Sydney.

Yesterday started like every other Monday morning.  Snoozed my alarm as many times as possible before dragging myself out of bed, slapping on some makeup and having a mandatory morning coffee before the work day started.

My work day didn't last long.  At 9:50am my company sent out a mass email saying there was a threat at Martin Place and not to leave the building.  We all heard it was an armed holdup at a cafe and I continued working, not thinking too much of it.  In the next 10 minutes the facts started rolling in - guy with a shotgun... Lindt cafe... links to terrorism.

My colleague in my small team of 7 has a friend whose son works at Lindt.... But what are the odds that he is rostered on right now?  Well apparently higher than we all thought.  It is absolutely gut-wrenching to see your colleague so worried about his friend not being able to contact his son (who was one of the 7 that ran out of the cafe at 2am).

We abandoned our desks and seated ourselves in front of the tv at work.  It was so surreal watching the footage on television - seeing police cars speed past the camera and hearing that same police car siren with your own ears.

I was one block away from the Lindt cafe.  Tom was right next to the Channel 7 building and opposite the Lindt cafe, watching it all unfold.  My Mum works around the corner from Tom.  For the first time since I left a poverty-stricken, violent 3rd world country 17 years ago, I feared for my life.  Genuinely feared for my life.  I haven't felt the same levels of stress and anxiety in a long time.

They decided to evacuate Tom's building so he decided to try to get home.  My building was still in lockdown but I walked out to join Tom.  I definitely didn't want to be separated from him when we were in such close proximity.  Some (ok many) people thought it was stupid to catch public transport during such a situation.  In retrospect it was actually a good decision as we managed to catch one of the last trains going north before the shut down the harbour bridge.  A few colleagues of mine/Tom's were too slow and ended up getting a water taxi to get north of the bridge.

Walking to Wynyard station was so eery.  Shops were all closed and boarded up.  There were very few people walking the streets (mainly tourists who had no idea what was going on).  I did see the police handcuff and arrest the man who was apparently in possession of a gun (but unrelated to the siege).

The 3-minute train trip home never felt longer.  I kept willing the train to arrive safely and I almost ran from the station as I just wanted to be in the relative safety of my home.  I sat glued to the telly for the rest of the day.  Facebook messages, whatsapp messages and emails came in from worried friends and family in the US and UK.  They kept saying they half expect something like that to happen in their country but never in Australia.  At 12:30am after 12 hours of television-watching, I couldn't watch anymore and decided to go to bed, dreading what I would wake up to.

At 4am I jolted awake.  I never wake up mid-sleep.  Never ever.  But this morning I did.  Scrolled through facebook and I immediately sank.  I tried to read as much as possible from facebook and twitter but knew there was no way I could go back to bed without watching footage on the telly.  And then as soon as I switched the tv on I couldn't tear myself away.  Suddenly it was 8am and I had to get ready for work.  I felt like I had only gotten ready for work 12 hours before.

A minor positive about the day was my colleague's friend's son was safe.  Otherwise just a wretched wretched day.  I struggled to concentrate.  Walking through Martin Place and seeing the flowers, the masses of people there to pay respects, most of them crying, strangers embracing, was definitely not a sight I will forget.

Please give your loved ones a cuddle and tell them how much they mean to you.  Today is such a sad, sad day in Australia's history but we have had some small victories (#illwalkwithyou) and I know Sydney will heal in time.

Hoarding.

I hadn't intended to take such a long break from this place but lately found myself insanely busy with work (mainly), wedding plans, honeymoon plans, house hunting (yes, back to that).  Over the past month I also decided to undertake what I thought would be a mammoth task - and it was, except I had the help and support of my sisters who made this task a lot easier.

I decided to clear out my parents house.

That sentence probably doesn't live up to the drama surrounding it unless you know that MY MUM IS AN OBSCENE HOARDER.

No I don't watch that show The Hoarders because frankly, I feel it would be too real for me and that scares me.

Here are a few of the many things that confirm my Mum's hoarder status:

1. She still has some plastic bags that she brought with her when we moved to Sydney from Papua New Guinea SEVENTEEN years ago.
2. My whole family is on the short side and always have to take our jeans/pants up.  Mum has kept seventeen years worth of jeans/pants cut-offs
3. She has spools of brand new cotton thread that just snap in half because they are so old
4. Her kettle broke so I bought her a new kettle.  She put the new kettle out and put the old (broken) kettle in the garage in case the new kettle breaks and she needs a replacement.... even though the old kettle is broken!
5. She saves sweet and sour sauce packets from Maccas
6. She keeps those moist towelettes from fast food chains even though they have completely dried up
7. I found 20 sports uniforms from when I was in primary school.  They were hand-me-downs from my cousin and were already out of date by the time I was in primary school
8. While cleaning up the study my sister found a leaf.  A single leaf, flattened and dried and placed into a ziplock bag.  A leaf.
9. When I told her I had managed to condense all 3 drawers of the filing cabinet in the garage down to one drawer her response was, "What filing cabinet?"  If you don't know you have it, sure I can chuck it out???

We must've thrown out about 20 garbage bags of rubbish (thankyou to the council for taking it all instead of taking the 1.5 cubic metre you are obliged to take).  Additionally we have electronic rubbish which we are disposing of this weekend (my parents house has 7 computer monitors!).

I have no photos to show the cleaning out a 7 bedroom house of 17 years worth of accumulated crap so you'll just have to take my word for it that it's impressive!!

Do you know a hoarder?

theoutnet clearance sale

The website is a bit temperamental as I'm sure loads of people are trying to nab some bargains but persistence pays off!

Elle Macpherson Lush Bloom bra £5

Elle Macpherson Duo bra £6

Missoni crochet knit scarf £31

Iris and Ink zigzag sweatshirt £16

Theory striped skirt £35

Vince silk crepe top £35

Iris and Ink Color Block merino wool jumper £45 

Helmut Lang Motion leather trim dress

Good luck!!

The curse of Asian eyelashes

There are infants..... male infants... who have longer lashes than me.  That is an absolute true story.  I have the curse of Asian eyelashes - short, stumpy and very very sparse.  On a section (about 1/3) of my left eyelash line I literally have 2 lone lashes.

I've tried many different mascaras and I haven't yet found my holy grail, just using a Clinique one as that's the one I most recently bought.  When Priceline announced their 40% cosmetics sale I thought I'd dig around for another lengthening mascara.

I came across this Mirenesse Instant Lash Transplant Lengthening Kit.  My Mum introduced me to Mirenesse a few years ago and I loved their mascara and lip gloss.  For some reason over the years I'd forgotten about them but when I saw the Lash Transplant product I knew I had to try it.

Step 1 is what they call transplant gel which to me looks like mascara.

Step 2 is the white fibres that attach to the transplant gel.

(sorry for the shocking photo but you get a general idea)...

Then you use the transplant gel again to make the white fibres black.

Step 3 is to comb out the lashes.

And voila!

I had some questions on Instagram....

Are they extensions?  Hehe no

How does it feel on?  I could definitely 'feel' it on my lashes but it didn't bother me throughout the day.  I have particularly sensitive eyes though (hence not being able to put contacts in) and by night time I felt like I was ready to take them off.  No need for makeup remover, just water was enough to wash them out - another plus.

Where can I buy this miracle worker? Jas they're an Aussie brand so I don't think you can get it in London.  Maybe you can get a friend to send you a care package from Aus?  Or I can do it if you want?

How does it compare to Chanel Le Volume? Actually never tried Chanel Deb, sorry :(  It's better than any lengthening mascara I've tried though, from Clinique to Maybelline to Estee Lauder.

What's it like on the transfer front?  No transfer that I noticed Q :)

NB: not a sponsored post, just a great product.

Head & Heart

Helen and Teresa have been posting these Head&Heart posts and I've just never gotten round to doing it for one reason or another.... til today.

What I've been grateful for ~

An amazing and happy work environment for the first time in almost 4 years!  I have an incredibly supportive Manager and a great team who I enjoy working with.  I'm being appropriately recognised and feel like an integral member of the team.  Plus, they give me cake.

Also grateful for my best friend who is amazing and makes me not need a huge group of female friends because she is all I need.

What I've been thinking about~

Pop.  RIP.

What I'm excited for~

BALI!  Man this trip will creep up on me.  Strangely not terribly excited for Christmas and NYE at the moment, although I'm sure I'll get there once the public Christmas trees start going up.

Also excited for Jan when I start a new role as Team Lead for my team.  I think I'm up for the challenge.

What I've been doing!

Actually going to the gym on a regular basis and enjoying it.  I wasn't able to go all week til Friday and when I got in I did a double session.  It's helping me take my mind off work for a bit of time while I increase my fitness levels and I actually feel great afterwards (I know most people feel great whilst/after they exercise but I never have.... weird)

What I wore this week

Monday:

Asos dress, Sheike belt, Michael Kors Sutton bag, Louboutin Love Me

Tuesday:

Forever New skirt, Diane von Furstenberg blouse, Louboutin Love Me, T&Co necklace

 Wednesday:

Walter Baker silk blouse, Karl Lagerfield pants, Oroton watch, Chanel necklace, Louboutin Love Me

Thursday:

Diane von Furstenberg blouse, Asos skirt, Louboutin Corneille

 Friday:

Asos dress, Ferragamo belt, Diva necklace, Mimco cuff, Louboutin Bianca

Saturday:
Ratty shorts and a tee as I went over to my parents to help them clean out/de-clutter the garage.  Not selfie worthy.

Sunday:

The Loft Petites top, Nudie jeans, Seed Heritage booties, Michael Kors Sutton, Kookai leather jacket, Lovisa necklace

7 weeks til Christmas people!!

Where has the time FLOWN??

This year has just zipped past for me.  If I think back to this time last year....

• I was in a different job at a different company in a different industry, dealing with a grossly incompetent and sexist Manager.  Thank god I got out of that one quick stat
• I've changed jobs twice since then and today I absolutely love my job and my team and my current contract will take me through to my wedding next year
• I had just returned from South America where I saw my cousin marry her Argentinian fiance, and going to house inspections trying to find a new place to live after our landlord gave us notice that they were trying to sell the apartment
• I obtained my Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and declared I would never participate in any further post-grad study.  This still stands.
• I wasn't yet engaged and was not organising a wedding + honeymoon and had a LOT more free time
• I was lamenting about the fact that I don't exercise (actually that's not specific to this time last year but more a general statement) and I am actually proud to say that in addition to walking to work a few times a week (3.5km) I have joined a gym and doing Pilates/Pump/Boxing regularly.  I explored bikram yoga a few times but stopped that due to hypermobility.

What were you doing 12 months ago?

Oh I forgot to mention Christmas.  I feel like Christmas this year will be dealt with the week before.  I really don't have as much free time as I would have liked as I usually like to be organised for Christmas.  Luckily I am off work from 22nd Dec so there will be a lot of last-minute planning/shopping in the few days before Christmas.

Also, I am leaving for Bali on 2nd Jan so I really need to get my butt into gear and organise myself for that.  I don't even want to talk about the fact that I paid $900 for flights to Bali which were on sale for $120 a few days ago for the same flight dates.  

What are your Christmas plans?

Glasses vs contacts vs Lasik

I'm short-sighted and have been wearing glasses since highschool.  In preparation for the wedding I decided I would try contacts (who wants to wear glasses, walking down the aisle in a beautiful wedding gown?).  I had attempted to wear contacts many many years ago when my sisters started wearing them but I just could not stick my finger in my eye - can't do it.

This time I thought I'd be a bit more mature about it, watched some youtube videos and had my Mum on hand to give me advice.  10 minutes later I was just able to touch my eyeball with my finger but the damn contact wouldn't leave the finger and attach itself to my eye.  Every time I attempted to place the contact in and upon pulling my finger away discovered the contact was still on my finger.

I tried again a few weeks later.  It wasn't any better, still couldn't get it on.  Then I spoke to my Uncle who suggested I go to the Optometrist and get him to put it in so I can feel what it feels like on the eyeball.  He said it feels like sand initially (?!) but you get used to it.  I can barely handle when I feel like I have an eyelash on my eyeball, I really don't think I can handle contacts.

So I started considering laser eye surgery.  It's a quick surgery and hopefully little to no ongoing maintenance, however there is a risk.

Has anyone had laser eye surgery and what was your experience?

Wedding colour scheme inspiration board

I created an inspiration board for my wedding using our chosen wedding colours - mainly navy and silver with a splash of fuchsia.

Another day, another (few) parcels.....

Honestly I need to cut back on the excessive shopping.  I go through peaks and troughs (peaks more than troughs, let's be honest) and right now I'm peaking.  It's terrible.  I have no self-control.  But at least I'm picking up bargains.... right?  Right??

Ozsale had One Teaspoon and Cheap Monday sales recently so I grabbed a few things:

One Teaspoon silk shirt (in black, not mink) - $30
One Teaspoon tux shirt (with a black bib, not grey) - $30
Cheap Monday Second Skin jeans - $35
Cheap Monday jeans in Dark Clean wash - $10

Then I found the outnet sale - extra 30% off!

Ash suede wedge sneakers - I'm going to attempt a DIY black dye job - USD$103

Image via theoutnet.com

Bloch two-tone ballet flats - USD$63

Image via theoutnet.com

Walter Baker silk shirt - USD$70

Image via theoutnet.com

Elle MacPherson red lace bra - USD22

Image via theoutnet.com

There's plenty more where that came from - I just can't recall all my shopping expeditions right now!

Parking signs

A few years ago I instagrammed this photo of a parking sign in North Sydney.

Ridiculous.  

I'm glad to read about the proposal to make parking signs graphic to make it easier to read:

Image via smh.com.au

What do you think about this?  Would you prefer the graphical signs or do our existing signs not bother you?

PS - does it annoy anyone else that the graphic computer-generated sign doesn't match the parking restrictions in the photo??  No?  Just me?.....

Tuna nicoise salad with oozy egg

I make this salad at least once a fortnight.  Tom is sick of it but I still love it so I keep making it.

I can't remember which recipe I started off using but I've modified it along the way to the point where I've perfected it now.

Ingredients:

• 2 baby cos lettuce
• 1 punnet (250g) grape or cherry tomatoes
• handful green beans
• 700g potatoes, quartered or smaller (I just use whatever potatoes I have in the pantry or whatever I buy from the supermarket.  I have no idea if they are the right ones to use or not but I've never had it taste bad based on potato choice)
• 425g can of tuna in olive oil
• 4 fresh* eggs
• about... 10 olives flattened and finely diced
  
  * use fresh eggs because old eggs take about 10 times longer to de-shell and will frustrate the crap out of you

Dressing:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Red wine vinegar/white wine vinegar/apple cider vinegar/balsamic vinegar
• Wholegrain/sweet wholegrain/dijon mustard
• Salt and sugar

Ok I got yelled at by my sister for putting whole eggs in the same pot as potatoes and beans, but I've never gotten sick from it so is it really that bad (if it is, please let me know!)

So I'm super lazy and will streamline dinner making wherever possible.  So I: 

1. chuck potatoes into boiling water for 6 mins
2. then I add the beans and eggs to the pot for 4 mins
3. then strain potatoes and beans, adding them to the salad bowl.  Run eggs under cold water and then de-shell

You can, more sensibly, put potatoes and beans in one pot and eggs in another pot but if you do this reduce the egg cooking time to 3 mins.

While the pot is boiling away, prepare the ingredients highlighted in italic above.  When everything is in the salad bowl (excluding eggs), dress the salad.  The last thing I do is add the egg to the centre of each plate (1 egg per plate) and pierce it so the egg runs.  Then I add a tiny pinch of salt to the egg itself (OCD but makes it taste SO much better).

This recipe makes enough for Tom and I for dinner plus a lunch for me but Tom eats HEAPS so it would probably be enough for 4 people for dinner.  If it's not quite enough just add more potatoes/beans.

Oh one last thing - the cooking times noted will need to be adjusted based on how large the pieces of potato are and the volume of potatoes.  And with the dressing - I change up the vinegar/mustard combination depending on what I feel like so just do whatever.  One of my faves is mixing red wine vinegar with balsamic.

OH sorry another thing - I did also try this recipe with tuna steaks but it didn't taste anywhere near as good so stick to the canned stuff!

Enjoy!

Becoming a bag lady

I don't know what's happened lately but I've found myself buying bags recently.

I used to be content with the one everyday bag and one or two clutches but suddenly I have I think 10 bags?  What's going on?

I've added another Longchamp to my collection and purchased my first Michael Kors.

Longchamp Planetes medium in black:

Image sourced from Nordstrom

Michael Kors Sutton medium in Dark Khaki (so weird that Americans consider this to be khaki when us Aussies think of the light forest green as khaki):

Image sourced from Avenue K

Have you purchased any bags lately?  What did you get?

Missoni for Target

The Target website was down for the greater part of the release day last week and after refreshing my browser a few times, I forgot about it.  Then I was at Westfield Chatswood on the weekend and popped into Target to peruse the goods.  I don't think the products are as nice in person as photos online show them to be.

Unfortunately the womens clothes in-store had nothing smaller than a size 12 or girls clothes had nothing larger than a 9 (for reference I am a womens 4-6 and a girls 10-12) so I decided to order online.

Girls Harem pants

Photo courtesy of Target.com.au

Womens silk maxi dress

Photo courtesy of Target.com.au

Tea towels

Photo courtesy of Target.com.au

And I wanted to grab this baby blanket as well but.. well..... I have no baby.... kinda difficult to justifty...

Photo courtesy of Target.com.au

Accidental hiatus

It seems I took an accidental hiatus from blogging while my life has been a continuous cycle of work > sleep > work > sleep > see friends/family > sleep.

Each work day consists of back-to-back meetings unless I can duck out to see the chiro/physio/odd gym class.  Some work days don't end til 11pm :S

I'm also organising wedding stuff in any down time I have as well as planning a last-minute trip to Bali with my sister.

Just want to pop in and say Hello I'm still alive.  I will hopefully be back to tell you more about the things that have been keeping me busy!

Bright Pink Lipstick Day

I've had 3 of 4 grandparents pass away.  Both my maternal grandparents passed away from cancer when I was very young.  I actually have no memories of my grandfather as he passed away when I was only a few months old; sadly he never met any of my younger sisters.

Today Pink Hope is encouraging us to wear bright pink lipstick to raise awareness, and encouraging us all to Kiss and Tell.

As horrendous as this is, I actually didn't know what types of cancer affected my grandparents.  So I texted my Mum this morning and asked her.  Apparently my grandfather passed away at 70 from prostate cancer and my grandmother at 65 (only 5 years older than my Mum is currently!) from colon cancer.  Needless to say, my Mum gets tested regularly as she is relatively high risk.

My paternal grandfather also passed away a few years ago from pneumonia and heart problems/complications.  My father's side of the family certainly has a history of heart problems, with my uncle and great-uncle passing away from heart attacks.

It's so important to understand your family's medical history so you know what types of things to be wary of.

Kiss and Tell is something everyone can do for their own benefit.

Donating is something you can do for the benefit of women's health research.  You can donate via sms below, or transfer funds into their bank account (details on their website) or fundraise.

NB this is not a sponsored post but a great cause.

Chanel Timeless CC soft

I went into Chanel a few months ago to buy a pair of earrings and fell in love with this bag.  Price tag: $4500. Ugh.

I walked out with just the earrings but couldn't stop thinking about the bag.  Then a few months later it popped up on ebay with a local Aussie seller (therefore no $1000 goods tax).  It was a sign.  A few days later it arrived in my hot little hands and I couldn't contain myself.

Here she is....

Black caviar with silver hardware.  Matches (almost) my wallet which is black caviar with gold hardware.

What I love about this bag is that the chain isn't the normal thick Chanel chain, making it lighter and therefore easier to carry.  It also has many compartments unlike the flap which is just one big compartment.

Even though I wanted it as a work bag, it's actually quite versatile and I've worn it out more times than I've taken it to work!

This is how crazy Sydney weather has been.  The 2 pics above were taken a few days apart!

Health Kick

I'm not one of those "let's get healthy" people.  I don't make new years resolutions.  I also believe in moderation and so have never put myself on a diet.

But lately my body has been in pretty bad shape.

I'm having constant (every hour of every day) neck, shoulder and back pain.  My headaches are coming back (had a headache for half of last week) and my period pain has come back with a vengeance (TMI?).  I'm even getting said period pain not when I have my period.  Cool.

Seriously, I'm 28.  If I'm having these physical issues NOW, what on earth is going to happen when I'm 35 and pregnant?  Or when I'm 70?  Just the thought of it scares me.

SO.  What am I doing about it?

1. Started seeing a physio and being diligent about doing my home exercises
2. Will also start doing Pilates with my physio (due to my hypermobility - more on that later)
3. Joined the gym today!  Yet to walk inside the gym though.... 
4. Drinking my recommended 1.4L of water a day (apparently that's what I need to drink for my weight)
5. Eating healthy - have always been reasonably healthy so not a great deal of change there
6. If I do need a mid-arvo snack, I've stocked my desk with nuts or I'll reach for a piece of fruit
7. Go for a walk if I'm starting to seize up in my neck/shoulder/lower back

All these things are minor adjustments to my life so I'm more likely to stick with it.  I'm finally listening to my body and investing the time and money now.  Hopefully this will prevent longer term problems.

What kind things do you to for your body?

New Kid on the Block

Today I was the new kid on the block and started a new role in a different team.  I've come to realise and accept that I am just not the type of person that can do the same job day in day out for years on end.  For a long time I struggled with the expectation that job hopping is frowned upon and that stability and longevity are desirable traits when it comes to work experience.

As awful as it might sound, whilst I love learning about new things I also get bored quite quickly.  Once I feel like I have mastered something I lose interest very quickly and want to move onto the next thing.

An opportunity popped up in HR for a similar role to what I was doing so I jumped at the opportunity.  I had worked with the Hiring Manager before so I didn't even have to interview for the role!  So today began my new adventure into HR systems, and it started in a red Asos skirt from a few years ago.

It was sad to say goodbye to my old role but I felt I had gotten everything I could out of it.  One of my stakeholders on my last day sent me this lovely email:

It really made my day.  It made me feel like the midnight conference calls and all the weekends and public holidays spent in the office were worth it.

Here's to a good 9 months work-wise!

Adding more Mimco to my collection

I would never pay retail for Mimco.  RRP is not worth the quality of products, especially their bags and wallets.

However in the past 2 weeks I've acquired 2 new Mimco bags.  Both were on sale (of course) and the sling bag I bought for almost 70% off!

I've needed a laptop bag ever since I started fulltime work (some 8 years ago).  I had been known to carry my laptop around in a Sheike shopping bag (yep those thin cardboard bags) or in my hands (not good when you are juggling your normal handbag + laptop + power supply + mouse + coffee).  I hate those bulky laptop bags work gives you and I find they add unnecessary weight.  This Mimco bag doesn't scream "I have a laptop in here please rob me" but has an inner padded section for your laptop.

I've also needed a sling bag since forever.  I had been eyeing this hip bag off but was certainly NOT going to pay $250 for it.

I punched some extra holes in it to shorten the strap and now it sits perfectly on my hip!

Have you made any new purchases recently?

MNG now shipping to Australia

Have a look.  Prices are a bit on the exxy side ($500 for most of their leather jackets) - I hope the quality is decent but I find Mango quality a bit hit and miss, which makes things difficult when you are buying online and cannot inspect the item beforehand.  Having said that, they have a 30-day return policy and for $5 they will come and pick up the item from you.  Pretty good!

There is a lot of paisley on the site and I know many people object to paisley.  I don't mind it myself, but everything in moderation, people!

This also applies to leopard:

Delivery is free for orders > $100 and they have a LOT of stock.  Might spend some time tonight going through it to see if there's anything worth buying.