~ Curious Charlie ~

Loves of Life - Food, Shopping and Planning @ Sunday, September 09, 2012

This week I went to 4/9 classes, I did plan to go to all or at least most of them but I was very sick after Monday, a mix of stress sick and an allergic reaction. Monday started with a visit to the dental clinic, my lovely dentist has poofed, reception doesn't know anything or isn't saying anything. The replacement dentist was not satisfactory, I had some sort of pain and gum issue, but she didn't seem to find anything. Arrived for my afternoon classes just in time, after picking up George from Dafel (he went for an eye surgery). I don't like Access, even if it looks like it's something I'll need to know how to use (it's the program used for all those forms you do online). Mr little IT (info tech), who we shall call Austin was friendlier this week, I still feel weird about having him as my tutor though, cause he's not that much older than me and he's much thinner than me. It's very rare that I get anyone not middle aged or approaching and of medium build. Went to his lecture, as I missed the lunch session I normally go to (dentist). Had the excel test, I know how to get the f function and something value, but it didn't really work out.

Somewhere between Monday and Tuesday I crashed and died. Though I looked ten times worse than I looked, it's one of those rare days where I feel like wearing a paper bag over my head. Instead I went for the headscarf which also covered most of my face. Went to see the dr on Wednesday and he said it's bad, but not that bad, and pointed out the scarf attracts more attention then if I didn't wear it. And so I decided to go to my last class that day (I take a combo of night and day classes). On Monday morning I tried Neutrogena's Sunscreen, it felt funny and made me as shiny as a bowling ball so I wiped it off - but didn't actually wash me face. I was allergic to that, had the same reaction as car0lxne. From now on I'll stick to le tan.

LeTan Classic

By Thursday it wasn't as bad, even though I couldn't eat a burger or anything more than half an inch in height (that's on stress sick's part). Missed my first class, as I wasn't feeling up to going to a panel and asking questions. Had a bit of extra time to get to class (made it with 5mins to class in the end) so I stopped at KFC to check out their new $2 menu (following McD's suite).

Had the crispy sub with mayo which was great, their version of McD's wrap in a bun.

Stopped by Kikki K to buy their Wedding Organizer ($20, with $10 off), a great guide, in terms of templates for excel. There's no info in it, other than lists of stuff you need to organize, but it is an organizing tool. Pair it with an info book and it's all good. If you're in the UK I'd recommend Tamryn Kirby's book.

Nearby was Crabtree & Evelyn, they're in competition with L'occitane and Jurlique for the best handcream. I've tried all three, will talk more about that in my upcoming review ;) Didn't get many good pictures yet, but they're coming soon. They have a new foot range, La Source. All the foot products don't come in any other scent, I prefer rose, but since it's on your feet you aren't going to smell it anyway, so it's fine. Very excited about using their handcream.

C&E have a promo on at the moment, $10 Voucher + Free Pomegranate Hand Therapy 25g (MC ran out, and now are offering the Citron, Honey & Coriander (more man friendly), note that you do need to prt that out if you don't have it on your smart phone. It doesn't say one per person, so you can come back another day and re-use, just hope you don't get the same SA. Though I find that most of their SAs aren't too happy when you produce that. Below average customer service on Thursday. I was watched the entire time I was in the store, though the SA was helpful when I had questions. Perhaps it was because I was on my way to class and had a huge bag with me. It reminds me of shopping in Malaysia, where the SA actually follows you around the store.

Bought a few things for a grand total of $41:
- Nail Buffer Block ~ 3.00 (from their outlet)
- Aromatherapy Custom Bottle
- Evelyn Rose Hand Therapy 100ml ~ 20.00
- La Source Cuticle & Nail Therapy 15ml ~ 5.00
- La Source Pearl Therapy Mini Pack
- La Source Extreme Foot Therapy 100ml (outlet store)
- La Source Foot Smoother 150g ~ 13.00 (w foot therapy)
Reviews coming soon.

Tag says this bottle is used for blending essential oils with massage oils.

It'll be great when my essential order from the Body Shop (USA) arrives. :)

Friday, appointments day. Went to the hospital for some breathing and allergy tests. For the breathing test I could only do 4litres, 2/3 capacity. The skin prick test hurt, was poked with a needle 24 times. I'm allergic to a certain type of common grass and cats. For my allergic to life/skin products issue the dr said I have sensitive skin... anyone could have told me that. To find out what I'm allergic to I'm meant to have lists, of stuff I'm allergic to and not, then cancel out the list I'm fine with compared to allergic. This will take ages, a C&E handcream has at least 50+ ingredients. If this was medieval times it would be a lot easier.

Red Velvet - Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses

I love cream cheese frosting! The cake itself was a bit dry though.

The best cupcakes are still at Little Cupcakes on Degraves.

Saturday early morning we worked at the 100 Women Walk Event, which I think the 100 refers the the number of participants and not miles/kms. Edit: On average 100 women get ovarian cancer each month in Australia. The event was organized by the Women's (Ovarian) Cancer Foundation. We did registrations in the early morning, on Yarra's Edge; marked the roll and gave numbers/bibs. Participants could buy a shirt and cap, for $20. A majority of the participants were female, with most guys doing it with their wives or subbing in. Interestingly when the gun went off no one ran, they just jogged really. As we were busy the whole time and was there was an hour no pictures were taken.

Finishing by 9am we went to Brunch and discovered Grill'd at QV opens at 10.30am on a Saturday. The manager was very
friendly as always (we've been here before) and service was good. As we had packed lunch, we opted for something to share, a late (when you get up at 5am, 10.30 is a very late b'fast) breakfast. Picked the 'Perfect Pear' (12.50) Grilled chicken breast, poached pears, fig paste, avocado, Spanish onion, rocket & shaved Parmesan. I really like it - except for the pear, which being winter wasn't sweet, loved the fig paste, that was amazing. Grill'd makes the best chips. ;)

After brunch we did some shopping, Andy (older brother) wanted to buy clothes, though he wasn't really sure what. We managed to find something he was happy with, before making him buy something at C&E :P guys don't seem to like handcream (no one laugh) or any products that suggest they're "creative". He seemed alright with the La Source range, the description says it smells like a spa, but that ain't true, it smells manly to me. With Andy's purchase, from the current promo he got the cuticle cream for $5 and a free 25g handcream, the green Citrus one which he preferred over my pomegranate version.

Those are so pretty... plastic-ish think plastic covers for report books but thinner and pretty.

Every year (almost, when I'm not so screwed for exams) I make little gifts for my (past) teachers, as two are my referees for all the jobs I apply for, and a couple others, well they're just in the same office area, so it'll be awks if they don't get one. The occasion is World Teacher's Day (WTO). Fortunately mr maths isn't in the same area, I'm slightly over it, but still upset that he asked me if the work I produced was mine. Anyway, this year I'm going to make a few mini hampers, five for my past teachers, one for le beau (will send it to him) and three for his family (Lily, his sister is studying to be a teacher and Adrian/Helen were teachers till they had a career change to PT/dr). At the moment I plan to make white chocolate coconut roughs, cookies (perhaps Mandarin Shortbread), meringues with rainbow sprinkles and herb-infused salt. Guy friendly, unlike that year we bought yellow roses for everyone.

A few items I'll use in the packaging. Blue & Gold theme.

A ball of yarn(?), Chinese TA boxes, wooden stars, baking paper, craft paper.

Bk paper for small cards/notes, message written with metallic pens.