Merry Christmas

A merry Christmas to you all!

How is everyone recovering from the food comas and family overload?

I've enjoyed sniffing the real Christmas tree and introducing the Boy to my dad's extended family for the first time (bit naughty after two years together!). Ended up feeling sick after all the Christmas yummies I stuffed in my tummy, despite my attempts to control myself. That's always the way though! hahaha

And, ah, I had my first white Christmas. I can't say I'm a huge fan. All that white stuff is hail. I now have plenty of hail dints in my beautiful new car :( There is nothing we could have done about it though, and plenty of others have had it a lot worse. One white Christmas is definitely enough for me though!

Now I'm just hanging out to watch the Downton Abbey Christmas Special :)

Get walking.

Following the completion of my thesis, I realised that all those munchables I had been nibbling on while writing up my thesis had decided to stick around. And so I've begun going for walks around a national park close by, at least every second day. There's an extremely steep hill that I have coined the Hill of Death.

Sometimes, if I go at the right time of day, I get to see kangaroos, wallabies and other wonderful Australian wildlife. Other times I just sweat away by myself.

My sister is having a lot of luck with Weight Watchers or something similar in losing weight, but god, the food looks awful and so plain. So I think I'll stick to trying to watch what I eat, avoiding the junk food (which is actually so much easier now!) and increasing my exercise. Wish me luck!

Thesis complete.

My thesis is finally finished and I received my results just last week. It was 108 pages when it was finally printed. It was so satisfying submitting it.

And then, on Tuesday, my results were released. The lovely boyfriend sent these as a congratulations and celebration of all that effort that I put in. I've never had flowers delivered before! I was quite surprised!

A wonderful combination with my H1 result. Yep, H1. Booyah! hahaha I'm ecstatic!

Way We Wear on the Way

Image source

The Way We Wear Fair has returned!

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November, 2011

Just taking a quick break from editing the hell out of my thesis to let you lovely ladies know :) I remember last time that people were in need of a little more heads up? As I only received an email about it today, I hope it gives some people a chance to organise their weekend adventure around the fair.

I went to the last one and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hopefully I'll be able to get along to this one too!

Go here for more information.

Now, back to the firey depths of Word Documents and red pen! I will be finished soon though! Have no fear!

Image source

Soon, my pretties. Soon it will be over.

14th. It's all due on the 14th November 2011.

I'm confident all of the problems have been overcome - including laptop death, losing bits and sickness. Now I just must tackle the red pen. I promise to return once this is all over!

Disney support.

I've been watching Disney movies as I write up my thesis. It's good. I sing along to them as I do my work and fall in love with them all over again. So far I've watched:

Aladdin

Beauty and the Beast

Cinderella

Little Mermaid

Sleeping Beauty

The Rescuers

I love the Disney villians. They always get the best songs. I had forgotten about Medusa from The Rescuers. She has a bit of Cruella De Vil, Ursula and Izma about her.

Now I'm off to get my mits on Hercules, Snow White and Tangled!

Beach squeals

I've just been down the beach! Only for a day or so, but it was so magnificent! I'll do a post about it soon. First, I have to write 7000 words for my thesis this week! Eek! Wish me luck!

A Grand Day Out.

Last Monday my grandmother and I had the most wonderful day out. We visited the Vienna exhibition at the NGV International, had a delicious dessert lunch and went up the Eureka Tower. It was so wonderful!

On our walk up from Flinders Street train station to the art gallery, we went past this Kombi coffee machine. The opportunity to have a kombi coffee was too good to pass up! The man serving was very nice and his little daughter who was with him had the most beautiful gold hair. Very jealous indeed!

Next, was our visit to the Vienna exhibition. It was absolutely fantastic! I haven't been to such a wonderful exhibition in such a long while. We went to the Art Deco exhibit a few years back and I found it a bit underwhelming. This exhibit had a wonderful mixed collection of all sorts of things from all sorts of artists. Plus, I love Klimt's work. Although not a Klimt work, the above painting was one of my favourites. Gran and I stood in front of it for a while nitpicking all the dresses on display. Such vibrant colours in the painting, even today!

Grandma insisted she wanted a dessert lunch and so there was only one place I could take her, really. The same place were Lover Boy took me for my birthday celebrations, Meat & Wine Co. Our order: The Grande Finale. Gran was amazed and delighted! (Also, please note how stunning and fashionable my gran is in the picture above! I hope to be a stunner like her one day)

The Eureka Tower tour was the next. I have never seen the view from Eureka so clear and crisp. It was magnificent. Here's a picture of Fed Square, St. Pauls Cathedral and Flinders Street Station. Melbourne truly is a beautiful city :) I'll have to do a separate post for all the pictures I have from the Eureka tower.

I can't wait for my next grand day out with my grandma! <3

Who needs apples?

I love my job. I love being a teacher. I love being in Education.

I'm happy enough seeing kid's faces light up when they finally understand something, or taking the knowledge that they've gained in from you and just building and building on it until it becomes their own knowledge. I've received some fantastic compliments ("You explain it better than the textbook!") and wonderful cards from students. Never before have I received a gift. Until Friday.

Om Nom Nom. Some delicious cookies from a mother of a student in a holiday course I've been tutoring. I swear I turned bright red!

And then promptly ate them all. They were so delicious!

Who needs apples as a teacher when you can have cookies??

In the garden.

Inspired by a card I sent to my friend overseas, let's talk a walk in our garden :)

Spring sunshine is shimmering across the garden.

I love the purple fairy pompoms on this one.

The smell of jasmine fills the air and reminds me of our childhood home.

Gorgeous tiny blooms on the forest pansy tree.

Brilliant blues everywhere.

How are you enjoying the spring sunshine?

Blush and bluebird bargains

I've been super lucky of late, with two super Myer finds.

The first is this soft blush pink Piper shirt for a complete steal.

Yep, that tag says $5. Win.

So perdy!

And then these gorgeous fairytale bluebird pajamas appeared. Half price. Bingo!

So now I sleep like this, with Cinderella's bluebirds as my company :)

Source: weheartit.com

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne.

I think I have a new favourite place. I truly am in love with the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne. I have taken these photos on various days and nights throughout the year. Most of the inside shots are from the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show.

Like my Paint photoshop skills? :P

Healesville Sanctuary

Whatcha looking at? Huh, punk?

Last week I spent a day at Healesville Sanctuary. I hadn't been there in years and years. It really is a fantastic zoo. If you're ever around the Healesville area, it's worth checking out. I thought I'd share some pictures for overseas readers and locals, coz come on, our native Australian animals are pretty cute :)

The forever favourite kangaroo. It's a fantastic enclosure that you can walk through, and then a trampoline type thing to practice your own bouncing technique!

A pair of gang-gang cockatoos snuggling up to each other. So cute!

Pelicans. If you get a chance to see them at feeding time, it's a great thing to see.

The lands of Healesville Sanctuary are absolutely beautiful, surrounded by trees over hundreds of years old. This tree is over 150 years old.

Just before I was about to leave, I noticed these birds flitting about. One blue wren on the inside, one on the outside. It was gorgeous to watch, as the two tried to kiss between the bars.

A wonderful day :)

Call me.

While returning a book to the library today, I stumbled across this gorgeous dress. I ran straight to the change rooms to try it on. Did a few swishes in it (it is well known that swishing is a necessity in the process of dress trying on) and loved it. It had to be mine :) It's been a while since I purchased a new new dress! And of course, when I do, it's from Tree of Life. They have some super cute dresses in at the moment, so definitely worth checking out at the moment :)

An oh-so-classy shot of the dress, and a door handle.

I was - and obviously still am - so in love with the fabric. It looks a little greyer in the pictures than it is in real life, although I suppose it is really a grey-ish blue.

The dress also happens to match my new favourite nail polish - "Call Me" by Faces of Australia. Love me some classy pink with a bit of shimmer behind it all. Plus, picking at it stops me from biting my nails - a nasty habit that I thought I had lost has returned! Nooooooo!

Anyway, enough of my sales pitches. I hope you're all well and enjoying the beginnings of spring!