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!