It's Me, Eloise! Pamper Party

We had a very early birthday party for MissE before school holidays begins.  Since she was still technically 6, it was fitting that we had an Eloise at the Plaza themed-party (her name-sake).  The only difference is that this Eloise prefers purple to pink so I blended the colours for the party.

This party was fun and easy to put together (in a week and a half when I realised it was fast approaching), as we only had 10 girls (all from school plus 1 cousin) which we hopefully spoiled on the day! 

The Plaza

This was the hardest part, somehow transforming the house to a hotel and as elegant as The Plaza NYC.  When guests arrived, they “checked-in” to the hotel by visiting Registration Desk to sign their name.  As there is an ‘Eloise at Christmastime’, we put up an Eloise Christmas tree in the “Lobby”; keeping to the colour palette of purple and pink.

Check-in (and gift table)

The dining area became The Spa.  I found paper tassel kits at the dollar store for $6 each and created a faux flower chandelier using my cross-stitch hoop.  It’s so pretty that I haven’t taken it down.

For the cake table, I painted “It’s Me, Eloise” onto a paper table runner.  I gave the feeling of NYC by wrapping empty food boxes in white paper and drawing a high-rise and a small boutique.

The bathroom also got the Eloise at the Plaza treatment with The Plaza toiletries, a brush and body shimmer spray.  I had a hard time tracking down those empty travel containers but finally found them and created my own The Plaza labels. 

Room Service

The girls (and gentleman) dined on a menu similar to that of Palm Court at The Plaza:

• Here's What I Like: Sandwiches
• Charge It Please, Scones with Cream
• Tweenie Weenie sausage rolls
• Love, Love, Love Sweets

I completely over-catered.  This was our first small party but I made enough sandwiches and scones to feed 50!  I felt terrible throwing away 1 full platter of sandwiches, but not so much on the uneaten party pies and sausage rolls (not so good).  Don’t even get me started on the cake!  I brought some to work and sent the rest to school, with “no backs”. 

The Spa

I had ATouch of Glitz and Glam come with their mobile spa for manicures, pedicures and facials for the girls.  What a fantastic mobile party!  They brought everything you could possibly need for the party with them.  MrE also wanted to join in on the fun too.  He had his toe nails in Hulk green! 

Real men wear pink!

After dressing the part in headbands and robes, they took their place, refreshed with Pink Lemonade and popcorn.  (Overheard: “It’s definitely wine”)

BIRTHDAY CHEERS to MissE!

First they had pedicures, then manicures.

Foot soak

Rainbow nails

Green pedicure

This was followed by an avocado mask complete with cooling cucumbers for their eyes and then some special Glam Party games.  There were 2 party hosts but still a bit of down time so they spent that telling jokes and reading magazines.

Looking Gorgeous!

Absolutely! Birthday Cake

I cheated.  I had 3 Christmas parties (plus work) to attend in the lead up to the birthday party so I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to bake cakes, allow them to cool and decorate them so I outsourced.  And I might do it again!  Mondo Cakes is located in Sydney; they bake and deliver the cake to you!  I just iced and decorated it.  The summer months and the heat got the better of me so don’t look too closely!  I am glad I only do this twice a year.

SEVEN

*Note MissE’s class was having a bake sale the next day so I did still have to do some baking.  They were raising funds to put a water tap into a school in South Africa.

Oh Goodie!

This was the fun part!  MissE and I raided the dollar bins at Kmart, items were no more than $2 thanks to also being on clearance!

Sleep masks, Kimono Doll chap stick, lollipop hairbands,
critter erasers, nail polish highlighters, candy bracelets 

Spooktober 2015

We had a fun Spooktober (October)!  As I usually do, I participate in the Photo a Day challenge.  This year I carried the Spooktober theme through all most of my photos.  I didn’t pressure myself with a photo every day, just when inspiration hit.

A is for apple
B is for Boo!
C is for (undead) cookies
D is for drink (and a Halloween movie)

E is for Eloise as Holly Golightly (Halloween 2012)
F is for facing my fear of clowns (Halloween 2013)

G is for Ghostbuster (Halloween 2012)
H is for hand (err… detached arm)
O is for Ouija (still in the wrapper)

P is for pinks and purple (my Halloween costume)
R is for rats
S is for skulls … glitter ones
T is for Transylvania (UE 2002)

U is for under-estimated… how long it would take to turn myself pink!
V is for Victorian dollhouse (built with no instructions)
W is for World Teacher Day Halloween treats
Extra: W is for "We're all mad here" (I wanted to wear my tights)

Z is for Zombie… as in Plants vs Zombie

MrE had a Halloween party at day-care on the Thursday before Halloween.  He asked early in the month to be the zombie from one of his favourite phone games “Plants vs Zombies”.  Of course, with a few days to go, he changed his mind but too late!  He enjoyed it on the day with a bit of help encouraging the excitement from MissE.

The Main Event: Halloween Day

Yay!  It’s here.  After swim lessons and lunch, we started the long process of getting ready.  It took a longer than I expected to turn myself pink.  In the end with the body paint failing, it was eye shadow that did the trick!  Next was Eloise and then finally we were all ready!

If you don’t know Adventure Time, here’s what they really look like.

Finn, Ice King, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline

And here's us!

 The Costumes:

MissE and MrE decided what the family would be dressing as months ago so I had plenty of time shop for props via eBAY and make not 1 but 2 Princess Bubblegum dresses and Ice King robes.  I had to make 2 because (1) dance fabric is terrible to work with (b) a double bed- sheet was too small.  The costumes were partially handmade.

Princess Bubblegum – I bought a cheap pink tank that perfectly matched my fabric swatch.  I made the skirt (bit more flattering than her dress on me) and my crown.  I bought cheap wigs from eBAY although I need to work out how to make these look a bit better for the next time we wear them.

Ice King – I bought the hat/ beard from the local pop culture shop.  I made the robe using a King-sized bed sheet from Kmart (cheaper than buying the fabric at a craft store).  MrH styled his nose using leftover felt from another project.

Marceline – Most of this MissE already had in her closet.  I made her red boot covers.

Finn – Again, MrE had most of this.  I was going to make the hat and backpack but I found an Australian stockist for both! 

Lithgow Halloween

After a few photos, we partially undressed again for the drive to Lithgow, NSW (150k from Sydney).  I saw an advertisement for Lithgow Halloween as part of their revitalisation project.  Lithgow was once a mining town and this festival is in their 3^rd year now (it started in 2013 with just a trick-o-treat trail).   We are always looking for something new to do so why not?

Lithgow Halloween 2015

The drive wasn’t too bad, an hour and 45 minutes.   MrE decided to have a nap for most of it too!  Unfortunately as we made our way through the valley, it started to rain, not sprinkle but rain.  I had been pre-warned that it can get quite cold here even in the summer so I was prepared.

After re-dressing and holding what props we could in addition to umbrellas, we hit Main Street.  As it was still raining, space was tight under the awnings.  Each store on Main Street decorated their display windows for Halloween.  One of MrE, err, Finn’s favourites was the hair-dressers.  They were dressed as very stylish zombies and “trapped” inside the store.  Marceline liked the lucky dip.  They taunted the children from inside and a few times would surprise them by opening the door!   Most of the stores were also part of the trick-or-treat trail. 

I think this butcher has been overrun?

Yes, I'm going to have to pass.

Slimy lucky dip

We seem to be very popular!  We had fellow attendees wanting photos and screaming out at us.  Smile and wave, boys!  Smile and wave.  I was excited to see so many people dressed up and dressed up well!  As Halloween isn’t that big here, we see a ton of vampires, witches and superheroes.  The mayor looked incredible as Marie Antoinette.

We found BMO!

To the gallows with you!

As night fell, Lithgow took on a new light… 

Light projections on historic buildings

Can someone please unlock the door?

Finn to the rescue!

 The finale of the evening was a theatrical pyro-technic show.  Finn and Marceline loved watching the acrobatics and of course, the flames!

We had a fantastic Halloween night… we can't wait for next year!  We are already planning our costumes… but in the mean time, see you at Oz Comicon as Adventure Time!

The Last 6 Months...

Well, it’s now the end of June and I have finally finished the backtrack posts.  Oh dear.  I also had some technical issues and my hard-drive crashed.  It’s okay – I didn’t lose too many photos.  Not sure how else to do this, so here are the highlights from January to now.

Back to School (January)

I made it home just in time from the sunny Gold Coast to see MissE start Year 1.

Gold Coast, Qld

First Day of School

And now, Term 2 is already done and dusted.  We are proud of her for earning her Bronze Merit Badge (1 of 3 Year 1's), Merit Certificates (x 2) for her writing, and a few ribbons too.  This is also my first year as a Class Parent which I am learning by stumbling through!

In January, MissE also lost a whole lot of teeth – 3 within a week!

Wet ‘n’ Wild Sydney (March)

We went back; this time as a family.  Our friends told us of a good deal as it’s the end of the season so why not?  Eden really enjoyed himself, going up and down the Jr Wet ‘n’ Slides at least 30 times.  We lost count.

Wet n Wild Sydney

MissE and Daddy under the giant tipping bucket

Advanced Screenings (March)

We checked out ‘Home’ at the movies.

"I'm waving my hands in the air like I just don't care!"

MrH and I had a date night to see ‘Insurgent’ (Book #2 from the Divergent series).

Iron Tiger (March)

MissE surprised us by being invited to grading for her blue/white belt.  She is really enjoying taekwondo and kickin’ butt (literally)!

Easter (April)
Yay for Easter.  It was a much needed break for us.  (Me with a whole lot of domestic travel done for a while).  We stayed home this year as we were working on the house (see below "Home Sweet Home") but we were busy!  We started the long weekend with Eloise's Easter Hat Parade then had a long overdue catch up with friends and also went to a footy game.

We had a lovely Easter Egg hunt with friends

The Easter Bunny came!

It's Easter - let's hunt!

On Easter Monday, we went to an NRL game: Eels v West Tigers
(The Eels lost.  Boo!)

Term 1 School Holidays (April)

With Easter drawing to a close, Eloise was officially on Term 1 holidays.  Again, she had a mix of activities.  Here are a few of the fun things we did:

We went bowling

Rode scooters at the park

Eloise's favourite was our girl's day in Sydney CBD.  It was a gorgeous Sydney day so we impromptu jumped on a ferry to Luna Park.

The Tea Salon

Eloise's afternoon tea
(yes, it was all for her!)

A view form the top
(of the Ferris wheel)

Luna Park fun

ANZAC Parade (April)

The cousins had the honor of walking in the ANZAC Parade with their great grandfathers' medals.

May Celebrations

For Mr H’s birthday and Mother’s Day, we had a mini-break at The Sebel Resort & Spa Hawkesbury Valley. We spent the afternoon swimming, evening eating pizza and I indulged in a spa treatment for Mother's Day.

Donut cake (man-cake)

Villa Thalgo spa treatments

K-2 Disco (May)

We finally made it to a disco.  Both E’s really enjoyed their selves dancing the early evening away to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.  Both were spied on stage at different points of the evening.

Day Trip: Hunter Valley (June)

Over the June long weekend (Thank you, Queen!) we spent a day in the Hunter Valley.  One of the stops was the zoo.

Maned Wolf

Serval

VIVID Sydney (June)

For the VIVID Festival this year, we decided to turn it into a mini-break and booked into the Shangri-La Sydney.  While waiting for the sun to set, we watched the ferries from our Harbour-view hotel room and splashed around the pool.  Here are some of the highlights from our mini-break (finally made a Flipagram)

Home Sweet Home

From previous months, we moved onto painting… every.single.room (more or less).  What we thought would be 2 weekends painting has turned weeks (months even).  And painting leads to cleaning/ reorganising (so therapeutic) and re-homing furniture plus numerous trips to Kmart (Kmart Australia new home range is too cute and so affordable!) and Ikea.  I’ve been having a bit of fun decorating (still a work in progress)

Our Easter break was spent on this scaffold

Painting is done, a new chandelier installed
and wooden bench refinished and re-homed from outside

I made the 2 outer pillows using CS6 (Indesign) and iron-on transfers.
The 2 middle pillows were purchased from Society6

Freshly painted walls and some necessary art
(Print ordered from Society6)

Our Laundry was completed with "dirty" photos of the kids and dog too
(I let the kids loose in the backyard with holi powder!)

I can't explain the muddy pup.  We came home from work one day and she was like that.
(That photo is several years old)

Everybody Poops.

The kids got some new "artwork" in their toilet

And these photos (located over the towel rack) remind them whose towel is whose!

Me
I celebrated another year older.

9-5
Yay!  I had great news at the end of February, moving from a maternity leave cover contract to permanent.  I am thrilled to be staying!
June is Project6 Month, we have the opportunity to give back to many organisations around the world.  I joined in on a day at RSPCA.

I cleaned these 2 gorgeous bunnies hutch

And then this happened just recently!  What?!  What?! What?!

Crafternoon
I also have a new hobby.  I now do cross-stitch/ embroidery but in my style, rap lyrics.  There aren’t enough hours in the day for this, it’s so addictive.  I find myself constantly scribbling phrases for cross-stitch in my notebook whenever inspiration hits!  Why aren’t there more hours in the day?

Gangsta Nation - Westside Connection

Turn Down for What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon

I’ve also turned a new leaf, literally.  I was feeling a bit sluggish and did a Clean Eating Challenge for 2 weeks.  I slipped once or twice with coffee, as that was the hardest part for me.  Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it and have been keeping it up to a not-so-restrictive extent.  My favourite have been the chia breakfast “puddings” and my new found love for green smoothies (much to the disgust of the kids).

Overnight chia pudding

Until next time… Hopefully sooner than another 6 months! (Technically it's only been 4…)