Accessories Shopping and Spilling Drinks...

Today I went to Southland to do some accessories shopping. Next weekend we are going to a newsagency awards night as Derek works at a newsagency and his boss is president of the Victorian newsagency association. This night is at the Plaza Ballroom on Collins Street (Regent Theatre) so is quite a ritzy night! It sounds all a bit ridiculous but is their industry's night of nights, lol. Anyway, I decided that, rather than trying to buy a new dress, I'd buy something that would be easier to find and more reusable than a dress. I went shoe shopping. It's been awhile since I've purchased shoes in person (in Australia) - I usually buy online. Anyway, this is what I walked away with:

Zu Quo Evening Heels in Nude, $120 AUD

These shoes have a nice gold slight metallic material finish and are really interesting. Also the platform means they don't feel too high at all. I've never purchased Zu shoes before so I hope they're OK. I will be using Party Feet though! Of course, the girl tried to sell me the matching clutch, and I wasn't going to buy it (as I was going to borrow a gold clutch off my mum) but then she said it would be 20% off if I purchased it to match the shoes, so I thought it would be nice to have a matching clutch to the shoes. It's not like black shoes - you can match with any bag (or any black bag).

Zu Orpheus Evening Handbag, $80 AUD, down to $64 AUD

The clutch is a good size and has a few little pockets and a chain strap so will do well.

I then went to Portmans and purchased a gold belt to go with my new gold shoes and gold bag:

Portmans Oval Metal Stretch Belt, $24.95 AUD

I am teaming all this with a black dress so it should look suitably formal yet party-ish! After my purchases, I got some Party Feet at Priceline and then stopped off at Gloria Jeans for a Mudslide Mocha drink. This turned out to be a big mistake. I took two sips, got in my car, then came home. When I got home, I tried to put the drink on the coffee table but the lid was loose so it wound up slipping apart and out of my hands and all over the carpet. It took AGES to clean up. The carpet still has a chocolate hue to it. What a waste of $5, too, as it all wound up on the floor in giant clumps of frozen chocolate/coffee gloop. Ugh.

Where is your favourite place to shop for shoes? Do you notice that shoe shops can be especially rude - they either greet you and are over-the-top in trying to get you to try things on, or they don't even acknowledge your presence in the shop. There never seems to be a happy medium!

Super Fruit Smoothie...

I have now been using the Livestrong website for two weeks and have basically cut out Pepsi altogether. Pretty good! I've also been for a 20-30 minute walk every day (but haven't gone today or yesterday as Ally the dog went back home to her owners) and have been much more conscious of what I've been eating, sticking to around 1300 calories a day. However, I have not dropped any weight, so it is pretty disappointing. I don't know what is wrong with me.

I created a quick smoothie yesterday because I don't really like bananas on their own but I know they're good for you. I've made a few different smoothies which are all good tasting and way cheaper than the same stuff down at your local Boost (and have half the sugar of a Boost). Here is the recipe:

Orange, banana, and kiwifruit smoothie.

1 medium banana, peeled
1 orange, peeled
1 kiwi fruit, peeled
A generous splash of orange juice (or juice from a second orange)
1 tray of ice cubes (or enough ice cubes to fill two large glasses

Place all ingredients in your blender and pulse until mixed. Pour and enjoy!

This smoothie is good as it is dairy free (I don't like dairy-based smoothies), is waaaaaaaay cheaper than a Boost drink, is only 136 calories, has 16% of your daily fibre needs, and doesn't taste strongly of banana! It's also quick and easy and a little bit tropical tasting. I'm wondering how I could port one of these to work for lunch as it is quite filling.

Do you like smoothies? Do they help you eat more fruits? Do you prefer yoghurt, milk, or ice based smoothies?

Endota Day Spa Review...

Today I went to Endota Day Spa at Southland in Victoria for an hour massage. I'd originally booked for last Friday, but when I showed up they had no record of the booking or of me even existing in their database. The girl who had booked me was a trainee (given the fact she had to talk to someone else off the phone to get my booking in the computer and she also asked me if my name was "Kimberley with a K?" she didn't seem too confident) and turns out she totally screwed up. Fifteen minutes and three girls working at the Spa later, I was re-booked for this morning and they gave me a free upgrade (I had a gift voucher for a 30 minute massage for my birthday and was going to pay for an hour upgrade) to the hour massage, which was good. The girls were all very apologetic (not their fault) and the complimentary upgrade was a nice compensation for spending 15 minutes sorting things out and showing up for a booking someone didn't actually put into the computer and then having to come back today at a time that wasn't as suitable for me.

Endota Spa Southland

ANYWAY, this was my first time at a day spa, unless you count the tiny little hole in the wall in Hell's Kitchen in New York called Snowflakes Spa, where I had the best and cheapest hot stone massage ever by a little Asian lady whose poor hands must have been burning off after the buzzer went off for an hour finished. I first had a shoulder massage back in 2007 when my work had a mobile masseuse come to work and give us massages that left me feeling like I was walking on a cloud. After that, I decided to give the Zhong's Chinese massage shops a go, which was totally different to the cloud massage I had at work but was really beneficial. When I lived in the US, I had to go without massages as the Chinese massage shops just aren't around like they are here in Australia. Last year, my work (a different workplace than in 2007) again had a masseuse come and give us all 30 minute massages and this was the first time I had a full body relaxation massage where you're covered in a towel and have no clothes on underneath. Then I went to New York and had the amazing hot stone massage ($48 for an hour long hot stone massage? Yes please!) down a dark street on a Sunday night. And today I went to Endota.

I was welcomed by the friendly staff and directed to the waiting 'lounge', which, because a small shop in a shopping centre, was a couch bench, and was offered water or tea (I took water) while I filled out a new client form, which asked about my areas of concern, what kind of pressure I'd like, how much I want the therapist to speak, and so on. I liked that as it meant it wasn't going to be awkward if she was a talker and I was not (lying with my face down on a massage table, I usually like to try switch off as much as possible, especially since my job involves speaking pretty much non-stop all day). Then, I was guided into the room, where the therapist left me alone to change into a big comfy robe. First was the billabong foot bath. I felt a bit awkward as the therapist came in, sat down on the floor in front of me, and washed my feet (and was embarrassed as I have some cracks on my feet from the hot weather), but the foot bath was really lovely and a great way to relax into the hour. The room smelled beautiful of essential oils, and was decorated with votive candles, and contained a wicker chair, a massage table, a sink, and a deep bath. Then it was up onto the table and the therapist worked her way across my body, massaging my back and legs, before turning over to do arms, neck/upper chest/shoulders, and temples, with an eye mask placed over my eyes. The oil used was really luxurious feeling and didn't dry up quickly like some other oils can, and after each section of the body was worked, a damp hot towel was used to clean the oils off, which felt really refreshing. The therapist was friendly, professional, and her technique was relaxing and had good pressure. Soon, the hour was over and it was time to get back into my clothes to go back out to the real world. Before I left the room, the therapist returned with some product recommendations on a sheet based on some things she noticed while massaging (such as dry skin) and I purchased the massage oil as it smelled and felt so divine. There wasn't a pressure to purchase anything and the product recommendations were written on a sheet for you to take home, which was nice.

Endota Spa Organic Olive & Macadamia Massage Oil, 125ml, $28.00 AUD

Overall, Endota Spa was really a lovely experience. The staff were friendly, compensated me for the booking error and apologised profusely about it, and the massage was relaxing and enjoyable. The massage I had should have cost $100 for 60 minutes, so it is pricier than your Chinese massage down at your local shopping centre (which work out to around $1 a minute) but for something indulgent and for relaxation rather than having the world's most forceful deep tissue massages, Endota was really enjoyable. I would probably go again only with a gift voucher as otherwise it's a bit of a pricey indulgence and wouldn't feel as much of a treat if I was going as often as I go to my local Zhong's.

Have you ever been to a day spa? Do you prefer to go to your local Chinese massage? Do you like massages that provide relaxation or muscle/tissue therapy? Do you hate being touched by strangers and find the concept of massages repulsive?

This post was not sponsored by Endota Spa, but is purely based on my personal experiences visiting the spa after receiving a gift voucher.

Livestrong.com Review...

In my quest to stop drinking Pepsi and develop some healthier eating habits, I have begun using a website recommended to me by a work colleague called Livestrong. My meals are healthy enough (except when I get takeaway) but my issue is snacking. I have mainly been using the calorie counter tool on the site.

You begin by signing up for a free account and then inputting your data, such as your height, weight, and weight goals. The site then works out for you how many calories you should be consuming

You can track your daily food intake each day, and categorise it under breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, or a particular hour of the day.

OK, so today I may have gone to the beach and had fish and chips for lunch, but hey, when it's a sunny 27 and you're dog sitting, you would too! Basically, you start typing in the food or drink you had and it finds the food for you with all the calories, protein, salt, sugar and other dietary information, and calculates it towards your total. You can adjust the serving size that you ate, as well, and you can add a new food if it doesn't appear (for example, I added Nudie Orange Juice a couple of days ago, which took a couple of minutes to do).

You can see that on Friday my calories were WAAAAAAAY over as I ate lots of Dominos pizza. I was surprised how full of calories the pizza was, since I get my pizza cheese free (I don't eat cheese as I don't like it) and I don't have many meats on my pizza, mainly veggies, so I'm thinking the base and tomato paste must be 95% sugar with just enough flour or tomato or whatever to disguise it as pizza base or tomato paste.  I'm on a pretty low calorie amount due to weight loss goals but it does adjust your calories allowed once you start inputting your weight (and hopeful weight loss). The site also allows you to put in your exercise for the day (I use mapmywalk.com to log distance in my walks with the dog) and then gives you more calories to your daily allowance depending on how much and how vigorous your exercise was. At the moment my main aim is cutting back on sugar (hence giving up Pepsi, but I did have a full strength Pepsi with my fish and chips today at lunch) but the site also breaks down the other elements to your food and how much left you have in percentage of your daily allowance.

It's really interesting to see how much some foods send your calories right over. Sure, it's no surprise that unhealthy foods are going to be higher calories, but I didn't expect Domino's pizza to be as high in calories as a Whopper from Hungry Jacks.

Everyone needs takeaway every now and again, and even though I enjoy cooking, sometimes I want a night off. What do you do for healthier takeaway choices? Do you get takeaway or eat out at a restaurant? Do you avoid takeaway at all costs?

This post was not sponsored by Livestrong.com, but is purely my opinions after using the site for a little over a week. 

Doggie boredom...

I have been pretty bored the last couple of days, home alone with Ally. We start off the day with a big morning walk. On today's walk, we encountered a guy standing outside his house and he said to me "Goodmorning" so I replied, and then he said "Bit of a cold one this morning!" (it wasn't, it was well above 10 degrees and I was in a t-shirt) and I replied "It's fine once you get moving". Seriously. People complaining about the cold already??!! I went for coffee at my favourite coffee shop around 9 this morning and another customer came in and was wearing a North Face puffer jacket - the kind of puffer jacket you wear when you're going to the snow or you live in the snow - the kid of jackets people wore in Boston. What are these people going to wear when it actually does get cool in Melbourne??!!

Anyway, I've been bored at home so found a few doggie-related ways to pass the time:

1. Knit Ally a jumper.

Perfect fit dog and cat sweater, ravelry.com

After I finished another beanie, this time for a different friend's child, I decided to knit Ally a jumper. It was a wet morning a few days ago on a walk and she got wet on her legs and tummy, so thought maybe she could wear this when she goes for walks on damp mornings. Or not...I've since knit a little purple flower to go on the jumper. Hilarious!

2. Give Ally a bath.
I didn't know how this one would go down, since I have never bathed Ally before, and I didn't have any doggy shampoo, but searched online for a homemade shampoo. Too bad she didn't really like the bath shook like a leaf the entire time, and then tried to climb out of the bath by walking up my arms (of course, waiting until she was soaped up to try climb out). I then tried to dry her with a hairdryer which she seemed to enjoy but was scared of at the same time. After I set her free, she proceeded to run crazy fast laps around the lounge room, including running across the couch and taking a flying leap off the couch, and doing this weird rolling on the floor thing.

She is still running around like a maniac and playing with her toys with crazy attitude. I also have a lovely smell of damp dog in the house to enjoy. Needless to say, I won't be bathing her again!

Why read a book or clean the house or do a jigsaw puzzle or flick through a magazine when you can be entertained by the dog?!

What do you enjoy doing on lazy days?

Easter Monday and I'm Keeping Busy...

My Easter weekend has been pretty quiet. I'm on holidays from work so have some time to kill. I spent three hours yesterday (Easter Sunday) cleaning all the clothes off my floor - stuff that had been washed after our Honeymoon but not put away as I didn't have space for all my new purchases on top of my old clothes. My sister and her husband have gone to Paris and Rome for 8 nights so we are dog sitting their one year old dog who runs around on speed.

Derek playing with Ally (the blur).

Today I cooked tomato soup for lunch. Tomato soup is the only soup I eat because it's smooth - I hate soup with bits floating in it. Eew. I am trying to get on a bit of a health kick, with trying to stop drinking Pepsi (I'm still off the Pepsi but it is hard! I'm tried! I have a headache!), and have been using the website livestrong.com to track my food each day. It is amazing to see how much a snack can put you over.

Tomato soup cooking. I really need a smaller stockpot.

The recipe is from my favourite cookbook of all time, Complete Perfect Recipes by David Herbert.

Complete Perfect Recipes, David Herbert, $30.81 AUD, bookdepository.com

This cookbook is the best cookbook I've ever owned and I think everyone who ever cooks should own it. It has some more basic things in it, like cooking the perfect steak or cooking scones, but also more advanced or impressive dishes like san choy bow or thai chicken curry. Not one thing I've ever cooked has ever failed from this book, and everything has been super delicious, gotten rave reviews from dinner guests (and, I'll admit, I've also boasted to myself about how great my cooking was), and no recipe has obscure or super expensive ingredients. I always go to this book first when looking for a recipe before anything else.

I'm beginning to knit a hat for my friend who had a baby a couple of months ago and I will be meeting the new girl next week. This hat has ear flaps so is a new challenge for me, but so far, I'm going along well.

How did you spend your long weekend?