Completion of February Photo a Day Challenge

Thank you to Chantelle and her blog Fat Mum Slim for a great February challenge and challenge it was towards the end, due to a sudden bout of food poisioning. I love the idea you've brought forth and had a great time taking part in it. I wish everyone taking part in March's challenge all the best. Here's the last of my photos from February 'Photo a Day' challenge:

Day 24 (of 29) Challenge - Inside Your Bathroom Cabinet

Some essentially every girl needs

Day 25 (of 29) Challenge - Green

A hamper I put together for a friend's housewarming
(hope she's not reading this blog right now :p)

Day 26 (of 29) Challenge - Night

Another completed project

Day 27 (of 29) Challenge - Something You Ate

Something new and delicious that looked too tempting in store.

Day 28 (of 29) Challenge - Money

Everyone owns their own change bowl, right?

Day 29 (of 29) Challenge - Something You're Listing To

So in love with this album from Florence & The Machine right now

Love Vs. Money

Love versus money is something that most people don't even have to question but there is always those few who may have to consider it for financial or emotive reasons. This bring me to my post today about my beautiful 7 month old labrador, Saffy.

A Shaven Dog after Procedures Yesterday

Saffy is a gorgeous, loving puppy and completely normal, aside from her ectopic ureter and possible weak sphincter. She is a member of our family and life wouldn't be the same without her but as my first pet, I do find myself questioning what if we'd picked a different dog from word go (what if we didn't have to go through all these issues). It just shows that sometimes it comes down to love. Saffy was the one who stood out from the pack that day and we chose each other.


Saffy was officially diagnosed with this issue yesterday after an ultrasound and dye test. It is something a dog is born with and must be operated on to be fixed. It is not that common but more prevalent in labradors and female dogs. You may notice it by the dog leaking or wet patches when they get up from a spot. However, as a puppy it's harder to tell if it's just from excitement or something else. If you want more information, you can read about it here: http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/ectopic_ureter.htm just beware if you're squeamish.

We were told by a vet the other day that quite a few owners actually put their dogs down before they reach the point Saffy has due to future costs. We love Saffy and would never consider but it isn't hard to understand why for those who can't afford it when you consider regular vet visits up to this point - $100 to $200, specialist consultations - $100 to $200, exploratory procedures - $1500 and the surgery (a couple of thousand) before you even consider desexing the dog. None of this is covered by insurance either, as it's a pre-existing issue. So if you don't have money saved away, you better have some nice people to give you a loan. Having a kid would be cheaper at this rate!

I would love to hear your point of view on the above.

In the meantime, here's the most recent photos from February Photo a Day:

Day 21 (of 29) Challenge - A Fave Photo of You

I'm on the right

Day 22 (of 29) Challenge - Where You Work

Reception Area

Day 23 (of 29) Challenge - Your Shoes

My favourite pair of shoes

Tomorrow is Pancake Day!!!

I was excited to learn this afternoon that tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday and worldwide Pancake Day!!! I am now trying to work out if I make pancakes for dessert tomorrow evening, as I'm totally unprepared presently i.e. the pantry does not have the correct ingredients. These images look delicious...

The Traditional Maple Syrup Look
(Photo from http://groupon.com.au)

Pancakes with Berries
(Photo from http://kidspot.com.au)

Nutella and Banana - sooo want to try this!
(Photo from http://photogrinder.com)

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the beautiful fish curry I just made for dinner...


March's photo challenge was posted today but I feel I can't keep this up, so February was definitely the month to try this challenge and I can't believe I haven't missed a day to date. Speaking of which, here's today photo challenge.

Day 20 (of 29) Challenge - Handwriting


This is one of my favourites quotes of late.

My Sewing Skills are Improving

Slowly but gradually my sewing skills are improving. Last Friday was truly fabulous and a great example of this. I stumbled upon a gorgeous dress on sale. It was originally $99 and reduced right down to $20. However, when I tried it on I noticed it had a ripped side seam. This was when I thought of putting my bargaining and sewing skills to the test. After negotiations, I purchased the dress for only $8.03 and fixed the side seam that evening before going out to dinner with friends. Here's the end result - good as new!


With only 10 days of February left, here's an update on February photo a day...

The photo from day 16 is of the first dress I've managed to sew myself. I wore it to a friend's place night and I was impressed that some friends actually thought I bought it - result!

Day 17 is of the watch my sister gave me at Christmas from her travels in America and day 18 of the alcoholic beverage I was consuming at a friend's party, complete with spiderman picture. This brings me to today's shot...

Day 19 (of 29) Challenge - Something You Hate to Do

This one was easy - the dishes. It's always the last thing I feel like doing, especially when it's hot. The lack of dishwasher doesn't help either!

Happy Valentine's Day

I personally love Valentine's Day (even if it is an Americanised tradition) but always feel bad for my single friends on the day because I really want what I have, for them - to find someone who makes them truly happy to share the rest of their life with. I think it's sad when this view of Valentine's Day comes across...


I am grateful to have a loving family and Valentine's Day is just another day in the year (although special) to show them that.

To continue the theme of this post, here's my February Photo of the day photos.

Day 14 (of 29) Challenge - Heart


Beautiful roses that were delivered to my office on my husband's behalf. I was spoilt :).

This was taken at 16th on Park, the restaurant we went to for a three course dinner.

Safe House Movie Review

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon, so what's a girl to do other than go to the movies? The power of vito rules out chick flicks and horror movies, so you decide on a mutually agreeable movie with your parter, Safe House. You get there early for the 2pm session and then look at your tickets you just purchased to realise there was a 1:30pm screening and according to your tickets, you're now 10 minutes late. On the plus side, you enter the cinema just as they're showing the last couple of ads.

I personally liked the movie but as my husband pointed out, it was a bit like a Tom Clancy novel. It did have a nice twist towards the end but you always knew one of them had to be bad...without going into too much detail and spoiling things. Ryan Reynolds performance in it was fantastic and I can't believe how much younger Denzel Washington looks in the 2nd half of the movie, once again without spoiling it too much.

Here's the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8hRkrhaeww&feature=fvst

Image from Vanity Fair

Now here's my continuation to the February photo challenge...

Day 9 (of 29) Challenge - Front Door

Our poor front door is in a horrible state. Admittedly, it wasn't in the best state when we first moved in but swelling from the heat has ruined some of the vinyl, when attempting to try to close the door.

Day 10 (of 29) Challenge - Self Portrait

I have so many friends that are better at taking self shots than I am but here's my attempt.

Day 11 (of 29) Challenge - Makes You Happy

Cider on a Saturday night at home.

Day 12 (of 29) Challenge - Inside Your Closet

A lot of empty hangers, needing clothes.

Day 13 (of 29) Challenge - Blue


A beautiful rainbow in a sky of blue

Poaching a Chicken

It's at this point that I'd love to tell you this post is about my husband's morbid fear of spiders but alas, I am actually talking about the art of poaching food. I attempted it tonight for the first time with chicken breast and the end result was a very succulent morsel (apologies to the vegetarians!). The process is really easy too...

1. Place the chicken in a heavy pot snuggly and cover with water and bring it to the boil. Reduce it to a low simmer, straight after it boils. Leave it at this temperature for 10 minutes.


2. Take it the off heat and leave for 15 - 20 minutes in the water. The result will be something similar to my below cut up chicken (subsequent to poaching).


3. You can then serve your chicken or use it for something else. I made enchiladas.


Here's my catch up on February Photo a Day:

Day 7 (of 29) Challenge - Buttons

Day 8 (of 29) Challenge - Sun


Sun? What sun? Brisbane decided to rain on my parade today. This was the best photo I could get of today's 'sun'. Note the sun colours on Chalk and Cheese's A Frame :).

Monday Catch Up

The weekend just gone wasn't without drama (neighbour complaining about our beautiful dog for one thing) but thankfully I had other things to keep me occupied with positive thoughts like a wonderful birthday party to go to, a friend's engagement to celebrate and my February challenge of a photo a day...

Day 4 (of 29) Challenge - A Stranger

This photo was taken at the Limes Hotel, at my friends' joint birthday party. I loved the wall in the background too that says 'Excuse me whilst I kiss the skyy'.

Day 5 (of 29) Challenge - 10am

After not drinking much the night before, this was 10am on Sunday - hanging out the washing...riverting, yes I know!

Day 6 (of 29) Challenge - Dinner

I quite enjoyed today's challenge because it meant I got to make a dish I've been wanting to try since last week. It is a standard Asian stir-fry recipe but I added spinach, lamb and capsicum to it. A plus to the meal is that my husband actually liked it too - hurrah! It looks so colourful in the photo...which is what I was going for (and a wholesome meal of course).

I want to Hold Your Hand

Day 3 (of 29) Challenge - Hands


This challenge was more difficult than the previous two, nonetheless I came up with this...enjoy!

Words are Meaningful

Day 2 (of 29) Challenge - Words

Your View Today

Day 1 (of 29) Challenge - Your View Today


After days of rain,, I decided it would be nice to take a walk alongside the Brisbane River today (in my work area). This Bird of Paradise was found on the walk and looked so pretty that it had to be my 'Your View Today' image - to always appreciate the small things that make you smile.