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31st Birthday in Melbourne: Day 2

August 12, 2010 / Family, Travel, Victoria / 0 comment

Day 2 kicked off with brunch at Di Bella in north Melbourne with an old friend, Dana, and her bf Karl, an ex-intern at Google and who joined our netball team while she was in Sydney. Dana moved back to Melbourne after her internship ended and is moving to Seattle in the near-ish future to join Google there, where I’m sure she will take the Seattle netball team to new heights of victory.

I enjoyed the breakfast at Di Bella immensely, even more so because we were introduced to Dana and Karl’s brunch technique of ordering food, then eating cake while the breakfast was being cooked. Breakfast of champions. Amazing.

Pear and chocolate danish. Divine.

Netball yay 🙂

After brunch (and an unscheduled drive to the bus depo in Footscray to pick up the wallet Alec left on the airport bus – PS Sunshine street is NOT sunny people) Alec and I walked around Melbourne and ate more food.

I’d like a purse THIS big.

I love how Melbourne has random sculptures scattered around it. Like the giant purse. Or the men waiting for a tram.

Like CityRail in Sydney, trams can take a while to arrive. This poor fellow has been waiting a looooong time.

I practice my tram-waiting face while waiting for the tram, of course.

Melbourne also has a lot of graffiti art. I enjoyed the little alleys with oh-so-cool cafes, jam-packed with trendy Melbourne-ites, and covered with bright designs.

Even the dumpsters got the art treatment.

The husband loves a good alley.

The wife loves a good Tiffany store 😉

Lindt gets arty.

Birthday tulips! Thanks husband!

Melbourne Central shot tower in the middle of a shopping centre. So cool.

More graffiti.

Dinner at Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar for home-cooked, simple, Italian food.

After dinner it was off to Mary Poppins at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Alec was fabulous and booked us great seats with a package that included wine and a goody bag (ooooh more gifts!).

“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag!”

The show was fantastic. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so it surpassed any expectations I might have had. I adored Mary Poppins the movie when I was growing up, so the musical brought back lovely memories. The singing, dancing and set were all fabulous.

31st Birthday in Melbourne: Day 1

August 11, 2010 / Family, Travel, Victoria / 1 Comment

For my birthday this year, Alec took me to Melbourne. We were blessed with lovely weather. A full three days of sunshine, wheee! We stayed at The Olsen, a fabulous new hotel in South Yarra, decorated with the artwork of John Olsen.

I love this – I did take one home with me!

Stylish room with artwork by Olsen.

Morning light – hitting the shops.

We had a lazy Saturday morning before wandering down Chapel St to grab some brunch and shop. Fun for me, perhaps less fun for Alec.

Feed me!

Coffeeeeee!

It was then off to the Melbourne Museum to see Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition.

Who knew Melbourne would be so sunny!

The exhibition was great. It contained a lot of artefacts that had been recovered from the wreck as well as telling many personal stories of people who survived and perished. It also had sobering facts about the sheer number of people who died.

“I’m the king of the world!”

Snack time at Koko Black.

Nom nom.

One more coffee for the road.

Heating from the inside out. Brr Melbourne is cold.

Tasty pudding.

Mousse martini. Looks amazing. Made me feel ill afterwards.

Walking through Melbourne in the fading light.

Tram!

Hip hop dancers in Federation Square.

Dinner – a local Thai joint.

Yay, we’re in Melbourne!

Dreams and Desires

August 1, 2010 / Family / 2 Comments

I was going to title this post “My Bucket List”, but I think the concept is a bit morbid, so I prefer to call it what is really is – a list of things I dream and desire to do.

1. Visit the sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica.
2. Visit the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.
3. Publish a book of my photography.
4. Have my photography exhibited in a gallery.
5. Start a family with Alec.
6. Climb Machu Pichu.
7. Teach my daughter that I hope to have, to dance like no-one’s watching.
8. Touch people with my photographs.
9. Set up a small animal sanctuary and take in all the reject animals no-one else wants.
10. Learn to cook a decent risotto.
11. Start my own business.
12. Ogle penguins in Antartica.
13. See a polar bear in the wild.
14. Visit the Galapagos Islands and swim with seal lions, watch giant turtles.
15. Never stop dancing.
16. Find a stronger sense of inner calm.
17. Be braver and stronger. Take more risks.
18. Support animal charities and welfare groups.
19. Help support animal legislation to bring about real change.
20. Renew my wedding vows on a Kauai’an Beach.
21. Stay young at heart.

I’m sure there are more, which I will post about later when I think of them.

Bye Bye J-Vo

August 1, 2010 / friends, Sydney Life / 0 comment

My dear friend JennJenn is heading off the the Mexico office soon. I’m not really great at telling people how I feel in person, or even showing it through writing. This seems to be surprising to a lot of people as they think of me as a writer, ergo, I must be good at every kind of writing. Also, I’m a prodigious talker, ego, I must be ace at expressing myself verbally. Ba-bow. It doesn’t work that way. Turns out, I’m much better at showing how I feel through photographs.

So for my very dear friend’s farewell, I put together a book chronicling her time at the office over the four-and-a-half years she graced us with her huge presence. In the words of a much better wordsmith than myself, Jenn is the biggest, little person I know.

My friend, I am going to miss you a lot.

I promise we will be visiting you soon. Love you lots.

Freshly Cut at the Gaelic Club

July 28, 2010 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

I was contacted to photograph a music event sponsored by Jim Beam – Freshly Cut at the Gaelic Club. I haven’t photographed live music before, and after I had finished, I decided it wasn’t really for me. I did however appreciate the opportunity and was happy that I still managed to get some interesting shots. The three bands I photographed were called Seven Steady, Iron Jack and the Snowdroppers.

Eagle view from the balcony of Iron Duke.

Ahh the fans. This was Seven Steady.

Iron Duke again.

The lead singer of Iron Duke enjoyed singing from the balcony. Risky moves, I enjoyed it!

AIME National Hoodie Day

July 28, 2010 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

I haven’t had time to blog lately, I’ve been too busy taking photos and working.

One event I photographed was the launch of AIME’s National Hoodie Day. One benefit to being the photographer is you get to meet everyone, such as the ambassadors Wendell Sailor and Ian Thorpe.

Football legend Wendell Sailor.

Me and Thorpie. He is a bit of a giant.

Michael Paynter Live at TGIF

July 11, 2010 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

Sometimes I remember how amazing it is to work where I do. This Friday was one of those days, when at TGIF we had not only wine tasting from Oyster Bay, but also a live performance from a Sony artist, Michael Paynter. I hadn’t heard his music before, but thought he had a fantastic voice. Thanks so much for coming in and performing for us Michael!

Rocking out at TGIF.

Great to meet you Michael! Love your work.

Appreciate Chocolate? – Yes I Do

July 11, 2010 / Sydney Food / 3 Comments

I attended another of Signorelli’s cooking classes for Greg’s birthday. The chocolate-lover’s birthday fell on the day of the course, so we considered it a sign from above that we were meant to be there.

This time, it was Appreciate Chocolate with Kakawa Chocolate‘s Jin Sun Kim and David Ralph. The class consisted of a master tasting session, history of chocolate and demonstrations of how to temper chocolate, make ganache and create truffles.

The evening started with a platter of delicious fruits and dipping chocolate, and some potent Toblerone cocktails.

Nothing says welcome like a tasting platter…

… and cocktails.

Hello there birthday boy.

Ohhh, pretty things waiting to be tasted.

The husband enjoys his chocolately goodness.

As do I!

Kakawa’s David Ralph spouts wisdom.

Ground up cacao beans – not especially tasty.

Dark chocolate – not my favourite, but not bitter like most generic dark chocolate is.

White “chocolate”. Mmm sugary…

Blend of milk chocolate – love it. The markings are from bubble wrap.

Champagne truffles.

Basil truffles. Not for me, but very shiny.

Passionfruit/mango truffles. Amazing.

Almond slivers in milk chocolate.

Tempering chocolate.

Mmmm I’d like to lick the chocolate off the slab. Who cares about truffles.

Hello master bar tender. Thank you for the exquisite beverages.

Why birthday boy, whatever do you have there?

The class was excellent and I learned a great deal about chocolate. I was also given a huge amount of chocolate to taste and then take home. I have a high tolerance for chocolate, but still felt ill after eating so much chocolate. I can’t wait to go to Kakawa’s store eat more of their chocolate!

SIGNORELLI GASTRONOMIA
Ground floor of Accenture/Google Building
Trouton Place Pyrmont NSW 2009
(opposite Metcalfe Park)
P: 02 8571 0616

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving

July 8, 2010 / Family / 2 Comments

As the first year of my 30s draws to a close (yikes), I wanted to reflect on some positives to being in the next decade.

1. I’m not working in a crappy part-time job earning peanuts. Hooray for financial independence!
2. As a result of 1), I can afford the pretty things I wanted to buy in my 20s and couldn’t afford. Hellooooo Alannah Hill and fancy camera.
3. Being married is so much better than dating and being in your 20s. Being married is totally awesome.
4. Self confidence. I have come to terms with who I am and am not. I am not thin, super-model pretty, a talented singer or an Olympic athlete. I am, however, a great photographer, pretty funny according to my husband, a great friend, daughter and wife, and apparently good at my job. And I’m comfortable with being just that.

Things I don’t like about the 30s:

1. Hearing terms like the “dirty 30s”. Hello, does that have any facts behind it, or is it just the rhyming? I think the 20s were dirtier, personally.
2. Being the oldest person in my netball team. The youngest just turned 17. Can we say generation gap?
3. My body getting slower. It upsets me that I can’t keep up with sports as I used to. I hate feeling slow and getting tired more quickly.
4. Goodbye metabolism! I really should eat better.

All-in-all, the pros are pretty great.

Our 6-Month-versary in Parramatta Park

July 7, 2010 / Love, Sydney Food / 1 Comment

The past six months have flown. I can’t believe we’ve been married for half a year already. Amazing.

We wanted to do something a bit fun for the occasion, so I booked lunch at Lachlan’s Restaurant in Parramatta Park since we had promised to drop by the Winterfest afterwards to see Daniel’s group, the Orion Consort, perform.

Lachlan’s is smack bang in the middle of Parramatta Park. The building was once Lachlan Macquarie’s old government house. It has been resorted and turned into a restaurant. Thankfully, the old world charm remains.