Sydney Life Archives - Page 32 of 46

Featuring Arthur, The Crazy Cockatoo

December 21, 2008 / Animals, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

I would like to re-introduce Arthur, the sulfur crested cockatoo. He was raised mostly by Alec’s family after an unfortunate start in life, and is now, at around age 34, a vocal member of the family. He currently lives with Alec’s dad in Newcastle and has been left to us in his will – ruh-oh!

Arthur and Alec are old friends. He likes to scream “Aleeeeec” and have the underside of his wings scratched.

Nice birdy, but don’t be fooled. Evil lurks within.

Notice the dexterity with which he eats things out of his foot. This should have been a warning to me.

Oh hai!

Close-up!

Ummm …

Oh crap!

That blur you see is the birdy eating the front of my camera, which he then spat at me. Nice!

Lesson learned – only photograph cockatoos with a long lens. Don’t get close enough for them to EAT it.

Google & eBay Day Out

December 16, 2008 / Sydney Food, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

My team took out the eBayers for a day on the harbour for our end of year do. The day was perfect – warm without being boiling hot, and not a cloud in the sky. I’ve lived in Sydney all my life and have been on harbour countless times, but I just love it.

With Cheryl and Olah.

Skyline from the back of Sydney.

Being such a tourist.

Captain Cheryl!

Afterwards we set off for dinner at the Gazebo Wine Gardens.

Wearing the awesome tee Beverly gave me – it says “Kiss me, I’m a vegetarian”.

Funky interior.

Cheese to start with.

A huge sausage roll.

Yum!

Salad – an effort to be healthy. I don’t think I actually ate any of it.

Crab pasta with chilli.

My risotto. Very nice!

Pulling faces with Phuongy.

In the lift going to the rooftop bar in the Kings Cross Hotel, site of many adventures in my teens.

My camera died, so I have hardly any pics from the rest of the night, just this one of Sam in the Piano Bar in the Cross. Sadly I missed taking pics of him krumping to Elton John songs.

Gazebo Wine Gardens

2 Elizabeth Bay Road

Elizabeth Bay

(02) 9357 5333

Twilight – My Obsession

December 13, 2008 / Sydney Life / 1 Comment

I’ve joined the legions of fans world wide in loving the Twilight book series and now movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten so involved in a book that I read it in one day, and then went and bought the next three the next day.

About to see the movie, posing like an idiot in front of the poster. Yes, I did love it!

Google Christmas Party 2008

December 10, 2008 / Family, Sydney Life / 0 comment

I need to begin this by saying how bad I am at lawn bowls. I have such poor fine motor skills that it is one of the most challenging games I could ever try to play.

However, the Google 2009 Xmas party was help at Paddington Bowling Club this year, forcing me to test my bowling (lack of) skills in public.

Thankfully, most people’s skills were on par with mine, so I didn’t feel too left out. In fact, it was pretty amusing watching people bowl so badly. A lot of bowls ended up knocking out other people’s bowls in different lanes, so our enjoyment of the game came from how terrible we were rather than how brilliantly skilled we all were!

After throwing all the bowls down the …lane? Alec realises he has to go and collect them. What kind of effort-plus game is this?

Sigh … the long walk of shame.

Laughing off the cold and embarrassment at my terrible attempt at bowls.

Tiffany & Co, Why Do You Mock Me?

November 20, 2008 / Family, Shopping / 1 Comment

I’ve had a relationship with Tiffany & Co much like a love affair. It started with instant attraction, transformed quickly into obsession, then evolved into the deep respect and admiration I have for her (it’s a jewellery store, of course it’s a “her”!) today.

My first Tiffany purchase as made on eBay. A second-hand Elsa Peretti Open Heart charm and necklace. Over the years my collection has grown, and my love for each piece has matured into a life-long passion that I fear can’t be abated.

Why Tiffany’s? Who knows. Could be the Audrey factor, could be the adorable little blue boxes, or it could be, as said by Holly Golightly about the iconic store on Fifth Avenue New York, “(Tiffany’s) calms me down right away… nothing very bad could happen to you there”.

Tiffany’s have recently opened an Australian online website that is e-commerce enabled. I’m not sure if I approve! While it makes it easier to look at prices and impulse buy a pretty piece or two, it takes away from the buying experience that is what I love about Tiffany’s – the calm, elegant store with its graceful, polite attendants and row after row of sparkly jewels.

However, the new website is how I have ended up falling in love all over again with their new range of delicate pieces. Pictured below is a bracelet that I am lusting after to be the next token of my long-term relationship with Tiffany’s – another Elsa Peretti piece coincidentally. As it’s quite $$, I think I might either save up for this one a little at a time, or wait until I feel I can rationalise taking my relationship to the next level … is it delusion that comes next?

Tokidoki Goodness!

November 14, 2008 / Shopping / 0 comment

My new Tokidoki Graziosa in Celebrazione print.

J.P.Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

November 12, 2008 / Sydney Life / 1 Comment

I haven’t entered a running competition since high school and haven’t run in anything over 200m since primary school cross country, so I can only think I was attacked by lunacy to decide to enter the J.P.Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge. It’s a 5.6km run in Centennial Park – not a long distance, especially since I run further than that every day when I jog, but I forgot how different it is running in a race, even if you’re only running to have fun.

Team with their game faces on.

Me and the girls, numbered and ready in matching outfits.

The boys – including two marathon runners – insisted on wearing the “Noogler” hats – they did get a lot of attention!

Vin had the best number of all.

Team stretching.

Ready to run!

Waiting to start – many many people!

Moving towards the start line – go time!

I found the run harder than I thought I would. I got a really bad stitch after the first km mark, which then kept coming back for the rest of the run. Despite this and having to stop a few times when the pain got too bad, I still managed to run a pretty good time of 32 mins – so around 5.6 mins per km. Not an awesome time for any serious runners, but I was stoked! My goal now is to be able to run this speed regularly over this distance in preparation for future runs!

Rihanna & Chris Brown Concert

November 8, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

Rosalie and I braved teenybopper central to see Rihanna (and Chris Brown) at the Acer Area.

Cool sunset!

Arena packs out.

Chris Brown

Dance-off on the floor.

Rihanna
Hate How Much I Love You

Rihanna
Unfaithful

Rihanna

Ro and I surrounded by invisible teenagers.

The concert was a lot of fun. Chris Brown lip synced the entire show (boo, hiss!) but Rihanna was fabulous.

Cruelty Free Festival and Chinatown Shopping

November 2, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

I asked Lisa to accompany me to the Cruelty Free Festival in Haymarket. Even though she is a meat-eater, she also eats a lot of meat substitutes – way more than me! I thought it would be good to try some new vegan foods and see what they had to say about living a cruelty-free life – something I have become more and more passionate about over the past year.

I hoe into one of my favourite foods – corn!

Lisa tries a vegan curry puff.

Close-up – it was so tasty she went back for more!

We went halves in a vegan “cheesy” pie. It was filled with soy cheese and textured vegetable protein. I’ve wanted to try soy cheese for a while to see if I could actually eat it instead of cheese. The answer? No, no I can’t, sadly.

The “Cheesy” pie. Pastry was fabulous, but the insides were another story.

Lots of hippy vegans.

We sat down to eat and listen to some vegan singers and bands.

Faux beef jerky … heavily dosed in honey we thought. Tasted fabulous so Lise got a bulk pack to take home!

Glistening faux meat …

Lise loves coconut juice.

There were lots of stalls filled with vegan cosmetics and skincare products as well as plenty of animal rights groups. I bought a “Save Babe” tee from Animals Australia and a calendar from Monika’s Doggie Rescue. Both are animal charities I strongly recommend supporting.

Pet Rescue stall – I want to save all the cats, dogs and other animals out there in pain. There are just so many of them it’s overwhelming.

Happy, loved vegan dogs chilling out.

Trying vegan pecan pie for dessert. Super pricey and not as tasty as the real thing unfortunately!

After doing our bit for a cruelty-free life, we needed some shopping at Market City’s outlet centre and Chinatown shops to lift our mood (plus a real dose of sugar after all that healthy food!).