100 Days of Awesome: Day 39 - Soooo Muuuch Caaaake, So Little Sleep.

Well it was a Wednesday, and we all know how much I love Wednesdays, despite the early start. But on this occasion, the early start plus the late night I had meant I was up for 21 consecutive hours... and I only drifted off at my desk once! Heck, I don't even do that on international flights - I'll take a hayfever tablet and knock myself out cold. So being up that long was both compeltely unaccustomed and also somewhat less than awesome.

 

But I had a pretty awesome day at work. And I unexpectedly got to see The Kiwi for all of about twelve seconds, which was obviously also pretty awesome. He's a nice boy :-)

 

And then I had to cook an awesome quantity of cake... literally. Four cakes' worth of mud cake, baked one cake at a time, because the oven isn't big enough to fit two large tins. And because the seals are screwed and temperature is inconsistent at best; and mostly because the shelves in the oven fell to pieces and I had to fix them and start over with the reheating, it was 2:22am before I snuggled down into bed. Understandably the sheer quantity of cake was the only awesome thing about that.

 

Okay, and maybe the ganache. You're looking at 1kg of dark chocolate and 1L of cream there. Mmm, ganache... *drools*

 

And yeah, okay, you got me, I licked the whisk. And that was pretty awesome. Because duh.

 

Actually, an unexpected but awesome bonus of the baking taking forrrrrr everrrrrr was that FINALLY I had a chance to read a bit of the book my hairdresser lent me to read when I had time off for my surgery. Now, my birthday is coming up and I usually get my hair cut for that, so I've realised that I pretty much have two weeks to read a 650-page book and get it back to her, with little to no spare time on my hands. So I'll be the one with my nose buried in a book at any given moment for the next few weeks. Hopefully I don't injure myself doing that (I've done it before)...

 

Well, that's it for the awesomeness. It's lunchtime on Day 40 as I write this, and I'm struggling to stay awake. So I'm hoping there is some awesomeness in this day that will at least keep me awake... I do have to cover those cakes with fondant tonight, so that should keep me on my toes! (Note to self: remove rings and cut fingernails down to nothing so as to not damage the fondant.)

100 Days of Awesome: Day 38 - Vietnamese Dragons with Heart

Well my title sounds kind of cryptic, but it isn't - it's just that the three items had nothing to do with one another besides occurring on the same day.

It was a "work from home" day on account of me having an cardiology appointment scheduled for smack-bang in the middle of the day. I had decided that there was not much merit in making the trek out to work and then having to come all the way in to town after a couple of hours and then back out again. So I began my day with a short sleep-in and then got to work. It was a pretty productive morning, too, which was awesome.

 

Walked up to the train station just as the train arrived and jumped straight on it, had a quick lunch with my BFF Ness, and then stepped straight onto a tram up to the hospital for my appointment. Awesome. Kicking goals all around right there!

 

The appointment was a bit less than awesome because when they did one of the tests on Zappy it sent my heart into an irregular beat and I felt a bit wonky, which was kinda scary, but they corrected it soon enough. And The Kiwi called to see how the appointment went, which was pretty awesome, and not something I've really had anyone do before. Gold star for you, my boy!

 

I got off the tram a few stops early on the way back into town and wended my way through the arcades of Melbourne, via Haighs Chocolates. They're an old favourite of mine from the time I spent living in Adelaide, and not just because they make these amazing, gigantic chocolate frogs - I am also quite a fan of their rose cream chocolates, ginger anything, chocolate coated coffee beans, dark chocolate apricots and... oh, who am I kidding, I'll take one of everything!!! I got a couple of bits and pieces from there, and of course said yes to the complimentary chocolate buttons (does anyone ever say no???). Visiting Haighs is always awesome for that reason alone.

 

Back on the train, home to do some more work, and then out to see How To Train Your Dragon 2 with The Kiwi (haha yep, I imposed my incredibly mature taste in movies on him... which turned out just fine because it's a good movie, and even the cartoon-y ones have enough adult content to keep everyone entertained nowadays), before heading out for some pretty awesome Vietnamese. I have also decided that Toothless is a pretty awesome dragon, and I kinda sorta want a dragon of my own... (that could happen, right??)

 

Altogether a pretty awesome day. How was yours?

100 Days of Awesome: Days 34-37 - Roast, Hiking, Caterpillars & Yoga

Gosh, my weekends really are doing their darndest to be so awesome that I don't have time to post! Eh *shrugs* I doubt anyone is following along anyway, but that's okay - my purpose was to remind myself of the everyday awesomeness of my life, and that's certainly working for me.

 

Friday (Day 34):

The day was off to a shaky start when I realised I had a flat tyre. A very flat tyre. 50,000km on rough roads and sharp sticks in Tasmania last year without a problem, and a tiny little screw in a suburban street brings me undone. Sheesh. It probably would have been somewhat less awesome if The Kiwi hadn't very kindly changed my tyre for me, but, as it was, I got to watch a man do manly things for me (even though I can change a tyre myself), so not such a shaky start to the day after all! It also meant I got to leave work early to pick up the repaired tyre. Winning :-)

 

But the main feature of the day was going to my friend Rachel's place for an awesome roast pork dinner. It was originally supposed to be a spit roast, but it was blowing such a gale that a) it was never going to cook, and b) 3 gum trees fell over in their neighbour's yard, which makes sitting outside in the elements by choice kind of foolhardy. I suppose you could say that the wind was awesome, too, in the truest sense of the word!

Awesome food, awesome company, and awesomely amusing watching Rach's husband Russ grill The Kiwi. Which I'm pretty sure Russ took pleasure in doing.

 

Saturday (Day 35):

 

First, and probably best, was an awesome sleep-in. Nothing quite like lolling about in bed, with no intention of doing anything productive.

 

But, all too soon, my day's responsibilities (being baking cakes for other people) crept up on me, and so I had to lever myself out of bed and get up n at 'em. But first stop, eggs and bacon brekkie! Any day that starts with an egg and bacon brekkie is an awesome day.

 

Fruit cake for Hamish and Chrissy's wedding: check!

 

Smelt awesome, too. Mmmmmmaybe because of all the brandy in it...

 

Cupcakes for my Housebaby Layla's The Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday cake: check!

 

The Very Headless Caterpillar, mostly assembled: check!

 

(I'm glad my icing writing is improving)

 

And somewhere in there, I found time to go do the 1000 Steps in the Dandenongs. It was awesome getting up there again and doing it again, and even more awesome that I did it in under an hour, which surprised the heck out of me considering how off-colour I've been feeling.

Two of my Usual (hiking) Suspects, Kaye and Jamie, came along, and The Kiwi also joined us. And I think that after I explained to him that me going bright red in the face was a good thing because it meant that my heart was actually beating, I suspect he enjoyed himself a bit more. Everyone was awesomely patient with me, as usual, and I'm really glad I did it. Even though my legs are still sore!!!

 

Sunday (Day 36):

 

My day started with another, smaller sleep-in, and progressed to playing with my friend Emma's staffy Milly, and then cuddling her adorable baby Arthur (who is approximately double the size he was the last time I saw him, which wasn't even that long ago!). Then Em and I went for brunch at Mixed Business in Clifton Hill (they don't know I exist), and I had some pretty awesome apple pie waffles:

 

as well as an epically huge hot chocolate:

 

Truth be told the waffles were probably a touch sweet because I'd just had the hot chocolate, but I ordered a green tea to chase it and all was awesome in the world again. It's also just as well I had that massive mug to wrap my hands around, because it was freeeezing cold and pouring with rain and we were seated under cover but nonethless outside. Between that awesome hot chocolate and the crocheted rugs they handed out to customers, Em and I had a pretty awesome brunch.

 

Next, I sallied forth home to assemble the Very Hungry Caterpillar. My Housebaby's mum Nyssa had carved a head for the caterpillar out of watermelon, and I think she did a pretty awesome job of it:

 

So there were a few hours of kids' party-type activities (by which I mean, I sat in the kitchen drinking cups of tea, doing work and playing with the occasional tiny human that came my way), and then the adult "Whoohoo, we survived a year of parenthood!" festivities began. By which I mean, beer and poker. And I ended up with about 75% of the winnings, which was especially awesome considering it had been The Kiwi's money to begin with. Now THAT is an excellent investment ;-)

 

Monday (Day 37):

 

Ugh, Mondays. But, there were breakfast cupcakes. Not ALL of these, obviously, but one or two ;-)

 

The day was average, but, as per usual, yoga saved the day in the evening and made things awesome. Actually, it really was an awesome yoga session. I know I'm getting better at it, partly because they've moved me to the front of the room so people can use my form to guide them. And then I had an awesome Thai green curry cooked for me, and having food cooked for you is always awesome.

 

Tell me what was awesome about your weekend!