Jumpin' Jack Flash

Today was a fun! Tiring, considering i went to bed at about 3.30 in the morning...with the strains of Tony still singing downstairs floating through my ears...but fun nonetheless.

Ashley came around at about 12.30 at we went horse riding in Centennial Park, which was really lovely! It was a nice, autumn day - the leaves were golden, the lakes rippling softly, kids out and about playing soccer and other sports and people walking their dogs along the different paths...and us on our horses, trotting along amongst it all. Sounds idyllic riiiiight? *insert American accent here*

So i was riding Dante, and Ashley was riding...i think it was Mac? And he was feisty let me tell you! Kids' reaction to horses is always hilarious i think, they always seem awestruck by them, and shout out "Horsie! Horsie!" or something like that. It seems to be a very exciting thing to see a horse these days.

Anyway, we came back home and had a sneaky pie/sausage roll, and then Ashley went home and Jo and I somehow started watching that movie The Craft...remember that, from like the mid-nineties? I think i saw it at the movies when i was about 13 or something. Memories huh...

After that we left to go to Maria's for dinner, and of course Jack was his usual, hilarious self. He has developed quite the personality, let me tell you, and kept us all entertained with his bopping and dancing and singing. The funniest thing was that he wanted us all to dance with him, and frequently pointed his finger at Jo and yelled his name out whenever Jo dared to stop bopping...very funny. He also loves running around the house roaring, with me chasing him (also roaring - the roaring is a very important part of the game). Other current interests include pretending to talk on Maria's mobile phone, going a hundred miles an hour on his bike round and round the house, and fish. Yep, he's loving fish right now.

Oh, and at one point, people started singing happy birthday on some TV show that was on - it was so funny, he dropped everything he was doing, ran to the TV and started dancing a clapping (it was clearly a song he recognised). So yes, he is a very funny little dude.

Here are some pics from our evening:

We're watching a documentary called 'The Iceman' right now about this mafia hit man who ended up in prison, and he held this very candid interview with a psychiatrist which was video taped of course...very interesting stuff, better go watch properly.

Come fly with me...

After a relatively non eventful Friday night (though we did watch Tropic Thunder...errr...?), we woke this morning ready for a long day...first spent scouring YouTube with Argiro trying to find old Tina Turner NRL ads, which we both agree are far better than the crap they come up with now.

Looking with trepidation to the grey skies above, we drove out to Camden so Jo could finally use his Christmas present - a voucher to fly a light aircraft alongside a real pilot! Very exciting. When we arrived at the airport for the flight, Jo and the pilot did their pre-flight business (pre-flight business? What a way to put it.) and then before i knew it they were up and away, despite some light rain. Of course i had to wait in the hanger until they returned, chewing my nails with worry and wondering what i was thinking getting this for Jo in the first place...but it all turned out jolly well, because they were back in no time, and he seemed thrilled with the whole thing, so that was good.

Jo, with his trusty craft...

Discussing pre-flight business



In the cock-pit

Me with a plane

We rushed back home to go to shopping for tonight - Jo has the boys over cause it's a big sports night - FA Cup final and Super 14 final - and then i headed in to the city to meet Kat for a movie, and then some dinner. We saw Angels and Demons, which was, on the whole, MUCH better than the DaVinci Code - which was trash, by the way. I think part of the problem is i think Tom Hanks has been completely miscast. Of course, i am no expert, just a mere movie-goer with a strong opinion on all things big screen. I love going to the movies, even though it's criminal what they charge these days - and P.S, that's before popcorn, in it of itself disgracefully priced.

But back to movies, i love them, truly i do. Old movies, new movies, and that particularly scary category - 80s movies. Hello Dirty Dancing. Hello Footloose. How long's it been since we last dallied. About time they got another viewing i say.

Anyhow. After the movie, we had one of my favourite things - Peking Duck - in china town. I could eat Duck pancakes all day, so it's lucky they only let you have a few, let me tell you. Followed my cinnamon croissants and cappuccino at Deli France. A very entertaining evening, despite having to walk back to Kat's car in the pouring rain...both of us squealing at every puddle, every mad dash to cross a road...very amusing.

Here's Kat being attacked by the tea pot. Well. We set this shot up, I'll admit. But previous to that, she really did get attacked by the blasted pot. The lid, to be precise. Tricky things to operate.

And so, back home after a fun evening - to more fun actually, with Jo, Tony, Turnsie, Adrian and Kevin awaiting my imminent arrival so the real fun could begin...well not really, but that's how it should have been. Tony and I took to the floor with an inspiring rendition of "I've had the time of my life" before the football began, just to get everyone into the party spirit.

Watching The Other Boleyn Sister now, which I'm rather enjoying, though i didn't think i would. I think i have the book somewhere at home, so I'll have to read it now. Anne Boleyn is about to have her head chopped off, so i better go watch. Night all!

Mmmmm pizza subs....

What do you eat when there is nothing to eat? Pizza subs!! Delicious, but alas, not nutritious. However, that was my dinner tonight, and last night was tomato soup and toast, so you can see that i have not been doing well on the cooking front. I've just felt so tired this week though, almost run down, and i really haven't been bothered.


So, what is there to discuss this week? Not a whole lot really. Riding on Tuesday was a challenge - I am not riding Bob anymore, which is very sad because he is such a sweet horse! Instead, I'm now riding a thoroughbred called Bernie, who, i must say, is very handsome. However he is a big horse and a bit of a challenge, but my teacher Claire said he is for more experienced riders, and that it was good for my learning...so Bernie it is, and he is a sweetheart too really. Loves licorice too, like Bob.


We have been suckered into the fourth season of Prison Break good and proper now - we are nearly up to the twelfth episode and I'm loving it! The last episode aired in the good ol' U.S of A last night, and Jo told me today there is also a tele-movie that's coming out that resolves even more stuff, so I'm totally excited!


As i have discussed before on this blog, I am a sucker for trash television, and I've definitely been having my fill this week - Jon and Kate plus 8 (loving the drama in that show right now), The Rachel Zoe Project, The Hills and even....*GASP*...My Super Sweet Sixteen. Those brats are completely entertaining.


But don't think I'm totally mindless - I'm reading not one but two books right now, The Road Home by Rose Tremain which is excellent, about this immigrant from Eastern Europe who moves to London to try and raise money to send back home to his mother and daughter, and all the stuff that happens to him along the way... and Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman, which is this historical saga set in Wales, very intriguing so far.


I can hear Jo coming through the door right now, so i have to go hide the evidence of the pizza subs, and FAST! Gotta skedaddle folks, see ya next time!

The Crucible and other stories...

I'll jump straight into my weekend stories as it is getting onto midnight and i should go to bed really, but i am not tired at all...possibly because i slept so late this morning. But on weekends, who can help themselves??

So, Saturday i got up early enough to actually have breakfast, which, given the above statement, is quite the achievement. The sun actually came out, and after the rainy week we had, i decided to go for a walk to feel the sunshiney goodness on my face - it was pretty warm out too. The rest of the day was spend doing basically nothing. I finished reading this month's Vogue, finished my book, started a new one (which is turning out to be excellent by the way - The Road Home, by Rose Tremain, sad, uplifting, hopeful, despairing...all these things at once, so you know it's going to be good), browsed the Internet...then before i knew it, it was getting close to 6 and we had to leave!

We were going to Walsh Bay to see a play, The Crucible, put on by the Sydney Theatre Company. Jo really had to be convinced to see this one, but i hope it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be - when i asked him what he thought of it, he said it was very intense - he stayed awake through the whole thing anyway, so that was a good thing!

I really enjoyed it - it was a play i enjoyed reading, by Arthur Miller, a playwright whose work i really admired (and whose marriage to Marilyn Monroe still puzzles me) - and overall i thought the STC did a good job with it. I had read a mixed review in the SMH that had put me off slightly, but no - it was enjoyable in the end, and as Jo described, definitely intense. The notion of hysteria, and how quickly it can spread, is still relevant today - Swine Flu is a recent case in point.

Here we are tramping about Walsh Bay:

If you think Jo looks slightly confused in the above photo, you would be correct. Apparently i did not give enough warning that the photo was going to be taken, naughty me.

Back home, we watched the Crusaders lose to the Bulls in the semi finals, much to our disappointed. When asked to comment, Jo could only shake his head and say "Oh dear." I thought they played valiantly, considering they were in South Africa, which is always a hard crowd and hard environment. Plus, no one even thought they would get to the semi's since they were a bit sloppy overall this season, so good job to get there too!

OK, no more boring sport.

Today, i went to high tea at the observatory hotel with Ashley and my friend Linda. We had a really great afternoon, gossiping away as the sky cleared and the sun came out again. I always enjoy a yummy high tea, though Ashley said she felt a bit out of place since she usually liked to "eat with her hands". I advised her to refrain during tea.

Highlights from the afternoon:

Ashley: "My Mom was riding horses up until a few weeks before i was born. She thought i wasn't going to come out for at least another couple of months."

Linda: "Oh, so you were born really premature then?"

Ashley: "No, she's just a retard."

Pure gold folks.

Here are some pics from our fun-filled afternoon:

Ashley enjoying her tea (another Weird Ashley Food Discovery - the girl does not like scones!! But believe me, there have been many such discoveries - can anyone say apple slices with peanut butter? I know she will read this and rage at me later that it's perfectly normal and acceptable, but i shall not relent, as it is neither i tell you!!!)

We took a stroll up to Custom House near Circular Quay station - if you go inside, there is a pretty cool 3D model of Sydney city constructed under a glass floor, so you can sort of walk all over it - it's very cool actually, if you haven't seen it, next time you are in the area stop by and check it out!

Ashley admiring one of our great landmarks....

So we had a good time all in all!


Tonight, Jo and i watched Fracture, with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling of The Notebook fame - he is lovely isn't he *beams*. Then i got to watching some English show about bratty kids who get sent to a bratty kids camp to try and straighten them out before they turn into murders and drug dealers and the like...strangely addictive actually...

And now here we are, and it's good night from me :)

A little jazz, a little whine...i mean wine....

The whine part of my blog title for tonight comes from a comment Turnsie made after our kickboxing class on Wednesday night, which made me laugh.

It was a disgusting, cold, rainy night, and frankly the last thing i wanted to do was go to the class (even though i was glad i did, in the end). Afterwards, Turnsie was telling Argiro how i had hijacked his umbrella, leaving him to walk in the rain - my reasoning was that as he was bald, the rain would just slide right off his head anyway...Argiro replied that if it were him, I'd have been lucky if he even offered to share the umbrella, let alone allow me to take it completely. Turnsie said "Yes but you should have heard her. She whined from the moment she got in the lift to leave work to the moment we walked into the gym".

And i burst out laughing because i realised it was true - i had indeed whined for at least 20 minutes non-stop, all the way to kickboxing, even though he had graciously allowed me to take his umbrella. I appreciate your valour my friend!!

On Thursday evening, my friend Tony and I went to an event out at Vaucluse House in association with the Sydney Writer's Festival. It was a jazz evening in their tea rooms - a very talented artist named Edwina Blush sang a bunch of classics, from Night and Day to Still to Lady is a Tramp, as we ate a lovely supper and enjoyed the band! It was a really great evening, made even sweeter by an endless flow of champagne and also by being allowed to look around inside the great manor itself.

It was built by William Charles Wentworth, who helped create the first newspaper in the colony - The Australian - and who also helped establish Sydney University. Anyway, he was was very rich, and was in fact one of the wealthiest landowners in Sydney, but he and his family were ultimately shunned by society because he married a woman called Sarah, who was a convict, and came from convict stock. The old class system strikes again huh!

Here are a couple of pictures of the interior of the house - a lot of the furniture and decorations are original, and extremely well preserved.

We kicked off the weekend tonight at Kat's place - she hosted a wine and cheese evening, so a bunch of our friends got together and tasted a variety of different wines (with a professional lady their to talk us through them and everything!) as well as chow down of a ton of different cheeses - cause who doesn't LOVE cheese after all! It was a lovely evening actually, good to catch up with everyone, and to finally meet Kat's niece, the adorable Jaida!

It also gave me a chance to play again with Mister Yash, my good friend Sonali's beautiful boy (there they are below, and me with Yash below that) - he was a little tired at first, but after wolfing down some milk, he got a burst of energy and was a bundle of laughs!

Tomorrow is meant to be pretty rainy, so i think we will definitely manage to fit in some more of Prison Break - we are watching the fourth season right now, did i mention? It's great! Lincoln all the way, he is my favourite!! And i have the last couple of chapters of my book to finish - i am reading Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller - it was a bestseller a few years ago, but it's taken me a while to get onto reading it - it's great by the way. Very taut, moves slowly but surely and sucks you in before you know it.

Have a great weekend!

Yes, i should get my hair cut every 6 weeks...but i won't.

This, to me, is a crazy concept. I'm lucky if i cut my hair every 6 months, let alone every 6 weeks. Having said that, i am left with an unkept horses mane as opposed to perfectly glossy, straight locks, free from dreaded split ends. The worst of it is, my hair grows at an almost unmanageable rate - i swear i went for a hair cut only a couple of months ago, and now it seems as though it is back out of control!

Is my hair rebelling against me? Is it screaming for attention, kinda like a cat who's left in the house all day and poops in every shoe you own while you're at work?

I do not know the answer to these challenging questions. But I do know that i can neither afford or be bothered to visit my (perfectly lovely, mind you) hair dresser any more than i am - and shall thus continue to look like a hippie for the rest of my days.

Had a lovely ride today on Bob tonight, even though he had to crap twice and pee once in the space of an hour. Perhaps he thinks this kind of show and tell will make me go easy on him, but alas, he is wrong. I wasn't quite happy with my canter transition today - Bob was tossing his head all over the place too, which didn't help. Not that I'm trying to blame the horse. (It's all your fault Bob, i demand another, more capable steed next week). He kept nudging me for treats while i was trying to put him away tonight too, but i had no licorice (his favourite thing!)

Meanwhile i have discovered a new toy on this photo-adjusting-thingy site, where you can upload a photo and it looks like it is hanging in a museum, like this:

See! It's Comet! In a museum! Amaaaaazing!

I'll treat you with some more shots:

Jo and I are about to watch The Devil's Advocate, which I've not seen but he insists is great, and as i don't have much else to say, so I'm off!

Pork Chop Hill (weekend re-cap)

I have named tonight's blog entry Pork Chop Hill for no other reason other than we were flicking through foxtel channels earlier and came across a movie called, for reason's unknown to me, Pork Chop Hill. Which i thought was so funny, it deserved a mention. So there you have it.



On to more exciting news - the first thing i should mention is that my cousin Lia got engaged this weekend, so a big shout out to her and her new fiancee Charlies! Congratulations guys!! (Or perhaps i should send commiserations to you Charles - you're about to become a member of the craziest clan this side of the equator).


I should also say Happy Birthday Adam, for Friday - we had a really fun night out, first with drinks (i had champagne, which meant the evening was destined for great things), and then dinner at a great Brazilian joint called Churrasco in the city. Most hilarious part of the evening - running into randoms who happened to work in the same building we do, who actually recognised our faces - and making a Monday Morning Coffee Date with them down at our local coffee joint. Did i mention champagne was consumed? The question now remains, will they actually turn up tomorrow? Only time will tell.


Here we are having fun times.





Saturday saw me suffering from Insufficient Sleep In Syndrome (ISIS), a condition which affects my mood to the point of extreme danger to others....however i persevered, because i was meeting Mum for High Tea and a movie as part of her Mother's Day present. I met her at the QVB and we headed up to the tea rooms - i think my favourite part of High Tea is the scones - i am a sucker for good scones. I could attempt to make my own, but i think it would probably end in disaster.


Next up, the movies. Now, when i asked Mum last week what she wanted to see, she said, to my utter dismay, Star Trek.


I am not a Star Trek fan.


Nor am i, in general, a science fiction fan (with the exception of The X Files, which - I'm sure you'll agree - is one of the greatest and most innovative television shows of all time, despite Season 8 and 9).


Add to this the fact that the movie is two and a half hours long, and you can see why i was concerned. But, it was her day, so in we went and...


Beam Me Up Scottie, it was great!!


I mean, i can't believe I'm saying it, but i really and truly enjoyed it and would recommend it - especially if you are a fan of the show (as Mum is, so she loved it), but even if you aren't, you don't need to know much about it because it's a prequel anyway, and it's a very good storyline - plus i didn't look at my watch once which is always a good sign. So become a Trekkie and go see it - you may be surprised!


Saturday night was quiet - Jo has a cold, so we stayed in and watched movies. Well, i watched movies and Jo watched football. The all important Super 14 finals are approaching, and thankfully his team made it to the semi's this week, yay Crusaders!


What did i watch? First up, Paris, Je t'aime. Interesting film. It's basically a homage to Paris, the City of Love, by creating a series of vignettes which show different love stories amongst different people, right across the city. Whether it's romantic love, or love for a child, or love for yourself...the film explored it all. I enjoyed it for the most part, and plenty of famous faces popped up throughout. Mainly though, it was the scenery i loved. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a European city that has the same aura as Paris.


Next up, National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets. Now, I'm sure you're all rolling your eyes, and yes, it is mindless viewing - but it's entertaining mindless viewing! Which is the best kind. I thoroughly enjoyed it! And it's way better than what Jo is currently watching - which is Semi Pro. Not Will Ferrel's finest moment, let me assure you.



And today? Well, brunch with Susie and Max this morning at Mezza Pica, one of the most delicious Italian cafes in Leichhardt (try the diving ricotta hotcakes), where Max entertained me with his giggles and amusement and pretty much anything i did - i swear that kid is so easy to entertain! Too adorable.


This afternoon was spent watching trash TV - specifically, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. This blog has done nothing if not revealed my truly sick addiction to terrible television. Anyway, Jo and I were inspired to try out our modelling faces, and so i give you...

Please people - despite how stunning we look, i urge you not to flood my inbox with requests for signed copies of this photo. We simply don't have time to reach out to all of our fans...

*grins*

Tonight we went Maria and Peter's for dinner with Turnsie. On the menu, her famous ribs - the stack of bones piled high on my plate is testament to how good they are cause usually i am not a huge fan of ribs. I believe Jo likened me to a hyena finishing off it's prey...


Jack was his hilarious best, walking like a pro now (except when he got too tired to hold himself up anymore!), and eager to share his new favourite thing - fish. He seems very amused by fish, and in fact any other sea creatures.

And so with that, i bid you farewell, and say - Live Long and Prosper folks *makes funny Spock hand signal thingy, because let's face it, Spock is everyones favourite*

Nell ponders on a mid-week post...

Hmm, what to say, what to say...

The problem with the mid-week post is that very little has actually happened which warrants posting. And i don't really have anything to rant or rave about either, which is most surprising, as usually someone or something has annoyed me sufficiently by Wednesday that i feel the need to whine about it. Actually, here is something - my wireless is not working for some reason, which is extreeeeemely annoying as it means i have to sit on my laptop in the cold cold dining room rather than my cosy bed, as i am at my parents house...which is perhaps the whole reason it doesn't work? But it worked last week? So why?? Why wireless, have you decided to poop today?? That's the problem with technology. It never answers you back. Therefore it can never tell you what's up.

So OK, there's that out of the way. Other highlights this week are:

• The Federal Budget! Tremendous stuff, I'm sure you were all glued to the television for the great unveiling. After all the media hype, it basically fell away to...well nothing really. What i mean is, it wasn't terribly exciting. We seem to be spending more than we're saving. And really, if the country is going to be in debt for the next gazillion million years, is that really a great idea? However, it means i still have a job, and, next to the ginormous debt we've racked up, that's really the most important thing.
• Horse riding! Bobby and I have truly bonded now, he is a sweet horse who tries very hard for me, even when my legs and my arms fail to co-ordinate and give the right signal. Great lesson this week though, totally hit my canter on the mark.
• Kickboxing - for some reason, tonight's lesson was not quite as much fun, but i think that was because there were so many people in the class that we were forced to be rather repetitive. Argiro kept me amused however, with many funny comments under his breath, and some not so under his breath - for example, when some goody two shoes yelled out we should do yet another ten push ups after already doing like ten thousand - and the teacher actually agreed - David's resounding 'BASH HIM!' came out loud and clear.
• Prison Break Season 3 - i have not been watching it at all, however Jo has it all downloaded and he and David have been staying up till all hours watching it. Which leaves ME to watch whatever i want upstairs in the bedroom, which means, ladies and gents, that countless hours of Antique Roadshow have been consumed of late. If you've never watched this, you are really missing out on some riveting television. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. All those people with all those stories to tell! I especially love the old biddies who practically fall off their chair once they find out some old piece of crap they've stored in their garage the last 50 years is actually worth thousands of pounds. Hilarious! And all that easy money has come too late in life for them to have fun too, that's what they've really got to be spewing about. So they know they have to be boring and leave it to the grand kids, yawn. Anyway, just goes to show - that ugly painting at your folks place could be worth a fortune, so get to it first i say. (Just kidding Mum).

I'm done. And i thought i had nothing to say!

Hands up if you ate Thai three times for dinner this weekend...

Ooh, ooh! *hand in air*! That would be me.


Yes. An all new low. I've eaten like a pig all weekend, indulging in Thai food for dinner not once, not twice, but three times, Friday through Sunday. But here is the problem - a knew Thai place has opened literally across the road from us! It's just too easy! Too accessible! And access we did.

Friday was a pretty lazy night - came home, ordered Thai, ate Thai, annnd...that was pretty much my night. We watched a movie, Dan in Real Life - which i loved! Highly recommend watching it if you haven't already.

Saturday i went to the movies with Susie to see - I'm ashamed to admit it - Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It wasn't thaaaaaaat bad....ah who am i kidding. It was pretty bad. But hey, it was all in good fun.

Leah came over that evening, and we had a movie night/catch up - we watched Juno, which i really think is a great movie, and i ate so many maltesers and m&ms that i don't even want to think about the damage I've inflicted as a result on my insides....oh, and if i didn't mention it before, i had Thai for dinner.

Great catch up anyway, the usual was covered - relationships, hopes for the future, how Home Alone is one of our all time favourite movies and will go down as a classic our children will also one day enjoy...it's scary actually, how well we can quote it. Still, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without it! Which got us talking about Christmas in general, and we have decided we are going to have a Christmas in July this year! And cook our own turkey! Yes, you read correctly! Me, cooking my own turkey! I believe basting is involved, whatever that is. Anyway, we'll see if it eventuates...it seemed like a great idea at the time. When i was high on maltesers.

Today - well it was Mothers Day, soooo Happy Mothers Day Mum!  It was a delicious lunch as always, and we all enjoyed the catch up. Charlie and Gerda and David dropped in to say hi too, so plenty of hilarity as always.

Here are some photo's, and that's it from me for this weekend.

My mum with her Mother's Day cake :)

Me and Jo

Wait, one more thing - i had Thai for dinner tonight. Yum.

That's not a knife...

More about my weekend later. For now, let me just say that I'm watching Wolf Creek. Has everyone seen this movie? Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww is all i can say. That maniac's freaky deaky laugh? Gives me the chills that's for sure.

It's disturbing in that it could, and probably does, actually happen. The tourist - lost or broken down in the middle of nowhere, places where it's miles between towns...getting picked up by some crazy local...gross. I'm completely terrified even watching it, it literally makes me gag in some places - gives me that sick feeling in my stomach where i think - what if that happened to me?? How terrified and hopeless would you feel??

Anyway. I'm just saying. This is a sick movie and I'm completely freaked out.

Achoo achoo achoo. Hi. Still sick.

I did not think this cold would be so bad. Aren't vitamins meant to help keep these things at bay?? I take vitamins!! Well. I recently started taking vitamins haphazardly. Same thing right?

Apparently not. So again, i find myself sitting in bed drinking peppermint tea - ooh, except this time it isn't tea bag tea, it's honest to goodness tea leaf tea! For which i paid 3 times the price in order to be one of those cool people who drink honest to goodness tea leaf tea! And what's more, i used a strainer contraption thingy to do it! Take that tea bag users! *smug* It's fresh tea for me from now on.

I was tempted to buy a pretty teapot too, but i already have one (see previous post), that serves me solo...except that the one i wanted to buy today would allow more tea drinkers to enjoy the whole teapot experience too. And pretty teacups too. Then i thought, do i really have people over for tea very often? No, is the answer. But is that because i don't have the resources for which to provide tea for said people? And if i purchased the pretty teapot and teacups, would that encourage me to invite more people over for the purpose of using them?

The mind boggles - and alas, i did not have the time to answer all of these difficult questions in the 15 minutes i had left in my lunch break. So no teapot and no teacups (but plenty of tea).

OK, back to being sick. I had the day off work yesterday, not that it was any fun whatsoever, except that i was able to watch Cooper eating his enormous leg of bone in the morning which was quite funny. I have included some pictures to try and convey this funniness, but they probably don't. Still, he is a beautiful doggy no?

"*gnaw gnaw gnaw*"

"I'm totally watching you. Don't you be thinking you can take a bite of this thing."



"What? You never seen a dog with a bone before? Get outta here crazy camera lady. Aren't you sick?"

Jo, sweet thing that he is, came home bearing a bouquet of Chuppa Chups for me since i was feeling so crappy, and i do love Chuppa Chups so! Watermelon is definitely the flavour of choice, though i am also partial to orange and strawberry, and choc-vanilla...

Anyway, gotta go. MasterChef is on.

Wait. I watch MasterChef?

Sniff achoo.

I'm sick folks. Yep, send some lovin' my way. I feel like I've kept this cold at bay for some time, but it reared its ugly head today...well, last night i suppose...and now here i am, in bed, sniffling and moaning and stuffing myself with Vitamin C. Ah well, could be worse. Could be swine flu.


I guess an early night for once won't kill me, that's if i manage to sleep. Nothing like blocked ears and a blocked nose for ruining ones sleep. But never fear - Nurofen Cold & Flu is here. By the way, has anyone tried to buy this stuff lately? It's as if you've just asked for a pound of crack please. I was interrogated for what felt like an hour about my medical history, where i live, provide photo ID, have i taken it before, am i comfortable with dosage amounts...i could tell the lady at the counter felt powerful. My salvation lay in her hands and she knew it. And i had that fevered, 'hand it over now lady' look in my eyes, so she took her sweet time let me tell you. Anyway, she finally deemed me worthy of the drugs, so i hot trotted back to work and let their magic seep through me. Nothing like a cold and flu tablet to trick you into thinking you feel relatively OK too - until they wear off and your all glassy eyed and hot again. Which is how I'm feeling right now in fact, so I'm off to pop some more pills.


One thing before i go - a recent purchase i am most excited about - the single teapot/cup contraption! Perfect for tea for one. See! -


Here is the pot....

And voila! You take the top teapot part off and pour it into the handy teacup underneath! Cute right!?

Time for some trashy TV before bed. I'm thinking a little The Hills/The City combo - gotta love them modern girls and their modern ways. Boohoo to Heidi though, i can't believe she married that twerp Spencer in the end. Ahhh the drama. Night night.

Those crazy kids.

We've had great Autumn weather this weekend (apart from the torrential downpour last night...) - crisp, sunny days and chilly nights! Today we went to Sylvana's house for lunch, along with Susie, Adrian and baby Max. The kids went nutty as always - jumping and yelling and generally loving our company - hey, don't blame them. We're awesome.

Christian and I

After a sing-a-long, a 'who can roar the loudest' contest, a backyard soccer match, and Jo donning a yellow hard hat to dig with Raffaele in the sand pit, it was time for us to go. Back to our Sunday night special for dinner - the local Italian place, who do a mean garlic bread.

Raffaele, Christian, Jo

Max and Raffael with their zoo hats - Max seems bewildered by the whole thing. Raffael is putting on his 'smile' face - meaning, when you ask him to smile for the camera, that is the face he pulls out, even if he has food in his mouth. I tell him this is gross, but he just laughs at me.

I've recorded so many movies on the foxtel box and have had no time whatsoever to watch them. I suppose my hectic social schedule simply does not permit it. Grr.

The weekend started with a bang at Kat's big 30th birthday bash - great fun had by all, and plenty of cocktails consumed i can assure you. Who can say no to Cosmopolitans after all? Some hilarious photos came out of the night, as you can see below. So - happy birthday kitty kat! Hope you had a great night, we did!

Saturday would have been the perfect day for a sleep in, considering the previous evenings antics, but alas, it was not to be - i was up and out the door to meet Mum, and Leah and her mother, to see a French film called Summer Hours, which was beautiful for scenery, though the story was a little slow. Still, very real to life, and Juliette Binoche is wonderful in everything she does, in my opinion. Plus, I felt better after I'd had a coffee and some painkillers. We stopped for an after-movie pick me up at the new Guylian cafe in Circular Quay - yum, i must say. I came back home to this: Utter Laziness, is the caption I'll use on this photo. Just look at these two.

Despite the downpour last night, we ventured out to Natasha's cocktail/housewarming party - she an awesome flat by the way, gorgeously decorated. A few Bellini's later, i was enjoying the mini pizzas and meatballs, the cupcakes and chocolate dipped strawberries - another fun night had by all :)

So here we are again, Sunday night and another working week upon us. Jo and i are both convinced that a 4 day work week/3 day weekend would really work much better, don't you agree?