Abu Dhabi

Lunch at Indigo - Davina and Ivan

Lunch at Indigo- Mum and I

Outside Emirates Palace

Emirates Palace sign

The Hotel wing, Emirates Palace

My brother in law Ivan walking around the Mosque

Wall detailing in the mosque

More sights from the mosque

The Grand Mosque

Davina, Mum, I wearing traditional Abbaya to enter the mosque

First night of arrival, dinner at Lebanese restaurant and Shisha

Friday the 18th September,

My mum and I arrived in Abu Dhabi to visit my sister Davina and my brother in law Ivan. We were pretty jet lagged and so we slept alot. After we had a big sleep we went to dinner at a lebanese restaurant and had a big feast. Then me and my brother in law smoked shisha.

Saturday the 19th September,

It was still Rammadan and there is a law in Abu Dhabi that you can not eat, drink or smoke in public. If you are caught doing any of these three things you get fined and can possibly face imprisonment (this law applies to locals as well as tourists). Also as a mark of respect to the locals it is necessary to hide as much bare skin as possible (eg. Skirts below the knees, long sleeved tops, no clevage showing)

In 40 degree weather we went to see the grand mosque. It involved alot of walking around but the views were well worth it. The architecture of the mosque and interior design is absolutely amazing, not to mention that the place is huge.

After that we went to the emirates palace, home of the emirates prince I believe. As well as being a palace it has a wing of restaurants, a lobby, a hotel, etc. The place is really big and very oppulent.

After that we went and had lunch at an indian restaurant called Indigo. The food was really tasty and the waiters were very attentive. Due to not being able to drink water outside because of Rammadan when we got to the restaurant we were all drinking litres and litres of water. Every time we took a sip a waiter would come and fill our glass up with water.

After all the sight seeing we went home to relax.

My big Overseas Experience - 18th September- 6th October

So i'm finally back from my BIG OE and even 8 days later I am still jet lagged.

Lately I haven't been able to get to sleep until 3 am or 4am in the morning which means that I am currently only getting a couple of hours of sleep. The only time I get a good nights sleep is at my boyfriends house. I guess cause his room is bigger, his bed is nicer and overall he is cuddle material.

It was an awesome trip, a life changing experience for sure. I cant wait to upload all my photos to show everyone :)

I loved seeing my family although feel guilty about how moody and grumpy I was - I guess this was due to being jet lagged, tired, overheated, as well as physically exhausted, and sometimes being frustrated at myself for not being able to speak greek, french or arabic.

I guess learning basic conversational skills in all these languages would give me a leg up if I ever decide to visit these places once more?? These are some of the things I add to my "bucket list" - they can slot in right near sky diving, and holding a tarantula in my hand without screaming or fainting.

I guess I will upload my photos by destination/date as there are so so many photos and so much explaining to go along with it all.

My new boyfriend

So after many years of being single, I have finally met someone.

His name is Fred he's a real aussie blokey type.

We met through the internet about six to eight weeks ago on a chat website for people living in Sydney and have spent every weekend together since.

I've met his family already and spent alot of time with them so consider this relationship to be semi-serious. Will be going away overseas for two weeks and Fred is staying here in Sydney so I will really miss him.

My stationery

Just thought I would share my love of stationery with everyone.

I am kinda obsessed with stationery I think all creative people are in one way or another.

From top to bottom the pictures are:

Decorated Cellotape: Hello Kitty, Skulls, Stripes, Kisses, Hearts, Pigs

Mario 1 up Mushroom Sharpener

Fruit and Vegetable erasers

Hello Kitty pens - Glitter Gel pens

Tell me what you think :)

Latest Fimo Art

Haven't posted anything in ages, work has been hectic. We are so short staffed.

Just wanted to show my latest piece of fimo art that I created.

My friend/workmate Ed asked me to create this custom keyring for him. A box of KFC Fries as he loves them.

I think it turned out well. Does anyone have any feedback for me?

Overseas Trip 2009

In September my Mum and I are going on an overseas trip to see two of my older sisters, Cecilia and Davina and my brother in law Ivan.

Firstly we will be going to Abu Dhabi. It will be Rammadan so alot of things will be closed however we still want to go as Davina and Ivan don't know if they will still be living over there next year. When we do get there we also hope to travel to Egypt to see the pyramids. Hopefully we will spend a week there.

Secondly, we will be going to London in the UK to see my sister Cecilia. While I am there I hope to see the sights Big Ben, Changing of the guards ceremony, London Bridge. There is an art exhibition on Banksy vs Bristol Mueseum so I would love to see that, I would love to go visit some of the other sights that have been mentioned - more fictional of course such as Platform 9 and 3/4 which is located at Kings Cross Station- I read on the internet that you can go visit it. I would also love to visit Monopoly Board squares, Trafalgar Square, Kings Cross Station, Mayfair, I think that would be great. We also want to spend a couple of days in Paris. I really really really want to visit the Eifel Tower, Eat a Crossaint, and go to Paris Disneyland.

I am very excited and will start planning it fairly soon.

Cooking up a Storm

Last night was my flatmates birthday.

He turned 39.

I have only been living there a couple of months but know for a fact that his favourite soup is pumpkin soup and that he wanted a birthday cake- but wanted a cake made without butter as he hates butter so made him some fudgey type cupcakes - from a gluten free - dairy free recipe site.

If you have a look at the cupcakes you might notice that I have piped chocolated on to them. Flower shapes, hearts, and checkerboard, I was pretty pleased with the taste however they are very rich so one of these is more than enough.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Cooking time: More than 1 hour

INGREDIENTS
300g dark chocolate

1 cup (250ml) orange juice

4 eggs -whites and yolks separated

¾ cup (165g) brown sugar

icing sugar, for dusting

METHOD
Preheat oven to 160°C or 140°C fan-forced. Grease and line 22cm cake tin.

Melt chocolate with orange juice over bain marie or in short bursts in the microwave until smooth.

Whisk egg yolks together with sugar till pale and doubled in volume. Fold in chocolate and orange juice mixture.

Whisk egg whites to soft peaks and fold into chocolate cake mixture.

Pour into prepared cake tin.

Place cake tin into a large baking dish and pour enough boiling water into the baking dish to come half way up the sides of the cake tin.

Bake for 50 minutes in preheated oven.

Remove from oven and refrigerate until cold.

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

This is a very rich truffle-style cake. It is not supposed to be light and fluffy, but very rich and unctuous. It will keep in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Roast Pumpkin and Sweet Potato soup with Lemon Thyme

INGREDIENTS

1 butternut pumpkin (aprox. 1 kg), seeds removed and cut into wedges

2 Large Sweet Potaoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

3 sprigs of Lemon thyme, leaves only

1 tablespoon butter - If you don't like butter you can use margarine or extra olive oil

1 large red onion, chopped

1.5 litres of chicken stock - If you want it less watery add less stock

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Place the pumpkin and sweet potato in a roasting dish and drizzle with a little of the olive oil, add the sprigs of Lemon Thyme and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Roast pumpkin and potato for 35- 40 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Heat a large heavy based saucepan, add the remaining olive oil and butter and fry the onions until soft.

Add the pumpkin and potato and mash (If you like you can mash these seperately in a bowl, I used a stick blender and then added it to the browned onion).

Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and reduce the heat and simmer for 10- 12 minutes.

Blend again until smooth with a hand held blender or food processor. Return to the pan and reheat if necessary. Season to taste with Sea Salt and Black Pepper. If you like you could serve this with sour cream or greek yoghurt- I was being healthy so left out the yoghurt/sour cream and this recipe has been a big hit with my flatmate and workmates.

Another Website to Boost self esteem

Cant afford a real mercedes? Just grab a coathanger and fashion the mercedes logo yourself, no one can tell the difference.

Moving house? Who needs U- Haul or a removal truck? Why not just bust up your car and endanger yourself and everyone else on the road as well

Get to work Tiny Tim, Just because you have a broken leg that doesn't mean that you

get out of your floor sweeping duties

Some kind of water heater plugged in right in the shower- an electrocution waiting to happen

This car want's to die- the owner wont accept it. I see blankets, duct tape and garbage bags. What a mess!

Handsfree phone: This is more cute than stupid but she needs to realise she looks really silly.

DIY fire alarm - FYI Jiffy pop is Popcorn- when it starts to pop you're house is on fire!!

Cold water to bottle- Cold water from bottle to Electric Jug- Hot water from Electric Jug to sink

These guys are having a shockingly good time

The second website I visit is http://thereifixedit.com/. This site shows home repairs gone wrong, and how stupid some people can be- some of these are disasters waiting to happen, fire hazards, risk of electrocution, and just plain unsafe no matter which way you look at the situation.

Websites to boost the self esteem

Acceptance of Gay son Fail

Elephant ride slide placement fail

Transportation of people and luggage fail

Reliable logistics company fail

Sometimes when I feel like I am having a stupid day I like to remind myself that I am not really that stupid. There are two main websites that remind me that I am not as stupid as so many other people on the website blog I am about to tell you about.

The first of these websites is http://www.failblog.org/ this is a blog where people send pictures that convey other people failing at something. This is either through a behaviour, action or through a task that they may have attempted but have obviously failed miserably at it. It can also include signs with incorrect spelling, dangerous hazards, examples of racism and people expressing themselves in the most idiotic ways.

Melbourne Trip August 2008

Goodbyes at the Airport

Dinner at a fancy restaurant

Watching the all blacks at the pub... We won :)

On the Trams

At the Markets eating Famous Jam Donuts

So as I said previously I have been really lazy posting photos of my trips. So here is the next one. Melbourne Trip, August 2008, Spent the weekend with my sister Celia, my Mum, and my Aunty Chris. It was a girls only weekend and it was really nice.

Perth Trip December 2008

I've been pretty lazy in regards to posting photos of the trips I have been on ... I thought I might post them now.

I actually went on quite a few trips last year. April 2008 I went to Adelaide to see my Aunty Chris and Rob her husband- my whole family went and we did a wine trail- Pictures are on facebook so will have to copy them over eventually, August 2008 I went to Melbourne to see my sister as we were farewelling her on her departure to the UK. December 2008 was my trip to Perth to spend Xmas with my mum, and I went back to Perth Mother's Day weekend to spend Mothers Day with my mum.

Thought I would finally post these pics from my Perth Trip for December 2008 - Taken at Perth's wildlife park and Kings Park, and I am sure when I get around to it I will post the other pics too. Better late than never :P