weird

I think I have mentioned before that I live close to the CBD of my town. This has great benefits but also some negatives - like finding it difficult to get a park out the front of our house. The other day on our way to the gym ( so early early dark still) we walked out the front gate and there were a pair of shoes and some roughed up dirt. WEIRD! What was even weirder is that later in the day they were gone. I am wandering if the rightful owner came looking for them perhaps when they weren't feeling quite so under the influence...

a week late

but better than never. I have tried several times this week to upload this collage of my birthday dinner last Saturday night and have had nothing but trouble. Some interesting things from the night
1. Ortiga the restaurant is great
2. I have great friends
3. I ate whole prawns - eyes and all
4. I was wearing my fancy Christian Loubiton shoes that Dad bought me at Saks
5. Jody was wearing her fancy D & G shoes that Dad bought her at Saks
6. The hairdresser actually sewed my hair into place with needle and thread. I am not even kidding
7. In order to make my Traner happy one of the cocktails I had was called Boozy Lemonade and it had egg white on the top of it.
8. We thought the asparagus salad was a little strange looking

it's raining...

again...and again...and again.

The little town that I used to live in has been on the news because it is flooding. SO of course I had to dig out some old photos of when it flooded when I was there. This is 1995 - it wasn't a major flood like there was in 1990 and then again in 1997 (which I did have to evacuate my house for) but still there was a lot of water in my front yard!

I am pretty sure that I bought this dress from PALL MALL! and please ignore the hideous shoes - what was I thinking?

GT2150's

I have new gym shoes...fancy hey! I went all out and my foot tested on the machine etc. I have put my faith in the 15 year old who served me, and let them tell me what i needed and what was wrong with my foot. The only problem is now I think they are too big, the slip ..is this normal? Is it? Regardless they have been getting a work out each morning. The twelve week challenge has not started yet, next week. So with that information in mind I have been living it up on the carbs front because I think they are not going to be a part of my life for a little while.

Turning Japanese...I really think so

Haven't uploaded a pic of myself recently - so thought it was probably about time. I have had this dress for ages, but switched it up today by tying my belt kimono style. I love the graphic print on this dress. I also wore cute new red shoes that I bought on the weekend - if you can believe it they were Homy-Peds. I will have to get a photo at some point - they did not hurt me at all - not a band aid in sight.




PS Can you glimpse what is behind me in this photo? Can you? This was taken this morning.

SITC...

not - but i have been doing plenty of other stuff in the city.

I have been working in the city since Wednesday and what an adventure it has been. Some highlights
* catching public transport. I had to get a go card - how grown up.
* catching the train at an ungodly hour - see the watch. Already I had been to the gym - I have been getting ready at the gym which does take some organisation I must say. I was literally sitting in the train waiting for it to moooooooooooooooove. Also can I say here that I love the concept of an express train however I don't think just missing 3 stations out of 20 is enough. I think it should be more.
* On the first day when I was being all city girl - I was getting off the train - gocard at the ready to swipe- and guess what happened. Can you even guess? My shoe - the black ones picture got caught in the little tiny space that exists for the door to slide open on. Completely stuck. I kept moving my shoe did not!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course this is rush hour and there are literally a bazillion people. I don't want to put my foot down because lord knows where that platform has been - and so I am hopping around - people are getting cranky - and my shoe is still stuck. A kind young fellow finally got it our for me - and off I hobbled. I also totally got caught up in the wave of people and ended up in a part of central station I have never ever been before - quite literally. It was weird!
* Wednesday night I had to wait around and then catch a bus to meet up with the family for dinner. I am not a bus person but managed this ok.
*You can see my desk - I have a nice view - and at times there are men working literally right outside my window - for some reason. I am on the 8th floor.
*have managed to have a starbucks every day - nice
* Oh and the work - is good - but at the end of three days I am totally and utterly shagged - and not in the good way. Can you say that?????

Not a fan

of what I call the Seinfeld look. I don't like jeans and 'joggers' however in this shot I was off for a walk with my "Wednesday Walking Group". We head off straight after work on ...a....wednesday!!! Although work keeps interfering at the moment so we may just have to change that. I think it is a great idea generally speaking because you sort of unwind from the day, talk 'shop' etc, and exercise at the same time. What more could a girl ask for?

PS Well I'm sure this girl could ask for a lot more - and quite often does. LOL

My New Favourite Person

is the shoe repair man. I literally took this basket of shoes to him this afternoon - 5 pairs in total. They all need to be resoled. He was so nice and kind and even gave me 11 dollars off because there were so many pairs. He is just a little local business ( not one of those shopping centre people) and well it is only costing me 100 dollar to get 5 pairs of shoes fixed. One pair was disgustingly in need of a polish and I said 'sorry about that" and he said "don't be, polishing is included!" I love him and everything he stands for.

This afternoon was all about jobs because then I headed over to the dry cleaner - I have a dress that I bought ages ago for a really good price ( do you see a theme? it is a different dress to this one) Anyway when I bought it it had a stain on it - again probably not a good idea - but it was 200 and I got it for 25 - so I figured at the time that I would be able to get the stain out. The dry cleaner is not holding high hopes, but oh well. What can you do?

I then went and picked up our tickets for the big holiday - woo hoo.

shades of red

Not the snazziest photo of me - but I do love love the feature of my camera. Still. I just need to be able to work it a bit more quickly. I'm still in the learner driver stage with it.

The scarf I am wearing I bought on the weekend in a trip to Indrops with Shirl - and it is going to be one of my OS scarves...the bracelet I love - it is from a little shop in Byron - and I'm not sure if you can see my shoes but they are red patent - one of the pairs I bought on the holidays.

love em

I love these shoes. They are navy patent. I think they fully rock it. And they are called Shirley...one of my fav aunties. Shirl and I went into the big smoke yesterday. Started off with coffee and cake at Three Monkeys at West End, wandered around James street for a little while and then headed to my fav Viet rest for lunch. Shirl liked and said she might even venture back to Viet in the future.

what a week

I am at my dad's fav holiday RSL right now - have just stolen 20 Minutes of computer time. No photos to upload. I have spent most of the week with my head in the toilet bowl - not a nice way to spend a week down the coast. I honestly thought I would never eat again...luckily that passed and you will be happy to know that I have eaten , and managed to get to the shops in the last 2 days. I did try to convince dad that since he had food savings for me for most of the week that he should buy me a little something. He once again did not think this was necessary. Ihad to buy myself a gift. I have been looking for a new pair of jeans with no luck so resorted to my fall back purchase - a pair of red shoes.

have you ever seen...

such a thing inside a library? Our local university - yes I live in a University precinct -has the most amazing library ever. This picture was taken literally sitting inside. I was reading the Fin Review - doesn't everyone -beside this lovely babbling brook with real fish - and well I think that it is truly delightful.

Of note in the fin was

• an article about why it is more efficient for some companies to keep their manufacturing in Australia eg Sandler Shoes ( you can see why I was interested)
• and also an article about Japanese 'housewives' who are big investors in the Australian sharemarket.

we're not in Kansas anymore

A friend bought me these new shoes and well they are everything I love in a shoe. Red and pointy and also comfy.

The last few days have been full on. Visiting friends, family, shopping you know how it gets. Today I started with a personal trainer at the gym - so watch out - not only will I be getting pumped but I could also be tired and cranky because it is at 6am every Monday morning. It is all part of Operation Fab, so fingers crossed there will be some visible changes in the next few weeks/months. Hey maybe some before and after photos are needed. AS IF!!!

painful pandas'

when I placed these shoes on this morning - I did not know of the world of pain they were going to cause me. I love them. When I first put them on this morning I even caught myself doing a jaunty little step and thinking to myself that they could possibly form a part of my overseas wardrobe. How mistaken I was. Despite the fact that they are just little sandshoe style things they have made me

• place band aids on my heels
• take my shoes off intermittently throughout the day

and

• walk with a wincing look on my face.

They will absolutely, positively not be packed in my bag. They are going straight back in the box they came from until next time I need some pain in my life.

PS - I think they are soooooooo cute becasue the pattern is fromed by connecting panda's - have a close look

Post Traumatic Stress

AS i mentioned in yesterday's post - I went to a wedding on the weekend. These were the shoes that I did approximately 3 hours worth of non stop dancing in. And you know I would never ever ever take my shoes off when my feet started hurting because well mum always, always said that that just isn't proper and not what ladies should do. So you soldier through the pain with a beguiling smile on your face. And then continue to feel the pain for days and days and days - I have just gotten back from the gym and how can it be possible that gym shoes are not comfy and are hurting my two little toes on my left foot- or could it possibly be post traumtaic stress on my feet from Saturday night?

appropriate?

The annual big clean up (as alluded to in previous posts) has begun. We recently have decided to actually make use of a certain part of our yard (which by the way prospers even though we have not spent any time/money on it) - and this means that we have to cut stuff back etc. So on the weekend we started, and well don't you think that thongs and a pretty dress are just the right sort of clothes to be doing such activities in?

this is me

walking to see


who fully rocked! ( in a totally folksy kind of way :) They were amazing... There was one weird blog worthy part of the night - we got there early ( as you do) and picked out seats because it's all just standing if you have never been to the tivoli before. WE got our spots 'upstairs' against the railing - this meant that we could sit down for the wait and then stand up later as needed. SO we finally stand up ( along with the other say 2000 people in the venue) in anticipation of the fleet foxes arrival and then this happened...

Lady " Are you planning on standing up for the whole night"
ME " Ummm Yes"
Lady - Well its just that if you're going to stand up -we can't see
Me - " UMMMMMMMMMMM well there are are a whole heap of people standing up not just us"
Lady - Yes but if you're standing I'll sit on the floor in front of you
Me - UMMMMMMM I don't think so and there are a lot of people standing( like everyone in the whole freakin venue) so how about you go and ask them

My sister and i then for the rest of the evening coming up with witty rejoinders like
" Umm how about you go and ask the other 2000 people standing if they would like to sit down and then when there is a consensus come back and see us "

Oh also had viet last night on way to concert - fully delish as usual.

Rest of weekend was spent pondering what to do with the backyard - now that we have decided to use it. Also started doing some clean up - in anticipation of the annual mini skip in the yard event - which I love love love. But surely I will blog more of that when it actually arrives...

which ones are mine?

do you know me as well as you think you do? which foot is mine in this photo - taken at a recent party?

I have once again been reminded by S, about my lack of blogging in the last few days. Something I will try to remedy. The last few weeks have of course been very hectic. School is finally out for summer. Yipee and today I celebrated this by having a 2 hour back massage / facial / manicure. It was delightful and the beauty therapist used Christmas smelling things - it was truly delightful . She did say " You seem a bit tense in the neck" to which I replied " Oh that's just me, don;t worry about it. It's what I do" She didn't seem to think that this was a good thing. I never really liked massages but am learning to like them. I have a hard time switching off my mind, and totally crazy thoughts run through my head like...

• do have my face in the hole properly
• this is meant to be relaxing stop thinking
• oh look at her toenail polish

you get the drift.

I did enjoy it though, and will try and be more relaxed for all future massages...oh and don;t forget to have a guess at which foot/shoe is mine

the secret

Many of you would know of my love for all things red. You would also know of my dilemma early in the year about needing to replace some beloved red ballet flat shoes. I have searched high and low for a pair of shoes that would fit the bill. I even have an aunty who bought me some red shoes on sale hoping they would be right - and they would have been if they weren't just a fraction too small. I was cleaning up my room on the weekend ( yes it was like a teenagers again) and decided that I just had to throw the shoes out - they were too gross to wear again. Then guess what happened, shopping yesterday in the city - I found a new pair of red ballet flats that were cute ,and red, and cute , and well even better they were on sale. Maybe there is something to all that "the secret" stuff.

weekend update

This weekend just seemd to fly by again. In summary

1. Christmas ? slash birthday shopping with dad for my sister. This was enlightening because as mentioned in a previous post Dad has no idea about what the right amount of stuff to buy for 2 daughters is. He bought 2 things with a combined total of 8o..yes 80 dollars and thought this would cover both birthday and Christmas for my sister. Oh how wrong he is :)
2. Did get dad to buy me a pair of shoes that I needed to even the score for the pair he bought my sister in Melbourne. AS i said to him - everyone will just feel better when the shoe thing is settled :)
3. Went to an Engagement party where I planned to drink plenty of mojitos alas they didn't sell them so had another cocktail that had lychee liqueur in it - that was quite yum. I am not a fan of lychees well because they look like eyes - but as an alcoholic beverage yum
4. Did some yard work with dad on Sunday
5. Had some of my fav aunties over for dinner - whereby we cooked 3 of the dishes that we learnt at the cooking class last weekend
6. and then alas the weekend was over...

This week will be busy at work so I may not blog every day - I hear the tears of sadness :)