July 2012

Hi *waves madly*
So sorry I'm late in posting. No excuses, I'm a slacker

Things are going pretty well on the job front, it is physically demanding but not overly difficult and the staff are just lovely. I'm enjoying getting paid (who wouldn't LOL) and after so long being a SAHM, it is awesome being able to talk to a wider circle of people. Introvert I might be but I'm not a complete hermit! I love how the girls from the front counter breeze in and out of the back office and pick up conversations where they left off. It is all great fun :)

You would have seen my photos of the Lady Gaga concert in my previous post (I hope ;)
I went with my BFF and we had a blast. It was fun to dress up, I thought reasonably conservatively considering where we were going and was a little surprised to find the majority of people didn't make any sort of effort. Ho hum, it didn't matter, we still had a fabulous time and bonded with the girls either side of us in the stands. The show itself was spectacular, the warm up act (Lady Starship) not so much.

Hubby and I treated ourselves with a weekend away and went to the Good Food & Wine Show with a bunch of friends. It has become something of a tradition to go to this show and stay in the CBD at Miss Maud's Swedish Hotel. We all meet for dinner after the show and brekkie the next morning. At the show itself, we don't tend to bother with the celebrity chefs, though I was a teensy bit excited to see Ainsley Harriott on the big screen and we turned down free tickets to see Adriano Zumbo (famous in Australia for his desserts, in particular macarons). There were too many wines to sample and not enough time! My fave of the day was the Wirra Wirra Churchblock. We noticed that a lot of the staff on the stalls were not local eg an Irish Whisky stall had a girl with an Irish accent and my BFF and I were a little naughty in teasing a young Frenchman at the Macaron stand. His way of pronouncing 'azelnut tickled our drunken fancy a little too much.

Hubby and I decided to stay an extra night away as it's been forever since we had any sort of holiday and spent the day strolling around the city and relaxing in our room, me reading while Hubby caught up on his beloved rugby. It has really helped to recharge the batteries.

The kids have been *interesting*... I know that sounds awful but we are experiencing a difficult phase with Miss 3 right now... the "I am almost 4 but too young to go to kindy but really need the stimulation only kindy can offer" phase. I remember Miss 7 going through it at that age too but our Miss 3 has upped the ante. She's like Miss 7 on steroids. Ignoring the tantrums is no longer possible and nor is it working so I am trying the new tact of distracting her by giving her something positive to do, like a little chore. It helps to an extent but when I'm tired we tend to fall into our old ways and the tantrums arc up again :( Funnily enough when I tell the carers at daycare about her antics, they report she is the perfect angel when she's there so I guess she saves all the fun for me and Hubby.

Miss 7 has had a slight health issue for the past 6 moths or so. Nothing super serious, but it was growing worse and worse so we went to the docs to see if we can get some help. And these past couple of weeks have really improved things. She's quite an emotional kid at the best of times but this issue has caused her a lot of embarrassment and it's a relief to get a handle on things. I am lucky she is quite open to talking about her body with me. It makes my job a lot easier.

The Dinosaur Petting Zoo was in town for the school holidays at the WA Museum. I decided to take Miss 7, I knew it would be too much for Miss 3 so we went on a day she was at daycare. I thought it would be nice to have a girls day out with her and I wanted to see the show as much (if not more) as her. It was a small version of the Walking With Dinosaurs concept, showing only Australian dinosaurs and was incredibly interesting and funny. The host started by getting kids up to tell dinosaur jokes, telling parents it's good to start off with laughs because he could guarantee there would be a few tears by the end. And there were! It was very easy to forget the dinosaurs were puppets as we cringed and ducked in our seats, trying to not look like dinner for the carnivore, Australovenator.

July turned out to be surprisingly full of me time too! The busier I got, the more determined I was to stop and take time out. I can't say that my house is spotless as a result but I can live with that ;)

Films

Lockout
Starring Aussie Guy Pearce looking pretty darn good! I remember crushing on him 20+ years ago when he was in Aussie soap, Neighbours LOL. The movie itself wasn't overly special, some of the opening scene's CGI were terrible and they gave Guy way too many cheesy wise crack lines but I didn't hate it either.

Jack and Jill
I'm not a huge fan of Adam Sandler so I'm not entirely sure why I watched this. It was cheesy but it did have some nice sentiments and Al Pacino made a hilarious stalker

Wanderlust
it had it's funny moments but it was very predictable. Meh!

John Carter
not as good as I hoped it to be. I kept looking at the watchdog creature and thinking giant cane toad LOL

Magic Mike
WOOT! went with my BFF after dropping the kids at school (along with many other Mum's doing the same hehe) and what a funny film! I loved that they brought so much humour into the script. The dancing was fab too of course. Have a crush on Channing Tatum now eep!

TV
Grimm Season 1
finally it got interesting towards the end of the season

The Walking Dead Season 2
gah! talk about leaving you with a cliffhanger! creeps me out but I have to watch!

Lost Girl Season 2
cheesy but I don't mind a little cheese. It's good to fill in a little time when no one else is home.

Awkward Season 2
Hubby asked why on Earth I would watch "a teen show" but I love teen shows like this. the whole teen angst thing still resonates with  me and this show has it's funny side too.

True Blood Season 5
Just when I think it can't get any sillier, it does. They've got too many different storylines running all at once, making it confusing and not allowing enough time for any one story to develop. It's frustrating... then they show Alcide naked and I think, ah well I'll be watching next week.

The River
not sure what to make of this show, the storylines creeped me out but it became a little predictable. I read that it hadn't been renewed for a second season and I'm not entirely surprised. Overall it was OK

Reading

Bared To You by Sylvia Day
the name of this novel popped up in my facebook sidebar and I was looking for something to follow Fifty Shades so I decided to check it out. And I'm glad I did! It is so much better than Fifty Shades, not everything about the story is perfect but it is a well written, page turner of a book.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
again I heard about this via Facebook, this time via a FB friend. I have been on a romance reading run  and this sounded like what I would like. It was refreshing actually after Fifty Shades and Bared To You to read something without the graphic sex but still be filled with emotionally charged scenes. It was the bittersweet moments that really got to me. I hear a follow up book will be released next year that will be told from the male lead perspective which could be very interesting.

I've done a little writing this month, working on an outline mostly but I've had a scene playing out in my head for ages that I needed to get down too. It's really helped getting things moving, though I have a long long way to go.



Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate the visit
Sending you lots of warm fuzzies x o x o x