Before I can fully recover from the thrill that was the Ballarat Blythe meet, another mini meet has been set for next Wednesday – not sure who else is going to be in attendance this time round, but I know Eva, Alana and I will be there at Koko Black. It’ll be nice meeting up again; but this time it’s partly business too – I’m going to pay for and get my twin TF6 Blythe from Eva (who has been nice enough to purchase her on my behalf last year). Woot! I’m excited about the venue too; mainly cos it’s been touted by Eva to be even better than Max Brenner; and since I’ve always been in love with MB’s chocolate creations, this wednesday’s outing should be an experience for the tastebuds! Can’t wait!
It was the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Dog yesterday, and the family spent it welcoming the väter back into Melbourne. He arrived on a SQ flight at around 8pm; so dinner had been eaten, and all that were left to do was to wish one another a happy new year. It’s a quiet, low key affair this year (when was it NOT?); more so because there’s no one to visit, or have people come round. We didn’t even bake much new year goodies (I DID make a batch of pineapple tarts with the boy when I was up in Newy). There were red packets received though – one from the parents, and two from both grandparents back in Singapore – and for that, I’m appreciative. 
Today was a nice windy Melbourne day, and you might be forgiven if you thought it was now Autumn instead of Summer, what with the amount of people in coats and boots. Took the opportunity to head out into Coburg to check out op shops; never know when I might find my Kenner Blythe, or a good coat or two. No Kenners to be found (although there were HEAPS of sad looking nude Barbies at Savers), but I did managed to score a $7.50 black dress/top from the Salvos, a long sleeved shirt (hee-haw, cowboy!) for $10 and a GORGEOUS brown vintage dress for $35 (both from episode – one of my fav spots to shop for clothes). How sweeet was that for slightly over $50? *blissful sigh* I think I might christen the chocolate coloured dress one evening when the boy is here next. He’s actually coming for 5 days sometime in the next week and a bit; all thanks to Jetstar’s $49 fare. Woot!
Anyway, happy Year of the Dog once again to those who celebrate it! I’m going to head back to my town in Animal Crossing: Wild World, now. 
It was a lovely outing today with the Blythe folk out in Ballarat; despite the drizzles and muggy weather. It was a smaller than expected turnout, but those who went had fun just soaking in the atmosphere at the Country Mouse, as well as engaging in Blythe talk and admiration. Erika was a lovely hostess, and her Blythe collection is something to behold, I can tell you! After spiders, lattés, sarnies and cupcakes later, we headed out to the Ballarat Botanic Gardens to view the Begonias in the glass house. The boys (hello to Dusko and Chris!) had to leave early, so it was just the girls (Erika, Alana and her mom, Robin, and myself) who trudged along the puddled laden path to the gardens with our girls in tow. T’was heaps of fun indoors since Erika had a whole treasure trove of props in the back of her car to use for photo taking – think mats, flower motifed fabric, gigantinormous fake daisies – and we revelled in setting up our girls amongst the flora indoors. Naturally it all got a few stares from curious visitors to the hothouse, but I think we all just took it in good stride. The daisy outfits I made for the girls were a hit; although comments have been made about them looking like either a netball team or a cheerleading squad (I’m inclined to go with the latter). Made staying up late to finish them all worthwhile. That and that now I’m not going to feel guilty about leaving them in these outfits for a month or more. Hur hur. More photos on Flickr!
Because there really isn’t anything else interesting happen right now – I don’t count sewing up felt outfits for my Blythes particularly exciting – I’m going to pinch the Too Much Information meme that Obachan had over her blog and give it a whirl. So here’s 10 random facts about myself:
1. I love going to secondhand/op shops and scouring for vintage finds and bargains.
2. I’ve had lessons in the art of wushu (Chinese martial arts) for a few years when I was a teen (gee, that makes me sound old now!), with Jet Li’s wushu senior as my instructor.
3. I don’t like the taste of wine at all, and won’t drink it on purpose.
4. I can’t work a sewing machine to save my life; so all the things I’ve ever sewn are done by hand (not that there’s a lot of stuff I’ve done!).
5. I sleep with a pillow over my eyes; and it has to be my special pillow.
6. I love tofu; in all it’s soya goodness forms.
7. I’ve never studied Japanese, but love to watch japanese dramas and anime, and listen to some jpop tunes. And I’ve picked up some knowledge along the way!)
8. I’m allergic to certain facewash products on the market – the ironic thing is that the ones that my skin hates (and flare up to) are those that advertise as being dermatologically tested and are for sensitive skin.
9. I’m an earrings whore; I have enough pairs of earrings for a full month’s cycle. And then some.
10. I hate all water sports. Really.
Well there you have it. 10 random things about me. I’m now supposed to tag five other people, but since I don’t know that many people who read this on a regular basis, I’ll play it safe and tag only Helen, Stef and Tiff. (Sorry guys, if you’ve done this meme before!).
Now I’m going to have to sew like never before to get these darn daisy outfits done in time for tomorrow’s Ballarat Blythe meet. Woooot!
At least that’s what we’ll all hopefully say by the time we try it tonight.
Going to attempt baking an apple crumble in the unit’s oven later in the evening; partly to use up the apples in the fridge that no one’s eating (because they’re not crunchy), partly to test if the oven’s working, and partly because I’m hankering for some apple crumble with cream and ice cream. Problem is, the manual on how to operate the oven is nowhere to be found (the landlord doesn’t even have a copy of it), and although I can figure out that the left knob is for the time, the middle is for the time, I can’t work out those symbols on the right knob. I really don’t want to grill my crumble, if you get my drift.
Anyway, I’ll hopefully try to take some pictures as I go along (because this blog needs fodder REALLY BAD, and what better way to spice things up than with photos of apples, flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon?) and will update again later in the evening.
Wish me luck.
Update: Here’s little photos of the crumble – ditsy me forgot to take the camera out while I was doing all the prep work, and when I remembered, I realised the camera was low on battery so I didn’t want to waste shots; instead focusing on the ‘money’ shots. Heh.
I’ll rate it a low 6 on the scale – the oven doesn’t really want to cooperate, so the crust wasn’t as nice as it could have been, and the apples needed more sauce. At least the cream and ice cream with Cinnabon brand cinnamon powder (the ONLY cinnamon powder you should even use) saved it from being a total failure. Oh wells.
