Friday Feast

Am I the only strange person out there who enjoys the preparations for the weeks grocery shop? Let me explain - I do my weekly grocery shopping on a Friday morning. Just me and Flynny-boy. So, on a Thursday night i sit down with various cookbooks and food magazines and plan out the weeks menu, and write out an appropriate shopping list. I love pouring over the magazines, trying to find recipes that not only sound delicious but that are relatively healthy and that i can make on a budget. I check the ingredients list to see if it has a lot of pantry staples ( thus saving me money not having to buy heaps of ingredients i wont use regularly ) and for things i'm going to be cooking on the 3 days that i work i like to find meals that are relatively quick and easy to prepare. I really do enjoy it, even down to the 3 separate places i need to stop ( greengrocers, meat centre, supermarket ) to get the groceries done.

I also enjoy gathering new recipes that i can make for my family - hence the love of food magazines over cookbooks, and an affinity for the Taste website. So, my question to you loyal reader types is: would you be interested in sharing? I would love to start a " Friday Feast " link up, where we get to share our favourite recipes, whether they be sweet or savoury, and especially if they were budget recipes ( isnt everyone tight on money these days? ). Let me know in the comments if its something you would take part in and if i get enough takers everyone prepare for next week!

I Like It, I Love It!

So - when i disappeared for a few days, where did i go? Mick, Flynn and I went to Sydney for a few days, thats where. And, i'm happy to say, we had a great time and it was just the break i needed. We stayed at Micks aunties place so we didnt have to pay for accomodation ( yay for being able to crash at the rello's place! ) and we got breakfast and dinner cooked for us, so we saved on food costs too. We drove down Sunday, only stopping twice with Flynn, and went shopping on the Monday. We hit up DFO Homebush and Westfield Parramatta - i didnt buy much but it was still a decent way to spend sometime. Thankfully Flynn wasnt too over-awed by all the people and the noise although he was a little unnerved every time we went in an elevator...

Tuesday we took the train from Parramatta into the city. Although he's too young to appreciate it, i really enjoy just cruising around the CBD and i wanted to get a photo Flynn with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It happened to be a beautiful sunny day so the pics are a little over-exposed and, as i'm feeling quite fat, i'm not posting the pics of me. You can have this one of Daddy and Flynn though:

But the absolute highlight of my trip? Tim McGraw!! If your one of those sad people who i've come across who doesnt actually know who is, Tim McGraw is a country music superstar, a Grammy winner, and actor and an allround hunk of sexy. Please peruse these pictures as evidence of that last bit:

Oh yea - spunkrat. Anyhoo, Mick and I ( and my mum and dad, who were kind enough to pay for our tickets ) took ourselves off to see Tim live in concert on Tuesday night and, i gotta tell you, it was awesome. My one disappoint was that i didnt take my camera - i thought it would be no use to me but thats because i didnt realise how close we would be. Turns out our tickets were only four rows from the front of the catwalk so i could have got a perfect shot of his performance ( or his cute little bum! ). We were that close that if i had stood on the seats the row in front of me i would have been able to touch him - only i'm not the kind of girl who climbs all over crap, risking a humilating fall onto a fellow concert goers during which i may have exposed my butt crack. Not cool. Anyways - so yea, we were super close to the stage and i didnt take my camera. Very disappointing. I did manage to borrow my mums camera phone ( couldnt use mine - Flynn drooled on my phone and now the camera doesnt work ) to snap a few grainy pics. Apologies for the quality:

And the best part of all? He brought out his wife, Faith Hill, to do a duet with him and apparently it was the only leg of the tour that she sang at ( take that Brisbane and Melbourne! ). I stood, i sang, i danced, i loved it and i stayed out past midnight for the first time since falling pregnant with Flynn. So thank you Tim McGraw - you rocked your sexy butt off!

Puzzle Pieces - Redux

So, i was going through my archive, torturing myself by reading every post i've ever made with reference to my now ex-friend ( i'm a sucker for punishment, but more on that at a later date ) when i came across a post i had real fun doing. Seeing as it was from way back in 2008 and i figure it was ripe for the re-doing. I think it was once a meme that i wasnt tagged for but stole anyway*. The idea was to head over to http://www.someecards.com/ and choose five cards that were representative of you and your life right now. Kind of like pretty, funny, little puzzle pieces. So i did just that - the five i have chosen are different to the ones i picked back in 2008 so here they be:

Ah, so this would should be self-explanatory ( and if it isnt, where have you been the last few days? Not on my blog apparently... ). Thats me in the cute dress, at the bottom. I may feel like i'm at the bottom of the whole friendship jungle gym there, but at least that means i can only go up ( and i'm wearing a cute dress. Always a bonus ).

Yea, thanks Mum and Dad. Oh, and thanks to me from Flynn. Over the years i've been a bit of a worry for my parents, not because i was the ultimate teen rebel but because i was the ultimate teen emo. I'm sure its taken its toll on their mental health ( although i think my dad's always been fairly wack ). And its fair to say the trials of Flynns first 8 months have done my head in some what - not that i was entirely stable to begin with. So thanks to my parents for keeping me as close to sane as possible!

I do. The thought of it scares me. It hasnt happened yet but there is a first time for everything. But the day i start singing along to Justin Bieber - not because a song has been on constant rotation and i cant get the bloody thing out of my head - but because i actually LIKE it, is the day you people need to promise to hunt me down and shoot me. Please?!?

Oh yea - I love you Mick! In fact, i love him so much, i havent even entertained thoughts of ever wanting to, or needing to, leave him. Thats love right? Hell, i didnt even have an escape plan for our first date ( you know, the one where you get your friend to call with some kind of emergency ? ), thats how much i liked him initially. Methinks i've got me a keeper...

And this, my lovelies, is for you all. Your kind comments have been a great, big, fat help the last few days. Its funny how people who have never met me in real life ( which is all but one of you ... ) can have a better read on my personality than someone i thought i was close to. Sure, there are two sides to every story and i'm sure ex-friends version of events is somewhat different to mine, but its nice to know that i have some support based not only on recent events but on what you guys have read over the past few years. I know that my blog is a true reflection of who I am, and to know that you guys support me based on what you've read - on what is ME , as it were - means a lot. So mucho gracias, dudes, mucho!

*Also, feel free to steal this idea if you want. Its not a meme so i aint tagging anyone but if you have bloggers block and are in need of a kick along, take this...

I've Been, I've Seen, I've Zumba-ed!

And yes, this time i mean Zumba, the dance fitness craze, not Adriano Zumbo.

I know you all know what i'm talking about but just in case you dont want to admit to having watched the infomercial a hundred million times here's the rub: Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance/aerobic fitness method, created by a Colombian trainer/coreographer back in the 90's. There is an infomercial for the home DVD packages on tv somewhere in the world approximately every 15 seconds ( at least, thats what it feels like ) and trainer-lead Zumba classes are popping up at gyms and town halls all over the country. Like i said, its hard to escape the Zumba infomercials and when my mother saw an ad in our local paper for a class being run at a primary school hall she thought she'd like to give it a go. Only she didnt want to go it alone - she said she would be too embarrassed to go by herself and didnt want people to laugh at her lack of co-ordination - so i said " hell, why not ? ", i'd give it a go too.

And i'm glad i did - it was fun! Sure, i wasnt exactly awesome at it ( i mean for some routines i had me some awesome rhythm, some i looked like a grasshopper on a barbecue.... ) but it didnt matter because no-one else was nailing it either. There were girls there who looked about 8 years old right up to ladies who were possibly in their 60's, and not a single person had it downpat - but neither was there a single person not laughing. Zumba does what it said it would do - it gets you moving, it gives you a workout ( as evidenced by my lack of breath and red face by the end ) and it's fun. And, happily, i havent woken up too sore this morning, so thats always a bonus. My mum said she enjoyed it too, so we're heading back next Wednesday night. I reckon if you've been curious about Zumba and tossing up whether to try it out i say go for it - worse scenario is the you run into the person next to you, fall over and sprain your ankle, and can't go to work for a few days. But hey - at least you did it with a smile on your face ( and you get a few days off work )!

So Wednesday nights are now Zumba nights - buh-bye baby belly, hello Zumba abs!

And They're Racing!

Happy Melbourne Cup Day everyone! I am pretty sure I’ve written about the Melbourne Cup before however, for those not in the know, I am talking about the biggest and most important horse race in Australia. Its known as “ The race that stops a nation “ because come 3pm this afternoon the majority of Australians will either be glued to the tv or huddled around a radio watching the 3200m race. Yes, we Australians love our sport, whether the main competitors be human or equine.

The fun part about Melbourne Cup is the betting. I’m not a regular gambler, nor am I an expert – but, like many Australians, I take the opportunity to have a once-a-year bet on the big race. I came to work 15 minutes early this morning specifically so I could pour over the form guide. Unlike the expert race goer, I don’t take previous form/trainer/jockey/gate drawn into account; nope, the majority of my decision making comes down to three things:
* Number
* Colour
* Name

That is, when I’m trying to pick a horse on which to put all my annual hopes of luck and fortune on, I make the decision based on what number the horse will be running as; what colour silks the jockey will be wearing; and whether I like the name of the horse. These three things need to combine to give me a positive vibe. Are they colours I like, or do they have another lucky association for me? Is it running under my lucky number, or number I feel good about ? And does the name have a good ring to it ?

Based on these three things, this year I have put my bet on a horse named “ Shocking “, which is running as number 21 ( a multiple of 7, my lucky number ) and his jockey is wearing black and gold ( I like the combination, and it’s the colour of my fathers football team). I think I’ve got a pretty good chance this year. I’ve got my “ good vibe “ combination happening and the horse was actually fourth favourite with the bookies last time I checked. Also, the last time I won anything on the Melbourne Cup was 10 years ago, so I figure I’m about due for a win.

Now all I gotta do is count down to 3pm, along with the rest of the nation, to see how I fared….

This Could Be The Euphoria Talking...

And so i promised to keep you in the loop and if there is one thing i really try to do, its keep promises. I've been on a second date with Mr Gil and it was great. So great, in fact, that we've been on a third aswell, less than 24 hours after the second. Does that make sense ?

We had decided after last week that we would get together and so see some movies. We couldnt decide between " Gran Torino " and " Watchmen " and Mr Gil suggested if we couldnt make a decision, why not see both ? I was kind of happy at this suggestion - not only did i get to see two new films, but it meant i got to spend quite a bit of time with Gil. If went badly, well i could just settle into the film and ignore the fact i was on a date; if it went well, we'd have plenty to chat about when i invited him to dinner. Which, you'll be pleased to know, i did. That is, after " Watchmen " finished at about 7:30pm, i asked him if i could buy him a beer. He declined the offer ( not the beer part, he just wouldnt let me pay for it ) so i suggested we get that beer whilst also getting some dinner. So, to tally this up, we saw two movies, ate two scoops of icecream each, shared a good meal, and were the only two audience members for the local pub band ( because we had a few drinks downstairs while they were doing a soundcheck, not because they sucked. They did give us a " Thank you - you've been awesome! " shout out though... that was cool! ). I really enjoyed myself, and only thought that 9 hrs wasnt long enough.

Now, i know that the four wisest women in the world - Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte - say you shouldnt schedule the next date too soon: that we women, no matter how good the date and how much you want to see the guy again, should make ourselves seem unavailable for a few days, so as not to appear desperate. However, i have decided to say pooh to that. I enjoyed myself on the second date and i know Mr Gil did too, so why should i pretend otherwise ? I like him, he likes me and when i sent him a " good morning " text he said he'd really enjoyed last night and would like to see me again. I told him i felt the same way and then next thing i know my phone goes off and i've got " Today ? " sitting in my inbox. Why would i say no ? I wasnt doing anything else and i DID want to see him again so why would i follow the apparent dating rules and say " Oh, you know what , i cant.... ". Thats right, i wouldnt. I dont follow the rules - I'm a dating rebel !

And so i spent four hours lying around in the park with Gil, chatting, laughing and scheming to steal a piece of birthday cake from a chidlrens birthday party a few metres away. We didnt get any cake, but that didnt stop it being the perfect third ( first, second, twenty-fifth....whatever ) date. Mr Gil makes me laugh, and although we arent exactly from the same world, i really relate to him. I've never felt so immediately comfortable with someone. Its nice.
Plus, i spent four hours outdoors and managed not to get sunburnt.

And so, the first three dates - typically the hardest period in the dating game - are out of the way, and they've all been great. We have already agreed we are definately seeing each other next weekend, but then i have to go away for work for two weeks.

I'm going to be honest - i dont really wanna go....

* For the record, " Gran Torino " was great. " Watchmen " was good but could have benefited from being at least half an hour shorter...

My Weekend, A Story In 3 Parts: Part 1 - Introducing P

You may have noticed I've been a little inactive over the last few days and thats because I gave myself a two days of the working week off and had a lovely " mental health break ". It was important for my sanity that I have a weekend to just go, hangout and just " be ". And who was i hanging out with ? P, my best friend.

P and I met in high school. She transferred to my school in Year 8 and she was introduced, by the principal, during my English class. You know, it was one of those, " This is P, she's new here, everyone make her feel welcome " kind of situations. As it happened ( and as i frequently like to remind her ), I tried to make her welcome and she was a gigantic, sour biatch. Yes, thats right, on our first meeting I and my other friend V invited P to hang out with us at lunch time and she just looked at us, turned her back and walked off without saying a word. She likes to blame it on being shy and nervous on her first day - I say she was just a big old snobby cow.

Nevertheless, we slowly developed a friendship and by Year 12, our final year of school, we were bestest buddies. We recited line after line of " Billy Madison " and " Dude, Where's My Car ? "; I jumped a fence to back her up during a fight when she was dressed as our school mascot; she laughed everytime i got in trouble off our English teacher ( Buttman, as we dubbed him ) and followed me when i walked out of his class during our last semester. We never went back. We spent English lessons hanging out on a picnic blanket on the grass, near enough to his classroom that he could glare at us through the window. It was the best of times ..... and i'd say the worst of times , but we've never really had any. We've been pretty solid for around nine years, except for a brief period where i thought i was being " dumped " for someone else. But mostly we've been all sweet, and i've really learnt to love and appreciate her.

P now lives four and half hours drive away from me, with her new hubby and her " fur children " ( their term, not mine ). I get along really well with her husband so its not weird going and spending the weekend with two newlyweds. And the fur chidlren.

So off i trundled on Thursday to spend some much needed relaxation time with P. We had some actual " stuff " planned but mostly it was just a chance to catch up and have the deep and meaningfuls that its not as much fun to have over the phone. Her husband cooked us dinner ( she has him well trained .... ) and we settled in for a double episode of " The Amazing Race ". Her husband faded pretty quickly and headed to bed, which left us alone to discuss important things like my recent dates, the plan i am yet to reveal to you all, trying to get pregnant ( her, not me ... ) and how we would make the most awesome-est Amazing Race team - like ever! You know, all the good and important stuff that best friends talk about. We headed to bed late, tired and thirsty from the chit chat. That made it really easy to fall asleep - i had the best nights rest i've had in a LONG time.

Friday saw us doing mundane stuff - like grocery shopping. In fairness, we did need ingredients for the Toblerone cheesecake i had volunteered to make, and P did volunteer to take me shopping for shoes - but i turned that down. I know, i'm teh biggest freak in the world turning down shoe shopping, but honestly i didnt really have the money to spend - just the time. We hang out reading magazines and jibber-jabbering all afternoon and had dinner with my uncle and his girlfriend ( who, incidentally, he proposed to the next day - she said yes! ) at The Mean Fiddler. I ordered a seafood basket with marinated octopus and put a baby one on my fork and wiggled it at her. Immature yes, but thats how we are.

Did you forget that we can recite line after line of " Billy Madison " ?

Could someone please put me to bed?

Seriously, i'm tired. It wont stop me watching " The Amazing Race " before getting some zzz's, but I am tired. ( Incidentally, i almost wrote the title of this post as Can Someone Please TAKE Me To Bed, but thats a whole different invitation entirely ). Anyways, the past few days have taken their toll, sleepiness-wise.

After having my flight delayed almost two hours on the way to Sydney - and missing the planned dinner because of the delay - my roomie and i were up early for our conference. To be quite honest, i found most of the conference content to be pretty interesting ; since the departure of our national manager we as a staff have had a lot of issues that needed discussing. We got a chance to do that, together, as one big group at the conference. We also got presented with a whole tonne of statistics and figures that i wasnt previously aware of. If there was one complaint - and yes, i have one - its that i and my colleague felt personally picked on. Ever single negative scenario we discussed was done so using our store as an example. There was a lot of questions be pointed in my direction, many of which i cant answer; and issues brought up that i have been trying in vain to solve and i cannot hold much responsibility for because i have inherited them from previous managers. I wasnt given much of a chance to point out what we do well, nor were we given any appreciation for things that we have postively accomplished. There was a whole session of what felt like " Pick on Amy's Branch : The Pity Party - presented by Senior Management ". But hey, aside from that, it was almost bearable.

So after finishing up the conference ( late mind you, but what conference ever runs on time ? ) it was time to get changed and head out to the stadium for State of Origin. I was excited! No joke, for real, havent felt for a long time, excited. Luckily you guys are reading this to yourselves, and not having me read out loud - i screamed my little lungs out and have wound up with a sore throat and slightly croaky voice for my efforts. Unfortunately, it didnt matter how much or how loudly i screamed, turns out my team didnt hear and didnt follow my instructions to :
a ) " Go forward New South Wales !!! "
b ) " Do something it with it boys !!! "
c ) " Don't run it up the middle - spread it wide you idiots! WIDE!!! "

And nor did the referee heed my pleas to get the opponents back their 10 metres, give us a penalty when the ball was CLEARLY raked or to send Nate Myles off for a blatantly obvious dangerous tackle. ( Nate Myles and Brent Tate - dirtiest players in the league ).
Nope, none of that happened and my boys lost the game. Which means we lost the series. Again - for the third year in a row. But I wont give up! I was born a blue cockroach and i'll die a blue cockroach - on to next year!



NOTE: Thats a blue cockroach. He's dancing, thats why he's slightly blurry.
NOTE#2 He is awesome, and you know it.
NOTE #3 I catch an 8:15am flight home this morning and spin out! The flight attendant is a good friend of mine from school.... made for a good start to a new day....

Happy Sisters Day!

Yep, thats right, happy belated Sisters Day to all the sisters out there! My sister and I " invented " Sisters Day three years ago because we didnt think its fair that Mum's and Dad's get presents on a random day, but we didnt - so June 15th every year ( for three years running ! ) we have a day where we buy each other a present, we hang out and eat good ( alright, bad ) food. That would be my sister Erin, and I, showing off the good food we were eating at the movies. Thats what we did - went to the movies, went shopping ( for groceries mind you, but we were together... ), watched a DVD i bought her for a gift and painted our nails.

So here's to all the sisters we have, whether they are blood related or not..... long live the Sisterhood!

My best friends wedding. No, its not THAT movie....

So i've just returned from the Blue Mountains where i spent the weekend for my best friends wedding. I am glad to say it could not have turned out any better - she had beautiful weather, she looked beautiful in her dress, the resort for the ceremony and room for the reception were beautiful and i managed not to trip down the aisle. My heart was literally burtsing with happiness for her, because i know she had been extremely stressed about things not going right, about people not getting along, about the fact it could rain, and so many other things. But, thankfully, none of that happened and i believe my best friend really enjoyed her day. And i'm glad for it. I know i spend a lot of time on this blog writing about my own problems, the things i stress about, but my every thought was truely with my friend for wedding - sure, i'll admit to last minute jitters myself ( like tripping down the aisle, or dropping my bouquet - trivial things ) but i was very much focused ( as the head bridesmaid should be ) on making sure my friend remained stress free and relaxed. Well, as much as a woman about to be married can be anyway.

The ceremony was lovely and as tedious as it was hiking around the resort grounds in high heels to have pictures taken, by the end of it the bridal party was completely relxed, which i think is going to make for some really good photos. The reception went off without a hitch too - the speeches ( all bar one, anyway ) were all either moving or funny, the food was fantastic and her uncle made for a relatively good DJ. And it was nice to be able to just sit and chat with people you wouldnt normally get to talk with - for instance, i found out that her new husbands groomsmen are hilariously funny and still completely immature, even if they are in their 30's. I also had a D&M ( a deep and meaningful for the uninitiated ) with the brides father, which was very much appreciated. Even on his daughters wedding day he had unbelievably lovely things to say about me, about how much HE appreciates the friend i am to his daughter and now that she is married he'd like to see me get out, enjoy my life and find someone special. It was a little emotional actually - the only thing that kept me from crying was the fact he was already a little pissy, so the conversation was also quite amusing in the way he presented it.

So, overall, everything went well. I know it must be a fabulous relief for the bride and groom for all of it to be over, but its also nice to have it off my plate and out of my thoughts aswell. I'm looking forward to having non-wedding related dreams for a while...

Have you met my friend Horse ?

Well, i have come to the conclusion that i am just going to have to throw myself out there more - its the only way to meet people. Not just potential male love interest type persons, but anyone. New friends, colleagues, acquaintances. And, as such, i started my little exercise last night. It bore some fruit i suppose - i did have a nice little flirt/chat thing with a cute guy who was probably no older than 18 ( i'm such an old hag... ) and his friend, Horse ( and yes, apparently there was a reason for that nickname - unfortunately i investigated no further ) and had my bum squuezed about 30 times by several members of the Rebel motorcycle club who happened to be hanging out in one of my local pubs. Normally i wouldt really stand for that much touchy-feelyness but hey, i didnt want to get on the wrong side of them and get stabbed in the neck or something so i just let them fell away. So sure, i had a few random conversations with individuals whom i've never met before and that kept me amused for the evening, but nothing more than that - yet.

My new found courage, as it were, to put myself out there also surfaced today when i decided to text this guy friend i have that i ran into last night to tell him i should have bought him a drink. We've had a few kisses before and he's pretty damn cute, so hell, why not ? The least i can do is test the waters right ? Either he goes for it or he thinks i'm a stupid tart, but hey, at least i gave it a shot. The good thing is, however, that if he doesnt go for it and thinks our text conversation was just the height of hilarity, is that he isnt out very often so by the time i do see him out again he will probably have forgotten it all.

So there you be - some semi-fun and frothy from me instead of depressing shit that i seem to be posting lately. Dont worry, i've noticed it, i know its been sad crap, but sometimes my past depression hits in new waves that wash over me pretty quickly. Actually, sometimes i worry i might be manic-depressive but thats a whole other post now, isnt it ?

Where gonna share the vision....

Quick note... its 12.20am Sunday morning and i have just returned from seeing Thirsty Merc... the Merc rock much! They're an Aussie band, i love their work, the drummer and the bass guitarist are both from here ( my hometown that is, not this blog page ... ), i had been looking forward to the show for weeks and i had a fantastic freaking time.
Dont you love when things work out to your expectations?

P.S If i only could I have touched the lead singers awesomely sexy white boy afro...
P.P.S I may have had one too many cocktails, but who was counting ?