Victory for a dreamer

I noticed a bit of banter on Twitter and in forums over the past few days about the validity of Cadel Evan's hero status after his legendary win at (in?) the Tour De France.

While I agree that a lot of sporting personalities are put  on a pedestal because of their skills rather than their substance, I think Cadel has the goods.

I won't lie, I don't know if he has done any philanthropic work but - 

He had a dream

He worked hard

Gained strength from his set backs

He believed

and his dream came true

I care very little for the sport but I have so much admiration for this man and because of that we should try to fit a little bit of yellow into our lives and celebrate dreams coming true!

Point and shoot: Unreal wheels

After being stuck indoors for a few days while the little big girl and I were both sick, I was happy to down a cup of concrete to harden the eff up and leave my pity party at home.

We had brought tickets weeks earlier to the sold out Victorian All Stars vs Texas 

Roller Derby and I didn't want to miss it.

I only made it to half time, standing holding a fidgety toddler wasn't my ideal, but it was awesome and I may have added a pair of skates to my "when I get back" wish list.

(How I wish I could still fit into, and find the ones I had as a teenager. Fresh clean white with red trimmings and a buckle, they were HOT HOT HOT!!!).

I think in the meantime we will start a juniour team of our own.

Introducing.............

Now I just need to invest in a few bags of cotton wool to wrap them in

My tears dry on their own

Dear Amy

I hope you are somewhere where your demons are not and your troubles have passed.

So wish there was more.

I remember the first time I heard "Frank" thinking this chick has "it",

and I will now remember the moment I heard that your demons had beat you.

Thank you for being a trailblazer

Thank you for my Sunday morning soundtracks

Rest in Peace






Russell Brand wrote an insightful and beautiful tribute, that made me shed a few tears read here

PIZZA

Today was one of those days where time just seemed to fly.

Around lunchtime I thought homemade pizza would be a great option for dinner.

As I sat down for my afternoon coffee I remembered I had thrown out the remainder of the expired yeast a few days earlier.

Luck would have it that Kidspot had posted a fab link on face book for a

2 ingredient pizza dough recipe

1 cup of SR flour

1 cup Greek or natural yoghurt

(seriously that is it!!!)

I was a little apprehensive and wondered if we would end up having toasties for dinner but thankfully threw caution to the wind and prepared the dough.

While I sliced some veggies my little big girl kneaded the dough,

and in less time than it would take to get one delivered, we had yummy fresh 

homemade pizza, and this was quite possibly the best dough I've ever made.

I wish I had taken some after photos, but the it was all gone before the thought 

even crossed my mind. 

On a side note I only used half cup of yoghurt to a cup of  SR flour and it was perfect.

Quirky and Quaint Check it out

I have lots of clever and creative friends and one of them is starting a new adventure that I wanted to share.

Kylie and I have been friends since school and have been through a lot of highs and 

lows together and I am sure this little venture will sit nicely amongst those highs.

She already runs a successful children's bedroom decor business,

Tiges & Weince and has now added what you might call a travelling roadshow to the mix. 

Head over to quirkyandquaint.blogspot.com for the low down. 

As much as I love visiting the awesome handmade 

markets we have in Melbourne, somedays it just isn't practical, so I love the idea 

of having them brought to my own home. Kylie has sourced some awesome 

products and even though I'm not playing hostess until I return from my trip, 

I may have already pre ordered a couple of things. 

But that's our secret because I am supposed to be saving my cents to turn them into pennies......

Point and Shoot : Last week

We met Sadie's newest cousin Alexis.

(This technically should have been a point and shoot for last week, 

but I guess I never got around to it.)

We joined in as the country went Gaga crazy and got a bit excited 

when my Dad declared his love for her.

I'm not sure why but I often find myself getting a little teary when I think of Gaga, her talent, what she stands for and the fact that she is willing to put her money where her mouth is sometimes a little overwhelming. Yep I'm a sook but I think she's ace.

(If you missed it you MUST watch A Gaga Affair )

This little pocket rocket turned 8

Happy Birthday Abs xoxo

Which gave us an excuse to cook up some delicious treats

(these cakes should come with a warning sticker to pre book your 

dentist before eating, either that or Jenny Craig!!!!)

This little monkey continues to get cuter, cheekier and funnier every single day,

and made me this awesome necklace at "little kinder" because she missed me and they are my favourite colours. Awwwww

Day One

So that's it, with her backpack almost bigger than her, 

I've left my little buddy for her first day of little school.

I could feel the lump forming in my throat as we were getting ready and she asked

"You stay with me today?" I wondered if I'd make it out the door without tears.

Well she was fine, I (just) made it to the car before the waterworks started.

So to cheer myself up I grabbed some mags on the way home to flick through 

while I enjoy finishing a coffee while it's still hot and a red velvet cupcake (or two).

I do have grand plans to get through my TO DO list, teach myself photoshop 

and do a massive toy cull with out the help of little hands.

But today there are floors to be mopped, clothes to be washed and a clock to 

be watched because pick up time hugs are the best!

School Holidays

Mother nature sure has something against school holidays in Melbourne.

Last week, even though the wind was a little bitter, the sun shone everyday. 

This week the kids are off school and the weather is blah.

With the clouds looking like they are going to open up any minute and a Mr doing 

night works I knew I had to keep them occupied so they didn't turn into screaming banshees 

(boredom - any parents worst nightmare).

A few hours this morning at the indoor pools WIN 

and then fatmumslim's post yesterday for Baked Doughnuts has saved the day.

It's even keep them sitting still watching the dough rise.

So if you need something to keep your kids occupied and you're not afraid 

of carb overload buy some dry yeast from the supermarket.

Did somebody say pizza for dinner!!

a tale of two sisters

One is home alone in bed watching grown up shows with sex and swearing an stuff.

The other is sharing her bed



watching Woo Hoo Ha, otherwise known as Kung Fu Panda, again.

Yep yep sweet dreams peeps

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The other Kate gets married

At first glance I thought this dress was lovely FULL STOP

BUT check out that hem detail. Holy shit, be still my beating heart

Mr Galliano you might be a twat, but you can a wedding dress like no other.

And here's my former favourite celebrity couple 

Damn you Jude Law for being such a handsome twat!!!!

(guess what the word of the day is around here)

Point and shoot: Little school

When the unfamiliar number came up on my phone screen I tried to remember if I had missed an appointment or had ordered something I forgotten about. 

It wasn't a call I had expected, we had been on a waiting list since the start of the year.

As I hung up the phone I tried talk through the lump in my throat

"Sadie has a spot in day care". 

Since her best friend started school this year, Sadie has been obsessed with school. 

Randomly informing us " I went to school today" or " I saw my friends from school today".

There's even been a few tears shed about wanting to go to school, so in the name of happiness, I may have told a little white lie and Miss Sadie thinks she is starting little school.

Off we trotted for her first orientation visit, she had her back pack on ready to go

 from the moment she was dressed.

It was supposed to be an hour, we were there for nearly three which included a request to stay for lunch. Easy! We still have another orientation session, then it's the real deal. 

Let's just see how I  cope walking out that gate alone.......

Best I quickly  head over to sunny + scout check out some other point and shoots before I become a blubbering mess.

Red nose day

As a mother I can not think of anything worse than the thought of burying a child, 

especially when they have hardly had a chance to start their life. 

Although I am not a religious person, as I but Sadie to bed when she was a baby, I would 

say a little prayer and hope that she would be safe through the night and like most new 

parents I'm sure I woke her on more than a few occasions as I checked her breathing.

I brought SIDS approved sleeping bags and a fancy monitor that beeped if she stopped breathing, call me paranoid but my mum's cousin had lost an 11 month old to SIDS and 

I was taking no chances. My dear friend has also written about the lose of a child and 

how important red nose day is to her.

So take a moment to be a little silly and red nose yourself for a good cause. 

Party In My Tummy

When I asked if there was anything I could bring to a party we attended on the weekend, 
the hostess quickly asked for that pear cake thing I made last visit.

After posting on twitter that it was in the oven, I ended up sharing the recipe with a handful 
of my twitter buddies, I'd already had it in my head that it would make a good blog post, 
so no time like the present.

Last year for Christmas one of my besties and I decided that instead of buying gifts for each other we would finally book in a day with Tonia Todman. I suppose Tonia,  is the Australia's own version of Martha Stewart.  She offers different classes from interior decorating to flower arranging but it was the cooking classes we were most interested in.

We made a delicious Lemon Tart, but it's one of those recipes that you need to plan ahead for. We also made a pear and almond cake that looks and sounds fancy, but it is honestly the easiest thing to whip up and tastes soooo good.

Pear and almond cake 

• Preheat oven to 170. Grease springform tin and line with baking paper.
• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating well between eah addition
• Stir in almond meal,baking powder and flour by hand.  
• Spread mixture into prepared tin, top with pears, cut side downwards, placing them around the edge of the cake, narrow ends facing towards centre. (we also sprinkled the bottoms with plain flour, I think this was to prevent them from sinking too much).
• Bake cake for about 50 minutes or until skewer comes away clean.  

There is a fancy glaze that came with it, but I just make a syrup using the juice from the jar and some sugar and boil it until it turns into a syrup, then pour that over the warm cake.


What I loe the most is that this recipe is a great base and you ould put different fruits into it depending on taste.
I also made the orange and poppy seed version. Any excuse for cream cheese icing........

Orange and poppy seed - add chopped zest from 3 oranges and about 2 tbsp poppy seeds.

cream cheese icing 1 block (250 gms) cream cheese 1 teaspoon butter 1 cup icing sugar

Jeff Bukley

Like James Dean and River Phoenix, Jeff Buckley is one of those beautiful people who I often
wonder what they may be doing right now had they not died so young.

James Dean may have been just another actor that made a few amazing movies but that's it, 

River Phoenix may have left the art-house scripts behind and made action movies (I highly 

doubt that, but Keanu has made  a few dodgy career choices!). Jeff Buckley though..........

His "mainstream" success was most certainly determined by his untimely death. 

So its hard to know what would have been. 

When I was product buyer for a large musical chain I remember that every time "Grace" was at 

a lower price point we would sell hundreds of copies and have always wondered had he not 

decided to take a swim on that fateful night 14 years ago, if he would have been such a success 

and keep delivering amazing music.

Whispers of a Biopic being made of his life hae been rumored over the last few years which Im pretty eager to see. Recently I heard Robert Pattinson was keen to take on the role, then a couple of days ago I read that Penn Badgley had been cast According to the LA TIMES this is false.  Either way I think Id be happy to see either of these guys play Jeff. The only unfortunate thing is we know how this story ends.

Point and Shoot : It's Dancey Dance Time

So if you were wandering around Melbourne town on Saturday and noticed the lack of 

pre school hipsters on the streets, then you would have been either rejoicing the quiet 

or you were unaware that the coolest show to hit daytime Tv was in town.

We've seen and meet the Yo Gabba Gabba characters out and about over the 

past couple of years but DJ Lance Rock has always been missing. 

In the 60's it was The Stones or The Beatles, the 90's it was Brandon or Dylan, in my 

world at this moment in time it's The Wiggles or Yo Gabba Gabba. I personally have no 

place in my heart for grown men in flat fronted pants and skivvies entertaining my child. 

I do however hold a special spot for a black man in an orange jumpsuit and a furry hat.

We were most definitely doing the countdown in this house. I can not lie, I was probably more excited than a certain two year old, but this was her first proper "concert" so I suppose she didn't know what to expect. We got up Saturday morning and announced 

NO MORE SLEEPS . IT"S GABBA DAY!!!!!!!!

Waiting outside for the doors to open amongst a see of toddlers wouldn't be in my top 
ten of fun things to do, but once we got inside all kinds of fun unfolded. As lights dimmed, 
a nervousness hit the crowd as you could hear parents comforting there kids, the 
short stint of darkness quickly disappeared with flashing lights and the next couple of 
hours were filled with squealing, excitement and pure joy.

Here's a few screen caps form the video I made as the show started. 

I'm getting a bit gushy for point and shoot this week, I could look at these expressions all day.

I so hope they come back again soon will look a little weird if my sis and I go sans children.

I have a couple of  dates with Miss Kylie Minogue this week, she has a lot to live up to!

Just Because She Has My Heart

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30 day photo challenge Part 1

OK so I'm totally behind in sharing this, but I have been playing along with this 30 Day Photography challenge and posting on instagram.

Thought I'd play catch  up over here today.

Day 1 - 6