Cold and chilly

Happy Sunday morning! The weather has been playing up a bit over here in Melbourne. Yesterday it practically poured all day, which kind of dampened my weekend spirits! Grumpy and I have already planned a beach getaway here in January while we are in Malaysia, and this is the only thing I am looking forward to. I just want some warm weather! I have been feeling so cold and chilly lately, I might develop SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) soon enough! Okay okay maybe that is being a bit ridiculous considering SAD mainly affects people in very cold countries with very little daylight.

Work has been very busy for me. I just get thrown the crappiest projects in the world, it is just not funny. Why? Why? Why is it always me taking bites of shitburgers? Hoping that with Christmas approaching, things will be less hectic with people being away. I am working through out Christmas, instead saving my holidays for Chinese New Year.

The reason I am up so bright and early on a Sunday morning is because I have a once a month Skype sessions with my friends from Dublin. It is Saturday night for them, but its fine. The good news is that I just found out that this friend will be in Malaysia in January for work... which is perfect because I will be back home at that time too. I have not seen them since I left Ireland, but we still keep in touch over the years. Another thing to look forward to now, apart from my beach holiday!

To end the note, I want to share with you this video. My friend Sydney Boy (he is so dear to me) is gay and he posted this on Facebook. Being close friends with him has made me realised how I want him to be happy, and to be able to share a life with someone he loves, even if that means it is with another man. Enjoy!

Christmas Toy Store

On Friday, Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and I took part in a volunteer opportunity as part of work. We picked Anglicare Victoria and our task involved working in the Christmas Toy Store. It was kind of a day off work, but for a good cause. Back in June, I took part in tree planting for the areas affected by the bush fires. But this time round, I wanted to try something slightly different, and anything Christmas sounded fun!

We arrived at Fitzroy by 9am and were immediately greeted by two Aboriginal women, looking a bit drunk at the tram stop. We noticed how the area was surrounded with many government housing blocks. Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch, already a bit nervous, looks around and says to me "Jules, I'm so glad you are doing this with me, and I'm not here alone" hehe

Finally, we walked to the Anglicare office, and a nice man, who manages the site, gives us a tour around the building, and explained to us what they do, how they do it, and why. He was very grateful that we have offered our help for the day, and soon enough, we headed upstairs to the Toy Store to start work.

There are four rooms at the Toy Store. We started off at the boys section:

Hehe as you can see, the room was a bit of a mess.

And this is what it looked like after we tidied things up.

We were shown an itinerary, and starting from 10am, there were social workers from different places, foster homes etc dropping by at the Toy Store to collect the toys. Our job was to sort the toys, stack them up neatly on shelves and help these people pick out toys. They had a list of the different age groups, boys/girls and unique requirements.

The second group that came in, I had a strong feeling... were picking up toys for children from war-torn countries like Afghanistan, or even countries from Africa. As I was helping them pick toys, the lady says to me, "strictly no guns or war toys for the children".

As each group dropped by, collected toys and left, the shelves were empty again and needed to be re-stocked before the next group arrived. In between all that, we had random people stopping by, dropping off boxes of donations - toys, basic amenities, food and coffee. 90% of the donated items are all brand new. Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and I would have to quickly unpack the boxes, sort them around the different places and tidy up the Toy Store.

The last group that came by, around 2pm, was a foster home for Aboriginal children. So they wanted more 'Australian' toys, sporting goods like cricket bats, boomerangs, books about Australia, etc.

Here are some photos of the various rooms in the Toy Store:

Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch at the book room. There were plenty of books for different age groups, craft packs and jigsaw puzzles.

This is the nursery room. Lots of stuffed toys for babies.

The girls room. We started off with plenty of Barbie dolls, but by the end of the day, they were all gone. The boys room had a much bigger supply of toys than the girls room.

Finally, before heading home, I could not resist taking a picture with a Teletubby! haha I used to like Teletubbies back in high school (weird, I know) 

Overall, it was a very fulfilling day, and definitely an eye-opening experience. We get so caught up with Christmas festivities, buying expensive presents for our loved ones, that we forget how the less fortunate, or the homeless are coping. I will be supporting Anglicare Victoria from now, and doing my part to give back to the community. 

1.02.33

If you are wondering how I went with my 10km run during the Melbourne Marathon earlier this month, the answer is that I did really well! I was very happy with my time. This has got to be one of my favourite running photos of me taken by Grumpy.

As mentioned in the previous post, I was nervous the entire week. We are usually out on Friday and Saturday nights, wining and dining. But during that weekend, I stayed home both nights, went to bed early. Most marathon runners eat heaps of pasta the night before the run, to load up on carbs. I decided on pizza and garlic bread instead. Greasy and cheesy.. hehe it was so yummy, but it got my spirits up as I was determined to burn all the calories away the next morning.

Finally the Sunday morning came. I woke up at 4am, only to discover Grumpy still awake, watching Foxtel. Oh my.. I sent him off to bed, for at least a 2 hour sleep. I needed him to drive me to the run, and to cheer for me at the finish line! It was pouring rain, NOT A GOOD SIGN. But it was still early in the morning... I had two slices of toast with peanut butter, a cup of tea, and then drank plenty of H2O. After breakfast, I took a hot shower, got changed.. and then pretty much just waited til 6.30am. In the mean time, I started doing yoga, to relax myself and stretch my muscles. Even the dog chose to stay in bed and sleep in the entire time.

By 6.30am, I was able to get Grumpy up and ready, we headed out to my old boss' apartment in the city. Belgian Chocolates. The rain stopped by 7am.. but even Belgian Chocolates complained it was cold. I reminded him that he was European (i.e. should be able to tolerate extremely cold weather). Belgian Chocolates and I started to walk towards the MCG. Grumpy decided to get the car washed instead and assured me he will be waiting for me at the finish line. The run starts at 7.30am. 

Grumpy asked "So what time do you think you will finish?" I said.. "Hmm... 8.30am?" 

He went "Are you sure?!? How about I meet you at 8.45am?". Clearly, he did not think I could finish the 10kms in an hour :(

FINE, 8.45am it is!!!

The full marathon runners started at 7am. The 10km runners at 7.30am, and the half marathon runners at 8am. There were tens of thousands of runners. When the 10km race started, I was running at a very fast pace, just going along with the rest of the crowd. By the 2nd and 3rd km, I was struggling. But I did not stop. Belgian Chocolates fed me some energy tablets, in between... we hardly even stopped at the water kiosks, we just kept going. I was better by the 5km mark, slowing down a little bit, but still at a pace faster than my usual speed. At the 8th or 9th km, there was a bit of an incline, and I struggled even more. Still did not stop, just kept going. And finally, light at the end of the tunnel, I see the finish line! This photo here, is Belgian Chocolates yelling at me to run even faster, we were nearly done! I increased my speed, sprinted all the way to the end of the line, with the little energy left in me.

I could see the clock. '1.02.33'. 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds! Even though the goal was to do it in an hour, I went 2 minutes over, but I am not going to give myself shit for the extra 2 minutes. Hehe This is my best time ever for the 10kms. 

When Belgian Chocolates started training with a friend/mentor for the marathon a few years ago, at the finish line during his first marathon, his friend/mentor gave him the opportunity to finish first at the finish line. And so, as he was training me this time round, he did the same for me. He made sure that I went across the finish line before he did. I told Grumpy that his goal was not to beat me, but to make sure I finished the run in a decent time. Belgian Chocolates could easily do a 10km run in 50 minutes or less on any normal day, but since he was running with me, he ran at my pace. 

After I crossed the finish line, I was looking out for Grumpy. I could not see him. I was worried that he was still out somewhere, missing all the action. DAMNIT, he would have missed taking my photos too :( 

But little did I know, he did wait for me at the finish line. He was early. He took some awesome photos for me. Yay! Even he was happy that I finished it in an hour! And two minutes....

Training for the 10km run

Two years ago I took part in the Melbourne marathon, running the 5kms. It was really good fun, a bunch of us at work did it together, so there was a social aspect to the run. This year, I decided it was time to take it one step up, so I signed up for the 10km run for the Melbourne marathon. A friend who agreed to do the run with me this year pulled out just three days after signing up, citing the advice of her podiatrist. Instead, I found another running partner. Belgian Chocolates. Yes, my ex-boss. He has four full marathons under his belt, but because of an injury, he is unable to run the marathon this year. He will run the 10kms with me. In a decent time. The goal is to do it in less than an hour.

My usual running routine on any normal week is on a treadmill at the gym, 5kms, while watching the news, Two and A Half Men or listening to my iPod. Meanwhile, Belgian Chocolates made an executive decision (without my approval) to be my personal trainer for this 10km journey. The first change he decided for me, was to stop running on a treadmill, opting to run outside in a park. We both agreed to train together on Fridays after work at the Tan.

However, to ensure I did not disappoint him on Fridays, I started heading out to the Tan after work by myself, running, sometimes stopping.. so walking, then back running again. I did this on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Then came Fridays, which was with Belgian Chocolates.

The first Friday that we ran together was not too bad. He pushed me to run 8kms, without stopping, and even running the incline. Previously, when on my own, I normally walked the incline as it was just too hard. But he pushed me, and so I ran the incline, very slowly. It was a bit of an achievement for me, my first attempt running the incline! HAPPY!

The following week, I ran on Monday, Wednesday (in the friggin' rain) and Thursday alone... 8kms each time, up the incline as well, but I found myself struggling, stopping often, and walking back to the office most of the time. It seemed that the more I trained, the worse I became. The weather did not help, it was freezing cold, it rained, it was busy at work.. I was a wreck. The second Friday came, with Belgian Chocolates, and my legs failed me. I could not run at all. I swear, I nearly broke down in tears at the Tan, while running behind him, trying to keep up. I was able to hold my tears back, to avoid embarrassment. I just did not have the strength at all. It was such a bad week. Reading this article yesterday made me realise that I was not alone. Even Heather wanted to cry in front her personal trainer! I nearly did, too. Oh well, I was crying on the inside.

After that bad week, which was last week, I had a chat about it with Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot. She reminded me that I am in this to enjoy myself, enjoy the run.. being part of a big event. She told me not to stress myself out.. and so I took it easy this time, allowed my legs to recover. I went back to running on the treadmill, which is now much easier for me. I also realised that maybe I should try running outside with some music, since I have always done this on the treadmill. I dug out an ancient iPod Shuffle, and thank god, it still works. I wonder if they still sell this stuff. Haha.

Last Sunday, I told myself, since it was not a working day, I wasn't tired (like how I would feel after work)... I put some new songs on the iPod Shuffle, and I started running outside to my local park. I did 10 laps around the oval, and back. I ran at a very slow pace, but guess what? I was able to keep running without stopping at all. And this was over an hour. My legs felt okay, tired but at least still going. On my way home, Grumpy even drove past me, offering me a lift home in the car. Which I kindly declined! Hehehe. I was proud of myself. Maybe the music does help.

This week is the last week before the event. The run is on Sunday. My (current) boss was saying how empty the Tan was this week (it is normally packed with runners after work). This is because all the runners are resting, conserving energy. I only did one run this week, on Wednesday, alone, with music, 8kms at the Tan, no stopping, and even up two inclines. I really felt good after that. I am in better spirits this week!

I am now ready to take on this 10km challenge on Sunday. I feel like a Rabbid!! Watch this! IT IS SO CUTE!

Wish me luck!!

Nobu

I recently started watching Gossip Girl. I know, I know... I am the only person left in this world, that have not watched this popular and highly addictive TV show yet. Everyone started watching this about 4 or 5 years ago, and here I am.. at the 3rd quarter of 2011, only starting Season 1. I find myself having difficulties discussing this show with anyone at the moment, only because everyone else is now going on to Season 5 and they cannot remember the details of Season 1! Haha. Anyways, the good news is that I finally finished Season 2 today, and the finale was so good! I was nearly in tears when Chuck finally told Blair he loved her! They are by far, my two favourite characters. I texted my friends to say how happy I was by the end of Season 2, and.. my weekend is now complete! Oh god I am a hopeless romantic.

As promised, I wanted to share with you some pictures of when my BFF was here.

At Mamasita's. Straight from the airport.

This is us at Nobu in Crown casino. It was our first time there, and I had pretty high expectations of the place. Again, we are probably 4 years late in trying out this place.. hehe everyone raved about it back then when it first opened. We always found an excuse not to go, but finally when Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot came to visit, I thought 'hmm.. would be good to try Nobu'. 

I don't know, after this Nobu experience, Grumpy and I have come to this conclusion: most of the restaurants in Crown are completely overpriced, overrated and overcrowded. Yup, we are so OVER the restaurants in Crown. The Nobu signature black miso cod was good, but the rest of it was pretty average to me. 

Also, with the last picture, haha.. I must tell you how obsessed I am with miso soup since returning from Japan. I love love love miso soup. I have tried them in many places, and some restaurants do whip them up differently. The most expensive miso soup I had, was at Izakaya Den for $10. It was delisshh, a seafood broth miso, with clams. So when I opened up the menu at Nobu and saw a miso soup for $7.50, I said out loud "I must try the miso soup here!" Much to my disappointed, it was a very ordinary miso soup from a pre-made paste, with two tiny pieces of tofu, and that was IT! Even the complimentary miso soup from my regular sushi place (Sushi Monger) makes better miso soup than this. There goes my $7.50 that I will never get back! 

Okay, apart from the bad miso soup experience, it was still a good night, hanging out with two of my most favourite people. 

Low

Just a quick post to say that I have been caught up with various things, from painting my bedroom to catching up with close friends, to training for the 10km run next month at the Melbourne Marathon. Grumpy informed me about some news over the weekend, and it just annoys and frustrates me when he agrees or commits to things without checking with me first. He has a weakness of not having the ability to say No. I don't know. We have our highs and lows, and lately it has been a lot of lows. Yes its true, I am feeling low. Maybe I should make a trip to the Buddhist monastery this weekend.

On the flip side, I had BFF Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot visit two weekends ago, followed by Little-Miss-Bargain-Hunter here last weekend. Both weekends were awesome and so much fun!

Here is a sneak peek of Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot and myself at Mamasita. We snacked on their popular chargrilled corns and sipped on margaritas. More photos to come...

Good night...! Tuesday-itis tomorrow!

Hello 29!

I finally celebrated my 29th birthday last Saturday. Unfortunately I had a fight with Grumpy, and so instead of being really happy about my special day, I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. Grumpy is pure genius at ruining important milestones. Despite all that, I still thank my lucky stars because I have family and friends wishing me well from everywhere and I know I am still loved... by someone out there. 

Fast forward all the sad stuff, I got some lovely gifts. Grumpy surprised me with an iPad 2. I kind of knew he was going to get me one, and when he handed me a box for my birthday present, and I opened it, it turned out to be a brown box?! I was worried for a minute there that it was not an iPad. But after the brown box, came the Apple box.... So that worked out fine, I guess. My friends the wombats gave me a gift voucher for Endota Spa, which is my all time favourite spa. My brother and his better half surprised me with this Yves Saint Laurent arty oval ring, which I absolutely love! 

                                         

When Grumpy and I were in Japan, I was hunting for a YSL boutique so that I could get one of their arty rings. It was quite a difficult search, because the address was in Japanese, we could hardly figure out where it was, and we were going round in circles. Finally on our last day in Japan, when we were not looking, we actually found a YSL store in Kobe by chance. I was so happy, and they sold the arty rings too! Unfortunately, after the FX conversion, the ring worked out to be really expensive. I did not end up buying the ring, much to Grumpy's annoyance. He insisted I get the ring, as we had travelled all the way to Japan and spent all that time searching for a YSL store, but no, I decided against it. Hey, I was disappointed at that time too. Hehe So when I opened up the little gift box last Saturday, I was very happy indeed!

My old boss Belgian Chocolates surprised me with a copy of my favourite Vogue magazine from France, the special edition for AW11. I also got a nice Helly Hansen polar fleece jumper, which is so nice and soft from Mr Happy. And some other friends gave me a David Jones gift voucher. 

Back to my iPad 2, Grumpy and I got a Telstra mobile broadband SIM card for the iPad so that I can use it in the train or when I travel, which is great! Today he got me this cover which looks kind of dull... but I am thinking this is just temporary, while I look for a nicer more girlie one. 

And tomorrow, I call it my belated birthday present, hehe my darling BFF Little Miss-Drink-A-Lot is coming to Melbourne for 2 nights and we are going to spend some quality time catching up! We have heaps of stuff planned, which includes Mamasita (LOVE!), running at the Tan, facial and massage at Endota Spa and dinner at Nobu. I am so excited!!

A Day In The Life Of Me

Last week, my office started a program called 'Lunch And Learn'. This is where you bring your own lunch, into the sessions, and you listen in to people from different areas of the business talk about their jobs and how exciting it is, and then after, it makes you feel like 'Crap, I've got the most boring job in the world'. We had the same program at my old work, but I never attended any. And so when they launched it last week at my current workplace, I did not attend any because (a) can't be fucked (haha), and (b) I already have lunch plans with my friends. Until...... my boss sent me an email with only one sentence saying "I need to talk to you about this". I thought to myself, Oh man... I had better attend at least one session to pretend I am interested.

I was wrong.

Instead of just attending the session, she wanted me to present on behalf of my team and talk about 'A Day in the Life of a ___ (my job)'. She might call it 'professional development' for me, but I call it 'classic example of hand-balling'. Management probably requested for her to do it, instead she decides it should be me to present. Great, just great. I had to prepare one slide myself about A Day in the Life of me! I had no idea. My day is really not that interesting at all. I googled it.. I asked my friends..

This is what Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch wrote back to me in an email:

My name is Mrs _ Ng. My husband's name is M_ but he has a dual identity...... some call him K_. I have a dog named E_. I wake up at 2am because "the stupid dog" wakes me up so he can sit in the garden in the middle of the night. When I finally go back to sleep, it isn't long before my alarm goes off and I have to get up. While I get ready, I pump up the latest song of the day/week/month (which my friend 'Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch' had no idea about until I tell her) on my BOSE speakers while my husband is snoring away. I leave my home in Oakleigh and head for Oakleigh station to begin my commute into work. Upon arrival at Parliament station, I immediately proceed to Engels where I must check in (because I want to keep my status as the mayor). No coffee for me because it makes me feel weird. Chai latte is my favourite beverage at this time of the morning. I quickly walk down 1 and 1/2 blocks to 101 Collins Street and be at my desk by around 8:30am, ready for my meeting which is soon after. During the meeting, I tell everyone on the scale of 1 to 10 how happy I am (I always say I'm good.....as if I'd ever say I'm a panda), if I achieved yesterday's goals and what my goals are for the day. By the time I get to my desk, I usually have an email waiting for me asking me what my lunch plans are for the day. After a few emails, lunch is set and I just have to do my regular work until lunchtime comes. At around 12pm, I lock my PC and head towards the next lunch menu which was decided at 9:30am. During the day I work hard and make conversations with my colleagues around me. We talk about lots of things such as their kid's school trips to Europe, cross-bred (or not cross-bred) dogs......sometimes I get the odd cup cake here and there for no apparent reason. I get asked if my husband got a text message from a colleague for his birthday and I feel like telling him "its been 3 months, get over it!". I HATE being called Juju at work...... When it's time to go home at 5pm, I sometimes go past Fitness First but I'm frustrated because I think I have gained weight but no idea where or how! Finally, I go home and wait for my husband to cook dinner. Afterwards, its time to watch the Kardashians which I recorded on my Foxtel IQ but sometimes the husband and the "stupid dog" annoy me because they can't give me 20 mins of peace once a week to watch my favourite TV show! Bed time.....sleeping in my nice Peter Alexander pajamas. And then its 2am and it starts all over again......

She describes A Day in the Life of me... most accurately. She is absolutely spot on! Haha I swear I nearly fell of my chair laughing when her email came through.

Anyway, I was able to come up with some real work on a slide for my preso, and I even got Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot to help make it look pretty. Lifesaver!

Finally yesterday, I stood behind one of those formal brown stands where they lay the laptop and the microphone, next to a projector screen, in front of more than 50 people.... and I spoke about my team, what we do.. who we are made of.. yada yada yada. It was certainly most nerve wrecking and I did not even recognise my own voice. I spoke reallyreallyfast. OMG I have done this before!! Many times!! In my old job (in three different countries, in fact, even to the CEO from Canada)!! But I guess being in a new environment, in a new business, and being relatively new to the role.. I could not hide the nerves.

At the end of the presentation, I was so relieved. Many people came up to me telling me I did really well, which I sort of have my doubts, because it feels like they were trying to reassure me or something like that, especially after seeing me so nervous in front of my audience. My boss said she got terrific feedback, which I mutter under my breath 'Yeah right'. That might be the end of my presenting career perhaps? Just glad that its over!

Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye

This video is very cool! I love this song, it is constantly on repeat on me iPod. Love the body art!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

I Do Not Watch Much TV These Days

I do not watch much TV these days. One of the main reason is 'time'. I just DO NOT have the time to watch TV. It sounds silly but its true. I just don't. During the week days, Grumpy hogs the TV (he only watches TV shows which involve a lot of screaming, killing, golf and Rick Stein). On weekends, I am probably too busy running errands or doing boring things like laundry, cleaning the house, walking the dog, whatever, you name it. I guess another reason is because my two of my favourite TV shows, Modern Family and Glee are taking a season break here in Australia. We pay about $115 a month for a very expensive Foxtel package, and I hardly watch any of it.

There is one exception though. I am watching the current Season 6 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on 'E!'. The new episodes are on 9.30pm every Tuesday, and I record these episodes so that I can watch it at my own convenience at a different time. So last night, after the dishes were done and my shirt ironed for work, I decided to watch this week's episode. It was funny, I love it, the girls are just hilarious. And while watching this, Grumpy is next to me, going on and on about something random, and then he plays with the dog, and the dog is annoyed because it is his bed time, so the dog starts barking and screaming... and this is all while I am watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. OMG! I was so annoyed, I said to Grumpy, "I only use 30 minutes of the TV, in one week, to watch an episode of KUWTK and I can't even watch it in peace! In fact, it is only 20 minutes or so, because there are ads in between and I can fast forward the ads on Foxtel IQ! TWENTY MINUTES!! Can't I have TWENTY MINUTES of friggin' peace to watch KUWTK?!?!??!"

Both the husband and the dog go silent, and finally I can watch the remaining 5 minutes of the show uninterrupted.

Here is an interesting video.. it is Mr Tickle's 40th birthday (Mr Tickle was the first among the Mr Men characters created), and Adam Hargreaves (the son of creator Roger Hargreaves) shows us how to draw the oldest character of Mr Men.

Cherry Blossom

Yesterday was the 8th of August. And that marks the 13th years Grumpy and I have been together. Thirteen years! It also means that we have spent nearly half our lives together. We did not celebrate yesterday... no, only because we are trying to get used to a new and different anniversary now, which is our wedding anniversary. To be completely honest, if you asked Grumpy when did we get married, he would probably stop and have a good think about it before giving you an answer, what more, a correct answer. But with the 8th of August, it was easy.

As the warmer weather approaches, I have started noticing the leaves grow back on trees, and flowers in bloom. My current favourites are cherry blossom. I never really took real notice of cherry blossoms, until I went to Japan in Spring for their Sakura season. It was absolutely beautiful, and now that I know what cherry blossoms are, I noticed we even have it here in Australia! In fact, the houses on my street have cherry blossoms too. They may not be real cherry blossoms, but it could be plum blossoms or other blossoms. I kept raving about these blossoms on my street to Grumpy, and he kindly pointed out that even our little dwarf peach tree have blossoms appearing... in my own garden!

Here are three photos I took in Japan of the cherry blossom or plum blossom. Three different colours that are so pretty!

This is a weeping cherry blossom, as the branches fall down. Outside the Osaka castle.

Tada!

Thirteen years, my darling. I love you!

Veggie patch

It is a Sunday night, and I am sitting in the living room in my brother's place waiting for him to whip up a yummy dinner. We are here because it is the Masterchef finals tonight. The past week was not all that great for me. Work was shit. I did not feel productive at all. And with my social life, I felt the same. As if I did not achieve much...despite the fact that I was busy most of the weeknights. Here is why:

First, we watched Harry Potter on Tuesday night, and the speakers were broken in the cinema. We were so annoyed because it was the last Harry Potter (we have watched all the Harry Potter movies religiously) and we could hardly hear what they were saying. Haha Two and a half hours later, we got a refund from Hoyts. But still, it felt like a waste of time on a Tuesday night..!

Thursday night I joined my colleagues for our company trivia night. The trivia was fun, but the venue was shit. Dinner was provided and the place was near the red light district of the Melbourne CBD, hence the dim lights, shit food and shit drinks. My team came in last too, which did not seem to make things any better. I went home with a wooden spoon >.<

Friday night, I was already quite tired and sleepy from the late nights before, but I promised Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch that I would watch Harry Potter with her in Crown casino. The show only started at 9pm.. and so.. I tried my best to stay awake, and watched the same movie again, twice in the same week. I got home at nearly 1am on Friday night, and I had to bake a cake and make vegetarian curry puffs for my Buddhist dana lunch on Saturday morning. I have no idea if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but Grumpy had also just got home from after work drinks, he was so pissed drunk, yet he was helping me make the filling for my curry puffs. We finished by around 2.30am.. and I was up again by 7.30am on Saturday morning, to bake the curry puffs. Grumpy woke up that same morning complaining of mild food poisoning (he woke up a few times through out the night to go to the toilet). He said to me "Maybe it was the curry puffs?" All I could say was "OMG it better not be the curry puffs! The last thing I really need right now is to be known as the person who poisoned Ajahn (the monk)" I took the risk, and still served the curry puffs for dana... haha Thank god my brother rang me after to say he was up all night too, throwing up. So that means they all had food poisoning from their dinner the night before, and it was not the curry puffs. The curry puffs were a hit, by the way.

After dana, I drove all the way to Westfield Doncaster, because I bought a La Senza voucher online and that was the nearest La Senza for me.. which was very far! But it was worth it, I bought heaps of lingerie! The first time I got La Senza was in London a few years ago. Then I picked Grumpy up from work, we grabbed a bite.. and then.. when we got home.. I fell asleep on the sofa from 6pm until 11.30pm. It was such a long and well deserved nap, Grumpy did not even dare wake me up for dinner. You would think I would have problems going back to sleep after that, but I was fine. I went back to sleep after, and woke up at around 9am this morning.

I feel much better after all that sleep. Hehe The last time we stayed home on a Saturday night was months ago, when we were under house arrest because of the detox. It was GOOD!

Anyways, here are pictures of my veggie patch now. I love my home grown veggies and with the warmer weather approaching, I am looking forward to spending more time here in the garden.

Some baby capsicums.

My favourite so far.. snow peas!

Some baby lemons growing.

Here is my cauliflower plant a week ago..

And this is what it looks like now.. one week later.

My broccoli tree.

And some baby eggplants coming up too.

Cold Winter Sunday Afternoon

It is a cold winter Sunday afternoon... Grumpy is out playing golf, I am sitting here at home, sipping a cup of instant coffee and having some biscuits. I have just cleaned the house and it feels nice. I always feel better after I have smothered the toilets in disinfectant spray, floors have been mopped and carpets vacuumed.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks lately. Grumpy had one of his closest friends visit from KL and we were very busy going out for dinners and drinks every consecutive night. It was exhausting and coupled with a few dramas (all alcohol related), I am so relieved and happy that he has gone home! Some things in life you can do without, these are the few examples.. of people that I would rather steer away from.

We celebrated our Bruno-Mars-lookalike-Bollywood-star-friend's birthday two weekends ago.

Here are some photos:

Work has been okay.. it is just that time of the year when things get a bit boring. Spoke to my ex-boss Belgian Chocolates and he was telling me how he has to go to the Malaysian office soon.. again. This time for the Irish funds. I felt like I shot myself in the foot, as it could have been me! We have both worked in the Dublin office before.. but it could have been me! Ah well... That did make me feel a bit sad. Last Friday I had a skip review with my bosses boss. A skip review is when you skip the first level of reporting line, and go another level up. It went pretty good, the director gave me tips on how she progressed in her career, and towards the end, she said I was a quiet achiever. I did not let the cat out of the bag, and by that I mean that I did not reveal about how my boss was the ultimate queen bitch to me when I first started. Only because the situation is much better now. She is much nicer to me since Zara opened its first store in Melbourne. Haha I say that because she is always asking me to go to Zara with her during our lunch breaks.

My birthday is approaching in about a month's time. A bit nervous as it is the final year of my twenties. Can't say I am looking forward to it at all.

While this weekend has got me tuned on to the world news channel on the telly, watching the tragedy of the Norway killings and the death of Amy Winehouse, I want to share with you my favourite band of the week, 'Foster The People'. This song is called 'Pumped Up Kicks', and the boys are very cute. I love this song!

Kylie 'Aphrodite Les Folies' - Live in Melbourne

We went to the Kylie Minogue show about a month ago at Rod Laver Arena. I was very excited about this concert because, similar to U2, it was a $25million production. Her costumes were Dolce & Gabbana and she had plenty of talented dancers and performers that accompany her on stage. The show was absolutely spectacular. She was so brilliant, I enjoyed every minute of her show. She sang live, no lip synching.. danced and constantly spoke out to the crowd. Everyone loved her!

She had her own chariot.

Half naked men... eye candy!

Here is one of my favourite songs from her Aphrodite album 'Get Outta My Way':

The revolving stage.

She flew across the stage on an angel.

The center of the stage is called Splash Zone. Tickets were $400 each! My friend, SydneyBoy actually got these tickets.

Her final song, All The Lovers.

Amazing!

Be sure to watch this video of 'All The Lovers':

While it was rumoured to be one of her final shows, which I hope not... I danced and sang along to nearly all her songs. Even though Grumpy refuses to admit, I think he secretly likes Kylie too.

Brian Atwood Heels

How amazing are these Brian Atwood heels? And with Swarovski crystals? They make the perfect shoes for a bride on her wedding day! I know Victoria Beckham is a big fan of Brian Atwood heels. And... these shoes are currently on sale at Net-A-Porter.

Photos are taken from Net-A-Porter.

One Day by David Nicholls

Recently I have been reading plenty of good books. At this point in time, I am glued to this book by David Nicholls called 'One Day'. I love witty and funny books that are able to reach out and make you feel for the characters, to move you, and 'One Day' is exactly that. Yesterday evening, Grumpy was busy preparing our Sunday night dinner, while I sat near him, sipping tea and reading this book. He says to me "Do you think it makes sense? The husband is making dinner while the wife is sitting down reading a book?" Absolutely.

Anyway, I also read my latest copy of UK Vogue, and it mentions that this book has been made to a movie, starring Anne Hathaway as Emma. Here is a link to the 'One Day' trailer. I can't wait to watch this!

Tree Planting

At work, we are entitled to two days of paid volunteer work each year. While I have always been interested in volunteer work, especially coming from a family that has always been actively involved with many charities in Malaysia, I realise I have not really done anything here to give back to society. So when some of the guys at work suggested that we organise a team volunteer day, I told them I'm in. This was back in summer, and when the weather was nice. They selected tree planting out in Kinglake, a town which was tragically burnt from the 2009 bush fires. Tree planting, especially in a group, sounded quite fun.

When the time finally arrived, most of us were having second thoughts. Primarily because of the weather. It has been raining, we had a storm two days ago, and it has been absolutely freezing. It is afterall, winter!

We had a few people in the team pull out at the last minute due to work commitments, but the remaining eleven of us were still committed to planting trees about 2 hours drive away from Melbourne.

Our company worked closely with Landcare, a non-profit company, and they organised for us to plant trees at a husband and wife farm located in Flowerdale. It was cold, as expected, but at least it was not pouring. We had some slight drizzle, but I was fine, dressed in my waterproof jacket. We were told to wear gumboots, something I do not own (I was tempted to buy a pair of Wellies in London ages ago), and instead I wore my snow boots. The land was muddy and wet, and the snow boots worked perfect, keeping my feet dry as it was completely waterproof too.

We had to put on a work safe vest, we were given gloves and some tools, and we then watched a quick demo by a Landcare member, teaching us how to plant trees the proper way. We went "Ooohhh ahhhh" haha

See, I am a natural.

I was covered in mud everywhere, on my face, my hands, my jeans, my shoes, my jacket...

I would never do any gardening in such weather at my own home, so it was pretty good effort that I was out in the country planting trees at someone else's farm.

My workmates in action. We had to put up three sticks, and a plastic around the baby plant to protect it from rabbits and other things.

Finally when it was lunch time, our team got together with the owners of the farm, and other volunteers from Landcare for a barbecue. We had a pretty good budget from work, so we brought plenty of food which we bought earlier from the city. The owners of the farm also contributed more food, and they cooked us venison meat on the barbie, from deers of their farm.

Woodfire.. it was great!

The owners had two dogs. The blue heeler, Murphy, is my favourite. He would tag along with the team, getting us to play fetch with him, while at work.

Murphy

Apart from the dogs, and the deer farm, the owners had other farm animals too. It was fun for me, personally, getting so close to these animals.

I patted horses..

Adorable, just adorable. Nearly took the lamb home as my second pet.

Deers

Was not planning on taking this one home though. Snoopy the croc.

We worked so hard. In total, we planted 900 trees among 15 people, which was absolutely fantastic. The planted trees have an 80% survival rate, so lets hope all the trees that I planted will grow and stay alive for the future. It takes an average of twenty years to get the trees fully grown. Sydney Boy insists that the trees I plant will all die (how rude!) but I disagree. It was an awesome day and apart from helping out the community affected by the bush fires, it was nice to be out in the country, so peaceful and relaxing.