There’s someone I want you to meet. Come a little closer. This is Miss Haidee. OK, she’s not a person… she’s a stunning online store that sells the most amazingly, beautiful little clothing for small people. Check out the store here.

Or browse through the photos in this post. Amazing, right? {Oh yes, I’m totally guilty right now to overusing the word amazing}.

Recently the team at Miss Haidee sent over a bunch of lovely pieces for Lacey to have. The top dress is my favourite. It’s all perfectly puffy sleeves, vintage floral print and such a sweet length.

All the pieces in the Miss Haidee store are one of a kind pieces. You can feel and see the love put into them.

Miss Haidee is giving one lucky reader, anywhere in the world, the chance to have their own custom dress created for them. Your little person will be in Miss Haidee heaven with their perfectly AMAZING dress. Yes, I said it again.

All you have to do is leave a comment below answering the following question: Who would you get a sweet Miss Haidee dress created for? Why?

Be sure to head over and like Miss Haidee on Facebook. They offer up discount codes to fans regularly, so you don’t want to miss out.

{boring bits}
One entry per person.
Competition closes June 10 2013, 11:59pm.
Open to all readers worldwide.

The post Win the cutest dress the world has ever seen! appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

Something happens when you have a baby. Well, for me anyway. I must have a filter that decides pretty much after things happen whether I’ll store them in my memory. I think it’s called selective memory, or something like that. Even the birth. I remember after giving birth, which was a dramatic experience for me, Hubby said, “We’re never EVER doing this again.”

I responded with, “It’s not that bad. I think I could.” And all the gory details were filtered out {and locked up into a little storage area of my brain} and only the beautiful ones were kept.
It’s only now being pregnant that I’m starting to remember things that happened, pregnancy must have unlocked that little store of memories up there in my head.

I’m remembering those very early days, transitioning into being a mama. We were like the rebel parents in the hospital. Hubby would stay over, and we weren’t really mastering parenthood that well. Early one morning a midwife came in, after Lacey had screamed non-stop for an extended period of time. Let me paint the scene for you: Hubby was on the bed holding the baby, I was on the floor trying to get some desperately needed sleep and the room was a mess {just our bag lying in the middle of the small room, taking up space}. Usually when staying somewhere we keep things neat and tidy, but this was no holiday. The midwife marched in, saw the scene and got cranky. She ordered us around, told us to clean things up and tried to calm the baby. Not that we hadn’t been trying to do all that ourselves. Being new parents was hard.

Adding to the difficult times was that I didn’t have enough milk and after persisting for so many days a kind midwife came in and suggested that I might like to try supplement feeding. You know, breastfeeding and bottle-feeding. At first Lacey wasn’t a fan, but we persisted offering her small amounts of milk from a tiny little cup and dropper.

I took home a tin of formula, a stack of tiny little cups and a few droppers and kept trying to feed her for that first month. It wasn’t easy, but she was clearly hungry. As she adjusted to the taste I decided to try bottles. So I went to the store, bought a bottle and gave it to her. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. So we persisted with the little cups, and tried to introduce that bottle regularly.

Back when I was nannying we had a similar situation. I had a little newborn on my hands, and everyday I’d take her into my employer for a few breastfeeds. As the baby grew my boss would express a few bottles and I’d offer them to the baby, but she wasn’t interested. It seemed like such a waste of milk. One day I headed to the shop, bought a few different bottles and over time I tried her on them to see if she would take any, and then one day she did. I cheered and danced and rejoiced. Our lives just got easier.

The same thing happened with Lacey. I went to the shop, bought an array of bottles and kept persisting, with expressed milk and formula too. I was determined to do whatever it would take to make my little girl content, and one of the best ways to do that is with a full tummy.

And then it happened. One day I found the perfect bottle and she took it. She drank it. It was like a miracle. And she slept. Total miracle. I may have cried. Tears of joy, of course.

That bottle was like a saving grace for us. I managed to breastfeed for another 14 months, as well as bottle-feeding. That saving grace bottle way back then, was from the Tommee Tippee range. When I look back it’s like it’s surrounded by a glowing light with singing angels all around {you know like when a miracle happens in the movies?}. It was that big of a deal.

Last year Lacey and I were invited to an event with Tommee Tippee to launch their new range, Tommee Tippee Miomee {it’s like a graduation from their range we used when Lacey was a baby, developed by all the big guys – biomedical engineers, paediatricians, midwives and mothers}. It was like coming home, it was where our lives really began, well our more contented lives.

Over lunch we listened as the team passionately explained how the range was created, and how it all works, mimicking a mother’s own breast {yes, boys you can tune out now} whether you’re bottle-feeding, breastfeeding {and expressing} or a bit of both . Knowing that I was going to try for a baby soon, it was all very interesting to me and totally on my radar. Plus I was a little nostalgic having Lacey sitting next to me.

I’m excited today to be offering up a beautiful array of Tommee Tippee® Miomee® goodies that I’ve personally selected and packaged up for one lucky person. The selection includes bottles from the Tommee Tippee® Miomee® range including this 2-pack and this 2-pack, milk storage containers and lids, an insulated bottle bag and an electric breast pump. To be in the running, just leave a comment below answering the following question: Where are you at in your parenting journey? Trying for a baby? Pregnant? Or already a mama?

Competition closes June 1st at 11:59pm
Winner will be announced in this post, and will be notified by email.
One entry per person.
Open to Australian residents only.

The post A mama moment appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

If I told you there was a hippopotamus on my roof eating cake you wouldn’t believe me, would you? No. Because we all know hippos don’t eat cake. Right?

But if I told you that right now there is a magpie on my roof making noises like a police car, you’d TOTALLY think I was normal and believable, wouldn’t you? Well, there is. We have a magpie that makes noises like a police car. We really do. I tell no lies.

I first heard him a few months ago, and I wondered why on earth there were so many police car pursuits in the sleepy area that we live. It didn’t make sense. But I shrugged it off and bought deadlocks for the windows just in case.

And then it kept happening and it sounded like it was just outside my window. So I looked, and there was a magpie. Still, I shrugged it off. Magpies don’t make noises like police cars.

Except they do. I came to realise that the noise was indeed coming from a magpie and I wasn’t actually crazy. Huzzah. I told Hubby and he feigned interest and belief*.

One day I was across the road playing with Lacey and Ma was along for the ride, and the siren {aka magpie} went off. “You hear that Ma?” I asked. “The siren? Yes…” she replied. “It’s a magpie, not a police car.”

Cue shock and amazement and disbelief. “Don’t lie,” she insisted, “It’s a police car.”

The disbelief continued for a couple of minutes, with the siren continuing in the background, and I tried to push my point, failing. I pointed out the magpie, and urged her to move closer. The proof was in the pudding. I was right. Huzzah.

A few moments later my neighbour Val walked past, and I decided to ask her, “Have you ever heard that magpie that makes noises like a police car?”

Well, didn’t I look like the super crazy neighbour? No, she hadn’t.

Of course, I’ve tried to capture the bird. Not capture, as in put it in a cage and keep it in captivity. No, I’ve run around the house with my phone reached up to the sky trying to capture the noise… without luck.

But let it be known, I’m the crazy lady who hears magpies that make noises like police cars… and I also run around with my phone to the sky. Never a dull moment here.

*Until he saw it for himself, and became part of camp crazy.

The post There’s a magpie on my roof making noises like a police car appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

Earlier this year I bought myself a Thermomix. I went back and forth on the purchase, ummed and ahhed over the crazy price and did a heck-load of research on it. Everyone is raving about them, have you heard? And so I decided that I definitely wanted to make my life easier, especially with a baby on the way… so I took the leap and I bought one.

I’ve been overwhelmed by it. The things I have made with it have been amazing {bolognese from scratch – including mincing the meat, custard in under 10 minutes, risotto, the best mash ever and the fluffiest orange cake I ever did taste}, but I can’t lie, the machine kinda overwhelms me.

One of the teachers at Lacey’s school is a master at the ‘mix. She uses it every single night, and I’ve been in awe at how she operates. She even took it to school the other day to whip up food for the kids in a little cooking lesson. They made cake, ice cream and herby cheese dip.

So I pulled my machine back out {yes, I had it in hiding it overwhelmed me that much} and decided I needed to make something, at least once a week. And this is what I cooked up this week, Sneaky Macaroni Cheese.

I generally don’t hide vegies from Lacey. She’s a pretty good eater, but personally I loved a puree vegetable. I love making mashed potato with whatever I have in the vegetable drawer, and I thought this dish might be nice for everyone to eat. It was. Lacey ate three bowls full for dinner, even though it was meant as just a side. “It’s delicious!” she remarked. She hasn’t taken to zucchini yet, so when she asked if the green stuff was shallots {which she likes} I told a white lie and said yes.

Ingredients

90g cheddar cheese, cut into 1-2cm cubes
50g parmesan cheese, cut into 1-2cm cubes
1.2 litres of water
200g cauliflower, roughly chopped
150g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-2cm cubes
1 zucchini, roughly chopped
300g macaroni
50g plain flour
500g low-fat milk
30g butter, cubed

Method

Using the Thermomix
♥ Place cheese into the mixing bowl and grate 10 sec/Speed 9. Set aside.
♥ Place water into the mixing bowl and boil 10 min/Varoma/Speed 1.
♥ Place cauliflower, pumpkin and zucchini into Varoma. Set aside.
♥ Add macaroni to the water. Place Varoma into position and cook 10 min/Varoma/Reverse/Speed 1.
♥ Place cooked vegetables into mixing bowl and puree 10 sec/speed 8. Stir through pasta.
♥ Place flour, milk and butter into mixing bowl and cook 6 min/90°C/Reverse/Speed 2.
♥ Add cheese and cook 2 min/90°C/Reverse/Speed 2.
♥ Pour over pasta and combine. Serve warm.

Using pots, pans and normal stuff
♥ Grate the cheeses, using a grater.
♥ Cook pasta on the stove, as per packet instructions. While the pasta is cooking steam the vegetables. You can do this in a steamer over the pasta, or in the microwave. Once the vegetables are cooked, puree them with a hand blender, or if you like them chunky do it with a fork.
♥ Drain pasta, and place into a bowl. Stir through the vegetable puree.
♥ In a saucepan over medium heat, make the sauce. First add the butter and melt, add the flour and stir. You want to cook the flour so it doesn’t get any colour but gets rid of the raw flour taste. This should take 1-2 minutes. Don’t let it get brown. Add the milk and stir until all combined. Bring to a gentle boil, until it thickens. Add cheese and turn off the heat. Stir to combine.
♥ Add sauce to the pasta/vegetable mix. Stir to combine and serve.

This recipe is from the new Thermomix book by Louise Fulton Keats {I received it last week, and thought I’d give a recipe a whirl and share}. I’ve adapted it slightly.

Do you have a Thermomix? What’s your favourite thing to make in it? And sneaky vegetables into kids meals: cool or crazy?

The post Delicious dinner: Sneaky macaroni cheese appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

…pick up hitchhikers?

Over the weekend we took a little road trip down the coast to my mother-in-law’s house to celebrate Mother’s Day. It’s quite a nice drive, lots of green hills, cows, more green hills and trees. Lotsa trees.

As we drive down we pass by Byron Bay. Byron Bay is well-known for it’s beautiful beaches, camping spots, delicious food and well… backpackers. Backpackers who want to get from one place to the next.

For a while when I’d see a hitchhiker, with their thumb eagerly out waiting for the next lift, I’d avoid contact {out of guilt} or if we had a full car I’d in think, “Sorry, mate… we’re full.”

Truth is, I’ve never picked up a hitchhiker, and probably never will. My Dad hitchhiked to work a few times when our car had broken down. He’d wear a suit and head down to the main road of town for a lift. I was always nervous that something would happen, but he’d come back with stories of who picked him up. Funnily enough, it was often old ladies who did.

On another occasion my Big Sis, who was 18 at the time, came home to tell us that she’d just given two hitchhikers a lift. I was shocked at her bravery, and asked her a million questions, “What were they like? Where were they going?”

Why don’t I pick up hitchhikers? Well, I like my personal space. I love a good car-karaoke session {and I don’t like an audience} and I’m basically pretty much scared. Hitchhikers do bad things in the movies… you know?

I must confess though. I have picked up two strangers, they didn’t have their thumbs out though. On a motorway an old man had broken down, so I took him into town. I weighed up the risks, saw him in trouble and knew I could take him down if need be. There was no need. He was sweet and old, and in need of a mechanic. Another time I pulled up at the front of my house and a flustered man opened my door and hopped in the passenger seat. I don’t know why I didn’t freak out, looking back I should have, but he really need to get to his daughter’s childcare to pick her up before it closed. So I drove him there.

So if I’m not picking them up, who is? Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? Or been a hitchhiker?

The post Who are the people who… appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

It’s 2:49am. I’m awake.

It’s just me and the glow of my computer. I’m used to it now. Me and this crazy time of morning meet at least 3 times a week.

Back when I was pregnant with Lacey I had the insomnia, but not as bad. It lasted just a month and then disappeared. This time it’s hear to stay. Back in the olden days {2008 when I was pregnant with Lacey} there wasn’t as much to do at the weird time of night/morning. I think we had dial-up internet, and there was not much to surf on the internet anyway. I should have started a blog.

Now I can entertain myself with a little TV. This morning I switched on the TV and Embarrassing Bodies came on. It’s the one show I can’t stand. It’s like accidentally walking in on your grandparents naked. I can’t switch it off fast enough. I once even caught myself trying to do it with my eyes closed. It’s that bad. I don’t get why people are so embarrassed about a condition they have that they decided to go on TV AND SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD? These are the things that I think at 2:49am.

Sleeping through the night has become a kind of miracle. I give myself a mental high five when I wake and it’s after 5am. In my head I’m like, ‘You’re a hero! You did it!’ What a feat that is. The only time waking in the middle of the night has been bothersome has been when I haven’t been home. I’ve mastered 3am at home, but not at other people’s houses. On a recent trip to the Whitsundays for work I couldn’t sleep, which would have been fine if I had my own room to do my thing in… instead we were sharing apartments. I tried to be as quiet as a mouse, but at 3am nothing is quiet. Nothing. People hear everything.

I’m enjoying being pregnant. I’m hormonal and still have that lovely teenage skin thing going on, but for the most part it’s pretty miraculous and joyous. I just feel grateful. Grateful from my hair follicles to my toes. Grateful.

Just like being pregnant with Lacey, I’m loving decorating the nursery and washing the baby clothes. I’m crazy about spicy food and milk. Preferably not together. At the markets the other day I asked for them to add chilli to my meal. I think I’m braver than I am, or they think they’re going to show me a wild ride because that stuff was hot. And up until this week I haven’t had much of an appetite. I just had no real interest in food, but something happened this week and I have an insatiable hunger. And hello sweet stuff. I had no desire for chocolate until this week. I read in my little weekly pregnancy update that the baby just got taste-buds and lots of mamas start to want chocolate. Ah, it all makes sense. Although with a diabetes test next week I’m all too aware of eating it… so have been trying to ignore the desire.

Anyways, I’m off to start my day. You know, eat weetbix, put on a load of laundry, do some work and watch some trashy TV.

What time did you wake this morning?

The post This blog is {proudly} brought to you by… pregnancy insomnia. appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

During the month of May I have a little treat. I have some goodies to giveaway for people who participate in the photo a day challenge. I have a PosterCandy poster {any size} and a $25 Social Print Studio voucher {to spend on anything in Printstagram} for two lucky people EACH week. So just share on Facebook or Instagram, and I’ll announce the recipients each week here in this post.

Week One

Poster Candy:

Social Print Studio:

Week Two

Poster Candy:

Social Print Studio:

Don’t forget to check back next week and see if you’re a winner.

Are you a winner? Email me at hello@fatmumslim.com.au and I’ll pass on the codes. x

The post May Photo A Day prize recipients appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

Is there anything uglier than a bully?

It’s ugly from the very inside, from the tiny crevices within one’s heart, to the very outer pores of someone’s skin. Ugly.

My daughter can be anything she likes. Anything. But if she ever lowers herself to be a bully, then I will come down on her like a tonne of majorly cranky bricks. I hope I never have to see that day, or be that pile of cranky bricks.

There’s a little boy who lives in our neighbourhood. The area we live in is really small and friendly, and not long after we moved in he came to visit. Just knocked on the door and asked to play. I didn’t know him, or his parents, but I knew that we were friendly and safe so I let him in to play. It ended up being quite a regular thing. He’d come and play with Lacey and her toys. They were the same age, and I loved that she had someone to play with.

It was all going swimmingly until one day I caught him attacking the dog. “Hey mate, we don’t do that in our house. Don’t hurt the dog please.” I thought it was a one-off, and let it go. I should have listened to my gut instinct and put an end to the play-dates. But let them play I did.

Then the next weekend he gave Lacey a Chinese-burn on her arm, and punched her in the face. I politely showed him the door and asked him to go home and never come back to play. I thought that was the end of it.

The next weekend it got worse. He came past with his older cousin and started yelling not-so-nice things out to Lacey, throwing rocks at our cars, and throwing large amounts of weeds into our trampoline. Frustrated and slightly upset, I sat Lacey down and talked to her about bullies and how their actions made us feel. You know, not good.

A few weeks went by, and it all seemed OK, until a dead magpie turned up in our trampoline. Again, thanks to the little boy down the road. So I mustered up the courage and talked to his mother, who offered no apology but listened to what I had to say {which I did calmly, albeit with a slight shake in my voice} and then closed the door.

I’ve been on the receiving end of bullying too. Man, it’s the pits. It was a few years ago I was bullied online. Oh, it was yukky. There were lots of tears and consoling by friends and family. I didn’t get it. I couldn’t understand why someone would be so cruel. I know I’m not the only one. There are many that use the bravado of typing crap about people behind the security of their computer screens. How big of them. They can hide from us, but they can never hide from themselves.

I read this news article yesterday, about a 13 year old who committed suicide. Truth be told I couldn’t even read the whole article because it made my stomach do flips and tears well in my eyes. It made me mad. Why are people so unkind?

Part of me feels sorry for the bullies. Imagine being them. Living that miserable existence, so horrible that they can only spew ugliness out at other people. I don’t know how they justify it to themselves. How they can go from saying/writing/doing horrible things one minute, and then tuck their kids up in bed with love the next. How would that feel? How do they justify their actions?

A wise little boy, who I used to nanny, once said something to me that was so wonderful and true, so simple and easy to follow: Treat people how you want to be treated. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all do just that? Is it really that hard?

And if all else fails, there’s karma. Thank you Lady Gaga. {Excuse the expletives}.

The post Your words have powers. Use them wisely. appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

I just got back from taking the dog to the pet shop for a wash. Bronte is excitable. She does this thing where she doesn’t just wag her tail when she’s happy/excited/elated, her WHOLE body wags. If I was standing in front of you telling this story, I’d re-enact it, because I think I do it well. Having said that, I’ve never looked in the mirror whilst re-enacting the whole body wag… so it could very well be embarrassing and ugly. But you get what I mean…

She also likes to hug other dogs. She’ll jump up and try and embrace their head. The neighbourhood dogs are used to it, and a few will just roll with it. One even hugs back. Today at the pet shop there was a dog the same age as her. He was a well-groomed poodle. Of course Bronte did the whole body wag, and the cuddle and threw in a jump for good measure, all the while Mr. Well-Groomed Poodle remained calm and poised. Ah, we were those parents. The one with the dog out of control. We’ve been there before, with the not-so-perfect child. It’s not new territory for us.

We sat around the table talking about children. I started to talk about the topic that I always seem to talk about; sleep. Or the lack of it. “I’ll do things different with this new baby,” I promised, not quite sure who I was making the promise to. “You know, I really did it all wrong. It’s all my fault.”

For those that don’t know, Lacey didn’t sleep very well and never has. She was an unsettled baby who screamed for the first 24 hours after birth, and then pretty much every day of that first 6 months. It was torturous. And she hated sleep. She slept in 40 minute stints, even at night, only to be put back to sleep with a breastfeed and 15 minutes of us rocking her in front of the tumble dryer. It was constant, and hard, and exhausting. We were shadows of our real selves.

“Who decides what’s wrong?” my friend piped up, “What if she was just an anomaly? Who are you measuring yourself against anyway?”

A light bulb went off in my head. What if it just was? What if it wasn’t all my doing? I’ve blamed myself all this time. You know, the regular spiel; I went back to work too early, I didn’t read enough books, I made the wrong choices, I was a nanny for 12 years I should have done/known better, and I didn’t try hard enough. But oh how I tried. I tried so hard to make things right, and it just didn’t work. And as for who I was measuring myself against? I wasn’t comparing myself to anyone, because parenting is an individual journey, but I’d be lying if I said that seeing everyone else getting sleep and having happy babies didn’t make me think that I failed. Big time.

I could have cried in that moment, and hugged my friend a million times over. If only we weren’t separated by an awkward booth table which my baby belly was finding difficult to navigate.

I’ve always thought, particularly after that tiresome first year, that Lacey was my practice run baby and that I’d score an A+ with the next little person that came into our lives. Even writing that makes me realise how ridiculously my mind works. RE-DONK-U-LOUS even.

I’ve thought about all the things I’ll change with this next baby. I won’t hold it as much. It will never fall asleep in my arms. And I’ll follow those sleep books to a T. In fact, I’ve already started reading them. I was gunning for that A+. But then when I pondered what my friend had said, those simple questions that made me have a little epiphany, I realise they were the things I loved best about those early days, why would I deny myself that? Oh, and deny my sweet little baby that too?

And when it comes to behaviour, our little girl is filled with sass. “You know Mama, last week I said a square word,” she bragged. “Do you mean a swear word?” I queried. “Nope, a square word,” she insisted. Of course I let her know that we don’t say naughty words, followed by a whole spiel about other words we could use {all the while laughing inside at ‘square’ word}. She’s filled with confidence, and bravado. She’s nothing like I was. I’d hide behind my Ma’s legs before talking to anyone, where Lacey will shake hands and introduce herself before I’ve had a chance to do the same.

She’s not afraid of a tantrum, thankfully they’re usually at home or just as we’re leaving somewhere that she wants to stay and play at. Sometimes she’s just plain sassy, and not in a good way. Sometimes I wonder what I did wrong, what I’d do differently if I had my time again. You know; regret, remorse and guilt.

But since that conversation with my friend I’ve had a revelation, what if it just is? What if it just is what it is? Man, acceptance is a wonderful thing. Of course, I want to be the best parent I can be, and for my girl to be the best person she can be too… but if I offload some of that guilt and over-thinking which I’ve been carrying around for a while, life is just a little bit easier. Parenting while wearing a big coat of resistance and self-blame ain’t so pretty.

And as I left the pet store with my out of control dog, I thought about it again. It is what it is. And I smiled, because I’m glad that I’ve got the dog who is so happy that her whole body wags, and the daughter who has so much sass she loves who she is and isn’t afraid to show it. It is what it is, and it’s kinda wonderful.

The post It just is. appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.

Aside from pregnancy-related questions, there is one question I get asked a lot, and it’s this, “How are you liking the big move north?” or “Do you think moving was a good decision?”

Moving from Sydney to the Far North Coast has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. We didn’t know if it would work, but when we make decision we make them for good, so it kinda had to work. Of course, we could pack back up and find a new place to live, but we dearly wanted to make it work for us and for our future. More about that another day though.

This past weekend Lacey and I took a quick trip back to Sydney for my little sister’s baby shower. While I love my new life, and my new home, I still miss Sydney. A part of my heart is still there. It’s hard to describe, but Sydney just has this magic. As you fly over the harbour you can see the City sparkle. We missed it this time because we flew in at night {and holy turbulence I was glad when we made it to land}, but it really has a bit of magic. And this might sound odd, but it has things. Things that are hard to find where we live now. Perhaps it’s because I spent 13 or so years perfecting my favourite places to eat, visit and explore.

It also has little quirks that I adore. After the baby shower celebrations I had half a day back in Sydney to do everything I wanted to do… so I had to jam it in. There was list writing {scribbled on the back of a docket from my handbag} and planning {albeit the morning of my day to play} but I got through most of it. Here’s how I spent my fun day in Sydney. Oh how I love thee.

Staying at my sister’s new pad, which I haven’t stopped raving about since I left. Filled with such character, and light and style. Oh my. // Waiting for Lacey to wake up. The girl likes to sleep in. What? You’ve never taken a photo of yourself sleeping. OK. It’s weird. I know.

Breakfast at Bills. It’s something everyone {who can} should do in their lifetime. I used to swear by the hotcakes or the corn fritters, but now I’m all about a simple scrambled eggs with a side of mushrooms, avocado and a bit of Sunday paper reading. // My old home. We didn’t have time to walk in the sand, but we did a drive-by of our beautiful beach. I used to love Bondi when it wasn’t summer. It feels so fresh.

A hot chocolate to go. Hot chocolates from Bills are creamy and indulgent, where some others I’ve found are weak and watery. I don’t drink it all, but the bit I do is delectable. // Nail time. Beauty treatments at home cost twice as much and just don’t do things as well as my old faithfuls. If you’re in Bondi and want your nails done, go and see Tina. Tell her I sent you. She’s the bomb.com.

I miss the humour of Sydney. The little restaurant up the road from our old place always had a funny sign or two. During our visit all cocktails came with a free straw. Get in quick before they sell out! // Outside my sister’s house was a stray card. I remember an episode of Sex and the City where Burger collects cards he finds. It seemed whimsical and wonderful, so I was excited to discover one. Then Lacey soon discovered there was a whole deck {almost} so she went collecting.

If you just open your eyes, you can see such wonderful things. Perhaps if I still lived in Sydney I would have driven past this LOVE sign a thousand times and never stopped. There was lots of traffic and no parking spots, so I told my Sis to not worry about stopping. “Oh we’re stopping!” she assured me. So we did, and it was fun.

One thing we didn’t get to do, due to lack of time, was drive through Centennial Park. The trees were wrapped in neon pink ribbon for a Nike event the night before, so hopefully someone else can get that photo instead.

We shopped. I didn’t buy anything, but I just loved being among it all. I checked out the new Pottery Barn, West Elm etc {with everyone else in Sydney, it seems!}. // More quirks. I love the signs, and the humour.

With not very much time left at all, we headed for lunch before catching our flight. 8 courses for $50? Yes please. Ms. G’s is good tucker. There was a line-up along the pavement to get in, but it was worth that teeny wait and more. Try the ribs. And the buns.

So while I really miss all the cool stuff I’ve just shared, the thing I miss most is my family. Leaving them hurt more this time than ever before, perhaps because next time I see them I’ll probably have a baby and so will my little sister. Oh, how life will change.

What’s your favourite City? Which City would you run back to visit in a heartbeat if you could?

P.S. I’ll share what I love about where I live now too. Coming soon.

The post I left my heart in Sydney {& this is why I miss it so}. appeared first on Fat Mum Slim.