Most of all...Be Happy

I spent some time over our mini Christmas break sorting out the study (I know, not very festive...). Since the minute I fell pregnant I have had the most overwhelming need to clean/cull/sort out our apartment. My husband jokes that if he sat still long enough he would be thrown out too;-)

As we will be converting one of our spare rooms into a nursery, we needed to decide whether the other room was going to remain a study or become the guest bedroom. It was a tough decision... whilst we do get quite a few visitors, that is the o.n.l.y. time that the room gets used. There must be weeks when I don't even go in there. The study on the other hand (it's actually my craft room, but I call it the study so that my husband appreciates it's purpose and doesn't complain...), we use EVERY day. It houses my craft table and all of my craft supplies, our reference and cookbooks, a stack of containers full of storage items, and my husbands wardrobe. Yes, we need a bed for guests to sleep in, and yes, we are likely to be getting a billion more next year when the little one arrives, but, we also need storage space, and I NEED my craft space:)

The decision was made to make it both a study and a bedroom. Soooo, boxing day we re-arranged all of the furniture to accommodate a bed, whilst keeping all of the other stuff in there too. This meant lots of cleaning/culling and sorting (which I was extremely happy about). Whilst going through a pile of papers, I stumbled across a few verses which I had kept (some since I was a little girl). I wanted to share them with you (and truth be told, I also wanted them recorded on the blog so that I could throw the pieces of paper out - see what I mean about the culling, it has taken over my life - and now my blog!).

I thought this one was a timely, following the most indulgent and consumeristic (is that a word?) time of the year.

Most of All...Be Happy!

Always see the goodness in this world, do your part in helping those less fortunate,
walk hand in hand with those of less talent,
follow those of more knowledge, and be equal with those who are different.
Find your special purpose in this world so full of choices and help lead those who stray.
Become your own individual - set yourself apart from those who are the same.
Have the self-confidence to say no when it is necessary and the strength to stand alone.
Give yourself the approval to love and respect everything that you are and will become.
Reap the fruits of your talents, walk with pride down the road of life, be humble in your successes, and share in the praises and joy of others.

Most of all, be happy. For when you are happy, you have the key that will open all the world's doors to you.

Jackie Olson

Photo via Mary Ruffle

A little news to share

WE ARE!

I think I may have been T.H.E. most slackest blogger in the history of blogging recently. I have been following all my fav blogs on a daily basis, but just haven't got around to updating my own. It's a sad state of affairs really and I feel ever so guilty for soaking up loads of inspiration from all my favourite blogs, but not contributing anything myself.

Well hopefully that's all about to change... I set up this here bloggio to keep our family & friends back in Australia in the loop with the goings on in the Holden household in Hong Kong. Truth be known, the Holden household has been busy, busy making babies that is:) Not really something that I could share with you all at the time... but now, it's a different story.

On 5 June 2011 we are expecting our first little bubba. Very exciting news. Given that our family & friends are so far away, I am going to try and make sure that I update the blog regularly so that they (and you) can be involved in watching this little human develop.

We are in Week 14 now, and things are sailing along nicely. Would be a whole lot nicer I have to admit if I hadn't spent the past 14 weeks feeling so sick. Haven't felt sick since Friday so hopefully (fingers & toes crossed) I have turned the magical 14 week mark and that will be a thing of the past. I can tell you, there were times in the past 14 weeks when I didn't think I could handle it anymore. I have always been prone to car/motion sickness, and living with that feeling constantly for 14 weeks ain't pretty.

Aside from the morning sickness (how the hell it ever got the name "morning" sickness, I'll never know), things are all going well. I think we spent the first 12 weeks freaking out about what it meant to be having a baby, what change it was going to bring to our lives, and whether we were ready to cope with it. We have spent the past 2 weeks contemplating the millions of purchases that we will need to make - it usually goes like this - walk into a shop, look around, get heart palpitations, walk to book section, buy a "how to" book and then run out of the shop.

Now, in Week 14, I am happy to report that the heart palpitation moments are slowly decreasing, and it is starting to become a reality.

Don't get me wrong, we desperately wanted this child, even planned for it in fact... But I am not sure that any amount of planning can calm your nerves when you eventually pee on that stick and find out that you are pregnant. The thoughts that race through your head, the anxious feeling you feel when you start contemplating the e.n.o.r.m.o.u.s. responsibility you are about to take on (have taken on...), it's all a bit overwhelming.

The fact that I am able to blog about it now, means that things are starting to sink in, we are slowly getting used to the idea, and even in fact, starting to get a little excited:) Ok, a LOT excited!

soul symphony

something to aspire to...

How good are Saturday mornings!!

My friends, what are you up to on this lovely Saturday morning?

I woke bright and early to bake a dozen Lemon & Raspberry muffins (a-la-Nigella). Ah, the simple pleasures - how {good} is the smell of freshly baked treats in the morning. The raspberries were so juicy and sweet, I couldn't wait to pop one in my mouth...

Life never stops for the Holden's, we were back in Oz last week to celebrate the nuptials of Kristy & Matt and Gen & Tim. Both weddings were amazing celebrations of LOVE...but mmoorree on that later...

No sooner did we arrive home, the house was filled with visitors. We have 2 of Will's brothers and one of their friends staying with us for 10 days. The boys are off to Macau for the day on a "boyz day" = go-carting, sight-seeing (not sure how much of that they will get done), big feed of Portuguese at the fabulous Fernando's and then on to the casino's. Watch out Macau - the Holden boys are on the loose...

I on the other hand am off to visit a lovely friend and her fam to enjoy mani/pedi's before packing the passport and heading over to the dark side (TST) to help a friend at the Food & Wine Festival. Last years event was H.U.G.E. and no doubt this year will be even bigger. If you are at a loose end (and happen to be in Hong Kong), come visit us at Booth D118 (Margaret River Wines).

Thankfully, we have been blessed with perfect weather today. The humidity is all but gone and the temperatures have dropped - the sky is even blue!

As the boys won't be back till late, I am SOOO looking forward to a quiet night in. I am planning on testing some recipes out of Jamie Oliver's {newish} recipe book Jamie does... I have my eye on the Spring & Summer Minestrone (my motherly instinct has kicked in and I feel compelled to feed the boys vege's), and the Beef Tagine. Full report to follow...

This recipe ROCKS!!

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the wonderful 64 sq ft kitchen blog. Warda's blog contains her favorite family recipes from Algeria and The Maghreb. Now doesn't that sound yummy!

The night after I made the discovery I was having a couple of friends over for a casual Sunday night supper (BTW - I don't normally refer to dinner as supper but this blog has me hooked!). I had promised said friends homemade burgers done on the BBQ and intended to make my stock standard wedges as accompaniment (potatoes cut into wedges, sprayed with canola spray and sprinkled with cajun = low fat, scrummy fake chippes). After seeing this recipe, I decided to change plans and try something new. Oh boy I am glad I did (and so were my guests), the chips were absolutely delicious!

Warda calls the recipe "Weeknight Potatoes" but I'm afraid that in the Holden household, these would count as "Main Event, Saturday Night Dinner Party Potatoes". They were a real hit!

I have reproduced (copied) Warda's recipe below. I have also included the link above. I know this might sound crazy, but this recipe is a keeper and I want it saved on my blog permanently!

Roasted Spiced Potatoes Recipe: serves 4

Six big Yukon Gold (or any of your favorite yellow flesh potatoes)
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 tsp Harissa, or your favorite hot sauce (Optional)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven at 400F.

Peel and slice the potatoes into wedges or fries. Put them in a bowl, along with the olive oil, salt, black pepper, ground cumin, paprika and harissa, if used. Toss the potatoes to combine.

Arrange them in a baking sheet in a single layer and bake until golden brown and crisp on the outside, turning them over once, about 25-30 minutes.

Mix the herbs, garlic, lemon juice in a bowl. When the potatoes are baked, toss them quickly with the garlic infused herbs and serve.

Image from here

Hi there !

Happy Monday morning (if it's ever possible to be happy on a Monday morning)!

How was your weekend? Did you get up to anything exciting? Try something new?

Unfortunately I didn't have the best week last week. About this exact time last Monday morning I was getting ready for work and managed to hurt my back (which I later found out meant I slipped a disc - VERY painful)! I was forced to spend the rest of the week flat on my back in bed/on the couch. I tell you what, that experience gave new meaning to the words "cabin fever". By the weekend I was literally pulling my hair out (and anybody else in close proximity).

It is going to take a while to make a full recovery (loads of physio and exercises etc.) but I am at least mobile now, for which I am extremely grateful. I am even going to head off to work today and see how that goes. Hopefully I last the whole day as I have truckloads of work to catch up on, but if not, then alas, there is not much I can do about that.

Due to last week's stresses, I was unfortunately not able to carry on with The Project. It got me thinking though, whilst flat on my back in immense pain, I found myself stressing that I hadn't taken my daily pic. That got me thinking even more, was it the fear of failure in not being able to stick to it that bothered me, or the fact that I didn't have anything exciting/interesting to capture and show you? What/who was I doing The Project for? That's when I decided (I had a LOT of time to think last week...), that I would take The Project "off-line". To be honest, I felt the pressure to capture something exciting everyday too much. Some days I just go to work and come home and whilst there are adventures along the way, they may not be particularly noteworthy, or picturesque. If I am going to do The Project, then I need to feel free to capture stuff that isn't necessarily for your eyes (I mean that in the nicest possible way). Like when I was on the couch in my most comfy (aka least fashionable) attire, looking like I was on my death bed, did I really feel comfortable publishing a pic of that here for all to see. The answer is no! But it was my day, my reality, and if I am to use The Project to capture my daily life, then that was it! It's not that I only want to share the glamorous side of life on here (I try not to make this a brag book!), it's just that a diary is I guess private by nature, and it needs to be in order for the author to truly express his/her feelings in an honest and raw way. Do you agree? I guess to a large extend it depends on the diaries purpose...

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, I am going to try to stick to The Project, but in a more private "off-line" kind of way.

Now that I have got that off my chest, I had better get ready for work. I am looking forward to this week! We got the Award (judgment) on the Arbitration I have been working on AND WE WON!! Of course, we got it last week whilst I was flat on my back, and so the elation of the win will be all but gone in the office by the time I arrive this morning. Nonetheless, there are a million things to do now that it has been decided, and I need to crack on with them. It also means that we are 1 week closer to Will's 30th, which means 1 week closer to his parents arriving (that is a good thing btw - I love my in-laws), and 1 week closer to our Paris/Spain adventure. Oh boy do we need a holiday!

Hope your week is a lovely one. xox

Image from here

Would you choose this?

Whilst most people dream of living at The Peak, I don't think I could cope with the constant cloud and mist that would shroud your existence. I took this pic yesterday on our walk, looking down from the very top of the peak. It's a bit gloomy hey?

It's not like this is a rare occasion either, I would hazard a bet that this is a typical view - 80% of the time. Last week when I went to visit baby Barrett in the Matilda (which is incidentally also at the Peak), you could not see an inch out of her window. Not to mention how you would ever get anything dry or keep mould at bay (although I am sure peeps living up here don't concern themselves with that sort of thing)!

I never realised, before moving to Hong Kong, what havoc humidity can play in your house. We have to have de-humidifiers running constantly otherwise our clothes, shoes etc. would be ruined from all the damp. And then there is the daily commute, suited up in heels and all. You really have to consider having a second wardrobe at work. These days I usually opt for dresses and wear thongs (flip flops!) to and from work.

The humidity makes you feel alive though, and for me, it is a constant reminder that I am living in Asia - which I LOVE!!

PS. I haven't forgotten Day 10 (it's just that the pics are on someone else's camera:)