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...

Flying Qantas...

Recently back from our Christmas in Cairns, I must comment on flying domestic with Qantas...



I admit that when we fly interstate (usually only a couple trips a year, this year Cairns twice and Gold Coast) we get tickets in the sales and go with whoever has the best deal... Going to Cairns for Christmas was not our original plan, until my pseudo nephew Chae needed his 'Godparents' to attend his christening... So we booked with Qantas as they had the best deal for the dates and times that we required... Tiger was 1/2 the price but flying in the middle of the night with a toddler is just stupid...

It really was a great experience, I was surprised as I haven't flown with proper Qantas in any form for about 10 years... The service was brilliant, all of the staff took time to make sure we were okay, talking to Marley etc... The food was really good, apparently the vegetarian option was only okay, but the meat was good, and it was so lovely to get an ice-cream for dessert... Overall a great flight! If you have the chance or cash to fly with them DO IT!

Santa Claus is coming to town, well we did...

Yesterday we took Marley to get her picture taken with Santa... It was a beautiful plan that came crashing down around us the minute that they opened the door to his room and she started screaming!!! Saving the day was a 'sleeping' breathing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in front of a fake fireplace... She wouldn't have a bar of Santa though, after she had calmed down we decided to go with the family photo option, and she was still eyeballing Santa as he sat next to us...


Post Santa, we went to the Pancake Parlour for a late breakfast, which was delicious! The Jamaican Banana was soooo good! Mark had a short stack with the home made chocolate fudge, it was amazing and crazy rich!!! Marley wasn't interested the minute they gave her a placemat and crayons to draw with, obsessively... Totally satisfied, we checked out the Myer Christmas windows... The queues were outrageous, and unfortunately they weren't even close to being as good as last year... Oh well, a quick trip to Outré, cruise around Melbourne Central and we were done...

So we went to town to see Santa, and it was a disastrous start to a lovely family day...

Scaly babies...

When Marley was an itty bitty baby she suffered some eczema which the good old steroids sorted out... While the rash and redness went, she was left with dry scaly skin on her sides... We have always used QV soapless wash, tried loads of moisturisers and oils to help, but to no avail... My cousin was using Pinetarsol on her son when they visited in October for his itchy bits and though it smells foul, I thought we should give it a go...

It took a long time to action, but for the past two weeks we have been using it in her daily shower/bath and it WORKS!!! Her scales are gone! She is soft and smooth, just the way she entered the world! It's truly awesome! Now she is cured, we might go back to the QV and see if the scales return... Hopefully they don't, but now I know we have a cure should they return, I am far less stressed about it!

Putting up the Christmas tree with a toddler...

Well it's officially less then a month until Christmas, and because December 1st falls on a Wednesday we decided to put the tree up and decorate the house on Saturday... I had definite fears that Marley was going to be more of a hindrance then a help, but she really came through on the helpful tip... Passing the baubles to mummy and daddy at lightening speed, not trying to take the decorations off the tree and being super excited to be involved... Lots of talk about Santa 'ho, ho, ho!' and reindeer, she really was just adorable! Ever since Saturday morning she has been very excited passing through the hallway stopping to point, talk to and look at the 'tree, tree!' with the 'pretty rocks' (jewelled weird shaped decorations) just beautiful...

So overall I would say my fears about putting up the tree with a toddler were completely unfounded! Was a wonderful family morning...

Baking gingerbread men...

Another stormy day paired with another double ear infection and throat infection... Once the afternoon fever came down a little and Marley continuously asked to go outside, I decided we needed a long indoor activity to get us through the afternoon... Baking it was... I cheated by getting a packet mix of gingerbread men because I couldn't have left my little handful alone long enough to measure out a recipe from scratch, Marley didn't know the difference!

She LOVED it! Kneading the dough, wearing our cupcake aprons, cutting out the little men and decorating them... The only lulls were when the dough had to rest for 15 minutes, she went and cooked on her mini oven... And when they were cooking, we had crazy sticker fun, all over her, the couch, the chair and me!

Highly recommended way to spend the afternoon with a toddler!

New babies = shopping!!!

One of the most wonderful things about having a new baby, once you have had the 20 week scan and get the all good, is shopping for the new addition... Here are some super cute items delivered in the past week:


5 pack of Nike onesies, very cute colours/designs... The Jordan ones we bought Marley were a staple of her wardrobe, as I'm sure these will come to be...
Navy blue Ralph Lauren slip on sneakers, with little green polo logos all over them... Beautiful!
Blue Ralph Lauren tracksuit, so soft!

After a mad washing spree and sorting all the clothes that Marley wore and fishing out the non pink variety, our little lads wardrobe is close to complete... Now it's feeling so real, can't wait to meet him!