It's Been a While...

Yet again with the lack of blogging. Ugh. I really need to be more organised. This semester I’ve had full time uni with ridiculous subjects like accounting, a casual office job and an internship. It’s nearly done my head in. I don’t know how people have two or three jobs. They need a medal. Seriously.

So again I say I’m going to blog and forget about it/can’t be bothered. I get online and read blogs nearly every day but I find that actually writing means a whole load of effort for me right now. There’s not a lot of interesting stuff to blog about either and I’m also lacking a full length mirror at the moment so I can’t even see my outfits before I go out, let alone outfit posts. In order to see most of my outfit before I go out, I must stand on the lid of my toilet and look in the bathroom medicine cabinet. No glamour around these parts.

Since I last posted I’ve finished my first semester of uni and got somehow managed to wrangle two distinctions and two credits overall so I’m super happy with my current GPA of 5.5. I’ve also gone back home up north to see the fam. It wasn't that exciting and the lack of pics show it. It did, however, reaffirm why I left. The drama. Ugh. So then I returned and started my internship two days a week to try and knock some time off my prac hours. 

My brother also decided he’s moving down. So he’s living with us, which means goodbye clothes room and hello reorganising EVERYTHING in my room. It also means the rest of my furniture has come down finally…which includes my new mattress my mum got me. YAY. There are a couple of downsides to this whole bit. Not only do I lose my large walk in wardrobe, I also was told by my dad I need to get a part time job because he can’t afford to support me and my brother. Boo. I was quite enjoying being a lady of leisure. But as it turns out, the branch down here of my old work could use someone a couple of days a week for data entry type stuff so here I am.

I think I’ve avoided the blogging front because I’m also a little bit disappointed with where my life is right now. Although I am at uni, which I love more than I thought I would, and have enough money each payday to cover my needs, I'm just not happy. It’s taken me six months to realise that I’ve been kidding myself and been in denial. I’m lonely. There it is. The two words women are not meant to utter. Then on top of this, most of my friends are in relationships and nearly all of those are pregnant. Argh! There are babies everywhere. The worst case scenario has happened…my biological clock has finally started ticking and it’s not good. I’ve never been the most maternal person in my group of friends. Even though my dog really is like a baby. Finances is another thing to take into account. Since it’s just been me, I haven’t exactly been careful with my money and I would be humiliated if I had to show anyone my bills. Even my parents don’t know exactly how much debt I have. It’ll be staying that way too. Especially the credit cards. Yes, cards. It’s a vicious cycle. The more unhappy I am, the more I compensate by shopping and by shopping I use my cards which means I become unhappy. Very vicious cycle. It’s just never really been high on my list of priorities. Especially now with uni and then a career.  Leads me to wonder, can you ‘have it all’ as a female or is something always going to suffer and be put on the back-burner  It’s something worth pondering and no doubt something that will discovered on the way.

First things first though…a man just may help. But it’s not through a lack of trying, trust me. At the moment I have a few friends who are amazing girls who are single. How they’re single I’ll never know. Have males missed a memo about what these girls are like?? Weird. I'm sure it’ll all work out for the best eventually though. All you can do is just go with it.

Well that’s enough of being a Negative Nelly for now.

Promises Promises....and Mince

Again, I say that I'm going to blog and forget about it. It seems like I'm so busy, but there’s not a lot of interesting stuff to blog about. I’m also lacking a full length mirror at the moment so I can’t even see my outfits before I go out, let alone outfit posts. In order to see most of my outfit before I go out, I must stand on the lid of my toilet and look in the bathroom medicine cabinet. No glamour around these parts. 

Since I last posted I’ve finished my first semester of uni and got somehow managed to wrangle two distinctions and two credits overall so I’m super happy with my current GPA of 5.5. I’ve also gone back home to Townsville for a trip to see the fam. It wasn’t that exciting and the lack of pics show it. It did, however, reaffirm why I left. The drama. Ugh. So then I returned and started my internship two days a week to try and knock some time off my prac times.

My brother has also decided he’s moving down. So he’ll be living with us, which means goodbye clothes room and hello reorganizing EVERYTHING in my room. It also means the rest of my furniture will be coming down finally…which includes my new mattress my mum got me. YAY. There are a couple of downsides to this whole bit. Not only do I lose my large walk in wardrobe, I also have now been told by my dad I need to get a part time job because he can’t afford to support me and my brother. Boo. I was quite enjoying being a lady of leisure. But as it turns out, the branch down here of my old work could use someone a couple of days a week for data entry type stuff so here I am.

Day one and I’ve already finished everything I needed to do nearly two hours before I think I’m allowed to go home. Joy. I do kind of feel guilty for sponging off my dad for a little while, but since I turned 18 and got full time jobs I have more than compensated my parents. Plus, my dad is just super stoked that I’ve finally decided to go to uni that he was willing to give me the semester to ease in. Best.Dad.Ever.

I have been productive in my time off from uni though. I have been super good and have been making healthy food for my little fat Puffington. I agree, he does need to stop eating people food and start eating food that’s good for him. But I just feel so bad for him. I wouldn’t want to eat tinned dog food either. He also has to start being walked. Which is another thing I feel guilty about. He’s the only dog I know that hates walkies. Absolutely HATES it. We get a quarter of the way around the block and he starts begging to be picked up. He would rather just chill at home and lie around the house. Hence why he’s now fat. But anywho. I have managed to concoct a recipe that he ate more than one night in a row. It’s healthy and delicious apparently. 

Winnie Mince
(makes 17 portions that are around double the size of a golf ball)

Ingredients:

½ kg beef mince

1 egg

½ cup rice

Chicken salt

Flour

One small/medium potato

Small portion of sweet potato

Mixed frozen vegetables (I used a broccoli, cauliflower, beans and carrot mix)

Drizzle of Olive oil

½ tsp Garlic

Squirt of tomato sauce

Method:

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add rice. Make sure you keep an eye on it if you don’t have nonstick pots like me.

Heat up a frying pan on the stove and drizzle olive oil in and add garlic.

Brown beef mince

Peel potato and sweet potato and cut up into pieces relative to the size of your frozen veggies. Put all veggies in a microwave container and cook. My microwave is a bit old so I put it on for five minutes.

Due to using regular mince from the shop, not lean mince there was a bit of oil in the pan. I would probably leave this next time but this time I moved all the meat to one side of the pan and tipped it so all the oil was on the other side. Then I just sprinkled some flour in, stirred it with a wooden spoon to thicken it then mixed it back into the mince. 

By this time the rice was done so I drained it and let it sit in the saucepan to cool.

Sprinkle a bit of chicken salt into mince just for a little extra flavor. I have a dog that’s very picky when it comes to bland things so this added a little extra. 

I then put all the veggies and the egg into my blender and whizzed it up until it was a puree. 

Add the rice to the mince and mix through

Then add the veggie puree and combine

I then added a bit of tomato sauce just because when I tasted it, it was still a little bland for what I thought my dog likes.

The mix is pretty much done. Now I just put it in a bowl and covered it with cling wrap and put in the fridge to cool. 

After a couple of hours it was just above room temperature so it was fine to put in the bags. 

Scoop a portion up and tie the bag up. Repeat for the rest of the mix and then put them in the freezer and you’re done.

For portions this size I microwave them from frozen every night. I zap them for about 1 minute. It depends on how good your microwave is. 

Awkward...Silences

I've been so slack since starting uni and not posting. So much for keeping on top of it. However, it has paid off since most of my assignments have been marked at around 90%....who knew?!?! Hopefully now I'll be a little more organised and remember to not only read other people's blogs but update my own.

I've been especially awkward lately. I don't know what it is but I'm even more awkward than usual. A perfect example is last Thursday night. I got home from my group meeting and lecture just before dinner so went to feed Winston. I normally have little packets of meat in the freezer that I just take out, put it in a container, microwave it for a minute and then he's good to go. That's all well and good, so I picked his bowl up and washed it out then put the meat in the microwave, was just about to press start when I looked in the window and realised I had put the meat in his stainless steel bowl and was about to turn it on! *groan* I thought ok, minor blonde moment so let's try again. So I then rectified it and put it in the microwave (in the right container this time) and went out to the lounge room to watch the news while it cooked and after a little bit I realised it still hadn't beeped....I'd put it on for FIVE MINUTES! I groaned so loudly my dad came and asked what happened lol. Once I told him he questioned how I've survived in this world. It would be funnier if it weren't totally bang on. *sigh* then that night I couldn't sleep for some reason. So Thursday night/Friday morning I had two hours sleep and woke up at the time I'm meant to leave for uni. Somehow I made it just in time to do my twenty minute group presentation. Luckily it went ok.

I'll post again tomorrow once I can upload photos.

The Cutest Dog In The World

The inspiration for this post came from Mez's post on Domestic Divinity. Her post is about Boo, an adorable little Pomeranian. I thought I'd share some photos of my own little Boo. Note: this is going to be an epic post with photos)

On March 13th 2009 I drove two and half hours to have a look at two cute little puppies. I had looked at 6 other litters before of the most adorable dogs. But something didn't feel right. I went with my gut feeling every time and said no. Saying no was the hardest thing because I wanted a puppy so bad, but I'm a big believer in listening to your gut instinct. So off I went, not sure if I was going to say yes or if it was going to be another disappointment. Beforehand I had received this photo from Helen.

Both puppies were available but as soon as I saw the long haired one in the photo I thought that he was the cutest thing and that he looked like he should be called Winston. I don't know where the name came from or how I thought of it. As soon as Helen got the puppies out of the car, I knew he was my puppy. It was the best $200 I've ever spent. Well, it's a bit more than $200 now. Good lord it costs a lot to keep a dog! I may also spoil him...maybe just a bit.

The day after I got him I had to take him to the vet. He weighed 400 grams at six weeks old. It's a big difference between that and the 5.2 kilos he weighs today!

Winston is now three years old and is amazing. He's taught me so much and has made me grow up and learn to be a little less selfish. He also has the best personality. As he's gotten a little bit older he's settled down a lot (getting him fixed really helped with that too!) and his fur is getting blonder. He;s not just blonde on the outside. He's definitely an airhead to boot!

People often have a go at me about him being a "Paris Hilton dog". It's deifnitely not true. He would smother me in my sleep if I put him in a bag. I've had to put a jumper on him a couple of times because of the cold, not for fun purposes. He hates it. As soon as he gets the jumper on and is put down. he just sits and freezes. He won't move a muscle. Except to let out a big sigh, drop his head and sulk. He's not a fan.

I wonder if other people have pets with crazy, out there personalities like mine...?



Welcome Back Dinner

Last night I had dinner at Bulimba with my best friend P. It was the first time we've had a chance to hang out since I've moved back. We went to this cute little Japanese restaurant called Red Galanga.

For starters we shared a mixed entree plate. there was a satay stick, four calamari rings, a steamed dim sim, a fish cake, a spring roll and a curry puff. It had the yummiest sweet chilli sauce with it too. The whole plate was so good. Neither of us are big satay fans, but even that was pretty nice. The spring rolls and calamari were so amazing. 

For main I had a King Prawn salad. It was really good. Most places you go to don't really put a lot of dressing on salads but I couldn't finish it off because there was so much dressing in the bottom of the bowl. But it was still nice. 



After dinner we went to the movies and saw Young Adult with Charlize Theron. It wasn't that great but there wasn't much choice by the time we finished dinner.

YSL & OPI

I got a beautiful new YSL Arty ring yesterday! I've been lusting after one for months and the day has finally arrived!

Excuse the horrible wrinkly hands and mani - doing dishes before taking photos does not work!

I also picked up this cute baby pink stone ring for $6! Bargain!

I'm also now a huge fan of OPI nail polishes. I can't believe I'd never used them before! I normally use Rimmel polishes but now I'm converted. They're amazing. Not to mention they have the cutest names! I'm currently wearing OPI Tongue In Chic on my nails and OPI My Chihuahua Bites! on my toes. They go on so smoothly and they're relatively streak-free. My lack of patience for waiting until nails dry definitely is becoming a problem. I'm going to have to learn to sit still for a while.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes!

I have no job since moving, so some of my "job hunting" time will be used up blogging.

All of my shoes (and clothes, generally) have some form of a story attached to them. Which is why I never throw any of them away. Unless they’re well and truly dead. Most of the clothes I own end up with my 15 year old cousin so I can handle culling that, but shoes are a whole different kettle of fish. I think I like shoes and bags as much as I do because being someone who in no way has the shape of Kate Moss, it’s easy to find shoes and bags to fit. Currently working on the shape so hopefully soon the figure will come along…or go away and I’ll have a new clothes fetish too. But until then, it’s me, my dog and my shoes. So here are a couple of pairs of heels and boots that have a soft spot in my heart.

These black and gold glitter shoes are among my favourite pairs. They’re relatively comfortable. I can spend a whole night out in them and only mildly feel the pain the next day. I mostly like them because of how they make you feel when you’re wearing them. They’re my Cinderella shoes. They’re sparkly, have a neutral colour, perfect heel height, peep toe to show off your pedi…what more could you want?!

These shoes are just plain fun! They’re great for making a statement and I can wear them a million times with so many different accessories and outfits. The only thing is the toe is quite narrow so they’re a bit of a pain to walk in after a while. I have never been tempted to wear them out into town because I know they’ll just get ruined by alcohol and idiots stepping on my feet. They’re a great ice breaker. Everywhere I go when I wear them I get compliments from girls and guys like them to so they’re a win-win!

These are my favourite boots just because they’re comfy, the perfect height for wearing with jeans and they survived the trip to London with me. They kind of look a bit badass too, which is always a good thing.

These are just one of the many pairs of shoes I own that I’ve never worn. I’m not sure why I haven’t worn them. Maybe subconsciously I just don’t want them to be ruined. I’d say that’s probably it. One day I’ll wear them. Probably when I move somewhere that’s colder than hell. (34°C today?!!! Hotter than Hades, I tell you) I’d say Brisbane 2012 will be the perfect place to start wearing them. A place where the weather permits and where people appreciate clothes…and actually WEAR shoes most of the time. Bogans. Ugh.

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to get some photos of some that I have acquired lately. There are many more since I took these photos so I’ll have to have a little look later.