On the Prowl for: Handbags > Diaper Bags!

January 15, 2017January 16, 2017 by Dominique ♥ 1 Comment

I met up with a girlfriend for lunch a few weeks ago and was struck by all the prams being pushed around us. Each pram was loaded down with a ginormous diaper bag and pushed by a mum hauling her own handbag.

I had already made up my mind that instead of a diaper bag I’d just use one of my existing bags. Seeing those women just made me more convinced of this plan. And then I thought, I know! I’ll do that and GET A NEW HANDBAG instead. Bahahahaha. Stay with me: if we’re pushing baby around in a pram, there’s that little basket thing underneath where the baby goes that you could always store equipment in and if I’m breastfeeding (hopefully that works, if it doesn’t I want to know why did I go up three bust sizes for) then I don’t need to pack any bottles of formula. So what do I really need to bring?

A few diapers.
Ziplock bags for dirty diapers.
A change of clothes. Maybe a top for me too just in case I get spit up on.
Baby wipes.
Nursing pads for me.
A cloth I can lay the baby on for changing.
Another cloth to use for breastfeeding time.
A bib.

Anything else?

I feel like in my normal day to day I carry around way more than that LOL. So it wouldn’t be as though I can’t fit things into my bag. And I really don’t love the look of diaper bags. NO THANKS!

And that’s the story of how I decided I’d rather get a bag. I don’t take buying bags lightly, mind you. It takes me MONTHS to decide. Unlike my shoe purchases. But this time, I’ve decided that I’ll get something classic that I can pass on to my daughter. With that weird justification (in my mind I make very good sense) let’s get on with THE PROWL, eeeeeee, excited!

In no particular order:

Saint Laurent Classic Monogramme Bag in Large

This is pretty classic. I like the mixed quilting on this YSL bag and the silver hardware. Most of my bags have gold hardware.

Saint Laurent Classic Large Collège Monogram Shoulder bag

A slightly different look with the handle but maybe this is too “schoolbag” looking? Hmm.

Saint Laurent Classic Medium Collège Monogram with Embellished Leather

Whack a few stars on it though and I’m digging it. Typical me! But then I feel like this wouldn’t be so much a classic as a one-off trend thing. Maybe if I were on the lookout for a baby sized handbag then I would get something like this in a small size.

Saint Laurent Large Monogram Matelassé Suede Shoulder Bag in Coffee

I love a fuzzy bag and I have this thing for suede. What do you think of the brown? Very autumn?

Saint Laurent Medium Tri-Quilt Slouchy Leather Shoulder Bag

Oooooh, grey looks good.

Saint Laurent Monogram Blogger Leather Shoulder Bag

“Blogger” bags. TEMPTING! And with the hearts on it, so cute! Maybe next purchase (in a few years haha)!

Saint Laurent Sac De Jour Baby Shoulder Bag

And then I saw these Sac De Jour totes by YSL. So many colours!!! And shades of grey and black! And textures!

How do people decide on just one colour? I managed to almost eliminate navy bags because I have a navy Balenciaga that I’m very happy with. I said almost – pretty sure this one here is some shade of blue.

They don’t close up the top though, do they? I was pretty set on getting this style in the ‘baby’ size but thought I’d juuuuuuuuuust look a little longer.

Saint Laurent Classic Small Monogramme Downtown Cabas Bag in Rose Antic

How cute are these? And I love the colours!

Saint Laurent Classic Small Monogramme Downtown Cabas Bag in Oyster Grey

So chic.

Mulberry Small New Bayswater in Candy

This Mulberry bag was the first bag I came across and considered getting. Such a happy colour!

Saint Laurent Medium Monogramme Sunset Bag in Indian Pink

This sugary pink bag caught my eye too. Less bright but very sweet all the same.

Mulberry Small New Bayswater in Canary

And then I went back to the Mulberrys and saw this canary yellow one. Also a happy colour!

Céline Small Trapeze

I do like Céline bags though and this has some colour to it but isn’t over the top.

Chloé Drew Crossbody 23cm in Royal Navy

Hmm, this is nice too. Aaaaaaannnnndddddd we’re back to blue.

Miu Miu Soft Calf Shoulder Bag

VERY ladylike with Miu Miu.

Saint Laurent Classic Small Sac De Jour in Blush

Since I’m looking at colourful bags, may as well go look at some more Sac De Jour totes. Like this one in blush.

Saint Laurent Small Downtown Cabas Tote

I feel like I already posted this one but let’s look at it again, shall we?

Saint Laurent Mini ‘Love’ Heart Chain Bag

Oh my goodness, a heart shaped bag WITH stars on it? If I were getting 2 handbags, or more like 1.2 handbags (for the same price as 2 bags though, hmmph) this might be one of them! But I’m not. So.

Another Small Sac De Jour from Saint Laurent

Meanwhile, in Sac De Jour land… EVERYONE could use a red handbag, couldn’t they?

And Another Saint Laurent Sac De Jour Tote

But this shade of pink though. This one really tugs at my heart strings.

Saint Laurent Sac De Jour Baby Tote

Although black is always good. ARGH. Except this is blue isn’t it? *Squints* I can’t tell anymore!

What do you think of my choices? Some of these are too small to be practical but I had such an enjoyable time oohing and aahing over everything that I thought you might like to take a look at them too!

Do you have any of these bags? I’d love to hear your experiences with them if you do!

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Purse Essentials for a Night Out: Attitude

January 14, 2017January 17, 2017 by Dominique ♥ 2 Comments

So sassy, I love it! You need this in your purse at all times. x

Check out my hunt for the perfect classic handbag here!
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High Five to making it out of Mercury Retrograde and Sounds to Hear

January 9, 2017January 10, 2017 by Dominique ♥ 1 Comment

Mercury Retrograde has been tough, more so for some than others. This was taken just a few days ago. You know, January.

Gosh! Majorly glad that Mercury has returned to direct. Did you notice how strange things got? For us, it was drivers on the road being erratic. We saw a lot of car accidents happen. Talk about holiday madness! Another thing that happened quite a bit was people complaining about miscommunications. So we just kept things simple and didn’t make any big plans. I’m thinking the local coffee shop here thought they’d just come back after the craziness. In October.

It’s not procrastination when you’re trying to mitigate for a Mercury Retrograde cycle. Speaking of, I came across this song today. It’s so soothing, I love it! It will be on repeat whilst I go DO stuff. What’s the opposite of procrastinate? Activate? Right, I’m off to go activate, starting by visiting the cafe to see if they’re open yet. What are your plans for today?

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Weekend Feels x Colour Palette 💗🌸

January 7, 2017January 7, 2017 by Dominique

(My canvas on weheartit.com)

I love pink. Always have! It’s just such a pretty uplifting colour, don’t you think so? And those YSL bags! Those HEELS!

😍

But I also love all the other colours. All of ’em.

Including all these dancing colours on my ceiling. I came back to my room after a shower to this little light show this morning, excuse my messy hair, but how could I not be in the best mood after this gorgeousness?

I hope you had something happen to you to make you smile this morning! x

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Friday Pilates Faves – Bum and Legs

January 6, 2017January 17, 2017 by Dominique ♥ 1 Comment

Here is a short video of my FAVOURITE (and coincidentally my clients’ LEAST FAVE) moves to tone the legs and shape the booty. After a few reps, I can always feel my bum and outer thighs getting warmish. Haha, SO GOOD!

All you need is a flat surface and 5 minutes MAXIMUM. That’s 2 minutes per leg and 1 minute to pat yourself on the bum afterwards. Do this 3 times a week and you’re gonna be very pleased with yourself.

I am 29 weeks pregnant in this video. If you are pregnant, you should have already gotten an ok from your doctor to exercise.

Pregnant or not, if something doesn’t feel right, stop and check.

Always listen to your body and be kind to it!

Whilst you’re at it, maybe add a little triceps workout after this? Go on!

Let me know if you try this out and enjoy the rest of your weekend! xx

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🌸

✔️ The Great Vegan Waffle Experiment – Recipe

January 5, 2017January 5, 2017 by Dominique

So last night I was up late and HUNGRY and decided a good idea was to think about how to make vegan waffles. It made the hunger worse but that’s probably why I was up extra early and stuffing around with making different batches of waffle batter.

A few hurdles in the beginning:

Locating our waffle maker (haven’t used this thing in at least 5 years)
Blowing the dust off the darn thing and giving it a good scrub.
Plugging it in and having the entire circuit to kitchen blow out. WOOPSIES.

But we got our waffle maker working in the end! A lot of people in the house were highly motivated to make this experiment a success because that would translate to waffles for them. The carrot works better than a stick when it comes to adventures in waffle making.

Then came figuring out this batter situation. I came across a recipe that said any flour. Okkkkk…….. let me just tell you that COCONUT FLOUR WILL NOT WORK. Batch 1 was a total letdown. Coconut flour just sucks up any liquid and you just get this crumbly situation no matter how much liquid you add.

No good. Smelled great but hopeless.

So I decided to go with self-raising flour instead. I don’t go for gluten free flours because they sometimes contain random substitute flours that I’m not keen on. I’d rather just use regular flour but that’s ok for me because I can have moderate amounts of gluten without any issue. My main goal was to make waffles that didn’t contain eggs or dairy. I’ve had a few conversations with bakers of some prominent bakeries around Sydney who have said to just stick to the normal stuff rather than go gluten free unless I were a coeliac or otherwise gluten intolerant. One baker was saying he didn’t like the gluten free stuff but he had no choice but to bake it because that was what people were requesting.

Obviously if you need a gluten free waffle then PLEASE use your gluten free flour of choice. Just be warned about the coconut flour! Yeesh.

I make it sound like I went through multiple batches, don’t I?! Haha, I got lucky and batch 2 worked just fine. PHEW!

So heeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s the recipe:

The Great Vegan Waffle

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (NOT coconut flour) – I used self-raising flour, plain will be fine too since there is baking soda and salt in the batter but I just used what I had. You shouldn’t need to rush out to buy any ingredients.

2 tsp sugar – I used 1 tsp of coconut sugar, use even less or none if you like! You can always add any sweetener of your choice after your waffles are cooked, you can’t remove sugar from a batter. Less is MORE when it comes to sugar.

2 tsp baking soda – also called sodium bicarbonate

1 tsp sea salt – I use Himalayan pink sea salt

1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk – I initially wanted to use almond milk but that got used up in batch 1 (looking at you, Coconut Flour) so I ended up using just under a cup of coconut milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp coconut oil

(Options: 1 tsp vanilla extract, sprinkle of ground nutmeg or ground cinnamon) – I used ground nutmeg

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients first – flour, sugar if using, baking soda, salt, nutmeg or cinnamon if using.

Add the wet ingredients – milk, apple cider vinegar, oil and the vanilla extract (if using).

The batter should look like a gloopy fluid. Don’t worry about lumps. It should NOT look crumbly and dry (glares at batch 1).

Heat up your waffle iron.

Spoon the batter onto your iron, say half a cup.

Cook waffle blah blah.

Alternatively you can make this as a pancake instead. Don’t go running out to buy yourself a waffle maker, unless that was something that you’ve been planning to do. Just work with what you’ve got going on at home, ok?

To serve:

I had mine with berries and maple syrup.

These waffles tasted amazing, however after I took photos, I cut into my waffles whilst I updated my VSCO app, figuring I’d do whatever cropping I needed whilst I munched. As soon as the app was updated, I launched in and found my photos got wiped.

By the time I realised this the maple syrup had already absorbed into my waffles Noooooooooooo, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy is this happening……..insert much overreacting. I had to dash back to where the light was good and pour even more maple syrup over my waffles to get a few more pictures. I love maple syrup though so I wasn’t even really all that mad. But STILL. A little heads up would have been nice VSCO guy! Sheesh.

They are super filling so even though based on the size of my iron, I got just two waffles out of that batch, I found one waffle was plenty for me.

Overall a success in my household. If you tried it, I hope you enjoy! And if you use a different flour, PLEASE let me know what you used and how it went!

Chat soon xo

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Fundamentals of Yoga: Warrior not Worrier – modifications for Warrior 1 or Virabhadrasana 1

January 4, 2017January 17, 2017 by Dominique

Rule of thumb in your practice of yoga: Be comfortable so you can be calm.

If you aren’t comfortable when you meditate, you probably won’t come back. So if you aren’t comfortable, review, modify or adjust. A lot of times people seem to fear making adjustments and have to be exactly like the picture in the text book. There seems to be some concern that if you don’t do it like the picture you aren’t doing yoga. I say don’t worry so much, focus on practising SAFELY to get the maximum benefits that you can at any given point in time. Your body is constantly changing so why wouldn’t your practice evolve accordingly?

The idea is to make practice sustainable so you can carry on practising for the rest of your life. Just to be clear, I don’t mean for you to slouch your way through your set of yoga postures! Ahhhh, so comfortable. NO. You’ll need to be actively participating in your chosen posture: think of every fibre of your being as awake and alert but not tense.

As an example, below are some modifications that you can make in Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I), a fundamental posture that is the cause of a lot of worry over alignment for many people and can be challenging to sustain for some. Mr Iyengar writes in Light on Yoga, “All standing poses are strenuous, this pose in particular. It should not be tried by persons with a weak heart. Even people who are fairly strong should not stay long in this asana.”

So let’s look at how we can make you more warrior and less worrier here, ok? Ok.

IMPORTANT: I’ll add here that if you are pregnant, you may find that standing postures are definitely too tiring to attempt in your first trimester. That was the case for me, but towards the end of my first trimester it felt GOOD to be in the posture and I absolutely love it in my third trimester now. Alternatively you may be just dandy hanging out here. Be aware of any signals your body throws your way. Your yoga practice may be altered during pregnancy but that doesn’t make it less yogic. Never force!

Virabhadrasana I, here we come:

To enter:

Start in standing, arms above the head (palms touching) with the legs about 4 feet apart.

Swivel to the right, turning the right foot to face forwards and the left foot slightly to the right (see below).

Bend the right knee until the thigh is parallel to the floor, knee above the ankle.

Keep the left leg engaged in one long line.

Look up towards the palms, letting the head drop back.

20 to 30 seconds in the posture (each side) with normal breathing is plenty but if you find yourself getting breathless, stay calm and exit a little sooner. This is a tough posture so don’t get discouraged! Start with 5 seconds next time and build up your stamina. I used to find this posture tiring, my arms ached from holding them up and my thighs BURNED. Now I don’t even notice such things and truly enjoy the posture. The key was to practice patiently.

To modify:

If your shoulders seem to be bunching up around your jaw then keep the palms parallel instead of touching (see below).

(The legs are a little closer together here so that you can see the placement of the both feet. But if you find too intense a stretch in the groin, then by all means have the legs a little closer together like this!)

If you have high blood pressure, keep your arms down (see below) – placing them on your hips is a great way to check the alignment of your hips. In Virabhadrasana I the body faces forwards. Women may experience high blood pressure in pregnancy – be aware of this and modify accordingly.

If you feel dizzy, don’t look up but look straight ahead or down instead (see below).

Or don’t look up so high (see below).

If you have neck issues, don’t look up but look straight ahead or down instead (see below).

If the posture is too strenuous to begin with, have the front thigh a little higher than parallel to the floor (see below). Keep actively engaging the muscles in the leg though!

There you go, I hope that helps you to find more ease and comfort as a Warrior.

Let me know if there is anything else bothering you in your Warrior pose and I’ll be happy to make some suggestions! All the best in your practice! x

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Happy New Year!

January 1, 2017January 17, 2017 by Dominique

I’m celebrating the New Year with breakfast in bed and icy pops in total silence.

SUCH BLISS

How was your New Year’s?

It’s been a really hot couple of days over here. Unbearably hot! I may have mentioned that I hardly sleep due to the pregnancy, did I? Well, I don’t sleep much, which is ok! But when the thermostat hit the high 30s the last few days and refused to drop back down during the evenings, I got so uncomfortable. Honestly I spent all night and early morning of New Year’s Eve Eve staring at the weather app on my phone haha. I’ve always run a little warmish, in Traditional Chinese Medicine this is known as having excessive internal heat, and that last night definitely finished me off.

I woke up on New Year’s Eve voiceless which was terrible timing since we had a whole bunch of people coming over. I figured I’d spend the day just listening but it seems that some days the more you want to listen to people, the more they want to hear you speak. This was even after B had gone around to everyone stating firmly that I had completely lost my voice and couldn’t speak. Oh well. The people want what the people want. I stuck everything drinkable in the chiller to keep my voice croaking on. I was so miserably tired from not sleeping, feeling so horrible with my painful throat and just completely under the weather that I felt like I might weep. That’s when I excused myself for 11 minutes to go meditate. I say to people all the time that meditation helps. Sometimes I forget that I should add, “But you need to keep at it.” So even though I had meditated at 3:30 am when the weather app said it was 34degrees (celsius so people who live in farenheit countries aren’t like, “What is your problem?” haha) I obviously needed to give myself some kind of boost. And it did the trick! My throat was still a little sore but my voice felt stronger and I had enough energy to get me through the afternoon until everyone went home happy with full bellies. Awwwww…..

In the evening time B and I just hung around at home nibbling on leftovers, watching the last bit of Home Alone. And staring at the baby bump. I don’t know if other parents are like this but we’re obsessed with staring at it. We watch it the way people watch movies. Also, is it Christmas if you don’t watch Home Alone?! B and I are the same age so even though we didn’t know each other back then we both remember watching Home Alone as kids thinking, “I’d so do that.” The weather was starting to cool down and even get windy so just before the midnight fireworks we drove down to the beach to hang out for a while. On the way home we picked up some icy pops which I had BIG NEW YEAR’S DAY PLANS FOR.

The oatmeal I didn’t even have to cook. Well, I cooked it the day before and because I never get the portions right, I just stored what was left in the fridge to have with fresh strawberries in the morning, cold. SO GOOD.

I’ve been asked a few times how to cook oatmeal. ??? Usually the packages that the oats come in will say something like cook for 5 minutes. There isn’t much to it but I know that a lot of people really have no confidence when it comes to anything beyond boiling water for tea. No worries!

Basic Oatmeal My Way:

Ingredients

Whole rolled oats – these days you can even get organic. Let’s say a handful per person.

Enough water to cover the oats in a small saucepan.

I like to add a good shake of ground nutmeg and cinnamon when I’m cooking the oats.

Method

Bring the oats in the water to a gentle boil, keep it on a low heat – oatmeal tends to bubble up really quickly and then spill over all over your stove when you turn your back on it. So keep the heat low so you don’t miss it. When the oatmeal starts to bubble, keep stirring so it doesn’t stick, you might add a little more water if you feel like it looks dry. Once you can’t see the water separate from the oats, that’s it. It should look like flaky mush. Makes sense? Let’s say it should be done in around 3-5 minutes. You can’t OVERCOOK oatmeal although it could dry out.

To serve you can add honey or maple syrup and a splash of your choice of milk. You could cook the oatmeal in milk instead of water to make the oatmeal extra creamy.

Like I said, if you made too much, it’s fine! Just put your leftovers in the fridge. Easy.

Do you have any resolutions for this year? I wrote something last year about having a Peaceful New Year’s Eve . I was thinking to myself yesterday that even though I’m bringing in the New Year not feeling 100% that everytime my baby kicks, it makes me smile and I have no complaints. There have been some moments in 2016 that were really, really tough and horrible but there have also been many moments of joy. Isn’t that just life though? I think overall I faced things as peacefully as I could and I’ll try harder again this year. Every year I get a little calmer and at ease with peace, I hope! I think if I had just one resolution to make this year it would be to just focus on being the kind of person that I look forward to spending time with.

And that person would conveniently have messy hair and eat icy pops in bed hehehe.

: White Cotton Knit Dress from Kmart;; Nail Polish from Essie in Pink Diamond

Make that REALLY messy hair. I’m wearing a cheap cotton knit dress that I found in KMART for $6. So comfy for sleeping! Although as my bump gets bigger, the dress gets shorter. It’ll be a singlet by the time the baby is due.

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful end to 2016 and that 2017 will bring you lots of peace.

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New Moon, Moon Club Names and Moon Day

December 29, 2016December 29, 2016 by Dominique

This is just a bit of fun for Moon Day that I came across on the Instagram of The Numinous.

I got: Mystic of Ancient Moons. How fancy do I feel now? Very!

(All credit to @the_numinous for the Moon Day fun)

What is your Moon Club name?

Do you have a ritual for Moon Day?

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Nog: Vegan Egg Nog in less time than it takes to say Bah Humbug – A Christmas Miracle Recipe

December 24, 2016 by Dominique ♥ 2 Comments

A very cool comedian asked the audience for a show of hands, who was in their twenties. And then she said,”Yer all soft this generation. I could take an entire row of ya out just by feeding you eggs or sumthin’.”

I’ve got a few people in my household with allergies but 100% of us love egg nog at Christmas time. The math just won’t add up tho.

Christmas Eve is our busiest day production wise. Amongst all the cooking and baking today I was getting through with my mum, I was handed a recipe for dairy free egg nog by my dad. But it contained egg yolks, a no go for another person in my family. And you needed to do this thing with a saucepan and heat things up and oh gosh, I just wanted to throw things in a bottle, shake it a little and shove it in the fridge.

Which is kind of what I ended up doing and it was a success!!! You’ll want a blender but if you don’t have one just shake the mixture in a bottle to make it frothy.

I shall name it NOG.

Ready for it?

Here we go, VEGAN EGG NOG or NOG

Makes 1 litre ish

Ingredients

1 litre of dairy free milk, I used half almond milk and half coconut milk. UNSWEETENED

Splash of maple syrup

Cinnamon, ground

Nutmeg, ground

1 tsp vanilla extract, or 2 tsp if you like vanilla, I used 2 hehe

Method

Put all the above in a blender (or the bottle) and blitz until frothy. With the cinnamon and nutmeg just shake in as much as you like, you might like it more nutmeggy than cinnamoney or vice versa.

Pour into a container and store in fridge to chill.

When you want to serve, give it a shake (the spices tend to settle at the base) and you can add a dash more nutmeg, cinnamon or both on top.

TA-DAAAAAAAH!

Of course you can make it alcoholic if you wish, I’d suggest something like Frangelico maybe? (But I don’t think you really need it.)

Merry Christmas! x

Here’s me at four in the morning wielding saucepans with mascara under my eyes which is weird, I haven’t worn mascara for three days and I wash my face all the time.

Our Zenaissance

we are changing

On the Prowl for: Handbags > Diaper Bags!

Purse Essentials for a Night Out: Attitude

High Five to making it out of Mercury Retrograde and Sounds to Hear

Weekend Feels x Colour Palette 💗🌸

Friday Pilates Faves – Bum and Legs

✔️ The Great Vegan Waffle Experiment – Recipe

The Great Vegan Waffle

Ingredients:

To serve:

Fundamentals of Yoga: Warrior not Worrier – modifications for Warrior 1 or Virabhadrasana 1

Happy New Year!

Nog: Vegan Egg Nog in less time than it takes to say Bah Humbug – A Christmas Miracle Recipe