My primary school

Since there is so much going on in the media at the moment in regards to schools etc and Jacintah at live life now inspired me...i thought i would dedicate a post to me and my primary school(s).

I was very lucky where I grew up. Growing up on the North Shore you just assumed that all the primary schools were great.I spent Kindi to Year 4 at Lane Cove West Primary - which luckily was just up the street. This school was quite small - maximum one class per year, often ending up with composite classes. We had a big oval (well seemed enormous to me) and the toilets weren't too bad.



Reflecting back I can't really remember what we learnt in primary school

* basic arithmetic
* how to read and write
* was there anything else??

I just seem to recall doing a lot of reading - which i still love to this day. Our second year teacher tried to teach us greek which was great.

I remember the old computers with those weird games which tried to help you learn maths. I had a great nerdy computer partner so those games were a breeze.

We had drama classes - lots of singing and dancing around.

We used to play hiding games around the old toilet blocks (our toilet blocks were always changing) and the library. The AV room was always so nice and cold.

We had a school band which was made up of a clarinetist, a violenist, a flutist and about 15 people on percussion/keyboard. I remember walking up to the local plaza and me and my violin friend (i played the clarinet) swapped instruments to carry up. Good for me cause a violin is lighter than a clarinet.



History lessons seemed to consist of painting historical figures.

What do you remember about primary school?

Kaia and the trumpet

Last sunday I spent the afternoon at Manly Oval watching my boyfriend's brother's cricket match with his family. As Kaia, my nephew of sorts, was getting restless I decided to take him for a walk. For those who don't know Kaia is Daria's (from Three little birds) 2.5 year child and he is pretty cute but very naughty sometimes.

Anyway, we were walking along, playing in the dirt and looking at the trees when someone played the trumpet. Then without prompting he picks up this pine needle type thing and starts playing it like a trumpet. Well...making trumpeting noises with it put to his mouth! How cute and clever is that!!! I was amazed.



Sigh. He was so cute on sunday. He would ask to hold my hand when we were down steep hills and singing songs. And playing in the dirt. Though for some reason he has now taken to calling me Dorothy - as in Dorothy the dinosaur from the wiggles!!!

I don't know if I want him to grow up too much more!

Where is Daria?

Hi - thought I would just let everyone know who also reads Daria's blog Three Little Birds that she has been absent not because she hates you or anything...but her computer has been broken for over a month. Hopefully it will all sort out soon. That computer has given her nothing but trouble

Lemonade Stand Award

Mari-Ann at Counting Coconuts recently passed on the Lemonade Stand Award to me :) How exciting



The award is given to bloggers who show great attitude and gratitude.

So I am going to pass it on to

Psych Babbler
E.
Jacintah
Pinkpatentmaryjane
Darnonymous

Hope everyone is having a great day. It is a bit gloomy here :(

A visit to my indian friend's house

On Friday my friend arrived home from India and Europe. So of course she gives me a call to come round :)And as usual she feeds me up with tasty indian food :) I love going to her house for this very reason. My usual favourite is something called chaat. So tasty but hard to explain. But on Friday she introduced me to a new dish. It has this kind of steamed bread/cake stuff which you heat up and pour some sauce on it. The sauce is kind of spicy with a lemony taste. It is also good with yoghurt (in my opinion).

I wish I could cook like that. When she comes to my house I cannot feed her such tasty food.

Do you enjoy visiting your friends to taste their dishes? What is your favourite cuisine?

Music, Me and my Emotions

Tonight I was listening/watching to the last song on the "Sectionals" episode of Glee..I know I know...it is "My life would suck without you" and I cried my heart out listening to it..about 10 times I listened to it in a row. I guess it just brought up the sadness in me. Not that it is that sad a song or anything. But it was cathartic in a way. It is good to cry. And then to cheer myself up I listened to Defying gravity and some other songs. :) Music does that to me. Really tugs on my emotions. Think Titanic - I cried for ten minutes last time just cause of "my heart will go on"!

Sigh. I know what I will fall asleep with in my head

Sweet dreams everyone

Sorry for my absence

Sorry for my absence from posting these past couple of days. Been really busy with uni work and family stuff :) My honours supervisor read some of the stuff I had typed up and said he was impressed so yay!!! I always get so nervous when people read my writting - well not my rambling writting but things that count.

My day is again going to be filled with trying to write about limpets. Joy :P

Has anyone got anything planned for the pseudo long weekend? I am hopefully going to go watch some cricket, go to symphony in the domain with some friends and have a family do on the tuesday. And of course listen to triple j's hottest 100 :)

I will write a proper post later today i hope

Post cards

Mari-Ann at Counting Coconuts has invited fellow mums to participate in a postcard exchange so I thought I would join in and extend it to non-mums like myself. Cause face it - isn't getting something in the mail which isn't a bill pretty exciting?

Mari-Ann suggests that it is a great way to teach children about geography and the world and the idea is to send a postcard showing features of where you live.

If anyone wants to exchange a postcard with me (whether a mum or non-mum), leave me a comment and we can sort something out. For those who live in Sydney I have some postcards from other parts of Australia if you would prefer one of the them - they are from my trip driving from Cairns to Broome and back via Alice Springs and the Simpson desert.

Let me know and also go check at Mari-Ann's blog if you want to participate as she lives in Bermuda and how cool would it be to get a postcard from there!

A giveaway I want to win and my weight loss

The daily marker is having a cool giveaway. You could win all this so go check it out :) Pretty cool eh?



Last week's weight - 59
This week -57
Loss - 2 Kg
OVerall loss - 3Kg

yay. Definently need to do more exercise so i can achieve my getting fit goal

My hot water system

For most of my life we have had a solar hot water system. Now this is great for the environment and most of the time works fine - no problems with hot water. Except for overcast days. Like today. Now we also have offpeak hotwater electricity for days like this - so you can flick a switch on those days but you will only get power to heat up the water during off peak hours i.e. in the evening.

Sigh

So this evening I started pouring myself a bath but no and behold no hot water and the switch hadn't been flicked. So now I have to wait for half an hour or so. And I love really really hot baths.

Silly hot water system


picture from http://www.emc.cmich.edu

T2 and why I love my friends

Yesterday I went tea shopping at T2. For a long time I have been a fan of this shop. Ever since a friend of mine took some turkish apple stuff on a duke of edinborough hike back in high school :).

Anyway, a good friend of mine works at the one at macquarie centre so I enlisted her in helping me pick out some great teas. And she was fantastic - knew everything about all the teas!!! And there is at least 100 different ones!!! And when I was like "I want some Japanese" - she is like...try this one. Sigh - love her.

As I couldn't choose between all the great teas - I bought five. They all smell so nice. I got

- Getaway geisha - a green tea with a pina colada twist
- red green dreamy - fruity rooibas tea ( i really liked red fancy fruit and this one also smells good) - apparantly good hot and cold
- red green vanilla - similar to the previous but vanillary, more relaxing and smooth :)
- Creme brulle - a black tea so one you can have with milk - charamally
- and another green tea whose name i have temporally forgotten - it is japanese

don't they all sound so tasty?? What is everyone's favourite type of tea? I love making iced teas in summer.

Cute brands/companies i have recently discovered

Recently through facebook, blogs, madeit and etsy I have discovered some really cute brands/products I thought I would share with you

Firstly, pocketcarnival. They make really cute cards, gift tags, coin purses, bags, pencil cases and artwork. So far I have purchased some cards, a coin purse and a pencil case. The patterns are adorable. I especially like the new bettle/bug range.




pictures by pocketcarnival

Check them out at http://www.madeit.com.au/storecatalog.asp?userid=779 or their blog http://pocketcarnival.blogspot.com/

Next we have Little Bird Decor. I first discovered them on Little Sooti. They make really nice wall decals as well as hair accessories. They have recently opened a website www.littlebirddecor.com.au Here are some of my favourites



photos by Little Bird Decor

You can also check them out on madeit and facebook. Join their fan page to win prizes :)

And lastly (I could go on forever), Incy Wincy Bows. They make really cute bows and hair clips. Not too expensive. I love all the bugs ones, and you can get them to custom make colour etc.



pictures by Incy Wincy Bows

favourite photos of 09 part 2

This is part 2 of my previous post :) I thought I would post my favourite non-me photos since I love taking photos. So hard to pick them!!!



This is of my of my best friends, Deepa, at her 21st birthday. I like it cause it really captures her and she doesn't know I am taking it so it so natural.



I took this whilst canoeing in Lawn Hill National Park. This national park is beautiful though we visited not long after lots of flooding there so lots of big palms had been knocked down. But the red cliffs contrasting with the creek/river are so nice. And there is a mini waterfall and you can also go swimming (and bushwalking of course. Lawn Hill is in the North West of Queensland.



My boyfriend took this whilst we were completing an overnight bushwalk in Purnurlulu National Park,Western Australia. The beehive formations are also called the Bungle Bungles. It was a great overnight walk (apart from the trudging through sand.



This is of Bitter Springs near Mataranka, Northern Territory. These are thermal springs though not the hottest by any means. The great thing about these ones is the colour of the water (cause of the mineral content) and you can get in at one point and because there is a current you can glide down for a bit, you can then get out at another entry point/mini wharf thing or at this bridge where there is a ladder going down into the matter.

my favourite photo of 2009

miss carly recently tagged me for my favourite photo of the year.

So here it is




This is me snorkelling in the great barrier reef near port douglas. My boyfriend took this with his new camera (waterproof, drop proof etc). I think it captures me doing something i love - looking at animals :)

This picture is from 2007 and was from a photoshoot given to me as a present from my friends - a weird present to give me. Shows me looking good - but not looking like me.



now to tag people
nichol
daria
pinkpatentmaryjane
jacintah
e.
chatterbox
psych babbler

:)

Little Sooti - go join

Everyone should go check out Little Sooti. This great blog is always having giveaways and is having another one when they reach 100 followers. They feature really cute products on their blogs. Their latest post is about a mermaid birthday party - so adorable.

Visitors in the front garden

We had some friendly tawny frog mouth visitors in our front garden the other day. And they didn't want to move but sat there for hours yawning and preening.I love seeing wildlife up close :)

Sydney Festival First Night + Photos

Last night I went to the Sydney Festival First Night. Crazy stuff going on.

First we went to this quirky japanese restaurant near the entartianment centre where you order off a screen not through a waiter. Heaps of fun. And then you can tell the progress of your order - if it is ready and coming towards you or if it is still being made. We ordered lots of tasty things - takoyaki balls (octopus), octopus pancake, weird deep fried cheese, sushi rolls, tempura vegies, sushi roulette (one is completely filled with wasabi and you can't tell which) and deep fried tofu amongst other things. I can't remember the name of the place but is near cold rock and you go up stairs.

Then we went and looked at stuff in hyde park - cool lights, smoke machines, music, acrobats and an enormous balloon which changed colour.

Photos of me and my friends below :) (I'm the one in the purple dress)





Everyone should have a think of going next year :) Though it was very crowded.

Weigh In Week 1

I forgot to post this yesterday on here

Starting weight 60kg
Today's weight 59kg
Loss - 1 kg

But this might just be natural variation. And i also had a chocolate icecream milkshake - damn that peer pressure.

I havn't done much on the exercise front this week so next week i will start in earnest.

Check out how others are going at the new us

Music

One thing I am really greatful to my parents for is my letting/making me take music lessons and learning how to read music. To me reading music is the most natural thing in the world. Not being able to read music would be as strange to me as not being able to read. And though I no longer play my clarinet (unfortunatetly) i can still sit at the piano and have tinkle. I am even more greatful for my brother learning music cause he can still just sit at the piano and play properly. Wonderful to have live music in the house :) :)



Music is a pretty important thing for me. In all my favourite disney movies - the music is what i am watching for. I love musicals. I love christmas hymms (the old ones). I can't even fall asleep at night listening to music as I get into to much!

How does role does music play in your life?

Ten things

miss carly tagged me to do this little ten things thingy-ma-bob. and then tag ten others. hmm...exciting?

Well.

Ten things that make me happy.

1. Books - they are my lifeline. They let me escape to other worlds and into my head - good for when things get tough. Also my audio books/dramatisations. Always there when i am having trouble getting to sleep.

2. Walking home at night. I love walking home at night from the bus stop. I love the emptyness and they way the street lights light up everything. I take mental photographs of it all.

3. Baths. I am definetly a bath girl not a shower girl. I love to lie in the bath...very hot bath..and read. I never fill the bath up first but sit in it while it is being filled up

4. Cricket on the radio - best thing ever :)and pretty funny to listen to

5. Camping. With my boyfriend. I love being outside the city and see beautiful places. And eating tasty food. I love to just sit in a chair in the afternoon reading and eating yummy food/hor devours.

6. Planning holidays. Before we did our last big trip (Cairns to Broome) I spent like a year researching. Not booking things or anything like that. Just reading about it all. I think I would make a really good holiday planner :P

7. Getting something in the post - apart from bills/uni stuff. It is always so exciting. And i have been getting quite a lot recently - things i have bought, cards, exciting presents :)

8. My limpets :) when they cooperate and do what i want them to do

9. Beautiful things made from wood. I love the smell, the texture and the shapes. Especialy australian wood

10. Getting a phone call from a friend :) Makes me feel special

Now for ten people

sigh

Daria
Psych babbler
Pinkpatentmaryjane
E.
Jacintah
Melissa at Sugar Coat it
Nichol
Andrea
Lizzie
Vicki

Books i have read recently

I am slowly but surely making my way through the enormous pile of new books I have been given recently. I thought I would share a few comments on my recent reads.

The Children's book by A. S. Byatt



This book I found quite slow going at first and it is quite a long book, so patience is needed. It follows the lives of agroup of friends/family and their children as they grow up and how everything falls apart.

A week in december by Sebastian Faulks



This books is easy to read, fast past and interwines the stories of a large number of characters in London. Makes you think about the result of technology and todays world. How we often focus on money.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel




I am only half way through this book but am thoroughly enjoying it. It is also easy to read, though long (over 600 pages). It is set in England from around 1500 to 1535 and focus on Thomas Cromwell, Henvy VI, Anne Bolyen and other people from that period. It focuses on the political situation at that time and the split from Rome. It was the winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2009. I am finding it very interesting and they kindly have a list of characters in front and some family trees so you can more easily keep track of everybody.

Award - You are my sunshine

I have been awarded the "You are my sunshine" award by both E from http://whiningattheworld.blogspot.comand Vicki from http://lifeandothermusings.blogspot.com. It is to acknowledge those that have a blog and spend endless hours ensuring that other blogger's get feedback on their blogs by leaving comments, adding themselves as a follower or dropping by just to let you know there are people out there.




I am so excited to get this award. I love recieving comments. I franticaly check my inbox each other minute to check if someone has commented! It feels nice to know that others experience similar things to me or can relate to what i say.

Now to pass it on...apart from passing it back to E. and Vicki

DarNonymous from http://darnonymous.blogspot.com. She always comments on my blog...and always giving me support on her own.

Pinkpatentmaryjane from http://pinkpatentmaryjanes.blogspot.com. Apart from being so nice to comment on my own blog - she always replies to the comments on her own blog too!!

Miss carly from http://everyonewantsthis.blogspot.com/ is also a friendly commenter on my blog

Psychbabbler from http://www.overacuppacoffee.com.

Jacintah from http://livemorenow.wordpress.com

Sorry about the lack of proper linking. Can't seem to get the hang of it.

And thanks to everyone else who comments on or visits my blog :)

Making my get fit and lose weight challenge more concrete

For a while I have been trying to get fitter and lose some weight ...at least 5kgs.

My aims are
* to easily be able to fit into ALL my size 8 and 10 clothes
* to be able to jog the entire length of my jogging route and then extend it
* to lose 5 kgs in 3 months

I am joing Miss Carly and others in this challenge. Check everyone out at our blog "The new us" at http://journeytothenewus.blogspot.com/

I will post how i go on here and on there. Feel free to join me and everyone else there

New Zealand

The following are a selection of photos from my holiday in New Zealand. They include Rotaroa, my nephrew and niece, and around piha.

Did you know...

...that you can slice your finger open with palette knives?? Well..you can. I have several cuts on my fingers from using a knife to try and remove limpets from rocks. Limpets hold themselves very tightly to rocks. Not like sea snails who fall off at the slightest touch. Anyway, palette knives are just like really blunt bread and butter knives I think ,..so i was suprised to cut myself using one.

Has anyone else discovered anyone previous unknown dangerous objects in their house?