First day of annual leave!

My fear of being idle leads me to run myself in circles and become exhausted, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  When I was told I would need to take 4 weeks off I freaked out.  I can barely handle a weekend with nothing to do, how would I handle 4 whole weeks?

Obviously the first thing I did was start to create a list of things to do during my time off:

I allowed myself a sleep-in til 9:20am this morning and started the day with a cup of T2 Melbourne Breakfast tea:

PS how fitting/awesome is my mug??

I started ticking things off my To-Do list.  The first thing I did was a trip to Aldi/Coles to stock up on stuff my kitchen has been needing for a few weeks.  When I was at Westfield, I came across the Cake Decorating Society of NSW Christmas Cakes and took a few snaps of my faves:

You can't tell from the photo but the red cake was taller at the back than the front (reminded me of the base of a topsy turvy cake).  The bottom left cake looked like it was a cross-stitch Santa on the top but upon closer inspection, it wasn't cross-stitch.  Couldn't work out exactly what it was but it looked fab.  I like the bottom right cake because it's so Aussie - playing cricket, wearing sunnies whilst sunbaking.

On my trip home I managed to drive into the back of a woman.  Of course she drives in Audi.  Great.  Bye bye $650 excess.  Last thing I need when I'm off work for 4 weeks and already spending a lot because of Christmas but oh well, lesson learnt.

Came home and made myself a yummy sandwich (rare roast beef, cucumber, truss tomatoes and spinach with real egg mayo) before attempting to make my Rhubarb Gingerbread Sponge Pudding (I'll share the recipe tomorrow):

I spent the next few hours setting up the Christmas tree, wrapping pressies and making gift tags.  I'm not 100% finished yet so I won't show you what it looks like... just yet!

Now it's 4pm and I need to go to my Chiro before heading to my parents to help them host a dinner party (this is where the Rhubarb Gingerbread Sponge Pudding comes in).

Chat later!!

T2 Tea Society and a colourful outfit

T2 has a Tea Society which is free to join, and you get a cool card like this:

You accumulate points every time you make a purchase much like fly buys.  There are different tiers of membership based on how much you spend - I'm on the most basic one because I only just signed up.  Periodically they hold VIP events at one of their stores in NSW, VIC and QLD (I think the other states miss out unfortunately).

I went to 'a must-do Spring Thing' this morning at the QVB store at SEVEN THIRTY AM.  Well.... being the morning person I'm NOT, I rocked up closer to 8...  which is already an accomplishment in itself, trust me.

There was a demonstration on making iced tea with various teas and fruits, and she answered questions people had.  After the demonstration you could roam around eating some yummy scones with T2 jams and honey, and there were also fruit platters.  There were pitchers of various types of iced tea around, and there was even a pot of hot tea with milk for people like me who need a morning hit of caffeine.

There was an abundance of helpful staff around, pouring tea and answering any questions you had. 

I bought a tea strainer as my current one I also got from T2 is made of this rubbery thing and is a bit of a pain in the you know what to use and clean.  On the advice of one of the staff I bought this one:

No fuss she says.  I hope so.

After I made my purchase, they handed me another bag full of goodies.

The goodie bag contained more than I had bought!

Thanks T2!

On a fashion-related note, I'm accidentally matching the T2 orange today.

Asos linen 3/4 sleeve orange blazer, Supre white frill tank, Nudie Tight Long Johns in Flat Blue, Christian Louboutin Numero Prive in Jade Patent

Colourful accessories day:  Rimmel 60 Seconds in Funtime Fuchsia, yellow diamond cocktail ring (not real yellow diamond haha I wish!), Louboutin No Prives, Mimco bow acetate cuff, T&Co midnight titanium band

I'm VERY colourful today.  I think I'm trying to compensate for yesterday being such an awful day (incompetent people, lazy people, food poisoning, bleurgh).

Going for drinks tonight at Ambar at MLC Centre, and then watching Taken 2 on Extreme Screen at Chatswood later.

Are you having a fun Friday?  What have you got planned?