Preparing to travel and Movie Night

This was quite a stressful week - I'm going to Portugal tomorrow, flying via Paris where I will stop to visit my daughter for 4 days. The decision was made quite recently when we heard the sale of our apartment in Lisbon had been approved. The apartment is furnished and we will have to get rid of the furniture and our personal stuff before the handover at the end of November, so I decided it would be a good idea to fly there and sort things out.

Of course this was actually not the best time for me to take this trip, as work wise I have 3 colleague writing University exams so their availability is not ideal. So after many hours working on a roster that would suit everyone I was happier with the situation. As usual there are a thousand and one things to finish off at work, which took me a few days to finish, but 
I'm pleased that I could leave it all sorted out.

Then on Thursday a huge tragedy struck when we heard that the daughter of one of ours Doctors had lost her life in a car accident. She was only 28, and it must be every parents nightmare to lose a child.
We had to cancel two weeks of appointments for the Doctor, not yet knowing if and when she will return to work. Calling all these patients was a very draining and emotional experience for me and my colleague, as most of these patients have known the Doctor for about 20 years and were very emotional and touched when told what had happened. This is no consolation to the family, but I know many, many people will be giving them their support and prayers.

On Friday evening hubby and I got together with another couple and went to a movie session booked with "Gold Class Event Cinemas" gift vouchers. This was quite an experience, probably the first and last though, unless we get given more gift vouchers!!
We watched "Midnight in Paris" - a romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen in the beautiful city of Paris, quite fitting since I will be in Paris on Monday.

But let me tell you about the experience!!
We collected our booked tickets from the ticket booth and were directed to a lounge with dimmed lights, a few seating areas with small tables and a counter. We were given a menu each to choose our dinner, then went to the counter to order it, and were asked when we would like each course to be delivered.

Choosing our dinner

We ordered a sea food platter for 2, a dessert each, and some sparkling water, and a glass of wine for hubby. We then sat down in the theater and played around with our reclining chairs.
Shortly after the movie started our dinner was delivered and we started to eat. The only light was the movie screen but the food was visible enough.
After about half an hour they collected the trays and then brought our desserts. They were huge and I wish we had known as each bowl was enough for 2. I was disappointed though that I had to settle for a Malteser Sundae when I had ordered something else, but was told they had run out.

Just 34 seats in this theater

                                                                   
We had a good time, it was a lovely experience, lovely for a romantic night, but I think we would be better off eating that sort of food in a nice restaurant than sitting in a lounging chair while watching a movie.
On the way home I was adding up the value of the vouchers we had spent on the movie and dinner and it came to $320 for the 4 of us, that is $80 each.
I´m glad we were both given that as gifts as I wouldn't spend that on movie and dinner!!

Putting my feet up! Glad we weren´t the only ones taking pics.

Today I spent the day washing, ironing, changed the bed linen, gave a general clean to the house and still cooked 2 meals.

Now I still have to pack my suitcase as tomorrow morning I just want to sit and have a relaxed morning before going to the airport at 1pm for my 3,30pm flight to Paris.
I will try and post some lovely photos of my trip, if I get some time in between packing and visiting family and friends.

See you in PARIS!!!

MEN´S SHIRT REFASHIONED

Recently I looked at my sewing pile growing bigger and bigger and thought that I had to start doing something on a weekly basis to reduce the pile.
First on the pile were 3 or 4 of my husband´s discarded shirts.
Some of them had a threadbare collar, others had small holes where the collar buttons used to be....

So I unpacked my sewing machine, that hadn´t seen the light of day since last December when I had sewed some home-made goodies for Christmas and started the transformation.
I have now refashioned 3 of them, after looking around other blogs and library books for inspiration.

Here are the photos and instructions on how I did it. My sewing vocabulary isn´t probably very correct, but I hope you will be able to understand the basics.
Hope you feel inspired to do some refashioning too.
Next time I will post photos of the others, as I have done each of them in a different style.

The original shirt, note the threadbare collar  

I bought some ribbon and sewed it around the collar for a nicer finish.

I had lace that I had removed from a bra I threw away a while back, and when rummaging around for something to cover up the holes the collar buttons had left, I thought these bits would be the ideal finishing touch around the collar, adding a bit of femininity too.

At the back I sewed the middle pleat right to the bottom and made side darts too (is that the right word?)
It actually looks a bit skew here, but it´s in the middle.

I had cut the sleeves below the elbows, but after putting the shirt one, they felt too long...

Here the sleeves are shorter and the tunic looks better, I think!!

The finished tunic

Bacalhau (cod fish) Night at the Portuguese Club

Every first Friday of the month, the Portuguese Club in Hamilton Hill, (Fremantle), holds a traditional dinner with "Bacalhau grelhado" grilled salted Cod, served with jacket potatoes and chick peas.
After that, and if you are still hungry you can eat the "Espetada Madeirense" - meat skewer, made with diced cubes of rump steak flavoured with bay leaves, garlic and coarse salt and cooked over a charcoal grill.

The dinners are usually attended by over 120 people, are very, very noisy, which is not to everyone´s taste, but I find that it´s a way to eat a typical meal and to meet up with old friends or meet new people on a monthly basis.

My friend Kei is always the one who reminds everyone of the monthly dinner sending out emails to all her Portuguese friends and she then books a table accordingly. Most times we get about 20 people sitting at one of the long tables.

Delicious Cod fish, potatoes and chick peas

The food is good and plentiful, and you can always take a container to bring home your leftovers, as most people are unable to finish their overfilled plate.

After all that if you have a sweet tooth don´t forget to order a "Pastel de Nata" (Portuguese Custard tart) and to end off your meal drink an expresson (short black coffee).

(The address for the club is - 12 Strang St, Beaconsfield, WA - Booking is essential though).

The metal bars from where the "espetada" or meat skewers are hanging

Pastel de Nata  (custard tart)

Starter -  Portuguese Bread, olives and butter

Even the olives are well seasoned

MOVEMBER - raising awareness of men´s health issues

Movember - this is a movement that started in Melbourne, Australia and is now a global movement that inspires over 1 million Mo Bros and Mo sistas to participate in raising awareness to men´s health issues with Prostate cancer and depression, in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and South Africa.






The Movember movement tries to change habits and attitudes that men have about their health, educate them about the risks they face, increase their knowledge about the chances of early detection, diagnosis and treatments of prostate cancer and depression.
During November each year, men start to sprout moustaches around the world.


The appearance of a moustache on a usually clean shaven man prompts questions from those around them - "why the moustache?"  So the Mo Bro, needs to justify the new look with an explanation about the challenges men face with their health, and key messages about prostate cancer and male depression.

Does Movember make a difference?
- Yes it does!   Research confirms the campaign is working to raise awareness having a positive impact on making men think about their health.
In Australia the research reveals that:
- 90% of participants spent time thinking about improving their general health.
- 86% of participants visited a doctor in the last 12 months.
- 67% discussed men´s health with their family, friends or colleagues during Movember.
- 53% carried out personal research into men´s health issues.
- 50% cited prostate cancer as the first issue that comes to mind when thinking of men´s health.
- 89% understood that their health depends on how well they take care of themselves.



In 2010, over 130 thousand people in Australia got on board and raised $25million AUD, that supported the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and BeyondBlue (Depression).

Register at Movember.com and get sponsors either as a Mo Sista or Mo Bro.

My husband is participating at work, where all the men have joined.

Although such a movement wasn´t known when these pictures were taken, my husband has sported a moustache once in a while, but last year was the first time he joined Movember.

1987 - with our son Michael

1997 - with me 

Movember 2010

Melbourne CUP - the race that stops a nation!

Since 1877, Melbourne Cup day has become a public holiday in the State of Victoria.

The race is held at Flemington Race Course, and since the beginning it´s been frequented by the socialites, politicians, the rich and famous, and it´s an important social venue to show off the latest fashions and hats.

It´s estimated that 30 million dollars is spent on fashion for this event alone, with new dresses, hats, purses and shoes, so the fashion industry really gets a kick out of this for sure.

In Sydney festivities and races are also held, and although they don´t have a public holiday, many people still enjoy a full day of racing fun with lunches and events held in clubs, hotels and racecourses, where you get a chance to wear the big hats and fancy clothes like in Melbourne.

This is certainly the place to see and be seen!

So put on your brightest frock and fancy hat and enjoy yourself!!

I´m no gambler and this is all a bit overboard, but tradition is tradition.