Love Match

The Australian Open Tennis Tournament 2011 in Melbourne on 22 January.

And it played out like this.

Spain's Rafael Nadal, the World's No 1 Tennis player = EXTREMELY HOT



Every female in the crowd = EXTREMELY GRATEFUL
I really wasn't that close. More like this far away but
he his tennis is something else to watch.


As you can see by the first photo he was ringing wet after the first set and had to change his shirt much to the bitter disappointment of the crowd. It went a bit wild.


Asked how he felt when women whistled and took photos of him changing his shirt, Nadal flashed his trademark smile and said: "That's a very good feeling." I guess as the new face of the Georgio Armani Spring/Summer collection he is getting used to the attention.

I know he won the game ...and I can tell you exactly how many times he changed his shirt but I just cannot recall who he was playing against or what the actual score was.

Is there a particular sports person you love to watch (playing sport of course)?_______________________________________________________________

Winner of the CSN Online Voucher is Aleta - you can check her blog, Fleur de Aleta out here. I used Random.org to draw the winner. Happy shopping!

Giveaway for USA readers

The good folks at CSN stores have given me a $65 gift certificate for one lucky reader who lives in the US to spend at its online stores. CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need whether it be wall art and decor, fitness equipment, or even cute cookware.

Of course since our Aussie dollar has been so strong for the first time since the 1770s, I've been spending a little time online doing my bit for the American economy. I like to share the love around in the most economical way. And looking at my latest credit card statement I now believe I could be single handedly propping up the US economy. There are some great online stores in the USA!

So, all you have to do is tell me where you like to shop the most (anywhere, online, offline) and the most intriguing answer will win. If you do not live in the US you can still enter if you want to surprise someone you know in the US with the gift. Enter as many times as you want ......it closes on Sunday 23 January.

My favourite shopping destination is now the little Vietnamese market around the corner where I got all my fruit and veges for the week for $20. My mouth is still agape....

This is followed closely by a toy store that sells all the same toys I had as a child (yes, they could now be antiques if I had kept them...). The Kewpie doll in the picture above is from this store and is one of my favourite dolls. I love the store so much that I am now forced to bring up the subject of grandchildren to a certain child of mine because there is only so long a middle-aged woman can get away with playing with paper dress up dolls.....and avoid getting locked up..

So what is your favourite store?

Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun

Dear Mr English Tourist

I was kind of enjoying lunch on Friday when you are your French dining companion came to sit at the table right

on topnext to us.

And I really want to tell you something that I was too gutless to tell you then. You really, really annoyed the hell out of me.

I'm sure it was not lost on you that when you dine in one of those tiny chic cafes, often so small and cramped that it hurts to breathe, everyone can hear each other’s conversations. Therefore, the concept of being seen and not exactly overheard is front and centre in most diner's minds. Comprenez-vous?

I'm also guessing that it was not entirely lost on you that the tiny chic café you were sitting in was in Australia not downtown Birmingham and therefore it was full of people with that "bloody awful accent" you said you absolutely detest. Or did your actual whereabouts escape your notice somewhere between jumping on that plane at Heathrow, taking that long 24 hour crazy making flight and landing at an international airport that says, G’day and Welcome to Australia?

I nearly lost it when you started analysing the Australian psyche with that gawd awful attempt at an Aussie accent. In fact I came close to standing up and throwing my bowl of salad leaves over your head. As a side note I restrained myself only because I was actually pretty shocked that I could be charged $16.95 for a bowl of green grass masquerading as a Moroccan salad and didn't want to waste money.

After your long and loud take on the country you then summed us up by calling us Lazy.

"AUSTRALIANS ARE LAZY", you said to your lady friend.
And you said it with such confidence and authority that I had this mental picture of you carrying out extensive research on the precise degree of idleness and resistance to hard work exhibited by every one of the country’s 20 million residents.

I was offended and let me tell you, we are a land of very thick …..skinned people.

Could I get away with saying the English are complete tossers just because you're one? Err, no, not in public anyway.

I could be immature and disappoint my readers and take this to a new level of tit for tat throwing out a few insults about your countrymen and their decaying interest in their historical past. However, these would be generalisations based more than likely on my singular experience with the English and totally unfair to English men and women as a whole.

What a lazy old day it was! I walked 4km into the city to have that lunch after being up half the night completing a project. I exerted myself in that hot 90% humidity so that by the time I reached my destination some 46 minutes and 43 seconds later, my luxurious straightened locks looked like an unfortunate frizz ball. Not only that but the sweat patches I was now wearing resulted in my outfit having a very unfashionable tie dyed look which created enormous embarrassment for me in what is our nation’s fashion capital. My only saving grace was that it was hard to tell if my face was flushed with embarrassment because of the rather unfortunate case of sunburn I was now sporting.

I then ordered an expensive lunch of - who knew? - assorted green grass that you wouldn’t even feed to any self respecting cow. And then like an unwanted foreign side dish I never ordered, you commenced your running negative commentary at the top of your voice on why you, as the world's unappointed spokesperson, disliked Australia and Australians. Worse still, my dining companion, being a foreigner himself, seemed to be more intrigued in your conversation than our own just to see how far you would actually take it before someone decked you.

So, while I can accept that some of us might be disposed to being somewhat stupid with a tendency to over embellish, and overheat in the midday sun, we are NOT LAZY!

We are the lucky country not the lazy country. Just ask Oprah!

Let's hope the sharks, the red back spiders and crocodiles don’t bite you on the backside on the way out and really give you something to complain about for the next fifty years. Because let me tell you there are some Aussies creatures whose bite is far worse than their bark!

Toodles

Lilly x

PS. And if any of you ever hear an Australian dissing your country and its people while visiting your country you have my permission to defend yourselves…with whatever you can muster at the time….hopefully a better salad then I had to defend myself with…...that’s all I am saying…..show's over, on your way now....

Bonny and Clyde

I am just getting acquainted with my new neighbourhood in the Little Saigon area of my inner city suburb and truth be told I am a little out of my comfort zone and the safe bubble of my ordinary existence.

So why does one of the local shops around the corner (and no its not a fancy dress store) sell balaclavas in the height of a humid summer?

Because, said my neighbour, even criminals need to buy their tools of the trade somewhere.....out of my comfort zone I tell you...but really loving every minute.

Want to see where I live?

There is no arguing

with Mother Nature.

She is going to do wants she wants.

When she wants.

And how.


Poor Queensland.

To those who have contacted me about the Australian floods I am a couple of States away from where the worst of the flooding is (there is now flooding in five of our six States).

BUT, I have been feeling awful that I left my parents high and dry and moved them to the sunny State of Queensland a few weeks ago to enjoy the hot weather and fabulous water views that they have wanted to experience for a long time.

And, as it has played out, the weather and the water views have exceeded everyone's expectations or indeed imaginations.

My father Des thanked me for my relocation efforts but wondered if perhaps I had gone a little overboard in helping them realise their wish. You see it has rained hard every day since they got there and now they are experiencing massive floods - the worst the State has ever seen.

Oops!

As Des said, he was actually hoping to look out his window and admire the extensive water views not actually be forced to float out his window into gushing torrents of muddy water. It's a good job they have a sense of humour.

Thankfully, my parents and my three siblings and their families are all safe and sound and on high ground. You remember my sister's house? It came in handy...

I realise that such luck has not been the case for many thousands of people who have lost a great deal. Some have lost their lives, others everything but the clothes they had on when they hurriedly left their homes and many people are still missing.

It is surreal. I posted pictures only a few months ago of this beautiful State when I went on my road trip.

As with every disaster, the stories of horror, heroism and amazing personal fortitude abound. The unlimited care and compassion that people have shared during this disaster has been inspirational and makes me very proud to be an Aussie. The human spirit is powerful when put to the test.

So if any Australian readers want to volunteer to clean up cities or donate to help those in need please go here.

Any US readers, particularly those who have seen any flood coverage on your TV networks, please take a look at Oprah's shows next week (from Tuesday 18) to see some of the best Australia has to offer - as opposed to only the sodden mess being beamed around the world at the moment.

Take Care out there people, we never know what is around the corner......

I will leave you with a picture of Melbourne taken a couple of days ago, showing the kind of water views that we (thankfully) normally only get to see here in Oz.

Dear Mr Retailer

I know that your Christmas and New Year sales have been poor given many shoppers have turned to online shopping in US stores given our strong Aussie dollar.

And I sympathise, I really do.

BUT
Don’t you think it’s way too early for rows and rows of fancy Easter eggs to be gracing your shelves?

I first saw them on January 2 and according to my 2011 diary, Easter is STILL three months away.

In fact I was so surprised when I turned my trolley into Aisle 3 expecting to find gluten free goodies and saw row after row of coma inducing chocolate eggs that I inadvertently yelled out “Jesus Christ!”

Rather too loudly I'm afraid.

It might not have been my finest hour but no-one knows me here (which explains why tourists are always loud and over the top) or could pass the message on to my deeply religious mother that I was heard yelling the lord’s name in vain in a busy supermarket aisle. What the heck, it was Sunday at least.

As it happens, one of your staff managed to turn round an otherwise awkward moment. Pete, bless him, who was standing on a ladder restocking shelves looked down at me and said with a deadpan expression, “It’s really great to see the true meaning of Easter is not lost on everyone then”.

That made me laugh.

I think Pete could be wasted restocking shelves, just so you know.

How did we get to the point where all these holidays are melding into one long retailing celebration? Christmas to me is the celebration of Jesus’ birth and Easter the celebration of when he rose from the dead. That latter event happened 33 years after his birth, right? I think that should also mean that Easter should come a long, long time after Christmas…….every 33 years may be a tad excessive but you get my point.

And if that argument does nothing for you then do you know how many of us are trying to give up chocolate every January 1st and could do without it being served up in shiny paper in the form of cute bunnies and waved enticingly in front of our noses the very day after we make our resolutions….at least give us a few months before we yield unto temptation. Please.

That’s all I ask, until the next time that is.

Yours in consideration,

Lilly

PS. By the way, I think you may need to bring in more of those Caramello tiny Easter eggs as they are rather delicious - yes my New Year's resolution lasted six hours......


The above photo is of Williamstown, Melbourne. More pictures will appear here on my inspiration blog over the coming weeks.

I am going to close comments every second post just to give you a break.

Here's to a Happy 2011

Thank you very much 2010.

You well and truly left your mark.

And I just want you to know it was a completely unexpected gift to end what was a superb holiday season.

Something shiny, colourful and which took me completely by surprise.



A BLACK EYE!

I would like to tell you it was the result of doing something exotic and adventurous but the truth is I got it because I offered to hang my daughter’s clothes out.

I know, how could that simple yet well intentioned task have gone so wrong?

My daughter lives in the inner city with a small balcony which masquerades as a backyard. So, given space limitations, she has a retractable clothesline.

Child’s play she said when I asked her how to use it.

I stretched the line out and attached it to the opposite wall.

I hung up a sheet and …..then….. BAM.

The clothesline retracted and smacked me hard in the face.

Who knew a clothesline could become such a dangerous projectile weapon?

I screamed. OK and screamed and screamed…..and screamed …..

Heads poked out of windows from apartments and shops all around to see what the noise was about.

Possibly a new spate of gangland warfare?

Oh dear. Sadly they were disappointed by the sight of a middleaged woman dancing in agony around the balcony, hand clutched tightly to her face believing she was now blind in one eye.

This city has something of a reputation in the underworld department. And it goes without saying that I have something of a reputation in the drama queen department. Particularly when hit in the face by a wayward clothesline which was clearly holding out for an extended Christmas break and didn’t want to go back to work.

I am just thankful that it’s summer and it’s not at all odd to be wearing dark glasses on a permanent basis. I could do without the pitying stares from people unsure if my injury was caused from having some very bad cosmetic surgery (given the bags and wrinkles remain) or if I was on the receiving end of someone’s ugly anger management issues. Who would guess a clothesline was the culprit?

Regardless of black eyes, 2011 is off and running. I am full of anticipation and plans. I have earmarked this as my year of living differently (get that Mr Universe? That would be D-ifferently not D-angerously….).

I have moved to Melbourne for a few months to experience one of the greatest cities in the world with more cities to come over the next year.



That’s the plan. And you can be sure there will be some stories to tell. Strangely, there always is.

Happy 2011 everyone and my wish for you is that those pesky, tightly coiled and highly strung clotheslines leave you and yours well and truly alone this year. And that you stay well and truly clear of them of course…….