Outfit Hall of Shame

I keep stumbling on such gems on ASOS that I just had to post this. Please be sharing some of your outfit hall of shame. But seriously if you can pull off these looks, more powahhh to you so please don't be sending hate comments.

What is that? And where would you wear that to? Please enlighten me.

This is just million times of Gold. Gold... like ya know if you want to star as a Bond Girl.

Excuse me while I'm channeling the Hamburglar... And why? Really just why?

Because I really want my crotch at my ankles... mega happy pants to infinity to you too. And at a price tag of 600GBP it's my party and I'll wear rainbow happy pants if I wanted to!

Yes ... I love ugly is an apt name. Is this so that the diaper fits under the pants? Like Bonds Roomies Pants for BABIES!

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed doing this post.

First Christmas Day at home

This is the first Christmas day we had at home .. turns out to be a great big blessing that we did not drive anywhere. Please read further to look at what happened at our deck.

The menu plan was as follows and trust me when I say that my entire fridge is packed full of extravagant food. We had a big ham waiting to be studded and glazed. Prawns marinated in lemon rind, garlic and chilli to be skewered or the BBQ. And a whole snapper on the BBQ steamed in a foil package.

The kids tore into their presents this morning. We had balloons everywhere, stockings filled with Hot Wheels cars and gifts under their little tree. I received this from Mick - the porcelain ring with Love written on it. Mick realised that I wanted it and ran back to Issa Home Wares. :) Thank you! But it was the wrong size. Boo! He must think I have fat fingers or will have fat fingers after chowing into the ham.

For breakfast, I did buttermilk pancakes. One word nommmyyy. It is different to the normal pancakes that I do in terms of texture and it had a 'crusty' edge. It is a nice change but I am not sure that Mick thoroughly liked it. He ate it nonetheless... probably because it was covered in butter and maple syrup.

Then the fun begins with the ham. Skin it, get the glaze and then bake. I ran out to Bolton street and bought some salads. Glad that there were some spare ones in the fridge for sale. So ta daaaa we had surf and turf. The oysters that I collected from my friend was so amazing. It tasted creamy and I really need to find out which sort they were as I think I need to get them next time.

Had another coffee after lunch, just because.. and grazed on the mochi as our dessert. There was a tray filled with half red bean mochi and half was custard mochi made by a friend's Auntie. OMG these are the best ever and the sad thing is. Money cannot buy these, she will only make these on special occasions!

So we were lounging around the deck while the boys ran up and down with their trolleys. Got on and off their bikes as they zipped up and down. Decided it was looking like rain was coming in and moved the cushions off the deck lounge. One hour later, it absolutely bucketed down with hail. It was so heavy that I held onto D and had to pretend that I was not scared. But I was scared! When it stopped, we did a stock take around the house to see if anything was broken in the hail. Look what I saw!

The BBQ idea had to be dropped. We had the snapper in the oven, put a bit of rice on in the rice cooker instead of salads then pan fried the garlic prawns. I think I will be doing a Nigella Lawson and grazing on cold ham and mochi straight from the fridge. Kids were thankfully easy to get to bed.. actually I think that I will chow down some more mochi right now. Better wait for Mick to come back in from draining the yard.

Check this out!

I saw Balletflats post this on Instagram and I thought omgawd do want. They look like they came out of a fancy decoration box. Please be making me some thanks! Instructions are here. CLICK

All images are from http://balletflatsonmyfeet.blogspot.com -> please clicky.

Shorts weather

Oh wow it is shorts weather again.. and actually this feels like I am on a tropical island. Everything is growing in overdrive mode and Mick's business is so busy. Which is good but not good for us in other ways. Not only have I neglected my Christmas shopping, the shopping malls are a disaster no go zone! I had to take L out of the house to give Mick some peace. So had to hike to the local shopping mall - the not as ritzy one. I wore my Victoria Secret shorts and a top from Decjuba. Have not touched these shorts since my trip back home to Singapore at Easter.

Is it me? Or is Decjuba's tops really thin these days? I have not been in since earlier this year when I bought this waterfall top. But seriously, I made a remark that everything is unsuitable for work. I am not working in a club you guys. She responded that I should get a nude coloured singlet, one that they stock which had no seams. Ok thanks, but no thanks. ...

What do you think? Is Decjuba and generally all clothing shops stocking thin fabrics or am I just a prude?

Little Shop of Pretty Things - Issa in Ivanhoe

I met Helena many years ago since moving to our house. We used to run down to the pie shop that her mother owns on Burgundy Street hoping that we got there before it closed on a Saturday. The pie shop has since changed hands and so did Mad Meg's which was owned by Helena's brother. It has indeed been at least 4 years since I said that I will go to the shop. I am so bad! It is just that I do not to go Ivanhoe during times that the shop is open. I always drive past when it is closed and I can only see the shop window. And what a shop window it is! Well thankfully Issa has not changed hands and I finally made it in to have a browse while waiting for my sushi to be ready next door.

Issa is filled with pretty things, it is one of those shops that you describe as pretty little shop. You know the ones where you go in and you cannot not buy anything. She had porcelain rings with Love written on them. Sterling silver earrings, cute rose earrings, candles, bon bon soaps, cushions, room fragrance sticks, clothes, baby items, home wares.. well the list goes on. Helena told me her daughter and her decorated the front window and tries to change it often. Look at all the pretty Bison vases and home wares in the shopfront.

Exceptionally proud of D and L for not touching anything. I had bought a pair of rose earrings that were light pink in colour. When I went home, I realised it was too light for my skin tone. Mick suggested we take everyone down and get them exchanged for a darker colour. So I had warned D before going in that it is a little shop of things and he cannot touch anything. But he can smell if Mummy helps him hold things. Issa stocks Lovebird candles which are made in Melbourne. A fresh batch of candles were getting delivered and I held them up for D to smell. D thanked for the lady for her pretty candles .. such a little charmer. Candle lovers unite .. I have been buying way too many candles lately to replenish the old ones. But I just cannot leave without picking up one of these. I bought french pear, lime and coconut. She had an amazing melon scented one which I will have to get next time. I'm almost hoping that these candles burn a bit quicker so I can get some more!!! Trust me candle lovers, you need to get some of these!

I exchanged for these purple rose earrings and Mick bought me a pair of pretty tree shaped sterling silver ones. They were the first thing that caught my eye in the jewellery cabinet. Check out how my earrings were wrapped above! I am going back to get the Love porcelain rings next time.

Being in Issa is making me want to redecorate my house. Now just to get the boys to grow up quicker and get rid of the colourful plastic toys that are engulfing the dining room! I will have to make do with pretty earrings and messy house for now. The tree earrings are below.

Oh and outfit of the day - Stella McCartney for Target. I am glad that we had some sunny weather to put this on!

Issa Homeware and Gifts is at 149 Upper Heidelberg Road cnr Waterdale in Ivanhoe. There is parking at the back but just as easy to get a parking spot at Coles behind. If you do go there, drop into Cosi Duci for gelati afterwards!

The shopping before Payday excitement

I get paid monthly.. there I am putting it out there. Although it is not dire straits in my bank account stakes. There is always a psychological thing about shopping the day before payday.
The exciting part is December is when we get our increases. So I spent my sad increase this year on candles.

I had scoped out Glasshouse candles for ages, it must be when a friend commented on Glasshouse's Facebook page. I was in Peter Alexander on the weekend but got no service so no love there. Lucky for me, David Jones was having a sale last Wednesday. I am not sure if it was only for one day. They were having 15% off full priced candles. Helloooo.... The ladies that were restocking Glasshouse candles were uber helpful. So it felt good purchasing when I get good customer service.

I bought Little Black Dress - Manhattan and Bora Bora - Cilantro & Orange Zest. Cannot wait to light them tonight. It has been ages since I restocked my candles. Actually I think it has been one year! Insert shocked face emoticon here.



They were about $32 after the discount. I must say that I have spent more on less. So I am extremely happy with my purchase. My next stop is not anywhere near as exciting. It was to Mountain Designs to get a work shirt and pants for Mick. Here the guys just love me, I point and make decisions in 2 minutes all the while telling them. I don't know, that one will do and hey it's either blue or blue anyway. I did not get anyone from Mountain Designs trying to flirt with me today. Sadness. Lol

Baking with American recipes

Does anyone else just goes crazy for American recipes?
I love love love this book Baked! New Frontiers in Baking. But I have to admit that I first knew of this book from watching Martha Stewart. Mick HATES Martha and I LOVE annoying him by watching the reruns on Channel 7Two. It's glorious! Anyway, Matt was demostrating Whoopie Pies which I only just discovered recently that it is not as ubiquitous in the US as I thought it was!

The thing about American baked goods is ... the size. Everything is written for big portions. I had to half the recipe. And honestly, what the heck is a stick of butter? I always have to google it and it is really annoying. Either Australian suppliers need to figure this out and bring out sticks of butter on the market or I will go bananas! I know our cup sizing is different, but I figured that if I am using the same cup for both dry and wet ingredients, it cannot go that wrong ... right?
Well it did not. So I made the American style chocolate chip cookies. aka... dump everything lovingly into the Kitchenaid, form balls, resist overcrowding balls, and bake for 8 minutes - not 14. I made these ones and kept the unused dough in the fridge and made the cookies to be consumed fresh. As these are American style, it's very soft and yum yummm... Ohhh and I added Macadamia nuts too. They might cringe at that!

I really want to try the cakes but I do not have 3 x 8inch cake tins. And no I really don't know if I want a 3 layer cake! Anyone has 3 x 8inch cake tins to lend me?

ASOS Salon Cocktail Dress

I am late to post - it was more than a week ago that I attended the Christmas function we had for our Melbourne office.

I bought this ASOS Salon dress when it was on sale. Had my eye on it for ages but did not buy it until I was browsing the sales. Unfortunately (or in my case fortunately) I bought it a few months ago and I am no longer size 6. Tried the dress on the night before and I thought oh dear this is a little snug. But on the night, it was fine! Thankfully!! It was truly a gorgeous dress and I received many compliments. They must have thought it was different, Ling dressed up. LOL.

This is what I wore. And I am super excited because I do not normally do what I am wearing posts as I do not think what I wear is crash hot. Manolo Blahnik heels, LV Epi pouchette and my grandma's ring and pearl necklace. Had such a great night and cannot wait for the next year!

Christmas Ham sorted!

I ordered my Christmas ham from Greenvale Homestead about two months ago by email. Amanda confirmed the half leg order last week just about the same time that I wanted to email her too! I have been following Amanda and Anthony from Greenvale on Twitter for awhile and I thought oh Christmas ham! I should look into this. Amanda had reserved it and said it was $25/kg, each half leg is between 3-4kg.

Off we trooped to St Kilda Veg Out market this morning. Now if anyone knows me, they will know that I hate Punt Road. I will do anything to avoid Punt Road. Everytime that I am on Punt Road I ask myself why I am on there and say I should have taken Power Street. This morning was one of those why am I on this road!!! 2 lanes were closed and we had one lane to get through! What! What!!

It took an hour to get to St Kilda Farmers Reserve and we practically ran out of the car to the market! It was an amazing market. There was Mt Alexander fruit which was the best cherries ever tasted. Even D ate it and he was not feeling very well today. Parking was easy and nothing like Collingwood Children's farm. I only wished that it was not so far!

We came home with our box and could not wait to open it to have a look. Check out the gorgeous ham! It really looks amazing!

On a side note, I notice that I do a lot of wheeling and dealing on Twitter these days!

New Header!!! OMG I lurves itttt

I have complained about my layout for ages. I just cannot figure out how to get a proper header. I always find the beautiful ones that everyone has and I was like urghhhh! It cannot be that hard!

I stumbled about and I thought that I needed to get software for it... well the interwebz had progressed a lot since those times. Thank goodness for Twitter! What did I decide what to wear before Twitter. LOL! @fayemarieblogs recommended a free app and TA DA! Done!!

How much better does it look?

Gahhh overloaded in Takeaway

There is such a thing as too much takeaway!
I am at that point this week and I cannot take it anymore. Don't you just hate slipping off the meal planning wagon and you end up with stuff but not enough stuff or there is no vague plan of what to cook?

Fails this week - did not do a big meal on the weekend to store for the boys. No soup, bolognese, bakes nothing. I was so desperate that I made some sort of rice bake thing which was weird. The boys loved it .. for the first day and then it was yucky. Yesterday Daniel asked me for a cheese sammich and I gave in. I usually do not give him an alternate meal for dinner so I explained it to him. I think he understood as he thought about it.

So I had laksa yesterday which is normally nommy. But the local Chinese place is no Laksa King. I am takeaway out this week. But I did thoroughly enjoyed that Bolton Street charcoal chicken I had on Monday and questioned why people would cook considering it was $13.50 for Pesto Avo and Chicken salad, perfect chips with perfect seasoning and yummy half a chicken.

I really don't know how other people cope with their dinners and working full time! Please be sharing your tricks and tips!

Piaget yummy ring

Stumbled on this ring on Twitter from the lovely @FeowFeow.

It is a Piaget ring with Citrine stone. How gorgeous is this! I have a bad weakness for cocktail rings. But as per usual, I love them and yet do not wear them. LOL

Story of my life. Drooling over ring.

Nespresso Citiz finally!

I have plotted, planned, saved and waited until this machine went on sale in Myer.
So it finally did! 20% off and I had a few gift cards ultimately paid only $289 at the cashiers.

I think this will change the way we have weekend breakfasts out at cafes. We have been leaning towards staying at home a lot more these days anyway. But I believe this will be the end of my cafe coffee addiction. $8 for two of us vs 2 pods. :) Brilliant!

Now to start depreciating this machine! I have already ran to Nespresso boutique and bought the 2011 release. So far only the vanilla and dark chocolate flavours. I will have to go back and try the cherry as well. Ooohhh I am excited.

Pork Floss Buns

This will either make you drool or gross you out. I was shocked that Mick thought this is the most disgusting thing he ever eaten before. He pretty much had to scrape his tongue after putting this in his mouth! It is something that I grew up eating, pork floss was I guess Australia’s vegemite. And now I see that it is the same controversial item. I am addicted! I can eat this everyday and be a happy cat.
I have already taken bites out of the bun before I took the picture. Pork Floss buns are amazing and I do not care what anyone says. It is AmazeBalls!

What food have you grown up eating and thought it was the yummiest thing ever and everyone else cringes and thinks it’s disgusting? My friends regularly tease me on Facebook and a status update on Pork floss drew 60 comments. Mick’s status on having a new baby – 4. HAHAHHA

Sits back now and waits for the comments of Eeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww to pour in.

Interesting thought - followup on what is your passion..

Someone from my Twitter feed commented that the cab driver sounded amazing. And that the universe sends you people like that for a reason.
I am now wondering if I will be part of the group of "Today's Youths" that have no passion but get distracted by having all the different means. I think he was driving at us wasting time on the Interwebz. So if that is the case, let's all shut down for like 5minutes and think about why I was sent this cab driver. Amazing really.. there was only one cab outside my building at that time.

What is your Passion?

I took a cab home yesterday from work. It was 7pm and I had been there since 8.30 in the morning and I had not left my desk. I was really not in the mood to stand and wait for a train and walk up a hill.

You know when you get into a cab and you think.. Ok this cab is safe and clean! WOW! Yes that! The driver was someone who had been in the advertising industry for 35 years. Of course, after I heard this, I asked if he had watched Mad Men. :) The lovely cab driver started to over share details of his life - as all drivers do - and told me about his plans on liquidating everything he owned n Australia to move to Scotland and write his mythology book. After giving me snippets on how he hates swearing, how he believes the ying and the yang in the world are at imbalance, the corporate greed made him want to shoot his brains out. He started talking about his passion about writing..in the last 5minutes of the journey. He turned it around to me and said what is your passion? I have talked way too much.

I sat there and had nothing to say for a minute. Do I really not have a passion? I hope I am not alone in this! Take a minute to stop and think what is your passion and report back. I am still debriefing myself. What is my passion?

Shoe Porn Part 1

There is nothing quite as exciting as opening a box of my Pleaser shoe orders and sorting out the shoes that the girls have ordered. So I went back to ordering Pleasers again and I am loving the excitement of browsing 6inch thigh high boots.

I got these ones – black patent Mary Janes with a swallow buckle. They are from the PinUp range which the entire office is going crazy over. I have to stop myself from ordering anymore but they are too cute. I hate being half a size in between two. Size 7 is impossible to get my feet into and size 8 is a little too big. Anyone has any tips for which insoles to get?

Blog Giveaway Winner - Excited

The winner of the beautiful Vintette French Rose necklace is Miss Lexi who entered via the comment and on Twitter as well. I had the names sorted alphabetically and a colleague picked a random number in the range that I gave him. He picked number 9 which was Miss Lexi.

Thanks everyone for entering :) love hearing comments.

Hunting for outdoor lanterns

I do not think that I have blogged about my decking. But finally after 4 years of planning, we finally built it. Where are the pics? I have not had time to move it off yet - that will be my excuse for another 4 years.

Anyway, so now we need lanterns for outdoors.. preferably in a string and preferably solar. Ha ha ha! Not gonna happen right? I heard that Ikea has some stringed lanterns but really who has time to truck 2 babies to Ikea and wait in line for the lifts alongside 200 other prams?

I found these online and thought someone must buy them! Flamingo lights!!!

SOMEONE NEEDS THEM!

BUY BUY BUY!

Blog Giveaway is Closed!

Hey everyone, the Blog giveaway has closed!

The winner will be drawn today and announced tomorrow. :)

Thanks everyone!

Pole Classes

I had the benefit of being in a very small class lately. The maximum is 4 students and 1 teacher.

The difference was amazing. It felt like I was attending private classes without the 100% attention on me. I could still do my own thing but be in a place where I could ask for help if I need and had the time to ask for help!

Maybe it was because all of us in the class got along very well. You know how you end up sticking to one same class all the time because of it? I guess I know why now. But I always tell people to change teachers if they can. Otherwise they end up with the nemesis trick that they cannot get. Teachers explain things differently for the tricks so you might have someone else say something that just works for you.

Also loving my new shoes that I got. I bought silver glitter 7inch shoes. I have never worn 7inch heels before, only 6 ... oh it is such mindset that I cannot wear higher than 6. Which is really completely funny as I was one of the first in my studio (back in the days) to put 6inch heels on and get laughed at by others. Oh how things have changed! People wear 6inch heels out to clubs these days. ROFL!

Cannot wait till I see my Team MILFs again on Tuesday night. :)

So for my 3 year anniversary

.... I decided it is about time that I looked into drycleaning my wedding gown.
Bejesus I am overwhelmed with guilt.

Does anyone in Melbourne have any recommendations?

I am paranoid that the gown is permanently ruined. But why would I bother? It is not like I will ever wear it again! Nobody is taking up my dare that I can still fit in the dress.

It is funny that I somehow wanted this gown but never got it made. Had lunch with bestie today and I suddenly remembered this dress. I still love it though - Oscar de la Renta. So much love!

My shoes got an outing

You know how you want all these things and you think you want them but you do not really ever need or really have a use for them anyway? Well that is the story of my shoes. I wore Manolo Blahniks on my wedding but they were just ones that I had kicking around. There are also several pairs of brand new shoes that have never been worn. Manolos and one is an LV sandal. My husband thinks that I should stop buying anymore. I have stopped buying, but I have not and will not stop looking online. I just want to look!

And you know how you get into a cycle of going to work and coming home to the comforts of just being at home? I am so lazy, I cannot get out of this cycle. There are some nights that going to pole dancing is too difficult and that is something that I really enjoy. So I was forwarded the invitation for Frocktober Get your Frock on event. It was at Myer Mural Hall. I sent it to some other people who I thought would be interested. So off we go and get our tickets. Food, drinks, fashion show. What's not to like. I pack my Christian Louboutins Very Prive with me because I knew that if I do not wear something like this at this event, I will NEVER wear them. I bought them when D (Pork Chop) was about 2 months old. They went out once at a wedding. I could not even push his pram. I got stuck halfway on the road and someone had to come get him. LOL

The theme for the night is indeed pain for beauty. I could not feel my toes at the end of the night. But seriously, it is fun to get out of the cycle once in a while. The venue was spectacular. The Myer Mural Hall was designed to showcase fashion in 1920s. It retains the beautiful art deco style finishings. Check out the stairs on the main runway!

I wore a black Ralph Lauren shirtdress with gold zips.. Hey it is in Melbourne and there was a fashion show! The shirtdress was ordered from Ralphlauren.com on sale, thank goodness for online shopping.

The drinks and dessert were chomped under these spectacular chandeliers. How decadent! Loved it, but I could not feel my toes afterwards. And I think I staggered a little as they were slightly too big. But pain for beauty! The runway models were also wearing sky high wedges that were too big. I think I fit right into the big picture.