - fat cats just make me laugh!