Thursday 29 March 2012

Minimalist March Day 27 and 28


I didn't do anything worth talking about yesterday but today I went out for lunch with James.


He came over in a handsome grey and black striped shirt so of course I had to wear my grey and black houndstooth blazer. I thought we matched quite nicely.





We went to our favourite local Thai restaurant, Thai Ingah, for the $8.90 lunch special. I had lovely chicken cashew; Jimmy had some kind of curry. I don't like Thai curries much but he enjoyed it.








For a cheap local Thai the food's outstanding, and so is the decor. They even have a fancy waiting area for takeaway customers, complete with huge stacks of recent magazines.





Even the toilet's posh but I didn't get a picture of that. Next time.





After lunch I gave James a haircut and he helped me with some job applications. Thanks Jim!


My Mum made us some tasty homemade pies for dinner. If you don't have one of those pie machines you really need to think twice about the way you're living your life, because they're amazing.



For dessert we went to Cronulla for ice creams!





P.S. Meg, I know you like a full food diary so FYI I had a Soda Stream brand diet cola for breakfast. And a no-fun-at-all-size Snickers for a snack.

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Minimalist March Day 24, 25 & 26


On Saturday James and I went to Cronulla for sushi. I don't remember the name of the place but it's the one that isn't Sushi Train. $3.50 a plate!





We wandered along the beach too.





Later I went to Westfield. I didn't get anything but I did return a skirt. Myer has a lot of dresses marked down to $10 and $15 if anyone's interested. I saw a lot of faux fur jackets too. I already have some so I've saved about $80. Kind of.








PS I was wearing this kind of kaftan-esque top from JayJays, just in case you wondered.





For dinner I made myself plain pasta with butter and grated cheese. What a delight!





And this yummy drink - 100g frozen raspberries, 200ml Ocean Spray diet cranberry juice and a bit of water all blended up with the Bamix.


If you're on a diet this is great because it's such a delicious treat for under 300kj. If you're not on a diet it's also great because it's still such a delicious treat.





On Sunday I went to Book Club. It was great fun. Thanks Gemma for hosting!


We read A Wrinkle In Time, which I really enjoyed.





We ate a lot of delicious food.



We drank some wine that was given to me by my Nana's neighbour, how kind!





Speaking of kind, Nicky drove us all. Thanks Nicky!


Yesterday on the way to uni James and I stopped for Maccas. Check out what came with my Happy Meal! Not exactly Minimalist March appropriate but whatever.





And here is the handbag I took to uni:



James gave me it for Christmas. Thanks James!

Friday 23 March 2012

By The Way

I'm getting a bit sick of my daily "what I ate/read/wore/bought" blogging format. What would you like to see? Writing about issues? Writing about one aspect of my life at a time (e.g. a post about my favourite foods, a post about a week's worth of shopping bargains)? Only writing about my daily life when it's actually interesting? More pictures? Fewer pictures? Submissions?

Minimalist March Day 22 and 23


Yesterday after work I went to the library! Gosh I love going to the library.


Some people are dismissive of popular fiction, but not I. To decide that something is beneath you just because it's popular with everyone else seems, well, kind of stuck up to me, and not impressive or intellectual at all. The good thing about people like that though is that they leave all these lovely books free for people like myself. Thanks, pompous gits!


I also popped by Kmart to buy a Max Factor foundation; they are repackaging so all the old stock is half price. Love it!


For dinner I had a yummy tuna pasta bake made by Mum. There's no recipe but it's basically cooked pasta, frozen peas, tinned tuna, tinned corn and a white sauce. Homemade is best but if you are in a hurry or have possibly accidentally burnt your first attempt, Leggo's will do.


Afterwards I applied for Youth Allowance. If you're 22 and a full time student, you can do this too. They will give you money for free!


Thank you Emma for alerting me to this, Meg for helping me with my application and the taxpayers of Australia for providing the $. I'm not actually needy in any way and I think it's kind of ridiculous that someone like me is entitled to welfare payments, but I don't make the rules.


Today at work I filed for 4.5 hours. I took a break from it to sort out the magazines. One of the finance mags we subscribed to had these fab shoes on the cover:

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Alas, the story wasn't about platforms of the high-heeled variety. But one of our subscriptions had this feature on packing for a conference:







Handy for me, I'm going to a uni conference thing in Canberra soon for a free holiday, I mean, to adjudicate some debates. I might wear Kmart flats instead of Ferragamo though.


We had a bunch of promotional material for a Grace Kelly exhibition going on in Bendigo. Here are some lovely pictures.







We subscribe to a gossip mag too - it seems to be the only thing in the office that anyone actually reads. I don't much care for celebrity "news", but I'm always excited when I see Kate in there!






And isn't the Queen sensational?


Did you know that she uses a butcher's hook to hand her bag from the edge of the table instead of leaving it on the floor? I read that years ago, before those handbag hanger things were invented, so perhaps by now she has upgraded to one of them. If not, I know what to get her should we ever meet.


My Dad and I collaborated on a BBQ for dinner tonight. I didn't take a photo, but I expect you've seen a steak before anyway. I do have a photo of this dessert I threw together in a fit of sugar cravings:


It was dead easy and you can get the recipe here: http://searchingforspice.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/chocolate-microwave-cake/. I'll tweak it a little next time and put my version on the blog. (FYI I used dark chocolate instead of milk, you should too. If you want. It's not compulsory.)


Now I'm going to do some assignments. The fun never stops here at Expect Cowgirls.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Minimalist March Day 19, 20 & 21


On Monday I bumped into Emma at uni (hello Emma if you're reading) so we went to a cafe for caffeine and a chat. Easily the most fun I will have at uni all year.


On Tuesday I was minding my own business at work when I got a very exciting text from James, telling me he scored a job for next year! Well done Jim! To celebrate we went out for dinner.





We had a Cudo voucher for African Feeling at Newtown so we went there. It was the first voucher I've bought from Cudo and I don't like them as much as Living Social - they never actually emailed my voucher so I had to fuss about for ages trying to get a copy.


The restaurant was pretty nice. It had some bad reviews saying service was slow, but it wasn't too bad and the food was yummy.


We had a mixed entree including these nice little round dumplings called kpoff kpoff.





For the main course, I chose goat, which I had never tried, and James picked almond beef, but we shared both. The goat was my fave - it had a spinach sauce that was a bit salty and so delicious.








James had cheesecake for dessert, but I had this lemon sorbet shaped like a lemon and encased in a thin layer of lemon flavoured chocolate. It was pretty cool and so tasty! Strangely it was served with ice-cream.








We enjoyed our meal but, as is often the case with these vouchers, wouldn't want to go back at full price. Plus they use palm oil and even mention it on their menu (clueless much?). If I'd known that, I wouldn't have bought the voucher. (It's possible their palm oil is sustainable, but the menu didn't mention that.)


I'd definitely try another African restaurant though!


Oh and if you wondered, I wore that Witchery silk dress for the fourth time. And to think I had buyer's remorse!



I didn't do much today besides go to uni, but I did eat Thai takeaway and pain my toes in the neon pink polish. The colour is called Digital. It was free!








Meanwhile my Mum (hello if you have remembered my blog's name and found a way around your work's Net Nanny!) went out with her friends in this glamourous top with sparkles.


Monday 19 March 2012

Minimalist March Day 16, 17 & 18


On Friday I was meant to go out for Tacos, Margaraitas and some dancing with the girls, but the trains weren't running! We went to The Crest instead for burgers and $4 Gin and Tonics.





Our mate The DJ from last week was there, and he'd downloaded a bunch of retro songs like we requested! He let us pick all the tunes; the highlight for me was Believe by Cher. I had to dance by myself for part of it but I didn't mind.


Meg was fetching in a yellow/gold/bronze ensemble. I wore a party dress from Vincenzo's. It was $10 and I've only worn it twice so the CPW is still $5. Fancy!









Saturday was St Patrick's Day! I went to dinner at Menya with the girls. We had lovely gyoza and I shared a teriyaki chicken noodle dish with Meg. Even with corkage I only spent $10!








Someone mentioned that Meg is really heavily featured on this blog. I do have other friends, I promise! (Hello Other Friends if you're reading.) Among them on Saturday were Amy, The Newt and Glamourous Becky who works at a fancy magazine company. She's in charge of figuring out what's cool, and she was wearing glitter polish too! OMG I am secretly trendy, who knew? Certainly not I.


I was wearing a kind of tunic smock dress that might actually be a top for Plus Sized ladies and an old cardi, both from Nana's Shop, costing a total of $9. Meg looked cute in one of her new Temt dresses!





Later we joined Yuto's Going Away Drinks/Toby's I Already Moved Drinks and then Manton's Birthday Drinks. Happy going away, having gone away and birthday boys! It was good to see you all. And hello Chris S if you're reading!


This morning I had brunch with James at a cafe near my house. My Bacon & Egg roll was $6, not bad! It was yummy too.








Then I spent thirty hours trying to get my glitter nail polish off and hit the books. And now I'm having a 2am Vodka Tonic, because I'm a Grown Up now and I can.