This is my last full week at my work, my last day will be the 15th of May.

I’ll have Thursday and Friday off before I will embark on a new journey of a lot of unknowns.

If you’re able to leave your calorie counting ways behind, then perhaps you could attempt to eat at Misty’s Diner. For those who are big fans of the Prahran store and live in the Northern Suburbs, you’d be pleased to know that Misty has opened another diner in Reservoir (of all places), you can find it on 765 Gilbert Rd, Reservoir- it’s closer to the Lake end of things.

I’m not sure how Misty(she is a real person and is very much American) decided that this particular location was THE location to have her second store. Nonetheless, it’s very hard for you to miss it. 

You’ll definitely see the signage from a mileway however if you’re too busy driving and worried you might miss it, it’s opposite the 7-11 that’s on Gilbert Street.

When we went (which actually was last night, around 7pm), the place was very packed. Most of the tables were full and we worked out that you HAVE to go to the counter to order and pay (and someone brings the food to you)- it’s not a full table service.

The easiest thing to do (as we figured out quite quickly) was to grab a table, look at the menus (that are at the tables) and work out what we wanted and the other person go to order and the other sitting at the table minding it.

And so our food/drinks came out (if your drink is the standard in a can/bottle kind, once you pay for it, grab it from the fridge as they dont bring this to you, anything they have to make- they will bring to you)

Mr_54632 has an extremely sweet tooth and LOVES all kinds of sweet drinks/desserts. This was the “9 Candy Bar milkshake”. Basically lots of cream and actually a candy bar mixed in. So you’re drinking and crunching on chocolate… It was very YUM

The curly fries came out first WITHOUT our burgers. Curly fries are like normal fries except curly, they don’t taste any different and definitely not worth the $7.90 charge for them.

The burger with the egg was the “Misty’s American Style burger” and the other was the Double Whammy (2 lots of patties, 2 types of cheese, bbq sauce). I didn’t taste the American style burger  but I can tell you that the egg was extremely yolky. My burger the double whammy- was extremely “saucey”. I could only finish 1/2 of my burger..it wasn’t bad, just that I was extremely FULL. 

The burgers don’t actually come with any chips/ drinks and when you do a “combo”, it costs $7.90 extra for them

We didn’t think that the chips were going to be such large servings, but I guess when they cost that much, they gotta be.

Hence why we also ordered a serving of 1/2 (serving of)Taco chips. Technically the curly fries would have been enough. Of all the things we ate, I thoroughly enjoyed the taco chips which may look like a mess in the photo but it’s a combination of what you would find in a taco with mince meat. It was extremely tasty and frankly could have been a single standalone meal in itself. Next time, we’d forget the standard curly fries and order this instead.

I remember several years ago, when i was first introduced to Misty’s diner (and visited the Prahran one), I was severely disappointed- basically i found that the food to be a little bit too greasy, too many onions and found it overpriced. Years on- not much has changed, it is still a tad greasy and still very much overpriced. Our meal including a root beer that I haven’t taken a photo of (because its just a canned drink) came to a cost of $61.85. I’m not kidding. That’s a lot of money for some fries and 2 burgers. That’s several meals at Maccas for the both of us. If you’re after gourmet style burgers then this place isn’t for you. If you’re after greasy “american style burgers” and hot dogs and all things bad for you… then it’s worth a try.

And for a place that has approximately 40% rating on Urbanspoon, it’s doing a roaring trade, so clearly the people who go, LOVE it.

But the difference is, if you either live, work or hang around the area, you know that there isn’t exactly a LOT of choices when it comes to “restaurants” or “hangout with friends” area. And Misty’s diner is quite fun. The venue was filled with youthful looking people and NO families (well when we went there anyway) and I suspect that families wouldn’t even bother especially if meals cost that much.

It’s not to say there aren’t any mishaps. It took them a good 25 minutes for the burgers to arrive. I was starving by the time they came out (I know, I ate so little of it).

But I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the waitresses who brought the food out to the tables, they were quick to remove any plates/rubbish from the table as there’s a lot of it- ie. the wrapping from the burgers, the napkins used to wipe your face from the sauces. etc etc

Overall, we did enjoy the experience, the food wasn’t all bad even though I knew we overpaid. Would we be going back? We have to, apparently mr_54632 wants to try out their hot dogs… if it’s on him, then I wouldn’t have a problem going back

The weekend has been pretty much a very eventful one. 

I was up from 6am Saturday morning to attend one of my cousin’s wedding. It was jam packed: there was a tea ceremony, the church and then the reception.

The photo above is the tea ceremony in procession. It was a very beautiful ceremony.

We had a fantastic time overall. The highlight for us was the photobooth at the reception… actually there was a certain time that it wasn’t working and during this time- was where the fun happened. My dad and uncle decided that even though we had spent 10 minutes waiting to use it, they were going to make use of the props and pull some of the most LOL faces. My aunty and I laughed ourselves silly where we almost cried .

WE crashed at 12am(yeah a long day)

Then on Sunday, I convinced Miss A to Costco where I did get my handbag, I ended up with a different handbag, actually I purchased 2 (one from Costco and one from another). I liked the fact that the pricing at Costco was a LOT cheaper than what I could even buy outside at any other store. 

From Costco we went to Highpoint and walked some more. I’m very much impressed with the newly renovated section of the shopping centre. Was a bit disappointed with the old section.. HAHA.

There were LOTS of people shopping at both Costco and Highpoint, basically everywhere we went, we had to stand in queue to pay. How annoying!

And now my feet feel like they going to drop off

-_-”

So on my shopping trip at Costco (I admit I go overboard when I’m there)

I stumbled upon a stand- it seems Michael Korrs is now also sold at Costco at a very reasonable price.

I squealed a little. I’ve always wanted to own a Michael Kors handbag… but now i can’t even remember the style of the bag due to the excitement of realizing that this is what they stocked.

I like Michael Kors because it’s a brand that I can sort of afford, it’s also something that isn’t LV which means not every single Asian Melbournite is going to have. 

Had I made this discovery months ago, I would perhaps have made the purchase without thinking. In less than 2 weeks, I’ll be changing jobs which also has a massive pay cut (which I don’t mind) but it means I can’t be spending my money like I used to. Especially buying handbags for no reason.

NO FEAR! Mr_54632 has come to the rescue. 

I merely mentioned it to him and he said “babe, let me buy this for you because you deserve to be spoilt”. He also loves the fact that it would be a lot cheaper than buying the same bag from David Jones for twice the price.

This is why I love Mr_54632…

really, him spending the money is no different then me spending my own money.. We’re getting married afterall and as they say… “his money is my money”(it doesn’t work the other way)

I also love the fact that he has learnt not to ask “why do u need ANOTHER handbag when you already have over 30+ at home”…

He is indeed a very understanding man.

I hope to buy this on Sunday

I realized I have never uploaded a photo of what is my engagement ring

When Mr_54632 first proposed, the ring could only be worn on my pinkie. I assumed that it was an easy task to get it resized. However as the diamond is in a platinum base setting, this had to go back to the shop to get properly resized. Apparently they have to “add” more platinum to the ring. You can’t even tell it’s been re-sized.

I pretty much got what I asked for: 1 carat of a high quality diamond with more diamonds surrounding it- very similar to the Cartier design.

Actually that’s the VERY first store we visited when I was attempting to get Mr_54632 educated on about rings itself. I didn’t know that I would end up falling in love with their designs. Unfortunately I also fell out of love when we were told the price. Something similar would have set us back approximately $40,000. I know Mr_54632 loves me dearly but even I can’t justify spending that kind of money for a ring, even if it’s from Cartier. Put it this way, even if I was a Billionaire, I wouldn’t spend 40K from a retailer, a wholesaler- yes.. but not from a retailer.

Mr_54632 was smart enough to take down all the specifications… even the ring size that they had measured for me. It seems that the “ring size” measurement isn’t universal, as in what works in one store, clearly does not work elsewhere. Hence why the ring could only fit my pinkie when he gave it to me.

When he did propose, we happened to be in Sydney, and it was here that I learnt from a “jeweler” that I had FAT fingers, yes the guy working there did INDEED tell me that. I was horrified and very depressed. Mr_54632 was NOT happy at all.

It was the same jeweler who explained that it had to be taken back to be re-sized where they melt metal and blah blah blah…

I love my engagement ring, even if I happen to have “fat” fingers. I also learnt that I am also allergic to platinum and when I first wore it (after I got it re-sized), my finger broke out into a nasty rash. I figured that if I wore it long enough, my finger would be de-sensitized to it. I can safely say, this has yet to happen.

One of my friends posted a photo on Facebook of her meal at the Tofu Shop (78 Bridge Road, Richmond) and commented on how wonderfully delicious it was. I LOVE trying out different Vegetarian restaurants- even though I am not a Vegetarian myself, perhaps after 2 years dating a strict Vegetarian has had a rub on effect on me. It’s also a fun way to engage with one of my friends who IS a vegetarian and I always feel bad when we go out to eat that she gets either the customary salad or cannelloni (boring!)

So off we went to discover this “not so new” eatery, apparently it’s been around FOREVER, just that we’ve never discovered it before. The Tofu shop is located closer to Punt Road end of Bridge Road then Church street. They operate between 12pm-8pm. So if you have all good intentions to get there for dinner, then it’s obviously an early dinner. 

Most of the food is pre-prepared, when we came in, some were in bambourines, others in large bowls where you had 2 choices: Take away or Dine In. There are also 3 serving sizes: small, medium or LARGE (for 2 at $24). We opted for a Large plate to share and you basically get to choose whatever they have and cram it on the plate as much as possible.

We choose a variety of things: cous cous as a base (which was a terrible mistake on both our parts, my friend now has a Gluten Free diet- yes, a Vegetarian on a Gluten Free Diet who also doesn’t consume Dairy much.. not exactly sure what’s left for her to eat. Cous Cous has wheat for those who don’t know).

And we got a combination of chickpeas, roasted potatoes, some curry… well the photo explains itself:

I have to say, the food was very tasty, not that salty and we managed to most of it. Unfortunately the serving was too big for us. My favourite out of everything was the sauces that were on top and how tasty the pumpkin was.

We also had dessert- I know, we couldn’t finish our mains.. but you know there’s always room for dessert. My friend played the safe card and got the soy vanilla ice-cream. I have to say.. I AM NOT A FAN. It had this awful rubbery taste, if that’s even possible. And the icecream was more like a really cold slurpee than a proper ice cream itself.- pretty disappointing.

If you’re after a full sit down waiter service, then this isn’t your place. It’s more of your typical take away outlet where there’s stools lined up and you’re facing a mirrored wall/or street facing window and having your meal- you go to the counter, pick what you want and pay. There are some outside tables to eat but we’re currently heading into winter and on the night we visited- it was just too cold

I’ve also read on urbanspoon that the service is pretty bad, where there’s one particular rude staff member however on the night we went, we were treated pretty well. We must have had “newbies” written on our faces or this place really knows their regulars as the girl who served us explained quite thoroughly on how their system worked: pick a size (whether dine in or take out) and pick your dishes. There are “little” cards that tell you what they are and there’s a numbering system with it as well. If you have a Gluten free diet then for us, anything with a number “3″ on the card was a no no. I know- shame about the cous cous.

Oh and before I forget- this place is a CASH only place- seriously they need to get into the 21st century and accept cards… because if you’re like me who prefers not to carry around cash, it would be a bother.

Anyyyyyway- overall, we did enjoy the experience. However, as we’ve been to so many Vegetarian eateries, it doesn’t stack up as high on the “let’s go back” list… especially when parking wasn’t the easiest to find in the area. We both agreed, if we were in the area shopping on the now almost vacant Bridge Road, this would have been our first choice. 

After weeks in hospital, my mum got to come home on Tuesday.

My mum doesn’t like coming home because she fears that without doctors and nurses, something bad will happen and that she needs their care 24/7.

But she doesn’t like the hospital either because she gets no sleep and she gets pretty lonely at night. I know you can’t win.

The cancer has made her pretty weak, for most of her hospital stay, she does very little walking and hardly any exercise, so now, anything that is further distance than her old hospital bed to the toilet will tire her out. We discovered this on the Tuesday she was home, she was extremely tired having to walk from her bed (at home) to the bathroom, which is double the distance to what she would normally do.

My mum was home with us on Wednesday, she looked a tad better than she did on Tuesday. However during dinner, she didn’t feel too well and her dinner ended up in a bag (she vomited it up, if you didnt get it). My dad and I were most worried, we took her temperature and figured if her condition worsened we would take her to the emergency department.

Needless to say, we didn’t have to.

And today, my mum was up at 6am so that she could get ready to go to the hospital by 8am for blood tests, lumber puncture and other treatments.

I made sure that she was well rugged up because it was extremely cold and I didn’t want her to catch anything especially considering she’s so frail and lacking an immune system at the best of times. 

My dad came home without my mum tonight. In some ways, I wasn’t overly surprised. Rarely does her checkups result in a return.

This time, her white cell count was extremely low.

These things are to be expected, she does afterall have Leukaemia. But it doesn’t mean we get used to it. Everyday, it’s a new set of adjusting. 

As a family, we’re slowly learning exactly how much we can cope and to see how much of our resolve can be pushed. Sometimes I think I am at the end of my tether because let’s face it, cancer really is a draining disease, especially Leukaemia. It’s hard on us – as we watch someone we love so dearly go through so much hardship and it’s hard on the patient who has to deal with all of this.

The other day, I had to fill in another endless application from my mum’s super company as she has insurance and one of the questions was “when is the expected date of recovery?” I wrote a response of “no fixed date for recovery” and cried.

I don’t know when this nightmare will end.

I am now on the hunt to find a Photobooth supplier.

The pricing can be as expensive as $1500 for 4hrs and there are a LOT of companies offering similar services. 

I can’t be bothered trolling so many websites to work out to get the best pricing- Eventually, I know I will have to. Though there is still sometime to do this, no doubt, before I know it, time will pass by and I’ll end up stressing out because I’ve done nothing.

Some people think photobooth’s are impersonal and take away the “limelight” from the wedding itself.Others find it “over done” because there’s always one at every other wedding.

I’m not fazed about the whole impersonal thing- as long as my guests are having fun, and it’s something for them to do, that’s fine. It might not work for a small crowd but we have over 200 guests, and not everyone will be at the photobooth.

And I’m definitely fazed by the whole “it’s over done” either. Nothing you do at a wedding is “different”, someone before you most likely has done it. 

As they say- it’s always “each to their own”. What makes one person happy may not necessarily make someone else happy. which is fine for me. We’re determined to have one. 

So I guess, I better get cracking…

I really hate the microwave at work. It’s not actually the company’s but something supplied by building management as the kitchen we use is a “shared” kitchen for other offices around us.

I think in it’s hey day there were probably 6 small companies on our floor but these days, there’s only 2 and the other 4 are left empty. The reason is sometime in August, they’re going to either knock down the building or doing some major refurb. So all of our leases basically end pretty much around then. Most tenants have left already because there’s no option to renew…

Regardless, we’re currently still here until we can find somewhere in the city to finally call home. I won’t be around then when the decision is made nor do I care.

But in the meantime whilst I’m still here until my last day- May 15th, I have to deal with the crappy thing that we call the “microwave”.

It’s relatively archaic because it’s got minimal buttons and limited options. To make matters worse it doesn’t even spin. It’s actually NOT that old where the technology doesn’t exist, it did… however due it’s age, the spinning function died just as I started working there. 

It also doesn’t heat very well- when my soup packet says “2mins”- it means 6 minutes with this microwave. So you can imagine my frustration when I had to heat something that needed 5minutes to heat through? It took me forever and a day…

Re-heating my leftover lunch is always problematic because I never know how long to put it for. 

I already have trouble working out microwaves as it is- mostly because I end up nuking my food because it’s been in for too long. but this microwave is beyond a joke.

I will not be missing this machine once I leave. I just have a week and a bit before I can say goodbye

Cancer has been a part of our lives for approximately 4 months now.

It’s difficult to live with because we never know what’s around the corner.

Each day seems is different, a lot of bad days, some good.. and some very stressful.

I really wonder how much longer must we live through before we can kick cancer in the balls and tell it to fuck off