Friday Favourites

Hi friends it’s time for Friday favourites and I’m excited to be here today to share a few things that made the week brighter. I know that it’s only week three but I’ve been enjoying my days at work. Of course, going back to work after the long summer break is always a bit of a shock to the system. But on the whole, everything is going well (I don’t want to jinx anything by saying this!). There have been so many improvements on so many different levels and that’s a big favourite! Last year was a challenge and I was worried about a repeat. Fingers crossed, so far so good. I was craving a strawberry milkshake. So after work on Monday, I walked up to the food court in my local Westfields to buy one. Usually, I’m happy to make them myself at home but in honour of it being birthday month. I decided to treat myself. A big bonus was getting in about 3000 extra steps than usual for the day by adding on the extra walk to the shops. I finally tackled the not-so-fun task of giving my oven a good clean. It was meant to be a school holiday job but I never got around to it. While scrubbing an oven is not my favourite activity, cooking in a clean one sure is! Despite having a self-cleaning feature, there is still the tedious task of removing all the racks and scrubbing them, as well as the glass door. One of the good things though is that unlike the old oven we had for years and years. I don’t have to contort myself and stick half my body inside to reach every corner. After this major effort, I’ve made a promise to myself to clean it more regularly. It’s incredibly satisfying to see it clean now, and I can finally check this task off my to-do list. Yay! I made an apple and berry gluten-free loaf. It’s been ages since I had baked anything and I think the couple of cooler mornings we had earlier in the week must have given me some major autumn vibes.   My fun work friend gave all of us a Lunar New Year Lottery scratchie and I won a $2.00 ticket! No further winnings though, better luck next time.   Finding this cute surprise in the fridge on Tuesday afternoon was a favourite. Haha! The anticipation of waiting a whole day to open my card and favourite chocolate bar on Valentine’s Day was a treat. This year we celebrated a lovely low-key Valentine’s Day at home. Some prawns and oysters plus a bottle of Prosecco. So good! I’m so determined to keep up with my meal planning this year and I’ve finally found a good routine that works for me. In the past, I used to meal plan on Sunday evenings. But I really disliked doing it on a Sunday because for me it was a big annoying chore planning for the week ahead. I think that Sunday evenings should be for relaxing and not even thinking about the new week! This year I’ve switched things up. Instead of meal planning on Sunday evenings, I now do it on Saturday mornings. For extra motivation, I have my coffee in my favourite cup. I pull out my beloved diary/planner and I use some colourful glittery pens and a cute notepad. I also light a scented candle and I find it’s actually quite pleasant to plan for the week ahead on a Saturday. Then I do an online grocery order which gets delivered on the same evening and I’m done! That wraps up a few favourite things for this week. Thank you so much for stopping by and I look forward to being back here on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika  

Hey friends! Can you believe how quickly the week has flown by? I’m happy to be back on this scorching Australia Day – 39ºC and counting! Thank goodness for air-conditioning and the joy of staying at home on this public holiday! Now it’s time to share some summer favourites! My First favourite has to be this beautiful silver nameplate necklace I rediscovered during a recent cleaning and organising session. That’s the upside of doing this chore, you sometimes find little forgotten treasures. I’ve had this gem since 1982, a thoughtful gift from my cousin. It’s engraved with our names and the year she gave it to me – how special. I have been wearing it a lot to make up for lost time! I bought contouring and highlighting sticks from Mecca. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with different types of makeup and watching some YouTube videos to catch ideas. Makeup has never been a big part of my routine, until a couple of years ago, I rarely bothered with it unless it was for a special occasion. Nowadays, I like to add a bit of natural-looking colour and highlights to my face. It not only makes me look more put together but also ensures that I don’t appear like I’ve been haunting houses. So, that’s a win! Sheet masks are my favourite especially when they are on sale at half price! They are such a relaxing treat and my face feels so hydrated afterwards. These wax strips are amazing and I’ve got the quick-rip-it-off-your-face-and-don’t-think-about-it technique down pat! I once went to a beautician who got carried away and ripped the hair and skin off my upper lip…ouch! I picked a shimmery bronze for my toes when I got a pedicure the other day. It seems that quite a few of this week’s favourites revolve around treating myself to some serious pampering! Long summer holidays are perfect for this. Sadly, the reality of returning to work next week means blissful moments like these are going to be super scarce. Shhh…let’s not talk about that. I got another jar of Speedy Spaghetti Spice from Gerwürzhaus when I went shopping in the city the other day and it’s the best. Spaghetti is my favourite but not my family’s. When I make it with this spice they all agree it tastes great. But they still don’t love spaghetti- I don’t get it, what’s wrong with them? I bought a couple of double-wall thermo latte glasses on the same shopping trip and I love them. There’s something about sipping from them that makes me feel a bit fancy Haha! It took me ages to decide if I should buy them because I’m being extra mindful of what I buy. Trying to avoid impulse purchases in 2024-not a resolution, just a goal. My hands got ridiculously dry recently. Not sure if it was the weather, hormones or just that I had been careless and not wearing gloves when I was cleaning. Probably a combination of all of these. Back in the day, I used to battle with terrible dermatitis, and I definitely didn’t want a repeat of that! So during my recent doctor’s visit to get a new script for thyroid meds, I showed him my hands and he wrote me a script for some cortisone cream. Now I know that cortisone is powerful and it clears up dermatitis in a flash but the downside is that it also thins your skin. So I used it for a couple of days and then continued with this CeraVe cream diligently. In the past, I have used heaps of other moisturisers. But either the perfume scent is too overpowering and makes my hands even itchier. Or they leave a residue that drives me nuts. CeraVe does neither of those and I’m so glad! Dry hands are not a favourite but smooth hydrated hands sure are! Time for some food favourites! Yum! These cheese crackers are just so deliciously cheesy. It’s summer but I still love comforting carbs so I made a lasagna with chips and balanced the heaviness with a light refreshing side salad. That’s acceptable, right? I had a great time in Marrickville with my friend. We spent the morning shopping for fresh produce at the fruit and veg shops. Then we got some tasty Vietnamese pork rolls from a famous local place. It was another hot and humid day so the ‘summer delight’ juice I got from a juice bar really hit the spot. Summer fruits are my favourite! I sliced the mango I got from a Marrickville fruit shop and oh my goodness, it’s the sweetest juiciest mango I’ve tasted in ages! Supermarket mangos just don’t compare and now I want to go back to the same place and buy some more. This coffee from Aldi is my favourite and no it’s not just because it’s from Peru hehe. It has a rich, bold flavour and aroma and I enjoy every single sip! That’s it for this week’s summer favourites, friends. A huge thank you for being here and reading along and I hope you have an amazing weekend. Happy Australia Day to all you Aussies out there! Linking up with Andrea and Erika        

Hi friends and welcome to Friday Favourites! Today I’m excited to catch up and share some favourites from the past few weeks. Between the holiday festivities and my brief blogging break. I’ve got a few faves that I want to tell you about. So let’s jump right into this Friday favourites catch-up post! It’s no secret that I love lots of delicious froth on my coffee and hot chocolates (in winter). My lovely cousin got me this frother for Christmas and I have been enjoying some deliciously frothy coffee breaks over my summer holiday. I’ve had my eye on this beautiful Marimekko tealight holder, and I finally decided to order it online. I came across it while browsing for Christmas gifts for my boys. Does this happen to you too? I often discover things that I love and get a bit sidetracked while shopping. Oops! Marimekko is a Finnish design company (for some reason I used to think it was Japanese!). Anyway, it’s well-known for producing vibrant iconic textile patterns and they also have gorgeous home goods. I love my tealight holder, it radiates a warm glowing light and it looks like a small lamp when I light it. Merry Christmas to me! I was excited to visit a Marimekko store in the city when I went shopping with my friend back in the first week of the school holidays. I’m still on track with ticking off some household chores and trying to stick to doing one thing a day. The other day I gave the fridge a good clean. I’m not sure if I love this method or if I prefer to smash out all these chores over a couple of days. But I am happy to get them done so I guess that’s a win! We had our first Cousin Connect dinner last Saturday and I cooked up some Italian food. Caprese pizza and cheese board for an entree. Meatballs and roast chicken (I forgot to take a pic of the chicken) for the mains. Panzanella and pasta (forgot to take a pic of the pasta) as sides. Baked nectarines with Italian trifle for dessert. It was fun eating in our small courtyard! I had a playlist full of fun Italian music playing in the background creating a lovely vibe. It’s ok that I forgot to take photos of all the dishes individually because here they all are! I tend to over-cater, maybe because I always have my mum’s voice inside my head saying ” Ruth! Are you sure there’s enough food?” Haha, she always over-catered too. We had leftovers for the next couple of days. We love leftovers! After dinner, it was our usual board game madness. One of my favourite things about summer is all the delicious fruit. We have been so lucky with the berries and grapes as they have been so sweet this year. Sam even commented about how this year’s summer fruits taste better than ever. I always think of Kramer from Seinfeld who claimed that “fruit was a gamble”. I totally agree because sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t! We played some super fun Christmas party games which I shared in my Christmas recap post. For the reindeer hands game, where every player had to wear red plastic cups on their hands and pass a ball. I needed some rubber balls or tennis balls. However, they turned out to be expensive and I needed quite a few. I had a lightbulb moment and opted for a bag of fresh oranges and they worked perfectly! Then about a week or so later I juiced all the oranges and we had delicious sweet orange juice! I’m going to finish off my favourites catch-up post by sharing with you someone very special and one of my most favourite people in the whole world. My uncle Bill. Today marks the tenth anniversary since he passed away suddenly, leaving us all utterly devastated and missing him every single day. He was my mum’s youngest brother and the kindest man you could ever meet. He wasn’t just an uncle; he was like my father, my go-to person whenever I had a problem and my hero. Words cannot describe how much I loved him. I know that I’ve been incredibly blessed to have had such an amazing uncle. I just miss him so much. Today, I am going to visit his grave with my aunt (his wife) and say hello to my mum too as she’s buried not far away. Then in the evening, we are getting together to have dinner with his kids (my cousins) and remember the good times we shared. Thanks so much for joining me in today’s favourites catch-up. I hope you all have an amazing weekend and please give your loved ones an extra big cuddle! I look forward to being back here on Monday. Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Hi friends! It’s great to be back today to share some Friday favourites. My top favourite for this week was officially starting my summer school holidays on Tuesday at 3.46 (our weird finishing time). Oh my goodness we worked so hard on Tuesday cleaning and packing everything away. My coworker and I were assigned the not-so-fun task of cleaning out the shed. We keep all of our playground equipment in this shed and it had gotten so messy! Then we also had to move a lot of furniture from one classroom to the other. Because during the holiday break our preschool is getting new floors and a fresh coat of white paint. I’m emphasising white because at the moment it’s a whole lot of very bright colours we don’t really like. It will be great to start the year with a fresh new space. Tuesday’s work lunch was McDonald’s and a glass of Moet. It was hands down my favourite work lunch for the year! It was the best feeling not having the alarm go off on Wednesday morning. But I couldn’t believe that I still woke up at 6 am. We woke up to a very wet and cool day which was crazy because it had been scorching hot all week. To celebrate the start of the school holidays Steve took me out to lunch at one of our favourite French restaurants in the city. I was glad that I wore my combat boots. When I bought them a couple of months ago I wasn’t sure if I liked them because they are on the chunky side. I nearly returned them but I’m so glad that I didn’t because they are extremely comfortable and will be perfect for winter. As well as on random cold and wet days in summer, the weather is crazy! Lunch was amazing! We shared the mussels as an entree and the sauce was so delicious. It was full of punchy garlic so I was totally safe from vampires. As well as anyone else who came near me that day. For mains, Steve ordered the fish and I had the steak. Everything tasted so good! It was lovely being inside the cozy restaurant and enjoying a delicious meal on such a rainy day. Thursday I went out to do some Christmas shopping with my sweet friend. Our family is doing Secret Santa this year and we are only buying for one family member. But I still wanted to buy some presents for my immediate family. I managed to find a couple of things (phew!). Then we stopped off for lunch at one of our favourite cafes and I had my usual chicken and leek pie and a lemon meringue pie for dessert. We stopped to listen to some carol singers and admire the big Christmas tree in the QVB. Thursday night I had a mini panic because even though I am not hosting Christmas. We are all taking something to share for Christmas Eve dinner at my cousin’s house. I also had to work out which games we were going to be playing on the night. Buy the things that I needed for that and organise my food shop for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Yikes! Luckily I got a food delivery time slot and all the stars aligned when my cousin called me out of the blue on Friday morning and asked me if I wanted to go to Costco and Ikea. My cousin shops at Costco like a champ and we were in and out in next to no time even though it was insanely crowded. We even managed to score a table and had an early lunch. Costco hotdogs with onion and all the sauces. So delicious! I needed red cups for our party games so I bought those at Costco and now we have enough red cups to last us forever. I also bought a shopping trolley at Ikea and it’s perfect! Much cheaper than buying a second car. Last year we went from two cars to one and this means that I do a lot of walking. Luckily we live within walking distance of my work as well as the shops. The only downside is that carrying things home can get very heavy. Although I mainly do my grocery shopping online I do tend to pop into the shops for this and that. In the late afternoon, I walked up to our local shopping centre with my favourite new trolley. After today, I feel much more prepared for Christmas. I bought the big 5kg ham that I am going to take to my cousins for Christmas Eve ( I couldn’t order it online). I’m excited to prepare my family’s favourite Lime and Macadamia Glazed Ham. Along with that, I grabbed a whole lot of things that I needed and I wheeled everything home. Tonight’s agenda involves wrapping presents and finalising our party games. It’s definitely a last-minute rush, but as they say, better late than never! That brings me to the end of some favourites for this week. Can you believe that It’s Christmas in a few days? Now that I feel on top of things and not so overwhelmed by my lack of preparation, I am feeling very excited about Christmas. I am going to pop in tomorrow for a quick post so I hope you’ll stop by. Thanks for being here and I hope you have a wonderful Friday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika    

Hello there friends, I hope you all had an amazing week and now it’s time for a few quick festive favourites. We met our friends at the local RSL club for our monthly dinner. This time I was a little more adventurous with my food choices and picked something different from the menu. Normally I order the steamed barramundi. But this time I went for chicken with cashews and fried rice. It was so delicious that I devoured this plate in no time at all! Now, I’ll probably be ordering this dish every time we get together for the next year! That night at dinner one of our friends was telling us about a spectacularly lit house that was nearby. So on the way home, we all stopped to have a look and admire. I’m always in awe of the effort that it must take to put this beautiful festive display together. I would truly love to know how they don’t get all the lights tangled up! We have a few solar lights for the front of our house and I always get them tangled even when I store them carefully. Argh!! I must have taken a thousand photos that night, here are a few more. Our preschool families are so generous. Here are some of the delicious presents we have been given this week. It’s been so hot! Today we reached 30ºC and tomorrow it will be 40ºC! I always wish that Christmas would happen for us in the winter. That’s why we celebrated Christmas in July this year but it’s not quite the same. As much as I love summer, celebrating Christmas in the heat isn’t my favourite. The other night after watching yet another Hallmark movie where everything was cold and snowy. I decided that I wanted the same cozy feeling so I put a YouTube video of a fireplace with Christmas music. I loved the atmosphere but after looking at the fire for about five minutes, I felt even hotter! My lovely friend organised for us to go to Ikea on Thursday night for a Swedish festive feast! It was so much fun and we both had the best time. We hope Ikea hold this event again next year because if they do we’re both in! We had three courses and it was all so delicious! As far as I’m concerned there is no such thing as too much gravy! The real Swedish Santa dressed in a blue suit and yellow trim was there too! After our Swedish feast, we walked around Ikea and it was so quiet! I have never been there when there is hardly anyone around. Normally I go on the weekend when it’s so busy. I think it’s almost impossible to walk out of Ikea without buying something. But this time I didn’t get carried away and just stocked up on white candles, lint remover, serviettes and zip-lock bags. I also found some cute red pots for my poinsettias that I bought the other day. I’m so happy with how the red pots look on the entrance table. Once Christmas is over I will replant them again into proper pots with drainage holes. Then wouldn’t it be a miracle if they lived until next Christmas! I’m going to try hard to look after them. It will be a challenge for me but I’m up for it! Oh my goodness I’m so excited that it’s the weekend! I’m going to jump off the computer, have a cool shower and watch a Christmas movie while I eat dinner. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I look forward to being back here on Monday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika              

Hello friends and hello December! I think it might be time to hit the panic button because Christmas is only 24 days away. But if you’re like our family, celebrating on Christmas Eve, then we only have 23 days !! Today I have some favourites to share from my two days off from work and as always, I’m so happy you’re here. Thank you! This week felt extra short because I only worked three days and that sure is a huge favourite. I had yesterday and today off, and I think this little break might just help to get me over the finish line. Twelve days left of the school term friends…only 12 more morning alarms. I can do it! City Shopping Well, Thursday was just a fun carefree day and I felt like I was jigging school. Do we even still say jigging these days? That’s what we said when I was a teen. I went to the city with a friend and we were supposed to do Christmas shopping. But we didn’t buy anything for anybody. Instead, we spent the whole time looking at clothes, shoes and accessories for ourselves! I tried on a couple of tops and my friend bought some really gorgeous sneakers with just the right amount of height and bling. When I saw these shoes I had to laugh because back in the day when I first started working at preschool. I would actually wear shoes like this to work! It was the time when the Spice Girls were huge and platform shoes like these were all the rage. It’s funny how fashion trends always come back around. I would rock up in my cute jeans and platform shoes. Then spend the day running around with children and go home with no sprained ankles, crushed toes or broken legs. Amazing! My footwear for work looks more like this nowadays. Boring but safe! We spotted more of these funny bags that I saw the last time I was in David Jones. Haha! I want one! We stopped to chat with the nice sales assistant who was at the room spray counter. They had all sorts of room sprays that would make any home smell amazing. They also smelled good enough to wear! I spotted the pretty Christmas decorations at the QVB. Now I’m keen to go into the city at night and see all the beautiful festive lights. We then had a late lunch at The Grounds in the City. When we sat down the lovely waitress served us a small glass of water each. At this point, I was so thirsty I was hoping for a whole jug of water that I could chug down myself! We ordered burgers and fries because we were both starving and wanted carbs aplenty!! Lunch Date Today I had a lunch date with my husband and we went to a cafe at our local Westfields. Normally our weekdays are a bit like this-“Bye, see you tomorrow” because he works nights and I work during the day. Haha! So it was nice to be able to sit down, enjoy a meal and talk. Salmon bruschetta for me. Fish and chips for Steve. Coffees for the two of us! That’s it for today friends, some favourites from the week. I have really enjoyed my two days off from work and now it’s time for the weekend! I’m hosting Cousin Connect tomorrow night then I’m catching up with more family on Sunday for lunch. We I want to get our Christmas tree up and get my decorating vibe happening – It’s not happening yet (sigh). I hope you have an amazing weekend and I look forward to being back here on Monday. Happy Friday! Linking up with Andrea and  Erika.

Hey there friends welcome to Friday Favourites and happy Thanksgiving to all my friends who celebrated yesterday. I hope you had a wonderful time with your family. Now it’s time to share a few favourites from the week, thanks so much for being here today. On Monday I shared with you guys all about the fun time I had with my girl cousins on Sunday. We got together for a high tea-style lunch, bubbly drinks and a Miss Universe watch party. I had plans to make my own cupcakes and other sweet treats and then realised that I clearly must have rocks in my head. Because first of all, I’m not really much of a baker and secondly, I am always running low on time! So instead of stressing myself out trying to make everything from scratch. I gave myself a break and bought cupcakes, macarons and chocolate hazelnut tarts from the supermarket. The tarts that I bought came in the form of this amazing kit from Woolworths. The kit came complete with the tart shells already made, a piping bag full of chocolate hazelnut filling and crushed walnuts to sprinkle over the top of the tarts. Ha! It was so easy to put together and I almost felt like I had made them myself. They were so delicious! I love the chocolate and hazelnut combo because it tasted like Nutella. So I will definitely be buying this kit again. I found this lovely candle at TK Maxx the other day and it smells amazing! My favourite candles are from Ecoya, but I thought I’d give this one a try. I used my small battery-operated milk frother and made myself a delicious matcha latte the other night. I love this frother because it whips up creamy foam in seconds and makes my homemade drinks feel like a fancy café treat. It was a cozy drink for a cool night. We have a blueberry bush that we planted over five years ago and this is the first time we have had so many blueberries. It’s so exciting when you have things growing in your garden especially when you have a brown thumb like me. One of the lovely preschool families gave us the most incredible gift box full of chocolates as an early Christmas present to the staff. This big box is now sitting in the staff kitchen calling at us every time we walk in! Although I tend to prefer savoury snacks to sweet snacks, this chocolate is truly delicious and worth every single calorie! I have tried a piece of everything and it’s all been so good – so far my favourite has been the coconut roughs, YUM! I usually buy the frozen shortcrust pastry for when I make quiche. But they didn’t have any at the supermarket so I bought the flaky pastry instead. The other night I made quiche for dinner and it turned out to be a nice change. The flaky pastry was so crispy and crunchy and I think I preferred it to the shortcrust. This gravy is my favourite because it tastes homemade. It’s rich, savoury and velvety – everything you want in a gravy! We had it with our chicken schnitzel that I made earlier in the week. I have been waiting for eggnog to hit the supermarket and I finally found some on Wednesday. Christmas is coming! I think most of my favourites this week are all food-related! Three weeks and two days until the end of the school year friends and this pretty much sums up how I feel! Yep, I am really looking forward to the summer holidays! We don’t have any plans to go away anywhere but at this stage, I just want to sleep for three days straight! For now, I am just so incredibly happy that it’s the weekend! It’s been such a busy week at preschool with concert practice and end-of-year craft activities. Next week looks like it’s going to be even busier as we seem to be running out of time to get everything done. I have a mash-up of concert songs going around and around in my head. It’s kind of driving me crazy! ” I know a chicken. I know a chicken….and she laid an egg and she laid an egg………..” Happy Friday! Linking up with Andrea and Erika  

Hey there friends! Welcome to Friday favourites, it’s time to share some highlights and best moments from the week. It’s Jacaranda season in Sydney! From late spring to early summer we have the most beautiful blooming Jacaranda trees everywhere. I needed to go to the fruit shop last Saturday and instead of driving, I decided to walk because the weather was so amazing. It was a perfect spring morning and I loved soaking up the sun while spotting the gorgeous Jacaranda trees. Look I found a jar of ginger, lemon and lime marmalade at the fruit shop! I was so excited because I thought I would have to buy it online as I hadn’t been able to find it in the supermarket where I shop. I need this key ingredient for my lime and macadamia glazed ham recipe that I’m excited to make for Christmas. Winning! I bought some toys for Mochi to chew on as she’s teething and had a great time chewing through one of Sam’s charging cords! Mochi loves this Wiggle Worm Catnip Toy and Fresh Breath Mint Stick. The wiggle worm and mint stick have stopped her from chewing through cords and kept her entertained for ages. She chomps on them, flings them around and then pounces on them. So if you have a kitten who is teething then these inexpensive toys are a must-have. They will save your cords and keep your kitty happy. Our older cat Sushi likes them too so it’s a good thing that she and Mochi are now buddies and can share. Speaking of buddies…here they are together on the sofa. I didn’t think I’d see the day when they would be comfortable enough to lay around next to each other. Yay! I bought our first mango of the season and my husband asked if we had won the lottery. Ha! Sometimes the simplest foods are just the best. Banana slices on sourdough slathered with peanut butter and drizzled with honey totally hit the spot! We all love this crunchy peanut butter! On Monday we shared our favourite comfort foods on the “Not Just a Mom” link-up and I couldn’t stop craving a big dish of cottage pie. So I made one on Tuesday. I included the usual frozen corn, peas and carrots but this time I got a bit more creative and I threw in a can of chickpeas and a handful of red lentils to thicken up the sauce. It was very hearty and it tasted great. That’s the beauty of this dish-it’s so versatile that you can add almost anything! On Thursday afternoon I did something totally out of the ordinary and I went to the city after work to catch up with my lovely friend. Normally I keep these adventures for the weekend but we decided to be spontaneous and it felt so good! I left work at 3.45 and was in the city by around 4.30. We were both starving so we had an early dinner at the Westfield food court. We had burrito bowls and a small side of chips. The burrito bowls from Guzman and Gomez looked a bit bland but tasted great. It was funny because we didn’t have a plan or reason for going into the city. Following dinner, we had a good long chat and then went for a wander around the shops. We went to David Jones and on the seventh floor, there was some kind of private event going on in the Christian Louboutin section. With a DJ playing some disco music, the place was buzzing with a whole lot of people dressed up all fancy trying on Louboutin shoes and waiters were serving drinks. I said to my friend ‘Let’s just wander around and try and blend in, fingers crossed we won’t get thrown out.’ Well, we didn’t get thrown out but we didn’t get offered any drinks either (insert sad face). Afterwards, we went to the Christmas section which was way more budget-friendly than the high-end Louboutin area and had fun exploring all the pretty and festive decorations. So many quirky food-related decorations this year. I loved them! As well as some Christmas tree decorating inspiration. That wraps up a few of this week’s favourites! I hope you guys had a great week and are ready for some downtime this weekend. I know that I sure am! Thanks so much for stopping by today. Happy Friday and happy weekend, I look forward to being back here on Monday! *This post may contain affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Hi friends, it’s that time of the week again –  Friday favourites! I hope you have had an amazing week and are all ready.. set..go for a wonderful weekend! Today I’m sharing my top favourite things from the past week. So let’s get going and dive into some Friday fun! On Monday night we got together with our friends for dinner at our local RSL club. We met these friends when my husband was involved in a campaign to have our local pool rebuilt many years ago. The council wanted to sell the land where the old run-down pool was. Then turn the site into a block of apartments. After years and years of dedicated effort, persistence and endless meetings the council eventually gave in to community pressure and agreed to rebuild a brand-new pool. Fast forward to today and we are still friends with this lovely group of pool supporters. We meet once a month for dinner and I am a firm believer that if you want to keep in contact with friends or loved ones. Then organising a once-a-month date and sticking to it is a must! Otherwise, life gets in the way and catch-ups never seem to happen. For dinner, I ordered my usual favourite steamed barramundi with broccoli and rice. One of my friends from the group also orders this same meal every month. We always say we are going to order something different and then we don’t. It’s just too good! This jacket from Zara is a big favourite and so are my silver hoop earrings that match the zipper, ha! It’s been a strange spring so far with the temps being all over the place. So this is the perfect jacket for those nights when it’s a bit on the cool side. I wore it to dinner on Monday night. We still had leftover pork and southwest salad from our cousin Connect dinner on Sunday night. So I used these mission wraps and made lunch on Tuesday for Sam and I. That’s the beauty of having leftovers for days…you can turn them into amazing lunches! Another big favourite was walking to work in the sunshine instead of the gloomy cloudy days we’ve been having lately. This battery-powered automatic spray with essential oils was a favourite for about five minutes. I love my home to smell amazing and so I am always looking for ways to do so. I burn candles, make stovetop potpourri from time to time and like to use room sprays. When I saw this automatic room spray on sale at half-price while I was doing my online grocery order, I snapped it up. I put the contraption in my living room and expected to be dazzled by the gorgeous scent that would spray out automatically every half hour or so. Well, the darn thing scared me to death over and over!! It has the worst sound you can imagine. It’s not subtle at all, instead, it cranks up this deep creaking sound and then it makes a loud SWOOSH noise and it’s not a dainty swoosh, it’s an almighty SWOOSH! It scared the cats, me and the rest of the family. So I put it in the bathroom thinking that we wouldn’t be able to hear it anymore. But now when it goes off it still scares me because I think someone is trying to break in through the bathroom window. I’m not winning with this one and I think that I’ll either be dead soon because my heart has stopped or I’ll eventually get used to it. Stay tuned. I treated myself to my favourite Christmas nougat. This is the nougat that I love to find in my Christmas stocking. But before Christmas, I need to make sure that I have sampled a bar every week just to make sure that I still love it when I open my stocking on Christmas Day hehe. I bought this Huskee coffee cup from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to share it with you guys. It’s my favourite reusable coffee cup ever. Last year I got a cute Frank Green cup in pink which was very pretty. But after a while, I discovered that it was not practical. It was difficult to keep clean as you had to pull the inside of the lid apart to give it a proper wash. Then do you think that I could ever manage to put it back together again easily…nope! The Huskee coffee cup is the best! The reason is – it’s just simple! With a snug lid that is so easy to wash, it has great insulation that maintains the temperature of your coffee and it’s comfortable to hold. These cups are made from repurposed coffee husks, reusable and dishwasher safe. I also love its sleek minimal design and with Christmas just around the corner, it’s the ideal gift for any coffee-loving friends! I made it to date night! Despite feeling sick with sore glands and congestion around my eyes and forehead on Wednesday. I managed to plough on and get through a busy day at work. Then in the evening, we enjoyed a lovely dinner out even though I could feel that I was going downhill fast. I took Thursday and today off from work because I ended up getting a throat infection as well as conjunctivitis in my right eye. Now I’m on antibiotics and eye drops. I’m not surprised that I ended up sick as all sorts of bugs have been going around at preschool. The joys of educator life! I installed some updates on my computer (took hours!) and now I have an amazing new moving screen saver. It’s so cool! I feel congested and my eye keeps weeping which is super annoying. But I don’t feel sick enough to stay in bed all day. So it’s been really lovely to have had a couple of days off from work. It’s been great to be