No MY Post

I get out of cooking tonight!!! And I got out of it last night because Hubby wanted mashed potatoes and I hate cooking them so I told him only if he cooked dinner. It's the small things in life that count right?

Tonight we're heading over to my Mum's house for tea. I was hoping it would just be us but somehow it has turned into game night and my Aunt and Uncle will be there too. I'll just have to suck it up, I probably should have added BE MORE SOCIAL to my list of resolutions because I'm always struggling with that.

Wednesday is Family Dinner night with the in-laws. Hubby is excited because he can use his scoopon voucher to buy a dessert. I just hope that everyone shows up (they have a habit of pulling out and we wind up being the ones with the biggest drive there who show up) especially because the smallest cake feeds 12 people! There's only 8 of us if we're all there (not including my niece who can't eat and my nephew who thinks all cakes are cookies!). I just wish my MiL would get over the idea of holding FD every single week because noone ever goes to all of them (except us!). Both Hubby and I are over putting in the effort and I wish she would've taken my numerous hints to change it to a Sunday brunch or something once a month. We usually still see the in-laws once a week (Hubby sees them almost every second day) so it really only is to catch up with the siblings. So fingers crossed it happens, I miss my niece and nephew :(

Then Thursday is a return to Bonsai for Dad's birthday. He's coming up and we're going to surprise him with a cake. Hopefully it tastes as good as the one we got my sister, this one will be a puffer fish so fingers crossed.

I don't know what the rest of the week will involve but we've got a long-weekend coming up and I can't wait!

Resolution Recap

Remember my New Years resolutions? And how I said I'd try to recap every fortnight to a month (I'm just scraping in YAY!)...well here goes.

1. Feel pretty every day and dress up a bit more.
2. Get healthy! Use the cross-trainer we have in the garage!
3. Catching up with my friends more
4. Date nights with Hubby (at least once a month) 

1. Evidence, I finally got around to giving my gorgeous long nails a polish:

2. I'm trying to cut out 'unneeded' sugar. And I've been FebFasting so no alcohol. I've also joined a lose weight club at work (sadly put .5kg on last weigh in BOO). I've also been pushing myself to walk the dog with Hubby every day and so far I've only missed that once! I'm really happy now that I don't need dessert I have a glass of full-cream milk as a present to myself now instead.

3. This I have somewhat failed in although I rectified that this weekend! One of my best friend's pointed out we hadn't seen each other for a month EEEKKK definitely not letting that happen again!

4. Date nights. We've definitely been doing this, we went to Fringe World and caught two shows a couple of Saturdays ago. The Freak and the Showgirl definitely opened up my eyes!

My Sunday

Well Wednesday is over and the weekend is now so close, I love that it feels like it was only Sunday yesterday :)

We had a great Sunday. First we went to the Farmer's Market with Mum, very hippie Freo and I loved it. Lots of yummy things to eat for breakfast and great fruit and veg to buy. We even got 2 bouquets of gorgeous roses for $10! There were so many dogs (including a huge black Lab with his head in the huge leftover yoghurt container - his owner was the frozen yoghurt lady) and so many cute little kids pretty much my idea of heaven so I'll definitely be heading down there next Sunday.

Following that we headed to the Melville Swapmeet (which is fantastic) and I got some fantastic succulents, a frangipani tree ($12!), honeysuckle (which may not be planted because apparently it's toxic to dogs damn it), an adorable little candle holder (the white thing you can see in the photo below) and a cool vintage weet-bix tin. The last 2 items will be/are succulent holders.

My cute kitchen counter (with the EVIL cactus)

My babies ;)

Life is Busy Busy

I feel like I haven't really had any time to myself. Work has been crazy trying to get out contracts to all the new employees (over 200!) and lots of family things. I'm really enjoying being busy but I just feel like time is flying by, it's crazy that it's already February 18th! Seriously wasn't it just Christmas?

For Valentines Day Hubby & I decided to start our 'notebook'. I can't remember where I read about this idea but someone wrote about keeping a notebook and writing notes to each other in it, not necessarily every day but more than once a week. So we've started on that and DAMN Hubby can write amazingly. I always thought I was the talented one when it came to writing cards but I'm delegating that to him now. In the space of a tiny paragraph I pretty much had tears in my eyes! He did that for Christmas as well.

So I am dedicating this weekend to my Hubby, shopping at a crafty shop with my best buddy and going to farmer's markets/swapmeets...oh and best of all HORSE RIDING! It's been years since I last rode and yes, I was that girl who always asked for a pony for Christmas. Sadly I never got it but one year I got close! Mum took us out to her car on Christmas eve and in the back was a tonne of hay. You have never seen a child more excited than I was, after all these years I was finally getting my horse. Next thing I know Mum is handing me a guinea pig...not one of her best thought out plans!

Where to stay in Sydney?

A quick question for anyone who lives in Sydney/has been there...any hotel recommendations and if not what area should we stay in? I don't want to be forking out heaps of money to get to all the fun touristy places so we'd like to be staying in the thick of things (not night clubs because hopefully I'll be 'bump'-ridden by then!).

One place we did find was at the Rocks called The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel. Is the Rocks an ok place to stay? Haha I'm so unaware it's not funny!

Love, Love, Love...

Well at least we aren't on the Death Railway in Thailand! Mum and her cousin dragged us on the train when we happened to be in Thailand on a family holiday over Valentine's Day a couple of years ago.

Today I was at work and Hubby was at home. Even though it's our first Valentine's Day as a married couple we're having a laid back night. Hubby is cooking his yummy roast chicken and we're going to enjoy some good tv :)

Back Home

My Aunty's 70th was a blast but we were literally only there for a bit over 24 hours :( My sister and I were the only ones who had to work tomorrow so we jumped back in the car pretty quickly. I would have loved to stay the full Sunday and go back on Monday but it just didn't work.

It was a bit weird because it was the first time that I met Mum's half-brother and his little family. Mum always had an issue with him so I was never properly introduced to him and literally said nothing to him the whole time there because it was just plain weird! I should have attacked more adult about it but by the time I realised who he was it had gone past the point of no return. It was also really sad to hear that Mum's half-sister (the youngest of the bunch) was in rehab and her gorgeous little children (that we've met once) are in foster care. I couldn't believe that, it only happened two weeks ago but it's so sad, especially something close like that to your own family.

So lots of secrets were revealed but other than the above dark cloud it was a lovely weekend. Lots of little toddlers and 1 almost walking baby (who was only just born at our wedding the last time we saw him). I defintitely have baby fever and Hubby and I are both looking forward to being able to try again soon. Fingers crossed it's wham, bam, thank you mam (I think I'll be down if it doesn't happen but I'm not expecting it to just really really HOPING). 

I'll post photos of my gorgeous second cousins and the party but now it's off to bed to get a good night's sleep. I hate sleeping in dodgy 'chalet' beds especially tiny ones on wheels!

Falling Behind

Sorry it's been awhile between posts but a 3 day migraine will do that to a person. I know 3 days right...NOT FAIR especially because I thought the pill was the cause of them. Guess not, and nothing seems to help with it either, even prescription stuff (just makes me feel like crap). But it's hopefully resided now (I won't say gone because I still feel it lurking - don't want to poke the monster) and just in time for heading down south for my Aunty's 70th.

Very excited and all stocked up with (mostly) healthy snacks for the drive down. I love the big family gatherings with my Mum's side of the family and the boys always take Hubby under their wing (so long as he avoids my pot smoking bikie Uncle he should be ok ha-ha...but seriously I love that guy and when I say bikie I mean the good kind!).

Hopefully lots of photos to post, I should really hunt down my camera and pack seeing as we're leaving at 9am tomorrow. Oh and add shaving my legs to the list...I swear why do women get stuck with all the horrible things!

Monday Yummies

So I'm trying to make a conscious effort to eat better. (Excluding the fact that I made extremely sugar-ey Coconut Ice Cakes). This lead to a last minute sort of stir-fry dish with lots of yummy veggies. I actually felt like a proper cook for the first time - I prepared all my vegetables and had them laid out on my bright red chopping board. Scraping them into the fry pan I got that little thrill knowing that whilst I might not be a 'chef' in the making I'm going to make a damn good Housewife ;)

So without further ado let me introduce you to my dish, please ignore the cheat part where I used bottled plum sauce (I told you I wasn't a chef!).

Plum & Ginger Chicken with CousCous

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts (enough for 2 people)
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 3/4 bottle of plum sauce
• GENEROUS dashes of soy sauce
• 2 squirts of ginger out of one of those tubes (again with the cheating...please forgive me)
• 2 small carrots sliced kinda thin
• Big handful of snow peas
• Big handful of bean sprouts
• Big handful of frozen peas
• Pearl Cous Cous 
• 2 cups vegetable stock (& maybe a bit extra, see step 4)

Method

1. Slice up the chicken and stick it in a bowl. Then cover it with the plum sauce and 2 teaspoons of soy sauce. Mix and put in the fridge covered for as long as you can wait.
2. When you're ready to start cooking prepare all your vegetables and put them to the side. Boil the vegetable stock.
3. Stock boiling? Then throw in a packet of couscous (sans packet if you're anything like my Hubby and follow instructions to the letter!). At the same time add peanut oil to your pan and throw in the chicken.
4. The couscous should take 10 minutes and you need to make it simmer. I kept it going for longer and added some extra veggie stock at the very end to cook it through a bit more. 
5. Meanwhile stir the chicken and once its started to sizzle away add your vegetables (turn the heat down to medium, or whatever you feel comfortable with). Add extra soy sauce & the ginger. Cover the pan stirring every once in awhile give it a nice big ol' stir.
6. Stir the couscous, stir the chicken and veggies. Have a look over it all and when it's done plate it up.

A very simple but yummy dinner!

Mrs Sometimes Gardener

On Saturday (before a wonderful afternoon tea with my niece & nephew and siblings-in-law) we started preparing for finally fixing up the garden. Mum had made it exactly the way she wanted and then left and, even though we have the same taste in things I hated half the stuff she'd put in. We grabbed some herbs from Dawsons along with some plants, a hanging basket and potting mix. They were left outside until we came back from a yummy breakfast (I highly recommend InContro but getting the yummy food takes FOREVER, it's good for footy player spotting though!). On the way there we'd seen a Swapmeet that I'd kept wanting to go too and we finally got to go after returning from breakfast. There was so much crap there but it was fun to poke around and look at everything. Also on sale were heaps of plants (silly us should not have bought anything at Dawsons everything at the swapmeet was half price) and we came away with herbs (sage, lemon mint & basil), a guava tree and some cool pink spiky flower plant. I also bumped into an old boss as we were leaving, it's funny because everyone who hasn't seen me in ages keeps commenting on my hair. I always think it's because it's blonder now but it's actually because it's gotten quite long (still not the length I want it at but nothing to sniff at either!)

So we now have two mini herb gardens and a garden which is more OURS than BORROWED.

Does anyone know what this plant is?

End of the week

Bring on the naps!

Finally I can have a little break, granted only 2 days, but at this point it feels like heaven. Work has been insanely busy but I love it and this week has been nice because my 'Employee of the Month' award is up and everyone keeps congratulating me.

This weekend we're having our niece & nephew over (along with their parents of course). I'm planning on making yummy (hopefully) coconut ice cakes and the Hubby bought his favourite chocolate milk. I think cold drinks will be in order, I'm a bit scared if they ask for coffee because even though we have an awesome coffee machine I can't make anything fancy with it. It's funny what scares me I just feel silly for not having the confidence to make them coffee and how stupid is that!

I can't wait to see my little kids, they are both just too damn cute, although I have to admit that my nephew is a lot more fun that the new bub. It must be something to do with her being a premmie because I was looking at photos of him at the same age and he was just so much more happy and didn't mind who held him (except for Hubby's little sis for some odd reason).

I got a call from my Mum today and finally she has my wedding dress back. Although she's now blackmailing me and won't let me have it unless I come and see her. So I blackmailed her right back and we scored a free Sunday dinner out of it. Hopefully we'll even get to go horse riding on Sunday afternoon. I bought us 2 $19 trail rides and have to use them soon because horse riding whilst pregnant is a big NO NO and we all know that I'm planning on (hopefully) getting knocked up at the end of Feb.

Lately I've been going back and forth between getting pregnant. Even though work is so intense at the moment I'm still really enjoying it and I'm not sure that I want to give it up. On my way home I always drive past this day care centre and I was actually contemplating working 1 day a week after having a baby. I don't want to become a SAHM for the rest of  my life (there is nothing wrong with that at all it just doesn't suit me) and coming from a human resource background I keep thinking how it won't look good on my resume if I don't work for ages. That and I will go stir crazy I need to get out of the house and keep my brain active - I know I'd just hide behind my baby if I didn't have something I had to do outside the house. But I'm not even there yet so that is just something floating in my head at the moment.

The other reason I'm second guessing myself is money, it would be great to be earning lots of moolah with both of us working. But then we both think about the reality of that and how little time we might have with each other (we've never both worked full-time at the same time). But I know noone is ever ready for a baby so we're just going to try and see what the universe has in store for us.

I hope everyone else has lots of fun this weekend. Yippee for Friday!

What's in my Bag

So I've seen this kind of thing on other blogs and thought what the heck I'll give it a go.

This is my go-to work bag and ever since I bought it on sale at a sort of multi-shop garage sale it's been my awesome work bag. I love the colour (which is distorted in this photo) and it just goes with everything (and fits everything as well).

And now without further ado, welcome to the inside of my bag:

My iphone cover, an HBF little note pad, cheapo ibuprofen, a name tag along with a random love heart from my SiL's baby shower, rubber band, lipstick (cover girl), hair lackeys and lots of bobby pins, small change, a 2011 diary I still haven't used, Ralph Lauren sunglasses case (sans sunglasses), dove deodorant and 'A Feast for Crows' novel.

Health Month

Surely I can dedicate 28 days to being healthy right?

Right! So I've put in place some steps to get my butt into gear. I was doing another blog search and stumbled across Sarah Wilson's (aka former host of Master Chef) blog. What first drew me in was that Sarah had announced she was quitting sugar. I was really keen to start this as I'd done something similar in my last year at high school. After trying to find some books for cheap, I realised that I definitely don't want to give up sugar with our splurge trip to Sydney and Melbourne (Zumbo here I come). Afterwards though (and especially when I start my family) I want to cut out on the sugary sweets.

Instead I have signed up to participate in FebFast! Zero alcohol for the month of February to "to help reduce alcohol and other drug related harms amongst young Australians."

I'm aiming to raise $500 and already our awesome Best Man has donated $100. So if you would like to donate (and it would be greatly appreciated) please do so via my FebFast website.

On top of participating in FebFast I have also signed up for a lose weight club at work. I can't remember the exact name but I think it's something along the lines of the Flabbies Fiasco. My co-workers have a warped sense of humour. I'm looking forward to it even though I don't really need to lose weight (according to the BMI I'm in the normal range). But I would love to have a flat stomach and if we do decide to get pregnant learning to be healthy before hand is a great thing. Although it will probably mean I won't win the Flabbies prize at the end because I'll be putting on weight (ha-ha).

So hopefully February will be the month I lose that little bit extra I want to get rid of. Is anyone else starting a health revolution this month?

Congratulations are in order

Congratulations to one of my first blogging buddies Emmie at Desert Darling. Her gorgeous daughter formerly known as Skellie and now called Bay (such a pretty name) has finally arrived.

I told my Hubby and I think my brain has now gone into full BABY BABY BABY mode. Looking forward to starting out journey towards our own little one.