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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Flowers of the week.


These flowers make me happy.

I have never seen them before and I don't know what they're called.
I bought them at the local grocers for $6 a bunch (I bought 2 bunches) - so not only do these flowers make me happy but they also keep me well within flower budget for the week!

Happy days indeed!
Hope you like them and they make you happy too!

xx

Guilty Pleasures.


The 'Blog This' challenge for this week is;

Come on! Everyone has at least one! Chocolate? Trashy TV? Magazines? Romance Novels? Designer brands? Maybe it's having a 20 minute shower? Tell us about your your guilty pleasure, why you love it so much, where, when, how and what!

I didn't have to think about this one for long at all!

My guilty pleasure at this time of the year, every year, is Australian Idol.
I will be the first to admit that it is an horrendous show at times! As my husband will testify, it can be very annoying and this year in particular, a little um, underwhelming in the talent department. Future idols seem few and far between in 2009 if you know what I mean... BUT that certainly doesn't mean I wont be watching every single episode. No, I won't miss a thing, even if it means giving the Foxtel IQ a workout each Sunday in order to maintain a happy and healthy relationship!!

I love love love Australian Idol because of the chance that each episode , and indeed each year, maybe someone amazing will be discovered. There is always the chance that one of the contestant's performances will be fantastic. That they will perform better than they have before, that they will sing better than they thought they could - or anyone else thought they could.
It is positively exhilarating when it happens.
I'm quite the cryer when I watch these moments actually.
Just picture it; grown woman, pyjamas, couch , Australian Idol moment , tears , sniffing , husband playing poker online lamenting the day he met her... sounds great huh?
Some weeks these moments can even happen more than once! Other weeks? Not so much.

But still I watch, waiting for THAT moment.

I have downloaded for your enjoyment ( if you are not my husband!) one of those very moments. Actually, I should call it my moment of moments - Guy Sebastian singing Climb Every Mountain in 2003.


Enjoy!.... or not! ;)





xx

Monday, October 19, 2009

24 weeks.


Hello lovelies,

I haven't posted about being pregnant for a while.
It's intentional.
At the risk of sounding like a total lunatic, it's all been part of my quest for self-preservation and an even keel in the mental health department!
However, over time I have come to realise that I can't avoid the obvious too much or for too long because that is not very healthy at all. To say the least.
So this post is to report that I have begun to come to terms with the fact that I am actually having a baby.

I can hear you breathing a sigh of relief.

I am 24 weeks today. I think all is good. Baby is kicking alot and on Saturday night I think it may have been dancing to Michael Jackson in there.

Not much more to say really.
Yes, I have made progress but I have only just turned the corner - so I have a long way to go.

Thanks for listening and thank you also for your lovely comments along the way so far.

I'm sure they have all helped to get me here.


xx

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Flowers of the week.



These are not actually from this week but I just found the photo of these beauties and I forgot to post it at the time...
These are so beautiful because they look like wild flowers. They are from a florist in Leichhardt though.
Not so wild.
However, we can all pretend.
Lets say that rather than my lovely Sd picking them up after he went to the super-market , that , overwhelmed with love for me ( which he often is I hope) - he stopped and picked them from a field in the countryside somewhere.
Ah yes, that sounds so much nicer than bought in a shopping centre!

Can't wait for Sd to read this. If he didn't think I was nuts already...

Let's talk about something very dear to my heart . Concealer .


I'm not really a make-up person as such, however, I can't tell you how much I love my concealer.
I wont bang on about the merits of concealer for too long I promise.
Just a few quick points;

* Liquid concealer is the way to go. If you have dry skin or heaven forbid, are 'older', ie; have any fine lines, then you can't go wrong with the liquid option.
If you have skin like a baby's bum then, by all means, choose whatever type you like!

* Always choose a concealer SLIGHTLY lighter than the skin tone ON YOUR FACE (not your hand). I have found that it blends much better.

* My brand of choice is , hands down , YSL Touche Eclat concealer. It lasts for ages, a little bit goes a long way, and the results are very impressive - on any redness, pigmentation or dark circles under your eyes.
I am the lucky owner of all three of these at various times.
Sometimes all three at once! Lovely!

* My motivation for writing this post is my latest discovery.
I wanted to buy another liquid concealer as a back-up for my rather pricey concealer of choice. I chose the new 'Maybelline Instant Age-Rewind Double Face Perfector'.
Once I got over the ridiculous name (!) and used it - I was VERY impressed.
This concealer is about an 1/8th of the price of the YSL one and although it is not quite as good, for the price, the results are awesome.
That is the second time I have used that word in my life and Lovelies, I really really mean it.
The tube has a highlighter at one end and the concealer at the other.
In a clunkier way, it achieves what the YSL one combines into one liquid.

If you are a concealer person, run, don't walk and go get yourself some. Give it a try.

You wont be disappointed!


Got anything you would like to extol the virtues of?
Let me know!


xx

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Ten things.


Another 'Blog this' challenge...


Tell us TEN things you want to do in your lifetime that you've yet to achieve.
It can be as simple as learning to knit, or bungee jump, skydive, maybe eat a whole lobster or travel somewhere, meet a penpal - anything!




1) I would like to live somewhere in Europe. I have never lived anywhere else other than Sydney and I really want to experience daily life somewhere else.



2) I would like to be able to cook a signature dish. Actually I would like to be able to cook a signature meal. An Entree, Main course and Dessert that I cook well and that other people love and look forward to eating.



3) I would like to learn to sew. I buy alot of clothes from vintage stores, thrift stores and markets and I want to be able to make the changes to them that I envisage but don't quite know how to achieve. At the moment I keep my lovely local dressmaker in business I think!



4) I would like to own a dog from a refuge. I have never had a dog. Just cats. I love love love my cats but there is an empty place for a dog in my heart.




5) I would like to be in a chorus line in a musical. I'm thinking that this particular one will happen in whatever retirement village I end up in!! You never know though...is 36 too old be discovered by a talent scout?



6) I would like to volunteer for a charitable organisation - as a full time job.


and now for a bit of juxtaposition for No.7...



7) I would like to own an Hermes bag (and anything else they have there at the Hermes store they would like to offer me thank you!)



8) I would like to eat a meal at El Bulli and at The Fat Duck. Two of the best restaurants in the world. Unfortunately, I may have to sell my Hermes bag to fund these meals.



9) I would like to be a better gardener. I am ok at it but I think that's in the genes in my family. I want to apply myself and become great at it. Like my mum is and my nan and grandad were.



10)I would like to conquer my problems with anxiety. I am well on the way to achieving that thankfully , but there is certainly room for improvement. I would forgo all the other nine things in a heartbeat to achieve this single one.



xx

Monday, October 5, 2009

Some people are rude.


This weekend, Sd and I went to the 'Festival of Dangerous Ideas' at the Sydney Opera House. We saw three lectures. The first was given in the concert hall on Saturday night by Christopher Hitchens . It was called 'Religion Poisons Everything'. The second was yesterday afternoon. It was about whether or not drugs should be legalised. There were three speakers, a barrister, an American ex chief of police and a doctor from St Vincents Hospital. The third was given by Cardinal George Pell - ' Without God we are nothing.'
The latter two were in the studio at the Opera House - a much smaller venue where it was possible for the speakers to take questions after their lecture.

I should say that we chose these particular lectures because we both ( for vastly different reasons )are interested in theology and the particular debate that both Christopher Hitchens and Cardinal Pell presented opposing arguments for. We are not religious people. However, I am very much an 'each to their own' type of person. My lovely husband? Not so much. That's another story though...
The drugs lecture we chose because we both are interested in the development of a new and successful way to deal with 'the war on drugs' and all the social problems that come with it.

ANYWAY,

After Cardinal Pell gave his lecture, the audience were able to ask questions. Now, I know that he is not a popular man and certainly not with the type of people that may want to go to a 'Festival of Dangerous Ideas' but I have to say that although I would consider myself to be in the group of people who dislike Cardinal Pell and his beliefs - I was appalled by the behaviour of one particular person in the audience and I still haven't gotten over it so , here goes...

Catherine Deveny was in the front row of the lecture.
I am not a fan. Will say that straight up.
She took notes throughout the lecture and at the end she was one of the first audience members to want to ask a 'question'. When she got the microphone she firstly asked facetiously what the Cardinal wanted to be called. He told her he had been called many things and she could call him whatever she wanted. She said no, that she wanted an answer to her question and he said ' Cardinal'. She then said 'Right' and proceeded to ask her 'question'. She did not address him as Cardinal or anything else. She then said that she had had an abortion and where was the soul of her dead baby? Because the baby wasn't baptised so is it in heaven or hell?
She shouted all of this although she was in the front row and had a microphone.
The Cardinal appeared to take her question on face value. As a genuine question. He answered her with what seemed to be compassion and compassion alone.
He said that the baby would definitely be in heaven and that she should never think that the baby would be in hell and then tried to talk about how the church is about forgiveness...she interupted him and shouted that she did not want forgiveness. Another audience member who later demonstrated that he was most likely to be suffering from a mental illness, told her she would go to hell. She turned to the audience and shouted ' Who's coming with me?' She did get a response...from about a quarter of the audience. She then went on to say that she was holding the microphone and that she was in charge now.

I don't think she expected the compassionate and measured response from Cardinal Pell and I also don't think she was interested one iota in his response.

She was interested in getting as much attention as possible and having an anecdote to write about in her next column. She was also intent on being as 'controversial' and 'provocative' as she could be.
Very successful on the first two counts. Well done.
On the third? Meh.

The thing is though that the rest of the audience had actually come to hear what he had to say. Not so much the bile from an audience member.

I found her behaviour towards Cardinal Pell disrespectful,rude and offensive.
I found her behaviour towards the audience disrespectful,rude and offensive.
I did not find her question offensive.
I found the way she asked it and why she asked it disgusting.

My dislike for Cardinal George Pell has not changed since I heard him speak.If anything though, after Catherine Deveny's efforts - I now see him as surprisingly more 'human' than he comes across in the media.
I still disagree very much with many of his views and those of the Catholic church.
I was baptised and educated in the Catholic church and for a long time have considered myself not to be Catholic or religious. Just for the record.




xx