Goulburn Weekend

Last weekend I travelled down to Goulburn to visit my Beau.  I think I might have mentioned that this is the weekend of over indulgence that sparked the (best-intentioned-but-not-so-successful) healthy week that is happening.  Here are some photos from the weekend.

This is me on a walk of one of the caves. I had to cover my ears it was sooo cold.  The top s a vintage item I got op-shopping the week before.

The Beau took this pictures of some Rosellas.  I cannot believe how much bird life is around Goulburn - just in general they are everywhere.

I really like this photo.  I guess it is one of the caretakers cottages at the caves.  It could have been built at any time.

There once was a brownie...

And I ate it last night!  It was delicious and I don;t really feel bad about it at all because yesterday was such a healthy day otherwise.

For the dinner I was asked to I took the Lemon and Fennel Coleslaw which was yum (though I did cook the fennel in some water because I know not everyone likes its string anise taste).

I discovered the most delicious thing ever yesterday (beside the brownie) - cherry tomato halves with hummus and dill on top.  I could have eaten 20 (I stopped at six).

Todays menu is:

B - Fruit Salad

- Nettle Tea

- Savory Quinoa

MT - Pink Grapefruit Juice - fresh

L - Soup with zesty avocado mayo and crudités

AT  - Bowl of grapes

D  - Aduki Bean Bake with Broccoli and Snow Peas

I am thinking that my bog is pretty boring without any pictures so I will try to take some more pictures of what I'm eating.

Review and Menu

Well my goal for yesterday was too get everything specified and I did up to a point...  

I went to a movie yesterday and knew that I would want some popcorn and peanut m&ms!  So instead I took a small thermos of brown rice with umeboshi and gomashio.  I thought that was pretty good of me.  But the menu doesn't seem to have any grains in it after Morning Tea (MT) - oh well!

Dinner at Mum's was lovely.  By the time I got there I had a serous headache from lack of caffeine and sugar.  But I did have a glass of lovely wine (red) and a bit of cheese on a biscuit.  Mum made a vegetarian curry with rice.  And.......  Key Lime Pie... which I had never had but was delicious and so easy to make (whoops).

So hopefully today - is back on track

Day 3

B - Nettle Tea

  - Strawberry Smoothie

MT - Celery and Tomatoes topped with Hummus

L - Baked Sweet Potato

- Beetroot Salad

AT - Handful of raw almonds

D - Again have been invited to a friends so will take Lemon and Fennel Coleslaw (specified).   The other thing for dinner is White Bean Soup.  I haven't decided if I should take this yet as well.  It might seem rude.

So today my challenges are going out for breakfast and dinner and trying to keep of track as much as possible.

Another New Day

After a weekend of hideously bad eating, today I have started the Dr Gillan Ultimate Health PLan.  It goes for 28 days.  Hopefully I can stick with it for that long.  So I am going to post ll about it so I feel more accountable.

The first thing to do is to list my goals:

• I want to get rid of the dark circles under my eyes.
• I want my skin to glow
• I want to stop wasting so much food
• I want to be able to fall asleep and wake up more easily
• I want to reduce my cellulite
• I want better circulation.

So today I started.  I haven't followed everything exactly.  I did have some coffee (a small plunger worth!) and I didn't have the proper breakfast as I didn't have all the ingredients yet.  The food today was nice and tasted yummy and didn't take long to make at all.  I couldn't eat the specified 100g of oats for breakfast and I was hungry later.  I also didn't eat the afternoon tea because I couldn't be bothered even though I was hungry. 

So my goal for tomorrow is no coffee and eat everything specified - although some of the stuff is out of season so I am going to substitute - and I'm going to Mum's for tea.

Tomorrow the menu is:

B - Water

- Dandelion Tea

- Berry Smoothie

MT -Bowl of grapes

L - Miso Soup

- Avocado and PIne Nut Salad

AT - Crudities with Hummus and Dill

D - Mums (but listed is poached Monkfish with Tarragon and Spinach and Tomato Salad)

Changes

Wow!

After only a few days away, everything is changing.

The other night I heard a radio interview where the economic downturn was being discussed and everything like that and the economics professor said that it might not feel like recession to everybody.  I thought, well apart from a few students dropping out of lessons, everything is going well for me.  I guess he's right.  My best friend left her job and was unable to get another one (which hasn't happened to her before), and I don't see do many positions being advertised around.

The other blogs that I read, however have been hit by the recession or have felt the effects of it.  What does one say to these people (who you count as friends) when you don't really know them?  I want to wish them luck and let them know that I am sure I am not only one sending out good thoughts for them.

I have never really considered this online community differently from the communities I am part of in "real life".  Actually, no that's not true - because I wouldn't reveal a lot of what I write here to people I work with or even my family (apart from the Beau).  But I feel comfortable among this group of "strangers/friends" to give a voice to my feelings.

So I guess this post is more about saying "thanks" for the chance to talk and explore my thoughts and ideas that I wouldn't otherwise be able to investigate and for knowing that there are people who I don't really know that are interested in the same things as me and that I'm not alone.

xo

Cocktail Cabinet

What is allowing e the freedom to make a different drink everyday without having to leave the house?  Why, it's my Art Deco cocktail cabinet of course.

I have a little problem you see.  For some reason I seem to have to won every food and drink staple just-in-case something happens.  Like, World War 3 or all the shops close or something like that.  My mother and grandmother are exactly the same.

Lately, I have been trying to only stock items that I can make healthy meals with (or healthy, happy-making drinks).

My cocktail cabinet is from an op-shop and features, a pop-top lid and two sets of shelves and three draws.  I have no idea what it is made from but I do so love the curved edge.

Here are some pictures of my cocktail cabinet (I'm too embarrassed to post my pantry or fridge).

Sunday Dinner and Drinks

Today it was sesame prawn toast and Buck's Fizz for lunch.  I really enjoyed both of these.  And now have the happy prospect of the rest of the champagne for the rest of my Sunday afternoon!

The movie that Buck's Fizz is paired with Top Hat (1935) and can be found on page 76 of Hollywood Cocktails (Bounty Books)

Saturday Dinner and Drinks

From the book Hollywood Cocktails.  Published by Bounty Books

Here are the photos from dinner and drinks last night.

I made a brown rice pilaf and a mint julip.  I can't say that I enjoyed the Julep all that much but I can understand how others would.

The movie that the Julep is featured with is "The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) which I haven't seen.  I thought that the fresh mint taste of the Julep was a great contrast to the richly spiced rice

.

Holidays

I am now officially on holidays!  This feels like it has been the longest term ever (11 weeks) especially as I had my practicum in the middle of it, Eisteddfod and the Beau is away.

This weekend, my brother is on a surfing trip up North so I have the apartment to myself for the whole weekend.  I also do not have to do anything tomorrow apart from a reading a Church  but that finishes at 9.30 am.

Here is a list of all the things I want to get done these holidays:

• Paint some part of our apartment - except no one likes the colours I do
• See Harry Potter  and the Half-Blood Prince
• Pass me DET interview with flying colours
• Spend some time with my Beau
• Get my tax-return done
• Get all my AMEB notes for students done (I have 13 doing exams - my most ever)
• Finish my reading for university next semester - one subject to go!!!!
• Have my 50s Fair outfit planned
• Spend some time driving wherever I like and looking at Op Shops
• Document through photographs different vintage-inspired outfits I can put together.
• Do all the mending in my mending basket
• Finally complete the curtains for my little brother and sisters playhouse (we're into the second year).
• Have decided on somewhere to have our wedding
• Try a different cocktail every day from my Hollywood Cocktail book.
• Document everything and post about it.

I remember when I was younger I would always keep a journal and a mood board with pictures that inspired me or wrappers/postcards/coasters etc from things I did that I wanted to remember.  When I started at uni, studying music composition and got my first apartment, my creativity was channelled into decorating and composing music.  It is only now (3 years after finishing uni) that I a feeling the need to keep track of inspiring things and ideas.  

I know my blog is a bit all over the shop about what it s about - but I guess that is what life is like at the moment.  I have school, personal life, wedding plans, vintage interests, dreams about the future and they don't quite all seem to mesh yet.  I know that I do try to keep most of them apart (for example teaching and my personal life) but it would be nice to feel like I can be myself all the time at work.

A Very Vintage Day

I had such a nice day today.  Only a few hours of work and the rest play.

I had to do band assessments for all my Junior band students today and they did so well.  It's really nice to know that they are putting in such an effort.

After that I went to two op-shops and got things at both.  Lately I have been looking for some accurate 50s style skirts.  I love pictures of girls wearing shirts belted with a pencil-style skirt.  I just cannot find any skirts that sit at the right spot or that fit me.  Since I have become vegetarian, I have lost some weight - though not through anything else (I actually cancelled my gym membership) and now when I belt my skirts, the skirt slips form under then belt!  I do not understand how women's skirts stayed in the same place with slips and everything else.    The picture on the left is from Icons: 50s Fashion published by Taschen.

So, I got two skirts that are

Winter weight and hopefully will fit (at $3 each I could not be bothered trying them on).  I also got a little jacket top thing.  It's not a cardigan but not a proper jacket either.

After going to the op-shops I then went on a picnic lunch with some of my family and

 my favourite puppy dog, Lucy.  I haven't been to a BBQ in ages and the sun was out, so it was a nice chance to ctach up with everyone.

This afternoon, I have been meaning to do a whole lot of things and I have done some of them.  They included baking this pear and prune loaf (Symply Too Good to Be True 5).  

Weekend

The Beau will be home in...... hopefully less than 2 hours so we can keep our dinner date.   I am very excited to see him.

Today I went with my Mum and Grandparents to the new Salvation Army store at Mona Vale.  It is huge.  I thought that moving to new premises would mean that they lost all the good things they had in the old store but they didn't.  I bought too much.  I got three tablecloths, some sewing odds and ends a beautiful summer dress in pale pink cotton eyelet, a lemon-yellow winter peignoir, and a beach wrap that is lovely and warm.

However,

I didn't the get the original silk 50s dress that I saw there.  I was almost in tears when I couldn't get the zipper done up at the side.  It was the first "real" fifties dress that I have found and tried on.  I was arguing in my mind wether I should have just bought because it was so amazing but I don't think it would have been worn and it was too fragile to try and alter it.  My Grandma said that having on a girdle wouldn't help either so....  I let it go (sniff).  It may very well always be he one that got away.

We are going with our (my favourite) friends to an Indian restaurant in Freshwater that apparently always gets good reviews (i'll let you know).  This will be the first time that I have been to Indian while being a vegetarian so I am looking forward to it.  I'm sure that they will have lots to chose from as some Hindu people are vegetarian.

Other than that for the weekend we don't have much planned apart from working tomorrow, but it's only one week out from Winter holidays so I think I'll survive.