Birthday photos as promised!

Very early in the morning. Table is set up for the party and presents are waiting to be opened!


ooh yay! A keyboard!! Hasn't been touched since the day of the party! But I haven't given up. I'll bloody make a musician of her yet dammit.

Obligatory early morning photos of mum and dad. Looking fab at 6am!


Husband got a bit creative with the doll's house....

And then it was time to par-tay!





HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!! XXX

Even closer to being ready...

This shop is taking up a lot of my time lately. Well it's not that it takes up a lot of time - it's more that I have precious little spare time as it is (only the evenings after Annabelle is in bed) and I've been using that time to get the shop set up instead of doing other things.... such as my thesis.... or my neuro assignment....

So I'm going to have to open the doors with some basic stock and then just build it as I go. I had this idea of it being fully stocked but that's a bit unrealistic especially in terms of my own cash flow.

So the real site is up now and it's www.theveganstore.com.au

We had Annabelle's FOURTH birthday party on the weekend. Oh my goodness, where does the time go?! She had a party at home because I thought that would be cheaper. Silly me. By the time I got the party paraphernalia and the Tinkerbell cake and spent $120 on party food (which four year olds tend not to eat as it turns out..)I could have just as easily taken her to Groovy Chicks and Pirate Ships for the $300 they were going to charge me. Ah well.. I think we all need to have the home party experience just once. I'll put photos up soon!

It might not be promoting a meatless diet, but still....

... it's a great message. I think I'll be buying the DVD!

Not sure if you can view this properly unless perhaps you click 'Full Screen'. Otherwise, click the link below to go straight to the Website. And thanks Danielle for bringing this to my attention. :)



Food Inc. - The Movie

Almost ready!

Here is the working model of my shop. This is the test site so none of the links will work. I've disabled the real shop until the products are all in and ready to go so that my competition can't sniff around until I'm ready to launch...

http://www.theveganstore.ashop.com.au/

Meanwhile, back in my real life I'm still LOVING placement. I've got my own outpatient clinic with a pretty full caseload of clients and today I am starting my first mindfulness group for mums in the sick babies ward (up to 12 months old). Some of the babies and mums are there for a very, very long time so we hope this gives them some break and some skills for coping with the stress. Wish me luck with that. I hope it goes well!

Still looking for a final placement in Queensland so we might be able to move up there early (like July) but no luck just yet. I'm allowed to enrol in my final subject at Griffith Uni - Gold Coast campus. That would just be one class per week. Mel thinks he can get 3 days of kindy for Annabelle at the UQ kindergarten right next to his office so if I can just get a placement we're good to go. Keep all your fingers crossed.

Later... x

Counting down to launch date

My web design is DONE. HOORAH!!!! And it looks amazing. The lovely Sarah from Crackers Art is a total legend. I've been getting some good advice from some friends who have their own online businesses and might have a bit of work to do with re-jigging the back end set-up so that it all runs smoothly but that's ok. I'm getting very excited!

My placement is going well too. But it's going oh so quickly! I can't believe I've done six weeks already. I'm seeing my own patients and doing some ward rounds etc. I'm all Grey's Anatomy and loving it. Call me Meredith.

Mav is home for the long weekend and Miss Annabelle is super excited about that. She's totally over me at the moment. All she wants is her dad.

And I think that's it for updates. Hopefully I'll be announcing the Grand Opening very soon!!

The irony

ok, so irony probably isn't the word because "irony" apparently has some really complicated meaning and we all use it incorrectly. I highlight this so that all the would-be English teachers and grammar nazis don't feel the urge to correct my use of the word. I know it's not right but I'm using it anyway.

So... the irony is this:

I didn't want to move to Adelaide. I kicked and screamed and protested loudly. But I had to come here to be with husband. (Husband who spent almost half the year overseas last year mind you, but that's another whinge...)

So I left my house and friends and my beautiful little Summer Hill community and came to Adelaide and I was unhappy for quite a long time despite my best efforts to make the most of it. But that's ok because I like it now. I'm not complaining about Adelaide.

But here's the irony... now husband has gone. Husband who convinced me of what a great place Adelaide would be to raise a family, and of how he had a long term career path with his employer (people have been there for 25 years, you know!) and how happy we would be if I just gave it a chance.

So here I am in Adelaide, where I never wanted to be, and husband has headed off to greener pastures while I finish what I started here. As Alanis Morrissette would say.....

One of my favourite songs at the moment

If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me,
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them, however you want to

But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand.
and breathe, just breathe
woah breathe, just breathe

Anna Nalick - Breathe lyrics | LyricsMode.com

Sydney visit

I don't know if I mentioned that Miss Annabelle and I had a flying trip to Sydney last week. We finally got rid of the tenant-from-hell and had a 2-week gap before the new tenants moved in (THANK GOD we got new tenants straight away!) so we used the time to get a few maintenance things done on the house. I was really keen to get in and see the place while it was empty and check up on the work that was done (some polished floors, some painting etc).

I know it's 'just' a rental property now but I love that house! I want to maintain it really well because it's also a big investment.

Anyway, I also LOVE any excuse to see my Sydney mates because oh, how I miss them so.....

We stayed overnight with our next door neighbours. Had a smashing time. Here's a few pics..

Annabelle and Julian having ice-blocks while they check out the moon:

Annabelle at the Summer Hill playground (great pic, Beany!!)

Master Callum. Oh he is GORGEOUS!!

Miss Annabelle in a contemplative mood..

Was going to upload more photos but it's not working dammit! So I'll just post this and upload more later.

oh and PS. First draft of my logo just arrived in inbox. YIPPEEEEE!!!!

News update

Sorry for being so absent. I can't keep up with everything at the moment and I haven't even started my uni placement yet so it's only going to get worse!! So here's the very quick update of all the latest goings on around here...

#1. Most of you have heard by now that Mav got a job in Queensland and we are moving back there. I have never been particularly interested in moving back to Qld but seeing how much fun Annabelle had at Christmas time helping her grandma feed horses, swinging on gates at the farm and even riding a horse (not to mention how much she looooves her grandparents and her cousins) made me realise it would be really good to be back up there again. So I'm excited! This time we don't want to live in the city so we'll be looking for a few acres out of town. I want a big vegie patch, chickens and a horse. :)

Mel starts work up there next month and at this stage, the plan is that me and Annabelle will have to hang around in Adelaide until I finish uni in October. But I am going to look at the possibility of moving up at the end of first semester (June/July) and finishing off my degree up there. It will be tricky because I have to do a placement of 45 days and they're hard to come by but all I can do is try. If it doesn't work out, we'll manage. We've managed before! And I'll be a bit sad to leave all our friends here in Adelaide, as will Annabelle. She's got a pretty tight little circle of mates and I don't think she fully comprehends what it will mean to move interstate. I never thought I'd say it, but I will REALLY miss Adelaide. :(

In other news (News item #2), I've been trying out being vegan. I don't have time to go into all the thinking behind this decision except to say:

1. Animal cruelty
2. The environment
3. Health benefits

No doubt I'll come back and rant about that another time when I have more time. :) But tell me if I get preachy because that's the last thing I want to be. Like a vegan version of a JW. Gawd help you all!! haha

But before I move on to the next topic, I just want to say that the dairy and egg industries are every bit as cruel as the slaughterhouse. Probably even worse because at least slaughtered animals get put out of their misery UNLIKE dairy cows. And even with free-range chickens, all the baby boy chickens are killed at birth AND you're still getting factory eggs in your mayonnaise and other sauces and products that contain eggs. AND if you think you need animal protein for your good health, think again. Can I recommend that you all go online and order The China Study for the full lo-down on exactly what animal protein is doing to us all. (Think cancer, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease...). It's $17 and free shipping. You can afford it. Did I say I wasn't going to get preachy? Ok, shutting up now.



So in my soiree into the world of veganism I have found that it is bloody hard work buying products that don't contain any dairy or egg. I'm sure anyone who is allergic to dairy can sympathise. Far out, they hide milk in EVERYTHING. (well, ok they don't hide it.. it's in bold on the label but you know what I mean...)

Not to mention that how can I possibly never have a pizza again?? The vegan thing wasn't looking promising, but I found a solution. It is vegan cheese. I'll give you a moment to stop gagging. Look, I know it sounds gross but there are bigger issues at hand here and I have decided that I can suck it up and eat vegan cheese if it means taking a stand. So I went online and found some vegan cheese and had it shipped from Sydney.

This was because it was farking impossible to work out where to buy it from a shop in Adelaide (I have since found them). I bought $40 worth of vegan cheese, mayonnaise (which is bloody amazing, I might add. I'd eat it if I wasn't vegan) as well as "fish" cakes (YUMMY) and "chicken" nuggets (Annabelle spat them out so I guess that's a big thumbs down for those ones :-). For my $40 worth of food, I paid $18 in postage. *faints*

Which brings me to Item #3. I am opening an online vegan store. You may have gathered I'm quite keen to spread the word about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and I figure what better way to make a contribution than to have a little shop where you can come and buy all your vegan stuff in one spot. It isn't just food, mind you. It is skin care, make-up, haircare, perfume, cleaning products. Everything entirely without animal products. Animal products means milk, honey, beeswax, crushed up beetles, fish bladder, calf stomach, urea... etc... You are getting all those goodies in your non-vegan products. Urea. MMMMMMM

So the shop is being built. I am lining up suppliers, getting a logo designed and uploading product constantly. I'm hoping for a late March launch. Then of course I'm going to move to Qld but I guess that's the beauty of it being online....

I think that's all I have time for right now.

It's 11.30am and my Lit Review isn't going to write itself dammit.

Cats and stuff

Yesterday we dropped Annabelle off at a friend's place at about 3pm, hopped into the car and drove to the city where we checked into the Intercontinental Hotel. Very flash! (shitty service but I'm not going to complain). We got to our room about 3.45pm, I ran a lovely bath, and Mel poured me a glass of champagne. It would have been utter bliss except that somehow the fishing show on TV which Mel was watching in the other room was being piped into the bathroom. Took away from the serenity of the experience somewhat, but never mind. :)

At 5pm, we were all glammed up and headed to the cocktail lounge downstairs and met up with some of our really, really good friends from Sydney who are down her for the Tour Down Under (mad cyclists that they are). We haven't seen them since we left Sydney and it was great to catch up with them.




After drinks, we farewelled our friends and popped into a delightful restaurant where the service was fab and the food was DIVINE! I had Japanese spiced Tofu. I know you think that sounds crap but even Mel was jealous because it was SO good.

At 7:30pm, we headed next door to the Festival Theatre where we saw "Cats". I wasn't sure what to expect but I really enjoyed the singing and dancing. Weird-arse storyline (Andrew Lloyd Webber was on some serious drugs for sure) but a great musical theatrical experience. At half-time I had a text advising that Annabelle was fast asleep so if I'd had any concerns about her they would have been put to rest.

After the show, we headed back to the hotel for one more drink, listened to some live music and had a civilised adult-like conversation about what's been going on in our lives, plans for the future etc. Gosh, how I miss those conversations! We then slept uninterrupted until about 7:15am and chatted over coffee without having to "get up! get up! get up!!!" or make weet-bix or load a DVD or yell at anyone to not spill juice all over their clothes.

I'm telling you. Child-free nights. There should be a LOT more of them!