(Bris) Vegas baby! (part 1).

Wow, what a weekend! So much to say, so much to write...I think I might have to break this up into a few parts unless I'm going to go for the Guinness Book of Records for longest blog post EVER...

So the long-awaited Friday finally arrived and I was so excited to be heading back to Vegas to catch up with my girls. To be honest, we've probably made more of an effort to stay in touch since I've moved to Toowoomba, but still it feels like it's been ages since I've been able to give them a hug and have a proper gossip of the calibre that is only possible with people you've known more than half your life (gulp).

So after the first aborted attempt to leave town (forgot my iphone - oh the horror), we finally hit the road.

And the traffic.

I've only ever driven the Toowoomba/Vegas route on the weekends or during the week at odd times and never encounter traffic on my back-streets foray from work to home, so I didn't realise that despite this being a much smaller place than Brisbane, peak hour is peak hour wherever you go.

Getting down the range wasn't too bad, at least we kept moving, but then we literally came to a standstill...where we waited, and waited, and waited. Meanwhile it looked like my car was going up a degree more than it should have been, and after a serious Tenterfield debacle last easter where my car's engine literally blew, I'm a little overzealous when it comes to these things. So after a quick pitstop to reassure myself that water/oil ratios were all present and correct, we continued on our (very slow) merry way.

So roadworks after roadworks averted, we pass an electronic sign saying 'Fire Hazard, Hatton Vale. Expect Delays'. Wondering wtf this was all about, we finally hit a decent speed and were on our way, excitedly chatting about seeing Cathy and the kids (whom E just adores) and also totally pumped after E's sports carnival that day where he scored 2nd in the 100 metres, 3rd in the 200 and 5th in the 800 metres, thank you very much my little sportstar!

So here I am slightly frustrated about all the delays as I was hoping to get to Vegas before dark, when we pass through the Hatton Vale region to see this so-called 'Fire Hazard'.

Fire hazard my ass!!!!  It was a proper, old fashion bloody BUSHFIRE.

Seriously, the whole hillside right beside the road on the opposite side was completely alight. There were police and emergency services everywhere and the smoke was so thick it went right through the ventilation systems in the car. Passing by in such close proximity on the opposite side of the road was absolutely frightening. What was worse is that cars were still driving on the other side of the road, literally METRES from blazing trees.

It was terrifying and so, so sad to see such a picturesque area going up in smoke.

I just hope and pray that no-one lost their animals, belongings or god forbid, their lives during this blaze.

By the time we got clear of the smoky haze, it was full-on dark but fortunately we were nearing Brisbane by this stage.

Meanwhile I realised I didn't know the number of Cathy's new house, as she's recently moved since I've been in Toowoomba. Silly bitch decides to just not answer her phone however, so E and I are laughing and leaving increasingly ridiculous voicemails, the last being 'answer your bloody phone!'.

We finally hear back just as we're a few streets away, so out comes iphone maps with E as navigator.

Well there's an error in judgement.

E's skills in navigation include directions such as 'somewhere up ahead we need to turn right but I don't know where'.

And...

'Oh there's the street we were meant to turn down...you know, the one we just passed'

By the time we pulled up in front of Cath's house, I was so relieved to be there I could've kissed the ground. Fortunately our arrival coincided with that of our other friend Kathy (too many (K)Cathys, I tell you!) so I kissed her instead.

And we'd arrived!!!!

xx

Not a great photo due to the smoky haze,
but here's us approaching the bushfire
(and yes, I was wearing my gloves whilst driving, it was cold, OK?

Cathy's 50s Housewife Friday.

Happy 50s Housewife Friday kids!!!

Have sooo much to do today!!

Am hosting 7 (possibly 8...) of my Grammar Girls at my new place tonight and am baking and cleaning up a storm.

I love these girls!! We have all known each other since we were 13 and have been getting together regularly since school ended. We stepped it up a notch and added a few new faces after our 10 year reunion in 2000, when old friendships and new alliances were ignited, and we make it a rule to hang out at least every couple of months. Usually with me hogging hosting duties.

Our nights together are full of good food, good wine, icy diet cokes (of course), great conversation, sneaky cigarettes, hysterical laughter, insane reminiscing, endearing heart to hearts and deep and meaningfuls and sometimes tissue wielding sob stories when shoulders are always there for crying on.

These guys have seen me through from freckled face blonde class clown to the raven haired domestic goddess that I aspire to be today and they haven't tired of me yet...

So to celebrate their obvious 'A' grade taste in friendship...A Reward!

How, I hear you say, is she going to reward them? What could possibly be the coolest and most awesome Cathy themed reward????

Huh? Huh?

DIET COKE CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!!!

No you didn't just imagine this...it's real and its happening in my kitchen - TODAY!!

Got my inspiration from Pinterest. Does everyone know about Pinterest?? If you don't then stay away!!! It'll take every little bit of spare time that you're not already wasting on Facebook and steal it forever!

The array of amazingness that awaits you in Pinterest land has literally changed my life...I wade through a sea of inspirational 'pins' everytime I go there and find treasure around every corner:

Drool worthy recipes, sexy smoking Johnny Depp, the downtown streets of New York (see u next April), Cake Pops, Cupcakes, Candy, my 1988 dream boyfriend Duff McKagan, fashion, photography, fantasy!

I run my own businesses (LITTLEmonsters Private Childcare and I Want Candy, a childrens events and party styling business, just to obnoxiously name drop myself) and the inspiration I get from Pinterest is priceless!!

If ur not addicted already, be warned!

Anyway back to my DC cupcakes...

Am gonna try them out and if they're any good I'll post the recipe next week with photos. Am also making strawberry and cream cake pops and black magic choc cake pops.

Also did I mention that some of the gals are bringing their kids?? Will be providing them with enough sugar from my candy filled apothecary jars to put them in a diabetic coma for the rest of the weekend, while Xavier gets to show off his new trampoline....better get off my ass and get busy, yo.

First track of the day?

Pop Will Eat Itself - Everythings Cool

I would have to say that I agree 

Dos dedos mis Amigos!

Cathy xx

Cathy wears many hats. Wife, mother of two sons, CEO of Little Monsters Pty Ltd and Cake Pop Queen just to name a few. She subscribes to the theory that Cathiness is next to Godliness. And on Fridays she behaves like a 50s housewife by sedating herself and cooking, baking and ironing, and being nice to her husband. Any other day is a crapshoot.

How are you so happy?

My boss said the nicest thing to me yesterday. I went off on a tangent, as we're wont to do and were talking about some nasty woman who once worked there and I said something along the lines of that I think I'm missing the vengeance gene.

He then said to me, 'speaking of missing the vengeance gene, how are you so happy all the time?'

Anyone who's known me for a long time probably knows that whilst I'm essentially a look on the bright side of life (doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo - thanks Monty Python), I have struggled for quite a bit of my life with being completely and UTTERLY cynical. It is a strange combination I will admit, but due to extreme (and I mean extreme) shyness, lack of confidence and desperate need to be liked when growing up I had probably way more of my fair share of bad days.

Put it this way, on my grade 8 camp where we gave everyone song titles that best represent them, I was dubiously crowned with this zinger:

Sad Songs, Elton John

Hmm.

Throw a pair of braces into the mix for 2 years and kids picking on me because my gums showed when I smiled...well it's probably a no-brainer that I wasn't your cheerleader, happy kid growing up.

So to hear my boss tell me that it brightens his day to walk towards his office and see me sitting outside smiling is truly one of the nicest things anyone could say. And to then go on and say that I always seem to be bright and happy shows me just how far I've come from the moody, anxious lost little soul I used to be.

So there's my deep thoughts for a Thursday. Wow.

Anyhoo, who couldn't smile when they have a FANTASTIC night to look forward to with the gals tomorrow eve????

I hear Cathy is cooking up something special...so stay tuned for her ubiquitous 50s Housewife Friday tomorrow...and lots of lots of photographic evidence of our girly shenanigans!!!

xx

Earworms. When bad songs go...well, bad.

So on the weekend I made the fatal error of watching The Glee Project online.

Big mistake.

Ever since, the week's performance song has been completely, irrevocably STUCK in my head. I hated the song on it's first listen, 2nd, 10th, 50th and now a million times later I have grown to utterly DETEST it. I want to take it out to a paddock, abuse it for a while, then maim, dismember and burn the bits.

In other words, I really, really don't like it.

What's the song? It's We Found Love (Rihanna).

It led me to once again ponder why it is that the only songs that seem to go in one ear and NEVER out the other are generally THE most annoying and hated songs of all time.

I say once again, as a few years back on Facebook I wrote of a song stuck in my head, which I can't quite recall the title of but it struck a chord with others who then abused me as even just looking at the title instantly made the song get stuck in THEIR heads.

Being me, of course, every day thereafter for about a month I posted a really bad song in the hope that it would get stuck in someone else's head. I eventually was persuaded to stop after being threatened to be defriended, unfriended??? and threatened personal harm more times than the usual. Plus I just got bored with it.

I'm all about spreading the love. I'm just giving like that.

You're welcome, people.

My friends were very happy to note that this little exercise backfired a number of times with the song getting stuck in my own head (try humming Against All Odds for 5 days straight - thanks for nothing, Phil Collins).

But it led me to track down the term 'earworm' which is, you guessed it, a song that gets stuck in your head.

So this week's earworm is brought to you courtesy of Rihanna.

Oh well, I suppose it could be worse. At least it's not that ridiculous How We Do that Toowoomba radio seems to have stuck on permanent replay...or anything by Train.

Hope you're having a good day! Tell me about your most (in)famous earworm!!!

xx

Like this? Feel free to subscribe or share on Facebook by clicking on the little button thingamies below.

Man flu.

At the risk of alienating every male reader I've ever had, I am compelled to comment on an epidemic currently sweeping South East Queensland.

Ladies, if you're currently experiencing these symptoms in your household, my heart goes out to you. Fortunately my home is epidemic free however I cannot say the same for my workplace.

What am I talking about?

Well women would describe it as a sniffle, or a common cold. However the male of the species would label it 'man flu'.

Yes, man flu.

Apparently man flu is entirely different from any type of flu experienced by females. The Urban Dictionary (always full of helpful information) defines man flu as:

A rare strain of flu so powerful and so deadly it can only be matched by the Bubonic Plague and Aids. An incurable virus which has adapted to only effect the XY gene found in men. The virus attacks the immune system 10,000 times harder than the average flu virus, causing excruciating pain for the victim. Man Flu has no cure and prayers cannot save the forsaken life of the infected. The often deadly virus is mostly laughed at by women who sadly cannot contract Man Flu.

Apparently this condition is now so common that manflu.info has been developed to assist the infected, it's tagline being that 'it's important to remember that YOU are an expert in self diagnosis'. It also offers helpful tips for women such as:

• Any flippant comments such as 'Oh it's man flu, is it?' will result in immediate deterioration
• Any sarcasm will also result in deterioration. Instead, you may be required to massage his feet, dab his forehead with a wet cloth, cook/clean/do housework/change the channel on the remote, or in other words be his slave without complaint

My workplace is currently being overrun with Man Flu. If it wasn't so pathetic it would be humorous. Now a few weeks back I was suffering from, you know, just your normal flu, and still managed to show up to work every day. However as I don't possess the XY chromosome, I clearly just don't get it.

So for the man suffering Man Flu in YOUR life, I recommend the following.

Hope it helps.

xx

Cathy's 50s Housewife Friday.

Happy 50's Housewife Friday Everybody!!

What a beautiful day in chilly downtown BrisVegas! Not a cloud in the goddamn sky!!

A perfect morning for walking my little blond pal to school and generally enjoying the crisp cool air whilst my favourite pooch pees all over Paddington. I spun my little fella out this morn while we were discussing Superheros on our walk.

'Mum do you know who General Zodd is?'

I take my time thinking.....

'Yes, he's a Superman villain, isn't he?'

'Yes! He is! How'd you know that??'

'Superman two...' I say nonchalantly.

(My brothers and I must have watched that movie 20 times as kids...)

'That is so cool that you know these things...'

I smile. 'yes, yes it is'

I live trekking around here, has been my haunt for a looong time and this morning when my Ipod threw out:

1st track of the day:

Janes Addiction - Jane Says

I was walking past the first house I lived in in Paddo and I actually slipped through a wrinkle in time and found myself back in '95 and I was 22.  Just for a second and then I was back, but it was very surreal...

On the walk up to the Paddo Newsagents to get my weekly Friday Who magazine (so I can find out why K Stew cheated on R Patz) I get to pass Thousand Island Dressing, The Paddo Antiques Centre, many funky boutiques and whimsical bookstores.

Not to mention an array of hip and cool coffee houses with the wafting aroma of freshly roasted brew deliciousing up my senses....I don't actually drink coffee but damn I love the smell!!!

A great start to my day!

Second track of the day:

Kiss - Strutter

An awesome song to stride around to!

Always reminds me of a very awesome local rock goddess that I know and adore, who I shall merely refer to as K Love.

Am now playing the entirety of Pretty Hate Machine by N.I.N. while I get started on double fudge brownies for the hoards of vultures that will swarm me around 3:30pm this arv.

Will also be cheerfully folding laundry and tidying bedrooms and later you'll find me: hair set, pretty red lips and being charming and agreeable to my husband and children in our clean (for about 40 mins) house.

So have a marvellous day guys! Hope everyone is tapping into their inner housewives today like me! Don't have a husband and children tied around ur neck??? Make yourselves some choc chip cookies, sedate urself with some organic red wine and blare some loud music with ur reddest lipstick on and ur feather duster in ur hand - be a 50s Housewife to yourself - even if it's just for one day. You deserve it! *wink*

Cathy xx

Cathy wears many hats. Wife, mother of two sons, CEO of Little Monsters Pty Ltd and Cake Pop Queen just to name a few. She subscribes to the theory that Cathiness is next to Godliness. And on Fridays she behaves like a 50s housewife by sedating herself and cooking, baking and ironing, and being nice to her husband. Any other day is a crapshoot.

Anticipation. And admitting my dad was right.

So pretty crazy busy week in little old Toowoomba this week!

Everything's ramping up everywhere I look, so many changes, so many projects and so much good news around the place...yay!

And especially when you have something to look forward to, like my long-awaited catchup with 'the girls' at Cathy's place next Friday night. Cathy is threatening to revisit the school video once again, which means groans, nostalgia and total mortification at ye old fashion parade awaits...

Cannot wait to see the gals plus a few who I haven't seen in probably 20 years! Excited!

And then also in August I have a BBQ coming up where lots of my family are coming to Toowoomba for the weekend. It's at the guy's place that is the son of my stepmother's friend (get it? haha) who my dad is keen to hook me up with in search of a life....

So I've been blogging quiet this week as there's not been a whole lot to tell so in lieu of words I thought I'd show some amazingly exciting pictures of me on the way to work....hahaha. Enjoying my 'fashion week' of wearing all new clothes to work...it's a great feeling.

Perhaps dad is right and a life is in order....gulp.

Handbags and breakfast...all the
food groups

xx

All this before coffee...

The breakfast essentials

Good hair days