Since there's about 10 pictures on the last post, I've made it into two parts. My exams went from 27th Oct to 5th Dec-ish, so lots of stuff happened in between.

One Sunday I ventured out into the garden, and then remembered I was allergic to grass, and our gardener just also happened to be mowing the lawns. I've just realized it's strange that he was here on a weekend...


On the way to an exam, I found a few bird's nests on the ground, looks like the gardeners were around that day. Unedited lighting, it was very bright outside. On a Tuesday I did a scan thing, and discovered I'm in the top 40% of my group in terms of UV skin damage, not a good thing. Looks like we ain't leaving the house without a hat and sunscreen. Though I don't understand how we're excepted to wear make-up and refresh sunscreen every 2nd hour.



Afterwards we went for pizza, and by that I mean we had it delivered. I prefer to pick it up myself though, as it's only a few blocks away from the apartment. Dinner with le beau, who had gotten back early (he works in the country, takes V-Line), as we both had the same thing I didn't get too many pictures. BBQ Chicken Pizza from Panned Pizza (by favourite pizza place, thin based), perfect as always. Dessert didn't fair so well in terms of pictures, we had Tiramisu by Aurora Foods, it's the size of a muffin and comes in the process of thawing from the freezer. Very nice for freezer food, though I'll be making my own soon.

For a while nothing happened, awaiting to hear the verdict of my stats exam - scheduled for the 1st week of Dec.






All that happened above seem so far away, so long ago, hence I really do need to keep the blog up to date, my perception of time's a bit strange. Like the way I talk about people it makes it seem like they're all in my life at the same time, and I just saw them a few days ago when in fact we lost contact years ago.


Saturday


Last Saturday I made some very unique pancakes, not sure if I did something wrong, or I just didn't like it. As you're meant to have it with fruit & honey/maple syrup there's no sugar in it. Fortunately the picture looks better than it tastes, a lot better. 9am lighting is lovely.


Sunday


Sunday Dinner. Pictures could have been better, but as the box was huge there was no where suitable to put it with decent lighting. "We" picked Sammy Boys Pizza Mr.T (17.50) which had tiger prawns, sundried tomato, mussels, calamari, garlic, bocconcini, herbs & a splash of chilli sauce. Love it, and I only have two criticisms: when it said a splash what they really meant was that the base was a chilli sauce as oppose to the original tomato sauce base. The pizza went down nicely with a glass of milk. Next time I'm going to ask for the BBQ sauce base. My other issue is that there wasn't enough prawns.

Other than that I do intend to eat here again. The pizza was very good, being almost panned based (think pizza hut) it's very carb loaded and not something I'd have as often as Panned Pizza. Sammy Boy's does look promising though.

Btw we ordered through eatnow, which is another delivery hero, delivery service that acts as an thingy between the customer and business. There's free delivery from Sammy's if you go through them. They offer paypal.


Monday


On Monday I took a card making class with Emily. The workshop was fun, the instructor lady was very nice, and she was a wedding planner before she had kids. She uses lots of stamping in her cards. I like it, and have never done it before, my style if more like like stuff on, add a few hearts, ribbons and don't forget the glitter and rhinestones.

The sessions are $7 and you make 2-3 cards (I think) and there's a yearly membership fee of $5. Unfortunately next year she's going with courses rather than pay as you go, so I'm not sure if I'm up for that kind of commitment, with my course, other classes and stuff going on. Those are the three cards we made, though I jazzed it up a little with 2mm rhinestones when I got home, and added a ribbon.


Thursday


Thursday morning, I missed a dentist appointment because I got the time wrong... I think I also made cookies on Thursday. Though I'm not sure now, but at some point last week I made cookies for this thing mother was doing, some talk to her class.


Friday

Emily's after buying summer clothing, so we went to Harbour Town on Friday, finally got there around 4pm :P as we got distracted and I was late (PT after noon slows down).



It's all about the application, if you get that right, no bubbles and it's all smoothed out you'll like it. If not well, it's not going to be a repeat purchase. They're $10 for 20 stickers, which if like me will get you 1.something uses, as I'll mess it up. But at the moment you can get them for free if you sign up for their newsletter, at their Melb Central store on certain random days.


At Harbour Town we tried on a billion different things. To decrease the chances of me being tempter to buy stuff I wore a dress and hat, when going clothing shopping you're meant to wear stuff that's fast/easy to change out of. This was not the case. Emily found a good quality skirt suit in a fuchsia plum, she didn't want a matching skirt, but I did :P. What's the chance that you'll find another skirt in exactly the same shade? If you change your mind and wanted to go matchy matchy.



Throughout the whole trip we found one dress we both loved - on the hanger. It came only in one size and it was closer to her size than mine, so we got her to put it on. Turns out to be a piece that looks stunning on the hanger but doesn't flatter anyone.

Purple skirt on the right was one of the couple things I bought. If you don't want to spend too much but still want to have nice clothing that suits you and makes it look like you have your own stylist, you'll need seamstress skills. Which I luckily partly possess, while my sewing machine skills are questionable I can see how you can style or alter things to fit you. I really like that purple skirt, there's only one issue - it's floor sweeping and possibly tripping. But I can easily take it up about 20cms and it'll be perfect. And it only cost $5. I also bought a white dress that's a size or two too big, which can be easily fixed by putting elastic in the back area so it gathers.

1 cup salt*
1/2 cup almond oil
zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stems

Pour the salt into a clean, sterilized container with a  tight-fitting lid.
Pour the almond oil over top and screw the lid on tightly.
To use, just give the jar a stir to mix the oil and salt together, use as a body scrub.

Notes
*Table salt is good for a fine scrub like caster sugar, though not quite.
If you prefer something courser substitute it for brown sugar.

Keeps up to 6 months stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Alternative post title: During Exams - Part 1

I've been away/scheduling very over due posts lately as I'm still on exams, with the last one on next week (date tbc). Long story short, I missed half an exam because of public transport, that and I forgot that if you leave after noon everything takes an hour longer, in terms of traveling south to west. Fortunately mr stats said it's "ok", and has set another time for it. He's not happy, but he didn't hang up on me either. 

This is mainly a post of what I did during exams, anything but study.  

Mid-Late Oct: It was Andy's birthday a few days before my first exam, accounting, he wasn't fussy about the cake, so I picked Tiramisu, but they were out so we got Mocha instead. Lovely as always, but I prefer the Durian :P. I highly don't recommend you buy the message board, made of the lowest quality possible chocolate.

What's inside the box? O.o 

On morning I received a HUGE parcel, a box, the biggest thing that's ever being delivered to me (I don't buy white goods or anything I can't bring home on the train). It was completely unexpected, and as I'm quite an unpopular person (yes I have received threats before, once) security got in and check it out. My surprise to what it was as big as the box itself XD, 420 sachets of soup! This is the biggest thing I've ever won (25 words competition), physically and possibly in monetary terms. I was 1 of 150 winners of the Continental Cup-a-Soup Office Pack competition. It was ran on facebook, so you can imagine how many people entered with 74k fans. Oh and I found all that out by a little research, as there was no letter in the box at all.

Number of people in my life who were impressed: 1.5. And that's the story of why I don't talk about family. According to mother, justifying why aunt Ethel took several boxes w/o asking me (when I was in the room - and yes I did confront her, no she didn't ask if she could have them or anything, she just kept walking) it's because I had lots and so no one has to ask to take a few. So you're saying that cause the bank has lots of money it's totally cool to go steal a couple million? A guide to getting along with me: touch my stuff and die, also ask if you want to borrow something, and mention how long you're borrowing it for. Yes I do keep record.

A book I ordered came in the mail :).

A few days later there was another one. Reviews pending. 

I won a prize for a competition on facebook. 

The thing behind the green folder is a USB. 

Henry the Hippo was introduced to the Animal Shelf. 

Bought a candle or two, as I had gifts vouchers expiring soon.

The total came to $20, really wanted the vanilla, but it only came in the bigger size.

We have yet to try them out. Photographing glass doesn't go too well for me.

We were out of lip balm, so picked up a few after the sustainable ops exam. A hard decision to make, we had to choose between 4 for $6 (2x original, 1x honey, 1x tea) vs 3 originals for $8. As I haven't tried their honey (still on my shelf) and hate tea (they call it pomegranate) it was a hard decision, but in the end I chose the $8 tin as I was certain I'd like it. Reviews coming soon, with the tea review being contributed by Emily.

If you're ever after Burt's Bees, MOR, Bloom or pretty much cosmetics/beauty gifts check out Cosmetics Fragrance Direct, the lip balms I bought (3 for $8) retail for around $6 each at Priceline. They're at all the DFOs, and there's one in the city at Southern Cross. 

The lovely lady at Cancer Council sent us photo frames and cute mini torches. I also got my order of business/playing cards for the blog, from Arts Cow, they had a promo where I got these cards for just $1 including shipping. 

At some point during studying at the library and getting hot chocolate from Lindt, I went to Schnitz to give their chips another try. I like them, but still they're too oily for me, I'll stick to Grill'd, the manager at QV's very friendly (he likes bandannas). 

Between sus ops & stats, we had more cake. This time we got the Durian :). If you're wondering why we've had so much cake lately it's because I kinda bought 4 groupon vouchers for cakes at Cake World. While I'd recommend their cakes, not the same can be said for service or price.

East meets West, in a fusion of a the Vietnamese classic street food 'bánh bao', or rather more commonly known as the pork bun, and more Western or rather Melbourne's multicultural mix, Bao Now presents the latest thing in the food scene, the classic steamed yeast bun but with a twist! With their range of fillings you're bound to find something you'll love, from their spicy buffalo chicken buns to bacon cheeseburger buns in the savory section, to their eccentric cheesecake buns. Alternatively if you're on the model's diet and prefer to go carb free there's always san choi bao, but let's admit it, it's not the same, it's going to McDonald's for a salad, a Caesar Salad. 

Our first visit it was quite difficult to choose which buns to pick, but with recommendations from the very friendly owner (sorry I forgot his name...) we soon chose three, and then came back for more later on :P


As I love 'bánh bao' I was really looking forwards to trying them with different flavours, and they did not disappoint. The first one I had was the buffalo chicken, it was spicy! You'll need a drink to go with that. I bought the $9 offer, which was for 3 buns and a drink, being practically adventurous I went for the iced jasmine tea. It was gross... I think I drank a flower, though that's what tea typically is. Not a tea person... Next I tried the butter chicken, which I didn't really taste, as my taste buds were still tingling from the buffalo chicken. The owner later on said that you should have the butter chicken before the buffalo so that the flavours don't overwhelm your tastebuds. Hence I don't really know what the butter chicken tastes like and will be trying that on our second visit. The third one I tried was the vanilla slice. I like it, it's the same custard that Breadtop uses in their custard doughnuts if you wanted a comparison.



As Emily said it wasn't very filling (unless you have four) and so I bought another three, I really like the buffalo chicken. Didn't try the Bacon & Cheeseburger as I don't eat bacon/pork/ham (due to a traumatic experience in China) but I did eat half the Cheesecake bun. As the owner said it was interesting, unique. I like it though not as much as the custard. Nevertheless we shall return for another round. 

I enjoyed our experience, the food was very nice and different, Emily didn't agree (she wanted Nandos). Oh and the service was great and staff were very friendly and helpful. Emily was less impressed (about the food), though I do believe it's slightly because she's asian, it's like being Italian and going out for pasta when you Nonna make it better I assume. Great place to check out if you're out and about, best to visit for lunch or rather after the peak hours, if you want a seat. ;)

I first created this post to help whoever gets me as their Secret Santa ;) but this is what I'll probably end up buying myself for Christmas, and as well as provide a few hints for le beau, and friends. Looking forwards to hoarding Lush's Snow Fairy Collection on Boxing Day (they have 50% off xmas stock ;). What I want the most is Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb and MJ's Daisy (not the version from the $2+ Shop), and least is the brushes, as I haven't actually gotten into trying using brushes yet.

The links are the place I found it best/cheapest to purchase the item from, if it isn't a direct product link but a link to a store, that store stocks the product. Might want to give them a call to check stock because you go there.   




Haven't had the chance to update, but I'm also going to add... 
Be Enlightened Vanilla Candle 40.00 or you can get it from Frances Pilley in Fitzroy 
Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb EDP 100ml 117.00
L'Occitane's Cherry Blossom Hand Cream 12.00.

2nd November

Had my IT exam today, thanks to the 8pg notes we were allowed I think I passed. Somehow I had no idea what I was doing (during the studying part) and 2hrs before I had to leave to get to the exam I figured it out... hence I only had 6/8 pages. Fortunately I could answer most of the Qs, and there was only about three I totally didn't know. Was disappointed that ecommerce wasn't on it, as that I was the bit I knew the most about. 

During the exam one of the ladies watching me (examiners?) drew a picture of me. The part where I'd finished and was checking my answers for the 2nd-3rd time. It's amazing! I can't draw at all (or at least not people, and w/o a tablet), she said she's been drawing for 20yrs. 


Afterwards I went back to the city, for dinner at Schnitz, as I heard they do the best chips. Crispy, golden, crunchy. But a bit too oily. Do try it for yourself though. Grill'd still makes the best hot chips and sweet chili mayo sauce, though I will give Schnitz another go.


Was half an hour late for dinner... as I saw a bookshop! And as always I never leave empty handed, I bought 5 mini novelty books. The two I've read are amazing, books of quotes.





I realized something today: other girls like shoes and handbags, shoe is to book (most girls I know have enough shoes to call it a library if it were books) and handbag is to headpiece.

After dinner we went shopping. Cue didn't have the coat I'm after, but the very friendly SA told me which branches stocked it. Went by the millinery pop-up shop at Melb Central, they weren't particularly affordable though, as they were all in the hundreds. There was an amazing white lace top hate though, and a pink hat that would be perfect with a Marie Antoinette costume.

A lovely SA told me how to make wire frame (an alt to headbands that don't hurt your head) for the fansinators, using millinery wire (stronger than florists'), tulle/cotton, a comb and elastic.

Anyone have any ideas what this is called?

Other than books I also bought a candle from Mimco, using my $30 b'day code. It was a very difficult decision, but in the end I went with the red current. It's like cranberry and something else. I love blackcurrent & apple juice. Though I've never seen a blackcurrent, or have any idea what red current is... Review coming soon :)

Red Current Rebel

Buttercups and daisies,
Oh, the pretty flowers;
Coming ere the Springtime,
To tell of sunny hours.
- Mary Howitt

31st October

In a horror movie, if there's a scene set in a school it's always the gym teacher who's the first to die (or something bad happens to them), that happened XD, though she saved herself from a wererat by her skill of somehow managing to climb up a flagpole :P a variation of the classic knotted rope. I wonder if Hector can do that... 


I went to see Frankenweenie today, not meant to leave the desk other than for exams but I had a ticket. It was very good, a Burton creation, it follows the classic story of a boy and his dog. And what happens when science is used for evil. Also the film reinforces that (vampire) cats are evil :P. It's in black and white and uses the same 3D stop motion technique like 'The Corpse Bride' and 'Nightmare before Christimas'. A great comedy-horror, a perfect viewing for Halloween.


I really enjoyed it, and so did le beau (I saw it during the afternoon, and 3hrs away that night he went to see it) - in costume :P his workplace had a dress-up day, and he dyed his hair black and went as Dracula. Meanwhile I was going to go as Sleeping Beauty (OUAT version) but that failed as somehow the dress became too big (I didn't try it on properly) and so I went as Cinderella instead - to first cousin (once removed)'s wedding.




You should always bring extra batteries, even if you just charged the one of the camera yesterday, as I re-discovered. I forgot it and by the time I remembered it was too late. I didn't get many photos. The wedding (reception) was held at Shark Finn house, and as the bride was asian, cousin decided to go for an asian dinner. I don't think it's going to work out, and am interested in knowing what they have in common, with their 20yr age difference, she's my age and doesn't speak much English, they met online and he bought her here from some asian country. She has orange hair and is in competition with Ashley to be the thinnest person I know.

My battery died, so I only got pictures of the cake (taken before dinner). The waiters did not approve of my camera and would not give me the opportunity to take any pictures. And I do wonder of they speak English. The food was served asian style, which was different, the waiter bought out a big plate/bowl to the table and then serves it onto small plates.


The food was great, and there was a lot of mains, the three in the picture are just a few that I could identify. I loved the Peking duck always, its a shame that 2/3 of the duck is bones (when you buy it at an asian restaurant). The prawn ball (a) was also really nice. My only criticism would be the dessert, the serving size was a table of 10 was more like the size for 2-3 people, as it was a few slices of watermelon and two oranges. Though by that stage of the night everyone was full. Interesting of one cousin's friend decided to ask to take the uneaten mains (leftovers?) with her... which I believe is something you should never ever do, consulted my brother on this, and he said it's an asian thing to do, not waste food and always get TA that is...



Who was the best dressed of them all? It was meant to be the bride, but been a modern considerably normal girl (currently into colourful jeans) decided to go for a tragic guava pink dress, it wasn't the colour that was wrong it was the cut. It was a halter neck, and from the side everyone got a full view of her... and the skirt of the dress was one of those short in the front and long on the back styles.


I went as a modern Cinderella (it was Halloween after all), this is similar to dress, but the beading is different. I wore it with a tiara headband (more headband than full on bling tiara) and a white faux fur wrap.

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