Happy Birthday Alana!

My beautiful girl turned 13 yesterday. I'm so proud of her! It's difficult for me to find the words to express how much I love her.



他们很rude.

Geri and Clement, the lovely birds whatsapp me while they were pat-toh-ing.


Wah. Thank You harh. Aku eat meat grow up one. Even one small dao gei or corn in my noodles or fried rice I also pick it up.


Remember this person. Geraldine Ho. 他们很 rude.
Muahahha.

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who had sent your concern and well wishes to my mum. She's discharged from hospital, recuperating at home now. Mobility wise still restricted, every night still on painkillers.

God, please blessed mummy get well soon, and take the pain away from her...

A Discovery of Witches

If you're a sucker for a vampire (pardon the pun!) then you'll love A Discovery of Witches.

Likewise if you enjoy historical fiction or are interested in the birth of scientific thought.

Diana Bishop is a historian who specialises in the history of science. She's also a witch, descended from a long line of celebrated and powerful witches and wizards on both sides of her lineage. Studying in Oxford to prepare for a keynote address on Alchemy, Diana inadvertently finds a long lost manuscript said to hold the secret of the origin of witches, vampires and daemons.

The discovery of this manuscript puts Diana in grave danger, and as a reluctant witch who has never learned to harness her powers, she needs help to protect herself. Enter a tall, dark stranger...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which I bought as a school holiday treat for myself. I tried hard to ration out my reading time to make it last, but here I am not half-way through the holidays and I've finished it already! I passed it on to Alana because I think she'll enjoy it too.

Much of the action is set in libraries - perfect for me! Along the way, Diana comes into contact with many old and valuable books, and explores them for clues to explain the source of her power and the relationships between witches, vampires, daemons and humans. If you have read Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code etc) and enjoyed his exploration of symbology, then you'll find the discussion of Alchemy and the illustrations and poetry employed by ancient scholars fascinating.

If you've ever fallen in love with an overprotective and morally upstanding vampire (Edward anyone? Stephan?) then you'll truly appreciate Matthew Clairmont. A knight who hunts animals rather than humans and has senses so acute that he can smell what Diana is thinking...what's not to love?

This book is the first of a trilogy and certainly ends leaving you wanting more. Damn that cliffhanger ending!

Attack of the Killer Sausage Rolls

So I told you all last week about my new scales. I've weighed myself on the old scales and the new scales and I've tried to figure out the difference all mathematically.

New, adjusted starting weight: 80.5 kg

Current weight on whizz-bang scales: 71.5 kg

So, although it looks like I've gained weight since last week's post, let's focus on the big picture and notice that I've lost a total of 9 kg! Yay! And who am I kidding? No-one other than me is really paying that close attention to the numbers anyway.

I feel like I've settled into a reliable routine when it comes to what I'm eating. It feels pretty easy. The problem comes when I have to eat out. Here are some examples:

I managed to offend a relative by refusing her home-made sausage rolls at a family birthday party. They were hors d'oeuvres before the main meal, so it wouldn't have been a big deal that I didn't eat any, except that my mum helpfully said something along the lines of, "That's how you're losing so much weight, Fiona, by not eating things like these sausage rolls!". Helpful. Later when I had a glass of wine with my meal, the sausage roll maker said, "Is wine allowed on your diet?" rather archly. Oooops.

After a family Christening, everyone decamped to the nearest pub for a celebratory light lunch. It was all finger food: crackers with cheese and cabanossi, pies, quiches and sausage rolls (again!), fried chicken pieces and cake. I'm serious, there was not a vegetable in sight, nor a healthy, low-points option. Now I could have just not eaten, but I was hungry because we'd had to leave home about an hour and a half before the Christening to travel. And then the service went for a loooooong time. And I knew I had a long drive home. So I nibbled on a spinach and cheese triangle and half a mini quiche and wished for a glass of wine but didn't want to waste the points on one since I was already eating buttery pastry and cheese.

It's Alana's birthday on Monday. We're going out for dinner with some of her friends to GPK - Gourmet Pizza Kitchen. They have a huge range of toppings so I'm really hoping that I'll be able to find something with lots of vegies that I can relax and enjoy. I know that WW includes extra weekly points for just these sorts of occasions, so I'm hoping to use some of my extras for birthday cake!

How do you manage when you have to eat out?

{This post is part of Brandy at You Don't Know Fat Ass Friday. Click the button at the top of the post to visit Brandy and/or play along.}

一路好走。

我很想告诉你，你是一个很坚强的人。
虽然我们来往并不多，但是这两天在医院时我看到你勇敢的样子。

Ah Bor 堂姐，一路好走。

Elizabeth and James

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were here in the Pacific Northwest promoting their line, Elizabeth and James, this past Thursday evening at Nordstrom. The hair and makeup for the models were super simple for this event. Very pinkish-nude lip and very loose wave parted down the middle for hair. I, of course, in my haste, forgot to bring the camera. (I will have to start wearing around my neck at all times.) Sorry there won't be any behind the scenes pics this time but you will have to go to the Elizabeth and James website to check out their clothes, shoes and accessories. 

You can browse their entire line here. 

You can shop Elizabeth and James on the Nordstrom site here.

I hope you a wonderful day!

Xoxo,

Jaclyn