It’s as if Toddler and I have been doing this for years.
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| My bag – Mulberry Bayswater, skirt – Boden. Toddler SSG’s backpack – Tiny Me, outfit – T by CO Kids and shorts from Mix Kids. |
It’s been two weeks since daycare started and we’ve slipped into a routine that works for both of us. Everyone at daycare have been so kind and supportive of the new families like us that week two has been great for all of us. The drop off tears have stopped, afternoon naps are being taken and I have a sense in my heart that everything is right. The decision to start day care, the day care itself and the number of days Toddler SSG is booked in for.
All of which sets the tone for one of those happy working mother type posts.
And you can’t have a living the dream kind of post without a bit of etsy, can you?
Remember the post about washi tape and Nurturestore? And how the washi I bought wasn’t sticky enough to execute the Nurturestore project? Well, Gemma at Swanston Street Supplies came to the rescue with her amazing range of tapes and super fast delivery from Melbourne.
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| The mt roll is the middle one in the stack. |
I bought three roles of tape from her (for a total of $14.20), including a roll of mt washi which is made in Japan by the Kamoi Kakoshi company.
The mt tape did the trick for my Nurturestore project. It was strong enough to keep my cardboard rolls attached to the side of a glossy surfaced storage unit and also looked very pretty as it did so. For five minutes or so, my world was a picture of Instagram worthy softly lit motherhood. Toddler SSG kept himself busy pushing pom poms through the shute system and chuckling when they dropped on the floor.
And then the inevitable happened. The light changed to standard smart phone camera conditions and Toddler SSG decided to change the game to one of his own making.
The tape came off the cabinet perfectly and found new temporary homes on the kitchen floor and on his pyjamas. I don’t know about you, but my creative at home with toddler projects all seem end in a similar way. But hey, at least the television wasn’t on the entire time.
Yesterday was notable for an exciting lipstick purchase. I haven’t bought one in ages but I’ve been intrigued by the new Rimmel two step Provocalip lip colours. It all started when my wise blogging friend, Ling posted
her review about the range last month. She was quite impressed with the range and I’m in need of a strong red lip colour that doesn’t spend the day bleeding all over the place so I filed away her thoughts for future reference. And that future was yesterday. Coles was selling a limited range of colours for around $14 which compares to the $17.95 they retail for at Priceline.
As luck would have it, the shade I wanted, ‘Kiss Me, You Fool’ was part of the promotion so in went a tube with my basket full of squeezy pack yoghurts.
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| www.gopixpic.com |
Remember the early days of long lasting lipstick? The Max Factor Lipfinitys which came with a wind up tube of gloss and tended to flake after lunch.
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| www.allure.com |
And the original ColorStay lip colours which were a super matte finish that, in hindsight, only looked good on Cindy in the ad campaign.
Rimmel’s Provocolips is an evolution on these products but not a revolution, at least for me.
Pros:
– the lip colour is less heavy on my lips, the feel is definitely different to normal lipsticks and lip crayons
– the colour coat is easy to apply, one coat is all you need with the darker shades but I have heard that the lighter shades need more work, I didn’t use a lip liner and haven’t noticed any colour bleed into the skin around my lips
– the flaking (yes, modern science still hasn’t gotten rid of the flake) is less obvious than it was with older formulas
– the red I bought is bright and finishes up gloss matte with the over coat as opposed to the thick flat colour of old
– I got 16 hours out of my first application but did need to touch up areas after eating
– I like how the gloss barrel of the product is opaque so you can’t see colour transfer that has already built up after two uses
– solid, easy to use and attractive packaging
– minimal fragrance or odour once the colour coat has dried.
Cons:
– the flaking, $18 isn’t exactly cheap for a lip colour
– it takes a lot of effort to remove the final, annoying dregs of colour. I use an oil based make up remover usually and even this didn’t get rid of it all. I went to bed looking like a hard living, tanned vampire
– colour can be patchy and can ‘chip off’ even after you think you’ve left enough time for the base colour coat to dry before putting the gloss on over the top. The product barrel really didn’t specify how long you needed to wait between the two steps.
To sum up:
– I’ll keep using this shade because I like the red and its durability, however, it does need more attention during the day than just refreshing the glossy layer
– I’m glad I bought it on sale because it’s pretty expensive at full price for its performance.
My Provocolipped lips stepped out with this Firefly frock yesterday for the Giggle and Hoot concert at The Concourse in Chatswood yesterday.
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| The stage before the concert began. Notice how all you can see in the audience are parent and carer shaped heads. Everyone else was on the floor checking out the flip out seats and the floor lighting. |
The Concourse is very family friendly. There are lifts to the concert hall and ample pram parking. There is a bar in the foyer but unfortunately it wasn’t open for daytime performances. There is parking on site but it was so hard to access the lane that lead to it that I ended up parking at The Chase and walking up the road from there.
I personally found The Concourse less stressful than the Opera House. My neighbour and I shared a smile and wished each other luck that we would both make it through the hour without either of our boys breaking free onto the stage.
The ushers were very helpful and tolerant, even allowing toddlers to move between the rows to empty seats to keep the them safely out of the major walkways of the concert hall. Photography and video recording were allowed, provided we disabled the flash. It was understood that bottles of water and bottles of formula as well as snacks could be deployed should the need arise. It meant a great deal to me that the staff were willing to bend the normal rules of a performance venue to accommodate the needs of the young audience. And in turn, parents and carers left their designated areas spotless.
The concert was great fun. I know we’re all guilty of making jokes about the audience noise level but the acoustics of the hall did a great job of buffering the excited squeals. The attention to detail for everything from the lighting to the stage sets justified the $45 ticket price to me.
The hour long concert was split into segments individually featuring the Giggle & Hoot trio, the Bananas and the Hoopla Doopla acrobats.
There were familiar songs and in jokes, energy and eye catching props (including a disco ball). You would’ve had to have been a super, super sleep and caffeine deprived parent or toddler in extreme teething to have not at least cracked a smile during the hour long performance.
Toddler SSG surprised me by how much he got into the concert. He clapped and laughed, he got the jokes, he recognized his favourite characters and was dazzled by the lighting effects.
We were also very fortunate to have gotten aisle seats in the ‘mosh pit’ so he could move around a bit when the need arose while not missing any of the action as he did so.
Ironically, the part of yesterday that didn’t quite go to plan took place in the kitchen. I had my mind set on making a cake using the season’s first lemon from my tree. On paper, the recipe was perfect. No creaming of butter, no equipment needed other than a mixing bowl and lemon zesting and juicing equipment.
Unfortunately, I got a bit cocky and followed the advice of people who reviewed the recipe and incorporated all their modifications into my attempt. And then I used my notoriously temperamental Anolon Bundt tin to bake it in. The cake fell apart when I turned it and ended up being too oily and sank in places. I’m going to try it again this weekend and if it works, I’ll be sure to share the link.
Have a lovely weekend!
