Sometimes I am shocked, and slightly embarrassed, by how little time I have to prepare dinner.

In between dropping off one child here, running errands, picking up one child from there, zipping to the shops to pick up something, meet up with someone else for a chat, then coming home for a grand total of 30 minutes of web work, only to have to leave again to pick up the first child from school.

There is hardly any time for me to prepare a meal.

And the ironic thing is, that I really like to cook!

So I have become the master of the Throw-In-The-Oven Recipe!

This week was roast chicken and roast vegetables, eaten with bread rolls.

It’s not exactly my finest culinary accomplishment, but with three children, cooking a roast chicken in time for dinner is worthy of a ticker tape parade, if you ask me.

And the best bit is… everyone loves a simple roast chicken!

How to Cook the Perfect Roast Chicken

Season with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, lemon, parsley and rub all over. No measurements – just throw some on! Toss with mixed potatoes, carrots and pumpkin.

And throw into a 180C oven –  20 minutes for every 500g of chicken.

Now that I think about it, it’d probably be much easier to BUY a roast chicken, but then that would spoil all the fun.

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As I’ve said many times before, I’m always on the look out for great and unique online fashion shops with an excellent range of women’s clothes!

I received a message from Hype, an online boutique based in Singapore, wanting me to check out their site and clothes.

Their collection looked great on the first browse, and their model was this HOT Taiwanese babe with really nice hair!

The site and range had a great vibe too.

Their clothes are all exclusively designed garments at REALLY affordable prices.

After checking out the clothes, I can say that the quality and fit was pretty good for the price!

And I was quite happy to recommend the shop to my girlfriends!

Here I’m wearing my favourite piece of the lot, a Lace Sleeve top – so so so simple and comfy.

Unfortunately it is all sold out, so I won’t go on about how it was such an awesome addition to my wardrobe! Heh.

On the left, I’m wearing a Cutout Heart Floral dress (SGD$31), with zip detail and mini skirt length. It’s very, very cute!

On the right is a very pretty Ruffle Pan Top (SGD$27.80) with scalloped shoulder details. I love the gold colour, and can’t wait to style it in other outfits.

And here’s the model from the website wearing (from left) -
Blue Silk Toga Dress SGD$30
Studded Sleeve Dress SGD$33.90
Toga Overlay Lacesleeves Dress SGD$32

So do pop over and take a peek at Hype’s range of dresses, and tops.

They also have a collection of casual clothes, which are quite nice too.

Happy shopping!

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Online Fashion Shopping Directory.

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One of the great things about being a parent is that you have all kinds of experiences you could never, ever have imagined. And here is my most recent one.

My son Liam very often does a poo while he is eating.

About half way through me shoveling food into his mouth, he will suddenly stop chewing, get a “far-away” look on his face, and then be overcome with intense concentration for a few seconds.

Then, when the “poo moment” has passed, he will look at me as if he is saying…”Well, I’ve done my bit… aren’t you going to clean it up, so I can get on with my lunch?”

And then he won’t eat a damn thing till I change his nappy. It has become part of our daily routine together.

But recently, he tricked me.

As usual, I took him to his room, lay him down, took off his nappy… but this time, I discovered that he was still doing the poo. It was just starting to come out.

Now obviously, as a mother, you get to see lots of baby poo. You get used to it.

And I have three kids, so I have certainly seen my share.

But even I have never had the experience of having to actually watch poo come out of another person’s bottom.

I’ll spare you the exact details, but it was a lot like watching brown toothpaste being slowly squeezed out of a pink toothpaste tube.

Wow!

And when it was finished, it was coiled up in the nappy like a fat little snake.

Just another memorable moment in motherhood!

Here is a really nice picture of some flowers in my garden, to make you feel better!

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I hate breaking-in new shoes!

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I’ve been loving the whole rock-chick fashion trend, with fierce shoes, black leather, metal studs, and all the aggressive styles that have surfaced in the past year or so.

I love all the BLACK, BLACK AND MORE BLACK!

But now with a change in the season, I feel like taking a complete jump into WHITE.

(Ok I admit, it’s not the most innovative thing I’ve done this week.)

Anyway, I have realised that I don’t have many white items in my wardrobe!

And so now I’m suddenly tempted to make a few WHITE purchases, in particular, some white jeans and a white jacket of some kind.

Is that a bad idea? Because I have KIDS! Should I be wearing WHITE while I have toddler?

Think of all the tomato sauce finger prints! And muddy face smears! Orange juice squirts! And dripping ice cream!

And lets not even mention my own inability to eat curry laksa without noodle splashes.

Well, this is me, in the whitest top I own. I went to a lunch with a girlfriend and I didn’t spill a thing on it!

Top: Country Road
Drape vest: Myer
Jeans: Nobody
Shoes: Betts

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Check out my favourite online shops in the Online Women’s Fashion Shopping Directory.

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Good brownie recipes are so hard to find! And I love a good quality, well made chunk of brownie!

Jamie Oliver’s Bloomin’ Brilliant Brownie is my absolute recipe favourite to make. And eat!

Original recipe is here. I’ve halved the portions, so it filled a 18cm square pan. I also left out the cherries and just used walnuts.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up
50g chopped walnuts
40g cocoa powder, sifted
35g plain flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
140g caster sugar
2 large eggs

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

2. Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

3. In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. Add nuts and stir together.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate and nut mixture. Stir together well.

5. Beat in the eggs until you have a silky consistency.

6. Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes.

7. You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle.

8. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.

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Zara Bryson is a brand new fashion boutique in Perth, in the Subiaco shopping district (west of the city).

I was recently invited to the store for a review and a peek at their latest collections. When I stepped into the store I went HELLO! I LIKE THIS A LOT!

I spotted fabulously trendy brands like Illionaire, Michael Angel and Magdalena Velevska. I saw racks full of the hottest season’s looks, popular trends and styles. I loved how the shop was laid out and I was just itching to have a browse!

I had a lovely chat to Zara Bryson, the owner, who is completely plugged-in to the latest styles and the best selling looks. She chose a few items for me and styled me to perfection -  very fun!

Above Left: I’m wearing a black, one-shoulder silk dress by new Australian fashion label Magdalena Velevska ($519) which was very beautiful and elegant.

The shop had a few other pieces from the Magdelena collection that I was keen to try on too. Very nice stuff.

Above Right: Intruder Frock Print Dress by Illionaire ($349). This one was hot! Made from silk, perfect “mini” length for my short height, it fit me perfectly. It certainly caught my husband’s eye when I took it home! (only to photograph, unfortunately, it went back the next day).

Above Left: I went out on a limb and agreed to try a jersey jacket with shoulder pads. It looked surprisingly cool! This one is also from Magdalena Velevska ($309).

Above Right: And lastly I was inspired to try out something BRIGHT, because the shop stocked quite a few super-colourful clothes! This dress is by Tu.Tu.Blu ($185).

The shop carries a mix of Australian and International labels such as Karen Walker, Sretsis, Stylestalker, Peeps.Org, Lauren Moshi, Alternative Apparel, This is Genevieve, J.J. Winters, Natalie Encarnita, Tu.Tu.Blu, and more.

I especially liked that they also stock more items from within each designer’s collection, than a boutique might usually do, to allow a more complete styling experience for shoppers.

You can visit the Zara Bryson website here.

Or go check out the Subiaco store –
Zara Bryson
Shop 2, 502 Hay Street
Subiaco, Western Australia

(Right on the corner of Denis Street, opposite Kitchen Witch and Baskin Robins)

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Check out more of my favourite women’s fashion in the Online Fashion Shopping Directory.

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My sons came running in from playing outside because they found DIRT IN THE SKY!

Huh?!

I went out with them and looked up. I saw some very odd looking smoke or clouds.

It took me a moment to realise that there was a tiny little plane buzzing around, the sun ocassionaly flashing off its windows. Sky-writing! I’d never actually seen it before.

I’m sure the poor sky-writer/pilot was trying to spell “PERTH” (the name of my home city), but even in the stillness of a super-hot summer day, the slightest of breezes was bending the letters as we watched, and erasing the word even before it was finished being written!

So now, running a house with three boys doesn’t seem so hard (and I am impressed with Callum’s ability to read bad writing).

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My mother gives me a dozen eggs every week, freshly laid by her chickens.

I team them up with a few baby roma tomatoes from my garden, a handful of basil, spring onions, chives and parsley.

Seasoned with a good portion of salt and pepper.

And we have the most delicious omelettes to start the weekend!

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So apparently the 70s look is back in fashion for 2010.

And what better way to indulge in a frivolous fashion trend, than to go to a 70s party wearing your mother’s dress from the 70s!

A halter-neck, ruffle-detail, maxi-dress in large flower print. Can you get anymore “Fashion from the 70s” than that?

But my story is slightly cooler than that.

My mother made this dress all by herself – in the 70s!

She was 25, she was invited to a party… and she had nothing to wear.

So she just whipped it up one weekend! And she has kept it all this time!

Part of me is green with envy. I wish I could sew proficiently!

Another part of me is amazed at how society (and it’s relationship with fashion) has changed in one generation.

In those days, it was very common for women to sew their own clothes. They didn’t have much money, so they had to be creative with their materials – at least that’s what it was like where my mum was living!

I can imagine a bunch of girlfriends sitting around at a party, spying on other girl’s outfits and saying things like “How did she get the ruffle to sit so well on her neckline? I can never get mine straight!”

I wore this dress with a large chunky gold bracelet and big gold earrings – and sandals!

Thanks Mum!

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Check out my favourite online shops in my Online Fashion Shopping Directory.

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