Winging Decorating A Cake...

I've decided I want to have a go at cake decorating. I have no idea what I'm doing, as I've never taken classes, but I'm pretty creative so thought I'd try my hand at it. I was just having a play at applying fondant, using some cutter shapes, and making some bows. Here's my results of my first ever cake:

I baked a white chocolate mud cake and covered it in pink buttercream. It was actually really huge so I was able to bake two full size cakes and layer them together. I'm interested to see how the recipe tastes as I've not used this recipe before. All my equipment is ready to go - the silicone rolling mat, the giant rolling pin, colours, fondant smoother, cutters, and the fondant has a lemon yellow tint already applied.

The cake with the fondant covered. It was easier than I thought. I thought I'd have folds and pleats and air bubbles everywhere but it was pretty simple. It did take me a while to roll out the right size fondant.

I then added hearts and stars using a dab of water. The stars were much harder to apply as there were quite fiddly. I also have some other shapes, as well as a kit with the alphabet and a kit with numbers.

 I then added a bow. It looks alright but not too great, but not bad for my first attempt. I let the loops dry a little around some rolled up Glad Wrap before applying them with water.

The finished product! I added little colour balls down the bottom to hide the rough edge. This is why people either use colour balls or ribbon on the bottom of cakes! 

I'm taking my cake to work tomorrow and then making a few more during the week. I'm having a gender reveal BBQ this coming weekend so will make a cake for that - my husband asked if I'd be modelling a baby for the top of the cake! I don't think I'm quite there yet!

Have you ever tried your hand at a new hobby? How has your success been?

Telstra Thanks Presents Katy Perry - This Is How We Do Our School...

This post comes because I'm a little annoyed at the results of this competition. A couple of months ago, Telstra ran a nation-wide competition for schools to make a video showing how their school is creative and unique, with the winning school receiving a $10,000 grant for their arts department along with 20 tickets to their closest Katy Perry concert and a visit at school from Katy Perry herself. Two runner up schools receive $5000 each for their arts departments. I will preface this post by also stating (as some of you probably know) that I am a teacher at a public primary school in suburban Melbourne. One of our amazing teachers put together an entry for this competition, and it was very clever. I haven't watched all the videos so I don't know if it should have won, but I do think it was definitely more creative and entertaining than the winner.

The winning school was Loreto Mandeville Hall in Toorak, probably the most affluent suburb in Melbourne, and one of the most expensive Catholic girls' schools to attend. Fees in 2015 for Prep are $16,317, moving up to $24,585 for Year 12, plus an annual building levy of $2085. At around 1000 students, that is a lot of money they are raking in each year, before even considering their government funding and Catholic church funding.

Sure, a visit from Katy Perry is an amazing prize (although, having attended a pretty strict Catholic girls' secondary college myself, I'm not sure how much Katy Perry's style and music fits in with a traditional Catholic ethos, but that is another post altogether), but is this a school that really needs a $10,000 grant for their arts department? I don't think so.

This is a school that boasts an orchestra in its video entry to the competition, for goodness sake! Their website tells of the 'industry professionals' its visual arts department is comprised of. Music camps are offered to students. The fees the four girls who apparently were the masterminds behind creating the entry video accumulate to almost $72,000 - a $10,000 grant being a pretty small slice of that pie of four students alone, let alone the whole school's fees.

Should a school that is so affluent be eligible for a competition such as this? I think not. Even people from the competition were quoted in newspapers as saying that, upon attending the school for Katy Perry's visit on Thursday and viewing the grounds and facilities, they didn't feel this school needed $10,000. This competition should have only been open to public schools across the country, who receive less funding and charge nominal fees to parents (my school is currently around $200 per child per year, in a school of around 240 students, which is reduced for extra children in the family), in order to better support the lack of private funding they receive. Some people may argue that private schools, both religious and independent, receive less government funding than state schools, which may be true, but this is purely balancing out all the additional sources of revenue that state schools simply can't access. A visit from Katy Perry is an exciting prize, but a $10,000 grant is an opportunity that Loreto simply did not need. Our school's video was filmed on a 5 year old FlipCam, and put together in iMovie on a staff laptop (which staff have to rent from the department of education). Again, I'm not saying our school should have necessarily won, but I am saying that only state schools should have been eligible for entry, given their comparable facilities, budgets, and sources of income.

Take a look at the winning video here  along with some other videos that were entered in the competition. The video alone isn't the most entertaining and creative of all of them out there, and I'll let you be the judge on how much professional technology was used in the creation of the video.

Take a look at Loreto's website and you be the judge on whether or not this school needed $10,000. I'd be very keen to hear exactly how Loreto plans on spending their newly acquired 'loose change', because in a school that affluent, that sum of money is simply just that.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Should a competition that involves such a substantial grant be open to all schools, regardless of affluence, sources of income, and resources? Is the only way to make a competition such as this to open it to all schools in Australia? Should there be some sort of entry criteria, such as my proposal that only state schools should be invited to enter? Is this then disadvantaging our private school student counterparts, excluding them just because their parents have chosen or are able to afford to send them to a private school?

Mariah...

Last night I FINALLY got to see Mariah Carey in concert. I have liked Mariah Carey since about 1994. Back when she first visited Melbourne in 1998 I was in year 8 and didn't have my own money (apart from a couple of dollars a week pocket money) so couldn't afford to go. The next time I had the chance to see her was when I was living in Boston in early 2010. Unfortunately, the horrible people I worked for (I was an au pair) refused to let me have a Saturday night off to go see her, making me hate that nasty family even more than I already did. The next time she came to Melbourne, January 2013, I was in Boston visiting so couldn't go again!! Aah! When I heard she was back in November this year, I booked my tickets as soon as I could. Finally I got to see one of my all time favourites live!

Well, the wait was at times a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the show for the most part, but it was not the best concert I've been to by a long shot. After over an hour of waiting after the support act (Nathaniel, some dude from X Factor, I know him as the guy who sings like his area is being pinched he sings so high), Mariah finally showed up after a lengthy musical introduction, which was just too long to wait in my opinion. Fantasy was a great opener to the show (although her outfit of a hot pink ballgown was a little misguided for an uptempo song, as were the two songs that followed), but three songs in she was off stage for close to 10 minutes for a very lengthy costume change. The beginning of the second 'act' saw her sing some songs basically no one knew, which served as a good time for a toilet or drink break. The mood here went really downhill and I found myself yawning and looking at my watch, which was a shame. Eventually, she picked things back up again with a very long medley of about 10 'fan favourites' (I think songs she personally likes from her back catalogue as she mentioned when singing a few songs, since when is the obscure Crybaby, a song I quite like, a fan favourite when it is about track 9 on the Rainbow album?). Another lengthy costume change and the opportunity for us to watch the beginning of the cinematic Honey film clip opening, and out she came to sing a further three songs and a lengthy parade through the crowd to sing 'Oh, you're thirsty' over and over and over and over and over again for a good 5 or so minutes, before yet another customer change into yet another gown (perhaps the most ridiculous yet, something that would have been better suited to the Academy Awards red carpet than singing pop songs at Rod Laver, and by the way, can she stop it with the one gloved hand?). The show finished on a bit of a higher note, with Hero and Always Be My Baby (I will ignore the ridiculous Supernatural in between these two songs, something she only performs for her kids and has hideous high-pitched toddler giggling throughout the song which does not sound great through arena speakers), and We Belong Together finished the show. No encore. I am always left pretty furious at a show that doesn't have an encore, to me it doesn't seem like a real show, like the artist doesn't care that much, and can't wait to get back to their hotel.

Mariah singing We Belong Together as the final song. No encore. 

Cons:
-Did she lip synch? I had my suspicions at times she had some definite 'assisted singing'. The cameras never focussed close enough on her face to reveal enough.
-Mariah basically never talked to the crowd - anything she 'said' was sung, which got highly annoying very quickly - she would even sing that she was going to walk over to the piano and look how far her microphone cord went.
-I hate medleys. Play the whole damn song.
-The dancers. What is up with Mariah needing backup dancers? Especially when she is tottering around the stage in sky high heels and ball gowns, it was just totally out of place.
-Too many costume changes. I've come to watch you sing, not to a fashion show. Also, the lengthy periods off stage changing to a new ball gown meant the show lost any momentum being built and lost the energy. The band had to take over while she was getting changed and it made me feel like I was in some weird early 90's club in Manhattan listening to a band trying to break the big time in a small joint.
-She seemed a bit distant, like she didn't really care about getting the crowd involved. I expected her to be a far more engaging and involving performer, considering how long she has been doing this. It was almost like a parody of herself.

Pros:
-It's Mariah. I can say I've finally been to one of my favourite's concerts.

While I was sitting in the concert I started to think of all the concerts I have been to over the last few years, and the things that made them more engaging was that they played their own instruments and therefore had more control over their show, and they interacted with the crowd in long, varied, crowd-pleasing sets without lengthy breaks for getting changed.

Would I rush back? No. Would I go if the price was right? Sure.

What concert have you been to this year that you loved or didn't quite live up to expectations?

What I Wore Today...

Haven't really done many of these posts, and it is technically what I wore yesterday, but oh well. Excuse the giant pile of clothes on the floor behind me. There is another giant pile of clothes in my wardrobe. I need to sort them all out over my long weekend - put away the winter stuff, find places for the new stuff, sort the maternity purchases into winter and summer, etc. As you can see, I'm dressed for a typical Melbourne afternoon. Yesterday's weather was typical Melbourne - sunny one minute, raining the next.

Bad quality photo of my outfit.

Where I went: My aunty and uncle's house for afternoon tea.

What I wore: Jeanswest t-shirt, Jeanswest 7/8 jeans (perfect length on me without needing taking up, hitting just at the ankle), Lululemon cool racerback in white (under t-shirt), Lululemon vinyasa scarf in steep stripe black/heathered dune (I need to master the many different ways this scarf can be worn), Frye Melissa button boots in cognac, Fossil watch.

What is your favourite way to wear a scarf? Do you have a vinyasa scarf and have mastered the many ways it can be worn? 

Baby Expo...

Last Sunday, we went to the Pregnancy, Babies and Children's Expo at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (Jeff's Shed) in the city. We parked at Crown for $6, which was cheaper and easier than taking the train in to Spencer Street. We also got free tickets online, basically by signing up to be spam-emailed by them and their affiliates for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, we went with one thing in mind - prams. I had in mind what pram I wanted but I wanted to see if anything else jumped out at me.

We wound up putting a deposit down on the Joolz Day Earth pram in lobster red.

Joolz Day Earth pram, lobster red, $1499 AUD

OK, this pram is insanely expensive, but most of them are. The reasons why I liked this pram over others was because it has leather handlebars (more comfortable and also more durable than the black foam-type ones most prams have which, a lady in the shop when we looked about a month ago pointed out, have a tendency to wear out and split apart), and also because of the height - when the pram is in chair mode, it sits at table height (perfect when at a cafe/restaurant), and when in cot mode, it is nice and high, so not much bending or hunching over requited which saves the poor back, especially as the baby gets heavier. Also, it is nice to be closer to eye level with your baby when you're walking around! I also like grey (but the grey in the Day Studio which was $100 more for quilted handlebars which wasn't worth it, the grey in the Day Earth wasn't as nice a grey), so red it was (I have been keen on a red pram for as long as I've been thinking about prams) - as I told several people, red goes faster!

Me with the Joolz Day Earth in lobster red at the expo!

This pram moves really smoothly and looks really good. The only downside is the small basket underneath the pram, but the plus to that is that it is a fully-enclosed basket as opposed to most prams which have a giant, wide open basket which any distracted parent could have stuff swiped out of, or stuff could bounce out of.

We decided to put a deposit on the pram (picking up in January) because they were having $450 of extras included as an expo special - the nursery bag, the sleeping bag/foot muff (the cover that zips over the front of the pram to keep the baby warm in colder months, and the XL shopping bag. I added a cup holder ($25 from $30) to my order, but I will be requesting a couple of extras as potential birth/baby shower gifts for people who ask for suggestions - I want the Summer seat, the UV cover, and possibly the comfort cover down the track.

We also had a great time at the ErgoBaby stall, as my husband is super keen for what we have (somewhat wrongly) calling the 'baby strap on'. The girls at the stall looked great in lovely orange dresses and were super friendly without being pushy in demonstrating how the ErgoBaby carrier works.

Modelling the baby carrier!

The stall had dummy babies filled with sand to the weight of a newborn (it felt more like a 2-3 month old weight though). Derek was all too happy to try the carrier on and was very impressed with how much the weight of the baby was eliminated as the carrier sits around your hips. Although he is trying on the new 360 model (four positions, front of parent/forward facing baby, front of parent/parent facing baby, back of parent piggy back style, and hip of parent), we wound up purchasing the Original Earth Baby Carrier (which has three positions, all except the front of parent/forward facing baby) as we didn't see it as being worth an extra $80 for one position - the carrier was also on special at the expo. We also got a newborn insert which allows the carrier to be used from birth. I can see this carrier come in really handy when we travel.

ErgoBaby Original Earth baby carrier, black, RRP $143 AUD (plus newborn insert, RRP $35.00 AUD, not pictured)

We got the carrier for just over $100 plus the newborn insert at the expo, so was a good deal. I am keen to give it a go in the real world down the track.

There was sooooooo much on display at the expo - stuff you wouldn't know what the purpose of is, stuff you know you won't need, and stuff I didn't want to look at yet (like car seats - I need to go to a shop and make sure it fits in my small car), as well as stuff I couldn't buy yet because I don't know the gender of the baby (3 weeks to go!).

After, we had lunch at the food court in Crown, before heading home for a giant nap.

This weekend is the long weekend with Melbourne Cup Day on Tuesday - one of the reasons I love living in Melbourne! Spring Racing is always a fun time of year. I have an afternoon tea at my aunty's house this afternoon, movies Monday afternoon, and Cup Day races watching on TV at my Mum's house on Tuesday. I'd like to go for a swim a couple of times at the local pool if I can manage. I also have mountains of work to do which I really can't continue putting off. I will be working every spare minute this long weekend - lucky Monday is 'work from home' day for us this year, as I really need the time as I've got a bit behind with my work recovering from morning sickness (all day) and being super exhausted (I'm slowly coming out of the fog of exhaustion and have got back on the coffee after a couple of months - let's say Thursday morning at work I came to work completely wired, telling everyone I'd had coffee that morning, and didn't blink for a good two hours, lol).

What are you getting up to this weekend? Are you lucky enough to have Cup Day off?