Adventure, baby!

Sydney

Farewell J-Vo

/ friends, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

My dear friend Jenn is moving to Mexico City soon. She wanted to have a last night out with her fave Google gals, so we had a fun pole dancing class at Studio Verve followed by a dinner banquet. Jenn is an amazing athlete – as demonstrated by her superb tricks on the pole.

Holy moly, how does she DO THAT?

Demonstrating a much easier trick, the flying fox.

Sexy ladies, woo!

Dinner with wonderful friends.

We colour co-ordinated. Nice one girls!

Thanks for a fantastic night out Jenn. I miss you already.

RSPCA Million Paws Walk 2010

/ Animals, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

My favourite day of the year isn’t my birthday, it isn’t Christmas, and, despite what Alec thinks, it’s not the chocolate holiday otherwise known as Easter. It’s actually the annual RSPCA Million Paws Walk.

I’ve attended the walk for the past six or so years since Kahlua came to live with us. I’m not sure how much the dogs actually enjoy going and being around thousands of other dogs and people, but it’s one of my highlights every year because it’s the one day where you get to see so many animals lovers en masse.

I am a huge supporter of the RSPCA and have a difficult time hearing about how cruel people can be to animals and the numbers that are dumped and put to an early death every year. This one day is the day that restores my belief that there are also a lot of people out there like me and Alec who really love animals. This year the walk is at Homebush again, starting at the Olympic Cauldron.

Go pooches, go!

This tiny pug was smaller than Alec’s hand.

Well, it has paws …

Kahlua hitches a ride.

The girls walk in tandem.

I’m a sucker for the cute, funny-looking dogs.

Buffy wants to be picked up!

Happy Million Paws Walk Day everyone!

Return to Gunners’ Barracks – High Tea

/ Sydney Food / 0 comment

The wonderful folks at the Gunners’ Barracks gave us a complimentary Champagne high tea as a thank you gift after our wedding, so we decided to use it to celebrate our three-month-versary over Easter weekend.

It was a bit of a gray day, but the view still looked spectacular.

The husband. Musing over the last time we stood in this exact spot three months earlier.

Elegant china.

Tasty savories – scones, curry triangles and cheese tarts.

The sandwiches and delicacies came wrapped in a napkin to protect them from the predatory kookaburras. The waitstaff told us they liked to target the sandwiches… we laughed and started to eat up. True to the warning, a kookaburra swooped in and snatched a sandwich off a plate and took off before I caught a good look at it. Stealthy little bugger. Seriously impressive sandwich-stealing ninja skills.

The sandwiches – a mere moment before the kookaburra stole one.

Beautiful teas in polished tea pots. Mine was called “blueberry muffin” and indeed tasted like its namesake.

A very civilised way to spend a public holiday.

Amazing view from Georges Head.

I love you husband!

Easter Sunday at the Show

/ Family, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

Alec spent the previous week sick and started to feel better just in time for the end of Easter Weekend. I had pre-booked show tickets so we went to spend a few hours at the Easter Show before heading out to have dinner with my parents on Easter Sunday.

The show is always fun, but it was a bit of a disappointment this year. The animals were fabulous, but the fresh food dome was lacking in a lot of fresh food! In the place of local cheese and food companies were lollies and bottled spicy sauces. So sad.

I also enjoyed the cakes – they’re always inspiring.

Woof!

Sushi cake!

Facebook cake? Hmm.

Corn – always a highlight.

Tasty chocolate-dipped strawberries.

I found cows from my old high school. Go Hurlstone!

My matching husband. Thank you for accompanying me.

A quick trip to the animal petting zoo.

NSW Corporate Games

/ Sydney Life / 0 comment

The NSW Corporate Games were on today. Our netball team went in expecting to to better than last year (we came fourth in 2009).

We played three awesome games in the round robin comp and won our pool, but fell completely apart in the qualifying match for the semi-finals. We lost by one point after playing a truly terrible game (we were down 10 – 1 in the first 10 minutes but clawed our way back to even). We ended up coming 5/6, not sure which. Truly, incredibly disappointing result. I really enjoyed the fisth three games when we were playing well though, so best to dwell on that instead.

1 Month Anniversary – Ben & Jerry’s

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After a stressful week at work, we had a date night at Manly. We had dinner at a great little local joint, then had dessert and Ben & Jerry’s.

 
  
 

I can’t believe it’s been a month since our wedding. It really feels like it never happened sometimes! It feels like we’ve been together forever, and it’s funny to look down at my wedding ring and think “oh, that’s right, I’m married now!”

Summer is slipping away, and the stresses of work, finding a new home to live in (we’re moving this week!) as well as everything else are piling up, making it hard to focus on my personal goals for the year. I feel like I’m constantly waiting till “something” is over to start my dreams “When we’ve moved”, or “when this busy week at work is over”, etc. It’s so hard to find the time to do everything I want, and I’m not sure how to get the time. My goal right now is to spend an hour each night on my projects, but it’s hard after work, particularly after working back late.

I’m trying to focus on what I have to be grateful for this year as well, to help me through the times I have getting through. I’ve started a “gratitude” journal, where I write in it three things I’m grateful for and notes for the day. It’s especially helpful when I’m having a crappy day to write in it to focus on the many good things I have going on in my life.

January: Out and About

/ Sydney Life / 0 comment

I love Sydney in summer. We’ve had a busy two weeks back at work, going out lots during the Sydney Festival.

At the Opera House after seeing Bale De Rua.
At Spanish Tapas in Glebe.
 
Outside Glebe Point Diner on the way to see Six Characters in Search of an Author at the Seymour Centre.
 

Australian Food Blogger Award@ La Mint Restaurant

/ Sydney Food / 4 Comments

I managed to score myself an invite to the launch of the first Australian Food Blog award category, hosted by the Australian Association of Food Professionals at La Mint Restaurant in Darlinghurst with my friend Forager.

I’ve never been to a food blogger meet-up before, so was super-keen to check it out and meet some more bloggers.

The event was hosted by Australian Pork, and we were shown the new Australian Pork TV commercial before it aired on TV.

Afterward, I stayed for dinner and got to know some excellent bloggers like Peter G from Souvlaki for the Soul and Ed Charles from Tomatom. The food was also excellent – a whole page of the menu devoted to vegetarian options. Yay!

I was inspired to start a new blog just for food, as I find there is a huge lack of Australian food blogs out there. My new blog is Peas For Me – check it out!

Post-wedding Lunch and Bridge Climb

/ Love, Sydney Life / 0 comment
Since we knew we wouldn’t get to spend anywhere near as much time with our guests as we wanted to, we arranged a post-wedding lunch at Bungalow 8 for anyone who was free to come. We didn’t ask for RSVPs, just hoping that we didn’t turn up by ourselves, lol.

We were surprised and delighted to find about 15 friends and family make the effort to stop by, including several overseas guests. Result!

We had a fabulous relaxing lunch, finishing it up with some wedding cupcakes left over from the night before.

OMG SO good.
Shanghai guests Chris and Bev.
 
With Lisa and Beck.
 
My family!
 
Masa, my NYC guest.
 
After lunch, Masa, Michele, Liz and I took off to do the Harbour Bridge Climb. Yes this was timing lunacy, but couldn’t be avoided. Masa and I had booked in to do the climb the week before but had such terrible weather we postponed to the Monday after the wedding, when Michele and Liz decided to join us as well.
 Masa and I in our sexy suits.
 
After the climb, I returned home, legs shaking, delighted that we were heading off on our mini honeymoon the following day …