Mr and Mrs

I'm back! And I'm married! And tanned!



We actually got back on Thursday night, but i promptly got sick (I'm sure the plane was contaminated), and spent most of Friday on the couch watching 2 seasons of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. (In other words, life is back to normal.)



The rest of the weekend has been a whirlwind of washing clothes, grocery shopping, and moaning about being back in Sydney. Back to work on Monday, BOO. Reality has, alas, reared its ugly head. But we're off to see Maria and Peter and Jack tonight, which will cheer me up immensely. The Pest claims to have missed me, but i won't believe it till i see it.



There is obviously a lot to talk about, but this will have to be done in stages. For now, let me just say that our wedding day was, in a word, amazing. Its a total cliche, but it really was the best day of my life. I can't even believe how perfectly the day went, and what a fantastic party we had. Everyone had such a good time, and i honestly wouldn't have changed a thing. Of course, none of this would have been possible without all the help we got from our family and friends, some of whom travelled great distances to be with us. I'm not going to thank everyone individually here, but i WILL just say two things - firstly, my parents are really and truly the best people on the planet, who literally gave us the most beautiful day, and respected everything we wanted, and partied all night with us on the dance floor. Thank you so much - i will never forget how much you've done for us, and because of you our wedding day exceeded all of our expectations.




Secondly, our bridal party was made up of the most wonderful people, who mean the world to us - it was a big bridal party, but i think that's just testament to how lucky we are to have so many amazing friends and family, who are always there for us, and who did so much to make our day special, let alone possible! Some of my best memories of the day will always be dancing the night away with you guys - so thank you.




I've seen SOME photos from our fantastic photographer, but i haven't got them in my hot little hands yet, so i will save the wedding post until i do - though i can't wait to share the photos, because from what I've seen, they are A-MA-ZING! And of course, you'll be wanting to hear all about our honeymoon, right? That'll be coming up too, once we sort through the 800+ photos we took. (I know, we're freaks.) Ten sunny Vanuatu days of cocktails, seafood, swimming...WHY DID WE HAVE TO COME HOME???




SO! Plenty to tell, and I'll get to it soon, i hope. In the meantime, don't think that just because the wedding is over, we'll be able to relax and take it easy. That's just not us. We have a move coming up (more on that later), several visitors to look forward to, two weddings, birthday parties, and a mini-break or two...and of course we're always looking towards our next big adventure, which (scarily! excitingly!) will probably be here before you know it. But again. That's a discussion for another time.




As a last note, i will say that married life gets a big tick from me. (OK. It's really no different to living-together life. And actually, we've only been back from our holiday for three days, so who can really say. But, you know. It's nice to make it honest and all.) Pics coming soon!

Gooooooing to the chapel and we're....

......goooooonna get maaaaaaaarried....

Yesiree. I am now pretty much a day away from the big day. Which actually i can't believe, given how long we've been talking about it. Ca-razy. I was actually deluded enough to think that everything would be done by this week, and I'd be able to relax and enjoy the build up....um yeah. No. Didn't happen. This has to have been one of the most stressful weeks of my life. I've been running around like a madwoman. Sleep? What's that again? My mind's been going a million miles an hour trying to keep track of everything and everyone.

But. Today i tried on my finished wedding dress, and it was all worth it. I actually felt excited, genuinely excited, for the first time. I mean when you're dressed like a bride, you really feel like a bride right? We had our rehearsal tonight, which was fun...(read: nerve-racking). I know I'm kinda the bubbly type, which most people take to mean confident in all situations, but really, I'm a little nervous about the church bit. All eyes are on you, so you really better hope you don't drop the ring, or stuff your lines up, or faint. All of these possibilities are giving me nightmares, but i think it's too late to back out now ;) (Did we consider eloping, Jo? Why did we scratch that idea again?)

Despite that bit, I'm REALLY looking forward to - marrying Jo, obviously - but also, the party afterwards! Woot! Dancing the night away with our family and friends really is the fun part.

Even though this week has been a bit of a stress, I've had a great couple of weeks leading up to this - a Hunter Valley hens weekend, high tea and cocktails, a rehearsal dinner tonight, and a last hurrah with some good friends after work last week. And it really was quite the hurrah, let me tell you. We started our night at one of Sydney's best kept secrets - the Shady Pines. You'd never find it if you didn't know where it was - which is in a back alley, in a decrepit-looking building without a sign - but once you walk in, you may as well be back in the Wild West. It's got a real Saloon feel - in an awesome way, not in a cheesy Gold Coast Movie World way - plus, you get free peanuts all night! And the drinks - delicious. Tequila is their specialty, but personally i enjoy the vodka and fresh juices.

Kat and I and some sort of enormous drink.

So, Shady Pines, closely followed by everyones favourite Japanese pastime, Karaoke. Because honestly, there's nothing like belting out the classics with a bunch of your pissed friends. It was completely fantastic, obviously, with highlights including a very heartfelt rendition of Wonderwall by Oasis, a cracking Sweet Child of Mine by the Gunnies, and of course our personal favourite, Living on a Prayer by the great Bon Jovi. Lauren and I took advantage of Turnsie's drunken state by knocking him to the ground whenever we could (and knocking him back down again every time he tried to get up. We're pretty awesome friends like that.) We had a great night, even if i couldn't talk the whole of the next day.




I really do have the best bunch of friends, including these two crazies. We call ourselves instigators, because THAT is what we do. (What? That's a really cool name.)

Turnsie, me, Lauren

I've been able to spend some time this week with some great people i haven't seen in ages, like our adorable flower girl, Jo's niece Lauren...

And of course his cousin and one of my awesome bridesmaids, Christina. We always have way too much fun together, and i hope she'll forgive me for ditching her for an hour to write this post...(anyway, foxtel's there. it's everyones friend.)

So this is it from me! I won't be back in touch till we get back from our honeymoon in Vanuatu, and when i return it shall be as a married woman! I know I've said it before, but it's really nice (after all the talking and planning and fighting) to know that it's all for the sake of marrying Jo, who i love beyond words, and can't wait to call my husband.




Wish us luck!

I'm a teeny tiny bit busy...

...but I'm still taking the time to write. Because it clears my head and i hope in years to come i can look back and remember all the stuff i used to do when i was young and free and unmarried... *winks*




This post is going to be all over the place. As always, we've been supremely busy - and not just with wedding stuff. I'm not one to let my social life suffer for anything. There's been lots of fun in the air, despite the stress of organising a wedding. For example, Valentines Day. We're not usually Valentines Day people, because it's a bloody huge rip off if you ask me. Flowers magically triple in price, and most people i know agree that you don't need one set day in the year to show your someone special that you love them. All the same, Jo was a doll and got us tickets to see Breakfast at Tiffany's at the Orpheum, my most favourite cinema in Sydney, and it was quite a lovely evening. We rushed home for eggs on toast (romantic dinner, no?) and then hightailed it to the Orpheum for some champagne before the movie. Inside, it looks like this:








So you can see why i love it. And of course, Audrey Hepburn has a face that deserves to be watched on the big screen.




Then, of course, there's all the children in my life. It's a rather convenient thing, (when you love kids but really aren't in the mood to pop any of your own out), to have family that so obligingly provide wonderful children at your disposal whenever you please. There's my little superheros, for a start, who constantly make me laugh with their honesty.

Jack has been reunited with his old friend Lilo (known to the rest of us as Leah, Maid of Honour extraordinaire), back from the UK for the wedding. Maria asked him the other day if he was ready to marry me soon. "No", he said, but he'd be happy to marry Lilo. Said Maria: "You tell Ornella next time you see her that you don't want to marry her, you want to marry Lilo." He sighed, shook his head, and said "Well. She won't be very happy."

I mean. The kid comes out with some gold. And then there's the puker, who's bubbly personality is the carbon copy of his mother. He's one of those babies that love being around people - which makes bedtime rather a bore. And let me tell you, his screams are high pitched and persistent. He doesn't give in easily. It's as if he's saying "WHAT THE HELL??? YOU'RE PUTTING ME TO BED WHEN WE HAVE COMPANY??? IS THIS A JOKE??? MUM?? IS THIS A JOKE, FOR REALS??" Alas Pukes, it's no joke.

Hmm. What else. We've seen some good movies - True Grit, for example. What's that? Didn't think i was the cowboy type, you say? OK, it's a western, fine. But it's a good one! I really had no idea what it was about, so maybe having no expectations helped. But i thought it was excellent. The young girl in it, i think her name is Hailee Steinfeld, she was amazing. She plays a girl who's father was killed by an outlaw - and now she wants him brought to justice. So she hires a washed up old Marshall (played by Jeff Bridges) to go out and find the killer, and bring him in. With her help, of course. Honestly, it was top notch performances by everyone - including Matt Damon, who plays a Texas ranger on a hunt of his own. Give it a chance people.

We also finally got around to watching The Social Network. That was great too actually, i can understand now why everyones been raving about it. Though i still find it weird that such a current issue has already been made into a movie.

And of course there's the Oscars. Two words for that: train. wreck. I mean, James Franco? What the hell? Anne Hathaway, to her credit, gave it a pretty good shot. I felt sorry for her actually. She talked without appearing to read from an autocue, which i thought was a positive start. And the girl can sing, I'll give her that. But that Franco kid, he really let her down. He looked grey and sweaty and drugged up, and totally disinterested in the whole thing. Neither of them should have been given the job. That's my two cents.

OH, and this book - Room, by Emma Donoghue. I literally couldn't put it down. Reckon i read it in 48 hours, if not less. READ IT PEOPLE! It's so good. It's narrated by a 5 year old boy called Jack. He's lived his whole life inside one, tiny room - never been outside, never known another life but the one inside those four walls. The reason for this is that his mother has been held captive for the last 7 years by her abductor - who is also Jack's father. It's sort of a Joseph Fritzl situation. I felt claustrophobic just reading it. What makes the book so poignant is the fact that it IS narrated by the child, who doesn't know any other life. His friends are the table, the chairs, the stove, the bed. The sight of any living thing - ant, spider - sends him into spasms of joy. And yet he's happy, and doesn't understand why his mother would ever want to leave what is essentially the only home he's ever known. Anyway, that's all I'm going to say. READ. IT.

I want to tell you about my hens weekend in the Hunter Valley, but i don't have any photo's yet, so that might have to wait. Otherwise, this has been my last week at work, yay, so it's been ridiculously busy. But as of today, Friday, I'm DONE for three and a half weeks, and i can't tell you how good that feels. It's been a frenzy of preparations for the wedding of course - we're only a week out, and I'm so excited about what's going to be, I'll call it now, an awesome party. And then, holidays! Woooooot! Vanuatu, for ten relaxing days. I can't wait.

But more than anything, I'm just so excited to be marrying my best friend in the whole world - its nice to know you're going to be spending your life with someone you actually have so much fun with, every day.

Hi 40 degree days

Sweet Bajesus its hot. REAL hot. Don't get me wrong - i love warm weather as much as the next person, but this freaking humidity is wearing everyone down. Ahhh the curse of the Sydney-sider - we love to complain. When it's raining we wonder where summer is, but when it's too hot we hate dealing with it.

So, best to look on the bright side - and that is going to the beach after work. LOVE! We've been a few times this week, and I'm loving it. Nothing more refreshing than washing the crap of the day away in the sea. Plus, the water's been really warm. Usually the ocean can be bracing, to say the least, but this week it's had that "just peed in" warm quality that i love.

The other great thing about this weather? Sydney looks great in it. The harbour is sparkling, the ferries are steaming, people are out and about at all hours...i love it. Here's a cracking example of how this fine city can look on a sunny day:

I mean really. Why would you want to live anywhere else? (Oh yeah, cause it costs a shitbomb to live here. Still,.Bright side, bright side....) Ah well, that's love for you - no matter the cost, you never want to leave. And i do have a passion for this city.

Since it's been so steamy out, you have to cool down by sticking by the water - the beach, the harbour...anywhere you might get a breeze. Nighttime is the worst. Our apartment has aircon but honestly, it doesn't feel like its working. Until you go outside and realise the temperature's doubled. Sweaty, sticky nights lose their allure after about ten minutes, let me tell you. Ain't nothing sexy about stinking the bed out. But I digress. So we go to the beach, and we take walks around the harbour, and life is pretty good!

In other news - the wedding is now 5 weeks away. Which means, people, the HONEYMOON is 5 weeks away. WOOT! I am so looking forward to all that time off work. (And getting married. Obviously I'm looking forward to that and everything.) (NO WORK NO WORK NO WORK!!)

Downside to the wedding coming up? Everyone wants my money. Final payments are due for everything, which means we're rapidly waving bye byes to our hard-earned cash. The things we do eh?

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend - hens night tomorrow for me, and i intend to be drowning in cocktails by 9pm. Wish me luck!

You're invited to...

Well. Nowhere actually. But i thought I'd share our wedding invitations with you now that they've all been posted and received (for the most part).




When we thought about our invitations, we wanted them to firstly set the tone of the whole wedding, but secondly be quite personal - we wanted to tell a bit of our story. So we some research and i found out about a new, up and coming stationary company who specialised in bespoke wedding invitations called Zed and Bee. It's run by two sisters, whom we met with, and they got to know us and our personalities a little before coming back with a few different suggestions for a wedding invitation. Since we both love music, and believe that music definitely influences memories, a CD invite seemed perfect.




We really wanted to create something warm and personal and kinda sweet - in short, we wanted people to WANT to play the CD. So we picked out a bunch of songs that meant something special to us in some way or another, included a few lines about why each song was picked, and let the girls create the beautiful watercolours you can see on the cover based on our brief, which was to evoke some of those beautiful album covers from the 60s and 70s - Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, that sort of thing.




When we finally got the finished product, we were beyond thrilled with the result. They look stunning, are really meaningful, and really set the scene for what we hope will be a beautiful, fun party for our us and our guests. Here they are!

Front cover and envelope

Inside - the CD itself, and the song list on either side with a sentence or two about why we picked the song.



The back, middle and front, opened out

The actual invite (with the where and when and who etc) and the RSVP

So we're back to Monday, by far the most insulting day of the week. This past weekend we went to Canberra to meet our wedding photographer (that's where she's based.) It was a bit of a risk, picking someone so integral to our wedding day without having met her - but it was worth it. She's fantastic - very easy to be around, chirpy and creative, and i think she'll take some amazing photos for us. We had an 'engagement shoot' while we were there - which basically meant she took a bunch of pictures of me and Jo trying to be lovey-dovey, but failing miserably. We were too busy laughing our heads off. Which actually made for far more appropriate pictures i think, because one thing i can always rely on is us being able to have a laugh.

And while we're on the topic of the wedding, i may as well point out that there are exactly 8 weeks to go. Freaky deaky right? There are a few rather important things we haven't actually done - like, er, get wedding rings...but other than that, i think we're on track. I'm predicting my meltdown to take place approximately 7 days out. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted.

Last but not least - we'll be celebrating a VERY special Pesty third birthday this week. Full report to follow...!

Good tidings

I know. My posts have been few and far between lately. But all the smart and beautiful people know that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Looking back over the past few weeks, i really could not even tell you what I've done - all i know is i can't remember the last time i was in bed before midnight, let alone home at all. But let's see what i can remember...




December started with a bang, as people across the nation celebrated my birthday. HA! Totally kidding. I was disappointed there were no fireworks in my honour though. I mean honestly. I expected more from the Labour Government.




We went to see the Chekhov play Uncle Vanya with our friend Kat, put on by the Sydney Theatre Company. Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh were stand-outs in an altogether marvellous ensemble cast, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.




My oldest friend and bridesmaid is back in town for a month, so we've had dress fittings and catch-ups galore - and I'm pleased to say her dress is almost finished and looking lovely. AND. My dress is really coming along! I've had more fittings this month than ever, and it's looking beeeeeeautiful! My mum saw it for the first time, and she was blown away. I say this because she is hardly ever blown away by anything, so it must be good. Other wedding ticks - we picked and ordered our wedding cake and cars, and have officially covered all our musical bases. That's a bang bang bang right there. Thank goodness too, cause the damn thing's less than three months away now. Last on the wedding front - our invitations arrived! And they're beautiful and heartfelt and everything we wanted them to be. They'll be in the mail in the next couple of weeks, so I'm super excited to hear what everyone thinks of them.




We went to see U2 in concert, and they were fab as usual. I've seen them before, but Jo got these tickets for free, and as you know - if it's free, its for me. What i like about U2 is that they always sing their back catalogue - the songs that everyone wants to hear. All the favorites were in there, and including two of my all time faves, Where Streets Have No Name and Sunday Bloody Sunday. The set-up was pretty flash too - very transformers....

Sweaty and sung-out after the concert. Delicious.

And then there's Christmas. The season to be jolly. I'm sorry to report that I've become more than a little addicted to Christmas cooking shows this year. Chief among them is Nigella, mainly because i love her and want to be her best friend. Plus, she uses ingredients that come out of cans and bottles like regular people.

We wasted no time putting the tree up. I like to maximise Christmas tree time, because lets face it - there's nothing like twinkling lights and tinsel to get your Yuletide on. See?

Maria and I rocked the house at our work Christmas party, which had a masquerade theme. Cheap champagne flowed freely, and the masks were ditched approximately 60 seconds after these pictures were taken...

...but the drinking, you'll be pleased to hear, did not stop all night. And that, folks, was my downfall. All liquid. No solid. A novice mistake, i know, and I've got no excuse. I thought that salt and vinegar chips would be enough to tide me over, AND i thought there'd be more food at the party. Alas, neither turned out to be true.

I was, that Friday night, an instigator. So was Maria. It was excellent team work - we started congo lines and zorba circles, screamed at the top of our lungs to Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, ensured all glasses were permanently filled with cheap booze and kept our co-workers abreast with all the relevant (and irrelevant) office gossip. If there's something to know, we'll sniff it out before anyone else, guaranteed. We're smart like that. And it didn't end there. When the official party ended, we rounded up the troops and headed off to the Retro for more drinking and dancing. Things went downhill pretty quickly after that i'm afraid. Champagne was ditched for vodka, and we found ourselves once more in the murky depths of the cheapest bar in town. Within half an hour, our friend Turnsie was booted from the joint. Things get hazy after that, but around the time my shoes started to literally burn my feet, i had my last clear memory, which was: "Must. Get. Cab." So i did.

The next day, tired and hungover, was not a happy one for Nell, so let's gloss over that quickly and move straight onto Christmas shopping, which is 90% complete only because most of the weekend just gone was spent in a shopping frenzy. The shops are adorned in festive glory....

...so it's nice to be out and about in all the merriment, except for the part where you want to kill everyone in sight. The toy section is particularly challenging, and again, I've erased the experience from my memory, so let's move on. I only want to say one thing, and that is that the number one rule of Christmas shopping is DON'T TAKE YOUR CHILDREN CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!! I mean DUH. DUH. It's madness!!! Bonkers!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??? Get your Santa photo and get the hell out of my sight, and take your snotty kid with you for godsake, before they touch every teddy bear in the vicinity with their dirty, grubby hands. That is all.

On Friday night, we went to St. Mary's Cathedral for their annual Christmas carols, which was very traditional and quite lovely. You'll be pleased to know that I sang my little heart out, Silent Night's and all. The Cathedral itself has been dressed up for the season - come 8pm, it lights up in all manner of ways, looking very merry indeed - if you get the chance - go see it.

Here she is during the day....

...and here's some of what you'll see at night...

And now here we are, a few days away from Christmas and the end of another year. Time flies when you're having fun and all that. (It really does fly. WAH!) This mammoth post should have me caught up now, and there'll be more Christmassy goodness to report before the weeks out I'm sure.

Another cup of....?

Right. I'm way behind in my blogging, i know, but life has been terribly busy as it always is at this time of year. Still, here i am, raring to tell you all about my kitchen tea (that happened over two weeks ago. I'm nothing if not fashionably late.)

We spend the whole weekend before cooking up a storm, so everyone could enjoy stuffing their faces with all manner of delicious things, as per below:

Speaking of guests, they came from far and wide for the event - some as far as New Zealand, like my mother in law (who provided the bunting for us to hang. If you don't know what bunting is, look it up.)








Maria and I were in a decorating frenzy. Garden party perfection was the goal. I will say right now that she's the worse perfectionist of them all - the kind that has you running around looking for mini-pencils your whole lunch break, but that's another story. In this case, her perfectionist ways paid off (even if i was left with that slightly dazed, just got hit over the head with a jackhammer look on my face).

There was, as you can see, food-a-plenty. Mini everything - strawberry tarts, scones, cannoli, pies, quiches...believe me when i tell you i was eating red velvet cupcakes for days afterwards.

Obviously you can't have a kitchen tea without games, but we decided against such classics as "make a wedding dress out of toilet paper", and stuck with easy things like a quiz about ME (and Jo, but who cares about him). And we had a lucky door prize - everyone got a piece of 1950s housewife advice when they arrived (which included such pearlers as "Don't greet him with problems or complaints - count these are minor compared to what he may have gone through that day." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) and later in the day i read out a piece of advice and whoever had the same one was the winner of the prize!

I know. Are we genius's or what?

Here's a few snapshots of my peeps:

Susie, Sylvana and Max in his wife beater.

The gals, Linda, Krisha, Kama, moi, Melissa and Sonali

Me (in my fab apron which i guarantee i will never wear in the kitchen, ever - thank Mel!) and Mum

Mel and I. That glass of pink champagne was full mere moments earlier.

Me, Rom, pukes and thats baby number TWO in her belly.

Ladies, including one of my awesome bridesmaids Christina and Aunty Margaret, both of whom came from Adelaide for the affair (thanks guys!)

Double trouble my arse. These boozeheads were trouble to the power of three.

Me and the lady that made it ALLLLLLL happen, my other awesome bridesmaid Maria

Z remained unimpressed by the days events

And then it was over! Just like that. All the planning and stressing and cooking and hoping for good weather....over in a flash. Which is exactly what the wedding is going to be like - all over before we know it, so i suppose i better enjoy the drama while i can. Once everyone left, we cracked into the serious alcohol - cosmopolitans all round, several times over - while i opened all of my gifts - THANK YOU anyone reading this who came, though i am, i promise, getting around to contacting you all personally. So generous, and my kitchen is now very well stocked.

Here we are drinking our first cocktail of the evening....(don't worry, there were other, non-drinking adults there to supervise the devil *cough* i mean Jack)....

Aaaaaaaaand here we are after the tenth. Eleventh. Whatever.

I really have to shout out to Maria who, despite her slave-driving ways, totally made the whole day happen. It was perfect and i loved it and i couldn't have done it without you. AND, to Christina, who flew in from Adelaide and spend the next three days doing what i told her to and not complaining once. She even put a table together. Cause Lord knows Maria and I can't even look at a screwdriver without breaking something.

More of a roundup on the last couple of weeks soon, as long as Christmas doesn't get in the way.