Boxing Day..

Regional area style!

Being from Melbourne I was accustomed to Boxing Day crowds. I had a plan; priority list of stores and things to look for as well as the order to look for them in (most popular items to disappear first to things people don't go straight for at the stores).

Our Myer opened at 8:30 am, the other stores at 9am. I wasn't sure what to expect, are the shoppers here as dedicated (insane) here as in Melbourne? Will I be crushed by a mob trying to get in the door?

I decided to arrive to the shops earlier in case parking was difficult. Turns out there was no need. 8:10am and the car park was practically deserted! For once there was no need to hurry and plenty of time to sit and enjoy a nice breakky.

Freshly baked scones with delicious cream and jam!

I was expecting quite a crowd around the front entrance by the time Myer opened, but there was just a small handful of people milling around which was awesome.
Unfortunately being a small store there really wasn't much of a selection available and not much caught my eye-the only thing I had been after was the MJ Dot fragrance gift set which was sold out prior to Christmas.

Thank goodness for Myer's Christmas Eve online sale!
photo from sephora.com

After a quick 15 minute circle of the store I decided my time would be better spent checking whether Peter Alexander had opened.
Sadly they hadn't, but when they did I was the first in the door!

Score one! Mr Kittylove gave me the matching eye mask for my birthday.
photo from peteralexander.com.au

Score two! $10 cheaper than online as well!
photo from peteralexander.com.au

The only disappointment at PA was that I couldn't grab the teddy bear nightie at the top of my list and while I did stumble across the Alice in Wonderland nightie, it didn't make sense to pay $50 for it when it was only $37 awhile back and when I can buy other adorable nighties for $29!

With the high priority shopping behind me, I went back to Myer for a second look. I needed another sheet set as I hated the rough BigW one I had (brought late night when all other stores had closed and I realised I had no bed sheets to fit my new queen sized bed!)

Myer had 40% off Sheridan and 50% off Heritage and Vue, but the prices were still a little steep for me. So I wandered off to Target for a looksie just in case they had a sale on. They did! 50% off 1000 and 500 thread sheet sets. So I ended up with a 500 thread count sheet set for the price I would've paid for one 250 thread flat sheet at Myer. Anything's an improvement from the old Big W one, I purchased an Ikea flat sheet for less back in Melbourne a few weeks ago and it's luxurious in comparison.

By this time the crowds had started to pick up, so I decided it was time to leave the big stores and head to the smaller stores.

Forever new had 50% off the already reduced price for a few items. I picked up the last of the Karmen Biker jacket in porcelain.

Surprisingly comfy
photo from forevernew.com.au

I was ready to head home, but all the traffic in the car park intimidated me so naturally I walked into Country Road for some bargains. Thanks to an additional 25% off for members I ended up with a pair of stretch jeggings for $45. 

What's in the bags?

The haul

I left the shopping centre with an additional T by Bettina Liano dress and Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil, both from Myer.

I was pretty pleased with all my bargains today, almost everything had been 50% off or more. Then I made the mistake of adding up the amount of money I'd spent. *face-palm*

Oh well, I'd been pretty good up until now AND I'd refrained from buying this pack from Kit Cosmetics which has since sold out.

Limited Edition Power to the Pear Kit from Kitcosmetics
photo from kitcosmetics.com.au

Did you brave the crowds today?

Tis the season to be jolly!

Monday marks the start of my 8 day work week ending Christmas day. Boo!

Walking into work today bleary eyed and grumbling to myself about how wrong it feels to be at work at 7:30am on my RDO (rostered day off)-admittedly I'm a sook; when I came across a parcel that'd arrived late yesterday afternoon...




It was my KK gift!

GH Montego Bay Candle and PA nightgown

Thank you KK! How adorable is the kitty nightgown?? Coincidentally, the candle box matches my bedsheets quite well. Bonus!

I had finally had the chance to light my Rio De Janerio last night and can't wait to try out my Montego Bay candle. I think I'll light it on Thursday because I know I'll need a pick-me-up on Thursday night.

PS. If you're reading this KK, I gave Ninja some Christmas hugs on your behalf. He really enjoyed playing with the cute Santa wrapping paper. Happiness all around in the household!

Today I was given a last minute (V forgot to tell me) invite to a Christmas dinner tomorrow at a friend's house. The host had said not to bring anything, but etiquette dictates that I should never go empty handed. Keeping with the Christmas theme and last minute grocery shopping (found out at 2pm in the afternoon and going to dinner straight from work tomorrow) I decided that a White Christmas would be the easiest thing to whip up on the side while cooking dinner tonight.

Unfortunately I forgot to purchase some cupcake paper cups so I had to make two large spreads of it which I'm regretting now as it's not that easy to cut!

I'm not keen on dried fruits, particularly glace cherries (fresh cherries are the best!) so I replaced the dried fruit in the recipe with..mars bar. Hey, it was going to be unhealthy anyway given that there is 250g of Copha involved, I figured that the mars bar wasn't going to make it much more unhealthy.
It was disgustingly delicious.

Does everyone have the holidays off?

Back again

I will post about my recent trip home soon when I have some time. In short: it was great to be home, even for a few days!

It's been 24 hours since my flight landed back in QLD and I am getting homesick already. Award goes to the wonderful staff at Qantas who really did take care of me on my return flights.

I had a very embarrassing moment where I started crying like a baby when it was time to board at the airport. The staff quickly handed me some water and sat me aside while I got myself together and were very attentive during both my flights (same crew on both flights!). So 'thank you' to them, I can't believe how embarrassing I was...

On another note Ninja cat was ecstatic to see me again. Apparently he was an awful guest as soon as I was out of sight and was a nightmare to deal with. Thank goodness our staff are great and put up with him hissing and spitting at them! All they said was 'he's turned into a different cat as soon as he's with you!' as he sat in my arms and purred.

Work has been chaos again as expected and it doesn't look like I'm going to have much rest these next two days and nights.

Did everyone have a good weekend?

I may never win Tattslotto

But I really have won the job lotto.

Speaking to a close friend of mine who graduated with me reminds me just how lucky I am to be working at the place I am now.

I have supportive bosses who are more than happy to teach me and correct me when I'm wrong without putting me down. I have colleagues who I'm sure I drive up the wall with my questions at times, but they never give me attitude or refuse to help.

Sure, there's the odd staff member who's not exactly trying to include me in conversations, but is still professional when it is work related and now improving with their attitude to me once I'd made it clear I can't be bullied.

No family is perfect, but I can't see myself working anywhere else or finding another place better than this. All the tears, worry and stress I'd felt earlier this year when looking for a job, the times I'd cried with rejections and finally, when I made the decision to come here over another higher paying company: it's all been absolutely worth it.

Yes, I still groan when the alarm goes off at 6am and I savour my days off. But if I'm going to be working, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. At least, until I have to work 8 days in a row and on call for multiple clinics in the lead up for christmas..we'll see how I feel in a few weeks time!

Is it possible..

for a car to hate someone?

My car and I don't get along. In the last 4 years of driving my old car I'd only had one small accident on a stationery object.

Since taking over my parents old 4wd and moving up here, in the short 5 months I have had:

• one major scratch, 
• one dent at a shopping centre carpark, 
• one scratch (from some other driver parking too close and hitting my door) 
• and one big accident with my neighbour reversing into the side of my car as I was also reversing out of my carport.

Today as I went to start my car, the plastic part of my key cracked and broke.

Temporary repair with leucoplast at work. Sticky tape just snapped when I tried to turn the key again on my way out!

Luckily the key still works and I can lock/unlock and start the engine.

Nevertheless, I have a feeling my car is trying to send me a message.

What do you think?

It's a cracker of a season!

Today was our work Christmas lunch and Secret Santa exchange!

They also decided to celebrate my birthday at the same time as they discovered yesterday that my birthday was over the weekend, so I felt rather spoilt by the time I left.

Prawns and massive ham for lunch! (Ham not in picture!)

My wonderful boss also made an ice cream birthday/christmas cake! It's vanilla with macadamias, marshmallows, oreos, cranberries and of course, two ice magics on top with coloured sugar balls!

It was AMAZING!

Secret santa was so much fun, I love seeing what everyone gets and hoping that my recipient likes their gift. The budget was $30 max. My Secret Santa was into fitness, so trying to make the most of it I went to the Lorna Jane outlet to see if I could find an item within the budget.

I managed to pick up a singlet reduced to $20 down from $30 something and then headed to Typo for a fancy diary (she was going back to university next year so I thought a diary would be great to get everything organised!). After alot of umm-ing and ahh-ing, I settled on a navy blue buffalo diary for $10. I was very proud that I been right on target with budget. I'm not certain, but I think my recipient liked her gift!

From my secret santa I received a 6 month subscription for Recipes + plus two Revlon nail polishes (Fearless and a Quick Dry topcoat). I am very excited about the recipe subscription, I'm not much of a cook, so I'm always looking for healthy food recipes. Hopefully there's still a few naughty cake recipes in there for me to bake as well!

One of our workmates J whipped up some beautiful Rum Balls and White Christmas for all of us with the cutest christmas card attached. It's so cute I don't want to unwrap them!

Our bosses also gave us each a lovely Christmas card, mine included a message about how they were happy to have me as a part of their work family. I'm a sentimental person and I'm definitely keeping that card, it's so nice to feel appreciated. The included gift cards certainly helped too, haha.

Very spoilt today!

While at work I also discovered my order from Ambient Living had arrived. This was my first order with them, and though we had a few hiccups at the start so I couldn't get my order in time for secret santa, I have managed to get a gift for Mr Kittylove's sister in my order. I have to admit that they did an excellent job with the gift wrapping. I'm very fussy with it myself and they've done a better job than me!

Of course it never makes sense to just order one item, so I got a few gifts for myself.

Jimeale weekend bag, Glasshouse Rio De Janeiro, Glasshouse Leura (gift wrapped) and Glasshouse Tahaa minature

The Jimeale bag made it just in time for my trip to Melbourne and I'm quite pleased with it, I've already started to pack clothes inside! Ninja cat had a wonderful time playing with the styrofoam packaging in the delivery box-he was running around so much I couldn't get a picture of him with it. Whenever he flattened a foam piece, he'd go back to the box to fish out a fresh piece to play with!

How does your workplace celebrate Christmas?

3 days and counting...

Till I go back to Melbourne!

I can't wait to see Mr Kittylove and my family again, it's been a long time now. As much as I love where I work, I'm also getting a little burnt out as I haven't taken a holiday in the 6 months I'd been there. I can't even remember the last time I baked any sweets!

Mr Kittylove's family is also holding an early Christmas lunch so that I could be present. With 3 days left I'm a little behind on my Christmas shopping.

What I have so far:

• Mr Kittylove's sister

Glasshouse Leura Candle (image from candlebra.com.au)

• Mr Kittylove's mum-  No image yet as I haven't purchased it yet, but I am planning to get her a helmet (Mr Kittylove and sister are buying her a bike)

• Mr Kittylove

Peter Alexander Dino-Snore PJ set (image from  peteralexander.com.au)

I also want to get Mr Kittylove something else, but I've been at a loss. In the past I've done the wallet, watch, phone, fragrance, sweater and books. There are so many cool iPhone gadgets around but he doesn't own an iphone. So I've decided while a little boring, he'll appreciate money towards a fancy road bike of his choice or towards fixing up a second hand car when he gets one.  He's been fixing up an old car with his friends and it has him wanting to have one himself as a pet project.



As for myself, things I'm currently lusting after

Peter Alexander Miss Penny Cake Mould (image from peteralexander.com.au)
as well as the other adorable bakeware they have at the moment!

Peter Alexander Alice Nightie (image from peteralexander.com.au)

Marc Jacobs Dot (image from ldnfashion.com)

MAC Divine Desire sets, happy with the pink or coral (image from xocherrycoke.blogspot.com)

Ted Baker Sassey Dog Bobble-Matinee wallet or similar Ted Baker wallet (image from dachshundlove,blogspot.com)

What's on your list?

Why can't every Sunday be Funday?

It sucks to have to go into work on a Sunday, especially when it's your birthday.

But I made do.

The red Alannah Hill belt makes another appearance.
The  sewn on flowers and beads are falling out though with each wear  =(

Back: not the best posed photo, but it'll do!

Of course I put on another top when I got to work!
Since I had to go into work twice today, I thought I'd at least enjoy a nice birthday brunch in between. I might have looked like a loner sitting there eating on my own, but with one of my favourite books to read, I couldn't care less what people around me thought. Some days it's just nice to have quiet time to yourself, and I certainly felt better afterwards!

I'd decided to go to a cafe called Macaron. They made pretty decent food in the past, plus I wanted some macarons to eat as well! Today I picked up a Red Velvet and a Salted Caramel macaron.

My Big Breakfast looked pretty good, but sadly today was a total disappointment. The bacon was nice, but the poached eggs were very overcooked. Both eggs were like boiled eggs masquerading as poached. The chef got too heavy handed with the herbs in the potato hash browns so it didn't taste much like potatoes at all. 

The usually decent macarons were also a bit of a disaster. The shells for the Red Velvet one were soggy and like cake, meanwhile the Salted Caramel pretty much tasted like salt.

I hadn't been here in a few months, so maybe they've changed chefs. Hopefully he's just off on a holiday because if I'm presented with this quality again I will have to take them off my cafe list!

Despite the food I enjoyed sitting around and reading by myself for awhile.

With birthdays on my mind I ducked into the shops to grab a belated birthday present for my friend V.

It got me thinking about birthday presents I'd received in the past and times I'd been horrified but now look back and laugh at.

One birthday 3/4 of my guests gave me a bath set for my present. I wasn't sure what they were trying to tell me, it was either 'we think you need to improve on your personal hygiene' or 'you're difficult to shop for so we resorted to bath stuff'. I still have some of it floating around back at my parent's place!

Another year there was a misunderstanding-entirely caused by a girl who despised me and intentionally created havoc by telling my other friends that I'd only invited two friends to my birthday and didn't want them. In reality my parents told me I could only have 4 people at my birthday, so I only invited my two best friends to avoid picking out of my close group of friends and upsetting them. With all the drama that happened, my parents gave in and said to invite everyone. But at that point the damage had been done. One girl who I'd thought was a good friend was rather vindictive and sweetly handed me the creepiest baby doll I had ever seen. It was like Chucky in a cow costume with eyes that always looked at you.

Isn't it amazing how big a drama it seemed back then in primary school when friends became bitchy whereas now I couldn't care less what she thinks of me or those girls back then. I remember being distressed for weeks back then, but looking back it really wasn't worth all that heartache at all.

This year's another new year and another way to celebrate. Sadly Mr Kittylove is not in town with me, but my old housemate V is going to cook dinner! He didn't want to eat out because he wanted to make sure he ate healthy, he's big on making sure he gets all the food groups in every meal. I can't wait to see what we'll be eating, maybe he'll process carrots into mash and attempt to sneak them into a bolognese sauce again. Whatever he does, it'll be interesting to see how he incorporates it all in, I used to think he cooked for us as though he was cooking for a child, hiding all the veggies in all sorts of creative sneaky ways.

How was your weekend? Do you have any funny birthday stories to share?

Ninja Cat endorses Havs (you can still see his shaved tummy from the surgery!)

What's that? shoes!

Today consitsted of a trip to DFO, the plan was to buy my ex housemate V a belated birthday present. I knew he was after a full sized umbrella (the non collapsable ones) and I'd brought lovely ones at Oroton in Melbourne. Sadly there weren't any at the outlet here. Any suggestions for a good sturdy umbrella would be appreciated!

Being the waste-not person that I am, I wasn't going to waste the petrol I'd used driving to DFO to come home empty handed. So naturally I found something for myself instead:

Boots in northern QLD weather, are you crazy??

I like to think of myself as practical. I wear flat boots to work everyday. I like to be prepared for things such as vomit, pee, diarrhoea, blood, pus, etc to land on my shoes because it does happen every so often. With boots I can just easily hose them off, spray disinfectant and forget it ever happened. Shoe laces would be too difficult to disinfect and runners absorb everything. My co-workers think I'm crazy but I think they're crazy!

I can't wait to wear these. Last pair at the Williams Outlet reduced from $90 to $45! The cushioning is great and heaps of grip on the sole. A vast improvement to my previous pair of boots (Asos flat boots). My old ones looked pretty but had zero support and started to fall apart on the inside lining after just 4 months of wear.

What shoes do you wear to work and what line of work do you do?

Mondays are brutal

They always are. But today was a little different.

Every Monday morning when I walk into work I brace myself for the inevitable chaos. The unexpected walk-ins, the people who call in first thing for problems that they left over the weekend, the late-comers and early arrivers who come in at the same time.

Usually when I look at the appointment schedule I see every 15 minute space filled up from 8-11:30 and then other times even the 7:30-8am time slots too, when I'm not even meant to be available. That's expected of a Monday.

Today was different. Today I had no idea how busy I was going to be, what to expect because our computer network was down. We had no access to any of the pre-booked appointments, any files, nothing. Unless something was an emergency, we could not make any appointments because we don't know whether that time was already taken. When we did make appointments, we had to cross our fingers and hope we were double booked. This certainly made things interesting.

Handwritten consultation notes, handwritten prescription stickers, flipping through a 20 page price list to find one item, relying on clients to remember everything.
"I want more of that eye ointment"
"Which one was it?"
"The white tube!"
"There are 4 other eye ointments that are also in a white tube, do you know the name?"
"uh..no?"

I braced myself for a bad day. Hopefully this would be as bad as things get. Five minutes into the day my first patient peed all over me. I had a change of work shirt, but no change of pants. FYI: scrubbing with wet chux wipes just doesn't cut it. Clearly it was going to be a smelly day and I couldn't be more right. Another hour in, maggot infestation. Thank goodness I forgot to bring lunch, even my tea was making me ill.


If anyone is reading this, I would love to hear about any bad Monday mornings you've had!

I'll leave you with a photo of Ninja Cat looking very feline and skinnier than he was a month ago. You can still see the clipped leg from the surgery he had recently. That's a story for another day. I promise it's a doozy!

It's been a long time coming

I'd been playing with the idea of starting a blog for awhile.  The idea had been to document the start of the next stage of my life: the move, first professional job, becoming truly independent.

Sun- Sunny tropical Queensland.
Food- What can I say? I love good food.
Fur- My cat and the furry (sometimes feathery) creatures I come across every day.

This blog is the place I can write about what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling. A place to vent at times and other times share the happiness

Having a blogger account certainly makes following the blogs I read easier too!

Please say hello to Ninja Cat. He will be on this blog quite alot!