28, you guys! how the heck did that happen?!

so i celebrated my 28th birthday last weekend! can you even believe it?! i know i can't! honestly, i still feel like i only just left high school. like it was only yesterday that i was turning 18, sneaking down to the bottle-shop right next door to my high school (yeah, i went to like, one of those classy high schools :/) buying my very first legal alcohol. that was a decade ago?! and it was eight years ago that i told all of my work and uni friends that i was NOT turning 20, I was turning "twenteen". yeah wow, i'm old haha!

i had such an amazing day though. i got so spoilt! such lovely gifts and so much bloody love from friends far and away. that was my favourite bit for sure. with those chocolate dumplings coming in a very close second ;)

thank you times a million to all the special people in my life who made me feel so special last weekend. i love you all more than words. 

and as for you 28? you're going to be the best age yet, I just know it ;)

xoxo

Jobs I am particularly happy to not have this week:

• Gardening
• Walking dogs
• Delivering mail
• Delivering mail on a bike
• Anything requiring transport on a bike
• Actually, anything that requires being outside

Jobs that would be ok to be doing this week:

• Indestructible umbrella salesperson (hello, instant millionaire!)
• Hot cocoa maker
• Librarian
• Blanket knitter
• Professional movie watcher/reviewer
• Blast furnace worker

I can't even remember the last time I heard the wind actually howling?! I think this is what the polar vortex felt like, you guys! 

xoxo

Sorry. Thanks. I love you.

I've been saying this a lot lately. Mostly to myself. I don't know about you, but I love a good ol' dose of self-sabotage?! Letting myself fall into bad habits - the usual suspects, little sleep, not eating properly, racing through life. So the past month or so, I've been trying real hard to counteract some of that imbalance with my new best friend - yoga! A lovely little space I can create for myself to say Sorry - for not looking after my body as I should, and for all of those negative, nasty comments I sometimes make in my head. To say Thanks - for keeping me well, for getting me through the long days, for giving my heart and my mind a pretty lovely place to live. And to say I love you - probably the most important bit. It's so easy to not love ourselves, right?! I'm not stylish enough, I don't know how to do my hair enough, I don't decorate my house cool-y enough, I'm not cellulite-free enough, I'm not cool enough to wear red lipstick blah, blah, BLAH! So yoga is my tool to help me remember to say Sorry, Thanks and I love you. And it's a real nice change :) In Dunc's words it also help to keep my mood swings "tolerable" HA! God bless that man ;)

As I sit here typing this, Melbourne is turning on a textbook Melbourne day. Four seasons in one day?! Try four seasons in five minutes! I don't mind though, alternating between twinkly, drippy rain combined with the sun poking out for three minutes, then back to black and bleak and horizontal wind. And I'm tucked up cosy as anything indoors with a big warm mug of ginger tea. I suppose I should also fess up and mention the fact that I'm watching A Walk to Remember (!!) that I recorded (!!!!!!!!).

Winter, you're ok by me - for the time being anyway, until I change my mind and wan't to curse you for all of eternity :)

And just while we're talkin', can I take a minute to mention this stinkin' hair?! So looking forward to a change on Saturday cos man, I can only take topknots for another 3, 4 days max.

Happy Tuesday! xx

My wish is for unlimited long weekends!

Hey friends! Hope you've enjoyed your second long weekend in a row?! Between the bunnies and the Anzac ceremonies, and the unseasonal sunshine, wowzers it's been a great couple of weeks!

Our long weekend was a brilliant combination of quiet down-time and fun autumn outings. Anzac Day was observed pretty quietly at home, some yoga in the morning, some footy watching in the afternoon. Saturday we spent time with some magic friends of ours, eating dinner and planning more of our trip to Western Australia in August (YAY!). Sunday was just a freakin' ripper of a day. The sun was shining, breakfast and coffees and long overdue catch ups, a quick paper read in the sun out the back at home and then more footy!  I've very quickly come to realise that in Melbourne, it's kinda the go-to activity? I'm totally ok with it, hot coffees in the afternoon sun, cheering, people watching... Reminds me of how much I love this town! My team won on Friday (yes!), Dunc's team didn't win today (nawwww), but it was just really great to have a good old fashioned afternoon out.

Right now we're camped by the fire, watching ok-just-ONE-MORE-episode of The Bridge (if you're not watching it, please start immediately!) getting ready for our week. Gosh, even with an extra day this weekend, it still feels crazy that tomorrow is Monday!

Hope your weekend was just as brilliant! Maybe even more brilliant?! Lucky you! :)

[This book! I know I'm like a million years late to the party but, man! This book! I got through a fair chunk of it this weekend sitting right here :)]

[Yeah, so I rarely left the fire this weekend... We love it!]

[Penny is more in love with the firewood than the fire... Silly girl!]

[Anzac day! Collingwood won! I drank red wine on the couch!

YAAAAAAAAY!]

[Pen was interested in me for my warmth, but quickly learnt I was being way too noisy and shouty for her liking and moved to the other end of the room. Ha!]

[In order to go grocery shopping, you gotta fuel up guys! And before you ask, no these were NOT both for me :)]

[The delis at Prahran Market... My word!]

[Our spoils from the Market for delicious homemade souvlakis (Thanks Gourmet Girlfriend!...]

[... that were devoured with this little gang!]

[More footy! With a scarf change?! I'm a part-time Bulldogs supporter... but my blood will always bleed black and white :)]

[Peezel also gets involved in the costume change]

[Looking on! Go dogs!]

[Oh, Melbourne, you just don't quit]

Meat free eating for Meat Free Week!

Hi there! Do you ever set you and your family or your housemates weird little rules and challenges? I've had a few over the years... From saving $5 notes, phones and TV off at 9.30, seeing how often we can eat dinner at the table (Gasp! Not as often as you'd think!) And since we're, generally speaking a pretty low-intensity meat household, challenging ourselves to being completely meat free for an entire week - breakfasts, lunches and dinner!

We were really pleased with our lil efforts! Maybe just pretend not to pay attention to the cheese and crackers eaten at my desk at work for lunch one of the days... Hey, it was still meat free! ;)

[Veggie rice paper rolls for a quick study lunch!]

[Mango and black bean quesadillas. One of our favourite dinners!]

[Ahem... cheese, crackers, yogurt and ginger tea. Not some of my best work :) eek!]

[Stuffed giant macaroni and green beans!]

[My signature cold soba noodle salad. A weekly - sometimes more often than weekly! - occurrence in our house!]

[Avo on toast. There is just nothing better than this. Nothing I tell ya!]

[Another little cheat dinner... Vegetarian pizza from Villagio. This place is dangerously close to our house. I'm dangerously ok with it! ;)]

[A little meat free breakfast date with the one and only Bianca]

[Kale tart scoffed on the tram between school and work]

[The ultimate veggie sushi roll. My gosh I eat these little guys so often, I'm surprised I don't turn into one. So cheap! So yummy! Ahh!]

With yummy and fun dishes like this, we might even make meat free week a more regular household challenge throughout the year ;)

The Night Noodle Markets came to Melbourne, and this Sydney-sider was the happiest girl in the world.

(Our strategy included getting in as soon as the gates were opened to get a table before the chaos of opening night began!)

(Oh these two! They make my days at school so lovely)

(See?! Chaos!)

(Ok, so we may have gone to the noodle markets and not eaten noodles however this was some of the most amazing indian food I've ever come across and they had the smallest queues?! What?!)

(We ate enough dumplings to make up for the lack of noodles anyhow. These were amazing free-range chicken Nepalese dumplings. So, so great.)

(And these dancers! Don't think I ever saw them in Sydney. Melbourne, you win my heart everytime.)

xx

2013: blink and you'll miss it...

Yowsers... Where has this year even gone?! December?! Who even are you?! Where did you come from?! And come to think of it, September, October and November, I don't even remember you happening!!

An even scarier thing?! In a month's time I will have been living in Melbourne for ONE WHOLE YEAR. I just can't even deal. Thinking I need to do something totally Melbourne-kitsch, like go on the restaurant tram or something... Any suggestions throw them my way ;)

So let me fill you in! I've been finishing classes for the year, getting wisdom teeth pulled, finally finding a new place to move into, smooching Pen, watching lovely friends get married, waiting for summer to come (I'd even take Spring right now?!! 16 degree days do NOT belong in December, Melbourne!), getting assignments done, studying for exams, walking the tan, becoming a two coffee a day girl (yikes)... You know, things that keep you from being a good blog-keeper... Life things.

This week is my first week that I haven't been tethered to my school schedule, and I have to admit, I'm really liking my discipline so far. I've still got two exams coming up that I need to get my head around, so I've been setting myself little goals each day... "get through reviewing 4 weeks of notes this morning and then we'll go out for a leg stretch and coffee break" type goals. I need them. I like them. They keep me focussed and determined and on track (most of the time). Although there has also been a fair bit of overdue cleaning... organising... other usual procrastination suspects taking place, I'm feeling ok, feeling prepared. A little bit of structure and lot bit of rosemary essential oil (GREAT for memory/retention), getting me through the pointy end of the school year.

Even more exciting than finishing my first year back at school would most definitely have to be finding an amazing place to move into with Dunc and Biz. Holy moly, it is perfect! Massive living areas, a back patio!, an open fireplace!!, an amazing kitchen and most importantly, space that feels like my own, my home. Pen is not going to know herself in the wide open space of the new place! We move the day of my final exam, so hello party time! I'm already planning the jugs of Pimms for the hot days and the big vats of red wine by the fire on the cold ones - I know your tricks Melbourne, you sneaky devil!

But for now, before the hilarity and the chaos commence in the lead up to a move and some hefty exams some little snaps from the last little while.

Enjoy my darlings xx

(A little afternoon date with Monet at the NGV - such an amazing exhibition)

(Half in my cat in a hat costume for Alex's hens)

(These girls!!)

(Hiding behind this big, huge zippy bag full of ice is my big fat post-surgery face. I'm doing you a favour by not letting you see it. Trust me.)

(My life for three straight weeks. Study, study, study. Coffee, coffee, coffee.)

(So this. The best Japanese curry I've ever eaten within walking distance and 10 days later I move neighbourhoods. Prahran East, I'll be back, you hear me?!)

(Sometimes instead of studying Microbiology and Biology I read a novel the size of a house)

(Melbourne, you can be freezing but you can also be a gorgeous little cricket.)

(Ding dong the witch is dead - at my bank)

(Christmas is comingggggg!!)

(That sleepy face?! Those furry paws?! My heart!)

(This book made me cry. I mean... It is totally about Microbiology and helped me prepare for my final exam)

(This little beauty is MINE ALL MINE!)

(Despite being beyond ecstatic about moving into a new place, I was a little sad to leave behind my coffee at Final Step and my buttery, heavenly croissants at French Fantasies. Naturally, I had to take a little time out during packing and moving to soak up some sunshine and say farewell)