A Month In My 30s...

It'a already over a month since I turned 30. I wasn't too scared about it - I don't know what my 'scary age' is - but I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't have a celebratory drink due to being pregnant. Ahh, well, that's why God invented mocktails!

I had the house to myself for the day as my husband works Saturdays. My local pool had a Facebook promotion whereby, if you announced a codeword at the front desk, you got in for only $2. Bargain! So I started my day with a nice swim. After, I met my mum for coffee and then had a nap in the afternoon.

Dinner was out at a place called Richmond Oysters. I hadn't been before, but my sister was keen to go as she and her husband had read good reviews online. Myself, my mum, my husband, my sister, my grandma, and my uncle all came - was especially good for my uncle to come as he drove down for the night from his home in country Victoria - a quick 4 hour drive away!

I asked for a fruity mocktail - it was delicious!

 Most of us went for fried options for dinner. I just wanted to try a bit of everything so I had the fisherman's platter, as did Derek. My mum and uncle had fish and chips, and my sister and grandma had grilled fish and chips with salad and veggies. If I went back I would definitely get a grilled fish as I love grilled fish.

Someone should have told me my hair was stupid. My sister took the photo so wasn't in it. Not sure why my uncle is posing like a weirdo. 

Derek and I at dinner.  

The food was delicious and reasonably priced. Parking was surprisingly simple given the Swan St/Church Street location in Richmond. I was especially impressed that the restaurant didn't put on a set menu or bump up the prices given it was Valentine's Day - one of the 'perks' of having your birthday on Valentine's Day is that you are often the only party in a restaurant of couples, and you have to pay for the privilege of eating off a set menu. I would definitely go back.

What I wore:

Ripe Maternity textured skater dress in black, $84.95 AUD. This dress is a good buy as will work when not pregnant. I am barely wearing any maternity clothes even though I've got less than 4 weeks to go.

NineWest 'Nicetime' wedges, white, $139.95 AUD

Urban Decay Naked2 Basics eyeshadow palette

I also played around with my Urban Decay Naked2 Basics palette which I got for Christmas from my mother in law. I will do a full review on this in the future, but it's an amazing, high quality eyeshadow palette which allows you to create a myriad of wonderful looks. 

Anyway, that was my birthday! Have you got a scary age?

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?

Paradise Cove Luau...

The first main thing we did in Hawaii was go to the Paradise Cove Luau. This luau ran like a well-oiled machine. There were hotel transfers by coach, with running commentary and participate games (which I don't really like) the whole bus ride there and back. Paradise Cove Luau is located right near the Disney Aulani resort, by a few resorts about a 45 minute drive out of Waikiki. Tickets were pretty expensive (if I recall correctly, $89 for the lowest tier, which we got), but there was plenty of food and two small alcoholic drinks included.

After arriving, you followed a 'puu' - a shell being blown into - around the site to see different attractions. Here a lady in her coconut bra dances to a man playing guitar. 

The beach was a small cove where you could go for a short canoe ride.

Colourful birds on display.

More birds.

Sarong tying demonstration.

Man climbing a tree wit a bag of flower petals clenched between his teeth for the 'shower of flowers', meant to welcome everyone.

The flowers being showered. This guy was pretty high up!

Man catching the fish for the dinner, apparently!

Casting the net into the ocean.

After the fish were caught, hula dancers and fire holders came out.

The chief of the luau watches over the kalua (pig in sand pit being roasted) while more dancers dance.

After the pig is pulled out of the pit, it is displayed to the crowd on a stretcher before being walked off to the kitchen, apparently to be pulled apart and served at dinner in a mere 20 minutes! While we were watching this performance I ran into a girl I used to work with - fancy the chances of sitting next to someone on the other side of the world in a crowd of maybe 500!

After a buffet style dinner (plenty of food and tasty) the show begun, with lots of dancing.

More dancing.

A fire twirler. Our seats were a bit farther back so my shots of this weren't great. However I don't recommend spending extra on the better seats, as some were just as far away as ours.

Dancing from different cultures.

Overall, the luau was an enjoyable experience. Everything was highly polished and I'm sure not at all traditional, but the entertainment, food, and activities were all well done and enjoyable. I'd recommend it as a one off if you haven't been to one before.

Have you ever been to a luau? Anything similar in any other Polynesian country? Or any other cultural ceremonies elsewhere around the world? Did you enjoy it or feel like it was a bit of a tourist trap?

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!

Today I have gone on a spending spree. I have spent way too much money on clothes I want and don't necessarily need. First stop: Jeanswest:

I pick up a nice mint coloured t-shirt and it's $30.

Jeanswest Connie Self Stripe T-Shirt, mint, $29.99 AUD

I go to the counter and get told there's 2 for $35 so I should get another top for another $5. As usual, when confronted with the two for X dollars I can't find anything else I like. Therefore, I literally get two and get two of the same top, but in different colours:

...or two for $35.00 AUD.

I also purchase my favourite body wash from The Body Shop, where the sales girl is not too irritating and doesn't try and make ridiculous prying conversation with me as they usually do in The Body Shop and she doesn't ask me to donate my change to some random cause so the trip is quite stress-free:

The Body Shop Shea Shower Cream, 250 ml, $12.95 AUD

Later today, I go to Lululemon and spend way too much money on workout gear to make me feel good when I go to the gym. At the moment I have a good pair of crop pants for cycle and a good Lululemon tank but all my workout t-shirts are cotton shirts from Gap and get super hot and sweaty. I spend a lot of time deliberating on colours of t-shirts, whether to get crops or tights (I decide on crops because it's getting warmer), and eventually pick out more stuff than I planned on going in there because it's all nice and it feels comfortable and I have nothing bright and happy so go the hot pink, and hopefully this all won't make me feel quite so revolting when I go to the gym:

L-R: Lululemon Wunder Under Crop, black, $99.00 AUD; Race Me short sleeve, raspberry glo, $85.00 AUD; Run Swiftly Racerback, black, $59.00 AUD; Serene short sleeve, white stripe nimbus, $75.00 AUD

Lululemon is dangerous. The girls in the Brighton store are all super nice and friendly even though they're probably judging me inside their heads for being a fatty coming into their store and squeezing into their comfortable and flattering workout pants. They all have great accents, like one girl who has a cool South African accent (one of my favourite accents ever) and the two girls from Canada chatting to me today like we're old friends catching up (even though I can basically get the same accent right here in my lounge room if I listen to my husband speak as he's American, but for those in the know a Canadian accent is different to an American one). They're helpful and bubbly and seem genuinely happy for you for wanting to work out. They even offer free hemming (even though I have a sewing machine at home) because I'm a shortie and their crops are like awkward 50-something lady 7/8 ankle skimming pants when I put them on. I will (try to) ban myself from this and any further Lululemon stores until we go to Hawaii in January where I will still pay a ridiculous amount for a pair of leggings but where the amount won't be quite so ridiculous as it is in Australia, and where I will hopefully be able to size down because I will be working out like crazy because my cute Lululemon gear will drive me to go to the gym more often - because if I don't I'm spending heaps of money on not only a gym membership not being used, but overpriced workout gear also not being used!

After my temporary loss of self control in Lululemon, I come home and proceed to spend over $140 on Asos. Why? I don't know. The last time I purchased from there (the only time) I returned everything except a pair of tights. Hopefully I have more luck this time.

Other shots from my week:

I'm not much of a sunshine person, but I flicked through Glamour and Allure while I ate my lunch outside before it got overcast and started to rain.

I worked the election last Saturday. Had a busy but interesting day. A few people asked if I was a volunteer. Um, definitely not! The day was full of all kinds of things and happenings. You certainly meet all sorts working on the election!

PBTeen Island Floral duvet cover and shams, $115.00 AUD and $33.00 each AUD respectively, plus shipping.

I changed my sheets to this lovely and bright Pottery Barn Teen cover. I also purchased one in pink for my mum. However, PBTeen has sent me everything twice. So now I have two sets of the blue and two sets of the pink. Don't know what to do with them as it would be too expensive to be honest and return them to the US!

Chicken and prawn jambalaya.

Cooked jambalaya last Sunday night with some cajun spices my Uncle got me from the Northern Territory. It was good, but I prefer my seafood paella.

Maybe I've been shopping so much because a cousin and my sister have both announced they're pregnant this week. I have had to adjust to my sister's announcement because it's pretty close to me and we're not there yet. I feel like literally everyone is having a baby around me and I'm not. It's kind of depressing. I'm thinking of doing a Carrie Bradshaw and having a 'I'm not pregnant!' registry somewhere to cheer me up.

What's been happening in your world?

Updating and Catching Up...

I'm back! As always, I've been super busy at work. When I get home, I just want to do mindless things like flick through magazines, watch TV, or aimlessly surf the net.

Yesterday I went to a Vogue forums meet with some lovely girls in the Melbourne area. We went to a cafe in Prahran called Isit, which was reasonably priced, relaxed, and had good food (including plentiful servings) and good service. It was the first time I'd been to a meet but I was glad I did as I had a nice time. While we were there wen got talking about blogs and I mentioned I often think about my blog but am too lazy to work with the photos. I really need to make more of an effort.

Here is what has been going on in my life:

Glassons High Low Roll Sleeve blouse, $25.00 AUD

I purchased this comfortable top from Glassons. I tried on a very similar top in Sportsgirl which was $60 and didn't fit right at all. This one really hits in all the right places and isn't too high at the front. I want to back and get another colour! Back when I was a teenager and at uni I shopped at Glassons religiously, and was a big fan of their coloured tank tops I put under other t-shirts, but then one day they changed the style of them (made them shorter) and the material seemed to be lower quality and I stopped shopping there. About a year or so ago, my mum and I went in on a desperate search for something, and I got a nice white cardigan for a reasonable price. I hadn't really been back in since last week and got this nice top. I think I'll be adding Glassons back to my list of regular visits at the shops! Very impressed.

Canon Speedlite 430EX II, $369.00 AUD, teds.com.au

I have been sticking with the gym (although I could be a bit more frequent) and I reached my first weight loss goal so treated myself to a gigantic flash for my camera. I made myself not get this flash until I reached the goal which was a challenge in itself not to just spend as soon as I wanted! I got the flash last week and can see it will be a bit of a learning curve as this is what is on the back of the flash:

Back of the Canon Speedlite 430

Buttons AND a screen!! Gone are the days of the flash popping up, or the flash just going off when it needs to. This flash will do that but the fact there is a screen on the back of my flash is a little intimidating. I will be having a bit of a learn and play before I use it on anything important!

My beloved Acne Pistols came apart on the left boot at the back of the seam. Thankfully, although the manager wasn't in the day I went to sort it out, as they should last longer than 4 months at $570, they replaced them and had the new pair couriered to my work the same day with a hand written note. Very good service!

In two weeks we head to Fiji for our one year wedding anniversary - unbelievable! I am looking forward to doing not much of anything except go in the pools - how nice do the pools at our resort look?

Radisson Blu Fiji Resort

You may also find me at the swim up bar. Anyone been to Fiji and have any recommendations for a day trip? I hope to get on a boat cruise or something one day of the holiday.

I will try not be as lazy as I have been with this blog. What's been going on in your world?

Cooking New Dishes...

The other night, I made Thai Fish Cakes for dinner. I purchased a new cookbook, The Really Useful Cookbook by David Herbert (he has the best, no-fail, recipes!), and decided to make the fish cakes for dinner.

The Really Useful Cookbook by David Herbert, $41.39 AUD, bookworld.com.au

I've used Bookworld.com.au a couple of times now to get titles I want quickly and that aren't available on BookDepository. Bookworld is what shows up when you type in Borders.com.au (last I knew Borders online was still in business) and they have free shipping and 10% off if you become a free member. Shipping is incredibly quick and the two purchases I've made have both arrived two days after purchasing (and considering both my purchases were made on a Sunday, that is pretty good).

This book is well organised into different categories, such as breads, soups, roasts, puddings, fish, biscuits, and so on. The first recipe is a pretty generic one, and then the subsequent recipes get more adventurous. Being on holidays from work, I decided to try out some new recipes for dinner from both this cookbook and a Woman's Weekly slow cooker book. These were the Thai Fish Cakes:

Thai Fish Cakes with roast potatoes, carrot, and pumpkin.

The fish cakes were good, although next time I would add more red curry paste and chili as they were a little on the mild side. The recipe was quick and easy.

Later this week I have Moroccan meat balls and BBQ pork ribs (both done in the slow cooker) on the menu.

What are your favourite cookbooks? Do you have a standard go-to or do you have favourites from different books? Do you prefer to get your recipes out of the newspaper or magazines, or even off the television?

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. 

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?

Comedy Festival - Dave Hughes...

It has been several years since I have been to see Dave Hughes at the Comedy Festival. I try and go to at least one show every year as a bit of a night out. The last time I saw Dave Hughes would have been back during The Glass House days. I used to go with some friends from school but then we found he was starting to recycle some material year after year and other material was stuff already heard either on TV or the radio.

Dave Hughes - Freezer Bread

The show doesn't really have a theme, and is more him wandering back and forth across the stage telling random jokes about life and incidental things he has come across in his daily travels. He is funny, but even last night there were at least three jokes that Id already either heard on TV or heard on the radio. 

We were going to eat before the show but were running a bit late so instead had frozen yoghurt at Cacao Green, where they have delicious frozen yoghurt. We got addicted to this stuff (Red Mango as it's called everywhere other than Australia) in New York several years ago now so always take the opportunity to have some when we can.

Cacao Green, corner Swanston and Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne

We were thinking about eating dinner after the show but it was a bit late so instead just took the train home. Of course, Melbourne public transport being as dodgy as it is, there is never a dull moment on a train. I feel like the trains in New York and Boston were much safer than here, as even though there was never a dull moment in New York in particular, it was an entertaining not a dull moment. Here they are just odd/scary/offputting/weird not dull moments. Last night, a lady was listening to her headphones, dressed in a Carlton guernsey, and kept yelling out the score at random moments. "TWENTY MINUTES TO GO - NOT GONNA WIN!", "OH NO, HE MISSED IT! FIFTEEN MINUTES TO GO", or this one: "103 TO 84 - 21 POINTS THE MARGIN", to which another random guy crunching on a pizza opposite her replied, "It's 19 points, darling, not 21, do your maths right". The pizza guy kept egging her on, and at one stage he started saying, "Canterbury? Canterbury's winning?" to which she replied, "Canterbury?" and he said "Yeah, Canterbury Sharks, rugby", and she yelled back "YOU'RE IN THE WRONG STATE, MATE!", which got a few laughs from the other passengers, and he mumbled back "I'm just stirring her, I know what's going on." Oh dear. We got some late night KFC on the way home for a very late dinner.

Have you been to a Comedy Festival Show? If you're not from Melbourne, do you wish there was more of a comedy presence in your city/town?