fat mum slim

Quick challenge: Your day in photos

2012-01-28T19:46:00.005+11:00

Earlier this week I promised a little something for those that couldn't handle another photo-a-day challenge, and now I'm delivering! This is a quick challenge, although still incredibly challenging. It's a one day challenge. No photo-a-day. No timeline. Just choose a day (any day this year, next year or whenever you feel brave enough!) and take a photo every hour from wake to sleep. Let others see a glimpse into your life. Tag each photo with #mydayinphotos (if playing on Instagram or Twitter), or just share them on your blog or on your Facebook.

If you're ultra keen and want to do the photo-a-day challenges AND this challenge, give it a whirl!

I look forward to checking out everyone's photos. You can find me on Instagram. My username is @fatmumslim. x

$5 dinner: Crustless pizza with salami

2012-01-25T07:09:00.003+11:00

Last Friday I spent a peaceful day working at home alone while Lacey played at Kindy and Hubby went off for a spot of deep sea fishing. I didn't plan dinner because I assumed that Hubby would be bringing home fish for our tucker. I was optimistic.

I got a message just after lunch that Hubby had caught a 100kg marlin. So I started to salivate over fish and chips and continued working away.

By 5pm I started to wonder how on earth one would transport a 100kg fish home. Would we have to fillet it ourselves? Do people even eat marlin? I told Lacey we were having fish that Dadda caught for dinner and she had just one thing to say, "Eww! Are we going to eat it's poo?" It's always about the poo when you're 3.

By 5:30pm I've tossed out any ideas of eating the huge fish and started to cook a recipe I'd been meaning to try. At 6pm Hubby walked in the door with two tiny fillets of fish. Not marlin (it was let go), but dolphin fish instead. "I'm not eating dolphin!" I exclaimed (later I learned it isn't dolphin at all) and was grateful for whipping up the pizza. As was a hungry Hubby.

Ingredients
1 egg ($0.27)
2/3 cup flour ($0.07)
1 cup milk ($0.25)
1 cup grated cheddar or tasty cheese ($0.60)
3 slices of salami (use whatever you have: ham, tomato or pepperoni) ($1.35)

Method
♥ Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit)
♥ Grease a round pie dish (or any ovenproof dish)
♥ In a small bowl combine the egg, flour and milk and whisk until smooth. Add 1/2 of the grated cheese and stir
♥ Pour into the prepared dish and place in the oven to cook for 25-30 minutes, or until golden
♥ Take out of the oven and sprinkle with remaining cheese and your topping of choice. Mine was salami. Place the dish back in the oven and cook for 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden
♥ Cut into slices and serve with a salad

Notes:
♥ Price does not include the salad. I served mine with some rocket and balsamic dressing. Serve with a salad of your choice (which would bring it closer to the $5 mark).
♥ This meal serves 4. One serve was plenty for me. Hubby ate two because he had worked up an appetite. Lacey gobbled hers up.
♥ This is a great one for the kids to get involved in. Lacey did most of the work! Sssh!
♥ All of my ingredients were sourced from Aldi.

Everybody loves good neighbours

2012-01-24T07:22:00.003+11:00

Since becoming a mum, sleep is a very sacred thing. I count the hours I get {or don't get} each night. I miss the sleep I once took for granted.

I'm a wake and get up kinda person. As soon as I open my eyes, my feet hit the floor and I'm up for the day. I can't get back to sleep, and I am hopeless at day-napping.

The other morning, before the sun had even risen, I was woken by the sounds of someone laughing. Loud laughing. Not just a meer giggle. Cackles that echoed off the walls. I peered over at the clock and it was minutes after 4am. I can't remember exactly, but there was a definitely a 4 in front. I rolled over hoping the laughing would stop and I'd be able to get back to sleep.

It continued, along with some loud chatting, some music and other noises. So I got up and started working. It was a Thursday morning, after all.

I crankily tapped away on my computer as the after party continued next door.

A week later, last Sunday to be exact, it happened again. Hubby was away at work. It always seems to happen when he's not home. This time it was some time after 6am and they'd decided to bring the party home. They sat in their backyard laughing and yelling, and having a good time. I crawled out of bed, opened my back door and softly and kindly requested, "Can you please be quiet?"

"Sure," they promised from over the fence.

The noise continued, so I got up and started watching re-runs of Friends as I waited for Lacey to wake.

I don't know why I'm surprised that people can be so inconsiderate, but each summer I am. I dream of free-standing homes with lovely neighbours who pop over to borrow sugar and milk. I also dream neighbours that live far enough away that I don't hear everytime they use the bathroom*.

I grew up that way. We'd block off the street a few times a year and have parties in the cul-de-sac. We loved our neighbours, and they loved us back. We waved as we drove by. Where we live now, often people don't even mutter hello as they get mail from the boxes, inches away from each other.

Do you have good neighbours? Can I borrow them?

* True story
{image source}

February photo-a-day challenge

2012-01-23T07:06:00.004+11:00

This past month has been full on for me. I've jumped back into work, feet first and loads more has been going on too. The highlight for me has been January photo-a-day. It's been brilliant. I've loved seeing into other people's lives. The internet is pretty magical sometimes.

I've been asked about a hundred times to create a February photo-a-day, and I pretty much always do as requested, so I've created another one for February. I'll be creating one each month, because I'm enjoying it so much. I know how easy it is to get photo-a-day fatigue though, so if you can't fathom another month of photos ... take a break and come back another month. I've also got something to share later this week for those that want to try something a little bit different. Stay tuned.

So ... drumroll please ... here's February's photo-a-day challenge:

How to take part in February photo-a-day:

1. Using the list as inspiration, take a photo each day.
2. Share it on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #FEBphotoaday. You can also share on your blog or on Facebook ... or even keep the photos privately for yourself.
3. Check out other people's photos and like them or comment on them.

Note: The list is purely for inspiration, however you interpret the daily prompt is up to you. There are no hard and fast rules. For instance for day 22, if you don't officially 'work' and are a mum or looking for work - then show something that you consider to be work (or a chore perhaps). It doesn't have to be office stuff ... it's as loose as you want or need it to be. Just have fun and enjoy!

Also, numbers 20 + 27 were the same in the original list I posted this morning. Please note I have switched the list out.

And remember, for those with photo-a-day fatigue ... stay tuned for a little something-something later this week.

Did you take part in January? Will you be taking part in February?

A Disney Moment

2012-01-14T19:40:00.003+11:00

On Thursday I let Lacey wag Kindy so that she could go and meet with her favourite 'people', Mickey and Minnie. Unfortunately, I couldn't wag work so I sent her on her way with my Lil Sis {aka Lacey's Godmother}.

The two of them hit the City, spent $15 on popcorn and bopped along to Mickey and his mates in the Disney Live concert. She was so excited the week leading up to the big day, and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I saw some video my sister took {at my request} and all I could hear was Lacey and my Lil Sis squealing in delight as the show went on.

And that hat! It's Jesse from Toy Story's hat. It hasn't really left her head since that day. Hubby and I have even had our turn at wearing it, I must 'fess up!

Thanks to Disney for the complimentary tickets. Lacey had the best time, I'm told.

If you want to see Disney Live, check out the dates here.

Be inspired this weekend

2012-01-13T06:22:00.000+11:00

If you're looking to be inspired this weekend, may these videos do just that.

Have an awesome weekend. x

12 Instagram-ers to follow in 2012

2012-01-12T07:11:00.003+11:00

I've loved sharing photos in the January Photo-a-day challenge on Instagram. Thank you to everyone that has taken part. It's been amazing. One of the best bits though, is discovering some brilliant Instagram users. Some people are crazy talented.

Here's 12 that I love and think you should follow immediately {if not sooner}:

Nic takes dreamy, dreamy photos that will create calm and let you lose yourself in their beauty.

OK, OK ... yes she's my good friend, but man she's amazingly talented. She's a seeker of light and my inspiration when it comes to photography. Keep an eye out for her teeny daughter on Instagram too. She's a master in the making.

When I went to BlogHer Sarah dragged me along to speak to Pioneer Woman {they're friends} so I stood there in her company and a guy came along and stood next to us. It was Ryan {aka The Panic Room}. In that moment I didn't know how brilliant he was, or even what he did. Now I do. Amazing. Google him to discover his sweet videos.

Sarah, the gal behind A Beach Cottage, has style and knows how to use her. Don't follow her if you're at work and wishing you were at the beach. You may want to jump into her photos.

Bleubird is, like, totally famous on Instagram. I don't know how I didn't know about her until recently. Check out her photos and you'll soon see why.

Bec takes beautiful photos, with beautiful light. Her pics always catch my eye. Always.

Jordan thinks outside the box when taking her photos on Instagram. She takes super clever shots of products neatly arranged. Love it!

Aren't these shoes cute? Yep! Well so are Marissa's photos. Trust me.

David knows composition. The way he frames his shot always catches my attention. Isn't this shot beautiful?

Alice's pics always tend to make me a little hungry, or thirsty. She kinda does it, and does it well.

Amazing, right? Shont's photos always have a little bit of magic in them.

Jordi is a great photographer, beautiful and crazy, brilliant at doing nails. You have to see her nail art. Go on!

Are you on Instagram? Who's your favourite Instagrammer?

Note: Click the images to be taken to their profile on Webstagram. This may not work if you don't have a profile there.

I was here.

2012-01-11T07:43:00.001+11:00

The other week I drove to my editor's house for a work meeting. I've done the drive a heap of times before. It's quite a busy road, with a tunnel, lots of traffic lights and usually a bunch of traffic.

About 25 minutes after I left my house I arrived at hers and parked in her parking lot. I thought back to the drive and could hardly remember any of it. How did I get here? I couldn't remember the tunnel, how many lights I'd stopped at or any other specific details. It wasn't that I'd blacked out, but I just wasn't present. I was in automatic the whole drive.

I find this in life too, sometimes. All of a sudden, without me noticing, I've been married for almost 7 years, am a mother of an almost 4 year old and we're in the year 2012. How did I get here?

Not long after I turned 22 I did a self-development course and this was one topic that was covered heavily. Brian, the leader, said on the first day, "Have you ever driven somewhere and not remembered the drive?" Everyone nodded.

The whole course was about living your best life, unraveling the past and embracing the future. I loved it. Back then I was traveling quite lightly compared to my mates doing the course. They'd sob through sessions and I'd quietly unravel and observe from the sidelines.

My ma mentioned to me last week in a conversation we were having that not everyone wants to improve their life. Naively, I'd never pondered that before. I'm always on an Oprah-like journey of self-improvement {sometimes it works for me, sometimes it just plain exhausts me}. Doesn't everyone want to be their best self?

On Sunday, while Lacey and I danced around the living room to the music channel, a song brought me to tears. It's Beyonce's I was here. She starts by saying, "I searched all around the world and I found myself."

Amazing, isn't it?

I know I won't leave a mark like Beyonce has, but I will leave the world a little better for being here. Now I just need to remember to be present, so I can remember the ride.

Are you present as you travel through life? Do you try to live your best life?

$5 dinner: Roast tomato + ricotta pasta

2012-01-10T08:04:00.002+11:00

I didn't make any resolutions this year. Usually I take great joy in crafting a list of things I want to change or do. But each year I get to the end of the 12 months I can rarely remember the resolutions, or I know that I haven't met them. This year I made a manifesto instead, something to inspire me over the year 2012. You can see it here.

One of the things on my manifesto was to be thrifty. Over Christmas Day I mentioned this to my Lil Sis, because she's the queen of thrifty. The conversation got around to how much we spend on food and we worked out it was quite a lot. I said that we'd easily spend $35 on dinner. Easy. My sister gasped and set me a challenge to do it cheaper.

I love a challenge so together we came up with a plan to try and make meals for $5. Of course we couldn't eat $5 meals for every night of the week but if I swapped out a few meals for the $5 ones ... well that's a few handbags/shoes/holidays right there.

Note: Things not included in the $5 will be salt and pepper, and olive oil. These are basics. I'm also not going to include herbs as I'll be growing my own herb garden, but I'll include the price as a guide. Each meal will serve 4 people.

Here's the first one I cooked up: Roast tomato + ricotta pasta:

Ingredients:
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved {$1.33 punnet}
2 cloves of garlic, cut into fine slithers {$0.10}
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar {$0.10}
300g penne pasta {$0.47}
1/2 x 375g tub of ricotta {$1.50}
Handful of basil, torn {around $0.60, if buying}

Method:
♥ Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
♥ Put a pot of water on the stove and bring to the boil.
♥ Place tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a medium baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Place in oven for 15 minutes {or until the tomatoes start to collapse slightly.
♥ Cook pasta in the boiling water as per the instructions on the packet {around 12 minutes} or until al dente.
♥ Once pasta is cooked, drain and place in a large serving bowl. Add the tomato and garlic mix, as well as any juices from the baking dish. Add the ricotta and basil and stir to combine.
♥ Serve among 4 bowls. Serve with half a baguette if you like {add around $0.50}.

This meal came to just $3.50 for 4 serves. Am I allowed to stick out my tongue yet and tell my Lil Sis that I knew I could? Can I?

What's your favourite cheap meal? Do you have one you'd like to see me try?

The Holiday Report.

2012-01-09T07:10:00.000+11:00

I've got a bad case of the back-to-work-blues. They come directly after a string of days off work and are best cured by more holidays, really. I don't know if anyone else suffers the same problem, but I get them bad. Even after a darn long weekend.

Here's what went down over the break:

What's your cure for the back-to-work-blues? Pina Coladas with lunch? A dip in the ocean before breakfast? Let me know, and I'll jump on it! ASAP! x

January Photo-a-day Challenge

2012-01-06T13:41:00.000+11:00

If you're on Instagram {or Facebook or even Twitter} you may have noticed a little things doing the rounds called Photo a day challenge {with the hashtag #JANphotoaday}. Thousands of people all over the world are taking photos, using the list above as inspiration and sharing them via social media channels.

The response has been crazy, and inspiring and touching. Over 30,000 photos have been shared and it's only day 6. Crazy!

If you haven't yet jumped on board, feel free to start now - and either play catch-up or just do from today forward.

There are no rules when it comes to playing along. Just take a photo and share it. Use the hashtag #JANphotoaday so that others can find your photos {if sharing on Instagram or Twitter}. You can strictly follow the list, or use it as a launchpad for inspiration.

If you've shared on your blog, on Facebook, on Tumblr or on Flickr {or somewhere else} you can share your URL below so we can check them out.

I'll be creating a photo-based challenge each month, so stay tuned here for the announcement for next month's challenge. Yay!

The year that almost wasn't

2011-12-23T06:57:00.000+11:00

A year ago, I almost gave up blogging. I was reflecting on the new year ahead, having a growing toddler on my hands and working full-time at a demanding job.

I wondered if my heart was still in it. If I still had the time to write. If I'd be able to find the balance.

Obviously, I didn't give up.

A year later and I look back at the 12 months that have just passed me by. To be honest, I thought that moment was 2 years ago because it seemed like forever since that moment. It's funny how a year can seem like so long ago, yet it seemed to roll by so fast.

Without this blog I wouldn't have been able to take the trip of a lifetime to Disney World. We still talk about that trip almost every day. It was magical. It was the time of our lives. Perfection.

Without this blog I wouldn't have found a beautiful friend in Sarah. We talk almost every day and took a trip together to the States. We're meant to be, Sarah and I. She's a friend I treasure and adore. I am so lucky that the internet helped us be friends. We had the best time in San Diego {thanks Lenovo for sending us} and made many memories.

Without this blog I wouldn't have such an amazing community. Thank you being here, reading, supporting and cheering me on. Thank you for sharing your lives with me as well. I am honoured that you choose to spend your precious time reading my words and looking at my photos. Thank you.

I'm looking forward to an amazing 2012. I put together a few words into a manifesto for what I want 2012 to look like. Here it is:

Wishing you a magical Christmas and a fab new year. I'll be taking a break with my little family and returning in the new year.

What are you wishing for in 2012? What would you put on your list for a perfect 2012?

Win the Jacob's Creek Cool Harvest wine range!

2011-12-22T11:41:00.004+11:00

Head over to my Facebook page to enter today.

I am having some trouble with the app at present. This should be fixed tomorrow morning. I will be extending this competition 3 days so that those who wanted to enter can do so. Thanks for your patience.

{boring bits}
One entry per person
Competition closes 11th January 2012 at 11:59pm
Competition open to Australian residents only
Comeptition open to entrants 18 years and over

The lucky winner of this competition is Tess Howard. Thank you to all of those that entered.

Super-easy Snickers Rocky Road

2011-12-22T07:01:00.002+11:00

I hadn't planned on sharing this but it was so super easy and amazing that it felt naughty not to. There's a story to this Snickers Rocky Road, so bear with me while I take you through it's origins. Soo.... recently I organised the Social Media Secret Santa where around 140 bloggers & twitterers swapped Christmas gifts. As a thank you for organising it a lovely lady named Amy sent me some rocky road. You can see where this is going.

It was THE most delicious rocky road I've ever tasted. Hubby declared the same. So I thanked her, and then saw that she was tweeting about the recipe. So I followed a link and found myself at my friend Lorraine's site, with my eyes on the recipe. Hubby sent me to the shops in a hurry for the ingredients. We made some changes - used chopped nuts and added some raspberry lollies {and halved the marshmallow quantity}.

You can find the recipe here. I'm making it for my family Kris Kringle. I know she'll love it. If she doesn't, well I know a few other people that will happily gobble it up {Hubby & I!}.

Do you ever give food as gifts? If so, what are your favourite recipes?

Our star

2011-12-21T07:04:00.001+11:00

You know that feeling you get when you wake up and you feel excited, and you can't quite remember why you're all filled with a humming buzz of anticipation. And then through your weary state, once the fog starts to lift, you realise that it's your birthday, or it's the weekend, or you've got a great day ahead planned or perhaps it's just that right now your life is pretty darn amazing.

For some instead of excitement, there is sadness. You wake and feel an underlying sense of sadness and can't quite remember why, and then before long it hits you. The reason for your sadness presents itself, and you go on with your day with the blue haze lingering.

This is how it feels for me to lose a loved one. In the early days it's hardest, after passing out at night with mental exhaustion, to wake and almost feel like things were normal… and then to realise that it wasn't. That life wasn't the same. That sadness wasn't some sort of uncomfortable dream, instead here to stay.

This year, 2011, hasn't been the kindest of years. It's had it's moments for sure, seeing Lacey grow into a little girl, my sister getting engaged and married, career highlights, friends becoming parents, traveling overseas and more. But in May when my father-in-law, Bluey, passed away there's been a big hole missing in our lives ever since. He was a big, big part of our everyday. He is so missed. Just the other day Lacey said from the back of the car, "Mama, I miss my Pop-Pop."

Tears instantly feel down my face and I nodded, "I know."

There's not much more I can say than that. We've explained where he is. That he's always with us. I try and talk about him with her, but it hurts.

I've always known that it's often hard at certain times of the year for people who are living without a loved one. I never realised how hard. For those who are setting one less place at the table this Christmas, I send you my love. I wish you joy and strength.

_________________________________________________________

When Bluey first went into hospital and we knew (thought) he'd come home - he talked about the video we made last summer. He was so fiercely proud of us, whatever we did. He was the sort of father-in-law that would talk with pride about us to anyone who would listen. He was everyone's friend. At the time he was in the hospital he hadn't seen the video. He held my hand and joked that he was a movie star and needed to come home and see himself starring in the video.

He never came home and he never saw the video. I hope they have the internets in Heaven. Here you go Bluey, our star. xx

Make for Christmas: Soft sugar cookies

2011-12-20T08:35:00.004+11:00

I'm going to let you in on a little secret I have when it comes to baking. As I scour recipes in magazines and cookbooks, oh and online too, of sweet treats I always look for one ingredient in the list - sour cream. If you've never tried a cake with sour cream, you really must do so. I'll share a recipe next year that will make you salivate. Seriously.

When I saw that these sugar cookies use sour cream, well I knew it was meant to be. And they are. Absolutely deliciously perfect. Make them. Now.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 & 3/4 cups plain flour

Method
♥ In a bowl combine butter and sugar. Beat until creamy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat.
♥ Add sour cream, beat until combined.
♥ Combine salt, baking powder and flour in a bowl. Mix. Add to butter mix. Mix with a spoon until combined.
♥ Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out dough until it is about 1cm thick. Cut into shapes. My circles were about 6cm in diameter - so adjust your cooking time if you're cooking smaller cookies.
♥ Gently place on to a lined baking tray and bake for 7 minutes. Get them out of the oven then. They won't look cooked {ie they're not brown} but this is how you want them to look. Place them on a wire rack to cool.

Once cooled, it's time for icing and decorating. This buttercream icing recipe is a good one. I add vanilla and a dash of gel food colouring. You could decorate these cookies with a hard icing, but this soft one just makes it so much more delicious.

{Here's Lacey's creation. She didn't have colouring in her frosting}

Notes
♥ This recipe makes about 15 big cookies. I halved the original recipe, so double it if you like.
♥ I also froze half of my batch for later and it defrosted well and then baked perfectly.
♥ If your mixture is too sticky, add in some extra plain flour until it is easier to roll out and cut.

♥ You must {it's an order} taste-test the dough. Seriously, it's the best dough I've ever tasted. Sorry waistline.

Photo a day challenge: January 2012

2011-12-19T07:19:00.002+11:00

If you ask me to do something, there's a good chance that I'll do it. Especially if it involves being creative. Recently Leah asked if I could create a photo-a-day challenge for January. So I did, happily. Here it is below:

How to play?
Use the list above as a guide, and as inspiration, and take a photo each day. You can take it with your point-and-shoot camera, your big, fancy-pants DSLR, your iPhone {or equivalent} or whatever photo-taking-device you own.

You can upload you photos to Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, Path, Facebook, your blog or just keep them on your desktop {and not share at all}. Whatever you want to do is totally fine. You can take the list above literally and stick to it, or take inspiration and go crazy.

If you're sharing them on Twitter or Instagram - you can tag them with the hashtag #JANphotoaday so that everyone can follow along with you.

You can find me on:
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
Instagram

Will you join me? If so, share your Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/etc names below so I can stalk you!

You've got the new Facebook timeline, now what?

2011-12-17T10:03:00.001+11:00

You may have noticed that Facebook has officially started to roll out the new timeline. If you don't have it yet, you may have noticed friends TOTALLY FREAKING OUT that Facebook has had the audacity to go and change things on us ... again!

Before you start getting up in arms, let me talk you through it. I enabled mine back in September so I'm a well-seasoned timeline user. It lets you see your whole life {that you've shared on Facebook in the past} rather than just letting you see your recent activity like the wall has in the past.

Here's what you need to know {and do}:

♥ Get yourself a coverphoto. You can see above that mine is of the cloudy sky. This was created to give your page a feel. Don't worry about photo sizing {but do note using a small sized photo will result in a grainy, blurry cover photo}. To upload a cover photo just hover over the bottom right-hand corner of your current coverphoto until you see 'Change cover'. You can choose a photo from your albums or upload one from your computer. Once uploaded you can reposition it until you're happy, then click 'save changes'.

♥ Organise your favourites. Above, under my cover photo, where you can see friends, photo, map and likes - this is known as your favourites. Click the down arrow to the right of the favourites and it will drop down to reveal all your favourite boxes. You can swap around what appears in the top, and remove some too.

♥ Hide things in your timeline. You'll notice that everything in your timeline is more visible. Your entire Facebook history appears in your timeline, so you'll probably want to go through and censor or tidy your past. If you want to hide anything that appears in your timeline just click the top right corner and then select 'Hide from timeline'.

♥ Ditch the pesky ad. For some reason, I'm guessing it's because of my blog name, I get loads of ads on Facebook telling me how I can lose weight. Annoying. You can click the 'x' on the top right corner of any ad to get rid of it. Take that diet pills!

♥ Show off the good stuff. Say you've just taken the best photo of yourself that the world has ever seen, or should see and you want to show it off. Or less egotistically you gave birth, got married, read a great article or found something neat and you want to share it. Once something appears on your timeline and you want to put it in the spotlight, simply hover over the top right corner until the star and pencil appear - and then click the star. This will make whatever it is you want to share become a feature, taking up two columns.

♥ Subscribe to people you're not friends with. Say you want to know what's going on in someone's life but you're not friends with them. If their profile is set to enable subscriptions you can subscribe to their public updates. Type the name of the person you want to subscribe to in the search box and once you arrive at their profile just hit the subscribe button under their coverphoto.

♥ Revisit your history. On the right hand side of your page you'll notice a list of years. Click any one of them to revisit what you were doing on Facebook at any given time. You'll be able to see photos, check-ins, status updates, who you friended and more.

So breathe. Calm down. All will be OK. If not, there's always Twitter. Or Google+.

The bridesmaid's diary

2011-12-05T13:03:00.000+11:00

Tuesday
I'm writing this from my eyebrow lady's salon. I'm camped up with my laptop on the lounge while she tends to everyone's brows for the wedding, while I work. I have a to-do list about a mile long lingering at the back of my mind. Tonight I have to write 100 labels for the lolly bags {Lil Sis is a lolly lover and is having a lolly buffet at the reception}. Lacey gets some eyebrows drawn on. It's tradition. She always wants to be like the big girls.

Wednesday
Today is my last day of work for the week before we head off for the wedding. I have a heap of things to get through for work before I disappear and log-off. Anxiety is starting to creep in amongst the excitement. I've never really been comfortable with the idea of being bridesmaid. This will be my first time. I don't like being in the spotlight, not that I will be entirely, because the bride will hopefully steal all that. And for the first time since being a child I'll have someone else decide what I wear, how I'll look - and I won't be able to wear a cardigan... oh, here comes the anxiety again. We're off to get our nails done tonight. Our nail technician {?}, Tina, tells us she has the champagne on ice ready to go!

Thursday
AM: It's an early rise to make a cheesecake and a choc-cream love heart cake for the pre-wedding BBQ today, and then off for tans. The weather is horrible and I'm starting to worry about the rain for the big day {while keeping my cool and assuring my Lil Sis that it'll be perfect and sunshine-y on the day}. The car is packed to the brim and we all pile in for the road-trip down south.

PM: We checked out the venue for the wedding and ran through ceremony with the celebrant. The spot has the perfect backdrop. The weather cleared and it ended up being nothing less than perfect. A few people got burnt during the ceremony practice. Whoops! We headed back to the house we rented for a BBQ with all of the immediate family. The house is amazing. It makes me realise how confined apartment living is. I meet some of Nath's family for the first time and realise that I went to pre-school with his sister-in-law. The world really is a small place.

Friday {Wedding Day!}
I'm the first to wake {what's new?} so I tip-toe upstairs and wait patiently for someone to wake and join me. Thankfully it's Lil Sis, the bride-to-be. We're quietly excited {so not to wake the other sleeping beauties}.

We drive into town to get some supplies for lunch and while we have the photos taken. I go out of my way to tell anyone and everyone that my Lil Sis is getting married today. They're all so excited for her.

We return back to the house and I shower and am first to have my hair and make-up done. The make-up lady, Cindy, brings this sign and places it in sight so that we don't forget to relax.

Lacey takes a moment to practice singing. She's totally come out of her shell this weekend and it's been so nice to see her excited and happy. She's more confident than ever too. Hubby and I love it.

The day seemed to go on forever, but eventually it's time to get dressed and get ready to go. Lil Sis is helped into her dress and we also get into our bridesmaid's dresses. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The aisle we walk down is a steep grassy hill. Hubby has $5 on me to stack {fall over whilst walking down the aisle}. I'm known for being clumsy but I'm determined to not let him win $5.

We pile into two cars. Hubby drives me and the bridesmaids, while my brother drives Ma, Lil Sis and Lacey. I don't really remember the drive. I was too nervous. I remember standing and waiting for my turn and walking down the aisle. Lacey was too nervous to take on her flowergirl duties, so she walked beside me scattering rose petals as we walked. Thankfully I didn't stack it. Hubby owes someone $5.

The wedding ceremony was perfect. The sun was shining. It was a little windy, but I'm not sure the loved-up couple even noticed. Before long they kissed and were announced as Mr. and Mrs. I walked back up the aisle with my partner Dave and we had champagne and some photos taken, before moving on to another location for more pics.

We all partied until late in the night. Lacey partied like it was 2011. She wiggled her hips and didn't even mind if at times she was the only one on the dance floor. I've never seen her so happy, or exhausted. I promptly put on my cardigan at the ceremony. Ah, I'm a creature of comfort.

Ma made a speech, Hubby and I danced, Lacey and I danced - everybody danced. I forgot how much I loved to dance. And then we headed home after an exhausting, perfect day.

And then we all tried to guess who would be next to get married - when can we do it all again? When was the last wedding you went to? Do you have another coming up soon?

A pre-wedding break.

2011-11-21T08:56:00.003+11:00

{This photo was taken at our friend's wedding over the weekend}

We've just returned from a beautiful sunny weekend up the coast on Salt Beach where one of Shane's best mates got married. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've been to. Their love was made to last. Definitely.

Now I'm on the downhill slide to my little sister's wedding {less than 2 weeks away!} so my nights are going to be filled with making and baking things for the big day. Something has to give {and I was hoping it wouldn't be my sanity} so I'll take a step back from blogging until after the wedding. Be prepared for a photo overload when the wedding is over though!

Have a great week and a bit. xx

Win a double pass to the Bondi Short Film Festival and a Vado HD camera!

2011-11-16T12:55:00.002+11:00

On Saturday November 26th Bondi hosts it's own little Short Film Festival where 11 films created by Australia's finest filmmakers are showcased. This year one of the wonderful sponsors are my friends from Lenovo, and to celebrate the Bondi Short Film Festival they're giving one lucky Fat Mum Slim reader a double pass and a Vado HD camera {so perhaps they can create a film to submit in next year's festival, or not!}.

To enter to be in the running to win this great prize leave a comment below answering the following question: What's your all-time favourite film?

And don't forget to like the Lenovo Facebook page, not only do they make good gear - they also do tonnes of awesome stuff for people and you gotta like that.

{boring bits}
Competition closes Wednesday November 23rd November at 12 noon
Competition open to Australian residents only {preferably close to Sydney}

Who are the people who ...

2011-11-16T06:23:00.001+11:00

{image via weheartit}

◍ ... park people in? Or across people's driveways?

◍ ... send their sick kids to daycare?

◍ ... have joint accounts with their partner on Facebook?

◍ ... can't smell their own body odour?

◍ ... expect everyone else to move when they walk on a path?

◍ ... speak too close and don't realise everyone else is edging backwards

◍ ... don't give a wave to say thanks in traffic when you've totally gone out of your way for them?

◍ ... drink tonic water? That stuff is ... undrinkable!

◍ ... head off for a run in the middle of a scorching hot day?

There are some things that I just don't get. Some of them are listed above. And to assure you that I'm not perfect, I can tell you that I'm the person who: eats chocolates and hopes to lose weight, always {always!} arrives annoyingly early to anything, cuts people off mid-sentence, often forgets to email people back and gets bored within five minutes of doing anything.

Do any of the above resonate with you? Got anything to add?

Tim Tam Tart recipe

2011-11-15T12:41:00.000+11:00

There's something special about following a post about running with a post about possibly the most indulgent tart ever, isn't there?

I feel like I should put a disclaimer in here now. Something about moderation, and fruits and vegetables. Something about exercise. I should also say that while I share a lot of sweet treats here on my blog I can assure you we eat savoury, healthy food most of the time ... but that isn't as exciting to blog about, is it?

Hubby treats himself to something indulgent once a week. He had a super hard night at work on Saturday so on Sunday Lacey and I set out to make him a sweet treat. While he slept off a night shift we whizzed and whirled the food processor {kind, quiet people, aren't we?}.

Ingredients
100g Tim Tams {equal to half a pack, which is 5 and a half biscuits}
15g butter, melted
100ml cream
100g chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

Method
♥ Process the biscuits until all nice and crumbly. Add butter and pulse until combined.

♥ Grease 2 loose bottom 8cm tart tins. Press the crumb mixtures into the tins, make sure you put it up the sides a little {about 1cm} so it will hold the chocolate filling in later.

♥ In a pan over low heat place the cream and bring it to almost boiling point. Remove from heat and toss in the chocolate. Mix until smooth. Cool slightly.
♥ Add in egg yolk and vanilla. Mix until combined.
♥ Pour into tart cases and chill for 15 minutes.
♥ In the meantime preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
♥ Cook for 15 minutes or until chocolate is set.
♥ Chill completely before serving. Serve with cream or ice cream. And raspberries if you like.
♥ Serves 2

Later in the day Lacey presented Hubby with a Tim Tam Tart and after he took his first mouthful he declared that it was the best thing he'd ever, ever tasted.

And our job was done.

I'm going to buy some proper tart cases and make these for Christmas. I'm going to have a very, very happy family.

Exiting the comfort zone

2011-11-15T06:57:00.004+11:00

{image via autoentropy}

I'm an odd being, really. I get bored easily, as many Geminis do. I like change. But I also love my comfort zone. Stepping outside it has me in fits of anxiousness.

For the past year or so I've been speaking to a counsellor. I've mentioned it a few times here. We first started off working through my body issues and helping on the path to self-love, and for the past six months or so we moved into a different direction. Julie has been my life coach, helping me move towards my best life.

We've set goals, ticked them off the list and worked through other things. In the past few weeks we've talked about stepping outside of my comfort zone. Julie asked me to write a list of things that would push me. She assured me that I might not have to do them, but it was good to have a list all the same.

I was hesitant with writing the list because I knew at some point I was probably going to push myself to do them {with some gentle nudging from Julie}. I knew I was never going to go bungee jumping or sail around the world solo. So what was I going to do? I wrote down just two things: run and speak in public.

Both of these things give me the he-be-jeebies. I watch people speaking into microphones and I wonder how on earth they do it. Firstly, on the practical side - are they yelling or speaking with their normal voice? I'd probably hold the darn thing at my torso and have everyone straining to hear a word I said.

And running? After being scarred in the past by people being unkind whilst exercising, I get a little anxious at times. {Isn't it funny how one random event can change the way you feel for years?} Walking is one thing, but if I ran - what would people say?

The day after we spoke about the list I went to a local park for a walk with my Ma, Lil Sis and Lacey. We were just walking along and I mentioned to my sister that I'd like to try running. My Lil Sis is a personal trainer and PE Teacher, so she was all 'yeah!' and 'let's do it!'. I didn't plan for it, it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. I wanted to run. I hadn't run for 4 years. I didn't think I could. But I put one foot in front of the other, and we ran. I pushed Lacey in the pram and she was excited by the speed at which we moved.

"Just to the grey car," my sister urged me.

"I think I can even do to the white car," I replied without sounding out-of-breathe.

My legs took me to the white car {about a minute or so of running} and then we went back to walking at a steady pace.

I grinned from ear to ear. I ran. I ran! I turned to my Ma and said, "I ran!"

"I'm not surprised," she smiled, "You've always been fit."

Five minutes later we ran again. Lacey was in heaven, "Wheeeee!"

So I ran. I haven't run again since. I'm not ready to do it alone. But I will, one day. As for the public speaking? Well, watch this space. I might just be coming to a microphone near you.

P.S. I know a few of you have emailed to ask about Julie and how to get in touch with her. You can visit her site here for more details.

Do you ever exit your comfort zone? What would be at the top of your list?

Gifted: 2011 Holiday Gift Guide

2011-11-14T14:16:00.000+11:00

It's no secret that I love Christmas. I've started shopping online and have written lists of people I need to buy for. I've even started planning the table decorations and meal for Christmas lunch ... and it's not even at my house. I'm annoying too.

Last week Creature Comforts launched their gift guide for 2011. Take a peek at it here {It's free}. It's absolutely beautiful, and I want to buy one of everything inside. Please.

Also over the weekend I partnered up everyone for the Social Media Secret Santa. So if you're playing along you should have received your partner via email and are free to now shop away. Enjoy!

Is it beginning to feel a lot like Christmas to you? Are you happy or sad about that?

7 memorable weekend moments {I'll probably forget by tomorrow}

2011-11-14T06:33:00.000+11:00

▹ We got up early and trekked out to the new Ikea in Tempe. Basically when it comes to Sydney, I know the East and North Shore well - but anywhere else is 'somewhere over there'. So I picked up Ma at 7:30am and readied myself for the road trip. Turns out Tempe is 10 minutes from my Ma's house. Kinda totally early.

▹ We beat the crowds {I hate crowds} and shopped our little hearts out. Somewhere in the middle of the store {around the bedding section} an alarm started to go off, "EMERGENCY. Evacuate the building immediately!" I assumed we'd just keep shopping. Who takes warnings seriously anymore anyway? {Kidding!} Men in red hats with WARDEN written across them and bright yellow jackets came out of nowhere and started to direct us to the store entrance and out to the car park. Unmotivated to trek back from the beginning we shopped from the end instead. We still haven't seen the middle of the store.

▹ I got de-moustached. My beautician has always convinced me that I never needed any upper-lip waxing, and that she'd tell me as soon as I did. Whilst getting my nails done yesterday the nail lady, Ruby, said, "I'm going to tint your eyelashes and wax your lip." So she did.

▹ Pretty much all of Sydney headed East to see the Sculptures By The Sea. They must all read my blog. The Sculptures are pretty much in my backyard so the streets around my house are like gridlock. As I was walking back from buying my morning paper a couple had decided to park half-way across our driveway. I politely told them, "We kinda can't get out when you park like that." The passenger replied, "Yeah I know" and continued to get out of the car. I stood near the car like a pathetic {yet friendly and polite} henchman. They got in the car and drove off.

▹ We bought Lacey those kid-safe knives that those genius kids on Junior Masterchef use. She's ace at cutting sugar snap peas {her speciality} usually. On Saturday she tried cutting cooked chicken. I discovered the knives aren't kid-safe. Lots of blood & a bad/sad mum moment.

▹ I made Tim Tam Tarts. They will blow your mind. Recipe to come later this week.

▹ I wore my skinnier jeans. You know you have them in your cupboard. The ones where you know if you can fit into them you're doing something right, and feeling pretty darn good about it. And then my favourite episode of Sex and the City came on {where Miranda fits into her skinny jeans after having her baby and loves herself sick}. Serendipity.

Did your weekend contain any memorable moments?

Win accessories from Stephen Joseph!

2011-11-14T00:31:00.002+11:00

To celebrate Stephen Joseph gifts being available in Australia, after 30 years of going strong in America, I'm giving away a hamper with gifts for boys and girls. Up for grabs are one durable lunchbox with train decoration, one monkey bag tag, one beautiful turtle wallet and a butterfly backpack.

To check out the range visit www.skedadle.com.au

Boring bits about the competition
One entry per person
Competition closes Sunday 20th November at 5pm
Competition open only to residents of Australia

Last chance to win 1 of 2 Lindt Christmas Bear hampers!

2011-11-12T21:50:00.001+11:00

As you may have noticed if you visit my Facebook page, I'm giving away two Lindt hampers. It seems we have some chocoholics on our hands because there are almost 500 entries as I type tonight. If you haven't entered yet, head over and do so now. Click here to be taken to the competition page

The competition is in conjunction with Lindt releasing these scrum-diddly-umptious and cute chocolate teddy bears for Christmas. It's much like the gold bunny they release at Easter time, only something special for Christmas.

Kicking off in December Lindt will host some sampling events throughout NSW, so you can try a teddy bear for yourself. You can find dates on the Lindt Facebook page.

Get in and enter, and if by chance you don't win ... you can always purchase them at Target. Good luck. x

Congratulations to the two hamper winners, Alison and Amelia. I've been in touch and will get your hampers to you ASAP. x

My new favourite App: Red Stamp

2011-11-11T06:29:00.001+11:00

I love me some Apps. Oh yes, I do! I stumbled across this one on Wednesday and I was giddy with excitement. Not only do I love Apps, but I also love stationery and beautiful, clean designs.

Red Stamp {my new favourite App} is card giving in the modern age. You can choose from hundreds of designs and send them to friends and family via text, email, twitter or even Facebook. You can even have them printed and sent by mail {I'm not sure if this option is available in Australia, as I assume the App is American}.

I've created a few Christmas designs to share with you all today, but you can create anything: Thank You cards, invitations, Happy Hanukkah cards, Sorry cards, Just because ... everything. I'm far too excited, aren't I?

It's easy to use a photo from your phone and place it in. Actually it's all so so easy. So easy even Hubby could do it. Ssshhh.

Anyways, I know this is starting to sound like an ad because I'm raving a trillion times over, but it's not. I just love stuff like this.

{Party invites anyone?}

The App is free to download. You can get it here. But you do have to pay for most of the designs, which is frustrating. But if you think about all the money you'd save on paper cards, stamps and envelopes - not to mention the writing cramps, it might be worth it.

I do still love my handwritten cards at Christmas time. So I'll be pondering this one.

Do you send Christmas cards? Do you like this App as much as me?

Win a Fred Bare summer kaftan

2011-11-10T06:41:00.003+11:00

Recently Fred Bare sent me two beautiful dresses from their range for Lacey to wear. The pink one she's worn about a trillion times over. Her favourite thing to do is jump on the bed and watch it twirl in the mirror. She's a princess like that. The red one is going to be perfect for Christmas, don't you think?

To celebrate the upcoming launch of their online store Fred Bare is giving one lucky reader the chance to win this beautiful summer kaftan {available in sizes 2x to 14} from their new range. To enter simply leave a comment below answering the following question: What are you looking forward to this Summer?

You can visit Fred Bare's website here, their blog here and you can even like their Facebook page here.

{boring bits}
One entry per person
Competition open to Australian residents only
Competition closes November 30 11:59pm

7 things kids destroy while you shower

2011-11-09T06:58:00.004+11:00

With a husband that works shift work, and a job where my home is my office, I find myself at home with Lacey a lot. I find nights are easiest and mornings are hardest, particularly when it comes to getting ready for the day. In the five minutes it takes to have a shower anything can happen. And anything longer than five minutes is an invitation for trouble. It seems that as I turn on those taps something goes off in Lacey's head to say 'Cause chaos. Now.'

Any mum knows that when things are quiet, it's time to be worried. Very worried. Here's 7 things a particular little-person has managed to destroy in the five minutes it takes me to shower.

1. The walls
In just five minutes a toddler can find a pen and take to the walls in an untidy, yet artistic fashion.

2. 12 dozen eggs
Floor omelette anyone?

3. Make-up
Just yesterday my blush was turned into pink war paint, mixed with a stick to it's death.

4. Clean laundry neatly folded on the bed
Five minutes of jumping on the bed quickly undoes all the laundry folding. Nice.

5. A favourite toy
A doll loses her head and a dollhouse loses a staircase, in under 5 minutes.

6. TV programming
A toddler can reprogram a TV with a few swift clicks of a remote. Fun.

7. Your dignity
Last week Lacey walked in with her kiddy camera and starting snapping photos of me mid-shower. Whoops!

Do your kids get up to mischief while you shower?

{image}

Best ever choc-chip cookies recipe

2011-11-08T06:51:00.002+11:00

Each weekend we like to bake, my little girl and I. Lacey is the perfect little baker, she can even crack an egg without making a mess or getting egg shell into the mixture. Pretty impressive for a 3 year old.

The only problem with baking is that there is eating. And with a wedding looming and a bridesmaid's dress to be worn, I've had to be careful. So these were made and taken with us to a party, with a few uncooked dough balls stashed in the freezer for Hubby {to cook later}. I did taste one or two, and I can assure you these are the best choc-chip cookies I ever did try. Seriously.

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 egg
2/3 cup self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1 cup milk choc chips {I used Cadbury}
1/2 cup white choc chips {I used Hershey - feel free to leave these out if you like}

Method
♥ Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius {160 degrees celcius for a fan forced oven}
♥ Line two large baking trays with baking paper {if you can't fit them all onto two trays, then you'll need to wait until a batch is cooked and put more on}
♥ Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars together until pale and creamy
♥ Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until mixed together
♥ Add flours and choc-chips and mix together with a spatula
♥ Make heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls and place onto the prepared trays
♥ Cook for 13-15 minutes until golden

♥ Place on a wire rack to cool.

Do you like white chocolate? Would you add them to your cookies?

Original recipe is from Exclusively Food.

The weekend that was

2011-11-07T07:03:00.003+11:00

On Friday afternoon I picked up my little munchkin from Kindy wearing this cute mask that she'd whipped up in art + craft time. She was understandably very proud.

Saturday the weather turned it on, big time. Perfect blue skies and sunny days for my little sister's hen's day.

En route to The Winery for a bit of part-ay.

Pretty chandelier as big as my house. Almost.

We didn't plan to take Lacey to the lunch part of the celebration but when she asked us when we were getting dressed, "Are we going to a party?" We couldn't let her down. She even wanted to wear high heels and make-up to fit in. She pretty much always does everything with us, so it made sense that she joined us for a bit of the day.

I wore layers and layers of arm candy.

Us towards the end of the day. Exhausted but happy.

I love the back streets of the Sydney CBD. There are things like bird cages, big donuts and stuff I haven't yet explored.

As well as rows and rows and rows of graffiti.

We also had passes to Ivy, but 8 hours in I was exhausted so may have piked it at that point. I was wearing purple nail polish though. Not that it makes a difference.

The next morning we hit the back streets again to pick up Lil Sis who was in pretty good condition considering.

And I made this video for my Lil Sis as a memory-keeper. It's probably pretty boring for those that didn't attend the day, but each time I watch I cry tears of laughter. Enjoy. x

How was your weekend? What did you get up to?

Sculptures By The Sea 2012

2011-11-04T09:05:00.001+11:00

{Skeleton goes fishing}

If you live in the Eastern Suburbs you may have woken to the sounds of helicopters hovering this morning, like we did. Well I did. Hubby left for work in the dark of night and Lacey sleeps best when she should be starting to wake.

Sometimes helicopters mean someone needs help after a swimming incident at the beach, but at this time of year it's the news trying to get footage of the Sculptures By The Sea. Each November there are around 100 artworks placed along the coastline from Bondi to Tamarama. I think it officially opens today, so we took a sneak peek last night before the crowds came in droves.

{Heavens Kiss}

{Sunlight spiderweb}

{A sign!}

{This is take off of the tiny 'Do Not Touch' signs that are on most artworks}

{One of our favourites - taps for the ocean}

{Frame this!}

{This guy is stunning in person}

{Lacey took this photo! Love it!}

{The 18th hole}

{Nan & Pops}

{TV time - with a real, working TV inside}

{This is an interactive artwork, there's an app you put on your phone to make a mermaid appear... or something}

{Hello!}

{A turtle made of tyres. The legs in the middle are of a man. I said to Ma, that's a little bit weird that the man is hanging out inside the turtle. We watched and got weirded out. Then we walked around and there is a whole house inside the turtle. Way cool. Sorry for judging man}

{Rudey-Nudey red man. As soon as Lacey saw this one she said "He's got a doodle!" Sure to entertain all the kids this month}

{Two screws. PG rated}

{And then all the way at the end someone - a kid maybe - has made their own little artwork, placed a number next to it so they can be part of the show. Love it}

Have a great weekend! x

Parenting in the future

2011-11-02T06:28:00.001+11:00

{image source}

There are days, much like yesterday, when I parent in the present. I get caught up in the lack of sleep a toddler creates, along with her stubbornness and tantrum-throwing. I think about the next 10 minutes and nothing more. What will get us through the day. What will get us past the present and difficult moment. I pick my battles in order to keep the peace.

There are other days, much like the day before yesterday, when I parent in the future. I try and make the best decisions for her when she's 5 or 10 or even 15. As I try and find a solution to a problem I quiz Hubby to which he replies, "You think about the future. I think about what works best now."

And I do. I'm often thinking about how our decisions today will affect her future. Is what she sees today going to matter later on? Will the way we teach her things change the way she behaves in years to come?

There are days, much like the weekend just gone, when I read or see things that stop me in my tracks and make me grateful that we have a future, that I can plan ahead beyond the present.

I read something over the weekend that had my in tears as I pored over every heartfelt word. I lay in bed reading the post with a huge lump in my throat. Emily Rapp shared, "My son is 18 months old and will likely die before his third birthday. Ronan was born with Tay-Sachs, a rare genetic disorder. He is slowly regressing into a vegetative state. He’ll become paralyzed, experience seizures, lose all of his senses before he dies. There is no treatment and no cure."

Emily doesn't parent in the future, only in the present because it's all she may very well have. She's achingly honest about it. If her son wants dessert for dinner, she lets him. She writes, "Day-to-day [life] is often peaceful, even blissful. This was my day with my son: cuddling, feedings, naps. He can watch television if he wants to; he can have pudding and cheesecake for every meal. We are a very permissive household. We do our best for our kid, feed him fresh food, brush his teeth, make sure he’s clean and warm and well rested and ... healthy? Well, no. The only task here is to love, and we tell him we love him, not caring that he doesn’t understand the words. We encourage him to do what he can, though unlike us he is without ego or ambition."

There are days like today, when I look at my little girl sleeping, and forget the stress of the diva-like tantrums of yesterday and the worries of choosing the right school for her in years to come, and I just remember to be grateful for this moment, the present. Because it truly is a gift.

You can read more of Notes From a Dragon Mom here.

Tomato, ricotta & basil pasta recipe

2011-11-01T07:23:00.000+11:00

I don't know where ricotta has been all my life, but I adore it. I'm glad we've found each other. The other day Ma whipped up some crackers with a smear of ricotta, half a cherry tomato and a sprinkling of salt ... and I was in heaven.

This dish is heaven too. It's light, easy, and quick to make. It's the ultimate mid-week meal. I used little tube pasta but it would suit little shells perfectly so the ricotta can hide within them, surprising you at each bite.

Ingredients
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
a handful of basil, torn
200g ricotta {I always buy from the deli}
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tbs olive oil
400g pasta

Method
♥ Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet or until al dente
♥ While the pasta is cooking, heat a pan over medium. Add the oil and cook the garlic until fragrant {until you can really smell it}. Add the tomatoes.
♥ Saute the tomatoes for 3 minutes or until they soften slightly. Remove from heat.

♥ Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to a serving bowl. Toss in the cooked tomatoes and garlic. Place spoonfuls of ricotta on top, as well as torn basil. Season with salt and pepper.
♥ Toss before serving.
♥ Serves 4

Note: If you like things spicy add some chopped chilli to pan when you're cooking the garlic.

What's your easy weeknight meal that you can whip up at the speed of light?

Win a Lindt Christmas Bear hamper

2011-11-01T01:04:00.002+11:00

Click here to be taken to the competition page

Terms & Conditions

One entry per person

Competition open only to residents of Australia

Competition closes November 13th 11:59pm

Weekend report: Wedding prep fun!

2011-10-31T07:03:00.001+11:00

This weekend was all about the wedding! Lil Sis gets married in under 5 weeks now, and we're going through the list and getting things done. Next weekend is the Hen's party, and I'm excited. Super excited.

How was your weekend? Go anything to report?

Working on my work wear

2011-10-28T06:39:00.000+11:00

1. Next (free shipping to AUS) $92 2. Leona Edmiston $129 3. Rachel Pally via Nordstroms $128 (50% off) 4. Kiyonna $118 5. Eliza Parker $189

Now that the smaller company I work for has been bought out by a bigger company I've had to step up my wardrobe a notch to suit the conditions. The other week when I had a big meeting to go to I messaged a workmate to ask, "Do you think I can wear jeans?"

She promptly told me, "You can NEVER wear jeans. Stop with the jeans already. Jeans are for days when you're doing nothing!"

Dang. I thought tracksuit pants were for those days!

I've been lusting over the dresses above for a while. I want something not too dressy, but dressy enough. I need something with a V-neck because I'm... well... I'm well endowed. I also wanted something with sleeves so that I didn't have to add the bulk of a cardigan.

In the end I went with number 3, after spotting Sarah Jessica Parker wearing the same dress. It's probably still too casual for work, but it's a step up from jeans ... right? Did I make the right choice?

I've also purchased a few other gems, but I'll share next week once everything has arrived.

Anyways ... I'm off to a work meeting today and then this weekend I'll be seeing the dress of all dresses ... my sister's wedding dress!

I hope you have a cracker weekend. Do you have anything planned? Weddings, parties, anything?

Dead Letter Office

2011-10-27T15:55:00.002+11:00

So the box. I wrote about the mystery box yesterday, and ever since then it's been staring back at me in a creepy kinda way. It caused us much laughter, that mystery box. Hubby and I would look at it, then back at each other and laugh, "What the heck?"

My sister came over last night, and she knew about the box, and didn't want to be near it. She made me show her the contents one by one... but she was too freaked out to come in contact with the box.

The box looked like it had been around the world. It had three return addresses. One was in Chinese, and two were addresses from the USA. It had a letter stuck to the outside and inside the letter was written in Chinese.

One of the addresses turned out to be the lady who sent me wedding invites a fortnight ago {I made them and had them printed in the States}. I emailed her and asked if the jackets were hers. She replied with, "I had to read your email twice, I was so confused. I have no idea what you're talking about. They're not my jackets."

One of the other return addresses belonged to Dianne Fox so I attempted to stalk her on Facebook but do you know how many Dianne Fox's there are in the world? Too many! The last address was in Chinese, so unless I planned on learning Mandarin in a hurry... it was a no go (Please tell me they speak Mandarin in China, geography and culture I am no good at).

So I grabbed the huge box and took it to my post office. And after a few giggles my friend Phil informed me that there is a place for these things, and it's called the Dead Letter Office. Doesn't that sound dark and depressing?

But that's where the poor box is headed. Phil marked it with a DLO and sent it on it's way.

Poor box.

Anyways, after all that I'm feeling a little 'meh' so I'm off to my mecca {aka Officeworks} to cheer myself up.

P.S. If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time to join the Kris Kringle fun. Almost 100 people have signed up already, so throw your name in the ring too. x

The mystery box!

2011-10-26T07:22:00.002+11:00

Yesterday I was downstairs when Hubby answered the door to a delivery man with armfuls of parcels. I stuck my head up the stairs and as Hubby was signing for the delivery he mouthed, "There's heaps!"

So I meandered upstairs for a look-see and he was right, there were heaps. Some small and some big. We slowly made our way through them. There were boxes filled with lollies for my sister's weddings, new shoes for me, and one huge box on the floor. I grabbed a knife and opened it.

I like to buy things on eBay, sometimes late at night, but never drunk... although I did think when I opened the last parcel that I might have haphazardly purchased something odd. A heap of second-hand books greeted me when I opened the parcel.

"What is it?" Hubby asked.

"I actually have no idea!" I replied.

So I kept removing things and discovering more oddities, Bandaids and chocolates.

There were three jackets, all used for kids, it seemed. And a see-through apron. I was suddenly a little more weirded out. And confused. What on earth had I purchased? It had my name on the front so it was mine. But I didn't know how.

As I neared the bottom of the box, there were heavy items wrapped in several bags and I would be lying if I said drugs didn't cross my mind. I slowly unwrapped the item and it revealed a stain remover spray bottle. Weird.

It seems Quarantine thought the parcel was a little suss too, so they let me know they'd opened up the parcel and checked it themselves.

Someone has paid US$90 to get it to me, so it's a lot of money to spend on postage!

I still have no idea what this parcel is or why I have it. I have no room in my house for a big box of things I don't need, so I am hoping that someone owns up to it ASAP.

Is this your box? What would you do with it?

10 things you really don't need to know about me

2011-10-25T06:39:00.005+11:00

{print from Aeropagita Prints via Etsy}

1. I'm very bad at doing nothing
In fact I'd go as far as saying I don't really know how to do nothing. I'll read a magazine, cook dinner, watch a program on TV and play with Lacey at the same time. If I find my life in a lull, I'll take on or start another project of something. Right now I'm up to my hair follicles in work, helping planning a wedding, making invites and sending them out, helping planning a hen's night, and juggling day-to-day life as a mama/wife/employee/friend/sister/etc

2. I have the travel bug
I've never been one to want to travel. My sister would jet off around the world and I'd bid her farewell without a sniff of envy. I had no desire to travel overseas. I loved Australia and wanted to explore here. Now I actually read the travel section in the newspaper and I dream of planning another trip. Where to next?

3. I'm too assertive but I'm not assertive enough
Last week it came to light that I'm a little too assertive within my extended family. It's been said that 'I'm the glue that keeps our family together' but I'm also kinda a bit too sticky. I make the decisions. I tell everyone what we're doing. I've done it for so long that I didn't even notice that I did it. Yet at work, I'm always being told that I need to be more assertive. I need to find a happy medium.

4. I have an addictive personality
I easily get addicted to things. Right now it's diet coke and ricotta cheesecake. Why do they have to be food? I just got told that diet coke is so bad for me that a woman recently lost her liver because of it. I've always thought that it had so many chemicals that one day all the diet coke drinkers would grow an extra arm, or something. No more diet coke for me.

5. Finding my 'career' just after becoming a mum has been hard
Just like I never wanted to travel, I never really wanted a career. I never ever wanted to work in an office and I never wanted to experience the pressure of a business. Stumbling across my career after becoming a mum has been an interesting journey {read: hard}. I just wanted to win lotto and pop babies out. I love having a career now. I love making a difference. I do wish that I'd started in my 20's. I do look forward to my future.

6. I had a career highlight this month
We had an editor's conference and I sat in a small room with a whole host of brilliant print and digital editors. When our business had a chance to talk my boss and CEO spoke about Social Media and the role I play. They were so complimentary and suddenly my idols {magazine editors} wanted to talk to me. I even shared a toasted sandwich moment with Donna Hay.

7. I have a super fear of microphones
At the same conference I saw someone heading towards me with a microphone so I could answer questions and I froze. I couldn't do it. There was one strict rule I had at my wedding, no microphones for me. I can't go near them. I am going to put it on my list of things to make myself do to get out of my comfort zone.

8. This year has been full of ups and downs
I feel like this has been one of the worst years of my life, mainly because of losing Bluey {Hubby's dad}. Nothing feels 'right' anymore. I still get really teary and can't really talk about him without crying. At the same time Lacey couldn't possibly be any cuter, my sister got engaged, I've been overseas twice {including a trip of a lifetime to Disney World}. Still, it's all a little tough.

9. I'm losing weight
In the past couple of months I've lost 8kg {one dress size} and I'm slowly losing more. It's hard to diet but not diet, but I'm finding a happy place {eating healthy, moving more, losing weight slowly}. At my sister's wedding the other bridesmaids are size 6's and 8's. It's inevitable that I will be the chubby bridesmaid.

10. I struggle with the last 20%
I get all revved up for starting anything. Cleaning the house, cooking dinner, a new project, tackling my inbox, making something, anything. And then when I reach 80% I get unmotivated. So the fact that I finished this list, is a miracle in itself.

I was tagged by the lovely Rachael at It Must Be Coffee Time, and I'm now tagging you. You! If you have a blog, share it over there. If you don't, tell me below. What's something that I don't need to know about you?

It's all fun & games ... until someone loses a finger

2011-10-24T07:17:00.001+11:00

On Saturday I had an appointment for a much-deserved facial {decided by me!}, and it just so turned out that Ma had an appointment for some eyebrow maintenance at the same time and same place, so we went together, taking Lacey with us.

We headed to Double Bay on one of the most perfect days Sydney has seen. Seriously, the whole weekend was pretty darn delectable. After the facials and eyebrows were done we headed to look at the shops. For those that don't know Double Bay is often called Double Pay, simply because it's where the ridiculously rich like to play.

I love Double Bay because I feel like an imposter. I've got as much money in my bank as they probably have in their purses on a daily basis and my shoes are from Target. But also it's clean, I love the shops and well, it never fails to amuse me either.

Lacey has an obsession with dogs. We don't have one so she'll ask politely of anyone with a dog whether she can pat it. So after buying some sandwiches and broccoli salad {seriously we had to do as the locals did, and it was delicious!} we saw a sweet little dog sitting outside with his owner. Lacey asked the lady if she could pat the dog, with my Ma by her side, and the lady said 'yes' as she gave us a smile.

Ma and Lacey showed the dog their hands so that he could smell them, and then gently patted him on the head. Before I could figure out what was happening Ma and Lacey were shuffling off and back to the car.

"Thank you so much," I said to the kind dog-owner.

"Did he say no?" she asked.

'Did he say no?' I ran the question through my head. What was she talking about? I suddenly clicked that she meant the dog. Did the dog say no? "I don't know," I smiled wondering if she knew I wasn't fluent in dog and followed after Ma.

It turns out the dog actually did say no by snapping at Lacey and Ma. As we walked through the cafe I realised Ma and I weren't the only ones getting some maintenance. There were two lovingly bandaged people recovering from a little nip and tuck. I fell in love with Double Bay a little more.

{I gave colour blocking a whirl}

So we headed back to our modest little homes, me with glowing skin and Ma with impeccable eyebrows. Oh and Lacey with a missing finger {kidding!}.

How was your weekend? Do you have any stories to share? Do you speak dog?

Win a hamper of lunch-time goodies

2011-10-23T15:48:00.001+11:00

Click here to be taken to the competition page

Terms & Conditions
One entry per person
Open to Australian residents only
Competition closes on October 31st 2011 at 11:59pm

Peanut butter cookies recipe

2011-10-20T11:51:00.000+11:00

Whenever we visited my Nanna she'd always make things seem so super special. I've talked about her before but she was so lovely and gentle. The perfect grandma. Her skin was soft, her touch so calming. She really was such a lovely soul.

Each time we'd visit she'd whip up {and I say whip up but I'm sure it was more 'made with love'} some peanut butter cookies and some pumpkin scones. To us it felt like she had them on endless supply, but the truth is that she probably only made them for when we visited.

I know my Ma has her recipes somewhere special, and I will dig them out one day but instead I mixed up a few recipes and made my own peanut butter cookie recipe. They're pretty good.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
pinch of salt
125g butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup crushed peanuts {or chopped if you prefer}

Extra
1/2 cup white sugar {to roll the cookies in before cooking}

Method
♥ Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
♥ In a bowl beat the butter with an electric beater until light a fluffy. Add the sugar. Beat. Add the vanilla and the egg. Beat until all mixed together.
♥ Add the peanut butter and peanuts and beat on slow until completely mixed in.
♥ Add the flour and the salt. Mix again on slow.
♥ Roll the dough into balls {mine were about the size of a heaped tablespoon}. Roll in the sugar and place on the baking tray.
♥ Use the back of a fork to gently press down on the cookie to slightly flattened.
♥ Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden.
♥ Enjoy!

Do you have fond memories of your grandparents? Do any of them involve food?

Parenting makes my head hurt

2011-10-19T06:50:00.001+11:00

Ugh. I've woken with a little bit of a headache. But then I realised that they're called hangovers. It's been so long.

Last night we went out for Japanese with my cousin and her beau. I asked for half a glass of wine, but my glass kept getting refilled by someone and before I knew it my skin was all tingly and I knew I was getting tipsy. It only takes a glass and a half. I started downing water like it was nobody's business in order to fight off the inevitable hangover. A little vegemite on toast and a bottle of water this morning is making things better.

We went to our favourite little Japanese place. The same place that Lacey ate the mouthful of wasabi. Thankfully she's wise to the wasabi now, but the girl makes me smile. She'll give anything a whirl when it comes to food. She ate sashimi, tofu and even gave eggplant a go.

We're off to Lacey's orientation today {I'm hoping I'm all chipper by the time that rolls around}. I've now entered into the serious end of parenting. I'm thinking of sending her to two different kindergartens next year. One is more of a pre-school and the other is her current daycare {but they follow the curriculum}. Last night it hit me that it's probably too much for her. Does anyone have any advice? {Pre-school can only do 2 days, and I kinda need 3-4}.

And then she's an April baby, so I need to decide do I send her to big school early or hold her back a year. My heart says hold her back, but her teacher says send her early because she'll be ready.

My head hurts! I think moreso from all the thinking now, and less from the hangover. Do you have any advice? When is your birthday? Did you go to school early or did your parents hold you back a year?

Sit-ups & sprints... oh my!

2011-10-18T08:30:00.000+11:00

{source}

After we got married and before I fell pregnant I used to love exercising. Actually I might not have loved it, but I did a fair bit of it. I used to exercise most mornings, and a handful of personal training sessions each week too.

I'd run from Bondi to Bronte non-stop {with my personal trainer leading the way, making me too scared to even contemplate a quick breather}. I'd even spend my weekends finding new walking paths, through various suburbs.

I used to write in a forum a fair bit back then too, so we'd check in and say what exercise we've done each day. Below was a typical day of exercise, with a walk or run thrown in on top:

Now my exercise revolves around newsagents. I bribe myself to go for a walk with the lure of a newsagent stop somewhere in between. I do love my magazines. There are newsagents scattered all over Bondi, so it quite works.

I've been getting back into exercising of late. Not the sprints and sit-ups just yet, but walking more. The bonus is that Lacey quite likes being in the pram {she didn't for soooo long} so it's treat for us to go out for a walk. Yesterday I decided to take a path I hadn't traveled before, because I knew it had hills and would be a hard one. Of course there was a newsagent pit-stop somewhere thrown in too.

OMG. It was the hardest walk ever. I was red like a beetroot for about 3 hours afterwards. So hard! I am kinda excited to do it again though...

What exercise have you done today?

Letter to Lacey: Forty Months

2011-10-17T06:32:00.000+11:00

Dear Lacey,

I quite like 3 and a half. You're my little shadow. We laugh together. Play together. Tell jokes together. Bake together. Three and a half is all sorts of fun.

On the flip side, three and a half is a bit of a hard work. As much as there is laughter, there are tantrums. Tantrums of diva-like proportions.

The other day, as I made my way back from a walk, I ran into the young guy from upstairs. We started chatting and I asked, "I hope we're not too noisy for you. I hope you can't hear her crying from upstairs?"

"I can," he said with a smile, "but it's OK. It's not that bad."

Finally, after three and a bit years of broken sleep, you started sleeping in your own room. You still wake three or four times some night, but we're getting there.

In the biggest news of all, you have a boyfriend. He's three months your junior but just as much in love with you as you are with him.

Three and a half is fun Lacey, but it does kinda make me scared about what four will bring.

Love Mama. xx

This week...

2011-10-14T06:33:00.002+11:00

{source}

This week has been an emotional, exhausting one. Here's what I've discovered:

♥ In good news, dumplings are my new sushi. I love those guys.

♥ After being a magazine fan for as long as I can remember, being in a room filled with magazine editors yesterday was like being in a concert with one of my favourite artists. Sad, but true. And I'm going back today for more.

♥ Tomorrow is my anniversary and I completely forgot until Facebook popped up with this this morning. This year the traditional gift is candy. Yum! Happy Anniversary Hubby!

♥ After writing off YouTube as a time-waster for years, I got the bug this week while searching for videos for work. There are some super cute animals and kids on there. Plus I'm totally learning how to do my make-up and hair on YouTube. Win!

There's so much more I want to write... but I have to get ready for work. How has this week been for you? Do you plan on a whole lot of relaxing this weekend, like me?

Letting strangers near your smalls

2011-10-13T06:23:00.001+11:00

You know what I don't get about apartment living? The sharing of the clothesline. I can't get used to the public display of people's clothing. I don't want Johnny's undies next to my jeans. I just don't. And I can kinda tell what belongs to who without even knowing the person. The pretty blonde in apartment 4 most certainly owns the teeny crochet bikini, and the Batman quilt cover has to be the weird guy in the apartment out the front.

Luckily enough I don't use the public clothesline as we're lucky enough to have our own backyard, and our own prized clothesline. Something country people probably take for granted. I know, as kids, we thought everyone owned a Hills Hoist. None of those clothing horses for inside, and especially no clothesline off the side of the house.

This week our washing machine stopped working. We're a-load-a-day type people, so this, naturally, devastated us. We live 100 metres from a laundromat, but I couldn't bear the thought of someone else handling my smalls {which funnily enough aren't actually that small}.

So every couple of days I've been loading up my basket and heading over to Ma's house across town to wash my clothes {and Hubby's and Lacey's too}.

Lucky enough Ma is on holidays so I work away while my clothes are washing. She makes us lunch too. Monday was ricotta and tomato on crackers {my new favourite} and yesterday was healthy mushroom risotto {how do mums always make things taste better?}.

Today the repairman is coming to fix our machine and I'm hoping and praying that it's a quick fix. If there's something I hate more than airing my clean laundry in public, it's paying hefty prices for boring white-good repairs.

Do you live in an apartment or a house? And could you let a stranger handle your smalls?

{image via ooilike}

The reading pile

2011-10-12T08:23:00.000+11:00

This is just one of my pile of books beckoning for me to read it. I'm far too optimistic when buy books. I'm all, "I'll find the time!" And I never do. I think the solution is a lamp beside my bed, especially now that I don't have a toddler sleeping next to me {whom I was scared of waking}.

What are you reading at the moment? What book/s are in your reading pile?

P.S. The Artist's Way was a birthday gift from my boss. She thinks I'm too creative for my own good and that it sometime sends me a little batty. It's on top of the pile. Not literally, but I'll be reading it next. I promise.

P.P.S. The Choice Guide to Baby Products is a work book. No, I'm not pregnant.

What I'd save in a fire

2011-10-11T06:17:00.000+11:00

I'm scared of flying. I know this has nothing to do with fires, but bear with me. So when I flew to Melbourne in July with bloggers Eden and Simone I was a little anxious during the flight. Eden kindly piped up more than once during the flights and told me, "We're going to crash!" or "We're going to die!"

After I removed my heart from my throat and the colour returned to my face she comforted me by stating, "If I say it, it won't happen."

So now I feel safe in saying what I'd save in a fire, because then - according to Eden's law - it just won't happen. Meaning there won't be a fire, not meaning I won't save this item. Right?

This would be the thing that I'd grab first, once all the people in my family were safe. It's a book my Ma and Lil Sis gave me on the night before I was married. It's filled with photos, and stories from my life.

My Ma and Lil Sis even asked everybody from my life up until that point to write a little something, a letter or a note for me. I don't know what guidelines they gave everyone, but most of the letters are wishing me well and saying why people love me, or even sharing memories from our friendship.

I have very few photos from my childhood, so these are special.

This is not me, but we laugh because it very well could have been!

Me and Lil Sis.

The book is filled to the brim.

Me and one of the beautiful kids I nannied.

My good friend Rowe and I.

A letter from Shane's mum & dad, welcoming me to the family.

Shane and I at the zoo, taken by a 4 year old.

The book is so so so much more than these photos show. It's so special and was the best gift I could have ever imagined.

What would be the one item you'd save in a fire?

Bake it today: blueberry muffins recipe

2011-10-10T14:21:00.001+11:00

I have a love for berries. I'm crazy about blueberries, strawberries and raspberries too. It I had a mulberry tree in my backyard I'd be happy. Very happy. Hubby hates berries though, so it's up to Lacey and I to eat our way through them. Sometimes I go a little overboard and buy too many berries. Just like I did last week.

I had a punnet and a half of berries waiting to be eaten, and I thought I'd turn them into a little baking fun for Lacey. So we whipped up this deliciously perfect blueberry muffin recipe. I'll be freezing them so that we can get through them as we need.

Ingredients
1 x 300g tub sour cream
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk
55g butter, melted
1/4 cup plain flour
1 2/3 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries {if frozen - don't thaw them}

Method
♥ Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius. Prepare the tin by lining a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases
♥ In a small bowl combine sour cream, egg & vanilla. Allow to sit while preparing flours and sugar
♥ In a medium bowl combine flours and sugar. Mix berries in and coat them in the flour mix
♥ Add melted butter and milk to the sour cream mix. Add to the flour and blueberry mix. Stir to combine. Don't overmix or you'll burst the blueberries
♥ The mixture is quite coarse and dry {but oh-so-delicious}
♥ Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cases
♥ Cook for 25-30 minutes or until golden

Serve warm or freeze them like we are.

What's your favourite fruit? Are you a berry fanatic like me?

{recipe is adapted from Exclusively Food}

Bridesmaids, Blueberries & BBQs

2011-10-10T06:26:00.001+11:00

Can I be predictable and say that weekends just roll by way too fast? Well I did, and they do!

My weekend entailed:

Accidentally sleeping in
Getting ready at the speed of light
Picking up Big Sis
Picking up Ma
Heading down South
Getting breathalised {Lacey calls it a blood test}
Eating a naughty bagel for breakfast
Trying on my bridesmaids dress
Cheering that it fight perfectly
Find the perfect bridesmaids shoes
Having lunch
Heading back home
Sleeping
Waking
Reading the papers
Having a BBQ lunch
Making blueberry muffins
Playing princesses
Burning dinner
Sleeping

How was your weekend? I won't reveal what colour our bridesmaids dresses are, but if you were getting married what colour would you pick?

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

2011-10-07T14:48:00.000+11:00

I know everyone's talking about the loss of Steve Jobs, but wasn't he amazing? Didn't he do and say some pretty brilliant things. I am yet to listen to his TEDtalk or his University speech, so I plan on doing that this weekend. I was devastated to hear that he was so sick back in August. Shocked actually. And then so sad to hear of his passing yesterday. Thanks for being such an inspiration Steve, from one geek to another.

I've heard a lot of great quotes from Steve, but this is one of my favourites - so I made it up into a poster on my iPhone. It seemed like the geeky thing to do. xx

Puppy dog tales

2011-10-07T07:35:00.000+11:00

One of the most drama-filled moments I experienced as a nanny happened in the City. We were on a day out during the school holidays and were visiting Centrepoint Tower. For those that don't know it's name has changed now but it's Sydney's tallest building and it was pretty busy that day.

The four kids and I waited for a lift to take us back to street level. People were everywhere, so I had my little ducks all huddled in nice and close to me. A lift arrived and opened but it was going up instead of down, so we waited for the next one. Except one of my smallest charges who was only 3 at the time, he hopped into the lift. Before I had time to grab him, the doors closed and my little boy was in the lift alone, going up.

It was one of the worst moments of my life. I intitially screamed, but then realised I needed to stay calm. I yelled into the lift, hoping my voice would carry up the chamber for him - assuring him to just stay in the lift and that we'd be with him soon. It felt like forever, but I kept talking to him - all the time hearing his screaming as the lift went higher. Eventually the doors opened and inside stood a very sad, scared and teary three year old.

As he got older he loved hearing that story. Of course I told him with much drama and enthusiasm, so he understood just how traumatic the situation was and still seemed to be so many years on.

I was watching a re-run of Modern Family on Wednesday night and that same thing happened to one of the families. It was much more funny watching it happen to someone else. It instantly reminded me of my nanny family though, and suddenly I missed them.

Yesterday as I drove Lacey to Kindy I thought about them. Lacey goes to Kindy right near where I used to work, so I often think of the family as I drive through those familiar streets. I quite miss nannying, a lot. I miss the kids and I miss the lifestyle. I dropped Lacey off and headed home to work, but spotted a stray dog out of the corner of my eye.

The family that I nannied for had a dog who fancied himself a bit of a Houdini {Houndini if you like!}. Many of my days were spent searching for that dog. He was cheeky bugger who could find his way out of anywhere. One day I even found him at a cafe, on a leash, lunching with old ladies from the neighbourhood. They'd kindly taken it upon themselves to look after him for a while.

I pulled up beside the dog and called him over. He came running towards me, so I popped him into the car. He looked different though. A little greyer, and scruffier than before. Suddenly I wondered if I'd picked up someone else's dog. "Is that you?" I asked him {funnily enough, he didn't reply}.

"Does it smell like you?" I asked taking a big whiff.

I pulled back the fur from his eyes and looked him square in the face and asked, "Is that you? Or have I picked up another dog?"

He still didn't reply, so we drove along to my old work feeling secretly thrilled that I'd get to see the kids again.

It turns out that I did have the right dog. And let me tell you, kids grow mighty big quickly when you don't spend every day with them. They had a trillion new freckles, as I imagined they would. They were much taller. Much older, even though just a year has passed since we said goodbye {I've seen them on and off since, but it feels like forever}. It kinda made me a little sad. A whole lot of sad to be honest. Oh, I miss them.

Do you have a job that you miss?

Walking the path to self-love

2011-10-06T06:44:00.003+11:00

This time last week I shared about the past 12 months of my life and stopping the dieting dance that I've been doing my whole life. I was overwhelmed and touched by the response from everyone. To know that other have walked the same path, was sad but comforting at the same time. I have been speaking to Julie from Beautiful You regularly for over a year now, and she's helped me along the way. She's amazing and I adore her. We spoke on Friday and wanted to share in some way a little bit of advice. Julie has kindly written this piece for me to share here.

I’m honoured that Chantelle has asked me to write this short, but hopefully sweet, guest post, to follow up on her beautiful and poignant ‘The Dieting Dance.’ The words she shared with you about her journey to learning to love her body and give up a dieting merry-go-round has clearly touched many hearts. Not only are her words a lovely sharing of her life, they clearly mirror the many feelings and experiences so many of you and many others, have.

As someone who is passionate about helping people learn to love their bodies, the following are my most powerful and best used tips that may help you on a path to body love and a positive relationship with food too:

♥ If you’re tempted to go on the latest diet or just give another diet ‘one more go’ please remember you’re embarking on something that has a 95% long term fail rate. Also – just in case you’re thinking it’s your fault the diets you are trying are not working – it’s not. It’s the diet. Not you.

♥ Don’t for a moment think that being thinner will make you happy, or be the answer to all your prayers. Weight loss does not give that to you. Only you can give that to you by choosing to love yourself and develop the type of thinking that supports a happy mindset.

♥ Don’t focus on numbers. Give up counting calories, weighing yourself and measuring yourself and instead focus on how you feel. Beautiful and healthy people shine with energy and vitality; something that is not determined by size and weight alone.

♥ Saying things such as “You’re disgusting. You need to lose weight” to yourself means you are operating from a position of self hate which will likely see you move into a mindset of diet and deprive. Think instead what you might achieve if you said “I love my body. I honour it and respect it.” How might that change how you feel, eat, exercise, live and love?

♥ The most powerful way you can develop a more positive relationship with food is to learn how to eat mindfully and intuitively. It’s all about slowing your eating down, eating foods you love, not depriving yourself, eating when you’re hungry and not eating when you’re not.

♥ Learn to love and appreciate your body for what it does rather than what it looks like. Express and think grateful thoughts to yourself about how it supports you to walk, play with your children, work, love and experience the world. When you learn to think of your body in this way you will become less concerned about comparing yourself to others and what you look like, and more grateful for the amazing things your body can do.

♥ Know that a loving and positive relationship with food and your body is absolutely possible no matter what your history, dress size, weight, age, gender and anything else you can think of. If you want it, you can have it.

Wishing you much body love,
Julie Parker

Julie Parker is a certified coach and clinical counsellor for women who want to shine with passion, confidence and unshakable self-respect - and take magnificent strides towards beautiful bodies, beautiful businesses and beautiful lives. Through 1:1 sessions, both in person in Melbourne and virtually around the world, Julie’s clients sift through their dreams, set crystalline goals, dissolve limiting beliefs and celebrate their successes as they begin to live their song. At Beautiful You, Julie shares inspiring images and empowering words to help women cherish their bodies and claim their brilliance. Find her online at BeautifulYouByJulie.com, Facebook and Twitter.

{image via pinterest}

Social Media Secret Santa: join the fun!

2011-10-05T14:26:00.005+11:00

I know it feels waaay too early to start thinking about Christmas. I know. But I'm the anti-Grinch. I love Christmas. And I want you to love it too!

I've been cooking up this idea for a while. I've hosted gift exchanges on my blog before, and they were fun. I thought this might be another good way to give and have fun. For those that haven't heard of a secret santa before, it's where you buy gifts for another person and keep it as a surprise - until you reveal later on.

You'll submit your details in a private form and then at a later date be given your gift recipient's details. You can stalk them on their blog and on Twitter to take a guess at what they might like receiving. The gift limit is $30. This doesn't include postage, sending the gift to them is on top of this cost. You can buy things online for them, or at your favourite local store. You could even make something yourself to add to the gift.

Details:

♥ To take part you must submit your details by November 10th 2011

♥ Partners will be allocated and emailed by November 15th 2011

♥ You must send your gift by December 10th 2011

♥ Gift limit is $30 {postage is on top of that}

♥ This is open to bloggers who have had a blog for 3 months or more. {I'm sorry to those who don't blog, but in the past with gift exchanges it's been difficult to make people accountable - I am hoping this will solve that issue}. If you're on Twitter but don't have a blog and want to play along - please email me so we can work it out

♥ Your details will not be shared with anyone except the person buying your gift

♥ I've created a Facebook group for any conversations around the Secret Santa, including the final reveal

♥ The lovely Sarah and I will be allocating partners. This will be done randomly. If you live overseas {not in Australia} but would like to take part, you must be willing to post a gift to someone living in Australia. You will note that I've asked in the survey if you're willing to send overseas. This applies to Australians as well, who are willing to send to bloggers who live overseas. Obviously postage overseas will cost slightly extra.

♥ The hashtag for Twitter is #SMSecretSanta

♥ Please only participate if you can follow through. It can be very disappointing to play along and then not receive a gift. I can not take any responsibility for gifts not arriving or participants not playing properly

Do you want to take part in the fun? Enter your details here.

Once you've selected to join in the Secret Santa fun, you can join the group on Facebook - in case you need hints and tips on what to buy your gift recipient.

What on earth did we use to do?

2011-10-05T06:28:00.000+11:00

Hubby and I are heading away in November for a weekend up the coast when our friends get married. We've asked Ma to look after Lacey, and she wanted to get a bit of practice under her belt before November rolled around. She has Lacey a lot during the day, but Lacey can be a bit of a nightmare at sleep time so we wanted to make sure she was ready to take her on.

So yesterday Ma came to take Lacey away for two days and one night to my little sister's house, and to see my little brother too. Hubby had a few days off work, so it was just me and him.

We ate lunch and then sat together on the couch while I worked away. After I while I looked at him and asked, "What on earth did we use to do before Lacey?"

I couldn't, for the life of me, remember how we used to spend our time before kids. Either could Hubby. Is that crazy?

I know we definitely nursed more hangovers, and had more spare time. Oh, and we definitely slept a whole lot better.

For the mums among us, do you remember what you once did with your time? How has your life changed since having kids?

Is social media making us lazy & stupid?

2011-10-04T13:34:00.005+11:00

Over the weekend, as we weaved our way through the back streets of Sydney, I directed my mum to where we need to go. We first stopped in Kings Cross and then over to Crows Nest for a Charlie Lovett sandwich {try them, they're delish}.

I've lived in Sydney for around 12 years now and for the most part, I didn't own a GPS. Actually, I still don't own a GPS in my car but Hubby has one in his. I know my way around Sydney, mostly the Eastern Suburbs, the City and the North Side. I get a little lost when it comes to the Inner West and Western Suburbs.

As we were driving, I wondered if I'd have been able to learn where to drive if I had a GPS to lead the way in the early years. I doubt it. When I use my GPS it takes me where I need to go, and I don't really have to think. I'm on autopilot.

Maltese Philosopher, Edward De Bono, has said this week that Social Media is making us lazy and stupid. He says, "That we can get information our computer and our communication systems are getting better and better, people say ‘I don’t have to think, information will make my decision for me’, and that completely rules out creativity using the information in a different way, or new way."

“{Social media causes} laziness, that we just feel we’ll just get more information and we don’t need to have ideas ourselves – we’ll get ideas from someone else, we don’t need to look at the data we’ll just see what someone else has said and so on.”

I kinda agree. I used to read encyclopedias for fun as a child. I know, I know. But now if I need to know something I just look it up, or ask somewhere online.

The other day, while we were driving, Ma asked me how my girlfriend was. I told her she was well and updated her briefly on her life. "Oh, did you see her recently?" Ma asked.

"Umm, no, I read it on Facebook," I sheepishly replied to my non-Facebook using Ma.

Social media has definitely made socialising easier. At the same time making us lazier. It's definitely a lot less satisfying catching up online, rather than offline. Don't you think?

So social media has made me somewhat lazier, but stupid, no. I know so much more about so many random different things because of social media. Would I have known that Jessica Simpson is supposedly pregnant without Twitter? Or that I'd have to get married 100 times to beat this record-breaking couple? Or what a duck looks like when it yawns?

So see, I'm not stupid. I know stuff. Social media taught me.

Do you think social media is making us lazy and stupid? What's the best thing you've learnt online?

{image via I'm in a trance}

Basic pancake recipe

2011-10-04T07:02:00.000+11:00

On Sunday night I promised Lacey I'd make her pancakes in the morning, in an attempt to urge her to go to sleep. I thought/hoped she'd forget.

By the time morning came around I'd completely forgotten about my empty promise, and it seemed Lacey had too. I made her honey on toast and put it on her little table in front of her.

"But... where's my pancakes?"

So of course, I whipped up half a batch of pancakes for my princess and she happily gobbled them up. Here's the recipe I love, as it never lets me down.

{All pancakes should be made whilst sporting crazy bed hair, right?}

Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
3 tablespoons of caster sugar
2 1/3 cups milk
80g butter, melted
1 egg

Method
♥ Measure flours into a bowl {sift if you like. I don't sift anything!}. Add sugar and stir.
♥ Add milk, butter and egg. Whisk until well combined.
♥ Brush a small frying pan with butter and put on medium heat.
♥ Add around 1/3 cup of pancake mixture to the frying pan. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the pancakes starts to bubble on the surface. Turn the pancake over and cook for another minute.
♥ Serve immediately with your topping of choice. I like lemon and sugar. Lacey is a maple syrup kinda girl.

How do you like your pancakes?

Things that annoy me ever-so-slightly

2011-10-03T06:40:00.001+11:00

The weather was crapola this past weekend. Well, Saturday was almost perfect - and I did the day justice by hanging with Lacey down by the beach, but yesterday was pathetically windy, cold, rainy and miserable. I loved it. I let my hair go crazy/frizzy, I wore my daggiest clothes and I did the grocery shopping online so we didn't have to leave the house at all.

So when Ma called and asked if I'd go to Kings Cross with her, I flat out said, "No!" And then the guilts set in. So after justifying my 'no' for three minutes, I swiftly changed my answer to a yes {darn guilts} and told her that I'd go along with her, but I wasn't doing my hair or getting changed. {The sign above is from Kings Cross and the total opposite of how I was feeling}.

I'm such a planner, that I get frustrated when plans get changed on me. I've learnt to shut up and let my mind process the changes, but I do have to say there have been a few times that I've got up in arms when my plans don't go to ... plan.

Here's a few other things that annoy me ever-so-slightly:

* Spitting. Ugh. When I was at the beach on the weekend a dad spat right on the sand near me. I gagged and almost vomited. It's one of my can-not-handle things. I'm gagging as I type this. Ugh.

* Omelettes. I don't even know if that's how you spell it, but I don't even care. I don't like them. Not one bit. I can't even stand the smell. Gagging, again.

* Used lunchboxes. Hubby makes omelettes often and takes them to work. Often he'll put the used lunchboxes on the bench, ready to go into the dishwasher. There's only one thing worse than omelettes {someone tell me how to spell that correctly!} and that's used lunchboxes that once held the eggy omelette. Vomit.

* People who don't indicate on round-a-bouts. Eastern suburb mums in big cars, I'm talking about you.

Something I do like though, is long weekends. And we're having one right now. Bliss. I am hoping that I get to do pretty much nothing today. Fingers crossed.

P.S. You might have noticed I finally finished tinkering with my blog. I think I've done everything {my blogroll is a work in progress though}. I think I kinda like it. Do you?

About me

2011-10-02T19:51:00.001+11:00

About my ebook

2011-10-02T17:50:00.001+11:00

Let me tell you a little bit about it:

♥ Something To Blog About is a cute little eBook to give you ideas on what to blog about. If you often get stumped for ideas, and get a little blogger's block, then Something To Blog About will help you to get your mojo back.

♥ It's fun. It's pretty. It's easy to read. Something To Blog About has 40 ideas for you to blog about. Each idea has a small paragraph or two to go with it. I'm pushing you in a certain direction, inspiring you to blog, without holding your hand the whole way.

♥ It's printable. So print it out and keep it near your desk {or blogging spot} and refer to it whenever you feel the need.

♥ There are 40 ideas in Something To Blog About but you can make this into many blog posts. You can interpret each concept into blog posts, and your perspective on each will change as time goes on, and you grow. I look forward to seeing how each blogger that purchases it turns into their own little piece of themselves.

So if this sounds like something you'd like to be part of then just use the paypal button below. Your ebook isn't sent automatically, so it will arrive in your inbox once I've checked my inbox {within 24 hours of purchase}.

Please note: I would appreciate if you didn't share this eBook. I make no money from blogging. I do it for the love. LOVE! So please share the love by not sharing my eBook. When you purchase it you purchase it for YOURSELF only. I hate to get all teacher/cop/angry Mama on your butt, so please do the right thing.

If you have any problems or have any feedback please email me at: fatmumslim@bigpond.com

Blogs I Heart

2011-10-02T17:34:00.002+11:00

Here are a bundle of fellow bloggers that I love & think you will too. Enjoy.

Rowe Timson Photography*
I've known Rowe for over 11 years and just connected with her from the moment we met. We like the same things {it's bizarre but we fall in love with the same things all the time} and just get along like a house on fire. We both once nannied, then both married, had our own children and are now pursuing our own dreams {hers photography, mine writing}. She shares real life, real moments on her blog and is a must read.

Rummey Bears
Anna {aka Mama Bear} is a new mama and wife, and totally mind-blowingly creative. She's officially a graphic designer, but should put amazing blogger on her resume as her online space always leaves me feeling wholesome and fulfilled. Lovely photography, lovely words... always just enough... never ever too much.

Ish and Chi
If ever there was a most stylish, and fashionable blogger... then it would be Viv. Viv shares decor tips, loves and DIY as well as {my personal favourite} her fashion Friday shots. Her son's room is absolutely stunning and a definite must see.

Frills in the Hills*
Liss shares her life and deliciously frugal recipes over on her blog Frills in the Hills. It's a great spot for food inspiration and for feeling like you've come home. The love oozes out of Liss' blog as she shares bit and bobs of everything.

Not Quite Nigella*
Lorraine is the creme de la creme of food bloggers, so much so that she's recently announced that there is a book in the works! Her blog is about food, eating in and eating out and travel as well. A must read!

Girl With A Satchel
I heart magazines, and Erica is ALL about magazines and media. One of the first blogs I became addicted to, Girl With A Satchel is fresh, informative and a must read blog for me.

Salvation Jane
You know Jane right? 'The' Jane Hall. Well I got a little starstuck earlier this year when I discovered that Jane not only acts, but she blogs and she decorates. AND she reads my blog. I'm obviously still starstruck.

The Beetle Shack
A little gem that I discovered earlier this year, Emily is one of the bloggers you can't help but love. Her blog is beautiful, as are her photos and writing style. You'll love her honesty, her whimsical way of life and the way she shares.

Beautiful You
Julie is a beautiful blogger and such a nurturing person. Just one visit to her blog is like filling your body with soul food. Julie is one of my favourite people in the blogosphere, and her blog is a must read for me too.

Ah The Possibilities*
Seriously one of the nicest people I've met, Sarah is sweet, kind and just an all round nice gal. We recently went to BlogHer in San Diego together, and I adore her. She's just as nice offline as she is online. And not only is she all that, but she's a pretty talented blogger too. She blogs over on her blog and she writes for Huggies too. She's a busy lady!

Life In A Pink Fibro*
The author of Life In A Pink Fibro has worked in magazines and as a writer for years and now brings her talent to her blog as well. Allison is from my home town, so I love reading about places, events and people from where I grew up.

Retromummy*
Corrie makes beautiful children and beautiful things. Seriously, you have to meet her newest addition Elodie. When I met Corrie she gave me a beautiful handmade tissue holder that she'd whipped up herself. Her blog reflects the kind soul she is. She writes about adventures as a mum, and the beautiful items she creates along the way {oh and she's a little bit addicted to fabric}.

The Happy Home
Sigh. Belinda is an endless source of inspiration for me as a blogger, a mama and a DIY wannabe. If you haven't got The Happy Home on your regular reading schedule... you must do so now. Be prepared to be inspired.

Danimezza*
If I could have a whisper of Dani's body confidence, I'd be a happy lady. Dani blogs about life, fashion, family, style - all beautifully, with stunning photographs. I've also met her and she's quite the girl to hang out with.

Smaggle
When I grow up I want to be just like Carly {even though I think she's younger than me}. She oozes self love and confidence {but she's human too, don't be mistaken}. Smaggle was one of my early blog finds, and two years later I rarely miss a post.

Good Googs*
Zoey and I have a friendship that was always meant to happen. We started off by doing a blogging e-course together and then we worked together for a while last year. She's one of my go-to girls if I ever need tech type advice. Not only do we share a love of all things geek together, we also have daughters born in the same week. Zoey's blog is filled with honest posts and beautiful photos.

Edenland*
Do one thing today. Read Eden's blog. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll feel like you know her. She's honest, beautifully honest. Just go. You won't regret it.

Frocks N Frou Frou
You're gonna love this blog! Lilli has her own sense of style in the plus size world and reading her blog has definitely encouraged a little too much online spending in my life. There's style with a mix of life thrown in. Must. Read. Blog!

Jogirl's Journey
Get your credit card ready. Jo owns Lovestamp which is a gaggle of gorgeous jewelery pieces that you will fall in love with. Not only does Jo create gorgeous pieces but she shares her life in an honest and open way that makes you feel like you've been friends forever.

Baby Mac*
I feel like I've known Beth for ever and ever. We met {finally} earlier this year and she's as much fun in real life as she in in her blog. Her blog is filled with tales of a City girl living in the Country, as well as bits and pieces about motherhood, food and style. Be warned, she'll probably have you in fits of giggles.

Sheye Rosemeyer Photography
Be still my beating heart. Every time Sheye writes a post I can't get over there quick enough to read it. She writes in a way that instantly grabs my heart and tugs at it. I've cried over more than one post, and wanted to reach out and hug her {through good times and not-so-good} over the years. She's a stunning photographer and an inspiring woman.

Gala Darling
I only discovered Gala this year after a friend {who is real life friends with Gala and can endorse her awesomeness} asked me: Do you read Gala? I was all like Gala who, Gala what... and now I'm all like GALA LOVE! I've learnt so much from Gala over these months from her ebooks, her posts and her blogging skills. Most of all I've taken on board her life lessons on self love. She rocks, plain and simple.

Girl's Gone Child
Rebecca is one of {if not 'the'} most talented writers I've ever come across. Her words take me on a journey with each post she writes. I imagine that her entries take weeks to write and are carefully crafted and thought out, but Rebecca is probably so naturally talented that they're written with ease. Oh, and she's super pretty too.

Kyla Roma
I 'met' Kyla last year during a happy mail exchange, and fell in love with her blog the moment that I stalked it {to find out what goodies to buy her}. She's super sweet and creative and just one of the world's genuinely beautiful people, inside and out.

Mockingbird
Oh Amanda. I want to put her in the Australian bloggers because she is Australian and it's kinda where she belongs to be. But right now she resides in Canada... so it's only fitting that she's 'International'. Amanda is an inspiring photographer and woman of the world. I love seeing the world through her eyes, well her lens. Before I 'met' Amanda I thought I was obsessed with polaroid, but Amanda is the queen of polaroid {and not trashy pics like mine, she makes them all dreamy and beautiful}. Enjoy.

Saks In The City
There's one thing that frustrates me about fashion bloggers, they don't blog enough. I check Saks In The City for new posts each night before I go to bed, and if there's a post waiting for me to read ... I'm very, very happy! Sakina is a French blogger with enviable style. She's got curves and she knows how to use them.

My Cakies
I dare you not to fall in love the with ever-so-creative Ruby-Ellen and her family. The gorgeous family has just welcomed their fourth little addition to the family, and she's super gorgeous. In my next life I want to be a mum just like her. She's amazing.

Bloggers marked with an * are bloggers that I've met in real life, and can assure you that they're all sorts of wonderful.

Blogging Tips

2011-10-02T17:25:00.003+11:00

10 tips for beginner bloggers
Here's a list of ten things to take note of when writing a blog. READ MORE...

How to create a Facebook page for your blog
I'll hold your {virtual} hand and take you through how to create a Facebook page. READ MORE...

8 of the best 'About Me' pages
Make the best first impression possible with inspiration from these About Me pages. READ MORE...

How to write a great post in 30 minutes
We're all time-poor, so find out how to best write a post in half an hour or less. READ MORE...

My best blogging advice
Discover what I've learnt in my blogging travels. READ MORE...

6 of the best Facebook profile pictures
Stumped on what to put in your profile picture? Find inspiration here. READ MORE...

Recipe Index

2011-10-02T15:10:00.003+11:00

Contact me

2011-10-02T08:48:00.004+11:00

EMAIL ME AT
fatmumslim@bigpond.com
Please note: I work full-time and get loads of email each day, so it may take a while for me to get back to you. I do love hearing from you, so please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

SNAIL MAIL ME AT
Chantelle Ellem
PO Box 3290
Tamarama NSW 2026

Please email for my home address for courier deliveries.

PR & COMPANIES
Please note: If you're sending something over for me to review, not everything will make it onto the blog. I will only write about things that I fall in love with, or find useful or interesting. I will always write honestly and share my own opinion. It's important for me to maintain the integrity of my blog, which I'm sure you can appreciate.

If you have a product you want to send through for giveaways, please email me for information around how giveaways are run.

Please feel free to email if you want to chat about ways in which you think we can work together, or if you have something that you think might be of interest. I look forward to hearing from you.

You can also find me on:

TWITTER / FACEBOOK / PINTEREST / LINKEDIN / INSTAGRAM

September, according to my iPhone

2011-09-30T06:39:00.000+10:00

I ate fresh food, and liked it.

But I also indulged a little, and discovered a place less than a kilometre from home that makes American burgers. Yum!

I wore the same dress for seven days, and survived.

We took a trip to the City, where Lacey ate pancakes by the handful.

Lacey seemed to grow up quicker than any month before. Somebody stop her!

We spent a week in the Country. Perfect skies every single day,

We enjoyed the rare glimpse at spring and spent some time down by the beach.

I attended a dinner event hosted by Electrolux, and got a bit starstruck by Peter Gilmore {chef of the year} who made us caramel french toast. Delish.

My favourite moment of September? Lacey started sleeping in her own bed. And she likes it. Three nights this week I had her in bed with me because she was sick, and she woke sad that she wasn't in her own bed. I feel like a different person!

What was your favourite moment this month?

The dieting dance

2011-09-29T07:14:00.003+10:00

Sitting around the dinner table at a friend's house for my first ever sleepover, we ate dinner. I was giddy with excitement. My first ever sleepover. I was eight. And I was excited. I sat with my friend and her two brothers, as well as her mum and her dad. I was the odd one out, all the kids were skinny and I, well ... I wasn't. The dad called me Miss Piggy, jesting me about my size. My heart sank and I immediately wanted to go home.

I was 11 when I started eating my dad's Jenny Craig food in an attempt to be thinner. I took it to school with me and tried to hide it from my friends.

I was 12 when I started my first crash diet. I wanted to be thin before starting high school. I spent my entire summer holidays dreaming up ways to get skinny, quickly. I failed.

I was 14 when I first joined a weight loss club. I lost 4kg in my first week and after the leader announced it, the whole room applauded.

On the eve of my 30th birthday, after almost 22 years of dieting, I was exhausted. Each Monday I'd wake full of hope, eager to start a new diet. Full of promise and self-belief. Every Tuesday I belittled myself and labeled myself a failure. I decided I was saying no to dieting from my thirties and beyond. I was done. I didn't want to diet again. I didn't want to feel like a failure. And just like that I gave up dieting.

And then two weeks later I walked into Weight Watchers and signed up for the 28th time. I didn't make it to the next weigh-in, or any weigh-in after that.

I didn't know life not dieting. I'd done it everyday, in some way or form, for most of my life. I needed to know what I should be eating, and how much and when. One week it was no carbs, the next no sugar. I didn't trust myself enough to make decisions for myself. I needed a diet to tell me what to do. And then I'd simply rebel against it.

So exhausted, and consumed by my consuming I reached out for help, and I started talking to a body image counselor. I could barely describe the way I felt. I was just exhausted, hopeless and feeling trapped within myself. I was the happiest I'd ever been, but there was just 'this' hanging on my shoulders.

Over the weeks and months I began to shed my emotional baggage that I'd stored for so long. It was hard at first, but I soon unraveled. I was so tightly wound and attached to my behaviour that I couldn't see a way out. Thankfully I began to see the light.

In March this year I consulted Dr Google convinced I was dying with some rare disease. I typed in the symptoms "nausea, stomach, eating, full". Each time I ate a meal, I could feel my body respond. I had no idea what it was doing, but I thought my time was up.

I told my counselor how I was feeling over the phone. She diagnosed me with an 'aha' moment. My mind had finally caught up with my body and for the first time since forever I was feeling full. My body was finally trusting itself and I was experiencing hunger and fullness, something I'd relied on diets for since my pre-teen days.

There's a lot of dieting un-doing I've had to do over the past year or so. Sometimes I trip. Often I'm lured by the glamour of a quick-fix diet. There have been times I've reverted back to my old behaviour of trying to rebel against the diet, only to realise that there wasn't one.

Slowly I'm losing my weight and wrapping my mind around listening and trusting myself enough to do what I want and need. I know now it's a matter of staying in tune and moving more, in a way that I enjoy ... instead of in a way that punishes my body for eating badly.

I know I'll get there. In the meantime I've found a new respect for myself. A love for myself for the journey, instead of reserving it for the destination as I'd done all these years before now. It's no longer 'I'll love myself when I'm thin, instead I'll love myself now ... as best as I can'.

Do you diet? What's your relationship with your body like?

{image via weheartit}

Reasons I'm loving the mailman today

2011-09-28T15:50:00.003+10:00

It's no secret that I love my friends at my post office a lot. So much that we're friend on Facebook and while I was away the other week they kept me posted on my ... post. Hubby jokingly mentioned, "Don't you think it's a bit odd that you know what's happening with your parcels while you're away?"

Odd? No. Wonderful, more like it!

I've been waiting on two parcels and they arrived yesterday. One was the Canon EOS photo5 pack. I stalked their site a few weeks back and then signed up for the challenge. Basically they send you 5 items in a little brown box and you have to take photos with them. I don't know if there are prizes, and I actually don't really care. I am just excited about shooting something fun.

The first challenge was shooting something from your pet's eyes. I don't have a pet, but the weekend that this challenge was set we were babysitting my sister's dog. I'll share the photo when I share the rest of the challenge pics.

The second challenge is shooting foam. It's a little package of suds. My mind is ticking over with creative thoughts!

Challenge 3 is sequins. I haven't read the instructions yet, but it sounds fun!

Challenge 4 is powder. I'm stumped on this one so far.

And lastly, challenge 5 is ribbons. I have NO idea what panning is. I'll have to research, unless someone here knows? Please!

Then along came a knock on the door and a bigger parcel. If you're a stationery loving fruitloop like me, then you'll know how exciting this one. I ordered a life journal from Erin Condren a few weeks back and it arrived {along with some complimentary personalised gift stickers}.

One weekend I saw that someone on Twitter {I can't remember who} had purchased one and loved it. And before you know I was drooling over how beautiful they were.

I choose pink. Shock horror!

I'm so excited about finding the perfect pen and sitting down tonight to get my life sorted. The shipping is crazy expensive, but I emailed Erin and asked if they had other shipping options and she kindly sent a code to get $25 off. So probably shouldn't say that, but it might be worth trying?

Has anything exciting hit your mailbox lately?

Sweet treat: Mini ricotta cheesecakes

2011-09-28T07:04:00.000+10:00

I've always known cheesecakes to be rather heavy, and although I've liked them in the past it was when my workmates celebrated my birthday with a ricotta cheesecake earlier this year that I really fell in love {sorry waistline!}. Pasticceria Papa in Haberfield, where my birthday cake was from, is worth the drive from wherever you are coming from. I hear that people line up outside and around the corner on the weekends just for a slice of the heavenly cheesecake. But if you're not into lining up for cake {or live nowhere near Sydney} then this version is very similar - the only thing missing is the crumbly base. I'll work on it though!

Makes 4 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
350g ricotta cheese
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
♥ Preheat oven to 160°C
♥ Place the cream cheese and ricotta in a bowl and mix with electric beaters for 3 minutes, or until smooth
♥ Add the sugar and beat until combined, and the sugar has dissolved
♥ Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat to combine
♥ Prepare four small spring-form tins {10cm in diameter} by greasing and lining with baking paper on the base and sides. {If you want to make one large cheesecake - grease and line one larger spring-form tin}

♥ Divide mixture evenly between the two tins, and wrap with two layers of foil {see above} to stop water seeping into the tins.
♥ Place into a deep baking dish and pour enough hot water into the baking dish to come half way up the outsides of the cheesecake tins
♥ Bake for 45 minutes, or until firm to touch. If you're baking one cheesecake it will take one hour and ten minutes

♥ Remove from the baking dish, and allow to cool. Place cheesecakes in the fridge for at least an hour before removing from the tin {it just makes it a little easier to get them out in one even piece}

♥ I topped my cheesecakes with a mix of icing sugar and cinnamon to give it a little kick. I suggest doing the same. It definitely ups the yum factor.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet Recipes

What food would you line up for? What's your favourite food?

Going nude!

2011-09-27T13:05:00.000+10:00

As I mentioned this morning my sister is getting married in less than 3 months now. I had 18 months or so to plan my wedding, and we're planning my sister's wedding in about 8 months. It's fast in the world of weddings. And when I say 'we' I'm actually not really doing that much. Just a few things here and there.

I'm one of the four bridesmaids, and as of a few weeks ago our dresses have been sorted. Scarily enough none of us bridesmaids have seen them or tried them on {obviously} so I have everything crossed that they all work out perfectly.

We still need to work on our shoe situation. We're thinking nude shoes, either heels, wedges or flats {it's a beach wedding}. Here's a few that I've stumbled across so far...

1. ASOS 2. Peeptoe 3. Mollini 4. Betts 5. Tony Bianco

Once we've worked out the shoe situation, we're moving on to the Hen's Day! Fun.

If you see any nude shoes in your travels, think of me/us.

When's the last time you splurged on a new pair of shoes? What do they look like?

The Love Bank

2011-09-27T07:01:00.002+10:00

My sister and her fiance came up over the weekend to stay, get a few wedding-type things done and catch up with us as well. On Saturday night we left the boys to watch football {side note: could there BE anymore football on at the moment? Seriously!} and headed out in the rain to grab dumplings for dinner.

With her wedding only weeks away, my sister shared that she had learned a thing or two about relationships from a book she was given while we drove. She shared that each person in a relationship has a 'love bank' and at the start of relationships/marriages the bank is pretty full, but as the years go on the bank 'funds' can start to dwindle if the couple don't tend to each others needs.

I love hearing about stuff like this. I love hearing about anything actually. So she went into more depth. Usually each person in the couple has top 5 things that they want from their partner, and those things contribute to the health of the love bank. A women might have affection at the top of her list, and perhaps hanging up the towels after a shower somewhere there too. A man might think having dinner cooked for him, or great conversations, or having his ego stroked are at the top of his list. I'm sure sexual satisfaction fits right in there somewhere as well! Before getting married it's meant to be good to talk about the top 5 things that you want from your partner in order to stay in love.

After getting over the guilt of not preparing myself for marriage properly {eek, we just knew we wanted to get married, so did!}, I realised that we do pretty well at the marriage stuff and at times I'm sure the love bank is look a little dismal, but for the best part - we do OK. I think for me I'd have affection on my list and being heard. I like to know Hubby loves me and I like to know he's listening to my rambles. Right at the top would be having him make me laugh. Lucky he has me in fits of giggles most days.

What would be on your list? What would you want from a partner? And if you're married, did you read books or have pre-marriage counseling before the wedding? Did it help?

{image via pinterest}

Cabbage & crunchy noodle salad recipe

2011-09-26T14:13:00.002+10:00

When people have parties and they ask people to bring a dish, I usually bring something sweet - because that's what I love to make and I rarely stuff them up {which I often do with savoury dishes}. I usually bring a chocolate pavlova or a batch of chocolate muffins.

This cabbage and crunchy noodle salad is one I've seen at a few parties over the years, but thought the combination was odd so always moved onto the next salad. After hearing my mum rave about this recipe that she tried at my sister's engagement party {I skipped it there too!} she made it one night and brought it to our house for dinner. I have one word: winning!

We had it with pork belly and it was the perfect match. It's my new favourite side dish.

Ingredients - Salad
1/2 Chinese cabbage, shredded finely
6 green onion {we call them shallots or spring onions}
100g lightly slivered almonds, roasted {you can buy them toasted or put them in a dry pan over medium heat until they turn golden}
1 packet Chang's original friend noodles {100g}

Dressing
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 cup olive oil

Method
♥ Mix all of the dressing ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside until cooled
♥ Combine the cabbage, chopped shallots, noodles and almonds in a salad bowl. Top with dressing and mix well. Serve immediately.
♥ If you're taking this to a party then leave the noodles separate until just before serving. This serves 8 and is great with pork or chicken, or on it's own.

When you're asked to bring a dish, what do you usually bring?

The weekend report

2011-09-26T07:05:00.002+10:00

Last week I discovered something that made my heart sing called the Feltron Report. Nicholas Felton counted everything that happened over the year 2005 and put it into a fun/interesting report. Fun to me, probably geeky to others. I loved it, so did it myself over the weekend.

I hope you had a fun-filled weekend. What did you get up to?

4 reasons you'll love the new Facebook {and how to get it ahead of time}

2011-09-23T18:27:00.001+10:00

I am going to bare all right here and let you know that I'm a geek. Through and through. This morning I spent over an hour and a half watching the footage from the f8 conference. The what? The conference where the gang from Facebook, particularly Mark Zuckberg, revealed the changes they're going to be rolling out for Facebook over the next few weeks. I admit I watched it for work purposes, but I kinda enjoyed it too.

Here's 4 reasons I think you'll love the new Facebook:

1. Facebook is bringing out the timeline
No, don't stress. It's not some odd history lesson about to bore you to tears. Have you ever stalked a friend on Facebook and tried to piece together what job they're doing, when they hooked up with their partner and what they've done over the past 5 years? No? That's only me then. Facebook is bringing out the timeline so that you can piece together your whole life on Facebook. Before the timeline everything you've ever done before {on Facebook} just disappears down your page never to be seen again. Now you can click back over the years and see what you were doing, what you said, when you signed up to Facebook {June 8th 2007 for me} and even what you were eating at any given time. You can even go BF {before Facebook} and add photos into your timeline of when you were born.

{Clicking back to 2007 brought up a photo of me at my sister's 30th. I'd just found out I was pregnant with Lacey the week before. Memorrries.}

2. Facebook is bringing out the verbs
You've spent that last year clicking 'like' on stuff, but now you'll be able to add a few verbs to the list. You'll be able to have read, watched, listened, hiked and more through Facebook. I think this is a good move because sometimes 'liking' things doesn't seem appropriate.

3. Facebook is getting a little more social
You may have already noticed a real-time ticker on your Facebook home page that shows what your friends and pages are doing at the present moment. Soon, you'll be able to interact a little more with those ticker updates.

I love learning new music favourites through friends, and even movie recommendations. Imagine seeing that your friend is cooking something with chocolate and being inspired to do the same. Or perhaps you can see that you friend ran a course down the beach and tracked it with something like Nike+. You can run the same track yourself another day. {I suggest making your track private or friends only - so that you don't have someone running around after you!}

{This explains it a little better}

4. Facebook is letting you give your page a 'feel'
This reminds me ever-so-slightly of MySpace but I'm sure it will grow on me. When people visit other people's Facebook pages they get to know a little more about them in the first few seconds. Usually this is through their job description, the school they went to or who they're married to. Now you'll be able to get a feel for someone by their coverphoto {I've put clouds in mine}. You'll still have your profile picture that will be seen when you post around Facebook, but the coverphoto will give your page your own 'feel'. I secretly think Mark Zuckerberg is going a bit soft on us, but ssshhh.

As I said before these changes won't be implemented until a few more weeks, and apparently that's only half of the changes that are going to happen. We'll have to wait and see what else they bring out.

If you want to jump the gun and get the new Facebook now, check out this post.

Are you on Facebook? Are you looking forward to the changes?

Where to get your instagram photos printed + other stuff

2011-09-23T06:56:00.000+10:00

Happy Friday! Friday's are almost my favourite day of the week... because I've still got the whole weekend ahead of me. I love that.

Last night Ma, Lacey and I headed into the City to look for a mother-of-the-bride outfit. Well, we only looked at one place and it was a designer factory sale. I've never been to one of those before, but boy... women are willing to change clothes in the middle of nowhere {ie right in front of me, in the middle of the store} in order to score a bargain.

Anywho! On Monday I shared a few pics and one was of my instagram pics that I got printed. A few of you asked where they were from, and I kinda forgot to share that detail. Sorry about that! There are a few places that print them, but none ship to Australia so I used Printstagram. For $12 you get 48 photos printed and the process is really easy. I did it all from my iPhone. I think I'm going to make a little book for Lacey next, perhaps even get her to shoot the photos herself.

Are you on instagram? My username is fatmumslim {or see here on webstagram}. Let me know if you are in the comments and I'll follow you.

Also a few of you asked where I got the butterfly plate from that I used in the photos for the Impossible Lemon Pie.

I bought it last weekend from Bed, Bath and Table. I deliberated over it because we're trying to be smart with our money and it was $14.95. I know, not much... but all these things add up I've learned.

I took a walk and then was still in love with it so came back and got it. When I brought it home I carefully soaked it in some water to get the price sticker off the back. When I pulled it out. It was chipped. I was devastated. Heartbroken even.

Oh well. That'll teach me. Teach me what? I don't know. But I'm sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere.

Are you as glad as me that it's Friday? I only just learned that it's a long weekend in Australia {Sydney at least} next weekend. I am sooooo looking forward to that.

This weekend we've got Yum Cha with friends, Lil Sis is coming up with my soon-to-be brother-in-law and I think we'll be working on wedding stuff.

What are your weekend plans?

Sweet treat: Impossible lemon pie

2011-09-21T08:30:00.000+10:00

There's a quote by Audrey Hepburn that I love. She once said, "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says: I'm possible!" There are some days I whole-heartedly agree with Audrey, and there are others that I disagree. It just depends how much positivity I've got oozing from my pores.

I do like a challenge though, so if someone or something tells me it's impossible, then I'm out to prove them wrong. When I saw this Donna Hay recipe I knew I had to try it, if only for the name. It turns out it wasn't impossible at all... but actually easy and impossibly delicious. A little research revealed that it's not called 'impossible' because of it's difficulty factor, but more because it turns itself into a yummy, crusty dessert.

Thankfully this is one of those desserts you don't have to run out and buy a hundred different ingredients to make. I had everything right at home.

Ingredients
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
4 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon {1/3 cup if you want to measure}
1 1/2 cups milk
40g butter melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
♥ Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
♥ Place coconut, flour, lemon rind and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, lemon juice, milk, butter and vanilla and stir until well-combined.
♥ Pour the mix into a lightly greased 4-cup capacity baking dish and bake for 40 minutes or until the top is golden. Serve with cream.

When I make this one again I'd probably make it in a large shallow ovenproof bowl rather a dish, so that the edges get really crispy and scrumptious.

Do you like a bit of a challenge? Or do you prefer to avoid the some-what difficult?

State of slumber

2011-09-20T07:21:00.002+10:00

I sit cross-legged beside her bed and dutifully wait for her to fall asleep. My head rests in my hands, heavy with all the worries of my day.

"Scuse me Mama," she peers out from beneath her pink pillows, "Why doing with your head?"

"I'm just thinking."

Satisfied with my reply, she rolls back over and within minutes falls deep into the land of slumber.

I head to my own bed, peering at Hubby already asleep and slide in under the floral. I wait for sleep to come, urging myself to surrender. "Just breathe," I tell myself, "Inhale, exhale, inhale, exha..."

My own thoughts interrupt me, and I'm not asleep. My head is still heavy. Work, life, plans, to-do lists, stuff. Nothing major. Just lots of little thoughts weighing it down.

Eventually morning comes and I realise I slept. And best of all, so did she. As I rise to check on her in the room next door I notice that my head isn't as heavy, and what seemed big yesterday seems like nothing much at all.

What keeps you awake at night? How do you get to sleep when you're having one of those nights?

Win a Sony Ericsson Xperia neo

2011-09-19T14:55:00.002+10:00

A few weeks ago I was invited to an event in the City. They promised champagne at sunset and a chauffeured ride around the City to take in the sights, followed by a dinner afterwards. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? I always get nervous at these sort of gatherings because the guest list is a mystery, pretty much, but this time I discovered two familiar faces and made friends with a few new ones too.

We were handed champagne upon arrival and given the new Sony Ericsson Xperia neo to take photos with, after being given a quick lesson by a talented photographer {whose name I can't remember!}. We snapped the bridge at sunset {holding the phone and champagne is hard work, mind you!}.

We then made our way across the bridge and by the time we arrived the sun was well and truly gone. Isn't my Sydney beautiful?

We then made our way to Darlinghurst for delicious mezza and drinks at the Almond Bar.

My phone was just on loan for the night and a few weeks afterwards, but one lucky Fat Mum Slim reader will get to own one for real, forever. What's so good about it? The Xperia neo shoots well in bright sunlight and comes alive in low light conditions {even without a flash, like above}. It also has access to over 250,000 apps.

To be in the running to win the Sony Ericcson Xperia neo valued at $528, simply answer the following question: What's beautiful in your life right now?

{boring bits}
One entry per person
Open to Australian residents only
Competition closes 1st October 2011

The winner of this competition is Chelle, Nick & Raya. Congratulations! x

Spring weekend

2011-09-19T06:31:00.004+10:00

Did you happen to spring clean over the weekend? It seemed almost everybody did. There were people scrubbing their BBQs ready for the warmer weather, and even the backpackers were airing out their campervans. The weather was perfect, so I celebrated by spending it indoors cleaning and sorting and scrubbing. Boring, I know... but oh-so-satisfying.

I also started spring-cleaning my blog. I thought the other look was a little noisy and busy, so wanted to simplify things. I shouldn't start tinkering because it's always ends up in complete change that eats up a whole afternoon. I'm not finished yet... but hopefully by the end of the week I'll have it sorted. I get bored easily. If I had a house big enough I'm sure I'd spend hours rearranging furniture and repainting walls. Our house it too small and doesn't allow much change at all. See, I get so bored so quickly that I've changed the topic mid-paragraph and I don't even make sense.

How was your weekend? Did you get out and enjoy the beautiful weather? And share, do you get bored easily like me?

P.S. I got my instagram photos printed and they're so cute. I've got a new addiction.

Stan, Stan, the crazy weatherman

2011-09-15T06:27:00.003+10:00

Last Saturday I flew up the coast on a last-minute flight to be reunited with my little family. I was going to spend one night with them and then we were going to embark on a road trip back home. I packed very little clothing in a small carry-on bag. I didn't pack a speck of make-up or my hairdryer. It was one night. Except it turned out to be a whole week {something happened and we decided to stay}. So I've been roughing it. Thankfully I packed my laptop last minute, so I've been roughing it and working remotely.

There's something about being in the country that's good for the soul. The other day we trekked out to the local farmer's market to get some produce. I stood at the strawberry stand for what seemed like forever while the man behind the counter talked about tornadoes to a customer. I impatiently tapped my feet and considered going home strawberry-less because he was taking so long. Then I realised that I needed to slow down the pace and embrace the country in me. As hard as it was {I might have interrupted to speed things up though. Tornado stories can go on foreveeeeer}.

Last night, as we watched the local news, I witnessed something I've never seen before: a crazy weatherman named Stan. They've got personality up here. It went something like this: "Tomorrow is going to be fine with a top of 26. TWENTY SIX? I hear you say. Well, yes! It's going to be 26! Don't be so shocked. And you know you really should start slip, slop ... oh what's the last one? You know what I mean. People are already starting to get sun-burnt! So make sure you cover up..."

After the weatherman had done his bit and we'd eaten dinner, we got ice cream from the home delivery man. I've known that he passes by here for a while, but we've never stopped him. This time I thought it would be a novelty for Lacey because it just doesn't happen in Bondi. So we heard him ringing his bell and saw his lights flashing across the river, and patiently waited with money in our hands for him to make his way to our place. We thought he'd gone home because it took so long ... Lacey had a meltdown, we gave her a substitute from our freezer ... and then the man turned up outside. You've never seen two parents run so fast to flag down an ice cream truck. Never!

As we we waiting outside black ash started to fall from the sky. How about that? It was amazing, like little strips of snow ... except black and ashy. We're right near sugar cane fields and two were burnt off late yesterday afternoon, so the ash just drifts from the sky. Amazing.

Lastly, I really knew I was in the Country when the other day I dropped my iPhone in the newsagent and it fell into three pieces with my iPhone case hurdling across the floor. An old lady shuffled across like I'd dropped my baby to offer her sympathies. I was a little taken aback, but assured her it would be OK as I pieced it all back together.

I do miss the City and my own things {and more then two pieces of clothes AND my hairdryer} but it's so good to be in the Country. It's good to slow down for a little while.

Where do you live, in the City or the Country? What's the most interesting thing about where you live?

Do you sit it out or dance?

2011-09-14T07:19:00.001+10:00

When I went to the States recently there were a fair few parties. In particular I found myself at one party in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by people dancing, whilst {almost} sober. I looked around. There were women on the stage dancing it out. Like really getting into it. Dancing with childlike abandon {some with a little raunch thrown in}. Others were awkwardly moving their bodies around to the music, aware of every move their hips and feet made.

I thought to myself, dancing is an odd thing, isn't it? The way we move our bodies about in big groups of people. As a child it's quite a natural thing to do. To bop and spin and bounce. And then we grow up and for some that natural feeling escapes and for others it hangs around. Lucky sods.

{Here's a video of everyone dancing at the party}

There are moments when I dance without inhibition. I do love to dance. I like to rock it out with Lacey in the comfort of my own home. There have been many, many times when the desire to dance is strong ... and I give in to it. And then there are times, like at the party in the States, when it feels plain awkward and I can feel every awkward movement from the way my arms sway, to the way my face looks, to the uncoordinated to and fro of my feet. Awkward. But I did it anyway, because in a way it feels good. It's fun. I love it, not matter how silly it sometimes feels.

What about you? When you get the chance to sit it out or dance, do you dance?

{image via rules are meant to be broken}

Things I'm loving right now

2011-09-13T06:17:00.001+10:00

♥ Let's go on a date: Giving a gift to the one you love of 12 preplanned and prepaid dates. The organised person {somewhere} inside says: "I love it!" I'm already dreaming of ideas.

♥ I've got two weddings, one hen's night, one work party and a handful of other functions coming up over the next 6 months and I think this dress is a winner for getting me through some of them. I've heard it's bad manners to wear black to weddings though, do you agree?

♥ ASOS is coming to Australia. Oh yeah! I love ASOS and I know the shipping is currently free, but because the current store is based in the UK when I'm looking for summer gear - the store is stocked with winter clothes. I'm hoping with a store in Australia, it will mean season appropriate clothing. Bliss!

♥ This 'Darn Good Chocolate Cake' is just that, darn good. So good that I've made it twice in the past few months {and promptly made guests take it home with them}. If you only make one more chocolate cake for the rest of your life, make it this one.

♥ Is Sienna the most naturally beautiful woman ever? I recently watched The September Issue in which she appeared in a shoot. Love her look.

♥ This cake! I'm wondering whether I can convince my sister to have this cake for her wedding because it's so so so cute. Right?

♥ My current handbag is so huge and filled to the brim that it weighs about as much as a small child. Seriously. I'm eye-ing off this smaller bag so it will keep me from filling it with unnecessary things.

♥ Doesn't this song sound like it could be sung by Sting? Hubby brought that to my attention. It's actually Gotye - Somebody that I used to know. Love it. Lots.

So, what do you think? Wearing black to weddings: yay or nay?

2 ingredient pizza dough

2011-09-12T14:47:00.003+10:00

This recipe is going to blow your mind and make Friday pizza night so much more delicious. Last Friday I was home alone and time got away from me. I had pizza on my mind, so I whipped up this quick and super easy pizza dough. You don't need to leave it to rise. It only had 2 ingredients. And it's the best pizza dough recipe I've ever tasted. Seriously.

Makes one large pizza base

Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup greek yoghurt

Method
♥ Combine ingredients and mix well. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for five minutes. The dough is quite a wet dough so I kept adding more and more flour in until it was perfect. Plus the more you knead it the more it comes together. Trust me, it will come together.
♥ Once you've got the perfect dough roll out, top with your favourite toppings and put into a hot oven until golden and perfect.

{Excuse the crappy photos - I took them late at night}

My favourite topping is mushrooms and proscuitto and topped with a handful of rocket once out of the oven. What's your favourite pizza topping?

{recipe via Kidspot}

Lotto dreams

2011-09-12T06:36:00.001+10:00

I only play lotto a few times a year, but I'm always convinced that I'm going to win. I don't know why. But I love spending time dreaming about what I'll buy, who I'll share it with and how I'll react when the newsagent tells me I'm a winner {that's shocked, for those wondering}.

I bought a ticket for a big lotto last week, and unknowingly Hubby bought one too. I thought that we were definitely going to win.

So Sunday morning I took myself off to the newsagent and I confidently handed him our tickets. I waited for the 'beep' with a smile on my face. There wasn't a beep and eventually the guy behind the counter delivered the sad news, "You're not a winner."

I was devastated. "But I thought I was going to really win," I whined pathetically with tears in my eyes.

I walked outside to Hubby who was watching Lacey on the $2 merry-go-round. "We didn't win," I sighed.

"What?!?" Hubby gasped, jokingly.

And that was it. Off we went back to our normal, not-lotto-winning lives.

Do you play lotto? What would be the first thing you'd buy if you won? And reveal, would you tell people if you actually won, or would you keep it a secret?

{image via pinterest}

When's the last time you had me-time?

2011-09-09T06:53:00.000+10:00

Hubby and Lacey have gone up the coast for a few days to spend time with Nanna. Before they left I got a little anxious and a little bit sad, because I knew I'd miss them. But then when I know they've arrived safely and they're happy as could be ... I start to enjoy myself. I love time to myself. Love it. I love the quiet. The peacefulness. I think it's great for recharging the batteries.

I've eaten dinner out, cleared out my inbox, slept, put make-up on and cleaned the house {and had it stay clean without my little whirlwind around} and best of all ... relaxed. And now I'm excited about seeing them again. I miss them, but I know they're OK and I know I'm a better mum and wife for having a break.

When's the last time you had some me-time? And how do you like to spend it? Do you jam pack it with 'stuff' Or do you like to enjoy the quiet?

{balloon image via nina's blog}

Must-have: Inspiring iPhone wallpaper

2011-09-08T12:56:00.000+10:00

After stumbling across these beautiful wallpapers by the Notebook Doodles this morning, my phone is now sporting a new look. I always struggle to pick the perfect background for my iPhone, and I spend a lot of time looking at it - so it's important! - so when I saw these I was in heaven.

Choose from 8 inspiring quotes and discover how to download here. Oh and they're FREE.

What's your current phone background? Do you have a picture of a family member, like I did?

Secrets the toddler tells the teacher

2011-09-08T07:19:00.003+10:00

Kids say the darnedest things, right?

The other afternoon I rocked up to pick up Lacey from Kindy. As per usual she was jumping on the trampoline and didn't really want to come home, so I talked to her teacher for a little while.

Half way through our conversation her teacher got a look of surprise on her face, a smirk even, and said, "Oh, Lacey told me ..."

At that point my heart skipped a beat and I dreaded what she was about to say. Having worked with kids for a long time, I know they like to reveal deep dark family secrets when you least expect them to. I've heard little people declare that their parents fight at night, or interrupted sex-capades, or just the other day I heard a little boy reveal a little too much about his Daddy's doodle before he ran off and onto the jumping castle.

I braced myself, "Lacey told me that Daddy is sleeping in her bed."

I turned a shade of crimson {because it's what I do best} and nodded, "Yes, he does."

I adore Lacey's Kindy teacher. Lacey's goes to the same Kindy that I took the kids I nannied for, so we've known each other a while. She told me when Lacey needed to start toilet training {ie when I needed to starting getting my act together} and often tries to help me with Lacey's sleeping issues. Embarrassingly, Lacey's sleep had got to the point that at 3 years she was still sleeping with us. And instead of sleeping vertically like a normal person, she liked to spread out horizontally and take up as much room as humanly possible. Throwing in a few scissor kicks as she slept throughout the night. Fearing for his life {and his groin area}, Hubby retreated to Lacey's princess room for safety each night.

{We also considered putting one of these on layby}

"I try to get her to sleep in her own bed," I whined, "But she just screams."

"So... let her scream."

I knew I had to do it, mainly because I fear authority and didn't want to get myself in trouble by not doing as the teacher said. Oh, and because I probably really needed to do it anyway. So that night I put Lacey into her own bed. And she slept there the WHOLE night. She didn't even scream.

Of course, I've been sleeping on her floor, on a tiny cot mattress and holding her hand throughout various parts of the night. But I'm not telling the teacher that.

P.S. In an all seriousness, I actually think we're going to be OK this time. I think that within a couple of weeks she's going to be sleeping in her room alone. I can feel it. Finally.

One dress. Seven days. Seven ways.

2011-09-07T06:37:00.003+10:00

Recently I was approached by the team from Leona Edmiston and Biozet Attack Ecosmart, and dared to wear a dress for seven days straight. Originally I said no. One dress for seven days? I didn't think I could. Photos of me? No way.

And then I came around. I'm a sucker for a dare. I made my way to my nearest Leona Edmiston store and tried on an array of dresses {bliss!} and finally decided on a black maxi.

Each night I washed my dress, hung it on the line and popped it on again in the morning {no stinky business here, promise!}. Here's how my week went down.

Day one. I had a girly day. I met with bloggers Dani & Corrie, and we watched The Help and had High Tea at the Winery. I am officially in love with The Winery and am dreaming up parties and events that I want to host there. They'll never happen, but the dreaming is fun.

Day two. Monday. Working from home. We launched an upgrade on my work website which meant an uber stressful morning. Uber. Knowing I had a hard day ahead I wore my new sparkly top over my maxi dress {sparkles make me happy} and teamed it with thongs. We ate soup for lunch, headed out for a quick break outside and Lacey kindly wiped her nose on my dress.

Day three. I don't know how or why but I woke up in a bad mood. I think I'm stressed. I grabbed my dress from the line and popped on a bright red belt hoping it would brighten my mood. It worked. For a while. I didn't tell Hubby about my 7 day dress plans, so was wondering when he'd ask, "Why are you wearing that every single day?" Three days in and not a peep out of him yet!

Day four. I'm seriously getting cabin fever. Another day inside working. I turned my dress into a maxi skirt {all the rage y'know?} and popped a Forever21 singlet over the top and popped on a denim jacket, as well as my cute ASOS headband. I think Hubby is cottoning-on because he asked, "Why are you so dressed up?" I shook the cabin fever off in the evening, popping down the beach for a stir-fry with Lacey and my Ma.

Day five. Thursdays are my getting-things-done day. Hubby dropped Lacey at daycare and I got busy working child-free. The day started out cold, rainy and miserable so I threw on a singlet under my dress and a cardigan over the top. I popped out in the afternoon to grab some presents for Father's Day and pick up Lacey. I even got a compliment for my dress. See what happens when I finally get out of the house?

Day six. See that photo of me there? See those bags under my eyes? I'm sick. But I soldiered on. I had an all day meeting for work so got dressed {black singlet, black dress, black cardigan, gold necklace & new gold shoes that arrived yesterday from eBay}, dropped Lacey at Kindy and headed off to work. We had an all day session for work and then I headed home in time to pick Lacey up and head home to finish up some work stuff.

Day seven. Ah, the final day. I still love my dress, but the thought of throwing on some jeans has me pretty excited. Hubby is working on Father's Day, so we had a pseudo Dad's Day which involved presents and a morning in the City. Spring is here so I wore a short cardigan, my new gold shoes {and I have the blisters to prove it!} and a long necklace. Before we headed out I said to Hubby, "Have you noticed that I've worn this dress for the past 7 days?" He nodded and said, "I thought so. I noticed yesterday but didn't want to say anything." I almost got away with it.

Do you think you'd be able to wear one piece of clothing for a whole week? If you had to pick one item of clothing to do it with, which would you choose?

P.S. I wasn't paid for this post, but did receive my Leona Edmiston dress for free and some Biozet Attack Ecosmart washing liquid to wash my dress each night.

What to eat tonight: Easy pumpkin risotto

2011-09-06T13:26:00.000+10:00

I read recently Italians say that you should only make risotto for your very best friends. I don't know, but I'm presuming because it's quite labour-intensive and it keeps you in the kitchen for longer than you'd like to admit. Only your best friends could forgive you for not keeping them company at the table.

I've been making pumpkin risotto for a long time now. Usually I roast pumpkin with a little garlic and rosemary and then add it to the risotto once it's soft and perfect. This recipe just made my life a whole lot easier. When I read the method to making the risotto, I smiled and actually said, "Wow!" It involves grating the pumpkin before adding it to the risotto. All sorts of brilliant.

This recipe is from George Calombaris' new cookbook, Georgie Porgie. It's a cookbook for kids aged 8 to 80 and it's brilliant. Seriously. Read more about it here.

Serves 4

Ingredients
400g pumpkin, peeled, seeded and grated
60g unsalted butter, softened {I used less and just replaced it with a little stock}
3 cups vegetable stock {I used chicken because I love it}
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup carnaroli rice {I used arborio}
salt and pepper
grated parmesan, to serve

Method
♥ Place the pumpkin and 40g of the butter in a saucepan. Put the lid onto the pan and cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until tender. Puree the pumpkin with a stick blender and set aside.
♥ Heat the stock in a saucepan. Keep warm. {Alternatively I heated it in a jug in the microwave}.
♥ Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the rice and continue to stir for 2 minutes or until translucent and lightly toasted.
♥ Add the hot stock to the rice, then reduce the heat to love and simmer gently for 12-14 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. When the rice is tender-to-the-bite but slightly firm in the centre, remove the pan from the heat and add the pureed pumpkin. Toss in the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper. Stir well to achieve a creamy consistency. Add more stock if you want a soupier risotto.
♥ Divide the risotto among bowls or plates and then top with grated parmesan and serve.

I'm partial to a pumpkin or mushroom risotto. What's your favourite?

Greetings and air-kisses

2011-09-06T06:59:00.003+10:00

My Ma told me a story the other day. She's had a replacement head-honcho {boss} at her work for the past three months while her real boss took a break. The whole workplace has really enjoyed having him around, as he's been a real breath of fresh air. The team sat around the meeting table last week and they went over the past few months, talked over some ideas for moving forward and the team thanked him for his time.

Later that day Ma took a moment to personally thank him for everything and at the end of the conversation she reached out her hand to give him a handshake to say goodbye and thank you. To her surprise he reached in to give her a hug and a pat on the back to say thanks in return. The awkward thing is, Ma accidentally kissed him on the cheek. As you do with good friends and family, except he was her boss.

This had me in hysterics. I could imagine my Ma accidentally doing it. It's no big deal, and her boss didn't even notice but it's so something I'd do. And in fact have done.

Where I grew up there was no kissing or even air kisses when greeting each other. Hugs didn't even really happen either. It was more a smile, a glance and perhaps a handshake. When I moved to Sydney, I was welcomed to the world of air kisses. Everyone was doing it and before long I was doing it too.

A few months back my little sister came up to Sydney and we had a family 'thing'. When she arrived I started to reach in for a hug and a kiss but stopped short and asked, "Do we do this? Do we hug and kiss? I can't remember?"

We all cried tears of laughter and couldn't remember how we greeted each other. I still don't know, to be honest.

My most embarrassingly awkward greeting moment was recently at an event when I met someone that I'd been talking to online for quite some time {in a professional manner} and I wasn't expecting to see her. I went in for the cheek kiss and she slowly edged away. It was like it all happened in slow motion and I could feel myself turning beetroot red. I didn't know whether to pull back and pretend it never happened or commit to the kiss. Instead I awkwardly rubbed my cheek against hers and wanted to crawl into my non-existent shell. Thankfully I had Eden by my side and I just died in her arms afterwards whilst we roared with laughter in the corner.

What's the norm? How do you greet people? Are you a hugger, a handshaker, a kisser or just a plain hello-er?

P.S. Promise me, if next we see each other {or meet} that you'll go with the flow and put up with my awkward greetings. I think it runs in my family.

{image via pinterest}

Best & worst of the weekend: what's yours?

2011-09-05T06:11:00.001+10:00

Best: We spent Saturday celebrating Father's Day as Hubby had a random day off. I told him that we had a surprise day planned for him - so we headed into the City for a bit of exploring, and dumplings too. On Sunday Hubby set off for work, so Lacey & I headed to Ma's for breakfast and a walk along the coast. The weather was perfect for getting out and about, and despite feeling a bit under the weather ... it felt so good to be out and enjoying Spring.

Worst: There's a huge hole in our lives that used to be filled by Bluey {Lacey's PopPop, Hubby's dad}. Everyday I think of him, and miss him {for me, and Hubby and Lacey too}. And this weekend was hard. On Friday Hubby found a camera that we last used in July last year. It had photos of Lacey and PopPop ... and it broke our hearts. We still can't believe he's not here. It's just not fair.

How was your weekend? What was the best and worst of your two day break?

The Help

2011-09-01T12:14:00.000+10:00

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

I can remember the day I moved out of home. My parents drove me the three hours it took to get to the big smoke, we picked up a new car for me {my first foray into personal debt} and we ate lunch at a cafe near my new home. I could feel that my mum was anxious too, and as we said our goodbyes I got teary. I could feel my mum was close to tears too.

I walked up the long, steep driveway with my overnight bag on my shoulder. I was moving in, but I couldn't bear to take anything more than a week's worth of clothes with me. I was just eighteen, naive and unsure of what I was getting myself into. I knocked on the door and made my way inside the huge house with all the lights. All eyes were on me. The mother, the father and the three children looked me over, and up and down. The mother welcomed me as well as she could. It was a feeling that I would feel more than once. Being welcomed into a family as the nanny. Feeling like 'the help'.

Each day I would rise early and take care of the children. Each day I'd take care of the house, traipsing up and down the series of staircases with the bundles of clothes and cleaning products. As much as I tried, as did the family, it never quite felt like home. Every night I'd retreat to my room to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of being an imposter. Being privy to the family conversations, the arguments between parents and feeling like the odd one out.

Months after arriving on that doorstep, taking the leap into independence and adulthood, I found another job which I hoped would be more suitable. Still a nanny, but I'd hoped it would be less about being 'the help' and more about being part of the family.

I slowly learned over my 12 year career of being a nanny that there were differences between being 'the help' and being the nanny. Families that wanted 'the help' wanted me to be most visible when they had guests, as if to impress their wealthy friends. They'd flaunt me to their guests as I served them dinner on the balcony overlooking the ocean. "Chantelle is such a great cook," they'd brag as if I couldn't hear them. Just the day before they'd belittled me for not preparing the vegetables to their liking. Being a nanny was being part of the family. They sent me home when they hosted parties. They wanted to spend the precious time they could with their kids. They appreciated me, and the fact that I adored their children and they adored me in return.

No matter how irritating the parents {my employers}, I always loved the children. They didn't know the difference between 'the help' and 'the nanny'. They just wanted to be loved. And I did. I loved them very much.

The last two families that I nannied for were the perfect families. They didn't care how I could clean, or want to use me to impress their friends. They just wanted me to love their children, to take care of them the way that they would if they were spending their days with them. So I did.

I was there for all the good stuff. Watching them evolve from baby to toddler, and then to child. I got to see the first awkward steps, the new words and to be part of their everyday. It was the everyday that I loved most. Just to be part of their everyday normal lives. I loved being a nanny. It made my heart sing.

Over the 12 years of being a nanny I grew from being a teenager myself to a 30 year old woman. In the same time I also became a mum myself. I knew that eventually I'd have to grow up and get a real job. After helping raise 11 kids, I knew that I'd need to get an adult-type job.

On my last day ever as being a nanny, I cried for most of the day {and the month leading up to it too}. The kids did too. I never got to properly say goodbye to the parents. We wrote our words in a card to each other. It was too painful to look at each other and say farewell. It was heart-wrenching to walk away from the children you've spent most of your days with, knowing you'll always have them in my heart ... but not to be there for the everyday. The good stuff.

*****

While in America I was one of the lucky first people in the world to see the new movie The Help (watch the trailer here). I watched it again this past weekend at an event. Both times I cried lots. The parts that ached my heart the most were bits that reminded me of being a nanny. I don't want to give any of the movie away, but will tell you this: take tissues.

I don't usually do sponsored posts, but this is one that I had a soft spot for and couldn’t say no. Thanks to the guys at Nuffnang I’m giving away double passes to see the movie The Help, as well as a copy of the book for three lucky winners. To be in the running simply answer the following question: When is the last time you cried, and why?

Terms and conditions.

Dads and their daughters

2011-09-01T10:27:00.000+10:00

Last week I popped up the road for a cheeky manicure and pedicure just before the salon was about to close. There was just me and three others indulging in a little pampering late at night. I sat in between them and soon figured out that they were a family, a dad, a mum and a daughter.

I find father/daughter relationships quite interesting. They can often be strained and awkward, and others really quite close and heartwarming - where the dad still considers his daughter to be 'his little girl'.

My relationship with my dad interchanges between the two. Hubby likes to tease me by telling me I sound like a little girl when talking to my dad. I really don't know what he's talking about. For a few years I didn't really talk to my dad, for reasons I'd rather not go into, but since turning 30 and becoming a mum myself ... I've realised life is too short.

As I sat between the father and daughter as they had their nails tended to, I listened to him speak to his daughter in a way that someone speaks when they want to be overheard. Do you know what I mean? They ribbed each other, he joked that she was going to pay for them all to have their nails done, and then in the end he pulled at his own wallet, as dads do, and paid up.

With Father's Day this weekend I'm wondering, what's your relationship with your dad like?

{image via k8photography}

Win a signed copy of Riley and the Grumpy Wombat

2011-09-01T05:55:00.000+10:00

My lovely and super talented friend Tania McCartney is releasing a new children's book titled Riley and the Grumpy Wombat. I'm taking part in her blog/book tour by giving away a signed copy of her new book. Here's a little about it:

Riley has discovered a wombat in his nanny’s garden. But why is this furry creature so grumpy? Join Riley and his friends from books one, two and three, as they zoom around the stunning sights of Melbourne in search of a wombat that simply needs a place to call home.

Featuring gorgeous black and white photos of Melbourne and surrounds, Riley and the Grumpy Wombat combines photos, illustrations, adorable characters, humour and an adventuresome storyline in a travelogue-style book that showcases Melbourne at its very best.

To be in the running to win a signed copy of Riley and the Grumpy Wombat, simply answer the following question: What makes you most grumpy?

To order your own copy of Tania's new book or read more, visit here.

{boring bits}
Competition closes 13th September 11:59pm
One entry per person
Competition open worldwide

August according to my iPhone

2011-08-31T07:02:00.000+10:00

Goodbye August. You've been a blast. x

Letter to Lacey: Thirty Nine Months

2011-08-30T07:15:00.000+10:00

Each night we climb into bed and without fail twenty minutes later you want something to eat, usually biscuits. And so being the kinda mum {read: sucker} that I am, I clamber upstairs and get you something to eat. And then moments later you'll tell me that you're thirsty. So then again I'll march upstairs and get you a drink {you don't like the water from the bathroom}.

One night last week I dared to tell you 'no'. I refused to get up and obey your orders, knowing that you had a full belly from dinner and would last until morning without a drink.

So you climbed out of bed yourself with your cranky face on.

"I not your friend," you yelled, "I serious!"

I love you Miss Lacey. And I'm happy to say that by morning you'd forgotten that I was your mean mummy and I was back in your good books. Phew.

Love, Mama. x

What's up? Goat got your tongue?

2011-08-29T07:11:00.003+10:00

{goat print by sharon montrose}

There's not too much that really gets my goat. I try not to sweat the small stuff, as much as possible. Sometimes I fail though. Miserably.

Last week, my goat was gotten, a lot. It was just one of those weeks. Things that get my goat {last week, as well as whenever} include:

Passive aggressive people. I only learned this year what passive aggressive was. I mean I'd always known what it was but didn't know it had a name {I know, call me dumb - at least I'm honest!}, and now I'm seeing passive aggressiveness a lot. Ick.

Stupid comments. When I read the article by Damian Woolnough about plus-size models, it made me mad. So mad that I couldn't speak. But when I read the comment above underneath the article, I got a little riled up. I'm fat. I wish I was thinner. I'm trying to get there. But I also like fashion. Is that wrong?

Sunglasses inside. I have to admit this used to get me madder than it does now, but it all started when I worked in retail and people wanted me to serve them whilst they wore their sunglasses. I understand now some people do it when they've left their spectacles {love that word} at home. As for the others, who knows. But please stop.

Hot water hang-ups. When I'm in the middle of a nice hot shower, and I've just done the shampoo and I'm up to the conditioner stage and the hot water runs out. Not fair.

Birds. I still haven't got over the magpie who visited last week. He still comes and sits on our balcony, taunting me a little more.

Empty tanks. Getting in the car when the tank is empty. Especially when I wasn't the last person to drive it.

Jam side down. Ever buttered a nice piece of toast only to have it to fall on the ground, jam-side-down? Yeah that.

Oh, that feels better. What gets your goat?