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Daphne

i love christmas, travel

Christmas in July

July 18, 2012

I like Christmas. In fact, I like it so much I dream of having it all year round, which explains why I listen to carols throughout the year. But the magic of Christmas is to celebrate it with other people, so it’s not much fun being the only nut feeling all festive in the middle of the year.

So when we were in Melbourne last week, we absolutely had to visit this charming little place called Miss Marples Tea Room. It’s pretty much like any other tea room, except they serve tea with a theme – Christmas in July.

It was ingenious, why wait till December when you could have it in July? Especially when it’s the middle of winter and the setting was perfect for some yuletide cheer.

We had to wait 40 minutes for a table but seriously, so worth it because stepping into the place, it felt exactly like Christmas.

There was a real fireplace with a crackling fire, all decked out with red and white stockings. Dangling from the ceiling were wreaths and garlands and mistletoe. The jingle of carols filled the room and the smell of Christmas was in the air. For once, I wasn’t the only one rocking out to Winter Wonderland in July.

And the desserts? Unbelievable.

They had all varieties of Christmassy food like roast turkey, eggnog, bread pudding and all kinds of sweet caramel creations. But we had just come from lunch so we decided to go for a sugar-induced coma with mugs of hot chocolate and a selection of desserts instead.

Not a bad way to spend a wintry afternoon.

 

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There’s no party like a Colgate party

July 16, 2012

Remember the Colgate Slim Soft Bloggers Party that I was talking about a couple of weeks back? That happened 2 weekends ago and congrats to those who managed to snag the tickets – it was a pleasure meeting you guys there!

Together with the Colgate and Nuffnang folks, all 5 of us Colgate Bloggers were there to host the event. That’s Beatrice, Melissa, Maureen, Brad and yours truly.

We were asked to color-coordinate and thankfully, Colgate’s colors are red and white, not something far out like green and purple. Even Kirsten picked out a pretty red and white dress to be all matchy-matchy. She was a little shy at first with all the attention but she warmed up once the activities started and the food was served.

Speaking of food, it was held at Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar, a cosy little place at Winstedt Road. We arrived to find the place decked out in red and white as well. There were flowers, balloons, ribbons and cupcakes – very pretty.

On top of the usual icebreaker games, we also had a Colgate version of Trivial Pursuit, which was actually quite informative. Like I found out that the world’s first toothbrush was made out of… wait for it, horse hair. That’s gross on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. I guess it gives new meaning to the phrase “straight from the horse’s mouth“, except it’s straight from the horse to your mouth.

We also got useful toothbrush care tips like the importance of keeping your toothbrush at least 6 metres away from the toilet bowl as germs can travel from the toilet bowl to your toothbrush and into your mouth.

Ok, to round up the post, here’s one final bit of trivia:

When I get a stalk of Gerbera, I honestly don’t know what to do with it except hold it gingerly like it’s going to turn around and bite me. The husband was like “it’s a flower, not poison ivy” and I was all “just stop talking and take the picture.”

When Kirsten gets a stalk of Gerbera, she smells it, cradles it and walks around like it’s the prettiest thing she’s ever seen. Well, she obviously didn’t get that from me.

This is part 3 of a series of sponsored conversations on behalf of Colgate. All opinions and text are my own.

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to Kirsten with love

Happy birthday, not-so-baby girl.

July 15, 2012

It seems like Kirsten has grown up a lot this trip. The last time we were on holiday, she was still in her baby mode, but this time, she’s behaving like a total big girl.

Like when we ran out of milk midway, she didn’t fuss or have a meltdown like she normally would and just went, “It’s ok, I can sleep without milk. Mommy will get milk for me when we go home right?” Or when we lost her duck (again), she borrowed one end of Tru’s blanket and went right to sleep.

And then we realized that amidst all the travel and excitement, we totally forgot that it was her birthday on Friday.

We did throw her a rather massive combined birthday bash with Truett, so on Friday we gave her a hug, wished her Happy Birthday and it was more like “yay, congrats, you’re finally 3!”

 

All this while, we’ve suspected that she’s advanced for her age, but there was this babyness to her that made her seem so little at the same time.

Well, that babyness is almost totally gone now.

At 3 years old, she’s incredibly comfortable mixing with bigger kids. When we were at one of the playgrounds in Gold Coast, there were a bunch of 8 to 10-year-olds at the slide and both her and Truett just fit right in, playing with them like friends. Before long, we realized that she was ordering them around, telling each one it was their turn to go down. Strangely, the bigger kids didn’t seem to mind.

She’s very expressive, which is something I hope never goes away. She dances in the street when she hears music, yells at the top of her lungs when she feels like it (she obviously got this from the husband) and goes “WOW THAT”S SO AWESOME” at stuff we often take for granted.

She’s also exceedingly girly. If she could choose, she’d be walking around in an explosion of pinkness all the time. We saw a girl dressed in a glittery tutu skirt and Kirsten just stood and stared at her for a long time before exclaiming “I think that’s a princess!” That sort of made me want to go right out to buy her a glittery tutu.

And the thing I love the most is how she makes us smile whenever we’re upset or down. She’ll make funny faces and laugh that infectious giggle, which is irresistible. People always say that kids are a bundle of joy and I guess that’s what they mean.

I usually get a little nostalgic during their birthdays, but if this is any indication of what the rest of her third year will be like, I’m really looking forward to it.

Happy birthday, my princess!

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