Pinterest inspired Birthday

Well, I had a pinterest inspired birthday. I wasn't sure what to do! Didn't really have any plans but was nudged by questions from friends about what I was going to do.

As a friend said, when you are single, and having a milestone, you kind of think that its a good idea to celebrate with friends :)

A lot of my friends were students, studying, and on tight budgets. As asians, the tradition is if you invite someone to seomthing, you don't ask them to pay - it seems rude - please bring a present AND hey, pay for yourself! So I wanted to do something where I didn't ask someone to pay, (cos hey its expensive) but its nice, and also kind of flexible.

So with that in mind, and the fact that lots of people are busy on weekends esp around end of novemember, and the fact that I have a few but nto many good friends with family I decided on a nice picnic but more of a nice garden party style. This was inspired by my friend's birthday in bowral where she used lace tableclothes.

I scoured pinterest.

I made my own bunting - I followed some incredibly helpful instructions at this page home made happy. You need to have free time to make bunting. It took a very long time. I went to some op shops and in two founds ome old pillow cases that looked vintage. I must say amusingly as I prepared this, I visited a friend's place for a bible study social and she brought out pillow cases they were using that was the same pattern, but different colour.

Anyhow the end result was I made about 50 metres of bunting, with about 254 triangles, with orange bias binding and a myriad of patterns. Most painful was actually ordering the triangles as they were various piles in various numbers. I'll post on the process later. Sorry my face is in this, but you get a good look at the bunting. I don't really have any shots with just the bunting.




I found some pedestal things which I suspect were for burning incense/oils at reverse garbage.

For the table settings, I looked online and decided that I could put flowers on it. - originally I wanted to use jars ( but someone threw out the jars at work that had been collected for months). My friend's mother is very good with flowers so she went to the flower markets bought some vases and I was totally bowled over with how beautiful they were.




I wanted to go with real plates - so those old looking plates that looked dated 5 years ago, suddently looked awesome vintage for my shindig. I also borrowed the cutlery from church. Here is what the tables looked like:



oops this was before the drinks, and plates were moved...





Sourcing:
I got napkins from ikea ( I had purchased blue and white as well, but the blue was the wrong shade)
I used twine and my friends tied them into knots whilst they were baggsing the picnic spot. Shout out to a friend who woke up with me at 5am to get the covered pagoda ( would you believe we were NOT the first there, and the other shelters were already taken!)
Hessian was purchased from spotlight
lace curtain cut-offs were purchased cheaply from spotlight. (this is good if you cant' find cheap lace tablecloths at the opshop - which was certainly my problem)

The main food table was made beautiful by two of the bunting things I made and my friend's beautiful table cloth and the abundance of amazing food. I tried to put things not on paper plates so it looked a little bit grown up.
Work had an assortment of trays that I borrowed - it actually turned out very convenient, as there were quite a lot of catering ish things I borrowed. A lady at work lent me her plate stand from house, and another colleague gave me her cupcake stand.



Things like trays are easy to borrow for this kind of party and look much better than a paper plate!

If you have access to your church's commercial dishwasher this may make washing easier with a few friends. ( which I was very thankful for - was EXHAUSTED after). If you don't, perhaps see if you can source some wooden recyclable cutlery/plates, they look quite nice, and dont' need to be washed.

Food Costs.... this is a bit approx as its been two weeks since...
* purchased 10 bbq chickens $140
* drinks - bundaberg creaming soda, blood orange, lemon lime bitters, agrum in glass bottles from coles, plus some bottled water ($70?)
* cheeses/pastrami - fancy from potts point $100-150
* fruit - mangoes $20.00 for at tray, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, approx $50
* cupcakes - made with love by Halley from church, I gave her the cost, plus a bit more, the cupcake patties I bought at a fete for $12
* salads - I made one with baby spinach, roasted pumpkin, etc and various ppl made a few others,
* bread rolls - provided by a friend
* mango jelly - with fresh mango, with bluberries, gelatine (cost around $15?)
* greek biscuits - gifted from my work friend
* various tablesettigns - doilies, hessian, bunting, costing $150-$200?
* make your own bruschetta - my school friend made enough for 40 ppl!

Friends bought cakes and other various goodies and we had WAY to much food, we ate a lot though and everyone enjoyed the day! :)

weekend highlights

I went to a recording of good news world.

a few thoughts:
* they swear a lot
* they can be quite dirty - they make it really clear that's how they roll, I do notice I think that its something also that comedians turn to when they get desparate in terms of jokes
* in between every thing that got filmed, Paul Mc Dermott had to keep the vibe up by talking to the audience and making them laugh - what a difficult job - he did well!
* you're told to laugh, even if you don't get the joke ( and implied - don't think its funny) - fair enough, you get a free ticket to go watch a recording, you can't get on your hobby horse and not laugh
* you can't go to the toilet - well not without you being singled out!
* pyrotechnics can really kill a recording when things go wrong
* it can be a tough and demanding job - I'm very thankful for mine now - its stressful, people swear and curse, and its somewhat unpredictable.
* wheeling those sets in and out is a pain!

We sat in an area that meant we were well obscured and not going to be on camera. Least I hope! :)

Conclusion - why watch a live recording when you can watch the best of and cut down version in an hour in the comfort of your home, rather than having 4.5 hours of your life whilst you sit there and feel like your derrie goes numb. I have heard that the panel is much better to see a live recording of - skits are better on the tv.

top 5 - I'm alive!

top 5 things I'm thankful for today!

1. Got to go to Postales to celebrate Stef's birthday lunch - I definitely have had better pork belly's but it was an enjoyable lunch nonetheless!
2. got to work on time - hurrah!
3. I managed to catch a train, despite running with only 7 minutes left, and waiting on the wrong platform to see the train pull in ( I ran to the other side and made it)
4. my parents arrived safely in Toronto
5. That I have the flexibility to stay behind at work to get things done and its not too far from home.

egg plant steaming success

Mum and Dad have gone to the US. They just arrived in toronto :) Its good to see they have managed the art of smsing!

It's amazing how an overseas trip enables one to sms ( this is how my mum learnt to do it - when I went overseas - I also discovered she learnt how to reply an email)

Oh yes, where was I. There was half a leftover eggplant. Here is what I did with it.

Mixed in a small separate bowl, a bit of soy, water, sugar, touch of salt.

Found dried shrimp, and mini dried scallop.

Cut the egg plant in half. ( well there was a half, so I guess I quartered it) then sliced each half into 1 cm thick slices but didn't pull it apart, so it was still the same shape.

Lay each half in a biggish shallow dish. - gently poured the soy mixture around it,

Using a steamer ( or in our case, a old wok with a trivett filled with water), I cooked until it was slightly softened - it was going to be eaten the next night, so wasn't so fussed it was a bit tough. I would say I cooked it for 10-15mins but I don't really remember.

Topped with chopped up parsley.

No oil used so kind of healthy.

I ended up putting a bit more soy on top for taste.

The prude talk.

so sometimes I wish my fellow sisters in christ would dress more modestly - its something I struggle a little with, and feel like a prude.

I really don't like bikini's - would you wear a bra and undies out? no - so how is that different? this is my pet peeve.

I think I saw a photo four girls dressed the same, round neck topped showing cleavage, and short shorts, long hair. very lemmingish, dont' know if that was deliberate.

Anything higher than midthigh is a no no!

I know with fashion these days its really hard, but sometimes, it frustrates me that I can't see anything different from someone who believes that their worth is found in Jesus Christ and someone who just follows the world.

And how can you be helpful to your brothers and sisters if you have stuff um hanging about. If you can see it before you bend over - you probably shouldn't wear it!

possibly the fashion when I grew up was umm extra long bummy pants, drop shoulders, hyper colour shirts ( never had one) - no tanks.

I guess its tricky when you don't know anything else - and its normal as a teenager - when I look back at photos my mum had in the 70's the mini skirt was in - and I remember how I thought that was pretty risque! But now, it's back, and it's normal!

oh well, end rant.

I'm not above this talk, I'm sure there are times that I should be think more about whether what I'm wearing is reflective of what my priorities are.

rainbow brite

there's an awful lot of rainbow brite on pinterest.

the end.

things I wish I could do

play guitar
sing in tune
be a code monkey

find where my glasses are....

things you wish you created/discovered

besides cures for cancer penicillen, etc...

if you didn't discover that or 3m, facebook, or the ipod... and you're female, you probably wish you came up with shoes of prey (link to smh article). funny I'm sure a lady at work showed me this after I whinged about trying to find shoes that fit, were made. Now if only they could make the matching handbags to go with the shoes, actually a clutch would be better potentially.

21 days to make a habit

Hayley from my bible study - tells me it takes 21 days for something to be come a habit.

Here are some habits I'd like to develop -
1. bible reading
2. waking up on time
3. exercising
4. erm...

So I'm going to start with

no.1 & 2 for the next 20 days ( since I achieved both today and let you know how I go)

Interestingly enough 2. may be interesting since I go on holidays on the 26th of october.

the top five i'm alive 10.10.2011

I like whinging. alot. so I'm going to start doing top 5's I'm alive and thankful posts! :)

1. Book of Titus – been learning from it at church – been a good reminder that the grace of God allows me to turn away from what I have been, and to be living a new life in Christ. Also being reminded of the way I ought to act as a slave!
2. My new work start time – 10am :)
3. Work has been pretty loving and kind to me lately I think (or patient is the word)
4. We didn’t end up too lost on our bush walk on the weekend
5. My boss helping me when he had to go to a meeting he sat down in the last meeting to help me understand how to process the journal.

My opportunity to cause a stink!

I am very excited to be invited to a 21st. I remember they used to be a drag after a while when I was a poor university student and all my saturdays were filled with speeches, what to wear, and presents.

Now it's refreshing!

My favourite costume I have worn has been

- twinkle ( from twinkle twinkle little star)

Anyhow I have a 21st coming up -

I've decided I'm going to be one of the lost boys from Peter Pan and I'm going to go as a skunk. With a nice podgy belly :)

Don't tell anyone of course :)

dum dee dum

so... mum told me to get a pink slip on friday, for my green slip due today.

So yesterday, in the pelting rain, I went to get my car checked.

this was on a day where I had had 2 hours sleep

4 hours of work training

a client audit to finish

quarterly BAS statements to finish

no emails were coming through our server at work

trip plans to finalise.

Anyhow so it turned out that I also needed 4 new tires, and a light globe.

So yesterday, out of a 7.5 hr stressful working day, I think I got 2 hrs of work in there. maybe.

Today I rang my mother - apologising for not contacting her sooner.

mum: "So I didn't bother ringing you, but I realised you didn't need to do the pink slip."

me: "oh"

mum: "oh well, least you got some new tires for your car"

On the bright side - I saw a very very cute newborn baby last night called "Thomas Charles Farrar" and the Thornleigh McDonalds store that apparently is where all the new Mcdonalds stuff is tested on - and I also ate the new $3.95 snack pack.

tomorrow.. it is hump day.

The first two days of the week

Have been crap.

doh

So.. over the weekend..

I spent about I dunno.. let's see 18 hours planning a trip with 4 friends.

Person A
- can take two weeks leave
- can only take one week in october
- wants to take 10 day tour plus go to sapa
- is happy to go to the add on mekong delta

Person B
- can take two weeks leave
- wants to take 10 day tour plus go to mekong delta
- is happy to do the add on of sapa

Person C
- can take less than two weeks annual leave, more like a 10 day trip
- can't take any leave from the second week of november
- wants to take the 10 day tour only

Person D
- doesn't know when she can take leave
- might be needed for a conference on the 3rd of november
- is happy to take 10 day tour if she's available


With our extremely complicated schedules in mind,
we found a special to Vietnam that ended on the 30th
arranged with the travel agent the possible permutation of tours
she needed to figure out if we could make it to ghet markets for sapa and if that ended the correct date that persons A & B could get a flight out
travel agent tells us to book the flights with her cos it won't cost us extra and she can hold the tickets and we don't have to pay immediately as we were working the final part of the dates and trips on sunday

Monday - travel agent books our flights, and gives us the possible itineraries, so we can pay the next day. we are happy with arrangement.

Tuesday sms - the flights have gone up to $1,200 and the cheapest flight she can find us is $1000. She failed to realise because the special ended on the 30th, that despite holding the tickets the prices doesn't hold. Our tickets were $620. We could have paid them.

I would like to say she's stupid, or an idiot. But the reality is that its a possible mistake. Except pretty bad when that is your job. To arrange tours and flights.

Words really don't express our frustration and anger. Also the added cost as the only flight she could get us cost an extra day of annual leave.

Anyhow this leaves us therefore to evaluate if we want to pay extra flights, and the added cost of an extra days' annual leave. Assuming people's day at work earns them about $250 a day, then really her monumental screw-up is costing us the cost of the same flight.

She's offering us free insurance of about $100, which is basically no cost to her firm really because unless something happens on the trip and we need to claim, the outlay is nothing.