The Makeup Cull

For some time now I have stared at my overly stuffed make up container and thought, 'I should do something about that', but I have this WEIRD thing going on where I hate to throw out things unless they're all finished. Like shampoo and conditioner for example. I am currently about half way through a bottle but I'm sick of it and want to try another brand, but I can't bring myself to buy any more until these bottles are done. Crazy? Maybe.

The tipping point with my makeup collection was when I fished around to the bottom of my bag and found a shimmery loose eyeshadow dust/powder that I think I bought... hmmmmm... at least 9 years ago. But its a super pretty, bronzey, neutral, go-with-everything colour and I love it. But the day after wearing it I noticed that the skin on my eyelids was all dry and flakey and just gross. Coincidence? Maybe. But I wasn't going to take any chances. In the bin that eyeshadow went. I think 9 years was a sufficient life for it.

I also decided to cull anything else that had been languishing in the dark depths of my makeup bag for too long. This is the cull:

And this is the new and improved makeup bag. No more overflowing mess! Hooray!!!

But now I have a list of new beauty products I need. One of them being a new foundation. Duh duh dahhh! I hate foundation shopping. I'm after something new. I am currently using Clinique but want to branch out a bit. Any suggestions?

I really want the Bobbi Brown BB cream. Tried this on at Mecca Cosmetica and it was amazing. Great coverage that lasted all day!

C xo

Team Sport

 Who would have thought that this here little blog about shoes and shopping and family and food would have a heading like 'Team Sport'?

Well readers, it does. Deal with it.

On a side note, I love the whole neon runners trend at the moment.
These are not mine, but I wish they were!
Source: Pinterest

I've joined the work mixed netball team. Not having played in over 10 years didn't stop me. No siree. I was jumping on that social team sport bandwagon like there was no tomorrow!

And what do you know, I actually enjoy it... most of the time... but I'll get to that a bit later.

I typically end up playing WA or WD (as my lovely sister in law puts it - they are the shittiest positions so they put the shittiest players in them. Thanks J!). But occasionally I moonlight as GS. I know! Short little me as GS. I love it. And i'm ok at it if I do say so myself. I think everybody gets a bit put off by my height (or lack thereof) and just let me go for it.

Anyway, back to the enjoying it bizzo. Its SOCIAL netball. Its supposed to be fun, right? WRONG. Some people take it very seriously. They are super competitive and get all yelly at the ref and stuff. Luckily we haven't had too much of that. And then you get people like me who are pretty shit at netball (J said so!) who like to play for funsies, but when you get put up against somebody who is a) good and b) a bitch (like tonight) you get a very ragey Cath. My opposition was just so..... ahhhh! Frustrating! She was sticking her big bum in my face and just being all condescending because I had to ask few questions about the rules to the ref (because I didn't know!). And then she made me mad, and made me be even shittier at netball than normal which made me be offside more often, or contact more often, and accordingly, give away penalties more often. So. Frustrating.

I was thinking while I was playing, how do the pros block out all of the stuff that irritates them? Do they have a secret? I just tried to ignore my bitchy counterpart and play as best I could. All I wanted to do was play good to show her up. It didn't really work. Oh well. We did win though. So that's something!

Do you play team sport? How do you keep your cool in heated situations?

C xo

Life of late

Here's some glimpses of my life lately...

Loving the cooler weather in Brisbane at the moment. I have so many jackets, blazers, cardi's etc and yet I still continue to buy more! I scored this stripey number from Ezibuy for a steal ($18). Wearing it with dark denim jeans, pink top and Red Phoenix Emporium jewels. I'm loving the RPE girls and their range. They are locals and so so talented!

We dragged out the flannelette this week. Flanny pj's and sheets are the business. Even Miss L's pj's match our sheets!

I whipped up a baked cheesecake with a blueberry topping on Sunday arvo. We are still ploughing our way through it. Its super delicious, especially with the chocolate icecream we have stashed in the freezer.

Miss L has been on a rollercoaster ride of sickness of late... Ear infection, cold and mouth ulcers all in the matter of a few weeks. She has one illness, we have a week of happy, healthy Miss L, and then it starts all over again. Sigh. Day care is taking its toll on all of us! But at least we're building up that little immune system.

Miss L's favourite 'toy' at the moment is a balloon or 'bubble' as she calls it. Its so adorable. And cheap! But is hard to control when we're out and about - some shops have balloons set up as part of their display and Miss L is always very insistent on obtaining one. She knows what she wants and she will not stop until she gets it.

She's also into climbing. On everything. Dishwasher included.

This was when she had her ear infection. She just lay on her pillow watching her favourite show - Small Potatoes. Poor little love.

 And her hair is long enough to rock a little pony tail now. She is growing up so fast. I'm trying to slow down and soak up all of her during this tiny person phase... She's not walking yet, but that's ok with me. I've still got my baby for a bit longer.

C xo

My Week with Leona

Now, I wish I could spend a week with the divine and talented Ms Leona Edmiston, but instead I wore her frocks for a week - setting myself a personal style challenge to wear seven different Leona dresses in seven days. It was seven days of style and glamour and I tweeted about it all week. The response from the Leona Edmiston girls on twitter was so positive and their encouragement ensured I persisted with my challenge. It sure did make getting dressed in the morning very easy!

Here's my stylish week in pictures (back to front - sorry!):

Sunday: Fox wrap dress casual'd down with layers and flats

Saturday: Floral print Pia dress with layers underneath. It was so cold! Note: ugg boots in picture hehe

Friday: The first Leona dress I ever bought! Pretty peacock print & clashing it with my leopard print flats

Thursday: Leona dress underneath a colourful knit - perfect for the office!

Wednesday: Floral print dress. I wore this dress when I was pregnant. So versatile!

Close up of the print on Wednesday's dress

Tuesday: Wrap dress for work. See Miss L watching on from the sidelines!

Monday: Dress with border print, tights and tan flats. Great 'Mum on the Run' outfit

As you can see, I love my Leona dresses. The Ruby range is very affordable - check it out HERE. And the Frocks are to die for - sigh! I think I have at least another 7 Leona dresses to do a second week!!! Obsessed much. They are just so easy to wear and so easy to wash. No ironing is ever required.

I've even inspired another fellow blogger and fashion lover to do the same. Check out Kimba likes on her blog and her twitter @Kimbalikes. She started her seven days of Leona today!

This little personal style challenge just reaffirmed my love for Leona frocks and increased my desire for more dresses to add to my collection. Sorry Mr B!

C xo

Because I don't have a.....

.... Because I don't have a penis. There I said it. Penis! (I can't believe I just said penis on my blog. I don't even know who I am anymore) Oh, and the reason why I'm finding it so hard to make friends at work... because I don't have a penis.

Uggh.

People are friendly towards me at work and stuff, but I've noticed this week since a new guy started that the boys are all over him. Loitering around his desk. Asking him to come and have coffee with them. Etc Etc. The boys are so matey with each other. They have 'stripey shirt days' where they all wear stripey shirts. Its a bit cute actually, how much they love each other.

Why aren't the girls like that? I put the question to Mr B. He claims it's because girls are territorial of their space and their 'girls' and don't like it when a new girl comes on the scene to potentially ruin all of that. I hope he's wrong.

It makes me all sad that I still don't have any proper friends at work. I've definitely made progress since February, but its hard going, especially only working 3 days a week.

I don't remember being like that with new girls in my old office on the Gold Coast... Hmmmpph.

Never fear, I will continue to whip out my best baking skills to wow everyone once again and give me at least a hint of a friendship in the office. Look what the boys made me - a trophy with the words 'Grand Ultimate #1 Super Baker - Cath's cuisine reigns supreme' - they even (temporarily) surrendered their cricket trophy for me. Bless them!

C xo

Enough babble

Sheepishly, she re-enters the blogosphere hoping that no one will notice her extended absence... 

I know I'm letting the ball drop on this blogging caper. I'm finding it hard to fit social media into my life at the moment. But I'm trying to change that. So... hi!

Speaking of social media, I had a mini break from Facebook for a couple of weeks. It was quite refreshing! And renewed my interest in it again. And made me more diligent with editing what I see in my news feed so it cuts out all the crap and I only see the good things.

Anyway. Enough babble. Onto the good stuff.

Miss L is growing up so fast. She is now standing up on her feet while holding onto the couch/wall/bath/etc. She can't pull herself up yet but is trying. She must take after me in that department because she has a tendency to give up easily especially when the going gets tough. I still do this. Effort. Meh.

Remember how I told you that we invested in some heavily discounted baby Missoni attire. We got it! See?

For Easter I baked these delicious white choc mud cupcakes which wooed my fellow workmates. I needed the wooing to up the friend making factor at work. I think it worked!

Miss L had her first taste of chocolate this Easter. Just little bits though. Don't want to get the addiction started too early, although it is inevitable with my genes (she says as she wipes away smooshed up chocolate from the keyboard - oops!).

At work wearing green blazer (from cheap shop!) and stripe top from H&M 

Outfit photos are scarce but there are a few floating around...

Working the Seed tube dress with a Forever New sheer oversized top

Formatting? What is happening Blogger? Uggh... I am digging the neutrals and bright colour combo at the moment. I plan on wearing lots of brights throughout winter.

How is everyone? What's news? Tell me something. Anything!

C xo

Hot Cross Buns

I love them. Like, really love them BUT I have a rule about when its 'right' to eat them.

via Pinterest

I know a lot of people are the same.

My rule is that I can't start eating them until at least the 1st of April...

But this year I cracked. And I cracked early. I bought some two weeks ago. Two. Whole. Weeks. Ago.

Oops. My bad.

But then I figure, why limit myself to eating these delicious little morsels for only a short period of time?

Miss L is also a big fan of ye olde hot cross bun. Who knew?

And I can eat a fruitless hot cross bun with 2 teaspoons of butter for less than 250 calories. I know. Listen to me. Yes, I am THAT person counting calories. All thanks to the 12 Week Body Transformation. Which is going well by the way. I have lost 5.1 kilos in 6 weeks. Pretty happy with that. My goal is to lose 8 kgs all up, so I've got a bit to go. Got to stop being so relaxed with my food choices and start moving more! Hmmmmm maybe I should stop with the hot cross buns? Nah...

C xo

Fashion is my Food

So, tonight I treated myself to a spot of 'late night shopping' at the local Westfield. There is a definite difference between the late night shoppers and the middle of the day shoppers. Its fun to suss out the key differences. There's lots of teenagers and DINK's (Double Income No Kids), but I was surprised to still see quite a few mothers with children under the age of 1. I guess I never noticed before when I used to shop on a Thursday night (before I was a mother, before I had a child of my own). I wonder how they do it? How do they keep their baby up after 7pm? Not in a 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe they are keeping their baby up, that's so irresponsible' kind of way, more in a 'How do they physically keep them awake for that long?' kind of way. Hmmmm ok, both sound bad and judgey wudgey, but hear me out! 

We'll stay out late every once in a while, but Miss L is almost always in bed at 7pm. Mostly because she is just zonked by that time, and partly because lately she has been cutting out her day sleeps, but also because I was hardcore into establishing her bedtime routine right from the start. Dinner at 5pm, bath at 6pm, bottle at 6:30pm, play, then bed. It works for us, but can also be limiting. Miss L doesn't sleep well at the best of times so if she's in bed at 7pm and wakes up at 5:30am, I can deal with that. I know she's had a decent enough sleep and the strict bedtime is the one part of her sleep routine that I can control now that she refuses her day sleeps and wakes up whenever the hell she wants to during the night. Even when we put her to bed later, she still wakes up at some ridiculously early hour. Uggh. The sleep issue will always be there I guess and I know I just have to ride it out. A good friend said to me once that there are two types of baby in this world - the ones that sleep, and the ones that don't. So true. Miss L's sleep (or lack thereof) consumes me and its all I can think about. Will she sleep through tonight? How many times will I have to get up to her? Should I put her down for a day sleep or will it just make her cranky? Do I ignore her cries when I'm trying to get her to have a day sleep? Or do I stay in there with her and try and pat her to sleep? Should I just go for a drive and hope that she falls asleep in the car? So many questions and thoughts running through my head I know that this too will pass, but it could be years away. I guess we just need to take each day as it comes. And I need to stop being so obsessy over it all.

Anyway, I digress, so I went shopping last night and Mr B requested I pick up some delicious Mexican takeaway dinner for him, which I did as the dutiful wife I am. I was wondering what I was going to get for myself, when I stumbled upon this scarf at Sussan

Reduced to $19.95, with a further 30% off that... that's $13.95... I could spend that $13.95 on dinner OR even better, I could spend  that $13.95 on this fancy new blue scarf and just make myself something at home? Brain, you are so clever. Fashion is my food you see, I don't need no takeaway meal, just a bright new scarf to take the hunger pangs away.

This is how my brain works. Is that scary? Maybe. Probably. Definitely.

In other news I've decided that this year is my year of getting rid of a credit card. I say 'a' credit card, because I have two. Yes, two. Two credit cards for one Cath is not good. Don't ask me how I ended up with two. It may have been a failed attempt to transfer some debt to a new card to take advantage of a 0% interest rate for 6 months and pay off my credit card, but in my naivety I just started adding purchases to said credit card. Massive FAIL. Now i'm dealing with two credit card debts which is just ridiculous. I finally fessed up to Mr B about it all. He was not impressed to say the least. So now, Operation Pay Off The Credit Card is in full swing. My goal is to have one paid off before the end of this year, and the other significantly reduced.

With that in mind... did you all know that J.Crew is now shipping to Australia?!!! It is very exciting, especially since they are celebrating this fact with Free Shipping and Free Returns until the end of April. Arggghhh!!! Go forth and shop my dear friends! I loved J.Crew when I was in the States in 2010, and a few of my fave fashion bloggers rave about J.Crews tailored cropped pants, cashmere sweaters and gingham shirts. Le sigh. Pity now I'm in the midst of Operation Pay Off The Credit Card - I have to be able to justify all purchases to Mr B as he will see them on our joint account. 'It was on sale... think of the savings!' isn't going to cut it!

Which reminds me... I may have bought Miss L this divine Missoni cardi that was heavily discounted on Ozsale. Its super cute. We sure do love the laaabels darling. Can't wait to see her in it.

C xo

Pyjamas

What do you wear to bed? Are you a matchy matchy person or do you just wear an old t-shirt?

I like to think I wear pretty nighties to bed, but in reality I wear my comfy 3/4 pants and singlet.

These pj's from Peter Alexander are so cute and look comfy enough to wear on a nightly basis (oh, and I think those slippers would look excellent on me!)

C xo

Life Update

You sure do know you're alive when you have a sick baby. On Friday night Miss L woke up around 11pm and from there it was down hill.  Saturday was a nightmare. She just couldn't be comforted. She cried literally all. day. By 5pm I'd had enough. She was getting worse. So we made the decision to take her to the emergency department at the Mater. And I'm so glad we did. She had a temperature of 38.8 and a spreading rash. The Doctors called us in straight away. They decided to do some tests. First up a urine test. Oh my. That was interesting. We had to give her sips of gastrolyte every 5 minutes and make her lie on the bed with her nappy off while we sat there waiting to catch her wee in a small plastic container. She did not like that one bit (neither did we). Screamed the majority of the time. The only saviour was watching videos of herself on my smart phone and listening to music. What did parents do before smart phones? After that stressful period was over, she crashed... she lay on her tummy while we pat her back and rubbed her hair. The nurse came in to stick these little plastic whatsies on her hands and arms that were smeared with a numbing cream (in preparation for her needles for the blood test). She lay there so still while the nurse did this. Mr B and I were so proud of her for being so calm... the nurse thought differently. 

Sad bubba at the hospital

She told the Doctor of Miss L's flatness and floppiness and they moved us to acute care straight away where they could monitor her more closely. They were worried. Here they poked and prodded her some more. She was so upset. Afterwards she lay on her tummy and fell asleep for maybe 30 mins. She woke up screaming. We gave her her bottle, which she drank all of and then promptly fell asleep again on Mr B's chest where she lay for a whole hour. She never does this. We knew then that she was really sick. She woke up and they decided to give her a dose of nurofen and xylacaine. First up, nurofen. She took about 1ml and promptly vomited up all over herself and the bed. And screamed. Once they had changed the bed and we had changed her, they gave her the xylacaine. She screamed. But took it. It seemed to coat her mouth. I don't know what it was but she became calm and more herself. She started pointing to the brightly coloured mobiles hanging around the ward and talking in her little language. They were sending us home. The Doctor was happy that she was doing normal things like taking her bottle and sleeping, so they decided not to do a blood test. The urine test came back clear. They told us it was a viral infection and she was going to get more of her rash and more fevers. And all we had to do was keep up the panadol and nurofen. No easy feat when she gets so upset at the mere sight of the syringe/dropper. So they gave us suppositories. Brillo. I have to stick my finger up her bottom. Oh the joys of motherhood. We were home by 10pm. Hot. Tired. Smelling of vomit. But glad to be home. 

Spots all over her arms and hands

And she's still not 100%. Spots cover her tiny little arms and legs and she is just so sad. She's exhausted. I'm exhausted. But I know we just have to ride this out. This too shall pass. (*Edited to add: Mr B has been Dr Googling [which is usually my domain] but he has discovered that she has hand, foot and mouth disease. Why haven't the two Doctors we've seen figured that out, yet Dr Google can tell us that in a matter of minutes? Uggh. Not looking forward to ringing the child care centre tomorrow and telling them that piece of information).

Now, after THAT novel, onto other areas of my life.

Work is still going pretty good... but i'm lonely. I guess I was just so used to being 'part of the furniture' in my old office on the Gold Coast. Being the new girl in the Brisbane office is hard. I sometimes feel like they are freezing me out. I have been trying to chat more with a few of the younger girls in the office, doing the usual things like complimenting them on their outfits etc. But its hard to become part of the 'in' crowd. I've just got to be patient I guess. Its not going to happen over night (but it will happen lol Pantene ad anyone?). 

12WBT is going great guns. I've lost 3.2 kgs and have reached my goal of fitting into my pre-baby black pants. My next goal is to fit in to my skinny jeans... I've started going a bit off track with the eating (due mostly to having a sick baby and me needing chocolate and extra lattes to get through it) but seeing the results so far has empowered me to keep at it. This morning I dug out an old aerobics video (complete with lycra outfits) and jumped around the lounge room while Miss L (mostly) slept. I'm trying to fit in exercise when I can but its proving difficult on the days I work. 

And that's about it for now. I need to go and prepare myself for *another* bad night with Miss L... Hope you are all well.

C xo

Update from B Household

Its tough. And hard. And tiring. Phew... I'm exhausted. And I feel like I have no time. No time! Where does all the time go?

Work outfit

So, second week in to Operation Working Mum was less successful... only by way of me being completely and utterly tired last night and going to bed at 7:30pm(!!!) after a shocker of a night on Wednesday night with Miss L, who also had a shocker of a night last night AS WELL where she proceeded to wake me up at 9:00pm, 11:50pm, 2:00am, 4:00am and then finally deciding to get up at 5:30am. I know when she has nights like this that she is definitely sick. And so today started the excessive sneezing, blocked nose, and coughing. Poor little darling.


But otherwise, work itself is going great guns. I like the people there and we're having a team building/fun social outing next week (go-karting - eek!) which will be good. Which means Mr B will have to do the day care pick up, dinner, bath, bottle, bed routine with Miss L. That will be interesting!

What else has happened? It was my birthday last week on the 10th. I turned 31. Man, that sounds old. I had an excellent day which started with Mr B and Miss L giving me a Leona Edmiston voucher and my friend L sending me a hair donut. Awesome! Topped off with Miss L having an excellent morning nap. And then lunch with my friend A and her little boy (also my God Son) A.

Bright b'day outfit

Hair donut put to use - I suck at it!

 Mum came around that night and looked after Miss L so Mr B and I went out to dinner at the new(ish) River Bend development at South Bank. We went to an Italian restaurant called Popolo. Food was excellent. Cocktails were divine. View was spectacular! You must go!

The view from Popolo

I made Mr B some pecan pies/tarts for V Day in the sweet little heart tins that my friend A gave me for my birthday.

Oh, and this is my first week of Michelle Bridges 12WBT. So far so good. I didn't even eat one of those pecan tarts! The self-control is astounding! I lost 2 kgs in a matter of days. How is that possible? I'm not complaining, but seriously? How? I have a lot of sore muscles from the extra (and more intense) exercise I'm doing. But the food is really yummy, even Mr B says so and that's saying something (he is very picky). I've felt a little bit hungry in the afternoons, but have had a cup of tea or drink of water to fill me up and get me through to the next meal time. The program has been great to teach me meal/portion sizes.

So, there you go. How are you all? I miss blogging on a daily basis.

What's happening on the weekend? We're all off to our friends AA and RS's engagement party tomorrow arvo. Mr B and I are all smug and stuff because we played matchmaker about 5 or 6 years ago (who knows) and got A and R together. Yippee!

C xo

I did it...

I We survived. Operation Working Mum has been a success!

Its weird being back at work... in a way it feels like I never left, although I have said a few absolutely dumb things over the past three days. Luckily I can blame 'maternity brain'!

Miss L is loving day care sick! Which makes me feel better about my decision to go back to work. But I miss spending time with her. I only get to see her for a couple of hours on the days that I work, and it makes me want to squeeze all of my cuddles in to one short little time.

My new office is in Fortitude Valley, so its a bit 'hip and cool'... I haven't ventured out during my lunch break yet as I fear my (our - sorry Mr B!) bank balance might be damaged a little by working in close proximity to shops such as Maiocchi and Akira. Wow. Beautiful clothes.

The people are very nice and they seem like such a fun bunch. There's already fun social events planned in the next couple of weeks!

This is what I wore on my very first day back:

Dress: Timeless Classics by Vannessa Tong
Belt: Forever New
Nails: OPI Big Apple Red

And as I type, I am printing out my exercise plan and nutrition plan and shopping list, etc for the 12 week body transpormation (12WBT)... It begins on Monday. Oh dear, I don't think I've prepared myself for this.

C xo

Its happening already...

Hi. I know, I know. Its happening ALREADY. The blog is getting pushed to second (or maybe fifth?) place now that I'm officially a Working Mum. I missed Friday's Fashion Friday post. Sorry. Will try and take a photo of my first day of work outfit tomorrow and post that.

So, I'm here to tell you that this blogging Monday to Friday bizzo will probably (most likely) not be happening any more, but I will try and blog regularly (at least 2 to 3 times a week). Promise.

I am so extremely nervous about tomorrow... I don't know what to expect about my first day back, or how I will be feeling at the end of it. I do know that I will be thinking about Miss L alllllllll day and will be missing her like crazy...

C xo

Internal Battle

image via Pinterest

I'm heading back to work next week... on Tuesday to be exact. I've had a total of 13 months off work. That's a L-O-N-G time in the realm of town planning (p.s. I'm a town planner - I don't think I had told you that?). Legislation is constantly changing and evolving and I always said I would 'keep on top of it'. Keep reading my email updates from law firms and the Planning Institute of Australia. And did I? That's a big fat no. Life (and baby!) just got in the way.

I'm so nervous about heading back to work. Will I remember everything? Will I be a bumbling mess? Will the new office like me (I've transferred from the Gold Coast office to the Brisbane office). How am I going to get us all out of the house by 7am on those three days? Shit.

And then there's the ongoing internal battle going around and around in my head - have I made the right decision to go back to work? I know its *only* three days a week, but Miss L is so precious and she's my only one and I'm going to MISS her but I know it will be good for her to socialise with other babies!!!

And I'm going to miss maternity leave. I have loved it. So much. Its hard work being a Mum, but so rewarding at the same time.

C xo

The Big One

Today Miss L turns 1. The big 1. I can't believe it. Where did the last year go? My little baby is now a toddler.

I remember the early days when she was stuck in hospital and I'd cry every time I left her and I wondered when I'd ever get to take her home.

This was when Mr B first met Miss L

And then when she was home, and she was still so tiny (and very cranky) and all I would do was feed her, change her, play with her for a bit and then put her to bed. It was a constant repetitive routine that lasted for what seemed like months. I remember wondering if it would ever end and being so exhausted and tired...

The first I saw of my baby was this photo

But we made it through. We survived the first year! Hooray!

We are having a small party for Miss L on Saturday and preparations are underway. But we HAD to have a cake today. The classic AWW number 1 cake in all its glory.

C xo

Stripes, Spots and Patterns

I love stripes.

Some people like spots.

Others like patterns or all black or block colours.

What do you love?

C xo