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.

Easter at Port Campbell - Part Two

The nice thing about this trip at Port Campbell is that there were heaps to do. So by the coast, we had the most amazing views, but on the other hand, we were also surrounded by plenty dairy farms and local produce on the inland. Which means, there were plenty of delicious food out there.

First stop, the L'Artisan Cheese Factory. This is at Timboon, and the cafe is called Mouse Trap Cafe.

Next, we stumbled upon this place called by chance, Timboon Railway Shed Distillery and it was a lovely place for lunch. The people were so friendly and the food was amazing.

The boys did some whisky sampling.

Some of the local produce which are available for sale.

The restaurant.

Lunch time!

For dessert, I had ice cream. It was so yummy and creamy, even Mum (who does not really have a sweet tooth) said it was really good.

While having our desserts and sipping on coffee and tea, one of the waitresses came over to tell us that there is a koala outside on a tree right next to restaurant. We went out to have a peek and this was a koala in full swing. Haha 99% of the time they are clinging on to dear life, fast asleep, but this koala was busy having his lunch. It was adorable!

It was always quite cold by night time, we planned to cook our own dinners at the villa we were staying as it was fully self contained. The first night we had chicken rendang (which Mum cooked beforehand, so we just needed to heat it up). I had the task of making sure we brought the rice cooker to Port Campbell. I did not forget the rice cooker, no way. But I left the cord which connects the rice cooker to the power point at home in Melbourne. Lucky we had Mum who cooked white rice in a pot filled with water on a stove.

The 2nd night, we had Grumpy make us burger with chips and salad. He made two different types of burger patties.

Delicious!

It was important for me that my parents enjoyed their time here. And I think they really did. We also did lots of catching up with the rest of my family here, such as my cousins and my uncle. Here's a cute photo of my cousin's baby... awwww

7 Day Detox

About two weeks ago, Grumpy and myself decided it was about time we completed a 7 day detox program. The detox requires us to take 5 tablets each day, at various times. I took note of all the food we ate and made sure it was meat free and dairy free. We still ate fish though. And one of my colleagues response was "Is it because you think fish don't have feelings?"

One of the hard things for me was not grabbing my customary chai latte from the cafe on my way to work. I was always very tempted! Instead I would get to the office, and make myself a cup of green tea instead. We had to stay away from sugar, caffeine, fizzy drinks and ALCOHOL (big hats off to Grumpy)! No chocolates, no chips or lollies too.

Overall, I am so proud we made it (well, nearly.. see Day Seven below). It was so hard, especially on the weekend. Many people have asked me "Do you feel any difference?" Well the answer is "Yes, I do feel better". I will be more conscious now when I go back to eating normal un-healthy food. Did we lose weight? No, not really. Probably 2 kgs. But then again, our main purpose was not to lose weight, but rather an internal cleanse after years of bad eating habits. I am quite impressed with Grumpy because he was the chef whipping up the dinners and most of them, he still cooked it so fabulously, it was delicious. We certainly did not cut down on portions. While we were required to do plenty of exercise during the program, I do not think Grumpy did much except walking to the train station. I had one session of running on the treadmill, and 2 classes of Body Balance. Yoga is highly recommended during detox.

It was also much easier that Grumpy and I worked on this program together. I call it team work. My colleague at work said "He must really love you... for doing this detox program". And then she adds "He must LOVE you even more for attending the Kylie concert with you". Haha. Well, we have agreed that we might do this either once or twice a year now.

We started on Monday, which was a public holiday. I thought it was a good idea because at least we had the day off to get used to the requirements of this program.

Here is our menu for the entire seven days.

Day One

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Celery & carrot juice

Breakfast- Sauteed Mushrooms on toast

Lunch - Tuna with avocado and alfalfa on wholemeal bread

Dinner - Chilli bean hot pot with brown rice

Day Two

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Prune juice

Breakfast - Muesli with soy milk

Lunch - Tuna with avocado and alfalfa on wholemeal bread

Dinner - Pan fried salmon in olive oil with steamed veggies

Day Three

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Prune juice

Breakfast - Muesli with soy milk

Lunch - Leftover chilli bean with alfalfa on wholemeal bread

Dinner - Pumpkin soup, with toasted wholemeal bread and steamed veggies

Then for dessert - Kylie Aphrodite Les Folies concert!

Day Four

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Prune juice

Breakfast - Sauteed mushrooms on toast

Lunch - Muesli with soy milk, and a bowl of rockmelon

Dinner - Steamed fish (asian style) with brown rice and stir fried green beans with garlic in olive oil & tamari sauce

Day Five

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Prune juice

Breakfast - Muesli with soy milk

Lunch - Tuna with alfalfa on wholemeal bread

Dinner - Vegetarian minestrone with 2 slices of wholemeal toast and watermelon slices

Day Six

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Celery and carrot juice

Breakfast - Muesli with soy milk

Lunch - Leftover vegetarian minestrone

Dinner - Vegetarian bolonaise with wholemeal spaghetti

Day Seven (Thank GOD!)

Upon rising, glass of water with a dash of lemon juice

Prune juice

Breakfast - Muesli with soy milk

Lunch - EPIC FAIL - Vietnamese chicken noodles (pho) in clear broth - we ate out at a restaurant! Felt extremely guilty after. Moment of weakness.

Dinner - Steamed fish (asian style) but with white rice (Grumpy refuses to eat another grain of brown rice) and stir fried green beans with garlic in olive oil & tamari sauce

Snacks - I made sure we ate plenty of apples each day. Oranges were not recommended. We also snacked on roasted almonds. I made some biscuits from a recipe provided in this program.

These biscuits are made of only rolled oats, mashed bananas, prunes, olive oil and pure maple syrup.

At the end of the 7 days, we were back to eating like how we usually do. Part of the program, also requires us to take 2 additional tablets each day (after the detox), which is made up of probiotics to help our system get back to eating normally again. So whats the verdict? It was good, definitely recommended to those looking for an internal cleanse.