Friday, November 23, 2012

Liebster Awards

The lovely Molly from The Cottage Diaries has nominated me for a 'Liebster Award'. These 'awards' are designed to spread the love among up and coming bloggers. Thank you Molly!

The rules are as follows:

1. Post 11 things about yourself.
2. Answer all the questions your nominator set for yourself.
3. Come up with 11 questions for the people you want to nominate.
4. Choose a number of blogs (they say 11, but I think I'll break the rules here) you feel deserve the award - must have 200 followers or less.
4. Go to their page and let them know you have nominated them!
So, let's get the ball rolling, shall we?

11 things about myself:

1. I'm currently home alone drinking a glass of Rose. It's been a huge week and I'm starting to feel really sleepy after just one glass of wine.
2. Ben and I recently bought a chilli plant and we are excited to announce we have three chillies growing! Very exciting times for two novice gardeners.
3. I get really annoyed when I see bundles of messy electrical cords. It is a weird pet hate and I need to get over it.
4. I've been a vegetarian for just over four years but a few months ago at my work conference I accidentally ate an h'orsevdourves that had duck puree in it. Was haunted for quite a while after that.
5. One of my friends always talks about her 'irrational fears'. I recently realised that mine are: getting my shoelaces caught in the escalator and sitting on the railing of a balcony or ledge and falling off backwards. I guess they are kind of rational, really.
6. I have a collection of teacups that I never use.
7. I really like babies but I am terrified of getting pregnant (one day, just not right now!).
8. I got my first pair of glasses when I was 18 months old and I have had four operations to correct my eyesight (I'm still pretty blind though).
9. I am planning a trip to Mexico (and the US again) in May next year!
10. I've never spoken to any of the other people that live in our apartment block. They are a really quiet bunch (which is probably a good thing).
11. My all time favourite food is Mexican - I could eat it every day! This makes the impending trip to Mexico even more exciting.
Molly's Questions:

1. Describe yourself in three words.

Nice, creative, observant.

2. What is your absolutely mega-favourite blog?

Hmmm. I think it would have to be Here Comes the Sun. Amanda just seems like such a lovely person. There are plenty of blogs out there that I love but I've been coming back to hers for years. I have always felt her style and interests are similar to mine.

3. What made you decide to start blogging?

I have been blogging in different forms for a while now. I had a food blog and tumblr before this and I've been an avid blog reader for a long time. I started this one because I like writing, I wanted to improve my photography and because I have a bad memory so documenting things I get up to kind of helps with that! 

4. Do your family/friends know about your blog?

Yes! I don't know how often they read it, though. I reckon my brother and sister probably read it the most.

5. What is your favourite movie?

I am really stuck on this one. I'm gonna go with The Boat That Rocked because I've seen it about seven times.

6. Who is your favourite celebrity?

I'm gonna go with Mindy Kaling. She's funny.

7. Describe your perfect holiday.

Traveling to me is all about the food, the people and just getting out and walking all day. I find that the best holidays I've had are the ones where I get back to my room and I'm absolutely exhausted, full of food but so happy to have seen what I saw that day. I haven't had a 'lay by the pool' kinda holiday in a while though, so that would be nice too.

8. What is your favourite animal?

Definitely a dog person. 

9. Where in the world do you dream of going?

Absolutely everywhere, but if I had to pick I'll say Europe. Despite doing a fair bit of travel around Asia and the US, I still haven't made it to the UK/Europe. That's on my list after Mexico and the US - I think I'll plan a trip for 2014. I'd like to spend a few months traveling around Europe - none of that hop on hop off bus tour business. Too rushed!

10. If you had a few spare hours of 'me time', what would you do?

Pretty much exactly what I am doing right now. Feet up, wine by my side, food at the ready and the world wide interwebs at my fingertips.

11. Tea or coffee?

I feel like I should be faithful to tea, because that was my first true love. I didn't start drinking coffee until about two years ago, but now I'm a once a day kinda gal (except today I had two - scandal!). 


I know this is really lame, but if you are reading this and want to play along, please feel free to answer my questions below. I'm finding it a bit hard to nominate people as most of the blogs I read have more than 200 followers. If you know of any smaller ones I should be reading, please let me know!! And if you do answer these questions, make sure you leave me a comment.

1. What is your favourite cold beverage?
2. Your favourite breakfast food?
3. Gold or silver jewellery?
4. Do you think you can sing in tune?
5. The best item you've ever purchased?
6. Name one blog you've been reading for more than two years.
7. The last time you were on a stage.
8. Favourite item in your home.
9. A band you have seen live more than twice.
10. Your last encounter with a famous (or mildly famous) person.
11. What did you have for dinner last night?

Phew! Thanks for reading if you got this far and thanks again to Molly for nominating me. Sorry I didn't play strictly to the rules but I had fun nonetheless. Have a happy weekend, friends.

P.S How pretty are these jacaranda trees? Seeing the amazing purple flowers in bloom from October - December is definitely one of the best things about living in Sydney. Purple rain, purple raiiiin. 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Veronica and Ming

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending my manager Veronica's wedding. It was my first Asian wedding - she is Vietnamese and her new husband, Ming, is Chinese. The ceremony was held at Bicentennial Park and thankfully the heavy rain of Friday night let up on Saturday morning and the sun came out for the rest of the day (note our squinty eyes). The reception was a huge affair with around 400 guests and a 12 course traditional Chinese dinner. Yes, 12! I had a heap of fun celebrating with my work mates and Ben. In fact I danced a little too hard and am experiencing extreme muscle pain in my legs and arms today. I never thought I'd say it but I feel like I may have done a bit too much fist pumping for one night.

As you can see V (as we affectionately call her) looked absolutely stunning! She had kept the details of her dress and head piece a complete secret at work so we were all super excited to see her. The dessert table pictured was styled by another colleague, Linda. You can check out her work here. Unfortunately I didn't get to sample many of the goodies on the table because people started lining up for dessert before all the main courses had been served! Nonetheless, I had a fantastic time. Congratulations V and Ming :)

My outfit details: Quirky Circus dress, Kimchi Blue heels from Urban Outfitters, bag used to belong to my Grandma.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Bits and Pieces

Just a few bits and pieces from around our place lately. I'm enjoying having some me time tonight as Ben has gone to Newcastle to see some friends. I've almost caught up on episodes of The Walking Dead. I just watched the final episode of Season Two. Holy mackerel that show has me on the edge of my seat every single episode. Can't wait to catch up on the new season so Ben and I can enjoy it together (he's all up to date)!
Lately I feel like life is flying by at a million miles per hour. It seems ever since I started working full time and my life has gotten busier this has been the case. I seriously can't believe it is November already! 

This past week I've been trying to make a conscious effort to slow things down a little. I'm usually the kind of person that wants to get everything done yesterday and I like having plans! I am all about planning - planning what I'm gonna eat, planning what I'm gonna wear, planning when I'll do the cleaning - yep you name it. I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of that trait (I'm sure it's genetic...my Mum is the same) but I'm trying to slow things down a little and really try and enjoy every moment. Even little things like taking in my surroundings while walking to the train every morning instead of keeping my head down as I rush to get there. 

This morning I woke up earlier than usual for a weekend as I was planning (ha - see there I go again) to go to the Farmer's Markets and stock up on some fresh produce. Unfortunately it was raining today so I decided to go to a shopping centre nearby instead. There's a great fruit and veg shop there so I gathered some bits and pieces for a nice big breakfast. Meanwhile,  Ben was sleeping soundly! Lucky boy. I came home and cooked up a nice vegetarian breakfast for us both. The rest of the day I spent doing a thorough Spring clean of our apartment. Keeping with my new aim of slowing things down, I made sure I did everything properly and didn't just rush through it in order to get it done. I know I'm getting older because having a spotless apartment makes me so happy! Enjoy your weekends friends.