cute photo of the week

This weeks cutest photo is bought to you courtesy of my cat.

This is what happens when I decide to lay on my bed and read.
Well, either this, or she lays on the actual book I have in my hands.

stress & love

My engagement party is this Saturday.

It is a lot more stressful than I had anticipated;

With everything from family drama to people not rsvping.

I've been so on edge lately that I needed to remind myself of why there is even an engagement party in the first place.

I found some pretty pictures that have calmed me down and made me get a little bit of perspective so I thought I would share them with you all & this way I can always look back on them.

all images courtesy of we heart it

Stay tuned for what I'm anticipating to be a disaster of an engagement party.

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what i've been wearing lately.

These are just some random outfit photos that have been sitting on my computer for a week, so thought I'd post them

This is from when I went out to Teppanyaki for my mums birthday.
Wearing;
Bolero - Valleygirl
Dress - Lushous
Shoes - Windsor Smith

 

Some random day.
I'm not sure why I look like I have jaundice in the above photo...
I cannot for the life of me remember where this dress is from but I love it!
Only problem is, that embellishment on the front is quite heavy and as a result drags the front of the top down so I constantly have to be on boob patrol

Top - Cotton On
Jeans - T by Bettina Liano
Shoes - Target I think
 

Hello kitty

This is from 2 days ago.
It has been quite cold & really rainy so I had to wear pants for the first time in ages.

I absolutely love the detail on these jeans and they were such a bargain!
On sale from $129 to $22 at Myer.
Score!

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coffee & the murray river

Last week, I went for breakfast at this cute little cafe right on the border of vic/nsw, and right on the banks of the Murray River.

The weather was beautiful and so was the view.

I must go back there.
It was so relaxing and peaceful.
And the coffee was amazing!
What's your favourite cafe?
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Respect our nurses.

I don't usually do this kind of post but what is going on in our local nursing industry is something I feel very passionate about.
If you live in Victoria, you should feel passionate about it too.

Nursing is a truly heroic career. I don't care if you disagree.
Our nurses are being overworked and underpaid, and run ragged.
It has to change.
Please support our nurses. This issue affects everyone!

I am going to copy and paste a post from Merowyn at Blithely Unaware
Please go visit her blog, she is one of the amazing nurses that cares about her patients and deserves what all the nurses are fighting for.
Merowyn's post;

If You Ever Need A Nurse

Thank you Amy for this photo of your daughter!

The nursing dispute in Victoria is getting scary, the Baillieu Government is trying to stop nurses from discussing their industrial action on Facebook.

Goodbye freedom of speech, it was nice knowing you.

Please do not for a second think that what happens in the public system will NOT happen in the private health system - IT WILL. 

The private system is DIRECTLY influenced by the public.

Nurses are taking carefully organized, 4 hour industrial action which leaves wards with the SAME STAFFING RATIOS that The Ballieu Government is proposing.

The government thinks these ratios are fine, in fact it's what they are pushing for.

Yet - when nurses strike they say we compromise patient care. 

So, which is it?? You can't have it both ways!!

Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said: 

“Why are Mr Baillieu and Minister Davis prepared to waste more taxpayer money on lawyers to censor the internet and control and punish nurses and midwives when they should be working on finding a solution to end this dispute and get improvements happening in our hospitals?”  

 All other images from my Grandma's private collection which she took when she was a nurse.

Stand 

Strong 

Nurses!

Stand 

Strong!

le weekend

On the weekend I went to this new bar/cafe/restaurant called St. Ives.

I can't take it seriously because all I can think of is the skin care brand lol

It was actually really pretty, with a huge outdoor area and a cute little acoustic duo who actually invited Nick on stage with them when they forgot the lyrics to a Tenacious D song.

Needless to say; the karaoke soon ensued.

In hindsight I should have taken some photos but ah well.

This is what I wore;

Hello messy loungeroom!

This is my 'How the hell do I pose for a photo?' look
Apologies if I break your monitors lol but I am just no good at doing a serious pose for outfit photos.

I'm wearing;
Dress; Temt
Shoes; Windsor SmithJewellery; Majority is from Michael Hill I believe

Not sure if you can even tell but I also have Ulta3 Silver Glitter on my fingers & toes


In other news, how gorgeous is this photo of my cousins dog & cat? 

Too freaking cute.
I was there the day they got the dog and believe me, the relationship has not always been like this! lol

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wearable nail polish removers

I got a manicure on Monday and the manicurist didn't have very many colours so I chose to have my nails painted with OPI Bring on the Bling.
I tried to take a photo but could not capture the sparkle so here is a random one from google.

The colour is absolutely beautiful and really sparkles in the sunshine.

This may sound silly but once I put my e ring back on after the manicure my heart sank, the colour looked absolutely shocking against my sparkly white gold ring.

I stuck with the colour until today when I couldn't stand it any longer so I thought, what better time to try out this weird wearable nail polish remover soaker things that I got off eBay.

This is what the nail soaker things look like.

You put nail polish remover in the clear part and then attach the pink suction cup bit and stick it on your fingers.

This is actually a lot harder than it seems, I had to get the boy to put them on for me lol

[Please excuse the bad quality iPhone photo & my mess.

I was removing all my nail polish and re doing it. What a job!]

This is the nail soakers in action!

Sorry for another odd photo. I was leaning my thumb against my knee lol

You can actually see the glitter polish is already half off my nails.

This literally took about 2 minutes.

I think I filled up the clear cup thing a bit too much as I had a bit of leakage.

And presto! Not a trace of glitter polish on my grubby, dry fingers.

Like the marks left by the suction on the polish removers? lol

I definitely recommend using this method, it's so quick, effective and relatively mess-free.

The only problem is, it really dries out your fingertips so have some good moisturiser handy!

If you want to get in on this, you can buy them here for the grand old price of $2.70

Have you ever used these before?

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currently reading...

I picked up this book from a second hand book shop on Wednesday for $7.80, bargain!

Commandant of Auschwitz by Rudolf Hoess

The blurb:
'This book is filled with evil...it has no literally quality and reading it is agony', comments Primo Levi in his introduction. 'The author comes across as what he is; a coarse, stupid, arrogant, long winded scoundrel'. And yet '...it is one of the most instructive books ever published'. Rudolf Hoess was Commandant of Auschwitz during the war. Taken prisoner by the British he was ordered to write his autobiography in the weeks between his trial and his execution.
This is it.

An extraordinary and unique document: Hoess was in charge of the huge extermination camp in Poland where the Nazis murdered some three million Jews, from the time of it's creation(he was responsible for building it) in 1940 until late 1943, by which time the mass exterminations were half completed. Before this he has worked in other concentration camps, and afterwards he was at the Inspectorate in Berlin. He thus knew more, both first-hand and as an administrator, about Nazi Germany's greatest crime than almost anyone. Captured by the British, he was handed over to the Poles, tried, sentenced to death, and taken back to Auschwitz and there hanged.

The royalties from this macabre but historically important book go to the fund set up to help the few survivors of Auschwitz camps.

-----------------------

I'm fascinated by Hitler's regime. Not in an 'I think it was good way' but in an 'I don't understand how any of this could actually happen' way.

I've never seen a book like this before so I was very excited to see it and start reading it.

The book is introduced by someone called Primo Levi and he basically gives us a brief history of Rudolf Hoess and examines some of Rudolf's writing and poor attempts at pleading ignorance.
It's also stated by Primo, that this book published in German (it's original text, obviously) has bits and pieces taken out due to 'squeamishness', the English version is the only book that presents Rudolf's autobiography in it's entirety.

I'm only up to page 79 but so far I'm disgusted. The book is chilling and revolting but very interesting at the same time.

For example, It is stated that mass killings in Nazi Germany by officers in the SS that resulted in blood baths, lowered team morale and often lead to suicide.
Apparently there was the need to 'exterminate' the 'guilty people' (ie. Jews, Jehovah's Witness's etc) without there being any actual bloodshed. It needed to be clean so that it didn't mess with the SS officers heads.
Rudolf Hoess is the man responsible for the gas chambers.
It was he, who decided they could use the chemical used to kill rats and cockroaches, on their fellow man.
The people being 'exterminated' were put in the gas chambers, the toxic chemical was placed in the air vents of the chamber and there you go.
Mass killings.
Clean mass killings.

It's absolutely sickening but very curious.

I'm not going to recommend this book because I know it's not to everyone's taste but like I said, this kind of thing intrigues me.
I love history.

I hope no one thinks I'm a nutbag!
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aussie blogs

I've just had a look through all the blogs that I follow and have realised how few of them are Australian blogs.
If you're an Aussie blogger or know of any, please send me the links so I can follow immediately.
x

Baccarat

I love home wares.
I love pots & pans, utensils, linen, canisters, kettles, everything.

I was having a look around Trade Secret last night and came across some Baccarat utensils on sale from $12.95 to $3 which I quickly snapped up.

If anyone reading this is coming to my e party/wedding, I love Baccarat!
Hint, hint!

Now my only problem is that I have too many utensils and nowhere to put them so I'm on the hunt for a cute utensil tin/jar.

Boring post, sorry!
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reception venues

Last weekend, Louise and I went to a bridal fair at The Manor House.

I'd always been very curious about what it looks like inside and oh dear, was I disappointed!



THERE ARE SHIELDS AND SPEARS ON THE WALL!
SERIOUSLY?!
And look at the hideous chairs for the bride and groom.

You can see the bridal table to the front of this photo and the entrance to the function room is right behind the group of people in the back right of the photo.

There is a small area in front of the already set tables, and a small area to the left for more tables and also the door to the outdoor area.

And can you see the hideous shield and two swords in the background of this photo?
Yuck!

Apologies for the blurry photo.
This is what the venue looks like as soon as you walk through the doors, the burst of light is the outdoor area and as you can see slightly to the right is the dance floor.

Now this confuses the hell out of me!
For a second, let's ignore how small the dance floor is.
THAT IS THE BAR RIGHT IN FRONT OF THOSE STRANGELY PLACED CHAIRS.
WHY IS THE BAR SO FREAKING CLOSE TO THE DANCE FLOOR?
Imagine having to fight your way through the dancing people to get a drink and then more than likely get knocked by somebody and end up wearing your drink.
Seriously.

This place was a complete DISASTER.

The decor is absolutely hideous.
I imagine a reception venue to be a sort of blank canvas so that you can decorate the way you want.
I'm leaning towards a purple theme and this room is completely red and medevil!
A purple theme in this room would clash.

And that's just the beginning.

The events coordinator gave me a booklet with prices and details.
I noticed there was a room that seated 120 guests, [the room Louise and I were standing in could fit no more than 60 at the absolute most. Even 60 people would have been squished like sardines.]

I asked the events coordinator if I could please see the room that seats 120 and her answer?
EC: 'This is the room"
Me: 'This room seats 120 people?'
EC: Well.. 100ish...'
Me: 'Uhm, alright then..'

Talk about false advertising!
And the events coordinator just would not leave us alone.

There was some crazy lady who was apparently a celebrant that kept berating me with questions.
How many times do I need to say that I am having a church wedding with a PRIEST before you get the message you crazy cat lady?!

So frustrating!

Safe to say I will never enter The Manor House again.

Do you have any reception venue horror stories to share? I'd love to hear them!

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wedding cars

This is possibly one of my favourite things to plan out of the whole wedding experience.
I've always known that I didn't want a limousine.
My dream wedding car has always been a Chrysler or a Rolls Royce from the 30's-50's.

I've actually found a local car hire service that uses the same car that the Royal Family uses...

[1949 Rolls Royce - Silver Wraith]

Isn't it beautiful?
I am torn between the above car, the 1938 Chrysler & the 1956 Rolls Royce

1938 Chrysler's

1956 Rolls Royce Bentley S1 & 1956 Rolls Royce Cloud 1
(Apparently these 2 are sister cars. I have no idea what that means!)

Decisions, decisions!

What is/was your dream wedding car?

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