A Beautiful Mess Giveaway

I have been backwards and forwards about this blog, Im not sure how long i will keep it for, but for now im linking an awesome giveaway from A Beautiful Mess! Elsie is giving away a $150 gift voucher for Threadsence and hooooooo gosh i hope i win it.

Until next time...

~ Rhey.

Sad.

I was going to do a post about how in love with blueberries i am at the moment... cool recipes and blogs to follow. But something a lot more important has come up and pulled at my heart strings.

I wish i could divulge i really do. I wish i could say exactly what's on my mind, but the fear of her or anyone else in our close circle of friends reading this is not worth the hassle. Maybe i should privatise my blog... no, that wouldnt help. I don't know what to do.

Let's just say that i am a mess at the moment, and it is baffling as to why.

~ Rhey.

Career?

I've been neglecting this blog quite a bit lately. And i could make every excuse under the sun about being busy etc. etc. but in the end it just comes down to the fact that i haven't been making it a priority. This makes me saaaaaad.

I was never one of those people to know exactly what i want to do in my life, and plan it out to a tee, and i think as a result i have found myself in a job that i'm not truly happy with. Don't get me wrong, i have tried working in multiple areas and job roles since having a full time job at fifteen, but none of them have ever worked out, or i have simply lost interest. They say that your ideal career would be the things that you like to do in your spare time, so.. uh i'm going to be a professional sleeper, or reality-television-watcher. Ugh, what i guess i;m trying to say is, i've got no clue what to do with myself. Is it okay to just be in administration for the rest of my life? What if i honest to god cannot think of any part of my personality or interests that would be suited for a job?

Well that was my waaah fest for the day!

~ Rhey

Wordless Wednesday.

Around 2008.

I lost the plot...

Chai... Spanish Style.

One of the best parts of my working day is at about 3pm when my spanish 'grandmother' waltzes into my office to begin her shift. She has kinda taken on the role of all of our 'grandmother's' here at work. She is old school spanish to the max (calls everyone 'babieeee' and even does that kissing-her-fingers hand movement thing when something is 'perfection') and is one of the most amazing and inspiring women i have ever met. I find myself captivated by her stories of Spain and knowledge of the world. She has taught me how to make a true spanish gazpacho and just recently taught me the way her mother used to make her chai tea.

She brought me in a little bag full of fresh ginger, anise seed stars, licorice, green and black cardamom, cinnamon and fennel seeds and told me to go home and chuck them all into a teapot and enjoy with my regular chai.

The flavour that the spices add to the tea is aaaaa-mazing. She told me not to throw out the spices once the tea was gone, but just to leave them there and add more and more over time. This was just what i needed on a chilly sunday morning, accompanied of course with a hot croissant or donut... or maybe even a churro! Im gonna swarm her for information for the perfect churro next time i see her.

yummmmmmm.

~ Rhey.

Breathe.

These past few weeks have just been go. go. gooooo. I havent been getting to bed until at least 11pm and that is without being on the internet at all. I smell a break coming up though, maybe a weekend of nothing, or maybe even a day off work. I am so fizzled out that i need to take a break before i get sick.

I have gained buttloads of respect for women who return to work after baby! Although i think i would rather their satisfying exhaustion over my stressful working-for-the-man type of exhaustion.

This afternoon i spent my precious free time going through the seventy odd new posts on my bloglovin account (heck i am in no way complaining about that!) and browsing my new favourite site pinterest. I'm off to the gym now though to continue my health kick!

~Rhey.

A Paper Mama Photo Challenge!

Just here to enter Paper Mama's latest photo challenge! This is my favourite photo from June of my fur baby. Isn't she delish?

~ Rhey.

Cookies

After that little health ramble i went on about earlier it's only fitting that i share a post on the cookies i made this weeked. Ebb and flow, good and bad, ying and yang. You know, balance.

It is universal knowledge that i cannot cook. Don't get me wrong, i can make a mean piece of toast, or some two minute noodles... or if you're lucky some spaghetti bolognaise, but when it comes to cooking things from scratch. No Bueno.

I was adventerous once and tried to copy a recipe from a food blog. Nothing too serious, just peanut butter cupcakes, and i ended up setting the entire contents of the oven alight. Yes. My cooking was so disastrous it was on fire.

Betty Crocker is my bitch. She wont burn my house down.

Just one egg and a few spoons of butter. Minimal effort required on my behalf equals something actually edible.

Nutella should be compulsory in baked goods.

Even if it is just a dollop in the middle of a cookie.



It's like a jam drop... or should i say Nutella drop. The verdict is in, and my Betty Crocker Nutella drops are a huuuuuuge success. Holla.

Even miss Harlow wanted in.

~ Rhey.

Unfit...

It took me seventeen weeks of personal training sessions to realise that i need to get myself healthy. I'm a bit like that. Never the first cab off the rank haha

I've been eating like a sumo wrestler trying to go up a weight class for a while now and it has finally caught up with me. You know, the bad skin, restlessness, bloating, general feeling of crapness. This is the first thing that needs to change.

I've always found it hard to eat healthily. Up until eighteen years of age i was a petite size six (US size zero) and lived on a diet of big macs and caramel thickshakes, until some sort of womanly hormone induced switch flicked on inside me and i gained twenty kilos within six months. Unfairrrrrr.

Three years later and i have not lost (or gained... phew) a single kilo.

During school i was a runner. I came fifth out of hundreds of kids in the district school sport competition and could run 100 metres in fifteen point five seconds. Now? I'm lucky if i can even make it to 100 metres without coughing up a lung. I'm quite pissed at myself that it's gotten this bad, and i really have no excuses.

Last night after a crazy session at the gym i was browsing through pinterest when i saw this photo:

And it kind of struck a chord with me. As cheesy as it is, I know i won't go anywhere on this weightloss/body cleansing journey without the love of myself. And i know it may take a while, but everyday is a new day.

My only goal at the moment is to be less critical on myself and think better thoughts about my body. In the mean time I will begin to eat healthily and get my ass to the gym more often.

Wish me luck.

~ Rhey.

Wordless Wednesday

Just chillin' in the laydeees rooooom...

Your missing out...

If you are not following the blog of this lady, then you are.. well... missing out.

Joy the Baker does a weekly podcast for Homefries with the help of the lovely Tracey from Shutterbean, and let me tell you... i. am. hooked.

I spent the entirety of my saturday listening to their podcasts and baking chocolate chip cookies. These ladies are devilishly funny and make cooking look hella easy (which for me, never will be, but with the help of these ladies i'm trying!). They give great tips on blogging, photography, being a mum and cooking, and make you feel like your just sitting with a bunch of your friends sippin' on wine and talking about life in general. They're podcasts are available weekly to download from itunes and never fail to deliver the awesomeness.

Click to get to downloadin'

~Rhey.

Ten Things.



So this is a first... I havent got any photos for my 'Week from an Iphone' post! Yes, my week was THAT boring. (and/or i was THAT lazy...)

I found this cute little notepad from a site called Shabby Blogs, while i was searching for some sort of template. They all sucked, but i saved this so at some point in time i would be able to do a post on how much i love my boy. Obviously that time is now.

Enjoy the love i have for my Zebby and please scold me for being so slack.

~Rhey.

Wordless Wednesday

My bestfran Tegan and I, Creamfields Music Festival May '11.

My Week from an Iphone V.3

How was everyone's long weekend!? (You Aussies out there... America missed out on this one!) I'm back at work for another joyous week (SARCASM) after I let the public holiday yesterday mess up my blogging routine. I realised in between the naps and Jersey Shore re-runs that i had forgot to write up this post on friday!

My weekend was full of newborn baby goodness. Luccas is honestly the cutest and most relaxed baby i have ever met, and i aint just saying that cos he's my godson!

Saturday - Zebb and I were bored after a long sleep-in, so we went for a drive through the mountains.

Sunday - More fishing! With all of this fishing i have been doing lately i should quit my job and go work on a trawler. I'm a pro.

Monday - I was getting anxious at work waiting for news on the arrival of Luccas and drank copious amounts of coffee.

Tuesday - Waiting a whole day for a photo of Luccas was a killer, but our hearts grew big when we learned another soul had been welcomed into the world.

Wednesday - I relaxed (aaahhh...) and watched a bit too much daytime TV. I switched to 'Hellcats' when this photo was taken, and changed the channel again soon after... what a crap show.

Thursday - After work Zebb and I trekked it to the hospital for baby snuggles, and were overjoyed when James and Amy asked us to be godparents!

Preeeetty average week 'round these parts.


~Rhey.

Our Dinners and a Baby Shower... Late.

The weekend just gone was a pretty special one. We celebrated the long awaited (almost cancelled!) baby shower for little Luccas. As usual, the blogger in me was nowhere to be found. I FORGOT my camera (seriously rheyanan!?) and only took a few photos with my phone after realising what a damn idiot i was for almost passing up photos of such a precious time.

Amy had gone all out for this shindig. She wasnt after a traditional baby shower and held it in the late afternoon sun of a saturday. There was wine, canapés, a mixture of family and friends, and THE most divine baby cupcakes you would ever let grace your tastebuds.

Amy spent weeks painting that yellow and blue star mural in the background, and is going to incorporate that into Luccas' room once he comes home.

We drank our wine in baby blue cups and talked late into the night.

Moving on...

A few weeks ago i posted a list of dinners that i was going to try and cook for Zebb and I. I'm happy to report that everything went better then expected! I'm probably the world's worst cook and for me to make these dishes and not give zebb food poisoning is a mega win. I only took a few photos because cooking is crazy time consuming, and you also may notice how much of a grub i am.

The Chicken BLT Salad

Making a mess in the process.

I baked some diced wholemeal breadrolls for the croutons.



Crisping the Prosciutto!

Thai Chicken and Corn Noodle Soup

The soup process!

I dont think i will be making this a weekly habit, but every now and then when i find an awesome recipe that turns out as planned i'll share it on my blog!

Have a great weekend!

~Rhey.


Humbled.

An amazing thing happened on tuesday evening.

An hour old

Luccas Timothy Weisse - Hunter was born at 6:46pm on the 07/06/11, weighing 2510g, 48.5cm in length and only 36 weeks gestation. He is beauty in it's purest form.

Last night we took an impromptu drive to the hospital to visit them. As soon as i walked in the room i could feel those damn womanly, womb jumping hormones go crazy. This baby is out of this world. Seriously. I could not stop smelling those sweet spots on the top of his head and poking his baby soft cheeks. I smothered him in kisses an held him close until visiting hours were over. He has been anticipated for quite some time by his parents and our close circle of friends, and had a bit of a scare in Amy's (His mother and an amazing friend of ours) thirtieth week of pregnancy. She was admitted to hospital after severe itching took her over the edge of her sanity, and was diagnosed with a liver disease. She faced the possibility of having to give birth ten weeks early and have her baby admitted to the NICU for quite some time. Fortunately they got everything under control and were able to let baby Luccas bake for a few weeks longer. He is a spitting image of his dad, and out of the five years i have known this man i have never seen him so proud.

Amy had a scheduled induction on the Monday night and was texting us and keeping us updated the whole way through. After being there for this whole pregnancy i had a deeper feeling for this child and felt proud as punch holding him in my arms. In between going through maternity photos, birth stories and hopes and dreams Amy passed me a card. She notioned Zebb and i to open it quickly and tell them our thoughts. Inside was a beautiful black and white photo of the little man only hours old, and some words from the heart.

'Thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts for being with us through this amazing and daunting time. You have helped us tremendously over the past year and would not have been able to get through it without you. We would be honoured if you would take on the role as Godmother and Godfather to our baby boy Luccas Timothy. All our love.'

I cried. Instantly.

I was not expecting to be blessed with such a role in his life and am honestly going to take to this like a duck to water! Funnily enough through the hullabuloo that was going on we actually forgot to say yes and Amy had to confirm with us as we were leaving haha. I've felt so proud ever since those moments and already love this child more then he could ever imagine. If this is the feeling you get just being a godparent i cannot imagine the absolute joy Amy and James are feeling right now as his parents. It would be indescribable, and has definately upped my clucky meter by a thousand percent.

Being a godparent is a serious role, and i plan to live up to every essence of the word. I will be there for you  when you need me and i will love you whole-heartedly and without judgement. I will be your cool 'Aunty' Rheyanan and give you tips on how to swoon that pretty girl at school. I will be a constant in your life no matter the situation and will let you know on a regular basis what you mean to people. I will be a shoulder to cry on for your mama if she ever were to need it and on that day of your christening, i will be standing up there for you, wearing my invisible godmother badge with pride.

I love you.

~Rhey.

Wordless Wednesday.

Zebbra and I, 2008

Worthy.

I fancy me a good daytime talk show every now and then. Dr. Phil when i have the odd day off work, or re-runs of Ellen in the afternoon. And as everyone is aware Oprah had her last show last week, and gave some amazing advice to end it all. This post was stemmed from something Mandy addressed last weekend.

I'm not sure where the feeling of being unworthy has come from in my life. Maybe it was being told in school that i was never 'smart' enough, Maybe it was being picked up and dropped from so many males when i was a teenager, Maybe it is feeling like i have not lived up to my expectations in my career and had successes like my father. Or maybe it's just a mixture of the lot? I've always been a strong advocate for loving yourself and everything you do. But when it comes to things that i put my heart into (this blog, my boyfriend and family etc.) i feel completely unworthy. The amount of amazing bloggers i follow and have come across make me feel like these words and this page are here for no reason. Sometimes i cant see the point in sharing my life when there is nothing interesting enough to share, like a baby, a husband, an amazing job or cause or an insatiable fashion sense. But i keep on. I'll post about my life to remember, even if i feel its not worth remembering. Because it's my life, and the only person that can change it is me. And one day when i do have a baby, a husband and all of the above, i will be able to look at this and think 'Wow, that was what my life was like'.

In the famous last words of Oprah,

“Each one of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage in a studio, yours is wherever you are with your own reach, however small or however large that reach is. Maybe it’s 20 people, maybe it’s 30 people, 40 people, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, your classroom, your co-workers. Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies. In every way, in every day, you are showing people exactly who you are. You’re letting your life speak for you. And when you do that, you will receive in direct proportion to how you give in whatever platform you have.”


~ Rhey.

My Week from an Iphone V.2

Happy friday! This week i had quite a boring one. No crappy phone pics of awesome things here! Sorry :( I  must admit though, i like getting my phone out to take photos of anything and everything, and i can see myself eventually posting a million photos per day of the week. It will be like a step back in time when i've done a fair few of these posts and look back over them :) Hey, that's what blogging is mostly about right? With no further ado, heres V.2.

Saturday: I baked an amazing banana rainbow cake, and was rewarded with some Moscato!

Sunday: Boredem set in after cleaning the house, so we headed to Wivenhoe Dam and fished. I caught nothing yet again :(

Monday: I was feeling like a fatty after all of the cake and wine on the weekend, so after work i jumped on the wii. Apparently i suck.

Tuesday: Rummaging through a drawer i found Harlow's halloween costume from last year and took a few photos of her in it. She was suprisingly cooperative!

Wednesday: Not expecting to come home to any food on the table after PT, i was shocked to find Zebb cooking some Asian Chicken and Corn Soup! My boy is the best.

Thursday: After a crappy day at work, the last thing i wanted to do was drive around and run errands. But that's what i did. (Note: I was not in motion when i took this. I was at the lights! I know, i know. It's still dangerous.)

Friday is today... and for some reason i always leave them out!? Oh well. Let's call that a day off.

~ Rhey.

Mid-week Blues.

I got 'em.

It's 4:20pm in the afternoon and i wanted to get an awesome post written today. No such luck. Heres a quick wrap up of whats been on my mind lately.

•  I have been going backwards and forwards on whether or not i should get a blog designer to step in and help me with this mess i call a page. The verdict is in and i will be perusing through designers blogs once i reach 50 posts.
• I have joined Pinterest and still arent sure what i'm doing. I'll get there. Don't even ask me what my handle is because i wouldnt be able to tell you (what kind of young person am i?!).
• I've still been tweeting. So follow me there.
• I have been LOVING all of the posts on my bloglovin account lately! You ladies have been busy, i logged in this morning to 30 new posts!
• I am going to go pick up Zebb's new iphone soon, and i am mega jealous that he is getting an iphone 4 while i still have a crappy 3. Sads.

See you all tomorrow with my Week from an Iphone Post!

~Rhey.

Wordless Wednesday.

My best friend and I in 2006. Oh how much has changed.

~ Rhey.

Kitty Loooove.

Just a quick post of some illustrations from my FAVOURITE artist, Yasmine from Cat versus Human.

Somehow, we must be related. Because this. is. me.

~ Rhey.

Weekday Dinner Recipes.

Phew, What a busy Monday! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend. I am especially jealous of all you who have a public holiday for memorial day today. Although i may have had to come into work today, i feel like it was one of the most productive days i have had in a while! I have started making a list of recipes that Zebb and i will try throughout the working week that are easy (we are hella time-poor), cheap (we've had to tighten our belt a bit) and most of all delicious (i have one fussy boyfriend!). We almost always end up eating some form of takeaway at the end of the week, and sometimes even during the week, so a meal plan will help us to stick to cooking on weeknights and save us money. I have taken all of the recipes from Taste.com.au which is an australian website (which anyone can use, although some measurements and particular products may be different) that has over 22,000 different meals.



Mini Meatball and Tomato Pasta. Definitely one to try! Delicious.




















I also promised you guys that i would share the recipe of the pumpkin soup with a twist dish that i took a photo of for My Week in an Iphone post below. I will get to that at the end of this post! Now here are the recipes that i have in store for us this week.



Monday:
We love us some chicken in our household, so tonight i will be making Chicken, Corn and Noodle Soup.



Tuesday:
More chicken! This BLT Chicken Salad looks tasty.

















Wednesday:
Tonight i have gym sessions with my personal trainer, so i think dinner will be a bit of a snatch and grab. Spaghetti Bolognaise will do just fine!

Thursday:
Im a bit sneaky with this recipe, i like to use the packet ravioli. Ravioli with Creamy Swiss Mushroom and Thyme Sauce

Friday:
With the week winding down, the urge to buy takeaway is approaching fast, so we go with a dish that we make on a regular basis. Chicken Burritos!

Lets hope Zebb and i stick to this food plan and make it a habit every week. I will let you all know of my favourite recipes and how they turned out next week!

Oh and here is the recipe for our Roast Pumpkin and Garlic Soup!

~ Rhey.