My ABC radio interview

This morning I was interviewed by Gaye Pattison on ABC Goulburn Murray radio.

I spoke about my blog and the support that was generated after I wrote about the verbal abuse I received at the store in Northcote.

You can listen to my interview on the ABC local website.

Here's me featured on the site.


Thanks for your support and for listening!

Giant cocoa pops - Asian snack challenge featuring Kristy

Last night's Asian snack challenge featured an interstate guest, my lovely friend Kristy who is in Melbourne for a few days. She requested to be involved in the challenge after word had spread far and wide that it's on everyone's to-do list when in Melbourne.

I started off by taking photos on my iPhone, for tradition...




...but then I thought...

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! WE HAVE AN INTERSTATE GUEST!

So I whipped out my actual camera.

Here is our haul.



Kristy had those delicious communion-like sesame cookies.

An almond milk that I believe will be yucky but she thinks will be delicious...

And some giant cocoa pops.



Kristy said 'Are these crayons or lollies?'. It was really hard to tell until we opened the box.

They were quite delicious.

I bought snow crepes and boiled lollies. It was not value for money.

The crepes are crispy and taste like sweet scrambled eggs.


I hate boiled lollies but adored the tin. The tin has pictures of Moomin characters on it. So cute.


We also ate actual dinner. At a Japanese restaurant.

Edamame beans



Sweet potato chips and wasabi



Kristy had a chicken don-like dish. She said it was wonderful.




I ate what I refer to as a beige meal. Fish and chips. It was good, but beige and pretty unhealthy.




It was so lovely to catch up with Kristy - she is one of those genuinely nice people and I'm glad to have her in my life.

Radio Carly on the actual radio!

I Will be on ABC Goulburn Murray radio Wednesday morning at 7.35am Australian eastern time talking about my blog! Listen online www.abc.net.au or 106.5 fm in Albury Wodonga.

Business Chic featuring Radio Carly

Today I went to the city with my friend for a few hours. It was really nice.

We had lunch at Grill'd. I love Grill'd and believe I could eat a burger from there each day.

We looked at some shops - Myer (particularly my favourite brand Cue) and the GPO building (loving Arabella Ramsay - oh how I wish to have a money tree! - so many beautiful clothes in store!).

We also stopped by the Alexi Freeman store where Cheryl from the fashion blog Business Chic was blogging and photographing stylish people.

I found out about Business Chic a few months back through the Vogue Forums and love the blog. It features people wearing fabulous corporate clothes - not your every day suiting. It is great inspiration for working with things already in the wardrobe.

She is really following her fashion dreams - working corporately in the day and blogging/styling when she has free time.

Cheryl took a few photos of me to be featured on a future Business Chic blog entry, but here is the entry she did today, and here is the photo of her and I through the window.


(Source)

You should check out the Business Chic blog for some inspiration. It really is very cool.

Green smoothies

One of the really crappy (excuse the pun) things about the type of ichthyosis I have (Netherton's Syndrome) is that my tummy gets very sore. In a non vomit-inducing nutshell, there's something in the genetic makeup of this condition that causes digestive troubles. I found this very interesting - I only found out about this last year from my genetic counselor.

For a few years now I've been experiencing tummy pain and the GP said that it's either period pain or something I ate. So when the counselor told me that the skin condition and tummy pain were related, I was very excited that there was actually a link. While I have not yet been to see a gastroenterologist, I have been trying to eliminate certain foods from my diet - white bread, cheap cakes and muffins, white pasta - I have not really found a pattern. I do know I feel better eating breads without wheat and yeast (hello spelt!) and wholemeal pasta feels much better than white pasta. But other than that, I can feel tummy pain even when eliminating cereal products and only eating vegetables, fruit and proteins.

When I finally do get in to see the gastroenterologist, I hope that there will be a solution, or at least a prevention for this tummy business. Because I love my food and don't want to restrict myself. (Though in my googling for this blog entry, I have just seen that all Netherton's Syndrome patients eventually develop food allergies, particularly to nuts, eggs and fish. If this is true, I am doomed! I love fish.)

Anyhow, I've decided to try eating more roughage. While I do eat a lot of vegetables, and most mornings I either have porridge with yoghurt and fruit or a fruit, yoghurt and oats smoothie, I feel that more green vegetables may help me - particularly with the fibre and the antioxidants they provide.

So I've done a bit of research and decided to make green smoothies. Just like my fruit smoothie, only bright green, and without the milk.

So far I've had two for breakfast. I know, that's not enough to see a pattern forming. But I can tell you that yesterday's made me feel good. No tummy pain until after dinner.

Yesterday's one had half a packet of spinach, two ripe bananas, half a tin of blueberries (I know, cheating, they are really sweet, taste like dessert!), oats and water. It was very brown. But tasted really good! And it kept me full for a good four hours, event through dance class.

Today's had five chopped dates, pumpkin seeds and linseeds (good fats) half a packet of spinach, one ripe banana, water and manuka honey with propolis. Manuka honey with propolis is great for skin infections. It wasn't as nice as yesterday's. I think my banana was a bit too ripe.






Still, in both smoothies the spinach was unnoticeable.

I need to get a few groceries later today, and I will look at some more recipes, so tomorrow's smoothie should be new and improved. Apparently cabbage is really good, and I have some purple cabbage in the fridge!

I recommend everyone try them. The colour of today's smoothie was brilliant - with that colour, it has to be good for you!

Dinner at Khao San Road with a new friend

Tonight my friend J and I went for drinks and dinner at Khao San Road.

It was so lovely - we talked non stop for four hours!

J and I met on the train about a year ago. We really only speak for ten minutes at a time each morning on the train, so we certainly made up for lost conversation tonight! We both listen to our iPods on the train, and I think that is how conversation started. That, or she grabbed me when I was about to fall from the movement of the train!

We discussed our music tastes, and it turns out we have a lot in common. She and I both love Genevieve Maynard, and it really impressed me that someone I randomly met knew of Genevieve's music.

Tonight we probably talked about music for about three of the four hours! There was a lot of music we have in common, and then some others we can introduce each other to. She is so very passionate about music and I love to see that quality in people.

I had a great time and look forward to doing it again soon.

This is what I wore.





The dress and jacket were picked up from layby last week. I adore the colour and shape of the dress - it reminds me a bit of Carrie Bradshaw.

I am wearing lipstick. I only have lipstick because the lovely girls at my pharmacy threw in some bonus samples with a really expensive script purchase one day when I was sick. I think lipstick on me looks a bit gaudy. But it probably looks ok.

Jacket - Free Fusion by Target
Dress - Hot Options by Target
Boots - Wittner (you can't see them closely but they are amazing black, grey and green snakeskin boots with a super-thin high heel - I am in love!)
Tee shirt - Target
Necklace - seven rings of luck - 21st present from close friends
Ring - Diva
Hairclip - Mimco

I drank Frangelico and lemonade, wedge of lime, no ice. The drink I order if there is no Moscato.

We shared these dishes:

Prawn cutlets wrapped in crispy potato 'noodles'

Chicken and sago balls served in lettuce leaves

Lamb stirfry

Duck curry

Banana fritters with coconut icecream

Pumpkin custard with vanilla icecream

It was all delicious! And beautifully presented. Look at how delicate the prawn cutlets are!

The decor was also stunning.




I had such a great time with J tonight and am really glad to have struck up a conversation with a stranger on the train. I challenge you to do the same - you never know, you may just create a close friendship!

Mali the Baby elephant

Last Tuesday I went to the Melbourne Zoo and was lucky enough to see Mali, the baby elephant. Mali is around three months old now. She is very cute.

It was hard capturing still pictures of her because the zoo keepers lead the elephants around the yard quite quickly. And Mali was shy, so she hid behind her Mum's legs a lot of the time.

Enjoy.











You can discover more about Mali at the Zoo webpage.

What's the recourse?

This week has taught me that for every horrible person I encounter, there are at least 100 compassionate, friendly and empathetic people out there. I have received more than a hundred messages of support. Thank you.

Some great things have happened to me this week - another article published, good stuff at work, support from uni, and of course the reply from Callan Mulvey (I'd like to think he reads this blog!). Tonight I am going out with a new friend and I am really excited about dressing up and catching up.

I am still in awe of the support I have received following the abuse from the shopkeeper worried that the vaseline on my face will ruin her clothes.

I have contacted a few places that I believed may be able to resolve the situation (as in, give the woman a good talking to/fine/education), but unfortunately there really isn't much that can be done. The representatives from these places provided personal apologies for what had happened, and were sympathetic towards me, and shocked about the way she treated me, but there aren't any options for recourse. The shopkeeper is hardly going to agree to mediation, or to undertake any sort of diversity training. And I don't want to see her again to mediate. I find that really disappointing.

I believe we live in a great country with lots of support for unemployed and Indigenous people, yet support for disabled and chronically ill people seems lacking. There's little to no financial support (for example, health care cards) for disabled and chronically ill people who are employed. And through calling the council and the human rights commission this week, there doesn't seem many avenues for taking discrimination further, unless it's mutually agreeable. I want to change that.

Last night a woman from the ABC Radio in country Victoria contacted me through my Facebook asking me if I would speak with her on radio about the support I've received after putting my story on this blog and other places online. Though I have expressed my opposition for sharing my story with tabloid media, I really want to speak about this on the ABC, to make people aware of both the treatment I received, and to think twice before judging a person on their appearance. I will let you know more when I find out more.

A couple of the comments on this blog and elsewhere have said that the shopkeeper is usually this rude, that she may not have understood why I look red, and for me to just rise above the abuse. They are fair comments, but I shouldn't have to rise about the abuse because this behaviour should not happen. I imagine it can be difficult for some people to comprehend just how many times I am questioned about my appearance. I can and do ignore most of the comments. Just today, a little girl repeated 'there's a pink girl mum' about 20 times in a store, and her mother said nothing. I didn't say anything either. I ignored it. But it doesn't make it any easier. So sometimes all the questioning and commenting and starting comes to a head, and there may be an exceptionally rude person, like the shopkeeper last week, and so I may not remain polite about things. I may be just as rude in return. And I may swear. I have every right to. I've said it before, but I believe that nobody should question somebody else's appearance to their face.

I know this is a rather serious blog entry. There were just a few things I wanted to get off my chest.

Note from Callan Mulvey!

So a few weeks ago I wrote a letter to Callan Mulvey.

Yes I know what you're thinking. I'm a 28 year old writing a snail mail fan letter. I've not done that since I wrote to Darren Hayes in 1997, before that Shane Warne in 1993 (he wrote back!) and Southern Sons in 1990 (I have an autographed picture of them on the back of my toilet door).

The letter I wrote to Callan was full of admiration, respect and love. Not much gush.

I thanked him for taking the time from his day to have a chat, and told him what an inspiration he is coping with the effects of his car accident while working as a stellar actor.

I posted the letter last week, enclosing some photos and a stamped self addressed envelope.

And today my envelope arrived! It couldn't have arrived at a better time, and Callan's words to me couldn't be more apt.

It's seriously got me beaming.



He signed the photos and wrote a short note on one of the photos.





'Dear Carly
Thank you for your beautiful letter.
I think you're an inspiration for the way you are considering what you put up with and the pain you go through every day.
All the best,
Callan Mulvey
xx :)'

Wow. :)