Royal Baby Alert!

OMG Kate Middleton is in labour!!!! The royal baby is on his or her (my money's on her) way!

My mum is on a train to London as we speak so I am staying tuned for updates. 

So exciting!!!

Melbourne Meals

On my first weekend here my parents came down for a visit and we caught up with our friend Malena and her adorable little boy (hello if you are reading!).

We went to this Italian restaurant which I forgot the name of.  I will need to update all the posts at some point so these awesome places get the credit they deserve.  Anyway, it was great.








That ravioli was mine.  It had spinach, burnt butter sauce, sage, pinenuts - that is my second favourite kind of pasta (after a prawn/lemon/garlic/chilli/olive oil type thing) and I loved it.



  The service rocked too.  The waitress was charming, and so sweet with little R.  I really hope I get a chance to go back.

I love beverages as much as I love food.  Oprah says your house should rise up to meet you when you come home at the end of the day (thanks FF for that one) but I feel like all it requires to do that is a bit of this:



Now here are some pics of a Greek banquet:


 
All of this food was super.





This was the dessert:

  The round things were loukoumades.   You mean they do loukoumades?   Yes, they do loukoumades!!   (Hello Bay Vista if you're reading.)

Afterwards we went for a stroll to walk off some of our eight billion kilojoules.  It was freezing by then but I was nice and toasty in this jacket I nicked from Blake.

  Sexy, right? It's Barbour, favoured also by Kate The Duchess Middleton.  Is there anything we don't have in common? (Hello billionaire parents and royal husband if you're reading! My wardrobe of tiaras and custom made Alexander McQueen says hi!)

Home and Fab Ladies

I haven't finished uploading all my Vietnam posts yet but I actually got home about 12 hours ago.

 

I liked Vietnam heaps but I was glad to get back to my house.  I ate a pastie from the bakery for lunch.  I talked to my sister about uni.  I put on something other than the 3 outfits in my case.  I brushed my teeth with tap water.  I went for a walk and nobody tried to sell me a pair of sunglasses or run me down with their cyclo.

 

 

In other news, here's Kate Middleton's portrait:

 

 

I don't know much about art, but when I first spied this (via mobile Facebook) I thought it was an artist's impression of how she will look when she ages, like what they do for missing persons.  The blouse is nice though.  I don't love the kink in the left side of her hair, but I appreciate it because it makes me feel better about the fact that my hair does the exact same thing.  Now people might think it's a deliberate style choice.

 

 

Here's my other favourite royal:

 

 

It's Quentin Bryce, the Governor General.  She is chic, but don't let that fool you into thinking she is not to be taken seriously.

 

 

I actually do like Mary very much as well.  I forgot about her a bit once Kate came on the scene but she really is so classy and actually I think she has the better hairdo (sorry Kate!).

 

Her portrait is nicer too:

 

 

It's cool how regular people become awesome royals these days (see also Grace Kelly) and I think this is a very good reason to give your kid a sensible name.  Can you imagine Crown Princess Harper Seven of Denmark or Maxwell Duchess of Cambridge? Me neither.

 

Another fab lady who is kind of royal in her own way is Helena Bonham Carter.

 

 

I reckon she'd be fun to hang out with but I'd be too intimidated to ever test that theory out.  What if she didn't think I was cool enough? What if she gobbled me up? I think anything's possible with HBC.

Kate's Heir

This just in: Kate Middleton is preggers! Woo!

 

Pic via What Kate Wore

 

The pregnancy rumours have been constant for the past couple of years, but I really had a feeling they were true this time, and turns out they were!

 

I'm a bit psychic.

 

Poor Kate is in the hospital with Hyperemesis Garvidarum, a very severe kind of morning sickness.  I hope she will be all right soon.

 

They haven't announced the due date yet as the pregnancy is still in its early stages, i.e. the first trimester.  I think the baby will be born in July.

 

They are taking bets on the name already.  Elizabeth is apparently the hot favourite for a girl, but my money's on Diana as a middle name.

 

This is all very exciting.  Congratulations William and Kate if you are reading (and I know you are)!

Kate's Hair

 

I used to love Kate Middleton's hair, but since the wedding I think it's been becoming weirder, like a caricature of herself.  It used to look quite natural and pretty with a bit of a curl in the ends, but then it started to be fifty percent straight, fifty percent giant spiral at the bottom.

 

Sorry Kate, I love you and am willing to overlook your constantly copying my outfits, but that was just a waste of your excellent hair.

 

Anyway, it looks like Kate got her hurr did and now she has this classy new do!

 

 

I like it.  Snaps for Kate!

 

I got this news and the picture from What Kate Wore, which is another blog I like very much.  I'm sure you can guess what it's about.

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:

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.