meal planning monday.

monday again! and i haven't blogged since last monday, oops!
there's a lot of posts in my head at the moment... they just haven't quite made it onto the screen yet though. i'll work on that ha ha!

but in the mean time, let's get meal planning!



tonight, i'm hoping to put together a bengali fish curry (sfi sep '13, pg. 33). i haven't made it before, or any kind of fish curry to be honest... i'm hoping it comes together ok!

tomorrow night, i might grab some bolognaise out of the freezer. lazy night for me in the kitchen :D

wednesday night, i might try out pink patent mary jane's way of cooking a roast chicken. it looks and sounds absolutely divine! hope i can do it justice!

thursday, bb has requested a risotto. chicken and pea, so i might just have to make up some stock using the carcass from wednesday night's roast! i did this last week too and we didn't eat until 8:30! i might get it started a bit earlier this week ha ha!

this week, i'm working late on friday (my roster's been a bit all over the place at the moment ha ha!) so the slow cooker will be doing all the hard work! i think i'll throw all the ingredients in for this mongolian beef. it'll be nice to come home to, served with some rice and maybe even some steamed greens. yum!

saturday night, i think i'll whip up a bit of a vegetarian affair, just don't tell BB ok? broccolini pad thai should fool him ;)

sunday is bb's birthday so i will let him decide what he feels like on the day! i know for my birthday, i requested slow-cooked pork belly, but ended up having a banquet of take-away thai! it was pretty amazing actually :D

what are you eating this week? what would be your 'birthday meal' request?

meal planning monday.

now that holidays are over (boo!) i'd better jump back on the meal planning bandwagon!



i've got the day off from work today, so i've got plans to get some DONE for the week ahead! a lasagne, like the one i made a few weeks ago should work. there'll be plenty for dinner, and some left over to take for lunches during the week.

tomorrow night, i think i'll try something new. ginger and chicken noodle soup (sfi sep '13, pg. 41) should hit the spot. delicious and a bit healthy too, just what we need after the last couple of weeks eating efforts (SO much takeaway!!)

wednesday night is ncb night this week. i'll grab something there because whenever i try and cook in between getting home from work and leaving for ncb, it always ends in farrrrr too much stress!

thursday night is my late night this week... so i'll be cooking up a little something in the slow cooker... more specifically, drunken pork. it'll get rid of one of the many bottles of beer in the fridge that have accumulated lately. huzzah!

friday night, i think i'll throw together some super simple meatballs! should be delicious and easy!

saturday night, i'll leave up to bb because i'll be at work all day! boo!

and sunday, i hope bb will pop on a nice roast dinner. i'll need it when i get home from crafty hijinks!!! i am SO looking forward to it!

what are you eating this week? are you going along to crafty hijinks too?

little lovelies.

every week, i try and share a little list of lovely things that have happened throughout the week in my neck of the woods, to try and keep myself looking on the bright side of things.

it wasn't hard to find lovely things this week... a week away from work and home (and housework, and homework... all kinds of work really!) with my love and some friends really made for a lovely little week!



a family of ducks in the hotel pool...
5 adorable ducklings, with 2 VERY protective parents!



the view from the top of the q1 tower. soooooooo pretty! almost worth the ridiculous amount you had to pay to get up there!



a round of cocktails, on top of the world. a meal shared with friends and daytime drunken antics. fairly fabulous.



whale watching on the open seas.
the show this guy was putting on was tremendous. he spent pretty much the entire time breaching... apparently that is super rare!

i was ridiculously seasick though and frankly, lucky to get my camera out at all!



super cheesy times with this guy. we had a ball exploring the theme parks together and riding on allllllll of the rides!

3 parks in 4 days has left me more than a little pooped but i've thankfully still got a day or so to recover before heading back to work...

what little lovely things have you been up to this week? on days like today, you've got to look on the bright side...

framed up.

for the last couple of months, i've had 'fix up frames' on my monthly to-do list...
well a few weekends ago, i finally got to it!

i pulled all of the frames off the wall (i thought i'd taken a photo of them when i'd hung them, but i just went through my entire photo reel on my phone, no dice!), pulled all of the stuff out of them and then spread them out on the lawn in the backyard...



a few coats with some spray paint (i couldn't believe how sore my forearm was the next day after spraying for such a short amount of time, i could never be a graffiti artist ;D) and a good week of drying time after i dragged the tarp into the garage...



i put everything back together and hung them back on the wall...

the frames were originally all different colours and it frankly looked a bit of a mess... i think it looks much better with all different shapes and sizes but with a cohesive colour scheme!



oh i painted these mirror frames too, the larger, round one was gifted to me when my next door neighbour sold up and moved out a couple of years ago, and the smaller, rectangular one was on a neighbours front lawn as hard rubbish. both were a fairly awful gold colour but now they're beautiful glossy white!
i've already told bb that when we buy a house of our own, there will be a coloured (or wall-papered) feature wall with lots of different shaped mirrors with white frames. i better keep an eye out for some more ;)

what do you think of feature walls? do you have lots of things hanging on your walls?

green love.

it is spring and it's not hard to tell!
the breeze wafts in the scent of jasmine through the front door and everything is looking verdant and lush. it's beautiful and everything is coming back to life!



my rose is looking leafy again, it's come a ways since last time, and i can't wait until those buds open!



my raspberry plant has enjoyed the fertilise i gave it a couple of weeks ago. the number of leaves has tripled since then! my fingers are firmly crossed for some fruit this year, though i have my doubts based on the fact i only planted it last year...



the pak choy i planted mid-way through winter is coming along in leaps and bounds! now if only i can stop the slugs and snails and caterpillars eating them, oh, and the bloody possums, maybe they'll be ready to harvest by the time we're back from holidays!



oh, and the beetroot i planted at the same time as the pak choy, it's decided to poke it's head up and say hello... i'm thinking i probably should've planted the seeds into a seed tray and transplanted them once they were a bit established. oh well, things to remember for next year!



also, my herb garden, it has EXPLODED! i think it was quite happy to get a bit of a fertilise too! must remember to keep doing that on a regular basis... especially since my worms have me in a VERY plentiful supply?

what's growing in your garden at the moment? is everything looking beautiful? do you use fertiliser on your garden? what do you use?

sock it to me.

last week, i cast on some socks. not just any socks, but these socks. two at a time socks. so then i can't get one done and then not want to do the other!
the process was a little strange to start... but once i got the hang of it, it was quite easy!



this was after ncb last wednesday night... let's just say, there wasn't a whole lot of knitting going on that night, lots of delicious food and a LOT of chin-wagging!



and this was after a bit of a session on saturday night, which was after a bit of a session on friday night, knitting in front of the fire with mum, with pizza and cider. it was a pretty brilliant night.

they're coming along nicely, but i'm a little bit scared for when i get to the heel! wish me luck?

do you knit socks? do you struggle with heels? do you like wearing knitted socks?

september.

heck yeah! it's september and that means it's SPRING!
i've been looking forward to spring since about 2 weeks into winter, the cold, short days and lack of sunshine really got me down this year.

the weather today (and yesterday to be honest) was AMAZING! total spring weather! the clear crisp sunshine had me ridiculously energised and i bounced around all day today. i did 29430932184 loads of washing and the house is looking super tidy!

anywho, let's recap on august for a second...
i made plenty of meal plans (though not this week past, i well and truly fell off the home-cooking wagon, we had take-away/ate out every night!), knitted up some weenie socks, finished the granny stripe as well as milo #2 (though i just realised i never blogged it, lots of things like that at the moment!). oh and i fixed up my frames too! well technically, i finished them today... i'll share them a little later in the week :D
i missed a couple of things though, no bread got baked, the suitcase sat stagnant, i barely hand-wrote a word and my craft supplies are still ridiculously disorganised... so guess what's on my list this month?




finish socks? i may have cast on some new socks... for me this time! i'll share a bit more about them later in the week... while i'm on holidays! bb and i are jetting off to spend some time in the sun with some friends. i think it'll be the perfect thing to boost our energy levels but also get us nice and relaxed. i've found the last couple of months at work quite stressful so hopefully i come back a bit more like myself :D

hopefully i get lots of stuff done off the list! particularly the study part, i've got an end date now, i just have to get everything done before it! wish me luck!

what are your plans for the month? did you get some sunshine today too?

ps. happy father's day! i keep forgetting because my parents set off on a big adventure early this morning! i don't even know how to get in contact with my dad ha ha!