Snow much fun

How awesome are my snowboard pants!

Winter is not my favourite season, I am a Summer girl. However one thing I love about Winter is a {short} trip to the snow. I don't go every year, although I wish I did, but thanks to my little brother and his organisation skills, I made it there this year. And I had a blast!

My brother made a booking for six people about three months ago, at a hotel in Jindabyne for a bargain price.  I love a bargain. One of his mates owns jindysnow.com so I got a great deal on snowboard and snow chain hire too!

We drove down from Sydney in the early hours of Saturday morning, and after a quick stop at Jindysnow to collect some gear and eat some brekky, we arrived at Thredbo shortly after the lifts opened.  My little brother is an experienced snowboarder, and I'm a beginner who hadn't been for three years, so he spent all morning giving me 'refresher lessons'.  He's a great teacher. He didn't let me get away with "I can't do it". He made me try, and try again. He was so helpful, and so patient with me. It was a long day, it was cold, and by the end I was exhausted... but I had an awesome day. It even snowed!

Sunday was considerably easier, mostly due to my practice the day before, and I'd had a decent night's sleep. But I still fell over a few times, including one total 'face plant' as I dismounted the Snowgums chairlift on a very steep exit ramp...  too steep if you ask me!

The weather was sensational - sunny, cold, with a light dusting of snow, and our accommodation was warm and comfortable. Despite the long drive, it was great to get away for a few days, and I enjoyed hanging out with my brother and his friends. By the time I arrived home on Monday night I was completely shattered, and I ached from head to toe.  But it was worth it, and we hope to do it again next year!

My bro and me

Thanks little brother, I had a blast!

Linking up with Jess and all the cool kids for IBOT!

New underwear, for the weekend

Last night I raced to the shops to purchase new underwear for my upcoming weekend away.  I wasn't going to, but when I looked at the forecast yesterday I decided I might need a little extra... umm... heat.

So here's my HAWT underwear - designed for added heat, from top to toe!

Fortunately, these ginormous gorgeous thermals will be demurely tucked away beneath this awesome outfit, and I'll be looking, and feeling, HAWT! all through the weekend,  despite these temperatures...

And the absolute BEST news is that we'll have fresh snow!  Which is always great because it softens the fall. And I fall. A lot.

Memory Joggers

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Three months ago I wrote this post.  It's only short, so jump back there and have a quick read. I'll wait...

Last night, quite randomly, I remembered who she was!

I'm not so much into science, or anatomy and stuff, so I won't claim to know too much about the human brain except to say that everyone has one. Although some get more use than others.

But the brain is a funny thing isn't it?  Three months ago I spent days trying to remember where I knew this lady from. Pathetic, I know. But you know when you know something but you just can't remember? You know how annoying it is that you Just. Can't. Stop. Thinking. About. It! Yeah, that.

Last night, as I walked back to my car after buying bread and milk at the local supermarket I walked past a car that was familiar to me. It's a not so common model, in an unusal colour, so it is noticeable. I'd even go so far as to say it is memorable. That's probably why I instantly remembered that a lady who was in my belly dancing class four years ago drove a car exactly like that. 

In the next second my brain made the connection... the lady who drove a car like that, who was in my belly dancing class, was the lady I saw in the shopping centre that day back in April! I knew that I knew her, and now I know where from. Finally.

And I laughed, all the way home.

Linking up with Jess and the cool kids for IBOT

Me and my Levi denim, we're going snowboarding!

I bet you didn't know that Levi's make snowboard jackets.  I didn't either, until I purchased one.  It's totally cool, I mean warm, as is the rest of my new snowboarding gear. 

Recently I discovered Polyvore, and while I'm so far from fashion conscious I could be considered fashion unconscious, I enjoyed playing in Polyvore and putting this little piece together. Mostly to show my new gear, and because it's so easy! 

The jacket I've pictured is just a Levi's denim, Polyvore didn't have the Levi's x 686® version in their item selection. Just imagine this one, with a hood. And it's waterproof.  Which is a bonus considering I fall down. A lot. Like every time I fall off gracefully exit the chairlift.

Which incidentally is also why I need a helmet.  Mine actually has pink trimming over the ears. And it has built in speakers so I can plug in my MP3 player or my phone. How. Cool. Is. That?

I'm heading to the snow in five and a half sleeps, and I can't wait!

Linking up with Maxabella and Kidspot for 52 Weeks of Grateful, because this week I'm grateful for new threads!

Dinner and Chinese Checkers

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Last night I was invited by friends to their house for dinner. I rarely decline a dinner (or lunch) invitation from this couple. Not only are they both trained chefs who can even make an exeptional meal out of sausages, they are great company. Incidently, I haven't invited them to dinner at my house but when I do, they will have to do the cooking!

Dinner was a French risotto with chicken and fennell, and brocolli on the side. Just something my friend whipped up while we stood in her kitchen chatting. I brought the wine. Like always, the food was fantastic. The wine was good too.

After dinner the man of the house brought out the Chinese Checkerboard. I hadn't played this game in years, so required a quick recap on the rules. In fact, it had been a long time since I'd sat after dinner and played a board game.  So long that I can't even remember the last time that happened.

No TV, no computers or techie gadgets. Just three adults and one child playing a competitive friendly game of Chinese Checkers.  It was good old fashioned fun.

Not surprisingly, I came second last... but at least I beat the kid!   Although I think we need a re-match, as that one was just practice.

When was the last time you played an 'old fashioned' board game?

Linking up with Grace and the gang for FYBF! Pop on over to see who else is playing.

How many adults does it take to assemble a bedside table?

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Last night Ben arrived home with a bedside table, of the 'ready to assemble' kind. My immediate thought was, "Here we go!... Tonight's entertainment."

My son is a sporty, muso, xbox-playing kind of a guy. He's not exactly a handyman, Mr Fix-it kind of a bloke.  That's usually my role. He doesn't even know where we I keep the tools, like screwdrivers and hammers and stuff.

Ben opens the flatpack, pulls out all the bits, glances over the one-page instructions and says, "Where's the English?" Umm...  this is the part where I point out to him that he purchased his new bedside from a cheap discount store. No, he didn't go to Ikea . I think the instructions were in Spanish.

So he was forced to rely on the diagrams, which weren't very helpful. At all.

Piece 1 looks almost exactly like piece 2, and pieces 3 - 5 are identical but in an upside down back to front sort of a way.  And then how does the door fit on?

Fortunately the {other} man in my life was there to lend a hand, and a cordless drill! So there we were, the three of us trying to work out which way was up, and which bits go where. A team-building exercise, of sorts.

I'm pleased to say we assembled that bedside table, without a Spanish interpreter and with no left over bits. And it hardly even wobbles.


Linking up with Jess and all the cool kids for I Blog on Tuesdays

Say what??

I awoke this morning to my current favourite song playing on the radio.  About an hour later I made it to my train, despite the train arriving 4 minutes early. I thought it was going to be a good day.

Not so.



First, an enquiry to a supplier that I am waiting on resulted in being advised of a production problem that won't be sorted until next week. I can't wait that long.

Next we experienced major service interruptions with our website and online service administration.  I cannot do 90% of the tasks that are on my desk to do. Not happy.

Then I realise it is Friday the 13th, and I am NOT superstitious. At all.  When I think about it, I've had a working week like this. Every day has brought it's share of problems challenges. So it isn't just today.

I've had enough this week. I really have.

But this response from our IT service provider, concerning the abovementioned service interruptions still made me laugh. I understood the first sentence and the last, but the rest may as well be in a foreign language!

"I am writing to let you know that everything with the system is back to normal.  Our primary Fiber feed started going in and out of service.  Our intelligent switching, would switch to our secondary, backup fiber connection, Then the primary would come back into service and the intelligent switching would switch back to the primary.  This process continued until we disabled the automatic switching to stay on the secondary fiber feed.  We will continue to utilize the secondary backup fiber feed until we are certain that the current service issue with the primary fiber feed has stabilized.  I am sorry for the inconvenience.  Have a good day."

TGIF, bring on wine time.

What languages do you speak?

30 Pages in 30 Days: Page 4 - 9

Hooray!  I'm still on track. Sort of. This little project of mine is still manageable for my self-imposed deadline anyway, and there's a weekend coming up.
Weekend = Catch Up Time!

If you are wondering what this is about, you can find out here.

So here are pages 4 - 9, laid out like 2 page spreads as they will appear in my finished book.

Page 4 - Goulburn - Chiltern	Page 5 - Wangaratta
Page 6 - Glenrowan - Lake Colac	Page 7- The Otway Fly
Oops!  A page is missing. Gremlins? I'm onto it!	Page 9 - The Great Ocean Rd

For those who have asked, I'm using Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Software, and Click & Fill pre-designed page templates. It's too easy... all I do is fill in the blanks with colour or photos.

What do you think?


This is not a sponsored post. I'm simply sharing the love, but once upon a time I used to work at CM. Just saying.

Wordless Wednesday: Sunday bike ride

I found a new app for my phone...  Photo Grid! It allows me to create a variety of collages with the photos on my phone, in seconds!

Linking up with Trish and the gang for Aussie Wordless Wednesday.

Use it or loose it

According to the weekend SMH, a review of expiry dates on gift vouchers & cards was conducted by the federal Treasury recently. The issue was consumer protection.

Apparently up to $2.5 billion is spent on gift cards annually, although according to Choice magazine up to half of these are not redeemed, or only partially redeemed, before the expiration date. That's a whole lot of money for nothing!

Reportedly, most gift cards in Australia have a 12 month validation period, although this isn't a minimum requirement.


In my experience, I have purchased and received gift vouchers & cards with varying validation periods. Generally anywhere between three months and two years!

I always use mine.

Personally I think 12 months is plenty of time in which to make a purchase, and I'm allergic to shopping! More than once I've found myself with weeks, or even days, to use a gift card before it expires and that deadline encourages me to get my ass to the store.

The individual in possession of a gift card or voucher receives a benefit from the associated credit only when it is redeemed. Not while it is sitting tucked away in a drawer or while they are carrying it around in their wallet.  Really, the shorter the timeframe to use it the quicker the benefit is enjoyed.  Besides if a gift card could be used over 5 years later, as is the requirement in the USA, the price of the goods at redemption is likely to be higher than they were when the card was purchased, making it worth less.  Make sense?

A gift card or voucher is a liability for the business that has yet to honour it. Essentially, they have received a pre-payment for goods they will need to supply. Eventually. The shorter the period that the business must carry the liability, the better. One would imagine. And that's not just because they know that nearly half aren't actually redeemed, meaning they received payment for goods they never have to supply,  it's also better for the consumer. At least in my opinion.

Where a deadline exists, action is encouraged. Surely that's true. When you know you need to do something by a certain date, you are more likely to do it.  And remember, the value is in the voucher redemption, not in the possession.

Now that reminds me, I have a 'soon to expire' Coles/Myer gift card with about $2.30 credit left on it.  Enough to by 2 litres of milk perhaps?

Do you have gift cards or vouchers in your wallet? What are you going to buy?

Linking up with Jess and all the cool kids for...

Grateful for a change of pace

Manly Peace Park

Yesterday I realised that this is my fourth post-study weekend. Yep! Four weekends with no study or assignments looming over my head.  I haven't experienced this in over a year, except during Christmas 'break' in Dec 2011. Although we all know Christmas isn't really a break - it's the busiest time of the year!

It's taken me almost four weeks to slow down, because I had a great deal to catch up on. My house was a disaster, my yard a mess (ok, well it still is a jungle of weeds but it is cold outside!) and I had friends to re-aquaint myself with, novels to finish and old newspapers to read recycle.

I feel like I've finally caught up with myself, at last. So much so that all my washing is clean (I have the sunshine to thank for that), fridge & pantry are stocked (it also helps that there is one less eating machine in my house these days) and I took today off. Entirely. I read the paper over coffee and poached eggs, before the{other} man in my life and I went for a glorious bike ride around Manly. We had no agenda, no time limit, nowhere else to be.  The sun was shining, it was perfect.

Although I really should have washed my car, but I'm saving that for next week!

Linking up with Maxabella over at Kidspot for 52 Weeks of Grateful

The post-blogopolis post



Welcome lollies from the lovely Denyse!

Everyone is doing it. It seems like that anyway.  At least everyone who was there. That's a lot of post-event babble, even for a bunch of bloggers.

Last Saturday I attended Blogopolis, my very first blogging conference. Probably not to be my last. I still have heaps to learn.

I've been blogging for under two years, so I'm still pretty new at it. I often feel like I don't know what I am doing, how I'm going to do it or what my next post will be.  I'm not so great at planning content, although I often have some great dialogue going on in my head. If only I could get someone to transcribe it for me.

Anyways... back to Blogopolis. 
I enjoyed the day, I really did.  But I can't say I learnt a whole lot. I didn't really. Maybe it was the information overload, maybe it was the nerves, or maybe just the distractions.  But I came away feeling like nothing really 'stuck'.

For me the most valuable presentations were SEO & Analytics (Jeff Tan) and Creating a Brand your Blog (Nicole Avery).  Everyone seemed to be talking about the Blog Photography 101, but I didn't attend that break out session. I left my camera at home. Fail.

Honestly though, I can't see myself purposefully constructing headings and content based around keywords, nor do I expect that I'll ever spend much time analysing my blog metrics. It's just not the way I roll. At least not for my personal blog. I think I'd be more likely to put SEO lessons from Jeff into practice in my work life. Which I guess is a bonus.

I really enjoyed Nicole's presentation. I couldn't help but think she has a lot of energy for someone with five kids. Five! And she is obviously very organised. (Hello... her blog is Planning with Kids)   But I'm really no closer to a 'brand'  for my blog, and I don't think I've been consistent with anything since I was awarded most 'consistent student' when I was in year 6. What can I say? I peaked early.

The rest of the conference is a bit of a blur, of the Twitter kind. 
I don't know about you, but I found the Twitter feed rather distracting. Maybe that's because my table was directly in front of it. It was like a Siren, and I was the sailor. Too often I was reading tweets and not listening to what was being said from the stage. I can't read and listen at the same time. I just can't. I'm not wired that way.

By far the best part of Blogopolis was the people.
Although the food runs a very close second. It was wonderful to meet other bloggers, some I 'knew' from their blogs and some I didn't  know now. It was great to see Becci (we'd met once before), and I was excited to meet Denyse, Cathy, Deborah, Miss Pink, Kylie, Grace and Veronica... and many others! Before the doors opened I met Vanessa from Babblingbandit.me. I'd not visited Vanessa's blog, nor had she seen mine. We were total strangers, but we decided to sit together anyway.

We landed an empty table up near the front of the room, and soon the vacant seats were filled by Mrs Woog from Woogsworld, Sarah from A Beach Cottage, Kim from All Consuming, Nikki from Styling You, Trevor from PR Warrior and for a brief spell, Eden from Edenland. I felt like I was on the speaker's table, only I didn't have a speech!

I was impressed to find that these A-List Aussie bloggers are totally authentic. Mrs Woog is mischievous and hilarious, much like her blog; Sarah is delightful; and Nikki really is all style.  It was great to be on a table with these ladies, but it really wouldn't have mattered which table I was on. The room was filled with awesome, talented people, and everyone was so friendly.

So... I've hovered over the publish button on this one. Wondering if I really should tell you that I don't feel I learnt much, especially when all the post-event summaries I've read so far have been just the opposite. And the words of Zoey from Good Googs ( in the Finding your Voice session) are replaying in my head. She said something like, "If you hover over the publish button, hesitating, then you probably should publish".

I guess I learnt something after all.

Joining up with Grace and the gang for Flog Yo Blog Friday. Get into it!

Wordless Wednesday: A move in pictures

Two weeks ago my eldest son moved out of home. The pictures (and the captions) tell the story.

Step 1: Write a 'To do' list (on wardrobe mirror!)

Step 2: Empty the contents of bedroom into the loungeroom

Step 3: Uncover the crap previously hidden under the bed

Step 4: Mum prepares a box of food, so at least she knows he'll be eating!

Step 5: Mum sets up vacated bedroom as a guest room (new paint job to come!)

Linking up with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys for Aussie Wordless Wednesday.


**After publishing this post I realised it was my 200th.  Happy 200th blog post to me!

30 Pages in 30 Days: Page 1 and 2

My digital photo book project is on track! I realise it's only the 2nd of the month, and I've a long way to go to get to 30 pages, but page 1 and page 2 are done.  At least I've started well, and 'set the scene'.

If you're wondering what I'm talking about, this post explains it.

Victoria Road Trip Page 1

Victoria Road Trip Page 2

Once we actually get to the part where we are travelling somewhere, the photos do get a bit more interesting. I promise.

Grateful for a movie date with little people

This morning I had a movie date with two little princesses, and their mum.  I don't think I have been to the movies with little people since my own kids were small, and that feels like forever ago.

We had arranged to meet at the local cinema to see the new Disney/Pixar 'little chick flick' Brave.  I call it a little chick flick because it's an animated film about Merida, a head-strong young Scottish princess who challenges the tradition of a betrothal, instead prefering to make her own way and lead her own life.

A heart-warming and fun film for chicks of all ages!  And the first Disney/Pixar animated heroine.  Hopefully the first of many.

What I loved most went beyond the movie itself.  It was the excited faces of the two little girls I met up with at the cinema, the cute handbag and shiny black boots (theirs, not mine).  The hand holding, popcorn sharing and shining eyes that became enthralled in the colours, sounds and action of movie.

Miss Five cuddled up to her mum during the scary bits, but later she said she wasn't scared.  When I asked Miss Seven if she got scared she replied, "No, but I did get teary at one part." Too cute!  Girls often get teary in a chick flick, even little ones.

I've heard/read mixed reviews about Brave but I'd been waiting two months to see it (after watching this preview) and I wasn't disappointed.



I had the best morning.

Oh, and I was grateful to receive a voucher for free admission for two in my conference goodie bag at Blogopolis yesterday. Given that today's date was planned over a week ago, it was perfect timing!

Linking up with Maxabella over at Kidspot for 52 Weeks of Grateful.