Happy Tuesday!

It’s never fun when your Husband has to work all weekend so the best way around it is to make your own fun! I started to cut out a pattern on Saturday with plans to make a sun dress by the end of the weekend, but plans changed when I ended up spending Sunday brunching and working on a website for S. We drove over to Alexandria to meet someone for coffee, only to get there and be told they were about to leave (people these days), so we headed to a little café on Mitchell road called La Cachette. It’s French inspired and while I was only going to get coffee, as soon as I saw all the pastries in the window I knew I wasn’t just having coffee.

I ended up going for the blueberry, ricotta pancakes with maple syrup and coulis and they did not disappoint. I’d been on the search for some good pancakes for a while and finally the craving was satisfied. The coffee was also good and we left full and satisfied.

Sunday night we met up with S’s sis and her boyfriend for dinner which turned in to dinner, drinks and cocktails. I generally don’t drink on school (work!) nights, but we had so much fun and really..why not! Kuletos in Newtown honestly never disappoints and the bartender was more than happy to concoct a little creation so I could have my favourite cocktail on fire.

I can’t believe the rain we had yesterday! Sheets and sheets of pouring rain all day long. I don’t know about you, but my hair is naturally curly so I can straighten it but it’s only going to curl and go boofy as soon as I step out the door. You’d think by this age I’d have a few up-do’s tucked up my sleeve, but I am the most unco-ordinated person when it comes to hair, so it’s either out and straight or well, out and straight. I can never get my curls right (they look great while they’re drying and then turn in to a big frizzy, boofy mess – even with product), buns always look terrible, ponytails look worse. Is it just me or is my hair impossible? I guess we’ll never know. All I know is that I’ll never have nice hair!

Anyway, happy Tuesday. Today is my hump day as I am off to New Zealand on Thursday! 

1, 2, 3

Unrelated pic, but if you haven't heard of Tanda, then definitely check it out!

I didn’t get up to much over the weekend that warrants a whole blog post so I decided to write another 1,2,3 post. Something I was doing consistently on the blog awhile back but like most things around here, it dropped off my radar.

1. Next week S and I are off to NZ for part one of the honeymoon and I can’t wait! It’s no secret that we love to ski, so we’ve booked in a week of skiing. Tie that in with dinners at beautiful restaurants, drinks at bars, soaking at the Onsen and a bit of sightseeing and I think part one of the honeymoon will be good fun. About a month after we get back, I am going to Bali with some girlfriends and I’ve started to prepare for that by buying more summer clothes, swimmers etc.

2. I love our DSLR but it can get a little bulky to carry around when you’re travelling. I knew I wouldn’t be able to take it everywhere I went in Bali for safety reasons, so I bit the bullet and bought a GoPro. Smaller and more discrete so I can put it in my handbag when I don’t want to use it. Easier than trying to hide a whopping DSLR. We took it out for a play over the weekend and ended up walking for 2 hours (and 8km!). It gets some great angles and with the handle we can get some video and photos from Ted’s perspective, so that’s fun and maybe a little bit lame for those who aren’t dog enthusiasts..

3. I’m working on a little project that I can’t wait to unveil! It could be good, it could be a flop. Who knows! It is blog related, but unrelated to this blog and more info will come in good time. I really love blogging and writing and the project ties in with both those things.

How has everyone else been?

The truth: 2 questions, 3 statements and a clanger to define my week!

Our friend, Twiz found my blog not long ago and has been asking ever since to do a guest post. The time came, he wrote up a post and here it is.
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I have been stalking Rhi's blog for a over 2 months now and when the opportunity arose to collaborate on a guest Blog - I took the pants off, cleared the mind and nestled myself into her couch to hit the keys.

Whilst I haven't had too much exposure to the blog world, I assumed it would be fairly easy to relay an exciting story which would appeal to the blogging punter, how I was wrong.

So in the interest of keeping things simple, here is The Truth: 2 questions, 3 statements and a clanger to define my week:

* Imitate, then re-create

* Drink Beer, quit drinking, drink quicker, beer drinker.

* Old fashion is out of date. Think new, or die dated. Respect your younger's?

* Is success, purposely not answering the phone and feeling good about it?

* Stop trying to be you, be George Clooney or Lara Bingle for a while.

Clanger: Which end do you peel the Banana from? Don't lie to yourself!

Please tell me, what is your truth?

;)

Twiz

What makes you read a blog?

I often sit here and write a blog post based on what I would like to read if it were on anyone else's blog. That's probably not the best way to go about it if I want to increase readership and while that's always on my radar, so too is blogging for myself as a journal to look back on in the future. Blogs are strange things that not everyone understands. I wrote a post not long ago about who reads my blog in real life and truth be told, I don't tell a lot of people about it because I don't think they'd understand. I mean, blog people get blog people but do other people get blog people? 

Blogs that make me click on them every day to see if there are new post, blogs that make me want to trawl through the archives and blogs that really capture me in every single post are hard to come by. The first blog I started to read that was from Australia was Domestic Divinity whom I am sure you are all aware of. Mez's blog gave me the above and every day I'd click over to her blog to see what else she had posted. 

Since then, there have been a handful of blogs both in Australia and Internationally that I've held on to, though there aren't many that keep me coming back day after day (or when I have spare time to read!). Sometimes, blog direction changes, sometimes people blog less or sometimes they become too commercial. These are all reasons why I have stopped reading some blogs I read every day previously. This is in no way an indication of the quality of their blog, it's just that my interests no longer aligned with their interests and that is ok in blog world. 

I read blogs that show a reader that is down to earth, someone I can somewhat relate to, someone who has a good writing style and can keep readers engaged, someone with a personality who isn't just drivelling on about something. If I find two blog posts written about the same topic with one boring blogger and one blogger daring to show their personality, I'll always choose the one with personality. I read blogs that write about controversial things (not that I do myself!), blog posts that make me think and blog posts that tell a story. 

They don't have to be interesting every day. I know that, because I know my own blog is not interesting every day. 

Why do you read your favourite blogs?

Ted's bath

Little scruffster was overdue for a bath, leading to a very fun Saturday morning for him! He doesn't mind a scrub and adores the blow-dry, so at least it's an easy task. Here are the before, during and afters.

Bar review: Pappa Geddes, Sydney

Like any good weekend starts, S and I started ours with drinks after work. My boss took a call then stood up and declared his wife insisted he meet her at the pub, so I rang my Husband and insisted he meet me at a bar for a drink. Our usual choice of bar would be Baxters or Hotel CBD, but this time we chose Pappa Geddes. This bar hides down a beautiful old cobblestone lane way, a small snapshot in to what life looked like many years ago. 
It was a good choice because upon walking in we discovered it was empty. Literally one other table inside at 5pm on a Friday. Taking this as a good sign, we went about ordering our drinks once the prompt and friendly staff came over to where we were seated to take our order. A bar that takes your order from your chair is a huge winner in my books since I am pretty lazy. They also came back after we finished our first drink to take our second order even though by then they were quite busy.

There were some great choices of drinks on the menu and my first choice was the Scozzese. I thought it was pronounced 'Scusi' but no, Sco-sey-ze. It was a really refreshing cocktail and a perfect start to the weekend. I love citrus over sweet so this was an easy choice for me. 

'It's what the Italians call the Scots and what we call damn tasty. Bold & bitter with Scotch, Campari, Dubonnet, lime & honey - $17'.

S chose the Kung-Fu treachery 'The darkest form of treachery known to man! Deconstructed and rebuilt with Japanese whiskey, American whiskey, ginger, honey & lemon' - $18.

Divine intervention 'If something tells you to drink this, you should. One of our favourites with absinthe, apple & passionfruit shrub' - $18.

Divine Intervention on the left; a made up whiskey cocktail on the right

I can't fault the drinks or the service in this bar. It took us a little bit to find the actual bar because it's hidden down a little lane way on Kent street, but if you know how to find Baxter's then bars down lane ways should be nothing new. It's still quite a new bar, so I would recommend getting in now while it doesn't get overly busy like a lot of other small bars that have popped up.

Pappa Geddes bar is down the lane way at the rear of 348 Kent Street and is open Monday - Saturdays 5pm - 12am.