booooo....home early on a Friday night!

On the bright side (is there even one?), I finally know what illness I've succumbed to. It all began with a minor sore throat on Tuesday which I shrugged off and blamed it on too many chips and chocolate. Little did I know that on Wednesday it got worse and fever came on board as well (just to join the party, why not?). On Thursday, fever and sore throat rode into the sunset together and in comes another visitor (prolly dormant on the couch while waiting for mr.fever and mr.sore throat to pave the way for it, making it easier to infect me). Yes I am now down with a cold! Argh! And I feel a cough coming on as well. Great. Now I'm just wishing that my nose will run off with the cotton in my head. 

Anyways, my sis went to the post office and picked up a surprise for me! Well, technically she didn't go pick it up especially for me- she had a parcel of her own waiting for her and they gave her the wrong one when she was there. They gave her my Sasa order from 3 weeks ago. Why did it take 3 weeks when it usually takes 1? Cos the postie did not leave a card in my mailbox- AGAIN! Seriously, these people need a kick in their butts. This is what I got....they are the best masks in the world! The boy's sister got some for me when she visited Taiwan and apparently they sell like hotcakes over there- bought by tourists and locals alike (I think?). I used it and boy, was I impressed. 100000000000000000x better than the SK-II masks I use. My skin felt SO soft and hydrated after using these I went out and bought some more for myself. Good thing they come in different 'flavours'?

They each serve a different purpose. Heaps of girls I know do a million things to remain fair-skinned (why?) so yeah, they've got plenty that do just that.

Off to watch Flashforward now. What happens in ep 17 and 18? :D 

shoo unwelcome visitor!

...someone tell this sickness to go away!!

but anyhoo, this ad caught my eye recently

can you spot the care bears in the pics above? they look so vintage

btw, I got myself the grey teddy hoodie- it was just TOO CUTE and CUDDLY to resist! so unbelievably comfy once it's on *snugglesnuggle

Dunkeld, Grampians, a whole lot more

Starting out on the 3-hr journey...look how flat the Western part of Melbourne is

2 couples holidaying in 2 convertibles

Pancake Parlour is Pancake Kitchen in Ballarat

We stopped here for a break before continuing on on our journey. Dropped by Sovereign Hill. I was surprised by how big and self-sustaining Ballarat seemed to be- it had everything!

Scary looking woman at Sovereign Hill. I hope she smiled for the pictures she took with the visitors.

Being silly as usual

This is what Royal Mail looks like from the outside. The place doesn't shout 'look at me, come stay here' but they have great amenities (Aesop toiletries, coffee powder and a huge selection of teas- I'm easily sold, can you tell?)

The entrance to our room

Our very own deck

The view from our room. We picked to stay in the mountain view room but didn't really get to enjoy it as we had to keep the blinds closed, reason being we were on street level

Our unit from the outside

Quaint little bookstore opposite the hotel

Since we were in Dunkeld, which was the very base of Grampians, we headed to Grampians to do some trekking and cycling. No pics of me in a helmet cos I wasn't a happy camper having to wear a gross helmet- ewwwwww! On the drive there...

What is hammer time?

We picked the hardest route when we went to Mackenzie Falls. Climbing down flights of stairs was easy but going back up was another story altogether. When they warned that the journey back up was challenging, strenous and steep they sure weren't kidding! I had to stop a few times when climbing up simply cos I ran out of breath and thought I was gonna die and roll down the waterfall. This is at the very base of the trek.

I sat there watching the waterfall while the boy became monkey for the day and stuck his nose in everything. Can you spot him in the pic below? Lol, where's wally...

We went cycling after that and I gave up halfway cos I didn't want to ride on the road and have to share with cars so the boy went by himself for a ride to the lake

Panoramic view from the top of a mountain. These shots were taken and created by the bf cos obviously I don't have the patience for these things haha

Panoramic view of the lake

It was a good getaway- no laptops, no internet. We really started to appreciate the getaway when we were driving home via Kingsway....the noise and cars and people that comes with living in the city made us realise that the grass is always greener on the other side.

Going to Sydney in June for an eating fest (hohoho- the boy's bday and he's shouting me dinner at a 3 hat restaurant). I can't wait! And is that Adriano Zumbo and Passionflower calling my name? :D 

hello, it's been a while!

I've been busy clicking my mouse- refreshing webpages. Online shopping is HEAPS of fun! But not so fun when I miss out on $1 deals on the Outnet.com. Visited Strawberrynet twice in one week and I'm pretty impressed with their delivery. It's sooo quick- both my parcels have probably taken a maximum of 1 week each to reach me. Replenished my favourite perfume:

Stella Sheer- everytime I use this I get asked what perfume it is. It IS that amazing.

Bought a cheapie- couldn't resist. Mom bought this years ago and I love how it smells so I just repurchased.

Made triple choc muffins a few weeks back (I cheated- they were straight from a box) but I topped up the milk chocolate buttons so it was all gooey on the inside. Yum.

I have plenty of pics from when I went to the Grampians and stayed at Royal Mail. You might remember hearing me talk about Royal Mail here. Stay tuned for the next blog post!

Under the sea

Was flipping through my 2009 Entertainment Book the other day, looking for vouchers we could use before they expired and one that caught my eye was for the Melbourne Aquarium. I've never had any strong urge (not even 1%) to visit the aquarium in all my 7+ years here, but this weekend somehow, something was pulling me towards its doors. And for half price for me and the boy...why not?

We forgot to take along our camera so had to make do with the Iphone (which takes pretty impressive pics for a phone). We were greeted by penguins! So cute. I never knew there were different breeds of penguins but these were King penguins and they are aloof creatures, preferring to hang out amongst themselves and ignore their neighbours, the ..... 

...Gentoo penguins! These penguins can outrun a human on land (unbelievable!) and they were swimming soooooooooo fast in the tank, your eyes would both go in different directions just trying to look at them swim.

Lack of affection, hence resorted to kissing a penguin.

Some tiny crab

A lionfish- these fishes have a venomous dorsal spine

Gigantic lobster and crab

Did you know lobsters could climb up walls? Neither did I. 

Weedy seahorse. -_-

Leafy seahorse. -_- I swear these are its given names (non-scientific of course).

Pot-bellied seahorse. Ok, I made this up but the males have bigger bellies and the bigger the belly, the more attractive they are to the female.

A really ugly fish! I looked into the tank initially but didn't see anything so I looked away. I didn't see this lil guy till the boy pointed it out.

Trying to kiss another fish.

A long-necked turtle. Eeeee....

These turtle eggs were being artificially incubated at 24 degrees and once hatched, could mean an addition of up to 20 long-necked turtles for the Aquarium!

Did you know this fish...HAS NO EYES?! And is albino?!! They move around using sound waves that bounce around. The silver dot is just a reflection off the camera...it's not the eye cos they are blind as bats!

Transparent fish.

Ugly fish.

Sawfish at the bottom of the tank.

Shark!

Shark eggs. I guess they have the option of laying eggs, or giving birth to live mammals.

A very tiny, poisonous blue frog. The venom off their skin is used on the tips of blow darts in some parts of the world.

I want its nose!

A fish that look like it fell into blue dye. Doesn't look too smart either lol.

Then we went into a room lighted with UV and filled with jellyfish!

Some jelllyfish can only move up or down and they have to depend on the sea current to move them left or right hahahah poor things.

Haha I don't look too scared being caught in a shark's jaws, do I?

Massive stingrays!

Alright, I'll leave you with a pic of this cute fish and off to bed I go.

The visit to the aquarium was fun- I feel a lil bit more educated and enlightened about the creatures of the sea now :) although I still wouldn't want to be underwater with any of them.

Have a good week everyone! xo