Feeling like Ariel

I was felling like a bit of a change today. Sent James a picture of the colour I was liking. He said go for it, and so I did. It has turned out a lot redder than I was planning, but I love it. I feel like Ariel. I shall be off to find my shell bra and brush my hair with a dinglehopper.

bookbook

Ikea, I love you.

Also, I read some of the comments. Someone said they were not a fan of the layout of Ikea stores because they always get lost...how do you get lost in Ikea? You find the path with the nice arrows and follow it. It takes you through all the areas. I am baffled.

I will now go back to patiently waiting for my bookbook to arrive in the post.

Morning Wake Up

We had some gorgeous little friends wake us up this morning. They spent a lot of time on our neighbours balcony and our bedroom windowsill. They also came over to our balcony to give our toucan some company. We were watching them with our door open, but after one tried to fly into our apartment we decided the door closed would be a better option, so we admired them from inside. I wouldn't mind waking up to these guys every day.

Cosy Outfit

There are some things I don't find particularly attractive, and wouldn't want to buy or wear. Cosy looking tracksuit pants are one of those things. They just don't work for me, but these ones...I don't know what it is about them...they just look so nice and so comfy, and OMG are they paired with a T-shirt that says 'Paris' over and over? 

I am so so tempted. So tempted. 

Running

Yesterday I went running. It was short, I couldn't breathe well. I was sweaty and exhausted. I felt amazing though. Felt so awesome. Yay! I finally did some exercise again!

Today my legs ache all over. I am tired and achey. This is why I struggle with this whole getting fit thing that people are supposed to do to be healthy and stuff. Why does it have to be "no pain, no gain"?

Tomorrow! Small steps...

Doctor Who: Etsy Finds

To mark the start of a new season and a new Doctor, I thought I would share some of my favourite Doctor Who finds on Etsy.

1. Crack in Time and Space Necklace, AUD$60.65+, AubergDesigns
2. Gallifreyan 'Hello Sweetie' temporary tattoo, AUD$6.62, geekinkdesigns
3. TARDIS Maple Laser Cut Earrings, AUD$11.03, JuniperandIvy
4. Nebula Macbook decal, AUD$13.22, ohyeahdecal
5. Macbook Exterminate decal, AUD$5.50, inthesticker
6. TARDIS Macbook decal, AUD$6.62, Macnip

Now, let's go and meet the new Doctor!

Women's Fitness

Every month I buy a copy of Women's Fitness, as the name suggests a magazine about women's fitness. I love it. It's filled with lots of great little stories, easy to do ideas, good tips and lots of inspiration. For the first 15 minutes after reading it I am all excited and inspired to sort my life out. I will start to exercise! I'll start with the lovely easy ones that you can do in your home. I'll then start going for runs again. I'll eat better. I'll feel better. This is going to be awesome!

Then, I go and lie down in bed and feel awful about the fact that I am not doing all these things. I remember how a month ago I felt exactly the same and did nothing. I then feel like a very lazy person.

This time I actually took a step back. And, yes, we were a whole lot more active two years ago and I don't know why we've stopped, but we also ate a whole lot worse two years ago. Whilst I may not do all the big things I want to do after reading the magazine I have been making small changes. Small changes never feel like much, and are never really noticed until you look back. We are not super fit, but we aren't unfit. We may not eat amazingly well, but we do eat well. If we keep making small changes then maybe, just maybe, one day I will read this magazine and go "Hey! I already do all this! It is awesome!" and I won't end up in bed feeling bad about myself.

To small changes!

Daydreaming About TOMS Shoes

I wear TOMS at work, they are super comfy and I love them. I have worn holes through the toes of my work pairs and am currently feeling shoeless, so I started browsing their website again. Man, do I love TOMS. I am seriously considering (but my bank account is seriously not) buying a WHOLE bunch of TOMS shoes, just deck out my whole wardrobe with TOMS shoes...no need for any others. If I were to spend a ridiculous amount on a large number of shoes above are the ones I like (plus two others I haven't shared that I'd wear to work...why share the reasons for the whole post, hey?).

Clockwise from top left: Chestnut Synthetic Leather Paseos, Black Suede Correa Sandals, Natural Snow Leopard Vegan Classics, White Canvas Paseos, Red Tribal Essien Classics, Navy Galapagos Suede Correa Sandals, Navy Geometric Jonathan Adler Vegan Correa Sandals, Black Suede Desert Wedges, Blazing Yellow Jutti Flats.

Weird Things I Say At Work

I say a lot of things at work that would sound really weird if heard out of context, and so I thought I would share every now and again.

Back story for todays: At work we have a family wall in our Nursery room. It's basically a magnetic board with individual photos of all the children and their parents and siblings. It's a real comfort to a lot of the children, and just plain cute. Anyhoo, Harry was walking around looking a little sad, so I asked what was wrong and he held up the body of his dads picture and the head of his dads picture and said "Daddy..." to which I replied the above and went and got him a spare daddy we had made incase these sort of things happened.

Bath time

Does anyone else sometimes just want to curl up in a warm ball next to a warm bubble bath. Yes, next to. Being in the bath makes it hard to make all of you warm...and isn't exactly the most comfortable, but in a cosy, warm blanket next to a hot and lovely smelling bath with candles. Mmm. That's the kind of mood I am in now.

This is also the mood where I want to eat lots of ice-cream, so we are going to eat lots of ice-cream. Yay!

Photo by Rdoke

Flower Inspiration

Guys, I'm getting married! I don't get tired of saying that, and whilst I am super enjoying all the fun planning and surfing the net this wedding planning malarky can be just a little bit stressful...like, stuff is really expensive. Why is everything so expensive? 

I try and push all the money, expensive and stress inducing stuff to one side and enjoy dreaming about all the pretty things that we'll have at our wedding. We're planning it for Autumn time, but I don't want to do the stereotypical autumn stuff (pumpkins, leaves, orange and red) mainly because Australia doesn't do any seasons the stereotypical way...especially not the colder seasons. So, the current idea, and I say current because I am very prone to changing my mind, is beautiful autumn berries colours. Above are some of the beautiful bouquets I have found on my many hours of pinterest browsing. So many beautiful options. I currently saw a gorgeous white protea at my local florist and think it would look so beautiful surrounded by soft red and purple flowers.

Sources clockwise from top: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

FIFA World Cup Burgers: Japan

Our ninth burger...man we have so many more to go! It doesn't look that great, and we had to use a fork to eat it, but it was yum and I think with some practice we could make this really work! Kewpie mayonnaise is supposedly super popular in Japan; it is pretty yummy.

23 more burgers to go!

Small World Coincidences

So, remember how I said we were watching SNL when James proposed? Yeah, well it was during Coldplay's second performance on the show, where they were singing 'A Sky Full of Stars'. A couple of weeks ago James and I were a tad bummed that Coldplay recorded a music video on King Street, like the street right next to where we live, and we were both too busy/working so missed it. Well, it turns out the song they were recording the video for was 'A Sky Full of Stars'...so James proposed to a song that had it's music video filmed right near our home. The world is so small and full of awesome little coincidences. :)

FIFA World Cup Burgers: Switzerland

This is the best burger we have made so far. Rosti is a swiss dish, they often eat it with bacon and eggs, so we made a super yummy breakfast burger. Super yum! Rosti, bacon, patty, gruyere and egg, nom nom nom nom! I wouldn't mind waking up to this every weekend.

FIFA World Cup Burgers: Portugal

We went with the obvious for Portugal: Peri peri and chicken, a delicious combination which made for a lovely burger. Simple, clean and yummy.

FIFA World Cup Burgers: France

We didn't exactly feel like making this one because France beat Switzerland in the morning...but we had planned it, and it sounded so yum, so we made it. We weren't entirely sure what to do for this, but after a bit of extra research we decided on something cheese and wine related. The steak was definitely the best part of this burger, my steak making skills are pretty awesome. :P

FIFA World Cup Burgers: Mexico and Costa Rica

We visited James' family this long weekend to celebrate his birthday last Monday and our engagement. They have been keeping up with our burgers and were excited for us to make some whilst we were visiting. So we made two, a dinner burger and a dessert burger.

Our dinner burger was Mexico, filled with a yummy homemade patty, salsa, guacamole and some cheese. It was yum.
Our dessert burger was Costa Rica. James' dad had told us we needed to have coffee in our Costa Rican burger, so we thought it would be easiest doing it as a dessert burger. After a little research we decided to add some banana's (apparently very popular in Costa Rica), and chocolate and dulce de leche (both heavily linked to South America). We made our buns out of choux pastry, and layered. This was delicious, like super yum, I can't believe we only made one each, delicious. Mmm, we are definitely looking into making some of the other burgers dessert burgers.

FIFA World Cup Burgers: Australia

Today's Burger: Australia!
James and I are not the biggest fans of beetroot, which is quite a popular filling for burgers in Australia. Since we eat these burgers after making them, we didn't add it, but we do acknowledge it as an Australian burger ingredient.
James used a more expensive cut of steak to make the patties for this burger, and OH MY were they so much more delicious! Yum!

FIFA World Cup Burgers: Argentina

Today's Burger: Argentina.
We don't know much about Argentinian cuisine, so did a bit of research and came up with this: Homemade patty, homemade chimichurri, grilled peppers and onions, homemade BBQ sauce and tomato. It was super yum.

FIFA World Cup Burgers: USA

This is going to sound super lame, but James and I love how the McDonald's in Geneva would do these awesome themed burgers for things such as the FIFA World Cup. Since we are not in Geneva, James is making his own. We're having a lot of fun coming up with ideas. I'm very excited about the next couple of weeks.

James' First burger: USA. Crispy bacon, onions, special sauce (very similar to the Big Mac sauce), two homemade patties and cheddar cheese...yum yum yum!

A Very Special Kind of Question

Thursday 15 May, James surprised me with some beautiful flowers. We ordered in some takeaway and watched some SNL, then whilst we were up and about and having a bit of a cuddle James asked me to marry him. Of course I said no. Joking! I said Yes, yes, of course, yes. And then I cried a little. Then he got out some champagne, and I cried some more, and then a little later I cried a little bit more...all happy tears, very happy tears. He had a little ring for me, that he had bought a year ago. It wasn't the ring he wanted to propose with, but he didn't want to wait any longer. This last weekend we got a proper ring. It is beautiful, simple and elegant and I can't stop telling him how much I love it.

We then spent the weekend calling and sending messages to family and close friends. It was probably one of the happiest weekends I have ever had. I love how happy everyone was for us. :)

We're super happy. :D

Spot of Shopping

Yesterday I went for a walk along King Street, popping into a couple of my favourite little stores. I really shouldn't have popped into the stores because I know how hard I find it not to buy things from these stores, but I did, and had to buy a couple of things.

1. Horseshoe Magnet. Seems like a weird thing to HAVE to buy, right? But, I've been asking for magnets for work since about March last year, and still haven't got anything. I saw this magnet on Anthropologie, and thought it was pretty awesome and perfect for kids to play and investigate with...but I wasn't paying the shipping. So, when I saw this in one of the stores (and then later in another) I felt I had to buy it. I limited myself to just one, which is showing a lot of restraint. :P I'm going to have to start making some investigative magnetic bottles for the kids now!

2. Crumpled Map. This was an impulse, at the counter purchase. I got it for when my parents come visit this Christmas, thought it would be useful for them.

3. Paper straws. We love adding a little paper straw to our G&T's, plus they are just so cute and fun, and we were running low. Not going to run low for a while now, what with the 288 straws I bought.

Maybe it's time for a G&T with a cute straw...

Quote to Inspire: Positive

Work Stories

I haven't shared work stories in forever! So...where to start?

- One of the kids at work is very good at animal noises. She is also very good at "uncle" noises. If you ask her "What noise does uncle make?" She will fake a burp. It's so awesome, and one of my favourite things to ask her.
- We got these gorgeously comfy rugs for work which the kids love lying and rolling around on. We also like to lie down on these gorgeously comfy rugs, which turns us into awesome climbing frames for the kids. My colleague makes a good climbing person, and I as it turns out make a good practicing balance person. One child in particular like to stand himself up on my bum, steady himself and then try to walk. When he falls he gives out the biggest laugh, and tries again.
- The child that would cry all day long, and only sit with me, has settled. Yay! I do not come home feeling like the need to cry anymore!
- A little boy in the Toddler room has come in wearing a tutu quite a few times now. I love that no staff member or parents made any negative comment about this. I also love that his parents are supportive of this. Go world!
- I swear one of the kids at work who is only just starting to babble says "potato", she says "potato" a lot.

Work is going pretty awesome, and I am enjoying it so much more now that I am not studying as well. (First Aid this weekend and I'm done!)

Let's Be Cops

Let's be honest, this is totally a movie about Nick and Coach. It is. And all it is missing is Winston, and considering how he is going to be an actual cop I really hope they don't miss out on the opportunity to have him in the background, as either a cop or in a bar doing his thing. Nick and Coach are awesome. This movie looks awesomely ridiculous. But Winston, Winston is the best.

I'm Alive

So, it's been a while. As you may have gathered from my last post, things have been feeling a little overwhelming lately. The last two months I've been very busy working and finishing off my studying. It's felt very full on, and I'm still feeling exhausted. I submitted my final assignments this week, and now only have to wait for the results and do some First Aid training. So, hopefully in the next couple of weeks I start to feel a little more relaxed as I discover I have time to do stuff in, and I'll start to make more of an appearance here.

Whilst I have been working full time, and studying, I have somehow managed to fit in time for a few other things, so here is a little summary of what has been going on in my life:
-I have bought myself 2 more lovely bunches of flowers.
-We've spent a weekend celebrating one of James' grandparents 80th, including drinks in their hotel room with a ridiculous view of Sydney.
-We've been to Canberra quite a few times for Brumbies games and Easter.
-I broke my camera (sad face), only the lens, hopefully the warranty covers it
-I was treated to a lovely birthday dinner by my girlfriendies
-We hosted James' friends for drinks and games after dinner, they were very impressed with our collection of drinks and the 'cool' way we made them (thank you mason jars and cute straws)
-I died my hair copper using Olia, it turned out looking like someone had taken an orange highlighter to my hair, so I went back to my trusty L'Oreal creme casting gloss, used the caramel to calm it down and it is now the colour you see above
-I got my hair cut
-I have received a ridiculous amount of complements on my haircut, I am a very happy girl
-We went to Melbourne for James' cousins 21st
-We have decided Sydney is so much cooler than Melbourne (deal with it)
-I had 3 glasses of wine, at once, silly serving lady
-I made cups float using balloons
-We went to see the Lion King at the Capitol. The Lion King was awesome. The Capitol is a stunning theatre.
-My mum told me about BBC 2's show 'Natural World' and their Honey Badger episode which included quite a few stories about the Honey Badger we met last time we were in South Africa

It's really no wonder I feel like I need more sleep! We still have a few exciting things to look forward to, like Eurovision party at our place, Reginald D Hunter and Wayne Brady! :)

Birthday Flowers

I got picked up from work yesterday. Yay! And on the way home was asked if I wanted to stop by the shops or go straight home. I am ummed and arred a bit about if I wanted to buy myself some birthday flowers or not, but then decided straight home would be better.
We got home, I opened the door and immediately noticed the beautiful flowers above. I let out a very excited "You got me flowers!!" and gave James a massive hug. I then cried a bit.

Today is my birthday, and it's probably the most unbirthday feeling birthday I have had. I've been so absorbed in all the work I have to get done for my course (not to mention my Assessor is visiting the centre tomorrow!) that I've not really had too much time to think about the fact that it's my birthday. The flowers are beautiful. I think they will help me feel a lot happier in the next couple of hectic weeks.

Quote to Inspire: Stupid Fun

Taronga Zoo

I have treated myself to a long weekend this week, so had today off. Yay! Since James and I haven't been back to Taronga Zoo together (he's been twice with guests, poo!) since 2009, a fact James was unaware of, we/I decided it would be a great thing to do with the time off.
I seriously recommend visiting Taronga Zoo if you are ever in Sydney. You take a ferry to get there, with views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, awesome. Then take a little gondola up to the top of the zoo, again, the views, awesome. Then get to see lots of animals, again with the amazing views. So if you appreciate a pretty spectacular view, and like animals, do go.
We had a gorgeous day out. Loved it to bits. We're planning another visit in June! :)

I Love Flowers

 I love flowers. Pretty much every time my flowers die I buy some new ones. The wonderful little place I go to never has the same stuff in their store either, so I get to pick all sorts of beautiful different flower. I really love the coral like flower I got this time. The whole bouquet makes me happy, I love having it right by the door to welcome me home. :)

I also learnt an awesome little tip about Lilies when buying these flowers. If you pull the pollen bits off, with a tissue, when they open you don't get all that horrible orange pollen everywhere. The gorgeous lily smell is till there, just none of the mess. If you pull them off just as the flowers open they aren't as sticky.

Quote to Inspire: Birds

Weather 2 - Katie 1

Around this time last year I had a few battles with the weather, last time I counted it was Weather 1-1 Katie. Weather obviously did not like this and caught me out today. Above are some photos to let you get an idea of what I saw and what I got caught in. There was lightning, thunder and creepy lightning/thunder combos. I was soaked head to toe. My umbrella was useless. Most frustratingly of all, the storm moved quickly, and was easing by the time I got home. Had I finished work an hour later I may have missed the whole thing. Damn you weather!

EDIT: For photos that a bazillion times cooler than mine, check out the storm on buzzfeed. It really did look that awesome.

Quote to Inspire: What a Wonderful Thought

Quote to Inspire: Perfect Moment

Ads That Amuse Me

Fox Sports ad for the NRL season is quite funny. If you have a partner that is obsessed with at least one kind of sport I am sure there is something in there you can relate to.

To my knowledge, I have never had Carlton Dry, but I do really love their ads. This is a compilation of all of them. I think the 'upside down people' dancing is my favourite. :)

I have no words.

Of course, none of these are as good as 'Dumb Ways to Die', who have made a little Valentine's video:

And yes, we do watch WAY too much TV. We are not ashamed.

Quote to Inspire: Never Too Late