Quote of the Day

Me: You know who is a nice girl ?
3 yr old H : Who ?
Me: You!
3 yr old H : Yea..... but sometimes i punch people.
( Cue wicked cheeky grin ).

An " Its Almost Christmas ! " Weekend By The Numbers

500 - amount in dollars that I got as a Christmas bonus from my company. They may suck most other times of the year, but boy do they give good bonus...

10 - number of people who attended our work Christmas bbq. This included two children. Yes, i work in a small office.

55 - time it takes in minutes for my famous Apricot with Macadamia Crust cheesecake to bake. I made one for the bbq. Mmm....cheesecake.

1 - number of bottles of champagne i managed to drank on my own at said bbq. Cheap champagne too. Its the best kind.

87 - amount in dollars that I spent on presents. For myself. Using some of that Christmas bonus money. Who can resist pre-Christmas sales on open toe wedges ?

4 - approximate number of hours spent watching the Country Music Channel over the course of the weekend. I enjoy country music, its what i was brought with up. Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire ( the unrivalled queen ... ) - all of that type of stuff.

6 - approximate number of websites i trawled whilst researching what type of dog i want to get you know when i finally move into my duplex. I'm thinking i want a whippet.

Whippet - Whip it good!

1 - number of books I finished reading. It only took me a week to get through " Pride and Prejudice " ( by Jane Austen, but you knew that ). Loved the Keira Knightley movie, and thought it was about time i got around to reading the classic. I thoroughly recommend it. Plus, I totally want to be Elizabeth Bennet - she rocks.

35 - approximate number of minutes dancing in our living room with my 3 year old neice. And I am not ashamed to admit, it was exhausting. If we were at the pub, I would have had to have had at least one drinks break in that time. Me neice is some kind of crazy dancing fool!

10 - approximate number of minutes my neice spent screaming and crying after she got smashed in the knee by a bike pedal ( long story ). Apparently it was my fault.

Ooh, and lucky last....

3 - number of sleeps til Christmas. Bring on the Fat Red Man i say!

A Long Weekend by The NUmbers, Plus an Update on the Smile Challenge

So technically it wasnt a long weekend here in Australia - that is, we didnt have an official public holiday or anything. However, seeing as I had both Friday and Monday off, I had my own long weekend. Thus, you get the stats from four days rather than two. Aren't you people lucky ?

4 - numbers of days I had off. I said that already, didnt i ?

10 - amount in dollars that Tradie lunch cost on Friday. Make that a $20 Tradie lunch, because i bought lunch for my auntie as a birthday treat. My 7 month old cousin ate tiny Vegemite sandwiches from a cup.

5 - number of open houses i intended on inspecting on Saturday morning.

2 - number of those open house inspections that actually went ahead. The other three were cancelled: two because of the weather and one because it had been sold.

40 - approximate number of minutes i spent driving around to get to and from these cancelled open houses. What a waste of petrol.

2 - number of naps I managed to fit in over the course of Saturday afternoon/evening. It was one of those rainy, stay-indoors-and-do-nothing kind of days. Somehow i manage to fall asleep easily when it comes to naps, but i lie awake for what seems like forever at night...

87 - approximate number of minutes my mother spent farting around looking at shoes and pretty tops on Sunday morning. Don't get me wrong - I looooooooooooove shopping - but my mother is the most frusturating shopper on earth.

1000 - approximate ( and slightly embellished ) number of jumps my neice did, in a row, on the trampoline at our house. Seriously. We had a barbecue on Sunday night and after she finished eating she was bouncing on that thing for like an hour straight. I dont know how she didnt bounce her little brain to death.

1 - number of Christmas's ruined by my neice. Yep, seems like the three year old can't keep a secret.: " Hey, Aunty Amy - we bought you a yoga mat! ". This prompted her mother to, mockingly, tell her she'd ruined Xmas. " Yea? Well you cant look at me anymore ". Cue (still ) bouncing, now with her back to us.

60 - number minutes of spent getting a facial. Ah, the pampering....

170 000 - amount in dollars i can realistically borrow to buy my first home. My modest first home.

180 000 - amount in dollars i could afford to offer, as a maximum, on a property. A modest property.

6 - number of seperate tests they need to run to try and figure out why i'm so low in iron. I'll let you guess for yourself what kind of tests they may, or may not be.

3 - number of days i need to be on a exclusion diet to run some of those tests. Woo hoo - no broccoli!

10 - number of minutes i spent lying on the floor after i almost passed out at the gym. OMG - so embarrassing. Apparently you should not push yourself so hard on your first day back at the gym after being sick.

And so, onto the smile challenge update. Granted, i havent been keeping a regualr blog list of each and every thing that has made me smile the last week or so but, believe me, I am taking notice. And its working - think my colleagues are starting to think i've gone even more mental. Just, you know, in the opposite direction. And, for each negative thing that happens, i've been able to find a positive and much better side to focus on. For example, no, I wont be able to borrow enough money to build a new home ( boo hoo hoo, disappointment ). However, now that i know my budget and range, I'm looking forward to seeing what i can find and figuring out what i can do with it ( i've been watching a lot of the Lifestyle channel lately. I love Thom Felicia! ). Or so it was rainy and three open houses got cancelled ( wasting my time and petrol - poo to that! )? Yea, well it gave me a whole bucnh of time to catch up with a friend who lives a few houses up my street. She's almost 32 (totally old according to her ....) she has three kids, and she went flying off the rails when her husband died three years ago, but she's getting back to a good place. She's wonderfully funny and irrevent and because of all her derailing at various times in her life, she has great advice sometimes.

A total plus huh ?

My weekend by the numbers: a recap

1 - number of fetes i attended. A fete is pretty much a country fair for all you non-Aussies. I took my neice because i knew she would appreciate the jumping castle and face painting.

4 - times i ate fast food over the course of three days. A serious blow out. The next thing to be blown out ? My stomach.

1 - number of doctors bills paid. Yep, the bill from my wisdom teeth removal.

670 - amount in dollars that it cost to have those teeth removed.

3 - display homes visit. For anyone wondering what a display home is, its a fully built replica of a home you can have built for yourself. I'm kind of thinking of building one, you see - if i can afford it.

245 000 - amount in dollars of the cheapest house and land package being offered in my town right now. Maybe i cant afford it.... but we'll see.

24 000 - amount in dollars the Australian government is offering as a first home buyers grant. Sure helps a bit with that affordability thing....

1 - number of handbags i bought myself. White, textured, Fiorelli tote. Not a Birkin bag by any means, but cute, classy and functional.

3 - number of days i saw my neice this weekend. Yep, that would be every day.

2 - number of days i saw my 7 month old cousin this weekend. Apparently, it was a weekend for the kiddies.

And there you have it. Look forward to next weekends recap - I've taken the Friday and Monday off work because, well, i havent had any actual holidays this year and i figure i deserve a long weekend. The forthcoming recap may or may not involve one or more the following: facials, $10 Tradie Lunch, " Australia ", visits by new reps, trips to the mortgage broker, old houses, new houses, broken hearts and children. Guess which ones i'm looking forward to ?

Are your teeth still sick ?

I really, really, hate throwing up. I have no idea how bulimics do it - i hate the spasms, the sore throat and the lingering feeling of nausea. Lets face it, throwing up is just not pleasant. Neither is knowing that the three kinds of medications you're on are the cause of the nausea, so in order to keep yourself free of bacteria and infection and whatever else, you have to walk around in a constant state of feeling sea-sick.

Oh, yea - guess who i'm talking about ?

But i'm back to work tomorrow. I'm not particularly looking forward to it - because i dont particularly fancy sitting at my desk with my stomach in a knot - especially seeing as i have to go in early for a conference call. During which everyone will ask how i'm feeling and i'll have to grit my teeth and go " Yea, i'm doing fine ", rather than admit i'd prefer to be at home asleep. The doctor did give me a week off, so technically i dont have to be going back, but i kind of feel bad leaving J a little in the lurch. Plus, its J's birthday tomorrow and i have her present in my handbag - i dont want to have poor J working on her lonesome on her birthday. How depressing!

Speaking of birthdays, it was my adorable little neices birthday today. She turned the big number 3 ( or " I'm this many " as she'd say, holding up three fingers.... ) and she got one of the best presents any child could ask for - a trampoline! She's really excited now that she has her own. We have one here at " Poppy's " house, but now she has one in her own backyard she can bounce away to her little hearts content. She was also impressed with the cute little shirt dress i bought her, and the cd player one of her other aunties bought ( " Its for moozik! Mum, its a moozik thing! " ). Kudos to my sister-in-law for the cute little cupcakes she made.

And now, on to tomorrow. Or at least, on with the show of trying to keep my stomach from turning inside out....

Average Joes, wearing chocolate and super boys

Right, so i've decided to give Joe one more chance. This may be against the general consensus - according to the comments on my last post, all of you guys think its a lost cause and both my father and sister are in agreeance that he sounds like a total knob, but you never know, right ?I've agreed to go out with him again, if only to see if that elusive spark suddenly appears or to confirm my suspicions that he falls into friend territory. However, I have told him i will be busy for the next two weekends so he wont be seeing me before then. See, its my sisters 18th birthday this coming weekend and then my brothers 23rd the following, so i kind of have a good excuse to sit and mull over how to let Joe down gently if that spark doesnt appear.

In other news, like i said, my sisters birthday is now only 3 days and 4 sleeps away. Yes, she is about to turn 18 years of age and she is still counting down in the number of " sleeps ". Bless her little cotton socks... anyhoo, i bought the cutest black gladiator style heels to wear on Saturday night. Again, no picture for you yet but you can be sure i'll sneak a few pics of my tootsies at some point. I'm thinking after going out Friday AND Saturday nights, i'm going to have plenty pictures to choose from. Old school, drunk-at-the-pub, uploaded-to-Facebook style pictures. Look out!

Also, my neice insists that she will be wearing " chocolate " my sisters birthday dinner. What the? yes, when i asked her what she was going to wear, and i told her it had to be something nice, she replied, " Umm... chocolate! ". Well, yes, chcoolate IS nice, i just dont think its appropriate night time attire for a 3 year old. A 23 year old maybe ( especially if he has dark hair, and those goregous V hip muscle things..... ) but for a 3 year old, not so much.....

Oh, one last thing - i just want you all to know, in case you didnt already, that the boys on " Supernatural " are the prettiest boys on tv.

Do you eat Zebras ?

Thats what my neice wanted to know at dinner last night - " Aunty Amy, do you eat zebras ? ". We'd already gone over the fact that i eat chickens, and cows and pigs and little lambs, now my almost three year old neice was concerned that i might eat zebras.
Me: " Nope, i dont eat anything that has stripes ".
Her : " What about tigers, do you eat tigers ? "
Me: " Do they have stripes ? "
Her: " Ummm..... ( big long pause )...... yes. "
Me: " Then i dont eat them ".

All this stemmed from my dad mentioning that he was going to cook up some kangaroo sausages for his lunch the next day (he wasnt making that up by the way, we do eat kangaroo here in Australia ). My neice, however, thought the whole idea very funny. " Poppy, why are you going to eat a kangaroo ? " was the first question, which progressed onto what we do and dont eat. I felt honesty was the best policy - its important that she knows when we say we're eating chicken, we mean we're eating A chicken. What is also important is that you tell her that we DONT eat worms, dirt or boogers. Because sometimes she does eat boogers and, well, thats just not acceptable.
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Ah, shoes. Every woman worth her salt loves a pair of shoes, especially if they're on sale. I've had a handful of guys ask me about womens fascination with shoes, and i cant really explain it. Its just a sisterhood thing, i suppose - secret womens business to which there is no real answer. So when my mum asked me to take her shopping to find a pair of shoes to wear to my sisters upcoming 18th birthday dinner, i sure wasnt going to turn her down. My reward for this completely selfless act of kindness ? Getting the " second " pair of shoes when my mum waa offered a " buy one, get the second pair half price " special. Yay for me! So i chose me a really cute pair of shoes*- tan, leather, stacked heel, sling backs. They'll be perfect with a pair of jeans and white tank top. Too cute!
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Now, i know that we discussed whether or not i eat zebras, which was a no. What i do eat is Thai food, and my mum and dad decided tonight would be great night to go out for Thai. Bless their hearts for letting me come along for the ride. I am telling you, there is nothing in the world like a good mussaman curry, and the mussaman curry at our local Thai place is to die for! Tender chunks of beef in a smooth, sweet, peanutty sauce, accompanied by bite sized pieces of potato and large helping of rice. Absolute culinary heaven. I have never eaten so well as i did during my three weeks in Asia. I'd always liked your regualr run-of-the-mill Chinese food, but i developed a real love for Asian flavours whilst travelling. Everything was so fresh and light and i never went hungry. The best meal i had ? We had lunch with some Buddhist nuns in a monastery on a hillside in Vietnam and the food was gorgeous. Being nuns of the Buddhist variety they arent allowed to eat meat so everything we had was vegetarian. I was kind of thinking it was going to be quite a boring, stodgy meal but it suprised me - i dont know how they did it, but it was great! You know what else was great ? Tamarind crab. Seriously, i should not get started on how good this crab was....
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So, now, onward to tomorrow. I aske dmy mum if she'd like to go to the movies, so we're going to see " The Duchess ", with Keira Knightley. Umm, i mean she's in the movie, she's not coming with us, although that would be cool. I saw an interview with her on " 60 Minutes " and she seemed really down to earth, the kind of girl i'd be friends with. Keira, if you're reading this, give me a buzz and maybe we could do lunch or something.....


*I couldnt find a picture of them, so you'll just have to imagine them for yourself.

Everybody's working for the weekend....

Thank freaking boo-jesus that its finally the weekend! Not that i have anything extra-special planned mind you, but rather that its been a pretty dodgy week and i'm very, very much glad that its over. I've had blow-ups with customers and a colleague treating me like rubbish and general work-related crappiness, so its a relief to know that the week is finally behind me. My one saving grace the last five days has been going to the gym. It might sound odd to some of you but i genuinely enjoying punishing myself at the gym. Its a pleasurable kind of pain, pushing myself to finish a run on the treadmill even though my lungs will shortly give out or i'm starting to get a cramp in my left foot; it might not feel all that great whilst i'm doing it but i feel a million dollars when i'm done, knowing i've achieved something. And yep , its an achievement, however small. For example, this week, for the first time in my entire life, I ran for 10 minutes on the treadmill. 10 whole minutes - might not sound like much to some, but it was big for me. Sure, i go to the gym five times a week but i'm stronger and more flexible than i am cardiovascularly fit - running for a constant 10 minutes is a big deal. And a big achievement. And it felt good. So yay for me!

Another " yay! " - its rugby league finals time! It kind of sucks that my team, the mighty Newcastle Knights, didnt make it ( apparently they werent that mighty this year... ) but, hey, neither did my dads team so at least he cant give me shit about how his team is better than mine. I'm watching the first final of the weekend as i type and its been awesomely rough thus far - one guy off with massive concussion and one with a suspected broken arm. Ah, the mayhem!

What is not so exciting this weekend is local elections. Boring! Frankly i dont know how any of you American readers out there do it - dont your presedential campaigns carry on for well over a year? Our elections for our local town council are tomorrow and the campaigning started, i dont know, like three weeks ago and i am sick to the death of it. So i best be off to a polling station to vote tomorrow, if i only so i can avoid the $55 fine for NOT voting.

And thats about it - I'm tossing up whether to go and see Hellboy 2 on my own at some point over the next two days, and will surely be visiting my neice at some point ( the weekend isnt the same if i dont get a hug from Missy Moo.... ) but no spectacular, extraordinary, outrageous plans at all. So consistent, yet so boring sometimes....

My Weekend by the Numbers

So I totally stole this idea from Miss Em, right down to the idea of having a picture of numbers ( but not the same picture - that would be a little too Single White Female.... ). Feel free to steal it from me if you like ( but not my picture, I have dibs on that one ). Here goes:

30 - dollars spent on my almost-three year old neice when I took her shopping with me.

5 - dollars wasted when she only ate the icing off her donut and decided that her milkshake was too cold.

4 - goals scored when my brothers soccer team won their semi-final. That would be 4 - nil - bring on the final next week!

30 - millimetres of rain that fell on DubVegas over the weekend.

12 - how many of the soccer boys i predict will be getting pnuemonia after training and playing in all that rain.

55 - minutes spent practising yoga on Saturday afternoon.

1 - apology from my yoga teacher for subjecting me to one too many " roll ups/ roll downs " during my classes this week. No worries, my stomach is looking all the better for it!

800 - approximate amount of calories I consumed when eatingmy Dads homemade lasagne. But its Dads lasagne and its so delicious and cheesy and.....

0 - number of naps I took. Yes, i missed out on my weekend naps. What a travesty....

1 - book that i finally got around to finishing: " On Chesil Beach ", by Ian McEwan.


A little disappointing after " Atonement " but certainly not the worst thing I've ever read. It actually took me a little while to get into it, so i think that may have been half the trouble. Plus, and this might just be me, but one of characters is just really unlikeable, no matter how much the author tries to explain her perspective. Its hard to like something when you dont particularly like one of the protagonists....

And this is why i'm going broke buying womens magazines

So, just to begin with, I am sitting outside in the sun, blogging from the beautiful sunshine-iness of my backyard - laptops rock! As do lovely almost - Spring days in Australia. Aaah...

Anyhoodle, I just wanted to discuss the female obsession with shopping. Perhaps i'm being cliched here, but girls like shopping. More to the point, I like shopping, even if i'm not actually buying anything ( thats called " window shopping " for the uninitated ). Guess its that whole
" thril of the chase " thing - there's something about having a vague idea of what you want and going on the hunt for it. And yes, most times i will have a semi-formed idea of what i'm after - especially when shopping for clothes. Which is what i was doing this morning. However, being that I am not so financially well-endowed, I went shopping with a view to lay-by ( or lay-away as you American type people call it ).

I really like lay-by. I know its incredibly " old school ", but i still like it. Yes, i know you can just put things on your credit card and get them NOW but somehow i always forget to put regular payments on my credit card and then you end up in a little thing called debt ( argh! ). So I rather like being able to find the things i want but dont necessarily need right NOW ( its all about now!now!now! these days, isnt it? ) and being able to pay them off when i actually have a little cash. Plus, if i forget to go and make a regular payment, someone from the store will ring me and remind me - unlike the credit companys who will just keeping piling more payments ( hello interest charges... ) right on top of your bill.

And i know you fashionista's out there are saying - " But wont the things you put on lay-by be waaaaaaaaay out of fashion by the time you pay them off ? ". Well yes, they would be if you were into totally disposable fads. However, i'm not - i'm trying to fashion myself ( ha ha! unintended pun right there ! ) in the Audrey Hepburn/ timelessly/effortlessly chic mold. Which is hard to do on a budget in a country town, but i'm giving it a shot. Sure, i'll incorporate some of the seasons trends into my wardrobe, but only if they suit me. I pretty much like to stick by the " wear what suits your body shape " rule. If i had a dollar for everytime i'd seen somebody wearing a trend that didnt suit them - shout outs to cigarette pants, micro minis and floaty maxi dresses here - just because they were in fashion, i'd be able to afford to start my own fashion label ( which would be called House of Amy, because " Amy " is French. French is always fashionable ). So many times i just want to walk up to impressionable young women, shake the shit out of them and say " Who let you walk out the of the house like that ?!? Go buy yourself a nice pair of jeans, a tank top, and some ballet flats and you would look SO MUCH BETTER! ". And its not like i'm against freedom of fashion expression - Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny and Lou Dilloin almost always look fabulous - but most women are not Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny and Lou Dilloin. We regular type women are more, say, Rachel Bilson, Jennifer Aniston or Susan Sarandon - that is, to say, still totally cute, gorgeous and sexy, just less suitable to eclectic, crazy fashion.

So i'm not saying lets all get about looking like clones of each other - hell no! If you're into vintage indie cool, then be into it. If you're all pin-stripes and ballet flats preppiness, then rock the prep-college look. If you'd rather be all street, then wear you're Chuck Taylor hi-tops and hoodies with pride. Just please choose pieces that work with your body shape. I just wanted you all to look good people. I'm all about the beauty!

P.S I put a dress on layby for my almost three year old neice. Its a tiny little collared shirt dress, red with white polka dots and pintucked sleeves. Too cute! If they had an adult version in the store i would have totally bought it for myself!

Meditating on friends, family and, uh.... meditation.

Ommmm #1: My mother and I went to a free meditation course on Saturday morning. Although its something I'm into, I really only went as moral support for my mum. Frankly, I'm not sure whether i enjoyed it or not, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going back. Now, I'm a pretty hippy-dippy person but this, this was a bit much. Firstly, it was recommended that when meditating at home you set up a candle next to a picture of the meditations teacher. Nope , not for me - thats like setting someone up as a God or a guru, and i dont do that. Secondly, when meditating you were supposed to be focusing on the divine feminine energy , or kundalini, within us all. Rather than quietly, inwardly, wordlessly focusing, we were supposed to be inwardly repeating affirmations, such as " Mother Kundalini, am i the spirit ? Mother Kundalini, I am the spirit ". See, once you give something a name and begin talking to it, its too much like praying for me. If there is one thing i dont do, its pray. So i think its safe to say that the mediation session was not for me. Which is not to say meditation itself is not for, just not this particular style.

Ommmm #2: My brother is so funny when he's pissy. He came round for dinner last night after having been at a bbq at a mates place all afternoon, and he'd had enough beer that he was in the state of " happiness " where you talk really fast, and you're face is kind of flushed and you find stuff really funny. We were playing a general knowledge trivia game and he's just blurting out the answers regardless of whether it was his turn or not. They werent the right answers, mind you - thats what made it funny. I think it might have answered maybe three questions correctly the whole game, but he never made it past the third square on the board. He kept landing on the " Move back three spaces " square, and having to go back to the start, every time expressing his mock disgust and saying how much this game sucked and we were all cheaters - and then bursting into laughter. Stupid, stupid, drunk child.

Ommmm #3: My two and half year old neice called me her " beautiful girl ". As in " Bye Aunty Amy, my beautiful girl! " Awwwwwwwwwww. Someone loves me.

Ommmmm #4: Remember the debacle with Mary and her sister? Her sister who was one of my best friends and that i felt completely betrayed by, to the point where I questioned the existence of the relationship in the future ? Yea, well I've hardly heard from her since she moved towns. She's been back a handful of times and she's promised each time " Hey, I'll come round and see you! ". And, each time, there has been an excuse and she hasnt shown up. This weekend just gone she was supposed to be back in town and we were going to go out for drinks and dance and guess what ? I didnt hear from her. Not even an " Oh, I cant make it excuse " - i just flat out didnt hear from her at all. Whatevs.

Ommmm #5: Today is Monday and tonight was the first night in two weeks that I have been to the gym. Frankly, I missed it. I'd been dying of the lurgy for almost a full two weeks and was just too tired and run down to do anything other than lie on my lounge reading a magazine or watching the Olympics ( gold everywhere for the Australians today..... boo yeah! ), so i didnt bother wrecking myself at the gym. But i really did miss the routine of it, and I have to admit i felt absolutely freaking fantastic after my workout tonight.

Everyone knows a woman glows more after a good workout, covered in sweat and cheeks flushed.....

Everybody's working for the weekend

Damn straight they are. Seriously, i pretty much start counting down to the next weekend of as Monday, 9am. Not that i ever do much incredibly exciting on my regular weekends, but even the promise of a Saturday morning sleep in and Sunday afternoon nap is enough to keep me going throughout the week. And guess what? Its Friday night, the official beginning of the weekend! Want to see what i'll be getting up to this weekend? Here's a list of five things i will definately be doing:

1. Shopping for underwear - yes, thats right, i will be buying new bras and knickers tomorrow morning. Don't get too excited, i'm not exactly talking Victorias Secret lingerie ( lets face it, i have no-one to wear it for anyway ... ) but more cute, comfy, girlie underwear, the kind we girls secretly slink around in on our days off when there are no boys around. Every morning during winter, after having a shower and smoothing on the mandatory moisturiser, i love to slip into my underwear, pull on a pair of knee high ugg boots, and turn the radio up so i can dance around in the bathroom while i brush my teeth. Dont look at me like that - its a girl thing.

2. Visting my neice - and, by proxy, also either my brother, my sister-in-law, or both. I cannot get enough of my neice, she's one of the shining lights in my life right now. She's two and half and, i dont mean to be the proud Aunty and boast here, but she's verbally advanced for her age. Its really great to have a conversation with her, because everything is so random and innocent and it doesnt matter if it doesnt make sense. For example:
Neice : " Amy, whats your number ? "
Me: " I'm 24. How old are you ? "
Neice : " I'm 3. "
Me: " No you're not, you're only two and half "
Neice: " Two and a half ? "
Me : " Yep, two and half "
Neice : " Georgie-a-girl is 3, i bought her a ballerina "
Me: " Did she have a birthday party ? "
Neice: " Yep and we had lollies and cake. I like cake. Do you like cake ? "
.....see, from their it went on to delve into chocolate is nicer than strawberry, rain comes from the clouds and Georgie-a-girl is not the same as Georgie-a-boy. Why ? Because one is her friend from her babysitters house and the other one is in her day care class ( see, not because one's a boy and one's a girl.... thats not important ).

3. Spending two hours at the gym - yes, two hours at the gym on a Saturday afternoon. Dont call me crazy - i know you're thinking it - its just something i do. I like it. I do an hour of cardio and then an hour of yoga. I'm working my way into liking the cardio ( i've just recently decided i actually like the rowing machine ) and it benefits my yoga ( which we already know that i love ) because i'm already warmed up. Being really warmed up helps you to be extra stretchable. If i can get me some extra stretch in there, if i can improve my postures even a centimetre, i'm a happy girl. And yes, i'm kind of in love with yoga. Truth is, i keep harping on about it because i'm trying to convert you all....

4. Travelling to Wellington to watch my brother play soccer - its not exactly an exciting roadtrip or anything. For starters, Wellington is a small town only half an hour away, and secondly, i'm going with my parents in their car. But its getting out isnt it? And it isnt sitting around DubVegas is it? Sure, it might be cold enough that i could potentially freeze my arse off, but for the sake of " doing " and " participating " it will be well worth it. Plus, i'll be there supporting my brother and he's mature enough now that he shows his appreciation for things like that. That always makes me feel good...

5. Going grocery shopping - ooh, excitement plus! Amy does groceries! Seriously, i know its a completely mundane activity, but its something i will definately be doing , so it deserves to make the list. I mean, if i didnt do it, my sister and I would run out of food and that cant be good. You know what else isnt good? Trolley rage. I'm a big sufferer of road rage and thankfully i dont suffer fully from trolley rage yet. Maybe if i shopped on a Saturday lunchtime - when every single other person in the goddamned town seems to be there - it would be a different story. But, being the smart cookie that i am, i shop on a Sunday lunchtime when its calmer and quieter and i dont have to wait so long for a checkout. Clever me.