Foggy, creamy, trippy

 

Looking back towards Morell Bridge

It was a fabulous foggy morning this morning. I got up at 7.00am and couldn't see even a hint of the city buildings from my window, and they still hadn't emerged by the time I headed off to work at about 8.00.

The sun didn't start to break through the fog until I got to Alexandra Gardens. 

But there was still fog shrouding parts of the city when I got to work and it hung around for ages. I love fog - it makes for great photos and usually means a sunny day ahead.

Luke made creamy chive mashed spuds again tonight. Yum. 

Luke and I didn't go on our usual road trip back in January, but we are hoping to hit the road for an extended driving holiday in July. I'll say more when our applications for leave are approved.*crosses fingers*

Outstanding

Awesome nearly 100-year-old Japanese Maple

I had my performance review today at work. I'm "outstanding". Yay. Hopefully outstanding enough to get a pay rise, because my rent is going up soon. (Boo.)

Luke made creamy chive mashed potatoes the other night, just like you get in nice restaurants, with lashings of butter and cream. Delicious. Will eat again.  

I had a lumbar puncture on Friday (not a gleeful event, although it was much less painful than anticipated). I asked the doctor what spinal fluid looks like and she showed me a vial of my own spinal fluid, which is kinda cool. Surprisingly, it looks exactly like water: clear and...watery. I thought it would be more viscous. 

Misty, but still colourful 

Luke and I visited Cloudehill Gardens in the Dandenongs on the weekend and it was lovely, despite the rain that started not long after we arrived. It was awkward trying to juggle an umbrella and keep the rain off my camera lens, but mostly it was quite delightful being in a garden in the rain, listening to the sound of drops pattering onto leaves and seeing the clouds close in around us. 

The lyrebirds seemed to like the rain too - we saw four of them! I'd only seen four in total in my whole life until then. They look funny when they run and I never noticed before they have big feet.

Lyrebird not hanging around for photos

Yay, yum, haha

Morning walk

I walked to and from work again today. I thought I might wake up more weary than usual or run out of energy during the day after yesterday's efforts, but I didn't. Yay. I've walked just over 16,000 steps (or 10kms) today, well over my goal of 10,000.

Yummy smells from (home made) dinner tonight: sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds, fresh mint and basil, fresh lime juice, passionfruit pulp. Yum. 

Speaking of cooking, on Sunday I was frying a pan full of small bacon pieces. There was a loud POP and a piece of bacon shot up into the air and landed on my head. Haha.  

Evening walk

NaBloPoMo: day 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27

How has it been five days since I last posted? I've had a friend visiting for a couple of days so I haven't been online as much, but five days?! I'm not doing a very good job of NaBloPoMo, am I? 

Here's some stuff that's happened. 

Kranski! 

I had dinner with my friends Lauren and Bertie at the Munich Brauhaus on Wednesday night. Yes, the German restaurant was my idea. Predictably, I had cheese kranskies, potato salad and sauerkraut. And a pretzel. Yum. The company was good too. Lauren had some wonderful news to share - she's finally leaving the firm where we all met years ago. Hurrah!

I got a new piece of jewellery. Many migraine sufferers say this piercing (known as a daith piercing) cured or relieved their migraines, so my friend Deliea (also a chronic migraineur) and I decided to give it a crack. There's no science to back it up and other migraineurs say it made no difference, but we thought we'd find out for ourselves. I'll leave the ring in regardless, because I like it.  

I have a back up plan to ease my migraines anyway. You know how I spent a day in hospital having a test done last week? Well, I had a cerebral angiogram so my doctors could get a better look at a mass in my noggin that was discovered because my neurologist wanted to check if I had any clots in my sinuses after I mentioned that I'd had a DVT. The mass is an abnormal tangle of veins (arteriovenous malformation) and it could be the cause of some of my migraines. I'll be having it treated in the next few weeks (probably in a similar process to the angiogram - i.e. a catheter inserted into the femoral artery). After suffering migraines since my teens, this development seems almost too good to be true!

Cheese avalanche

After the piercing (which hurt, but but not for long), Deliea and I had burgers at Parlour Diner - the place I had that super oozy cheesy burger a few weeks ago. I had the same burger and it was just as good. (That's a rather unappetising looking gluten-free bun, but it's surprisingly sturdy and held everything together well.)

NaBloPoMo: day 19

One of the GPO clocks from the 7th floor of Myer

I looked in the mirror this morning and thought, "Geez, Jayne, you look old and tired," but then I went off out into the sunshiney world and got my hair cut and coloured (bye, greys!) and my nails painted and then I looked a bit better and was pleased. 

I had a gluten-free blueberry muffin from the cafe I used to stop at sometimes often back when I walked to work. It was very good. A little crunchy around the muffin top

We're off down the peninsula tomorrow for Luke's sister's surprise 40th birthday party. I've only been to one surprise party before. It should be fun. 

NaBloPoMo: day 14

A perfectly rounded tablespoon of cacao

I started reading The Good People by Hannah Kent (author of the highly acclaimed Burial Rites) on Saturday, but I didn't notice until last night that my copy (from Booktopia) was signed by the author. It was a nice little surprise. 

I'm only a few chapters in and I'm enjoying it. Her prose is so poetic, particularly her descriptions of the landscape. Some sentences I have to read twice to wring full pleasure from them.  

I'm also astounded by her ability to write (again) about a different country in a different time, this time rural Ireland...a very long time ago.  I guess that shows my lack of imagination and aptitude for research. If I were to write a book, I'd stick to the maxim "write what you know". 

I get to have a little sleep in tomorrow - yay! - because instead of going to work I'm going to have a test done at the hospital which will take most of the day. Not so yay, but I get to lie down for four hours afterwards. A good reading opportunity. 

I'm still thinking about last night's cheese kransky and the cheese that oozed out of the burger I ate on Saturday. I love cheese. 

Half-woman, half-muppet is seduced by pudding

I took screenshots of the above pictures on my phone this afternoon and posted them to Instagram with the caption, "Stay tuned for my story 'George Brandis' uncanny resemblance to Dr Bunsen Honeydew'."  

I went back in the photo gallery on my phone later and was greeted with this: 

I'M HALF WOMAN, HALF MUPPET!!!!

That top photo is me admiring the majesty of my high quiff (although I don't think the true majesty is captured in this photo). 

I went out this morning for a muffin, but I got sidetracked by a small gourmet market that had set up near the ATM I'd visited for muffin funds. I was seduced by pudding at the Pud stall and spent $18 on a selection of chocolate coated pudding balls. 

Cranberry and white chocolate pudding ball 

Bloody expensive muffin substitute! Not that I ate the whole packet of six pudding balls in one go - they were far too rich for that - but I did eat five of the tiny puddings over the course of morning and afternoon tea and I actually saved one pudding for Luke (please admire my restraint).

I'm not a massive fan of Christmas pudding or fruit cake generally, but once I tasted a couple of the samples at the stall, I had to have me some pudding. They're made in Castlemaine in central Victoria from a secret family recipe. 

I love the word pudding. And pud. Luke thinks it's funnier if you pronounce it to rhyme with mud, but I disagree. Pud is good. Gotta love a good pud. Or you should. 

I'll go now.  

Spicy, decluttering, greenery

Ghost sign on Victoria Street, Albert Park

I made a tasty chicken curry from scratch for dinner tonight. I had most of the spices already (including fenugreek seeds, of all things!) so I thought I might as well make the curry powder rather than buy it. I used a coffee grinder that a friend gave me to make the powder - much quicker and easier than trying to make a fine powder in the mortar and pestle, that's for sure.  I love the smell of all the different spices. I made enough powder to make several more curries.  

I cleaned out my bathroom cabinets and laundry cupboards this afternoon and got rid of quite a lot of stuff. Well, all the half-empty products I no longer use are sitting in a box while I work out where to dispose of them. Although they aren't strictly hazardous chemicals, I don't want to empty them down the sink. Next weekend I plan to do the kitchen, including that one draw full of random crap that everyone has somewhere in their house (the one with duct tape, sparklers, a cigar cutter and widgets with no readily discernible use.) 

We bought some new indoor plants yesterday to replace the ones I bought years ago that eventually gave up and died a while back. We got a spathiphyllum (aka peace lily), a syagrus and a fittonia, which is the prettiest little thing.  A bit of greenery always brightens up the place, doesn't it?

Lucky, productive, chef

Stunning sunset tonight 

I got into bed for a few hours this afternoon and finished reading Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids. I was surprised, perhaps naively, by how many of the writers (almost all women) had unhappy childhoods. They aren't a representative slice of society, but it's made me wonder if happy childhoods aren't as common as I assumed. I didn't have a privileged upbringing - we didn't have a lot, but we never lacked love and attention. I should probably consider myself lucky!

I had another productive day today. Kind of boring, yes, but it's nice to get to Sunday night and feel like you got shit done. 

I made Reuben sandwiches for lunch today. Yum. Now I have a chicken bake in the oven for dinner and it smells delicious.  

1000 posts, holidaying, three-in-one

Before I launch in to today's post, I've only just noticed that yesterday's post was my 1000th! HAPPY 1000TH BLOG POST TO ME! 

Now back to usual programming...I'm off to Brisbane! I arranged my leave from work this morning and then booked my flights and accommodation straight away. Got a pretty good deal too. I'll be in Brisbane's (hopefully) sunnier climes from 22-28 July. Now to plan!

Part of me feels I shouldn't be spending money on a holiday given I'm trying to boost my savings with a shopping ban, but I did only challenge myself to stop buying shoes, clothes and accessories, not spending money on everything. Plus science says spending money on experiences increases happiness more than buying things, and I'm all about the pursuit of happiness. 

I will possibly cross three things off my Things to Do List with this visit - visiting Brisbane (which I thought was on my list, but it wasn't. Of course I added it just so I can cross it off) and hopefully meeting my longtime online friends, Victoria and Gillian. We've 'known' each other since our Myspace days - possibly as long as 10 years! - but have never met in real life, so that would be splendid indeed. 

I had a delicious Reuben sandwich for lunch today. A bit naughty since it was glutenous and carbalicious, but I'm hoping the sauerkraut will compensate...except that they also threw in a very generous handful of pretzels and I had to eat them because pretzels. They also gave me a complimentary Mentos to see to the sauerkraut breath. Thoughtful! All that and I was able to buy it online and have it delivered to reception at my work (the perks of working in a very large office tower). I bought it from Mason Dixon, if any locals are curious. 

Leftovers,postponed, free massage,

I had leftover corned beef and potato salad for lunch today, mixed in with boiled egg, avocado, sweet cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and spinach. Delish. 

I had an appointment at lunch time today that I really couldn't be bothered going to but then it got postponed. I'm going tomorrow instead now. 

I got a free massage at work this afternoon. One of the (rather infrequent) perks of working for a large firm.

The Dressmaker, dinner, laughing

A two-in-one ghost sign on La Trobe Street

I enjoyed The Dressmaker last night. It was funny and sad, and the scenery and cinematography were stunning. And the costumes! Gorgeous. 

We had another tasty dinner tonight, partly because I made potato salad and cucumber salad again. I reckon I could eat both every night. I have a very high boredom threshold for food I enjoy. We also had corned beef and curried cabbage. 

Dylan Moran is doing stand-up on the telly as I write this. I love listening to Luke chortling and guffawing. It's my favourite sound. 

Street art hotspot, Sausage Saturday, lean and pointy

This little guy looks quite Seussian, no?

A few months ago I discovered an amazing street art hotspot in Windsor called Artists Lane, which runs parallel to Chapel off Green Street. I visited again today after my pilates class. 

 

Don't mess with this sword-toting woman

Hippo, birdy, giraffe, oh my!

Sausage Sunday has come early this weekend. It's Sausage Saturday! As well as potato salad, I made a German-style cucumber salad with dill and sour cream.  T'was yum. *pats belly* 

Now it's time to watch The Dressmaker.   

No post from me yesterday. I felt lousy most of the day and the high point was when I got home and crawled into bed to sleep. And this photo. I'm so lean and pointy! 

Big sleep, sausage Sunday, parrots

The beginning of the golden hour this afternoon

I had a very big sleep in today. Very big.  

Today is Sausage Sunday! That's sausages, potato salad, sauerkraut and dill pickles for dinner, for those who have just joined me. 

I forgot to mention a strange sight I saw at the market yesterday - a woman walking along with one parrot sitting on her hand and another on her shoulder (no, she wasn't a pirate.) I wonder why they didn't fly away?  

Sunshine, sausages and sleep

Grapes

It was a gloriously sunny day today. I went to pilates and then to South Melbourne market to buy sausages. There's a butcher there that sells about 100 varieties of sausages and they are almost all free of onion and garlic (which upset my belly). Sunday night dinner is sorted. 

I bought a single mandarin to snack on on my way along Chapel Street after pilates and it was perfect. Deliciously sweet. 

I have nowhere to be tomorrow morning (unlike the last two days) and I plan to have a big sleep in. 

Sunday dinner, bed, no boss

Fungus in the grass

Luke and I have a new Sunday night dinner - sausages with potato salad, sauerkraut and dill pickles. Yum. 

I spent a lot of time in bed today. Words cannot adequately express how much I love my bed. I can't wait to get back into it. 

I think my boss is going to be interstate tomorrow and Tuesday. That's a nice way to start the working week. 

Cool cat, new hair, berry delight

How you doin?

I have been without my sunglasses for a week while new lenses are being fitted. As much as I'm enjoying our unseasonally warm weather, the sunshine is killing my eyes. I'm a giant walking squint.  My face is one big crow's foot. So today I bought some cheap sunglasses to tide me over.  Of course I can't see properly, but look at me! I'm so cool! *laugh* 

I got my hair cut and coloured today. It was looking pretty faded and shabby before. It's like I have a brand new head now. 

I had strawberries and raspberries with whipped cream for dessert tonight. Yum. Raspberries are my favourite berry. They creep me out a bit with those tiny hairs and that hole, but looks aren't everything. 

Warm, 1800, surprise chip

Coming home this evening

We had another warm autumn day today, a perfect day to be free of the office. I was out and about for most of the day getting sh!t done and getting some vitamin D along the way.

I've done just over 18,000 steps today, which is considerably more than my average. I don't feel as if I've walked that far, which is unusual; most of the time I feel as if I have traversed a much greater distance than I actually have. 

I love that moment when I'm at Hunky Dory on a Friday night and think I've eaten all my chips, but then I find one hiding under a piece of lettuce (no, I shouldn't be eating chips on my modified diet, but I'm only human...). 

Yummm

I mentioned in my previous post that I'm on a modified diet, but that doesn't mean I've been deprived of tasty, tasty things. This morning for breakfast I had homemade potato salad with bacon and boiled egg, avocado, cherry tomatoes and feta. So good. 

For lunch I had beef curry, which I made from scratch. I totally improvised the spice mix, but it was yummy. Go, me. I made a big pot of it, so I have tasty lunches for the week ahead. 

I had delicious sweet strawberries for an afternoon snack, but I can't take any credit for those.  

(If you're wondering what I'm not eating, I've cut out all added sugar and most carbs because bad gut bacteria love that stuff.)

  

Hanging out, sunrise, succulent

Hanging around

I've been trying to book a spot in the Wednesday night anti-gravity class at the gym since I joined, but it's one of the most popular classes and I kept missing out. I checked online last night and there was a place  - only one - available, so I nabbed it. Yay!  

I went to the class tonight and it was fun swinging about in a hammock, which, we were assured, can take a load of up to 500kg. Still, it was a little scary hanging upside down and letting go for the first time...and the second time...and the third time, but I managed not to fall out. At the end of class we pulled the hammocks around us and laid in the dimness like a room full of pupae awaiting metamorphosis. Quite relaxing. 

I also managed to book the last spot in next week's class. *fist pump*

I woke up very early this morning - boo! - but I saw the sun rising when I went to the loo - for as long as it took to take a photo anyway. 

Luke cooked a delicious, succulent steak for dinner tonight. Just what I needed after a gym session (I also did half an hour of cardio).