DaisyChainOz

On 07/01/2021 at 8:06 PM, Arabesque said:

Met up with friends today. We met at college 38 years ago. We’re quite different but somehow we work together as dear friends. It’s been a couple of years since the three of us have been together but keep in touch by phone & individually so today was special.

I’m very in love with puffed sleeves at the moment - though they’re annoying to Iron. They’re cool & hide my saggy upper arms 😁.

Looking lovely Arabesque! so petite!!

On 14/01/2021 at 5:05 AM, GreenTealael said:

I have zero reasons to wear anything notable these days. My coat is always on.
I am sorting through things to donate and came a dress I forgot I owned. I think I will keep it although I suspect it will be a long time before I can wear it.

Hubba Hubba!! Dress Deffo a keeper!! Stunning!!

23 hours ago, Arabesque said:

I bought this vegan Pasta because my grocery didn’t have my zucchini noodles. Decided I’d give it a go. I cooked two serves to go with my bolognese sauce which made 9 serves so about 11g Pasta per serve. Oh boy, my tummy did not enjoy it. The taste was ok but it sat like a lump about half way down my tummy. Groan! Not a great loss though as I really like zucchini noodles.

  

Thanks for the review Arabesque, I have the black bean version, but think I will give it a miss now!

I agree Zucchini noodles are the best.

7 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

It was my birthday 🎉

Happy belated birthday!!! 🎈

On 7/8/2020 at 11:55 AM, Arabesque said:

They say we’re currently experiencing a 'Spice Girl Paradigm' where everyone is trying really hard, but Victoria is ruining it for everyone. Sorry very poor joke.

OMG.. I hadn't heard that one... lol

55 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

Grilled pork chops, grilled chicken drumsticks, assorted grilled veggies and leftover Mac n’ cheese from lunch.

I had one drumstick and the bone from one of Mr.’s chops (is it just me or do others like gnawing on meat bones?? And no, I won’t go to town on a bone in public...just in the privacy of my own home where I can be as Fred Flintstone-y as I want!...or also maybe in someone’s backyard bbq...)

Oh, and I had about 1/2 cup of the veggies.

...and a pre-meal coffee martini (not shown).

yuuuuuuuummm!!!

Totally a bone gnawer as well, but only at home hahaha!

10 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Amazon dress

Smokin hot! love that dress, really looks amazing on you!!!

4 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Ever have one of those days? Yesterday did a load of washing, hung it out but then I remembered I hadn’t put any washing powder in the wash. D’oh! Put it all back in the machine & started again. Washed my sheets only to discover after they were dry & I was putting them back on my bed there was a dirty mark on the bottom sheet. WTF? Then the bulb blew in my microwave. Late in the afternoon I realised I had left the air conditioner on in my bedroom all day with the window & door wide open. There were other little things that went wrong too. Sheesh!

Thankfully today seems to be going much better. Went out to do my hunting & gathering (grocery shopping) & noticed my favourite dress shop had unexpectedly opened earlier than usual. Popped in & found a pair of wide legged leather pants I’d been looking at for months, on sale for half price AND they had my size left. Yippee. Some things are just meant to be. Happy dance. (Sorry pxt is a little dark.)

Bummer on the day before ... but the day karma redeemed it's self with those pants... awesome!!

wooo hooo... good for you realizing a dream Jake!😁👍🙌

Although gawd knows why you would want to jump out of a perfectly serviceable airplane lol 🤔🤢 😂🤣

5 hours ago, Dtrain84 said:

It's my birthday today!😊

Here's a before and after pic. I put this outfit together as I'm heading out for my birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday!!!

Looking very dapper Mr DTrain!

1 hour ago, Sophie7713 said:

Soooo instead of dinner and a movie... Will play dinner and a balloon! Dinner tonight was picadillo basically a cuban stew, and a salad. I ate half portion of each. The balloon close-ups are simply amazing. But even more compelling, I had hired the balloon master for a dinner party five years previous to 2018. He was always very heavy set. He arrived at this party much slimmer. When I walked him out to his car after the event - I commented on how great he looked moving so much easier at his art. He told me he had lost 90 pounds and counting after gastric sleeve surgery. I just grinned and said, you won't believe this but I am scheduled for that same surgery in two weeks! Turns out we also enlisted the same surgeon in Boca Raton! He was such an encouragement (a true Christmas gift) as I had never met anyone who made that journey nor struggled with morbid obesity.

Your parties look like so much fun Sophie, I want an invite too lol

1 hour ago, lisafrommassachusetts said:

@DaisyChainOz; Thank you for the clarification. My goodness, what a different world it was March 14th! I know it is not quite 3 months back, but it feels so much longer ago. Where I live, in Massachusetts, we had (have) a huge crisis with Covid19. We have had over 102,000 confirmed cases, with over 7,000 deaths to date. For context, our population is just shy of 7 million in this state.

Now, as you know, our streets are teeming with protesters, at the same time we are trying to slowly re-open the country a bit. Since where I live (like in NY, Connecticut, etc.) the virus has been so virulent lots of us are anxious about re-opening, but the financial devastation is also frightening.

I have been amazed and impressed by how other places, including Australia, have dealt with the pandemic. I hope and pray that we get effective treatment, and a vaccine, while simultaneously dealing with all the issues that have lead to the social unrest we are now seeing.

I have told several people, while it was strange to be going through the lockdown and pandemic right after surgery, the hardest part, I think, has been not being able to see my friends and family in person. I also miss having a beer!

Hope things continue to go well in Australia for you and your family.

Gosh you are so right!! I was at a funeral interstate on the 14th of March, flew to the nearest town, hired a car, drove 1.5 hours, hugged and cried with a hundred + other mourners, many of whom travelled interstate or internationally to get there..... seems like about a year ago and a different world, everything changed here about a few days later, and none of that would be possible even now!!!

Wow, I can imagine you are anxious about re-opening up, the protests (whilst I can understand completely) seem like just asking for a second - worse wave of infections... so difficult and so stressful for everyone right now, it must be really hard living there.

We are all pretty stunned and amazed down here at how "lucky" we have been... just a blessing really, could so easily have been a very different story, I am impressed with (most of) my fellow Aussies and how we have pulled this off... somehow!!! We are slowly getting back to normal, but still wary of a second wave here.

I don't think anyone or any country can be complacent until that effective treatment and vaccine are widely available.. no point only one level of society/advantage having access to it.

I miss my family too... so much, my family all live interstate and I can't get to see them, nor them me for now... not sure when that will change either.

Thank you for the kind thought, I wish you and your family all the very best in these trying times!

1 hour ago, ms.sss said:

Ooohhhh that loooks so gooooood.

...just made a mental note to pick up some smoked salmon during tomorrow’s grocery run!

Yay on the weight loss!

P.S. I forget...do you have a date yet for ur surgery?

It was really good actually, we both loved it!

No date yet, elective surgery is still up in the air right now, and I am still deciding if I go with my original surgeon in Sydney or find one here in Brisbane... tricky as the Queensland borders are closed still and not expected to open until Sept... makes it a bit hard to plan a date, but I am sooooo ready lol!!

WoooooW you look incredible, and your happiness shines through!

Congratulations

9 hours ago, MarvelGirl25 said:

Before and after hospital food. Went to the ER yesterday morning because I was experiencing severe pain on the lower right side of my stomach. Turns out I have a 4 mm kidney stone

Y'ouch!! Hope you are on the mend now!

@Sophie7713 your buffet and salad looks amazing! So yummy Fresh apricots are delicious if you get a good one, if they are floury not so nice, and if too green they are very sharp flavoured, but one that is just right... Oh Yeah!!!

@ms.sss Wowsers your lobsters and sides looks incredible! We sometimes buy the frozen Canadian lobster tails and they are scrummy.

@Cheeseburgh Your hubby's birthday meal looks lovely, the candle is hilarious!! haha, shame about the banana bread, the gooey-ness of the bananas probably weighed down the delicate GF flour quite a lot, not sure what you used, or if you have tried this... but I find 50% Almond flour 50% GF flour a better combination for banana bread when doing GF.

OK so today's lunch salad....

50gm Smoked Salmon with Avo, feta and leaves... super yummy, ate all of mine (smaller one at the back, foreground is hubby's)

approx 215 calories and carbs approx 5.3gm

So far this week of being very careful I have lost 3kg (6.61 lb) I know most is Water weight, but happy with it it's half of what I have put on since isolation.

Oh that is lovely!!

And oh yeah, I hear you on the bath!!!

I've decided to play along too... although I am pre op I have put on a bunch of weigh since lockdown and need to at least get back where I was before I go back to work!!!

Today marks the start of making better choices....

110 gm Home made low carb lean meatloaf on leaves for lunch.

Total cals - 320

Total carbs - 5.3g

Took a break half way through eating then finished it about an hour after.

They look amazing!

On 3/15/2020 at 12:20 PM, lisafrommassachusetts said:

I read today that sunshine is good for killing the virus; I kind of doubt it because it sure has walloped Australia (where it is summer!);

Hi Lisa,

When you wrote that in March yes it was the end of our Summer and we did not shut down as a country until around the 22nd of March...I was stood down from my job along with most of the country on the 31st of March.

I am not quite sure what constitutes "walloped" where you are, but just to clarify, we in Australia have had a very lucky and "best case" scenario when it comes to Covid, whilst the lock down has been difficult and economically challenging, our death rate had been truly astounding considering that we travel the world a lot and have a very large international tourism industry.

As of today May 30, we have only lost 103 people due to Covid-19 and only 7,200 total cases in the country since the pandemic hit, currently there are only 2 people on ventilators due to Covid in the whole country.

We have moved from level 4 lockdown and are at level 2 or even 1 in some states now and the country is starting to return to normal, although travel especially any international travel to or from will be off the cards for a long time I think.

Was it due to the fact it hit in Summer?... The distance we are from the rest of the world?.. Quick, decisive and thorough lock down as soon as the scale of the problem was identified? or Just sheer good luck?

No doubt analyists will be studying, conjecting and analysing for years to come.

I hope and pray the rest of the world can get some better outcomes from this in the very near future, the death rate has been truly appalling in so many developed nations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_by_country_and_territory

Way to go!!! 😎😁👍 keep up the great work!

23 minutes ago, Arabesque said:

Dynasty had a lot to answer for in the 80s. I remember having spare shoulder pads I could add to a jacket or dress to make the shoulders even bigger.

OMG yes! hahaha the ones with velcro on the top so they would stick in place for those outfits sadly lacking in sufficient shoulder padding hahaha!

Too funny that you and Sophie have the same shoes

36 minutes ago, Sophie7713 said:

Did someone say padded shoulders! Haha.

Ahhhh... memory lane. ;]

hahahha... yep.. just like that, I had a double breasted jacket very like the bottom one, a shorter jacket in the middle photo colour and was always trying to look like the first photo #80'sfashiongoals

2 hours ago, Arabesque said:

More furniture pxts for @Sophie7713. This is one of two Walter Knoll gentlemen chairs I had made in ruby velvet. (They’re a lovely pink red colour in reality - overcast today so they look dull in the pxt.) They’re in my lounge room. Had one chair made & then 18months later I got the second one - had to save up ha! The dresser is an antique piece of Australiana made from several different timbers in a traditional English style with the daisy carved doors. It came from the house of a family who had been long time friends of my grandparents. My parents bought the house which included some contents. It was black - apparently boot polish was commonly used to polish furniture 100+yrs ago. The horror!

 

Love that chair Arabesque!! such a gorgeous colour... and flipping heck it's coooooold here today!!! Wishing I had a fireplace right about now!! bbrrrrrr

11 hours ago, Sophie7713 said:

Yesterday while searching for some stored picture frames under the bed - WA LA, I came across this skirt! I wore it on our first meet and lunch date with hubby February 27, 1993 in Tallahassee, Florida while in graduate school. 27 years later, a little big and a bit prim + proper Prairie school teacher look... LOL. What fun trying it on again after all these years. It would not have even got passed my thighs 15 months ago!!! And, while dressed after 10 weeks quarantine, I experimented with all the new belts yet to be worn out of the house. The skirt brought back very fond memories. Fashion will do that. Anticipating our 25th wedding anniversary gala next May, if safe and sound to do so. Does anyone else have any sentimental pieces left in their wardrobe? Might you post them? Fun! ;]

This belt with the skirt for me!

Congrats on wearing the skirt you wore on your first date... even bigger congrats for saving it all these years... I have no idea what I was wearing on my hubby and I's first date lol.. probably something with big shoulder pads though hahaha! Ahh the late 80's!

33 minutes ago, dtmd said:

It took me about 18 months to get to my after. I've been maintaining for almost 3 years. I bounce up and down about 10 lbs. Which freaks me completely out. But I try to remember the journey and be patient with myself when I work to take it off. I had my loose skin removed over 2 surgeries. I am posting the before, pre skin removal, and post skin removal pics.

Jeeeebus! *jawdrop*

You look AMAZING!!! Wow.. well done such a great effort you have made, and are obviously committed to your new lifestyle, congratulations and thank you for posting, very very inspiring!!!

Congrats and continue to recover quickly and without issue

I commented in your gallery, but WOW!! Such an amazing job, and I can only hope to emulate your brilliant sucess...

THANK YOU thank you THANKYOU ms.sss for sharing your journey in pictures, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOoOooooOOooooo inspiring for us awaiting or starting our own journeys!

💛💚💜💛💚💜💛💚💜💛💚💜💛💚💜💛💚💜