A great weekend!

started on saturday, i was itching to leave.. early.. but no we left on time.
Got into the city, got off at central. remembered what street the hotel was on, william st! and that is errr where? all i could remember was flagstaff station (inconveniently closed on weekends) flagstaff gardens was opposite and it was north of chinatown. Hubby was happy and kept saying that if he saw the map where it was we would have no problems getting there. lol.. so it took some walking, some consulting of those handy map poles and a long walk.. but we got there
Darn the batteries are flat in the camera! Discovered this on the walk.. Went up to the top 10th floor.. ah luxury!!! What a room! and a real bed! 2 tvs.. hot chocolate, decaff, coffee all waiting to be used or taken home.. hahahaha
But wait... theres wine in a ice bucket and a ox of chocolates.. that wasnt planned.. lucky theres a card.. and gosh its a card from hubbys boss and his wife congratulating us on a year in melbourne!
I dont think we are still over that, how superbly generous and kind.. wow.. i guess the chocolates are for me? i claim them anyways ;) lol
After hubby has a few drinks we go and get some batteries, walk around the place. Checked out minotaur and the sanrio shop! Were im flustered is it being surrounded by hello kitty everything or the prices? $40 for a hello kitty shopping bag?!! i settle for a $8.50 lanyard for my keys and $8.50 on 2 hello kitty hair clips and 2 hello kitty hair ties.. OW! But wait ive already got $7 store credit on my HK membership card!!! whoot! perhaps every $10 spent i get $1 store credit.. awesome..
back to the hotel room with batteries, hello kitty stuff! and sore feet..
Thinking of dinner, not wanting to go far by now.. hmm lets have room service.. lol. never done that before! My lasagna n chips i felt ripped off, where was the belchamel(sp?) sauce? it was just layers of sheets n meat with shavings of parmasan(sp? stinky cheese) cheese. the chips, were amazing! No joke.. Hubbys fish n chips was whiting fillets bout 5 of them pretty small with chips, lemon, tomatoe sauce and some other mayonaise-ish mustardy sauce.
That night we watched foxtel for some reason.. and then went upstairs and checked out the small gym and the spa/pool.. and had a great time. Came back to the room and put tia to bed..
i got in our spa bath, but turned it off as it was noisy and im over the whole spa thing by now.
Into bed and asleep..

next morning we went to the queen victoria markets, which we havent done before. It was massive, always repeating and tiring. *yawn* we went pretty early and by the time we were leaving it was starting to get busy! i found a stall selling churros and got one for all of us... we then tried in vain not to get our clothes covered in icing sugar. doh! Found a stall that was selling fudge! OHMYGOSH! real fudge! And how many flavours?! crikey!!! I got one $3.50 caramel.. Watched the suga factory people make some lollies and found a present for the boss. Rock candy with the words 'thank you' inside.. it was great fun, some of the t-shirts were funny, but you can get those.. also got a awesome heat pack that once i saw was different to the ones u just microwave i had to have it! ;) And hubby has taken it to work today, to show people..

Then it was off to breakfast, magnation on elizabeth st, a games shop, chinatown and the crowds. I was disapointed, perhaps by the time we got there it was 12, last year i thought the lion dances were around 12-1pm, this year they seemed to be earlier. Still there was dragons, massive dragon and lots of lions dancing around and a crowd that followed them everywhere. Dont forget the loudness of the fire crackers ouch! The markets up the top were a joke. this year it seems they were mainly just from banks and boring companies.. the joke was that it being on the road. there was a massive amount of dangerous crowds pushed next to the markets so one lane of the road could be kept open for those to use the car park!!! i kid you not.. the space you get to walk/squeeze thru is about 2m wide. im so glad people didnt get trampled to death! we got out of that quickly, what i thought was quickly but we had not gotten far at all.. i was really pissed at how rude people were considering we had tia. So hubby stayed with our stuff and tia and i went off to get some footage of lions and dragons.. and fire crackers..
it was great, loud and im about to really get nasty at the next person who decides to interfere in my personal space.. as it turns out i didnt have too. Im watching kids making paper lotus flowers with a incense stick i was given when this lady does so and ends up wearing the end of my incense stick ash, stupid woman! It put it out alright, i thinking that might have burnt.. she notices on her red (meant to be lucky) t-shirt that it has ash on it now.. including the black ash.. i cant stop thinking of how dumb she was.. and glad that God gets his own back without us having to do anything..
we found the sonic manipulator guy, getting ready and straight up asked for his cd. i think he was kinda shocked about that, but i did say the next time i saw him we would get his cd.
after that we are walking back to the hotel and then to southern cross station to get a train back home. What a day! Used the heat pack on the train home on my back, hips and knees... got home and went and had a nap. Hubby woke me in time to watch the biggest looser, awww...

Happy Chinese New year weekend slide show

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

first time at smile box. Wish i had some more time to go thru all the designs and ones that would shrink my photos and stuff. but this will have to do.
Pics: Our room, the kitchen, the bathroom and spa bath, the upstairs big spa, night view from rooftop, view from big spa room, view out the window in the morning with a big balloon out there ;), china town chinese new year lion dance, chinese new year dragon, room service lasagna n chips $17 & fish n chips $34!!!, picture of mirror roof in elevator, lil finch birds in macdonalds in the city, sculpture that i studied in school thats in the city, a bottle of lovely local wine in ice and a box of chocolates a surprise arrival gift from hubbys boss!!!!!!!

Those moments

Tia and i are at the laundrymat (3 doors up from the 'lolly shop')

"Im hungry mum!" she says.
'of course you are' i reply sarcastically.
"Lolly shop mum?".
"Do you have your money?"
"Uh, no. Wheres my bag?!!! I can't find it"
"it must be at home then. Oh well. Can't get lollies without money. You should have bought your bag which has your money in it"
"mummy, how bout the money in your bag?"
"No, your money isnt in my bag"
"Oh.."

ROFL!!! I told Hubby that last night, and he thought it was great at the money in your bag bit.. and then loved my 'mummy' line that her money wasnt in my bag.

HATE WHALING.. love japan

(mother n bub caught recently using explosive harpoons!! Normal harpoons just arent scientifically gross enough for them..)

and japan your pissing me off!!!

Im slowly wondering about my love for the frivolous side of japan. The Lights, tv screens and cosplayers... its culture and history.

If its one thing i can't stand its a country that thinks its higher than everyone else be it USA, Iran or Japan.. If its one thing i can't stand about a country is that its so guilty enough to want to kill whales they use the only loophole they can 'lethal scientific research' which is just checking that inside every whale it looks the same, and tastes great on a grill.
Can you name a exclusive native Japanese animal? go on try...

Its true food is running low around the world. its true many countries sacrifice farm land to pollution dumps, housing for the population. If its not a drought affecting around the world, its a flood in africa, australia, china ruining crops.
How many people do you feed with all the whales they catch?

Can much be expected from a country that even kills their own dolphins for goodness sake? I have to wonder, Is there anyone in Japan who is extremely pissed off with their government and these fishing companies?

Excited!

You know you have a list of things to do in your head or maybe written down. And theres always something that you keep putting off, altho you know it needs to be done and you just end up struggling to do and not do it or remembering and then happily forgetting that it needs to be done. It might be weeding the garden, asking to borrow something, the dishes, dusting, clearing out the gutters or checking that email address thats so old its on every spam list and thats all that it gets..
My thing however, isnt any of those. Mine is talking on the phone, to strangers.. but my family and friends would probably add i dont often call them either.

yesterday i called up to book Tia back into childcare for fridays (i'd walk to the office, but then Tia would insist on going to 'little school' even tho its shut and locked up and there would be tears) I am dreading picking her up on friday.. as she wont want to leave! (and yet i on the walk up to the gate, the clinging ones are all waiting around to be taken home asap, awwww.. tia is the one who doesnt want to help pack up the sand pit, no she wants to keep playing and she runs when she sees me! hahaha!!!)

and i also called up the doctor im seeing to make an appointment for this week, which turned out to be for the next day (today) while calling the doctors is pretty darn easy, i've only just today found out how to say my doctors last name properly since ive heard it a few times over the past 2 days!

and i also called in advance to book my 18 week baby ultrasound. Today i had to book it elsewhere as the doctor said he was more confident in these machines and not the place i had booked, fair enough! he should know, as i havent used or been to any of the places i will just trust his judgement. So that means a call to the new ultrasound place and a call to the old ultrasound place to cancel my previous appointment. ugh!!!

Altho its a silly kind of thing to hate doing, it felt good knowing i no longer had to dread doing it.. it was done. All done.

Fast forward to today

Im excited about the 18 week ultrasound. While i think ive felt the baby move, im a tad umm reluctant to say yes it definately was the baby.. ive had kicking feelings ever since i felt them with tia.. its weird.. perhaps thats just digestion? and so thats what i put them mostly down too.. Its still quite little at this stage 15cms long, the size of a pen! Theres still plently of time to get kicked alot.. however it feels quite often that my bladder is turned into a trampoline or punch bag! lol! Oh i got carried away.. So thats the answer the doctor got from me today, my blood pressure is perfect-o and i got poked in a uterus finding way.. i know i still had extra skin from previous pregnancy and the tummy fat but the uterus poking i have never missed.. do they have to do it so hard? However i had no idea it was up that high.. erm coz of the tummy fat i guess. x.x

The date i made for the 18week ultrasound is thursday the 14th of feb... Nothing like doubling down on a reason for hubby to take the morning off work! hahaha! Valentines day!

Life...

A update on how things are going. :)

On friday, Tia and I went to the beach in the afternoon for a few hours. I bought a $4 inflatable ring for her to play with, that took some figuring out on how to blow up the cheap ring! She loved playing with it. It was low tide, so she spent alot of time playing in the muddy sand in between a small pool of water stuck due to the sand and the tide all the way out. We had alot of fun towards the end, rolled up my pants and took her into where the beach was. Had her lay on her back on top of the ring, she loved it, just floating around being pushed by the waves. Whats odd coming from one who hates getting water on/in her eyes.. is what she enjoyed most when there was a bit of a tiny tiny surf (but the most ive ever seen at frankston) basically she rode the waves (like a metre away from where we were in the water) onto the sand where the waves ended on the increasing shore line (as the tide decided to come in) and splash on her, true thats how you end up with sand in your bathers.. but she wasnt thinking of that! she loved it..
I put sunscreen on my feet when we got there (thought the socks n shoes might rub it off on the walk?) and then was the only thing i re-applied sunscreen to half way thru the time we were there! lol! i think im paranoid over getting sun burnt feet again!

We have been waiting for the bengal kittens to arrive at the pet shop, i wonder what they will look like?

Had a place to move into in mind, its not available till saturday. I hate when you ring up a real estate agent that they promise to call you back and then they dont.. or you speak to the head receptionist of non-big brand rental real estate companies who never know whats going on..
But now ive got doubts on whether its close enough to a school, wary that im putting all my eggs into 1 basket when the photos online are 7 years old? isnt great to have time stamped photos.. lazy real estate people. That and why do some places have photos of the kitchen and the back yard or something but not the bedrooms? ugh..

Ive had some days where i feel completely zapped of energy at the drop of a hat.. feeling like i could so go back to sleep before lunch! ha!
(my collection of polish chocolates)
I found a new awesome deli and import shop, that stocks alot of polish chocolates and other euopean (i say that coz i cant read it except that its european) stuff. Like i think i found german mushroom paste! lol! I also found some kinda local ginger creamed honey for $6 a jar. Oh how i missed ginger honey! lol! I also noticed a tin of hungarian? poppy seed filling.. false positive opiate drug test here i.. nah i didnt get it.. I got some polish gingerbread covered in chocolate biscuits, OMG ive never had gingerbread that reminded me more like marshmallow it was so light, puffy and wow. ^^ thumbs up to kopernik! WOW! i walked out of there with chocolates and honey! lol!.. interesting shopping trip dont you think

i looked up babies crying on youtube to show tia, that altho the baby is very quiet now its going to be very noisy. i came across this cute little funny cry. she is sooo cute.. i looked up births on youtube also, but felt anxious and a tad disturbed afterwards..

Devdas

Bollywood movie on sbs last night was Devdas.


It had a sad ending (i promise no singing in this one)


Had the absolute gorgeous Aishwarya Rai as Paro, Shahrukh Khan as Devdas.
It was a sad movie, tears in some places but most of all you just wanted to stand up and slap alot of people around so the wake up and stop being evil and so bitchy! ARGH!
The story goes paro and devdas were best friends as kids, neighbours also. Devdas family are landowners (higher class to paro's family) his father a lawyer or a judge, a harsh man who doesnt understand devdas and his wants to be with paro as a kid and in doing so punishes him and sends him away to study for 10years in london. Paro lights a lamp in belief that someday he will come back, it then turns into a 'life' flame for devdas.
But devdas is coming home, its been 10years. Devdas mother is going crazy putting together this grande home coming (the india way) dressing nicely and lighting the welcome lamp. She asks everyone else to close their eyes (her servants and her daughter-in-law) as she wants to see his face first! well Devdas goes to see paro first, but she refuses to show him her face. Word spreads that devdas has gone to see paro first and mama chucks a tantrum.. devdas arrives and his mum wont look at him, he tricks her that he has left but instead he was hiding behind her and that makes up for devdas.. however paro and her mother are now in the bad books! ugh!!!!!!!
It comes clear to everyone that Devdas and paro are in love. In comes the necessary roles of bitchy sis in law and devdas mother not helped by the father who would never accept devdas to marry one of lower class.
paro's mother gets a invite to visit next door, she believes they will ask for the marriage of paro and devdas. But no it was a cruel trick, devdas mother explains she only wanted her to come over as a dancer as she was before marriage and entertain her guests.. and that they will never let devdas marry paro. Paro's mother swears she will find a groom in 7 days for paro, who will pay a bride price and paro will marry into a much richer family than them. paro learns of this and risks her reputation by visiting Devdas in the middle of the night in his room to ask him to marry her, but he says he cannot as his father will not allow it.. DUMB DEVDAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paro marries into a very wealthy family, she finds out then that she now has 3 children, one who is about her age and married to a S.O.B!!!! S.O.B vows to get back at paro. paro also finds out that the marriage is only to satasify her MIL, to look after the kids and the estate. Her husband is in love still with his late wife and mother to his kids. Its loveless and she now has a facade marriage which she despises.

Devdas is heart broken, lost.. he leaves home without paro (they could have eloped but he didnt think or see paro) that night that he refuses to marry paro on the grounds of his families wishes.
He lives with his friend and turns to alcohol, he ends up in the care of the most beautiful dancer, singer prostitute of the brothel his friend took him too. She falls in love with him, he doesnt allow her to touch him. each time he passes out or becomes ill she looks after him, she gives up and becomes a recluse, with wealth but stuck with her past profession and class. paro makes a effort to seek her out after hearing where devdas has been staying, devdas father passes away.

Paro gives her blessings to the prostitute. she invites her over to a ceremony in her house, the SOB son in law, knows who she is and you expect she will be beaten and run! But no he gets a slap in the face and she goes to tell that perhaps he has a sister who is a prostitute due to the fact that they have people of higher classes children but they are always cast aside.. That he should be ashamed of using their services.. etc.. SOB son in law also knows about devdas and has told paro's husband and his mother. They forbid her to leave the house ever again as punishment, even tho paro points out that her husband still loves his late first love and she also loves her first love.

In the end he says he loves her too. Now devdas has accute liver failure? and a drop of wine would be lethal! He gives up drink to see india by train, but is so very very ill. He meets his drinking friend on the train and the friend insists he has a glass of alcohol for the sake of their friendship, he drinks. His friend then finds out.. oh dear..
Devdas makes his way to keep his promise that before he dies he will knock on paro's door. He is breathing his last, on the ground outside the walls.. Paro finds out and runs.. only to have her daughter and son to try and stop her from going against her punishment, her husband orders the gate to close and Devdas dies as the gates shut with Paro behind them.


this has bits from the movie to the music 'bring me to life' by evanescence.