I’ve set up the new domain and blog, and yep it’s called helarious :)

I’ve been slowly migrating the content here over to there, and making sure things look good.
The colour scheme and look also needs a bit of loving, but everything else is cool.
I’ve already seen changes in my blogging frequency which is awesome!

PS. Please excuse the random guy there in the screenshot, it’s part of a recent post, not the design of the blog ;)

(Image source)

So if you read the latter few lines of my last post, you would have probably seen this coming: it’s time for a new chapter in my blogging life! I’ve made some decisions across the past few days and I’m feeling very good about it. As a result, it’s also brought back my blogging mojo – emotionally so to speak. There are several steps that I will be taking to start this new journey, namely:

• Changing the way I blog and what I blog about
• Changing platforms from self-hosted WordPress to Tumblr
• Changing the (domain) name of the blog (since Gareth is too busy with work)
• Changing the new blog’s look and feel

I don’t see the point in closing Les Deux off entirely, or losing all the old content either if I were to leave it here open. That’s why I’ll be moving house with all of this in tow. The funny thing is that I originally started this blog using Tumblr in the beginning, back in 2009, a time when Tumblr didn’t have as many bells and whistles as it does now. Funny how some things turn out and come full circle! I’ll be keeping updates on the process I go through as I migrate over etc, if that tickles your fancy. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take too long, or rather I don’t take too long coming up with a new blog name! :)

Technical note: And for those of you wondering why I’m moving back to Tumblr? It’s mostly because it’s easier and faster to blog with, it has a slicker and simpler interface, and it has great social roots. In a way, I feel like I have undergrown WordPress if that makes sense. Something that I never thought would happen to be honest!

I definitely spent way over my intended budget across the several days I was there, including $100 at Safeway (thanks Essie!), and nearly double the amount at Sephora, amongst others. But American retail was just too cool (and cheap!) to avoid, and I had no one stopping me either…

New Essie babies: I couldn’t buy any more after I realised I would be taking them through in my carry on bag and they are technically liquid ;)

Plethora of girly goodness!

One of the biggest discoveries of my life: Sephora Perfecting Eye Primer.

Eye makeup always tends to slide off on my eyelids around and my eyes, no matter how awesome the brand. I didn’t think I could be saved… until I found this and bought it on a whim. No turning back!

Sweater lines (from top to bottom): Zara, Forever 21, Madewell ♡

I’ve been eyeing this for ages! Solid perfume from Diptyque (in Eau Duelle)

New Nike kicks!

Now it wouldn’t be an American dream without a large packet of Reese’s peanut butter cups. Seriously.

Ahhh.. doing this last post makes me realise how much I miss travelling! At least it’s only about 4 months until I holiday around Malaysia, which I’m really looking forward to. Work’s busy as usual which partially explains for my lack of blogging activity. The other main reason I would attribute my inactivity to, is a lack of interest. I’ve found that I’ve lost my voice/will to blog in recent times… and I was planning to blog about the fact that I was going on a mini hiatus for some soul searching, but then that would entail further blogging, right? So the hiatus is over and decisions have been made (sort of)! I think my next few lines should be in a mini post all in itself!

]]> http://www.lesdeuxblog.com/san-francisco-3-retail-lovin/feed/ 1 http://www.lesdeuxblog.com/home-cure/ http://www.lesdeuxblog.com/home-cure/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:13:54 +0000 Helen http://www.lesdeuxblog.com/?p=888672086 Being sick at home for most of the past four days really makes you realise how much you miss the average daily dosage of human interaction, at least it did for me. Luckily (or rather unluckily, depending if you’re a half empty/full -type of person), I started the first symptoms of my death-like cold on a Saturday. Having already made semi-double-booked plans for that evening which I really couldn’t cancel since I had organised one of them, I pushed through. Come Sunday, I felt like a walking zombie and proceeded to sleep for most of the day, only waking up during meal times.

Then the week started, and this is when the real fun began: being stuck at home on a work day! This is how the day unfolds:

• Put the kettle on
• Cook something to eat
• Take Codral
• Slice up lemon, squeeze out honey, slice some ginger = lemon/honey/ginger tea
• Pour the rest of the boiling water into a bowl, add some eucalyptus oil = inhalation liquid
• Watch Once Upon A Time

I’ve become so good at making the teas, I just had to take a snap of one – see? You can even spot the ginger! Perfection.

Meanwhile, thinking that I would make a stunningly rapid recovery on the second day (today) but failing miserably, I decided to take the safer option: see the doctor and stay at home. The doctor experience was gold. The best part was being told I was getting better and hence did not need antibiotics. The second best part was receiving the medical certificate and realising after I had walked back out to reception. that it had an Indian woman’s name on it. Gold. Naturally I took it back and got a reprint.

As I was on the mend, yet still not back to 100% health, I restarted the loop & repeat process as mentioned above. That was awesome as I am now up to the most recent episode of Once et al, and can whip up a honey/lemon/ginger tea like a seasoned pro. Oh, and I also had the chance to play with my colourful chick babies who have been keeping me company these past two days. Aren’t they cute?

Beef & Horseradish $10.90

Naked snag w/ salad $9.90

Spicy Cheese Kransky $8.90

Some good ol’ American nostalgia here in Sydney… snags and ketchup at the Snag Stand!

What’s funny is that this was seriously a huge deterrence to my recent healthy eating habit that I restarted last week… I felt terrible but then forgot about it within seconds because it tasted so good!!

I had the Beef & Horseradish which was delicious mmmmhmmm :9 I think it’s good to have some cheat meals every now and then in addition to a normally clean diet… (in moderation of course). Otherwise it does tend to get a bit boring with the same old stuff – which reminds me, I need to boil some eggs for the rest of the week for breakfast!

Happy hump day tomorrow everyone!

Snag Stand @ Level 5, Westfield Sydney, 188 Pit Street Sydney

As I previously mentioned in SF: Part 1, I was in San Francisco for work so here’s a snapshot of one corner of the new office!!

Before arriving in SF, everyone back in Sydney kept telling me “make sure you go eat some Mexican. It’s amazing!!” – I have to be honest, I was a bit confused about what the fuss was all about, but hey I love it when I’m proven wrong and my tummy thanks me for it! It’s not the fast-foody, cheesy, nachoey-specific mexican that we have in most Sydney joints… it actually tastes so much more authentic and flavoursome. The variety particularly was awesome, and here’s some visual proof:

A burrito which I couldn’t finish because it was so massive !!

This one was at a proper sit-down Mexican restaurant in Santa Clara (compared to the more fast foody one above). This is a Chimichanga and I more or less demolished it. It’s obviously no secret that I’d pile on the pounds if I actually lived here in America… oh boy! (Please excuse the lack of quality in some of these iPhone photos!)

Before leaving Sydney, one of my younger sisters request was quite literally: “can you please go buy some Mcdonalds and take a photo of its size?” – I swear she’s never watched Super Size Me, but hey it must be a well known fact that the sizes are larger there in the States. In any case, the situation presented itself when during one of the mornings before work, John and I couldn’t find a taxi (and we were hungry). Bonus win was that there was a Mcdonalds directly across the road from us, so we thought why not, let’s do it! Here’s the evidence! The orange juice was enormous but seriously disgusting so I couldn’t finish it :(

There were a couple of other memorable foodie moments that I just can’t let slip because they were too funny!

The first being the first ever meal that I had with John after we landed. We made our way to our respective accommodations and then found our way to Union Square… where we befriended a Hot Dog, some Fries & Ketchup! As you can imagine, we were beyond starving, so we gobbled it all up within minutes!

The second? 2am walk in the freezing cold with the whole group of us Sydney-siders along the high way in Santa Clara to IHOP. We simply couldn’t resist. Particularly since none of us had eaten a proper dinner, however Camparis, Cocktails and Beers were a-plenty!

Donut World and Louisiana Fried Chicken could have also easily made it on the menu but to be honest… I really could not continue doing such nastie things to my body and regret it later at the gym, so I resisted: woop woop! But that didn’t stop me from taking a Kodak moment ;)

And last of all…. can I just say that Walgreens/Safeway etc are just a paradise for nail polish lovers such as myself. The range is of Armageddon-esque proportions, simply amazing! Here’s just one section of it:

And seriously… GOLDFISH COLORS WTF?!??! I love you America.