Monday Morning Melody - LP

This is another song I heard on a Foxtel channel promo. I can't remember which channel it's for - possibly one of the movie channels? Anyway, it just grabbed me. Instantly. I don't know much about the artist, LP, but the song is called Into the Wild.

 

The chorus makes me think of those days in Summer where everything is gorgeous and sunny and you feel like the days can go on and on forever. Like running gracefully through a field of long grass with my hair flowing behind me, in bare feet, in the late Summer sunshine (not that I've ever done that because I don't look very graceful when I do decide to run - I huff and puff like I'm about to keel over and my hair gets plastered to my head with sweat, etc, etc).

But you'll know what I mean when you listen to the song. Pin It

Adventures in Cooking - Toblerone Cheesecake Slice

A few years ago I was at a kitchen tea and this delicious little slice was served. I probably ate about eight pieces, and then managed to get the recipe from the lady who made it. It's fairly easy to make, and it's totally yum.

Ingredients
1 packet of Arnott's Chocolate Ripple biscuits
2 - 3 cups of melted butter
500 grams cream cheese (don't use reduced fat or light cream cheese, it doesn't set as well. FULL FAT ALL THE WAY, BABY!)
1/2 cup caster sugar
200 grams Toblerone chocolate, melted
1/2 cup thickened cream (full fat, again)
35 grams of grated Toblerone or plain milk chocolate to garnish
Strawberries to garnish

Method
- Line and grease a rectangular slice tray. I just realised I forgot to line my tray after I greased it!

-  Finely crush the chocolate biscuits and mix with the melted butter. FYI, chocolate biscuit crumbs mixed with butter tastes pretty good.

- Press the biscuit crumb mix into the base of the slice tin, smooth the surface, and chill in the fridge for about half an hour or so

- Melt the Toblerone in a saucepan over a saucepan of boiling water. Add a small chunk of butter to it so the chocolate doesn't burn. Stir it occasionally as it melts. Don't leave it alone for too long, it melts pretty fast.

- Beat the cream cheese in the mixer for about 2 minutes until it's smooth and soft.

- Add the sugar, cream, and melted Toblerone and beat until well combined and there aren't any lumps in the cream cheese. Although if there are lumps, you can pick them out with a spoon and eat them, so that's a plus. I mean, who doesn't love just eating cream cheese?

- Pour into the tin over the biscuit base and refrigerate for about 3 hours, or until it's firm.

- Cut into small squares, top with a small piece of strawberry and some grated chocolate and serve. Or just eat it all yourself. No judgement!

Notes:
- You can substitute the Toblerone for Mars Bar, Snickers, or anything else you think might be nice. I think Mars Bar Cheesecake Slice would be AMAZING.

- You can also make this in a cake tin and serve it in slices as a proper cheesecake. 

- Forgetting to line the tray with baking paper makes no difference. As long as the base has set properly and the cheesecake part is relatively firm, it won't fall apart.






- Man, I want some potato chips. That is all.



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Monday Morning Melody - Ben Cocks

We watch a bit of TV on the Lifestyle Channel, and their promo at the moment features this happy, upbeat song from Ben Cocks called Your Firefly.



It's so catchy and sweet. The lyrics are simple and cute, and whenever I hear it, I can't stop humming it! Have a listen. I guarantee your day will be a lot brighter afterwards. Pin It

Fun Friday Links

Dear October: It's Spring. Would you stop with the gloomy, wet weather already? It's SO BORING. Lucky I had these links and a cute baby at home to keep me entertained.

- If you are a Beverley Hills: 90210 Original Flavour fan, you definitely want to check out this fashion retrospective. The shirts! They're so ugly!

- Still in the 1990s - the cast of Clueless reunites for a quick interview. The first time I ever caught public transport with my friends unaccompanied by adults was to go to the local shopping centre to watch Clueless. I even remember what I wore that day. Man, I was a dork. Sidenote: Christian totally got fat. I can't believe I don't own this movie on DVD.

- I am such a fan of shows like Funniest Home Videos and such where they show montages of stuff going wrong at big, fancy events, say, like at weddings. I could not stop laughing at this montage of wedding fails.

- It's October, so Halloween is coming, which means the internet will be full of best costume ever posts like this one over at Buzzfeed. 27 Halloween costumes that your childhood self would be proud of is awesome - I think number seven is my favourite.

Happy weekend, everyone! Pin It

Retail Therapy - Vintage Jewelry

In September I went to the Round She Goes vintage market. They had a lot of pre-loved clothing, shoes and accessories, but as I tend to do, the jewellery stalls kept grabbing my attention. I'm a sucker for browsing through retro costume jewellery. I don't often buy anything, but I love looking at the kitchy stuff. That day, however, I did find something and as soon as I saw it I had to have it.

It's a vintage 1950s or 1960s (I forget which) Hematite necklace. It was so unique, and the silver and Hematite glinted so nicely in the light that it caught my eye straight away. I bought it from this lovely lady, and she had a lot of other gorgeous stuff.

The pendant is such an unusual shape and texture. I just need to add a few links to the clasp at the back because it sits a bit too high on my neck, but other than that it's in amazingly good condition.

Weirdly, in Googling Hematite I discovered it's a birthstone for both myself and my husband's zodiac signs, and is supposed to ground and protect the wearer. Nice!

The only other thing I wanted to buy at the market was a stunning black knife pleated vintage Balenciaga dress, but it was about $300 and it didn't fit me. It was seriously gorgeous, though! Pin It

Monday Morning Melody - Scala & kolacny Brothers

Homeland is starting up again soon here and I keep seeing the promo for it. There is a lovely choral version of The Police's Every Breath You Take playing over it and makes the whole promo look so intense and intriguing. So of course I had to Google the song and this is it:



Scala & Kolacny Brothers is a Belgian women's choir and they do cover versions of popular songs from bands like Garbage, Nirvana, Kings of Leon, Kylie Minogue, and so on. Have a listen to this, then head over to YouTube to listen to some more. It's just beautiful music. Pin It

2012 Emmy Award Fashion Hits and Misses

A week late, but here it is anyway! My fashion hits and misses from the Emmys last week!

This post is brought to you by Ashley Judd's hair, which I pretty sure was so big it needed its own seat.
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Adventures in Cooking - Raspberry Lemon Cake

Once again, it's been ages since I did one of these! When you have a four month old baby who only sleeps for 30 minutes at a time, it's kind of hard to do the full photo posts I used to do when I baked. Actually, it's kind of hard to even bake, full stop. Hopefully one day I'll be able to do the old style posts again, but for now it's just a recipe and the finished product!

Originally I saw this recipe on Pinterest (such a good time waster during 4am feeds!) and thought it seemed easy enough to make while the bub sleeps. It was! And it was totally delicious.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1 tablespoon of plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Method
1. Preheat the oven. I have a fan forced oven that gets quite hot very quickly, so I had mine on about 150 degrees, then turned it down to about 120 degrees after about fifteen minutes of cooking.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla essence and oil. (Sidenote: why does buttermilk smell sour? I always think it's gone off when I use it, then I remember that it's meant to smell like that. WEIRD)

4. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

5. Mix the raspberries together with the tablespoon of plain flour. Gently fold into the mixture. I have no idea why you mix the raspberries with flour. Seems kind of pointless, and to be honest, next time I won't bother. I'll just chuck the raspberries into the mix.

6. Pour into loaf tin and bake for about fifty minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean.

That's it! Really, really simple, and the cake is lovely and moist without being too dense. The lemon is subtle and zesty, and the raspberries add a nice tartness to the cake.

Notes
- If you have a look at the original recipe, you'll see they also have a lemon syrup and a raspberry topping. I didn't add either of these because I think the cake seemed sweet and tart enough, and looking at the ingredients for both those things I think the cake would be way too sweet to enjoy. Also, no one really needs a cake with that much additional sugar (and I say that as someone who loves sugary things). If anything, you could add a splash of lemon juice to the mixture before baking it, which is what I did. I probably added about a table spoon of lemon juice to the mixture and it's zesty without being sour.

- I used frozen raspberries (fresh ones were TWELVE DOLLARS a punnet at my supermarket this week. Um, no), but I think fresh ones would be slightly nicer.

- When you mix the berries in, make sure they go throughout the cake batter. I didn't mix them in enough because I didn't want them to break apart and the majority of them ended up at either end of the cake, which was kind of annoying. It made the middle of the cake seem a bit nude. NUDE, I TELL YOU. Pin It

Monday Morning Melody - Mumford & Sons

This is one of my most looked forward to albums of the year. New Mumford & Sons! Not much else to say - just listen to the first track released, I Will Wait.

Thoughts? I love it. Pin It

Fun Friday Links

Wow, it's been a while since I did once of these, right?

- This is my new favourite Tumblr. I'm a born and bred Melbourne girl, so When In Melbourne cracks my shit up.

- As a dog lover, this Tumblr is also made of awesome. Dog Shaming - telling the world about the weird and cheeky stuff dogs do. Love it.

- I was browsing Pajiba the other night and came across this post of the 10 best 90s soundtrack songs, which, as someone who was a teenager in the 90s, completely delighted me. What do think of the number one song?

- Finally, please enjoy some Flight of the Conchords on this last Friday of Winter. It's for a good cause!

Seen anything good online this week? Hit me up in the comments!

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DVD Review - One For The Money

The Movie: One For The Money
The Players: Katherine Heigl, Jason O'Mara, Daniel Sunjata, Sherri Shepherd
The Makers: Julie Anne Robinson (director), Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray, Liz Brixius (writers) 
Run time: 107 minutes 

Based on Janet Evanovich's best selling novel, the film adaptation of One For The Money had so much potential. The novel was a breath of fresh air in the nineties, and female protagonist Stephanie Plum was a plucky, out of luck Jersey girl willing to do almost any job to pay her rent and keep herself out of her parents' house.

The film's plot somewhat mimics the novel - Plum takes a job with her scumbag cousin Vinnie in his bond agency recapturing criminals who have failed to appear at their court hearing.  Much the same as in the novel Stephanie gets herself set up as a bounty hunter with the help of Vinnie's office manager, Connie, and fellow bounty hunter Ranger, and the audience is treated to cutesy scenes of clumsy Stephanie fumbling her way through learning to shoot a gun and bringing in her first Failure To Appear crim.

When Stephanie discovers that cop Joe Morelli is an FTA with a fifty thousand dollar bond reward fee, she vows to be the one to bring him in. Her motives aren't purely monetary based though; she wants to bring in the guy who took her virginity at sixteen and never called her again. And so the scene is set. Stephanie begins hunting for Joe, who is wanted for murder, only to discover that there is more to his crime than she first realised. She quickly gets in over her head when she starts sniffing around boxer Benito Ramirez after linking him to Morelli's missing witness, and her friendship with confidante hooker, Lula, puts lives in danger. Threats to her own life, a car bomb, and seeing Lula get beaten into a bloody mess convince Stephanie that Morelli is actually innocent, and bringing him in to collect her reward money becomes secondary to finding out what he's mixed up in.

Where the novel was witty and action packed, the film is disjointed and awkward. It's not quite sure if it's a comedy, a thriller, or a romance, and while a lot of the issues lie in the poorly constructed script, it's Heigl as Stephanie Plum that creates most of the awkwardness. The audience is very much aware that they are watching Katherine Heigl Play A Jersey Girl rather than watching Jersey girl Stephanie Plum navigate through life in Trenton. Personally, I think a relatively unknown actress would have been a better casting choice for Stephanie. Jason O'Mara as Joe Morelli is mostly satisfactory, and Daniel Sunjata makes a perfect Ranger. It's just a shame that neither of their characters in the film resemble the characters in the novel. Morelli isn't enough of a cop, and Ranger is nothing like the sharply mysterious man in the book. Another failing of the film is the exclusion of Plum's family, particularly Grandma Mazur, who would have added some much needed comic relief to an otherwise dull film. Sure, they appear in a couple of scenes, but it's very obviously filler material to set up a family dynamic that is ignored for the rest of the film.

While the film got the location and sets fairly spot on, it's disappointing that the two characters most resembling their novel counterparts are office manager Connie and hooker Lula, who are both are secondary characters at best. The film is a disappointment from the beginning, which is unfortunate given the writers had perfectly useable source material. As a Stephanie Plum fan, I was really disappointed with this adaptation, and unfortunately I think this film has destroyed any future attempts at bringing further Stephanie Plum novels to the big screen.

In a word: average

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Monday Morning Melody - Anton Frank

Resurfacing to post my first Monday Morning Melody in aaaages! I heard this in the car the other day and thought it was Mumford & Sons at first. But it's actually a guy named Anton Frank and it's called Letting Go.

It's a nice song. But it's his voice and the lyrics that really caught my attention.

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Baby of Mine

Hello! It's been a while, no? Here at Chez Boredom Abounds we welcomed a baby girl into our lives on the 13th April and things have been a blur of sleeplessness, breastfeeding, nappy changes, more sleeplessness and a myriad of other newborn related things. 

It's been a huge adjustment for us, and more challenging than we ever could have imagined, but also more amazing than anyone can ever tell you. Baby girl is utterly adorable and delicious in a million different ways. She's now five weeks old and doing all sorts of things like grabbing our fingers, peering curiously into our faces, holding her head up to look around at this crazy, new world and almost, almost smiling (any day now). The only blip is that she has decided to NEVER SLEEP AGAIN during the day, so we are hoping to have some help at the sleep clinic to get a proper routine in place, which is why I have struggled to get any blogging done. The days bleed together a bit sometimes and I consider it a huge achievement if I can a) get out of my pyjamas, b) have breakfast, and c) get the bub to sleep for longer than half an hour during the day. It's even better if we make it out of the house and get our errands done!

So, that's where I'm at. Still here, still reading your blogs, but just not able to string together any coherent blog entries myself at the moment. Please keep stopping by and eventually I'll have a new entry up, or follow me on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with Boredom Abounds By Julia and thank you for the continued support!

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Monday Morning Melody - Natasha Bedingfield

I'm still a bit snowed under with the adjustment of having a newborn baby - who is already ONE MONTH OLD - but I'm really, really hoping to get back into regular blogging soon. 

For now, enjoy this catchy tune from Natasha Bedingfield called Neon Lights.

She's so good at writing quick, catchy pop songs. I love this one.

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Monday Morning Melody - Jes Hudak

If you live in Australia, you've no doubt seen this ad for the Australian version of that TV show The Voice. I personally couldn't care less about singing competition reality TV shows, but that song definitely captured my attention. So I used my Google-fu to find a full version of it. Apparently it's by someone called Jes Hudak, featuring George Arthur and it's called Different Worlds.

It's lovely, particularly the start.

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Adventures in Cooking - Choc Hazelnut Macarons

So, ever since I first attempted these strawberry macarons I've wanted to have another go because they worked so well. But I wanted something with a little bit more flavour, so I found this recipe on Taste and used it as a base. There were a few issues with it, but those were mostly because of my own STUPID UNPREPAREDNESS.

Anyway, let's get started, shall we?

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups hazelnut meal

1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar

4 egg whites at room temperature

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

Filling

100grams good quality chocolate (dark or milk)

2 tablespoons thickened cream

2 teaspoons of peppermint essence

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Monday Morning Melody - Peter Gabriel

It's a dreary Easter Monday and I'm feeling tired. So today's Melody is a nice, slow song. It's actually lovely and romantic and bittersweet, and maybe a little bit sad, but I just love it. The strings in it are just gorgeous.

Some of you may remember it as the final song in the TV show Scrubs. Some of you may have never heard it before. Whatever the case, enjoy. I just love it.

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Fun Friday Links

Hope you're enjoying the start of the four day weekend! And props to Mother Nature for making the weather gorgeous today in Melbourne. Unexpected, but greatly appreciated.

If you do happen to be working today, or you just want something entertaining to look at online, check out these links:

- 13 simple steps to get your through a rough day. These really are simple steps. And hilarious steps. I think number five is my favourite - that baby looks like it could kick some serious ass.

- Ever wonder what it's like to have a text message exchange with Hillary Clinton? It's basically like this. I love this one the most.

- In 1995 I was thirteen years old. And I watched most of these awesome movies. Especially Clueless and Now and Then. Sweet fancy moses, my friends and I watched those two films over and over and over again. Did you?

- This is a tumblr full of GIFs of how we react to real life situations. It's pretty good. Actually, it's really good. Especially this one. Wait, and this one.

That's it for today - enjoy your weekend and enjoy eating ridiculous amounts of chocolate, then pretending that you haven't when someone offers you some more. I know I probably will!

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Glee Highlights - Season 3, Episode 14: On My Way

I really didn't enjoy much about this episode, to be honest. I think there was too much going on and certain story lines really needed to have their own episode. But let's have a look in closer detail, shall we?

Blaine's Solo / Karofsky's Suicide Attempt

I'm not that familiar with Young the Giant, but I did like this song. What I didn't like? The way it was tacked on over the top of Karofsky's suicide attempt.

This was obviously meant to be a serious and chilling event, but with the indie pop blaring over the top and the stilted cutaways to Karofsky preparing to kill himself, I found the whole thing to be way too highly stylised and ultimately totally ineffective. This is the one story line that needed it's own episode (or, hell, even some sort of build up - we go from someone finding out Karofsky's gay to a four minute montage of him trying to end his life. To say this story was rushed would be one of the greatest understatements EVER).

Warblers' Regionals Performance

Obviously we aren't meant to be as wowed by the Warblers now that Blaine isn't a part of the group, but I found this Regionals performance really, really boring. Even the choreography was a snooze.

Finn Cheering

And because I found the Warblers' performance really boring, I found it totally unrealistic that Finn would suddenly get up and start cheering for such a lacklustre performance, and then the WHOLE AUDIENCE also getting up and cheering wildly. It wasn't that great guys. I know life is short and we should all support each other and spew forth with sunshine and rainbows when our former rivals perform on stage, but this was totally not worth the applause it got, in my opinion.

Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrows Regionals Performance

Snooooooorrrrrre.

Although Figgins getting totally into it cracked me up:

New Directions' Regionals Performance

Not my favourite medley, but I did like the mix of R. Kelly and Nicki Minaj - Santana's rapping in particular was kind of awesome.

The cover of Kelly Clarkson's Stronger was also pretty good - zippy, enthusiastic and plain old fun!

The last song, Here's To Us, again is one I'm not familiar with, but regardless of that, I found it to be a bit anti-climactic as a finale number.

Mr. Schue's White Man Dancing

But no matter how much I don't enjoy a performance, I will NEVER not laugh at cutaways to Mr. Schue in the wings digging the performance and doing the white man's overbite. NEVER.

Rachel's Dad

The way Jeff Goldblum delivers the "bring it, bro" line to Burt Hummel in the hallway is the funniest, most unsure challenge to a fight I have ever heard. Also, the deadpan explanation that faking an epileptic seizure would be obviously fake since he doesn't have epilepsy was hilarious. I wish they had featured more in this episode.

Rachel's Wedding Dress

Much as I don't want Rachel and Finn to get married (and I'm betting they don't), I LOOOOOOOOVVVEEEED her wedding dress. Perfectly retro, it reminds me a lot of Natalie Wood's white dress at the end of Splendor in the Grass (which I can't find a full length shot of, unfortunately). Gorgeous.

Quinn Texting and Driving

I also totally betting Quinn doesn't die because I took a sneak peak on YouTube at the next episode's trailer and it was totally upbeat and happy and didn't hint at all at the death of one of New Directions most try-hard rebellious members. I think she'll be just fine. Famous last words? We'll see!

I'm disappointed I didn't like this episode more and I hope the next one is way better. Your thoughts?

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Book Review - The Night Circus

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Year of publication: 2011
Publisher: Harvill Secker London
Page extent: 387

 

Set in the late 1800s and early 1900s, we meet a young girl named Celia Bowen, the daughter of magician Prospero the Enchanter (also known as Hector Bowen), and an orphan named Marco Alisdair, the ward of a mysterious man referred to only as Mr A.H—. The children both display special talents that they don't fully understand, and without their knowledge, Hector and Mr. A.H— , long time rivals, enter them into a contest of skill, with no real start or end date. The contest between the young proteges is a test of illusion, enchantment, and magic, and the children are bound into it with no hope of escape. They are trained relentlessly by their masters, prepared to face off against each other at some vague point in the future.

There are many principal characters, but the introduction of Chandresh Christophe Lefèvre ushers in the beginning of the mysterious and whimsical Le Cirque des Rêves. As Chandresh's assistant, Marco, now an adult, controls every single detail of the mysterious circus that only opens at night, in seemingly unplanned locations around the world. Celia, a striking young woman, is hired as the illusionist for the circus, and with a slew of eccentric secondary characters, the backdrop of the circus is slowly painted in exquisite detail for the audience.

At Le Cirque des Rêves, visitors marvel at the seemingly effortless elaborate tents and sideshows, but Marco and Celia work hard to use their talents to create magical worlds inside the black and white striped tents as they compete against each other in a contest no one else realises exists. Morgenstern creates an astoundingly magical world, with flawless attention to detail as new tents are conjured up, and colourful illusions are performed easily as Celia and Marco become increasingly immersed in their contest. But Hector Bowen and Mr A.H– don't count on Celia and Marco becoming more invested in each other as the contest progresses. As their romance develops, the binds of the contest constrict them more and more as they realise how the contest must end, and the passion with which they create illusions for each other is as enticing as the passion between the two of them on the few occasions they find themselves alone. Their love story is the spectacle around which everything else in the circus exists, though they are the only two people who realise this.

It's not often that an author can create a marvelous world that exists equally in reality and fantasy, but Morgenstern has done exactly that. Her careful construction of every inch of the circus is truly a wonder, and readers will sink into the world both inside and outside the circus gates in a deliciously slow fall. It's an almost dream-like descent into one of the most fantastical circuses one could ever read about, but Morgenstern has it exist within a reality that is also completely intriguing, rich with characters, and full of mystery that the jumps between circus life and civilian life with ease. Colours, textures, sounds and scents jump off the page, and when the book is closed, it's hard not to believe that the world you've been reading about is not the same world you're living in.

The Night Circus is such a richly created novel that this review really doesn't do it justice. To enjoy it, one really needs to set aside hours to delve deeply into the world of the circus and marvel along with the patrons at the amazingly detailed nocturnal whimsy that will dazzle, charm, and delight. This book is one not to be missed - I can't recommend it enough.

In a word: delicious

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Monday Morning Melody - Carly Rae Jepsen

I cannot even believe this is what I'm posting for my Monday Morning Melody. It's just that whenever I hear Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe on the radio, I cannot. Get. It. Out. Of. My. Head.

Listen to it - you'll be humming it all day, regardless of whether or not you like it.

That is all.

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Fun Friday Links

I thought time would go a bit slower now that I'm on maternity leave, but I've been so busy that the weeks are flying by. My due date is now two weeks away and I'm trying to do a lot of things I know I won't have time to do for a while once the baby is born (or NEVER AGAIN if some people are to be believed - did you know that once you have a baby you'll never be able to get a manicure/pedicure/hair cut/read a book/etc EVER AGAIN? It's chilling, I tell you).

Anyway, I have had time to find a few fun links, because what's a Friday if you don't have something online to procrastinate with?

- This is just silly fun, but as a Friends fan I had to include it - a Tumblr dedicated to Chandler Bing dancing on things.

- Have a look at these photos and read the interview with the photographer who photographs a vision impaired school's prom each year. If you don't get a bit emotional while reading it, then you are DEAD INSIDE.

- Mad Men is back, yay! So we can expect to see it on Australian free to air TV in about two years, I guess? Hopefully not. But in the meantime, have a look at this list of Los Angeles filming locations used by the show to look like New York in the 60s.

- So many celebs have Twitter accounts these days, so you have to wonder how often they check to see who's talking about them. Jimmy Kimmel not only makes them check, but he makes them read out the mean Tweets people are writing about them. Hilarious.

Happy weekend everyone! Seen anything else cool online? Let me know in the comments!

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Adventures in Cooking - Macarons

I have been wanting to try baking macarons for aaaages, mostly because of all the ones I've tried from shops have been nice, but too sweet to enjoy completely. So I found this recipe on Taste and decided it seemed simple enough to try myself. I didn't photograph the process because I wasn't sure they would work, so I didn't want to photograph all of it only to not be able to post them in case the macarons ended up in the bin.

Anyway, I tried them and they worked! It's a miracle!

I was nervous because I've never really baked anything that involved vigorous egg white beating, but I took my time, followed the recipe and everything went smoothly!

They're not as pink as I would have liked, mostly because I didn't want to overdose the mixture with pink food colouring so I erred on the side of less is more, and the filling, though nice, felt like it could be a lot lighter (the white chocolate and cream is quite dense, although not too overwhelmingly sweet). I think the secret to getting macarons right is beating the egg whites until they really do form stiff peaks, and piping them onto the tray properly. Although I couldn't seem to get some of them not to have the little kick of the piping bag on top of them.

I also think I probably should have baked them on a lower temperature for about another five minutes, because they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside as they should be, but they collapse a bit too easily once you bite into them (or hold them too firmly), but other than that they're really nice. Not too sweet, not too almond-y (I hate really, really almond-y flavoured things.

I'm quite pleased with my efforts!

I'd like to try using hazelnut meal next time and do a choc hazelnut macaron and photograph the process, so we'll see if I have time to do that before the bub arrives.

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Monday Morning Melody - Xavier Rudd

I heard Xavier Rudd's Follow The Sun a few weeks ago and forgot about it. Then I heard it again last week and remembered how lovely it is.

The melody is nice, but there's something about his voice and the lyrics that serve as a nice reminder to slow down and just take things as they come.

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Fun Friday Links

So it's Winter now? Or is it? Melbourne clearly has no idea, because the weather this week has been all over the shop. I kind of love it. Except when I've just hung washing out and it suddenly starts POURING and then I get totally FURIOUS.

But enough weather chat. Let's look at some links, sha ll we?

- First of all, I made a pretty big announcement yesterday - did you see it?

- Les Chats Ninjas! (Translation: The Ninja Cats). They are the most discreet spies in the world. Trust me.

- Animals with British accents. There's nothing else really to say. Mostly because I'm laughing too much at the gorilla farting.

- Barack Obama is a cool dude. Read this and watch the short video.

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Crafty Lady - A Patchwork Quilt. And an Announcement.

I've been busy lately. Busier than I've ever been in my life, I think. Which is why for the past few months this blog has been a bit patchy with entries.

One of the things I've been busy with is patchwork quilting classes. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, and knowing the basics of sewing I wanted to learn more skills to create quilts for various things.

I finished my first quilt this week - what do you think?

This is a baby quilt, intended for a newborn to lie and play on when on the floor, and when it's a bit bigger it can be a bit of a comfort quilt for the bed or the couch.

The retro bird fabric was the first fabric that I chose, then I selected the other fabrics to compliment it. Retro animal prints seemed to become an unintentional theme,with green and orange featuring heavily in the bordering fabrics. I've already chosen my next quilt pattern - this time it will be a quilt for my husband's and my bedroom, so I've definitely caught the patchwork bug! I've been having lessons here, and I can't recommend them enough. The fabric is fantastic, the staff are helpful and it's just a lovely environment to sew my first baby quilt in!

Which leads on to my Announcement. That's right, an Announcement with a capital 'A'.....

Here at Chez Boredom Abounds we are expecting a baby! Our first baby, to be specific! And it's due in just three weeks. 

THREE WEEKS, PEOPLE.

Which is why there have been weeks where posting has been very light - I've had a great pregnancy, and while I was exhausted in the first three or four months, I didn't suffer morning sickness (nausea and extreme food aversions, yes. But official morning sickness? No, thank goodness). But the since Christmas things have been a bit manic, and I was unwell enough in February to have a few days in the hospital for some anti-biotics and rest. Now I'm on maternity leave and enjoying nesting, relaxing and anticipating the arrival of our baby.

I don't often reveal much of my personal life here, because that's not what this blog is about. I'm not a mummy blogger and I don't intend to become one, because there are a lot of great parenting and mummy bloggers out there, so I'll let them keep doing their thing! I hope this blog can remain an entertainment/lifestyle blog, and while we will announce the baby's birth, I'll continue to keep the focus of Boredom Abounds By Julia on books, movies, TV and other stuff. Other stuff may occasionally include baby related stuff, but my husband and I will try to keep our personal lives private.

Still, I wanted to announce our exciting news because all of my readers are so important to me, and also because if I disappear at strange intervals it's because my attention will be focused on bonding with the bub. And also trying not to lose my mind from sleep deprivation! As always, I thank you for your continued support of Boredom Abounds By Julia and I hope you keep reading!

So, that's my news. How you doin?

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Retail Therapy - Quirky Jewellery

A couple of months ago I was randomly browsing a jewellery sale on ozsale.com.au and these three items grabbed my attention.

The earrings are cute for casual outfits, and the necklace is just something a bit quirky and different - I love how the chain of the necklace has little silver joins throughout that sparkle a bit. Makes it more interesting than your usual plain silver chain.

This jewellery is all from Fleur Envy.

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Monday Morning Melody - Rebecca Ferguson

I've heard this a few times in the past week and only found out yesterday that Ms. Ferguson is a UK X Factor contestant. She has a gorgeously bluesy voice, so this track is really worth a listen.

Lovely, no?

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Fun Friday Links

My cold has finally, finally started to go away, thank goodness. Kleenex should make me a key stakeholder with the amount of money I've spent on bloody tissues this past ten days.

Anyway, let's move on to more exciting things. Here are this week's links!

- So often you hear about bad customer service stories. But over at Mental Floss, they've got 11 of the best customer service stories, and they're lovely to read.

- Baby red pandas playing in the snow! This will make your day one thousand times more bearable, I promise.

- Via the Fug Girls, you have to check out these 20 amazing hotel rooms. The treehouse one looks really, really relaxing. Some of the others....not so much. I suspect they would make me feel a tad psychotic.

- I don't have a cat, but these hilarious cat sleeping positions kind of make me wish I did, just so I could take photos of it sleeping and make amusing cat macros. Because the world just doesn't have enough cat macros.

Happy weekend everyone!~

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Glee Highlights - Season 3, Episode 13: Heart

One thing I love about Glee's seasonal episodes is that they really commit to the theme - the sets, the costumes, I love it.

This episode was okay in my book. A few mediocre moments, but mostly enjoyable. So, let's get stuck into the highlights!

Rachel's Dads

I love that we finally met Rachel's dads. And that "honesty, respect, dance" are the foundations of the Berry family!

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Monday Morning Melody - Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz has a new song out. It is lovely.

There's not really much else to say (except that I think he should cut his hair). He just writes really, really lovely songs. You can see him sing it live on Ellen here.

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Fun Friday Links

I am in the throws of the head cold will NOT GO AWAY. Day five, people. Day FIVE.

So anyway, let's look at some links to distract ourselves from the mucus fest that is my life right now.

Sorry - that was an overshare. Oh, well.

- First of all, Happy International Women's Day!

- Is this the GREATEST letter ever written to a weather man? Hint: it contains the sentence "you're more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out of bacon", so yeah, it basically is.

- This is a couple of weeks old, but if you grew up in the 90s, please check out these 48 pictures that perfectly capture the totally rad decade that was the 90s. If you do nothing else today, please look at picture 34 to remember how ugly the internet used to look.

Okay, that's it for this week. I need to recover from looking at all the happy pants in those 90s pics. And maybe blow my nose for the one BILLIONTH TIME.

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Glee Highlights post - Episodes 10, 11 and 12!

So, so behind with Glee. I've been watching, but just haven't had the time to update my blog. So tragic.

But the upside to this is that you get a bumper highlights post! So let's get started, shall we?

Episode 10: Yes/No

Mercedes and Sam's Ode to Grease

Apparently they filmed this at the school that was used in Grease as Rydell High. It was a cute homage to Grease, but I think it was kind of out of context.

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Oscars 2012 Fashion Hits and Misses

Well. After lacklustre fashion at the Golden Globes, I am quite pleased with the range of colour and style on the red carpet. Which is obviously why they have the Oscars: to please me, of course.

So. Let's check out the fashion!

But first please enjoy Jean Dujardin making a funny face.

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