Monday 13 August 2012

100

Hello!  Welcome to my 100th Post Bonanza, featuring all the usual things.  Like bargains:




This Miss Shop glitter wallet was on sale for $10.50.  Dorothy Gale would approve.  The other thing is a headband, $2 from Colette.  I discovered it can be a necklace to so it's double as thrifty.


I fell in love with Cotton On Body's Revolutionary bras because they come in size 8s.  Then they stopped making them.  But the other day I discovered that they had them back in!  I grabbed three - plain black, navy lace and pink lace.  Then when I got to the counter the lady told me all bras were 40%!  Can't even tell you how happy I was.  They're normally $30 (still great value), but I only paid $18 each.  I would have bought more but the other colours didn't have any size 8s.




I also bought the matching undies to the navy bra because I love to match (the black one didn't have undies, and the pink ones were sold out).  I had a 20% off coupon for full-price merchandise so the undies were $8.


Target has lots of things on clearance and they are a further 30% off at the moment.  So I bought this wardrobe essential:




I'm sure it'll be a staple.  I've already worn it once!  It left fluff on my top but I didn't care.  It came down to about $22.




I bought another two Ulta3s.  Sizzling Red is very similar to Scarlet but not dodgy.  Purple Pumps is very bright but it was only a dollar.


Now for some baking.


It was James's birthday the other day, and he wanted a My Little Pony cake.  At first I decided to make a castle with ponies on it, but it didn't work out that well.



I used the instagram filter that disguised its hideousness the most, but it's still pretty woeful.  I didn't even bother finishing it.


Instead, I did cupcakes with a Rainbow Dash theme:



These were really easy to make.  I was pressed for time so I used a Betty Crocker chocolate fudge packet mix.  Hers are the best packet mixes, but I still didn't love it.  Nobody else seemed to mind though.  I made thick white buttercream icing (other kinds look better for decorating but they taste awful so it's pretty pointless) and coloured it with the blue colouring that comes in a bottle on its own.  NOT the one that comes in a box of four colours.

While the icing set I prepared the decorations: rainbow Sour Straps lollies chopped in half for the rainbows, and marshmallows chopped in half for the clouds.  When the icing was set I cut the cupcakes to make two little slots on each, then stuck the sour straps in.  I dabbed a little extra icing onto the marshmallows to stick them down.


To serve, I arranged the cupcakes on my Coles tiered cupcake stand and stuck James's Rainbow Dash figurine (sneakily stolen from his house when he wasn't looking) on the top.


Here is the same picture with a different filter, which disguises Rainbow Dash but makes the colours look 20% cooler.




Speaking of pictures where the colours look cooler, here is a giant box of Nerds that Emily gave me the other day.  What an awesome friend; thanks Em!




And now for some food that someone else cooked!


James and I had dinner at Seven Lantens in Sylvania.  It's a Japanese/Korean restaurant that was very lovely, but quite expensive.




That's the entrance - pretty groovy, huh?



Soft Shell Crab Roll, $18



Hu Yao prawns, $18



Beef Tataki, $18



Vegetarian Gyoza, $9


All the food tasted really great, but it was quite pricey, and you would need more than four plates to fill you up (you can order big main meals there too though).  I would definitely go back for a special date though.


We'd planned to get Bay Vista afterwards, but unfortunately there was a huge line.  But here are some pictures from another time, so let's just pretend, shall we?







Yum.  Here's something less yum:




My Mum kindly bought me this World Kitchen ready meal pasta thing to take to work.  It was really gross.  I didn't even finish it, which is really weird for me.  I'd never buy it again and I must insist that you don't.  I don't even understand how something as simple as pasta could be made to taste so terrible.  The chicken had a weird jellyish texture and the sauce was just rank.  Please don't eat this.


I spent ages searching Instagram for a filter that made it look not like dog vomit.  That's the best I could do.  It was worse in real life.


Last night I went out to Nada's Lebanese in Surry Hills though and it was the bomb.  We ordered a $27pp banquet thing, which included hummus, babaganoush, tabouli, seven different meat and vegetarian dishes that I don't remember, plus coffee and sweets.





This hummus was truly spectacular.






The falafels and ladyfingers were stand-outs too.




The one thing I didn't care for was the dolmades.  It wasn't the restaurant's fault; I just really don't like them.  But there was more than enough of everything else so I didn't go hungry. 


Anyway, they more than made up for it in other areas.  I went with Meg, Elise and Becky (hello girls!), and Nicky (hello Nicky!) met us later.  We were still at the restaurant so she joined us there while we finished up.  She arrived just before the sweets were served, and look:




They gave us five, even though we only paid for four!  They also served tea and coffee for all five of us and there was no extra charge for any of it.  On top of that there was no corkage charge either.


It was so delicious and the service was great and I will be back for sure.  Thank you Nada's Lebanese for a fantastic dining experience!


Here are some friands that were also quite good:




One of our clients at work brought in a big plate of them for us.  Isn't that so nice?


And speaking of nice, while my neighbours across the street went away to Canada I fed their cats again, and look what they (neighbours, not cats) brought back for me:




The Maple Tea is really lovely.  I haven't tried the Maple Syrup yet but I am excited for the next time I have pancakes.  I just love that beautiful glass bottle.


Well, that's all I have to say about my ordinary life for the moment.  Thanks for sitting through this a hundred times, you guys!  I'm not really sure why you do, but I appreciate it all the same.


If you really enjoy Expect Cowgirls, you can also Like the Official Facebook Page and, if you're sick of waiting forever to see pictures get uploaded you can follow me on Instagram (@shippitydoodah), or on Tumblr for all your Harry Potter Meme needs.  Technology, huh?


If you're really committed you can also leave a comment and tell me, which of these 100 posts have you liked the best?  Maybe a specific one or maybe just a category, like "the ones with food" (haha, that would be ALL of them).  Don't forget I have more Ulta3s for leavers of comments!

6 comments:

  1. Congrats on your centenniblog, Ship. That Rainbow Dash cake was AT LEAST 20% cooler. MINIMUM.

    My favourite post huh? Hmmm, well they're all good, but I particularly enjoyed Shep's guest one and the ones feat. Harry Potter trivia.

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    1. Thanks Jim! Shep's was a very popular one... I'm not sure what it says about me as a blogger that the most popular post is the one I didn't write. The Harry Potter trivia is all my own though.

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  2. I love all of your blog posts, Ship. I especially enjoy the ones with recipe tips because I love baking and, since I consider you an excellent baker, your advice is very useful. Of course, I also enjoy all the posts about girls' nights- partly because I love it when you compliment my outfits, but mostly because I just like reliving the fun.

    I had a tie for my favourite post - Ladies' Night and Love It! I suspect this is because Ladies' Night was one of the most fun nights this year. The night you dressed up like me was such silly fun, captures why I <3 you! (not because you were dressed as me, but because you thought to do it).

    xxxx

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    1. Thanks Meg, what a lovely comment! I think my favourites are the ones about really fun and silly nights out too, so nice to go back over them - there are heaps of things I'd forget if I didn't recorded them here. If you like recipe tips you will love my upcoming guest blog from my Mum!

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  3. I've been trawling through your blog, Ship and one particular post really resonates with me, mainly because I think it contains one of the funniest lines of all time and whenever I think of your blog I think of this line and I actually laugh out loud.

    I'm speaking of your post 'Things I've Been Doing Since I Returned From Canberra' which states:

    'I fed my neighbours' cats (hello Max and George if you are reading; nice job overcoming your lack of opposable thumbs) while they were away.'

    ROFLYSST!

    Seriously I love that. Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to the next 100 posts! :)

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    1. Hahaha thanks! I remember you telling me at the time that you liked that one. Thanks for your ongoing enthusiasm re: the blog xx

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