Mixed business: blogging, Chin Chin, Business Chic, new Bob Evans.

It's been a big week for me and my blog! Thank you all so much for your support - it really does mean a lot!

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my One Million milestone - I remember when my blog clicked over 10,000 hits, and then 100,000. Who would have thought One Million?! And the post I wrote about talking to people with visible differences has touched more than I could imagine. Australia's Disability Discrimination Minister Graeme Innes retweeted it, lovely comments have been left, and DeDe was inspired to write a blog post about her own experiences with her little boy Evan who has Ichthyosis. We met in New York last August - she's on the left, and her cousin Kara is between my Mum and I - and have become firm friends.

DeDe has done wonderful things in raising awareness about Ichthyosis, fundraising and blogging about her little boy's progress. You can read her blog post inspired by mine here. She writes about the invasion of privacy when people feel the need to ask her questions about or comment on Evan's skin. The reality of this is that these questions and comments are tiring, no matter whether we need to educate people about diversity, and I really hope DeDe and my stories help others understand and change their ways a little.

That post of mine has also been listed in Schmutzie's Five Star Friday Roundup. What an honour!

The Voices of 2013 nominees have been announced this week. So proud to be on the list, and also so happy that many of my friends are on it too. There is a huge diversity of bloggers - it's exciting. Tonight I am kicking back on the couch, listening to music and plan to check out some blogs I haven't read before.

Today I had lunch at Chin Chin with Fran, a friend I've known for more than 20 years. She's down in Melbourne for the Grand Prix - her son races in the V8 Supercars, and her husband and brother in law have a racing business. We met when her eldest son was in hospital with me when he was 13 and I was 10 - we were both very regular patients. Sadly, he passed away aged 18. I've got such fond memories of playing with him in the playroom, and then sitting with him and his family in his hospital room. It is bittersweet how tragic circumstances bring people together.

Fran and I both love food and we did not stop talking about food. We had son in law eggs with chilli jam, pork rolls (similar to Peking duck)...

...and kingfish wings with Asian herb salad and nuoc cham sauce. The fried fins made the fish look like it had wings. Cute!

Our food was wonderful - light, spicy and so fresh. I loved the salad, though spicy to the point of stinging my lips. It was great to catch up - we really only do it around the Grand Prix time or at Christmas.

Then I checked out Hosier Lane for street art - isn't this pretty?! I love how the Indian dancer is peeking at the gnome!

I headed home via Melbourne Central - which gave me a great chance to check out The Little Black Dress Project. My friend Cheryl from Business Chic is a fabulous street fashion blogger. We met three years ago when she took my picture for her blog. She has a Little Black Dress exhibition at Melbourne Central for Loreal Melbourne Fashion Week until the end of March.

From the LMFF website:

"Everyone has a Little Black Dress (LBD) but how many different ways can it be styled for work and play? BusinessChic.com.au streetstyle photographer and stylist, Cheryl Lin, works in Finance and explored 52 different ways to style a LBD for work. View the exhibition for FREE at Melbourne Central and purchase a copy of the LBD Project book as a useful reference for yourself or Mother’s Day! Visitors who wear their own LBD to the exhibition have the chance to win their own autographed copy and style session with Cheryl Lin."

She styled a little black dress in different ways once a week for a year. I love what she's done with accessories. She's gorgeous. The exhibition inspired me to work with my staple items more.

Cheryl has her own banner. I cried tears of pride when I saw this. So proud of her success! She works incredibly hard - like me, she has a day job and her blog is her other job.

If you're in Melbourne Central, do visit her exhibition and pick up her book. She's signed my copy and I can't wait to read it and get some ideas.

Finally, I picked up the new Bob Evans album Familiar Stranger yesterday - actually I downloaded it for my phone and computer, and bought the physical CD too, because there's nothing better than sighing over the CD booklet on first listen. As expected, the album is magic. It's more pop music than his previous solo albums, but I am loving this progression. The upbeat pop complements the often dark and deep lyrics. It's made me laugh, made me sad, made me think. He's an incredible writer. My current favourites are Wonderful You - an ode to his baby daughter, Go - an upbeat love song with a funny video - and In Another Time - it reminds me of Clare Bowditch's The One. In Another Time could be about a person returning to interrupt life when you've moved on, or it could be a hangover from a previous point in life that follows you around, and you just want to shake it. I highly recommend the album - tell me what you think! Kevin also wrote a great piece about musicians on Twitter - it made me think of fandom and the mystery shed when interacting with idols on social media.

That's it for me now, I am off to read. Tell me about your day. Tell me about the music that moves you.