Photo A Day - Day 7 - Reading Friends

We had a playdate today with our friend Veronica... Spent a lovely morning catching up with her mum Julie while, the girls played together so nicely... I caught this lovely moment of the girls reading together on the couch...

Something To Make You Hungry...

My sister has challenged me as part of my photo a day to take a "foodie" shot sometime... which is hilarious, because I just processed these food photos the other day... these photos are from the last 3 months and are guaranteed to make you drool... (or at least make Em drool... :))

Chargrilled Quail - made by moi when we Ko and Vinnie around for dinner pre-Christmas





Salt & Pepper Prawns - made by Vinnie based on Luke Nguyen's recipe from "Luke Nguyen's Vietnam" TV show on SBS... this for the same dinner that the quail was served





Vietnamese Chicken Vermicelli Salad - made by Ko, again recipe from Luke Nguyen and same dinner.





Banh Cuon - (sorry I don't know the translation for this, but it's steamed rice paper rolls wrapped in pork mince and wood ear mushroom)... my first attempt at making them ever... time consuming, but so worth it... *YUM*





Vietnamese Cold Rolls - These were chicken ones I made for Phan's work Christmas party... they were the first to go! I've also discovered I can roll 20 in 30-40 minutes...

Are you drooling yet? :)

Photo A Day - Day 6 - There's No Place Like Home

I've been on the look out for some ruby red slippers for some time and today I found some! I love these... as does Beth... she calls them her "shiny shoes"...

Photo A Day - Day 5 - The Crazy Bath Monster

Really needs no other explanation does it?

On a separate note, ever since we got back from Adelaide, we have ditched the night nappy... we only used it more for our piece of mind than for Beth's benefit. So far, so good... I have bought these things called Brolly Sheets though to put on the bed (http://www.brollysheets.com/) which are basically a waterproof sheet cover thing you put over the sheets... they go on top of the sheet, so if there is an accident, you just take that off and replace it with another one (we have 2) without having to make up the whole bed... I think they're a great invention and wanted to share for anybody out there who is night toilet training their child!

Photo A Day - Day 4 - Spiced Trio

It's about time I started playing around with the macro a bit more...

A Photo A Day...

I'm attempting the Photo a Day project again this year... Last year, I fell off the wagon at about day 6, so lets see how much further I can go this year... My sister Em is doing it too so we're supposed to be motivating each other... She is posting on her blog which you can find here - http://lifeloveandpuppycats.blogspot.com/. Towards the end of last year, I also got her interested in this photography gig (I'm converting the world, one person at a time... muhahahaha...)... so she bought a Canon 50D and a 70-200mm L series to go with it and mostly captures photos of her puppies and kitties... but she also got the 100mm macro for Christmas too (the same one as me) from her husband (we have such great husbands!), so she's venturing out into macro stuff too... I also think she's better at it than me too! Check out her blog to see her photos... she's also not post-processing either 'cos she doesn't have photoshop, so it's pretty much SOOC, which I think is mega impressive... :)

Anyway, to my photos -

Yesterday effort -

Beth made this frog mask at playgroup at the end of last year some time... she totally loves it, which is really bizarre, 'cos she normally hates having things on her face/head when dressing up... but she really took a liking to it.. so much that she refused to take it off the day we made it and we ended up walking around the shopping centre with her wearing it... I could see lots of people looking at her and thinking she looked very funny! Anyway, I rediscovered this mask yesterday while I was cleaning/tidying some stuff up and Beth loved being reacquainted with it...

And today's effort -



This is what Phan and I got Beth for Christmas, but she didn't get to see it until we got back from Adelaide... She totally loves it and it was worth the wait! She loves cooking in it and washing her hands in the sink... she loves baking things in the oven (she even tried to bake Jemima today! I couldn't get a decent photo of that though...) And that is why I love the little red tea set from the previous post so much... it matches her kitchen perfectly!

Yeah, I know it's supposed to be *a* photo a day, but I thought these photos told the story so much better as a series... :)

Stay tuned for more photos... :)

A Bright And Shiny New Year!

Happy New Year!!! 2010 is here and I hope it brings good fortune, peace and happiness to you all.

Some of you may have noticed that this blog has been a little quiet over the last few months... Part of this has been because of preparations for a 3 year old birthday party and our recent visit back home to Adelaide for Christmas... but I guess, now is a good time to reveal that part of the reason has been because I am expecting again. I've been a bit tired and lacking in mojo (I've had a bit of morning sickness which is easing now), so I've not had a lot time or energy to blog (or do anything really!) but I think I'm beginning to feel a bit more energised as I am now a few weeks into my 2nd trimester. It has also helped in part by having a nice relaxing time back home in Adelaide with family over Christmas, so I'm feeling all relaxed. I'm due on the 10th of June, which apparently coincides with the beginning of the soccer World Cup, so Phan assures he will be very helpful with the baby for that first month as he will be up at all weird hours of the morning watching the soccer anyway!

So here's to an wonderful and blessed 2010 for our little family as we welcome a new addition to our family!

I'll finish this post with a photo, since it's been *ages* since I've posted a photo on here... This is the sweetest little tea set that Beth got for Christmas from our friends Vinnie and Ko... and you'll understand why I love it so much when I post the next photo in my next blog entry.... :) (Yes, that means I'll be back blogging semi-regularly again now hopefully!) Beth adores this tea set... and what better way to welcome in the new year, but with some tea!