My Bloggable Day

The best thing about an Australian Christmas

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Bec

The food.

Better endless sunshine, better than being at the beach or in the pool all day and better than round after round of backyard cricket is the amazingly fresh produce that comes with an Australian Christmas. We can’t have a white Christmas and sip Gluhwein at quaint markets but we can enjoy stodge-free food that doesn’t have to be cooked for hours on end. Although many people do slave over hot ovens for a roast. Prawns, smoked salmon, oysters, cherries, strawberries and mangoes are my favourites.

We had our work Christmas lunch this week. With an office of only six we don’t have outlandish parties, but on Wednesday we did get to enjoy damn good food and a glass of sparkling.

The only downside being the Christmas cracker hats were too small to fit my abnormally large head. The jokes didn’t disappoint though. What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?

A stick.

You’re welcome.

I’m not sure what I’ll be eating for real Christmas yet, it’s still too far away. Do you know? I’ll probably make my choc cherry cheesecake again though.

Tonight the play I’m in opens. We have 9 shows, two of which I will miss because I’m flying to Brisbane on Sunday for a week. Any tips for places to eat and shop near South Bank would be greatly appreciated. My housemate Bec and I will put up our tree on Saturday, after being heavily influenced by a Kmart catalogue we’re going for silver and gold which sounds super tacky but I’m sure it will look amazing. Maybe.

Posted in Food | Tagged Christmas, Food | 7 Comments

How to fake a holiday

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Bec

The right Instagram filter can mitigate all the hassle of international travel. Here’s how:

1. Head to a local hotel and ask (or pay) to sit by their pool.

2. Take a good book.

Preferably one that’s ‘having a moment’

3. And a good friend.

Aka the ‘witness’

4. Order a jug of cider

Conventional drinking hours and practices don’t apply on holidays.

5. And the club sandwich.

Because they appear almost exclusively on room service menus and not in real life.

6. Eat it in your bikini.

Because you don’t care how gluttonous it looks #holidaymode

7. Try to soak up some rays.

Tan or burn; any colour that will make it look like you’ve actually been away.

8. Upload a ‘hotdogs or legs?’ photo to social media.

Sadly, my knees will always be to pointy to look like hotdogs

Then sit back and admire the completely fake jet-set lifestyle you’ve created for yourself. Or you could save up money and annual leave, book flights, accommodation, wrangle visas, international currency and travel insurance and actually go on holidays…

Posted in Travel | Tagged Holiday, Travel | 4 Comments

Friday

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Bec

I’m really not sure why I get so excited about Fridays seeing as I now work 5am-9am on Saturday mornings… But even so, I still reserve a kind of nervous excitement for Fridays. Here are some things from around the internet I enjoyed this week:

Clint Eastwood with actresses Olive Sturgess and Dani Crayne in San Francisco, 1954

Plus 49 more amazing vintage photos here

This weirdly mesmerizing video of the work that goes into breaking in a pair of ballet shoes.

Have you heard Bruno Mars’ new upbeat tune?

This will make you (and your problems) seem tiny and insignificant.

A poignant argument for ditching the jeans and dressing well.

Could you live in a house like this?

Have you been watching First Contact? It’s an SBS documentary that takes 6 white Australians to Indigenous communities to challenge their (mostly hideously racist) misconceptions about Aboriginal Australians. This account from one of the 6 participants shows why the show was so worthwhile.

When TV supporting characters become more popular than the leads.

That’s all from me. Plans for the weekend?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Friday, Links, Links I Love | 3 Comments

My number one skin care tip

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Bec

I should probably preface this by saying I am not a dermatologist, a beautician or someone that has any authority on skin apart from having it on my body. I am also not a beauty blogger, but I feel pretty strongly about this tip so hear me out.

My number one skin care tip is: don’t put anything on your face. Nothing. Not cleanser, toner, moisturiser, purifyer, detoxifyer or anything else that ends in ‘fyer’, pimple cream, serum, lotions potions or anti aging bull sh*t.

Don’t buy it. When I was 19 my skin suddenly erupted in large sore pimples. My dermatologist (who charged $125 for a five minute consultation, so he must have been good) prescribed some pretty mild antibiotics and told me not to touch or put anything on my skin. And to this day I still haven’t. Except for sunscreen and a generic chemist cream I use to remove make up.

It’s called Aqueous Cream and it comes in plenty of brands and costs about $10 for a huge tub like this:

I just rub it all over my face with a bit of water and then wipe it off with cotton make up remover pads. I try to do this at night but I’m pretty lazy and sometimes do it the next morning… Gross. But I must emphasise, this is a product that has no other function than to loosen and remove my make up. I use a SPF 50 sunscreen every day without fail.

I feel pretty strongly that organs like skin are pretty good at regulating themselves. I don’t apply a lotion or take a pill every day for my lungs to function, so why my face?! This of course is not the case if you suffer from a medical condition like serious acne. I’m fortunate to have clear skin with just the odd pimple, but I think my no product regime has a lot to do with this. Here’s a photo of me without makeup if you you need proof.

I recently had a facial and lost count of the amount of products slathered over my face in what appeared to be no particular order. After an hour of feeling sticky and uncomfortable I couldn’t wait to get home and douse my face in water. But not before my beauty therapist “prescribed” a slew of products from their catalogue which she kindly gave me to take home and peruse. No thanks!

I find the amount of skin care products out there bewildering and confusing, so my advice is to use none of them and see what happens. What do you use on your face?

Posted in Misc | Tagged beauty, Skin, Skin Care, skin care products | 12 Comments

A movie I really want to see

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Bec

I never knew the story of American artist Margaret Keane. Her husband sounds like a right pill. I think Amy Adams is fantastic. I loved her in Julie & Julia and in American Hustle when everyone was raving about Jennifer Lawrence (who?! I seriously just had to Google her last name). I’m kind of ashamed that I’m also looking forward to the re-release of Annie in December… Mostly because of Rose Bryne but also because I think Cameron Diaz will make a scarily accurate Miss Hannigan.

I saw Let’s Be Cops on the weekend. It’s basically just Coach and Nick from New Girl pretending to be police officers but I did laugh until I was blue in the face. Seen any good movies lately?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Big Eyes, Movies | 2 Comments

A soggy Tuesday

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Bec

We’ve pretty much had thunderstorms every day for the last week. Today was particularly good. The sky got dark, then went red as the dust rolled in backed by fierce wind. Then we got pelted by rain. Then it was all over, just as quickly as it began.

By the time I got home the sun was peeking through the clouds again and rain drops dotted the petals of flowers in my front yard. It’s kind of steamy and humid and everything looks deliciously dewy.

Apologies for the absence, I’ve had bloggers’ block as you can probably tell, seeing as I’m blogging about the weather now. Fascinating.

A fairly unremarkable weekend just passed. The usual timetable of breakfast, shopping, nails, a movie and then a night out. I miss going to places I’ve never been.

I do love having a garden though, that’s for sure.

I did a photo gallery at work today that I rather love. I also ate some delicious chocolate from Burch and Purchese that my colleague’s Mum sent over from Melbourne. Jude is her name, generous Jude, always sending things over.

Well. Until tomorrow.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Flowers, Garden, Weather | 6 Comments

Cowboys & Indians

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Bec

My housemate Bec and I hosted a housewarming party on the weekend. It was only our first costume party so far this year, so considering we held three last year (op shop, nautical nonsense and winter wonderland) we are seriously behind.

I showed my friend Em, conveniently a graphic designer and sign writer, some photos from Pinterest of a ‘wanted’ poster I was planning on making and the next thing I know she had whipped this up:

Insanely awesome.

What a clever cookie! It was such a hit as well, I had two people request to use it for their parties.

I made a teepee from 5 wooden poles, a thrifted sheet, a bunch of cable ties and a rope. It was amazing and I had visions of hiding out in there all summer with a pile of books and pitcher of freshly squeezed lemonade. Unfortunately, someone severely lacking in whip skills struck it early on in the evening and it wasn’t the same.

Before the teepee came to grief. I WILL RE-BUILD!

The other piece de resistance (if you’re allowed to have three) was the bales of straw stacked near the teepee. They looked mighty authentic if I do say so myself.

Everyone went all out with the costumes, which I really appreciate.

Em who made the Wanted sign, Lauren and I

But the winners were clearly the Dallas Cowboys:

I love a costume that thinks outside the square. Bravo!

Such a great night.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Costume, Costume Party, Costumes, Cowboys and Indians, Party | 4 Comments

The best thing that happened today

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Bec

Hands down.

I’m already contemplating a side fringe.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Music, Taylor Swift | 10 Comments

What’s inside your fridge?

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Bec

I took this photo of my fridge yesterday:

Not shown: a bag of dead lettuce in the crisper and a container of moldy cheese. And probably a jar of jalapenos. I can’t live without them.

I’m so out of practice of planning meals and shopping adequately for them. I can’t be bothered. I’m bored and uninspired. On Sunday night I ate cheese leftover from Saturday night’s party and some salt and vinegar chips. Not exactly the post Bali detox I had imagined…

Got any healthy recipe ideas for me? Please add links in the comments below! Do you have a go-to dinner idea? Let me know.

In other news I almost bought a Christmas tree yesterday. It’s November. They’re getting to me already… I wish you could buy fresh trees in Kalgoorlie but they’re just not a thing here sadly. So I’m going to get a better quality fake tree and new decorations because this will be my first ever Christmas in Kal and I’m determined to make it amazing. I always thought people who put up their trees as early as December 1 were mad… When is the right time? Don’t say Christmas Eve, there is absolutely no point in that.

Can’t believe it’s only Tuesday. Soldier on friends.

Posted in Food | Tagged Dinner Ideas, Misc | 16 Comments

Bali, the final day

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Bec

Our last day in Bali started like most good days do, with breakfast. We skipped the hotel breakfast in favour of Grocer and Grind, a delicious cafe.

Elly had pancakes.

I had a breakfast burrito.

After our respective massages and shopping successes (three Natasha Gan dresses for $75 thankyouverymuch) we went for a final afternoon by the pool.

I had a chicken and pear salad and a marshmallow mojito.

If only I had discovered you earlier…

Bec lurking

So jealous of Annie’s mermaid hair

Candied coconut mojito

Goodbye pool 😦

That evening we met up with some of Elly’s friends from Darwin for dinner at Metis. Inexplicably, I took no photos.

After dinner we hit up the gay bar district where Bec and I both danced on stage with two tiny, scantily clad Indonesian men. The photos of that aren’t appropriate for this blog…

I went down the street to get some cash out and ran into this fabulous lady though:

I am sweaty from dancing and she is flawless.

Claire and I got back to the hotel with about 2 hours or less to sleep before leaving for our flight. A bad idea. But so much fun! Such a great trip, great company, great food, great swims, great drinks.

See you next year Bali!

Posted in Misc | 2 Comments