Wednesday, December 21, 2011

December 22nd

we still are without the internet!! crummy i know so here is a quick little update on our Christmas 25 I don't think we will finish it before Christmas but I will give it a damn good try!! and I think that is the important thing so without further ado here are so more lines through my list...

1. Make eggnog
2. Make a gingerbread house
3. Make and send Christmas cards
4. Make Christmas presents
5. Decorate Tree
6. Sew a tree ruffle
7. Joel make Emma amazing creative dinner on BBQ (his idea) - no pics :(
8. Spend a day in Sydney - to Ikea!!
9. Watch a Christmas movie
10. Brew amazing coffee (well we drank some)
11. Brew/make amazing hot chocolate
12. Go to the farmer's markets
13. Go to the beach (this should be easy once we move YAY)
14. Do the Bather's Walk
15. Visit the Hunter Valley region
16. Eat seafood
17. Have a Christmas party - if 5 people count as a party
18. Have a waterfight - if walking back from the train station in torrential rain counts
19. Play a sport in the park
20. Fly kites
21. Watch the carols
22. Be selfless!!
23. Play a board game
24. Make stockings
25. Slow dance to 'Dreaming of a White Christmas' on Christmas Eve





Thursday, December 15, 2011

Day 16

So Christmas is a little over a week away... WHY DOES IT HAVE TO COME UP SO QUICK?? can you tell I am freaking out about my lack of organization etc so thought I would do a quick check of my Christmas 25 list as my Mother-in-law says there is nothing better than ticking items off a list.... 

1. Make eggnog
2. Make a gingerbread house
3. Make and send Christmas cards
4. Make Christmas presents
5. Decorate Tree
6. Sew a tree ruffle
7. Joel make Emma amazing creative dinner on BBQ (his idea)
8. Spend a day in Sydney
9. Watch a Christmas movie
10. Brew amazing coffee
11. Brew/make amazing hot chocolate
12. Go to the farmer's markets
13. Go to the beach (this should be easy once we move YAY)
14. Do the Bather's Walk
15. Visit the Hunter Valley region
16. Eat seafood
17. Have a Christmas party
18. Have a waterfight
19. Play a sport in the park
20. Fly kites
21. Watch the carols
22. Be selfless!!
23. Play a board game
24. Make stockings
25. Slow dance to 'Dreaming of a White Christmas' on Christmas Eve

so it doesn't really look like much does it.... well it probably isn't but I feel I need to flesh out a few things on here.... you see I don't want it to be an excuse more I just don't want to tick it off until I am COMPLETELY done.


You see we have technically been to the beach, a few times actually but I didn't take any pictures so I don't want to cross it off yet. Also I have half-made several presents including the envelope clutch below....


I am not 100% happy with it... I used a heavy upholstery fabric I had laying around and thought it would maintain the stiffness but alas it is... floppy and short of undoing it all and inserting plastic or card into it there is not much I can do.. it also still needs a button or clasp of some kind. And I also have been spending way too much time on making my tree ruffle. By god it better be worth it when it's done because it is driving a severe wedge between me and my sewing machine. I have also sewn 6 out of 8 of the stockings so getting there...luckily there is an amazing fish and chip shop down the road serving not gourmet but definitely delicious seafood thank-you number 16!
 

We are going to the carols tonight and perhaps in the morning I can convince Joel to take a walk along the Bather's Way with me (thank-you number 14 and 21) 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

jackie v marilyn

I have been hesitating completing this post as it it my 100th and I feel as if I should do something special... I just don't know what.

However lately I have been consumed with the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis v Marilyn Monroe subject. There are many articles on the subject and I first became fixated on the comparison after the episode of Mad Men in which they are tasked with coming up with a new campaign for Playtex read a little about it here. Joan of course is in her own class.

source: Rebecca Horgan and Everything PR

Vanity Fair have shared a quiz taken from Pamela Keogh's book 'Are you a Jackie or a Marilyn', I didn't take the quiz but have always identified myself as the Marilyn type of girl. I am blonde, curvaceous and growing up it was her style that I would seek to mimic, I think all my sisters are 'Marilyn's', two in particular are overtly sexual whether they acknowledge it or not. The second oldest however maybe be a little more Jackie.

Source: Pretty Stuff by Patterson Maker
source: Gabsy:Gabsy
 I know a lot of women do not like to be 'labelled' but I feel there is a distinct societal division between these two types of women and the more movies/TV etc I watch the more this belief is intensified. Take for example two of my favourite 'girly' TV shows Gossip Girl and The OC the two strong female leads in these programs can distinctively be categorised as either a 'Marilyn' or a 'Jackie'.

source: Entertainment Blog and Fly and Mighty

Marissa Cooper instantly attracts all kinds of male (and female) attention in the show and in true 'Marilyn' style manages to self-destruct several times before her death at the hands of ex-boyfriend Volchuk, Summer the sweet little brunette starts out as a bit of a b*tch but by the end of the series her efforts to save animals great and small land her squarely in the 'Jackie' corner. In similar style Gossip Girl's Serena with a wave of her beautiful long blonde locks sends men in a craze all the while drinking herself silly and forever searching for her absent father (did the writer's base her character off Marilyn??) but her best friend Blair has visions of becoming a powerful ruler (by royalty or politics) and is always perfectly dressed ready to step in as First Lady (or Princess), sound familiar?

And then I realised it didn't just begin there... remember Dawson's Creek? Michelle Williams (Jen) and Katie Holmes (Joey) started practicing for their respective roles as Marilyn and Jackie on the teen drama  

source: Listal

  the list could go on forever but what is it about blonde trainwrecks and brunette homemakers that is so attractive in popular culture? any ideas let me know... back to Christmas stuff next time

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

eggnog and chocolately goodness

so it's been a few days, we still are yet to have a phone line in our apartment, let alone the internet connected so I have been taking the short walk to the University City Campus to get my internet fix. Still applying for jobs and catching up on my social networking and blogs. But I have actually been productive of sorts....though we have not been doing a Christmas activity every day, however it looks like most of them will be able to be accomplished jointly.

This week I made some bread...



yep still addicted to my Instagram app...the bread was tasty as but I think it either took too long or too short a time to rise as it was a little yeasty (according to the recipe rising time has some part in this). Joel also made some coconut rough 'blobs'


they are tasty especially with the eggnog we made (number one on the list) to share with our lovely friends Yas and Scott


this morning Joel and I then shared in a decadent hot chocolate made with milk and an entire block of 70% dark chocolate... Joel said it was too sweet and seems to have decided to go on a health kick - not the easiest time of year to do so... but that ticks off number 11.


i am still trying to figure out what to do for my 'be selfless' activity but Jessica from The Wedding Designer shared this little gem, now it's just a matter of waiting for something close by to pop up :)

we are still not yet fully moved in with no lounge and no bed as yet but i hope everything will be clean, tidy, organised etc by Monday.... fingers crossed

Friday, December 2, 2011

running a little behind....

so it is the 3rd of December and we are already running a little behind on our Christmas 25!!!
due to complications involving Christmas decorations (and I guess the fact that we have been moving!) number 5. Decorate the Tree has been completed!


as you might have noticed I have been going a little crazy with the Instagram app on my iPhone (smashed screen and all it still works great!) I also don't know where I stashed the actual camera in the move.... 

these awesome stars are made from the left over pages of my copy of Wuthering Heights which I took apart for the wedding, the tutorial came from this page here, and despite the instructions being in another language I think we did pretty well - though if you are looking for a simple project this is probably not for you. by the way if any family members happen to be reading and are wondering what to get me for Christmas see below :)

source: Papergrain
We did also have intentions of doing lots of other decorations but so far have had no luck and the stars ended up so huge that you probably don't want too much more on the tree anyway.... but we have been attempting these string balls.....
 I guess we didn't 'lube' the balls up enough (c'mon guys be more mature) because when we popped the balloons the balls just kinda collapsed but no matter we are going to give it another try tonight then hopefully they will look like these...

source: Wednesday via Ruffled
and tonight we will just have to tackle two things off the list instead of one! given our current proximity to the beach number 13. should be pretty easy and I plan on sewing the tree ruffle to finish off the tree so that will knock off number 6.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

still moving...

my home count has now bumped up to 12. But we are now living amongst the cool kids. Near the beach, and we are decidedly not yet cool enough to be there but give us time.

Maybe if we bake all our neighbours yummy Devil's Food Cake like this one here we will be slightly cooler... though I think our use of cake mix over organic/free-range etc ingredients might bring us down


I did make the icing though and Joel is proving to be pretty handy at icing cakes and taking photos. There might still be some cool left in us.