02 Mar 2011
missnickibeePosted under Uncategorized
For March, I have three simple daily goals:
- Cook dinner. This also gives me a daily lunch for work. In February I didn’t cook at all. Seriously, not once. Well, once I put some toppings on a pizza base. But that really was it. This month I’m back to cooking.
- Not eat any chocolate. Chocolate is my huge weakness. Ice cream, lollies and cakes I can give or take – I’ll take them if they’re there, but I don’t really seek them. Chocolate is my main focus, I’m not ruling out that other stuff yet, though in the long term all white processed foods will be eliminated.
- Walk for half an hour. Again, there is a little flexibility. Walking can be substituted for other exercise on a particular day (I signed up for yoga from 14 March), and if I need to skip a day during the week, I can make it up in the weekend.
That’s it. Nice and simple. Outside of this, it doesn’t really matter what I do, I just have to stick to these three things. To help with number 1, I’ve planned all my meals for the month. This way I don’t have to think, I just make what’s on the list. If I really don’t feel like something on a particular day, then there’s still 3o other ideas! Anyways, I was asked to share them, so here it is:
- Spaghetti bolognese
- Souvlaki
- Holy basil chicken
- Fish
- Pizza
- Lamb kofta with salad
- Roast vege quinoa salad
- Humble pie (shepherds pie but with lentils)
- Beef with cashews
- Lasagna
- Stuffed chicken breast
- Burgers
- Frittata/quiche
- Satay beef
- Honey soy chicken
- Vege soup with dumplings
- Moroccan quinoa and vege soup
- Spring rolls
- Spaghetti bolognese
- Moroccan chicken
- Burritos
- Pumpkin and chickpea satay
- Teriyaki beef
- Phyllo chicken pot pie
- Fish
- Vietnamese – recipe tbd
- Chicken casserole
- Something with quinoa
- Risotto
- Meatloaf
- Lentil bolognese
01 Mar 2011
missnickibeePosted under Animals, Australia, Nature, Out and About, Touristy stuff
Oh, hello. I have a blog. Sort of forgot about it. Then with every passing day it seemed sillier and sillier to write something. Anyway, to catch you up, I worked from September to Christmas, had 10 days in NZ and worked from January till now. That about sums it up. Then on Sunday I went for a trip, and seeing this blog is about this sort of stuff, I thought it was a good place to start (again)!
Aaaaaages ago, when I was still staying with my cousin, I picked up a half price tour voucher to go to Wilsons Promontory (aka Wilsons Prom/The Prom). I finally got around to booking it a while back and Sunday was the day. After a pretty crappy week, I wasn’t really that keen, and was wishing on Saturday night that I’d tried to reschedule. But too late, so off I went at 7am, in the rain, to catch the bus. After a few hours of driving, we made it onto the Prom proper, and stopped to check out some wildlife.
Before we could venture into the bush, we were advised of the ‘rules’ or ‘guidelines to ensure a good time’. First up? SNAKES. Fucking snakes. I hate the thought of snakes, I like to pretend they don’t exist, which works in the inner city. But apparently there might be snakes, so you had to hope they ran away when you approached, that you saw them before you stepped on them, that they would strike without their fangs and, worst case scenario, you got to a hospital for some anti-venom before the venom won. I did not sign up for that! Suitably freaked out, and with eyes glued to the ground, I walked towards an old airstrip, where we found…
Kangas and Emus! We got super close to the kangaroos, until the annoying twat of the trip got too close and scared them off. (Without wanting to offend my lovely American friends, this guy was unfortunately doing the loud obnoxious stereotype proud.)
Next stop (aside from a brief photo op stop above) was for a 2 hour walk to the top of Mount Bishop, for some amazing views of the beaches and clear, vibrant blue water.
Then we went down to Tidal River, and bypassed Norman Beach (first photo) for Squeaky Beach (second photo). Literally named because it squeaks! It has this amazing white sand, which is actually very fine quartz crystals that are so evenly formed that you can make them squeak when you walk on the sand. For best results, you have to scuff your feet along a bit, but it also works really well in the dry sand at the top of the beach just while you walk.
Finally, we were all packed up and ready to go back to Melbourne, driving along the road out of the Prom, when the driver/guide hit the brakes, then slowly, painfully backed up the bus. Eventually we got far enough back to see this little guy. Isn’t he cute?? He was totally oblivious to a busload of tourists, and some other cars that eventually stopped to see too. He just snuffled around and munched on the grass on the side of the road, right out in the open. The only problem was he wasn’t too obliging on the photo front, and kept his back to us most of the time. This is the best shot I got.
More photos on Flickr here.
23 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under Uncategorized
After I moved in to my new place, I had a traumatic experience at IKEA to buy a bed and some drawers, then spent an entire day building them. I braved IKEA again last night to have a desk and chair delivered today (missing out on them last time was part of the trauma), which means the furnishing of my room is now complete! And it looks awesome, if I do say so myself:
I love my brick wall, I think it really completes the look.
Workspace and drawers, so pleased to have a desk again.
18 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under Uncategorized
What have I learned in the past month (plus or minus a few days)? Nothing profound or revolutionary, but here’s a short list:
- I learned I can blog (almost every day), even with a dodgy internet connection (scheduled posts ftw)
- That a lot of people I know, or have met, blog. I’ve always kept my blogging a secret, so it’s been good to take it to a wider audience and I will definitely be adding a few new blogs to my RSS feed
- The flipside is I learned you just cannot keep up with Google Reader when it’s adding 100+ posts a day! ‘Mark all as read’ became my friend
There it is. I wish I could think of some big or more worldly lessons, but that’s all I’ve got.
17 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under Uncategorized
So this is me in November last year:
I was living by myself, had just been moved into another group at work, had been overseas for the first time, to Melbourne, but still had absolutely no thoughts of ever living away from New Zealand. I think I had just invested in a hair straightener! Hence the photo…
And now? Things are a little different. I’m living in Australia, obviously. I lost 12kg, though, to be honest, my jeans are telling me some of those kgs have come back on. But I’m working on it. After a few months of dissatisfaction with my job, I’m now in a whole new job, which I’m still getting my head around, but is going to be much more challenging and, I hope, satisfying than my last job. As well as downsizing myself, I’ve downsized my whole life. I’ve gone from having an entire house full of furniture and crap to the two suitcases I bought over to Melbourne. I’ve picked up a few things since, obviously I had to buy a bed and some basic stuff, but on the whole I’m working to keep material possessions to a minimum.
And I think, more generally, I’ve become less angry (bar the odd Twitter rant), more patient, more accepting, and less worried about things. It’s a good space to be in, and I’m working to make it even better.
13 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under Uncategorized
Because a very good friend asked me to take part in one a couple of weeks before this round took off. That was via Facebook and I didn’t want to do it there, but I also wasn’t sure I wanted to take my blog off track. Then I was still thinking I should get onto it when the opportunity to join in presented itself again. So I started, thinking it was actually the same thing. It’s similar, some of the tasks are in fact the same. But either way it’s been fun, it’s got me blogging again. I’ve tried to focus some of the posts on the current period of my life, with this whole moving to Melbourne thing, which hasn’t been that hard.
12 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under Uncategorized
They’re cool. And that’s all I have to say about that.
08 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under Australia, Frustrations
So I emailed around a few insurance brokers today, turns out getting my contents covered in a flatting situation is going to be difficult. There is one company who offers a good rate for fire and theft, but won’t cover accidental damage, so I may have to settle for that even though I really want accidental as well.
Anyway, one person got back to me with this, which I just have to share because it is such a terrible email (my request was simple, I was looking for insurance cover for myself in a flatting situation, preferably with accident cover, and did they have anything along those lines):
Dear Nicola, You may not be aware that requesting cover only for yourself, when sharing accommodation with others is A DECLINE RISK. Why? Insurers will only insure ALL PARTIES COMBINED for good reasons.EG. Shared houses attract different friends (of each flatmate) and people come and go (sometimes undesirable ones) and next thing valuables go missing from your room for example. A burglar DIDN’T BREAK IN but somehow posessions are missing. The simple fact is that it doesn’t happen when you occupy your own locked house (no flatmates) and you get to control who comes and goes. Also, if the people who share choose not to insure–What does that say about their character?
Many Insurers refuse to Insure also when more than three persons occupy, even when they ALL AGREE to purchase Insurance!
So,I have taken the time to explain this to you even though it’s not the answer you really wanted.
Kind Regards
Just me, or is this super-patronising? I know enough about how insurance works that most of the information in that email is pretty bloody obvious. My initial email was properly addressed, well written and to the point, and properly paragraphed and punctuated (unlike the response), so clearly I’m not totally stupid.
More importantly, putting JARGON in CAPS does not provide a DEFINITION. You are yelling words at me, not accentuating important points or providing key information.
I took exception to this, and because this whole insurance thing is frustrating as hell, wrote back, outlining I was very grateful they took the time to write a response, however I found it overall patronising, and the use of caps made it seem as if he was yelling insurance jargon at me, and he may want to keep this in mind for future communication with potential clients. It was an exceptional email, if I do say so myself.
This is what I got back:
Hi Nicola, You have taken my use of ‘capitals’ completely wrong. I can’t help that . You are the first person ever to reply in an email that my use of capitals is a form of ‘yelling’ at you. (emphasis added)
Um… CAPS = yelling, pretty much a golden rule of online communication.
He went on with a whole lot of other rubbish, including pointing out that he was providing this advice at no charge, and ended with ‘life’s to short for me to get upset over this’. Which was so not the point of my email, or my intention at all. I was tempted to respond with nothing but the link above, but I really don’t care that much. I did my bit. Hopefully, he’ll bitch to someone about the stupid girl who told him he was yelling in this emails by using caps and they’ll enlighten him. In the mean time I’ll continue to get a giggle out his response.
07 Oct 2010
missnickibeePosted under 30 days of me
“What I would find in your bag”
Wait, what you would find in my bag, or what I would find in yours? That’s a poorly worded task! Let’s assume it’s what’s in my bag, which is everything you see here:
Fairly stock standard I think.
I have two phones at the moment, one contains my NZ sim card so I can keep an eye on it for any texts/calls from people who don’t know I’ve moved (it’s currently flat though). I also still use my iPod a lot, even though I have the iPhone now. I don’t mind using the latter as an mp3 player (I haven’t liked it on previous phones), but it chews through the battery, so I use my iPod mostly. The second set of earphones are for times when I want to drown out the sound around me. I don’t usually use them though, I think it’s dangerous to drown out noise completely when you’re wandering around, crossing roads and things.
I picked up The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights for the grand sum of $1.50 yesterday, so former being the perfect size to throw in my bag for reading on the go. And I still love my notebooks. I was hoping the iPhone would negate the need and I could keep all my notes in one place, but I still prefer good old pen and paper, at least until I find a decent app.
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