Sez Shares

Four things

2009-03-24T11:38:00.005+11:00

Having been tagged by Gervy and dragged back into blogging. I start my blog again in the new year (although now March) with a Meme.

1. Four places I go to over and over:

a - Fitness First Gym. Sadly not to work out as most people do, but to use the shower and dressing facilities after I ride to work each day. Am trying to prod myself back into visiting for a workout as well, but other things seem much more exciting.
b - Woolworths Marrickville. Our nearest supermarket. We seem to spend a lot of time, and coincidently, money, there. Which is very annoying as they keep ending lines, or not stocking the brands we like. This weekend just gone we visited three times and spent well over $200!
c - Browns Ave, Marrickville. Home of Merlin and Panda, two super cute and friendly Persian cats that actually recognise us now and come trotting out for pats.
d - Liquorland, Marrickville road. I try not to drink during the week, but most weeks I get to Thursday and think "stuff it!" and pick up a bottle of sav blanc on the way home. They don't have the best selection, but at least it's reasonably priced and only 3 minute cycle from our house.

2. Four people who email me regularly:

a - Dons touches base for chats, forwarding on chain emails, planning nights out, or to gush over cuteoverload.com
b - Facebook sends me alerts and notifications of wall posts, photos, events. Infact, I think facebook mails me the most!
c - Kevin, although mostly as responses to my emails, which I have pestered him to answer.
d - Google calendar, everyday at 5am, it tells me what I'm doing that day.

3. Four places I would rather be right now:

a - Bed. With the nights nice and cool and with daylight savings not yet ended, the mornings are lovely and dark and I really don't want to get up.
b - Tauranga at my folks place. With our big trip later this year, Kevin and I have not had a summer holiday. Thus I am really craving some chill out time at my folks, eating avocados and drinking in the views.
c - The beach. It's a lovely day today with a nice temp of 27C, perfect weather for a swim and laze around. Of course this beach could also be in Thailand and that would be acceptable too.
d - At a waterfront pub or restaurant, catching up with friends. A gorgeous day for socialising today!

Chilling out in Tauranga, Christmas 05.

4. Four of my favourite places to eat:

a - Crust pizza at home in front of the TV
b - Doytao Thai on King St in Newtown, superb Thai food!
c - Newtown's Bank Hotel, in the Thai restaurant, Sumalee Thai (see a trend?).
d - Cafe Ism on Wilson St, MacDonaldtown. Although the food has gone downhill, nothing beats sitting outside on one of the small stools and soaking up the village atmosphere or taking a coffee across the road to Kevin's favourite park, Hollis Park.

6. Four TV shows I watch over and over/never get sick of:

a - Project Runway. Having had 5 years of dressmaking/Clothing & Textiles studies at high school, I feel I have a real appreciation for how talented these designers are, and how much hard work they really do on each challenge. I love seeing their creations and I've actually been so inspired that I want to get a bernina machine and start sewing again!
b - Sex and the City. I've seen every episode at least 5 times and there are repeats on several times a night on foxtel. And yet, if I catch one, I always enjoy it.
c - Any documentary made by Dr Robert Winston - Fascinating stuff!
d - Bridezillas! Fabulous AND bitchy darling. Need I say more?

Christmas with a Cat

2008-12-19T11:55:00.003+11:00

Zeus looking cute with light up pressies behind him

Cat, box, you know...

Like an Angel (or Devil) at the top of the tree

Baking with a Bengal around

Not cat related, but this is what I was baking - Baubled Christmas Cupcakes for morning tea

The potential hazard of the Door Zone

2008-12-16T16:39:00.006+11:00

If you are a cyclist, you will well know what the "Door Zone" is, and hopefully it is only regarding its hazards, not having intimate knowledge.

However, it is incredibly worrying as Sydney's cyclists continue to rise, that many car drivers have no idea what the "Door Zone" is. And that is where the problem lies.

Imagine you have parked your car. You open your door to get out, or worse, kick it open. A fraction of a second later, a cyclist crashes head first into your door, or horrifyingly, is propelled out into the lane of traffic.

Get it?
Basically, if you're getting out of your car, check behind you before you open the door please. You might save someone a very painful experience, and certainly some damage to your car.

Repurposed from Royaltech via KTC's post on the dangers of the "Door Zone" and the new campaign in Chicago alerting car drivers to it. Pass it on.

Christmas Wishlist

2008-12-10T09:32:00.011+11:00

So it is the silly season is here and I have been rushing round like a headless chook and realised that I have not posted much.

For those few readers I have, especially those from the Northern Hemisphere, December Down-Under is extremely silly indeed.

Work wise things kinda slow down, but they also getting very busy as clients and colleagues push for stuff to be done so they can go on leave in peace, knowing that two months of invoicing, planning and work has been completed in a one week period.

Weekends and even weekdays become so full that one cannot accept any invitation without triple checking the diary to ensure it does not conflict with the four other things they might have on that day.

Trying to get the Christmas decorations up is a two evening process as one feels exhausted after sticking all the fake branches on the fake tree, and doesn't have the energy to hang the lights and baubles too.

The liver takes such a beating this time of year. Not only for the multitude of social activities, but also due to the lack of recovery time as you cannot rest the next day, as there's another party/gathering. And if no group activities have been booked, you just KNOW that you HAVE to go gift shopping.

So to echo Gervy, I am posting here what I would like for Christmas. It might help a certain someone to order online as he probably won't make it to the shops due to the aforementioned silly season issues.

1. Perfume

I got to try the lighter, fresher Chanel No. 5 last night - Eau Premiere. I likey! I wear Chanel No. 19 usually in the summer, but this seemed an excellent different option.

However, I also know a certain someone really likes Narciso Rodriguez on me. And as I have run out, I wouldn't object to a bottle of this either.

2. Electric Hand Beater

I love baking for friends at Christmas but I have been put off this season by having whisk everything. My wrists just can't handle the RSI. And as much as I love the aesthetic of the Kitchen Aid cake mixers, we just don't have the money or, more importantly in this case, the storage. So a decent electric hand beater would be perfect. The below Breville one looks the business.
4. New Bicycle Tyres

After getting a flat tyre twice in one day, I am currently commuting by train. The streets are currently littered with glass for partying Sydneysiders and at $12 a inner tube, I can't afford to continuously have punctures. After chatting to those in the know, it was agreed that after six months of inner city commuting, the tyres should be replaced. I would like those that have kickarse gel inlaid. Like the Schwalbe Marathon's Kevin has. I don't know what kind I should get, but the boys at Cheeky Monkey can sort it :-)

5. Esty finds

I have become ADDICTED to this place. I haven't actually bought anything yet, but I was showing my other half as ideas for his sister, and realised it was another excellent place he could buy things for me!

There's the Gold Map Money Case. Perfect to protect my new microchipped passport from thieving electronic readers whilst at the airport.

My Macbook must be protected in a Antique Map Labtop Sleeve with zipped compartment for the powerpack.
Any one of numerous favourited clutches from RedRubyRose. Favourites include:

Peacock tones, printed and embroidered

And the Yellow Peony

Finally there's what I will be definitely buying one way or another. The Chloe Peacock Head Piece. I need it for my teal bridesmaid dress that I will be having shortened to wear for wedding season next year.

I reckon that's enough to get him started? Don't you?

Zeus – The Saga

2008-11-10T17:35:00.006+11:00

Apologies for being off radar for so long, but it has been very full on recently. However, the biggest news has been that Kevin and I are now parents!

To a furchild.

Meet Zeus Sevin

When our rent was raised, I decided that it was a good time to broach the terms of our lease and ask permission to have a cat. We got a yes!

Next stage was finding a cat. This was made a bit tougher and K has never had cats, has allergies and really loves dogs. Even though I love a good ol' moggie, Kevin is new to cats and cannot read them like I can. We met some fostered cats, and sadly they were very disturbed by their very hard lives. We also visited the Cats Protection League who do a marvellous job, but sadly the potentials would turn from a purry monster, into a swiper. I even had a very friendly mix-oriental be smoochy one minute, then lunge at me twice. Understandably, these cats had huge trust issues, and while I could probably read them and work with them, Kevin has limited experience and could not. So we decided a pure bred cat where we could select according to personality trait would be better. However, I was emphatic that I did not want a kitten. I wanted an adult. That throws up dilemmas, as we were to discover.

At first we decided to go the Burmilla route. Kimba, our guest cat, is a Burmilla and although dopey, is very cute, cuddly and Kevin had gained tolerance of Kimba with his allergies. However, Burmillas are a relatively new breed and most breeders were way out of town. However, we did get in touch with a breeder in Southern Sydney who had a 2 year old girl that was originally going to be a breeder, but didn’t take to it. Upon meeting her, she was on heat, hopefully for the last time. But because of her physical condition, she really had no interest in us. However, the breeder’s two pet burmilla’s were super cute, climbing into our laps, and gazing up at us adoringly while purring. Damn it! This was the cat I actually wanted.

Another Burmilla, a 3 year old boy, came up on Gumtree. But his owner (at the time) didn’t return my emails, even to say he’d been adopted.

Then I got onto http://www.petlink.com.au and discovered breeders finding homes for ex-breeder cats, and people looking for homes from their cats due to changed circumstances. After the Burmilla on heat episode, I decided it was too much of a risk taking on an ex-breeder. So I decided to look at cats needing homes from changed circumstances.

I enquired about two moggies, and a tonkinese. One of the moggie’s had already found a home, the owner of the other had decided to take the cat with her to NZ anyway. We actually went and met the Tonkinese but the owner was not ready to let go and we suspect, was probably desperately trying to get her mother to take him while she moved to the UK for her working holiday visa.

I kept a look on the site, keeping a look out for Rex’s, Burmillas, Burmeses, and Bengals.

Then up came an advert for a 2 year old Bengal boy, desexed, needing a new forever home. What really impressed me was it was the breeder that had posted the advert.

Lisa's pix from the advert

I called her straight away and had a great chat about Zissou. Turned there had been a marriage breakdown and Zissou was sadly stuck in the middle. Lisa, the breeder, always took back her cats, no matter what. Which I thought was excellent and very responsible. I was the first to call, and everything she could tell me, “he’s used to being an indoor/outdoor cat, he’s friendly, not too bothered by rush and bustle, loves the kids etc etc…” sounded like he was the cat for us.

So we had to wait an agonising week to meet him. I rang Lisa on Thursday to confirm us coming on Saturday morning and she said she really hoped it was a good fit and if so, we could take him home with us straight away.

We arrived to meet Zissou and met Lisa and her family. What a fantastic breeder! Zissou was very sweet, completely obsessed with the birds outside, but happy for pats. He was absolutely gorgeous! Turns out Bengals have pelts rather than fur as such. In my research I found out that Bengals were good for people with allergies as their dander contains a lot less of the Fel d 1 chemical that most cats have. It is this Fel d 1 that people get allergic to, especially with longer fur that carries more dander.

Anyway, Lisa gave us a tour around the cattery and it was immaculate. Lots of room, very clean and we were very impressed. We also got to meet some cute 6 week old kittens, both stripped and snow.

So after hanging with Zissou a bit more, we all agreed it was a good match. K was VERY impressed and I thought that was a great sign. So we paid our $250 (cats at shelters go for $175, and Bengal kittens are $800, so we thought this was a great price), we all piled in the car and headed back to Sydney.

Due to Bengal’s DNA, sadly cat tranqs don’t work, so we had to put up with yowling pretty much all the home. Kevin sat in the car with the newly christened Zeus while I rushed round the very understocked Petbarn in Alexandria buying stuff (they are very dog orientated apparently). Then we got our little man back to the house quick smart.

Zeus rushed out of his carrier to check out the house. No fear here. And the first night he was super cute, sitting on the couch with us and sleeping on the bed.

However, that first week, being locked up inside two different places in two weeks, with all new people, took its toll. Although he was having supervised walks outside after work, I noticed he was using his kitty litter A LOT, and it seemed to be turning pink. A quick google search and we were off to the vet for a suspected, then confirmed Urinary Tract Infection.

Three weeks after arriving at Casa Sevin and everyone’s much happier. Zeus gets to hang wherever he wants during the day. He’s curfewed at night after his wet meal, and sleeps on the couch until 6am in the morning when he comes and joins us. There were way too many feet attacks at midnight for sleeping with us to be a full time gig.

Zeus seems to know his new name, chosen because it was similar to his old one, but easier to say and tell people. He also gets super excited when we come home from work, as demonstrated on Friday evening when we got back at bit later than usual. I called for him in the front yard, he appears across the road and came trotting across at pace, miaowing hello. Awh! Made me proud.

So that’s it for now. Just lots of insufferable pix and vids :-D

New shoes makes one happy

2008-09-19T09:21:00.005+10:00

My experiences with buying shoes through ebay have been mixed. My first experience was so good, Bally slip on courts/loafers in black that have been brilliant. I also bought a pair of Chloe heels that were originally samples. Due to them being samples the shoe and sole are leather and superb, but the crappy plastic heels then snapped. So I had to get them completely reheeled and then also decided to have the heels covered in leather. However, the result was so nice and enhanced the original shoe I didn't mind it costing more money as they have been worn lots.

On the other hand, the Chloe boots I bought earlier this year needed a lot of work, but sadly I'm still left with a pair of boots that I can't wear as they are a size too big and due to the relining of one boot, too tight on my cycling left leg. It's my own fault as my other Chloes are a 39 and fit perfect, yet the ebayer declared that they were too small on her cause she was a 40 and the 40 size of the boot must really be a 39. Nope, they are a 40.

Nevermind, I haven't been put off.

Recently, thanks to a bit of support from the Dons, I bid on and won these Andrea & Joen boots that I wasn't sure about due to the silver heel. (Dons said "go for it!")

They showed up earlier this week and turns out they are brand new, never been worn! They also fit real good and the silver heel is good as it prevents those heel kick marks I would have got if they were in the pinky/taupe colour like the rest of the boot. These boots are also a better length for Sydney as the winter really isn't long or cold enough for justifying a knee high pair at the moment. Currently they are being worn with my grey skinny jeans and look fab!

I also just found out I have won these.

They are Bally again and although slingbacks (I do find wearing slingbacks a little strange due to my splay footedness) I thought they were so cute and would go with long shorts, linen trousers and skirts for the summer. As I have just won and paid for them, they haven't arrived yet. Fingers crossed they are another excellent win to make up for the Chloe boot debacle.

P.S - I've just realised all my links have disappeared when I tried to tart up my look (and failed miserably), very sorry to all. Will fix soon.

25 most played on my iPod

2008-09-12T09:11:00.006+10:00

For LBR who asked me to do this meme, these my 25 most played on my iPod. My recently played list doesn't update very well, so this list is a little more accurate.

1. Learnalilgivanlovin - Gotye
2. Signs - Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg
3. Defying Gravity - Idina Menzel (from the Wicked Broadway Soundtrack)
4. Get together - Madonna
5. Not the Same - Ben Folds
6. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
7. Jump - Madonna
8. It's on - Nesian Mystik
9. Amazing - Alex Lloyd
10. Hung up - Madonna
11. Ooh Scissor Sisters
12. La Noyee - Yann Tiersen (Amelie Soundtrack)
13. The Fox - Nickel Creek
14. Last Man Standing - Clarksville
15. Seasons of Love - Cast (Rent Soundtrack)
16. Wandering Soul - Alex Parks
17. Long time Coming - The Delays
18. One Heavy February - Architecture in Helsinki
19. What is this feeling? - Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth (Wicked Broadway Soundtrack)
20. What you waiting for? - Gwen Stefani
21. Paul McCartney - Scissor Sisters
22. The Only Way - Gotye
23. Superstylin' - Groove Amarda
24. Spinning around - Kylie
25. Landed - Ben Folds

What is interesting about this list is how representative it is of why I first got my ipod and my daily journeys when I worked on the Dark Side - Madonna, Gwen, Scissor Sisters, the Wicked and Rent soundtracks...

Weirdly two of my favourite artists, Ben Folds and Gotye don't feature as heavily as I thought they would. But good to see that Wally takes my no. 1 spot (as he should) with his great soul tune as well as 22, and Mr Folds takes out spot 5 and spot 25.

Couple of oddities, at least I think so, are how much I must have listened to are Kylie, Nesian Mystik, and Justin and Snoop. I listen to them a lot awhile ago, but they still feature very prominently which shows how much I must have thrashed them. I also don't understand why from my Architecture in Helsinki listenings, One Heavy February features and Where the Owls Go doesn't. Also not there are It'5 and Do the Whirlwind which I know I thrashed when I first got the In Case We Die album.

12, 13, and 14 are some of my favourite tracks ever! La Noyee is from the Amelie soundtrack and fills we with joy. A great, classic composition that builds and builds. The Fox is a fun twist on a children's traditional and showcases the the talents of Nickel Creek. The now defunct Clarksville tune Last Man Standing is a great travel song and reminds me of driving across the Desert Road of NZ, which is probably why I played it over and over.

I hope this list shows diversity in my listening habits. I'm pleased that two Aussie artists appear, but not featuring is my Kiwi bands and singers, nor any of my classical albums, especially Puccini, who I adore.

Large Hadron Collider day!

2008-09-11T11:06:00.002+10:00

So yesterday the LHC was turned on! I for one find the whole thing quite exciting! Dr Karl got me interested what was happening, especially after his mind blowing interview with Dr Kip Thorne and Sir Roger Penrose - Download the Mega Mind Meld here.

There has been much doomsday predictions that the world will end, that we will be sucked into the experimental black holes the LHC may create in its efforts to understand matter, energy and especially mass.

As the Mega Mind Meld got me interested in Black Holes in general, I ended up watching an excellent doco series that someone had ripped off onto YouTube called Black Holes: The ultimate Abyss which was like WOAH...

What the doco told me was that all galaxies, including our own, are built and fundamentally rely on a central blackhole that creates a pull that has reached its capacity, so instead spinning the bodies that surround it.

Very cool. And also says to me that black holes are fundamental to understanding our universe and how matter works. The LHC will help explore energy and matter, and will hopefully be the key to renewable, powerful energy.

So the LHC went online yesterday, and us all at work geeked out like the true nerds we are.

And after this little ramble, still wondering what on earth the Large Hadron Collider is? I'll let Alpine Kat explain:

Close call, but she's okay

2008-09-03T11:18:00.006+10:00

At 10pm I received an email from my Mother last night:

Just to let you know, Tara was involved in a car accident yesterday. Just seems to be a broken bone in her foot. But she's very sore and has pain in her abdomen which the surgeons were going to check out when we left the hospital tonight.

Haven't heard from Leo with the update yet. Thought you might like to see the car. R photographed it when he went to find part of her hearing aids. She was shunted from behind into and under a trailer which was behind a truck coming from the opposite direction.

Needless to say the car's a writeoff!

Yes, I was shocked too. I immediately rang my mother unable to believe that all Tara had broken was her foot. I got the full story.

My brother's partner Tara is teacher and had just driven home from work in the afternoon. They live rurally just outside Tauranga in New Zealand, so their road leads off a major highway. 2 to be exact.

Tara had stopped close to the middle of the road, with her wheels turned to the right, to turn across the highway traffic and into their road. Someone had then come up behind Tara, and had just not realised she was stopped or even there! They then shunted the back of Tara's car, and because her wheels were turned, she was pushed right, and into the opposite flow of traffic. At the very moment she was shunted a semi truck and trailer, was travelling past. Tara's bonnet went under the trailer and then swiftly under the two sets of double tires. The truck driver felt the bounce but couldn't believe what he saw in his rear view mirror when he looked to check what it was and saw Tara's car spinning behind him.

Tara was taken to hospital and unbelievably, was okay and fully conscious. As the Police kept saying in their utter disbelief, "You're alive! You're ALIVE." A split second earlier or later Tara could have gone head on into the trailer, or been side hit by the car behind the truck. All causing much more injury and damage to Tara rather than the car as did what happened. Even then it's hard to believe the car cabin didn't join her bonnet, and thank god! She's alive!

The driver who shunted Tara is also okay. Concussed but okay.
The truck driver is also fine. His truck (above) needs new wheel rims, but as you can see, the damage doesn't belay the full extent of the accident.
R= Richard, my Dad
Both my Dad and Tara wear hearing aids. Dad has age related hearing loss, Tara is half deaf from birth.

What people are wearing in Melbourne

2008-09-01T10:07:00.004+10:00

Pink Chairs with White Coats:

Optional accessory, a Dr Evil Finger:

So I teared up...

2008-09-01T09:41:00.002+10:00

Brilliant. Except for the off key singing, but perhaps that's part of it's charm.

Happy Anniversary to Sevin!

2008-08-27T22:05:00.017+10:00

So last time I blogged I was about to find out where Kevin was taking me for our two year anniversary. On Thursday night Kevin told me to pack my winter woollies because we were going to Melbourne! But the best was yet to come. The reason we were going to Melbourne was to see the musical Wicked. I have been wanting to see Wicked for about two years but thought I might have to wait for it to come to Sydney. However, with a few words Kevin proved not only does he pay attention, but he also loves me so much that he will subject himself to the "Witchy Musical" (his nickname) for my happiness. I have to admit, I actually jumped up and down on the spot when he told me that we were going to the show.

So on Friday, after a flurry of packing the night before, Sevin flew out of Sydney (an hour late and with horrible turbulence) and into Melbourne. We grabbed the shuttle bus into the city and after banking our water rebate cheque at the Gothic Bank (which was gorgeous), we headed straight for one of Kevin's favourite haunts - Degraves Espresso.

We stayed on Degraves St during racing season last year , and Kevin loved this little laneway of coffee and food. However, we definitely showed our Sydney temperature preferences by asking to sit inside on the window counter than out under the space heaters.

After a a tasty lunch with bad service (but hey, the waitress thought she was cool), we trammed down to St Kilda to check into our hotel. Now I have to give a shout out here to Gervy's hubby Cade, who it turned out was very much an "ask an expert" for Kevin's planning and he suggested gorgeous, eye and palette pleasing places to Kevin for the occasion. This included the hotel Kevin booked us into, The Prince @ St Kilda, a gorgeous boutique hotel with a well reviewed restaurant (Circa) and funky bar (Mink) attached. So I was absolutely thrilled with the place, not least of which because of the name and the scrummy Aesop Prince Pack in the bathroom. The joint promo worked as Kevin liked the body wash so much, we popped next door to the Aesop store to buy a pump bottle.

The gorgeous Prince @ St Kilda hotel room
and a Prince with the Aesop Prince Pack

After checking out the hotel room thoroughly, we decided to head out for a walk down to St Kilda shops for a spot of shopping and a lookie at the restaurants. After trying to walk down the Esplanade, we were freezing in the icy wind, so walked up one street parallel to Acland, and discovered a paradise of Art Deco, post war and funky 70s architecture. In fact we loved the amalgamation of housing styles so much, we ended up walking around the surrounding area quite a bit during our stay. We looked in a couple of clothing shops but most of the garments were no different that what I could find in similar shops in Sydney. But at the end of Acland, running through to Barkly, we found Kinki Gerlinky. Amongst the refurbished 70's fabric clothes were some lovely, more modern items, including three georgette jacket/shawls. I ended up buying two of them, in grey and cream. (The fall of the fabric was lost in the black version.) These little jackets will go beautifully with my ever increasing collection of silk camis for work and cool nights this summer.

Smik Hairdressing St Kilda

At this point we figured we getter get ready and get ourselves into town for the show, which started at 8pm. The tram took awhile so we decided to see the show, THEN get a knock up meal somewhere. However, as we waited for the circle to open at the Regent Theatre, our tummies started grumbling and thus a diet of beer and pringles ended up being consumed pre show and during the interval. For this reason I'm hopeful that Kevin liked the show because it was good, and not because of the beer. Wicked was... Wicked! I knew all the music and knew the storyline (wikipedia) and enjoyed the spectacle. Sadly Rob Mills wasn't performing that night, but Anthony Callea was. And he was very good. The ladies were excellent, and true to form, I bawled my eyes out in "For good". After the show our eyes proved bigger than our stomachs when we ordered $60 of mediocre Chinese food and beverages in Chinatown. We ended up leaving most of it on the table before scampering into a taxi and deservedly into bed.

Sez about to see WICKED!

Saturday was actually Sevin anniversary day and after a fabulous breakfast at Circa in the hotel, we headed back into town for some shopping, lunch and a little sightseeing. Kevin got his wish and we spent about an hour in a bicycle store and I got my wish and bought some new PJ bottoms from Peter Alexander.

Sightseeing Kevin (with Degraves Espresso Coffee)

We returned back to St Kilda and had a drink at Mink, which turned into a time delay photography session with the candles. After a couple of beers at the hotel in our room, we headed out to a nearby restaurant, Elbow Room, for dinner. Oysters and bubbles to start, followed by succulent barramundi fish for me, Faijitas for Kevin and Tasmanian pinot noir to share. We even managed to fit in dessert.

Sevin candle time delay hearts at Mink

Dessert at Elbow Room

Peppermint tea after a big meal at Elbow Room

For our final day in Melbourne we had done some pre-planning the day before, and after calling the National Gallery of Victoria to see if they would check our luggage, we decided to spend the afternoon at the Art Deco Exhibition. However, first we had our included breakfast, which turned out to be quite disappointing compared to the day before. A 20 minute wait for our coffees, about half the amount of pastries, and a smudge of fruit puree for the muesli (which was so pathetic I asked for more). After grabbing another coffee next door (we weren't going to wait another 20 minutes), Kevin and I spent one last time wandering around St Kilda admiring the architecture, before promenading the beach boardwalk in the sunshine, watching dogs play. We then checked out of the hotel and trammed into town.

The Art Deco exhibition was very good. Overpriced at $22 each, but very good! The exhibition covered the entire era, from 1910 - 1939, and the most interesting thing we found was how the style moved and changed, and how encompassing the title really is. Kevin and I really enjoyed looking at the bits and pieces. Our home is of the period, and our taste gravitates towards items that work with Art Deco, so we decided to hit the shop after to grab a travel poster to frame for our house, but sadly all the good ones had gone. So Kevin made do with a Japanese print that caught his eye. He also bought himself a Pantone mug in red 186C that quite frankly, freaking rocks! But perhaps that's because I'm a geek. I told the sales person that Pantone should release beach towels and his eyes grew as large as saucers in awe of the suggestion. He too was geeking out on the possibilities of Pantone goodness.

After a spot of lunch at the NGV, we collected our luggage and shuttled out to the airport. No dramas on the way home this time and just a happy and contented Sevin.

It was a wonderful anniversary. Thank you KevinXXXX.

Sevin enjoying cocktails at Mink

Colour me excited!

2008-08-21T12:57:00.007+10:00

Sorry for being off the radar over the last couple of weeks. Just been getting bogged down in the Winter hibernation zone. This involves sitting on the couch, watching foxtel IQ (Tivoed Cable) and contemplating red wine before bed.

However, over the last couple of weeks there have been a couple of outings.

Firstly, my friend Al's birthday. She decided that she wanted to go to the Crystal Boudoir for their cabaret show. This turned out to be excellent fun, with amazing dancers, an amazing setting and more amazing cocktails. The favourite of all was the Lavender Blanc - Vodka, gin, elderflower and lavender schnapps, all topped off with Savignion Blanc. Delicious and dangerous. Kevin was sick with a cold so stayed home while I whooped it up with the ladies.

Me and Al

Amazing dancers. Check out those heels!

On Thursday last week my friend P and I had a light dinner before hearing her friend's jazz quartet at Bar Me in Kings Cross, the Blue Moon Quartet. The music was fab. Lots of old standards and some jazzed up modern renditions. Accompanied by a bottle of cheap but rather decent wine, we had a lovely time!

Last Sunday gone I decided to have a little birthday celebration and accompanied by a few friends, we all played Laser Tag at Darling Harbour with some randoms. It was AWESOME fun! Everyone had a such a great time we all forgot to take a photo in our laser gear. After seriously whipping arse (or actually it was vice versa as the other team were very good) we headed over to Docks for a couple of Sunday evening bevies and for those who were hungry, some eats. Unfortunately, a slightly uncooked sausage I had engulfed at the supermarket sizzle the day before came back to haunt me and I ended up spending Monday (my actual birthday) working from home. However, the parentals rang and Dad and I had nice chats. And my bro popped up on facebook for a IM chat too.

So it's Thursday and I'm back at work but getting very VERY excited! Saturday is Sevin's two year anniversary. And so, Kevin has organised a weekend getaway somewhere, leaving tomorrow. I know nothing, except that we are getting on a plane, and there are plans for tomorrow afternoon. This my part anniversary, part birthday gift from my Boy and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Viva Las Somewhere!

Finally, other than packing tonight, Sevin are going to meet a black cat that is currently being fostered by a lady who lives down by the golf course. His name is Basil (which might have to be changed to Cassius or Lennox like the boxers), he's ten (I like older cats), a great ratter (hence the name change), and he sounds loveable but also independent :-) After years of wanting my own, we're taking that next step and adopting a cat. Basil sounds like he has a good life where he is, so we're not getting too optimistic that he might be the one for us (or vice versa). Cats normally do the choosing with owners, so we'll see what he makes of us.

Stay tuned!

So a funny thing happened on the way to work last week...

2008-08-11T16:15:00.004+10:00

SNAP!

The heel had a hairline crack in it for a couple of years, but yet these wonderful boots I eventually found in Manchester in December 2003, seemed to want to live forever.

Fortunately it was not dancing tipsy at Al's birthday when it went, but halfway to the station on Monday morning. I was slightly annoyed as I had made an effort to get an earlier train so decided not to limp back to the house, but all the way to the station and into work, as I had a spare pair of shoes there. However, I have to say, my foot was bloody killing me when I arrived.

The good news is I can finally justify a new pair of boots! The bad news is that I have been looking and can't see anything that melts my butter. Here's to the sales!

Things I did on Friday - 1/8/08

2008-08-05T11:46:00.003+10:00

So... Friday.

Cycled into work as it was such a nice day. Fairly warm and not too many arsehole drivers about. Yay!

Hiked up to the gym for to shower. Tried out some of my different cosmetic purchases including the eye cream (great stuff!), the Clinique foundation sample (still not convinced), my new Clinique face powder (pretty good!), and the Clairns lippy sample (nice and bright and smells good).

Got to work and told by two colleagues I looked glam. Amazing what red lipstick can do huh?

Worked worked worked. 4pm had a wine. Decided that I was going to join Dons and co for Thai food at the Bank. 6pm cycled up to Dons' place where I left my bike and made myself look pretty, and we wandered up to Newtown together.

Lovely dinner with peeps. A good group of about 10 of us so we shared a few dishes, including a jungle curry. Wowza! Was so spicy I stuck to water for the rest of the evening and thus, was able to cycle home after collecting my bike.

However, the wind had come up over the past couple of hours, and a usual 10 minute trip became 20 as I pushed hard in a lower gear to get through the wind while nature threw sticks, leaves and bark at me. Got home to find the same wind had considerably slowed Kevin's journey too. Plus some dickheads had decided to smack him on the arse while he was in the saddle, pissing him off so much that Kevin nearly got into a fight with five drunks. I'm very pleased that there was a break in the traffic and Kevin chose to cycle through it instead.

Peppermint Tea and an early night for a Friday of 11pm. I just couldn't keep my eyes open.

Things I did yesterday... 31/07/08

2008-08-01T10:32:00.002+10:00

Inspired by my mate Grizzled Dog posts I have decided to give this method a go. Might make me a more regular blogger.

Yesterday I slept in till 7.30am after two early morning sessions with the Dons and a seriously sore left forearm from doing weights.

Made porridge while Kevin made real coffees. Ate said porridge and drank said coffee.

As I was getting dressed, I decided to wear a pair of knee high stockings under my socks for extra warmth as they had worked so well at the AFL game the Saturday evening prior. (At work I discarded shoes and socks and put on heels.)

Caught the 8.48 train to Museum. Decided I deserved another real coffee and bought a Campos blend coffee from the Two Good Eggs. Coffee was good, but since the business was taken over and turned into sandwich central, I didn't buy a muffin. Why? Because they don't sell 'em! There were small friands, and gems can you believe! Both delicious but not really what I was looking for in my breakfast requirements.

Got into work. Chatted to a colleague about her Honeymoon plans in the US. Then discovered my most annoying client had sent me an email, being annoying again. Morning spent explaining word by word, bit by bit, what I had explained several times to his colleague and him over the last week. *le sigh*

Lunch was a delicious toasted sandwich from Kevin and a banana.

After thinking how teen songstresses had changed since I looked up to them, from wholesome cool girls, to sexual beings who were all pouty, in the afternoon the other project manager and I searched and successfully played many of the early 90's hits that got us boogeying and our lead developer groaning. Paula Abdul, Collette, Tiffany, Sam Fox, Debbie Gibson. Electric Youth everybody!

A half a glass of wine and I was out the door at 5.30 for David Jones Department store cosmetics department. With me I took a list of products I was interested in trying after compiling it going through my Shop to you drop mag beauty sections.

I started at Chanel. The assistants seemed too busy watching men, so I helped myself to trying their illuminator bases and foundation. The Chanel Le Blanc de Chanel Sheer Illuminating base did it for me, but the Chanel Pro Lumiere Professional Finish Make Up coverage was too full for my taste. With no help forthcoming, I decided that my business was going to move on.

Headed to the Clinique counter where I got help straight away. Tried out a new foundation and powder. Liked the Blended Face Powder and Brush in Invisible Blend $48 but not convinced by the Super Balanced foundation in Ivory so was given a sample to try out. Am wearing it now. Still not convinced. Will see how it goes by the end of the day.

Headed over to Clairns where I tried the Beauty Flash Balm. As I really needed eye treatment and was interested to try something new I gave the eye version of the balm a go. Very impressed so bought a tube. Also got some freebie lippy samples to try on the go. They fit nicely in with my makeup for gym days.

Finally headed over to MAC where I was fully intending to give their much raved about Face and Body Foundation a go, only to discover it's only sold in their Paddo store. Played around with the concealer sticks only to discover they are brilliant! Bought Studio Touch-Up Stick in NC15. Also bought some new fake lashes in a different shape, hoping I might be able to give the full spiders a go.

At this point Kevin arrived, so he went to look at DVDs and pen refills while I amused myself in Mecca Cosmetica. Bought Ren's Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash and played around with Stila's illuminating finishing powder - gold. Decided I might have to go back for this one in summer. Also played around with ModelCo. products, but nothing jumped out at me.

After cosmetics, Kevin and I headed over to Myer's food hall for a bite to eat (Nandos). Kevin's sister and her Fiancee had given us some Myer vouchers for Christmas and wonderfully, they were also having a sale so we headed upstairs to buy him a new pillow and us a new frypan. Ended up going with a Tefal Jamie Oliver Wok with a 30% discount. Score!

At this point Myer we're shutting so we headed home. Me by train with the frypan, Kevin by bike with the pillow.

Peppermint tea at home before crawling into bed and falling very quickly asleep.

What I wore today - Friday 25 July

2008-07-27T22:43:00.005+10:00

The period of good weather finally ended on Wednesday with a light drizzle. On Thursday it set in. And on Friday it absolutely threw it down.

Perfect weather for me to pull on my new gummies!

Here's the outfit, Jeans West Grey skinny jeans, white Supre long sleeved top, Stellino grey knit top, Handmade crocheted belt made by my talented Mum. Raw Mother of Pearl necklace from the parentals. Wooden spoon from the second drawer down, amidst porridge making.

Hair GHDed in an Alex wave. Eyes feature MAC corner lashes.

Of course, the new RHS Hunter Wellingtons are the main feature of this outfit. I got plenty of admiring looks on the train, followed by plenty of chat and questions at work before I changed into a pair of heels. I wore them out that evening to drinks and dinner with Erin, and they actually stopped three male tourists who proceeded to gush over how fabulous they were. The Frenchman suggested the pattern needed a little snail weaving its way around each boot, as he waved his lit cigarette precariously close to my rubber wellingtons.

I'd call that a success, wouldn't you?

Le sigh My life is complete

2008-07-23T21:11:00.007+10:00

Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for fruit bats. They are truly one of my favourite things about living in Sydney. Except when they shit fruit droppings in mid air all over my washing line, then I'm not so impressed. But then I see their majestic forms flying across the sky, and their furry faces in the trees and I love them again.

Turns out I'm not the only one:

"Wrapped up in their tiny blankets, the bundles of woe pictured are surviving on the milk of human kindness.

The orphaned baby fruit bats are being raised at a rescue centre after a plague of poisonous ticks swept through their colony.

Used to snuggling up to their mothers, they need to be kept warm and are fed through teats with a sugary liquid full of nutrients.

Saviour: Helen Darbelly, a helper at the rescue centre, making sure her little bundles are kept warm and fed.

Normally adults carry their baby on their back but as those which have been infected slowly die, the youngsters, with no mother to feed them, also perish.

"We walk around the bat colony in the Bush every day and you can hear the young bats crying for their mothers," said Jenny Maclean, who runs the rescue centre on the Atherton Tablelands in northern Queensland."

Italics taken from this article from the Daily Mail in the UK featured on Cuteoverload.

I made this!

2008-07-07T21:50:00.008+10:00

After buying a dozen oysters at the Fish Markets on Saturday, we still had 6 left come Sunday night, so I decided to do my version of Oysters Kilpatrick, which I do Spanish style with a bit of Sambal Olek. This time, instead of pancetta, I tried salami which worked beautifully.

Also on Sunday I decided to make homemade chicken soup after being inspired by Gervy's Husband's culinary skills. Being a bit lazy and not as particular as Cade, I used 3 chicken carcasses (which came to a grand total of .65c, score!) and a tetrapak of consommé for the stock, along with peppercorns, star anise, onion and salt and pepper.

After letting 'it' do its thing for a couple of hours, I removed the carcasses and threw in a stack of vegies. The result? Delicious!

All pix here.

My new gummies!

2008-07-01T20:13:00.005+10:00

Now you may remember that I had ordered some uber pretty patterned wellingtons from the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK. Well, they've arrived!

My friend Claire had them shipped with the rest of her stuff from the UK and last week it all cleared customs and showed up!

I must say, they are much, MUCH prettier than the photo predicted. I am soooo happy with them that I actually squealed when I opened the (also attractive) box.

And not that I want it to rain just yet (we are having a period of unnaturally warm weather) but when it does, my super pretty peachey gummies will make the winter blues much easier to bear.

Queens B'day in SA

2008-06-19T12:56:00.017+10:00

For the long weekend, Kevin and made it an even longer weekend by taking the Tuesday off, and accompanying our friends Kyla and Paul, and Paul's family, down to Kyla's family in Adelaide. *Phew*

Kyla, Paul, and Paul's Brother Stephen, flew down on the Friday, with Sevin flying in on Saturday, and Paul's folks arriving by car the same day.

Kevin and I had rented a cute one bedroom apartment 15 minutes walk from the city. We were pleased to see that it matched the photos from the Stayz site. After chatting to the nice, but rather scattered owner and settling the account, we freshened up and walked toward Rundle St and it's Mall. We met the Maidments (all three of them) next to the fountain, while Paul grabbed a coffee and I grabbed some food so Kevin could take his antiflams (his back has been out for nearly two weeks now).

Kyla gave us a great ex-resident tour of the city, which included the wonderful public art such as the "Mall's Balls", Kyla's fave (and now mine) the Pigs - Augusta, Truffles and Oliver, before heading over the City Bridge and circumnavigating the Adelaide Oval, meandering down the bank of the Torens, and catching a tram out to palindrome suburb, Glenelg.

Glenelg Pier

After a few bevvies at the Mother Anne and Dad Kevin's lovely home, the two Kevins (A Kiwi and an Irishman), accompanied by Keith (a Pom), headed out to the Hyde Park Tavern to watch the All Blacks Vs. Ireland game. The Brothers had a snooze, and the ladies gossiped and looked at Kyla and Paul's beautiful wedding album, of which all 6kg had been lugged down as carry on luggage. Everyone then re-congregated at the pub's restaurant for a gastrotastic meal! I had the lamb and it was superb! After dinner we propped up the bar where I indulged in a couple more shiraz.

Dad Kevin and Irish Kevin post match

Sunday morning, I had to ring Kyla and apologise that we would not be joining the fam on the German Village excursion as it turned out that I really had had a couple more shiraz than I needed the night before. (Should have gone for a "Cleansing Ale"....) Kevin got up and watched TV, while I slept off my hangover for another hour or so.

Sunday was quite cold, wet and dark, so Kevin and I went look in the superb bicycle stores that Adelaide has so I could buy some decent gear. (Oh yeah, I've bought a road bike.) I also got to FINALLY try on a pair of Doc Marten boots I have been trying to track down for nearly a year. Turned out they didn't fit right and didn't suit me. $300 saved! After it started to rain yet again, Kevin and I gave up, returning to the apartment for the warmth and a snooze. We then headed over to Kyla's folks again for an excellent roast nosh up!

An Angas descendent with the Angas street sign

Monday was D-Day and the whole reason for the trip: A day outing to the Sea and Vines Festival in McLaren Vale.

Kyla kindly collected us and took us back to Powell central for an ballast meal of bacon, eggs, beans and English Muffins. There was also a glass of bubbly, but I was in such dire need of a real coffee, it wasn't tasting good. The bus showed up on time and the whole gang headed south, collecting relatives and friends along the way.

We hit Pertaringa Estate at 11am on the nose, with Linda and I delighted that there was a coffee cart to wake us up before the wine put us to sleep.

Caffeine ingested, I chose my first tipple and went for a light, fruity Moscato at 8% as opposed to the heady Shiraz or Sav Blanc at 13%. A good choice! I had two and felt I was on track and in control. At Pertaringa Kevin and I also indulged our love of oysters, with a kind lady going halves with me on the au natural and kilpatrick selections. Both were excellent!

Sevin enjoy the first tipple of the day

Onwards we headed to what Kyla thinks might be Leconfield (Yes it was. It's on the signage in the below photo D'oh!). The wine was excellent, but best of all, the sun was out! The shiraz viognier here was excellent, but annoyingly, Kevin and I forgot to buy a bottle. We also had shared the salmon which was incredible with a mouth watering light lime hollandaise sauce. Whilst at the estate, Kevin became entrusted with Lolly the Labrador, while her owner took a break. Kevin was understandably very happy with this turn of events and just wished all the kids would piss off so he could have the dog all to himself.

The Young(ish)'uns.
Kyla, Paul, Kevin, Stephen, Sharon and Sera

Then we were off again to the last estate of the day, Paxton. Up on a hillside, the vineyard had amazing views of the surrounding Vale. It also provided an interesting stepped marquees, one with food, one with the booze and one with the entertainment. Who were an excellent covers band and got us ladettes on the grass for a boogie! The key drop here was the shiraz grenache and the food was excellent, with plenty of hot chips. However, Kevin and I decided it was time for desert, especially after seeing my absolute fave was on the menu - Sticky Date Pudding with toffee sauce. It was divine!

Ladies or Ladettes

Around about the time of the boogeying inside, things also got energetic outside. A young kid with energy to burn challenged Stephen to a Star Wars fight. It was a duel between two Darths of two eras. Stephen had his Star Wars moves down, whilst the kid pulled out these new generation, Attack of the Clones, freeze frame moves. Once Stephen was worn out, every male in the vicinity was challenged. Paul picked up the light sabre and made excellent elaborate dying scenes. Kevin gave it a good shot but his back prevented from sparring too much. Glenn, Kyla's brother, finally gave up much to the obvious disappointment of the kid, who then proceeded to lie all over him in the effort to make him fight.

About this time we were given the word and piled back onto the bus in the setting sun.

Tuesday Kevin and I pulled up pretty well and enjoyed a nice wander through town, with the former buying a new hat and scarf. After a stroll through the lovely botanical gardens, we then had a late afternoon tea with the Powells before Dad Kevin kindly dropped us out to the airport for our return trip home.

Full photos can be viewed here.

Brisbane Weekend - Part 2

2008-06-02T21:53:00.010+10:00

So where was I?

Oh yes! Brisbane!

On Sunday we awoke to find a cooking Phil, who was feeling mighty fine despite his vogueing efforts the night before. He cooked up some mean bacon & chedder English muffins which were super tasty, and inspired me to make them up the next few weekends in a row.

After lazing round reading the Sunday papers and looking at brindle dogs online with Shazza, the Squids kindly dropped us at South Bank on their way to their new Mecca - Bunnings.

South Bank was quite lovely, not least because of its beautiful bougainvillea Arbour that meanders its way down through the park along the river. The area is a true promenade with a free outdoor swimming beach, that I am dying to go back and swim once the weather is warmer.

Streets Beach

After some confusion over pubs with similar names, we managed to meet up with the newly married Leitchs who were over from NZ on their Honeymoon in Maroochydore, 40 minutes up the coast. It was lovely to spend some time with Krin and Ian, who seemed very relaxed and happy with the wedding stress behind them and the weeks of chillin’ ahead.

Krin and Sez

Krin, Ian and Kevin in the Arbour

After we bid farewell to Krin and Ian, Kevin and I set about doing aspects of the Brisbane city walk recommended by the free city guide. We took in many fine river views from the Botanic Gardens and very much enjoyed the views from Eagle Street Pier restaurant precinct of the Story (book) Bridge, a gorgeous Brisbane monument that manages to look both majestic and homely.

The Story (Book) Bridge

After wandering through the gorgeous sandstone architecture in the city, Kevin and I ended up at the Sofitel for a drink and some nibbles. Timing was everything as all those in the bar were also given a couple of amuse bouche to try. Tasty but not worth the $10 being charged. Glad we got the olives and oysters instead.

That evening we had another fabulous meal at the Squids before Phil inspired Kevin with his making of sandwiches (this has prompted Kevin to make the lunches the night before) and we bid goodnight to our lovely hosts.

Monday we headed into town, throwing our stuff into a storage locker at central station before grabbing some coffees and checking out Kevin’s namesake bookshop, which happened to have excellent web development books. Afterwards we had a spot of lunch at Eagle Street pier before boarding a ferry (where we saw Phil waving to us before he went for a run), we then headed round to New Farm Park to do the RiverWalk: A pathway of floating pontoons nearly a kilometre long. It affords great views of the cliffs, the Story Book Bridge and homes worth more money than you could shake a stick at!

After a rather large walk and another ferry ride we decided we still had an hour to check out Roma Street Parkland. However, this really wasn’t enough time as the park is truly wonderful! Roma Street Parkland is the world's largest subtropical garden in a city centre and is full of waterways, incredible colour and wildlife, that if you aren’t careful, you’ll trip up on. I was so busy admiring the dazzling colour, I nearly stepped on a family of water dragons, poor things!

After rushing through the gardens, with Kevin pushing me ahead so if there were low hanging spiders, I’d walk into them, we grabbed our luggage from the station and boarded the train for the airport. Brisbane was great! It felt like a great place to go chill for a weekend. Yes, we did some rushing around, but we are looking forward to going back and just meandering some more.

We can certainly see why the Squids love it.

Doggie Rescue Walking

2008-05-25T22:52:00.003+10:00

On Saturday Kevin and rode our bikes down to Pet Barn in Alexandria and walked rescue doggies. Too cute! We walked George the Fox Terrier, to lunch, and then to Sydney Park. We then walked Choc Drop, a Daschund cross who loved to run!

www.doggierescue.com

George the Fox terrier at lunch

George wants some Crossiant (he succeeded)

Kevin and (a very unimpressed) Choc Drop

Work it ladies! It's for the blog.

2008-05-25T11:19:00.003+10:00

Some of the gorgeous snaps that came of a couple of glasses of wine and the tasty spread at Sugaroom. All at Flickr.

Gervy has written about it here.

What I wore today - Thursday 24 April

2008-05-10T14:01:00.006+10:00

MAC lashes

Inspired by Gervy's post, I bought myself some MAC false eyelashes about a month ago, but hadn't had an occasion to try them out. As they were too long, I cut a couple of corners of both ends and decided to try two of those first before trying to glue a couple of full spiders onto my lids. I did end up having to reposition one at work in the morning, but was so pleased with the natural result, I wore them again on ANZAC day.

I also wore, my Oasis Jeans, my Italian tan ten quid boots from Wood Green - Neither pictured. Purple tank and long knit top, teamed with a freebie magazine scarf and my Newbridge Silver purple flower pendant that Kevin bought for me on his Irish visit last year.

Sez channels Allie in her self portraiture

Big 'Southern' hair completes the look (whadda ya think LBR?) with a camel coloured cashmere jacket from Sportsgirl - Also not pictured.

What people are wearing in Brisbane

2008-05-10T13:31:00.005+10:00

Pink aerobics gear.

As I said in a previous post, about 30 people turned up at a pub we were in looking like the rejects from Aerobics Oz Style. They proceeded to kick things off on the dance floor and the place went off.

I had to ask, thinking perhaps they were a Hall of Residence from the University bonding. However, a fluoro gentleman (pictured above hitting on Amanda) informed me they were a hockey club out for a raucous night.

Brisbane Weekend - Part 1

2008-05-09T22:55:00.019+10:00

So yes, I am a week late on this. I'm crap. I have no excuse :-(

Well, actually my excuse is my camera has finally given up and I have been using Kevin's. However, at 8megapixels, each photo needs to be resized, and in the end, a little bit photoshopped. So that all takes time. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy.

So last month, the weekend before ANZAC DAY, Sevin headed north to the land of queens to see far flung friends and old flatmates.

The reason we went was tri-fold.

1 - To see Karen and Ian.

In January Kevin and I attended the Leitchs lovely Kapiti Coast wedding in NZ and while there found out the happy couple would be honeymooning for a month in April in a resort town near Brisbane. Nothing like friends to give one an excuse to travel.

2 - Phil's 30th Birthday

So while planning the Brisbane trip I realised that it could coincide with my friend and old London flatmate Phil's 30th Birthday. Phil and Sharyn (collectively known as the Squids) moved back from London around two years ago, but after a year and half of hard slog in Sydney, Sharyn was made redundant and Phil was feeling quiet desperation and a lot of boredom with his job. A few enquiries and a matter of weeks (not months) later the Squids had packed up their life once more, and moved themselves back to their first Australian home, Brisbane, just before Christmas last year. Kevin and I were keen to see them in their natural habitat, and a whole lot happier.

The Squids - Sharyn and Phil

3 - Recon mission

Kevin and I love Sydney, but ther would be many obstacles to overcome if we were to have a family here. So we have been quietly checking out other places to live that may suit us in a few years.

Last year we checked out Melbourne for a week and both came to the conclusion: As much as we loved visiting and being a tourist (and will have to visit again), the place just reminded us of somewhere else. Plus the weather was all over the place, 24 degrees one minute, cold 16 C wind the next.

Whilst in NZ in January, we stayed with our good friends the McGees who had moved back to Wellington after 4 years in Sydney. They were loving the life and the city again, and Kevin saw and felt exactly what they did. On the other hand, I had grown up there, and after 4 years in London and 2 in Sydney, the place was like a school uniform - It served its purpose at the time, but I had moved on, outgrown the town. Wellington simply didn't fit me anymore.

So it was with some trepidation that I visited Brisbane for the first time. I wasn't really sure what to expect. But I had heard both Sharyn and Phil wax lyrical about their city and how much they loved it. Kevin had also shared his positive views of Queensland's capital. The thing is, and I know this is a bit controversial, but I couldn't get the redneck, "mad as snakes", typical Queenslander stereotype out of my head. How could a place that produces these nuts* people ever be cosmopolitan.

The Visit

Well, I am the first to admit, I was rather taken with Brisbane. Now we visited in April and it was a lovely 24 degrees during the day, with a cool 18 at night for sleeping. So I am keeping in mind that in January, it will be a rather different story with 35/25 average day/nighttime temps. Plus 100% humidity. Phew indeed!

Anyway, Phil kindly collected us from the airport on Friday evening and took us back to the Squid abode - A gorgeous 3-bed Queenslander only 5 Km from the city where they were generously putting us up having only moved in the week prior. Sharyn had cooked a lasagna and we all enjoyed a tipple and catch up on their covered verandah. So far Brissie was looking good!

Saturday morning Kevin and I accompanied Sharyn to Fortitude Valley where she was collecting a cake for Phil's birthday celebration that evening. Kevin and I were so taken with the scenic shopping area we decided to explore, leaving Sharyn to go to her new favourite place, Bunnings, on her own.

Whilst roaming around the lovely shops and cafes, we discovered with delight that our favourite Sydney roaster was also roasting in Brisbane and had opened up a large cafe as well. We were pleased to taste the barristers and coffee are as good as Sydney. Campos also had excellent fixtures that I had take photos of, including these wonderful large palm ceiling fans.

We walked into town, popping into the various boutiques along the way. Town was gorgeous! A lovely mixture of old sandstone buildings and interesting modern architecture. Missing were those horrible 1960s government structures and prefabs that seem to inhabitat places as an ugly reminder of times when company's were cheap and had the engineer to design the building, rather than pay to have an architect too.

After a quick bite at a foodcourt under the fabulous mall and department stores we jumped the train from Central back to the Squids for a quick birthday beer before journeying out to the Boo for bowls.

Phil showing how its done at the BOO

Bowls was fun and we enjoyed meeting Sharyn and Phil's excellent bunch of friends. Everyone was in good spirits, and regardless of whether you were any good or not (I wasn't, Sharyn rocked) Bowls was enjoyed by all. Especially due to the cheap beer, including jugs, which I hadn't seen since Uni :-)

Sharyn - No.1 at bowls

Sez is disappointed she just doesn't improve with practice. Or beer.

After Bowls we headed to an excellent (and amazingly cheap) Thai restaurant in Fortitude Valley where there was singing, and cake, and of course, food! There was excellent conversations too and I attest that Sharyn and Phil have an interesting, sociable and friendly group of mates who were lovely and fun to get to know.

Thumbs up from Phil for the delicious birthday cake and cupcakes

After much conversation, we walked over to the other side of the Valley in search of a pub that would provide cheesy music and a dance floor. Not surprisingly, as it was only 10pm when we arrived, the pub was rather quiet. However, 5 minutes after we arrived, the place was stormed by pink people. Literally. Thirty people in pink leotards and spandex stormed in, stormed the bar, and stormed the dancefloor. The DJ took his cue and within ten minutes the music was stormin' too! My feet were killing me, but I was dancing my arse off, and I couldn't stop smiling - Both at the Aerobics OZ style crew but also at Phil, who had somehow morphed into Derek Zoolander and was strutting up and down the floor like a supermodel, striking poses and vogueing.

Around 11.30pm Sharyn and Phil decided to head home, but Kevin and I managed to stay out for a whole other hour! (We are so cool.) Obviously when we did leave we got a cab fairly easily as hip young things were only just being dropped off, rather than heading home like the oldies we were. Still we did start at 4pm. Does that count for something?

Sevin enjoying themselves immensely at Phil's 30th

Part 2 to come ...

*As Queensland is so bloody hot, with hundreds insects/animals could kill/eat you, you'd have to be nuts or "Mad as cut snakes" to live there.

Holding Pattern

2008-05-02T14:33:00.006+10:00

This weekend there will be posts. Oh yes! About our trip/recon to Brisbane for Phil's Birthday and catching up with Krin. However, Kevin took all the pix and put them on his computer. And what is a post without pix? They are now on the hard drive for me to use.

I will also be blogging about the rather LARGE events of ANZAC weekend, which led me to being sick and is the main reason why I haven't posted in a few weeks.

In the meantime, check out these cute LOL cats!

Boobs - It's a love/hate relationship

2008-03-31T22:29:00.020+11:00

On Sunday afternoon I met up with Gervase and we swanned around the shops. Gervy was on the lookout for a dress for a Melbourne wedding and I was on the look out for, well, everything!

We met at the MAC counter at Myer where I purchased some false eyelashes, as I had been inspired by both Gervy and Kristen Bell in the latest season of Heroes.

Then we off to Haighs for a chocolate top up, (Damn you G! Those pastilles are too bloody addictive!), before dress looking and a spot of lunch at David Jones food hall, before hitting David Jones itself.

Handbag drooling led way to being fascinating with fascinators, with me snapping Gervy in these fabulous numbers (G has photos of me on her camera and now her blog!).

The we headed upstairs for what I desperately needed but was extremely sad about - New bras.

Now, I'm a buxon lady. Have been since puberty. I have a love/hate relationship with my breasts as most big boobed girls do. I spent most of my teenage years trying to downplay them, and most of my adult wondering why I never made the most of them were they were perky. Therefore, bra shopping is a god awful and feared experience for me. It's not that I don't find bras that fit, it's just that none of them are particularly pretty, they're all twice the price, and most of them make me feel fat and horrible. In fact, I hate it so much that somehow I had ended up with three basic supportive bras being the only bras that I owned that actually fitted!

However, over the last few weeks I've noticed not only the 4 kg I thought I lost were back again, but also that my sports bras didn't fit and jogging was very uncomfortable. So with a *le sigh* I conceded to dragging poor Gervy to the lingerie section of DJs. I found some 12 (34 inches) DD sports bras fairly easily, but lo and behold - I try them on and they look terrible! These are sports bras, not Agent Provocateur, they shouldn't make me look like a four boobed freak!

I am not a proud person, nor particularly shy, so I had no qualms about asking for a fitting. Was I going mad? Had all the weight gone to my boobs?? Emilie willed her tape measure magic and conceded that yes, it had. I was now a 12E. Not happy Jan.

The lovely Emilie in her marvelous Versace frames

However, very happy once Gervy got involved. As well as getting a fitting herself, Gervy went in search of pretty and functional bras for both of us, while Emilie sorted me out in the sports department! Gervy had been through the lingerie drawer revamp a couple of months earlier and was now determined that all ladies should see the light and have pretty bras. And she was incredible! She found me great styles, supportive and attractive and all on sale! Plus she convinced me for Kevin's sake that I should have at least one matching set. He's very happy.

This is what $254 of underwear looks like:

The three lacy bras (non-stretch) are all Fayreform. The two sports bras (not on sale) are Berlei and judging from my gym session today, awesome!

(What's the bet this post gets lots of hits because of the boob references?? Pity I don't collect any stats...)

Easter celebrations

2008-03-29T10:26:00.011+11:00

So the last weekend gone was the long Easter break. Four days at work, following by four days off, followed by four days at work. I could definitely used to this kind of week!

Easter snuck up on everyone this year. We (Sevin) were being visited by the McGees (pic below) of Wellington, but it turned out pretty much everyone else was also staying in town rather than going away, and consequently we ended up having a rather social time.

As I had yet to see the Maidments since they returned from their honeymoon, Kyla and I made plans to catch up on Friday. Earlier in the week I decided to get some yummy Hudsons Meats, get some vino plonko, and have a BBQ. Unfortunately Friday dawned grey and dreary, so instead of a BBQ, we ended up having a dinner party! Sevin, the McGees, the Maidments and an old friend of Kevin's, Andrew, ended up having a great night of red meat, red wine, and cupcakes! The perfect desert after a feast - A little sweet treat for the stuffed without the clean up factor. I think I've perfected my icing too.

Saturday, Kevin was hung over and decided he wasn't going anywhere. However, the McGees and I were in great form, so after a spot of lunch in Marrickville, we cruised into town for a spot of bat watching and a jaunt to the NSW Art Gallery. The queue for the Archibald Prize was huge, not least because of the haunting last portrait of Heath Ledger. But as it's on till May, we all decided to head off and do our own thing for a bit. Guy and myself visited the Western Collection and the early Australian Art, whilst Alex went to look at the Indian paintings from Australian collections.

I found many paintings fascinating viewing. I love looking at the treatment of fabric (or fur) and faces, I imagine the scene in motion, what people would say next. Highlights for me included-

The sons of Clovis II (Evariste Luminais)

Requiescat (Briton Rivière)

My crown and sceptre (Thomas Gotch)

After a dreary Good Friday and a humid Saturday, Sunday turned out hot and sunny for our celebration of Donza's and Radhika's birthdays.

Our Bunnings shade umbrella got a workout being moved around our backyard, and the barbeque itself was so disgusting after the meat fest it needed full clean out on Monday. However, everyone had a lovely time and my cakes (with the excellent icing) went down a treat!

What I wore today - Friday, 14 March

2008-03-22T18:43:00.017+11:00

So I started the day off looking rather tasty in my Rebecca Ruby wrap dress with Alannah Hill slip underneath. I was especially proud of my GHDed hair in curls and waves that I then pinned up. (Hence why I took a CU.)

The look was a rather dressy one for me on a Friday when I usually wear Jeans. However, that evening Kevin and I had been invited to "The Ballroom" for dinner and Gervy is someone I like to look good for. Besides, it's always nice to dress up for an evening out.

During the fabulous dinner that Cade cooked, I mentioned the Gumboots my friend Claire was shipping to me from the UK. Gervy mentioned she had fabulous Cath Kidson ones, and that patterned gummies rocked. Seeing the rose and chocolate coloured Wellingtons, it was noted how good they look with my dress. The following photos were the result.

Now what am I going to wear with my RHS Peachs Gumboots? I think I'll just have to get another wrap dress.

2008-03-09T22:06:00.013+11:00

Apologies, as I have been using the last two weeks to relax/recover after the wwedding.

So, the wedding! It was beautiful. The whole week of events (and no Miranda, these days you do get a week, not a day) kicked off with the Groom’s Bucks Day on the Saturday. My Boy went and looked stunning in his prerequisite wig and Hawaiian shirt from good ol’ Vinnies.

Kyla’s Hens Do on Wednesday afternoon and evening was an amalgamation of the things she likes best – part Amazing Race, part drinking in the views (both literally and figuratively), part pub quiz.

I spent Thursday with Tam watching Grey’s Anatomy before we accompanied the Bride to the movies in afternoon a bid to steady her nerves. Unfortunately, she chose that we see 27 Dresses and by the end was more nervous than when she started.

The Wedding Day itself, Friday, dawned beautiful and clear and Kyla was much calmer. Mainly as there was “stuff to do” and a “schedule in place” rather than what the previous day had been – A rather awful clock watching experience for the poor Bride.

I must say I most enjoyed the wedding day prep. The hair and make up person, Diane was lovely and very calming. Mother Anne and Dad Kevin arrived and bought food and good cheer, and everyone enjoyed the getting ready, a quick glass of bubbles and general build up to the cars arriving.

True to form, I cried during the Rose Gardens ceremony and used all my tissues stuffed into my bouquet. Whereas, Tam, a Southerner Kiwi, was nicely distracted thinking about how hot she was getting in the Aussie outdoor wedding, and was thus was a rock of composure.

Finally the Groom kissed the Bride, the sun went behind Deutchbank, and bottles of champagne were popped. Due to neither Tam nor myself being family, we got to have a lovely time catching up with London friends and drinking bubbles, whereas the newly married couple were dragged off for plenty of group family piccies.

After official Bridal party posing, we all escaped to L’Aqua in Cockle Bay for a fantastic evening of food, wine and song. The speeches were all excellent with mine bringing a few tears to many a lady’s eye, however the groom’s father bought down the house with some excellent one liners and family pay offs.

About 10pm myself and the Aunts stormed the dance floor and I boogied so much that three courses of food weren’t feeling too settled so I didn’t even get to try the cake! About 12.30am, me and my Boy, plus a friend who was staying nearby, poured ourselves into a cab and home to bed.

The following day Kevin and I chilled, doing domestic things like washing and shopping before heading down to the Balrock Hotel in Balmain about 7pm for catch up with most of the wedding guests. A very good time was had by all and after managing myself nicely the previous day, I didn't do so well on the Saturday and therefore, wasn’t able to enjoy a tactical kebab with the others and ended up having something else tactical down a side street.

Unfortunately, even though I managed to avoid a devastating hangover, I couldn’t avoid a headcold which came down upon me as we watched the big boats cross in the harbour on the Sunday. I ended up off work for three days, reading The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenhegger and getting myself even more melancholy and stuffed up.

Since then I’ve been back at work, mustering up the energy to blog, plus do all the other bits and bobs required. Apparently I shook Kevin awake last night muttering about missing content for an imaginary website I was building as I slept. I think I might need to chill out again and not stress myself too much.

What we wore for Bucks and Hens Do's

2008-02-24T22:02:00.005+11:00

Paul's Bucks Day involved wearing a stupid wig and Hawaiian shirt for the theme. Drinking commenced at 11AM, followed by a Jet boat ride around Sydney Harbour, ferry across to Balmain for an afternoon session at the Bare Foot lawn bowls club, then a massive pub crawl around the Balmain Peninsular. Kevin got home at 11pm pissed and the Groom was taken home and put to bed by his father. A successful day out!

Captain Tam and Hostess Sera wave Bon Voyage to Kyla’s singleton status.

We started at 2.30pm with a fun treasure hunt around Sydney's Rocks area! After the hunt we met up with the remaining Hens at Opera Bar for drinkies and nibbles in the setting sun. Then we adjourned to Bubble Bar at 8pm for dinner, drinks and the ultimate wedding pub quiz.

Captain Tam and myself held up pretty well (we didn't have time to drink). The Bride indulged in lots of bubbles, but managed to get herself home quite successfully. More pix here!

What I wore today - Wednesday, 13 February

2008-02-13T08:08:00.000+11:00

Wish I'd taken a shot of my last two days outfits for you all. Unfortunately, grumpiness and rushing for trains did not allow my foresight.

However, this morning, despite all the pouring rain, I have done myself proud! This is me giving the "skinny jeans with stacked heels" look a go, which I've only been able to do as I once again fit my skinny jeans!

So today I am wearing a long tank top from Esprit that I saw in a Myer catalogue and bought whilst shopping in Canberra last year. I used to worry about showing off the boobs at the office but as a work colleague shows off hers, so I’ve thought I might as well too!

Jeans are Peter Golding which I got in London in 2003 whilst shopping with my old flatmate Brad. They are high waisted which looks a whole lot better with this top than my other skinny jeans which sit on the hip. I had a run in with the bathroom benchtop after I had cleaned it and not wiped it down properly that has caused the white marks around the, er em, groin area. This is another reason I prefer to wear looong tops with these jeans.

The pink shoes, are Top End, and I LOVE them! I wondered if it was sensible to buy pink shoes, but loved the colour too much to get the black ones. As it turns out they go with a vast array of my outfits as I have a lot of pink. (Touch of pink Gervy?) The best thing is how comfortable and solid I feel in them as they have a slight platform to give me height and a large Cuban heel.

Jewellery is my enamel pendant from Kevin, which echoes the colours of the top nicely, and my earrings are the German silver twirls from my Mum.

Very pleased with my hair today. I finally got around to watching my GHD dvd the other night and learnt some new techniques. So today I’m channelling my Scottish blog buddy Alex whose hair always looks amazing even when she’s been dancing for hours on end.

What I wore early February

2008-02-10T14:05:00.000+11:00

This weekend Kevin has decided to install Leopard operating system on his Mac so I still can't get the Kiwi photos.

However, in the meantime here are a couple of outfit shots for "What I wore today".

First up, what I wore on Waitangi Day, which is the Kiwi National Holiday on February 6th. But as I am now living in Australia, I get the 26th of January off for Australia Day instead.

So this is a Teaberry top I bought on sale in December, I have been most pleased with it. Underneath is my Alannah Hill Cami, teamed with my Oasis Jeans. On the feet are my Diana Ferrari wedges in tan and gold, a Lisa Hoskins necklace, and tigereye earrings from parentals.

On Saturday night a group of us had a dinner in Leichhardt for a girlfriend whose moving back to NZ. Threw on my LBD knowing I'd look good with minimal effort. I bought it on my birthday last year for the grand sum of $40! Howzat?! It's a lyrca cotton poly blend which washes beautifully, needs no ironing and is extremely comfortable. Just wish my arms didn't look so fat.

The cubic zirconia costume jewellery is courtesy of the parentals.

Shoes are Chloe, purchased for a reasonable price on ebay. However, it turned out they were sample designs, meaning the shoes themselves are beautiful, but they used substandard heels. The original plastic heels cracked, then snapped off completely within a couple of wears. So when this happened around a year ago I had them reheeled with a sturdier plastic heel and covered in leather. Sadly I noticed last night that the glue on these new ones is starting to give way. Probably the humidity. Time for another visit to the shoe man unfortunately.

Also unfortunate is you can see how the focus on my camera is dying :-(

My camera is dying

2008-02-03T21:24:00.000+11:00

And consequently, I have discovered that most of my NZ photos are terrible and we ended up using Kevin's camera. However, his photos are on his computer and thus, I can't get to them as yet.

In the meantime, here are some little films of what you do in the BOP (Bay of Plenty), New Zealand.

First up, go divebombing at McLaren Falls:

Secondly, use my parents bottom section as a driving range whilst drinking G&Ts:

An Aussie Christmas and New Years

2008-02-03T19:46:00.000+11:00

My apologies for being off the radar over the last month. There was Christmas, Boxing Day, then of course New Years. Then I started my new job, just before jetting off to the Land of the Long White Cloud for a fortnight of socialising and Whanau bonding.

Phew!

So Christmas was a wee bit wet but my queuing at Faros Bros the day before paid off with a seafood feast fit for Aussie Royalty! After demolishing our way through a lunch and a dinner, we settled down to some DVD viewing. Namely the Simpsons movie, but also a home video of Kevin and his sister, aged 5 and 3 respectively, acting cute at an Irish family Christmas in the 80s.

"No! It's dashin' through the snooooow."

Heheh.

Boxing Day was a wee bit slow due the quantity imbibed the day before but the day was clean and bright, and the three of us were keen to see what this boat race we'd heard about all of lives was all about. So we cruised up to North Bondi's cliffs for some excellent views and to be surrounded by a whole lot of tanned French people. Weird and not fair.

On the 27th, Kevin and I picked up a hire car for the week and used the Xmas/NYE time off wisely picnicking and swimming at Chowder Beach, and finally walking the gorgeous path that follows the coastline from Spit to Manly with Dons and the Maidments.

As you can see, many beautiful beaches were discovered proving you don't need to leave the harbour for a fantastic swim!

On the 31st we saw in the New Year with Kyla and Paul and their friends and family in Balmain.

After an excellent nosh up courtesy of Paul's BBQ skills, we walked down to the Town Hall pub for more drinks and plenty of cheesy dancing.

Around 11.45pm we all wandered down to the foreshore for the grand fireworks. But sadly, some drunken idiot threw a bottle which ended up knocking our friend Louise out. She's OK thank goodness, but it put an end to what had been a fantastic night after we put her in the ambulance for the hospital.

Next up - New job and NZ!

What I wore last week

2007-12-18T14:56:00.000+11:00

Sorry about the delay. Christmas and all that. That also means I haven't performed this dressing exercise this week.

In the meantime, here's last week. It's only three days as I've restarted the gym with Donza on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which means what I wear those days has to be light and crumple proof to withstand being lugged to Fitness First.

Anyhoo, here's Monday the 10th.

I got a terrible night's sleep prior to this look, so other than the dark circles, I'm surprised I managed to pull this off! I freshly GHDed the hair in an effort to distract attention from my bleary eyes. I then went for comfortable elegance by teaming my Decjuba teal cami with gold brocade with my Vietnamese black linen trousers. The Decjuba cami was bought on my trip to Melbourne last year with Dons. At $10 it's been super handy. Not least of which as it does not require ironing. The creases are part of its charm. Apparently.

For modesty's sake, as I'm not one for showing my shoulders at work, I put my satin cropped jacket over the top from Stellino. Gervy has informed me she is quite jealous of this top. Good ol' gold Witchery sandals and a pair of enamel butterfly earrings my brother gave to me a good twenty years ago. Jewelery definitely comes in and out of fashion. (Those cat earrings never will though. Sorry Mum.)

Wednesday the 12th the weather was going to be a bit cooler so I decided to pull out my Rebecca Ruby dress.

It has a small print in pink and brown and I put a brown Alannah Hill slip dress underneath as the dress blows open. Finally I get to wear my Diana Ferrari wedges in caramel and gold. Wore my heirloom gold locket again and my pink pearl and crystal earrings from Brussels. Like this look a lot!

I got lazy on Friday the 14th. Was going out to a drinks thing in Rozelle followed by dinner with some friends in Balmain. The weather was also humid so I decided to wear the same outfit as Monday but replace trousers for my Oasis jeans. Turned out to be an excellent choice. Modest for work, but dressy enough for socialising. Don't worry, everything's in the wash now.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2007-12-11T19:41:00.000+11:00

Other happenings that Sez will now Share:

Out with my man on Friday night saw us admiring QVB's fabulous Swarovski crystal tree.

Kimba visited us as usual on the weekend. Hanging out with us most of the day on Sunday.

I bought the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook by Jennifer Graham last month and on Monday night I made my first batch and they weren't too bad! Had them with peppermint tea. Lots of sugar in the recipe, freaked me out a bit. No wonder they are so moreish.

Today I left work early in order to get a cab home before the rush hour and lug our new artificial six foot tree home. It is now set up and looking fab, along with the light up pressies I bought and the tartan tablecloth I scored at Vinnies for $3 back for the Mid Winter Christmas party we had.

For more pix, see my Flickr set.

A real post - The interview outcome

2007-12-11T10:18:00.000+11:00

So on the weekend Kevin wanted to know if the blogging a day diary of outfits was over. When I explained it was an ongoing exercise to make me think more about what I wore, his exasperation was not well hidden. I was informed that the outfit stuff was pretty boring for him and probably any other (straight) male readers I might have. Also, he made the fair point that I hadn’t posted about the outcome of my Producer/Project Manager interview. So here is a “real post” about what happened.

So I had my interview on Thursday morning in Surry Hills and it all went well. Just the MD and me chatting in the agency’s meeting room for well over an hour. I arrived shortly after 9am and didn’t leave until 10.25am. In the meantime we discussed the work, the clients, the agency, and one of my favourite subjects, the future of broadcasting within an online medium. They had one more person to interview around midday, but I would know by the next day, if not that afternoon.

I left feeling really good. Even if I didn’t get the job, I knew I had interviewed well and appeared confident. I couldn’t have done anything better. It was down to the right fit for the agency, not whether I could do the job.

Although I was keeping a watch on my gmail inbox at the bottom of my screen, I still wasn’t really expecting to hear anything till the next day. But considering how fast they had responded to my CV and to interview me, I shouldn’t have been too surprised when at 13.23 a message from the MD hit my inbox.

This is what it said:

“It was great meeting with you this morning - I got a very good impression about your capabilities, and would like to offer you the position. I've attached an offer letter, with a more detailed job description which expands on what is currently online.”

Hurrah!

The PDF downloader couldn’t work fast enough as I hurried to see what the offer was.

Double hooray! An increase on my current salary!

Obviously I'm very excited and quite proud of myself. Although one can't help feeling Impostor Syndrome . However, I've been over the role details several times and there is nothing there I can't do given a learning curve. Of course, this does mean I'm going to have to actually "work" for the first time in a couple of years.

So I start Thursday the 3rd of January for a short week and half handover before holidaying in NZ. I’m also doing some handover hours next week as the other Producer is on leave when I start. The more information I can get the better, as far as I’m concerned. If I’m going to be thrown in the deep end, I might as well know where the flutter boards are.

What I wore to my job interview and the day after

2007-12-07T10:24:00.000+11:00

So yesterday morning was the day of my big interview! After applying for a job on Monday, setting up an interview time on Tuesday, I was due under the spotlight first thing Thursday morning.

I had already decided to wear what I wore on Monday to the recruiter interview. (No photo, apologies.) However, after getting my Esprit cream cropped trousers out of the wardrobe, I discovered some black marks on them courtesy of Cityrail. Bugger. I spent the next 15 minutes desperately trying to figure out what fitted and what looked stylish enough without looking corporate. Being a digital agency, I didn't want to wear a suit, but I didn't want to wear jeans either.

As the rain started to thunder down, I decided to wear my "Kevin" shirt (not 07), which is a Junk pinstripe top that Kevin chose for me last year from a shop on King St, Newtown. It has cute cap sleeves and an interesting Chinese neckline. Underneath for modesty I wore a maroon tank from House of G (Glassons).

My 3/4 black pants sat a bit too low, so I threw on my black linen Vietnamese trousers which worked quite well.

Witchery Sandals again for comfort and style, tuck the trousers into the straps so not to get the bottoms wet, off I go!

Hair was freshly cut and coloured the night previous, but as you can see the humidity was not helping.

My jewellery was very simple as the neckline of the shirt is a bit of a feature so I just wore earrings. To go with the "Kevin" and China themes I decided to wear the purple and gold Chinese earrings he gave me for my 30th.

So yesterday it rained. In fact, it frackin' poured! This has had some effect on my Witchery sandals, that, being full leather, were soaked completely through and became very mailable.

Fortunately, I had a spare pair of shoes at work but the sole is quite thin so they my feet were quite sore by the end of yesterday.

Today is casual day at work, so I'm wearing my new favourite top by Alive Girl for these workdays, due to it really only going with jeans and covering a multitude of sins. It was bought on my 31th birthday at a little shop in Marrickville. My friend Donza has the black version with gold detail, I have the grey with silver. We have so far managed to avoid both wearing our tops to the same events, but it's only a matter of time. Will be quite funny when we finally do!

Jeans are from Oasis in the UK. I have three other pairs of jeans but these are the most comfortable for sitting at a desk and also fit me the best at present.

Havaiana bronze flip flops (thongs/jandals) bought during a Paddo shopping day last summer. Been brilliant! Not quite as classy as my gold sandals, but also not wet either.

Mum sent me home last Christmas with a stack of family jewellery saying at least I'll wear it. They included my Nana's crystal bead necklace, which I love and goes with heaps of pieces.

The silver twirl earrings are from somewhere in Germany. They were a 31st birthday present from my Mum which she bought on her travels with Dad this year.

Hair freshly GHDed and looking all the better for it I think! Hopefully having a drink tonight with Gervy and have to look good.

What I wore today - Wednesday 5, December

2007-12-05T22:15:00.000+11:00

Today was a wet and humid and we were not amused. We were also not amused that the tops that went with my 3/4 length black trousers, were all still too tight to wear. So trying something different went right out the window.

So I ended up wearing another of the "classic" outfits that seem to be on high rotation at the moment. As you can see it is just a variation of what I wore yesterday. However, this brown top is one of my faves and hides a multitude of sins, whilst showing off my "assets". Good news is that the photo prospect made me try the brown belt, which this time worked, although the rain forced the wedges back in the closet and the sandals went back on my feet.

So the brown top is from Mk One in London. Brixton to be exact. Was a perfect buy and a wardrobe staple of mine. Wish I could find more cross over tops this flattering.

The apricot nude camisole underneath is from Alannah Hill. Originally bought to go under my Rebecca Ruby dress, but works well under the brown top, hiding my cleavage from work situations.

The brown belt and stone linen trousers are both from Sussan, who I have come to appreciate in my mature years. Great basics with style, and made with quality fabrics and stitching. The cuffs ended up rolled and tucked into my sandals this morning as to not get wet. Shook out well and looked fine. Now that's quality!

Shoes are my Witchery Sandals again.

Jewellery - Gold locket is a family heirloom. My great grandfather lurks inside. The pink pearl and crystal earrings were found in a Brussels jewellery store that Tam claimed was the best in Europe, and she wasn't wrong! Great finds there.

Have had my hair done tonight and have an interview tomorrow. Will be interesting what I wear as it's a creative company not corporate. So relaxed style but clean lines.... Eek!

What's in my handbag?

2007-12-04T21:05:00.000+11:00

I've seen these done on Flickr and blogs for a number of years and always thought I'd like to do the same. However, not until Gervy put her bag's contents out for the blogosphere to comment on did I really think I should get a wriggle on.

This is my Annapelle bag that I bought nearly two years ago in the David Jones sale. I especially like the weaving.

This is how everything fits into my handbag. Everything has a place. I use my make up bag for little bits and pieces that I often need like lippie and decongestant. There is a pocket for my keys and another for my diary.

Here is everything spilled out. I suggest clicking through on the photo to see everything detailed and tagged as to what is what.

And even more scary is what is in my make up bag. Eek! Again, I suggest you click through the photo to see tags on everything.

What I wore today - Tuesday, 4 December

2007-12-04T20:34:00.000+11:00

Inspired by one of Gervy's regular reads Allie on whatsmywardrobetoday, I have decided to follow Allie's example and try photographing myself each day to force myself to more fully explore the possibilities of my wardrobe.

At the moment I am a few kgs (okay okay, four) overweight, so a lot of my clothes aren't fitting as well as they should. This has also led me to being very lazy with about four outfits doing the regular rotation in my working week.

So here I start with one of my classic outfit ensembles. However, the good news is that today just taking the photo made me think about it. I tried a brown belt with it (too low) and also some wedges. But the cuff length of the pants are really for flats, so I put my gold witchery sandals which suited the pants much more. The shoes are a purchase from our Melbourne trip and have been achieving exactly what I wanted them to do: Dress up outfits while still being able to walk to and from the train.

So, ignoring Kevin's arm waving from the sidelines, I am wearing greenstone jewellery - Necklace from parentals, earrings from Tam. The black tank is from Giordano, the burnt orange cross over top from Top Shop UK, the army green linen trousers were tailored for me in Vietnam. However, my Mum took them in (they were too big) and did the fabulous hemming job adding the cuffs. Sandals from Witchery.

Click here to see my photo on Flickr, cause it has notes detailing all the aspects.

7 Things

2007-11-30T14:56:00.000+11:00

Gervorama has just hit me up to do a Meme - Seven things I am grateful for. Bugger.

In no particular order, whatever decides to jump out of my grey matter, here goes!

1 - Kevin. An essential part of Sevin. My lover, my rock, my best friend. He inspires me, makes me believe in myself and pushes me to do better. He also makes a rocking coffee in the morning and gives me lots of massages.

2 - That I can touch type. I taught myself how to touch type when I was 15 after being told for the umpteenth time my school report was illegible. I even learned on an old electric typewriter! In the online and speedily digital world we live in, I am always pleased I can touch type when I note so many people who still have to look at their hands or use two fingers.

3 - My family.Very supportive and very fun! Also have lovely properties in Tauranga for me to holiday in (see example on left.).

4 - A lovely house to live in at a reasonable rent. It was very serendipitous how we got our lovely two bed single storey terrace, but I believe it was meant to be. Touch wood I'm not jinxing it, but I get quite stressed when I see what other people are going through in this rental crisis, and thank my stars we don’t have to. Touch wood again!

5 – Wonderful wine at reasonable prices. Australia is blessed with an excellent climate and soil for growing some of the best grapes in the world. What I love is you can pick up fantastic value and superb quality in a bottle that’s only $15 odd bucks! Bargain!

6 – Cats! I love snorgling their purring little faces. They make me so happy with their relaxed company and clever ways. I want one of my own desperately but with Kevin allergic…. So I have to make do with the neighbourhood cats – Borby (on left), Tabby, Simba (who visits on the weekends), Fishy (below) and the Rexs. *Le sigh*

7 – Having lived in London. Many awesome and good things came out of my three and a half years there. Most of all, meeting some caring and wonderful friends whilst I was there: Donza, Kyla, Gervase, Anj, Phil, Shaz, Esther, Tam, Mark, Rob, Brad, Sarsh, Sonya, Andrew, Charlotte, Chris… And I’m very grateful so many of them have decided to move to Sydney!

Is this truly my Dæmon?

2007-11-29T09:49:00.001+11:00

Give me your comments

The Golden Compass

2007-11-28T17:03:00.000+11:00

Golden Compass official site

As a big fan of these books I'm super excited to see this come to the big screen. Hopefully they can do the Dæmons justice. I actually think the US title "The Golden Compass" is more suitable to the rest of the trilogy titles than the UK title "Northern Lights".

A lot can happen in a week – Part two

2007-11-19T15:23:00.000+11:00

After the week in Melbourne I got back to work on Friday morning to discover my bosses had completely ignored my requests for them to complete their work for the newsletters, and instead had pulled apart stuff already completed, putting everything horribly behind schedule. Their complete lack of excuses and consideration that I might know more about doing my job than they did, got me so angry that I just wondered why I was still working there.

I rang Kevin and in my rant of saying I’d had a guts full and just wanted to quit, he asked what was stopping me? I realised nothing really was. In fact, just thinking that I could just walk away made my heart flutter with happiness. Kevin and I talked it out; we don’t have a mortgage or children, and with our savings and at least one income, we could get through some tough times if we were careful. Also, with the end of year approaching it seemed a perfect time to round up my responsibilities and make the New Year a new start with a positive step forward in my career. Not having a job would be the kick up the arse I needed to find a new one. I want to move into a digital focus and after two years, it's time.

I waited a couple of hours to type up my letter, allowing myself to calm down and determine I was resigning for the right reasons, not simply anger. But the anger had evaporated the moment I decided to quit on the phone with Kevin. Even though it seemed rash, my decision had been a long time coming.

At 5pm, almost smiling with the excitement, I saw my boss. He was really good about it and saying I’d given it a good go, but agreeing I'd gotten as far as I could with the culture. It's going to take a new, younger CEO and Board to really get things changing. He finally said I deserved to do well in my career and he sincerely meant that. I was touched.

Since I resigned on the 9th of November I have been working hard, completely rewriting my CV. I've got brain fry but that end result is all the better for it. It is currently in the hands of reviewers with only one person’s thoughts still to come back. Their feedback has been very constructive, which means more work (and brain fry) for me but hopefully a positive reception from recruiters and agencies.

My last day will be the Friday before Christmas, 21 December. Maybe something else will turn up before then, but as we’re going to NZ for two weeks on the 11th of January, I'm completely resigned to the fact I probably won't get a career job till February. So in between I’ll try to temp to keep things ticking over. I will also use the time constructively, learning Microsoft Visio and doing some work experience at a couple of website development companies.

All my friends and family have been very supportive, knowing it’s high time I moved on. I have received many emails and texts of support and admiration, bolstering my confidence. Even my Mother has commended my decision saying,

“Resigning a job focuses the mind wonderfully I should think. Good luck with finding temp work and a super permanent job. “

At first I was quite relieved, somewhat expecting a disappointed tone for not being responsible. Then I remembered that she’s one of the knowing ones.

You see, it’s quite liberating not having another job to go to. Some people automatically recoil in horror, their mortgage and dependents flashing before their eyes. But a few people smile and give you a knowing look. They’ve been in your position, come to the end of their tether knowing they would be happier working in a café looking for another position, rather than stay in a place that is making them contemplate going postal worker.

I had remembered a six month period where I watched Mum lose weight from the stress of a new job she detested, dreading Mondays and the culture of the male egotistical office. The job was starving her spirit, literally. My Father must have finally made her see sense. After she quit, she did get another job. Quickly. And it was one that made her happier. She was there till she retired.

Like Mother, like Daughter.

What Brides are wearing in Melbourne

2007-11-11T00:53:00.000+11:00

In an ode to Gervorama, what Brides are wearing in Melbourne:

Cream dresses with peacock feather design motifs.

I thought it was rather nice.

A lot can happen in a week - Part one - Melbourne

2007-11-10T21:39:00.000+11:00

Where to start?? Well I guess a week ago.

Kevin's sister and her fiancee arrived in town from Ireland via Brissie Vegas. Meeting went well. Plenty of wine drunk etc etc...

November 1st, Kevin and I flew out for Melbourne. We left behind lovely weather and arrived to rain. After checking out the apartment and the thin walls (our next door neighbour Marcus had an amazing bass on his stereo which didn't seem to need much volume), we hit the hay.

Next day - Friday - Lovely weather, but a cold wind. Melbourne really can't make up its mind can it?? You have to take out three different clothing changes just to get through! Kevin bought a new tie, I admired handbags (as you do), and we enjoyed Supreme Coffee with a light lunch before indulging in $5.75 hot chocolates from Koko Black. They were bloody good though. We walked though the various parks and gardens on the south side - taking off clothes, putting clothes back on - before jumping a tram down to St Kilda. There we promenaded down the pier before actually seeing a water rat before a beastly child scared him off screaming with excitement.

We walked back, had a quick beer at the famous Esplanade Hotel where the Basics had their cover shot. Then Kevin decided we should have dinner at Claypots where I'd dined with Donza Queen's Birthday last year. Everything was fresh and lovely but it all took a little too long to come out with two tables that had sat down after us being served first.

Saturday, lovely Melbourne breaky with some good coffee. Although, Kevin felt he had just as good, if not better coffee in Sydney the entire trip. I have to say I agree with him, although we were in tourist central of Degraves Street and Flinders Lanes, so the need to impress maybe not so apparent to keep trade coming back. Anyway, I digress.

After our late brunch Kevin and I hoped the tram (with our weekly passes) out to the hallowed arena of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. There Norm took our 15 strong group on an excellent tour, which far exceeded the normal 75 minutes, ending it around an hour later than usual. As overly excited as I was I learnt lots of interesting things, including to become a restricted member it would take me seventeen years if I signed up today. Another seven to ten to become a fully fledged member.

After taking more photos than Kevin thought possible for a female cricket fan, we walked through Richmond where I discovered shoes and Kevin motorbikes. We trammed over the river and arrived in the infamous Chapel Street shopping strip just long enough to buy some expensive smellies before Kevin's sister rung to say they had landed.

So onto the train we got and discovered, like Sydney buses, it was a shitload better than the trams. We were back at the apartment in 15 minutes and met Bobbie and David a couple of minutes after they arrived.

A few drinkies on Swanston Street also saw us seeing the first casualties of Derby Day which had been taking place at Flemington Race Course whilst we were experiencing other Melbourne enticements. A girl with ankles the size of softballs was hobbling about, and from looking at the rest of her it was apparent from her size zero frame her feet shouldn't normally look like that. I was quietly pleased I'd chosen to wear a well loved pair of heels to the Melbourne Cup coming up.

After getting rather sick of the amount of smokers at the bar (a rather bad Victorian habit as we were to discover) we jumped into a cab and headed for a meal in touristy Lygon Street, where once again we failed to be served any food for 45 minutes. Locustini - Do not go there! However, their staff were SO incompetent that instead of pouring us each a port for an apology, the waitress left the bottle on the table. Silly woman. Needless to say a hour later, there was no port left. Somehow, I remembered a bar a little way up the road so a quick after drink was enjoyed before heading back into town and bed. But we all did wake up at 3am with someone resembling a hangover but feeling more like a sugar comedown. Maybe the restaurant revenge??

Sunday, another brunch on Degraves/Flinders before Kevin and I headed up to Brunswick Street to go shopping and visit the original Crumpler store. However, it rained the entire day and being 5kg overweight meant that I was not in any mood to try any of the clothes on. In fact, I only bought a cardigan because I was so bloody cold and needed another layer underneath my fleece. But it's quite cute - Blue with a lamb on it. On a positive note, we did run into Al and B who had been down for the Derby day, so we had a quick coffee with them and their friend Jo. So nice to see familiar faces in a foreign place.

Sunday evening we ended up going for another very disappointing meal. However, it was a restaurant on the riverbank which is tourist central. And being touristy they don't have to try cause they don't rely on word of mouth. And they should thank their stars for that because with the oysters being off, the waitress not speaking enough English to explain the kitchen had lost two of our orders, and a rather expensive bill for some pretty mediocre tucker, they would be out of business in a fortnight if it were a suburban place.

Monday - Kevin and I decided to visit the Melbourne Museum and I would like to inform one and all, it is just plain excellent! Highlights included all the live creepy crawlies and the fish stuff was pretty cool too. The outside forest had wonderful creatures and smells, and sounded eerily with the wind blowing. The body and mind exhibition was so interesting. Especially the mind. Turns out I have synesthesia but only mildly. But how cool would it be to see music as colours? I kinda do that but I am more prompted to imagine landscapes and movement within. Almost like watching a movie.

Anyhoo, that evening we all went to Fifteen, the restaurant that Jamie Oliver set up to help disenfranchised youth. Well, finally we got some decent service and the food came out on time. However, it was not the best five star meal I've ever had (see 3 Weeds) and the wine list was overpriced with very little option for under $60. However, we all enjoyed our individual meals, although I did remember later (unfortunately, quite vividly) why I no longer ate any great amounts of potato.

Tuesday - Melbourne Cup Day - Up early and we headed out under a beautiful blue sky. Lots of bubbles consumed but we all slowed very early, not wanting to end up with sunstroke. David is a horse investor and had got us all members area tickets, so we all took a jaunt out to what I call the "Pleb Area" and I cannot tell you how quickly we headed back pronto! It was 11.30am and already a group of guys were carrying their friend out. Plus, it stunk! We did manage to get a look at the carpark and I thought it looked quite fun, but if we do go again I want tickets to a marquee, preferably an owner's tent - Darhhhhling!

The Cup Race itself was very exciting! David had no idea the hoopla that surrounds the Cup and had to admit the atmosphere was the best he'd ever experienced. However, Kevin, after being up with his bets in the morning, made the mistake of listening to me and we lost bet after bet. Frustratingly, horses we bet on for a win, would then get a place, so no money. I really had no luck that day. I normally fair ok with the horses and dogs. Fingers crossed for next time - Camels!

Kevin and I made good time and got back only an hour after queuing at Flemington. We ended up snoozing and headed out for some excellent Thai in Chinatown. You gotta go for what ya know.

Wednesday, we bid farewell to David and Bobbie who flew back to Sydney and Star City. Kevin and I hit the Immigration Museum, which like the Melbourne Museum, was excellent! The personal stories are the best, seeing how hard it was for people of all races and creeds to make the move, and how they managed when they arrived - Fascinating! I especially liked the home movies and slide show with V/O. Plus the very nice man at reception let us in for free. Bonus!

Kevin and I then headed over (Train again, this time to Prahran) to Chapel Street where we wandered up one side and down the other, all the way to St Kilda to meet my old University buddy and flatmate, Jodi! I hadn't seen Jodi in five years and in that time she had gotten married, bought a house, moved countries several times, and got a dog. It was lovely to see her and finally meet her husband Roger. We had yummy tapas (and excellent service) at Barcelona on Fitzroy Street. We sat in the setting sun drinking beers, wishing it was like this all the time in Melbourne. Jodi is opening a yoga studio and boutique in Beaumaris in a week or so. It's called Bala. She's an excellent teacher and from their description it should be an excellent facility.

Thursday morning we enjoyed a nice, but cold, breaky at Five in Flinders Lane before having a delicious cupcake experience at the Little Cupcake Bakery across the road from our apartment. We then climbed in a cab for the airport and said goodbye to Melbourne, and as it turns out sunshine, and arrived back in Sydney to rain.

Stay tuned...

What I'm wearing today

2007-10-31T16:44:00.001+11:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

Only stupid people end up on this show

2007-10-25T15:52:00.000+10:00

And by this show I mean "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" I watched this terrible excuse for a quiz show last night and was appalled at people umming and ahhing over how many legs a mosquito has. Six! SIX! It's a bloody insect! It's the first things you learn in science when you study aphids at age 12. Eight legs is an arachnid and more? A pede, eg. Millipede and centipede.

But then I should really be appalled at Channel 10 for asking producers and researchers to quite obviously screen people who ARE smarter than a fifth grader, cause judging by the quality of the questions, it isn't hard. Even people who are of average intelligence (like myself on my stunning IQ 101 score last week) would have no hope in hell of getting past any screening mechanisms in place.

And what's all this drawn out, "what could the answer be" bullshit?? It might work (to a point) on a show like "Who wants to be a Millionaire" because there are four possibilities, causing contestants (and the viewers) to doubt their first instinctual answer. But when there's nothing to ponder on except the face of someone who (for four bloody minutes!) isn't sure whether rice is the main ingredient in risotto (wtf?), there's just nothing interesting enough to engage you except the sad realisation there's nothing better on any of the other freeview commercial channels either.

BBQs and Elections

2007-10-19T10:29:00.000+10:00

The Sausage King event at Darling Harbour went really well. The weather was great, the MC Donnie excellent, and heaps of people indulged in the snags. We also finished an hour early and I scored as many free sausages as I could carry. The bad news was I got sunburnt.

That evening (after a sausage dream themed nap) I attended my Donza's Sex and the City ladies party where I continually dribbled my cosmo onto her carpet, living up to my nickname 'Spillage Sera'. The evening was really nice, with lots of good food, cocktails and gossip. We also watched a few eps and I was really struck by how good the writing really was and how it still holds up.

This week we picked up our BBQ and outdoor furniture. Last night Kevin spent a couple of hours assembling the barbie and then we had a deep and meaningful over lamb chops and shiraz. I also bought Kevin a case of Charlotte's Hefeweizen of which he consumed 4 or 5. So this morning we both had sore heads.

Big in the news at the moment is the election. As neither myself nor Kevin are Australian citizens, we can't vote. I understand this, but at the same time I get annoyed as I'm a tax paying resident who is entitled to use the systems the Government provides because I pay tax, but then I'm not to give an opinion about them. In the UK I could vote, and I did!

However, that's by and by. Work discussions have become interesting as there's a lot of Baby Boomers here and I'm the only Gen Xer/Yer. In some ways I'm predisposed to Kevin '07, but it's true that Howard's government have bought prosperity to the country. However, it has been at the cost of going to war over oil, the housing affordability crisis, aboriginal community issues and the environment.

I'm pretty sure Howard will get back in, but the whole process is going to be interesting nonetheless. Hopefully we'll have less of the policital campaigning tactics that attacks the opposition, and instead actually hear what exactly each side propose for the people and the country.

Lastly, after successfully completing all 33 levels of bloxorz, I have discovered the other fantastic time waster - Linegame. Only one level left. If you're looking for ways to lose hours of your day, try either of these two out.

Busy Bee

2007-10-11T10:14:00.000+10:00

Hi y'all!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks after coming back after surgery leave. I returned to a barrage of emails, all regarding the NSW Sausage King Competition in Darling Harbour.

So if you are one of the few NOT attending the Surry Hills Festival on Saturday. Come down to the Harbourside Amphitheatre at Darling Harbour ( just beside the Bridge on the Pyrmont side), try some free sausage tastings, grab yourself some giveaways, and say hi! I'll look like this:

In other news I am slowly dealing with my list of things to do. The CV, applications are travelling with me every day to work, but still haven't made any changes to them. I'm hoping I'll get some time next week after the Sausage King. But in positive efforts, I have done my tax return (a nice little rebate is coming my way), made an effort with my student loan in NZ after ignoring it for five years, scored a kick arse BBQ for half price from some contacts through work, and decided on outdoor furniture from Bunnings and finally bought a replacement hose fitting after it snapped three months ago.

I have also been a bit of a social butterfly of late. Tara's Hens Do was very fun with a great gaggle of ladies.

And Tara and Brad's wedding in Coffs Harbour over the long weekend was really lovely, with a fantastic ceremony overlooking a bay. The vows were very meaningful and I shed a tear or two. We then all ripped up the reception with much cheesy dancing and alcohol consumption. Brad's five year cousin was extremely entertaining, breakdancing and showing off into the small wee hours.

Last weekend the weather was nuts with it reaching 35C by midday on Saturday, before changing to a southerly and 18C. Kevin and I went to what had been a BBQ, but had quickly been moved to an indoor house party. I drank too much pinot and talked shit. Neither of which are too surprising.

On Sunday Kevin's family friend C came around and took us BBQ and outdoor furniture shopping. Out of all the things we looked at, those were the only things we didn't buy. But a pepper grinder, muffin tray, cake tin and an LPG gas bottle are now taking up space in our home. C also took us to Cabramatta where we indulged in excellent Vietnamese food and again, bought things that weren't BBQs or furniture, like a new wok.

On Tuesday evening we caught up with Canadian Paul who we'd met at the wedding, as well Tara and Brad, and Phil (Shaz being in QLD this week). Paul was staying at the Shangri-La and had the most amazing view over the harbour (see left). He had also kindly provided a slab of beer, which we all helped drink, so we thought it only right to take him down to the Australian and feed him Crocodile Pizza. It was extremely good!

Last night I caught up with a few girlfriends at the Hyde Park Noodle Markets which are part of Good Food Month. And tonight the Printing company downstairs is having drinks and nibbles to entice me (amongst others) to spend money with them. As they are 'right there', that's pretty much a 'yes' from me.

Ooh! I also went to the gym for the first time in months. I also used the gym's pool for the first time EVER! It was good! It's just the right kind of exercise for me at the moment and using one of the float aids makes me use my legs more. So that's next on the list, lose the 4 kg I gained over the last few months.

Hope to see some of you on Saturday. The motor show is on, as well as other Good Food Month activities, so I can promise you won't be bored.

Back at work = sadness

2007-09-25T10:00:00.000+10:00

On Friday I 'crested the hill', post op, as it were. I walked to the station in a good time and felt pretty good. I wasn't getting puffed and could move much more easily. I saw my surgeon and he was very pleased with my progress. He advised me to keep increasing the exercise to get my nerves back online. Afterwards I met up with my friend Urn for a coffee and chat. She was also in pain from an ongoing nerve issue in her back, so we made quite a pair. After that I was high on human interaction and met Kevin near his work for a spot of lunch. However, after I did feel quite tired and headed home to relax.

So I started back at work yesterday. I'm doing 9.30/10am starts to avoid rush hour on the train, as I need to ensure I can get a seat. Yesterday I started to feel the strain about 3.30pm and headed home about quarter to five.

Work is going to be full on for the next three weeks with planning for the NSW State Sausage King on October 13. Being in Darling Harbour, and a lot of fussy old buggers on the Council, means I have to try and drum up some media interest. It means there's little time now to stuff round at work, or more importantly, work on getting a new role somewhere else. And I'm keen to move on before Christmas.

So now I have to become "Proactive Girl", who is a creature that doesn't appear in her super heroine costume very often. I realised yesterday after opening my very scary IRD bill from NZ for my Student Loan (that I haven't made payments to in 5 years) that I have a lot of stuff to do and I really need to kick my arse into gear! Thankfully I run on stress quite well, and actually need loads of things to do in order to accomplish anything.

So last night I downloaded the 2007 ATO tax program (I plan to do the tax return tonight). Today I'm finally taking in two pairs of shoes that have needed reheeling for several months. I have also calculated how to make some kind of payment to the IRD, once I have paid for my surgery of course. Next week I am going to finish my CV and start approaching companies and recruiters.

However, this week I am focusing on getting my actual paid work into shape. Lots to do, and as I said, I work well with a bit of stress, so I'm hoping it will be under control by Friday.

Recuperating

2007-09-20T18:27:00.000+10:00

I've been out of commission for the ten days. Recovering after my double hernia surgery.

All went well and the surgery was actually very good. The anaesthesia was similar to those given to C-section ladies, and thus I was awake on and off during the op, chatting to the surgery team (who were all very friendly and wanted to discuss the Rugby World Cup at length with me) and letting them know that my leg was actually feeling quite a bit of pain! A bit more in the drip and all's good!

What wasn't good was feeling teary under the anesthesia and crying due to the leg pain. Thus stuffing myself up and having to have the anesthesia assistant Mel get me tissues and giving myself a headache that made the recovery nurses with their insistent gossiping very annoying as they wouldn't shut up and let me sleep!

I've been housebound for about a week and have been suffering from lightheadedness. The pain isn't bad, but the nerves growing back has been. I started going for little walks a couple of days ago (down the street and back) and find I get short of breath easily (because I'm trying to go too fast, I'm a strider ya know). When I get home I'm very tired, then the leg nerves all start complaining. But it's good to get them working and the circulation is definitely better since the walks started. I had been suffering from cold feet and hands, and my legs looked almost blue!

Today has been a major step forward with the lightheadedness much improved and Gervase visiting me for lunch. Due to a lack of food in the house (my appetite is still very much the same), I hobbled down to the station to meet G and hobbled off for some Vietnamese food. Underwhelming as the food was, I felt pretty good during lunch, although I couldn't finish my noodle soup. We then headed up to Kelby's for cake and coffee. Or in my case peppermint tea, as the Vietnamese had left a lump sized feeling of indigestion that I'm sure all my exercise wasn't helping. After a nice hour there, G headed off to the station and I hobbled home, avoiding the Ibis shit at the Catholic church and stopping for some cat love from Borby, a ginger boy who lives down the road.

Tomorrow I visit my surgeon for a post op check up. I'm fairly certain he's going to stick me on some antibiotics as I have gotten a little bit more swollen on one side and I'm not sure that's all due to the exercise (although that's when it started). The bad side of this is I won't be able to indulge in a cocktail on Saturday night with the girls at Tara's Hen's do that I'm attending during the sit down phase. They will be partying on at Hugos, but sadly, I will be returning to my house and laptop, which has been my saviour the last week. As has my phone, I have chatted to more friends in the last week than I have in the last month!

Anyway, on Saturday I'm getting my hair done for the first time locally, then Donza is coming over to accompany (read: mind) me to on the journey to Tara's. Will be good to catch up and have her help me. The ladies are all getting dressed up, but due to my swelling there's not a lot that fits right now, so linen pants and a baggy top will be where it's at!

Excitement, Adventure and really Wild Things!

2007-09-10T11:55:00.001+10:00

Kinda. Over the APEC long weekend Kevin and I visited the Nation’s capital, Canberra.

We arrived around 2pm on Friday afternoon and had a little lunch in the suburb of Manuka, after checking out the opposite suburb of Kingston and its Shops. By the time we finished the weather was so bad and the hour a bit late, that we passed on doing any museums/galleries decided to do a tiki tour as suggested by Kevin's Rough Guide around the diplomatic houses, many of which are designed in styles appropriate to their country. Some were really different and interesting (Finland) and some were quite boring (NZ and Egypt). Papua New Guinea looked like a canoe and was painted in wonderful patterns. India was very pretty and had lovely gardens, as did Belgium and South Africa. Not surprisingly, USA was big and ostentatious and Germany looked like a school/prison complete with bars on the windows.

After the drive by tour we headed over lake, briefly checking out the Carillon, before hitting town to see about a movie. We discovered it was late night shopping and Canberra has an excellent interconnected mall, so you never have to get wet. After several hours there buying much needed clothing for Kevin, plus some alcohol, cheese and crackers from the supermarket, we’d forgotten about the movie and headed back towards our hotel intending to get pizza on route. However, we both remembered seeing the Belgium Beer Cafe at the Kingston shops, and as we managed to get a park right outside, took it as a good omen. The beers were very nice and the food was reasonably priced, good serves, and delicious! My steak with mash and spinach was incredible! Although the amount of garlic was a bit worrying.

After such a long day we headed back to the hotel with full tummies and climbed into bed about 11pm, which turned out to have a bad mattress. Roll together was bad, although maybe that's because I'm used to our amazing, wonderful and rather expensive mattress.

Saturday we were up and at 'em at a reasonable hour, dining at Zest in Kingston shops about 10.30. Coffee was good, and their meals were very yummy, with both of us having eggs and salmon.

After a stroll around the shops, Kevin wanted to check out the Essential Kitchen store he had been in the day before, so I grabbed some pastries from Silo bakery before tugging him away from the expensive homewares and towards some recommended Kingston Grind coffees. But not before chatting to the Essential Kitchen staff about restaurants and being recommended Cream in town and booking a table.

Sipping our hot and pricey ($3.50) coffees, we headed off over the lake once more in the murky rain towards the War Memorial. After cruising pass the monuments on Anzac Parade we headed in.The War Memorial has excellent displays and a new wing with visual displays of battles. It was very interesting and extremely moving. Once I started reading about POW working the Burma/Thailand railroad I was in tears. When I saw the headshot photo display of the hundreds prisoners of war who were worked till they dropped dead, I couldn’t take it anymore, it was all too distressing. The memorial is well worth a visit, but it is a lot to take in one session. We were there three and half hours and still had half of it to see. I have to say the artwork there is amazing. From advertisements, to dioramas, to the paintings and war correspondent photographs, it is an excellent collection and you are bound to find something that appeals.

After the Memorial we were pretty knackered, so headed back to the hotel for some cheese and crackers, a beer or two, primp and preen before cabbing into town for dinner.

Dinner at Cream was very good. We were very glad we’d booked as the place was pumping when we arrived. One thing we noticed the whole time we were in Canberra was how young the average person on the street was. The restaurant was the same. You’d be hard pressed to find many people over the age of 30 there, and I was one of them! Kevin started with a very tasty Thai grapefruit salad and I with the parsnip and apple soup which was delicious, but in the interests of my main course, I didn’t finish it. Kevin had the lamb curry for his main. Beautifully presented with pappadums, a bowl of rice and condiments, he was very content. However, my sole was disappointing, with the burnt lemon butter replaced with what seemed to be a lot of burnt lemon oil. I finished with a glass of sticky and a hot chocolate. Kevin decided there was room for a macchiato and tarte tatin, which I tried and thought was tres good! After a brief walk to see about a pub, we decided it was simply too hard to carry on with such full bellies and jumped into a cab back to the hotel. Not long after, we were fast asleep.

Sunday morning we struggled to get out of bed due to the black out curtains, but once opened discovered the skies had been washed clean and blue. We checked out quickly and loaded up the Yaris, heading like homing beacons back to Kingston for a Grind brekkie. Not as good as Zest we decided, but the coffees were top notch.

After breakfast we hit the National Art Gallery, knowing it was supposed to be good, but not really sure what to expect. What I hadn’t expected was the excellent collection of 20^th century art they had on display. On one wall was a Warhol, another a Pollock. Picasso and Braque both featured. There were several Miros and a Duchamp There was also a Monet, a Seurat and a lovely Degas sketch. I felt like my whole 6^th form year of art history was laid out before me. (Why oh why didn’t Mrs Hawke request a school trip here??) We spent so long on the ground floor that by the time we got to the upper level which had the Australian art and artists, our minds were full. We took in the contemporary artists and very much enjoyed the bright use of colour and innovative use of materials (Fiona Hall’s Paradisus Terrestris was a definite highlight), but by the time we got to Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly series, we were done. We decided we’ll have to come back to do the Aussies more justice, as well as see the sculpture garden.

We decided to round off the day at Parliament. We joined the 2pm tour, of which we were two of four people. Asa, a nationalised Swede, took us around. It was most interesting and a good way for us to take in the important parts in such a short amount of time. However, time was short and we had to get back to Sydney. We had a bite to eat on the Queen Elizabeth Terrace where we were harassed by the resident magpies, before heading up to the roof for photo ops and views. We were taking in the strange sputnik type flagpole when Kevin wondered how the flag itself was accessed. There was a platform up there, but no stairs. We looked around the struts and saw what appeared to be a lift lying on its side at the bottom of one. We then realised that whoever services the flag must have to get in it, astronaut style, and travel that way until it winches itself to the top and goes upright, then step around onto the platform. Freaky! You would not want to have a fear of heights for that job.

About 4pm we clambered back into the yaris and headed out of Canberra and the ACT, north towards NSW and our regular lives. Canberra was an excellent visit, but there is too much to see there in one long weekend. We’ve decided we’ll have to come back to see the archives, the museum, and of course make like Canberrians, hire bikes, and go careening around the lake.

On another note, check out the password for the wireless access at our hotel. How is that a coincidence??

Bathroom battles

2007-08-30T09:39:00.000+10:00

About a week ago Kevin went into the kitchen and declared we'd had a visitor in the night. A slug of some description had left silver trails all over the washed up bread board. We both had a search around the windows, wondering how (and why) it came in.

On Wednesday morning I was washing up when I went to rinse something off in the small, second sink between the dish drainer tray and large sink. There, happily making their way out of the plug hole, pushing the sink strainer out of the way, were two Limax Flavus. Yes, two slugs about 3cm in length each had entered our territory! I had stood on one a few weeks prior and it was so revolting that I was absolutely disgusted to find them in such close proximity to my clean dishes. So I promptly ran the hot water down the plug hole, followed by half a kg of salt also down for good measure.

When I got to work I did some investigation (eg. I googled drains and slugs) and discovered this article and this one. This is the bit that got me:

"Slugs have a strong homing instinct, foraging in the damp night air and spending the deadly desiccating daylight hours in a cool, moist retreat. Robinson provided his new staff with comfortable lodgings in the shape of a little ceramic pot perforated with stars and crescent moons--the sort more usually used to waft perfumed oils around the place. "They soon learnt that was home," he says. Each night, the slugs crawled out of the moons and stars and slithered off on their fungal foray. At daybreak, they crept home where they were safe from bare feet and torrents of hot water. In the breeding season, the slugs took a break from housework, heading down the drain and out of the vent pipe to seek a mate in the garden. After a brief romantic interlude, some came back, unable to resist Robinson's increasingly furry shower curtain. Those that failed to return were replaced with new recruits from the garden."

Basically, if Kevin I could stomach it, we could have slugs living in a piece of earthenware in the bathroom and they would come out at night and eat the growing mould. There are aspects of this that appeal, especially if I don't have to see them in the daytime. However, the fear that they will wander out of the bath and onto the floor, me in the middle of the night = squish, means I don't think it will really be such a good idea.

However, one aspect of the second article did appeal

"Roaches a problem--for other people," says Robinson. His house is so well protected, he sees about one cockroach a month. The first line of defence is a colony of leaf-tailed geckos--prickly-looking lizards with flat, leaf-shaped tails. These particular geckos don't have sticky feet and can only cling by their claws to rough surfaces. They live outside on the brickwork, where they are active at night. "They form a sort of moat of geckos that insects have to get past before they can make it into the house," says Robinson.

Any that do get in risk an encounter with the "lounge lizards", secretive skinks that skulk by day behind the lounge (that's a sofa to non-Australian speakers). The skinks emerge in the evening to hunt a whole range of unwelcome guests, including cockroaches, spiders and silverfish. "You hardly notice they are there. But they'll eat anything that's moving on the ground," says Robinson."

I'm quite chuffed about this as I love lizards and am pleased to report that while gardening on Sunday I saw heaps of little guys running round the foliage. I'm not sure they are geckos, maybe they're skinks, in which case I'd love to try and release them into the house. Again, not sure how Kevin would feel about lizards under the couch. We had a hell of a time getting a blue tongue out of our bedroom and back onto the balcony in Jervis.

The slug incidence also led me to FINALLY follow my friend Sharyn's example and clean out the bathroom sink drain, which hasn't run properly since we moved in. Suspecting hair was the culprit, I knew I have to take the thing apart, soak the S bend bits (in our case a complete O) in a bucket of bleached water, then put the whole thing back together again. Parts 1 and 2 went ok, but like the knucklehead I can be, I completely forget to take any note of which bits fitted together where. After a semillion this became problematic as there seemed to be a spare rubber washer that had no apparent home. An hour later, and many MANY leaks, we (I roped Kevin into helping) finally worked it out and have our sink working again.

The annoying thing is the sink drain isn't really running any better and it turns out the problem is actually a physics issue. You see, neither the bathroom sink or bath have overflow holes. Without overflow holes, water going down the drain tends to get into a vacuum fight with the drain air and it is only due to gravity having the upper hand the water finally goes down the drain. But not without a bubbly fight I can tell you! If we had a overflow hole, the pressure equilibrium in the drain would be equal, so the water would flow straight down and drain air would be pushed through the overflow hole, not through the water itself.

So other than learn an important science lesson last night, the whole plumbing experience was a big waste of time.

Last Saturday, I turned 31

2007-08-21T12:26:00.000+10:00

After bashes and parties for the past four years, I felt my 31st should be celebrated in more mature style. For that reason I had kept a bit quiet about my birthday, which kinda backfired as only my oldest friend in NZ, an old Brixton workmate, and my family remembered to send me birthday wishes on the day.

Nonetheless, I had a very nice day. Big sleep in, then coffee and presents in bed. Kevin gave me a top line hair straightener (a GHD, lucky me indeed!), an antarctic adventure autobiography (to continue 90 degree south obsession), a DVD game music quiz, and a lovely handmade hanky/artpiece which we think we might get framed.

About midday we toddled down for lunch in M'Ville Village at the Post Cafe. Minestrone soup followed by a fruit plate for dessert. Kevin and I then completed the weekly shop at the supermarket, before making ourselves beautiful for our evening out.

About 6pm we ordered a cab down to Kyla and Paul's Lilyfield for a couple of drinks and nibbles. K & P gave me a fantastic Donna Hay cookbook, some marshmellow lippie, and a much needed fruit/salad bowl. We then we headed out to one of their local pubs, the 3 Weeds, which happens to have a chef hatted restaurant attached.

A fine dining experience ensued. I had lime and anise cured kingfish topped with scallop to start. The boys both had oysters, and Kyla had the pork belly. For mains I had the spatchcock which was so succulent, I managed to squirt juice all over my dress trying to cut it open. The boys (once again) both had the fish, and Kyla had the beef daube. Desserts were quite lovely. Paul and I both had the strawberry and rhubarb crumble, Kyla, the pear and ginger pudding, and Kevin had the dark chocolate terrine. All this was washed down with a couple of bottles of pinot noir - one from Mornington Pennisula, VIC, the other was a Te Kairanga, NZ.

We rolled back to Paul and Kyla's, just as it started to rain and tried to stay up. We gave the Quiz DVD a go, but it wasn't as much fun as the show. Full credit goes to Kyla for her 'Substitute' abilities. But our full tummies were making us very drowsy, as was the port/beers/frangelico, so we headed off to bed about 1am. The next day Paul cooked a treat of bacon and egg baps, and as the weather had turned nasty and was throwing it down, also kindly drove us home.

Kevin and I decamped to the sofa for the rest of the afternoon and watched the Godfather II, (all three hours and two DVDs of it) in one sitting, while the rain lashed against the windows.

Now it's back to work and trying to meet deadlines. This weekend we are off to the league at our local club park and on Sunday, we're having Scott and Erin round for a roast lunch as Scott is moving back to the UK imminently.

Hanging out with my Hernias

2007-08-11T22:11:00.000+10:00

It's been no secret amongst my friends that I have two inguinal hernias. One which I discovered back in 2003 with no idea how it happened, and the other one I gave myself during the flu by a bad bout of non stop coughing in 2005. Basically my abdominal wall weakened then split so that my insides push out a little bit from time to time. Unfortunately those times can also be very painful.

So while living in London I started the long process of referral with the NHS. I ended up having a herniogram which was an interesting experience. Not really painful, but quite uncomfortable as a dye, called contrast, is pushed into your abdomen so the xray machine can see it. Then the machine lifts and lowers you to get the hernias really popping out. Lucky for me my friend Tam worked in the Radiology department and told everyone to take good care of me. Bless her heaps as she also snuck off work for ten minutes to hold my hand, turning what could have been an upsetting experience into a bearable one. Tam also ensured that I received my results in a format that I could take with me to Australia, a picture disk and report, something the specialist may not have ensured.

When I reached Australia I talked to my GP who read the results (yay Tam) and gave me a couple of referrals. I also took up private health insurance, which would pay for most of the operation after a year's wait.

That year waiting period ended in July this year but with nearly a $1000 shortfall for the day surgery, I was waiting until September/October to book in.

However, after coming off the pill in the last month, I have managed to gain a few unwanted kilos. And after not having had a bad hernia day for a many, many months, this extra weight also bought undue pressure on my hernias.

On Thursday night I found I couldn't stand in comfort and ended up instructing Kevin on dinner from the sofa. By Friday morning it was getting worse. Showering was difficult with one hand trying to hold my abdomen in place whilst trying to wash my hair. As walking to the train was an impossibility, but as I could sit in relative comfort, I ended up spending the day working from home.

But by the evening, the pain was worse, radiating down my leg. I'd never had "bad hernia day" continue after a night's sleep, and it was never so bad that I couldn't even stand. We ended up phoning a Medicare night doctor to visit me at home and my worst fears were confirmed when he said I should get myself to hospital as there was a very real chance that the hernia was starting to strangulate.

Kevin was amazing, giving me big hugs, reassuring me, before getting my PJs and earplugs, a book and my ipod ready for what could be a few days in hospital. We cabbed it to RPA hospital, not wanting to waste an ambulance for someone who could really need it (plus not being sure my insurance would cover it). We handed over the letter the Medicare GP gave us to the triage nurse, which saw us checked in promptly and given a bed.

A rather tasty nurse (fittingly called Fabian would you believe) showed up to take some vitals and ask questions. After only 20 minutes a doctor appeared to prod and poke before dosing out some panadeine forte (paracetaomol and codeine). I then became a pin cushion as he took bloods and popped a shunt in my hand incase I needed a drip later on. I then was sent shuffling off to the loo to give a sample. The doctor said he wasn't sure whether I would indeed get surgery as the hernia wasn’t fully strangulated, if it was indeed on the verge, he would need the registrar's opinion.

The registrar showed up a lot faster than we expected and turned out to be another hunk, a little embarrassing when I had to drop drawers and cough with my bikini wax due Tuesday coming. The registrar was also a Londoner and showed great surprise when I showed him my NHS herniogram report from Kings College Hospital. Chuckling, he declared that all the Brits were here and all the Aussies over there.

After a few questions determining that I wasn’t feeling ill in any other way and the panadeine was helping, it was decided that if surgery didn't want to consult I should be sent home with a supply of drugs to sleep in my own bed. Surgery came back after twenty minutes, declining the pleasure of my company as I wasn’t deemed an emergency case. So after the shunt was removed and test results cleared, I was given an “incase it all gets worse” letter to show if we had to come back, before being sent out into the night only three hours after we'd arrived. Considering we spent at least three hours in the waiting room watching Mr Ed reruns when the door fell on me in February, this was exceptionally good going.

Both RPA doctors said I should get my repair surgery sooner rather than later otherwise I may suffer more days like this, and indeed run the risk of a strangulation.

Kevin has also declared that he’s over spending evenings hanging out in RPA's A&E and I need to call my surgeon on Monday and get booked in. So the job-hunt will have to stay on the backburner a little while longer as the security cash will now cover my surgery.

As Kevin says, “I really need to put my health first”.

Chillaxing

2007-08-07T11:24:00.000+10:00

On Friday night I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with Kyla. It was actually very good. The book really waffles with Harry getting very hormonal and whiney. The movie cuts through most of the drivel and gets down to the task at hand. It was also good to see other characters being developed. You can really see Neville starting to become the fighter that everyone will look up to and Luna the lovable “Phoebe” of the group. The only problem was we inadvertently went to a subtitled session. My parents use subtitles so have gotten used to watching everything at their place with them on. However, these ones were kinda annoying, flashing up a good half a second before anyone actually spoke, spoiling the suspense. The music references became quite comical after a while: Mysterious theme plays, noble theme plays, scary theme, worried theme etc.

After the movie we grabbed a light dinner at Jet and discussed the movie and the last Harry Potter book at length. We also discussed Heroes, but couldn’t discuss Lost as I haven’t finished watching the series. I now have a task to complete before we next meet up. I have four eps to go.

With all this fine weather of late, Kevin and I thought we better make the most of it so on Saturday we headed down to the domain. We had a lovely afternoon drinking semillon, eating chicken sandwiches and reading the paper whilst overlooking the Opera House and Bridge. When the band started up at Opera Bar below us, we felt like we had the best of everything at a fraction of the cost.

After a walk around the Opera House and through the gardens, we ended up at the finger wharf to watch the bats leave over a beer. Unfortunately, despite there still be a stack of them in the grounds, it is winter and wasn’t as amazing to watch as in summer. (Photo: Botanic Gardens Trust)

We headed home and ended up watching documentaries including part 1 of Cricket in the 80’s, which I can highly recommend to any Cricket fan. We also watched a doco on Crowded House and one about the making of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was fascinating. It was filmed in the style of seven wonders of the industrial world and there are torrents of it lurking around the web - Constructing Australia

Sunday was a nice day of catching up with a couple of friends before an evening of Pizza and chillaxing.

Feeling foolish results in Geography lessons

2007-07-26T09:46:00.000+10:00

On Monday night Kevin and I did the Sydney Morning Herald Weekend Quiz from the Spectrum magazine. One of the questions went along the lines of "Which African country was established as a promised land for freed African American Slaves?"

I had no clue, I didn't even know there was an African version of Israel. Kevin, actually knowing something about this, knew it was a word that meant freedom etc - Liberia was the answer, which made sense. However, I had always thought Liberia had something to do with books not liberty. So feeling foolish point one.

On Tuesday I checked into Facebook and decided to do the Travel IQ test. The world map with no zoom meant it was harder to see country boundaries n' stuff (that's my excuse anyway) but I thought I was doing okay. That was until I got to a series of questions about Africa. The test asked me to pinpoint countries I hadn't even heard of like Benin and Burkino Faso. I also made the mistake of thinking Libya was near the Ivory Coast. It turns out it's on the bloody Mediterranean and right next to Eygpt, the only African country I've actually been to! At this point I felt the kind of embarrassment and bewilderment that Americans must feel when asked on Chaser, "What's the capital of Australia?" and being informed, "No. It isn't Sydney."
Feeling foolish point two.

All of this naivety led me to good ol' Wikipedia for a history lesson. I discovered that most of Africa's countries have continued to be repressed and depressed. I checked out Liberia on Google Earth and it looked very green with lots of seaviews for its populace. And indeed by the wiki history it should be by accounts a thriving country. It has a great position on the West African Coast, a temperate climate, fertile soil, a strong export in rubber, and a flat populated terrain surrounded by glorious mountain scenery. But, as I was to discover like so many African countries, it has suffered coup after coup, and corruption runs rampant.

I also read about Senegal, Benin, Burkino Faso, Niger, Chad, Nigeria and it just gets so depressing. These countries are so rich in resources but with no money they cannot invest within themselves and must go to international means. Unfortunately, without strong governments and policy, corruption comes to force and external investors come, take, and leave. There are also few or no requirements on investors to employ locals, provide infrastructure, and environmental hazards for current and future generations abound.

I have no answers but am determined to become more read and interested in African politics. I am currently living in a country that was formed by convicts being given a second chance. I'm hoping if Australia can make good and become a land of opportunity, surely some of the African nations can do the same.

House warmed, birthdays celebrated, another couple of weeks from Sez Shares

2007-07-23T10:15:00.000+10:00

A successful social time has been had by all over the past couple of weeks.

Our Mid Winter / Christmas / in July Housewarming was pretty successful with 20/25 odd punters eating our food and drinking our wine.

Kevin’s new bike had many admirers as the boys conducted Secret Men’s Business in the backyard. Us ladies stayed sensibly inside, admiring the Everdure gas heater.

The party kicked off about 1pm and finally wound up about 11pm, putting to bed two friends after they threatened to sing Khe Sanh at the top of their lungs. Our wooden floored duplex neighbours would have been very unimpressed.

This week just gone was also good with Kevin taking me to Dead Caesar at the Wharf Theatre. The Chaser guys put on a good show, but our backrow seats made it a little more difficult to see. The actors also talked extremely fast so it was hard to hear all the jokes.

On Friday it was Alison’s Jesus Year Birthday so I journeyed out to Fox Studios (Entertainment Quarter) for disco bowling. Pink was the theme of the evening and so was demolishing the place as the ball stayed firmly on my hand has I swung, before finally flying off, over two lanes, smashing into the barrier and nearly taking out a member of staff. Tres embarrassing for moi, but highly entertaining for everyone else.

Saturday felt like a Sunday with McGill and I doing domestic stuff like washing and grocery shopping. We then strolled our way up through Marrickville, past the Henson Park Pub (which has its landlords wanting to move to make more money of its pokies), and into Enmore where we saw brightly coloured beetles taking over the trees on Victoria Road. (Photo Nadia308). Kevin took some shots on his phone which will hopefully come out.

A quick browse around one of the vintage shops, then we bussed it down to the Rose in Chippendale to watch the last match of the Bledisloe Cup over pizza and a couple of beers. First half was excellent, very exciting and close in scores. Second half was a bit boring. Of course I’m very happy NZ won, but I find a close game is a good game. Lots of messages were sent between compadres in NZ and the UK, enjoying the win.

After the pub we met up with Dons and finally saw Transformers. It was a fairly enjoyable popcorn flick. But at over two hours long, I could of cut a good 20-30 minutes of action sequence out that served no purpose. It was awesome when Optimus Prime came out of the pool and when all the Transformers were trying to hide in Sam’s backyard was very funny. But troubling was the lack of continuity and slapstick characterisations that didn’t sit well with others. I’m a HUGE Independence Day fan, and felt it ticked more boxes than Transformers did. However, it was still fun and I’m glad I saw it.

Sunday we were up bright and early to attend the Aroma Coffee Festival for a couple of hours before Sharyn's birthday lunch. We tried some nice coffees but the highlight was the melted chocolate drink that Piazza D’Oro were giving out for free. The rain got a bit annoying so we ended up in the refurbished Argyle for a swift half before lunching on meat at the Phillips’ Foote. Much red wine, beer, tequila and an hour or so at the Slip Inn later, we all took our sorry, drunk arses home.

2007-07-13T16:21:00.000+10:00

Just a quick post to share with the ether my blogger buddy Bex's new landlord.

He is an 'inventor'. Apparently.

Check out his idea, Fleethorse.

I've had a quick read of the site but I stand by my initial comment to Bex, I don't think he's really thought this through.

Ric Bradley has nicked named the contraption the HorseHeat Killbox™ which seems a more apt definition.

Anyway, for a giggle - www.fleethorse.com

Dryers and drunkeness

2007-06-29T10:44:00.001+10:00

Well for those friends in the Northern Hemisphere, it's stopped raining, but looks like it will start up again this evening. *grumble grumble*

All this rain made me purchase an appliance that I have admitted to my Boy, I love more than him. No! It's not one of those! Get your mind out of the gutter. It's a dryer, and bloody hell, washing that took days and DAYS to dry are now done in 45mins! I'm not looking forward to seeing the power bill when it arrives (I also have a nice rise in my credit card bill as well), but it sure beats contemplating putting my undies and socks in the oven to dry them out.

As I said in my last post we were heading over to Donza's for some drinks before hitting the Hills of Surry for more drinkies and perhaps some food. No surprise that it was absolutely tipping it down again, but it was a great evening with lots of friends and conversation. There were nibbles and plenty of booze, and with all the rain nobody felt like leaving. Kevin and I took a litre of gin with us, and by the midnight, it had all gone, as had our hostess. She was asleep on the couch clutching an empty glass with a lone lime. We left about then so my beloved could watch the second half of the rugby at home. I do have a memory of Kevin phoning his Mum in Ireland while we walked home and me apologising loudly that I was too drunk to talk. Kevin then says I then discovered an abandoned shopping trolley and had to hang up quickly to stop me attempting to trundle it home.

Last weekend was a short film festival at the State. There were some fantastic films, especially Checkpoint. If you get the opportunity to see this short, do! It's deservingly won a stack of awards and I think we can expect great things from Ben Phelps the writer/director. (© Photo - Kieron Dobbin)

We also said goodbye last weekend to Kevin's Aussie family as they head off to Hertfordshire in the UK for a few years. It was a nice yet understandably sad evening. There were plenty of tears and photos. But all in all it's an exciting time for them. Although I still think they've miscalculated how much they will get to enjoy or be in London living in Hertfordshire.

We also got some exciting news that Kevin's sister Bobbie is getting married! Fortunately she's a planner and the date is set for August 09, giving us plenty of time to save and plan for a good 6-8 weeks in Ireland, the UK and Europe.

My friend Bex is off to Dubai for at least a year tomorrow. Very exciting for her, but also kind of scary. I give her the year and reckon she'll be in Aussie doing her working backpacker visa straight after!

Rain rain, go away! Come back another day.

2007-06-15T11:05:00.000+10:00

Yes I know, it's been awhile. So what's been happening?

Well it's been raining. And raining, and raining some more. To my UK dwelling friends this might seem silly coming from someone who lived in Blighty for nearly four years, but this isn't your ordinary London winter kind of drizzle.

Above is a picture of the beautiful Hunter Valley, famed for it's wines and restful locales... Now under water. And below is the Pasha Bulker, run aground at Newcastle. Just waiting to dump it gallons of fuel and coal in the central coast waters.

The excitement all kicked off last weekend when my parental units arriving on Thursday for a nice long weekend away on expiring airmiles to see us, but much more importantly, Priscilla the Musical! Howling gales delayed their plane and a couple of hours aqua planing around Marrickville saw them rush back to the safety of our house for gas heaters and g&ts by 3pm. And it didn't improve either. Priscilla was fabulous darling (loved seeing Michael Caton on stage), but the weather continued to get worse and by Saturday it was simply treacherous. As was poor Dad's stomach. He ended up spending most of the weekend in bed, suffering some awful bug. It was quite serendipitous the weather was so shit.

So what else... Work is still there. Applied for a interesting job but disappointingly I didn't even make it to the interview stage. I feel in a rut, ready for a career move, I ]don't want to stay in Marcomms but I'm not really trained for much else. Kevin and I have also decided to start saving for a deposit and even with our combined salaries, we're looking at a 2-3 year savings scheme to only get 10% deposit together, so no career retraining paycuts for me.

On the positive side, I'm working with a talented writer/director as her producer. My course was fantastic and I'm really enjoying the process of going for funding. Who knows? Maybe after some practice, I could do this as a permanent role. Dreams are free.

So between work, producing, family visits and just trying to spend time with Kevin, there hasn't been much time for anything else. Including (a-hem) the gym. I haven't gained any weight this time but so toning would definitely be a good thing.

This weekend brings (guess what) more rain, plus some fun time with friends! We ended up cancelling our flatwarming as Kevin's Nana died a few days beforehand. Instead we spent the evening with Kevin's Aussie family which was really nice and exactly what he needed. But after a couple of weeks of being homebodies we are much in need of catch ups and alcoholic beverages.
Donza (see left) is having us all round to her Surry Hills pad (housesitting), and Kevin and I have gin. Let the madness ensue!

Outfits, dresses and gowns, OH MY!

2007-05-28T09:59:00.000+10:00

My lovely friend Kyla got engaged just before Christmas last year and asked me and our friend TimTam to be her bridesmaids. Unfortunately TimTam lives in Chch so isn't able to take part in any of the bridal dress hunt, which is super fun, but also super exhausting.

As TimTam can't take part and Kyla's mum lives in Adelaide, I thought perhaps some photos of Kyla in the best ones would help them feel included. Unfortunately, none of the places would let me take photos when I asked. At first it seemed a bit strange as they kept saying you can see photos of it online. But I'm like exactly! So what does it matter if I take one of my friend? Still, Kyla wasn't surprised and pointed out that the dresses are usually a 10 so never fit us average sized girls so the dress wouldn't be seen at its best. They want the photos showing their wares to look perfect.

The first place we went, Luci di Bella, Kyla had an appointment so we were done pretty quickly - half an hour - but sadly the one dress she really wanted to try on was at the Melbourne store. There were a couple of nice options though, but nothing spoke out to her. The appointment definitely determined that K looks absolutely beautiful with a veil, and that an off-white/cream colour suits her skin tone. The dresses were beautiful but had about 3-4 layers of various types of silk fabric. I mentioned that that the ceremony was on a February afternoon (eg 30c), which the lady said Kyla should definitely consider when choosing.

Then we headed up to Paddo to Karen Willis Holmes. Because the place has no appointments we ended up waiting 45 minutes to have a Sales Assistant help Kyla with all the dresses. It didn't matter too much as it was quite amusing to watch all the other ladies. There was this one girl who was on her own and seemed to have absolutely no idea of what suited her. She must have tried on every dress in the place. But when I saw what she wore to the appointment - Stripes and plaid together. Knee high socks with half her slip showing - It became clearly evident that only Trinny and Susannah could help a case such as hers.

This weekend Kyla had made just one appointment at Sydney boutique designer, Jessica Fontaine. I was pretty impressed when Jessica answered the door and introduced herself. So far the designers seem like godheads; never seen but referred to with reverence. Actually seeing Jessica gave me a bit more faith in the process. Her gowns were more of the slinky sort, but her prices were quite reasonable and actually cut in a size 12, which meant that everything looked instantly good on Kyla.

After the appointment we headed to Glebe Point Road for a spot of lunch and a flick through the new Cosmo Bride. I found it staggering what some people were spending on their wedding, and a couple that were smaller weddings but still around $60K you couldn't understand where the money went. There was even one where the photos were out of focus!

Anyway, after shopping for some five hours, K and I did what we do best - Got some snacks, a couple of bottles of wine, then went back to her and the soon to be hubby's place, and got drunk!

Dogging the issue or research?

2007-05-24T10:37:00.000+10:00

Whilst I was awaiting my skim flat white this morning, I perused the complimentary copy of the Daily Telegraph.

An article that caught my attention was about Sydney taxi drivers routinely refusing to pick up blind passengers, or more accurately, their Guide Dogs, saying they cite various reasons but mostly religious. After finishing reading the article I felt that all sides of the story hadn’t been represented, or rather researched.

The entire time I was reading the articles I was asking, “Well, what is the specific religious law or text that reflects this attitude of taxi drivers of Muslim faith?”
The article never looked at whether this religious citing is a specific Muslim law or seemingly interpreted from something very general.

Now before everyone gets up in arms with me, I completely agree that these taxi drivers have accepted to do a job and signed a contract which said they would do their job according to the laws and obligations governing their profession. If they aren’t happy with Guide Dogs in their cabs, then they shouldn’t be doing the job.

But I can’t help but compare this issue to the Christian faith disapproving of homosexuality. Again, I’m not saying this is right, but the Christians do have a piece of Old Testament Bible text that specifically states a faith law not to engage in homosexual sexual relations. Whenever, it is reported a person of Christian faith says they cannot do something due to their religion, the media always sites the source, or for the most part the person interviewed does it for them. In this case, no Islamic law was researched for this article and nobody of Muslim faith is interviewed. Doesn’t seem like a representative story to me.

And the whole religious law issue makes me wonder if this issue is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m pretty sure the Koran has a specific law in the same fashion to the Bible condemning homosexuality. So in a city such as Sydney with its large gay culture, I wonder if there are taxi drivers of both Muslim and Christian based faith regularly refusing fares from gay men and women based on their religious law?

My Spidey senses were left kinda flat

2007-05-18T09:54:00.000+10:00

Saw Spidey 3 last night. Unfortunately the reviews were correct and the three of us (Kevin, Dons and myself) snarked our way through most of the movie.

There's just too much going on and far too much time wasted on the Mary Jane love interest plotline. Kevin was tapping his watch an hour in, at which moment I was also thinking, "Sam lose Tobey's puppy dog eyes and move the story along already!"

I am also getting real tired of Mary Jane having to be constantly rescued. For God's sake woman! If Harry can get himself super powers, surely you can too? You could have at the very least taken a self defence course by now!

By the final 20 minutes, the director has wasted so much time on Spidey's inner battle, that the scenes start to look sloppy with other characters motivations making no sense. Why is MJ suddenly being chummy with someone who strangled her against a wall? How does Eddie know about Flint's background? What exactly is Sandman trying to achieve with his bank robberies?

I swear I saw foreshadowing desperately waving from the sidelines in a couple of scenes, trying to be included so some of the stories had substance and reason. However, no. The writers and producers said "talk to the hand Shadow-man" and wasted screen time on lingering shots of Peter Parker being baffled and depressed, rather than move the important plotlines along.

There were some good moments, but they mostly involved secondary characters such as the landlord's daughter (now that's interesting Sam, spend time there!) and there was the always fabulous Bruce Campbell playing the French Maître d’

Sadly, other than the Sandman reforming scene (which was very moving and would stand alone as a short film) the most excited we got was when the Transformers trailer played.

You'd swear we were eight again! But I must say, it looks really good! Whoever cut the trailer has done a superb job. There's no annoying voice over and they show a very serious interpretation of the material. It gives little away on story, but instead shows lots of transforming shots so you are left thinking, "I NEED to see that film!" It was honestly a geek's wet dream!

Growing up

2007-05-11T12:18:00.000+10:00

Much Ado About Sumthin's Steph wrote a very poignant entry today about someone you knew in High School pretending not to see her.

It reminded me of a conversation I had on Wednesday evening about School reunions. I mentioned that I would probably not go to my High School one, but I'd be at my Primary School reunion in a shot.

Over the years I have run into people I knew from both Primary and Secondary school. On the whole, talking to Primary School peeps is a whole lot more fun and relaxed. High School run ins can be quite stressful.

I figure it's because people remember you from Primary School and what you were like, but know they can't equate the personality of a seven year old with the person standing before them. In fact that's part of the fascination; Finding out what they've done, where they've been, what they look like.

I remember running into John Cuthbert at a house party when I was 20. We'd been school friends, he'd invite me to play at his house after school (he had awesome electric car tracks), but as puberty approached so did the separation between the sexes. Talking to John as an adult with a beer in his hand was just so interesting! From a relatively shy little boy who could get quite emotional, he'd turned into this affable university student, who'd embraced his inner geek and was a bit of a comedian. And there have been other equally positive run ins with other 'kids'.

However, the personality you develop in High School is pretty much the one you have for the rest of your life. Or so it seems when you run into a high school person, because you tend to judge one another by what you were like then*. So if you were a bitch to me in High School (and let's face it. I went to all girls private school, bitchiness was part of the curriculum), I'm going to approach you in the same way. I was a nerd in school. I wasn't popular, and did & said stupid things. I have since been treated by the so called 'cool' girls with an amount of disdain as they remember me as a nerd.

I attended an Old Girls meet up in Paddington one evening. There actually weren't that many people there from my year or the years on either side. But I found that I there was this air of disinterest in me once they recognised who I was, and I in turn changed to tried to impress on them them that I wasn't the same person. I walked away wondering why I felt the need to put on graces, almost involuntarily, and more importantly why it wasn't ok to be the same person? I have plenty of friends who think I'm a pretty cool and fun person, why did I feel the need to try and prove myself?

Going back to Steph's post I totally get why you'd blank someone. In high school one girl was a particular bitch to me. In fact, I'd actually call her a bit of a verbal bully as she would take the opportunity to belittle me whenever she could. It really felt like life had some issues with me when her brother became good friends with mine. I feared Sam would go back to Penny, telling her of what a nerd I was at home. Nowhere was safe from her tongue.

After Uni I worked in a cafe in Wellington. This cafe was in a building opposite the central police station, which as life would have it, was where Penny ended up working. The cafe was a regular lunch place for Police employees and the first time I saw Penny queuing to be served I actually panicked and had to get someone else to serve for me. The second time, she got her friend to pay while she snared a table. Finally I had to serve her. And this is where it got interesting. Right there and for a year afterwards, we pretended we didn't know who one another were. I treated her like any other customer; smiled, asked her if she'd like her food heated and what the cost was. She'd order her coffee with a please, hand over her cash, and say thank you when she received her change. I'm still not sure to this day whether she this was her way of doing what I find myself doing, eg. Try and prove you are not the same person from High School. I always hoped that she'd learnt a bit about the world and herself in Uni. That cutting people down, didn't cut it anymore. And I'm always grateful to Penny that she pretended not to know me. To have done the "so what have you done since High School" would probably caused me an aneurysm.

* There are a couple of exceptions to High School peeps judgment:

People who got out early - My friend Anna was only at High School with me for a year and Jo who headed off to Nanny school in Form 6.

People who continue to know you through University and beyond - After a weird period in Form 4, my friend Rosemary decided post HS she didn't care what people thought and she enjoyed my company. Rosemary always made effort and ended up becoming great friends with my uni friend Sharon who I introduced her to.

My must stop, everyday

2007-05-04T10:21:00.000+10:00

www.cuteoverload.com

As anyone who know me can say, I love puddy tats! I love their little toes, their little furry faces, their little headbutts of affection, and their complete and utter independence.

But alas, being a renter means no pets. Besides which, BF is allergic, much to my (and his) dismay.

So every day, I get me some of this action -->
I mean just look at those footsies! I just want to snorgle those toes!

Cuteover has become my one stop shop for having pet love without actually owning any. My friend Dons also misses furry friends, especially the ones that go woof. So I put her onto this site, and she too has to tune in each and every day for some puppy love.

<--Just look at those furbrows! He has a complete baroo expression on his cute furry face.

This Lemur shot is probably my fave. Look at those big ol' yella eyes gazing up adoringly? You almost fail to notice there's another Lemur perched on her shoulder.

And this shot just makes me laugh. Nicely titled:
"I really need a playstation".

Packing, lifting and unpacking

2007-05-01T10:44:00.000+10:00

Well the move went surprisingly well! Nothing got too scratched up or broken. However, our backs are really sore from three days of packing, lifting and unpacking. We're doing pretty well getting the house into order, but our clothes are in chaos as the built ins are in the spare room.

On Saturday morning at 6.50am we took delivery of our wonderful new mattress and Kevin rugdoctored the sofa on Sunday morning at 8am in order to get the van back by to rental place by 10, so we are really lacking in the sleep department and in much need of an early night. However, it so nice on Sunday evening to finally sit down on our freshly cleaned couch, have some wine and cheese and watch David Bowie don tights in Labyrinth.

Tonight I have the last night of my producing course. I finally managed to sit down and do my take home exam and I'm fairly confident I will pass. I'm keen to put my new found knowledge into practice so hopefully SweetP and myself will obtain funding for a 16mm short by the end of the year.

Anyway, will try and blog more in the future. Although we now have a new porn - Furniture. To begin with our porn was real estate; looking in agent windows, conducting net searches, awaiting emails. But now with the search finally over we thought we could donate more time to other interests. However, we have discovered we have very little to put things on or in. The Freedom, Ikea, Dare and Oz Furniture websites have all been getting a work out, plus there's sales on everywhere. This weekend the great search begins!

How to spend a lot of money without really trying

2007-04-23T09:18:00.000+10:00

Move!

Yes that's right. Kevin and I finally found a lovely two bed duplex and we move in next weekend, But it appears finding a place in today's tight rental market was the easy part. We now have to move two separate place's worth of stuff in! In the process we have discovered that Kevin has a shitload more furniture than I do, and we don't own a fridge.

So after a nasty bout of Salmonella last week - my own stupid fault eating defrosted pasta without heating it thoroughly - we spent the weekend hours looking at lots of lovely things we don't have money for and about 10 minutes deciding on a fridge. Actually the fridge job was pretty easy as the alloted space in our new kitchen isn't that wide, which dictates how big the fridge can be. We ended up getting a reduced F&P for cash as it was only $150 more than the one we were considering and held 100 litres more stuff. Hopefully, with a centimetre allowance on either side, it will still fit in the space.

We also bought a bed. Well, a new mattress really. But at nearly $2000 that's seemed enough money to warrant calling it a bed. But still there is more money to spend. Kevin is looking for a designer looking kettle and toaster, plus a phone. (He's a boy so how these things look and operate is very important to him.) We also have movers to pay at approx $300, van hire at $70 plus petrol, as well as a big supermarket shop, and trip to Target for homewares. And we wouldn't even have slept in our new place once this is all completed!

Honestly! I never seen money just fritter away so quickly. And I like to shop on Oxford St! So although Kevin and I will be relaxing in our new pad, enjoying the space and privacy. It will be an exciting meal of instant noodles if anyone wants to visit for the next couple of months.

March - Flat and Kettle hunting

2007-03-21T10:18:00.000+11:00

Project Seven is now well underway! This is Kevin’s nickname for the task at hand for us to find a property, apply, be accepted, and move into it.

Believe it or not, Australian cities are tough places for tenants. Melbourne has bidding wars and Sydney is starting to introduce it. Kevin and I completely disagree with having a range on a rental property and so far, have refused to go to any such viewings. My opinion is if the landlord thinks it’s worth the top end of the range, advertise it as such. If someone agrees, they’ll meet that rent, if not; it will sit there until the rent drops. Any bullshit about “not knowing what a rental property is worth” is just that, bullshit. Our area is deemed “desirable” to the point that landlords don’t have to do a thing to a property, and they will still get 50 odd people happy to pay a rent that would seem ridiculous elsewhere.

For this reason Kevin and I are looking a bit further out, two stops up the train line in Marrickville. Kevin and I had a lovely morning there last Saturday whilst looking at properties. The high street has nice cafes and restaurants, and there are plenty of groceries retailers so we won’t have to hike to the supermarket as we do currently.

In fact, the first place we saw on Saturday we applied for. But unfortunately, despite a stellar application, we lost out to some people already renting with the estate agent. I’m a bit down about it (was already imagining where our furniture would go) but trying to keep in mind everything happens for a reason and we’ll get the right one at the right time. But the estate agent from the applied property was so impressed by our application, he’s hopeful to get us something in the area soon. So fingers crossed people!

Easter is right around the corner and with it a trip back to NZ to see the Whanau. This time Kevin is coming with me. It is his first time to the Land of the Long White Cloud and also only his second overseas trip in four years. (He only just got back from five weeks in Ireland.) This trip also signifies a milestone in our relationship as he will meet my parents. I’m not particularly nervous about it as I think him and Dad will get on really well. Nothing like a mutual love of gin and oddball musicians (Tom Waits anyone?) to bond over into the wee hours of the morning. Mum might be another kettle of fish, as she has had issues with my brother’s past girlfriends. This is the first boyfriend I introduced to the parentals in eight years. So it will prove interesting on many levels.

Speaking of kettles and my mother, I have been set a task by the latter to find the former for her in Aussie and bring back to her in NZ. Why can’t she buy a kettle in NZ you ask? Don’t they have retailers and parallel importing over there? Well apparently she wants the same kettle they had for years that has finally died. I would have thought this is a great opportunity to buy something new and up to date. However, my Mother says that all the kettles (or jugs as we Kiwis call them) are way too big and as it’s mostly just her and Dad she’s boiling water for, she just wants a wee one. In short, she wants back the one she had for ten years that has finally gone fut. So after some research my Mother discovered that Breville (who make the kettle, see pic) don’t sell the model in NZ anymore, but they do sell it in Australia. Sure enough it’s on the Aussie website (which Kevin developed BTW), but so far every retailer I have looked at doesn’t stock the model. Hmmm… By the look of things Mum may not be getting the Easter Egg she really wants.

How Prosh is this?

2007-02-26T09:56:00.000+11:00

As many of my friends know, I LOVE cooing over species of the furry variety. Hell! If the lizard's cute enough, I'll even coo over him too! (See Taronga Zoo example on left)

Well, this article on Cute Overload (where I have to get a daily fix) had a link to this BBC article.

It seems the UK Field Mice are about to get a helping habitat hand in the form of leftover Wimbledon tennis balls.

Tres cute indeed!

Check out these pix!

Migration!

2007-02-14T14:35:00.000+11:00

Google bought out Blogger in 2003, just as they bought out Youtube last year. As I have a gmail account that is linked to this blog, the Blogger people and the Google people took it upon themselves to not let me sign in until I had migrated my blog. Eg, married my two separate web presences. This kinda annoyed me, but as they knew I had a gmail account associated with this blog, not neccessarily a problem.

I was chatting to ScottBP a week or so ago about online communities being bought out by the big guns. We agreed we understood why after companies like yahoo or google buy out an online service, they want to put their stamp all over it. But that still doesn't make it lessl annoying for peeps who don't want to get ANOTHER email account, when the one they had was working just fine.

The perfect case of this is Yahoo buying out Flickr. Now as a Yahoo email user and a Flickr user, when Flickr asked me if I wanted to meld my two accounts, I had no problems with this. However, now when I try to get new peeps to use the service, they find they get lumbered with a Yahoo account they don't necessarily want or need, when their hotmail, gmail or msn one has been serving them perfectly well for years. It just becomes yet another set of things to remember.

The Flickr migration to Yahoo has also caused a few waves with current users who, like me, signed on well before Yahoo bought Flickr out in 2005. However, unlike me, these users don't have a Yahoo account.

For almost two years it hasn't been a problem: Yahoo users sign in 'over here', and Old Skool members sign in 'over there'. Now Yahoo has given a deadline ultimatim of March 15 2007 that all Flickr users get themselves a Yahoo account or lose their Flickr service. Now this may not be such a contentius issue if Flickr was absolutely free. However, (I'm guessing) 80% of Flickr users are termed PRO members, eg. They PAY for the service. Dictating to the very customers who pay for the service and keep it afloat is a very dangerous move by Yahoo. One that has been all good news to Thomas Hawk, CEO of competitor site Zooomr.

Ringo has also been doing steady trade, off the back of the merge or else announcement. Although Ringo have their own trust issues as they end up alienating future customers by using sneaky tactics such as sending invite emails to a new sign-up's entire contact list without their consent. Other sites such as webshots and Kodak Gallery (that replaced Ofoto) have also gained steady trade.

A Flickr staff member has said she will refund pro account monies of Old Skool users personally if they want to leave. (An interesting move, almost wanting of pity.) Some Flickr users have called those taking the refund petty as it's from a person, not the company. But other users have said if enough people show their disgust by asking for a refund, it might show the staff member the level of unhappiness, and in turn persuade Flickr and Yahoo to reconsider. I'm not so sure.

Other articles of interest:

Digital Lifestyles
Arstechnica

Not looking too bad!

2007-02-11T13:28:00.000+11:00

Here's some pix I took on Thursday night, a few days after I had my stitches out. It was time for a good clean up (lots of dried gunk to get off) and to apply some new steri strips (to help reduce the scar). Once it has completely healed, I think it will fade quite nicely. So all in all, not looking so bad considering how deep and open the gash was nearly two weeks ago.

Things that go bump in the night

2007-02-01T11:39:00.000+11:00

So look what happened to me while I lay sleeping at 2am!

Kevin's bedroom door came off its hinges in December, and his Letting Agent has been pretty crap about getting round to fixing it. In the meantime, Kevin has been propping the door in the gap, boulder like, which has been a pain to move to go to the loo but otherwise worked fine.

Well on Tuesday night, it didn't work so fine, as a gust of wind blew it from its propped up postion and back the other way towards the bed. Guess who was on that side of the bed?

Needless to say I woke up screaming, I had no idea what was happening to me, where I was, etc etc. I also had my earplugs in which didn't help. I have never heard myself scream like that, it was truly terrifying, let alone what it must have been like for Kevin sleeping beside me.

Once we got the lights on and my earplugs out, I sat up trying to fathom what was wrong with me. That's when I started bleeding pretty badly. As I went about mopping up, I felt the gash and realised that I had to go to hospital. Then shock started to set in, I felt nauseous, dizzy and very cold, all at the same time. I clambered down the stairs to the bathroom holding tissues to my throbbing head and trying not to pass out. After dealing with the bodily issues of shock, I ended up laying down on the bathroom floor with a teatowel to my head, trying to overcome the dizziness and nausea. Kevin called a cab to the A & E, and set about getting my things.

After arriving at RPA the night nurse put a piece of gauze over the gash and then we set about waiting. And waiting, and waiting some more. Turns out there had been a pretty bad car accident that evening, and although the A & E didn't have too many people, we all had to wait that much longer. At 6am my name was finally called and the doctor went about stitching me up. The worst part was the anesthetic which was needled into my scalp. After waiting a further 40 minutes for a letter for my GP, Kevin and I finally left RPA at 7.20am to have some breakfast, call bosses, before going back to MY place to go back to sleep.

After a shit night's sleep last night I'm still not up to going back to work, so am taking it easy again today. The black eye is really starting to come up and has swelled a bit more. I also got a minor tear just below my eye which becomes easily irritated. However, the weirdest thing is that half my scalp has gone numb, and part of my forehead has lost feeling all together. Kevin had to help me wash my hair last night, and blowdrying it was so odd as I couldn't feel the heat of the hairdryer, nor the comb as it went over my head. I'm hoping the nerve endings will repair themselves in time.

Overall I feel incredibly lucky. Yes it was avoidable, we should have moved the bed to another part of the room. However, the accident could have been a lot worse. If I had been another 5 cm further over, the door would have hit my temple and, well... I'll leave that thought there. I also wonder if I was facing the other way would it have hit the back of my head or missed me altogether?

Anyway, my hockey stick scar in my right eyebrow has now been dissected by this new door one. I get stitches out early next week. Will post more photos then.

Things I’m learning about, eg. The joys of wikipedia

2007-01-24T14:06:00.000+11:00

I seem to spend a lot of time on wikipedia of late. It is an excellent resource, and can provide HOURS of reading material on subjects that are probably of no use to anyone - except maybe in pub quizzes.

Wikipedia pages I have recently explored include:

Billy Bowden – Flamboyant New Zealand Cricket Umpire

After observing him again in the Ashes Test matches this year, I decided to do some investigation.

Interesting fact: Bowden had a promising cricketing career until arthritis struck in his early twenties. Which is why he uses the termed "crooked finger of doom" rather than a straight finger to signal a batsman out.

The Gabor Sisters – Three famous Hungarian actresses whose biggest claim to fame is that of serial matrimony.

I only knew of two sisters, Eva and Zsa Zsa, and wanted to know about their marriages and actual acting careers.

Interesting facts: Turns out there was another sister called Madga who married Zsa Zsa’s ex-husband George Sanders. Marriage only lasted six weeks. Eva was the only real success independently. Zsa Zsa made most of her money through her marriages. (These were the days before prenuptial agreements.)

The Dakota – An upper west side New York apartment building constructed in the 1880s in a Northern German renaissance style.

Seeing a reference to John Lennon’s death outside the building (which was also his home) I got to thinking about the building, and the film Rosemary’s Baby that was based there.

Interesting facts: Although the exteriors for Rosemary’s Baby and Vanilla Sky were filmed on location, the interiors were built on a LA sound stage. The Dakota building does not allow filming inside. Gene Simmons of KISS wanted to live there in the late 70s, but was turned down by the tenancy board.

Crumpler – A Melbourne based bag company that started life making messenger bags before expanding into labtop and camera bags.

These bags are very popular down under, with my boyfriend swearing by the three he owns (and he thinks I have a handbag addiction). A selection of photos of flickr.com lead me to want to know more.

Interesting facts: Crumpler are now a worldwide company with the head office still located in Melbourne. They have run a “beers for bags” promotion a few times.

Oath or Affirmation?

2007-01-19T09:14:00.000+11:00

On Wednesday I had to give evidence in court.

There were several interesting things I noted about going to the local courts. One, it is much akin to waiting in an airport lounge. Just cause your ticket (subpoena) says 9.30 doesn't mean you'll be taking off at 9.30am. Be prepared to wait around with lots of other people on uncomfortable furniture, with plenty of overhead annoucements you can't understand thrown in for colour.

Two, all parties in the case wait in the same area. Which I though was pretty uncomfortable for those who had real grievences with one another. The case I was giving evidence for was an assult and the young woman had to sit not but four seats away from the guy who assulted her. I had a book to bury my nose in. Neither of them had any distractions except their hands to look at.

Three, just before I went into court to do my part, the court secretary asked me if I wanted to take an oath or affirmation. What's the difference? An oath is if you believe in God. An affirmation, you don't. Suddenly I was being asked to decide on my spiritual belief system in two seconds flat, something I had spent the last ten odd years avoiding. Did I believe in God? I wasn't sure, but I certainly believe in "Something". So, should take an Oath because although I'm not sure I believe in a god per say, I still believe in a spirtual power outside of myself? Or should I take an affirmation because as my belief isn't in a religious format god, it doesn't count?

I ended up taking the oath.

Make of that what you will, I still don't know if that split second decision means something or nothing.

Cat sitting, flat hunting and holiday ing

2007-01-16T12:56:00.000+11:00

Last week Kevin and I cat sat at Potts Point. Bar the Tuesday meltodwn, it was wonderful!

We played Lord and Lady Muck, enjoying the company of the furry monsters and enjoying the superb harbour views. We entertained a couple of times, showing off the water views and location to our friends. We enjoyed eating out at the various local establishments, or just curling up on the couch with a vino.

It was also really nice to live together again. Of course, this time it was different. A - We're sleeping together now. B - It was just us, no sullen 40 year old cow of a flatmate. And C - It's wasn't actually our place. It's still nice to know that we still cohabitate well.

During the week I also viewed a couple of properties in the area. A beautiful Art Deco studio with city views that I really REALLY wanted, but alas lost out to someone who either had a better application than me, or could move in sooner. (Australia Day weekend at the end of the month is proving a little inconvinent for giving notice if I need to.) The other studio was not as nice, but probably a lot bigger space wise. This time I know I had a good application, but again as I couldn't take the property immediately, I have probably lost out. I really do want to get my own place, but I am waiting for the right property at the right price. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people doing the same thing, many of them prepared to pay A LOT of double rent. Maybe February will be my month?

Coming up is Australia Day weekend which I'm quite excited about. Six of us have rented a house in Jarvis Bay. It has a spa, bicycles, and is on the waterfront! Will also be the second to last weekend before Kevin leaves me for five weeks. Bloody Ireland! I know he needs to go back as his family have already been out here twice, but it's February - SUMMER! The best time to enjoy Sydney. And if I do manage to get a flat in February, who's going to help me move?? Hmmm...