A little pampering

As someone who likes to do what she can for the community, I've attended many fundraising balls over the years. And as a keen shopper I have been caught up in the excitement of the accompanying charity auctions on more than one occasion. However the thing with those charity auctions is that you rarely actually get time to properly look at the item you are buying prior to bidding on it which can lead to some surprises. Many years ago one of those surprises was when I bought what I thought was gift voucher for a massage and discovered I had actually bought a four hour deluxe pampering package at the gorgeous Endota Day spa. Needless to say I was quite happy with that purchase!

Since then the Endota Day Spa has been my go to option when I need a bit of me time. Everyone in my family knows that it is a great birthday option and I receive their specials by email each month. So when an email from them arrived with their November special of a combo pedicure and facial, I knew I had found the perfect way to unwind after the conference I had been working on.

I headed over on Friday afternoon. It has been a recovery / clean up week, but I was still feeling quite worn out. The spa is hidden away in the basement of a city building, which may not sound glamorous, but as you descend the stairs it is like entering a hidden oasis of tranquility.

I was a little early, so I was given a cup of soothing lemongrass tea and settled into their peaceful lounge area where I was confronted with the task of choosing a nail polish colour. After much deliberation I went with "Mildura" a pinky orange colour which seemed to fit with the light summery weather.

A few minutes later I headed on in to the treatment room where for an hour and a half I was pampered to the point where I nearly fell asleep on the table!

It is a real luxury being able to be pampered like that and I absolutely adore it. I came out with pretty nails, a slightly shiny but glowing face and a deep sense of relaxation. What a delicious way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Still Alive!

Yup, still alive - just. We have had our national conference at work, the largest thing I work on each year and while a huge success it was exhausting. Half a week later and my body is still aching and my bed is my favourite place to be. But I will be back blogging soon and in the meantime I'm happily playing away with instagram, so feel free to pop over and see what I'm smiling at in photographs. http://instagram.com/lisablithemoments

Back soon!

Wedding Nerves

I’ve always thought that being invited to a wedding is such a privilege. To be someone that the bride and groom consider special enough to witness their big day (and not to mention the cost of feeding a guest) means so much. But when you are asked to have a role in the wedding, that is extra special. I’ve been completely honoured to be a bridesmaid and chuffed to be asked to do wedding hair but in the last couple of weeks I’ve had two important and completely nerve wreaking roles in friend’s weddings.

 

The first started so innocently, with a request to do a reading. I was thrilled and honoured but apparently missed a key piece of information (to be honest I was pulling the world’s largest splinter out of my toe as she asked me) because it wasn’t so much a reading as a singing. That is right my friends asked me to sing at their wedding.

Now something you need to know about me, I love to sing – alone, in my car, where no one can hear my shockingly limited range and ability to be miles off key. S is about the only person who regularly hears me sing and he must be struck deaf by love because for some reason he thinks I can hold a tune. I know I cannot, so a week before the wedding having discovered that the reading was a singing I was freaking out.

But as luck would have it the song was “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” which is a bit more spoken than sung and everyone joined in very strongly enabling me to move the microphone a discrete distance too far away to pick up my voice. Other than the bridal party I was the only friend to have a role in the wedding so it was lovely and once done I could relax and have a ball, playing on the jumping castle (the ultimate wedding accessory) and dancing the night away.

 

But then came my second special request. This request came as a result of a piece of bravado that may have been alcohol induced when I declared that sure I could make a wedding cake – only to be held to it. That feeling when someone says “you know how you said you could make a wedding cake – can you make mine?” yes that feeling, I felt it in spades.

Let me tell you, anyone who moans about how much of a rip-off a wedding cake is, they are a hell of a lot of work and take a lot of ingredients. The cake I made included almost 2kg of butter, 1.5 kg of chocolate, 10 cups of sugar, 1 full cup of whiskey, 5 kilos of fondant, 9 hours of baking time and about a work week (seriously 40 hours) of decorating time. But it was worth it. The end result was really lovely and most importantly the bride and groom were thrilled. Well the bride definitely was with the cake, the groom was just in love with the fact that I made him a jelly shot cake – his request.

So yes, my nerves have been strained by those last two weddings but in such a good way. I'm thrilled that I was able to contribute to my friend's special days and I love that they were thrilled.

P.S Just for the record, my brilliant Mum helped hugely with making the icing flowers but everything on that cake was hand made!