Outfit #110 - Last Green Dress in the Shop

On my last trip to Melbourne, we just happened to have lunch one day across a laneway from a favourite store.  We just happened to visit said store after lunch.  This was the last dress of its kind. 

Dress: Kinki Gerlinki.  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: from Mombasa.  Necklaces: from Jeannie and an op shop.

It took me ages to actually wear this dress.  I have a sneaky feeling it will make an appearance in many outfits.  I love it.  Although it's not all that flattering, it is so lovely to wear, and I have several layering ideas already.  I'll do a close-up of the earrings in a future post.

Outfit #109 - Spots and Florals

Gasp.  Today combined spots and florals.  Not in a subtle way, either.  All black and white, though.

Dress: Hot Options.  Shoes: no label, from Jeannie.

The earrings I was going to wear turned out to be missing a hook, and I was too scatterbrained this morning to sort out any other accessories.

Today was a grade 3 day - and not one child said that I shouldn't be wearing these shoes with this dress.  My pattern mixing confidence increases.  Be warned.

Outfit #108 - Warm and Cool

Previously, I have always paired this top (a very cool blue) with black/white/grey lower halves (also cool).  Today was the first time I paired it with black and coffee-ish.  Mmm, coffee...  I mean, warm.  Plus, weather (hello, more floods) causing me to appreciate the warmth factor of my raincoat.  Weird.

Top: David Lawrence.  Skirt: Katies.  Singlet and leggings: Ambra.  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: Sportsgirl, I think.  Necklace: made by me.

My coffee and milk didn't play nicely on the weekend, causing rather an aversion to coffee.  I'm gradually getting over it, thank goodness.  Meanwhile, we're stuck with the super-tired face.  Getting only 4 hours sleep thanks to a late-running gig last night didn't help either.  I'm really looking forward to a mini sleep-in tomorrow. 

Super Healthy Chocolate Cake

I have a new addiction: Teresa Cutter's Healthy Chef blog.  This is especially helpful when I've given up sugar for Lent.  Ooh, and as a few friends have food intolerances (lactose, gluten), this blog is a goldmine of 'free' recipes.  With alternatives, if required, for things like replacing nuts or eggs.  For last night's dinner I was asked to bring a dessert.  I've been wanting to make the 'Really Good Chocolate Cake' for months now, and jumped at the opportunity.  Teresa's recipe is here which includes all the options.  Below is the version I made.

Ingredients:
2 whole oranges
3/4 cup honey
6 organic free range eggs
pinch of sea salt
400g ground almonds
3/4  cup good quality dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 175C (or 160C if fan-forced).  Line the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin.
Steam the whole oranges for 60 minutes, until soft.  Cool, then chop roughly.  Transfer to a food processor (or trusty mini-chopper), process until smooth.  Add honey, eggs, salt and vanilla and process again (this was the maximum capacity of my chopper).
Transfer mix to large (very large) bowl.  Add the almonds, cinnamon, and cocoa (preferably sifted), and mix well.
Transfer to the cake tin.  Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes.

The cake still looked not-quite-cooked on top, even when the skewer came out clean.  It was delightfully moist, though.  The general consensus at dinner was that it was more like a fruit cake than a chocolate cake.  Can be stored up to 1 week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Did I mention the doggies were present?  Many cuddles later...

Outfit #107 - Firsts

Today was a day of firsts.

Skirt: Spicysugar (from Jeannie).  Tank: Ambra.  Shirt: Miss Cherry (from Jeannie).  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: Cose Belle.

I wore my glasses for the first time at work today (well, first time wearing them for most of the day).  I also wore this shirt and these earrings for the first time to work (not their first outings though).  I wouldn't normally pair those two, either.  It was my first time wearing a checked shirt in a long, long time.  And I had to take a student to sick bay for the first time today.  Running to her lesson, she tripped down the stairs and did some soft tissue damage. 

Outfit #106 - The First Beige Experiment

It's pretty obvious, I think, that I am a 'winter' in colouring.  Beige has not been on my list of acceptable colours to wear near my face.  Yet, last year I bought this shirt. 

Shirt: Crossroads (op shop).  Skirt: Katies.  Belt: from a dress from Target.  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: from Jeannie.

Today was the shirt's first outing.  I intended to wear a bright necklace, but collars and necklaces weren't playing nicely this morning, and I didn't have the energy to force the issue. 

I felt I was being rather earthy with this ensemble of neutral colours and flowers.  The thought did cross my mind to get a photo of me hugging a tree in this outfit.  It didn't get any further than that.

Outfit #105 - From Jeannie

You may have noticed, many of my clothes come from Jeannie.  Today, they're all from Jeannie.

Dress: Backstage.  Shoes: Zoe & Zac.  Earrings: ?

The shoes do hurt a little though, so I have to pick my days carefully - today I only had junior quartet, and some parts to photocopy in the office, taking me out of my teaching room.  Which was a good thing, too, considering the rain.  Not from Jeannie (or even photographed) were the rain coat and umbrella.  They weren't used all that much.

One girl came in and said right away, "Ooh I like your dress... and your shoes!  Very cute.  But - oh - did you hurt your feet?"  when she saw the (preemptive) Bandaids.

Movie #31 - Tropic Thunder

I was about to do a more recent movie post, when I realised I had neglected Tropic Thunder.  Vaguely understandable, considering I watched it on one of those super-hot days.  In January.  Which was perfect, really, pairing the horribly hot and humid brain-melting weather with the comedy and ease of this movie.  That said, it was a while ago, so please don't expect great things here...

Now, the last Ben Stiller movie I watched was Greenberg.  There is a reason he is better known for his comedies.  So, not expecting anything great or serious, I was hoping this would be a return to form for him.  Thankfully, this was the case.  And there was so much more.

We still had the Personal Journey Plot Device, alongside the Group Dynamics-Work as a Team theme.  But we also had rather a Shakespearean element.  You know the actor playing an actor playing a soldier thing.  Or are they...? And, even better, the white guy playing a black guy and staying in character the whole way.  Only because I knew, from the friend who showed it to me as well as from the advertising, did I realise that Tom Cruise and Robert Downey, Jr, were in this.  I love it when an actor is so well-disguised in a role that I don't recognise who they are.  (This doesn't often happen).  We also saw a bit of what I think of as the Truman Show Device, in which people believe the reality with which they are presented.  And it's this that I find most interesting.  We accept so much of our situation, but how often do we try to step outside of that and find another perspective?  In a way, we are all acting our life stories, but do we convince ourselves or others?  Do we live our lives so truly that others see us as we really are, or do we act out our lives so convincingly that we convince ourselves that that is who we really are?

It was funny, as promised.  Although set during the Vietnam War, there were only two gruesome bits, and one of those was rather comedic.  I was warned about it, so I could deal.  It sends up the outrageous things involved in movie-making.  The person who seems the craziest turns out to be the only one who can get the job done.  It doesn't try to be a serious movie - it actually looks like a whole lot of actors got together and said, wouldn't it be fun if... and so they did. 

The Toowong Cemetery

It seems incredible that today was my first visit to Toowong Cemetery.  Getting there, I went right past where I lived in high school.  This weekend I thought I should do my 'new place in Brisbane' thing, but yesterday I had no clue as to where to go.  Last night I went to Google maps, and after checking out Brisbane, California (in the San Francisco area), I went to Brisbane, Queensland.  Zoom and pan.  Toowong Cemetery caught my eye, and after considering a few other options, decided this was it.  February: done.

Today was a little rainy, and I nearly called it off.  About 1:30 the rain cleared though, so I packed my umbrella and set off.  This was such a good thing for me to do today.  I've been longing for solitude, and I found such peace in this place.  Traffic was still evident but distant, and apart from the birds it was quiet.  I came across 3 people and 3 dogs.

I had no real concept of how large this cemetery is.  Today I saw maybe a tiny bit of half of it.  I started off taking Boundary Rd - amazing vista, really high up, great views of the threatening rain clouds... And nowhere to take shelter when it started bucketing.  Little Jane Austen moment as I discovered my umbrella is terrible, cemeteries look great in the rain, and there are small brick shelters planted here and there.  Phew.

Once the rain had stopped, I took a slightly slower meander along another path, and was drawn to this bright white monument.  And I got rather excited when I realised it was in memory of the Mayne family, of the University of Queensland and The Mayne Inheritance fame.  And then the peace of the place took over, and I noticed I really like the iron railings.

Really, how peaceful is this?    Nothing but me and the birds.

If I hadn't taken this photo, I would have forgotten about it.  But looking like it was meant to be there, lined up with graves from more than 50 years ago, was a microwave.

And there were beautiful flowers.

Now that I know how easy it is to get there, and how peaceful it is, I know I'll be going back.  I also know that I have a relative buried there, so I'd like to find her name and then her burial plot.

The Belgian Bier Cafe

If you've been reading carefully, you might remember I said I would be giving up alcohol for Lent.  Oh yeah, that was in yesterday's post.  So, it's going super well, so far.  I owe ... ah, some money to the financial penalty kitty.  Yesterday was a celebration (and feast day for St Claude la Colombiere, just to be on the safe side).  Today was... well, Google tells me there are several for today, but I'll go with St. Joseph of Antioch.  I met up with a friend in town, and we went to the Belgian Bier Cafe.  I had my first ever Belgian beer. 

I'm not a beer drinker.  Before today, I'd had maybe 2 mouthfuls, on separate occasions, which didn't go down well.  Maybe 2 years ago, I drank a whole 'girl' beer on my own, as an experiment.  I know beer doesn't do good things for me, so I never really tried to like it.  I was assured that Belgian beer was different, and it was.  Very slowly, I made it through a whole, small, glass of Leffe.  Accompanied by the fabulous chips.  Chips which have the coolest presentation, ever.  I didn't take a picture of the whole thing, but a cone of chips with a side of mayonnaise, set in a small table with swirly legs - tick for artistry.  And endless chips.

Yes, I took a photo of the feet.  So, I'm not sure I could ever have more than one Belgian beer.  And I'm pretty sure I can't do this very often.  But in future I know that authentic Belgian beer is drinkable, for me.

The Lenten Discipline 2013

Lent began on Wednesday.  This year, I'm doing some things the same, some different.

Last year I gave up alcohol and peanut butter, and took up drawing.  This year, I'm giving up alcohol again.  After last Easter I realised peanut butter and I just can't have a healthy relationship, so haven't had any in the house since some time in May.  (I confess, I had a tiny bit at my parents' house before Christmas).  Instead of peanut butter, then, I'm giving up sugar.  The first time I did this was under a nutritionist's instructions and included honey and dried fruit too (and I felt amazing!).  This year I'm allowing honey and dried fruit as most of my healthy recipes include these things.  It means, though, no chocolate (unless I make a healthy version myself), and no yummy cupcakes baked by a fellow staff member and left with a note in the staffroom asking us to eat them please.  I was so good yesterday!

So that's me this year, effectively.  There were a couple of other things but I had a change of mind over the last few days.  I still have the financial penalty system for slip-ups and social occasions where it's more offensive not to partake than it is to stick to the whole discipline thing. 

Outfit #104 - Green Spot Shoes

I actually think of these shoes as the green love heart shoes, but no one else sees the love hearts as I walk all over them.  They're on the inside.

Skirt: Temt (op shop).  Singlet: Hot Options.  Shirt: Miss Shop (from Jeannie).  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: gift.  Bracelet: from Eumundi Markets.

This was one of those outfits that needed to be photographed before the school day.  I promise, it was all ironed before I left home this morning.

So, yes, today was that day.  At school it was lovely though, a plate of very tempting cupcakes thanks to another staff member, and several girls wished me a happy Valentine's day and also told me what they'd done for a friend or their mum.

I couldn't bring myself to wear red or pink or visible love hearts, though.  Or even to go all out with the green accessories.

Outfit #103 - Butterflies and Showers

I only realised after a blog comment that the red bits on this dress are butterflies. 

Dress: Fahrenheit (from Jeannie).  Sandals: Target.  Earrings: from Mombasa.

Minimal accessories today.  Partly because today is Ash Wednesday, and partly because I had a potential 'wardrobe malfunction' on my hands.  So instead of choosing accessories, I was busy making sure my dress wouldn't slip down to the ground before I made it into school.  I think this was a good choice.

I was planning on wearing some ballet flats, but there were showers when I was preparing to leave... and on my way...  and I'd rather wear sandals in wet weather.

Outfit #102 - I've Had Better

There have been better days in the history of my life.

Dress (as a shirt): Sunny Girl (from Jeannie).  Skirt: Sunny Girl (op shop).  Singlet: Ambra.  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: Mombasa.

For quartet mornings, I set my alarms for 5:15 and 5:20am, aiming to leave the house at 6:20am.  This morning, I woke at 5:12, told my brain that was too early... and then woke again at 6:36.  While dressing super-quickly, the top button came off the dress (I didn't realise which button until later).  I left the house at 6:45, ran for the train, bought yoghurt at Central, and arrived at school at 7:28 for a 7:30 rehearsal.  Make up went on in those 2 minutes.  Miraculously, no-one said anything so either I was enough put-together to get away with it; or I'm normally this ... frazzled...; or the craziness of everyone's day distracted them.  Today was house photo day.  I had several breaks.  Not all of them, though, were due to house photos.  Some kids just plain forgot. 

I know these weren't the most exciting accessories.  Last night, when I was thinking about shoes (for the outfit - not just because I like shoes), I just couldn't contemplate anything fancy.  My whole body was sore from PT and running, and my legs and arms still are.  Considering how much I walked around the school today, this was a good choice.   Yes, I still have a sandal tan.  Yes, there were other things that weren't great about today.  And yes, I'm looking forward to my (legitimate) sleep-in tomorrow.

Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes

I mentioned recently that I was a new convert to Teresa Cutter's healthy chef blog.  The drool-worthy chocolate cupcakes that caught my attention just had to be made as soon as possible.  Although I'm not a huge cupcake fan (I'm pretty sure this is yet another thing that makes me really weird - who doesn't like cupcakes?!), I'm so glad I made these.

You can find the recipe here.  I was so good, and made them as stated in the recipe... Except I used mini muffin tins.  And I'm really glad I did.  This means that my (good) fats quota is well and truly met in one of these chocolatey morsels. 

Plus, I froze those that weren't going to be eaten within a few days.  They defrost really well, and rather quickly too.

The Char Grill Pan

I finally bought myself a char grill pan.  I love it.  Well, I actually bought it a few weeks ago, and this new item has necessitated a change in cupboard organisation. 

A char grill pan has been on my list of Things I Would Like for some time now, but it wasn't really a necessity.  Its absence in my kitchen has stopped me from doing a few recipes, though, so when I found a relatively cheap option in Kmart I decided to buy it.  Now, I don't cook roo meat any other way.  And I'm really looking forward to cooking some of these recipes.

The cupboard reorganisation is fabulous.  I feel I should mention here, that I am really particular about my kitchen cupboards.  Not just things like glasses in this cupboard and bowls over here, but the order in which they are stored.  This reorganisation of a cupboard is, then, slightly big for me.  So, for starters, I cleaned out those items that had made their way into the back corners (um, yeah, oil burners...?) which created oodles of space.  Now I have saucepans, frying pans and the lovely char grill on the top shelf, and baking tins and trays, as well as the mini chopper and electric beaters on the bottom shelf.  All of these are now more orderly than before.  And it's so much easier to find all the baking items, and easier to access the electric items.  Win.  I did take some photos but none of them are any good so I'll save you from them.

The Saturday Work Day

This might not seem like a New Thing.  But, despite a Saturday teaching schedule that only quits for about 3 Saturdays a year, I try to be a 'normal' person and treat Saturday like the weekend.  Ha.  I'm a musician.  However, this year I'm aiming to be better with things like parent communication (not on my list of strengths).  So once I'd finished my actual teaching today, I decided to treat today like an actual work day.

Things achieved today include, then, writing out a piece in Colour Strings notation for a girl, photographing and recording it, and sending them through to the mum; recording some scales for a child who I can see will argue with his older brother and his dad about what the scale should actually sound like; 2 loads of washing; working out outfits for next week; grocery shopping; and a nap.  I love naps.  Now I feel much more prepared for next week, and more able to take some Me Time tomorrow.

The Goal Board

When I worked out my resolutions for the year, I thought it would be nice to make them all pretty and stick them on a wall or something.  Like a vision board, but without the usual stuff that often goes along with them.  Before today, I just had the resolutions written out on a piece of notepaper.  I could predict it would go astray within another month.  Today at the gym, there was a snippet on the tv about having a vision board and I thought, I should totally do this.  I braved the Friday afternoon shopping centre (never good for my state of mind), and visited the stationery department of Kmart.  Magnetic board for $8.  Done. 

I haven't worked out a good place for it yet.  The spot I thought would work really well is still a maybe (adjacent to the kitchen, next to my Camerata calendar), but not a definite.  The placement of the calendar means the goal board would be either too high or too low.  So I'm still looking for a place where it will be readily visible for me but not my students, and looking for some colourful things to attach. 

Outfit #101 - Sandal Tan

The evidence of holiday sun is still apparent on my feet.  Thankfully, it's past the point of being really obvious.

Skirt: Hot Options.  Top: Regatta.  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: Oxfam.  Bracelet: made by me.

This was my first time wearing this top.  An impulse buy, and a warning - shopping with this particular friend could be dangerous.  "You should totally try that on.  It's 40% off and will look great on you.  See?  You should buy it".  Um, okay...  I had a few doubts about its wearability, but it's a winner. 

This skirt though...  No longer such a fan.  I was considering putting it in my giveaway pile.  Right now it's allowed to stay, but its days could well be numbered.  It's being saved by its functionality.

Ah yes.  Sandal tan.  And a really unattractive photo.  Apologies.

Outfit #100 - Need More Coffee

Last night, I went to trivia at the Pig and Whistle for the first time.  Loads of fun.  We came last.

Skirt: Sunny Girl (op shop).  Top: Hot Options.  Shoes: Target.  Earrings: David Jones I think.  Necklace: made by me.

A late night plus an early start - although, not as early as it should have been (you know the "I'm totally getting up soon...really" sleep-in) - resulted in not enough time for coffee (agh!) and a very sleepy Anna.  The coffee I finally had at home was fabulous.

I think of this necklace as my flood necklace.  It took such a long time to make, but all was done while watching coverage of the extreme weather last weekend.  Happily, I can wear it while playing.  Surprisingly, I had a grade 3 boy (yes, new group of grade 3s had their first string experience today) tell me he really liked it.  Ooh, and my hair started off like this - 2 minutes later, I remembered why I normally wear it back.  It gets caught in the chin rest.  Ouch.

Outfit #99 - Holiday Brain

Today I had a serious case of holiday brain.  So did many of my students.  Thankfully, they all remembered to put the violin on the left shoulder and hold the bow in their right hand.

Dress: no label (from Jeannie, from an op shop).  Tank: Jeanswest.  Shoes: Target.  Pendant: gift.  Earrings and bracelet: made by me.

Things I left at home today included lip gloss or even lip balm; ear phones; and an umbrella.  I got lucky with the umbrella situation - it rained about 3 minutes after I took the last outdoor photo.

Yes - I like these shoes far more than I expected.  Yes - this is now on my list of favourite bracelets.  And yes - you miss out on a head shot today.  Again.  It's for the best.

Slightly more disconcerting than looming rain clouds was the cat next door watching me as I took photos.  I'm not sure if I prefer a feline or human checking out my activities.

New Food - Sardines

Yes, it's true - this was my first sardine experience, at least as far as I'm aware.  The last time I was buying tinned fish, sardines were 2 for something, so I took a deep breath and bought 2 packets.  For years I was a tuna person, and then about a year ago I just couldn't take it any more, so switched to salmon.  I thought maybe now I could change it up again.  Today was the day.

I have a recipe for a pasta sauce using sardines, so did something vaguely similar.  A small chopped carrot, cooked with half a tin of chopped tomatoes and some chopped basil stalks, then the basil leaves, some salad greens, and the chopped sardines.  Top with Parmesan.  When I was nearly finished, I realised chilli would have been a great addition.  Next time.

Although I was a bit worried about eating this, once it was all in the sauce it was fine.  I think my aversion prior to this (apart from a Flanders & Swann song from my childhood) was the fact that sardines actually look like fish.  Everything else I eat that used to eat something else no longer looks like a living thing by the time I get to it.  That, and I had a suspicion (unfounded, as it turned out) that sardines would be super-fishy.  I don't think I'm up to having a sardine salad, but as part of something cooked and squished, this was a winner. 

Running On The Other Side

I knew this day would come.  My brain fought it as much as it could.  I postponed the inevitable as long as possible.  But today, I succumbed.  So, I had fair warning that a chunk of the bike path would be closed to pedestrians for a while, as it is to be upgraded (a good thing) and then, this week, cleaned up after the flood.  When this is happening, they direct us to the path by the road.  This is less than ideal - this path is only wide enough for one person, and is right next to a major road.  Scary, especially when you have all the inconsiderate pedestrians from the bike path all jammed onto that skinny strip.  I hadn't run all week (except at the gym), and this morning, rather desperate for a run, I worked out how I would do it.  Instead of crossing to my normal side at Toowong, I stayed on the same side and ran along the footpath.  At the Go Between Bridge, I crossed and continued along the bike path.

Some benefits and some drawbacks of this.  I don't have to deal with inconsiderate pedestrians, except for a smattering of people crawling between pubs.  I do have multiple side streets to cross - the risk of traffic makes me run faster though, so I consider this a plus.  The lights at the GBB take forever, and they're not the sort you can ignore.  I really missed the view - but I still had a visually satisfying section between the GBB and my end point.  This was rather unusual as far as my runs go.  The river was flowing faster than I've ever seen in person, yet looked glassier than it usually does, too.  It was evident that the river had recently flooded, as the path was dirty from the silt, but you could also see how high it had come - at some places the debris line was higher than my head. 

I feel so much better now - not only has the run done its usual Good Things for my brain and body and mood, but I know this is a viable option for river runs.  Phew.  Incidentally, I knew it had a been a while since a running post - but today there were several views of a running post from April.  Weird.

Paleo Pumpkin Bread

I had a meeting today, for which we were asked to bring something to share.  I saw what others would be bringing, and dithered a bit.  Then yesterday, I thought I'd check out Teresa Cutter's Healthy Chef blog.  I drooled over the chocolate cupcakes (on the agenda for the next couple of days), then looked over her recipes, and came across this paleo pumpkin bread.  You can find her recipe here, or see below. 

Ingredients:
3 cups grated raw pumpkin (about half a butternut pumpkin)
4 whole free-range organic eggs
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I estimated, of course)
pinch of nutmeg (generous, in this case)
1/4 cup (60mL) olive oil or macadamia nut oil or cold pressed coconut oil (I used olive oil)
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons (gluten free, if necessary) baking powder
3 cups almond meal
pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top, if desired

Method:
Preheat oven to 150-160C if fan forced, or 180C if not.  Grease and line a loaf tin.
Combine (in a very large bowl) pumpkin, eggs, salt, nutmeg, oil and honey.  Add nut meal and baking powder, and mix well.
Spoon mixture into prepared tin, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds if desired, and bake in the oven for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.  Check at 1 hour - cooking time will vary according to your oven and size of loaf tin.
Leave in tin 1 hour before removing from tin.

Mine was ready at 1 hour, but I wasn't really convinced (despite 3 skewers all coming out clean), so I put it back in the oven (switched off). 
This is super easy, and although it doesn't look all that moist, it really is.  I can see this being made on a regular basis. 
Bonus - apart from all the healthiness, it's lactose free and (if you use gluten-free baking powder) gluten free.  Win.