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.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Saturday, July 16, 2016
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!
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!
Sunday, July 10, 2016
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!
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!
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Flying High Aerial Arts Studio Grand Opening!
It's finally happened, the amazing Tammy Baxter has opened up her beautiful studio, Flying High Aerial Arts Studio.
Today was the first day of the grand opening weekend where we have been running free classes and big discounts the whole day. We've had so many people come through and it was awesome seeing familiar faces, and a whole lot of new ones too.
The instructors performed the current routine from our Pole Flow class which got rave reviews from my mum and grandma. Tammy and I also performed our Propane Nightmares doubles routine which we've managed to remember even after 1.5 years, even though we did forget our Fitbits on (and we both wear our Fitbits on our main doubles hand hahah whoops).
One bit of ubiquitous feedback we've had is that the studio is so beautiful. With the fairy lights splitting up the pole room (the Flying High Room) and the class area (the Flying Low Room) and the finishing hand crafted touches by Karin I can see that it's easily going to become the second home for a lot of people.
I am just so thrilled that this is finally happening for Tammy! I would have given up pole a long time ago if it wasn't for Tammy, and I can't wait to get back into a pole routine with the amazing instructors there.
Hopefully tomorrow is just as big as today! If you haven't checked it out please do come down.
Today was the first day of the grand opening weekend where we have been running free classes and big discounts the whole day. We've had so many people come through and it was awesome seeing familiar faces, and a whole lot of new ones too.
The instructors performed the current routine from our Pole Flow class which got rave reviews from my mum and grandma. Tammy and I also performed our Propane Nightmares doubles routine which we've managed to remember even after 1.5 years, even though we did forget our Fitbits on (and we both wear our Fitbits on our main doubles hand hahah whoops).
One bit of ubiquitous feedback we've had is that the studio is so beautiful. With the fairy lights splitting up the pole room (the Flying High Room) and the class area (the Flying Low Room) and the finishing hand crafted touches by Karin I can see that it's easily going to become the second home for a lot of people.
I am just so thrilled that this is finally happening for Tammy! I would have given up pole a long time ago if it wasn't for Tammy, and I can't wait to get back into a pole routine with the amazing instructors there.
Hopefully tomorrow is just as big as today! If you haven't checked it out please do come down.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Cert III in Fitness
I just finished my cert III in fitness!
After about 2 years of thinking about it I finally decided to enroll with Open Colleges and try and get it done before Tammy's studio opens. I did a bit of research and while my first preference was Tafe, the hours and flexibility didn't fit in with working full time. I chose Open Colleges after looking into a few of the online places and although at first I was a bit skeptical about studying such a practical thing online, I was really impressed and happy with the course.
Online study was quite challenging since you completely have to self motivate but I managed to get into a good routine where I was doing study and working on assignments for at least an hour a day. I managed to finish the course in 5 months (Nov 2015 - Mar 16) which was my original aim to fit in with Tammy's predicted studio date which has since been a bit delayed. I have to say that I completely underestimated how hard the course would be, and it took a lot of hard work and effort to finish it in this time.
I think with everything like this you can put as much effort as you want into it, but since I tend to get obsessed with things I start I think I probably took it a lot further than I had to. I really learned a lot during the course and I have already modified my existing class plans based on what I've learned.
The work experience component was enjoyable, but lets be honest, it was also quite brutal. 80 hours of unpaid work experience is a very long time when you're working full time, finishing the written component of a course, and trying to keep on track of your own training. I worked under a wonderful team at Jetts and learned so much from the personal trainers there, but since not all of it was practical for my field of interest I'd say it was probably not as useful as Open Colleges intended it to be. It was also a shame that I couldn't use my 4 years of teaching classes as part of my practical work experience since that would have made the whole process a lot less exhausting. My favourite part of the work experience was taking the free HIIT classes that ran 2 time a week and seeing the improvements that the regular clients made in the short period of time that I worked with them, so cool!
I can't wait to put this to good use when Tammy finally opens up, fingers crossed now for June!
After about 2 years of thinking about it I finally decided to enroll with Open Colleges and try and get it done before Tammy's studio opens. I did a bit of research and while my first preference was Tafe, the hours and flexibility didn't fit in with working full time. I chose Open Colleges after looking into a few of the online places and although at first I was a bit skeptical about studying such a practical thing online, I was really impressed and happy with the course.
Online study was quite challenging since you completely have to self motivate but I managed to get into a good routine where I was doing study and working on assignments for at least an hour a day. I managed to finish the course in 5 months (Nov 2015 - Mar 16) which was my original aim to fit in with Tammy's predicted studio date which has since been a bit delayed. I have to say that I completely underestimated how hard the course would be, and it took a lot of hard work and effort to finish it in this time.
I think with everything like this you can put as much effort as you want into it, but since I tend to get obsessed with things I start I think I probably took it a lot further than I had to. I really learned a lot during the course and I have already modified my existing class plans based on what I've learned.
The work experience component was enjoyable, but lets be honest, it was also quite brutal. 80 hours of unpaid work experience is a very long time when you're working full time, finishing the written component of a course, and trying to keep on track of your own training. I worked under a wonderful team at Jetts and learned so much from the personal trainers there, but since not all of it was practical for my field of interest I'd say it was probably not as useful as Open Colleges intended it to be. It was also a shame that I couldn't use my 4 years of teaching classes as part of my practical work experience since that would have made the whole process a lot less exhausting. My favourite part of the work experience was taking the free HIIT classes that ran 2 time a week and seeing the improvements that the regular clients made in the short period of time that I worked with them, so cool!
I can't wait to put this to good use when Tammy finally opens up, fingers crossed now for June!
Saturday, April 23, 2016
First month back after Japan
I think I've finally recovered from my post Japan depression. Man it was so hard getting back into real life after getting home, I've never had that feeling so strongly with any other holiday. I also think our Japan holiday was unique in that I wasn't ready to come home. Usually after a long holiday no matter how amazing it was I'm kind of relieved to get back into routine, a proper diet, and my own bed. I think I could have stayed another month in Japan.
Rob and Jan's Wedding
What a beautiful wedding. Rob and Jan got married on a friend's farm about an hour south of Perth. I think it's the most genuine wedding I've ever seen, complete with custom made Fibonacci sequence rings by Rob, a Fresh Prince inspired rap by Jenny, and a gate crashing kangaroo having the time of her life eating the flowers.
The ceremony was gorgeous, Rob and the groomsmen had very unique and elegant suits with elbow patches, and Jan looked incredible in her dainty lace top and pleated skirt with pearl buttons. They made a great choice on food and drinks, with the Eat no Evil food truck making the best wedding food I've ever had, and Colonial beer making a big appearance.
It was also my first experience camping in a tent. Rob and Jan were awesome enough to set up a tent city made up of all the guests' tents so that we didn't have to do any hard work when we arrived.
I was quite tentative about the idea, but thought it would be fun and didn't want to be too much of a princess about it. Well... I hated it. I don't think it helped that the guest in the tent next to us was spewing IN his tent the whole night, the air mattress was so bouncy that I would flip over completely every time Andrew moved, it was raining (and the toilet was a porterloo that was quite hard to use especially without my contacts in), and I got bitten by an evil mystery bug that left a big jellyfish-like sting on my neck. But I was very brave and I survived! I don't think I'll ever go camping.
The Room at Luna Leederville
Next year I'll have to force more people to come to this, it's such a fun night! Our little group of friends has grown as people have become The Roomies and have started bringing their own friends along to watch the worst movie ever.
The Ninja Academy
For our first software department social event I organised a freestyle session at the Ninja Academy. We had a pretty good turn out and had fun trying to figure out all the crazy obstacles. I love how excited everyone got when they conquered an obstacle (in particular the perspex wall which Andrew and Anne managed to get!). I really like it there and would like to start taking some classes with the guys who run it who I am completely in awe of.
Feral Tusk Day at The Bird
So this was actually meant to be Feral Tusk Day at Petition. We were planning to get to Petition at 6pm but I got a message from Andrew P saying it was all sold out at around 5:15pm after tapping at 4pm. Andrew managed to crack the hints on Facebook and figure out that The Bird were probably going to have a keg of Feral's limited release 11% double IPA. We got there and there luckily was still half a keg left so we each got a pint and also bought one for Andrew P who had missed out at Petition (for 2 years in a row) and was about to get on the train home.
It wasn't a gimmick, Tusk was delicious.
So I've almost made it through our first month back. I think keeping busy is the key to keeping PJD at bay, and other than this fun stuff work is definitely making sure that that's happening.
Rob and Jan's Wedding
What a beautiful wedding. Rob and Jan got married on a friend's farm about an hour south of Perth. I think it's the most genuine wedding I've ever seen, complete with custom made Fibonacci sequence rings by Rob, a Fresh Prince inspired rap by Jenny, and a gate crashing kangaroo having the time of her life eating the flowers.
The ceremony was gorgeous, Rob and the groomsmen had very unique and elegant suits with elbow patches, and Jan looked incredible in her dainty lace top and pleated skirt with pearl buttons. They made a great choice on food and drinks, with the Eat no Evil food truck making the best wedding food I've ever had, and Colonial beer making a big appearance.
It was also my first experience camping in a tent. Rob and Jan were awesome enough to set up a tent city made up of all the guests' tents so that we didn't have to do any hard work when we arrived.
I was quite tentative about the idea, but thought it would be fun and didn't want to be too much of a princess about it. Well... I hated it. I don't think it helped that the guest in the tent next to us was spewing IN his tent the whole night, the air mattress was so bouncy that I would flip over completely every time Andrew moved, it was raining (and the toilet was a porterloo that was quite hard to use especially without my contacts in), and I got bitten by an evil mystery bug that left a big jellyfish-like sting on my neck. But I was very brave and I survived! I don't think I'll ever go camping.
The Room at Luna Leederville
Next year I'll have to force more people to come to this, it's such a fun night! Our little group of friends has grown as people have become The Roomies and have started bringing their own friends along to watch the worst movie ever.
The Ninja Academy
For our first software department social event I organised a freestyle session at the Ninja Academy. We had a pretty good turn out and had fun trying to figure out all the crazy obstacles. I love how excited everyone got when they conquered an obstacle (in particular the perspex wall which Andrew and Anne managed to get!). I really like it there and would like to start taking some classes with the guys who run it who I am completely in awe of.
Feral Tusk Day at The Bird
So this was actually meant to be Feral Tusk Day at Petition. We were planning to get to Petition at 6pm but I got a message from Andrew P saying it was all sold out at around 5:15pm after tapping at 4pm. Andrew managed to crack the hints on Facebook and figure out that The Bird were probably going to have a keg of Feral's limited release 11% double IPA. We got there and there luckily was still half a keg left so we each got a pint and also bought one for Andrew P who had missed out at Petition (for 2 years in a row) and was about to get on the train home.
It wasn't a gimmick, Tusk was delicious.
So I've almost made it through our first month back. I think keeping busy is the key to keeping PJD at bay, and other than this fun stuff work is definitely making sure that that's happening.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Japan - Ueno to Hong Kong to Perth
We spent our last day in Japan in Ueno park appreciating the cherry blossoms, it was magical.
We even saw Cool Japan being filmed!
Some last minute musings on our trip to Japan:
- Andrew is an exceptional travel agent
- A 500ml Suntory 9% "Strong" drink costs 150 yen ($1.50 AUD)
- Japanese people don't mind waiting in line
- I can live without a hair straightener for at least 1 month
- 7eleven, Family Mart, Lawsons have great meals but Seico mart has the best
- Train stations can be horrendous labyrinths of doom, especially Shinjuku
- The imperial castle does not exist
- Fake food splays outside of restaurants are an absolute winner of an idea
- I could easily live off of Japanese food bus would probably spend my salary on giant apples and $10 strawberries
- People have no shame when taking photos
- There's no trash, but plenty of smut
- I would definitely buy a Toyota
- Buddhism and Shinto are my favourite religions
- Bowing is a really natural show of appreciation
- Serious TV programs will still have silly noises and cartoon characters
- I will never get a tattoo so that I can always go to Onsen (funnily enough piercings are A-OK)
- Sumo is a very riveting sport
- I like skiing but I'm very scared of dying from skiing
- Air BnB is a great way to travel
- Shinkansen is a great way to travel
- Bunny Island is the home of my soul
We just got home to sunny Perth and luckily we had a spare key with my dad because our luggage got delayed and our house keys were in checked luggage! Our trip wasn't all that long but the smells and sounds of Perth have made me so happy to be home. I think our Japan trip may be my favourite holiday yet.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Japan - Toyota and Ueno
The Tokyo factory tour was amazing. It was in the middle of nowhere and pretty hard to find (do your research beforehand before you go) but it's definitely worth the time, and it's free!
The tour starts at the Tokyo showroom where you get to watch a robot play a violin (pretty damn well, and so many degrees of freedom in that left arm make it very smooth), then catch a bus to one of the plants. Today we got to see the assembly plant and my god it was an eye opener. The welding production line of robots was incredible, and the manual assembly line was another level of work ethic and speed. Their philosophy is kind of what Agile is based on, and we even got to see some Kanban cards in action! I would definitely trust a Toyota after going on this tour.
My first train bento was from Nagoya to Tokyo and involved a completely runny egg that we managed to crack on our beer cans without it going absolutely everywhere.
Tonight we saw some beautiful cherry blossoms and a lot of drunk people in business suits appreciating them. Tomorrow is our last day in Japan and we're planning to spend it appreciating the cherry blossoms in Ueno park in the light of day.
Probably our last ramen in Japan :(
The tour starts at the Tokyo showroom where you get to watch a robot play a violin (pretty damn well, and so many degrees of freedom in that left arm make it very smooth), then catch a bus to one of the plants. Today we got to see the assembly plant and my god it was an eye opener. The welding production line of robots was incredible, and the manual assembly line was another level of work ethic and speed. Their philosophy is kind of what Agile is based on, and we even got to see some Kanban cards in action! I would definitely trust a Toyota after going on this tour.
My first train bento was from Nagoya to Tokyo and involved a completely runny egg that we managed to crack on our beer cans without it going absolutely everywhere.
Tonight we saw some beautiful cherry blossoms and a lot of drunk people in business suits appreciating them. Tomorrow is our last day in Japan and we're planning to spend it appreciating the cherry blossoms in Ueno park in the light of day.
Probably our last ramen in Japan :(
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