Melissa Seymour

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Free Give Away
Free stuff – Who doesn’t love it?

Clive Owen (yum) is starring in a new film – “The boys are back”. It's a beautiful film about a single dad learning how to bond with his two boys.

We have ten double passes to give away, yes that’s right 10! Just answer the below question and you could be one of the lucky 10…

Why should we give you a double pass ticket?

a) I love Clive Owen

b) I really want to watch the movie

c) I love free stuff

Email your answer to – feedback@melissaseymour.com

December 8 2009
This may be old news…

But I only discovered it today! People – the Japanese think of EVERYTHING! Let me introduce to you the ‘boyfriend pillow’.

armpillow

That’s not weird or anything, right? Everyone feels lonely... But, lonely enough for this?!? If you know anyone that might need a shoulder to rest their head on, you can find the ‘boyfriend arm pillow’ at the What on Earth website!

x Fashion Girl, aka not thaaaaat lonley girl

November 26 2009
Check out the new My Child issue. My second travel story is in there - So rush down to your nearest news agent!

MC15._cover_web_medium

xMel

November 16 2009
Oh the life of a professional sports player

Michael Jordan having retired, with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not. If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head. If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there. If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it. He makes $7,415/hour more than minimum wage. If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours. If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $200 every second. He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round. He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100-meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon. This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.

Amazing isn't it?

However... If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 500 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has at this very moment.

November 6 2009
In light of the fact that taxis are back in the news - a new proposed code of conduct or something. Some of the things on the agenda are that drivers should 'drive safely', 'speak english' and should 'know where they are going' - please!! Aren't these are given? I've been thinking, 'why oh why do they need to spell this out? Then I remembered a blog a wrote a while back (on the old site www.melissaseymour.blog.com) and was reminded of why.....

Have You Ever Caught A Taxi In Melbourne?

taxi

I have, way too many times to mention and it is one of the most feared things to do in my life. Seriously. I’m shooting down there tomorrow for the day and considering - do I get a driver or RISK it and take a taxi? Expensive versus risking a nervous breakdown….. What to do kids? Before you judge and think I’m a lunatic, consider the following harrowing experiences:

1. caught a taxi from Crown (most prominent hotel/landmark in melbourne maybe next to MCG) to the airport. About 3 minutes down the road, the driver turns around to me and says “can you tell me how to get to the airport?” I kid you not. He needed only take one right and he would have been on the freeway and out to the airport. Instead I had him turn around and drop me back at the hotel, whereupon he decided I should pay him for the privelledge of being inconvenienced and when I said “ah, I don’t think so”, he actually got out of the taxi and started yelling the most abusive tirade at me. I actually thought he might hit me. The hotel called the police and he sped off when security came - his picture didn’t match the photo id and so couldn’t be traced. That was just splendid.

2. hopped into a taxi in the city with a mag fashion editor after a dinner. We asked to be taken to Crown again (note comments about it being a landmark). Driver had no idea where it was and so dropped us off at a spot where he told us it was a short walk through a deadend. This was at 2.30am and we had had quite a few wines (as you could imagine being 2.30am). Turns out we were about 3km and one very large wall that needed to be jumped off away. Surprisingly fashion editor had very sensible shoes on. I didn’t. That was… annoying and dangerous.

3. after a long Melbourne Cup Carnival campaign, we did actually have a fabulous driver (David is his name - if you’re curious) who dropped us by Crown (I wonder if they have frequent stay points?) to pick up our bags on the way to the airport. We jumped out and returned to the car with our bags. A taxi diver waiting at the rank thought David had just picked us up on spec and so jumped out of his taxi and threw poor David up against his car, had him around the neck and was yelling all sorts of abuse - well, I think it was abuse, he wasn’t speaking english - but he was very very angry. Bless Brad, he stepped in to help David and the taxi driver was chased away by Crown security. I must ask those security guys how often this stuff happens…

So anyway, you can see why I am anxious. I think I will call David to see if he’s available.

November 6 2009
More From The Old Site....

Because I Like To Share…

Especially uplifting quotes that I think might put some pep in your step. Here goes...

From Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari & Chuck E. Cheese

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”

Quotes are great aren’t they? I’ll be sure to bring you more.

November 4 2009
November 3 2009 - Fashion Girl...Oh the shame
If it’s for a good cause are fashion faux pas’ ok?

For those of you who work in Martin Place you are in for one hell of a day – wish I could be a part of it all (not).

On the 12th of November Australia will be attempting to break the Guinness Book record for a swimwear parade – current record is 281, the organisers are expecting 1000 participants. The girls are required to wear bikinis (yeah boys don’t get too excited!) and the men… Budgie smugglers…

Is this something that we Australian’s want to be associated with? (No)

As mentioned before this faux pas is for charity and a few rugby players have signed up… I’m sorry that still doesn’t make it right for me. Whether you want to see it or avoid it the parade will be held midday.

My verdict, donate some money – I don’t really need to see what you had for breakfast!

x Fashion Girl

justin
November 2 2009
I found some pics of my favorite outfits from Derby Day. Kate Waterhouse & Jodi Gordon. Mamamia!

Oh, and I wanted to tell you about a review we had in the Sun Herald yesterday for one of my businesses - www.beachmour.com. We have a beautiful beach house just north of Narooma on the NSW South Coast and this was reviewed in yesterday's paper which was fantastic. A full page for which I am so grateful. The only thing that was a bit iffy was that the journalist said that it took her 6 hours to get there. It's just over 300kms from Sydney, so unless she was driving the whole way at 50km per hour, or detoured via Canberra, I'm unsure as to why it took so long. The worry is that it is a popular weekend getaway for people from Sydney and so they may be deterred by reading that! The longest it has ever taken me to get there is 4.5 hours. Strange. Very strange.

We are running a promotion at the moment. We have some dates available throughout November and December. January is fully booked out though. So the deal is, stay 2 nights get 1 or stay 5 and get 2 or stay 10 and get 4. Rates during summer start at $450 per night plus GST, and go up to $595 per night plus GST. The savings on this deal are great. If you are interested in booking, you can email bookings@beachmour.com.

xMel

kate
johdi
November 2 2009
I just watched the Sex and the City Pilot. They all had bad bad hair - except Charlotte. Samantha has awful extensions, Carrie looks like SJP's character in 'The First Wives Club' - that wasn't good. Total trash. It's quite unbelievable how they got from this point to total fashion phenomenon. Just goes to show that Rome wasn't built in a day. And did you know that Samantha hit on Big? He turned her down. I don't think I ever knew that.

Speaking of fashion phenomenon, I've been checking out the fashion's from Derby Day on-line. The Melbourne Cup carnival used to be a huge deal for me. My agency ran the Motorola marquee in the Bird Cage for years. The first year was a co-branded marquee between my then model agency and Motorola for which we bought out a supermodel and the year after we bought out Chloe Sevigny. So the whole carnival was totally consuming and we were very much at the epicenter of it all, in the super exclusive Birdcage area. The year we had Chloe, we had the boys from Ksubi design the marquee interior plus DJ and Maurice Terzini oversee the menu and drinks. People were literally climbing in the windows to get in.

People still talk about that year as being the most fun ever and we're constantly asked to do it all over again. We've spoken to some brands about it, but it seems that more brands are pulling out than getting involved. It's an incredibly expensive marketing exercise but well worth the investment. The good news is that we just might - just might - get involved in a major way again next year. I really miss being involved! But back to the fashion's - I think this is the best year yet. My favorite looks on Derby came from Kate Waterhouse & Jodi Gordon.

So this year, instead of rushing around in Melbourne and spending yesterday at the Stoke House having lunch, I was celebrating one of my best friends soon-to-be nuptuals (that's my way of saying 'hen's day' - I hate that term) at North Bondi Italian. Martine (this is a pic of her and I from yesterday) is getting married in two weeks. It's such a special time. She's so loved up. Bliss.

martandmel
November 2 2009 - Fashion Girl Reporting
A bruised forehead, bumps and bruises all because of a skirt? They do say no pain no gain… I take that back

Early afternoon Sophie had planned with her gal pal Becky to have a girl date, a movie and a lunch. After 3 outfit changes she decided on a skirt that she had never worn before a little daring, a little fun and a little avant-garde… the main feature of the skirt is the clever use of shoulder pads on the side of the skirt to create an interest clam like shape. This feature caused the following event…

A family – 1 male, 2 female adults and 3 toddlers disliked Sophie’s skirt so much they decided to verbally abuse the two girls. Sophie had never seen people so passionate about an outfit she had worn before! She was although use to people giggling and staring at her outfits. BUT, Becky wasn’t use to it; she felt the need to defend Sophie. After much verbal abuse and threats of physical assault… It happened! One of the women attacked Becky! She was knocked unconscious as the lady pushed her so hard she fell and hit her head on one of the steps on the bus.

The majority of their afternoon was spent in separate rooms giving statements. Becky will be pressing charges once the offenders are found – the entire thing was caught on 5 cameras on the bus! And I’m sure at one point or another you and I will be able to see the skirt too! Sophie is a little afraid to wear that skirt ever again!

Let me know if this has ever happened to you!

October 27 2009
Long time no speak.....

Yes, yes, busy again. I just popped in to tell you that my new blog has been put up on the Yahoo7 site....

I hope you click through to read (and enjoy it!).

xMel

October 23 - Fashion Girl
For those of you who don’t live in Sydney – You have been missing out on some seriously perfect weather!

Summer is knocking at our door and ladies it’s bikini time! Hooray! We’ve all gone on some crazy diets – one of my girlfriends tried the lemon detox diet, she lasted about 2hrs I think!

Back to bikini’s! The Australian $$ has been so strong that it is far better to shop online than trekking out into the retail stores – where there is horrible service and staff that are too full of themselves (a story I may tell another day). I recently purchased my first bikini of the season from revolveclothing.com – the great thing about this site is that you don’t have to pay for delivery – I got a fab bikini for $52.92 – Bargain right?

Go to the sale section it goes for pages and pages – trust me you will find something. Because we are a season behind from the Northern Hemisphere you’re paying sale price for goods that are selling at full price here.

October 21 2009
Having been so so so sick for so so so long, Graham Appleby, a lovely reader of this blog, sent me a new product called MaxGXL. Max is a Glutathione acceletrator which helps to rejuvenate every single cell in your body. It is medically proven and certifiable that MaxGXL will dramatically raise the body's Glutathione level, and Glutathione is the world's most powerful antioxident. The marketing information they sent me was incredibly impressive - loads of people claiming to be have been cured of all matter of illnesses. One of my main medical issues at the moment, apart from the chronic pain I live with, is my energy levels. Sometimes it's like my energy has been completely sucked from my body. Which sucks.

I've tried vitamin supplements to no avail. I've changed my diet. Still hasn't given me any energy. So I am going to trial the MaxGXL product for the next month and report back to you on how I feel.

Today was day one. I woke up, completely flat & had to get a friend to take my son to school and organised a taxi so our nanny (who can't drive (!)) could take my daughter to day-care. I had a meeting scheduled for 10.15 way out west and so we tried to arrange a conference call but it turned out that the lady we were meeting had forgotten about it anyway.

So you can see that I had 0 energy. I felt so desperate that I thought, 'that's it, I'm giving that MaxGXL a go - what have I got to lose?'. So I took a dose - they come in separate packets for each dose that you're supposed to take, which you do twice a day. That was earlier this morning and I am feeling a little energised. Enough to get myself to my 2pm meeting. So far, so interesting.

Keep you posted. I'll post up some more information about this product in the next couple of days. And for the record - I'm not being paid to be involved in this. Not at all. Graham kindly sent me some of the product to try out as he believes it will really help me. For which I'm thankful for. If it works, I'll be buying it!

xMel

October 16 2009
Yesterday I Received A Pap Smear Reminder Notice

Which is a great initiative isn't it? In Australia (for our readers overseas - which I am stoked to say that there are a lot), our Government Health System keeps track of when you had your last Pap Smear and sends you reminders when you are due for your next one. They recommend one every year to two years. About 10 years ago, I had a dodgy result and had to have some dangerous cells lasered off my cervix. I went through a few years of having to have Pap Smears every six months. Now I'm due again and having been sick for so long, I am pretty apprehensive to get my Pap Smear done again, in case there is a problem. The last thing I need right now is another 'sick' thing to deal with. Really. I feel like it could tip me over the edge. Anyway, being a responsible person in training, I will go and have it done next week. It's the right thing to do.

Anyway, this blog entry was not meant to be about my personal issues but I've ranted again. When I received the letter, I had been thinking about the Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have NOTHING. The sheer desperation of their situation has me in tears. The contrast between us is breathtaking. Here we are in our beautiful, amazing and well functioning country where opportunity abounds and where our Government cares enough about its citizens that they send us letters to remind us to get a Pap Smear (!) No wonder they risk their lives and those of their children (that's the bit that gets me, that there are children involved - as a mother, I know how desperate the parents must be to put their children in this situation), in order to get to this Country.

It would be like winning the lottery getting citizenship here. We are incredibly lucky. No matter what situation you are now it - poor, struggling, sick - we are so lucky to have the foundations that our Country provides for us. I really don't know what we should do about the boat of Sri Lankans. I'm torn. There are strong arguments either way. Take them in or not get involved. Whatever happens, it is a reminder to us all to be thankful for what we have.

xMel

October 13 2009
Girl's Are So So Different To Boys!

An obvious statement - I know. What I'm talking about though is the way boys and girls are so different to raise. My son Jonah, is almost seven and my daughter Saskia is only two and a half. I remember Jonah being two and a half quite vividly. He was a really complacent child. Totally compliant with our plans - take him out to a nice restaurant, no worries. Take him over to friends places and he'd fit in perfectly. No trouble. Didn't care what you dressed him in. He wasn't really interested in what I was doing. He was interested in me, as his mother and provider of everything he needed, but he wasn't interested in what was going on around me (which is going to annoy him when he's older and realises that he spent a good year in and out of my model agency with beautiful girls taking turns at holding and playing with him!).

Now take Saskia. She is not only interested in everything going on around me, she wants to be me. She is infinitely more clingy than Jonah ever was. I have been at home with her for almost all of her life because I chose to work from home for the majority of the time so that I could be with her.I went straight back to work after having Jonah and wanted a different experience of motherhood with my second. When I am in the shower, she'll come in and start to get undressed to hop in with me, when I am doing my hair or makeup, she wants to do the same thing (which I totally discourage & which is confusing for her because she sees me having fun with this) and when I am writing, she has to sit on my lap while I try to type on my computer around her. Then there is the dressing.

You can't select an outfit for her - she has to do this herself which is a total worry because her dress sense is, ahh... eclectic. Yesterday she had on silk chinese PJ's, her brothers t-shirt over the top, a candy stripped rain coat, purple polkerdot gum boots and an orange fedora hat. She thinks she's rock'n it and everyone else thinks she's - cute? Today she went to day care and insisted on wearing mis-matched shoes. One gold shoe and one keds pink flower shoe. I couldn't get her to reason that you don't wear your shoes like that and all she could ask was "why not?". To which I couldn't really find a sufficient explanation. Why not?

Anyway, just a bit of mumbling from me..... Hope you're having a good day.

xMel

I've worked out from observing the two of them that boys are naturally drawn toward building and constructing things (leggo, building blocks, meccano)

October 8 2009
The Golliwogg

OK, so following on from my earlier post, I promised to work out the history of the Golliwog dolls to see what racial implications were attached to them. You see, when I saw them for sale in two toy stores in Sydney, I felt that they were entirely inappropriate and I was offended. But why? We have dolls that represent white people, was it ok to have dolls that represented black people? Why not? Sounds rational but I intuitively felt that there was more to the story. So as promised below are some interesting pieces of information I have gathered - and yes, they are a hot pot of racial controversy. So it's interesting then that they are on-sale in toy stores in Sydney. Is it true what some media from the States are reporting about Australia being so far behind in gauging appropriateness? The US Website 'Gawker' reported on the 'Hey Hey It's Saturday! Red Faces' stunt where they were dressed as the Jackson 5 (but looked like Golliwogs) - "Wow, and American is being the voice of cultural sensitivity? Australia must be really messed up."

So, the Golliwog is a character of children's literature created by Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th Century which is depicted as a rag doll, inspired by the black face minstrels. Since then it has been reproduced as a children's toy. There are, according to the Wikipedia page, two schools of thought "The image of the doll has become the subject of heated debate.

One aspect of the debate in its favor argues that it should be preserved and passed on as a cherished cultural artifact and childhood tradition, while opponents argue it should be retired as a relic of an earlier time when racism against those of African descent was blatant.". There are some really interesting incidents where people have taken offense to the term. One such incident involved Naomi Campbell, who you may recall was thrown off a British Airways flight and charged with assault against one of the flight attendants. Naomi claimed that the attendant called her a 'Golliwog'. In another one, a BBC reporter, Carol Thatcher who referred to a tennis player named Joe Wilfried Tsonga, as looking like a 'Golliwog', was given her marching orders from the BBC if she didn't apologise, as they considered the comment to be 'wholly unacceptable'. In yet another incident, a woman in Manchester was arrested for displaying a 'Golliwog' in her front window. The police described the arrest as 'the latest in a series of incidents that the victim perceived to be race-related'.

Interesting. I wonder if they'll sell many of those 'golliwog' dolls in the toy stores I was talking about? And I wonder if they've had any complaints? I was going to suggest that I should pop into the stores in question to ask how they were going but then I remembered that I vowed not to go back to one of them because they charged me for wrapping the present. Petty I know, but it pissed me off.

xMel

October 8 2009
I Was Waiting For The Right Moment......

to Blog about something that happened to me at a toy store a couple of weeks ago. Seeing the fallout of the Hey Hey It's Saturday Red Faces skit involving that group dressed up to do the Jackson 5 number - if you missed it, a group who first performed this 20 years ago, came back last night for a rendition - they are a group of Doctors who blackened their faces, with black 'gollywog' inspired hair, and a front man with a white painted face singing in the front who was supposed to be Michael Jackson - do you get the picture? Anyway, they had Harry Connick Jnr on judging the performances and he said that he was really disturbed and would not have come on the show had he known that they were using this kind of content. He found it racist and said that in the States they had moved so far on from this kind of behavior. It has ingnited some debate. Which brings me back to the toy store and my experience there that I have been waiting to blog about. I was buying a birthday present for my son Jonah's friend, whose party he was attending that night. The lady who worked there asked me to give my opinion on a new toy they had in - they were gollywog dolls. She said "what do you think about these?".

I said "they are very controversial and I would be surprised if you don't get some complaints from people finding them offensive because I do". She kinda looked straight through me, I got the idea that she hadn't ever contemplated this angel and didn't seem to be bothered by it. The feedback she wanted from me, she explained, was about the quality of the workmanship. It was really awkward because I couldn't move past the surprise that they were selling gollywogs - it's the history of the advent of them that I find disturbing. I will look into this and report back on what I find to explain this for you. Anyway, I just explained that I didn't think it was a good idea to sell them and she mumbled on that the eyes weren't glued on properly (!). I went about shopping and thought more about it and wanted to blog about it. Then a week later, shopping for yet another of Jonah's friends birthdays (I swear, if I went to as many birthday parties as Jonah I would rival Kate Moss's partying ways), at a different toy store and low and behold - there were the gollywogs again! I wondered if it was misplaced concern/offense on my part until the fall out from last nights skit. As I said, I'll find out about the history of the gollywog and report back. I could be wrong and want to find out about their history and share that with you.....

xMel

October 7 2009
Fashion girl here with news of Fashion doing its bit for charity

It is that time of year again - FYI Melissa worked with Jeanswest on initiating the concept several years ago, but they do it all in house now!

Jeanswest have collaborated with some fantastic designers to create some fun fab tee’s for the Cancer Council’s Pink Ribbon Day.

This year they called upon designers Arabella Ramsay, Lucette and Mimco. There are 4 shirts in this exclusive collection.

The shirts retail for $29.95 (cheap and cheerful) and for every shirt sold Jeanswest donates $10 – to date they have raised well over a quarter of a million $$ - yeah snap!

Check them out here – 2009 - Charity Tee Collection

October 1 2009
Yahoo7!

I've been absent for the last few days - I'm sorry. We've been flat out with projects for L'umiere that has made the last week just crazy for us. Thank you for all the emails over this time, it was lovely to get them, mostly asking how I am and wondering if everything is ok. Everything is. It's great to be so busy.

My first blog for Yahoo7 travel is up - woohoo! I hope you take the time to click through and read it.

So much has been going on in the news and every time I've heard something over the last few days, I've thought "Oh, must blog about that" but haven't had the time. So here are a few things that I jotted down in brief:

Jessica Watson (the 16 year old who tried to sail around the world and crashed into a tanker as she had just set sail) - she is trying again!!! Apparently, the reason she crashed in the first instance was because she made some very basic but critical errors. Would you be comfortable allowing her to sail again if you were her parent? I wouldn't. I know it would be disappointing because there was so much going into it and so many expectations but all of that would pale in comparison to the risk she faces. Some people make some very controversial decisions as parents. Speaking of which brings me to the next hot topic in my mind....

Brooke Shields. Have you heard about this? As a 10 year old, her mother had her sit for 'arts sake' for a controversial photograph. In it, she is standing in a bubble bath naked. Her body is oiled up. She has a full face of make up. Her hair had been styled. She is looking like a grown woman. BUT SHE IS 10 YEARS OLD! 10 YEARS OLD. The photograph now sits in the Tate Gallery. They have isolated the picture and it sits in a closed room with a warning sign on the door. So they know it's awfully controversial. They probably love the fact that it is - brings more people in the door = more revenue. Apparently Brook Shields and her mother had tried, in the past, to buy the photograph from the 'artist' without any success. I saw the photo - I won't post it here because I am so opposed to it that I don't want it on my site or be responsible for broadcasting it - and it is absolutely appalling. I would go as far as to say that it is what I would think child porn looks like. Her mothers head should roll over this.

Vegemite. They held a competition a few months back to find a name for their new flavor. An IT guy won with the name 'Vegemite isnack 2.0'. That was announced a couple of days ago and today they have pretty much admitted that the name sucked by saying that they are going to stop producing the product with that name once a new one is found. Apparently the technical aspect of the name didn't resonate with Australian consumers. They were talking about this thismorning on television and the consensus was that everyone should run out and buy jars of the 'isnack 2.0' product as it might become a collectors item. What a great way to generate sales.

And more interest in the new product. Do you think this was orchestrated? One lady on the television thismorning, when asked this exact question, said that she didn't think marketing people were that smart. I beg to differ.

I promise not to neglect you for the rest of the week. xMel

September 24
The Bow Is Back

bow

(pic courtesy of Grazia - Louella Show LFW)

I love a bow. But on my 2 year old daughter. Bow's after 30? I usually hate relegating things according to age but bows? I have to make an exception.

September 24
I Was Reminded This Morning That Sterotyping Is Still Out There.....

Yes, alive and kicking in 2009. In my cocooned world, I rarely come across it so when it happened this morning, I was caught off guard. It went like this: regular readers would know that I have laid low by a serious illness for the past 10 months so I haven't been out and about much at all. I took Jonah to school, which hasn't happened much this year and Saskia came along. After drop-off, Saskia and I paid a visit to Lesley Mackay's Book Store in Woollahra which I just adore (I bought a copy of 'The New York Review' which I felt very smug and all literary about) and then popped into the cake store a couple of stores up in Queen Street Woollahra. It was all so blissful it could have been a chapter out of an Edith Blythe Novel. That's when the Sterotype bomb fell. I was buying a cup cake for Saskia, the guy serving us told me she was very cute (indeed) and asked about our family, how many children I had etc... all polite chitterchat. I commented that Saskia would be the last child, we aren't having anymore. That's when he said "well what will you do with yourself when she goes to school? Do you have some hobbies?". Actually, this would probably fit right into an Edith Blythe novel too. I just didn't know what to say? How do you respond? Do you rattle off your Bio into a condensed 30 sec sound byte? This is of course not intended to be an offense to any stay at home mother. Not at all. I actually think assuming a woman is going to follow on to a hobby after she has reared her children to school age is offensive, regardless of whether she is a stay at home mother or a working mother. So, being caught off guard I responded politely, if somewhat perplexed, "um, yeah, I have quite a few hobbies", gathered up my cupcake and cute daughter and walked out.

September 23
Pure Unadulterated Amazing Genes.

naomi

Naomi Campbell struts her fierce stuff at London Fashion Weeks 25th Anniversary show. What is she? Like 40 odd? I bet she doesn't even work out.

September 23
OK, Here's A Better Dust Storm Pic...

duststorm
September 23
You've Probably Seen More Dramatic Pics But....

dust

For those of you not up to speed - there has been an almighty dust storm that's blanketed Sydney. Pretty amazing to wake up to and there have been some really dramatic pictures. I just had to contribute - this is my bedroom television stand and I've marked the dust print. It was only polished yesterday and this is what has settled on it overnight. Not the most interesting post. I know.

xMel

September 22 2009
Forgot To Mention The Emmy's!!!

I did twitter a lot about them though yesterday. Apologies if I spoilt the winners for you planning to watch the delayed telecast last night. Not.

I loved so many - Tony Collette, Rose Byrne, Drew Barrymore... but my favorite was Blake Lively. Hair and makeup was just amazing and ditto a great dress.

blake
gg

This is Blake Lively here with Gossip Girls co-star Leighton Meester who I thought just looked like a little girl playing dress-ups.

September 22 2009
Brownlow Picks From Lastnight

I didn't go, didn't watch. Brad and I fell asleep and I woke up with the TV on just in time to see Gary Ablett Junior win - I woke Brad to tell him, he mumbled this "he's been voted by his peers the best player in the competition for the last 3 years. An astonishing fact. A deserving winner." I of course, scribbled it down to quote it for you properly this morning. He'll no doubt re quote it today when he's interviewed for Sky News and Big Pond TV. You heard it here first though!

Now to the girls on the 'blue' carpet. I thought the blue was an unfortunate colour for a lot of girls who wore blue. Major clash. Coming out on top for me was:

Kery Lavell the partner of Dean Cox. A lot of the dresses were nice but it's more about how you pull it together and she did this in really refined way. Great hair tick, great make up tick, great accessories tick, shoes I don't know, couldn't find a pic of them, but poise tick.

brownlow1
Notable mentions:

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Brownlow winner Gary Ablett Jnr's partner Lauren Phillips. Tick tick tick.

brownlow3

Felicity Percival partner of Tom Harley. Tick tick, friend of mine tick ;-)

brownlow4
I had to mention this poor girl just because I can't find her name anywhere. She's just described as Bryce Gibbs partner. Let me know if you know so I can put a name to the face. Doesn't tick all the boxes, I just had to mention her because she didn't have a name.

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And I couldn't possibly commentate on the night without mentioning this one. Her name is Brynne Gordon and she is the soon to be bride of Geoffrey Edlsten (remember him - he used to own the Swans - VERY colourful character!!). She is a 26 year old fitness instructor, said on The Today Show this morning that they are getting married in November at Crown with 500 guests and Fran Drescher (The Nanny) hosting. Seriously. She is National news thanks to this outfit. She also said that Geoffrey picked out the outfit in Vegas because they love to go shopping together and she tries heaps of stuff on and HE PAYS FOR IT (not her words but what I read between the lines).

xMel

September 21
A Parents Worse Nightmare

Wow, I've just heard of this story www.azcentral.com - a couple handed in their memory stick to have their photos developed at Wal Mart. Several pictures were of their children, little girls aged 5, 4 and 1.5 and the problem with the pics were that the kids were naked - just after bath time. The staff member developing the pictures handed them over to the police and an investigation ensued. At this point, I have to tell you that I felt sick because I have bath time photos of my children. I think most parents probably do. It's usually a fun time of the day - bubbles, toys, water and they come out all fresh and clean which is a perfect time to get a great picture of them. Anyway, the children in this case, were taken AWAY from their parents for a month, during which time the parents were not allowed to see their kids for several days. They were branded as pedophiles to friends, family and work colleagues while the investigation was carried out - could it get much worse? They've been cleared and are now suing everyone involved which is understandable, you'd totally want heads to roll, but it will drag the whole saga out for them even longer. I hope they get a settlement before their lives are ruined any further.

You have to be so careful these days and think through just about everything you do. I bet they never thought in their wildest dreams what could come from getting those innocent photos developed. It's so frightening.

xMel

September 17
Ahhh, Today Is My Birthday (!)

Which would usually be cause for much fun and fan fair but it's not. I'm feeling so sick and so can't enjoy it like I should. Don't feel sorry for me though, I've just received THE most amazing delivery from Narae - who knew you could have chocolate coated strawberries delivered as a bouquet!!!! Not me. I've never seen anything like it. Jonah is going to flip (he loves choc coated strawberries). I can't tell you how excited and grateful I am. That Narae is so at the pointy end of all things fabulous. Watch out friends, a bouquet of chocolate coated strawberries is on its way to you for your next celebration!

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September 17 2009
MTV VMA's

I know I'm late in responding - it's, like, old news now. I just wanted to have my say....

Best Dressed: Alessandra Ambrosio (is a model, Victoria's Secret Angel)

bestdress
I think I've worked out why Kanye West went troppo (see pic below and bottle in hand ;-)

kanyewest
September 16
Best Hotel In The World...

As a travel writer/columnist (how did that happen?), I was interested in the announcement by Conde Nast Traveller in the Readers Travel Awards 2009, in The World top 100 - which hotel made number 1?

besthotel

It was the Rambagh Palace, Jaipur

I was surprised. To me a great hotel offers rooms with pools! On a beach! That's just me. Obviously not the popular opinion.

September 16 Fashion Girl ~ Shhhh Secret
Christmas has come early!

Well for those of us in Sydney atleast! Ok Ladies, if you are holding anything that may break or damage when dropped or thrown across the room put it down before you read on and take a seat - Yes it is very exciting news...

Cosmopolitan shoes are closing their sale store down and all, yes ALL shoes are $200! This Sale is for one day only - TOMORROW - Thursday 17th of September, 10am - 7pm

Here are the address details: 18-20 Bay St, Double Bay

Usually I would tell you to tell all of your friends but, not this time! Hush Happy shopping xx Fashion Girl

September 14 2009
Happy Monday Morning!!

Today is a particularly special week for me - birthday week! I love this, I just keep getting younger! As I write this, my stomach has just dropped - I have missed yet another friends birthday this year. Gulp. You know who you are if you are reading this - I am calling with sincere wishes today.x.o.x.o

As our economy recovers and we start to feel more confident in investing again, I have been thinking about investment strategies. I came across a fantastic quote that sums up my opinion on shares versus property.

It's from a bygone era but still as relevant today as it was then. It's from Franklin D. Roosevelt (not a bad hotel in LA - rooms not spectacular like The Thompson Hotel in Beverly HIlls, but ok and central) anyway, I digress from the advice herewith:

"Land can not be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world."

I've dabbled in shares and the angst it caused just wasn't worth the very small return. Property however, gives me immense enjoyment. I take so much pride in property. I own a house with a girlfriend down the south coast and the whole process (we've owned it now for a few years) of going down there to view properties, dealing on the one we finally found and then renovating it together (she did the interior decorating which is amazing - it's been featured in Vogue Living and a whole host of other glossy mags - she has an amazing flare so I set her free), but I rolled grass, planted plants, ripped up floors and painted. All on stolen weekends, darting down from Sydney to get the work done asap. I love pulling up to it, after not seeing it for so long and marveling at how far the gardens have come along. I love that I planted a particular row of hedges with my son Jonah, who would have been only 3 at the time. We rent it out to the public to stay for holidays. We've made an entire business out of it. It's something that I've done, and continue doing that gives me great pleasure to think about. It's so popular now, that we can hardly get in ourselves! I haven't been down for such a long time. We're past due. It's time to schedule a week in the diary. I might have just thought of the perfect birthday present for me - time. And more property. But that will come, I have time for that. Especially, seeing as though I keep get younger.

room
September 10 2009 - Fashion Girl
I recently paid a visit to website style.com (I’m not going to put a link – not worth the visit). I use to use the website as a point of reference in my uni years, but boy oh boy was I disappointed!

The first thing I always like to check is the trend report – One of their fall trends was ‘Smart Investments’ – how is that a trend?? Then to top it all off they have a catalogue of fresh off the catwalk designer labels ranging from Chanel to this Marni suit. Have they gone mad??

marni
Just because you got that dress off a sale rack in China Town somewhere does not mean it wasn't a smart investment.

A piece of advice – If you want to be a smart investment shopper never shop on trend or fad!

September 9 2009
Wish I Could Have Rocked This Look During My Hospital Stay...

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September 9 2009
My Pic For Dally M Best Dressed Goes To....

dallym

Simone Ennis - her partner is Michael Ennis

She kept it simple and natural

September 8 2009
I Just Found These...... Wanted To Share.

I lost the cord that connects my stills camera with my computer (the used one). I found it! And so downloaded a whole heap of pics that I hadn't seen for such a long time. I felt a bit of shock on looking at the dates and realised something about my recovery from my illness that I kind of knew/thought about but now have the photo evidence to prove it. I never stopped to recover properly. I thought at the time that I needed to be superwoman and so pretty much jumped out of my hospital bed and straight into work, in front of the camera, filming a segment for the 9am show with David & Kim. If only I knew then, what I know now - just how important rest is to aiding your recovery. But do you know what? Even though I know this now, it's still something I struggle mentally to do. If I am not running around, with a million things to do, I don't feel adequate. I feel like I am being slack & lazy. Even though I have been so sick that I've had to have brain surgery. I still think I'm being lazy when I stop to rest!!!! That is how ingrained it is into our psyche, this whole concept of being a superwoman who can do everything. Even when we're is sick! I'm using the collective 'we' because I have spoken to enough women about this, who feel the same. So I know this is not just my own issue

Check this out.

1. This pic is of me in hospital on the 9th of May this year. Note; oxygen, drip and very sad face on poor Jonah (don't be too taken aback with it though, he has a propensity for being dramatic - especially when there is a camera around. I don't doubt he was sad, he was. I'm just saying, that when there is a camera around, we think he is a born actor.).

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2. This is a pic of me taken on the 12th of May this year. That would be the third day out of hospitaI (!!!) In it, I'm filming a segment for Network 10 on mentoring a business (off the back of my book). The shoot went for about 8 hours. We went to three different locations. We finished it in the City. By the time Narae and I got into a taxi, I thought about telling the driver to take me straight back to hospital. What a moron am I though? Who does this? I thought I HAD to do it. No one was holding a gun to my head though. So why did I think I HAD to? Network 10 were totally cool about pushing it back until I was ok. I did it because I think I should be superwoman. It didn't have anything to do with wanting to be on TV (if that's what you're thinking) - I promise you, it's not that exciting or glamorous. What I think I need though, is a larger dose of reality. Because if I just stopped - really stopped and stayed in bed and rested like I was told to - I might be a lot healthier than I am right now

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I hope I have helped you to realise that this notion that we all have to be superwoman and be all things to all people, over being all things to ourselves, first and foremost - is a load of bollocks. We don't have to be superwoman. It's ok to be a housewife/mother and draw a line under that. That's enough. We don't have to be any more. It's ok to be sick and focus on getting better. That's enough, draw a line under that (make sure you've got insurance though, or enough sick leave in your job). One thing is enough. I've had enough. I'm going to take a nap now.

xMel

September 7 2009 - Beaut - i - licious
Beaut - i - licious

Short and sweet today. You know my penchant for on-line shopping. Here is a great beauty site that many of my friends have sworn by www.strawberrynet.com

I've had a quick skim over this morning and was impressed enough to share it with you. Narae has just said to beware, that there are a lot of fakes out there. So this is good advice. I've asked my friends who use it a lot about this and they swear it's the real deal.

Enjoy. If only I could afford some La Mer (those were the days, before kids, mortgages and real life, really).

xMel

September 7 2009
What Are THE Most Annoying Technology Habits???

If you are anything like me, and the friends I have surveyed about this, you will have things that really piss you off when it comes to the nuances of modern technology. I'm talking email etiquette, surfing stupidity, ichat bull-crap and probably, the most popular of all, mobile madness. Still not on my page? Then below you'll find my very long list of cyber psycho-inducing behavior:

#1 When someone sends a group email that isn't business related, it drives me over the edge when people 'reply all' and say the most mundane and un-funny things that mean nothing at all to you, because you hardly or don't even know them at all. I don't know if that says something psychologically scary about my state of mind or about the busy state of the world we live in, that it drives us nuts to be stopped for a few minutes to read something useless?

#2 I really dislike websites that drag you in on the promise of subscribing to something wonderful, so you join, only to find to out that the whole thing his a load of hog wash. Then, to top it all off, the maze to navigate a complaint, with the view to getting a refund, is so complicated and time consuming that you really couldn't be bothered. You may well have just taken a blow torch to a $50 note. This just happened to me to today.I subscribed to a website that promised a database full of thousands of prospective nanny's, au pairs and housekeepers in my area. I subscribed, thinking I had found prospective nanny hiring nirvana. What I found were a measly three candidates. All bums.

They'd been listed for a couple of months. I wonder why. Were they even real? I have my doubts.

#3 How about people with Private phone numbers? I understand some people need them - so they don't get stalked if they've got some profile. I guess. But what about Private numbers that don't leave messages? Repeatedly? I have a 'I don't answer private numbers' policy (actually, I have an 'I don't answer hardly any calls at all policy'). I figure if the call is important enough, they'll leave a message and if appropriate, I will call back. But then there are the Private callers who call incessantly and don't leave a message. That drives me nuts. Who are they? Call Centre sales people? Who, who, who??? I'm not the only one who is driven bonkers by this.

# 4 Being automatically added to companies marketing emails. It's against the law here in Australia PEOPLE! I'm not au fait with the laws of the rest of the world, but clogging people's inboxes with unwanted marketing emails does nothing at all positive for your Company - at all! Don't harass people, let them engage you if they want to. Don't barrage them. It turns them off, not on. I'll tell you about something recently. I signed up to a MyerOne card, which is something I never, ever do (I only did it to get a massive discount on a heap of new bedding)- sign up to give Companies my personal details. Never do it. I don't want anyone using my information for their marketing purposes and I just don't like giving up personal details. I'm a private person. Don't think I can't see the irony in having a public blog either.

Never do it. I don't want anyone using my information for their marketing purposes and I just don't like giving up personal details. I'm a private person. Don't think I can't see the irony in having a public blog either. So back to the MyerOne incident. I absolutely ticked the 'do not contact me with future offers etc....'. I know this because I tick it. Always. I covet my email address being so private that I am not often surprised by who emails me. So you can imagine my surprise then to start receiving Myer marketing emails. Not just one of them, but loads. I tried hard to do something about it. I don't like telephones and talking to strangers on them. So I searched and searched for an email address to send them a 'cease and desist' email. But the hilarity of it all was, that an email address does not exist. You can't respond to the marketing email. You can't do anything but call them. So all up, I wasted about 2 hours of my time trying to undo something that I explicitly asked them not to do. How do I feel about Myer now? My relationship is rocky. I'll think twice before I go in again.

# 5 Finding out that the technology you have paid thousand/s of dollars for has been used by someone else before you. I found this out recently about my iphone and MacBook. I mentioned I don't like talking to people on the phone before, well, I dislike talking to strangers in person, more than I dislike talking to them on the phone. So when I tried to sort these problems out on the phone, I was told I had to actually go into the stores in question and sort out the problems. #$%&%$*%^RI^&O&T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was me trying hard to convey to you how pissed off I am. That doesn't even come close.

Not only have I purchased used equipment, thinking it was brand spanking new, I now have to go and sort it out in person with the store/s in question. Wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels. I am in the midst of writing an old fashioned letter to Steve Jobs (I think I'll get more cut through this way). I'm supposed to be writing a new book on this computer. But now I hate it, because it's used and so can't bring myself to tarnish the book with the unknown past of this MacBook. Who knows where it has been and who has typed on it's keyboard - and oh, how I LOVED tapping each key for the first time, thinking I was the first one. Oh, how I was misled. Both my MacBook and iphone are not what I thought they were. They have shady pasts. It's like finding out your lover has.... no, that might be going too far. Yes, I love my technology but yes, too far. I'll let you know how I go with both of these issues.

Email me at feedback@melissaseymour.com with your 'issues'. I'll understand if you don't feel as heated about them as I do.

xMel

September 7 2009
Biathlon Challenge - Are You Up To It?

Next February 18th is the date I have set aside to compete in my very first Biathlon. At school I was a little better than average at sport (that was the sound of Brad closing the door in case the wind blew off the tickets on myself - boom boom), and my adult life has been peppered with me running with regularity for several months, then not at all for several more. Round and round the exercise bush. Like most people I know. Except Brad, who was an athlete and so was paid to exercise vigorously every day. Now that he's retired and not paid to keep fit, he can hardly be convinced to walk to the shop. Just kidding (sort of). When he was at his fittest, I really admired the level of fitness he had and the body to show for it (!) Like most people, I wished I had the ability to commit to getting that fit and healthy. And like most people, what I lacked was the motivation to do it.

That was until I got so sick - in case you're new to this blog, I'll update you (I'll keep it short and sweet regular readers). About 7 months ago, I had a sudden onset of the most incredible pain I have ever experienced, and I have had two natural child births. The pain was on the left hand side of my face and can be best described as having someone stab you constantly in the face. The pain is completely off the richter scale and is dubbed the 'suicide illness' because of sufferers propensity to take their own lives because they can not get relief from the pain.

The illness is called Trigeminal Neuralgia and is often very difficult to diagnose due to the lack of awareness of it. I was on incredibly strong pain killers like morphine to deal with the pain before I finally had brain surgery in March. The brain surgery became complicated because I contracted bacterial meningitis and so could have died. It took me a very long time to recover from the surgery. I couldn't see much out of my left eye for months which caused awful vertigo and was generally so run into the ground, that at times, it felt like I was dying. All up this year, I have spent a total of about 11 weeks in hospital (not to mention how many I have spent in bed at home) and been subjected to all the prodding and prodding that goes with it - contrast MRI scans, MRI scans (without the contrast i.e. the die they inject into you), CT scans, copious amounts of blood tests and copious amounts of IV morphine, ketamine and litres of antibiotics to kill the meningitis. At one hospital - which I won't name because I've been legally advised not to - the nurse set my subcutaneous ketamine dose from 10ml per hour to 100ml per hour. If I hadn't picked up the mistake myself by knowing what it should have been, I would have died. So that's 11 weeks in hospital with two possible near death experiences (!) Anyway, I didn't die and so feel very fortunate. Unfortunately though, the ordeal isn't over and I'm still not 100%. There is a chance that I may have to have the brain surgery repeated. Over my dead body I say (which I shouldn't considering my odds are quite high!!). I'd rather live with the weekly attacks than go through all that again. About once a week the pain comes back. Compared to the relentless pain I had before, this is living a dream!

What I have missed though (apart from a plethora of other things, but this blog isn't about that), is my health. At stages over the last 10 months, I have barely been able to walk. As someone who could - before the illness - just decide to put on my joggers and start running, with ease, this has been incredibly tough. Getting back to that point is a challenge. A challenge that has given me motivation in bucket loads. No, make that truck loads. Which is where the biathlon comes in. The Trigeminal Neuralgia Association of Australia (TNA) has asked me to be their patron, which means I have to raise awareness and funds. More motivation!

I want you to join me in competing in the biathlon. PLEASE.

It's not hectic. Just a 300m swim and a 4km run. It's about as easy as they come. When I was in Melbourne last week for my travel story, I stayed at Crown Towers and practiced the swim. It was too easy, I was so stoked! I now need to train for the run but have to wait a couple of months before tackling that one. But I will. Because I need to get my health back to where it was before and I need to do this to raise awareness for the TNA and some funds along the way. I'm thinking that everyone in our team could be sponsored. But that's something I need to discuss with the TNA.

I'm going to enlist as many people as possible - my close circle of friends, football player friends, celebrity friends.... as many as possible. The more celebrities the better because of the awareness factor. I'm going to put everyone in our team in cool TNA t-shirts.

So put it in your diary, make a commitment, use the story or the story of someone you know who has been sick as the motivation and start training. The TNA needs you and I need you. The more the merrier. Afterwards, I am going to organise a knees up somewhere to celebrate. To some of you, that might be motivation enough.

It takes place on Thursday November 18th at 6:30pm in Sydney at Lady Macquarie's Chair (around the Botanical Gardens then into the harbour for the swim). We'll enter as a Corporate Team - if you know any Corporates who want to sponsor, please let me know.

If you want to take part in the TNA team, send me an email at: info@melissaseymour.com. Please pass this on too. You never know, you may have some friends who want to take part?!

And ladies, if you need any further motivation to enter, check this out:http://www.andersonevents.com.au/BiathlonRaces.php

xMel

September 4 2009
Astrology

Regular readers may recall that I posted a blog last month about my regular astrology fix by Susan Miller - www.astrologyzone.com forecasting a horrible outlook for September. It freaked me out, thinking that, by reading it, my mind was already polluted into having a bad month. I normally check the website on the 30th/31st of every month, hoping with much anticipation that the new months forecast is put up early (I'm not the only one!). I even wrote into her - something I never, ever do - asking that she post up according to our time zones in the Southern Hemisphere. I got a reply - no. Apparently the fan base isn't big enough and she is far too busy to get them posted up a day earlier. OK. Even though I was pissed off, her forecasts are so eerily accurate that I continue to read. I vowed not to read the September forecast though, because the August one had said I was going to have such an awful month. I didn't want to know about it! It's now the 4th and the cat has been killed (sorry animal lovers) by my curiosity. The funny thing was, the forecast isn't THAT bad. It's not great. But it's certainly not all the doom and gloom that was predicted by the August forecast. I'm glad I read it, the long range outlook is very, very good. Woo hoo! I wish I had read this 4 days earlier! 5 if they'd get their act into gear and accommodate us fans in the Southern Hemisphere (!)

xMel

September 1 2009
Trigeminal Neuralgia Conference

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They held a three day event down at the Yarra Valley to support the area after the bush fires swept through there on - how can we forget - Black Saturday - in February this year. It was great that they managed to do their bit in helping out. There were eminent Doctors from all around the world and also from Australia. Unfortunately with all of our commitments in Melbourne, I was only able to drop in for a couple of hours on the Saturday. I was asked to say a few words as Patron after lunch and met the renowned Dr Mark Dexter who everyone I know has been telling me to go and see about my Trigeminal Neuralgia. I got to spend some time with him and will be heading over to see him pretty soon. It'll be interesting to know what he has to say - it already was. All of the people I met at the conference were really lovely and a big thank you should go out to the President Irene Wood and her helpers for the great organisation. These things would go unnoticed and be swept under the carpet (litterally!) without the unpaid work people like this do. I told them about the Biathlon idea and they are all excited and I just have to convince them to run not walk - like so many wanted to do!

August 28 2009
Melbourne Today

Oh, you Mothers out there will love this - I woke up at 9:15am!!!! Whoa! Narae and I had breakfast in The Crystal Club- me strawberries, yoghurt and a latte, Narae, fruit and camomile tea (ok, we had some pastries too!). We set off for the day in our incredibly quiet Holden from Avis and made a stop over at Mecca Cosmetica for some Nars gold nail polish. But, alas - no Nars. Apparently they stopped stocking Nars a couple of years ago - gulp. The sales assistant was good though, very good. She managed to talk me into buying an awful colour from their own brand of nail varnish. Narae tried to tell me otherwise, but true to form, I couldn't be told and so purchased the offending colour. The Sales Assistant was so good that she even painted it on for me. It wasn't her fault that it was an god awful colour!

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We then made our way to a meeting at Albert Park to see the gorgeous Alex from Sambag. They have some glorious fedora hats, which I coveted but couldn't afford. Our meeting was so interesting, that 2 hours flew by with it feeling more like 30 minutes. Afterwards, I had every intention of taking Narae past Sam Newmans house but totally forgot all about it. His house has a hologram of Pamela Anderson infused across the front, over two floors.

hat

Being a fashion designer herself, I thought she would appreciate the artistic factor (a-hem). We're going to see the Dali exhibition tomorrow, she'll no doubt get the comparison.

We decided to park the car and walk around the city, which was hard to do in my Barbara Bui boots. But it was important because I was now hell bent on exchanging my nail polish, which, by this point had declared itself to be hideous. After about 20 minutes of walking around the stores, we reaffirmed our belief in the fact that both Australian and International fashion imports are ridiculously overpriced (compared to on-line shopping, of which we are big fans).

Back to the Hotel, new polish on board and we were back up to The Crystal Club for drinks and a chat with the breathtakingly beautiful Kate Hurst. A couple of glasses of Geisen later and we had to call it a night. Three days and nights of back to back Melbourne activity and we are feeling like we need the break of returning to our normal lives in Sydney. I just spoke with Brad and he is out on the town, taking full advantage of me being away. The children are safe and sound in their beds and I would give anything right now to be there, kissing them on their heads and watching their beautiful sleeping faces. Another 24 hours and I will.

choco

Tomorrow we're headed off to the Trigeminal Neuralgia Australia Conference in the Yarra Valley, as you may know if you’ve read this blog before I am the patron of the association and so will have to give a speech. We'll say a sad farewell to Crown, pop in there for several hours of lectures on the illness and make our way back in our Avis Holden. Can't wait to be home.

That said, give me 12 hours back there and I'll be pinning for my fluffy bed, prompt room service and uninterrupted baths.

Lots of love, Mel (and Narae) xx

August 27 2009
Crown Towers Spa

Today I have had the most wonderfully relaxing day that I've had in a very long time. As regular readers of this blog will know, the last 10 months have been about overcoming an illness, and so being treated to such a wonderfully blissful day was especially great. I woke up at the luxurious time of 8am (I usually wake at 5:30am because that's when Saskia wakes up), read the paper in bed and responded to a few inbound emails. I ordered strawberries with yogurt, a skim latte and took my time getting ready to head to the spa - what a morning! The biathlon I'm competing in, in February 2010 is a 300m swim and 4km run. Crown has a 25m pool in the Spa area and so - over my luxuriating breakfast - calculated that I'd need to swim 12 laps of the pool to at least make the distance. Thinking that at my current fitness levels, I'd be lucky to do half, I was so excited to do 300m with ease (!) Woo-hoo! I counted 12, jumped out of the pool and asked the attendant how many metres the pool was. thinking it must have been 15 because it was so easy. Not to be, it was indeed 25m! So it was a double Woo-hoo! And that's the sound of me tooting my own horn!

Headed to the Spa for some pure and unadulterated indulgence. I hope you appreciate the pic of me, post facial, without a scrap of makeup on. I would have only done this, having seen myself in the mirror without hardly any blemishes. That's a good facial.

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I met Narae afterwards in the Crystal Club - exclusive members only type area on the 29th floor of Crown Towers for some High Tea. Wow! The desserts were amazing!

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Sitting in the sitting area of our suite with Narae and planning for Friday, I'm wondering if I should plan to jump on the treadmill tomorrow morning and try to do the 4km run? What a great idea! Except, I don't have sneakers. Bummer. Not.

Heading to bed soon, after an indulgent dinner with Narae and Donna Campbell from Crown Marketing. Had drinks earlier with Greg Moore from Crown Promenade in the Crystal Bar. What a classy man.

Everyone here has been great - Amanda Wilson from the Spa who sent me packing with beautiful Aromatherapy Associates products, Donna for the drinks, dinner, good conversation and chocolates from Number8. So far so good- we've still got another two nights here.

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xxMel

August 26 2009
Melbourne!

Narae and I arrived safe and sound this afternoon in windy, cold Melbourne. For some inexplicable reason, I was warm in a flimsy, Chloe navy blue dress with black Hannah Marshall jacket and pony skin Terry Biviano mid calf boots. I say warm because by comparison, Narae was freezing in Cheap Monday's, Karen Walker top, Black Suede Boots and Hounds Tooth Farage Jacket.
naraeoutfit

Avis were so very kind to us - see the burnt orange Holden above. Davo, the mechanic who worked for Avis, helped us to open the bonnet to check for defects - how were we to know anything anyway?) commented that the colour of the car matched perfectly with my dress. We thought Davo was hero.

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On the drive into Crown, we actually saw Cosco!! We were going to stop to buy some French, but did some math and it wasn't going to be economical. A good thing, because Crown sent us a bottle of bubbles that Narae barely touched.

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As soon as we arrived in the room, Narae donned a Crown dressing gown and ensconced herself on the chase lounge. Work? Non. Room temp - it's at 26. I may die.

Our suite is just absolutely amazing - they've been renovated recently and what a fabulous job they've done!

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Tomorrow is Spa Day - with a few meetings before and after. Am going to see how many laps of the pool I can do before my treatments! With the Biathlon coming up next February, will need to see just how much training I'll need to do before hand!

That's it for now. Lots of love xMel

August 24 2009 - Beaut - i - licious
Introducing – Beaut – i – licious…

Here we’re going to talk about our, our friends and extended network of friends experiences with beauty products and procedures. On Saturday night I had a good friend of mine over for dinner who is a young female doctor – Dr. Annie. I knew she had come off 7 gruelling night shifts working in emergency and her skin was positively glowing. I hadn’t seen such luminous skin since I used to be able to afford Crème de Lamer. So I asked her if that’s what she was using and to my amazement, she had been using a cream found in pharmacies – Cetaphil – Approx. $5.

cream

Cheap doesn’t always mean nasty. I’ve been using St Ives Apricot Scrub for as long as I can remember and combine it with a more expensive toner and moisturiser. At the moment I’m into Ultraceuticals.

August 24 2009
Hip hip hooray! My first travel column has come out in My Child Magazine. You can grab a copy from a newsagent near you. Although when we went to grab ours, our newsagent was sold out.

In it I talk about our family trip to Byron Bay. We stayed in an $8million private residence. The house was unbelievable. But to read more you are going to have to buy the mag (!)

augustchild
August 21 2009
Have You Ever Written Defaming Comments On The Internet?

Well BEWARE! A landmark case in the US has seen a model take Google to court to find out the details of a third party who posted defamatory comments about her on a blog. She was successful. Now she has the details, she is apparently going to sue. I think this is absolutely fantastic. As someone who is certainly not reluctant to commence court proceedings, I am inspired by this story and so wouldn't take much convincing to follow in her footsteps. It has been my experience that the majority of people who make comments on blogs, websites or emails, hide under pseudonyms and false names because they lack the guts to make the defamatory remarks under their own names. Such underhanded behavior reeks of cowardliness and I think it's about time these people are exposed for their real identities. I for one have been the subject of both an online press article comment that was so defamatory it was breathtaking and an email that was also defamatory and noxious (even insinuating that my illness was less than legitimate - how neurosurgery can be questioned is beyond comprehension). What this sort of communication says though, is a whole lot about the person writing it.

I spoke to a highly respected psychotherapist today who says that a person who hides behind such a pseudonym is "very childish, unable to take responsibility for their own emotions, feels quite powerless and is afraid of confrontation because they don't have the ability to handle things like a mature adult - which is why they opt for total secrecy in their communication.

The pseudonym they create is who they are incapable of being in real life - it's like a virtual personality. In real life they probably are very meak and mild."

Touche! Bring on transparency.

xMel

August 19 2009
Patron Saint (!!!)

You might remember that I twittered about being the Patron of the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association? - I am so excited to announce that it's official! The Association is having a fantastic conference with leading Doctors from around the world who happen to know a thing or two about Trigeminal Neuralgia (!) Besides being there as the Patron, I'm keen to get their opinion on the brain surgery I had a few months ago because the Doctor who pioneered it is going to be there. Going along is such a treat for me as I have hardly left the house for months (except the 11 odd weeks I've spent in hospital this year). They've organised dinners and so I just may get to wear that dress (see Fashion Girl/Narae's post) that I purchased on-line about a year ago!

Let's hope I make it. With Trigeminal Neuralgia, you never know when an attack will occur, which makes you quite fearful of making too many plans. My chin is up though, and I am making plans to go. If you are interested in going along, please contact Irene at the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association - there are hardly any spaces though so you'd better be quick!

xMel

August 17 2009 - Fashion girl
My apologies! I have totally just realised how selfish I have been! I have only been recommending websites that are only really useful for females – There is a fantastic men’s section in my-wardrobe, I saw a Burberry coat in there for half of what you would usually pay in Australia. I called the Sydney store and they said that coats start from $1100.

So, for you metro’s out there here are two sites that come highly recommended:

revolveclothing.com

forwardforward.com

So update – I’m making an apple and rhubarb pie tonight! I should enter into CH7 new reality TV showMy Kitchen Rules…

x

P.S. Sizes work like this ladies – US2 - UK4 - AU6 or US6 - UK8 - AU10 – I hope this helps and makes sense.

August 17 2009 - Fashion Girl Here!
Good afternoon to you all on yet another beautiful day in Sydney!

Days like these inspire me – inspire me to pick up a couple of metres of calico and drape. When I was going to fashion school I use to HATE the word drape and HATE that I had to drape. But now that I’m out, I appreciate the art of draping and the ability to then turn a few pieces of fabric in to a pattern then tracing that pattern onto a fabric of your choice!

So, I’m signing off now to drape and sketch on this beautiful day… And maybe even bake a pie…

x N

August 14 2009
Women's Health Magazine - Congratulations!

Defying the current climate of dwindling magazine sales, Women's Health Magazine - one of my favorite Australian mags - has just reported that its readership is up a whopping 36.2%. Great magazine with positive messages - isn't it great that that sells. Some other big swings in readership include NW down 31%, Harpers Bazaar down 19% (hopefully new editor Edwina McCann will turn this around) and Notebook down 23%. Looking at those figures, the Women's Health numbers even more amazing. What I think helps is that the editor Felicity Percival is a great spokesperson of the title, regularly appearing on the 7 networks 'The Morning Show'.

xMel

mag
August 14 2009
Quote Of The Week

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

Chinese Proverb

August 13 2009
This interesting article just in from the Sydney Morning Herald -

"Forget Aspirational, Give Us The Ugly Truth" - smh.com.au

Apparently a survey conducted by PhD student Bianca Price found that younger women do not like buying cosmetics from better looking women. Funny, because I have been thinking the same thing about washing powder. There is an ad that I find doesn't connect with its target audience for the same reason. It goes like this: mother at home with young child/children, quite hassled and doing her laundry. When she fails to get a stain out of the clothes, a younger, brighter, fresher woman appears and shows her how to do it better with advertised product. I see it and am completely turned off the brand. If they had a grandmother type in place of the younger woman, I might be convinced. What mother at home schlepping about wants to be told how to do something better by a younger, less experienced woman? (Yes, I know I am assuming but it's an ad after all) The ads are a total disconnect for me so there might be something in this survey. Cosmetics though? Personally, I am influenced to buy cosmetics by beautiful women. I think this is because of the fantasy of it all - we hope that some of that beauty will rub off on us. Washing powder though? Give me a grandmother any day!

August 13 2009 - Narae - AGAIN...
Good afternoon!

Melissa kindly took a few pictures of me opening my beautiful present and has requested I share them with you!

naraewrist

Opening the package was like opening a babushka doll! In total there were 4 different boxes! For those of you who are environmentally conscious don’t worry, I will be re-using all of the boxes! It’s like Christmas every time a package arrives!

A lot of people are afraid of shopping online because of the whole size issue or the fear of the piece looking absolutely hideous. A lot of online stores now have a full refund policy, so do check if you are unsure about committing.

Melissa is also an avid online shopper – she now feels uncomfortable and awkward when walking into a store! Seeing as this is Melissa’s site I thought that you all might be interested in Melissa’s recent purchase. One of Mel’s all time fav brands is Malene Birger, a beautiful French designer. She snapped up this amazing dress for half price at My-Wardrobe.com.

meldress
Hey, on that note people there is an amazing documentary out TODAY the ‘September issue’. If you haven’t already seen it or haven’t PENNED it into your diaries do it now!! It is a must see for all that appreciate fashion and for those who are secretly in-love with Anna Wintour. It’s no secret that my friends and I love her evil-ness… We all wish we could be more like her…

The film is out on limited release so I have done the research for you - click here and scroll to the bottom and you will find the various locations the film is screening. Some of the theatres aren’t releasing the film till the 20th of August so do check the ‘coming soon’ section also.

Palace here I come!

See you there x

Don't forget I would love some feedback or if you have any questions or want feedback - Email me - narae@melissaseymour.com

August 12 2009 - Narae
Good afternoon Birdies (I believe that is what Melissa calls you all!)… First things first! For those of you who have been following Melissa’s daily blogs you may or may not have seen my name pop up every now and then – Narae!

For first time visitors, don’t be shy – this is my first blog too.

I’m going to be guest blogging every now and then. I hear you ask – about what? Is she qualified?? Well, I’ll be blogging about fashion and pop in every now and then to tell you about my latest ventures and sightings caught on my iphone!

My qualifications – I have studied fashion at both East Sydney Fashion College (when it was located in East Sydney!) and have completed a Bachelor in Fashion and Textile Design at University of Technology, Sydney (If anyone needs advice, feel free to write in your questions).

After fashion school I joined a company that designs beautiful men’s and women’s suiting and day wear. After 2 ever so insightful years there I jumped ship to join Melissa and next year we are going to be starting our own label together, keep your eyes peeled for Mel&Ko.

I’m a gen Y gal and have recently developed an addiction to online shopping (I have two people to thank for this – M and V, you know who you are!). I am probably the last person in the universe to have developed this addiction but be glad people, I have taste! Curious about my purchase this week? That just happened to arrive today! I first saw this item in David Jones (pointed out to me by my lovely shopping buddy) RRP was AUD$399 and in white. Convinced that I could find it online for cheaper I jumped on my trusty Net-A-Porter.com site. And boy was I right! Inclusive of the international delivery cost I paid a total of AUD$329.1401, yay for me! Oh and I ordered it on Monday and received it today – tell me that’s not impressive?!? Fellow Marc Jacob lovers here is the link - Net-A-Porter.com

watch
On that note – Mr. Marc Jacobs we love you!

Till next time x

P.S. Need an honest opinion on an outfit then and there – email me a pic of your outfit and I’ll give my brutally honest fashion opinion!

August 10 2009
If You Are Having A Bad Day....

candle

Spare a thought for Silvia Rigamonti who lost her son, husband, her best friend and the entire family of her best friend when that helicopter collided with the airplane over the Hudson River in NY during the weekend. That poor woman. My heart goes out to her. No one should have to suffer so much.

August 6 2009
On-line Shopping

I just have to tell you about the fantastic designer sale going on right now atwww.my-wardrobe.com. 85% off. So so good. If I shop on a Friday, I have my stuff by the following Tuesday - all beautifully boxed - and it comes from the UK. Special. Enjoy!

xMel

August 3 2009
Astrology – The Awful Truth

Do you read your horoscopes for some uplifting news? I do, so you can imagine how this news about my September outlook went down this morning:

(Virgo – and sorry to my fellow uptight control freaks out there)

August will be a very busy and productive month, where you will have to make a number of decisions about your everyday work life in response to fast moving events. September on the other hand, will be slow, difficult, and confusing, with many events requiring that you backtrack and redo things.

That news from Astrologyzone.com. Now I just have to use my August productivity vibes to forget that I ever read the forecast for September!

xMel

July 30 2009
Ever Wondered What Would Happen If You Answered A Spam Email? Read this, so funny!

spam

www.vanityfair.com

July 29 2009
Taking Cosmetic Surgery Too Far
leg

Lengthening the limbs in order to gain a couple of inches in height is the cosmetic surgery of choice for many German girls at the moment. They endure months of agonizing surgeries and wearing of braces (like the one above) to extend their leg limbs. Thinking it will increase their chances to marry well, many women are excited at the prospect of a brighter future with the aid of being taller. Don't you think this is just appalling? Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes something so shocking that you are just bewildered at what the hell is going on in the world.

July 28 2009
Because You're Worth It!

We've been so pleasantly surprised at the volume of traffic to this site - what started as a site for people to get information about the various projects going on for me - has turned into a viable business in itself. Thanks to you. Thank you for being loyal to this site. We'd love to hear from you about what you want to see here. We don't have 'comments' for example. Would you like the opportunity to make some? What kind of topics would you like to read about? Please email us at feedback@melissaseymour.com. So looking forward to your suggestions! Thank you!!

July 28 2009
Warning: Excessive Exercise & Dieting Leads To This Look (Not Good)
dietdiet2
July 27 2009
I LOVE a Choreographed Dance....

These inmates are amazing. Imagine what this would do for their spirits.

xMel

July 2 2009
The Tour de France is Over - Now I Can Get Some Sleep!
trophey

Armstrong & Contador

As predicted, Alberto Contador won with an overall lead of 5min 24 sec ahead of Andy Scheck, with third place going to Lance Armstrong. It was interesting to hear that Lance broke his collarbone only three months before making his comeback at 37 years old after a four year hiatus from the sport. He just never fails to impress. I can't wait for next years race when Lance comes back with a newly formed USA based team Radioshack. Contador is off to a new team too. The gloves will be off and Lance will be able to go at it properly after apparently holding back a bit for the benefit of the team and a Contador win. Now that it's over, I can get some sleep after watching most stages over the last three weeks - they've been airing from 11pm to well past 2am on SBS. The first week of racing got me through the last week of my hospital stay - the courage of the riders inspiring me to cope with my illness.

July 24 2009
This just in... According to the New York Times - New York is the Thinnest county in New York state(!). Below is New York Fashion's view -
skinny

Today the New York Times confirms something we've known and held sacred in our hearts for ages: We are the thinnest county in New York State. Probably one of, if not the, thinnest in the country. Whereas 67 percent of the nation's population is overweight, only 42 percent of Manhattan's population is overweight. And sometimes — okay, all the time — being skinny is all that matters, especially in fashion. Screw job performance, screw health, screw a general state of happiness — nothing is more important than showing up at a party and being one of the thinnest people there. Besides, being thin leads to things.

“My mom always says, ‘The smaller the dress size, the larger the apartment,’ ” said one lifelong Upper East Sider, who said she did not want to be named because she disapproves of the maxim.

Frankly most of the rich people quoted in the Times article say equally obnoxious things. They all confess to being gym and salad obsessives, and their heights and weights are all listed in the article. But at least, unlike fashion models, these folks admit they put a lot of time, effort, and thought into staying skinny. Where as models "eat burritos and brownie pie all day" and "never exercise." Because that is even more obnoxious.

Check it out the New York Times article here

July 23 2009
Quote Of The Day.
head

What's another word for thesaurus?

Steven Wright

July 23 2009
Warning: real insects used in the making of this.
bike

I've blogged about the artist Damien Hirst before -

He is the one who sold the work with the cow in a tank of formaldehyde for something like 10 million pounds. Seriously. Anyway, he has made the above bike for Lance Armstrong which is to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The butterflies all over it are real. Seriously. It's going to make a fortune for the foundation and Bono asked Hirst to do it. Cool. So cool. Amex anyone?

xMel

bike1
July 23 2009
Michael Jackson's Secret Love Child?

Check this clip out and see what you think.....

Looks eerily like Blanket don't you think?

xMel

July 23 2009
Another Hollywood Star Dies.....

Poor 'Gidgett" the Taco Bell Dog and Legally Blonde 2 star has died aged 15. This little pooch was one of the highest paid animal stars in the world and was a pampered little dame too. I remember reading some time ago that she used to have her own luxury hotel room when traveling. She was most famous for the line in the Taco Bell ads - "Yo quiero Taco Bell" - spanish for "I want Taco Bell", dubbed in a male voice, of course.

"Reposar en paz "Gidget". - RIP "Gidget".

dog
July 23 2009
Ari Rocks It. Too to Funny.
July 22 2009
Tour de France
armstrong&contador

Armstrong & Contador

Have you been following? I am a huge Lance Armstrong fan. Huge. He is about 1 minute 30 odd behind the leader, fellow Astana team mate Alberto Contador. I've been waiting for him to make a play for 1st place but it looks like he won't - giving in to the race tradition of supporting the strongest member of the team to a win. Yep, that means he tanks his own win in the best interests of the team. Don't feel sorry for him - he has seven wins under his belt already.

xMel

July 22 2009
Would you let your kid wear this?
teeshirt

Children's Tee Shirt

Or any of the following slogans - "Mummy likes it on top", "I like big boobs I can not lie", "my mum is easy", "I'm bringing sexy back", "Practice safe sucks".

The kids chain store, "Cotton on kids" has come under fire for these t-shirts. I wonder why? So tacky. So very. We don't need little tots running around with sexual innuendo emblazoned across their chests. Really.

xMel

July 21 2009
Too Little Too Late!

Chris Brown apologises but is he really sorry? I'm not convinced. I think he's sorry for the mess he's in, not that he belted the crap out of Rhianna.

July 21 2009
Family Shame & Dodgy Reporters....

I'm really feeling for Kate Middleton right now. The girlfriend of Prince William has a dodgy uncle, Gary Goldsmith, who has been busted on video talking out of school about the royal romance, doing drugs and offering to supply hookers. You can read all about it here.

So the reporters of course hale from that upstanding news outlet 'News of the World'. They talk of Gary Goldsmith of being this awful, shameful character BUT they are the ones who posed as people they weren't to lure him into this trap and secretly filmed the whole thing. Now who is the dodgy one I ask? Sure, Gary Goldsmith is a wreck and obviously a huge embarrassment to the Middletons but I'm feeling for him and the family. How awful to be lied to and deceived like that. Behavior like that should be against the law. It's just incredible that they are calling him out on his behavior when they themselves are no better!

I had a dodgy uncle. He's not alive anymore but he sure left behind some great stories... He had some serious mental health issues stemming from an awful drug habit. One day he surprisingly won $50k on a horse triffector (voices told him which horses to back). Now this was probably 25 years ago, so that amount of money was nothing to be sniffed at! Instead of using the money for good, he used it for evil (of course!), buying himself a Rolls Royce (used) and a chauffeurs outfit for my aunty so she could drive him around (he offered to pay her for her troubles)! Hilarious times. I once boarded a bus as a 13 year old with friends and he was on board - with a long blonde wig on, no shirt and asking different passengers for a cigarette. I was mortified and hid from him, jumping off as soon as I could! He had a big heart though. Whenever he had the money, he'd buy me stuffed toys. So that's why I'm feeling for Kate Middleton. Plenty of people have relatives we love but aren't for public consumption.

xMel

July 20 2009
Hi there! I'm so sorry for the break in communications. My stint in hospital went for a lot longer than expected (nearly three weeks), which sent me around the bend so much that I honestly couldn't put my fingers to the keyboard. Anyone who has been sick for an extended period of time will know how awful it is to be sick and that when you are in the fog of it, all you can focus on is getting better. I am getting better now but am still pretty flat with after effects of being sick for almost 10 months (brain surgery, bacterial meningitis). I really want to thank the hundreds of people who have emailed in to share their stories of living with chronic pain and/or Trigeminal Neuralgia. Your emails are so appreciated. I originally said I would email everyone back but that was before I had received so so many more emails than I expected - it would take way way too much time so I hope you will forgive the group response!

I am back on line now.... please keep coming back for daily bites of information.

xMel

July 08 2009
As most of you know, I am still in hospital. I've just been outside for some fresh air - it was beginning to feel like a jail sentence (!) I think I had to remind myself that I was free to move about. Like a lot of people, I woke early to watch what was happening with the Michael Jackson memorial. I've got to say, seeing his daughter Paris was the moment that made him feel real to me. That and the Rev Jesse Jackson's speech - wow, that guy is powerful. I was disappointed in the line up, especially seeing as though he was a universal reference point for so many pop entertainers - Justin Timberlake ring any bells? I guess it would be difficult with time constraints..... it's hard to get perspective when you're laying in hospital with way way way too much time on your hands.
xMel
paris jackson
July 03 2009
Are you into reading your horoscopes? THE most accurate (I and all of my friends think) that you can get: www.astrologyzone.com - enjoy!
July 03 2009
HOW ON EARTH could a two year old be strangled to death by a freaking snake people? I am so furious about this. Why would you have a constrictor snake under the same roof as a baby? Where was everyone? Why, why, why? I want answers for an innocent little 2 year old's life lost under the most ridiculous of circumstances. Extreme sadness. That poor little baby. Stupidity at it's absolute best.
snake
July 02 2009
Being in the public eye isn't all it's cracked up to be - there are times I guess that it just gets too much, what with people prying into your personal life, taking pictures and filming you on their phones which can be instantly uploaded to the internet. If my family were in the spotlight like say Posh & Becks et al, I know for sure Brad would lose the plot with the paparazzi. His tolerance levels would be so so low. I often think that those people that famous show incredible constraint with all of that. Possibly because they love it and court it. So when I just heard this story of Cristiano Ronaldo losing the plot, I smiled.

dailymail.co.uk

A girl was waiting outside his house in her car (scary, stalker-ish behaviour?) and when he left his house in his car, she followed and he noticed that she was filming him. He got out of his car and kicked the car in a rage, sending shards of glass over the stalker girl. Now he is in trouble with the law but doesn't care (as if you would if you were Cristiano Ronaldo!). He says it's all about his mother - that he puts up with this kind of behaviour when he's alone, but when his mother is involved and scared then that's it. He loses it. I think I love him.

Cristiano Ronaldo

July 02 2009
Being in hospital, I have a lot of time on my hands. If you read my poem from yesterday, you'd be up on the fact that despite the fact that I have a private room, a comfy bed and some pretty crazy drugs pumping through my body - you'd imagine that I would be flat out sleeping and relaxing. Not. This is a very noisy hospital. I'm hoping I'll get used to the noise and be able to sleep through it. Instead of whinning about it, I've decided to look at it like a holiday. Being a mother, I don't often get time to myself (I hear the sigh of consensus from my fellow mothers). Same goes with running the businesses. I sorted most things out before I came in and I have the superstar Narae to cover everything and Brad is actually an Account Director for L'umiere, running the Toyota account so can step in when needed. So with just about every pot on the stove covered, I am focusing on my health and writing. I promise everyone who wrote to me, that I will write back. There were a couple of hundred emails so it might take me a little while.

In the meantime, for all of those people out there that are struggling with Trigeminal Neuralgia - you can go to the Trigeminal Neuralgia Associations website, at www.tnaustralia.org.au. They are actually having a conference in September that I will definitely attend. I'm talking to them about speaking and they have (I write this with tears welling because this has been a very long and painful journey for me) asked me to be a Patron of the association. I accepted humbly. I say this not to be dramatic, but in light of what they have already achieved.

The President, Irene Wood is a remarkable woman who has pulled the Association together after nursing her mother who had TN. Her story is amazing, she has travelled the world on a mission to gather as much information as possible on not just TN but face pain in general. Just back to the conference, I would love it if as many of you as possible - who have contacted me and have read about TN would attend.

xMel

July 1 2009
A poem:

From my hospital bed: patients are usually in hospital because they are sick, right? Yes, I thought so. Interesting then that the noise levels are beyond. You actually have to raise your voice a few decibels to be heard. Sleep? A siesta would be nice, but not possible. At night? Irregular at best. Night nurses have it back to front and like to talk, sometimes yell from your room. You're f----- kidding you want to say. But you don't. You crack a I'm asleep half smile. Let them go about their business - testing blood pressure, pulse etc.. Fun when children are around. They love those things - stethoscopes, blood pressure arm band. The giggles are soothing for everyone. Even the old man in the next room. Walls paper thin, so I know it gets to him. Should go in I think, take the gigglers to brighten his day. Don't though. I remember that I am sick too. Door closes by itself. Reminds me of a bar door in Mexico. Suits me more than you can imagine, who wants random people looking at you lying in bed in pj's? Not me. For sure. Lots of intrusions though. Tea, coffee, cappuccino? Cappuccino? You're going to make it from that little trolly? I don't think you can call that a cappuccino. Blood. We need some. Sure, go right ahead and offer up my veins. I like to watch them fill vile after vile after vile. Best friend comes in. Looks devine in new Lee Mathews top. On sale. Good buy we agree. Sadness at her leaving, she is going on a holiday. Husband arrives. He makes me cry. Holding in the pain all day. Tired of the brave face. Sometimes I'm just too tired to wear it. That's what husbands are for.

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