I have come to the conclusion that Op Shopping is just not for me. Don’t get me wrong – I love vintage homewares and accessories… but when I get to an op shop I freeze. Everything looks tacky, like it wouldnt work in our home, and not worth the price they are asking.  

I scour Ebay daily trying to find exactly what I am looking for, and when push comes to shove I just cant hit bid!

However, I have a vision of blending the old with the new and have run it past many people - all of whom agree I am not wrong in my vintage thinking. So the first step to this plan: find, purchase, pick up a vintage dresser. I have always wanted one of these - it reminds me of my Nans house. We would sneak into her bedroom as kids and sit at the little stool, play with her jewellery and makeup and feel like grown up girls!

I have wanted my own dresser for as long as I could remember and NOW I have the opportunity! I’ve run the plan past the boy, and he agrees it will work and won’t make the house too girly for him.

So now as soon as I can win a decently priced one on Ebay I shall be restoring a dresser to be a little more modern and will have myself a girl space in which to get ready!

I’m on a roll!! I completed another house task this week…

Just a plain ol wall.

Now featuring the noticeboard my sister made me 2 christmases ago that I requested then never put up on a wall! (In my defence, she forgot to put the string on the back that allows you to hang it up!)

 And now with 50% more bills

Even though it is in a slightly obvious spot and the various notices dont make it the prettiest thing in the world, I really like it. It means I can put bills on there that say “BEN TO PAY” and he hopefully will!!

I’m hoping to take some more photos over the weekend to do a house tour of things I want to do…. tooooooo much to do!

So we have been in our house for nearly 2 months now, and truth be told, not much has been done to it since then! Well last night, I finally did something. I put pictures in their frames AND hung them up! I know, right?

Before

So just a plain ol wall…. looking all white.

After

Ignore the bomb site going on around it! Looks alright, hey?

Close up

Just sitting on the couch afterwards, surveying the awesomeness, we are both really pleased with it. Not so sure if I put the picture hooks in the right places, so hopefully they dont fall off the wall!

What I love about these p0sters is that these are so “us”. Sounds wanky to say, but I always make a big effort to ensure that the house represents both of us equally and the things that we love. Music is our greatest shared passion and these are just 3 bands that we love.

Having seen this result, Ben is quite keen to get the other posters on the wall! He will have to hold up on that for a bit – need another trip to Ikea to accomplish my next wall: the kitchen cupcake-straganza! (totally a word)

Dear Ben,

Today is our two year anniversary, to when two years ago we sat and decided to make it official.

We didn’t have the easiest of starts, with my recent break up and insecurities after many years of emotional abuse, but it never scared you off and you held me when I cried and reassured me I was beautiful when I felt disgusting. Despite warmings from people not to get involved so soon after a break up, we didnt listen. And thank god, because from the moment we were together, nothing has felt so right.

People in happy relationships often smugly report “when you know, you know” and I have to say it’s true. I knew the second I opened the door to you when we were just grabbing a “drink” and that has never wavered.

Friends have freaked me out, when they declared early on that I was going to marry you. And the “old” me may have laughed, because I wasnt the marrying type. But you, well, if you were to ask, I would totally marry you.

Two years seems like such a short time, and I have to kick myself to remind me that it has only been this long. Because, it feels like forever (in a good way!) In that short time, we’ve lived together for a year and a half, holidayed, encountered 3 surgeries between us, family illness, changed jobs and bought a house. All those stressful things, in that short time, and we are still standing with no collateral damage!

I love you more than anything, and can’t imagine my life without you. 2 years is a short time – and only a drop in the ocean compared to how long I know we will be together.

Love,

Me

So I have decided to split these blogs up – keep this one for my more personal “complaining” and a separate one for my food blogging:

http://imasugarjunkie.wordpress.com/

Feel free to visit me over there! To celebrate, I made a lotttt of stuff over the weekend which will need to be blogged about!

I got into work, on time for once, and settled into my chair. I checked my work emails and then continued with my morning ritual of checking my private emails (what? It takes me time to get my brain going in the morning!)

I didn’t notice it at first as I scanned the list of emails waiting there. But there it was: a name so familiar and dreaded at the same time. My ex boyfriend.

We have been broken up for over 2 years now, but I really don’t need a reminder of that. He did his usual “catch up” email, the kind where he lets me know what hes up to, that hes spoken to my friends about me and knows what I am up to, that he wants to Facebook stalk me (there is a reason I am private) and that if I am interested, despite him living with a girl, he’s still keen.

I really dont need my mind messed with before 9am on a Friday.

I hate to hurt people. I really do. And I hate having to tell him every 6 months or so that I am happy, with the man I plan to marry, and this time around I get to tell him that we have bought a house – which may be the first time in the 2 years we’ve been broken up it will actually hit him. Because I really can’t deal with him and if he gets mad he will start calling.

So you might be wondering, why write back? Well, 1) I have a weird psychological thing where I must reply to emails. It eats away at me if I dont reply. I hate it and I cant help it and 2) every time I do I hope that it will sink in to him and I can go about my life pretending he never happened.

Because truth be told, the 5 1/2 years we were together wasn’t great. Oh I thought I was happy and in total denial until September 2 years ago when I just snapped and broke it off. I had had enough of his crap.

He was emotionally abusive, made me feel fat and ugly, like a horrible human being, made me depressed and basically broke my spirit.

And I had a whole very long post that I just lost… detailing all his asshole moves and what I put up with…

so I will sum it up like this:

I hate that 2 years on he is still getting to me, that he likes to remind me that he can still get into my life even if I wont let him, that I let him upset me, and mad at my friends that they tell him things.

Most of all, I feel as if I am unfair to Ben if I get upset, because when we first got together, he was such a saint putting up with my insecurities and tears. Nearly 2 years into OUR relationship I shouldnt be shedding tears because my ex boyfriend emailed me.

But, Ben is such a good man, I know that no matter what, he will be there to support me.

I remember when we had been broken up for a while I agreed to see my ex, to try and get him to stop calling. To let him know that it was over and I had moved on. We agreed to bury the hatchet and see if we could try to be friends.

Well, I got there and he handed me a 10 page letter professing his love for me. Then he told me he was seeing a girl. The same girl we nearly broke up over in our first year of dating because he was sending her dirty emails, and I stupidly believed his excuses and believed him when he said he wouldnt email her again. I was so mad. He was sitting there trying to get back with me, and he was dating some other girl? That right there proved how much I was over him. Never a doubt before, but it showed me what an asshole he really is.

I went home, read his letter, and cried and cried and cried. I cried for all the emotional bull he was pulling on me, for the years wasted, for letting him get to me, and because I was mad. and then I called Ben and I cried some more. And half an hour later, he was at my door and he held me as I cried and listed to my anger.

And that is why he is such a good man. And part of the reason I love him so much – he is always there for me. No matter what. Whenever I need him, he drops whatever he is doing. He doesn’t hold our rocky start against me, and doesn’t get mad at me when I get upset by my ex yet again, he just talks me down from the ledge and helps me let go of the anger at myself.

Most importantly he makes me feel beautiful, regardless of my size or how much makeup I am wearing. I am lucky to have him in my life.

I cannot make a decent frittata to save my life! The first one I made was yummy, but still runny and this one… well it lacked a bit of flavour. So why am I blogging it? To show off my new slicer!

This baby makes almost paper thin slices! Its tricky to use, and you gotta watch you dont slice your fingers off, but the results are worth it!

Onto the recipe:

Bacon, leek and potato frittata

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 rashers rindless shortcut bacon, chopped
• 1 medium leek, trimmed, halved, washed, thinly sliced
• 1 medium lady christl potato, peeled, thinly sliced
• 1 quantity Basic frittata mix (see related recipe)

Method

1. Heat oil in a 26cm (top) frying pan over medium heat. Add bacon and leek. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until bacon is golden. Add potato. Cook, stirring for 3 minutes or until potato starts to brown.
2. Meanwhile, preheat grill on medium. Make Basic frittata mix. Add to pan. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until almost set. Transfer to grill. Grill for 2 minutes or until golden and set. Serve.

Source

Super Food Ideas – November 2008, Page 58

Basic frittata mix

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup pure cream (used lactose free milk)
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (used feta)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

Method

1. Whisk eggs, cream, cheese and garlic together in a jug. Season with salt and pepper.

Source

Super Food Ideas – November 2008, Page 57

 

 The top burnt a little… but no runny egg, thats for sure!

 Slice shot!

I was really surprised this didnt have much flavour… I included a lot of salt and pepper, but the leek really didnt have its usual kick. However, I dont think its hopeless. If I browned the potatos a touch more, added in a few more herbs and spices, it could be quite a delicious frittata.

For the record, Ben has asked me to give up on frittata. I dont think I am quite ready!

 

With a bunch of bananas slowly going bad in my fridge, I knew it was time to do something with them. And so, I turned to my usual solution: banana bread.

However, this whole gluten free thing is throwing me for a loop. So I sourced a gluten free version that seemed easy (read: not using all sorts of exotic flours you cant find at the supermarket).

Ingredients
1 stick margarine or butter, softened
3 large or 3 1/2 small very ripe bananas (I used 4 large. I like my bread bananary)
2 cups rice flour (or prepared GF baking mix)
1 cup sugar (I used half castor and half brown)
1 cup pecans, finely chopped or ground
2 eggs
2 teaspoons GF baking powder (I found most baking powder was)
1 teaspoon GF vanilla (most vanilla was)

Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar. Beat in eggs, vanilla and bananas.

In another bowl, mix together flour and baking powder. Combine and beat until dry ingredients are moist. Stir in pecans.

Turn batter into 5 x 9-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees (around 175C) for one hour and 20 minutes (I cooked mine about an hour. Probably could have used a bit less) or until toothpick comes clean out of center. Do not under bake.

The result was… well a little bit dry. But great flavour. The pecans really gave it a bit of crunch and you couldnt taste any difference with the rice flour. Apart from being a more expensive way of cooking, this is a simple substitute.

 you can see it is dry just by looking at it. Maybe 50 minutes cooking time would be sufficient?

 and an inside shot. I considered making it level. But then I realised, it was just me eating this cake.

A few days on, it is keeping extremely well and holding its flavour quite well! yum!

There is a point in every new couple’s life together where you experience a first dance together. Ours was not exactly as I had pictured.

We were a month into dating and I had gone out for a night with some old work friends of mine. We had a few drinks, caught up and my other newly single friend (NSF) discussed a boy she had been dating and whether or not she should meet up with him later.

Anyway, later in the evening Ben turned up to come and meet these friends and as we are chatting to one of the girls, we see NSF take two cold and flu tablets – with wine. Interesting… we discussed whether or not that would affect her in any way and only had to wait 5 minutes before we saw the result. Our tipsy friend had suddenly turned into a raging alcoholic!

We were at a kind of pretentious bar – filled with footy players and skinny blonde girls in little dresses and for NSF this was not enough atmosphere. “Lets go meet my boy!!!! Hes at an RNB club WOOOOOO” so Ben graciously drove us up there (we were on one side of the city, this club was on the other).

We werent keen to go in there, not being our kind of scene, but we also couldnt leave NSF so drunk and with a boy she barely knew! So the boy met us at the door and we got the VIP treatment to skip past the line.

We walked in to a sweaty, pulsating with music, sleazy kind of club and thought “I realllllllly dont want to leave my friend here!” So we stayed for a bit. Except, this wasnt a club you couldnt dance at. The entire room was the dance floor. So we had no option to dance together as NSF grinded on her new boy next to us. We looked at each other and poor Ben (who was stone cold sober) danced along. We laughed “Wow… we are having our first dance to some RNB song Ive never heard!”

Ben is not a fan of dancing and I wasnt so into the music, so after a few songs we gave it up, but there are few words to explain how uncomfortable we were dancing in that club together!

Eventually we came to see new boy was quite a nice boy and I made him show me his drivers license before we would leave her just in case, and we left to go home.

As we were driving home, we were laughing “You do realise now we have to have our first dance at our wedding to an RNB song right?” yeah… dont think so.

I am not the biggest chilli fan… my dad used to make it all the time and I was always MEH about it. But, this gluten free thing has made me reexamine what we eat and so when I was craving pasta but refusing to buy gluten free pasta, I thought, well couldnt I just put bolognese over rice… then I thought… well why not make chilli?

I mentioned it to Ben and he was beyond excited. Turns out he loves chilli. And why wouldnt he – he loves a bit of spice!

Chilli con carne

 Ingredients (serves

 This was alright. I am still MEH about chilli… but the boy loved it. He had seconds and kept saying yum all night.