Four Days, Fifteen Snaps

 On Friday I treated myself to sushi for lunch, since I'd been so busy decluttering all week and there were no leftovers at home anyway.

 

 

It was pretty good!

 

 

I also decluttered some belts:

 

 

 

Once upon a time I had a hanging rack thing on my bedroom door for stuff like dressing gowns and scarves, but we had new doors put in a while ago and the rack doesn't fit any more.  I moved my scarves to the wardrobe and hung my dressing gowns from the picture rail on the wall behind the door.

 

 

I used 1980s-style ornate picture hooks because I just have such good taste when it comes to interior decorating.

 

 

This went on for a while but on Friday I realised I thought maybe, just maybe, I could hang the whole hanging rack from the picture rail.  And as it turns out, I was right!

 

 

I chucked the pink dressing gown because it's scruffy now and I retrieved this vintage nylon number from a storage box.  It doesn't have a hanging loop so I put it on a hanger suspended from one of the picture hooks.  I love storage solutions!

 

 

On Saturday Jim brought me some flowers.

 

 

Then I went to my Nana's place to pick up some trifle, and when I got there look what she was doing:

 

 

Reading Expect Cowgirls!  And having Happy Hour.

 

Hello Nana if you're reading!

 

 

She had some Christmas decorations up too.

 

 

 

Here is the trifle:

 

 

Yum!

 

 

Afterwards I went to my cousin's place for a BBQ.

 

 

On Sunday I went to the pub for Ben's birthday.  Happy birthday you lemon!

 

Meg looked so good in her Summery maxi dress:

 

 

 

FF looked nice too:

 

 

Just kidding, that's Emily! Could've fooled me though.

 

 

I had one of these lovely cocktails.

 

 

It was called a Russian Rose but it tasted quite like a cosmo. Tasty

 

 

And when I came home look what I found:

 

 

Festive! Thanks Mummy!

 

 

On Monday I made my usual lunch:

 

 

A handful of rice crackers (these ones are Peckish brand, try them!), a tin of tuna, thirty grams of cheese.  It is a quick and easy but super tasty lunch and I love to eat snacky things because it's like being on holidays.  Kind of a bogan antipasto.  And good news if you're on a diet, because if you buy the light tuna like I do this meal will only have about 1000 kilojoules.

 

 

Speaking of diets, that night Jim and I had dinner at the $3.50 sushi place in Cronulla then went to San Churro in Miranda for dessert because I'd had churros on my mind for days.

 

He had the sundae:

 

 

 

Naturally I had these:

 

 

They were so delicious! I'm pretty sad that adults can't get the kids' churros anymore though, they are a much easier serving size, and cheaper of course, but the best bit is they come with sprinkles!

 

 

Anyway what have you all been doing, anything?

The Last Few Days In Pictures

Let's take a little look at what I've been up to lately.

 

I visited some op shops and in keeping with my shopping ban bought only this $3 retro pie dish. 

 

 

I am really pleased about this purchase. It is for when I move out next year, but I think I might have to use it before then.

 

I went to The Crest on Tuesday with Jim, wearing the pink blouse, navy cardi and navy jeans from my capsule wardrobe:

 

 

You can't see it here, but I was also wearing my purple flats, beige handbag and dangly silver earrings that I love.

 

You also can't see my face but I was wearing that too.

 

It was $10 schnitzel and pasta night.  I was going to be healthy, but the pasta was boscaiola so I figured I might as well have the chicken.

 

 

It was great.  And I ate all my salad too.

 

 

I ordered this Vodka Rush because it was only $4, but it was pretty yuck.  My sister would probably like it.

 

 

This Midori Splice cocktail was controversial.  They had a fancy little sign advertising the cocktails (all using VOK products so it must be a special VOK promotion and they send the signs out to pubs, I have seen similar elsewhere) saying "$6 cocktails" and they had added their own little sticker saying "Wednesday 7-9.30 and Saturday 9-11" or something. 

 

It was Tuesday, but I had seen a lady making some earlier so I asked whether they were doing them that night and the lady told me yes.

 

Then when we got our change it turned out she had charged me $9, because the $6 price is a happy hour special.

 

Funny how the sign didn't say anything about the $6 cocktails being a discount.

 

If you tell someone you sell $6 cocktails on Wednesdays and they ask whether they can buy one on a Tuesday, I think you should say "sure, but it will be $9", not just "sure!".

 

This is why we stopped going there in the first place, they are always doing things that are technically not that dodgy, but are just a bit tricksy.  Like when they have $4 house spirits and you order a gin and tonic and they charge you $6.50, and when you query it they say they used a different gin because they don't have any of the house.

 

 

 

Anyway, after that I had a $4.80 house gin and tonic (from a different bartender, who was great).

 

I also had a bet on the dogs!

 

 

I chose a dog called Leopard Print, because it was called Leopard Print.  After James put the bet on for me he told me it was the worst dog and would probs come last.  And I realised it was the one in the stripey jacket, yuck!  I had serious buyer's remorse.

 

Then it came second and won me $10.80! My financial woes are over! Thank you Leopard Print if you are reading!

 

 

Here's a funny ad I saw the other day:

 

 

If you want to join a club for old singles that is only open to university educated people, maybe there is a reason you're over fifty and still single.

 

Speaking of pretentious, here's Jim looking very spiffy on his way to his Summer Clerkship job at a fancy law firm in the city.  I won't say what it is but if you know me in real life I have probably told you already because I am very proud!

 

 

 

The decluttering continues:

 

 

In more cheerful news, James had this iced chocolate beverage from New Zealand Natural and it was amazing.

 

 

 

Here's yesterday's lunch:

 

 

And today's:

 

 

On Sunday Jim and I went to trivia night at Club Blakehurst and ordered this fantastic seafood board:

 

 

It was a little heavier on the fried foods than I'd like and I'm always upset that their "smoked salmon" is actually sashimi salmon, but you get a great variety and the prawns are superb, so for $42 I was pretty happy!

 

We didn't win trivia, but we won Everyone's Favourite Game (heads and tails) and the prize was a catering size passionfruit cheesecake that weighed over 3 kilos.  Really.

 

 

They gave it to us in the cardboard tray, but then they cut us each a piece and plated it up nicely with ice cream for free.  It was really tasty actually.  I may have had two pieces.

 

 

Jim and I went out for breakfast at the cafe in Flower Power, where I ordered poached eggs with Hollandaise:

 

 

And he ordered a big breakfast:

 

 

It was pretty nice but they didn't have any fresh juices, just stuff from a fridge plus coffees etc.  I really just want to have fresh juice with my breakfast.

 

 

 

A reward for a hard day's decluttering.  This icecream sandwich is from Aldi and it was actually so yummy, I wish it hadn't been the last one in the freezer because I could really go for another.  Hey Mum if you're reading could you please get me some of these next time you're at Aldi?

 

 

Smoked salmon pasta made by mum:

 

 

So yummy.  The salmon was really smokey and delicious.

 

 

And look what came for me in today's mail!

 

 

It's a beautiful Christmas card from my delightful friend Emily! Thanks Emily! Merry Christmas!

Shopping Ban

To reduce the amount of clutter in the house, I also have to put a stop to the constant stream of things entering it.  I really have all the things already anyway.

I still need to buy:

• Work clothes for next year
• Homewares for next year
• Christmas presents
• A few things at Priceline that I've run out of
• Maybe something to wear for graduation, if I can't find anything

That is all.  I will not buy any other things.

Capsule Wardrobe

Obviously I'm going to need something to wear over the next few days while I sort out my wardrobe, so I saved a few things for a little capsule collection.

• Navy jeans
• Black skirt
• Black work pants
• Navy singlet
• 2 x tank tops (1 pink, 1 navy)
• 2 x sleeveless blouse style tops (1 pink, 1 navy)
• 2 x dresses (1 work, 1 LBD)
• 2 x cardigans (1 navy, to wear with jeans and tops; 1 black, to wear with black clothes)
• Pyjamas for varying temperatures: t-shirt, shorts, warm pants, nightie
• 2 bras (1 nude, 1 black)
• Several pairs undies
• 1 pair black tights
• Black heels
• 2 x flats (1 black to go with black clothes; 1 purple to go with navy clothes)
• Pink thongs
• Beige clutch
• Beige handbag
• 5 pairs earrings, 1 bangle, 1 ring

My wardrobe looks so nice with just these few things in there.  It wouldn't really do in the long term, as there are only two work outfits and nothing warm enough for Winter, and the mix-and-match possibilities are limited because I play by the old rules and refuse to mix black and navy.  But I will see how long I can manage with it; these are the clothes I wear most anyway so I hope this will help me learn to live with much less.

Things I Hate Thursday: Hoarding and Clutter

On Tuesday I decided to do a bit of tidying and made a discovery: I'm living in an episode of Hoarders.

Here is the pile of things I have that are still brand new. There are five pairs of shoes there!!

 

I do periodically declutter though. Here's the pile of things I'm getting rid of:

 

That's right, it's smaller than the pile of new things.

I am putting a stop to this before I end up crushed to death by a pile of junk in a house so cluttered it takes weeks for someone to find my body, or rather what's left of it after the stray cats and racoons get to it.

Also I'm going to stop watching Hoarders, it disturbs me.

Step One: taking all of my clothes and shoes out from my wardrobe and the attic (where I keep the clothes that don't fit in my wardrobe) and dumping them in my sister's empty room so I can sort through the whole lot. Ruthlessly.

What is wrong with me? I can't possibly wear all that. I don't even want to! That doesn't even include coats, of which I have 15, or the work clothes I have purchased for next year.


Anyway stay tuned for some Adventures in Decluttering! And tell me your tips if you have any, cause I am really going to need them.


(Sorry if you were expecting something else for Things I Hate Thursday! I was going to talk about Jessica Simpson's ridiculous singing voices, but now all I can think about is this mess.)

 

Minimalist March Day 8

Jimmy and I went to brunch this morning like people (as my mum would say). My poached eggs don't look like much compared to his fancy big breakfast, but they were tasty all right.










It was so cold today; I was glad to have my Jack Daniel's PJ pants and zebra slippers (both from Targét).





I did some tidying and decluttering of my desk. I still need to file everything in my letter rack and sort out all my old uni folders, eek. I have included many snaps. Note the Fruit Pastilles pencil case, sushi erasers, dancing giraffes notebook &c.

It's nearly the weekend!