Sponsored by Nuffnang

Its always really nice to have an outing all planned out for you and have all the planning stress taken out. It helps too when you have a bunch of like-minded people going along. It’s also a bonus when the outing is culture enhancing type activities. It’s super awesome when your whole family can enjoy.

KAPOW! You’ve just been hit with the BEST possible outing idea ever!! Hahaha. OK, I exaggerate alittle. The kids seemed bored at times but heck, they wouldn’t be kids otherwise… AND… I have come to realise that I’m not very cultured especially when it comes to art. OK, fine… I’m not too cultured either when it comes to music but I KNOW who ABBA is… but that’s thank so the movie Mamamia.

First we got to take the kids to an ART MUSEUM. How exciting (I thought)! Since my time in Australia I have to admit that I have never stepped into an art gallery so I was really excited about this. Missy A was excited because we were heading into the city which is always an adventure, and Missy C was excited because I gave her half a packet of Tiny Teddies to eat in the car ride up. WHEE!

We didn’t do the guided tour, which I would recommend if you want to learn more about Rupert himself and his paintings by hearing someone’s interpretation of his life. We were too early so we had to go do all the readings ourselves…which only lasted say… the first paintings. I TRIED. I really did. I tried to look at the paintings, and appreciate it but in the first room, I felt really somber and quiet and just felt like if I oooh and ahhhed, I’d get shhhhed. AGAIN… another uncomfortable “proper” moment that I just couldn’t sit still at.

Being an example to Missy A, I tried so so HARDto engage her into the paintings.It started with… Asking her how she felt, what she thought, and why, and the colours, the story behind the painting… and the rest was bla bla bla to me her. So they we went on a shallower path. OK, which one do you like? Which one is your favourite and why. Then it got worse Um, do you like what she’s wearing. and worse oooh look at the frame, would that look nice in our house with a mirror in it?

So yes, I tried.

Luckily as we stepped out there was an arts and crafts table where the kids could make their own postcards. I made mine and posted my thank yous to Nuffnang.

I received a Get well soon postcard form Missy A.

After a bite of lunch… it was off to ABBAWORLD!

YOU HAVE GOT TO GO SEE THIS. But before… I suggest that you first make a BET. Make a bet with whoever you go with that at the end of the interactive rollercoaster, the person with the most score buys dinner or whatever to your liking. BECAUSE… there was lots of cools things to do like

Karaoke…

Disco balls…dancing…

Quizes and even a stage show… Of yourself. Hehehe.. I got a video of this… and perhaps I might show it… if I was drunk… or someone highjacks my Mac and they upload it as an evil plot to embarrass me.

Then if you hadn’t had enough of ABBA, check out their costumes …

UP CLOSE!

Hmm.. I am now so super duperly inspired to Bedazzle up my polyester shower curtain and turn it into an ABBA outfit! Seriously… all that bling is from all the lycra and polyester that they were so super popular for. AWESOME! Hmm though such white see-through pants would be scary without any sheen for the bright lights to reflect off come to think about it. Wouldn’t quite have the same awesome Xfactor without them…

From the early early beginnings… you get that one bit closer to really knowing ABBA intimately.

What did I learn? A Eurovision WIN was the pinnacle point in ABBA’s career! See… so there’s nothing wrong with watching Eurovision! It ROCKS!

Monday to Friday, Dave is at work for most part of the day. He leaves before we wake and on some nights, he comes home when the girls are in bed. So the weekends are very precious to us. It is OUR family days…

GAAAh… why is my head looking so much bigger than everyone elses??

Look somewhere over there Missy!

Note to self: Don’t give baby chocolate teddies on the long drive home…

HAPPY BABY!!

VERY HAPPY BABY!

Missy A showing us the way…

She’s not too young to b indulging in alittle cheese right?

An evening at the zoo…

My birthday was… sometime last week, and I have had the BEST birthday celebration ever! On the day itself, my hubby took leave so I could sleep in. Missy A had a day off (no school on Wednesdays – NO not wagging)… and they baked me chocolate muffins, and woke me up by singing Happy Birthday with a single candle on it. By the time I got out of bed, the girls all had their breakfasts and all I did was get changed and it was time for LUNCH! YES I WAS in bed til 11. So we headed out for a simple lunch, came home, watched DVDs, and Missy A cooked fish and chips for dinner! How awesome! Then I had family over to polish off the rest of the cupcakes, and that was it! Simple. With the people I love. Best. EVER.

OFCOARSE there was a boozy weekend with friends. I ate myself silly at Crown, and headed out to party it up. Hubby booked hotel rooms for ourselves and the grandparents to look after the little ones… and that was that. BEST. EVER!

Ok, so there were a few hiccups at the end of the night but yeh, I’d hate for the to fog over the GOOD GOOD TIMES!

Blog bog Bog Blog…

I have two girls, and Dave has been a little out numbered and so to push the pressure my parents are putting on me to have another baby and PREFABLY and boy baby…. we went and got a BOY dog instead! HAHA!

YES… little Oscar is a Shit Poo. hahaha… a little Shih tzu crossed toy poodle and he is already very attached to me. IT is seriously like having another baby to take care off, and I am not too sure how many more black hairs I can spare to turn white! Well, if that ever happens, then atleast I can shave Oscar and stick that onto my head. He poops, he pees… and he puts everything he can into his mouth. EXACTLY what Missy C does. The good thing is that Missy C and him do not fight. They both seem to be very polite and gentle when taking turns to chew on the stacking cups.

Outfit: Kookai

Necklace: I made

Top: Zara

Bottoms: Kookai

Necklace: Thrifted

Picnic-ing at our favourite weekly spot. Can you believe it.. it was like 30 something degrees this dy but we didn’t even feel it because.. this is the best picnic-ing spot ever!!

Top: Thrifted

Belt: Thrifted

Bottoms: MNG

Top: Cotton On Pjs (heheh..shhh)

Scarf: Thrifted

Skirt: Mummy’s hand me downs

Belt: Just Jeans

MAN, house-keeping really sucks the gebeezuz life out of you! Haha… or atleast that is my excuse for not blogging long time now.

Anyway, picture galore coming up!

Here’s what I’ve been wearing the past few days…

…This is what we’ve been up to lately…

Yes, I have been attacking a bush that has overgrown. It has tried to take over my clothes line…but NAH NAH!! I KILLED it. Muahaha…

YES… I am knee deep in weeds… and I have a rosemary bush TREE!!! Not one but TWO! ZOOOMMGGG…

Missy A has been warming up the house with her delicious hamburgers…. hmmm.. perhaps it is now time for me to teach her how to use the mop and bucket now that she has the kitchen / cooking down pat….

Haha.. TAG dag! Missy A is soooo PUURRTTYYY!

Lunch in our backyard.

During my Singapore trip, for the Nuffnang Awards, I got to indulge in a massage as well as a Fish Spa. “SAY WHAT? You say??”. No, it is not a spa for fish, but really its a spa WITH fish! After reading Kenny Sia’s review AGES and AGES ago, I’ve been wanting to try. EKKkk… all the excitement and scariness all at the same time…. “What if I get like fungus growth from someone else who dipped their grotty feet in before I did?”

Apparently, its all good because of some UV treatment they do with the filter that is used and the water is supposedly treated daily… ladida. My feet are fine now, so I guess, it’s not as scary in that way.

I was smiling and excited in the beginning and well, in the first 3 minutes… I was crying. It really felt WEIRD. BUT…After the initial start and getting the idea that these were little fishies chewing away at your dead cells out of my head, it actually felt relaxing like a … bubble bath. So good that Dave and I went back for seconds.

Oh, if only they eat hairs too! EAT away!! hehehe. I thought that it might be cool if we had like a mini tank of these fishies at our house so what in the evening when Dave got back from work, we could relax and ‘feed’ our fish friends while we watched tv or something. But then… what if we were watching a movie, and by the end of the movie, we pull out our legs and all we’re left with are two little stumps. eehhh…..

ANYWAY, here’s a little peek as to how SUPER SKM really is. She’s got balls of FABULOUS steel, unlike Krupps… who squeeled like a little girl who’s DS had been taken away from. Love Love!

Yo Yo! Hehehehe. Firstly, I have to say that my last two posts come with a … warning. Ok, its abit too late for that but I have to make it really really  really clear that I DO NOT advocate binge drinking. It’s really bad for you and well, just don’t do it. Shit happens, so I’m not making an excuse for my behavious, nor do I regret it either, but yeh… Missy A and Missy C, if you are reading this in the far far future (if this blog is still running)… Please be good girls.

ANYWAY… moving on.

Last month, I went into a Korean hairdresser, dressed in my trackies with Missy A trailing behind me. I said… CUT my hair please. That she did. I didn’t really have anything in mind. I just wanted it cut short to get rid of the horrid curls/frizz from my bad perm. 20 minutes later, I walked out of there with a chop just above my shoulders and I looked like a Korean Aunty. NOT HAPPY JAN! I went home thinking “OMG… did I come across as a boring person that I deserve this haircut to suit my boring personality??” . I lived with it for a bit, always put up in a ponytail because it was just so … bleh.

TODAY. As part of quite an expensive experiment… I walked into another hairdresser. I was dressed in a vintage blouse and my vintage super highwaisted wide leg jeans, and of coarse Missy A trailing along. I said to the hairdresser…” I had a bad perm awhile ago, it frizzes and I would like my hair to be cut please.” She sat me down, tugged and pulled my hair. Told me I had really dry hair (D’uh that’s why I want to cut it) and tried to sell me a few products. I said… “Please just cut my hair first.” … AND SHE DID….

WINNER!!!

Yay! I love my cut. But then again, that’s because I’ve just stepped out of the hairdresser, and well, the real test is yet to come because I can’t quite blow dry my hair very well. Hm… we will see.

Ok, so Monday. During the day we did heaps of shopping. Singapore is known for its good food and awesome shopping. So SHOP I must. “Dave, I HAVE to shop, otherwise, I wouldn’t be truely experiencing UNIQUELY Singapore!” *wink*

I”ll post up my shopping loot in another post because as you have read the Title of this post, its all about the PAAARRTAAAY. Monday night is a sleepy night for Australia, but Singapore being such a hub for tourism, EVERY night is a party night, and THAT night was no disappointment. Actually, I didn’t really meet any real locals other than the bartenders Rain and Diet and ofcoarse the club Bouncer!

CLUB TIP 1: Be nice to the bouncer because first, you want to get in without any troubles, and make sure your friends are also taken care of AND also at the end of the night, INCASE you are off your face, they may not eject you but instead they may help take care of you, like get you free bottles of water i.e if your friends all ditch you. (THANK YOU HowyD for getting me water!)

My up-side down pic from the hotel lobby at the START of the night.

And the night kicked off again at Clinic. Ok, I’ll be honest. The night started IN the hotel room… by about 4 shots and a beer. *wink*

CLUB TIP 2: If you’re a tight ass like us and you are traveling by cab to your club destination, why start the night only when you arrive. Make sure however that the first drink you order at the club is WATER… You’ll last longer. THIS I learned the hard way… from this night.

Somehow, after Clinic, I stumbled into this bar/club. There was a stage and someone performing, and at the time this photo was taken… I wasn’t quite listening, other than some bird in my ear saying “HEY, you should dance on stage!” This in fact was naughty naughty ChocolateSuZe taking advantage of my alcovulnerability. Luckily it only sounded 80% tempting. Otherwise I may have acted on that prompt… and then… GAME OVER.

So the night went on from there. I paid for one round of drinks, and then the rest… um I’m not too sure (I’m absolutely terrified to receive the credit card bill)

CLUB TIP 3: NEVER bring your credit card. At most, withdraw money that is within your limit, and if you’ve spent it, that’s it… then atleast you know how much you’ve spent … or lost…

CLUB TIP 4: GET TO KNOW YOUR BAR TENDERS! Make it out as though you’re best of buddies and that you guys go WAYYY back. If you have cleavage. GOod for you, but for those like me… um.. use your… charm?? hahaha… I dunno. For me, i just smile lots and the first round you buy, make sure you buy the bartender a drink too, and whisper to them… “I’m really sorry if I get annoying, but can you make a promise??” IF they say, “Uh… ok… yeh sure… what?” Then you flash them a smile… and say ” You have to promise that you’ll take care of me and my friends tonight k?”. THEN make them pinky promise. (Pinky Promises are NEVER broken).Then you should be set for the night. *wink* WINK to them alot, to remind them of your little secret, and well, if your face fails pucker your lips, place your finger over your lips and go “sssshhhhhh”.

Don’t be sluuty about it though. NOT GOOD. Be happy fun, and bubbly about it. They’ll understand it, without expecting any sexual favours after. MUAHAHAHA… Helen… you AAALLLMOOST disappeared from this pic! But no. I GOT ya! Much love.

Those guys up the back are from Ireland. (I think) I think they were like the Hamish and Andy of Ireland. Or something.

CLUB TIP 5: Don’t make any SERIOUS talk. Otherwise you may just disclose info that you didn’t intend to. Stick to lalalalala shallow crap. Its safer. FOR me… I just talk. I have nothing to hide, so no topic to me is off limits whether I am drunk or not. I’m open to whatever and if you have to ask me anything, my answer would be the same drunk or sober. What you see is what you get eh??

CLUB TIP 6: Make friends with EVERYONE. WHY be selective? Party with more the merrier. ALSO if you bump into people acidentally, be honestly sorry. Actually, be slightly OVERLY sorry. People can get numb at clubs and some take a BUMP as a threat, so if you knock em about clasp your hands together, raise the eyebrows, bow your head and apologise profusely…. then scoot. Next time, then maybe you can use it as an excuse to ‘talk’ to them. Like…” OMG, i’m so sorry for bumping into you before…  I hope you’re ok. You having fun??”  AND BE SINCERE about it. Actually, be sincere to everyone. Sincerity has a tendency to open up for being approachable, and well, that way, you can meet and make more friends.

URGH!

CLUB TIP 7: Be warned that if you mix and take pics of good looking people, you’ll be bad. hahaha… I must have been so bad that this poor girl had to help me hold up my arm to take this pic! hehehe… Thank you sexy lady!

CLUB TIP8??: ZOMG, how good looking are these fellas?? Wear a wedding ring so that people don’t misread your intentions. Some people find that there’s a fine line between flirting and being friendly. Either that of just blame the alcohol. Sorry… can’t help you there. I was once told by one of the rappers from a Melbourne hip hop group  (can’t remember their name) that I have friendly eyes… so THANK GOD for my friendly eyes, otherwise I think everyone would think that I’ve been coming on to them. Dudes, I’m just here to PPAARRTAY and have a good time, not here for a shag. That’s what my hubby is here for eh??

OK NEXT – Lastly…

CLUB TIP 9?: Make sure you partay with good friends around you. Because at the end of the day when you’re puking its the company you’re with is what counts. ALSO it is always handy to take pics so that if you forgot what you did you can remember thw night archive it in your memories.

Stay tuned for some Famous Blogger facts from Mr.Gadget, SKM, Michael, Suze, Helen, Howdy, Violet and more!

Love love!

This weekend, we were greeted with awesome weather. Well atleast on Saturday anyway. After taking the girls out for their normal Saturday classes and McDonald’s party, we came home and just relaxed under the sky in the back yard.

The sky was so pretty. Missy A and I played ‘what can you see’ with the clouds while Missy C stared up into the mysterious moving leaves.

And as the evening greeted us with a beautiful sunset…so did a giant mosquito which ended our session.

I was thinking of making a video about my trip to NZ… but then the more I think about it… it may be more effort filming, and editing…something I haven’t done before… so maybe another time eh??

Well, our little trip to NZ, Auckland was purely because we had a wedding to go to, and when we booked our flights, we didn’t really plan on doing anything other than to help out set up the wedding. Such a waste to fly across an ocean, but we were trying to be so called ’self-less’ and just be and do what we can eh?  Hehehe… well we did manage to squeeze abit of a getaway but… in hind sight, that caused more stress than anything else. Still… NZ was beautiful.

I’d lived in NZ a while back, studied there even so it was really nice going back, and seeing how things changed.

All aboard the airplane!

We travelled with Qantas as they had a promotion where kids fly free. You pay for the taxes ofcoarse, but it was kinda still affordable. There’s a great selection of ‘new’ movies on the entertainment-thingiemajig BUT as the system was only fixed 1 hour into our flight… I was too scared to watch the good ones (like Benjamin Button or that….indian millionaire one… ) knowing I won’t get to finnish it. Missy A didn’t mind. She watched half of Madagascar 2 and switched to watch half of High School Musical 3. I watched part of… 4 holidays. Review of movie…. Bleh.. only so so.

Anyway, we arrived. First couple of days was wedding stuff, like ordering food. YUMMO cakes at the Cheesecake shop! But shocking shocking customer service. I sweat I think I knew more of the cakes on display than the poor pimpled face 13 year old boy behind the counter.

Aunty asked ” So, could I order a tiered wedding cake, does it get delievered and set up at the venue?”

Boy’s answer ” Um… I don’t know.”

Me trying to sound understanding “Ok… can you find out?”

Boy’s dumber answer ” Oh no, coz the boss isn’t in”

Me speaking really slowly  SO …THAT…HE…CAN…UNDERSTAND… “WHAT? Can you call them to find out as its pretty important…”

Boy’s even super duper answer ” Oh yeh but they are not working”

GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRR!!! I had to step out and jsut let Aunty handle it…

ANYWAY… then we headed off for a break to smelly Rotorua. The drive was really pretty. Picture perfect pretty. Everything was green… and clean… and just… pretty…

The weather was really pleasant in Auckland, so we expected teh same. YES and NO when we got to Rotorua. Each morning it rained, and then only later in the day it cleared up which really limited what we wanted to do… OR atleast what the boys wanted to do which was most of the advernture stuff like dirt biking and fishing.

Still… we do with what we have eh? Pregnant woman and kid friendly activities…

First stop… Waitomo Caves to see glow worms. Because mum and I had already been (yonks ago) and we were on a budget trip… Dave took Missy A while we sat at the cafe for a cuppa.

You get to take a boat ride into a pitch black cave where the tour guide aparently sings songs, and tell you all about the glow worms while you stare up into the cave ceiling to witness these odd little bugs.

Missy A had been looking forward to this the whole trip and she carried with her for the wholeday the brochure that also showed parts of other caves that you can walk and tour around. Again, budget trip, we only bought tickets for the Glow worms, while Missy A expected to see all the other cave stuff… when she came back from her 45 min boat ride, a sad sour little expresssion was left on her face.

I didn’t realise that she had expected more from the tour because of all the pictures that were shown on teh brochure. SO NOTE TO SELF and future trips : Must explain to kid exactly what they will be doing and what they could expect.

She was so sad I couldn’t heck it. I felt so bad. Anyway… so Daddy had to take her aside to explain to her that although she may be disappointed, she should be happy that she got to see the glow worms, and think about that instead.

ANYWAY, the trip goes on… The boys book themselves a fishing trip in Lake Rotorua.

While we went to the Agrodome which is again… kid and pregnant woman friendly.

Aparently this is on of the tastiest sheeps…

…19 sheeps later, 2 sheep dog demos, one shaved sheep…

…and 4 baby lambs later…

The boys came home with BIG SMILES on their faces, a wealth of knowledge on lake trout fishing…

…and dinner ofcoarse!…

I don’t know if this is exactly pregnant-friendly… but SO YUMMO! We can’t eat raw fish because… I think its because of the bacteria in case the fish we eat wasn’t stored properley and not fresh. BUT knowing that it was just pulled out of the lake… it can’t hurt right??

Lemon Cooked Chilli Trout Recipe

Heaps of fresh lemon juice

Fresh chill and garlic sauce (bought stright from supermarket)

Onions

Mix all ingredients, make sure all the fish is coated. Set aside in fridge for 30-40 mins. Serve COLD.

In Rotorua there’s a famour Polynesian Spa – Voted top 10 in the world aparently. BUT sadly.. not preggo friendly, so we decided to do our own spa treatment at our motel.

Hahaha… this was really fun. Even Missy A got abit of a treatment.

lol… try laughing but not…hahahaha…

The next day, all cleansed pores and fresh faced… we headed to The Luge.

Took a gondola up a mountain…

…and those who were ‘able’ (hence NOT pregnantand old) geared up to slide down the mountain while the rest lazed it up in the cafe and cam-whored.

A couple of hours later, all luged out, weather cleared up, full of tea and back down the gondola…

We headed back for Auckland.

On the way back, we spotted a ‘park’ that showcased Rotorua’s natural…ness. I magine… a walk in a park… and you come across natural volcanic activity. HOW EXCITING!

ANYWAY… back to Auckland after a nice 2 days of good ole Family time.