Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

aussie curves challenge - swimwear

i love the water - but i didn't always love the water.  it scared me, especially the beach but once i learnt to really swim, i couldn't stay away - from any water. i became a swimmer, i would rise early and ride my bike to swimming training; morning, afternoon, summer, winter, i was always there, swimming, swimming, swimming. i certainly went through my fair share of swimmers.  generally speedos, matched with goggles, a bathing cap and a bottle of much needed talc.

one of my great memories were of beach holidays at scott's head, near where we were born in new south wales.  my sister and i had surf mats and would spend hours in the water just catching waves. this was the 70's and i don't recall seeing a body board anywhere.

i still love beach holidays and have camped for the last 2 years at broken head over christmas.  in regards to swimwear, it's been pretty much about having something that felt good, gave the support i needed, while being somewhat fashionable.  it needed to withstand suncreen, sand and water day after day.
this year, was no exception, till my nephews arrived and as they are full of energy and require water supervision, i needed to get some practicality happening.

the kids just wanted to be in the water all the time on their body boards and quite frankly, i wasn't going to stand on the water's edge and supervise, i was going in to join the fun, but after a couple of goes on the body board, i knew i need to upgrade....to a surf mat. wow did the childhood memories start my endorphins flowing and on my next trip to byron, i picked one up.

the beach was no longer about sitting and reading a book, it was about being in the water, with the kids and pretending i was 10 again, not 48, so sensible swimwear was the go, as this was an all day affair.
i did need to upgrade my rashie, as i was getting one from the surfmat, but when you think you are 10, you just keep going till you can't go any more.
for me, buying swimwear is like buying bras - it's necessary, but can be such a pain, but i'd rather not go without either, same goes for sunscreen.

boardies - Big W (blokes ones)
rashies - both from byron bay
actual swimmer - target

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

aussie curves challenge - pastel

when i saw pastels on the  challenge list, i kind of went eeeww! i don't think i have really done pastels seriously since the 80's.  i like what i wear to be bright bright bright and brighter. but as this is a challenge, i am up for it.

as i am away at the beach, i struggled to think of anything i packed that is pastel, but bingo, the most obvious thing was right on me - my butterfly kaftan.

i found this fabric at spotlight a few years back and as fabric often does, it lay in the box waiting for its time to evolve into something fabulous and eventually a little beach throw was the end result.
i love that this fabric looks like it's just a pretty pattern until all the butterflies start to evolve.
there is also something so great about throwing on a loose flowing kaftan to lounge around in.  i am very comfortable in this look, as i think sometimes kaftans are often used to try and hide what's underneath, but in my case, i just love the look and feel of them and whenever i wear one, i always feel like i am on a holiday, even if i am not.
so that's it.  my pastel look - now i better go, the beach is calling.

kaftan - made by me
glasses - miu miu
hat - won from the local bowlo
havaianas - byron bay
location - broken head beach, nsw

Sunday, 12 January 2014

welcome to the silly season

this post is really a serious review of the silly season.  i have had to attend a few parties, which means i have needed some fabulous outfits (both good and bad) and in my usual fashion, it is all about more is more - the less is more is kind of lost on me.
So lets start.
i watched behind the candelarbra - the story of liberace and i was enjoying this flick very much when i came upon this scene.  So, imagine liberace (left) as dave and scott (right) as me and i kid you not, you could transplant our faces on to these pics and this would be us, in our lounge room, every night that dave is home. I know a lot of ladies who are jealous when i tell them that i get a foot rub every night but it's true and it's all mine.
 
another higlight was when I received a gift from the graduates who have just completed their 2 year program at work.  I really like Moet and i really look forward to cracking this open - perhaps next year when Davie and i hit the 10 year anniversary.
at work, we decided to do some decorating in the office and that meant a trip to a decoration store, where i picked up these beauties.
and as part of our shopping we also got a hat - but it would seem that i am the only person who thinks it's a hat, but i am sure the others will come around.
I also did some community service and looked after our neighbour Harry.  He's nearly one and cried like a baby while his mum was in sight, then proceeded to dry those crocodile tears quicker than you could say "crikey" when she was out of sight.  We made him feel right at home and bought big bird out to play.  BB was a gift to my son when he was about 6 months old.  BB is now 28 years old and still looks good for his age and still manages to intrigue the kids.
fast forward to my christmas party where i started preparing early.  No, this is not a method to protect me from aliens, but a way to make curly hair, and i mean really really curly hair, really really curly frizzy hair. I like to call it disco hair, as it was to enhance my gold jumpsuit - that i was still making about 2 hours before we had to go....
It does look like i was trying to be taken over by aliens in the photo below, as when you zoom in on this pic, i look a bit like a crazy lady.
and then it was time to razzle dazzle. big hair, big flowers, big jewels, big heels, big everything to be precise and all with some special posing.



if only dave had worn this outfit to dinner - i would have been super chuffed, but we had a photo booth and lots of accessories to play with  and having tried out the photo booth before dinner, we were then told to nothing obscene in front of the booth camera.  Lucky we got in early.
we were told not to take home any of the accessories, but given that i am not one to confirm with those silly rules, i managed to wear the indian headress out of the party, into the 2 hours taxi queue, encountered some cowboys and mexicans outside the hotel, and eventually into the cab - all without breaking a feather.

next morning, there was no hangover, but there was this very big attractive hair.
this was also the week that we became official bogans.  dave had said for a while he'd love an old car to tinker with and i didn't really think this is what he meant, but this is what is parked in our front yard,  it's an exact replica of my mum's car, which has had a few probs and you can't get parts anymore, so what better way to solve this first world problem then to buy an exact replica and strip it down.NB it did arrive sans wheels and bonnet.
i did think it may have been a late birthday present, given that it has my birthday written on it.
and then we moved onto the team christmas lunch which required a bad shirt and i did my darndest to make a bad shirt, but even got a compliment from a punter at the cru bar where we had lunch.
why anyone would want to compliment me in a shirt covered in baubles with elvis's head in it, i have no idea.
and then it was time for another christmas do - an invitation from my son to join him and his partner for lunch.  this did require a new outfit which i whipped up in the morning before we went out.  Who doesn't love a strapless onsie even if it does come with enough tuckshop arms to feed a small school.
 
big props to my son who made this fine feast of goat's cheese tarts, rosemary potatoes, amazing salad and all the trimmings - bon bons, gifts and finally a trip back to the kitchen where he whipped up some indian halva.  i am extremely proud of him and the effort he went to for this spread.
and to top the day off, i was rinsing the dishes at home and in my mum's tea cup was a love heart.
after all those festivities, we were off on holidays and to get to byron bay, our navman managed to find another dirt track.  WTF.
the beach was on a fully sealed road, but somewhere between brissy and byron, that navman did its magic but the diversion was worth when we arrived.

we had a cracking time
 even stromboli enjoyed it.
 
and in true camping style, there wasn't a great deal to do apart from eat, drink, read, swim and sleep.
and if anyone takes a detour just before you get to broken head, be sure to look out for these that were carved in the rock at some isolated beach.
so farewell 2013, which was a year that for some, they were pleased to see the back of
 and in true summer style we lit a fire 
and celebrated in the best possible way  -- WAX BOMBS


welcome to 2014,  the year i shall try to do more blogs and hopefully more wax bombs, that is until we get a visit from the authorities.

Thursday, 3 January 2013

summer holidays

how lucky were we to jag a spot at fingal for 7 days on a powered site.
tent - check
beer & wine - check
cossies - check
food - check
broken wing mirror - check. this did happen before we even left home and i did cry cause i thought our trip was going to be over before it even began.  the heat did a great job of melting any tape we put on it, even the borrowed flashtak which melts like rubber and has to be removed with kerro.
 
each day at fingal was better then the last apart from the night it rained (and dave thought i would probably want to go home) and the arvo we had the massive storm brewing (which turned out to be a total fizzer).
we had quite the get up and i kid you not that tent was like a freaken tardis. i did get an overall camping rating of 9.5, why i didn't get a 10 i don't know, but maybe it was cause i didn't do any blowing - of the bed - when it would go down a bit in the night.

we would wake up to days as beautiful as this, except they were in colour
today's blog though, is all about the camp food and with a cast iron pot and pan, and a few easy ingredients you can also be eating like a camping queen. in our case the coffee machine was an essential, as we couldn't drive anywhere to get one, due to wing mirror being held up by tape and a wooden spatula and melting at any opportunity.
 
meal one
this one was a left over from our friday night dinner party - but dahl and paneer travels well and reheats really easy.  cook some rice, crack open a pack of mini pappadams and voila.  delish.
brekky
pancakes - SR flour, milk and an egg or egg replacer in my case - none of this whiz bang got to add a zillion ingredients type of thing.  a bit of maple and a banana and you are off.
mmmm another brekky
vege sausage and some fried tomato and onion with chilli sauce on toast cooked directly on the flame.  it's not really toast but brown bread, but still it was yummy.
and the treat of treats, pimentos from markets around brissy and also can be purchased online through their website.
fry in olive oil, with salt and pepper, serve with some fried haloumi and cherry tomatoes and snow peas if you could be bothered going to that much trouble. watch out for the hot peppers though, they are a hoot.
easy peasy nice and not so cheesy nachos
fry some onion and add a tin of canelloni beans and diced tomatoes.  add some mexican chilli powder and serve over corn chips with or without grated cheese and some optional yoghurt and cucumber

 
and now for the drinks - gin and tonics, wine and beer were the order of the week, apart from lunch time when a really icy lemon squash was the beverage of choice.
as the campsite was really close to beach we did do a bit of back and forth for beer and wine and in the end, it was necessary to look at an alternate means of getting our drinks even though it was only a hop skip and a jump to the esky.  and i present you the sandy treasure.
get a plastic bag, fill it with drinks of choice - with lids on of course - and bury in the sand to be retrieved as needed.
 
rest assured and i am not drinking what would normally come out after drinking to many of the things i had buried in the first place.
 cheers!