I don’t think I’ve ever played touch football before but somehow I was recruited to organise a touch football match between my team and eBay. I find it to be quite a strange game where not much really goes on unless someone passes you the ball.
It was a lot of fun however, and I manged to catch the ball a few times – woot! We also won the game and raised money for Animals Australia.
It’s cold out here. Bone-chillingly cold. The sky is blue today though so it’s a great day for the drive to Glen Davis, a tiny little town where my dad grew up. It was a mining town where my uncle, grand-dad and great grand-dad all worked in the mines, but became a ghost town at some stage, and has now come full circle with people moving back into the town to retire. It’s quite eerie as it is a town in name only – there’s nothing there except for the houses that have moved back, and they sit amongst the ruins of foundations from the previous houses, school and shop buildings.
There is nothing left here of my dad’s house except the front steps and some foundation blocks, but it was really amazing to visit it and see where my dad was a little boy running around. The countryside is amazingly beautiful, so it would have been a very pretty place to live even though it was so isolated it would have been really hard to get anywhere to get supplies.
After visiting Glen Davis we slowly drove back to Sydney, stopping at Lithgow for food and Katoomba for hot chocolate and waffles. I love this little art deco cafe called Paragon on the main street of Katoomba. It has fabulous chocolate for sale, hand-made on the premisis I believe.
Since we were so close we drove down to the Three Sisters Lookout. We came up here on one of our first dates, two years ago, so it was really sweet to come back and look around again and reminisce.
A big fail on behalf of Google Maps (or my map reading skills) lead us to drive into Mudgee while looking for a little town called Glen Davis that my dad grew up in. Turns out Glen Davis was in the opposite direction .. whoops! Never mind, it still ended up being an interesting drive.
A pretty church in Mudgee. Everything was closed when we got there just after 2pm. We ate an an Asian bakery as it was literally the only food place open apart from Subway.
We stopped off at Windermere Dam on the way back to our cabin. It looks fairly good weather here but it had been raining all day on and off, and when we got back in the car it started to snow!
For my last 20-something birthday Alec took me away for the weekend to stay in a river-side cabin at Turon Gates, about 4-5 hours hrs drive from Sydney.
After a long and somewhat dramatic drive there, we awoke the next morning surrounded by bushlands.
Our solar-powered cabin, right in the middle of a nature reserve.
Alec takes a look around.
This photo is begging for a funny caption. Pity I can’t think of one!
Scenic bushlands and nature were all around.
It was awesome waking up every morning to look ut of the window at this river. The river was a major site during the gold rush and the remains from the gold prospectors can still be seen here. The river is crystal clear (and bloody cold!). In summer I can imagine it would be a great place to swim and canoe.
Ghost gums – everywhere!
Pretty! I loved how much wattle was everywhere – the bright yellow against olive green and red and brown dirt. So Australian!
Playing with my 50mm lens.
Very obliging boy.
So rugged and manly!
Who da man?
Cheesy! A happy photo on a happy day.
These sweet lip glosses were gifts from Beverly and Rosalie. I have been on a hunt to find the perfect lip gloss for many years and have accumulated a collection of gloss and balm that would rival the Myers cosmetics floor.
This adorable little cupcake-shaped one has chocolate lip gloss inside.
I have a love of Stila that is obsessive, so it was an extremely pleasant surprise to open this gift from Beverly. I had to photo it to preserve the adorable packaging.
I adore how this gloss is moisturising rather than sticky and gives the perfect hint of colour.
I have a Skechers fetish. They are my favourite casual sneakers because:
1. They’re super comfy and are great for trekking all over the world.
2. They fit my ugly orthotics in them perfectly! My podatrist would be so proud of me for choosing such sensible shoes (Last time I went to see him I wore black flimsy ballet flats – he was not amused).
I found a Skechers store at the DFO factory outlets at Homebush. I bought two pairs for $79 and $69 each. I will keep the tan and blue ones till my current black ones wear out, and wear the pretty taupe and pink lace ones to work. Bliss for my feet when compared to the high-heeled MJs I bought recently. I am excited to wear the taupe and pink ones when I need foot rehab days at work. I also love that I can wear sneakers to work. I think it is the standard by which I judge whether I can work in a company. Can I wear sneakers? Nope – then I’m outta there.
One of my favourite winter dishes is the minestrone my dad makes for me. Now I’m fending for myself, I have decided to try to make it for myself.
I found this recipe in the newspaper, but modified it slightly (OK, I modified it a lot). Anything with a “*” next to it is my modification.
1 onion, diced
1 leek, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped (I left this out as I hate celery)
2 large carrots, diced
1 red capsicum, diced (I only added half of this)
1 yellow capsicum, diced (I only added half of this)
*4 small white potatoes, diced
*Macaroni pasta
400g tin of crushed tomatoes
400g tin of cannellini beans or chickpeas, drained (I used mixed beans)
80g peas (I used frozen and they were fine)
1 litre low-salt vegetable stock or water
Handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley (I left this out)
Saute the onion , leek and garlic in a large saucepan with a little water until soft. Add the celery, carrot, potato and cook for about 5 – 10 min. I added more water to stop it burning on the bottom. Add the tomato, beans, capsicum, peas and stock. Simmer for about 30 mins. Cook the pasta separately or add in when there is about 10 minutes left to go. Soup is ready when veges are soft. Potato takes a while to cook. Season with black pepper and fold through parsley just before serving.
One very tasty vegan recipe!
All in one pot.
Adding in the pasta.
Ready!
I had a sparkly day on Friday and thought I would document it!
These cute shoes I bought at Nine West a long time ago but I rarely wear them.
The “twinkle” tee I bought on sale from Peter Alexander. It’s super soft and comfy. I love it!
Sparkly pin for Daffodil Day – money goes to the Cancer Council.
Cute pink case for my iPhone that Alec bought me – deliberately not leather, what a sweetie.
Chocolates Alec brought me from Haighs – just because. 🙂 He’s such a sweetheart, thank you Alec!
OK, so maybe I have a problem. I saw these new Tokidoki bags available for pre-order, and I’m trying to work out if I really need (OK, want!) another one … or two! I like the black bags cos they’re so functional and don’t show the dirt, but I love the printed ones just cos they’re so damn cute!
The two new prints available soon are Carnival and Mezzanotte. I like the Mezzanotte in the styles below:
From Karmaloop, Graziosa Small Messenger (I have this in another print and I use it all the time).
Creativa Large Messenger
Tobi has the Carnvial Sorriso bag which is a similar style again to the ones I currently have.
The new Adios keychain that comes with each bag. So cute!
What’s tough is they are also releasing two other prints this year that I really love, so I am thinking of getting them as well! I am considering buying Carnival one as an investment piece as all of the others have had high resale value, but I need to look into if they are limited edition first.
Last night was the 2008 RSPCA Paws For Celebration Ball, held at Star City Casino. I try to go every year because they are my favourite charity.
The theme this year was “The Musical”, so the entertainment was all based on musicals like Chicago and Hairspray – right up my alley!
I loved the cute little cupcakes they placed on all the tables for us to take home – and to remind us about Cupcake Day in August (I’ve already registered my work place – now I had better get organised!).
Cupcake tower!
Donating money to play a trivia game.
The food was pretty average but the dessert more than made up for it.
“Blue steel” look.
Showing off our dresses.
Kae in a bevy of girls.
The weird horse lamp outside Astral bar.
