should i get a pair of tom fords?

I've been looking for a pair of spectacle frames that suit me so I can ditch the contacts once I get home from work to allow my eyes to rest earlier. Currently I wear my contacts all the time except for when I'm in bed ready to sleep.

I have not come across any frames that I absolutely love until I tried on this pair of Tom Fords courtesy of a fellow guest at a wedding I recently attended. I love love love them! Should I go get a pair made?

june iphoneography

He just wants to lock you away.



I left my lips behind.



Seeking refuge in the shadows.

i don't mean to brag...

... but check out what score I got for my IELTS test (FYI, highest band achievable is a 9). ^^v

in the 40s

I'm not talking about age but the temperature here in Sydney. We had >40 degree celsius days the whole of last week which led to me hiding indoors the whole weekend.



The newly acquired juicer came into good use this scorching summer as I made jugs and jugs of ice cold refreshing juices with all the fruits and vegetables I could get my hands on. The latest juicing project involved me hauling a 5kg watermelon back from the supermarket and getting about 3litres of pure juice from it which is sitting in the fridge right now. My favourite combination is what they call the Two and Five Juice at Boost Juice where I used to pay $6 per cup for - carrots, oranges, celery and beetroot (I did away with the apples and occasionally threw in something else such as cucumbers in my modified concoction).



Another drink for quenching the summer thirst that's been appearing a lot in the household lately is this homemade lemon and mint (from my humble herb and vege garden in the balcony that by the way has expanded by 3 more pots!) with lots of ice cubes thrown in.





Now that the heatwave has passed, we are experiencing a sudden dip in temperature to below 20 degree celsius overnight. It's madness. No wonder my lungs are protesting!

furry bangs

I decided to give my fur a makeover and ta-dah! How do you like my new funky bangs? I even went and bought a 70s retro super huge sunnies to match this look on the weekend - will post some pics next time.

weird random faces of me

Left: Applying used chilled chamomile tea bags onto my puffy goldfish eyes first thing on a Saturday morning. It really works; the swelling reduced by half after just 20min.

Right: Looking grumpy all decked out in my funky communist attire buried in a massive second hand bookstore. Highlight of the night was I got to study this book published in the 1970s on the 20 tips to enhance your sex life complete with naked couples in totally uncreative sexual positions.

everyone needs a step-up in life

As my bedroom plunged into darkness with 9 out of 11 ceiling lights blown, I had to get a ladder at least 5 steps high to access the >3m higher-than-normal ceiling to replace these extremely shortlived halogen bulbs.

It called for an emergency trip to Bunnings - a place that never fails to amaze me by the sheer size of it and what can be found there - and a mad dash around the warehouse just 10 minutes before closing time to find a suitable ladder within the pre-budgeted cost of $50. Happy with the find at $44, a slight panic then ensued when trying to squeeze the longer than expected ladder into my tiny coupé.

So yeah. It's the first ladder I've ever had in my life. The lights have been fixed and I am no longer in darkness. Hooray for ladders. When are you getting one too?

that smile

Someone picked up on the photos posted in two separate entries: one posted in February 2009 on my growing up years and another posted just a month ago on my Sydney Showboat experience, and commented that the smile on my face since I was a little girl of five until I hit the big three-o has not changed.



I hadn't noticed it myself! Do you agree?

red and blue

Random monkey sighting on a sunny blue-sky Saturday of apartment hunting.

Cool.

what is this?

Saw this weird creature sitting on the couch when I visited a friend's apartment for the first time last evening.

Can anyone guess what it is?

The group of us found it hilarious when the owner finally revealed the identity of this plush toy.

The answer is in the comments.

invasion of the ants

The Flatemate HAH and I used to always proudly announce how we never ever use the dishwasher at home; we always always hand wash our dirty dishes. Now, would anyone even think that this is a bad thing?

A couple of weeks ago, we started noticing random ants around the kitchen area. That progressed to long trails of ants everywhere in just a few days. After some investigation by HAH, we discovered to our HORROR that there is an entire colony of ants residing and multiplying inside the unused dishwasher!!! There must have been millions of them!!!

We spent a frantic afternoon: 1) driving to the nearest supermarket to get a new can of Baygon cos we used up our existing can, 2) spraying Baygon everywhere in the kitchen, 3) cleaning and re-cleaning the ant corpses left behind, 4) turning on the dishwasher to let it run for at least three wash cycles to rid it of its unwelcome residents, before we were satisfied that we've completely destroyed the colony.

If you click to enlarge the pics below, you'll see some of the corpses from the above tragedy. Of course I didn't dare to take pics of them inside the dishwasher - HAH and I were too grossed out by the scene to even fully open up the dishwasher for more than a peek!





Lesson learnt: nothing, absolutely nothing, should be left idling for too long.

"harry panic"

I have been travelling to Wagga Wagga (located midway between Sydney and Melbourne) for work a fair bit in the last one year. The original inhabitants, the Wiradjuri were the largest Aboriginal tribe in New South Wales. In their language “Wagga” means crow and repeating it means the plural ie. Wagga Wagga means “the place of many crows”.

Now, I call it the "Land of a thousand crows and tumbleweeds". This winter sees Wagga Wagga half buried in these yellow stuff that clings to you. An entire house can be totally engulfed by them in just under 45 minutes. The locals call it the "Harry Panic", I wonder why.

A work partner finds it so fascinating she has to dive into a pile every time she visits Wagga. Here are a few snaps of her having the time of her life.

brilliance of the autumn sun

In case I haven't reiterated this enough - I really really love my bedroom.

Besides the warm fuzzy shadows cast by the leaves in spring, I also get such glorious orange beams of the setting autumn sun on my bedroom walls.

I wonder what winter has to offer to my walls?

puppy cake

Puppy cake sighted in cake shop at World Square. Comes with complimentary chocolate puppy bone. Check out the doggie's strawberry tongue! How cute is that?

the hat model

These were taken when I was modelling a hat for a friend on the weekend before I left for my CNY break in SG. I was wearing my $10 Paddy's Market 'Ray Ban Aviator' shades and new cutie-pie jumpsuit and showing off my golden brown tan.

we are all doomed

I moped through the New Year long weekend as the weather yoyo-ed unpredictably between sunshine and blankets of rain. On this particular day, I was basking in the glorious sun one minute and running for my life the next when this great big mass of grey doom swept in at the speed of light without any apparent warning. And the sun had to re-appear the moment I got home. How nice.

boys and girls

I was shopping around in David Jones over the X'mas period when I saw a funny scene.

All the patrons at this bar were men. I giggled because I thought they were banished by the wives and girlfriends to this lonely corner so that they may do their shopping in peace.



Then I rounded a corner and saw this counter where all its customers were women. So I checked out both stalls and found that the above bar served alcohol and the one below served desserts and pastries.



Boys and girls, we can never co-exist. LOL

testing mobile blogger

Does this work?

(Update: OMG I finally got the f**king mobile blogger to work! Could have vomitted blood over the setting up! Btw, above pic shows the X'mas pressies I got at work last Friday.)

green plum is me is green plum

This is specially dedicated to my dear BambooHorse.

Going by the market rate and my weight now, I think I would cost $549.45.

I wonder how I taste like...

who is more important?

Scenario:
You are in a senior management work meeting. You have 2 mobile phones that start to ring at the same time. One is from your spouse. The other is from a co-worker. You do not know what either of them is calling you for. You can only pick up one call.

Question:
Which phone call will you answer?

My observations throughout my working years in instances which may not be exactly like the scenario above but could be variations of it:

1) A male usually ignores/hangs up without answering if the caller is his wife/girlfriend/lover or someone from his family such as mother/father/brother/sister but answers the call without hesitation if the caller is a colleague/boss/client/supplier.

2) A woman usually does the opposite.

3) On the rare occasion in 1) when the male decides to do the opposite and realises that the wife/girlfriend/lover/mother/father/brother/sister is calling for something quite trivial, for example, to ask if he is heading home for dinner, he usually snaps at the caller, gives a brief reply and hangs up with irritation written all over his face.

4) A woman usually doesn't display her irritation no matter how trivial a matter her husband/boyfriend/lover/mother/father/brother/sister is calling for.

Note I state 'usually'. It's interesting to note the difference in priorities of the M versus the F but I am not going to go into an epic-battle-of-the-sexes discussion today.

For me personally, no matter how critical a meeting I may be in and how absolutely important it may be that I not interrupt the meeting by answering the phone, there are some very important people in my life that I will not miss any calls from if I can help it - Mum, Bro, Boyfriend (although this last position is currently vacant awaiting suitable applicants). There are ways to pick up a loved one's phone call in the midst of a meeting without being disruptive, trust me.

Sure, most of their calls have not been for anything close to emergencies (yet), but since when can you predict a life threatening incident or when they require immediate assistance? Most people's natural instincts are to phone someone closest to them who are on the phone's quick dial when shite happens even if they have been taught all their lives to call the emergency services (police/fire brigade/ambulance). I really don't want to press the 'ignore' key on my phone and regret that only after something bad happens.

Btw, this blog post was inspired by a real life incident at work when someone in the meeting room ignored a phone call, apologised to the meeting group: "Oh that's just my wife", and then proceeded to answer another incoming call from a colleague just minutes later. I really don't quite understand this. *shrugs*