My dear friend Shaden decided to move to Egypt. She’s a great friend and I’m going to miss her.
friends
Andrew Calman’s Farewell
Our dear friend Andrew is moving to Google NYC. He had a barbeque today in Centennial Park with family and friends to say goodbye to the Calmanator era.
I’m sorry to see another friend leave the country, but we will be staying with Calman (hopefully!) when we are in NYC in July, so we have something fun to look forward to.
We had such a lovely day, sitting in the autumn sun with friends and hanging out with the Duffs, Calman and his friends and family.
Baby Liam Duff and mum Chantal are too adorable for words.
Close-up!
Nom nom nom!
The most photographed baby in the world 🙂
Boys bond for the last time in Sydney.
Umm … I don’t know what to say about this.
Daniel’s Surprise 30th Birthday Party
While Alec was in Mountain View we were organising a surprise 30th birthday party for his best friend, Daniel. It was quite a lot of organising, and I was a little concerned that things would completely fall apart at the last minute, but everything went to plan and the birthday boy was both totally surprised and happy to see all of his friends gathered for the occasion.
Daniel blows out the candles … yes, that is a swan cake.
Alec was so tired by this stage. I picked him up at the airport at 7am, then the cake at 9am. We both look tired and relieved that it all worked out!
Happy 30th Daniel!
Narrabeen & Counter Burgers
On this beyond hot day, Alec and I took a trip to Narrabeen to cool off.
Afterward we meet Matt and Lisa for dinner at Counter Burger, Crows Nest.
We ended the night at Matt and Lisa’s place watching Scrubs.
Christmas BBQ Lunch
Every year I meet up with my high school friends for an Xmas get-together. It’s the one time of year we can all usually meet up, so I always look forward to it.
This year we decided to have a BBQ at Bicentennial Park.
Alec talks to little Buffers.
Enjoying the greenery.
Shelley on her last weekend before moving to London.
Jules and Ro.
Kaz.
Rosalie made these amazing reindeer cupcakes – chocolate with berries in them.
Group shot. 11 years after high school finished, who’d have thought we would be where we are today and still friends?
Kahlua and Buff were on their best behaviour.
Kahlua has had an ear infection for most of the year. We finally have it sorted out and after many many months of ear pain for her, she is finally on the mend. Yay!
Evening of Gluttony
Lovely Lol-isa has us all over for a big feast of nom-licious food.
Reading a very interesting article on Tiffany & Co.
Bev provided entree number one – cheese and tomato puffs, with ham in them for the meat-eaters.
Erm …
My special no-meat version.
Sigh. There’s no helping the hopeless.
Entree number two – pumpkin bruschetta. I’m not a huge pumpkin fan, but I just loved this!
Cheese tortellini for mains!
Multi-tasking for dinner.
Making myself useful.
The result – nutty pasta with asparagus. Delicious!
Who’s the cutest kitty of them all?
Dessert number one – banoffie pie! Second-last layer – bananas.
A layer of cream on top finishes it off.
Feed me now!
OMG so tasty!
Dessert number two was another mango cake. I’m addicted ….
Heaven!
Stuffed and needing to be carried.
Cute couple leaving us to move to Shanghai.
My awesome friends.
So full we can’t move.
Excellent host family. Thank you for having us over!
Chaotic group photo.
Happy Birthday Beverly!
For my dear friend Beverly’s birthday, we gathered at a little Japanese / French place in Willoughby called A La Facon de Shimizu.
Girls dressed for the occasion. Like my new dress? Seduce factory outlet sale!
Fried Camembert cheese wheel that I split with Lisa (around $15). Super delicious!
Food porn shot.
Happy girls in summery dresses.
Neither the Japanese or French do vegetarian food particularly well, so it wasn’t a surprise that they didn’t have a single vegetarian main on the menu. They did however make me a fantastic dish on the spot to suit me – how very obliging! It was also big enough to feed two people, so if I go back I will ask for a half-serve!
Vegetarian pasta dish (Around $22).
Beverly, the beautiful birthday girl.
Blowing out the candles.
Tasty cake Chris organised.
I really loved that the restaurant was BYO and didn’t charge for corkage, and they also didn’t charge us cakage either! A really great evening.
Happy birthday Beverly!
A La Facon de Shimizu
537 Willoughby Rd
Willoughby NSW 2068
Phone (02) 9958 8785
Beverly’s Farewell
For Beverly’s last day at eBay Australia, I joined her and her work mates at The Loft for after work drinks and commiserating.
With a fellow Googler, Angela.
I started getting starving and insisted – rather aggressively I think – that we must go and eat. The only reasonably priced food joint nearby was Wagamama, so off we went for late-night noodles.
About to pass out – saved by noodles!
Delirium caused by hunger. Lol-isa wants nothing to do wiht my antics.
Bev loves noodles – as long as they aren’t udon.
Dessert – fried banana with coconut ice-cream.
The restaurant cleared out and we were the only people left.
Mmmmm dericious.
These sweet potato chips were addictive.
Romantic … and delirious at the same time.
It was a fun but also sad night as it was the farewell for many eBayers as well as Bev. It won’t be the same without you Bev, my dear!
Lindeman Island Day 3 – Relaxing
With no obligations today, we were free to relaaaax.
The view from our window.
I thought it would be a great idea for another bush walk – this time up to the top of the mountain on the island to admire the amazing view. It was about a 9km round trip, so it was a decent effort at exercise on another super steamy day.
Well worth the trek for the view.
Cooling down.
And chilling out.
Little fellow who hitched a ride on Alec’s arm.
Drinking cocktails in the bar after our arduous climb.
A dip after lunch for further cooling.
Very conveniently located bar.
The peering statue that reminded Alec of me.
The foreshore of the resort.
Lindeman Island Day 2 – The Wedding
The day started hot and humid, so we decided to go on a bush walk through the national park lands to see Coconut Beach. When we asked staff for directions, they looked at us with some puzzlement … which we later realised to be because they were wondering why we would want to trek though the bush on a day so humid most people didn’t leave the pool?!
The walk was beautiful. Extremely hot though, so we were sweating profusely after about five minutes of walking.
Cute bird – we saw them all over the island. They had cute little tail feathers that flicked up and down when they ran.
Lake with water lilies.
Finally, Coconut Beach!
Woo hoo!
Ahem …
It looks a lot more overcast here than it actually was.
Our walk was a bit longer than expected and we indulged a little too much at lunch – making us almost miss the wedding. A stressful half hour ensued where we washed sea salt out of our hair, threw on clothes, and ran up several hills in our party clothes to make the ceremony. We were on time, but were sweating a lot! On the plus side, if gave me a chance to try out my strategy with my new silver slingbacks that refuse to stay on. I bought some ribbon and tied them around the shoe – and they stayed on like a dream, even running – uphill!
The ceremony. Candice looking radiant with her new husband, Matt.
Awwww…
In front of the golf course following the ceremony, in a fit of romance.
After the 2pm ceremony there was a gap of three hours before the reception, so we went back to the room, showered again to remove the sweat, and relaxed. If felt much better getting dressed again in the cool early evening with plenty of time to spare.
The reception set up – all white candles and lace. Very pretty and elegant.
Cute little cupcakes.
Entry of the bridal couple.
Alec looking happy and relaxed.
Dessert tasting platter.
Us with Kat, one of Candice’s oldest friends, and Sarla, a friend from ACP.
No explanation needed. I can’t help myself.
Alec wonders why it took so long for the flash to go off.
Happy happy day!
