Pure Glow - Spring Juices

This is now the 3rd time I've done a Pure Glow cleanse (don't judge me, see my previous disclaimer), and this time their range of juices have changed. I was actually sad to see the old juices go because they were so great, but I've really loved these new juices too. I think the girls at Pure Glow are planning to change the juices seasonally, and I think it's a great way to keep things fresh and interesting.

Juice #1: 97 Blue Lagoon (alkaline water, cucumber, lemon, blue spirulina), 156 kJ

Compares the closest to original Juice #1, Sunrise Elixir (lemon, cucumber, aloe vera, filtered water, 133kJ). I prefer this juice to Sunrise Elixir. It’s less lemony which hurts less on the tongue, and makes the lemon and ginger teas I’ve been having a nicer (warm) change to the juices. I can’t taste the blue spirulina (although I’m not sure what it tastes like) but the colour is just gorgeous.

Juice #2: 63 California Ghost (orange, grapefruit, cucumber, coconut water),  843 kJ

Wow this juice is absolutely delicious. It was very fruity and sweet but not too tart, although I couldn’t taste the coconut in it at all, but maybe that added to the thickness of the juice. It probably compares the closest with original Juice #4, Good Karma (802.7) in that it’s sweet and citrusy.

Juice #3: 08 The Modern Muse (kale, cos, green apple, cucumber, lemon, celery),  692 kJ

Another delicious, sweet juice, and thin probably the most similar to original Juice #3, Green Guru (kale, cos, cucumber, celery, green apple, mint, lemon, 456 kJ).

Juice #4: 23 Antioxi-descent (fennel, cucumber, orange, cos, lemon, aloe), 772 kJ

Similar to The Modern Muse, but with a savoury twist. I actually appreciated the break between the sweet juices. Again probably the most similar to original Juice #3, Green Guru (kale, cos, cucumber, celery, green apple, mint, lemon, 456 kJ).

Juice #5: 25 Sangria Sunset (watermelon, carrot, beetroot, lemon, ginger), 992 kJ

This was very sweet and beetrooty, which I quite liked but it made my mouth and teeth all red! The redness went away after a short time though. My dad makes beetroot juice occasionally and I thought this was much nicer and easier to drink than beetroot on it's own. There isn’t really an equivalent to the original juices, probably Juice #4 Good Karma would be the closest thing. I was also surprised to notice that this was the juice with the highest energy content. I thought that the last juice would have been the highest for sure.

Juice #6: 74 Mylk of Foresight (alkaline water, cashew, coconut, calendula, medjool date, vanilla, cinnamon, pure WA lake salt), 854 kJ

I absolutely love this juice, it tastes like an amazing dessert. It’s very similar in taste to original Juice #6, Chai Vanilla Dream (almond, cashew, brazil nut, chai rooibos tea, medjool date, vanilla, filtered water, 878.7kJ), but I think I prefer the new juice. 

Some comparisons to the original juices: 

• Total energy intake was 215 calories higher, but I didn't notice any difference in my energy levels
  • Spring Juices: 4300 kJ, 1028 calories
  • Original juices: 3400 kJ, 813 calories
• There was no thick chewy juice like Juice #2, Glowing Greens which I missed. 
• The servings per package were all marked as 2 which I thought was strange since the intention is to drink the whole juice in 1 sitting.
• The stickers on the bottles come off a lot easier, which is good because I reuse the bottles for storing things like pepitas, sultanas, etc.

I found 3 days of just juices a bit harder this time, probably because it's winter and I also had a lot of exercise and long days at work on my schedule. Still it's something that I really enjoy doing, and I've already bought another voucher when Pure Glow were having a bit of a sale to use towards the end of the year when the juices get updated. 

Thanks Pure Glow!

Mr George Pancake Puffington

George was an amazing dwarf lop rabbit that came into my life in December 2010, and I loved him very very much. George had a very happy life and was loved by everyone. I'll never forget you George.

Created with flickr slideshow.

George: 2010-18th August 2016

Cupcake Day for the RSPCA 2016

Immersive Technologies raised $215.60 on Cupcake Day for the RSPCA this year, well done and thank you everyone!

You can still donate directly to the RSPCA via the website: https://rspcacupcakeday-wa2016.everydayhero.com/au/jess-and-amy#/

Wow, I'm 30

Well, I turned 30 last weekend but it only counts once you've had a party.

On my actual birthday I had the family over for dinner and made Katsu curry which surprisingly everyone loved, including my dad! My family were also in awe of the polenta cake that Andrew made, I think it has broadened their polenta horizons forever.







This weekend we had a party at our place. There was too much food as always including gogosh and meatballs from Mina and my mum, yakitori chicken skewers by Andrew, fairy bread, and the usual assortment of cakes. The night ended with everyone on the pole as usual.





I did this last year and I loved having the photos in the morning so I decided to do it again this year. Every time someone left I made sure to get a photo with them, which is something I could manage not to forget no matter how progressed the night became. Now I just need Aleisha to teach me how to take a good selfie.









































Thanks Shane and Tammy, how did you know?



So beautiful, I love it so much Amy.



Can't wait to start gf baking and wearing this gorgeous stuff, thanks K and G!



I've needed a yoga mat for far too long, thanks Cian and Raj!



Thanks for the gift cards and booze everyone, both of these things are exactly what I needed.



So apparently I'm dirty now, yay?

An old Fiat 125

I've never wanted to get married, much to the horror and protests of my mum and grandma. I'm not religious so I don't have that feeling of wanting to, and even as a little girl I never dreamed of having a wedding (my favourite movies were Labyrinth and Conan the Destroyer). Seeing other people get married now and how happy it makes them makes me realise it's just not something I could see myself enjoying for me.

On Sunday I went to visit my parents and noticed that while not unusual, there was a new old car in the driveway, a black Fiat 125 with a grey hood.

I asked my dad where it came from and he said that an old Italian acquaintance he'd gotten to know over their love of old Fiats (my dad actually knocked on this guys door after seeing this car in his driveway) gave it to him because his plans of renovating it had fallen through after he'd moved house.

My dad said that he's planning to use parts from this new old Fiat (which is falling apart) to do up his own Fiat 125 which is in pristine original condition. My mum asked what his plans are for that car and he said that he can get a lot of money for it, probably around $8k if the right person can appreciate it's quality, which my mum thought was hilarious since $8k isn't a lot of money to be spending so much time and attention to detail for, but it's my dad's hobby and it makes him happy, and he's really good at it.

I said it would be a shame to sell it, since I'm really attached to that car. I've never actually driven it myself but I remember the noise of the engine and how it announced my parents coming home from work when I was little. I remember sitting on my dad's lap and him letting me change gears with the gear stick which I loved doing because he'd call out the gear he wanted and I had to remember where to shift to, and also because the gear stick is one of those ones with a big ball on the end of it.

My dad said that he'd try to sell it, unless I wanted to use it as my wedding car. I said Tati, I don't think I'll ever get married, and he said, oh ok, and left it at that without another word. I've never wanted to get married more than in that moment.

Amy's Baby Shower

What a beautiful day! Amy's baby shower was at Megan's place, and with help from Gabby, Megan, Carol and I, I think it was a massive success even though it felt like an episode of master chef or something before we managed to get everything set up.





The cupcakes turned out so cute. I was planning to add sprinkles, but I think just going with the fondant toppers on buttercream was more simple and effective.





I also made some mini banana cupcakes with fondant little feet, love hearts, and "baby" "girl" chocolate toppers, and coconut ice (pink and white, perfectly themed already!).





Oh my god though there was so much food! There were chocolate covered strawberries, scones with cream and jam, macrons, eclairs, sandwiches (including Carol's delicious egg sandwich from my childhood memories), platters of cheese and sausage, rice paper rolls, sausage rolls, quiches, mushroom pastry tarts, teacup desserts, turkey and brie breads, and probably a whole lot more. And we didn't think we had enough.







We had a guess the number of jelly beans game, a make the diaper game, a guess the baby photo game, the forbidden word peg game, and a "Pregnant or Porn" game.



Pregnant or Porn was a success, although nanna Judy didn't quite get the jist of it and just ticked all of the "correct answer" boxes instead of "pregnant" or "porn" haha. A friend had sent me a picture of this game from a baby shower she went to, and I tried looking everywhere online but I couldn't find it. It looked like at one time it was possible to buy it off eBay from a lady who had made it, but it wasn't available anymore, so I ended up having to make it myself, and got thoroughly traumatised in the process. 



Amy loved our present of a Yummy Mummy voucher which came with a beautiful ripple blanket. Amy's party favours were so thoughtful and included my favourite flavour of her amazing candles, coconut lime.



The gifts were all so lovely and useful, I think Amy and Kyle have been set up for a great start!

Ice skating and Escape Hunt

Man, Fremantle is awesome. Last weekend we went ice skating at the outdoor rink set up at the Esplanade, and this Friday we went and did the Escape Hunt room escape. Any opportunity to go to Fremantle really.

I really appreciate ice skating outside in Perth as a feat of engineering, even if it is "winter".


It even snowed! Well... foamed.




I decided that I don't like roasted chestnuts, what's with that weird inner skin? Yuck.


Dinner at Little Creatures is always a winner, even though we order way too many fries.


The Escape Hunt room escape was so much fun! I'd heard a lot of great things about this, and we finally ended up going with a big group from work. We did the "Poisoning at the Cafe" themed room escape, with two teams split across identical rooms.



The actual escape was a big whirlwind of excitement, it went so fast! It involved solving a bunch of puzzles that gave codes for combination locks. Spoiler alert if anyone wants to do this particular one, stop reading here. For example, of the puzzles was a set of 9 beer bottles sitting on 3 shelves in a 3x3 arrangement, with a perspex "window" in front of them where bottle caps were stuck onto the perspex in front of each bottle. We noticed that the caps didn't match the beers, so we reshuffled them and then were able to use a black light (found in a locked case opened by another puzzle) to read a code on the bottles which were now in the correct order to open another set of locks.



Another example was a vertical wooden maze in a box with a clear plastic front. We could see there was a key sitting on one of the maze bits, and were certain that we needed a magnet to coax it around the maze and out through a hole on the other side. At this point I thought everything could potentially be a magnet and dutifully began holding up everything to the maze (including a metal paper bin and a cricket bat). Turns out the magnet was in another case that we later opened.

   

We ended up needing one clue from the staff (you're allowed to ask for clues via a walkie talkie) for the last puzzle which we really shouldn't have used. Based on the experience of someone else in the room, you didn't want to get stuck for too long at the risk of not being able to complete the room in time, so we set ourselves a time limit for this puzzle then used the walkie talkie. In hindsight we should have asked if it was the last puzzle before we got the clue, because we almost had it correct and would have definitely solved it in the remaining 20minutes that we had.

So our team won by 17minutes, but the other team didn't use a clue, so in my opinion they technically won!



I really recommend this, it's a great thing to do before going out to dinner (which we did, at our favourite Indian place, Maya).

Also, I took my first shift on Flying High last week!