12th February - Inside your closet

I've been flicking through the #Febphotoaday tweets on twitter. I like to get an idea of what other people have done for their photo and I guess I'm also a bit voyeuristic in my wanting to see how other people live, what they get up to and so forth.

It's sad, but I have a massive case of closet envy! I will happily admit that I am quite jealous of those people with OCD who have their pristine wardrobes organised in colours and patterns and styles, price tags and brands/labels.

My closet is not organised. It is messy. Full of boxes, bags and dress up clothing and props from the many different theme parties we've attended. I do not have brand label clothing. My dresses (apart from my wedding dress) do not cost more than $90 each. I like colour, but a lot of my clothing is black. The clothes on my shelves are not folded. They are crammed into the small space after each load of washing is taken off the line. I am proud that the clean clothes even make it this far instead of making their home on my bedroom floor!

You will not see the mess in my photo for today. I am too embarrassed to bare all of my "skeletons" for the world to see. Here are some of my clothes on hangers, the ones on which I will allow you to judge me...

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
BzeeJ x

11th February - Makes you happy

This one was pretty hard for me to decide on. There are quite a lot of things that make me happy; family, friends, love, bed, sunshine, wedding rings, clouds, birds, trees, wedding photos, any number of gifts I have received, reading a good book/magazine, my favourite outfit/shoes/handbag, a cup of tea, a good meal - dessert especially....

I began the day in a rather foul mood. I was tired and grumpy and nothing was going right. Mick was laying on our bed, saw me pouting and asked me what was wrong. I began whining about nothing in particular and he opened his arms telling me to snuggle in for a hug.

As I lay there in his arms, we chatted, giggled and laughed about nothing. It was warm and comforting and just what I needed to brighten up my day.

So I'd like to say thank you to my wonderful husband for being patient, kind and understanding to my needs. I love you and cuddles from you definitely make me happy :)

What makes you happy?
BzeeJ x

10th February - Self portrait

Ugh.

Do I have to???

*Dread*

*Thinking of ways to take a self portrait other than showing my face*

Cartoon drawing of me? No.

Eyes only? No.

*Feel like a cop out*

Can't be bothered with make up.

Hair in desperate need of colouring.

*Click* No!

*Click* Double no!

*Click* Meh.

*Click* Best of a bad bunch.

*EDITING*

*More editing*

*Even more editing*

*Ghost face*

Redness gone? *Check*

Gigantic pores reduced? *Check*

Volcanoes on lower half of face basically eliminated? *Check*

Uneven skin tone smoothed out? *Check*

No double chin? *Check*

*Upload*

*Sigh*

What is wrong with me? Why was this such a big deal? Everyone knows what I look like. Nobody cares that much. Except me. Most of the time I feel like I have gotten over my issues, then I always let the negatives back in. I know I'm not the most attractive person, but I'm not ugly either. As a society, we tend to focus a lot on the outward beauty of people, but I think inner beauty is more important.

How you treat people.
Giving.
Loving.
Helpful.
Considerate.
Conscientious.
Loyal.
Friendly.
Funny.
Caring.
Accepting.

What's beautiful about you?

Be happy!
BzeeJ x

9th February - Front door

It seems quite fitting that day 9 has something to do with my house when this is the start of the 9th year I've lived here.

My front door has seen many friends, housemates and family members pass by it, as well as plenty of door to door sales people, Jehovah's Witnesses and parcel delivery people knocking on the solid timber to alert me to their presence, wanted or not...

It's amazing how almost every day for the last 8 years, this door has been the portal from the outside world to the comfort of my cosy home and it took this challenge for me to really appreciate its steadfastness over time.

Is there anything in your life that you take for granted?

Maybe you can change that,

BzeeJ x

8th February - Sun

Today is my little brother's birthday. I say little, but really he was taller than me by the time he turned 15. So what I should technically say is that he is my younger brother, but I find that it seems to imply I have more than one sibling. I don't. Well, maybe "technically" I do, but I didn't watch them grow, discover, learn, annoy, laugh, play, hurt and love. I've never met them - and that's a whole different story!

Gavin is now 22, engaged and living in Townsville. I haven't seen him in person since my wedding day... Saturday, 6th March, 2010. It's been nearly 2 years without a hug from one of my favourite people in the world. This makes me sad. I miss him terribly, but feel happy in the knowledge that he is living his life the way he wants to.

It's strange to say it out loud, (or blog it for the public to read)... However, I know there is more than just distance separating us. It is our life choices, experiences and way of dealing with the hurt. Nobody reacts in exactly the same way to circumstances even if we were brought up in the same home, in the same town, with the same parents, same expectations, same values, same morals, same surname. I sometimes wish we were the same - selfishly I just want to hang out with my brother. In reality I know that can't happen. I do, however, have hope that our differences will bring us together again. Like magnets pulling at each other from opposite poles. Maybe. One day...

One of my fondest memories of growing up with my brother is laying on the trampoline in the backyard in the evening, just as the sun began its decent over the horizon, watching the flocks of birds fly in "V"s across the purpling sky. We'd count and laugh and bicker over who had counted correctly (me, of course!) before heading inside for dinner.

This post and picture is dedicated to the Birthday Boy.

So Happy Birthday Gavin, my brother. My distant friend. I love you. I miss you. And I hope all you wish for comes true for you this year.

Love,
BzeeJ x

7th February - Button

I have a small problem... Okay so it's not so much a problem, but an obsession.

I have a handbag addiction. There, I said it.

This may not come as much of a surprise to all of you, especially Mick, because he became aware of my weakness pretty much as soon as we started dating. The reason I know this, is because each time we went shopping, he would casually place himself between me and the bag shops we waked past. Subtle.

I can hear you thinking, 'What does any of this have to do with "Buttons"?' Well, I am glad you asked.

In 2007, I came across a store called, M!MCO. It's an Australian brand and has some to-die-for merchandise. While browsing the shelves, I came across a snow and silver "Button Bag". I fell in love.
Now came the hard part... Convincing Mick to buy it for me. So I casually let it slip that I found a gorgeous, absolutely must have handbag in Queens Plaza. Immediately, reg flags started popping up in his mind and I could tell that he was very hesitant to encourage this behaviour he had been trying to stifle over the years.

As a bargaining chip, I told him, "This is the bag to end all bags"...

...He gave it to me for Christmas that year.

Staying true to my word, I have mainly bought clutches and wallets since, with the exception of 2 bags whilst we were shopping in Rome and Athens.

I love my M!MCO Snow and Silver Button Bag, it's a little worse for wear, but it's all mine.

What's your obsession?

BzeeJ x

When Scones fail...

Without being overly mean, I can honestly say these are the worst Scones I have EVER made! But perhaps the best Rock Cakes!

I followed my fail proof recipe from Taste.com for Basic Scones. They ALWAYS turn out perfectly... Well not today. I made the best dough ever this morning and thought, "These may be the greatest Scones of all time!!" How sadly mistaken was I....

The only thing I can tell that I did differently to all my other times of cooking this recipe, is that I allowed the oven to heat up longer than normal at a higher temperature so that it would be the optimum temperature when the scone dough made it in there. BIG MISTAKE!*

Before they came out of the oven, I was planning on taking them to Mick's work as a kind of an introduction of me to his new workmates and bosses. NOT ANY MORE! There is no way I am allowing myself to be represented by these flat, crusty, crumbly and hard circles of almighty doom. I do not want to be associated with them at all!

I guess that I can learn from my over heating the oven mistake and move on to imagining perfectly risen, warm, delicious, melt in your mouth, light and fluffy morsels of pure awesomeness.... Bliss.

Happy baking!
BzeeJ x

*Note to self - follow recipes to the letter. Always. You are not equipped with enough knowledge in the art of baking!