Christmas Day...

You really can't imagine how magical Christmas is with a toddler until you have one! Marley is 2 and 9 months and has been extremely excited about Christmas, all about listening to and singing carols and making gingerbread... From the get go she wanted one thing from Santa and that was a triangle, the instrument... I don't even know how she knows that they exist, but hey... I encouraged her to think about other things she might like, she came up with Fairy Bells from the fairies, and music in her room (it just do happens we had bought her a boom box/iPod dock for her room), definitely a theme here... She has talked loads about getting a fish called 'Squeaky' so Santa brought her one of those two amongst loads of other gifts!
She put out snacks and drinks for Santa and Rudolph the night before and surprisingly went off to sleep with no issue (she is usually awesome at going to bed, but I thought the excitement might be too much!) after a delicious dinner with the family... In the morning she was beyond excited, the only downside was that she had so many presents that she barely noticed each individual one until later on the day... I was impressed with my gifts too!
We shared the cooking for 8, had a delicious traditional roast with pav for dessert, couldn't fit in the pudding and custard... I ate far too much and couldn't even fit in dinner!
The weather was warm and stormy... The beautiful thing about mums garden is that half of it is more like an extension of her lounge area, under cover with a lounge, tables and chairs, so we spent most of the day outside... Lovely to spend the day with our family, delicious food, thoughtful gifts and by the end I was do exhausted I could barely speak... Cuddled up with Mark and watched Inbetweeners The Film again, perfect light hearted laughs to finish off a big, big day!























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Ikea Christmas lights

Not a great picture, but you get the idea! Super cute stick on snowflake lights from Ikea, great value at $5! Already with 30% off... Looks like everywhere are doing their Christmas sales before Christmas has begun... Went past Bed Bath and Table today and their decorations were already 50% off, they had some lovely stuff too!




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Game of Thrones: Songs of Fire and Ice George RR Martin

Game of Thrones
Holy moly, first things first, if you haven’t watched the show DO IT! And then read the books, or the other way round, whichever... The show is so true to the book it really doesn’t matter which way you do it, just do...
The books are a huge commitment, thousands and thousands of pages, but completely engulfing... Definitely not my usual genre, but the characters absolutely have me... Am start of book four right now, while I know I still have many hours of reading ahead, I am starting to wonder how I am going to manage without these characters, or even if there will be any left by the end!!!






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Melbourne Victory Fan Fest at Luna Park

We went to MVFC fan fest at Luna Park 2 years ago and loved it... It changed to being a look at AAMI park last year, but back again this year! We were pretty excited, it always restores faith in the team to feel like you are in it with them... Marley was looking forward to the carousel and meeting Archie Thompson, she only got to do the latter as the carousel was closed, then she got so shy around Archie - hilarious... But now she has a picture to keep forever of arguably the best a-league player thus far!

I must admit I liked the set up better last time, the players out with us, people watching, milling around... This time you had to queue to get upstairs, get autographs and get out, so only one of us to go (pram factor), it was ME!!! Yayayay!!! Interesting that Mehmet and Muscy weren't with the players for autographs...

The TAC stand was good fun for Marley, playing a ball game... We went on the elephant ride, saw Santa, and ate some curly fries... Loved seeing all of the fans that made it out, even with the threatening weather... Was definitely worth the trip, we were all exhausted by the time we got in!


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Sunday Morning at Max Brenner

Max Brenner has become a guilty pleasure since my friend Leigh reminded me it was there... So Sunday morning we went to indulge my waffle craving... Their waffles are AWESOME! Mark had their chocolate crunch pizza, which was too much for one person... My waffles and fruit for two fed Marley, Mace (fruit only) and me, delicious! Marley and Mark read a tattoo mag while we waited, always a long wait there!!! But always worth it... If you only have time for a drink, their banana chocolate frappe is divine...








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Jingle Bells from Bed Bath and Table

These are just too cute! Stars made up from loads of tiny bells... Good fun as a Marley sized instrument and beautiful hanging about the house! They come in different sizes, we got a couple and hung them on the stairs between the kids Christmas stockings...


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Foo Fighters at AAMI Park Review

Foo Fighters

The first ever gig at AAMI park... I must say as a venue for a gig it was awesome, loved being under the stars! As a Melbourne Victory supporter I was concerned about the pitch, I guess time will tell just how much damage all the drunkards in general admission did it to, and there were plenty... Leaving the venue my shoes were sticking to the floor, thought I was going to lose them, yuck!

The Foo Fighters have been a favourite band of mine since their inception, I have seen them loads of times and they have never failed to impress me... I am completely enamoured with Dave Grohl... The band came through with a great set, but, yes there is a but, it is probably the worst set list I have heard from them... Still good though, still an awesome show, still will continue to see them live... Just thought that there last show was better, felt like they tried to mix it up a bit too much and there was a little to much jamming and lulls (this was made up by our truly awesome seats, 6 rows back, at the front right)... Most of all he made us hang for the best part monkey wrench, kinda blowing the track for me, and it is in my top 3 Foo Fighters tracks, so that sucked...

The other thing was that Pat looked like he wasn't well? Sick, or stressed, or sad? By the end he seemed a little happier, but I was genuinely worried about him...

For all of that, these guys put on a damn good, loud, long show, with such an impressive catalog of music they always bring it! They are a tight unit performing, charismatic, funny and make it feel personal... Was a great girls night out with my best friend, who is leaving me... Love the Foo Fighters!!!



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Decorate the Christmas tree!

Decorate the Christmas tree!

We got an awesome deal through xmastrees.net.au who deliver your fresh tree to your house, all ready to go in the stand... When Christmas is over they come and take it away and dispose of it for you! Awesome!

The tree itself is pristine, packed full of branches... Really deluxe tree, I think I would go as far as paying full price next year!

Marley woke up to the sight of her Christmas tree and insisted we decorate it, and so we did!










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The Wiggles Big Birthday In The Big Tent Flemington Racecourse Review

The Wiggles Big Birthday In The Big Tent Flemington Racecourse

We booked these tickets what feels like forever ago... We were lucky to get in the Hot Potato section only 8 rows from the front...

The parking queue was a nightmare, the toilet queue was a nightmare, taking 20 minutes the. 15 minutes respectively, so we dashed to our seats with 2 minutes to spare! And waited 20 for them to start... I was pretty disappointed with this as there was an extensive merch stand and other things to do in the tent and we didn't get time to cruise it pre show because of the time constraint... I can see why, the parking situation was crappy, but sitting and waiting with a 2 year old is not a good time...

Once the show started, The Wiggles won me over! I was surprised that it felt so personal, even though we were up close there really wasn't a bad seat on the house... A good range of songs, comedy, dancing, it was over an hour of proper, professional, entertainment... Marley LOVED it! Dorothy the dinosaur was her highlight, but every time anyone came out, she got very excited...

On our way out we grabbed some merch, and ran to the car to get out before the traffic inevitable traffic jam started again!


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Story Time at your local library - Review

Story time at your local library

I am a big fan of story time at our library... Pre Mace we used to go most weeks, but pregnancy and baby stopped us going for almost a year... I had a last minute cancellation yesterday and thought I would brave it with two kids BIG MISTAKE, at 8.5 months Mace wants to get about, not be sat still.... And Marley inevitably needed to use the bathroom at the same time as me having Maces lunch and toys out, luckily it was 5 minutes to the end and we just kept on going... We won't be back until Mace has the capacity to watch the story teller, but I do recommend it if your little one/s are a year or older!


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Myer Santa Land and Christmas Windows Review

Myer Christmas Windows and Santaland

It’s Christmas time already, this means another photo with Santa! We headed to the 6th floor (instead of basement) to queue up for a photo with Santa... Queue went surprisingly fast, Marley was far more interested in the train ride then Santa, so we used that as a bribe, oops, positive reward! She wouldn’t sit with Santa so we all sat with Santa, got the photo, then she played with the sleeping Rudolph and once we chose the photo, we were off!

We joined the queue for the train ride, it was super fast! She got her ride, I was surprised that it was free!!! Once that was over we went out in the pouring rain to see the Myer Christmas windows, another short wait, but well worth it...

Last year I found the windows to be really creepy... This year was brilliant! Really lovely puppets, a nice song, bright and traditional... A big hit with Marley, she loved it! (her face is saying why are you making me look at you?!?)


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The Fairies Christmas Ballet Review

The Fairies Christmas Ballet

We booked tickets to The Fairies Christmas Ballet months ago, a couple weeks ago we started to listen to Christmas carols and watch The Fairies Christmas DVD to prepare for the live show... The DVD was fab and really set the scene for the show... Tickets were reasonable at $27.50 each, the merch surrounding the event (DVD, cd and fairy bells) another $50!

From the moment we entered Marley started dancing to the background music and for every song she danced then jumped back into her seat for the acting... There was one piece of the story that maybe went a minute longer then she would have liked between songs, but she is 2 & ½ so everything needs to happen now now now!

The highlight was Barnaby the Busy Buzzy Bee, hilarious, love him! Lowlight was that all of the other actors were lookalikes (aside from Barnaby and possibly Minuet), they said this might happen and she didn’t notice...

Now there is a film of this event, hoping we get time to take her!


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Breaking Dawn Part One Review

Breaking Dawn Part One

I was extremely lucky to get out to the movies twice in two weeks, unheard of since having two babies! I am a fan of the Twilight franchise, loved the books and last three films for the cheesefest that they are... I didn't see this film for a deep cinematic experience, I came for the next installment in the Edward, Bella and Jacob story...

It was extremely entertaining, didn't look at my watch in the whole almost two hours and was sad that it was over... It was beautifully shot, the only downside was that it was a bit too dumbed down from the books, was looking forward to some rough sex and bloody labour!!! Haha, oh well...

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The Inbetweeners Movie Review

The Inbetweeners Movie

These boys are hilarious... If you have watched the series then you know this! The film has taken the laughs to the next level, proper belly laughs... Who knew scripted dancing could be so damn funny!?! A little bit graphic on a full tummy, but that's the only very mild complaint I have about this film...


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Foo Fighters - Back and Forth documentary

Being a Foo Fighters fan from their first album, I am surprised it took this long to watch this documentary about the band... I still remember buying their first album on cd at Chadstone with my mate Ashley... Seeing them play at the Palace in St Kilda and at Festival Hall many years ago, all the way to Rod Laver a couple years ago...

A really great overview of the bands history... Had a bit of a teary about Kurt/Nirvana, but overall I was really entertained by this honest look at the band... The albums that they have released have punctuated my life, they are truly awesome... Amongst the awesomeness there has been loads of band politics that I never knew about, definitely eye opening! If you have even one album of theirs you should watch it!












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Tutankhamun and the golden age of the pharoahs

Tutankhamun and the golden age of the pharoahs at the Melbourne museum



The minute I saw this advertised I bought tickets... It opened just after I had Mace so I knew that this would be his first trip to the museum... I have always been infatuated with ancient Egypt, and look forward to a time when the kids are old enough to take there...

The exhibition is good, and if you haven't left Australia before you would probably think it's amazing... There are loads of interesting artifacts, but ultimately the exhibit at the British Museum in London is a thousand times better... So if you have a few grand for a trip to the UK don't bother with this one...


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Kylie Minogue Aphrodite Les Foilles

I am only semi embarrassed to admit that I am a Kylie fan from way back... Her cheesy pop and dance hits have been part of soundtrack to my life... As a little girl doing the 'Locomotion' with my cousin, 'Better the Devil' you know at 3 Faces when I was an underage teenager, 'Confide in me' when I was sussing out what direction my life might take, it goes on... I am the first to admit her more recent music sucks, and that she can't actually sing, but that's okay... I am nothing if not loyal...

Her latest album didn't float my boat at all, and I wasn't going to go to the Aphrodite tour, but when a 3rd show was released it was like a sign! We got brilliant seats on the floor 3 rows back, couldn't have asked for more...

Please excuse the extremely bad quality of my iPhone pictures, but they are to give you an idea of the amazing set up... The stage was mind-blowing, a beautiful sensory overload... Visuals of an underwater paradise, to quote Michelle, it felt Atlantis... I felt almost teary with all of the beauty!



The show started off amazing, but honestly it got worse as it went on.. Poor song choices and versions, along with less coordinated themes and costumes as the night went on... The lovely thing about her costumes are that while it's clear that she still has a smoking hot body, she covers it up a little, unlike the atrocities that Madonna had worn and performed in her very late 40's... By the last part of the show, I was done, close to bored, and then there was the encore...


Only a few meters in front of us, the water part of the show... The highlight 'all the lovers' with everyone all wet writhing around, it really was amazing... She did well to go out with a bang... All of this said, I think it's over with her, I have seen her 5 or 6 times live and I think it's all I need...

My second take on True Blood...

I am going to start at the start with this one... When True Blood started in the US we started watching it... We had recently seen 'The Starter Wife' which stars the actor that plays Bill, he was awful in it, dude has no screen presence at all... To find him as the lead in True Blood gave it an automatic negative... We tried the first 8 episodes, found it unbearable and stopped watching..

Fast forward to my pregnancy with Mace, I think we should give it another go, download it and put it away...

A couple months ago my BFF is raving about it, talking about it like it's truly awesome, so I give in and decided to watch it... I did feel like I had to power through those first 8 episodes, but the distance from my Bill experience did make it vaguely easier to watch him... There is lots of bad acting, but there is definitely something about this show, something addictive... And it does keep getting better! I watched the first 3 seasons whenever I could, whenever the children were asleep and am eagerly awaiting season 4!


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Elmos Monster Maker App for the IPhone

As we prepare for our trip to the UK, I have made a page of apps for Marley on my iPhone... Her latest favourite is Elmos Monster Maker App...

You choose the monster, eyes, nose and hat, then your monster can play with Elmo... Marley loves it! She zooms through the different face options, checking out all of the ways you can put your monster together and is always happy when her monster gets to play with Elmo...

A fun app for your little one...


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Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Melbourne

Saturday morning we took Marley to see the live version of her favourite show 'Yo Gabba Gabba', the most important thing I must convey is that if you get a chance to take your kid to see this show DO IT!!! The first half hour flew by, song after song, we sang and danced and I was shocked when it was already time for the intermission...

DJ Lance Rock was great, as was the cast! The dancey dance friend was Dave Hughes, who was hilarious in his bung attempts to do the peanut butter stomp... Another highlight was Biz Markie, charming all of the kids with his beat of the day, getting kids out of the audience to do beats with him... Marley was so happy to see him! It flew by, left the kids wanting more and she has talked about it loads since... A good time...









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Rastamouse is coming to ABCkids

Finally Rastamouse is hitting Australian shores on ABCkids Tuesday at 3.50... An awesome kids show, with a very catchy theme song... Looking forward to seeing them at the Lollibop Festival in London in August!


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The art of the brick

The art of the brick - Federation Square


We got tickets to this because I thought Marley and Mark would like it... I must say Marley did get into it, she ran from piece to piece, favouring the dinosaur, apples, peace sign and globe...

From a parents perspective it was a big mission for a surprisingly small exhibit... Not many pieces in the grand scheme of things... I was glad that Marley had fun, but it didn't take long to get through the whole exhibit twice!



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Supanova Melbourne

We got childcare for Marley bundled Mace up and headed out to Supanova... The traffic on the way there was full on, so we were running late, I aim to get everywhere early... Arrived at 10.15 and queued for an hour! We had prepaid tickets, and it was heartbreaking to watch all the people who didn't pre buy their tickets zoom past our hour long queue... Bad, bad organisation on behalf of Supanova...

We legged it to the 'Paul' panel with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost... We were late for Maces feed, so I sat at the back and fed him... It was jam packed and the sound at the back was terrible... Didn't stay too long, just awkward... In to the exhibitors, was crazy busy! I'm not sure if they underestimated the amount of people, but it felt like too small a space and not quite enough stalls... But what was there was quality... And the people walking around had gone to loads of effort to dress up...

I wanted a photo with Charisma Carpenter, but the options to get one were sold out! It was a bit annoying, but I definitely feel that I have learnt for the next time we go! I did get an awesome seat for her Q&A, was very cool to listen to her talk... Also nice to just let myself get carried away hearing about some of my favourite tv shows and not be on mum duty, just allow myself to be a geeked out fan!

We had to pick up Marley at 3 so that was just about it for us... It was a nice day out, certainly not a smoothly ran day, but now we know for next year!





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Welcoming Baby Mace!

Our son Mace was born on the 8th of March... I have been long gone from here, hands are beyond full with Mace and Marley! We have some great things coming up though and just thought first things first...


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Severe pregnancy itch and rash kept at bay with acupuncture and Chinese medicine

It has been awfully quiet over here... The last couple months I have been plagued with a severe pregnancy itch and rash... Making me crazy and ruining what was another perfect pregnancy...

After several doctors visits (GP and obstetrician), lotions, creams, scripts, and every remedy recommended by every person I encountered to no avail, I woke up one morning after another bad night and I thought I should try Chinese Medicine... There is a spot around the corner that practices so I booked in that day... The relief was immediate, and has been on an incline over the past few weeks... Tanya has been a magical Godsend... She has single handedly saved my pregnancy...

If any of you know anyone who is suffering with this please point them in Tanyas (or another reputable practitioner) direction!

http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/therapist/whitepeony/8284

Eat Pray Love...

Late, late, late, I know!

I finally got around to reading this book... And I loved it...

It all felt quite fitting that in the past few months I have been doing yoga 4x a week... It was really nice to read something so in tune with my own yogic journey right now...

Sure there is some cheesiness, but if you are on a journey you might just get something out of it... You may not agree with all of the notions, but there is surely something for everyone in those pages...

Worst facial and massage ever...

Last week I was booked in at a beauty spot for a facial, massage and foot scrub... I try to do something nice like this once a month, especially being pregnant, to treat myself because I really don't invest enough time in myself...

So Mum (my partner in treatments) and I cruise along to this spot and are introduced to our therapists, 2 middle aged Asian women names Jane and Matilda respectively... Jane is lovely though a little hard to understand at times and begins my procedure... The massage was two fingers on practically dry skin... I like my massages like I like sex, deep and wet, this was crazy... The facial was similar to my skin routine, it dud make my skin feel lovely, but didn't bring any sort of luxury or relaxation... Finally the foot scrub, my proper beauty therapist is freaking amazing at this, she kills my monthly pedicures, and that is the bar I hold... This foot scrub was just the tops of my feet, like they even needed scrubbing!!! The whole time I am thinking that being a whale like pregnant lady I clearly can't reach the bottom of my feet and here this last is just scrubbing the top... Blegh...

We get out and Mum tells me about get experience which was exactly the opposite!!! Matilda scrubbed from her knees to her toes, top and bottom... I was clearly rolled!!!

Looking forward to my pedi with my beauty therapist tomorrow, know I will be ultimately relaxed and come away with super soft feet!

Toy Story Merch for girls...?

My sweet little girl has an obsession with Toy Story... The only time you can get her to sit for more then 10 minutes, (especially helpful when it comes to mini manis) is if Woody and Buzz are on the screen... Wherever we are it seems that she can spot Woody or Buzz is the distance, out of the corner of her eye... Which leaves me wanting to get her some cute t shirts or pjs or something that she can get excited over, unfortunately Toy Story merch consists mostly of boys wear with our heroes Buzz and Woody, and a sprinkling of girls wear with Jessie... Marley has no problem with Jessie, quite likes her in fact, but it's not manic over the moon love like with Buzz and Woody...

It seems ridiculous that in this day and age, where the lines of sexuality shouldn't really be drawn as pink vs blue, kids characters shouldn't only be pitched at the sex that they are.. Drives me bonkers!

Marley likes Thomas the Tank Engine too, but of course the only Thomas merch you can get is navy blue... She does have some boys Thomas pjs, but with her lack of hair she really does look like a little lad in them, but loves them to death...