What I Did 365 - Day 130

Mmmmm... flowery goodness! Chris and I have a favourite little date-night destination. I'm not going to beat around the bush - it's Bunnings. Yep, we're 'that' married couple who spend their Friday night at a giant hardware store. Regularly. But we can't help it! Chris browses tools and hardware, and I stroll through the garden section, usually acquiring new herbs or flowers. I love this time together, and I love bringing home my new plants and adding them to my garden. On this particular trip I purchased a dwarf snow pea plant and a pretty geranium. Bunnings is my happy place!!

What I Did 365 - Day 129

Shoe shopping!!! Chris desperately needed new work shoes, and as luck would have it... 'so did I'! We headed out for some late-night shopping at Rockingham. One hour in Target later, and I had new boots and new wedges, and Chris had some decent work shoes and a new pair of flip flops (I went to write thongs, but being American he doesn't call them that!) No, I didn't buy the crazy shoes in the photo above. I mostly just tried them on to torment Chris!! Tehehe.

What I Did 365 - Day 128

Now this is comfort food! This is a delicious chicken cacciatore I made for dinner a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't planned a dinner, so I stayed back after work for a few minutes to go through recipes online and this is what I picked! We had it with mashed potatoes, which just soaked up the sauce sooo perfectly. Yum. How great is cooking???? Recipe is here.

What I Did 365 - Day 127

So for those who have been reading my blog for a while, this old post might ring a bell. Turns out, we were able to find a way to make uni work. At least for now. As of the start of this month, I've been spending Tuesdays and part of Wednesdays in classes. When I'm not in class on Tuesdays (I have five hours of break!) it's become a bit of a custom for me to spend my free time at one of the cafes on campus, coffee and a friand in hand, doing my reading and class work on my laptop. I'm loving this time. I've always hated the uni experience, and upon reflection it may be due to the fact that I've never settled as a student until this semester. In previous years, my classes and my hours at work have always been back-to-back - so when I wasn't in class, I was racing off to be at work on time. My timetable this semester has actually forced me to just hang out on campus and be a real student. I'm just so glad that my return to study, as much as I dreaded it, has actually turned out to be more of a blessing than I even hoped!

What I Did 365 - Day 126

Cupcake's first driving lesson!! What a calm and clever boy! On the Monday after I got back from Margaret River we headed to my parents' place for dinner. We brought Dog and Cupcake because they hadn't seen my family's dog Leon in FOREVER and they were really missing him! When we got in the car, Cupcake begged us to let him have a go behind the wheel. I think he's pretty advanced for a two-year-old, don't you? Well, Dog didn't think so.

*God, if you get me through this, I promise I'll never fight over the fence with the dog next door, ever again*

What I Did 365 - Day 125

Here we have the actual reason that we headed down to Margaret River - to see Mr Michael Buble at Sandalford Winery!!! Ohmygoodness what a show! I've never seen him live, but I have generally enjoyed his music so when my family decided to go to the concert I was all "Sure, why not? It'll be a good weekend away." And now? I'm a little bit in love. Good grief. At one point in the show, Mr Buble came down off the stage, struggled through the crowd and climbed onto a second, small stage a lot closer to us!!! It was so cool seeing him so close! The highlight for me though was right at the end, he shushed the crowd (all 13,000 of us apparently!), had the mics on stage turned off, and just sang completed un-mic'd and unaccompanied. Wowwww. It was so cool! The man has lungs! The concert was great, and the first ever big show at Sandalford apparently. I'm so lucky to have been able to get there!

By the way, don't bother squinting at my photo to spot Michael - I just snapped that photo before the sun set, while it was completely empty. He didn't get up there until about 8pm.

What I Did 365 - Day 124

As a random note, I love an image of a hot beverage that's been cross-processed. Weird.
So I'm a lucky girl - a couple of weekends ago I headed down to Margaret River for the weekend with my sisters and one of our friends Chelsea. For a wannabe foodie like me, Margaret River is a little bit of heaven!! We did wine tasting and visited the chocolate factory, cheese factory, nut and cereal factory, and the very beautiful Provedore which I've amazingly never been to! I fell in love with Provedore - there were just rows and rows of beautiful spices, olive oils, dessert sauces, jams, curds... oh my. But the highlight of our visit to Provedore was checking out their kitchen garden! The rows of raised garden beds filled with every herb and vegetable you could imagine has inspired me so much, and made me yearn for a fully functioning kitchen garden! Sigh. Anyway, the photo above is a delicious 'real' caramel hot chocolate at the Choclate Factory - hot creamy milk with milk chocolate buttons and real caramel sauce swimming around in the bottom. Stir it up and you have a chocolatey, caramely cup of love! Mmmm. I'm dying to go back and just basque in the amazingness of beautiful Margaret River!!!

What I Did 365 - Day 123

Taco meat in a wok. Yum! Tacos are a delicious Summer food - I love to load mine up with salad and cheese. Drool. This picture actually signifies my return to cooking during a break in which I was refusing to even step in the kitchen due to the heat. I think the break lasted about a week, and then I was craving tacos and decided to suck it up and actually cook something! Tacos are always going to rock my world - I mean, remember Christmas dinner? I know the tacos I make aren't even close to being authentic Mexican food, but they are super delicious, so who cares? Not us!

What I Did 365 - Day 122

Gah. The guilt! I'm here to admit that I've really let this project slide lately. How very disappointing. I'm going to point the finger at something entirely out of my control. The heat wave. Yep, nothing like avoiding the blame! But seriously. Mid to late February was a killer. I've never been so uncomfortable, lethargic and uninspired to do anything in my life. Our air con broke about a week before the heat wave hit, and we made the decision to replace the old evaporative with a new split system - when we can afford it. I'm going to be the first to admit - I'm a princess. I've never had to live without aircon, not ever. The emotional turmoil that this last month has caused me is quite horrific! Which brings me to my picture for Day 122 - the pedestal fan that my very smart, very wonderful husband bought me for Christmas. Who knew that we would come to rely so heavily on a $20 electronic device? On the very hottest days, this fan came with me from room to room - it wooshed air on us while we were sleeping, it stood faithfully by us as we watched TV on the couch, it blew gusts of relief on us as we cooked and washed dishes. Oh my. I am a fan of my fan.

The batch of photos and 'Days' to follow this are not going to be a true representation of what the 365 project was supposed to be - I came nowhere close to taking a photo a day over the last few weeks. But I did take a few, so I figure I might as well document them - and then totally get back into the old swing of things!

What I Did 365 - Day 121

Sigh. Sunday's sunset was a pretty one! This is the view from our front door in the evening and as I was heading through from the kitchen to the living room, I had to stop and admire the view. It's not conveyed all that well by my iPhone's camera, so you'll just have to take my word that it was gorgeous. Sunday was quite perfect really. I went to Paradox in the morning and was really encouraged by the message that Brad brought us. Plus I got to sit on the couch in a pretty-lady sandwich between Amy and Kat! I headed home and was invited to watch some kids from the neighbourhood put on a dance show, very cute! Then Chris headed out to watch some basketball with a friend, and I had a leisurely afternoon of cooking, laundry and watching Glee. Altogether a great relaxing end to the weekend.

What I Did 365 - Day 120

Saturday was a massive day for us! It started for me with delicious brunch with the besties at Cafe 58, a little Cafe we discovered on one of our many house-sitting adventures before I got married. They do the best mushrooms in the world, only two out of the three of us didn't even order mushrooms! It was a great time of catching up, and then for me it was off to a couple of tile shops with Chris... we looked at hundreds of tiles and I have to say, it started getting overwhelming. What if we don't pick the right tiles? What if a tile looks good by itself, but we hate it once its all over our floor? Pressure! It's not like painting, when you can change your mind 6 months later and paint a new colour over the top! After freaking out over the tiles, we headed to Bunnings to look at sinks and faucets. I never would have thought I'd have issues picking over these minor things, but I do! Everything must be perfect! Our heads filled to the brim with kitchen-related thoughts, we thankfully took a break for the evening and had dinner at our friends Alycia & Peter's place. Alycia pulled out all the stops by cooking a beautiful dinner AND making icecream for dessert! Once all the eating was over we held a big Wii tennis tournament, in which I sucked and lost every single game. Ha. It was such a fun night, and a good day over all. Love weekends!

What I Did 365 - Day 119

We're in the thick of Summer here in Australia, and Chris and I had our air con die on us a couple of weeks ago. The days are disgustingly hot, and although the nights are pleasantly cool lately, our house gets so thoroughly heated in the afternoons that it doesn't cool down inside until the morning. Last Friday night we decided to spend our after-dinner time sitting under the patio, rather than holed up in our ridiculously warm living room in front of the TV. I love it when we take the time to sit together outside - for some reason, conversation just flows. We talk about our plans for the house, we dream together, we watch the dogs playing in the yard, I get excited about the idea of new gardening projects - it's a really lovely way to spend the evening. I know this probably sticks us up on the old-married-couple shelf more than ever, but I don't even mind. Patio-time makes me happy!

What I Did 365 - Day 118

There's nothing like a good traffic jam to deflate you after a great night! Chris and I spent last Thursday night at Retra Vision, picking out appliances for our brand new kitchen. We even put a deposit on a dishwasher (a dishwasher! Ohmagoodness!) Being the boring old married couple that we are, we were on a huge high after pawing through cook tops and ovens - and then this happened. We got stuck between 2 freeway exits for more than half an hour. I mean who plans massive roadworks on the freeway on late-night shopping night??? What a nightmare! Overall though, a great night - making us more ready than ever for the kitchen renovation to begin.

What I Did 365 - Day 117

Aaaaand for something completely different.... Grill'd! Ha. Chris and I were in Subiaco and decided to top the evening off with a trip to everyone's favourite burger joint! The burgers were delicious, the chips were herby, and as an added bonus it was all free because we had a gift voucher! Score! Afterwards we took a little walk to the Woolworths nearby and bought a box of biscuit-y chocolatey Magnums. Mmmmm! We enjoyed one icecream each in the car ride home and stowed the rest away in the freezer for another day. Fun little Wednesday night date!

What I Did 365 - Day 116

How fun is Wii? Our Wii power supply broke a few months ago and we haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. On this Tuesday night we had dinner with Dad & Steph at their place and then entered into an epic tournament of Mini Golf on their Wii! We bought Steph this second-hand Mini Golf game for her birthday last year and it was the first time that we were trying it. The game is a bit bizarre! It was fun though. Chris of course went the extra mile and played Single Player mode after our little tournament, unlocking a bunch of extras for next time. And don't think it was fun and games for humans only - we brought Dog & Cupcake for a night of fun with the family's dog, Leon, and they played even harder than we did!

What I Did 365 - Day 115

This is who I snuggled up to on Valentines Day! Tehehe. Her name is Orana and she is one of the resident koalas at work. I'm so lucky that Steph works in the Wildlife section and can get me free koala time! It's hilarious watching her with the koalas - most people would be overly cautious and gentle (or maybe that's just me?) but she hoists them up into her arms like a Mum with a toddler! She loves those koalas :) What I find really exciting about her job is that it's inspired her to study Zoology at uni. How cool!

What I Did 365 - Day 114

I have a weird obsession with red velvet cake. I love that most people I know haven't heard of it. I love that it's traditionally iced with a cream cheese icing. Mostly I just love that it's red. It's quite a site to cut into a pretty white cake and be faced with bright red innards! My only real issue is that although I've made a few red velvet cakes in my time, I've never really found that recipe that clicks, you know? On the Sunday before Valentines Day we put a surprise birthday party on for Paul, a really great guy who is part of Paradox (along with his beautiful wife Sue and grandson Michael). I love surprise parties! I think that throwing a surprise party for someone is a huge show of love. I volunteered to make the cake and decided to try Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake. WOW. I'm in love! It is such a simple recipe and it turned out perfectly. My only downfall was the heat - my icing was melting all over the place, and transporting it from my house to Kat's (where the party was) was a trying and stressful 4 minutes! In fact the top layer slipped off as I walked in the door and if not for Aimee's quick reflexes, it would have landed on the floor. Eeeeeeppp!!

What I Did 365 - Day 113

We have a fairly new and super great friend called Kristin. Sadly I didn't photograph her, but this photo of Kat and Amy is in honour of her pink-themed 30th party! Huge novelty because I've never been to a 30th before! Milestone! We all had to wear something pink and everyone looked so great - I especially loved seeing all the guys in pink shirts. Kristin and her fiance Justin really put on a great event - their house is beautiful, their dogs are gorgeous, and the two of them are just some of the loveliest, most genuine people you will ever meet. I'm so glad they're a part of our community of friends!

What I Did 365 - Day 112

I am SO hard core. See that time displayed on the microwave? 1:09? That's AM, not PM! That's right, despite a long hard week at work, I was still up at 1:09am. And starving. Now you should know, I'm not a midnight snacker. I rarely even eat dessert. Once dinner's over, I may as well brush my teeth because I'm not going to be hungry again until breakfast time. But this night was an exception, and for whatever reason I had a major hankering for some crappy food! I searched the pantry, the fridge, the freezer - and finally settled on some bruschetta-flavoured tiny pizza bite things. Satisfying? You bet! Haha. It reminded me of the days when my sister Hannah and I would squirrel away snacks out of the pantry for a few days, then meet in my bedroom at midnight and have a midnight snack party. We thought we were the coolest. Apparently the novelty of the midnight snack still lives on!

What I Did 365 - Day 111

It was looking like just a regular Thursday, when suddenly I received a text from Steph asking if we could have lunch together that afternoon! We decided to picnic it up at a park near work, and we sat on the grass with our microwave-heated lunches enjoying the sunny sunshine. It was such a lovely break from the normal plod of officework! My family often come pick me up for lunch at the park nearby and I love sitting outside and being somewhere other than the sales office (where I normally eat my lunch). The afternoon is so much better after coming off a break like that!

What I Did 365 - Day 110

I've never posted a picture of Paradox Central, yet I'm here most Sundays! Last Wednesday night we emptied out our weekly gathering place for the Paradox community. We're moving onto a new space now, and this space sure has managed to gather a lot of stuff! The boys did lots of heavy lifting and trips to Brad's house, and the girls were assigned to cleaning. I failed miserably in my duty as a girl, but I did get to enjoy watching Aimee wipe Amy's back with a toilet-cleaning cloth. Just lovely! Amy also impressed me greatly by sweeping up COPIOUS amounts of dead cockroaches in a little dust pan. I'm not kidding, this thing was filled with the grossness! Most things got done pretty quickly so it wasn't a very late night. We're meeting in a primary school now which I love!

What I Did 365 - Day 109

Chris normally leaves for work just after 6am, and most days I sleep through his departure! However on Tuesday last week he was able to go into work late for some reason, so I cooked us breakfast! Fresh coffees and fried eggs on toast - ugly, but oh-so-tasty and a great start to the day. It's such a novelty having breakfast together, I loved it.

What I Did 365 - Day 108

Chris's parents Susan & James have started hosting us for a fortnightly Games Night! This picture is from the very first. It was so much fun, and Susan went crazy in the kitchen - prawn cocktails (droooool), salmon & crab cakes with teriyaki salad, and a coconut cream bavarian pie. So much good food! We sat around and played an epicly long game of Uno Attack. It was a really fun evening! These guys are such good people. I'm really lucky to have such a loving, kind pair of in-laws. We're very much looking forward to the next Games Night already...!!!

What I Did 365 - Day 107

This is Jacki, one of my best friends from high school. The other day she messaged me out of the blue announcing that she's about to move over east, and could I catch up? I was so excited to see her! It's been way, way too long. She introduced me to a perfect little cafe called Harvest and we brunched and MAJORLY caught up. Jacki is such good quality. We had a really good chat (and a realllly good brunch too!!) I've realised that I could be such a better friend. I can't believe that I've let things slide with someone who I went from seeing every single day at school, who is absolutely amazing. Sigh. Lesson learned. Jacki let me Old Booth her, hence the daggy outfit (no, she did not meet me for brunch in pearls and a little hat!!!)

What I Did 365 - Day 106

This year my sisters and I are committing to spend more time as a trio. I love hanging out with them - we have a great relationship and we always have fun. We're aiming to have a night out on the first weekend of every month, so this was our first official sister night on the town! We headed to Zappatas for Mexican food and cocktails, then trawled the streets looking for adventure. We ended at the Esplanade Hotel where we classily sipped cocktails (which we were all carded for! Ha!), chatted, and listened to the live singer & pianist. It was a really lovely drinks venue, and one glance at their dinner menu made it very clear that we'll be eating there some time soon! We had planned to get coffee and cake together, but we were beyond tired, and extremely full of Mexican food still, so instead we called it a night early. Nannas.

What I Did 365 - Day 105

Double date night!! Chris and I headed out to the comedy at the Charles Hotel with Nahn and Julius. What a great night! It was a Raw Comedy heat, and the quality was high. The MC rocked our world, most of the amateurs were seriously funny, and the headliner John Conway was bizarre and ridiculous...ly hilarious! What a great night! Lots of laughs were had, followed by lots of quotes interjected randomly into conversation throughout the rest of our evening. *yumyumyumyumyumyum* When it was over, we headed into Leederville to pay a quick visit to Greens & Co, the home of many wayward paper lanterns and many MANY pretty cakes. We all enjoyed some nutty caramel meringue, I scabbed a cup of tea off Nahn, and then we finally went our separate ways home. Looong night, especially with work the next day... but so fun and worth it! Oh, and Julius made (yes, MADE) us a super handy coffee grounds bin!!! Champion!!!

What I Did 365 - Day 104

Can you think of a better brainstorming food than churros? Dipped in heavenly milk chocolate? Accompanied by decadent chocolate shakes? I know I can't! We spent this particular Wednesday evening in Subiaco - enjoying a tasty meal of burgers at Grill'd (once again!) and finishing the night at San Churro. But why the brain storming? We've decided to kick-start our kitchen renovation! What we have here is an action-shot of Chris nutting out everything that needs doing in our pokey little hole of a kitchen. And let me tell you, that list is long. And painful. But so much better when accompanied by churros! Right???

What I Did 365 - Day 103

I'm going to let you in on a guilty pleasure of mine. Sometimes when I'm feeling stressed or little bit down in the dumps, I like to stroll around Tony Ale, a fresh produce store close to my office. Yes. I just admitted to that. It's just so uplifting - everywhere I turn, there are stacks of glorious, fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables. I'm always guaranteed to come across at least one fruit or vegetable I've never even heard of. They also have an on-site deli, butcher and bakery. They have a wall of gourmet cheeses. They're the only place in Perth that I've found to stock juniper berries. This place is a foodie's heaven. If I could have any non-existent job in the world, I would like to invent fruit and vegetables! The colours, the smells, the textures (have you ever squeezed a fig???!) and the TASTES. I could talk about fresh produce for hours because I'm a dork. But you can see why Tony Ale is my pick-me-up! Oh-so-happy sigh...

What I Did 365 - Day 102

OK, I need to take a moment to gush (as I so often do!) I purchased a couple of self-birthday presents back around the time of my birthday, and on Day 102 (a Monday) my purchase from The Honeycomb arrived -and if I'm going to be honest, these items were my most anticipated!!! I got this floral comb on sale (pictured), and also the most stunning, fairy tale-esque clip I've ever seen in my life. I can't speak highly enough of these two items, and this shop in general. Just stunning stuff. Very good quality, and so. freaking. pretty. I've always loved wearing flowers in my hair. I'm already looking forward to the next special occasion when I can justify making another purchase!

What I Did 365 - Day 101

I know what you're thinking. Klara is trying to use another adorable stray kitten photo that she clearly took last week. It's only natural that you would think that - after all, who comes into contact with 2 batches of sweet stray kitties, 2 weekends in a row? Well, apparently I do. During our weekly Sunday Paradox gathering, one of the girls heard some strange noises coming from behind the building. She investigated, and found 5 tiny little baby kittens, dehydrated and lethargic in the scorching sun. They were so tiny and young - the girls were filling latex gloves with milk and water (vet's suggestion) and cutting little holes in the fingers tips for the kitties to suckle. Poor sweet little things. My friends Aimee and Rachael took them home and cared for them amazingly, and then my Dad took them to the shelter - the best place for them.

What I Did 365 - Day 100

Family night in Subiaco!!! On this particular Saturday night, Chris was flexing his mixing muscle at the Subiaco Hotel where he mixes two bands at once. Impressive right?! I went to Grill'd with my parents, sisters and Julius and we ate delicious burgers. It was a freaking hot, horrible night and we wanted to visit Chris later that evening, so to kill time my sisters, Julius and I hit up San Churro for cold, cold drinks. Then we braved the humid, horrible Subiaco Hotel for about 10 minutes, where we watched Chris sweat and prep things for sound check. Poor Chris. I felt sorry for him, but not sorry enough to stay any longer for moral support. And thus ended our night out. I can't wait for Summer to be over. It bites.

What I Did 365 - Day 99

Rawrrrrr. We are savage bears! Welcome to an insight into ladies' night. When we get together as a trio, we like to disguise ourselves as bears and terrorise the neighbourhood with our sharp teeth and feisty glares. Our meal of choice for an evening such as this is delicious sang choy bau, and we like to relax in front of the TV with a plate of Kit Kat slice to come down off our reign of terror. It's not easy being a trio of bears.

What I Did 365 - Day 98

I LOVE eating dinner at my parents' place. My Mum's cooking is very much comfort food to me - it's the delicious, familiar cooking that I grew up eating, and try as I might I can't quite capture the same taste in my own kitchen when I'm trying to replicate her meals. Day 98 was a delicious BBQ dinner at my parents', in which every stop was pulled out - there was lamb, patties, chicken, 2 different salads, rolls, grilled onions, sausages, cheesey layered potato... Yeah, wow. Chris and Hannah's boyfriend Julius did the honours of cooking the meat (and they rocked it!) and then the only thing left to do was admire it, spread out on the table. Oh, and eat it. We all did plenty of eating.

What I Did 365 - Day 97

Ka-ching! Happy Australia Day! To be honest I have a love-hate relationship with Australia Day... in that I love Australia, but I hate the day that we put aside to celebrate it. For many Australians these days, it's traditionally the big old booze-up, because that's what Aussies do best apparently. Ick. For me it's really just a non-event. Maybe the fact that I was one of the only Australians at work on this public holiday contributes to my distaste. Anyway. I got home from work EXHAUSTED. I had plans to spend the evening chilling on the foreshore with my friends, but I couldn't summon the energy. Instead Chris and I celebrated Australia Day with grilled lamb skewers, naan bread and a bottle of Zibibbo. And were in bed by 9. Because we're the coolest couple in K-towwwwwn.

What I Did 365 - Day 96

Oh... Cuppy. You do look so silly after a shave, but it is so worth it. No more yucky knots to detangle/cut out, no more bad smells. On this particular Tuesday, Cupcake took a trip to the groomer's with his Uncle Leon (my family's dog). When I got home to find this scrawny, shaved little thing hopping around... I laughed. Lots. He's like a whole new dog! I get him done a couple of times over the Summer because the poor thing must get so hot with all that fluffy spoodle fur. And we always enjoy that first sighting of him, minus all of his fluffiness!

What I Did 365 - Day 95

Shivers... that's how days like this one make me feel! I woke on a Monday morning to find that the world was beautiful, dark and gloomy. Very out of character for Summer! Despite the threat of rain, I was inspired to get up early and trek out to the foreshore (I've really neglected my beautiful foreshore lately) to enjoy the calm before work. By some miracle, the pattering of rain didn't start up until I had climbed back into my warm car and started the journey home. This day lifted my mood considerably. It was such a special treat having such a grey, gloomy day in the midst of all this horrific Summer heat. So very glad that Summer's nearly over!!

What I Did 365 - Day 94

This lovely picture makes me gush every time I'm flipping through the photos on my phone :) I LOVE these girls. They're my favourites, and aren't they beautiful? On this particular occasion (Day 94, a couple of weeks ago now. Ahem.) we were spending an afternoon in Fremantle - lunch at Xwray (yummy nachos!) and then coffee at Hush (our signature coffee place, tehehe). The friendship I share with these girls is amazing. We always have a blast together, we're totally honest with each other, and get us hopped up on a good coffee and you won't be able to stop us talking for a loooong while!!! At my age, not every girl is blessed with an amazing best friend. But I'm blessed with TWO amazing best friends and that's something I never, ever want to take for granted. Life is so much sweeter because of them!

What I Did 365 - Day 93

It's not every day that your sister finds a bunch of kitties dumped on the side of the road, but that's exactly what happened a couple of Saturdays ago! I couldn't believe anyone could be so heartless to leave them there on the road. Poor babies. Chris and I found ourselves facing the very hard decision of whether or not to keep a couple, and we came frighteningly close to bringing home the little dude above, and his little champagne-coloured sister. So beautiful! But we resisted with great strength (and the knowledge that we had 2 boys at home that would happily eat them!) and let my Dad take them to the shelter. Sigh. I really hope they've found amazing homes now.

What I Did 365 - Day 92

OK, if you don't adore dogs, probably block your ears right about now. Lately, Chris and I have been letting our boys come play with us on the bed in the morning before we get ready for work. Dog and Cupcake are psyched every time! Seeing them having a blast makes things so much fun for us! My favourite little trick is getting up before Chris and surprising him with two insane dogs leaping up onto the bed and slobbering all over him before he's even been able to come to his senses... Tehehe. Such fun. What would our lives be without these two mischief makers???

What I Did 365 - Day 91

Ach. There are some days where I'm pretty proud of my iPhone's photo-taking abilities, and some days where I cringe and go "Why would I put this on my blog?" And yet here we are with a really ghastly representation of the highlight of Day 91 (and many other days, for that matter!) How I Met Your Mother is our lazy-bones pleasure. We've watched every season soooo many times, and yet it never grows old on us. It's like a blanket of fun AND comfort at the same time. If I ever moved to New York, I would want these people as my friends. Some weeks just get so crazy that when we get a night off to ourselves, we go into a state of total ecstatic-ness at the thought of feasting up on comfort food and watching this, our very favourite show. Happy sigh.

What I Did 365 - Day 90

I'm naming this one "Documentation of a Broken Fork". I think this picture will help plastic utensil companies understand the needs of their steak-eating customers. We were at the usual Paradox Wednesday night BBQ and everything was going great - until, cutting into a tender piece of steak... this happened. Let's just say all hell broke loose and the night was ruined. Obviously. I know that the big question everyone's dying to ask is "Did you still use the fork?" Yes I did. It was difficult but oddly worth it.

What I Did 365 - Day 89

Two food posts in a row! But this is justified. Freshly brewed iced coffee (using my mad Guatemalan coffee beans), a delicious sweet mango bought from the markets, and fresh bread with crunchy peanut butter. Now that's a great start to the day! Filling, but very great. As I'm posting this, I'm actually procrastinating on making today's breakfast. I'd much rather just pull this out of the screen!!

What I Did 365 - Day 88

Ahem. So this is the problem with falling behind on blogging, but still taking a picture every day - you can't be exactly certain why you thought it was a great idea to photograph a plate of cucumber and crackers almost 3 weeks ago. I mean, it's a tasty snack, but was this the highlight of my day? Or did something else really great happen that I just forgot to photograph? Oh well, cucumber it is! This was a delicious after-work snack and perhaps I was just so deliriously hungry that my need to document it made sense at the time. Ah well. Yum. If you don't like cucumbers, you're missing out!

What I Did 365 - Day 87

After all the gorgeous food I've been posting about lately, this is a bit hideous. But it symbolises our return to normalcy! Sunday was a day of recuperating after our enormous week. We hit Paradox in the morning, had some down-time at home, and then headed to the shops for groceries. We shared a quick Indian lunch in the food court. So classy! It was such a nice feeling returning to our normal lifestyle though. We're definitely not designed to be big party animals!

What I Did 365 - Day 86

Saturday morning was my birthday sister breakfast!! I hadn't been able to see my sisters on my actual birthday so we planned a fun breakfast at Hush and a trip to the Fremantle Markets. I had such a good time with them. Hush is our favourite coffee shop. Their Belgian Mochas are like drinking a beautiful dream, and their breakfasts are a little bit different to the average coffee shop fare. Steph got a pretty standard breakfast of a ham and cheese croissant, but Hannah had brioche french toast with bananas, walnuts and maple syrup (heavenly!) and I had a spicy chorizo omelette with the crunchiest toast ever. So, so good. Packed full of insane food, we headed to the markets where I fell in love with the craziest, most colourful chandelier I've ever seen in my life (which Chris later authorised me to purchase! Ohmygoodnessjoy!)
In the afternoon I went to see Morning Glory with Kat and Hatti... loved it! It was such a sweet, fun movie. I hadn't been to see a chick flick in the longest time so it was a huge treat! Then we headed out to Zocalo's Mexican Restaurant where I pretty much had my mind blown! When we pulled up, my heart sank because it looked like a total dive. But stepping inside was like walking through the doors of an adorable little Mexican cantina. So cute and colourful!

The staff were all lovely, and the food... Mexican perfection! When we first arrived it was dead quiet, but we soon learnt that every table had been booked for the evening, as gobs of people poured in. I already can't wait to go back there!!!

What I Did 365 - Day 85

Happy birthday to me!!! Last Friday was my birthday! I've been dying to get around to posting these pictures. The day was PERFECT. For the last couple of years I've taken the day of my birthday off work, and planned myself the most epic of days - it's my birthday, why not?! The day started with Chris stepping outside and bringing in a container filled with the most beautiful red velvet cupcakes - a surprise left for me by my oh-so-amazing Kat!!!! And I'm kicking myself that I didn't think to take pictures, because they were adorable (not to mention DELICIOUS).
We got ready for a morning out, and trekked out to Steel Tree on the foreshore for birthday breakfast.

OK, total rockstar right???

Birthday breakfast couldn't have been more perfect!! Choc chip pancakes, hash browns, icecream, syrup, cappucino, orange juice... Yummy! Yummy!
After breakfast we strolled over to the thrift store. I was hoping to find an amazing piece of furniture - we did find one lovely cupboard but resisted because it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.
We headed home for a rest and a couple of episodes of How I Met Your Mother - greatest show ever written! Then it was off to the movies to see Mega Mind. Verdict? WE LOVED IT. It may have been intended as an animated kids' film, and we may have been surrounded by primary schoolers and their Mums, but it was classic Will Ferrell and who in our family could resist that??
After a quick nap at home, my parents dropped by and took us out for dinner. I'm semi-embarrassed to admit that we actually went back to Steel Tree, but this time the one in Baldivis. Blush. Yes, I did say a few posts back that we're obsessed with that place. It was such a joy to introduce my parents to the amazing-ness of Steel Tree... we started with the totally perfect arancini, and from there things only got better and better!

 Arancini... just looking at this makes me drool!

My very special Dad :)

My super amazing Mum!

The picture right at the top (the official 365 photo) is me enjoying my birthday dessert - icecream sundae! To wrap things up, my birthday was just perfect. I was a happy happy girl all day. And now I'm 25... yeesh.