Baby Steps

Well I'm back from the Grace Kelly road trip, and boy did I enjoy the trip. It was really interesting to see the wide (flat) world past the Great Divide and get some real country time up my sleeve. I am going to do a longer post on the trip but this little gem is a taster, the picture does not do it justice, but it is a pair of baby bootees in leopard print!

I may be out of the baby wear loop at the moment but I can appreciate what the well dressed baby girl should be wearing this winter and this one to me is a real winner!

This little gem was on display in a store in Griffith and my significant other had to hold me back from running in and buying them for a future granddaughter (hey it's never too early to start a killer wardrobe). 

I must say they never had such stylish baby clothes when my kids were young, so what do you  think, what age is acceptable for leopard print??????

Exhumed!

Guess What,   I got to be rock chick for a night recently! Given my age, that is a bit of a blast from the past, but at Exhumed! I was one of the young ones.

For those of you unlucky enough not to know what I have talking about, have a look here and then come back and read of my adventure at Exhumed!

The moment I heard James Valentine talk about this on the radio I said to my Significant Other "We will be there, oh yes we shall" and I moved hell and high water to make sure we were there!

Big decisions had to be made, like what footwear?

Would we need ear plugs?

A bit of rock chick hair magic!

Excitement builds as we arrive at
Rooty Hill

The Bands 

Just like a real rock concert, security and wrist band!

Maybe a concession to the age of the audience? Seating for all

Prime seating, just behind the Judges:

L-R Barry Divola, Wendy Matthews, Tommy
Dean

We had a absolutely wonderful time, I was totally amazed by the quality of the music that was played that night, just ordinary people who loved making and playing music together. 


I want to thank ABC 702 for putting it on, and I am eagerly waiting for next year, I even kept my wrist band!
:-)

Road Trip

This picture is a clue to something, can you guess?
There are a lot of things in the photo that relate to me


1. I am blonde
2. I am a princess (of sorts)
3. I love to drive fast cars
4. I have a convertible
5. My significant other is as lovely as Cary Grant


Give up?


We are going on a road trip to Bendigo to see the Grace Kelly exhibition! see here for more info


I have always loved Grace Kelly and managed to see an exhibition of her memorabilia a few years back at the Victoria and Albert in London. I heard the curator of this exhibition talking about how she managed to convince the family to lend more to the exhibition, hence me driving fast to take a look.


So I am going to channel my inner Grace Kelly for a few days doing a road trip through south west
NSW and Victoria. So strap yourself in, and join me, I promise there will be good food and wine on the way and lots of interesting things to see on the way.


First stop tomorrow: Griffith.
See you tomorrow!

i've been everywhere man!

I have to apologise to my readers, due to overwhelming demand from you ( well one of you at least!) to know what I have been up to  (obviously not blogging enough) I have my letter of absence to explain why I have absent without your leave.

So here goes

Been to Noo Zeeland for a work trip

Saw 10 movies at the French Film Festival

Easter celebrations ( and a lazy Easter Sunday lunch for 17!)

House guests x 2

Exhumed! ( if you have to ask you will have to wait for the revelation!)

caravan and camping show

historical cemetery tour ( nothing to do with Exhumed!)

Anzac day family get together

Airport farewells

Mothers Day

Long weekend

Renovating our laundry ( here's a picture to prove)

Putting in a new water tank (I expect the rain will stop now!)

and work sometimes gets in the way as well! :-)


I hope you will accept my apologies, if you are looking for me, I'll be airing my dirty laundry!
:-)

Pen Pals

I have a confession to make, I love to collect pens from hotels.
there it's out!

I don't think I am the only person who likes to collect hotel pens, but recently when I cleaned out my desk drawers I found a secret stash of over 30 pens from various hotel chains around the world, and this is not counting the half dozen or so that are resident in my various handbags.

The best bit is looking at the pens and remembering the trips that led to their becoming resident in my desk drawers, so I am going to share some of my best pen memories!....

My favourite are the pink ones pictured below that are from the Langham Hotel in Melbourne, my significant other  and I spent a romantic get a way there a while back. They are quite girly, so I expect the men staying at the Langham might not be interested in souveniering these!

the Novotel one was from a work trip where we stayed at the St Kilda Novotel in 2010, I expect to increase my stock of Novotel pens later this year when we do another work trip and stay there.

Oh La La!  I lurve the Sofitel hotels in both Sydney and Melbourne, and as you can see I have spent a fair bit of time accumulating these pens, although not as pretty and girly as the Langhams's they write beautifully.

Marriott is a good brand, we usually stay at them when we are travelling however this one is from a recent overnight stay for work just near my office.

How about something more exotic?..

This is from an work award trip where I got to go to Dubai. Although it is a pencil not a pen it was deemed worthy of my collection. Initially I was less than impressed with the idea of going to Dubai, but WOW it was a wonderful trip, an amazing place, desert, shopping malls with ski fields, and fabulous hotels. Oh that reminds me of a story about something I saw there that amused me, but I will save that for a later post.  A girl should not disclose everything on a first date, I need you to want to come back for more!  ;-)

But this one has got me beat, I may have never been to me, but I am pretty dam sure that I have not been to Kathmandu either but somehow I have managed to get this one into my collection!

Perhaps my pens are not having an exclusive relationship with me but are seeing other people and somehow I have ended up with this rather intriguing little number. Dare I suggest there may have been some pen swapping action going on?


Just to finish off I will show you a a little bit more of my collection...

so I've showed you mine, how about you show me yours??
:-)

Flirtation Device

It was a long week, I went to New Zealand for a conference last week, got home rather late last evening and have spent all day catching up with all the work paperwork that slides when you are away, so I have been working on this post for a while and now think I will have to put it out there.....

Do you have a Flirtation Device?

You might be thinking, oh no! Is she is drinking and blogging again, (well I am, as I never take my own advice) but I am serious and in case you think it is a typo,  I don't mean a flotation device, unless you are on a plane right this moment (in that case, please switch to flight mode and read later!) or a stranded cruise liner somewhere in the Adriatic.

I think every woman needs a flirtation device, which is a bit like the real life saving device which has a light and a whistle to attract attention**, a Flirtation Device is a lifesaver to women. In case you think I have really lost it here is my thinking.

There has been a lot of talk in the media here lately about middle aged women being "invisible", that is we reach an age when we are no longer noticed by men (other than our husbands I hope) and by society in general. So I think in order to counteract this,  it is our duty to go out and find a flirtation device to attract attention.

In my case, it is a work husband. You know one of those guys who are nice and safe, ( a bit like your own man) but you get on really well with, and no URST, (let me know if you need me to expand on that) but who gently flirts with you, notices what you wear, if you have lost weight and have a new hairdo ( and no he is not gay!) makes you feel good about yourself and generally makes your work life bearable.

Your Flirtation Device (FD)should be disclosed to your Significant Other (SO) lest he think you are planning to bolt off with him and take the family silver etc and leave him with wall to wall floorboards and not much else. It has been known for FD and SO's to become good friends and then the risk is the SO will desert you for the FD!!

So if you are missing this necessity for the modern  middle age femme fatale I have found the rules of flirting for you so that you can be prepared for your very own Flirtation Device.

http://www.sirc.org/publik/flirt.html

*** a light and a whistle for attracting attention, EXCUSE ME, if I am unlucky enough to be in the sea, after an emergency landing, I do not want to be giving the sharks an advantage!!

5 star or 5 million stars?

I remember the days when staying in a hotel was special and exciting. That was in the old days when we were young parents and even staying in a highway motel seemed better than home. How things change, now I find I am quite blasé  about hotels in general, I think this has occurred due to the amount of business travel I have done over the last 12 years and now I find most hotels ( even the 5 star variety) are not as good as my home!

What does a hotel offer that I cannot get a home?

Luxury bedding and Designer Rooms??

We have 1000 count egyptian cotton sheets on our bed with an abdunace of pillows of all types.

a view? Well here is mine

Luxury Bathroom??
Well we have a dual shower one is a rainwater and a deep soaking bath with view for no added cost! PLUS big thick fluffy white bath towels!  I cannot stand it when in really good hotels the bath towels are really worn and scratchy!

Fully stocked mini bar???
and it is already paid for,  no surprises at checkout!! And none of those little annoying bottles.  And you know the worse bit?   is when they have gin but NO TONIC!!

Entertainment??

Large flat screen  TV with the correct aspect ratio ( so no short fat people on the TV)   3 iPod docks, and a number of country walks to take. PLUS a roaring fire when we need the ambience.

Significant other is now concerned that we are going to get robbed!


and the best thing about this homely hotel it is a PET FRIENDLY place!

In case you are starting to think I am a total tosser, the reason I point all this out is now I am lusting for a real holiday, under the stars ( hence the title!)

I am tired of hotels and want to have a simple and pleasurable  holiday where we can travel around, buy, cook and eat local produce and see things from  a more simple perspective. Here is my dream holiday mobile hotel, Photos courtesy of Maui campers

and here it is:

Love the outdoor inbuilt BBQ, I can see myself right there!

Camping if fine, but a girls need a loo and a quick shower even in the bush! Can you believe they can fit a shower and toilet in this space??

Significant other and I having a discussion about the next travel destination; Warning photo may not represent the real people mentioned! :-)

So what's your vote, 5 stars or 5 million stars!



Watch out for my next post called

"Who needs a turn down service!"