Adventure, baby!

Family

New Year’s Day

After only a few hours of sleep, we were up on New Year’s Day for lunch with friends. Beverly and Chris had flown in from Shanghai for our wedding and this was our first chance to hang out since they arrived in Sydney. It was the first time that we had all gotten to hang out together since Bev & Chris’ wedding in Singapore.

Since it was a public holiday, we spent the day doing what we used to always do together – eat, eat, and then eat some more. Lisa was lovely enough to host and cook, and we pigged out till we were stuffed…

The girls – stuffing our faces as usual.

New Year’s Eve 2009/2010

What a way to end and start a year. With everything going on we decided to make sure this New Year’s was fun and a bit special. We have had a lot of international and interstate guests so wanted to show them a real Sydney New Year’s.

Ready to go – Alec and me with Masa.
Stop one – fondue party at Greg’s house. Greg made up two cheese and one chocolate fondue. I should have exercised restraint at this stage as I paid for my gluttony shortly after.
CHEESE!
 
Next stop was dinner at Sugaroom in Pyrmont. We had a four-course meal before walking to the office to watch the fireworks. We scored the private room near my desk so we could watch the view uninterrupted.
Midnight – happy new year!!
 
Pretty!
 
 
We start to lose the bridge to smoke…
 
But it makes a return towards the end.
 
The calm aftermath.
 
The only bad thing about NYE is getting home again afterwards! We didn’t get home till 3:30am as we had to wait till 2:30 before we could leave the building due to road closures and traffic…
It was a great night though and I hope our guests enjoyed themselves.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Year That Was 2009

I can’t believe it’s the last day of the year again already. Not just the last day of 2009, but the last day of the decade. Time is rushing by too fast.

It’s been an amazing year I’ll never forget. Getting engaged, travelling around the world, spending the Christmas period with amazing friends who flew in for our wedding. It was a really fabulous year and I loved it.

Looking forward to 2010:
* Our wedding, Jan 3 (!!!)
* Hawaii honeymoon in April
* New home (fingers crossed!)

I always set resolutions I don’t keep, so I will keep it simple this year. I want to spend 2010 focusing on being calmer and happier. I want to spend more time working on my photography skills and being around my family and dogs. 2010 is going to be a shift for me from career focus to focusing on making myself happier from the inside out. Can’t wait to see how it plays out!

Mel and Keeva’s Wedding

A wonderful way to finish up the Christmas period, with my friends Mel and Keeva’s wedding. The weather has been gloomy this week, and was overcast for Mel’s wedding on the 27th too, driving us indoors for the ceremony.  It was a ceremony with a glorious view though – overlooking the harbour, framed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The ceremony was lovely, the reception lots of fun, and we met a bunch of super-nice people. What a fabulous day!

My beautiful friend Mel.
My debonair partner.
 

Congratulations guys, thank you for including us in your amazing day!

Christmas Day, 2009

This Christmas was the first in my life where I haven’t sat down for a traditional Christmas dinner at the Warwick Farm house. It felt a bit odd, but was fun to try something new!

Alec and I stayed over Christmas Eve and woke up in the morning to puppy slurps.

Kahlua presents her belly to the Christmas tree.
I spy presents!
 
Lil Buffers, so cute.
 
Woof!
 
Alec and the mini spend quality Christmas time together.
 
Kahlua in a strangle-hold.
 
My dad is mighty pleased with his loot.
 
As am I! Woot!
 
My mum gave Alec the same book we gave her. Whoops.
 
Kahlua baby wants more hugs.
 
Christmas slurps for dad.
 
Then it was off to Stockton Beach for Christmas lunch by the water. It was lovely – except for the cold wind coming in.
Huddled round the table.
 
Amy was happy to see us.
 
Merry Christmas!
 

My Bridal Shower & Hens Day

My dear friends Shelley and Rosalie threw me a fabulous bridal shower / hens day on Saturday.

We started with high tea at 3pm at the Park Hyatt in The Rocks. We were given a private room overlooking the water, so we had plenty of space to wander around, and it was quiet so we could chat.

The girls put together an amazing recipe book for me with their favourite vegetarian / dessert recipes and a pic of the two of us. It was so sweet and thoughtful.

After the high tea we kicked on with cocktails at the Blu Horizon Bar, at the Shangri-La Hotel.  The girls shouted me numerous cocktails while we sat first in the genie room, and then in lounges overlooking the amazing city view.
Beck and I finished getting ready at her place and caught a cab into the city.
With the youngest party-goer, Chiara. She’s a wild one.
 
Group shot with most of the girls.
 
With Ro – organiser and book-maker extraordinaire!
 
Partying on into the night with the new Mrs Johnston.
 
With my mum and her friends, enjoying their high tea.
 

I was initially uncertain about having a hens party. The thought of having all of the focus on me is actually quite frightening. I feel a lot of pressure to make sure everyone has a good time and find it hard to just enjoy myself. This time, however, it was a lot of fun, with everyone just so happy for me and looking at me with so much love all day. It was wonderful to be around the women who are closest to me for a day of eating, drinking and much talking. Thanks to all my wonderful ladies who are always there for me.

Our Pre-wedding Shoot with the Dogs

Somehow I managed to get Alec to agree to a pre-wedding shoot with the dogs. I was super-keen to get some really nice photos of our little family as I have few if any that are really nice quality, and the pooches can’t be involved in our wedding at all.

We met our wonderful photographer, Vincent Lai, at Bicentennial Park for an hour of pooch fun.

I just love the photos – here is a small selection of my faves.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Shelley’s Wedding

Shelley’s wedding day – it was hard to beleive the day was actually here! I woke up early – 6am – full of nerves for the bride. We were at the salon by 8am getting our hair done, and I started to feel better once I ate! Everything ran smoothly and it was a lovely day 🙂

Hair and make-up – done!
Ready to go to the chapel!
 
Walking down the aisle.
 
The beautiful bride.
 
Signing the register.
 
Entering the reception venue.
 
Yay! Married!
 
Me and Rosalie.
 
Colour-co-ordinated school friends.
 
My favourite micro person, Chiara, sporting her new mohawk.
 
My wonderful fiancee. He was so amazing, taking care of my friends, taking photos for us. Thank you Alec, I can’t wait till it’s our turn!
 

Night Before Shelley’s Wedding

The eve before Shelley’s wedding. I left work early to get a train to the Vibe Hotel in Milson’s Point to assist the bride with her preparations. We had our nails done, then got take-away for a relaxing night in. It was hard to sleep though, I was so nervous for the following day!

Last photo of the couple before they get married!
Look at our pretty nails! No, I wasn’t being felt up. Bad angle …