Things I wish I knew at 16

On beauty:

• That you'll develop your first awareness of wrinkles when you hit 28, but don't worry, after a year of a constant moisturising regime, their appearance will minimise. But gosh you should really be kinder to your eyes and neck.


• Freckles are the bain of your life. You do not discover this until you get to Australia two years later and lazily do not use sun screen for the first year of your life. From that point onwards, the damage could never be reversed. NEVER. Not even when you fraxeled them off for your wedding. Which by the way was a perfect waste of a thousand dollars.

 

On friendship:

• That 'bestie' you had at 16, isn't your bestie anymore now. In fact, you should never have moved in with her in Sydney.


• The friend that you judged all the time because you didn't understand her understands you better than you do her, and is so much better a person than you could ever hope to be. But never fear, you grow up to understand her better and she becomes your one true friend that is almost like your sister. Go easy on her, she deserves for you to be a better friend.

On fashion:

• The bags you buy, Don't obsess on the fashion items. They don't last in popularity for very long and you grow out of them too. And no they don't turn out to be the 'investment' pieces you expect them to be. Off-loading them is really hard and you don't get much money for them!


• That Gold jacket you will see in four year's time for $50. Leave it there. Don't even look at it another time. Walk away from it.


• You overobsessed with pink when you are 18. It will haunt you for a long time. Trust me.


• The harder you try to be different from everyone else, you'll one day grow up to want to be exactly like everyone else. So don't be too proud and too quick to judge.

On family and relationships:

• Love your brother more and be more patient with him when he needs you. One day, you won't be around anymore to guide him and he will be so lost without you, but I understand, you were lost yourself, even though you act like you've got it so together.



• Stop being so mean to your mum. She and you will have very little time together in two years time because you will leave Malaysia and you will hardly come home anymore.


• You'll end up marrying a guy that didn't meet any of the five criterion you listed out with your bestie the other day, but it's alright, he's the perfect man for you

• Don't be so tough on S when you're dating. Hold yourself together and be a kinder girlfriend to him, because he does change after marriage (despite all the things Mum told you were myths about men) and he is the kindest, most loving and understanding husband that hates to disappoint you. Hang in there until then.

Perfect Pizzas and a lovely Anzac day

Having a mid week day off with all your friends is one of the best things sometimes. I hadn't had a chance since Christmas to properly catch up with this bunch and so when Anzac day came on a Wednesday and we had no other plans, we all jumped at the chance of a get together.

The idea was a pizza lunch party where I supplied the pizza dough and everyone else brought a different topping of choice and we made our own pizzas. It was great fun and also an opportunity to let our 'kids' get to know each other.  See, my other post about me not being at the stage of having kids, my friends are in the same boat I suppose, but they still wanted to have the companionship and be able to pour their love onto a little one and so, they have gone and acquired pets. One a full grown staffordshire terrier and the other, a fourteen week old 'spoodle' (Cocker spaniel cross poodle), both brought together at our place for the first time.

I really enjoyed the day, simple as it is, cooking with close friends, sharing a lovely meal and a few cuppas, having the dogs run around beserk, going to a park in the sunshine, all lent themselves to another beautiful memory creation.

I didn't take many pictures of the day, but here's what I got:

Pizzas! Made with the perfect pizza dough recipe which I share below

OOTD: A lovely boutique stripped top with cascading ruffles from the markets paired with zigzag stockings

And then layered with my tan Misonni scarf and a beige Portmans pleather jacket

My Darling friends gave me a very belated birthday present: A Mystique candle and...

Leona Edminston stockings! Perfect for the wintry weather we are coming into!

 Now, for the Perfect Pizza dough recipe (No kidding, this really is the perfect pizza dough).

It makes 4 thin-crust italian-style pizzas.

1. Sift 500g of "00" or strong white flour into a bowl, and add a pinch of salt, and a 7g sachet of dried yeast. Make a well in the centre of the flour and then slowly add 360ml of warm water, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon or the dough beaters of a food mixer. After you've added in half of the water and the dough is coming together, you can begin adding in 60ml of olive oil too. Keep mixing until all the oil and water has been mix in with the dry ingredients and it forms a soft dough.

2. Place the dough on a clean floured surfacem and knead firmly, using the heel of your hand, folding the dough over as you go. Do this for about 10 minutes, until it become soft and spongy.

3. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place (you can preheat the oven to about 50 degrees celcius and leave the bowl in there) for about 30-40 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

4. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface again and knead with your knuckles for a couple of minutes to knock out the air. Divide the dough into four and roll each piece out as thinly as you can, rolling away from you and turning as you do so that it is round. It does tend to spring back a little too.

5. Transfer onto a hot, lightly oiled baking tray and fill with your toppings of choice. Bake in oven at 250 degrees celcius for 15 minutes.

6. Serve Hot!

Thoroughly spoilt

I have had the best birthday this Friday gone past. It is late and I am tired but I feel like if I go to bed, this beautiful day will end and so I must write it all down so that I can at least dream about it.
I started the day thinking oh my I have some fine lines now. Where I once thought I was invincible and didn't care about the biggest beauty faux pas of rubbing my eyes excessively, I am now paying for it. So I took action and got myself an early bday present from Strawberry net (actually my bellabox which arrived the day before would have been the first part of my bday pressies, but we'll start here). Chanel for my peepers!

Can't complain if you can get Chanel for under fifty bucks!
I got to work and saw this taped on my monitor:

And this on my desk:

Well this was all good so far but i wasnt expecting more, cause we all already had cake on thursday:

And lunch on Tuesday at Fratelli fresh:

But then my manager walks in with this!

At this point I was so flabbergasted. My team has really gone overboard already. But i read through my fifteen emails and one of it was from the mailroom saying i've got a delivery to pick up:

They also got me yummy edible blooms. Whee!
So after hugging and kissing and telling everyone about my other pressie from S being:

And being really excited over the chatter, Pete from concierge calls up for me to come down and sign for these:

I had to choke back a tear at this card:

Who'd knew that S could be even more sweet and romantic after we got married?

Sighs... If only this day wouldn't end. We went on to musashi for dinner before the show and I will blog about it another time, I absolutely loved it and am sure my thoughts on it would be another whole post.
But throughout all this, I had been getting messages and what's apps from friends and family, not thinking I needed to check FB. When I finally did, I grew weak at the knees; so humbled and overwhelmed... I had 59 posts on my FB timeline today. And America just got up, so I think there could be just a couple more. Truly truly blessed birthday and very very spoilt.
Having this today, and sharing my edible pressies with everyone, I sigh with contentment and know that even if next year's isn't as fabulous, my memories of today will suffice.
Celebrating with today's sweet:

Love lost

A Scene from the movie, "The Women" (2008):
Don't you criticize me.
Let me ask you something.

 
Now that Molly trusts you,
are you gonna betray her like you did me?

 
Do you have any idea
how hard it is to be your friend?

 
I tried to make it up to you.
What more do you want?

 
I wanna know
how you can sell out your best friend.

 
I hope that job is worth it, Sylvie,
because it's all you've got.

 
I quit my job.

 
- What?
- What else could I do?

 
I was making terrible compromises.

 
I can't believe you quit.

 
How could I be so out of whack
that I sold out my best friend?

 
You were in an impossible situation.
Of course you'd wanna keep your job.

 
It's what you do, and you're great at it.

 
It's nothing compared
to being responsible for a child.

 
- I don't know how you do it.
- Come on, I'm a terrible mother.

 
Look what I'm passing down
from my own.

 
I can't even talk to my own daughter
about sex.

 
Well, it's easy for me.
I wasn't there changing her diapers.

 
- I mean...
- I know, you are helping me out.

 
You're doing me a really big favor.
Thank you very much.

 
Goddamn it. Thank you.

 
Anything I can do.

 
You have a huge job, huge.

 
I'm so glad I never had children.

 
That's the last impermissible thing
you can say at a party.

 
That you don't want children.

 
Well, I'm gonna have a dinner party
and then you can say that.

 
Oh, my God, I'm exhausted.

 
We're a mess.

 
I like your hair, though.

 
You know what?
I got my divorce papers today.

 
Oh.

 
All I have to do is sign,
and I can't seem to be able to find a pen.

 
Mary, look, it's the 21 st century.

 
It's okay for people
to fight for their relationships.

 
You know what this feels like?

 
It feels like
that phantom limb syndrome.

 
You know that thing where you lose a part
of your body, like an arm or something...

 
...but you still have the sensation
that it's there.

 
Well, you know,
I'm sure Stephen feels the same way.

 
Oh, no,
I'm not talking about Stephen and me.

 
I'm talking about you and me.

I have been struggling with my childhood bestie since the first season of Gossip Girl. I remember crying at the scene where Serena confronts Blair and tells her how hard it has been, and I cried for a lost relationship that neither of us were ready to let go of our prides to fix.

She came to Sydney and then she left. That's what everybody knows. What nobody knows is why, and how hard it was here. It was the wrong time I perceive. To give up everything and come during the GFC to have to build a new life here. To know that your old friends have moved on and to know that you have to quickly learn about a culture that you have had a different impression of. I knew it was hard, but I was afraid to help. Afraid that the gesture would seem condescending, and afraid that she wouldn't be as strong as she used to be if she grew to be dependant. But my resilient manners were misunderstood as standoffish perhaps. That and also the fact that I never talked to her about what I thought her problems were. She just thought we were laughing at her behind her back and it got to the point that she didn't want to go out with me. Period.

Sighz... Do I have the Phantom limb syndrom? I wish I could honestly say I do. I don't dispute that there is one major piece of my life missing. I do miss the talks about love, life, our fascination with what the opposite sex was thinking, our watching out for each other.

But, I get that from the other women in my life these days. So I do not need to muster up the courage to be the first to say I am sorry. With her being in a different country it seems counter-intuitive anyways. So I wait, for things to be forgotten, angers to calm and words to come.