My Secret Wife Life

Holiday entertaining

2011-12-13T10:57:00.001+11:00

Today I am linking up with so many gorgeous blogerellas to share holiday entertaining ideas! (Link up with accordingtonina.com ).

Christmas in Australia is usually hot hot hot! No roast turkey, baked pie or hot chocolate by the fire! Christmas in my family was always cold ham, seafood, pavlova, backyard cricket and in the lucky years... a holiday at the beach!

This year we are hosting a segment of my family for lunch on Christmas day. It will be a sit down lunch for five adults, so not too demanding. We have our big C family Christmas this Sunday at my uncle's house. We rotate the venue each year. C family Christmas is the entertaining extravaganza! It is lunch for 15 including adults and children. We have hosted once and it was so much fun!

This year our entertaining will be much simpler. With just five adults we can do a more elegant and sophisticated table. Our theme this year is silver and turquoise.

The most important part of holiday entertaining is knowing your audience - especially if you are hosting on Christmas day. Don't prepare a full seafood buffet if guests have allergies. Don't make a funky Asian fusion meal if guests are expecting turkey and trifle. I had an aunt who wept if there was not traditional pudding with custard!

I like to stick with traditional Christmas food. My favorite books are:

There are so many great ideas in these books! From full turkey banquets to appetizers and lots of entertaining tips. I love that the recipes are grouped into menus (although I do swap and change.) I will post this year's menu later in the week.

The other key to holiday entertaining is music. Growing up in an agnostic house I never really experienced Christmas music at home as a child. Marrying a musician (and grandson of an Anglican minister!) that all changed!

Here are our favorites:

The perfect blend of cruisey, secular, spiritual and fun.

I can't wait to see all your entertaining tips.

Happy holidays!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Social Media Secret Santa

2011-12-12T19:08:00.001+11:00

This year I joined in a blog / Twitter / social media secret Santa! It was all skillfully arranged by Santa's lovely elf Chantelle Ellem (www.fatmumslim.com.au).

I enjoyed blog-stalking my recipient and finding the perfect gifts for her. She won't know who I am, but I hope she likes my gift!

I received my gift some time ago. I have been saving it until our tree was up and our halls were fully decked. I did not want to open such a gorgeous gift until the Christmas spirit was in full force!

My gift had three components. A gorgeous little card stated that the pink was for me, the orange for home and the yellow for baby! My secret Santa had definitely read my blog!

My gift was a gorgeous note book and diary.

My gift for home was a beautiful calendar and these fantastic 50s inspired shopping lists.

The first gift for our baby! This is the cutest little outfit from Nanny Pickle. Hubs and I love it!

Thank you Secret Santa, whoever you are!

xx elle

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Worst. Haircut. Ever.

2011-12-08T19:30:00.000+11:00

This is a cautionary tale. A morals story. A life lesson for all the newly expectant mothers out there.

I recently visited my hairdresser. Emma has been doing my hair for years. She is a perky, fun girl who remembers salient details from customers lives, which makes that salon small talk so much easier.

At the doctor's request I had waited until after the first trimester to have my hair coloured. I arrived at the salon looking like an elderly Disney witch. If I offered an apple to a pretty girl she would have fled in terror.

I explained my uncharacteristic failure to smite the grey-growth to Emma. All the other stylists buzzed around, asking about dates and names and all the usual post baby-announcement things.

Emma was more quiet and reserved. As the other stylists went back to their actual customers, Emma leaned down and whispered to me, "Were you trying for long? We have been trying for six months and it is so hard." Her voice cracked and my heart broke.

I offered a sanitized and edited version (why was I more reluctant to tell the truth to my long time hair stylist than I am to strangers on the interwebbs??). I simply told her we were trying for a year, which felt like an eternity. I made all the infuriating comments that had so annoyed me: "it will happen when the time is right", "you have to relax", "you have to look after yourself."

As I heard these inane words escaping my lips I cringed internally. I had become one of those smug breeders who could offer useless platitudes to the non-breeders.

I take my glasses of at the salon and am thus thrust into a world reminiscent of opening your eyes under water in the pool. I could not see what Emma was doing.

I heard the snip, snip. I felt the comb whisping through my freshly coloured hair. Emma and I continued to chat about things non-baby related.

Emma blow dried my hair as usual and then went to get the big mirror to hold up to the back. It was only when I put my glasses back on that I saw my hair. Or, more aptly, what was left of it. Most of the hair I formerly possessed was all over the floor. Big chunks of it.

My hair was short. Just touching my shoulder short. My hair was layered. All flippy and short at the back. Almost...... dare I say it? Mulletesque.

It was then that I noticed that Emma had clearly been crying.

I raced home to assess the damage. Sure enough, it is the worst haircut ever. It does not all tie back into a pony tail without weird pieces springing up all over. I cannot straighten it. The top layers at the back make me look all Billy Ray Cyrus (circa 1988).

It is not an exaggeration to say this - no two pieces of hair on my head are the same length.

I am also honest enough to say - it is my fault.

I should have remembered that heart piercing, gut wrenching feeling when someone announces they are pregnant. How can three short months have erased that hopeless, helpless desperation from my psyche?

I am quite sure I will not forget again.

THE news

2011-11-21T18:01:00.001+11:00

I could not be happier or more excited to share this news with you. THE news. The BIG news.

Glenn and I will welcome our first baby into the world in early June. Hooray!

I am 12 weeks pregnant and about as thrilled as any pregnant woman has been since time began.

After 12 months TTC, one laproscopy, two cycles of Clomid and a some horrific herbal tonic (that has scarred me forever) my time finally came.

Please forgive the radio silence over the last few months. We only told our families last week! Keeping this secret for three months has been hard!

Here I am the day we took the test. I wanted this "before" shot so I can compare once I start showing.

I took the test at home first thing one morning. I had already noticed my sense of smell had changed (weird) and my already curvaceous hour glass figure was blossoming (up top only and NOT APPRECIATED). However we had been disappointed before and I refused to get my hopes up.

The test changed from one line to two before I left the bathroom! I met Hubs in the hall and promptly started crying!

Our family doctor was away so I did not take the blood test for about five days. LONGEST FIVE DAYS EVER. I still refused to hope and swayed between giddy joy and gripping terror, until the nurse called with the result.

I have so many stories and posts of things that have happened over the last three months. It was difficult to talk about the holiday, the wedding, the family events and everyday things without saying "I am having a baby!"

Hopefully I can catch up now and document some wonderful memories as well as my first pregnancy.

Thank you to all my blog friends who have prayed and hoped for me. Your emails and tweets are appreciated.

xx elle

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Family curse

2011-10-12T16:53:00.001+11:00

My family is cursed. At least that is what my parents think. They laugh and joke about the family curse all the time. Anytime my parents spend more than $100 dollars on something it is bound to go wrong.

I cannot count the number of times they have had the wrong furniture delivered, or parts missing, or delivered faulty.

The best story is the BBQ. It must be twenty years ago, but is still spoken of in reverent tones in my parents' house. (Of course in Australia we say BBQ when Americans would say grill).

We were having a big party. Dad was going to cook all the meat on the BBQ/Grill outside. Mum and dad decided to get a nice big new BBQ for the occasion. We don't live in a big down, and headed to the only real place to go - BBQs Galore.

Sadly, there were not BBQs galore. They only had one of the big multiple burners that dad wanted, and it was the display model. Dad snapped it up for a tidy discount.

As the BBQ was already assembled, we could not fit it in our car. The shop agreed to deliver it for free. Our BBQ was the following day we were in a rush and were glad not to have to assemble it.

We waited at home for the delivery. We waited....and waited.

Hours later we received a call from the shop. The delivery truck had been in an accident and the BBQ was destroyed.

The store owner was apologetic and agreed to have one sent over from another town, the next morning. This would cut it very fine.

Of course when the replacement BBQ was delivered the following day, it was not assembled. Dad and my uncle spent the morning reading the indecipherable instructions and assembling the 4700 parts.

As the guests started to arrive the weather turned and a massive summer storm blew in. The party was hastily moved indoors, while mum and our neighbour hustled the meat into their kitchens to cook on the stove.

As we were moving everything indoors a massive lightening bolt struck a nearby power line and the power went out. We had masses of raw meat, no electricity, dozens of guests and the prospect of a salad bar party!

As a very last resort dad dragged the BBQ (which held together despite the 17 screws they left out) into the garage and proceeded to cook the food.

The BBQ triumphed in the end! They were some hard earned steaks, let me tell you!

I often wonder about the family curse. I changed my name when I got married, a decision not entirely unrelated to an attempted curse dodging.

So far, so good!

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50s Fair Fun

2011-09-23T13:48:00.000+10:00

Hubs and I have had a few really exciting date days recently! I contemplated calling it Date Night, AM edition. Date Days are excellent because I get to spend time with my long lost husband in the daylight hours and still get to be tucked in bed early like the nanna that I am!

We recently attended the 50's Fair at Rose Seidler House (location of our notorious attempted partner swapping last Christmas).

We love everything 1950s. The music, the dresses, the retro home wares (notsomuch the gender and racial politics but we ignore them on Fair day!).

How gorgeous do these ladies look? So many people at the Fair dress up in authentic or replica clothes. There are booths set up doing hair and make-up. I would love-adore-cherish-swoon for one of those beautiful dresses. I love that 1950s dresses are designed for curvaceous hour glass women like myself.

The other fun thing about the 50s Fair (like any fair) is the food! We had popcorn, lemonade and the most glorious hotdogs (mine is felafel). There is something so gratifying about munching down on fair food, or carnival cuisine, while strolling through the open air listening to music and looking at attractions!

The funniest thing happened as we were walking to the car. A group of children had set up a homemade lemonade stand on the corner near their house, to take advantage of all the foot traffic heading out of the Fair.

The most gutsy young boy was spruiking like a New York street vendor! He bailed us up and we happily parted ways with the 50 cents it cost for a small cup (a large cup was a dollar).

I am so glad we got the small cup! It tasted like pure lemon juice (and some zest) had been stirred into warm tap water. It was so strong and lemony I almost choked when I took the first sip. I had to smile and pretend it was delicious as the children were watching.

Maybe next year I will go all out and dress up. Do you think Betty Draper or Joan Holloway?

Hostage Drama - my account

2011-09-07T19:07:00.001+10:00

There are few times in the life of an ordinary person that they are witness to events of national significance. Yesterday was one of those days in my life.

At around 9am a frantic man entered a law office in the Parramatta Justice Precinct (an area that houses the Local Court, Family Court,Children's Court, the Trial Courts and dozens of law offices). He was asking after a certain lawyer, who did not work in that office. He had his 11 year old daughter with him.

When the office clerk advised the man that the lawyer he sought did not work there, the man lashed out. He threw books across the room and then shouted at the clerk to call the Attorney General as he had a bomb. He took his daughter and locked himself in an office. The police were called. We knew none of this until much later.

I was stopped at the traffic lights at the corner when three police cars screamed past. I parked my car and walked back to the Justice Precinct area to go to Court.

I saw a number of police on the footpath out the front of a building. Two of my close friends have offices in that building and I was a little nervous. I called their mobile phones and neither answered.

I entered the Courthouse and began my day. A colleague arrived and told me the road had been closed off. A quick glance out the window revealed blue and white police tape across the street and a stream of people being evacuated from a nearby building.

We kept about our business. I was in and out of Court with several minor matters. The next time I glanced out the window I saw a completely different picture.

Fire trucks, the SWAT team and several ambulances lined the street. Word had filtered up from the street that a man had a child as a hostage across the street. He also had a bomb.

We expected to be evacuated at every moment. News vans and helicopters arrived. The TV in the Court foyer had rolling news coverage of the siege. In a bizarre parallel we watched the events unfold in real time out the window with the news commentary playing on the TV.

As the TV coverage became increasingly alarming, several of us decided to call our family to confirm we were safe. I called Glenn and my parents, neither of who had seen the news. They immediately panicked!

As the day wore on we all anxiously anticipated being evacuated. Sheriffs advised us we were safer in the Courthouse as the (very modern and post 9/11) building was reinforced against truck bombs.

We stayed in the Courthouse and watched events through the window. I received calls from family and friends worried I was involved in the siege.

I continued to worry about my two friends. At about 12pm one missing friend entered the court foyer where we were congregating. She had been in a different court room and had no idea her office was the centre of a hostage drama. The physical reaction of relief I felt when I saw her confirmed how anxious and panicked I had been. Her colleague was safe and working from home.

I was so relieved my friends were safe, but was still acutely aware that there was a man with a bomb and a child hostage only metres away.

I was fixed to the window, watching the emergency service workers moving about. I was mesmerized, transfixed. Every muscle in my body was tight, waiting for an explosion.

At lunch we went out into the street. We were behind the cordon, but the police let us roam about. A nearby cafe had a trolley of sandwiches and a bunch of us enjoyed an al fresco lunch in the sunshine on a gorgeous Spring day.....mere metres from a hostage siege. It was surreal.

We stayed close together, a motley bunch of lawyers, friends and foes, united by a common and unseen adversary.

At 4pm the Courthouse was finally evacuated. I have no idea why they chose that time, or why they waited so long. I did not stick around to ask questions!

I fled to my car and headed for home. Later that night it was reported that the child was "rescued" shortly before the SWAT team broke the door in with chainsaws. Footage showed the young girl being dragged from the building by police, screaming out for her father.

Here are the pictures I took from the window at court.

Today we learned there was no bomb. Just a violent and disturbed man with a criminal history. He had tried to get into see the Attorney General the previous day.

My friends still cannot enter their office today. Police had used gas which needs to clear and the forensics team are still working to process all the evidence.

The proximity of the events yesterday to the anniversary of 9/11 was the unspoken companion to us all.

Our lives are forever changed by those events ten years ago.

Should I be glad that my courthouse is reinforced against truck bombs? Should that make me feel safer?

I am not sure that it does.

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West Wing soothes my soul

2011-08-18T15:53:00.001+10:00

Remember me? Sporadic blogger? Fair-blogging friend?

After all the excitement (for want of a better word) of my surgery things have returned to the usual humdrum reality of life.

Sure, we have eaten out, watched movies, visited with friends, blah blah blah. I have gone shopping, tried new recipes and hubs has had some gigs. We are planning a holiday and a few small trips. All these things are blog worthy. All these things are the things I love reading in your blogs! My motivation to blog..... Meh.

I still feel that, until there is....news....superficial blogging is disingenuous. There is, sadly, no news on that front.

Hubs is about to go into lock-down prior to his next show, the musical Shout! This runs for a week in September. In October all his guitar students have exams (about which he is more nervous than his own exams!) So I am once again a rock and roll widow!

So I am doing what all good Type A career girls / domestic divas do. I have ordered an Erin Condren planner, bought some recipe books and started back watching West Wing from the start! Ahhhh, observing the chaotic order of the Bartlett White House is a balm for my frazzled nerves.

In recent days I have suggested in jest to Becky (The Branches) that there is a link between blogging and PCOS! So many blog buddies have PCOS and fertility problems.

The more I thought about it, another possibility emerged. So many of the bloggers I follow and adore are pregnant or new mothers. Melissa (For the Love) and Megan (In this wonderful life) will welcome Blaire and the twins any moment. Whitney (Glamourous Life of a Housewife) has just announced her second blessing.

Maybe blogging actually helps fertility! Has anyone done a study?? Someone get on that!

In all seriousness, I understand that there is (probably) no link between my blog and my PCOS or my fertility. I do know that I have encountered some amazing women via blogging, women who continue to inspire me as a wife and in my journey to be a mother.

Until the science comes in one way or another, I think I'll keep blogging. Not every day. Hopefully every week.

We'll see!

Ps CJ and Danny just had their first kiss and it made my stomach flip!

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Health care

2011-07-13T11:59:00.001+10:00

To British and Australian readers this post will seem odd. We enjoy by right such an amazing standard of health care that a post featuring it would seem redundant.

To American readers this post may be controversial. That fact astounds me. That the nation who can send men (and women) into space still argues about health care is beyond ridiculous.

In the last month our family has experienced the best of both the public and the private health care systems in Australia. I want to give you a snap shot of what we get here thanks to Medicare and thanks to a united, bipartisan commitment to excellent health care for all Australians.

Private System

Hubs and I have top private health insurance. We pay it, not our employer. We pay about $300 per month. This means we have (if any) only a teeny tiny co-pay for glasses, dental work, physiotherapy, natural therapies, doctor's bills and hospital stays.

When my GP / family doctor made the decision to refer me to an OB/GYN I did not worry about the cost. I new my top health insurance would take care of me. I also new that Medicare (the national health care system) would help out.

I got an appointment with the doctor of my choice within a few weeks. Before the appointment I had blood work and ultra sounds and out of $300 of tests I claimed $240 back from Medicare.

I had one visit with the OB and she booked me into surgery. She could have fit me in the next week (but I had Court. Yes I am now that woman who gets out the Blackberry to schedule surgery around work. Blaah!) Luckily I had the freedom to schedule the surgery to suit me.

At hospital I got a private room, nicer than some hotels! It had a mini bar (ok an empty little fridge), electronic bed, TV, private ensuite bathroom. I did not even stay overnight! I got to use that room for the 12 hours I was there, but could have stayed overnight for no extra cost.

I got excellent nursing care and further rounds of tests done. I had a surgeon, an
anaesthetist, a theatre and all the trappings.

Total cost - $200 (co-payment to the anaesthetist). That is all.

Can you believe that?

Public System

My sister in law C has had somer recent health problems. She does not have health insurance and has had to rely on the public health system. She has her own hair salon and earns good money, but earns nothing if she is not at work.

The GP initially thought C had a bowel obstruction. She was admitted to her local hospital and had all manner of scans, X-rays and ultra sounds.

After two weeks in hospital she was no better and the local hospital staff decided to transport her to a bigger hospital for surgery. She was transported via ambulance to a bigger city hospital. C was in a ward with three other ladies and shared a bathroom. She had her own TV.

Many more tests were done including a colonoscopy. Expert specialists reviewed all the old scans and tests and repeated some of them. Surgery was confirmed.

C had the surgery and quickly recovered. She was released after spending about a month in hospital.

Total cost - Zero. Nil. Nada. Zip.

C is so overwhelmed with gratitude for the care she received in both hospitals. Never a fan of government before, she is now full of praise for the government health care system. She sings the praises of her nurses and doctors.

Sure, she did not get a private room or the doctor of her choice, and she had to wait around a little before they ordered the surgery, but IT WAS ALL FREE.

Why are Americans still arguing over health care? Why can we get it right in Australia (and all the other places that do) and yet one of the most civilized and forward thinking nations cannot do it?

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Recovery and recipes

2011-07-12T18:25:00.001+10:00

Hubs went back to work today and I have rattled around the house like a lost soul! I have really enjoyed having him home with me after the surgery. We watched old movies and cleaned out the DVR.

We are on a musical kick lately. Hubs surprised me with Brigadoon the day after the surgery. I love this romantic old film!

With Hubs out of the house today I got to cut loose and do a few wild crazy things, like..... wash dishes and fold laundry! Hubs has been very attentive and protective over the last week.

Speaking frankly, there are coma patients who have had more active recoveries than me! Hubs would hardly let me hold a hair brush all week!

I was allowed to - FINALLY - cook dinner last night. Oven fried chicked with silver beat and corn. Special corn. Mexican corn, or elote. I saw Martha Stewart make this on Today recently and new I had to try it.

Elote

Corn
Lime juice
Mayonaise
Parmesan cheese

Whisk lime juice into real mayonnaise. Please use real mayonnaise. If you don't Martha and I will cry.

Grill or prepare corn to your taste (loads of seasoning is to my taste).
Roll / dip or baste hot corn with mayo.
Roll / dip or sprinkle parmesan cheese.

Enjoy! Dance and sing if your husband will let you.

This corn is delicious. My future cardiologist is very glad I found this recipe. It is safe to say this is a special occasion and not an every day side dish!

Here's to small victories!

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Successful surgery

2011-07-11T12:06:00.001+10:00

Thank you for your sweet emails and messages! My surgery last week went very well.

If you were hoping for a gruesome hospital bed photo you are out of luck! My husband did take one but it is not bloggable!

No make up + hospital gown = very private picture!

I want to do a full post on the miracle of the Australian health care system. For now I will give you a snap shot of my experience.

Hubs and I arrived at the hospital at 11, sans make up and nail polish (HARD). I had been directed to eat a small breakfast at 6 and then drink water at 8 and 9.

Passing the time to 11 was easy as I napped and read blogs. It was a strangely calm and ordinary morning. I had thought I would be nervous and my head would be screaming SURGERY DAY SURGERY DAY.

Once at the hospital I was shown to a room and then the silliness began. The nurses told me my surgery would be 1pm. I then had 2 hours to kill. I hoped they would send me home! No such luck.

I had to gown up and get in bed. The nurses fussed on me me and brought a piping hot blanket to tuck around me. It was hilarious. I felt totally well and not at all sick or injured, but suddenly I was tucked in a hospital bed being fussed over by sweet nurses! I did worry they may actually be neglecting genuinely sick people to pay me attention!

I had to take a pregnancy test. It was poignant and ironic and sad. The nurses assured me that one woman having the same surgery as me tested positive and the surgery was cancelled! She came back in 9 months to have her baby.

I was not so lucky. My test was, of course, negative. The nurses were so cheery and supportive about my chances of conceiving after the operation.

I was in the Women's Health ward which is of course co-located with..... maternity.

We could hear sweet babies crying and there were pregnant and new mamas in the corridors. I was tempted to just grab a baby that was already there but Hubs cautioned against it.

Hubs and I watched some tv and chatted to pass the time. I did get a bit anxious just laying there. I kept saying "This is crazy! It feels like I am in hospital!"

I think Hubs was worried I was losing my mind. He patted my arm and said "Sweetie you are in hospital, remember? We don't have ladies bringing us hot blankets and jelly cups at home."

At about 12.40 the transport man, Michael, arrived to take me to theatre. He was cheery and lovely too. Hubs and the nurse walked to the elevator with me. I was being wheeled in a hospital bed like a patient on a TV show! I began to giggle.... and laugh. I told Michael I could walk myself to theatre as I felt fine. He was horrified!

People in the corridors looked at me with sympathy, surely imagining a poor ill lady being wheeled to surgery. I felt so silly and continued to giggle like a crazy person!

Hubs kissed me goodbye at the doors to the surgical ward. I was greeted by the my doctor and the anesthetist. Shortly after that I was asleeeeeeep......

The surgery went very well. I did not require the ovarian drilling and there was not the signs of PCOS the doctor had feared. Although this was great news for the surgery it does create further questions about the fertility issues.

Here is the only gory photo I will share. All my wounds are healing well and I have only a little residual incision / stitches pain. My IV hand however is a different story. A week after the surgery my hand still looks like this! It almost hurts more than my surgical incisions.

Only my closest friends and family knew I was having the surgery (and you, my Secret Wife Life friends). The sweet girls at work (who have crossed over into real life friends) sent me these gorgeous flowers.

My parents have once again proved that they will never stop actively parenting me. They came to visit with these beautiful macarons from a local French bakery (and a big bowl of home made mashed potato for me! Soul food.)

I see the OB again in a couple of weeks (after another round of test results). We will then plan our next step.

Thanks for the prayers and happy thoughts!

xx elle

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Mushrooms

2011-07-02T11:49:00.001+10:00

I am not a meal planner. I aspire to be a meal planner. I stalk meal planning blogs and periodically get all organized and spread-sheety.

I generally have a range of 4 or 5 meals that are on hand, with easy access to freezer and pantry staples. I do love a well stocked freezer and pantry!

One of my biggest failings as a meal planner is my attraction to impulse produce purchasing. IPP.

I can hit the market with a gorgeous meal plan and grocery list on cute printable print out from afore mentioned meal plan blogs.

Then, across the produce department / farmer's market I spot it! A lovely seasonal produce that I had not planned for. All thought of my culinary choreography escapes my brain and I am suddenly dreaming up recipes involving fresh corn / asparagus / strawberries / snap peas.

Case in point: This week I was mesmerized by mushrooms. Beautiful big stuffable mushrooms. I snagged a bag. I was also bowled over by beautiful broccolini.

I know as far as impulse purchases go, mushrooms and broccolini are OK. It could be worse ie Kit Kat at the register......

Anyhoo - last night I stuffed my mushrooms with a delectable spinach and ricotta mix. Of course I did not take any photos as I went. Hubs and I were actually half way through eating when I remembered to snap a picture, so I cobbled together a plate to show you the complete meal.

Disclaimer: I am a lawyer not a food blogger or food photographer. Hence my photo is crap but my disclaimer is totally binding.

I used the same mix that I use for manicotti. Here 'tis:

Spinach and Ricotta Filling

brown onion
garlic cloves
olive oil
frozen diced spinach (thawed)
ricotta
cheddar / tasty cheese
parmesan

Dice the onion and press the garlic into a pan with some olive oil. Saute until the onions are soft. Add the spinach (the amount depends on what and how much you are stuffing). Season with salt and pepper.

In a bowl mix together the ricotta, grated cheese and parmesan. Again, judge the quantity based on what you are stuffing. Season well with salt and pepper. Some recipes call for an egg here, but I never add it.

Add the spinach mix to the cheese - the ratio of cheese to spinach is up to you!

I stuffed the mushrooms and baked in a medium oven for about 20 minutes. I then threw some extra parmesan on top and grilled (broiled to Americans).

I served this with the broccolini (lightly blanched) and some couscous.

Delicious!

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The Pajama Game

2011-07-01T11:48:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I went shopping for pajamas for in and after the hospital. I need something lose and comfy but suitable for viewing by belligerent visitors.

I hit up every store at the big local mall. The specialty underwear boutiques, the ladies fashion stores with sleep wear sections, the big department stores, even Target let me down. In a fit of despair I slummed it down to the family type stores Big W (very similar to K Mart) and..... Best and Less. Even if you aren't from Australia I think you can guess how Best and Less does business.

I found nothing. NOTHING.

It is winter here and all the pjs were fluffy flannel. I cannot stand flannel pjs. I overheat at night and get all tangled. Or it was silk or .......shudder shudder, fake satiny blaaah!

I wanted something smooth and crisp in a light cotton, but still with long sleeves. I want the kind of pjs that I imagine Duchess Kate or Princess Mary wear. Elegant but functional. - Yes I thought waaaay too much about this.

My biggest problem was the writing and imagery on the pajamas. I do not want Elmo or Cookie Monster. I do not want "Sleeping Beauty" or "Kinky Princess" emblazoned across my chest. I do not want jewels, sequins, love hearts, lace or flowers.

Lets talk a bit about florals. What is it about floral night wear that screams "MY GRANDMOTHER HAD THIS EXACT NIGHTIE!!!!"

I wanted cool crisp cotton. IS. THAT. TOO. MUCH. TO. ASK?

I am going to let you in on a secret. Pssst. Lean in real close - I am a bit anxious about this surgery.

Could you tell?

I am disproportionately nervous about a relatively minor and hopefully keyhole procedure. Turning around in my mind and my heart is BABIES BABIES BABIES. WILL I BE ABLE TO HAVE BABIES?? That all got mixed up with WHY CAN'T I FIND PAJAMAS BABIES PAJAMAS??

I ultimately left the mall and headed to a smaller calmer local shopping centre. There is a smaller Target and one other sleepwear store. I found a few suitable options and settled on two that I can live with.

Today I am going to breath, to stay home, to not drink coffee, to decompress a bit.

I am glad the Pajama Game is over.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Summer treats

2011-06-16T13:50:00.001+10:00

Today when I opened my Blogger dashboard I found two posts featuring yummy frozen treats for summertime. (Yes it is winter in Australia. I am experiencing summer vicariously through my Northern Hemisphere friends).

The first was these frozen fruit pops. Cool. Refreshing. Delicious.

The second was these chocolate brownie covered ice cream sandwiches. Ohmystars.

Which do you think I will make this weekend?

Taco Pizza Triumph

2011-06-13T18:19:00.001+10:00

You know those meals that, when you are cooking, could go either way? Touch and go? Could be a dazzling triumph or could mean emergency take out?

I have been a fan of Pioneer Woman pizzas for ages. We actually prefer home made pizza now to take away! I love the potato and leek. We both adore the tomato and pesto. Hubs is quite partial to the BBQ chicken.

This weekend I tried the taco pizza, with a few alterations. I am not sure what possessed me to presume that I could alter the tried and true magic of the Pioneer Woman. I mean, she is.... the Pioneer Woman. I am a lawyer from Sydney with a KitcheAid mixer and a crazy oven possessed by demons.

Anyhoo - I had a momentary lapse of reason and decided I could do better.

The ingredients were the same:

1 x PW pizza base
1 x can of black beans (I had the seasoned ones - which I had to order online because you cannot get them in supermarkets in Australia. This is a different story.)
Grated cheese that takes your fancy
diced tomatoes
shredded lettuce
hot sauce
sour cream

Things started going wrong from the minute I opened the can of black beans. I love me some Mexican food. Love bean burritos and cheese enchiladas. However, those beans smelled funky. I have never cooked with black beans. They smelled kind of like dog food and made me gag a little.

I put them in a pan with seasoning and tried to mash them like PW told me too. All I did was release more of the odor into my kitchen. It was gagoriffic. The darned beans would not mush or mash.

It was here I deviated. I enlisted the aid of my trusty Kenwood tri-blade mixer and gave the beans a good shoosh up. To mitigate against the funky smell I added some raw chopped onion, some cilantro and cheese to the mix. That made the texture waaay to dry and chunky to spread on the pizza base so I added some olive oil. Finally I had a paste that I could spread on the pizza.

I baked the bean pizza just as PW told me too and it started to dry out again, so I added some more onion and cilantro and the shredded cheese and tomato and baked it that way. All of a sudden a miracle happened in my kitchen.

Wonderful aromas began to waft from my demented oven. Spicey cheesey wonderfulness. When the pizza came out I added the rest of the tomato, the lettuce and the cilantro.

I drizzled on the hot sauce mixed with sour cream ( which I also whizzed up in the Kenwood). The finished product looked amazing! I was still worried and as I set the table I made sure the take away menus were close by!

I should have trusted P-dub. The subtle flavors of the beans combined well with the. Punch of fresh cilantro. The pizza was a revelation and tasted like something from a gourmet pizza bar.

We have added this to the list!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Love Story - New chapter

2011-06-07T12:23:00.002+10:00

Chapter 5

I kicked up my heels as only a girl jilted by an imimaginary potential husband can! After that I washed that man right out of my hair and gave up on the dating game once again.

I was reassured by my friends that the girl in question was a family friend and there was nothing going on. She had come out to support G's mother. I found out later on (on our first real date) that G's aunt Pat was sick and the telephone call was notifying them that she had passed away.

My pesky persistent friends kept at me to attempt another fix-up with G. This time I took my sister's advice and kept my expectations to a minimum.

My girlfriend Tanya's band had a gig in Monavale (waaayy away from where we live). I always went to her gigs. Since it was so far we carpooled. The gang picked me up after work so I was still dressed in lady lawyer attire. Yes, I wore my tighter stretchy suit (loving known as my Charlies Angels suit). Yes, I changed out my work top for something tighter and redder. Yes, I fixed my hair and makeup a little. I wanted to present the image "I am a firey glamorous career woman. I came from work and this is how I always dress. I made no effort for you tonight."

The night got off to a terrible start. We got hopelessly lost. Desperately lost. Stuck in the Kurringai National Park in the pitch dark with no GPS or map and little petrol in the car. I imagined how the TV movie of our deaths would portray us: foolish girls stray off the main road in the dead of night.....

We FINALLY made our way to Monavale (without encountering any serial killers, wild animals or running out of fuel!) and found the bar where the gig was.

The room was PACKED! I hung with friends while Tanya warmed up and began to play. No sign of Glenn.

The horror night continued. Turns out the huge crowd was not there to see the band, but rather to watch a football match being televised in the bar, on screens right behind where the band was positioned.

To make things worse, other band members set up Tanya's drum kit as we were so late. They did not assemble it correctly and one of her stands collapsed. It was a nightmare!

My nightmare, however, was just beginning. Midway through the band's first set G arrived, WITH THE WOMAN. The same woman from the piano bar.

I was beyond furious. Friends actually introduced us that night, but I was so angry that I was quite sharp and rude.

I instantly ruled a line under this man. I was not going to be treated this way. Twice.

Also, there was now another contender for my heart. It had been made discreetly obvious to me that the guitar payer in Tanya's band was interested. I decided to close Door Number 1 and consider Door Number 2!

OB/GYN visit

2011-06-06T20:14:00.001+10:00

Today was the day. I ventured forth to the lair of the dreaded lady parts doctor.

I had a good idea of what was going on as my GP (general practitioner, primary health doctor) was very informative and supportive.

When we arrived at the doctor's office we found a beautifully restored old home. The building houses a number of different OBs and a pediatrician. When we entered the waiting room we were confronted with a bunch of lovely pregnant ladies and gorgeous children running around.

The children- from teeny babes in their mother's arms to crazy-wild toddlers - were a good advertisement for the doctors' services!

We had a short wait for out appointment. Hubs and I engaged in our usual game of people watching and attempting to guess / create back stories for all the people we saw.

My doctor called my name and we were in her room in a flash. To say I was nervous today was an understatement! The doctor immediately put me at ease. Hubs and I instantly connected with her. She was funny and engaging and very sensitive.

The doctor reviewed my scans and blood work and did an internal exam.

Her conclusion.....

da da daaaahh....

PCOS.

The doctor thinks that my blood work and symptoms are consistent with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. She thinks that the doctor and technician who did my scans may have overlooked the PCOS because of the other things going on with my ovaries.

I am booked in to have surgery in the first week of July. The doctor initially suggested tomorrow (HEART ATTACK! Is it that urgent?? No, she just has a vacancy tomorrow!) The following fortnight I am in Court in a matter that I can not get adjourned (we are up to day 7 and I cannot get out of it). Therefore, early July it is.

It will hopefully be laproscopic surgery and she will only do a laparotomy if she has too. During the surgery she will have a look around for the evidence of PCOS and sort out whatever she finds. I won't know until then if it is actually PCOS or some other problem.

The best news? The doctor has ordered me off all the herbal wacky things the natropath prescribed! No more evil tonic. Sorry Kate!

We have officially been trying for a baby for one year. It has been an incredibly difficult year, with lots of hopes and lots of disappointments. It has been an incredibly isolating experience. Only you and my sister know this chapter of my Secret Wife Life.

From here on in we take a different path and we will have a funny, sensitive doctor to guide us.

xx elle

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A practically perfect date night

2011-06-02T17:05:00.001+10:00

The Hubs and I recently stepped out in the City for a midweek date night.

We glammed up, ate a yummy dinner (in a real restaurant!) and headed to the theatre.

What do you think we saw? Here is a clue....

We knew we were getting close to the theatre when we saw this blazing up on a wall. (please forgive the Blackberry photos.)

The majestic old Capitol Theatre was beautifully decorated. The old girl seemed very glad that Mary Poppins has come home to Australia. Did you know that the author, PL Travers was Australian?

The beauty of the theatre was only the beginning of the magic that night. The show was AMAZING.

The songs were engaging and fun and adults and children alike were mesmerized.

The dancing was....

SUPERCALAFRAGILISTICEXPIALADOCIOUS!!

I am a lover of musical theatre. I have sang in the rain, dined at Sardis, hung out with the Jets and gone riding with Curly through the corn. I have fled with the Von Trapps and auditioned with Val and Cassie. I wept with Roger and Mimi (both versions). I have tapped down 42nd Street and dreamed with Roxy. I love musicals.

Mary Poppins was the best show I have ever seen.

There it is! A big call.

The scenery, the children, the costumes, songs we all know and a heart warning story. What more does a girl need?

Hubs loved it too and we will definitely go again. To think, Hubs used to play in metal bands. Now he does musicals!

A touch of Broadway is a magical thing.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake

2011-05-25T16:55:00.000+10:00

I have recently had a culinary triumph. You may recall that we have a rather elaborate way of celebrating birthdays in our office. We have quite a few foodies on our staff, and we always like to go all out for a celebration. No supermarket cakes for us! Our office has got quite a reputation throughout the organization for slap up feasts and parties.

We recently had a special birthday. Anything that ends with a 5 or a 0 is special. This was 30, so a BIG DEAL! I volunteered to make the cake.

The birthday girl is our regular in-house pastry chef. She is a lover of fancy deserts and cakes and routinely brings in delectable treats for the office to enjoy. I knew I had to make her something special.

I will admit to a certain amount of pride at stake. Several staff members asked if Annette could make her own cake, because they enjoy her creations so much. I knew I had to show them I could make a cake just as delicious!

One of Annette's favorite things to bake is a Salted Caramel tart. I will be frank. I do not like it. I am not a huge fan of caramel at the best of times. Give me chocolate all the way. I also do not get the salty / sweet combo. It is like my mouth does not understand it!

Despite my personal feelings I searched out a salty caramel birthday cake for Annette. I tried Pioneer Woman and Bakearella, to no avail. I scanned the web and found a few possibilities. Then it dawned on me. Martha. Of Course!

I used the Martha Stewart Sweet and Salty cake as my basic staring point and played around some.

I had never, ever made caramel before. Daunting! If it is not just right it will not work. More science than cooking. Also, we do not use corn syrup in Australia. After much internet-substitution searching Hubs found me a bottle in a specialist baking store. It. Was. Expensive. Please email me other recipes I can use this in.

I kept Martha right with me the whole time. She encouraged and cheered me from the iPad!

I had to slice two cakes to get the four layers I wanted. I cooked one at a time to ensure optimal cooking temperature for both cakes (..... and because I only have one springform pan in that size.... but the first bit sounded better). Please ignore the smear of cake batter on the oven door. Nobody is perfect.

Making the caramel ganache was amazing. I am not sure what I would have done without my trust Robot Mixer (KitchenAid)! I turned out so silky and shiny and gorgeous. I did then understand why liquid corn syrup is used rather than a course solid sweetening option.

I made a crumb layer! I had to research this. When I first saw it referred to on a blog I thought it was actually a layer of crumbs..... I went to Law School not Culinary School!

Anyway! An additional layer of buttercream never hurt anyone!

Then it was time for the ganache. The wonderful, smooth, creamy, salty, ganache. Remember when I said I didn't like caramel? Or sweet salty things?

This was like a party in my mouth. I wanted to have this on toast and on sandwiches and to squeeze it on my toothbrush to brush my teeth with it. It was AMAZING.

I topped the cake with caramel Hershey's Kisses.

I know I have pictures of it cut open to see the cross section but I cannot find them. It was four layers of wonderful cake and in between was frosting and caramel. It was so rich and decadent.

The cake was a huge hit with the birthday girl. Hubs feasted on left over ganache and did not sleep for several days.

Thanks for the help Martha!

The natural way

2011-05-21T14:15:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I visited the natropath* to discuss my lady part issues. Jane is a family friend who I have known for years.

She was very cranky that I had left it until now to visit her.** She has a "very strict fertility regimen" which frightens me. I worry that I am in for the no cheese no hot/cold beverage diet that Kate is on.

For now we are focusing on getting my body ready for surgery. After that - Baby Boot Camp.

Jane does iridology. She is AMAZING. She can look in my eyes and tell me the most specific things about my body and how I feel.

What Jane told me yesterday was no big shock. I am one anxious, sad and exhausted little lady. I have had treatment from Jane for anxiety related issues in the past. Both Eastern and Western medicine agree that my central nervous system will never function at 100%. I am prone to anxiety and depression. My current health problems compound this with wacky hormonal elements.

Jane has given me a number of treatments to help sooth away the rawest of the nerves and build my strength before the surgery. These include (in addition to the pre-pregnancy vitamins I already take) a zinc supplement, prelumar and a tonic of herbs.

Ladies, let me tell you about this tonic.

This tonic is so awful. It is so awful in a way that means it must be really really good for me.

This tonic is so awful, I want to freeze it and make my future children drink it when they are really naughty.

Or when, as teenagers, they accuse me of hating them because I won't let them go to the party in the boyfriend's space-mobile, or whatever kids are driving in 2025. You think I hate you? I drank THIS to get pregnant with you.

Looks evil, right? 7.5 mils of brown liquid evil, twice per day. I take it like a shot, then rinse my mouth with juice and eat Goldfish crackers. I hope the cheesey crackers aren't negating the power of the tonic??

Maybe I should find a more natural mouth stabilizer.

The things we do for children! I'll bet this turns out to be the easy part.....

* I am also seeing an OB/GYN and having the full Western medical treatment, including surgery. My natural medicine jaunt is purely supplementary. I would always encourage you to see a doctor you trust as well as a natural medicine practitioner.

** Why I could not visit Jane is actually a really funny story. Her clinic is in her house. I have been involved in this really long case at work and one of the key witnesses is a CAH-RAZY man. Manipulative, bunny boiling, passed himself off as a lawyer and got into my secure office, CAH-RAZY. Well, Mr CAH-RAZY lived next door to Jane. Of all the natropaths in Sydney, he had to live next to mine.

Hubs and I talked about parking in a different street, wearing a disguise, asking Jane to meet elsewhere. Nothing seemed safe enough. Luckily, Jane recently moved. Perfect!

Walking wounded

2011-05-19T10:30:00.001+10:00

I sprained my ankle. I wish I had a cool story, like I was roller blading at the beach, but no.

I wish I had a heroic story, like I chased robbers who were trying to mug an old lady. Sadly, no.

I wish I had a dramatic story, like I was thrown form a runaway horse, no.

What happened? I tripped. Over nothing. Perfectly smooth strip of concrete. I went base over apex.

Did I hit the deck? No! I managed to right myself by running out of the stumble. Like a totally crazy person.

Let me set the scene for you:

It is a cold Autumnal morning. A sophisticated glamorous lawyer hurries to the train station. Her mind is racing with litigation strategy and complex evidentiary issues
(she is not at all thinking about So You Think You Can Dance...... )

She wears a smart suit, coat a gloves. Very stylish. A freshly brewed Starbucks (home brew) steams in her hand.

Busy commuters rush about, concerned with their own affairs.

Suddenly, without any provocation, the glamorous lawyer simultaneously yelps and leaps into the air in a terrible rendition of a Jakob Karr jete. She hits the ground on one foot and a jaunty angle. Time freezes. Every single person stares, expecting her to stack it on the concrete.

Instead, she runs like a mad woman, using the momentum to correct her balance. Once she slows down she becomes aware of the intense pain radiating up her right leg.

Every single person is still staring at her. Instead of sitting down on the path and bursting into tears, she hobbles up the stairs with a defiant toss of her hair.

Not a drop of coffee was spilled.

That was 24 hours ago and my ankle is now even more blue.

Flat comfy shoes it is for this glamourous (unco-ordinated) lady lawyer.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Everyone I know is pregnant

2011-05-17T11:54:00.000+10:00

Everyone I know is pregnant. My in-real-life friends are pregnant, or have young babies. My blog buddies are all pregnant, or have babies and toddlers. Karen at my office - her girlfriend is pregnant.

If my 63 year old mother made a special announcement I would not be at all surprised.

I, however, am not pregnant. Nor am I getting pregnant any time soon.

So like the good ~~glamorous powerful career woman~~ needy hormonal woman I am, I had a blog tantrum. I got so depressed about never being able to blog the good news, I just stopped blogging.

Month after month, I got the little memo from mother nature:

Attention: Elle.
You are not pregnant.
Please consume wine, sushi and soft cheeses to your heart's content.
Please cry in the toilets like a crazy person.

As this blog is my secret wife life, I feel like maybe I should write about it here. I want to remember these feelings. I want to remember this inner turmoil, self doubt and fear. I want to remember how this difficult year has brought my husband and I so close together and cemented our marriage in strength and love. Great blessings do rise from great trials.

I do not want to remember the less romantic elements of trying to conceive, the endless Ovulation Prediction Kits (I have had more intimate contact with my own fluids in the last year than I ever thought I would have), the routine scheduling of unroutine things, the counting, the waiting, the hopes up, the hopes dashed.

In the last month or so we have run tests, blood work, internals, all the fun medical procedures woman of child bearing age endure.

Now we have an answer. There is a reason for our non-conception. It is not life threatening, or fertility threatening (long term), but it is scary. I will need surgery to correct something. Hopefully laprascopic surgery. Will know more in a couple of weeks.

I have wanted to blog throughout this time, but it has been hard. Hard to blog about recipes and outfits when all want to talk about is blood tests and biopsies. Hard to showcase my beautiful cousin's wedding, when the bitter poison in me is whispering "I bet she gets pregnant before me....."

I am not quite at the place yet where I can freely blog about my medical issues. I value the blogs and admire the bloggerellas who do it, but I am not there yet. Maybe pregnancy (when we get there) will change that. I am not sure.

Over this blogging hiatus I have still been reading blogs. I read all your blogs everyday. Commenting via the iPad is hard (any tips and tricks appreciated). I still tweet (ell_secretlife).

I am slowly emerging from my little cocoon. I am going to focus on blogging the everyday things. It is going to be therapeutic, a recognition that despite bad news and scary procedures the sun will rise tomorrow, I have noodles on Tuesday, Lands End Heritage is the best cardigan ever, I love watching Glee, and I love blogs.

I have so much to catch you all up on!

Sickbed blues

2011-04-05T18:10:00.001+10:00

I am home sick today with a head cold. I hate colds. You are sick enough to feel lousy, but not sick enough to garner any real sympathy and special attention!

I went to work on Monday and instantly regretted it. I sat in Court with a swimming head and weeping eyes, feeling entirely un lawyerish! I managed to make persuasive submissions and pursued the Magistrate. I am of the firm belief he ruled my way by coincidence rather than design!

I was despatched home yesterday evening by a staff supremely concerned with minimizing the spread of this lurgy.

So today I was home. Sick. Not really sick enough to sleep all day, but too sick to go and do anything. Bleegh.

I cleared out the DVR on the weekend and had nothing to watch. Daytime TV being what it is I was bored by noon. Hubs came home for lunch which provided nice diversion.

I did have a nap this afternoon and spent a good bit of time catching up with Anne at Windy Poplars (via my Kindle 99 cent purchase!)

My Google reader was empty (which NEVER happens) and the sick, gormless bleeeghs set in again this afternoon.

Some time mid afternoon I emerged from my cocoon of blankets, monkeys and Anne with a brilliant idea!

Let's clean out the pantry! A simple task. Not a lot of effort required. I could pull it off without Hubs realizing I expended effort.

BIG MISTAKE!

Have you seen my pantry? I am quite sure you can get to Narnia through there.

How does all that stuff get in there? I always do the grocery shopping, alone or with hubs. Who is the one buying all the tinned bean shoots? I don't think I ever bought bean shoots, let alone 5 tins!

There is quite literally 1.5 kilos of raw sugar in my pantry. At one teaspoon per coffee each morning we should get through that by 2027!

Need oats? Stop by my place and bring your horse!

Memo to Campbells - if you are looking for all your stock, check my pantry!

We have not even began to examine the expired and out of date food. I shudder to acknowledge that some of those dates ended in 09.......

A whole garbage bag later, I was done!

My pantry is now a thing of beauty. Please don't touch anything in there.

I wonder if Hubs will notice?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pandora bracelet

2011-03-27T10:34:00.001+11:00

Yesterday a genuine miracle occurred. I found my Pandora bracelet!

It has been missing for months. I was frantic and devastated. Oh - the tears I have shed over this piece of jewelry. I have prayed, wished and hoped.

This is no ordinary bracelet. It was the wedding gift I received from my husband.

As a wedding gift the bracelet came with a wedding cake charm and some other beautifully special ones. Over the last two years I have added charms received on special occasions.

Our first Valentine's day as husband and wife, first anniversary, a promotion, good health news, a beautiful snowflake from Boston.

Each and every charm was a cherished memory.

When the bracelet vanished I was devastated. I conjured up all manner of scenarios for its disappearance. Secretly I was terrified that I had lost the bracelet as punishment. I had been ungrateful and had at times resented the heavy, clunky piece of jewelry.

Like all lessons I learned the value of the bracelet the minute it was lost. I mourned the bracelet not as a lost item of jewelry or adornment. I mourned the memories captured in every link.

The return of this bracelet is a gift from Providence. When I tentatively reached my hand into the pocket of a seldom worn jacket a thrill shot through me. As I held the bracelet in my hand I quite literally wept. I called G at work and frightened the life from him with my sobs!

I have learned a lesson about vanity and about gratitude. I feel so desperately blessed to have had this item returned. I look forward to making memories with my husband and adding charms throughout our life together.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Mexican Fiesta

2011-03-20T19:51:00.001+11:00

Hubs and I recently ventured a little further afield for our date night. We headed to the Vavoom Festival at Homebush. It was a unique blend of some of our favorite things - 1950s clothing stalls, record stalls, cars and rockabilly bands. It was a blast!

I tried on heaps of clothes. I swung wildly between Betty Draper and Joan Holloway and ultimately purchased nothing :( .

After the festival we were famished! We were in the neighbourhood so we traveled to Parramatta to try a Mexican place we have talked about for ages.

Mexican food is great for vegetarians. So much traditional Mexican food is meat free and full of yummy beans.

We were not disappointed!

We started of with queso. How had my husband never had queso before??

The queso was DELICIOUS. We could have ordered another bowl of the creamy cheesy spicy wonderfulness and gone home happy.

Instead we pressed on, to the delight of our taste buds and the detriment of our pants.

We both had combo meals. Hubs had a chorizo enchilada and beef burrito. He has been raving about the chorizo ever since!

I had a cheese enchilada and bean burrito. Both meals came with frijoles and rice.

The food was so good it made my cheeks tingle!

We were both so full! I ended up bringing half of mine home (and it was just as good the next day).

Our date night was a success and we will definitely go back!

- posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Anniversary Trip - Part 1

2011-03-13T12:23:00.000+11:00

At the end of January Hubs and I travelled to Queensland to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary. We stayed on the Gold Coast at Broadbeach. We LOVE Broadbeach. It is so much more beautiful than Surfers Paradise. Surfers is very touristy and trashy. Broadbeach has lovely hotels and resorts but not the plethora of backpacker hostels and cheap dives.

If you are visiting Australia (which I urge you to do!) and you are going to Queensland, choose Broadbeach instead of Surfers. You will not regret it!

We stayed at the luxurious Sofitel. It is a gorgeous hotel. Everything was glamorous and elegant, from the chilled French music piped into all the public spaces to the signature scent that wafted throughout. I want that scent. I will offer a reward to some one who can procure it! The Sofitel has a very European feel and it was very refined and refreshing and not at all touristy. (ie no gift shop with tacky koalas and Aussie merchandise).

The bathroom was this gorgeous dark marble.

All the products were French and smelled DIVINE.

We stayed in a Deluxe room, but it felt more like a suite! In the entry there was a desk and sitting area, followed by a hallway and the bedroom area.

The view from our room was beyond my wildest imagination. I will dedicate an entire post to the view and the pool! (The two things we enjoyed the most.)

We beach was right at the end of the street we stayed on. It is a typically beautiful, gorgeous Queensland beach. Are there any more beautiful beaches anywhere in the world?

The surf life savers were out in full swing. It fills me with such pride and joy to see these amazing young people, volunteers and professionals, risking their own lives to keep swimmers safe. I would never swim at a beach without life savers, especially with children.

I am going to do a few posts to remember this holiday. Both Hubs and I had A LOT going on prior to the trip, and we both physically and mentally needed the break. It was truly the most relaxing and refreshing trip I have had. We didn't do a lot, except swim, read, eat, visit with friends and relax. It was heavenly!

Cookie Monster

2011-02-26T15:57:00.001+11:00

My husband. Cookie monster. Bickie bandit. Lover of sweet treats.

My oven. Moody. Possessed. Purveyor of uneven heat.

I have been married for two years and have spent a large portion of that time creating delicacies to please my husband's sweet tooth.

This is difficult with an oven that doesn't co-operate. Or speak English. Or play fair.

My oven is eccentric. Temperamental. Demonic.

I have taken to pot roast and the slow cooker like nobody's business to avoid the oven. I am also a big fan of the "no bake cookie".

My ongoing struggle has been to create the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I tried about 15 different recipes. They would either be raw and goopy or burned black. My very polite husband has eaten many a singed cookie during our marriage!

Then it dawned on me. It was not the recipe. IT WAS THE OVEN!

Then the battle began. I was up for the challenge.

I went to law school. I learned a foreign language. I pulled of the perfect wedding in the Whitsundays during cyclone season.

Weeks of scientific testing ensued. Controlled experiments with timers and temperatures and different cookie trays.

Today........ EUREKA!! I did it! The cookie jackpot!

An entire batch of perfect cookies. Every single one is edible. None are charred or so goopy they break in half! Crispy and golden and perfect.

How did I do it?

Preheat the oven to 160 c. Line trays with baking paper and lightly spray with oil. Cook for 5 minutes then rotate the trays.

Cook another 5 minutes then remove. Lift baking paper off the trays and cool on the counter for 5 minutes. Cookies will harden. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Hubs is due home any minute and I cannot wait to see his reaction.

See you in Geneva for the Nobel prize!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Valentine's Day

2011-02-19T14:37:00.001+11:00

I love Valentine's Day. We usually go out for dinner, but this year I decided to stay in a cook a romantic meal.

I raced home from work early and was greeted at the door by these:

What a good husband! It has been so Niven having the roses in the dining room all week. Beautiful flowers in a an elegant vase can change the tone of a room.

The cupcake was delicious! It is from our favorite local bakery. We shared it.

I made warm tortellini salad for supper. It was a new recipe and was delicious!

It was very difficult to shoo hubs out of the kitchen. I wanted to present a beautifully prepared meal on a set table. Having him home was a bit frustrating!

I also made Pioneer Woman's baked fudge.

Oh my stars! If we were not already married Hubs would have dived to his knees and proposed marriage upon tasting the scrumptious delicacy.

This fudge was amazing. Hot and gooey and perfect with crisp vanilla ice cream.

This desert was the perfect chocolatey end to our romantic meal. Hubs never requests dishes but asked for this desert again the following night! If you want to impress a special someone bake this desert.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's week.

xx elle

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A pretty package

2011-02-18T13:59:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I received a beautiful white box tied up with purple ribbon. It was my Strawberrynet package!

I was late to the craze of purchasing skin care and make up online. Now that I have joined the party I cannot remember why it took me so long!

Here is the package of goodies I received this week.

Hubs and I both use Clinique scrub. We have tried other brands, some more expensive and some less. We both prefer the Clinique 7 Day scrub. My face feels so fresh and truly clean after using this scrub. It has all the nice grainy pieces but does not strip my skin.

My current fave fragrance. Gucci by Gucci. Love. When I spray this I am transformed from my utilitarian bedroom in my rented suburban townhouse to a realm where I am a real glamorous lady lawyer whose hair is blown out instead of GHD'ed and whose suit is from Chanel not Jackie E. I feel like a grown up lawyer person who can face anything.

I am addicted to this hand cream. I have always adored it but could never buy it here. There was a L'Occitane store at Natick near my sister's house in Boston and I stocked up when we were visiting. Now I can restock online!

Tried and true. My first love was Clinique. I remember the very first time I laid eyes on a Clinique counter. Those long white cabinets, shiny glass and chrome finishes and beautiful girls in lab coats. I was smitten from that day. I remember spending $250 on makeup in one purchase (about as much as I had spent in totality on makeup prior to that day). I also grew to love the skin care. I have tweaked the 3 step routine into my own kind of cha-cha. This moisturiser works for me. I use the Dry Skin version.

The verdict is out for me on primer. I love a fully made-up look for my face. None of this dewy spring business. I usually use the Napolean primer and am not entirely sure it makes any difference to the wearability of the foundation. I am trying the Nars version as I have heard good things about it. Will keep you posted.

What lovely things are displayed on your dressing table / vanity ?

A new 'do

2011-02-16T13:52:00.000+11:00

I have recently noticed that my hair was long. I didn't mean for that to happen. It just snuck up on me. When it was straightening it stretched to just below my shoulder blades.

Long hair.

I went to my regular salon for my regular colour touch up (maybe when I am old I will grow old gracefully but for now I have a search and destroy mission on grey hair...).

I shocked the hairdresser with a request for "about 10 centimetres" off the bottom. Slightly more than a trim. I was feeling crazy and wacky and dangerous.

She proceed to colour my hair...

Side note: Is there anymore wonderful feeling than stretching out in a reclining massage chair and having your hair shampooed and massaged? Is that heaven on earth??

I was escorted back to my chair upon which I recommenced reading blogs on my ipad and the stylist set to snipping. Some time later I glanced down at the floor.

AT ALL THE HAIR ON THE FLOOR!

"Gee that is a lot of hair on the floor" I commented calmly, while my inside voice was screaming "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???"

When she had finished the stylist asked how I wanted it blow dryed? Straight, bouncy, full?

I wanted to say LONGER!

She grabbed the round brush and blow dryed my hair in that way that only hairdressers can. She is a very simple gal. Probably doesn't know the state of the NASDAQ, or the capital of Russia and I am pretty sure she said her tattoo was her name written in "Buddhist", but she can handle a blow dryer.

I sprang out of that salon with fresh healthy bobbing on my shoulders. Each wave was artfully smoothed and curled and it lept and bounced with vim and vigour.

Hubs was mightily impressed. I was thrilled. Although shorter than anticipated, I loved my new do!

Here is a photo from Monday morning. This was my first attempt at doing it myself. (Note the red Valentine's ensemble? One of only two in my office that fancies holiday related fashion.)

Despite my very grim and serious face I was happy with the result. The picture says more about my continued inability to take photos of myself in the mirror than about the hair style!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T12:37:00.000+11:00

Happy Valentines Day

May those of you with sweeties be showered in love today.

May those of you still searching be struck with Cupid's little arrow!

So much to talk about

2011-02-06T10:53:00.001+11:00

Hello ! I have missed you all so. I have so much to talk about.

~ Our wonderful holiday away in Queensland

~ The sweetest wedding anniversary

~ Meeting the beautiful baby of our dearest friend and best man

~ Our ongoing trials and tribulations trying for a baby of our own

~ The horrific floods and cyclones across Australia

~ The Superbowl party my husband is throwing (solo - I will be at work!)

Despite having so much to tell you, I just cannot. I am spent. I am exhausted and cannot muster any coherent thoughts beyond telling you about this weather.

Sydney is in the grip of the longest heat wave in recorded history.

We watched the reports of the heatwave smugly from poolside in Broadbeach last week, sipping cocktails as the sea breeze wafted over us, confident it would pass before we got home.

We flew into Sydney on Tuesday smack into the heat. The car that collected us had a temperature gauge in the dash. Went we left the airport is read 27 degrees celsius and as we drove west it crept up. As we turned into our street the gauge his 30 c (86 f). Ladies, it was 10pm.

For the last ten days the daytime temps have hovered around 40 c (104 f) and the night time temps have sat around 26 (78 f).

Yesterday it hit 43 c (109 f).

The constant heat is so sapping and draining. The day is broken up into snatches of air conditioning wedged between horrific time outdoors.

It is amazing that my sister in New England is stuck in record busting snow and we in Sydney have record breaking heat. Climate change? Nooooo. Nothing is wrong with this picture!

I am thankful that we have been spared the horrors of the cyclones and floods. I a thankful for the air conditioning ( that we had installed in November), I am thankful for my indoor job and my air conditioned car.

I am thankful for the southerly buster predicted to hit this evening and lower the temperature 15 degrees for tomorrow.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Two years ago

2011-01-30T11:20:00.001+11:00

Happy Anniversary!

Baby Shower

2011-01-22T13:29:00.000+11:00

This week I co-hosted a baby shower for my beautiful assistant Emma. She is due to welcome baby Xavier into the world in a few weeks and is finishing up work.

We had the shower in the conference room in my office.

Our local bakearella Annette made these cute cupcakes. That icing was very blue!

Whoever invented chocolate spiders was a genius! A little weird and warped, but a genius!

I did a tray of lunch meats and a tray of vegetable crudites with a dip. I also made a sweet dip to go with the fruit plate prepared by another girl.

I also did the table and the decorations. I think it all looked lovely! There is only so much you can do with a boring conference room in a law office.

Here I am with Emma. This is truly an awful picture of me, but this blog is all about the honesty...

Here is Emma with my co-host Cara.

We all had a lovely time at the shower and Emma was blown away by our efforts. We also gave her a very special gift - a voucher for a session of newborn photos with the photographer who took her wedding pictures! She was so excited! It is so much more special than clothes or nursery bits and pieces.

I will be very sad to see Emma leave work, but I cannot wait to meet baby Xavier!

My Country

2011-01-15T11:20:00.000+11:00

Never have the words of Dorothea Mackellar been more apt:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Three quarters of all of Queensland is a certified disaster. This in a state that makes up 25% of Australia's land mass, which is four times the size of Japan, nearly six times the size of the UK and more than twice the size of Texas.

The brutal severity of the floods is a bitter epilogue to the hardest drought this land has known. This wide brown land is a fickle mistress. Through bushfires and floods the people of Australia have rallied. This disaster is no different.

The continuous television coverage of the floods and now the relief effort is breathtaking. I am at once seized by the epic and devastating powers of mother nature and by the heroic and loyal nature of my fellow Australians.

I have never been prouder to be an Australian than I was to see former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wading through flood waters assisting with the evacuations in his electorate. What a brave and noble man, still with so much to give to a country that treated him so poorly.

I have never been prouder of my country than I was today, when I saw the devastation of floods in Brazil and Sri Lanka. Hundreds dead. Poorly constructed, illegal homes washed away. No armies of volunteers in gumboots and shorts rushing in with brooms and shovels to restore order.

Weeping widows and orphaned children roaming the muddy streets. In Queensland we have huge relief centres with warm blankets, cold beer and safe shoulders to cry on. Soldiers armed with engineering equipment and not guns. Politicians working together to lift citizens from panic and despair.

Oh how I love this sunburnt country.

Williams-Sonoma Care Package

2011-01-06T11:05:00.000+11:00

In early December I put in a big order with Williams Sonoma. I fell in love with WS when I was in America last year and new his Christmas would not be the same without some goodies.

WS do not ship to Australia, so I had the package delivered to my sister's in Boston and she blessed it forward! Handy!

These peppermint creams were meant to be a gift for my mother..... FAIL.

G took one look at them and re-gifted them to.......us. We did take some for mum on Christmas Day.

We really enjoyed the ho-cho during the annual Polar Express viewing. As it was mostly 1000 degrees here over the Christmas we have now put it away to enjoy over winter. The Serendipity frozen ho-cho is yet to make an appearance on our festive table. Maybe today.

I had high hopes for these mixes! Sadly, the tins out-shone the cookies. The gingerbread and cookies I made from a recipe turned out better than this mix. We will keep the beautiful tins though!

The absolute, hands down, would sell our souls at the cross roads, winner, was peppermint bark! I am not sure why I don't have a picture of the peppermint bark.

It. Was. AMAZING.

Angels floating on clouds in Heaven eat this peppermint bark. I am quite sure of it.

If we gave this peppermint bark to people in Africa and the Middle East peace would break out all across the world!

Next year I will definitely place an order for, ~~a few~~ ~~a couple a dozen~~........ tins of peppermint bark!!

Carols by sunlight

2011-01-03T11:45:00.001+11:00

One of the great Christmas traditions here is Carols by Candlelight. It is warm enough (or stinking hot!) to stay outdoors well into the night, singing carols and waving a candle.

We always attend a local Carols event. It is small town cheesy, with local "celebrities", some dancing school numbers and the MC from the local football team. It is daggy and cringe-inducing but we love it!

This year it was upgraded to the local football stadium. We grabbed the rug and the Aeroguard and headed off!

Some people were clearing settling in for a long evening, with eskys full of picnic dinner (and possibly the odd cold festive beverage).

Those that did not bring a picnic dinner partook in that greatest of Aussie traditions: a sausage sizzle!

I have to say we were disappointed by the event. Moving it to the stadium turned it from a hokey local event to something on a grand scale. Sadly the talent and organization did not upgrade to match the new digs.

Our Rockfest kids (with us at the helm) could have put on a much better show! Hubs thinks I should join (take over) the local Rotary branch to get on the organizing committee.

Maybe next year.....

I do have a few thoughts....

A Swinging Christmas?

2011-01-03T11:38:00.000+11:00

Last Christmas Hubs and I were in America. We spent a week in New York and captured every Hallmark / Hollywood Christmas moment. From Macy's to Rockefeller's to seeing White Christmas on Broadway. it was magical.

We then spent an entirely too short time in Washington, followed by two glorious weeks with my sister in Boston.

We fulfilled every white Christmas dream any southern hemisphere child has ever dreamed.

G and I both knew that this Christmas would be.... different. Hard. It is the first real Christmas without G's wonderful dad and the first away from my sister.

We both knew that nothing we could possibly do here would compare to New York at Christmas time. To avoid the inevitable comparisons and any gormless moping that would ensue, we decided to pack into December as much activity as we could!

We were SO BUSY in December I hardly even read blogs, let alone wrote any. I will do a few whirlwind posts to fill you in (and so I can remember this wonderful Festival of Christmas for ever).

One of the wackiest things we did was visit the Historical Houses Trust home, Rose Siedler House, for a Swinging Christmas. The website promised a jazz band doing 50s Christmas carols and songs. Perfect!

We have visited this property before for the 50s Fair. It is an award winning innovative home designed in the 50s and preserved.

At the 50s Fair there were about 1000 people there and a large band shell erected on the lawn. We anticipated a similar crowd for the Swinging Christmas. Boy, were we wrong.

We strolled down the drive and I was instantly anxious that we had got the date wrong. There was nobody about. Very different to the bustling throng of the 50s Fair.

As we approached the house we saw some ladies posing for pictures out front. One lady had a beautiful big Betty Draper frock on, complete with petticoats. The other had a form fitting Joan Holloway dress hugging her curves.

I instantly regretted the skirt and blouse (think Lands End Canvas not Mad Men) and regretted not dressing up.

As we entered the home and removed our shoes, I was instantly calmed. We were greeted by a lovely gentleman in a bow tie who marked our names off the list and gave us a martini.

A martini?

This is a preserved heritage property. We have to take our shoes off, but we can drink martinis in here???

There were about thirty people there in total (judging by the shoes!)

Most people were not dressed up. Everyone was sipping martinis and eating canapes (in the house.....)

It truly felt like we were at a party at some one's home. I expected to see Betty and Francine come bustling out of the kitchen with another tray of drinks and canapes.

For the briefest of moments I had a little panic. This was a Swinging Christmas. There were loads of drinks, lots of couples.....

What if this really was a SWINGING CHRISTMAS?? I looked frantically around for a bowl with keys in it, and found none. I then checked my Blackberry and confirmed that this was actually an official Historic Houses Trust event.

Hubs proceeded to get shlickered on martinis while I eyeballed the other couples to see if they were swingers or SWINGERS. I decided it was hard to tell.

We explored the house. It felt so intimate to wander the rooms with our drinks and just a few other people.

The bow tied man was the Director of the Rose Seidler House and was both a wonderful host (kept the drinks flowing and the canapes hot) and an amazing tour guide!

Imagine cooking Christmas dinner on this?

The house is really amazing. It is filled with "technology" that was award winning in the 1950s.

My KitchenAid looks EXACTLY like this! Perfect for 50 years!

The band was wonderful. There was a drummer, double bass, keys and a wind man who alternated flute and saxophone. They played all the old time Christmas carols and songs and also period songs like Cole Porter and Benny Goodman.

We had a wonderful night!

And yes - we left with the same partner we arrived with!

iPad test blog

2010-12-27T14:17:00.001+11:00

Hello blog friends!

I know two posts in one day is CRAZY but it is the silly season.

This is a little test to try the Blogpress app.

Here goes!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Holidays

2010-12-27T13:21:00.000+11:00

Happy Holidays from the H's! Thanks to Jessica for the wonderful card (apologies for the weird smudges! We had to take our names out).

Hubs and I have had a lovely Christmas. In Australia this year it is a four day holiday! We are both off until Wednesday.

right now we are relaxing, watching cricket and enjoying our amazing Christmas presents.

I will do a full Christmas recap later on.

xx elle

Ballet Concert

2010-12-16T15:40:00.000+11:00

Last week was my ballet concert! I attend a ladies class in a beautiful ballet school. Class is twice a week, and we started the year with about 15 ladies. We ended the year with 4 in the concert!

The theme of the concert was Once Upon a Time... The first little babies class did the cutest dance in pyjamas and the teacher (Miss Jessie) pretended to read a story to them. Each dance after that was a page out of the story. We had dolls, penguins, a Lion King dance, Heidi, superheros. We even had a ballet dance to Thriller!

Our dance was The Witching Hour. The dance itself only went for about 2.5 minutes and was quite simple. Let's be clear - none of us are Rockette material!

On the day before the concert I was beside my self and sick to my stomach terrified.

What in the name of everything holy was I doing? I am in my thirties. What business did I have in a ballet concert?

Let alone the costume. Way more Lycra that any voluptuous lawyer needs to wear in public! We did have really beautiful sparkly red scarves attached to our fingers. That was fun.

On the morning of the concert we had a dress rehearsal. G helped Miss Jessie's husband and parents putting out chairs in the hall.

A lot of chairs.

About 400 Chairs.

400??? I cannot do this in front of 400 people!

As all the little children arrived we were put to helping out. We were assisting the little students with their costumes and getting on and off stage.

Show time rapidly approached and my terror turned to butterflies, which were manageable.

Suddenly, it was the dance before us. I ran to the other side of the stage where I was to start from. The dance before us were Dolls. My heart was pumping so hard in my chest I was sure I would fracture ribs. If a giant meteor had obliterated planet earth at that moment I would not have been disappointed!

When our music started and I ran on all the terror was forgotten. I had an absolute ball! I was instantly transported to my own childhood ballet concerts. Bygone years where I was the doll, the flower, the fairy.

I feel so blessed to still have ballet in my life and my heart. I has been with me my entire life. I know few adults get to indulge in hobbies and passions like this and I am so thankful!

Here are some snaps G took. I know we look a bit ghoulish and spectral! I am so glad to have this blog to capture this special memory.

Christmas Questions

2010-12-14T14:39:00.002+11:00

Whtiney did this fun task last week and invited us to join in - so I did!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Shiny shimmery paper that matches my theme. (yes I am a little OCD about it.)

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL. REAL. REAL. Did I say real? I adore the smell. To me, it would not be Christmas without the smell. Yes, it sheds needles, but come on! I own a vacuum!

3. When do you put up the tree? Around the end of the first full week in December. I would love to do it December 1, but it is hot as all get out in Sydney in December and Hubs is always worried the tree won't make it to the 25th!

4. When do you take the tree down? In the first few days of January usually. It depends if we are going away.

5. Do you like eggnog? No. Raw egg? eek.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Barbie house or bike.

7. Hardest person to buy for? It is a tie. Our friends Tanya and Jess.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Hubs

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Real mail. Our cards are beee-yutiful! Thanks Jessica!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Stinky cheap soaps.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th street (the original)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October usually

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes. I got a horrid 'lolly tree' in a staff Secret Santa one year and regifted it as a joke to a friend. It was then passed around all my friends for about 2 years!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Darrall Lea nougat pudding.

16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? White lights!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol = Calypso carol. Song = Santa Cause is Coming to Town

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Last year travelled to Boston to see my sister. This year staying close to home and lunching with my parents.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes. I think??

20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? Star this year. One year we went the unconventional route and stuck Humble Bumble from Rudolph up there. This year he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. Anything else is cheating!

22. Favorite children's Christmas song? I guess I already answered that!

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The anti-Christmas lobby (and the heat).

24. Favorite ornament theme or color? We do something different every year. This year - A White Christmas (all silver and white and lovely).

25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day? Ham for the fam, but I am a vegetarian. People keep promising / threatening to make me a tofurkey but I am yet to see one!

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? After the KitchenAid for my birthday I feel that I shouldn't get anything else!

27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa? No. It is like 40 degrees Celsius here!

28. Age you discovered who Santa was? 8. I remember it vividly. I convinced my parents to tell me, persuaded them I was ready, then had a tantrum and was so mad that they did tell me! I was DEVASTATED. I am so glad that I know now my parents were wrong and that they just stopped believing. Thanks Polar Express!

29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? Hot Chocolate (or Frozen Ho-cho from Serendipity!) and also holiday coffee from Starbucks.

30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors? Traditional with a twist - one year we did red gold and purple.

31. Do you have any Christmas decorations on your roof? No. They would interfere with the sleigh.

32. How does Santa get into your house? Magic Key.

33. Do you prefer gifts or gift cards? Gifts if they are not random!

34. Favorite children's Christmas Cartoon? Frosty! Although we own and LOVE all the Rankin Bass cartoons.

That was fun!

The Festival of Christmas

2010-12-03T11:08:00.000+11:00

I am a Christmas-crazy. For as long as I can remember I have dreamt of December. I have pined for pine trees (sorry, that was terrible!) I have counted the sleeps until the return of carols, the special holidays drinks and foods.

To this end I am the odd one out in my family. My family wasn't anti-Christmas, but almost!
My parents have always been huge gift givers. My sister and I would explode from our bedroom on Christmas morning to see half the living room covered in shiny wrapping and bountiful gifts. We always had a real Christmas tree - never plastic. It would not be Christmas for me without that heady aroma of a pine tree. As for Christmas traditions, it ends there.

We are a cold lunch family. It is usually horrifically hot here in December, being summer and all! We do cold chicken, pork (with crackling) and a huge Christmas ham. This generally lives in a vinegar soaked pillow case in the fridge well into the New Year! Potato salad, cole slaw and a trifle.

My parents are strict atheists so we were never a Church going family. Christmas was a purely secular event in my home.There was no nativity and we had Rudolph atop our tree. There were no carols, but plenty of Rankin Bass cartoons in our home, and Frosty and Rudolph were my annual Christmas companions. I envied my friends who got to sing in choirs and play in pageants. I always craved the spiritual element of Christmas that I saw others experience.

For as long as I can remember I have bucked the family trend. I would choose a theme and decorate my room. I would wrap all the gifts I gave in co-ordinating paper with ribbons and bows. I would play carols in my room until my parents went mental. On Christmas Eve I watched Ray Martin hosting carols every year.

As a child I yearned for my own home to decorate with love and care, to fill with beautiful Christmas music and the wafting smells of cookies and gingerbread.

As an adult I have embraced a faith and spirituality that I never knew as a child. I am so blessed to have married a man who shares this faith.

This is my first Christmas at home as a wife. Last year we spent Christmas in Boston with my sister (which was also wonderful and I will post later on).

I am so excited to live out my Christmas dream. In our home there is room for faith and for fun. The materialistic crass side of Christmas is banished. Our decorations are meaningful and (hopefully) elegant. I will make my husband all his favourite Christmas treats - pudding, fruit mince pies, pumpkin pie and this year..... a ginger bread house!

Stay tuned for the 2010 Festival of Christmas in the H House!

Date Night

2010-11-28T11:38:00.000+11:00

Last night was date night! We opted for the traditional "dinner and a movie" combo.

| chose the movie: Harry Potter. I have been DESPERATE to see this film, but I was way too sick last weekend.

It was only fair then to let G choose the dinner.

He chose... sushi.

My husband could eat sushi every day. I am quite sure he was Japanese in a former life. When we met our little town didn't even have sushi places, but he would gobble it whenever we went to the city.

Now, there are sushi places everywhere! I almost think there are more sushi places in my town than McDonalds. Actually, there are more sushi places. Seriously.

We opted for the sushi train variety right by the cinema.

I was very nervous.

I was a sushi virgin. Well not actually a virgin. What is the word for when you try a little bit and it is horrible and you stop? (Apologies ladies, that came out way more dirty than anticipated.)

I tried sushi years ago and HATED it. It was cold and salty and all chewy and all kinds off WRONG. It was kind of like chewing on salty human skin and getting a mouth full of salt water at the beach. WRONG.

Anyway, I was having sushi for dinner. I am sure you can see I kept an open mind.

We walked in and the staff all sang out a greeting. It was fun! Hubs explained the concept to me; the plates roll past on a conveyor belt and you grab what you want. At the end they add up all the different coloured plates you have.

As we sat down my trepidation turned to terror. There were no labels on anything.

All the food looked cute and gorgeous on the little plates. It was like toy food. How the heck was I meant to know what to grab? I snuck a peek at other diners, who were snatching plates off that little sushi train with no hesitation.

I am a vegetarian. I want the vegetable ones. I don't want to bite into a hideous ball of sea weed to discover I am snacking on raw squid tentacles. It was like being on Survivor!

Then I discovered a menu. Hallelujah! Little pictures of all the toy food and an explanation as to what it was. There were also some dishes you could order right off the menu... including vegetable spring rolls!

Hubs snagged some cucumber for me and some tuna for himself, and I ordered my spring rolls. At least I would get some dinner.

These teeny tiny cucumber ones were...OK. I dipped them in soy sauce and gobbled it all in one bite. They are so tiny that the seaweedy bit isn't so bad. A sip of coke helped too.

I looked through the menu and decided I wanted the avocado and asparagus ones. There was rice on the outside not sea weed! G scanned the conveyor like a pro and grabbed me the rolls.

These were.....good. I have to admit it. They were good. The right amount of chewy and crunchy.

Next we grabbed some tofu / vegie rolls. I LOVE tofu in Thai and Chinese food. These were the traditional size sushi rolls = big slabs of slimy seaweed! I think I bit off more than I could chew - literally! I took one bit and handed it off to Hubs.

The final lot I tried were plain avocado... in seaweed. These were the itty bitty ones again. One dip and one bite. Here I go!

I was so proud of myself! I swallowed every bite I put in my mouth and didn't spit one thing out. I liked the little bite sized ones - the cucumber in particular. I really liked the avocado and asparagus. I think I need something crunchy in the middle to combat the chewy / slimey thing.

It was actually really fun. Hubs laughed at me the whole time as he gobbled down brave people sushi.

Now I know there are things I like I will definitely go back.

As for the movie, all I can say is:

IT IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT TO MAKE US WAIT SIX MONTHS FOR PART TWO.

That is all.

100th Post

2010-11-27T12:18:00.000+11:00

Hooray! My 100th blog post. It took a while.....

To celebrate 100 posts I am doing a Top 100 list - in ten different categories. Each category is in no particular order.

Top 10 Blogs

1. Megan - In this Wonderful Life
2. Whitney - The Glamorous Life of a Housewife
3. Jessica - In the Sky with Diamonds
4. Becky - The Branches
5. Katie - Modern Day Family
6. Kate - Elefantitis Alegras
7. Lindsey - Sweet Simplicity
8. Maggie - The Freckled Citizen
9. Amber - Three Meals and a Baby
10. Anna - Southern Champagne Wishes

10 Things I Cannot Live Without

1. Husband G
2. My sister - far away in Boston :(
3. Blackberry
4. Skype
5. Books
6. My car
7. My friends
8. My Mac
9. My monkeys
10. Italian food

Top 10 things I love about my husband

1. He is gentle.
2. He is funny.
3. He is generous.
4. He is faithful.
5. He is Faithful.
6. He makes beautiful music.
7. His joy is teaching music to children.
8. He is a Fellow Traveller
9. We are kindred spirits
10. He lifts me up and grounds me at the same time.

Top 10 Books / Series

* I know it is cheating to choose a whole series but I cannot select my favorite Austen or my favorite Harry Potter. I have a broad literary palette!

1. Anne of Green Gables series
2. Chronicles of Narnia
3. Harry Potter
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Rebecca
6. Jane Austen
7. Anna Karenina
8. Sadlers Wells
9. Kay Scarpetta books
10. Phillipa Gregory royal series.

Top 10 Places I have been

1. The Whitsundays
2. New York City
3. Washington DC
4. Newport RI
5. Sydney Harbor
6. Blue Mountains
7. Boston
8. My house
9. NSW North Coast
10. Broken Hill

Top 10 things we did in New York

1. Broadway shows
2. Basketball at Madison Square Garden
3. Breakfast at Tiffanys
4. Carriage ride in Central Park
5. Dinner at Sardis
6. The Met
7. Macys & Bloomingdales at Christmas
8. The Food
9. Les Paul Trio at the Iridium
10. Empire State Building

10 Things you didn't know about me

1. I must have ice in my drink, even in Winter.
2. I cannot work out I tunes.
3. I am terrified of frogs.
4. Mosquito don't really bite me
5. I believe Narnia is a real place.
6. I am a witch in my dance for my ballet concert.
7. I went parasailing on my 30th birthday.
8. I got engaged on a Ferris Wheel.
9. I may go into politics.
10. Elle is just a nickname.

Top 10 Favorite Foods

1. Cheese
2. Pasta
3. Mangos
4. Garlic
5. Potatoes
6. Plums
7. Broccoli
8. Mushrooms
9. Spinach
10. Green beans

Top 10 TV Shows -

1. The West Wing
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Glee
4. Newlyweds (sad I know)
5. The News (sadder??)
6. The Hills / Laguna
7. Las Vegas
8. The Practice
9. LA Law
10. Box of Delights

Top 10 Movies

1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. Singing in the Rain
3. Breakfast at Tiffanys
4. The Narnia films
5. The Harry Potter Films
6. The Dolly Sisters
7. Dirty Dancing
8. The Night they Saved Christmas
9. Picnic at Hanging Rock
10. Australia

There you have it! My life in a list.

xx elle

Incy Wincy Spider

2010-11-26T12:20:00.000+11:00

We are about to hit summer here in Australia and things are heating up. Where I live the days have hit about 32 degrees (91) every day this week. (Not a good week to be home from work with laryngitis and a fever...)
The combination of hot weather and a sick wife have made cooked dinners a bit light-on this week. G did valiantly brave the supermarket by himself (and passed that test! The right brand of things, nothing forgotten, and no random condiment purchases) - but is not much chop in the kitchen.

Although he lived alone and then with a housemate before we met, I am not sure what they ever ate. Any inspection of their kitchen I ever made revealed only beer, mucho condiments and a pizza base in the freezer with mould on it (and I never knew frozen things could get mouldy! Be very afraid.)

Hubs worked late last night so I decided to prepare a little al fresco feast for when he got home. I scrubbed our patio table (no small feat when you have hardly been out of PJs all week), lit some citronella candles and made a big turkey Cobb salad for him and Cobb sans turkey for me. Combined with some crusty bread and a cold brew I knew he would be delighted!

Thankfully by about 6 pm a bit of a southerly change had risen up and a cool breeze was swirling about. It was that magical time of the day when it suddenly becomes more pleasant outdoors than in.

Hubs was suitably impressed by my handiwork and equally cross at me for not "resting". I think he thought hiding my GHD and make up would ensure I stayed on the couch for a week. Ha! I can find plenty of mischief right here at home to do.

We enjoyed our al fresco dinner and chatted. Even though we don't do Thanksgiving in Australia we laughed about us having turkey, green beans, sweet corn etc - but in Aussie salad form!

We discussed what we were thankful for - health, each other, our families, his business, my amazing colleagues at work, a trip overseas, the musicals he has done.... All the wonderful things that have happened to/with/for us this year and the people we love.

As we were deep in conversation the sun started to set and dusk descended. I contemplated switching on the light, but decided to enjoy the magical twilight grayness a little longer.

Hubs glanced up for some reason and exclaimed "What is that??" I looked up and saw some flapping about way above our heads.

"Either a teeny tiny helicopter or a big insect or moth"I replied, used to the things that dusk brought out. We had the citronella and had sprayed insect repellent, so I felt OK.

We watched the flapping monstrosity come closer. Was it flapping? Were those wings at all?

"Is that..." Hubs only got the first words out.

"A SPIDER?? YES!!" I yelped.

Within 3 seconds flat we had gathered up plates, napkins, place mats, the bread basket, cutlery and drinks and bolted inside.

Literally seconds later the web had descended to only inches off the table.

I grabbed the broom and leaned out the back door to swing at it. I brought down the web and knocked the spider to the ground, where I whacked it.

You see, in Australia, spiders are not to be toyed with. We have some very serious, very unpleasant, very deadly spiders. We have found redbacks in our garden before. This is terrifying, as we live right next to a pre-school. A redback bite may not kill a grown man these days, but it would surely kill a small child.

There was not much left of the spider after I whacked it with the broom, so G couldn't see what it was.

It didn't really matter. Suddenly we had one more thing to be thankful for!

Love story - chapter 4

2010-11-23T18:20:00.000+11:00

For the earlier installments of my match-making love story follow the link above.

Chapter 4

My friends conspired about the ultimate set up. Where and when. Who and how. They schemed and plotted. Connived and manipulated. I imagined them sitting up late at night, studying the Art of War by candlelight. Or maybe The Art of Matchmaking.

I, meanwhile, forgot all about this crazy hare-brained scheme and got about my business. I was a busy lawyer. I had.... stuff to do..... you know... things.

Alright - I was hooked. The imaginary boy I dreamed up in my head had captivated me. My very wise and bossy (younger and only) sister cautioned me not to over-fantasize. I do tend to let my imagination run away with me. I always dream and imagine the most amazing and elaborate scenarios, only to be disappointed by a guy in house slippers.

It was decided that the first introduction would occur at Tanya's sister's gig. She is a singer and had a regular booking at a gorgeous little piano bar in a big club in our town.

I ~~agonized for hours about what to wear~~ casually threw on some jeans and my favorite tight red cardigan. It is dark red and stretchy. Looks perfectly casual, like "Oh, I am just here in jeans and killer heels and this cute cardigan to support my friend," but with a little room for some "Hello sailor" if the need arises.

We hit the piano bar and sipped our champagne while we watched the show. A little while later a group arrived and sat some distance away. A guy, cute, with a girl and an older woman.

"Oh" I thought to myself. "Isn't it nice that that young couple brought his/her mother out for an evening."

Tanya leaned in and whispered to me "Hey - that's G."

Excuse me??

We are being set up here, and you brought a date?

and your mother??

Before I could muster enough indignation to flounce out of there, G's mother's phone rang. She took the call and they all rushed out.

I sat, open mouthed, resolute that I would NEVER, EVER allow myself to be match maid again.

I think you can guess that my resolve later wavered.

Guess what else - years later when I asked him, G could remember the red cardigan that I was wearing that night!

Love story - chapter 4

2010-11-23T18:19:00.000+11:00

For the earlier installments of my match-making love story follow the link above.

Chapter 4

My friends conspired about the ultimate set up. Where and when. Who and how. They schemed and plotted. Connived and manipulated. I imagined them sitting up late at night, studying the Art of War by candlelight. Or maybe The Art of Matchmaking.

Cara's wedding

2010-11-23T14:48:00.000+11:00

This Saturday I had the pleasure and joy of attending my sweet friend Cara's wedding. Not only is Cara a treasured friend, she is my assistant at work! I love having such a good relationship with the girls (and boy) I work with.

Her bridesmaids were chic in black. There was A LOT of brides maid drama in the lead up to the wedding - including one very late substitution! On the day Cara had the right three gorgeous girls by her side.

Her dad looked so proud and happy all day! Cara's dress was so simple and elegant and beautiful!

Here they are - Mr and Mrs! Cara and Michael met in high school! They are best friends and now husband and wife. It was lovely to witness this union.

Here I am after a hard night of boogieing on the dance floor - with my other good friends and workmates Lisa and Rowena.

The wedding and the reception was at this amazing old castle - Curzon Hall. It used to be a private residence and is over 100 years old. The grounds were amazing! Cara's wedding was in a secluded little courtyard with a gorgeous fountain. In the reception foyer there were these huge chairs. Lisa and I felt like Alice in Wonderland!

The venue was truly beautiful. There were so many banquet rooms and halls. There were apparently three weddings going on when we were there! I ran into three bridesmaids (well three girls in identical dresses with bouquets, so I guess bridesmaids) in the back stairs during the evening. They were ~~whispering~~, ~~gossiping~~.... OK they were BITCHING about their bride! Poor girl! I wonder where she was when her three attendants were lurking with malevolence in the back stairwell!

The flowers were wonderful. All the tables had tall pillars in the cenrtre with beautiful arrangements of roses to match Cara's bouquet. At the end of the night I was lucky enough to snag one!

It is a bit more overstated that I usually go with for my dining table, but it is BEAUTIFUL!

The Cake

2010-11-22T12:20:00.000+11:00

Last week we had a birthday in my office. Our regular cake-baker is overseas. Annette is quite famous in our organization for her baking.

People despaired. Women wept. "Poor Gabrielle!" they cried! "What a foul fate! To celebrate a birthday when Annette is not here to make a cake!"

Strategies were devised. There was some scurrilous talk of a store bought cake that was quickly quashed.

I took a breath and accepted the challenge. "Never fear! I'll do it! With my new Kitchen Aid mixer!!"

When I told my heroic and noble plan to the Hubs, he reminded me that the mixer only mixed things. I would have to do the actual baking etc myself....

With that vote of confidence from my nearest and dearest, I took the plunge. Gabrielle has three small children and is used to eating cupcakes and fairy bread and things children like. I decided to make her a decadent adult cake - and one that required a lot of mixing.

I looked around various sites and even dusted off those old fashioned paper book things that have recipes in them. Cook books?

The entire time I was looking, I knew the cake I wanted to make. It was "The Cake" from Megan's food blog.

Once I committed to that, no other cake would do.

I got started Monday night. Hubs was my trusty assistant. I decided to make two full size cakes and slice them in half. I did not trust my crazy, possessed, multi-personality, inconsistent oven to bake more than one cake at a time.

Then I remembered I had a crazy, possessed, multi-personality, inconsistent oven. The I was terrified.

The first mix came out a bit lumpy, and I decided to sift the next lot of dry ingredients.

As the first cake went in the oven I was so nervous! I checked it about 100 times, which meant the middle didn't quite raise.

I was more restrained with the second cake. I then let them cool completely before I sliced them in layers. I think I recall seeing that tip on Masterchef!

Whipping up the cream was the fun part. It is usually Hubs job - to do it with a hand mixer! He stands there for 10 minutes whipping up eggs, cream or whatever pie filling we are making.

I put in the cream and sugar and he said "Now what?" "Now we watch TV!" I replied!! It was so easy with the mixer.

I put all the cream / frosting in a tupperware and wrapped up the cakes in cling film. I decided not to assemble the cake until right before I served it.

Well folks.... here it is!

Not quite as many layers as Megan's mother's cake - but it was my first try!

I covered the top in shaved dark chocolate (another task my trusty assistant accomplished.)

Let me tell you, the cake was a SMASH HIT!! People at my office have now created a rivalry between Annette and I. Many people said they want ME to make their cake instead of her. One girl literally said it was the nicest cake she had ever eaten! (Crazy town).

I certainly know the mixer helped. I would never have gotten the cream like that by hand. However I am going to indulge in a little but of pride about the rest of the cake. It didn't burn, it was cooked through, the layers all lifted off without splitting, it tasted DARN good!

More Birthday fun

2010-11-11T18:04:00.002+11:00

On the actual day of my birthday G had me set the alarm really early. He kept joking that he got me a pony and I would want to be up early to ride it before work.

We woke up early and he bounded away to get presents. He brought them right into the bedroom! I got an Australian Ballet calendar (we had bought it at the concert) and some DVDs. I was quite impressed with his ability to choose movies I love!

He then got out the camera, which was odd.

The be brought in a large box. I thought it was a joke gift - something tiny in a huge box. Then I pulled it toward me and it was HEAVY.

He got the camera ready to capture my surprise as I opened it.

A beautiful KitchenAid mixer! I have desperately wanted one for ever. I have always said that I would get one when we buy a house. They are quite extravagant here in Australia as they retail for double what we saw them for in America.

I have often opined about which colour I would get. Red is classic, but then you have to do your kitchen in red. White goes with more. I also like the really pale mint green.

As I opened the package I felt a twinge of disappointment. It was white. "Oh no. I wish it was red." said the ungrateful little Elle on my shoulder. "Don't be silly! Pioneer Woman has a white one, it will go with any kitchen, be happy!" said the mature gracious Elle on my other shoulder.

I pulled off the tape and slipped the box open.

"It's RED!!" I squealed! Boy has G earned some Top Husband points with this one! I genuinely think I love it more than if is was diamond earrings. Guess I am growing up??

After work G picked me up and we went for a beautiful birthday dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant.

We shared brescioli for entree. It was delicious!

For my main course I had the vegetarian risotto (I always get it) and G had a gnocchi pesto with chicken. All the food was divine!

After dinner we drove by Starbucks.....and the Christmas things were out! Instead of a desert I got a peppermint mocha frap with cream and it was delicious.

I had an amazing birthday. I got spoiled at work with flowers, cards and beautiful cupcakes. I got a Happy Birthday serenade from the sheriffs at Court (not something I will forget anytime soon).

I am a very lucky, blessed, somewhat older, girl.

xx elle

More Birthday fun

2010-11-11T18:03:00.000+11:00

On the actual day of my birthday G had me set the alarm really early. He kept joking that he got me a pony and I would want to be up early to ride it before work.

He then got out the camera, which was odd.

The be brought in a large box. I thought it was a joke gift - something tiny in a huge box. Then I pulled it toward me and it was HEAVY.

He got the camera ready to capture my surprise as I opened it.

I have often opined about which colour I would get. Red is classic, but then you have to do your kitchen in red. White goes with more. I also like the really pale mint green.

I pulled off the tape and slipped the box open.

"It's RED!!" I squealed! Boy has G earned some Top Husband points with this one! I genuinely think I love it more than if is was diamond earrings. Guess I am growing up??

After work G picked me up and we went for a beautiful birthday dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant.

We shared brescioli for entree. It was delicious!

For my main course I had the vegetarian risotto (I always get it) and G had a gnocchi pesto with chicken. All the food was divine!

Christmas Birthday fun

2010-11-10T13:51:00.000+11:00

On Sunday we continued my birthday fun. We headed to Starbucks in the morning for a Christmas coffee. We do not usually start "The Festival of Christmas" until December 1st, but I was granted a special birthday dispensation!

I was very disappointed to discover that Starbucks had not started their Christmas line. No Christmas music, no peppermint mocha, no cute red cups and holiday souvenirs. Hubs asked the barrista when they would be starting the Christmas promotions - and he said the exact date of my birthday this week!

Hooray!

We made a firm date to heard to Starbucks after my birthday dinner.

To continue the theme of Birthday + early Christmas we then visited the cutest little Christmas store. It used to be open year round, but recent tough times have meant that the sweet lady is only opening October through December. We had been eagerly waiting for her to reappear!

We have yet to settle on a 'theme' for Christmas this year. Yes - I am one of those women! I like a theme for the decorations, gift wrap, table wear.... my clothes...

Choosing the theme is one of my favourite pre-Christmas traditions. Hubs and I will wander around Myer and take inspiration from the different trees they have on show.

As we have not chosen a theme I though we would just have a browse in the Christmas store and say hello to the sweet lady owner. Hubs then surprised me by buying a few of the little items I admired!

This is the bag our purchases came in. So cute!

I got this love door-knob hanger. If we opt for a non-red based theme I may take this to work for my office, or put it upstairs (where the theme is less strictly adhered to!)

I got this adorable little Nutcracker! This is one of the pieces we saw on Saturday so it was very fitting.

I absolutely LOVE this hanging decoration. It is painted metal and very cute.

Day two of my birthday week was a hit! I cannot wait to fill you in on how the rest of the week has unfolded!

Ballet Birthday

2010-11-07T19:10:00.000+11:00

This is my birthday week. I am a firm believer in celebrating a birthday for as long as politely possible! even if it is one of those years when the birthday and the passing of time may not be as welcome.... This is one of those years for me. Nevertheless, my birthday it is and I will enjoy it!

On Saturday night Hubs had a surprise outing for me. The Australian Ballet Company were holding an outdoor performance under the stars. The concert was free and we headed to the stadium at about 4.30 (gates opened at 7 pm).

I tweeted throughout the day about the weather. It was cold, grey and drizzling most of the day. The Australian Ballet people said the show would only be cancelled in the case of "heavy rain".

We said our prayers and bundled up with rain jackets, scarves and towels and took our chances!

It was amazing seeing the football stadium converted into a ballet arena. A large stage and shell were erected right on the field.

Although I am a HUGE ballet fan I opted out of the mosh pit / mud pit on the ground and headed for the stadium seating. We got the most amazing seats right in the centre in the front of the stadium.

I was stunned when I saw the programme. Some of my favourite pieces from Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and La Bayadere were being performed. More stunning than the pieces were the dancers. Leading soloists and Principle Artists! I had expected a roll out of the Corps for a wet and cold night in a football stadium. I was glad to be wrong!

We took this picture from a bit higher up than our seats so we could get the stage in. I realize I look a bit evil or crazy in this picture. I was amused by Hubs contortion act to take the picture himself and get everything in. He had a few tries!

When we arrived the stage was full of people. On closer inspection I discovered it was the actual Australian Ballet Company taking class! It was incredible to watch. It was an amazing behind the scenes intimate look at the ballet master instructing and correcting them, and Company members practicing their parts for the performance.

I was mesmerized. All around there were people picnicking. laughing, children running around. However I was transfixed by the sweaty, messy ballerinas in dirty tights, sweats and leg warmers. They were doing the same centre work and enchaiments that my class does! (The comparison ends there...)

Their bags and belongings were at the side of the stage. There was a huge pile of pointe shoes. I realised they belonged to Principle Artist Lucinda Dunn. She is the most beautiful and graceful ballerina. I had followed her career for 15 years! She was partnering with Robert Curran, another Principle. I was so lucky to see my favourite dancers !

When the rehearsal finished Hubs lined up with all the children to get Lucinda Dunn's autograph for me! What a fantastic husband.

My mother arrived just before the show started and joined us for the evening. We had about 15 minutes of very light drizzle just as the performance started, but the show went on!

Some people left but the true balletomaines stuck it out. The dancers used the same tunnel in and out of the changing rooms that the footballers use and had to cross the field. There was a raised path for them to cross. It was hilarious to see beautiful ballerinas in exquisite tutus with umbrellas up and Uggs over their shoes dashing across the football field to the stage. Only in Australia!

When we got home Hubs surprised me again with this early gift. I had Centre Stage on VHS and he thought it was time for an update.

I cannot wait to see what else my birthday week brings!

xx elle

Trick or treat?

2010-11-02T21:35:00.000+11:00

Happy (belated) Halloween from Australia!

Halloween is not something that is traditionally celebrated or acknowledged here. As a child my parents shunned the Halloween spirit, decrying it as an Americanized manufactured event. People occasionally had a Halloween party, but there was no decorating, no trick or treating and no costumes.

Year after year my sister would beg our parents. Hopped up on the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High we would plead to go trick or treating, to no avail.

I am not sure when things changed. Slowly over the years the Halloween tradition has crept into our culture. Discount and dollar stores have rows of pumpkin buckets, scary masks and ghoulish get ups. Wigs and wings, teeth and tutus, costumes abound in all the stores.

Woolworths had HUGE carving pumpkins and special displays of chocolates and lollies.

Last year was the first time I had trick or treaters. I ran out of lollies (candy) and had to resort to muesli bars (granola bars) and sultanas (raisins)!

This year hubs and I made a special run to the market on Saturday afternoon to stock up on goodies for the monsters. we even decorated a little.

I mean, a very little!

Here is my pet alien. He is a visitor from another galaxy that Hubs snagged for me from a car audio place after I commented how cute he was. He lives in my study with my law books and computer. His new job is to be the Halloween mascot!

We put him in the window with our pumpkin full of treats and set down to wait for the little rascals. It is late Spring here and Daylight savings time, so it stays light until well past 7pm.

By 7.30 I gave up. I decided last year was an aberration. We were getting no trick or treaters and should just get on with our evening.

At 8pm Hubs suggested we light the candles in the window for effect. He was confident we would get visitors, and if not we would just enjoy our spooky evening in candle light with out extra terrestrial buddy.

It did look wonderful from the driveway.

At about 8.30 we heard a big clamor from the drive. Suddenly our front porch was full of giggling children yelling "TRICK OR TREAT!!"

I grabbed the pumpkin and approached the door. They were quite young, maybe 7 or 8? Batman, a ballerina, a wizard and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (are they still around??)

I praised all their wonderful costumes and dished out the treats. I looked around for their chaperon. Then I looked again. They were ALONE. IN THE DARK. AT STRANGERS HOMES.

Seriously?

Don't these people watch TV? Criminal Minds? SVU? The news??

It didn't stop there. The kids kept coming until we packed up shop at 9.30. I drew a line at 9.30. On a Sunday. An ethical line. A moral line.

I am not enabling any child who is out and about at 9.30 pm in the pitch dark on a school night.

Also, now we get to eat the leftover lollies and chocolates.

HMMM. Redskins!

Is my tongue red?

Local Mission

2010-10-21T14:51:00.000+11:00

I live in an outer suburb of Sydney, Australia. Not a wealthy town. A middle class town. Good schools, and some not so good. Good neighbourhoods, with family homes, lawns and parks. Some not so good neighbourhoods with more run-down apartment blocks, convenience stores and barred windows.

I rent a townhouse close to the University. It was an older neighbourhood with lots of single dwelling homes. As the older residents age and move out it is slowly being converted to town houses and luxury apartments. I love my neighbourhood. It is a perfect blend of students, families and professionals. On my street alone there is a fantastic little set of shops, a park with a great playground, a post office, two churches and a school.

I walk to the train station in the morning and routinely pass children walking to school, elderly couples walking their dog and mothers taking small children to the playground.

There has been a new addition at the station this week. A Church van has set up a BBQ and is handing out sausage sandwiches to the needy. It appears to be a coalition of several local churches and food outlets. It is a fantastic idea.

Just one hitch - since when do the needy live here?

I understand we are in a global financial crisis. In Australia we were lucky and blessed to have been led by the wise and wonderful Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during the worst of it and were the only Western Country to avoid recession.

The needly live elsewhere.

I see footage of neighbourhoods in America, boarded up houses and businesses. In England huge financial cut backs are occurring.

But here? Australia is the lucky country.

Why are there people in my neighbourhood who are hungry? Why are there people here that need help?

It is a hugely confronting reality. I am wrapped in a bubble with a great job, a wonderful husband, a warm comfortable (albeit rented) home, two cars and life's little luxuries.

The needy live far away. We sponsor children, and support charities, and buy wells and chickens from Oxfam at Christmas.

The thought of doing mission work right here on my street, is so alien. So heart breaking. The thought of my fellow Australians struggling to feed themselves and their families is devastating.

I think Hubs and I will be exploring some good works we can participate in right here at home.

Easy Risotto

2010-10-20T18:05:00.056+11:00

There are a few competing tensions in my kitchen. I am a vegetarian, Hubs isn't. We are both calorie / fat conscious (he doesn't need to be and is, I should be more so...).

I love finding low fat vegetarian meals that G will eat as well. As far as men go he is very vegie-friendly. He will often choose vegetarian pizza or Thai food. I know he did this before we met as it was one of the selling points for the friend who fixed us up!

I hit gold with this easy risotto. It is an adaptation of a Weight Watchers recipe and that means eatability shoots right up the enjoyment chart and right down the guilt, regret, remorse chart.

This recipe calls for mushrooms and tomato.I have left out the basil and tomato and added asparagus and spring onion and it has been just as delicious.

Easy Mushroom Risotto

5 points

Dice one onion and fry gently in a pan with three cloves of garlic and spritz of spray olive oil.

Inhale deeply. Family members will tell you supper smells great and you haven't even busted a sweat! Resist the temptation to serve supper right then. The onion and garlic combo smells good but lacks something in the presentation.

There is no greater smell in cooking than the intoxicating aroma of garlic and onions frying in a pan. The two go together like peaches and cream. In fact the original lyrics to that song were "like onions and garlic" but the record company thought it was unromantic. Or not.

Add in your chopped mushrooms. I went against all my environmental principles and paid a fortune for the ones already washed, peeled and chopped. Hey, I earn good money and my time is a commodity too. It would have taken me, like, minutes to chop all those.

Once the mushrooms have browned add in one cup of arborio rice and fry it off for about two minutes. Stir in one cup of water and a splash of white wine.

Stir in more water as needed while the rice cooks. Right about now your risotto looks and smells like something Shrek would cook up in the swamp. Resist the temptation to chuck it out and grab a burger. It will get better! I promise. Add salt and pepper now - as much as you dare!

Dice up some fresh basil and tomato and stir it in when the rice is tender. Throw in one cup of good grated Parmesan cheese.

Top with more Parmesan cheese and serve to your loved ones. If your husband is anything like mine he will gobble it up and have seconds. If he is not, cook him a steak and serve the risotto as a side dish!

Spring has Sprung

2010-10-15T10:45:00.000+11:00

We are into October and I can report with confidence that Spring has sprung in Sydney!

The days are sunny and beautiful. Daylight savings changed last week and the evenings are light and bright. It is almost 6 pm now and still as bright as the daytime.

I love Spring weather. It is warm enough for skirts without tights (although I rock opaque tights I HATE HATE lady lawyer grown up panty hose and refuse to wear them). The nights are lovely - cool enough for snuggling but warm enough to have the window open listening to the cicadas.

Our garden is alive with colour and anticipation. The bonsais are blooming! Hubs keeps bonsai trees and they are so beautiful this time of year. They give our little garden and patio such a peaceful zen feeling.

There are so many Spring things I love! My birthday is in Spring. Christmas planning starts in Spring. BBQ's on the patio, evening walks, al fresco lunches by the river. Do these things now because in

summer it is TOO HOT!

I am very happy to see Spring - but not quite ready for Summer yet!

Superhero Party

2010-10-10T14:52:00.000+11:00

Last night we went to celebrate the birthday of one of my colleagues. Lisa is a person I met at work who has gone on to be one of my best friends.

She is turning...30! She is devastated about this milestone so she did the sensible, mature thing and threw a Superhero party!

Each guest received a slip of paper with the identity of the super hero (or villain) they were to dress as. Lisa thought that if she did not allocate the characters she would end up with 20 Wonder Women and Supermen.

Lisa's favorite hero is Batman. As such he was prominent last night!

I was meant to go as Astro Girl. You know, sister of Astro Boy. Do you think I could find a costume? ANYWHERE?? ON THIS EARTH?? I had zero luck. I almost considered cutting my hair into the pointy robot style. Then I got stuck in a two day trial that is has gone nine days so far and have not had a moment or a lunch break to organise anything!

As such, Astro Girl did not make an appearance at the party.

Lisa was very sad. She then cheered up when she realised how committed my sidekick was to the project. G was allocated Flash Gordon. Flash! A-aaaaah!

He took it very seriously. The costume shop didn't have Flash Gordon, so they adapted a red military jacket and the lady sewed the special graphic for the front! That is a full service costume shop. Hubs go so into the character he made me watch the 1980 movie yesterday afternoon. Folks, that movie is, bad. Not even the soundtrack by Queen could save it.

Lisa LOVES the movie and it did give Hubs some great one liners to work into conversation. When we were leaving he told Lisa we had to go as he only had 14 hours to save the earth. (Straight from the film).

Here we have Chewbacca (sans the rest of the suit as he got very hot!) With his is Harley Quin (X men?) and the remnants of Sheara.

This is my beautiful friend Rowena. She is the Scarlet Witch. Her costume was amazing! We all want her to wear the bustier to Court!

Batgirl here is Lisa, the birthday girl. We got her a Batman mug and coosie that I found in the Father's day sale at Myer (our Father's day is September). We also gave her some Batman and Robin glasses that G's mum had. They were from a McDonalds meal from back when the Batman movie came out in the 90s. They are now collectors items! She loved them, almost more than the Mimco earrings.....

Rainbow Bright, Wonder Woman and I forget the third one. Rainbow Bright is Lisa's house mate Rachael. She was a GREAT sport and a super hostess. She had a bucket of sangria rainbows that she scooped out for people.

We had an awesome night. Happy Birthday Lisa!

Cinnamon Buns

2010-10-05T19:55:00.000+11:00

It all started on Friday afternoon. I was trapped in a stuffy, windowless, soul-less court room in a two day appeal that is now into day six! I was suddenly overcome with the urge to eat a cinnamon bun. This is odd for me. I do not have a sweet tooth. Give me cheese, potato, pasta, savoury crackers and

anti pasto. I am not one for cakes, chocolates or candy.

So for some strange reason I craved a cinnamon bun.

On Saturday morning I ran errands and hit the supermarket. I stopped in at the coffee cart and the donut place. No luck.

So I googled P-Dub's recipe and decided to make my own!

I stealthily assembled the ingredients in the evening, made the dough, rolled it out... and my husband busted me! My super-secret-surprise-cinnamon buns were now public news.

I do believe he was a little sceptical. Perhaps he remembers the great Nondenominational Bun Fiasco of 2010? Or 2009?

Well I proved him wrong! Aside from being a little crisp around the edges, my cinnamon rolls were PERFECT!

DELICIOUS!

I am vindicated as a wife and a baker. I earned my Jessie Steele Apron that day!

As I only had one scrawny husband and not a ranch full of cowboys to feed I halved the recipe. It still made two pans of rolls and now I have them stashed in the freezer. Except for the one my husband ate... while we were cooking dinner tonight.

Sigh.

A Long Weekend

2010-10-04T18:09:00.000+11:00

I left my Blackberry at Court.

I have had no Blackberry all weekend. A three day, much needed long weekend. In which I have had no Blackberry.

I am phoneless. Sans cellular device. Telephonically challenged.

Three days without twitter and facebook (yes I know I could go on the computer but that takes work). No sms messages. No instant weather updates and fast fact checking. I had to borrow my husband's iphone for a quick recipe conversion (the horror!)

It has been a huge non-voluntary technological hiatus. A wireless weekend.

I have survived! It has actually been kind of nice. Liberating.

Don't get me wrong. I will be waiting at the Court room door at 9 am to retrieve my Crackberry Blackberry!

On the upside, Hubs and I went to Starbucks yesterday! He bought me this treat.

It is just like a Starbucks cup, only hard reusable plastic, almost like a Tervis Tumbler. I have been sipping iced water from it all weekend!

On Saturday we had the "Afterparty" for the students and their families. It was not very rock n roll as it POURED!. It has been raining all weekend. The expected crowd (50 plus) was much thinned but those that were there had a great time.

All the families brought a "dish", but we ended up with A LOT of chips and dips!

I made my usual Mexican dip, a garden salad and Pioneer Woman's pasta salad, potato salad and Asian noodle salad. Needless to say Hubs and I have been feasting on leftover salad this weekend!

One of the families brought this cake. It was a reproduction of the programme from the show. It was AMAZING!

I am back into the city to the District Court tomorrow. Sigh.

I am trapped in an Appeal that will never end. It was listed for two days and tomorrow will be day 5 (with at least one more after that). I had only anticipated being away from the office for a couple of days. I dread to think what awaits me in my in tray!

Again, an upside - I am almost finished The Girl Who Played with Fire. I was a sceptic. I admit it. My mother raved about these books and that made me go, "meh." We have such different tastes that I thought, if she loved it, I won't.

Then so many of you blogarellas also raved about it! So I have been reading on the looooong train trip (ok one hour but you know...) to the city. By the time this case finishes I will have polished off the Millennium Trilogy and moved onto .... War and Peace?

Rockfest Rundown

2010-09-27T12:46:00.000+10:00

This is a quick rundown on our AMAZING weekend. I will do a proper post later with photos and video clips!

Our show was AMAZING!! Did I say that already?

The adults (me, hubs and my closest friends who all also teach music) loaded into the venue at 10a. We paid $15 000 to hire the auditorium in a major venue, including the floor staff, lighting crew and sound crew.

We spent the first few hours loading in all the gear:

2x drum kits
3 x massive back line amps
1 x bass rig
4 x wireless guitar packs
15 x guitars

and all the extra bits and pieces!

The students arrived at 12pm. I met them at the door of the venue and their parents signed them over to me (30 excited kids, 6 -17, no pressure!) we all had our matching shirts on. It was so exciting! Our shirts with the show name and logo and all the names on the back was a GREAT idea! It was great for security, so we all knew the people in shirts were with us, and great for morale!

Once all the students were there we gave them tours of the dressing rooms and backstage area and did a sound check run through of most of the songs.

Again, the cliche of "a bad rehearsal means a good show" came true! After the run through we were SO SCARED! The harmonies in Bohemian Rhapsody were SO BAD. I cannot even convey to you the badness. I wondered if it was too late to axe the song. Hubs suggested ditching the harmonies and singing is straight up. The students were adamant they could get it, so we let them.

Doors opened at 6.30 and I gave all the children the first call. My job was the backstage performer-wrangler. I had to get kids in costumes and up to the stage door on time. Let me tell you this - skinny teenage rock star boys have no concept of modesty. I saw waaaay too much skinny rockstar flesh (and underwear)!

The show started right on 7pm with a video display on a massive screen, with photos and the name of every performer flashing across the screen. It played to Joan Jett's Bad Reputation. It was MASSIVE. We could hear the audience screaming and cheering from downstairs in the Green Room. We had a direct feed from the video camera into the dressing rooms and green room (again, a surprise to the children) so they could watch the show. They were super excited when it all began.

The show went off without a hitch. Seriously. It was wonderful. Bohemian Rhapsody? Brian May wants our version as his ring tone. This is War? Perfect. My Allstar Guitar boys? Rocked the House. Hubs was SO proud of our boys. They had all the big guitar solo parts and went right up to the tip of the ego ramp. The theatricality that such a big stage and venue brought out in these kids is AMAZING!

Learning an instrument is usually a solitary task. Just you, your piano/guitar/drum kit and the teacher. We fostered such a sense of camaraderie in these performers. They are all friends on Facebook and messaging each other. It is really ...AMAZING!

My highlights were:

standing in the foyer of the venue meeting the students as they arrived, and seeing the bright eyes and smiling faces of each and every one. Their excitement was palpable.
walking 30 hungry rockstars to McDonalds, all of us in matching T shirts and feeling SO PROUD to be a part of this group. They were so well behaved...mostly.
seeing two sweaty 17 year old rival drummers hug as they came off stage after playing in a drum due battle.
In the encore song (You're the Voice), played by the teachers, when all the performers came on stage to sing with them. I peeked out into the audience and the whole crowd was on their feet! There was not a dry eye in the house! OK, maybe just me...
at the end of the night getting hugs and kisses from all the kids
kids saying they will miss me - even though I have roused on them, hustled them, blown my whistle at them etc for months! As head Supervisor I was routinely the bad cop and did everything from chastity policing (13 year olds are not what they were when I was 13...), costume vetos, kicking friends out, rousing on late kids etc etc.
Seeing the real bond and connection develop between these crazy kids, from different schools, towns, music teachers, lifestyles etc. Seeing them turn into real little rock bands!

I basically loved the whole thing.

I am already planning next year....

Concert Eve

2010-09-24T10:47:00.000+10:00

It is the day before the big show. I am beside myself. I have big time anxiety pulsating through my body.

Let me be clear - I am not performing in this show. I am firmly planted backstage wrangling rockstarlets and keeping stage parents away from their progeny.

So why am I so nervous???

It is a huge undertaking. We have 30 children and have to manage them for 12 hours. The youngest is 6. Is she going to need a nap? Will she get scared / bored / tired / sick?

We are doing a full run through of the show with the sound and lighting crew. How will the students cope in such a big auditorium?

We usually do the concert in a school auditorium. This year we have hired a full cabaret theatre. It cost
$15 000 to hire the room (with the sound and lighting crews) and we have been fundraising all year!

I guess I am so nervous because this is soon going to be out of my control. There is no amount of lists I can make, or systems I can create, or things I can organise.

Come 6pm tomorrow night most of this is out of my control. I can deliver the rock stars to the side of the stage, in costume and ready to rock. What they do once they set foot on the stage is up to them!

I am also nervous because this is my husband's business. He is an amazing guitar teacher and the kids adore him. Eventually he will teach full time and give up working in the guitar store. Maybe.

I want this to go so well for him! All our family and people from my work are coming.

Supporting him in this show is a huge part of my wife life. I have learned so much about guitars, music, lighting design, sound engineering etc. I am off early today to pick up the wireless guitar packs we have hired.

I love supporting my husband in his world. I am so proud of his skills as a musician and his passion to aps that onto as a teacher. I am so proud to be his wife.

Let's rock!

Four Sleeps to Go!

2010-09-21T17:57:00.000+10:00

There are only four sleeps until our big concert! I am so excited. I am almost more excited than the children! I wish you all could come. If you live in Sydney email me and I'll give you the details!

My hubs and I both work full time, in addition to his music teaching business. Needless to say our weekends and evenings have been music dominated lately!

The show is a HUGE endeavour. It is my hubs and his students who combine with three of our friends who teach piano / keys, drums and singing. We have put all the little rock stars in to bands for the big concert. Our youngest rockstar is 6 and she is super cute.

The children are doing some AMAZING pieces, including Bohemian Rhapsody, This is War, Technical Difficulties and Welcome to the Black Parade. They play all the instruments and do the vocals (and the teachers help out in a couple of songs).

We have been rehearsing steadily every Friday night and all day Saturday, plus this weekend we had the dress rehearsal. It was an enormous weekend!

The Friday rehearsal went well. My job is to run the backstage machine; getting children in costumes and up to the stage in time for every song. I have a whistle that I threaten to blow when they miss their songs or are late into the rehearsal room, or they dawdle. I think the only time I actually blew the whistle was on Hubs when he spoke when he wasn't meant to! All the kids thought that was hilarious.

Anyway, Friday was good. The children remembered their lyrics, we made good time, most of the songs only got run one time. It was the first rehearsal with the huge Marshall stacks we hired and the children all adjusted well. I left on Friday feeling so great about the show!

The came Saturday.

Saturday made me pray for truth to the old cliche about a bad rehearsal meaning a good show. One boy was late as he had a football presentation. One girl had to leave early as she had a singing gig. One girl (big star and in loads of numbers) called in sick.

One song sounded absolutely horrible and the teachers could not work out why. Tanya had a melt down trying to sync the acoustic guitar and piano and work out what was going wrong.

In the middle of everything, Natalie, the co-coordinator of the show bought a house. Not sure why it happened on that day! She came late as they had inspected the property. They then made an offer. She and her husband darted in and out of rehearsals all afternoon to conduct the bidding war.

It was crazy!

The realtor finally confirmed that their offer was accepted, but only if they could sign contracts that day. WHO DOES THAT??? I, as lawyer in residence, gave therm stern advice AGAINST that idea. They did not listen and went back at about 5 pm to view the property again and sign the papers.

There was one moment when I looked around the studio and the only adults were me and my husband. Tanya was sorting out the acoustic guitar for one song and Natalie was buying a house. I freaked out! All of a sudden we were in charge of all those kids and I am, to be totally blunt, tone deaf.

Lucky for my husband! We had taken the key of a song, The Kill, down so the boy could sing it. Nobody told all the kids singing backing vocals. When they sang it was TERRIBLE! So bad even I could hear it! I tried to explain that they needed to adjust their key to match the new key the song was in....

Crickets.....

Six angelic blank faces looking at me with blinking eyes....

I raced in the house to get Tanya's sister (who is an amazing singer and vocal coach). She did not know the song at all, but she couldn't do worse than me, right??

I ended up racing over to the new house to read over the contracts before my crazy friends signed. We changed the settlement period from 5 to 6 weeks. Thank goodness there is a cooling off period! Things were SO CRAZY on Saturday I hope they can have a proper think about things and reflect!

I left On Saturday with every bone aching. My head pounded. I almost wished my husband had a regular job like being a dentist. Or a regular hobby like golf. Or that we had one of those marriages where I took no interest in what he did.

I have no idea if we ate dinner that night. I know I went to bed early in preparation for the dress rehearsal on Sunday. Hubs stayed up late restringing all the guitars.

The dress rehearsal was an epic day and I will post about that tomorrow!

Some Wife Life secrets

2010-09-15T18:44:00.000+10:00

I saw this on Amber's site and had to have a turn. Some of the questions are fun and some are actually thought provoking!

1. I have.............. no make up on.
2. Maybe I should......... do some ironing.
3. I love.......... pasta.
4. People would say that I am........ an organizer.
5. I don't understand............ why people hurt children.
6. When I wake up in the morning…....... I brush my teeth and get dressed to shoes.
7. I have lost........... my pandora bracelet : (
8. Life is full of.......... opportunities.
9. My past taught me........ that I can only control a certain amount of my world.
10. I get annoyed.......... when people don't listen.
11. Parties are............ an opportunity to cook!
12. I wish............. for a healthy family.
13. Dogs...... should live outside.
14. Cats...... are not my kind of people.
15. Tomorrow is......... fast approaching.
16. I have a low tolerance for............... prejudice.
17. If I won a million dollars..............I would take my parents to America to visit my sister.
18. I'm totally terrified of............... dying.
19. I've come to realize that my last kiss................ is just the beginning.
20. I am listening to............Hubs teaching guitar downstairs.
21. I talk................ a real lot.
22. My best friend................ constantly amazes me.
23. My first kiss.............. under a mulberry tree at my first wedding, when I was 5!
24. Love is................ equally sacrifice and reward.
25. Marriage is.............. what has made me a woman.
26. Somewhere, someone is thinking............. maybe I should start a blog.
27. I'll always........... love my critters.
28. The last time I really cried............... my husband dried my tears.
29. My cell phone is........... a Blackberry.
30. Before I go to bed..............I read.
31. Right now I am thinking about...................... what is for dinner?
32. Babies are........................ what makes it worthwhile.
33. Today I............. got a fantastic massage.
34. I really want to be.....................a mother
35. Someone that will most likely re-post this is….................. a thinker. It made me think!

New Blog Design

2010-09-13T07:08:00.000+10:00

Hip hip hooray! Look at my beautiful new blog!

I am so excited. It is exactly what I wanted. The Design Girl was so wonderful to work with (and she was Sending Love to Cohen!).

I have been offline until I got my new design. Every time I looked at my old blog lately I shuddered and resisted the urge to through the computer in the river. You know, when you decide to get something new, and the old thing is instantly horrible ?

I have so many things to blog about. I literally have dozens of posts saved up and about a zillion photos on the desk top to upload (not so much literally a zillion, but a lot.)

We are two weeks away from the student showcase and my life has become a blur of teenagers, angst, ear plugs and lighting charts! (Sure , I'll help with the lighting chart...... We should definitely have lights..... Spotlights? Sure! Flashing coloured fancy ones? Absolutely!)

Providence has smiled because I have a really light load at work at the moment. I was in the office for three whole days last week! Freaky, but perfect. There is no way I could be in court every day and spend this much time on the show.

Next weekend is the dress rehearsal and the week after is the show. Ohmigosh I think I am more nervous than the kids! Oh to have the inhibitions of a 14 year old again!

Hope you like the new design. It will make me much more inclined to blog now, knowing my words are going to such a beautiful home!

2010-08-30T20:31:00.000+10:00

This weekend was very low key. Hubs had rehearsals and other work stuff all weekend, so I was pretty lonely and bored. I know. Pathetic. Part of me is shouting at myself. I am Woman....Independent Woman etc etc. I did not feel much like roaring this weekend. The shocking truth is that I love my husband and enjoy spending time with him!

He had expressed a desire for pizza on Saturday night. In this family that only means one thing.... Pioneer Woman Pizza! I genuinely prefer this even to store pizza (except Manta Ray which is on Hamilton Island and not a practical Saturday night option).

I made two pizzas and we had left overs on Sunday night. I made a whole pesto / tomato pizza. It is our absolute favorite and I want a slab of this buried with me so I can enjoy it in Heaven!

I did a half / half for the second. On my vegetarian half I had a variation (sub par) of P-Dub's potato and leek. I had potato, vegetarian bacon (scoff if you will but even my husband cannot tell the difference on this pizza) and.... no leek. I could no buy leek. Is leek a seasonable vegetable? Is it leek season? Not sure, but Woolworths had none! So I used Spanish onion and it was not as good.

Hub's half was a meat lover's extravaganza. I basically went to the deli counter, held up my basket and had the clerk fill it with meat. Ham, Salami, Pepperoni, meat meat meat! I added some yellow capsicum in the distinct hope I could prevent my husband developing scurvy! (Thank goodness for the tomato on the first pizza!)

For desert I made the Blue Eyed Bride's Cobbler. It. Was. Delicious. Also, soooo simple!

I thawed a box of frozen berries, mixed in some flour, sugar and vanilla and piled it in a dish. I layered a sheet of puff pastry over the berries and then sliced another piece to criss-cross over the top. It baked for about 30 minutes and I had to cover the sides with foil at the end.

Hubs loved the cobbler so much he wants to serve it next time we have company.

A wife triumph!

The Full Monty

2010-08-28T12:08:00.000+10:00

Hubs just finished his second musical for the year. He was in the orchestra for the Full Monty and I am SO GLAD he was not in the cast!

Those guys had guts. They were all average looking men (which fits the story). There is a song where the women mock them (in their heads, not in real life) by singing "he's fat, he's bald, he's skinny, he's got pimples on his ass" over and over again. It was really like that!

These guys danced around the stage in a g string (thong) and ultimately got it all off! Thankfully the lighting effect at the end worked so nobody got to see the Full Monty (hubs did cop an eye full at the dress rehearsal, before all the lighting was worked out).

They were so good and I was so proud of them all!

Most of all I am proud of my husband. When we met he was a closet rock star. He played guitar, but mostly just at home! In the last six years he has exploded in a professional musician. I know how much he enjoys playing. He challenges himself by doing diverse things. If you had told him (or me) six years ago that he would be playing in the orchestra for musicals we would have thought you were crazy!

Rock on honey!

What's in the fridge?

2010-08-25T17:36:00.000+10:00

I know I am a bit late, but I want to join in the fridge reveals! I saw this on Jessica's blog and could not resist. I am so nosey about other people's fridge contents. I am also super nosey about supermarket trolley contents. Hubs and I will often spy in other people's carts and pass judgement on their selections!

Here is my fridge in all it's glory. I have to confess to discarding one manky half tomato, but other than that - au naturale! I defeated the urge to spruce her up with imported French champagne, fancy artisan cheese and swank vegetables like... um I am not exactly sure what a swank vegetable would be!

It does appear we are a little condiment heavy, judging on these pictures!

I really hope Jessica does not do show us your Tupperware cupboard. Mine has gone wild and needs to be reclaimed by the National Parks Authority. Bowls, dishes and containers are breeding like mad in there. Lids are long separated from their rightful partners. I am not even going to tell you about the container I opened and found..... remnants of spring onions (WHY WAS THAT PUT AWAY IN THE CUPBOARD WITH CLEAN DISHES?????)...... some weeks after I recall using them. There was no odor at all, until I opened the container.... now we have to move.

Well I guess I did tell you the story! I know for sure I can't take a picture in there without a major avalanche!

Shopping Spree

2010-08-24T18:37:00.000+10:00

I have been on a wonderfully therapeutic shopping spree!

Not that a girl needs a reason for a shopping spree, but here are a few I came up with:

1. I have been INSANELY busy at Court and quite stressed

2. I am not pregnant

3. I have recently got a tidy pay rise

4. I still cannot find my Pandora bracelet

5. I have not bought any new clothes for AGES

Any way, last week I had a day off and lavished attention on myself. I got my hair done, got a pedicure and hit my favorite stores for some new work clothes.

This dress will be great for spring. It is a wrap dress and cinches in at the waist. It is so 50s and perfectly suits my hourglass figure. It will be great for weekends and also for wearing to the office.

This new suit is actually a dress and jacket. It doesn't look like much on the hanger, but on me it is AMAZING! I feel great. It is something Joan on Mad Men would wear. So fitted in the waist and pencil skirt, with the built in chiffon top and cami.

My absolute favourite is this orange silk blouse. The photo does not do it justice, but this blouse is ORANGE!

I had my colours done a few years ago and was told I can pull orange off. It is not a colour I wore before that. I wore this blouse to Court on Fashion Friday and let me tell you, I have never had so many compliments!

I am so far behind in reading blog and in blogging. I have so much to post! Things have settled down a little at work (little being the operative word) so I hope to catch up soon.

A pregnant pause

2010-08-16T20:50:00.000+10:00

I am not getting pregnant.

This in itself is no cause for alarm. The rational part of my brain understands that these things take time and most healthy couples fall within six months.

What concerns me is the why. I saw the doctor this week and he ran some tests. I am having some female troubles.

Hubs is so positive and optimistic. He boosts me up, vowing to keep trying. He doesn't understand a woman's relationship to her body. I have known this body for a while now. I know something isn't quite right. The doctor wants to wait two more weeks then run more tests.

What if....

This all seems civilized and calm on the surface. I go about my business. I converse with friends, family and colleagues who don;t know we are "trying" let alone having troubles.

Inside of me I am silently panicking. The thought never quite leaves my consciousness, but is never fully spoken either.

What if I......

We have been so buy with work, hubs show, life in general. Everything ticks along as usual, and then I remember. I see a baby, and I think...

What if I can't.....

I was unsure about blogging this. This is the chronicle of my life and it would be unrealistic to ignore this element. Also, regardless of the result, I want to remember how I feel right at this moment.

A year from now if when I am holding my beautiful baby I want to remember the silent terror at the thought I may never meet him or her. I want to value the blessing that is conceiving human life, and remember it is a gift and not a right.

For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. Psalm 84:11

Great Goddess, Empress Earth,
I pray you, help me to be fertile
I pray you, help me to be fruitful
I pray you, help me to conceive a healthy child
I ask this with all of my heart
I ask this with my body and soul
I ask this in the Lady's name
So be it! Blessed be!

Domestic Diva

2010-08-09T21:11:00.000+10:00

Today I told the girls I work with that I made vegetable and lentil soup for the first time.

Now I know that is a big claim. I am not exactly suggesting I invented the concept of vegetable and lentil soup. This was just the first time I have cooked it.

The soup was part of my preparation for the week from hell. I decided a big batch would tide me over for a few days!

I hit up the Farmer's Market and stocked up on beautiful ingredients. Then I just made it up as I went along!

Here is my recipe:

2 x zucchini
4 x yellow squash
3 x carrots
4 stalks celery
1 large onion
1 cup red split lentils
1 tin tomatoes
2 x vegie bouillon cubes
water
Thyme
bay leaf
salt and pepper

I am sure I put in other vegies. Maybe green beans? Not sure.

I put everything in and simmered it away for a few hour. I then blended the solid bits and it got all soupy and slurpy.

It was delicious!

When I told Hubs I had "made up" a soup I think he was a little worried. When he tasted it his surprise was genuine!

I copied a nifty trick from the lovely Jill and froze the soup in zip lock bags, flat on a tray. Once frozen I stood them up and they took up no space at all!

I also made Hubs a casserole in the crock pot. Tell me, what is the difference between a stew and a casserole? Other than one sounding fancy and one sounding hobo?

Not sure if mine as a stew or a casserole. Maybe a stewserole.

Here is my recipe: (again, I am not claiming any great pioneering recipe creativity)

600gms diced "casserole" beef (is that a clue that my dish is a casserole? It looked stewy)
1 diced onion
4 diced carrots
4 diced celery stalks
2 red rascal potatoes
1 tin champignon mushrooms
bay leaf
worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

I feel like I should have added red wine but the only bottle we had was the good stuff from the Hunter Valley and I was not going to waste that on experimental stewserole!

I whacked it all in the crock and let it brew away for about 7 hours. I then served it with mashed potato (PW style) to my cold tired husband who was (again) genuinely pleasantly surprised. How could he have doubted the potential yumminess of stewserole?

Y'all will be happy to know I survived day 2 of my horrible case. There were only two late developments and by about 10.15 I was hoping the building would catch fire. Don't tell the sheriff I said that. It is probably an offense.

When I got home I decided to make up for the microwave pies last week prove what a wonderful wife I am and bake my husband cookies! They will be waiting for him when he gets home from rehearsal. Those and a big bowl of leftover stewserole. I will be long gone to bed.

For now I am going to curl up with my brief and tomorrow's cross examination and 1 or 15 of those cookies. That I made for my husband.

Cookies? What cookies?

Inhale

2010-08-08T10:27:00.000+10:00

I am in a period of time where my wife-life and my lawyer-life are slamming into each other, and slamming into me! I have been so busy with work that it feels like I am a visitor in my own house. Today I have one day - in between two mental-crazy-busy weeks - to inhale.

I have been away this week for three days at a Conference. It was mandatory, Thursday through Saturday, with a dinner and other activities as well. My whole team attended. It was hilarious at 7.30 pm on Wednesday night. Usually the place is deserted at that hour. This week the whole staff was there busily working to pack 5 days worth of work into a short week. It was pitch dark out but so frantic and busy inside like it was the middle of the day.

I rushed home from the conference to style a photo shoot. I use those words loosely! Hubs is a musician and one of his many faces is teaching guitar. This is his calling and his passion. I honestly think if you asked him he would choose teaching over going on tour with Van Halen.

I mentioned before I think that the big show is coming up in September. So close. He puts a show together with our friends who teach drums, piano and vocals. They form the kids into bands and the show is AMAZING.

Well I am the least musically talented human to walk the earth so I find other ways to help. I styled the kids for their photos, complete with Beyonce fan, props and hairspray. (The boys loved me! - not).

The other complication is that Hubs is currently rehearsing for a musical. The timing could not have been worse! However he is not going to turn down the job, and he does really love playing too.

He has been rehearsing every night, and is there all day today. After three huge manic days I got up early today to put the heater on, brew the coffee and fix him a cooked breakfast. Have to salvage the wife cred somehow!

I sat in on a (Kid's show) rehearsal last week as hubs was at a musical rehearsal. I had some notes from G about the songs. The kids rocked out but there was something wrong with some chords in one song. Tanya kept looking at me like I may know the answer. I am married to the guy but I cannot channel him! I did however call him and he dispatched telephone wisdom so right was restored in the rock world.

Needless to say the home fires have not been tended this week. I have a huge task ahead today. I have one day to restore order on the home front. Tomorrow I continue the week long trial I have mentioned before. It will be a brutal four days. I have to be prepared to not see my house or husband very much for the next week. I will be working and he will be doing rehearsals.

My tasks for today include:

laundry (clean underwear adds something to my advocacy skills)
dishes (wash them, find the missing ones, wash those too)
grocery shopping (what has my husband eaten this week?)
prepare meals for next week (avoid repeat of this week's culinary crimes. How many times can a man microwave a meat pie?)
prepare four outfits for this week
prepare lunches and snacks

I had better hop to it! I will set my Flylady timer and most of these jobs will be a breeze.

I just have to remember to breath.

Pandora is Missing

2010-08-03T12:13:00.000+10:00

As the headline screams, my Pandora bracelet is missing. I am beyond panicking. I am devastated.

Hubs and I have looked all over the house. He is convinced it is in a pocket or a laundry basket. I have no idea. I am desperately trying to remember when I last wore it. Now I keep having these flashes of memory that I do no know if I can trust.

I know it is a material object, and in the scheme of things, insignificant. I know it is shallow to be so devastated about missing jewellery. However, I did the Pandora thing and got a charm for every special occasion. The bracelet was my wedding gift from my husband, along with a wedding cake and Christmas tree. Every single charm represented some special even or memory.

My memory is already fading so I am going to jot them down:

Cupcake - represents my sister and when she moved overseas

Gold crown - my promotion

Gold band - Clean bill of health after my accident

Topaz and Scorpio charms - birthday gift from hubs

gold heart - first wedding anniversary (purchased at the airport on the way to our anniversary trip)

snowflake - white Christmas. Purchased in Boston

There are some others that I have at home. I know there were more. I cannot believe I already struggle to remember them.

The worst part is - sometimes the bracelet annoyed me. I clanked on the desk when I typed and on the bar table in Court. I usually save it for weekends. I hope it hasn't been taken away from me because I didn't really appreciate it.

I will keep looking, and praying.

Contact Me

2010-08-01T20:54:00.001+10:00

I would love to hear from you. Leave me a comment or send me an email.

email ~ elle.secretlife@gmail.com

You can also tweet along with me!

twitter ~ elle_secretlife

A day in my life

2010-07-31T10:40:00.000+10:00

6:45 The alarm sounds. It is not unexpected. I hit snooze and hunker down for 'five more minutes'. I grab my little radio and earphones and start listening to Radio National (Aussie NPR) to catch up on events. I am a total news junkie and will listen to my little radio in bed in the morning and night time.

7.00 I am awake now but recalcitrant. I stay in bed and check emails (and yes, shame file, Face book and Twitter).

7:10 When I finally actually get out of bed I am officially late-ish. I brush my teeth and 'get dressed to shoes' (thanks Flylady). I am a night time showerer. I cannot stand getting in to bed without washing the day off me. It is also much easier with blow drying hair, and I usually exercise at night.

A splash and dash freshens me for the morning, then into hair and make up.

Despite already being late-ish I decide to experiment with a new up-do. I am looking for a fancy lady lawyer do suitable for court that does not interfere with the pulsating pain emanating from my brainstem.

After wrangling pins for 20 minutes I give up and go with a loose-ish ballet bun with a bit of volume up front.

7.45 I prod hubs awake (again) and this time it takes. We make the bed together (only sure-fire way neither of us will get back in) and he heads down stairs to forage for food.

My clothes are ready. I get them all out and select accessories the night before (Flylady again).

It is Fashion Friday and I have a big case starting so I am wearing a favorite lacy skirt that ALWAYS draws compliments (not that I expect the Judge to be impressed by my skirt, but it will give me extra confidence in Court).

I realize I will never be a truly successful blogger if I cannot take photos of myself in the mirror. Must work on this!

7.55 I head downstairs and get ready to leave. Hubs hands me the pre-conception vitamins I must take with food. I am nowhere near hungry so I chew down half a muesli bar (is that food for these purposes?) and take my vitamins.

I grab a bagel for the road to appease my husband (doubting it ill be consumed...) and my coffee. My one, precious, 150mg coffee I get in a day.

8.10 I am now officially late. I step outside and remember I live on the Yorkshire Moors and not in suburban Sydney.

I kiss Heathcliff goodbye and set out. My usually 40 minute drive is lengthened due to the uncharacteristic mist and fog.

9.05 Walk in the door to my office. I prepare to be bombarded! I supervise a team of solicitors and support staff, as well as running my own practice. I know my staff will have loads of questions and problems for me as soon as I walk in. I also know I am trying a huge case and it starts today. I will need time in my office to focus and prepare.

The first person I see is my assistant. She thrusts a post-it at me stating that a lawyer from another firm wants me to mention something for him today. I hand the post-it off to the solicitor handling that particular matter and keep going.

Before I get to my office three more staff approach me. I love supervision but it does eat in to the time I can spend on my actual cases! I am lamenting the extra time in bed and hair styling this morning. My brain stem continues to pulsate.

I deposit the bagel in the fridge with every intention to eat it. One day.

9.20 I gather up all the files and documents I need for this hearing.

I realize it will not all fit in the suitcase I take to Court so I off-load a few volumes to the junior solicitor assisting me to carry.

A final check of my inbox (virtual and physical), a whip around the staff to make sure they are all set for the day and I head off with my posse. There are four of us walking to court together.

9.30 On the way out my boss wishes me luck. She knows this is a huge case and how demanding it has been.

9.40 Arrive at Court and chat with the other solicitors in my matter. The case involves two profoundly deaf parties so we need sign language interpreters. There has been an ongoing argument about the qualifications of the interpreters the court has previously booked. One solicitor informs me that if Level 2 interpreters arrive she is applying to the Supreme Court for a stay of the proceedings. I am glad I wore my fancy skirt.

10am Parties are called into Court. We have three level 3 interpreters and one is on the way. We are told the 4th person is a level 2. The Judge stands us down until they arrive.

I take the time to properly unpack all my files on the bar table and get situated.

10.10 The fourth interpreter arrives and is a level 3! Hallelujah! The Judges allows the interpreters to re-arrange the room a little to allow the best visual line. They advise him how they will conduct the translations and that they rotate every 15 minutes. We are reminded to speak slowly and clearly to assist them.

10.30 Evidence finally commences. Due to the interpreters it is slow going. Very shortly a huge argument erupts over some documents that were not contained in the discovery. The Judge goes off the bench and the lawyers all look at the new document.

Legal argument continues and we do not get very far at all.

11.30 The Judge calls morning tea and orders all the lawyers to get together and work out an agreed version of the document. I feel physically and emotionally like I have been slamming my head on the bar table all morning.

11.55 Cross-examination of the first witness continues.

1pm We brake for lunch. I had to the cafe across the road and grab my favorite felafel zataar and a coke. Full strength coke! Very unusual for me. I need it today.

While all my colleagues eat at the cafe I return to court to review the newly discovered documents and refine my cross.

2pm I cross examine the first fitness. I go last in the order, just before re-examination. I call for some documents which the witness now says never existed. Legal argument arises again.

3pm The second witness is called. Her evidence in chief last 45 minutes.

3.45 The judge realises we will not finish this witness today so he excuses her. We spend 20 minutes on legal argument and housekeeping. The matter has 4 more days, but not until 9 August. We confirm the order of witnesses for the remaining days.

4.20 Pack up my bags to head to the office. One of the lawyers in my case (who I support) wants to debrief. We have a quick chat and agree that we cannot decide where the Judge is leaning. It is too early.

4.30 I walk back to the office. I seriously consider heading straight home.

4.40 I arrive in the office as people are packing up to start the weekend. Although I have been in court all day I have not actually got any work done! I spend and hour on paperwork, emails and correspondence. I prepare the files I need for court on Monday.

6pm I leave work for the week and head home! Hooray! It is raining so the drive is still slow. Un-hooray!

6.50 Arrive at home and Hubs is already in his music room working on The Full Monty. We agree on Pizza for dinner (hey people - i know this would be a big day and actually wrote take-out on the meal plan!).

7.30 We settle down with pizza, cheesey garlic bread and shows on the DVR.

Is there a better site on a Friday night?

9.20 I am fading fast. I give in to my patheticness and head upstairs. After a quick shower I get my ballet clothes ready for the next morning. Hubs sets up the coffee machine and timer (bless him).

I read for a while and indulge in my latest obsession - Tetris on my DS.

10.00 I put the news on my little radio and settle in for sleep. Hubs is still reading.

Soon it will be time for ballet.

Note - my husband's name is not really Heathcliff.

Appliance love

2010-07-30T15:04:00.028+10:00

I do love good kitchen appliance. There is a hierarchy of love. Those on the counter like the toaster and kettle are a bit passe. My love for them has faded. They are regular, comfortable. A comfy pair of socks. A snugly sweater stretched in just right.

The coffee machine is my wild crazy love. It is a forbidden love. Coffee is dangerous and exciting and I know it is not good for me, but I must have it.

My slow cooker? My beloved crock-pot? Let me count the ways.....

My crock-pot is constantly surprising me. I am never bored with it. Never grow tired of it. It reinvents itself all the time! It has never disappointed me.

This week I tried a new recipe. I was nervous. Each new recipe is like a first date. I have heard ceramic crocks can be temperamental. A recipe that works for one will be dry and burnt in another. Cooking times vary.

I calculated these risks and took the plunge.

Sweet potato pork roast.

Risky. A gamble. Not flavors that usually go with pork. Would I be happily surprised again?

I chopped up a large sweet potato, large onion and some garlic and tossed it in the crock. On top of that went a rolled piece of pork, drizzled with olive oil.

No searing, no pan-frying. All in - uncomplicated.

When I got home from work I was dazzled by the aroma. The sweet potato and onion had dissolved into a sweet garlicy sauce to pour over the pork.

As the supper was keeping warm I had an inspiration! This is the kind of love that takes me to new heights. How about spinach?

With my heart racing I lifted the lid and threw in a huge handful of spinach leaves! The heat from the crock wilted them down perfectly.

When hubs got home he too was dazzled by the aroma. I did absolutely nothing to disabuse him of the notion that I had been slaving in the kitchen for hours.

I plated up with the mashy sweet potato on the bottom, a layer of spinach topped with the pork. I drizzled the sauce all over it.

Then I washed out the beautiful shiny ceramic crock.

One of my best dinners EVER took about 8 hours to make. I was only there for about 30 minutes of it!

I do love my slow cooker.

2010-07-29T20:03:00.000+10:00

I am such a bad mid-week blogger. I lurch through the week and then realize I have not blogged once. I read blogs everyday. I just don't post on my blog.

I blog in my head. That's right. As I go about my business I draft witty and insightful posts in my head, I chronicle my activities, I comment on the modern existence. I just don't actually type any of it. The blog in my head is SO popular and has 100s of followers and comments every day.

Sigh.

I have enjoyed the EA Designs blogs - A day in the Life of - series. My absolute favorite thing about blogging is the window into people's worlds. What they eat, how they fix their hair, what dishes they use, routines and regular every day things. I love that!

I am going to chronicle a day in the life of me. Tomorrow. If I remember.

We have had a crazy week. Hubs is in full rehearsal mode now for The Full Monty (band not cast thank goodness!). He also has his big student concert in September for all his guitar students. My girlfriends teach piano, singing and drums so all the teachers get together for a big show. It is a rock extravaganza. This is no piano recital. I get to do programs. I have zero rock credibility!

We had a fun weekend. We were out of coffee (DAH DAH DAAAAAH evil sounding music) so we headed to Starbucks. Before we left, hubs asked if I wanted to "spruce up".

What the....?

Yes, we are still married. Just.

Admittedly I was in my PJs when he asked this, and my hair hadn't seen a hairbrush in about 12 hours, and my shiny face was sans makeup. No excuse. I remember when he thought I looked beautiful all the time.

Correction. I remember when he said I looked beautiful all the time!

So I grudgingly put on actual clothes. No makeup though! On principle! (Also Starbucks is a 15 minute drive away and the chances of seeing anyone I knew were slim to none!).

I only have myself to blame for how I look in this picture!

Sigh.

My Secret Wife Life

Holiday entertaining

Social Media Secret Santa

Worst. Haircut. Ever.

THE news

Family curse

50s Fair Fun

Hostage Drama - my account

West Wing soothes my soul

Health care

Recovery and recipes

Successful surgery

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Mushrooms

The Pajama Game

Summer treats

Taco Pizza Triumph

Love Story - New chapter

OB/GYN visit

A practically perfect date night

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake

The natural way

Walking wounded

Everyone I know is pregnant

Sickbed blues

Pandora bracelet

A Mexican Fiesta

Anniversary Trip - Part 1

Cookie Monster

Valentine's Day

A pretty package

A new 'do

Happy Valentine's Day!

So much to talk about

Two years ago

Baby Shower

My Country

Williams-Sonoma Care Package

Carols by sunlight

A Swinging Christmas?

iPad test blog

Happy Holidays

Ballet Concert

Christmas Questions

The Festival of Christmas

Date Night

100th Post

Incy Wincy Spider

Love story - chapter 4

For the earlier installments of my match-making love story follow the link above.

My friends conspired about the ultimate set up. Where and when. Who and how. They schemed and plotted. Connived and manipulated. I imagined them sitting up late at night, studying the Art of War by candlelight. Or maybe The Art of Matchmaking.

Love story - chapter 4

For the earlier installments of my match-making love story follow the link above.

My friends conspired about the ultimate set up. Where and when. Who and how. They schemed and plotted. Connived and manipulated. I imagined them sitting up late at night, studying the Art of War by candlelight. Or maybe The Art of Matchmaking.

Cara's wedding

The Cake

More Birthday fun

More Birthday fun

Christmas Birthday fun

Ballet Birthday

Trick or treat?

Local Mission

Easy Risotto

Spring has Sprung

Superhero Party

Cinnamon Buns

A Long Weekend

Rockfest Rundown

Concert Eve

Four Sleeps to Go!

Some Wife Life secrets

New Blog Design

The Full Monty

What's in the fridge?

Shopping Spree

A pregnant pause

Domestic Diva

Inhale

Pandora is Missing

Links

Daily Delights