Lair of Flying Green Song Rabbits

When you hit rock bottom and cry yourself to sleep every night.

When you hit rock bottom and do nothing else but sleep.

When you hit rock bottom and sleep 16hrs a day.

It was recently the bf and I's anniversary so if you're in the mood for a lot of mushy lovey dovey cheesiness with photos and all read on!

I had planned a lovely getaway at Sheraton On the Park Hotel which is located right opposite Hyde Park in the city.

Bf said dinner reservations were at 5:45pm and I told him we should meet up at 4 which he got all curious about. The night before I had to tell him to pack his bags which ruined my suprise a bit but he still wasn't sure where we were staying at until I led him there!

I really wanted to go earlier and go to the pool there (the sole reason I picked Sheraton is for their amazing pool!!!) but I already promised mum I would pick out a pair of sunnies with her and she wasn't available till 2.

Anyway once I got to the city I went to check in and my debit card got declined... Fail.. I then realised the cheque I deposited hadn't gone through yet so I had to stand there awkwardly on my iPhone and transfer money through to my account. Seriously this has happened too many times...

The reception area was pretty classy. These massive pillars were very nice and there was christmas decorations that really gave it a festive cheer. My phone photo was blurry so this will have to do... Also my camera broke so all photos are from my phone.

Picked up bf and led him to the hotel and up to level 5 where our room was! Upon entry the room was kinda disappointing. Upon openning the door you're greeted with a white wall and a closet and you gotta sorta walk inside, get past the bathroom to the actual room. When we entered, the room was dark as there was timber shutters that were all closed so it didn't feel very welcoming.

We had the City view room which I wouldn't exactly say had a view... Our windows directly faced an office buiding that obstructed almost the whole view so there wasn't much to see and we left the blinds mostly closed with the lights on. Anyway the interior looked like this but with shutter blinds so not as brightly lit as this and this is the park view rooms.


After I showed him my suprise he came to me with a little golden box that contained my suprise:


WOOOT Diamonds! Girl's best friend! Although I did tell him I didn't want any diamonds unless he was getting down on one knee wtf.

He had planned to get me diamonds ages ago, and had messaged a mutual friend that he was settling for the T & Co bracelet for my birthday and saving the diamonds for the anniversary. I sneakily saw the message and knew about it.... I told him I didn't want diamonds!! But the sweetie bought them for me anyway. They're from Angus and Cootes and I think they're about 1/4 carat but he says he forgot wtf.

After exploring the place and playing guess the price on the food in the fridge, we headed to his "surprise dinner place." he remarked at how funny it washe booked a dinner place near where we're staying and the only place I could think of was the restaurant at the top of central Tower and that was exactly where he brought me!

360 Bar and Dining

Sitting on top of Sydney tower the restaurant offered a revolving restaurant that did a full turn every hour, offering the best views of the city.


Look! Okay Sydney skyline isn't that pretty to be honest... We don't have many sky scrapers and they're all ugly and bland looking. We had a bit of fun playing "I Spy" before the food arrived.

We ordered the 3 course meal at $95 pp.

Bread came out first and it was so disappointing!!! They gave us 4 slices with each slice different eg. multigrain, sourdough etc but they were cold and not soft at all! The butter didn't really help either. It was really quite awful. I still hadn't finished my 2nd piece of bread by the time the entree arrived.

The dishes had just simple names of the meat and then the escription under it. This is just going off the menu oon the website.


Pork Belly: 12hr confit pork belly, pickled beetroot, apple puree, water cress salad (come to looking at it.. I think the menu changed.. those 2 little blobs do not look at watercress salad)

I think i liked this the best. Not so much the beetroot but the pork and the sauce went so well together. Also the pork somehow didn't look all glistening and fatty which was kinda odd.


Bf's entree. Not on website but it was soem duck thing with some sort of salad looked like sprouts. It was kinda odd cuz it tasted a lot like duck but looked nothing like it and the texture wasn't duck...


Mains: Beef. Beef fillet with fois gras, portobello mushrooms and some potato like thing in sheets. Pretty delicious!! The yellow thing on top had a really strong strange flavour... I'm guessing fois gras...


I hve no idea why this picture is upside down.... But it's some lamb shanks with peas and asparagus and some sort of green puree.


Hehe intermission showing off my pretty earrings. I was all ready for dessert and got so excited when they were taking away the my polished off main until bf told me dessert is usually served a little bit later to allow the main to sit.... Then i decided we'll wait a while so the sun will set and we can watch the sunset!!


Said bf who ordered wine and I told the waiter I was fine with water. He gave me a funny look... I should get used to drinking wine so I look classy!


Weeee dessert time. I kept smiling while eating yummy dessert and bf was like "wtf??" and I had to tell him I was "happy to be eating at a beautiful place with him" which is true but really it was about the dessert =P


Vanilla bean creme brulee with poached strawberries. The portion was massive much to my delight! The creme brulee was fantastic but got a bit sickening at the end. The pistacio biscuits were just alright, weren't crunchy enough and the strawberries were disappointing. I would have preferred fresh stawberries cuz the poached ones tasted canned.


Bf's dessert looked really yummy it was some mango salad with coconut sorbet I think. The icecream/sorbet thing was really yummy but the mango salad not so much.


The sink in the bathroom was entirely glass which was pretty cool. My frilly lacey dress! I was super unsure about buying this dress since it was a lot more frills and lace than I ever dare to wear but it was on sale at Forever New so I got it. Mum remarked how pretty I looked in the morning for the first time in a long time -.-. Sadly minutes before I met bf I saw a girl in the same dress!! I never want to wear it again!! *sniff sniff

After dinner we decided to go up the observation deck of the tower. The annoying part is going back down the escalators then going up again -.- Oh and secuirty is so tight! They have one of those airport doorway scanners!

We had an annual pass to the observatory and I used my card while Bf forgot his but they found him in the system.

Somehow between waiting for the escalator and getting up there the sun had set and the whole city had its lights on display. It was quite beautiful if it weren't for the annoying asian tourists. The place was so packed and it was 9pm.


We kept trying to take pictures with the background but failed =(


Hehe.

After getting back to the hotel the pool was closed so we didn't get to go to the pool!! We decided on the bath instead and had a nice bath until we were old and wrinkly. Pretty tired by then so turned on some tv before realising nothing was good and decided to go to sleep. Just before climbing to bed we shared a look that could only mean one thing... WE WERE HUNGRY!!! As bf looked across at me I knew he was thinking the exact same thing as me and we reached for the room service menu to find a bowl of pasta at $50... Instead we got dressed again and went down to maccas and brought some food back to the hotel to snack on.

Next morning bf couldn't get up T_T We kept switching off the alarm until it was quite late. Check out was at 11 and we got up at 9. We rushed to breakfast downstairs and was greeted with a magnificient buffet. There was everything imaginable!


2nd plate. First looked way nicer. Everything from traditional eggs, bacon, hash browns, to cereals, yoghurt, oats. Then there was the miso soup, fried rice, chicken wings. Honey in comb form, all kinds of juice and like 15 different types of fruit. Anything you ever wanted.... If it wasn't there you can tell the chef to cook it. We had a window seat next to hyde park as well. Breakfast was truly magnificient!

After breakfast it was about 10am so we really had no time and quickly packed and went up for a look at the pool. I couldn't possibly go for a dip as I would need to straighten my hair later and we barely had an hour!


Bf looks unhappy >.>




Look at the view of hyde park from the roof top pool area!! It was amazing! I wish we had gone the day before!


The pool with window side and ceiling panels. Wish I had a swim =(



With bf again hehe. I hope his face is cuz he's squinting and not frowning >.>

I had such a lovely weekend and can't imagine anyone else to spend it with. Although sometimes he has difficulty saying how he feels and a lot of the time he doesn't agree with me, I love how he makes me think he's the luckiest guy in the world to have me and yet he's the one making me feel like the only girl in the room he has eyes for.

To the bf who always knows when to spoil me and always treats me like a princess: thank you =)

Diamond Zuan Shi (English) | Upload Music

The following showed up in my announcement box for uni's webct. I found it quite amusing. Our lecturer is pretty cool.



For the Lecture on Monday 11th (which by massive coincidence also happens to be Week 11), please download this paper

Functional Heterogeneity of CD11c-positive Adipose Tissue Macrophages in Diet-induced Obese Mice
Li et al (2010) J.Biol. Chem. 285 p15333

Try to resist the urge to read it. I know it will be hard. Nine figures each containing 10-20 graphs looks so appetizing and enticing. You just have to be strong. If your friends try to cajole you, just say "No". I know it's asking a bit much... getting you to print it out but NOT look... sheer cruelty. But just use the same tactics that you employ when you're studying and you're tempted by:

* getting up to make endless cups of tea
* create ever-more detailed revision timetables
* take a 'well earned' break by watching day-time soaps
* taking the trouble to tell everyone on Facebook how you're going with studying...

You wouldn't fall for any of those traps, would you... so you CAN do it... resist, resist...

PS. The PPT will go up on Friday afternoon. Probably.

The following article was something I had saved, but figured I'd share it with everyone here too so we can all enjoy some relaxation time!


A treat for your feet
Sit down, get comfy and arm yourself with some warm water, nail clippers, a foot file and a buffer for a professional quality pedicure at home.

Face fantastic
Facial masks are the ultimate in relaxation and if used a couple of times a week, they can drastically improve the quality of your complexion.

Salt soak
A simple soak in the tub can release the tension from aching muscles (or cure the pain of last weekend's cocktail bender) and will leave you feeling relaxed and refreshed. Fill your bath with warm water and add bath salts or essentials oils. If you're feeling adventurous, try a milk bath. Pick up a packet of milk powder from the grocery store and add two table spoons to warm water. The enzymes in the milk will activate on your skin and leave your body feeling super soft. Add some lavender oil for the ultimate relaxation.

Sweet as sugar
Smooth and glowing skin is easy to achieve using a homemade sugar scrub. Mix brown sugar with aloe vera and jojoba oil until it forms a smooth paste. Rub into the skin in a circular motion, and watch the dead skin cells literally wash away.

Treasured tresses
To spruce up your mane, opt for a DIY hair treatment. To counter dry, brittle or damaged hair, try mashed avocado, banana, cocoa butter, olive oil or honey. Massage a small amount of ingredient into damp, unwashed hair, making sure special attention is paid to the ends.

Nail it!
Start with removing dead skin from the nail with a cuticle stick. Then shorten and shape your nails with a good quality nail file, ensuring you file in the one direction to avoid nail damage. Massage cuticles with a few drops of cuticle oil and buff to give the nail a healthy base. Add a quality base coat and finish with a super-glossy nail lacquer.

Cucumber cure
Whether it is a constant dryness, fine lines or crow's feet, the eye area is considered the most complained-about area on the face. To make simply steep chamomile tea in boiling water, add one tablespoon of aloe vera gel, two teaspoons of peeled and seeded cucumber and half a teaspoon of honey and blend until smooth. Apply to the eye area and leave set for 30 minutes.


Article taken from http://www.30daysoffashionandbeauty.com.au/buzz/beautybulletin/7954536/top-home-pampering-treats

Also included waxing, but how is that relaxing as much as painful?

I'm in such a shopping mood it's really bad...

Incu hs a sale starting tomorrrow and I'm really anticipating what pieces from Marc by Marc jacobs, Lover, Alexander Wang and Acne they have (and many other labels I havent heard of!). Everything under $100 and most under $50! But today I saw such a beautiful dusky pink blazer and I really want that too and this dress with a tie back sash was so pretty =((

I was all good on shopping just a month ago and then this whole search for a birthday dress and shoes has sent me into a shopping frenzy....

This summer I'll be looking forward to wearing a lot of pastel and nude colour clothing. In anything sheer, backless, cut outs, silk or chiffon (all combined?). Still don't feel I've acquired enough florals and loose light blazers! Also I'll be wearing my lace bodysuit under anything sheer and omg can't wait to wear my maaxi dress.

On the other hand am also looking for leather shorts and perfectly loose blouses. Slouchy singlets and loose t shirts with gold bracelets pushed up into an armband and chunkier metalwear necklaces are also on my want list. Any jewellery from peter lang or Samantha Wills too!

Grrr I hate not having a job, needs income to buy what I want and need money to go out to wear what I buy... Don't wan't bf to always pay for me.... Jobs please be available....

It has been a long while since my last morbid, emo post.

But sometimes you just get one of those days where you physically want to slice your face off so that you don't have to look at it in the mirror.

It's just one of those days where nothing is right, you're stuck and you're ugly to boot.

As I sit here about to type out a post about a trip to The Athenian and uploading photos, I change my mind. Instead I'm going to talk about something that briefly entered my thoughts last week.

Currently in Biochemistry class we have been learning about different types of cancers and what causes them to occur + how to treat them. I have no idea why we're doing this in 3rd year of Nutrition (and why it is so god damn hard too...). Anyway one slide in the lecture particularly stood out to me. It was a family tree of a family who had familial cancer through five generations. The cancer were of several different types that struck over half of the males and females of the family. It is a particularly sad genetic disease called Li-Fraumeni syndrome which increases your susceptibility to cancer. At the time friends and I joked those people should not reproduce as everyone suffers with the grief of losing family/chance of getting cancer and financial and emotional burden. Do you guys think these people should reproduce?

I guess the lecture coincided with the same week I went to the doctors to get my blood test result back and found yet another thing wrong with me; I thought to myself god I shouldn't be allowed to reproduce either.

So apparently I have Vitamin D deficiency too now. WTF? I swear I get sun exposure but apparently my blood levels of vitamin D puts me at medium deficiency and I have to take vitamin D tablets now... I dont want oesteoporosis when I'm old =( And low Vit D levels have been implicated in cancers and loads of other diseases.

Also I'm so used to my blood test results now coming back littered with asteriks that it wasn't a suprise my haemoglobin levels are low due to my low iron stores. My doctor now classifies me as chronically low iron levels. CHRONIC?? He told me to get more iron tablets or face iron injections every month which I would really not like... I hate the iron tablets though as they give me terrible stomach pangs sometimes and as a side effect constipation due to the very high iron dose. Today however I decided to put my nutrition skills to use and bought myself a bottle of liquid iron solution that is lower in iron and hoping it will work (If it does, suck that doctor. Pfft injections, my nutrition skills beat yours! lol)

The good news though is that my pre-diabetes is under control and apparently I "no longer have it." The doctor said I was probably just on a diet that was too high in carbohydrates. I'm still going to try and watch what I eat though to make sure I'm not one step into the door again.

So to sum up. I have low iron levels, this is really important in pregnant women for reasons I can't remember wtf. Also since I've always had chronically low levels that don't seem to get better I could just have bad absorption... Also low vitamin D levels in a mother can cause bad bone development (Rickets) in babies as not enough transfer to baby. My pre-diabetes before could lead to gestational diabetes when I'm pregnant which may mean caesarean birth that's been related to many other problems in babies. As well as this I have the body of a 10 year old with not wide enough child bearing hips lol. And I'm a frail short asian =( Coupled with I don't have enough beauty or brains genes to pass on, I don't think I should ever have kids.

Lol I'm kidding I still like kids =). I am however planning to take control of my health. Nothing I have is life threatening but they do decrease quality of life. Constantly feeling tired is not something I'm very fond of especially as an already sleep deprived uni student. So I'm going to test out what Iron formulation work for me, get plenty of sun in spring/summer and eat healthily (with desserts...). I've transferred all my medical files and stuff from my parents to my own filing cabinent and I now go to the doctors myself with my own medicare card and pay myself (I feel so grown up at 20 and finally going to the doctors on my own lol). Wish me luck =)

Sorry for the self absorbed, pity myself post. Taking medicine makes me sad =(((. I'll post The Athenian pictures soon =)!

Those ads that have been popping up everywhere from YouTube to blogs about this special offer for a showboat cruise and cabaret show hooked me in. I mean, hey it'll save me $100 if I was to otherwise book on a different date right?

I chose to go on our anniversary (not really) and because I couldn't really decide on another date. It was free, but then again I booked really early. I believe the price has gone up due to demand so it is now $99 per person, but still not a bad price for what you get.

The showboat is a paddle boat and operates most nights, so if you're in Darling Harbour you'll most likely see it. I had seen it many times before and always wondered what it was about!

So, in the package you get a 3 course dinner, a 3 hour ride on the boat and a 1hr cabaret performance. Most drinks are covered for free, but they do have others which cost extra.

I'll get onto the pictures now.




Waiting at the dock. Dress warmly!




As N and I were boarding the ship, we suddenly realised sheepishly that we were probably the youngest people here. We were pretty much surrounded by middle aged couples or adults attended an engagement party/hen's night.

Unlike people our own age who would otherwise be partying hard and drinking, we're going on a romantic dinner cruise on the harbour. God we are old lol.

Upon arriving at our seats, which was very close to the stage (yay!), there was already a platter of cold entrees waiting. By this time I was starving since I didn't eat before coming so I quickly snapped a few shots and dug in.




Smoked salmon wrapped tomato and red onion salad, Moroccan spiced chicken ribs, vegetable frittata and Thai red roo salad with tatsoi.


Oooohhh how delightful sounding!

OM NOM NOM NOM.




Some wines are free, so I stupidly order a white wine. I ended up asking for a large pitcher of orange juice in which ti dilute the wine and San Pellegrino.

Ok no flash sucks, but it still look delicious.








The boat trudging along out of the dock and into the harbour. It's basically a very slow circuit passing the Harbour Bridge every so often, but after awhile N said he felt slightly nauseated!! I think it was just hunger pains since it went away.






No flash again. I'm one of those people who feel awkward taking photos of food.



Oven roasted ocean trout on a bed of potatoes, roma tomato salsa and rocket, pink grapefruit and roasted cashew salad.


Unfortunately, the main dish was not spectacular. The skin on the ocean trout was leathery and could not be eaten at all. Huge letdown! I was looking for a lovely crispy skin! The trout was quite flavourless - you could taste ocean trout and if you have an appreciation for the pure taste of fish you will enjoy it, but I like mine with more salt. If I had to nitpick at anything it would be the lack of flavour, otherwise the fish was cooked very well and the flesh was soft and smooth.

The salsa was quite tasty and the salad just alright. I did enjoy the chunks of grapefruit and the crunchy cashews.

You can choose what main you want from a selection of 4. Unfortunately N ordered the same thing (this is a huge pet peeve of mine).

If anybody is thinking of getting a dish, they might want to try the chicken in creamy shiitake sauce or the veal cutlet. There is also a vegetarian option.




A break in between meals and a pic of the paddles!

I totally forgot to take a photo of the dessert platter, but there was a really good pavlova, Belgium chocolate mud slice, berry and vanilla pannacotta and tiramisu.

The pavlova was better than I thought and now I have a good impression of pavlovas (after several disaster ones that taste like crap). The chocolate cake was exactly that, pannacotta wasn't as smooth and creamy as Gary Mehigan's and had a more jelly-like texture rather than cream, and the tiramisu was moist with just a hint of coffee.




Sydney skyline.




If you look closely, there are actually seagulls! Seagulls were flying round and round the boat, probably able to smell the food wafting around it.




Here's a better shot of one!





After taking in the cold, sea breeze and exploring the decks it was time for the cabaret. At this point I was told I couldn't take photos so I only have a few from the performance :(




The lovely singer. She was pretty and I love her hair :O

WARNING: The below pictures are rated PG13. Discretion is advised and this is certainly NSFW!










More skyline, the Opera House and a bit of the Harbour Bridge as well. The photos don't turn out as nice as it really is.




Luna Park of course.

Then the performance was all over and we slowly made our way back to King St Wharf. Shame.







Eh by this time we were still hungry and needed to buy some macarons from Lindt Cafe. Oh yes my little pretties look at all those delectable macarons! *swoooooon*



Bought about 15 of them hehehehehe! Check out all the salted caramel ones!!!!!!

And KFC. Told you we were still hungry, but not hungry enough for full meals. This was more like a snack.




If they continue to have sales, I might just go again. I had a very enjoyable night and why not, it's got food, singing, dancing and you're on a boat on Sydney Harbour.