Looking up at the trees this morning, I was struck by the thousands of leaves waiting to fall to the ground… with each leaf being the brightest and happiest yellow I’ve ever seen.

New beginnings. Fresh start. Anticipating the new. I’m not exactly sure what kind of symbolism inspired me.

But I was filled with the warmest sense of happiness and contentment… about life, about my loving husband, children, parents and friends.

And I was once again humbled by how blessed I am.

So here’s me wishing all my readers a wonderful start to the week!

Love and sunshine to you all xxx

My 4 year old and I went for a long cycle the other day.

We rode through parks and playgrounds, and eventually we stopped at the top of a little hill, looking down into a small pond. Our eyes widened.

We know this pond quite well. The edge is usually full of green water reeds, and it is teaming with ducks, water birds and insects.

Today however, the pond looked as if there was some major construction or dredging going on. The water was gross, brown and septic looking. It was dirty, muddy and messy.

“Whoa! What’s going on??” The both of us exclaimed.

Upon careful observation, it looked like the local gardeners had dug up a whole lot of dying water reeds and made piles of the rotten debris. It was not a pretty sight. Or smell.

I was going to turn around and explain my observations to my 4 year old, when he asked,

“Mum what happened to the pond? Why is it all blogged up like that? It looks seriously blogged. Yuck I hate all this blogging stuff. Hang on. Don’t you have a blog? Is this what you do?”

I stood there looking at the pond. At that exact scene in the photo above.

And number of thoughts ran through my head.

Yes. The word “BLOG” is not a very pretty word.

Yes. If you join the words “Blocked” and “Bog” you do get the word “Blogged”.

After 13 years of running my blog, I think my 4yo had possibly pinpointed the most natural-sounding meaning for the word.

I wanted to laugh and cry.

And I just said, “Yep, it looks seriously blogged.”

Here’s another snap shot from my holiday trip last week – we were doing a bit of rock climbing off Castle Rock at Dunsborough.

The adults and older kids organised a bit of “proper” rock climbing and abseiling. While the little kids played on the beach and did a bit of scrambling over the rocky landscape.

My 4 year old and I tiptoed over these rocks (in the photo above) and climbed up the rock face (in the background of this photo) which doesn’t actually look as scary and steep in real life!

During afternoon snacks of apples, bananas and cheese biscuits… I wandered down to the edge of the water for 15 minutes of quiet time.

I sat on a rock and enjoyed watching the slow, wave movement of the calm ocean, rising up and down the rocks. The crystal clear water looked like a mesmerising looking-glass into another realtity, rising and falling like a breathing creature.

It was a magical and so peaceful.

Hi there! I’m back!

We went away for the weekend and we stayed in Dunsborough with 7 other families. It was so much fun, very relaxing and just lovely to get away from our routine for a bit.

One morning, a friend of mine took us running on some off-road tracks – and I enjoyed it soooo much!

Until now, I’ve only ever run on roads, paths, grass and beaches, which are all very open and spacious. I can see for miles ahead and all around me.

But these bush tracks were mostly surrounded and enclosed by trees. And it was like a 1 metre wide tunnel, winding through a thick bush. Like a 3D maze. The trees and shrubs soaked up all the noises around me. The sounds of the world were all hushed and quiet. My footsteps on the ground were muffled. It was quite magical.

Sometimes the tracks would open up towards the beach… and I found myself running along a top of a hill, looking down onto the ocean.

Other times the trees were so high, that I felt like I was running through a forest.

Most of the track was compacted flat, but there were still a lot of uneven ground and rocks everywhere. Very often the track just turned into a rocky mess (pictured here)… and I had to soften my steps and kind of “dance” across the rocky ground… without twisting my ankle and hurting my knees, of course.

I found it so interesting. With all the inclines, declines, uneven ground, loose rocks, the always changing scenery, the gorgeous sounds of the bush – it was really challenging and such awesome fun.

I’m so inspired by the experience, that I might even try mountain biking now :)

All up – I ran slowly (with a bit of walking and no stops) for about 4kms.

Hello June!

It’s the first day of winter in Australia, and the weather is still gorgeous and sunny!

The mornings have been a bit cold these last few days, but as the afternoon comes around, the warm sunshine and the blue skies still puts a smile on my face.

My 10 year old is a naturally smart and bright kid. He’s blitzing through his maths, languages, reading, sports with ease… and he’s naturally very confident, which helps him a lot. He likes to aim towards 100% and he’ll work hard to get there.

My 8 year old is also good at school, but he has a different inner drive. He’s naturally creative, he’s an observer, a dreamer, he enjoys and studies the moment, in fact, he puts his everything into the moment. He’s superb at lateral thinking, he thinks outside of the box and comes up with the most amazing (and weird) ideas.

However, this kind of intelligence is not as *tangible* as say, a test result… and we can often see that he gets a little gloomy whenever he compares himself with his big brother’s “high achievements”.

Sigh. It makes me feel so sad and powerless. As a mum, I can only tell him “You’re smart as well, but in a different way!” a couple of hundred times… until it goes in through one ear and out the other.

So I thought I would nurture his creative side a bit… and put my own 5 YEARS OF ART SCHOOL + 3 YEARS OF DESIGN SCHOOL to good use haha!

This is what I came up with.

Art Lessons!

Week 1 – Line drawings and composition, using rule of thirds.

Week 2 – Shading and gradient. Use different materials, like graphite pencils, charcoal sticks, soft pastel, oil pastels.

Today’s Lesson is Week 3 – Doing a still life using soft pastels.

In our backyard, we set up a still life composition, using random objects that my son found.

We sat side by side and I – kind of – coached him without being too bossy:

Don’t draw a definite line. Draw a feathered line, until you get the right shape. Change your line weight to show where the light falls on the object. Thin lines for the light bits, thick lines for the dark bits. Squint your eyes to find the dark parts of the composition.

He didn’t listen to any of it haha!

If my 10yo was doing this drawing project with me, he would draw a line, then rub it out. Draw another line, then rub it out. He would try again and again until he made it PERFECT. He would make himself terribly frustrated and angry that his drawing “looked bad” and he’d be on the brink of giving up.

But my 8yo… just sat there for an hour with me, as happy as could be. Drawing. Doodling. Playing with the lines. Enjoying the shapes. Laughing at his wonky objects. He would occasionally look over at my drawing and say, “That’s cool!” and go right on with his own drawing, in his own style. He was so so content.

I opened up my old box of soft pastels (which I won as an art prize in Year 11!!)

And I showed him how to SEE COLOURS within colours:

Your brain says that the wheelbarrow is ”orange”, but if you squint and look veeeeeery closely, you’ll notice that it’s actually red in the shadow and pinkish in the light. The rust is brown with a bit of blue in it too.

I was sooo channelling my inner Monet, and I was COMPLETELY LOVING IT :D

I showed him how to shade objects so they looked 3 dimensional.

And how to actually SEE shadows and light as blocks of colour.

I also told him that the background is just as important as the foreground. So we have to colour in bits of the background, so the objects don’t look like they are floating in space.

As we approached the end, I kept saying that art is not meant to look perfect. If you want something to look perfect and exact, then you can just take a photo. Art is interpreting what something looks like to YOU.

I told him – So really, you can draw any way you want. There’s not right or wrong way.

When he announced that he was finished, there was no shyness, or regret, or apology, or disappointment or anger… just happiness and real pride in his work.

I have to admit that I was quite surprised by his end reaction/emotion.

Because, I felt a bit bad that mine looked quite realistic and “good”. Maybe I should have made mine look a bit more crap?? I was afraid that he would compare our work and hate his own work, and decide that “art” was not for him because he couldn’t make his drawing look like his mum’s drawing. But phew. Thankfully, that kind of thinking wasn’t part of his personality. I was so proud of him!

I told him that I was impressed with his first effort. And more importantly, that he had an excellent attitude towards experimenting, learning new things and he didn’t judge and criticise his own work. He worked hard and he enjoyed himself.

Anyway, it’s been a few weeks after our little “Art Lessons”… and it now seems like this nurturing of his creative side has given him A LOT more confidence in the rest of his school work – he’s been getting some excellent results! Funny how it all works.

So proud of you little buddy!

A friend of mine owns an amazing old house, called Blue Waters. It is in an art deco style, built by a rich family in the 1950s. It is like walking back in time as the house has been restored back to it’s original splendour… and my friend makes it available for hire for special events, parties, weddings, a photography location or for holiday guests to stay.

I’ve been to several special events there, charity functions, glamorous dress up parties, an exquisite dinner party and so on, but right now, it is being used to shoot a movie! It is a thriller by John V. Soto, starring Jonathan LaPaglia and Luke Hemsworth. It’s called “The Reckoning” and it is about a detective who is on the trail of a killer, and who is looking for two young runaways whose video footage contains the identity of the murderer.

So when my mate Dave asked me if I’d like to pop in to see how the movie was being made, I couldn’t resist the invitation!

Of course, I know about lighting, special effects and other movie trickery that are used to make things seem more fantastic…but I’ve never actually seen it happen.

So I turned up at sun set, to see the outside of the house being filmed for an “establishing shot”.

They were filming Blue Waters at sunset, to capture the dramatic, golden light. It was great to see the house look so luminous and big!

A lot of people were standing around, watching the house, and nothing much seemed to be happening. I somehow expected for there to be lots of people running around with someone else shouting at them. But it was all so quiet, and professional… with everyone just quietly doing their job.

There are a lot of official procedures on a film shoot. I had to be taken over to the office site (where all the actor’s caravans were parked, where the crew and actors have their meals, etc) to get myself officially signed in.

The whole thing was so organised and seemed to run like clockwork.

When I walked around on the set… what struck me most though, was, just how CROWDED it was, even in the big house. There were close to 30 specialists standing around (just waiting to do their job at a moments notice, I’m sure) make up people, stunt guys, action coordinators, lighting guys, director and associate producers and directors.

Also there was so much equipment EVERYWHERE! Cable, lights, clamps, stands, weird and amazing lighting thingies, microphones, props, make up kits, bags of coloured tape and lots of stuff I’ve never seen before.

Another thing that surprised me was how quiet it was. Everyone seemed to know what to do and when to do it. And when they were about to start filming a take, the whole house went deathly quiet. I didn’t even dare take a photo during that point, because I knew my DSLR camera would click loudly.

For one take, the main actor had to simulate being shot in the shoulder (I think) and falling to the ground (on a mat). It was pretty intense. The gun shot sound for the actor to respond to was actually someone shouting “BANG!!!!!!!!” and it was SO LOUD AND SO SHARP, that in the quiet house, I thought it was an actual gun because it echoed off the walls and floor. Interesting. I’m sure a real gun effect will be put in later in the editing.

I’m now quite astounded to realise how DIFFICULT acting is. The actor had to do this take several times, with everyone in the room looking at him. And yes there was this huge expectation TO GET IT RIGHT.

I stood there thinking, imagine if they were shooting a steamy sex scene, with so many people watching… how awkward would that be?!? (Apparently, when they do, most of the crew leave the room so the actors can do “practice their craft” in a little more privacy!)

After the take, I spied on the sound guy. He was watching the replay and checking the sounds.

I found it funny that he had completely taken over the kitchen and placed himself near the bowl of fruit.

Then I went upstairs and found some other actors waiting for the next take.

The upstairs room at Blue Waters is usually a party and dancing room. It is usually empty, except for a few bits of icon furniture: a fireplace, a chaise lounge, a baby grand piano. But today it was turned into a cosy and inviting bedroom.

Last of all, I made my way outside to photograph the huge balloon light they set up outside the house. The light was 2 storeys tall! It was very cool!

So, it was such an interesting experience to see how a movie is made. And most of all…I didn’t realise how labour intensive AND time consuming it is to make a movie. No wonder movies are so expensive. It’s an amazing business.

If you are interested in following the making of the movie, you can go check out The Reckoning Film Facebook Page. They have been shooting for 3 weeks around Perth, at locations such as Jandakot Airport, Leeming, Como, South Perth.

Oh my. I found this old photo of my biggest boy in Oct 2008… and I totally choked up with delight and nostalgia.

We were having a Halloween picnic with friends in the park, and I caught THE HULK trying to dip carrot sticks into the French onion dip.

That kid is hilarious I tell you.

Red Balloon have been providing me with some amazing experiences for me to blog about – experiences that I choose, based on what I’m interested in and what (I believe) my readers would possibly like to try. I’ve been flying, paddling, ballooning, cooking, dining, etc.

One of their top selling experiences, happens to be V8 Car Racing – where you get to drive a super-car around a race track at mind numbing speeds.

Red Balloon have suggested (several times) that I could give the experience a go, but each time I would decline politely. Because I have absolutely NO interest in driving a car very fast, in circles. I’d be bored, dizzy, beyond stressed, and terrified! Why would I do that? Especially when I have the option of choosing a day spa experience!

However, MY HUSBAND loves cars and loves the thrill of speed. He’s a totally unique man with the heart of a typical little boy :) Haha aren’t they all?

So when Red Balloon asked me yet again if I’d like to drive a race car…. this time I proposed that maybe my husband could do the drive? And I can capture the experience for my blog? And who knows, maybe my readers might like to buy this experience for their husbands, or hey, even try it out themselves? They said yes and it was a done deal.

Phew. I got outta that one!

You should have seen the smile on his face when I told him about it. It was his birthday present and his anniversary present all rolled into one :)

Anyway, as we drove to the event, he was acting all cool, because of course, he is much too grown-up to be excited like, say an 8 year old boy.

He was matter-of-factly explaining to me car facts… and things like why it is called a “V8″ car – which is apparently because the engine has 8 spark plugs and they are arranged in the shape of a “V”.

Instead of pointing out that I didn’t care, I foolishly asked how the arrangement of the spark plugs could make the car go faster… and unfortunately that led to a long, detailed explanation of how it is not the arrangement of the spark plugs that make the engine powerful, but rather the size of the spark plugs and that the arrangement of them merely makes the powerful engine compact enough to fit inside the car. WHATEVER!

But then he stopped talking – which rarely happens. So I asked him if he was okay. And he said that he was – “getting in the zone”. Eh? I suspect he was actually just trying not to wet his pants with excitement.

We arrived at Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo, which is about 15 minutes north of Perth City.

We stepped into a visitor’s lounge, found the registration desks, and got ourselves signed in. Then we mustered on the viewing platform with 50 or so other people, while we waited for our session to start. We watched dozens of cars zoom by. And they all sounded like they were broken… they were so noisy! We were at least 50m from the racetrack, and the cars were so loud that the water in my drink bottle was vibrating!  Even I had to admit, the sound of roaring race cars revved up my adrenalin.

We were greeted by a friendly guy, who led us to our briefing room. Only the drivers needed to attend this briefing, all spectators just waited at the viewing platform or the grandstand. But I was allowed to tag along, because I was taking photos for this blog post. I felt a little special – and totally out of place!

25 men (and me) sat down in the briefing room. They were aged from their early 20s to 60s, all wearing sneakers, jeans and big smiles on their faces. Everyone of them looked like an excited 12 year old boy to me :)

The walls of the room were wood-paneled, covered with signatures of famous race drivers, team hats, championship cups, framed photos of car racing guys… it was all very charming in a man-ish way!

The briefing was excellent. The guy in the picture turned out to be Greg, the founder of V8Race, and he was great. He went through the goals of the experience, the particular aspects of driving to focus on, what gears to use at what corners, the track map, showed us a quick video of a typical driving experience… and all their safety protocols.

It was professional, systematic, very (VERY) thorough and at the end of it… even I felt completely confident that I would not crash the car.

My husband was again cool, calm and excited.

We walked down to the crew pits on the track. My hubby is the guy in the blue jeans – walking towards fulfilling one of his childhood dreams haha.

Ah the smell of burning rubber and petrol fumes :P

As we entered the tent… a team of people helped all the drivers get into their fire-resistant suits, hairnets and helmets.

They were really attentive, constantly giving the divers safety checks and tips.

The men lined up and sat down to wait their turn.

We waited too, watching and listening to all the cars blast by. SO LOUD! And when a car pulled up to change drivers… the brakes were so hot from all the braking, that there was smoke coming out of the wheels! The ground was peppered with little tiny bits of black rubber that had been shredded from the tires.  It was all so – extreme.

My husband was going to have the “6 Driving Laps” experience. Whereas some people were having “3 Laps Ride Only ” or “8 Driving Laps ” or even “Drive and Ride 12 lap Combo”.

Hooray, when it was my husband’s turn… he was introduced to his driving coach and they hopped into the car.

A crew member helped him get buckled up, briefed him about safety, and then several other people did further safety checks of the safety checks. There were two guys just directing the cars safely in and out of the pits.  It was all very well organised.

The inside of the car was as bare as could be, and most of it was taken up with a huge spiderweb of metal pipes all welded together – the safety cage, in case the car crashes.

He started the engine and then he was off!

While he was having a “slow” warm-up lap, I walked up to the viewing platform to take some action shots.

Holy moly! It was soooo loud and fast!

My husband was driving at 240km/hr or something crazy like that!

Each time he came by, I could tell he was getting faster and faster.  It was pretty cool to watch.

But I did wonder how they stopped people (like my husband) from crashing the cars!

After what seemed like ages (to me), my husband finally finished his last lap and he pulled into his bay.

He stepped out with a HUGE SMILE and looked so so SO thrilled and pleased with the whole thing.

Just like a sports journalist, I was immediately in his face asking, “So how do you feel?!”

Well… no more Mr Cool. He described it as a SENSATIONAL experience! Bloody brilliant! He would definitely do it again. It was one of the best experiences he’s ever had, ranked alongside swimming with whale sharks! Best. Present. Ever. So good, he would do it AGAIN!

And I stood there dumbly, going “Are you serious?! For real?! Driving around in circles?! Wow. Ok.” — I just do not understand!

But you know what, I guess I don’t have to understand… I was so happy to see him soooooo happy! :)

My hubby also discovered from his coach that the coach has an emergency brake and engine-kill switch – so that is how, if it all goes wrong, nobody gets hurt. The coach literally teaches the driver how to go faster and faster during the session, and makes sure that, if it is necessary for one car to pass another, that this is done safely.

We also purchased a USB in-car recording which shows a view of the whole thing from inside the car (which was very cool), and there is also a souvenir framed photo.

This experience is perfect for guys (or girls who love cars!) as gifts for significant birthdays, anniversaries or any special occasion! V8Race is Australia wide, with experiences available in VIC, NSW, WA, SA and NT.

It was a fantastic experience!

And I drove home, at a very comfortable 60km/hr, thank you very much.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The team at Red Balloon are offering my readers a special promotion!

Receive $30 off when you spend $129 or more on ANY experience.

To redeem: Visit www.redballoon.com.au and enter the promotional code REDKC13 at the checkout to receive your discount.

Terms and Conditions: Offer valid until 31/12/13. Promotional Code can only be used once per person. All purchases are subject to RedBalloon T&Cs, for full details read here.

I met up with a couple of good friends (and their kids) for an afternoon play and picnic by the river.

Warm sunshine, stunning weather and a river bank at low tide… always a winning combination when trying to entertain kids on the weekend.

We (the adults) sat at the cafe, enjoying coffee and cake, while the kids played a few metres away from us, on the calm beach, wading through ankle deep water, climbing over rocks and looking for treasure.

Oh my, it was so relaxing. I soaked up the moment to appreciate how good we have it. Life is so easy and so rich… we are enormously blessed.

I noticed that some kids found a couple of empty glass bottles.

I thought… if one of the kids dropped the bottle on the rocks, it might create a dangerous situation for all the kids, so I was going to walk over to instruct them to put the bottles in the bin.

But I realised that ALL the kids had teamed up and started to collect little shells with slugs and crabs inside them. They created little “ecosystems” in the bottles… and when they were done, they ALL walked over proudly to show us adults.

It was so fascinating and clever.

They lined up the bottles, ready to take them home – but at that point we had to gently tell them to put all the creatures back into the water!

The kids were very grumpy about that. They were not happy. Arguments and tantrums were about to begin.

In the end, I insisted that I would take photos of them and put them up on my website haha!

So here you go kids!

A bit late, but just as Aunty Karen promised!

When my other two children were younger, I would take them out a lot! Almost everyday I’d take them to different parks around town, the river, the beach, libraries, art galleries, cafes, shopping malls… and they would be filled with such happy, wide-eyed wonder of the world.

My third child is a bit different.

He thinks things are just so-so. He whinges a bit. He sighs a lot. He complains that the air is too cold and the sun is too sunny. He would rather just sit at his drawing table at home and write out the alphabet, in upper case letters, backwards.

So I try to make an effort to take him out… and to help him lighten up a bit.

This particular day, we caught the train into the city for a day trip.

I have taken my other children on the train before, but not Liam. He was – surprisingly – very excited! He pressed the buttons to buy the tickets. We waited at the platform. Looked at the tracks. Watched the clock. The anticipation was exciting!

But when the train rolled in, he was quite disappointed and pointed out that it wasn’t a train because it didn’t have a round face and eyes (like Thomas the Tank Engine) and it was in fact a bus on tracks.

We stopped at the city and took a walk to the Perth Cultural Centre.

Outside the WA Museum there is a little play space, filled with interactive musical artworks for children.

There is also a lovely little mural on the ground… and I said to Liam “Hey lets pretend to be frogs and jump into the water!”

He was happy to be a frog, but he refused to jump “into” the water, even though it was just a painting of water. And said that frogs only live on the lily pads.

Sigh.

Then I saw a cute climbing sculpture of a gecko. I said, “Hey let’s make a deal. I kiss the gecko and you take a photo of me. Then YOU kiss the gecko and I’ll take a photo of you! That’ll be hilarious!”

He was not keen at all. He grumbled at me and he gave me a looong lecture about kissing objects in public.

Whatever kid.

We went into the WA Museum and discovered a whole lot of great hands-on activities for children.

There was a table full of clear perspex blocks, with insects specimens inside, and there were microscopes and magnifying glasses for kids to examine the bugs. Liam was quite interested in them and found a few non-threatening looking bugs to hold.

I found a scorpion and said, “Hey you know these look like ice blocks! Let’s pretend to eat them! Nom nom nom!”

I swear the kid rolled his eyes at me – Will you grow up mum?!?

We did a bit of craft at the Museum (which Liam enjoyed) and then we left, looking for some food.

We bought a ham, cheese and spinach croissant to share and sat under the trees at the Cultural Centre Wetlands.

It was a gorgeous afternoon! But of course it was too sunny for my 4 year old.

Another lecture from Mr Serious!

Later we took a walk through Northbridge and I went to visit a friend, who owns the fab little boutique, Tu Boutique, filled with lots of clothes, bags, accessories, gifts and toys.

There were lots of good stuff to look at, so I plonked Liam on the floor to examine the toy shelf, while I had a browse.

My current leather wallet is 3-4 years old now and it’s falling apart. So I for the last few weeks I have been looking for a replacement.

I found this lovely, long wallet in a bright orange, by Status Anxiety. The design was minimal yet modern, one button closure, one fold stlye, big zip compartment, and the leather was soft and smooth. Perfect! And it was only $65! I was so happy.

At the rear of Tu boutique, they run Tea For Tu, a little tea parlour, where you can have a coffee with fresh cupcakes, pastries, tarts and macarons. The table settings are outside, under sails, with a cool bunch of retro antique furniture. I loved it!

I had a cup of soy chai tea and a pastry, while Liam ate a lemon tea cake. We sat on the couch and chilled out for an hour or so.

Thankfully, Liam’s mood lifted considerably and he was looking forward to the train ride home.

Overall, I had a pretty relaxed day with my 4 year old, even though we talked non-stop the whole time.

I’m going to miss my little buddy when he goes to school full-time next year!

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

For the last two weeks, I have been road testing the new Dove Pure – a deodorant that says it has no parabens, no colourants, no ethyl alcohol and no fragrance.

It applies like any regular roll on deodorant. It’s nice and creamy when going on, and there’s no smell whatsoever.

After a few minutes I can slip on a black t-shirt and it doesn’t leave any white marks. Throughout the day, there is no itchiness, dryness, or irritation. I go to the gym, run and cycle and I don’t stink. It’s all good.

Best thing about it: There is ZERO fragrance.

Over the years, I have used Clarins Deodorant (which yes, is a bit of a splurge for deodorant), then I switched to just buying whatever was on sale at the supermarket.

I’ve become so used to having a faint smell of “Ocean Fresh” or “Cucumber and Green Tea” or “Jasmine and Wild Rose” and now that I think about it, those fragrances sound more like air fresheners or toilet cleaners :P

So to have zero smell in my armpits… is such a cool and unusual thing.

At the end of the day, I just smell like nice, clean, fresh skin.

And I know that because during my testing of the product (which I take very seriously thank you very much), I would – to my husband’s delight and dismay – take my top off at random moments and take a deep whiff of my armpits and sigh dramatically, “AHHH IT’S JUST ALL ME!”

This means, I can wear my perfumes (that I paid good money for) and not have clashing smells.

So… it gets two thumbs up from me. I like it :)

Dove Hamper Giveaway

To celebrate the launch of Dove Pure, the kind folks at Dove are giving away a special hamper worth $120, consisting of –

2 x Dove Men & Women Shampoo, 2 x Dove Men & Women Conditioner, Dove Face Scrub, 2 x Dove Bar 2 Pack, Dove Men Face Cleanser, Dove Pure Roll On, Dove Pure Anti-Perspirant Spray, Dove Men Roll On, Dove Men Anti-Perspirant, Dove Facial Foam, Dove Summer Glow Body Lotion, Dove Body Lotion, Dove Women Bodywash, Dove Hair Treatment, Dove Clinical Deodorant and Dove Moisturiser.

Just do the following!

1) Email me at dovepure@karencheng.com.au
2) Email Subject: Give Me Some Dove Love!
3) Answer this question: What kind of activities will you be doing while wearing Dove Pure deodorant?

The winner will be the entry deemed most creative by the judges!

This giveaway is open to Australian residents only, over the age of 14 years.
Giveaway ends 24 April 2013, 5:00 pm AEDST.

Please read more terms and conditions here.

My mother-in-law passed away in December, aged 81.  Her name was Sheila.

So my family has been learning how to be a family without her.

All these important dates keep happening…. Christmas, New Year, Easter, kid’s birthdays. At each event, I automatically set a place for her at the table, then I realise she won’t be here… and so I move the place settings around again.

This week, it would have been her 82nd birthday.

And as a way of celebrating Sheila’s life, I have decided to share some pictures of her, when she was about the age I am now.

Check it out – 1960′s glamour! So confident and sexy!

Here, she is in her 30s. She had two babies, and another two to go.  A woman in the very midst of building her family and living her life. Her husband is the lucky guy taking the photo. No wonder they had two more babies after this :)

And this is her and her 4 kids a few years later in the 70s. They were getting onto a ship to migrate to Australia, to start a whole new phase of their life. It took WEEKS to travel by boat from Scotland to Australia.

My husband, Andrew, is the second smallest kid in the photo (second from the right), and he is 5 years old here. Here he looks EXACTLY like my youngest son, Liam!

And here is Sheila with Andrew, when he was 7 years old. Such a beautiful mother and child photo.

Happy Birthday to you Sheila, and thank you for… everything.

My husband and I are seasoned snorkelers and we were keen to take the kids out for some underwater exploration. We tried once before, but they were too young.  Since then, they have much more confidence in the water.

We chose Mettham’s Pool, a lovely little beach with a surrounding reef that creates a protected and calm pool in the ocean. It’s great place to take little kids, as the pool is protected from big waves and it’s a good spot for first time snorkelers, as the reef houses lots of things to see. The only problem with it is that it is right in the middle of the Perth metro area, and so it is VERY popular.

I pulled my old scuba diving gear out of deep, deeeeep storage – Hello old friends! It’s been 5 years since I’ve seen you! I’m surprised your rubbery bits haven’t melted and molded into one disgusting puddle of black goo!

I also brought along my underwater camera – a Nikon Coolpix AW100 – so I could take some snaps. I was sooo excited.

I’ve never taken real underwater pictures of fish before! Or coral! Or seaweed!

(Actually… when I went swimming with whale sharks in 2001, I bought a disposable underwater camera, but the photos were very meh and blurry.)

As my eyes slowly got used to the underwater light, I looked around and there were fish everywhere! I have no idea what they were called.

They were swimming happily, around me, and between all the people in the water.

Then I looked down and saw these larger fish dawdling along the bottom of the reef. They were so pretty.

Again I have no idea what they are called. Any ideas? Are they good to eat?

And as I moved closer and closer to the reef, I saw the little details start to emerge… crabs, little fish, shells and seaweed dancing and swaying in the water.

I dived down, deep into the water and looked up at my kids swimming above me.

Sunlight streaming down, between bubbles, between floating in things in the water.

It was so peaceful to bob up and down in the water, be still, and watch all the LIFE surrounding me.

And it was great to see the two bigger boys finally getting how cool is all the stuff in the ocean.

Yay for snorkeling!

We brought our 3 kids down to Deepwater Point, along the Canning River.

It’s a nice spot to visit, as there is a cafe, lots of tall gum trees, a fenced off playground, and a long stretch of shallow beach for children to play in the water. There are also lots of people kayaking, people on wakeboards, jet skis and small boats, so it’s nice to sit back and watch all the water activities.

On this particular day, to our complete surprise, there happened to be a sculpture exhibition along the river’s edge.

There were lots of quirky and fun sculptures scattered all over the park: a huge metal origami bird, clay wind chines, cement shape totems, glowing eggs, logs tied up with rope, cube shaped nests and tree mobiles…

But this was our (my) favourite. A breaching humpback whale, by Jake Coghlan.

It was eye catching, simple, well constructed, well placed (with the Perth City skyline in the background), just large enough in size to feel accessible (like you could walk up to it and be its friend!), it had lovely surface colours and texture, it felt finished, complete and needing nothing more (so it had a real sense of confidence to it), and it gave off a feeling of joy, peace and majesty… and it was very pretty!

After looking at all the art, we sat on the grass, under the shade of the tree and enjoyed a picnic.

My big boys wandered off to play on the beach.

We kept an eye on them, from afar, but we didn’t actually notice what they were doing.

However.

After a while I went to see what they were up to.

Look what they had done!

They made a sculpture out of wood and placed it near one of the art sign posts – on purpose – so it looked like it was an art piece in the exhibition haha!

It was supposed to be “like the city skyline, but in wood. And with bits feathers and a dead fish on it.”

They scooted off to hide behind a tree, to spy on people looking at the actual artwork to see if someone would noticed their artwork and take a photo of it.

Ah, my crazy kids :P

My two big boys. Showing a bit of brotherly love. Sharing Easter eggs and fishing techniques, while wading through the muddy sand banks of the river.

They made hand-held nets out of Y shaped sticks and woven rope. They tried to make spears. And fish traps. No success.

We found a little lagoon.

I rolled my jeans up to my knees and showed them how to herd the schools of little fish into the mouth of the lagoon. I tried to direct them as we all chased the fish around in circles. We ran like crazy sheep dogs, stomping through knee deep water. No no, run to your OTHER LEFT! We laughed and laughed. Those silly fish! We were terrible fishermen.

Thank goodness we had those Easter eggs.

I was invited to celebrate the 1st Birthday of Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar in Mount Lawley.

Now this wasn’t just a regular Crust Pizza outlet… this particular store is run by popular food blogger, Michelle and her husband Joe, who not only knows her food,  she know how to throw a good party.

There was live music, cupcakes, balloons, and of course, bucket loads of pizza. There was a really lovely atmosphere in the air and the pizza bar was overflowing with friends, family and pizza lovers.

In fact, when I first arrived at the party, I couldn’t get inside because there were so many people there.

As I squeezed into the venue, I bumped into this guy.

Someone said that he was part of the “entertainment” for the evening.

My eyes widened, “They have MALE ENTERTAINERS at a pizza bar??”

Well, no, not that kind of entertainer. No no no. Turns out that he was an artist, drawing cartoon caricatures for the party guests. Phew.

Caricatures! Much more family friendly! What a fun idea! I’ve never had a caricature drawn of me before.

So I waited in line for my turn.

When I finally sat down for my caricature… I suddenly I felt so awkward!

This guy was looking at me intently, my face, my eyes, my chin, and he was busily sketching away.

And it was so weird, I wasn’t sure where to look. I thought that I should at least FACE him, because he was, after all, trying to draw my face. But I went all shy. I didn’t really want to LOCK EYES with him, stare into the windows of his soul and share an unspoken moment with a total stranger.

Anyway, I ended up looking everywhere else but at him.

And I did what I always do when I don’t know what to do. I got my phone out and started to fiddle with it. How lame!

I did take a photo of him.

I posted it up on my Facebook page saying “This guy is drawing a caricature of me!” and asked my friends, “Do you think he’s hot?”

But before I got any replies, it was over!

My cartoon caricature was so cute! Aww and the artist was so kind with my flat Asian nose and wonky eyes. I look cuter, younger and prettier as a 2D line drawing :P

Maybe that’s what happens when you don’t look straight at a caricature artist.

Anyway.

By the time my drawing was finished, I was soooooo hungry.

Thankfully I love a good pizza!

Every time I sink my teeth into a gourmet pizza, my mouth quivers, my eyes roll back and my chest sighs with pleasure. It’s heaven.

This pizza was the Oregano Verdi Base and Parmesan Squares.

It was a “Starter Pizza”, so it’s slightly smaller in size and priced at $7.50.

Omg you must try it. The flavours were so simple, yet it was so so soooo tasty.

This next pizza was the Italian Sausage Pizza, with Italian sausage, bacon, Kalamata olives, tomatoes and garlic, garnished with fresh basil on a tomato base.

Again, it was absolutely delicious!

I stood there in the crowd of guests, and as the wait staff walked by with a plate of pizza, I threw out my arm out like a frog’s tongue and snatched up a pizza slice before they all disappeared.

I ate pizzas until my belly was about to burst.

I don’t usually eat so much wheat and cheese nowadays, but haha this was totally worth it.

Crust Pizza have recently launched their brand new menu, with new pizzas, desserts and more. Head over to the Crust Pizza Bar Mt Lawley Facebook Page to find out more.

Here are a weekend few snaps from my garden.

My figs are looking a bit small this year, but they taste incredible!

They are so sweet and luscious, that every time I tear one open to take a bite, I stare into the tangled red flesh… and marvel that they were created from water, sunlight and a bit of cow poo.

Last year, all my figs were eaten by rats. But this year, the rats seemed to have kept away. Probably because they are feasting on my grapefruits, and my neighbour’s mangoes!

And remember how I almost killed my baby bok choy seedlings? How dried up, withered and dead they looked?!

Well I’ve managed to nurse them back to health. Look at them now!

They look so so happy! They look like they’re singing!

Ah, it puts a big smile on my face.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

xx

Last week, I wrote about Emily. Emily needs to find a stem cell donor, or else she is going to die from cancer.

My first step to help her… is to get registered as a stem cell donor, and to blog about the process to show everyone how easy and worthwhile it is.

The process of registering is different in every country. In the US, it is just a little mouth swab. Other countries require a blood donation too. So it is worth finding out the requirements in your country first.

In Australia, you are required to donate blood, in order to become REGISTERED. You don’t actually donate your stem cells right there and then!

So here we go……..

Eeek I have never ever donated blood before!

The reason is because, when I was in my late teens and early 20s, I struggled with low iron and a low blood count. During my 3 pregnancies, I also had a very low blood count. So I just assumed that this low-ness was “normal for me” and that I should just avoid donating.

Not to mention, I can’t stand anything “blood related”. I don’t like the sight of blood. The smell of blood. I feel faint when I see too much blood. I get wobbly in my tummy when I see it oozing out of skin. I close my eyes during gory movies and medical procedures on tv. And I hate needles! I’m a real wimp.

But seriously, it’s such a lame excuse for me. I’ve been through much tougher things in life. I’m very fit and healthy at the moment. And I should be completely able to give blood.

ALSO

When I gave birth to my first child, I lost a LOT of blood. I had to be in intensive care and I was given something like 2L of blood to help me recover. So in fact, I had been on the receiving end of someone’s donation. And my husband also received blood when he was being treated for his cancer. Obviously, it is pay back time :)

SO …

I made an appointment to donate blood and to put myself into the Australian Bone Marrow Donation Registry.

Everyone freaks out when you say the words “Bone Marrow”. The registry is called the Bone Marrow Registry, because the stem cells that are found floating around in your blood, actually grow in your bone marrow. Years ago, doctors had to take out bone marrow to get the stem cells, but now, they just sift them out of the blood stream.

When I arrived at the Australian Red Cross Blood Services, the little waiting room was PACKED full of people. Lots of men in business suits, there was a guy and girl couple, a few young woman, and lots of young guys too. I could hardly find a seat for myself. But, I did notice that I was the only Asian face there.

I was given a few forms to fill out. Eventually the people in the waiting room moved on and I took a quick snap, before it filled up with more people again. I thought the design choice of the waiting chairs was very cute.

I won’t lie. There was a lot of paper work. I had to fill out 3 forms.

But they were full of really simple questions like, “Do you have epilepsy? Have you ever suffered a stroke or a heart attack?? Are you taking any medication?”

This went on for a few pages. And I was ticking NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.

And by the end of it, I was thinking – Holy cow, I’m pretty lucky to be so healthy!

Which is what they want. Fit, young, healthy people. Hey, we are blessed!

And this is it. That extra form that might save the life of someone in need.

The form that puts me into the worldwide pool of stem cell donors. That one day… someone on the other side of the world, or someone next door, or even you, will be able to find your 1 in a 10,000 match.

You have to specially request this form, from the nurse at the front reception desk.

After submitting my paperwork, I was ushered to a little room. I talked to a nurse, who went through some pretty simple questions and answers.

For example, one question was “Have you EVER travelled outside Australia in the last 3 years? And which countries?” and I answered “Denmark, Singapore.”

She also took a skin prick, to test my haemoglobin. And then she took my blood pressure.

My results were perfect. I was a fine human specimen for donating blood.

I was ushered over to the donating room, which was nice and air-conditioned. A bit like a movie theatre.

I found a nice comfy seat, and the nurse gave me a snuggly, woolly blankie, which made my day.

The nurse set to work.

A teeny tiny prick of pain.

And I was all hooked up and giving blood.

Haha I totally look like a happy little granny here!

Lots of people asked me (after I donated) : What did it feel like?

My answer: Er, nothing! I just felt like I had some sticky tape on my arm. And I could feel the blood pressure wrap on my upper arm. I didn’t feel any “draining”, or “dizziness” or “coldness” or “light headed feelings”. I just chatted away to people nearby.

I have to admit, I was feeling a bit tense… because I was EXPECTING to feel dizzy or light headed. But I just didn’t. So actually, I felt happier as time went on, because it was going better than I expected.

This was my little pumping machine.

My blood packet sat in a little dish, that was rocked back and forth by the machine, like a happy little baby being soothed to sleep.

You might be able to make out the numbers on the machine.

Since I was 45kgs, I could only give 420mL. The amount collected so far was 358mL. 065 was the flow per minute. And 8:11 was the minutes that had passed.

Actually, 420mL was my blood donation, and they took 2 extra vials for testing and registering to be a stem cell donor. But I didn’t feel any difference.

And just like that, I was done! They wrapped me up and gave me a cup of water.

The whole thing took less than 10 minutes!

I sat there… feeling absolutely fine. I thought – That’s it??

I looked over at my 420ml packet and I was a bit shocked.

It looked like a lot of blood! I looked at my own body and thought, THAT came out of my petite little body? And I still feel fine?! Wow the human body is pretty amazing.

Then it hit me. I had this wave of euphoria. I felt so freaking awesome.

I felt like I did something really, really really GOOD. And I was so proud of myself.

The nurses were so kind and grateful. They kept encouraging me to take it easy, stay for a bit and rest. So I sat there for a few more minutes, just sipping my water and watching all the action in the donation room.

My husband came to pick me up… and we took a gentle stroll into the city.

We found a cute tea parlour in the city and sat down for a cup of tea and red velvet cake. It was just such a brilliant feeling.

That afternoon we picked up the kids from school. I did some light housework. I cooked dinner. I watered my flowers. And I still felt absolutely fine. In fact I was glowing :)

What next? What Can You Do?

To find Emily a match, thousands of ethnically Chinese people need to register to donate stem cells. Obviously, you can make a difference by registering yourself. But this needs to go viral in order to get THOUSANDS of possible donors.

I’ve set up a Facebook page called “I’ve got Chinese Stem Cells“!

The page is an online celebration, dedicated to all the ethnically Chinese people who have registered as stem cell donors.

If you have registered to be a donor, please post up your photo!!

(Photo of your face, your arm, your bandage, your donor card, the waiting room, the donation center sign, your cup of tea, your slice of cake that you ate after! Any picture from your adventure to show you were there.)

Please LIKE the page, upload your photos to the page, and tag “I’ve Got Chinese Stem Cells”

Every time someone posts here, it will add momentum, and spread the word, to help Emily, and others in need in the future.

Spread The Word!

Email, text, or call your best Chinese friends. Send them this blog post or the Facebook page link, and ask them to go with you to register. Get them to register too! And once you are registered, go to a really nice cafe together, and celebrate life and friendship.

And then think about how many ethnically Chinese people in your family, at work, at university, your sports club, social club, church group? Anyone of them could be Emily’s match, and if they are not, then someone they know could be.

Register Here :)

• Australia – Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry
• United States –register and order a donor kit via Be The Match.
• Singapore– register and order a donor kit via the Bone Marrow Donor Programme.
• Hong Kong–register at any of the 7 locations of the Hong Kong Red Cross.
• Canada–register and order a donor kit from the OneMatch Stem & Marrow Network.
• Malaysia–you can register at the Malaysian Marrow Donor Registry in Kuala Lumpur.
• For those in other countries around the world, you can find a registry near you from the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide’s list.  MarrowDrives.org also has additional list of registries.

To celebrate the launch of Polo in the Valley 2013, Tiffany & Co welcomed an excited crowd of VIP guests in glowing style.

With the cobble stone road closed off, the store was lit up, the blue carpet was rolled out, beautiful horses clipped-clopped around the street, and hunky polo players posed next to a Tiffany Blue carriage (!), while greeting guests as they arrived.

It was a lovely treat to have so many interesting and “photographable” features at an event.

So while I was being an awesome blogger, taking photos of this and that… one of the organisers walked over to me and said,

“I just want to let you know that Ewan McGregor will be arriving at 7:15pm, and everyone will have an opportunity to take photos over there.” She pointed to a spot, then hurried off to tell other media guests.

“Ewan McGregor?” I blinked.  I didn’t know he was coming. “Why yes. I would much rather take photos of Ewan McGregor, than close ups of this horse’s ass.”

Ewan McGregor with Australian actor, Matt Nable, who are both in Perth shooting up-coming thriller film, Son of a Gun.

Sure enough, as the big surprise for all the guests, the Hollywood star arrived – looking absolutely delicious – and was all smiles for the cameras.

Yup, he’s one of my favourite actors and I’m a HUGE FAN of his diverse acting and humanitarian work.

Plus he’s got that ruggedly-handsome Scottish look that I am so hot for (my husband is Scottish, so I can say these things ok?).

I seriously went all fluttery.

We were all ushered into the store to listen to the speeches and a very cool announcement.

This year, the Polo in the Valley event is donating up to $100,000 dollars to Youth Focus – a charity that raises public awareness of youth depression and suicide. Amazing!!

I trotted around the store, taking photos of the gorgeous Tiffany models dressed in 1920′s style. There was also a string quartet, lots of canapes and free flowing champagne.

I haven’t been in a Tiffany store for quite some time, so I took a peek into the jewellery cabinets and made a mental note to come back when the store wasn’t so crowded.  I also bumped into a few people that I knew, so I had a nice catch up with them too.

As the night drew on, Ewan seemed to make his way around the room, talking to people.

Actually, I think it was more like… Ewan stood in one spot, while the crowd of guests slowly made “an understood queue” that moved at a polite pace, so that everyone was able to have a chat with him, before he suddenly left the building – as all Hollywood stars do.

And of course, I really wanted to get a photo of him and I together!

It was a getting late and I had to leave soon, so I kind of squeezed in quickly and approached him.

I told him how much I enjoyed his work, how I loved Scotland when I went to visit, and how I married a Scottish guy (I left out the bit about me being hot for Scotts) and how he looked like members of my husband’s family haha.

We had a bit of a giggle, we took the photo, I gave him a thank you cuddle, and I hung around a bit as he chatted to other guests. He was so lovely and gracious.

Ewan McGregor and me!!

Of course, I had a ZILLION OTHER THINGS I wanted to say to him, regarding his immunisation missions, his motorcycle journeys, lightsabres and his 4 daughters.

But what I really wanted to say to him was…

“Hey I wanted to name my 3rd son after you! But my husband argued that since we already had a ‘Sean’, ‘Ewan’ would be too obvious. So we agreed on a ‘Liam’ instead. Yeah sorry.”