d.b.d.ray

Exciting news...

2007-08-09T20:35:00.001+10:00

I am going to NY and LA!

I have finally paid for my ticket, so it's official : )

25 more sleeps.

3 day bday celebrations...

2007-08-05T18:17:00.000+10:00

Well, despite the fact that I feel like I have been spending most of my waking hours working, I managed to stretch my bday celebrations over Friday, Saturday and Sunday - quite an impressive achievement.

Friday was drinks and pizza at Bligh after work. We also tested out the new dance floor that has been recently installed at the bar. Unfortunately, there were some incredibly bad dance moves (not ours) during the course of the evening.

Saturday involved more pizza at Il Goloso at Haberfield. We were meant to go to La Disfida, across the road from IG. LD however, does not take booking and assured me, when I called them, that I would have no problem getting 11 people in if I got there at 7. Unfortunately this is not the case. Anyway, after Lou and Parish very kindly checked out a couple of the other restaurants (while I was running late), we settled on Il Goloso. I had a really wonderful evening - hung out with a heap of friends, fab pizza, great looking (and tasting desserts). The bonus is, no corkage fees! Pics of the evening of festivities are here.

A couple of people have strongly recommended La Disfida's pizzas, so I will definitely have to visit them at some stage.

And finally, Sunday was lunch at home with the folks. Mum made a wonderful prawn pasta and poached pears. And as usual, the birthday cake and cannoli came from Sulfaros : )

Quote of the day

2007-08-04T12:34:00.000+10:00

A couple of friends and I try to email each other a "Quote of the Day", on a daily basis, as the name indicates, depending on how busy we all are.

We get these quotes from desk calendars, from books, I steal some from the chalkboard of the palms cafe and sometimes we just make them up.

Some of the quotes we circulate are really quite thought provoking or relevant at that point in time ... others are just very funny or silly.

So I have decided that some of these special quotes deserve a page of their own...

"When you feel that nobody loves you, nobody cares for you, and everyone is ignoring you , you should start asking yourself...am I too sexy?" JR
"There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look." Henri Matisse
"You can never have too many handbags or too many friends. Or too many frinds with too many handbags." Hallmark c/o of one of my friend's birthday cards :)
"To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so." Walter Scott
"Why is it, that no matter how busy we are, we always find time to worry?" PK Shaw
"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." Marcus Aurelius
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely", Auguste Renoir
"Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions", Coco Chanel
"Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think." Dale Carnegie, c/o the coffee stand out the front of the office
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” Pablo Picasso
"Have a vision not clouded by fear." Cherokee Proverb
"Trust your hopes, not your fears." David Mahoney
"I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." George Bernard Shaw
"The severity of an itch depends on how accessible it is to be scratched." AP

Babes & Books x Kaths Baby Shower

2007-07-22T20:50:00.000+10:00

The book club girls caught up again yesterday for a combined book club and baby shower for Giles' impending bubba.

The book this time was a pick by Mars: "Silent in the Grave" by Deanna Raybourn.

Of course, there was some highly intellectual discussion about our favourite bits of the book: Soph and I shared our favourite bits of the book - see pages 373 and 224 respectively - definitely worth a read!

The book was great for one liners and it also had the best opening lines of any book I think I've ever read: "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." : P

The baby shower bit was great too - we did our standard baby shower things: guess the girth (which I did atrociously at - sorry Giles); baby trivia (blitzed by Ms D - in her words "Find me a man, I'm havin a baby!") and matching baby photos with grown up book clubbers! Giles scored some wonderfully funky baby gear (red stripes is obviously very in for the junior crowed - Giles junior is guaranteed to be a very hip baby!).

Pics of the fun event are available here (btw my book club album is getting a bit unweildy - so you need to go to the end of the album to see the pics & it goes over two pages : ( ...I'll have to do something about that at some stage)

Eurotrash .. I mean Eurovision

2007-05-13T20:06:00.000+10:00

This is the first year I have watched Eurovision without PB (I just got back home from dropping him off at the airport - he was over for mother's day).

I have decided its much more fun when we watch it together and bag it out. And there is soo much material we could have a go at - the songs, the the clothes, the make up, the presenters (and of course the voice over man), Finnish singers channelling Evanesence and Irish singers channeling Kasey Chambers and some 70's hippie at the same time...

Happy birthday to db-dray!

2007-05-13T16:40:00.000+10:00

I only realised, after the fact, that I have managed to keep my Blog, and my flickr site, going for a whole year!

Pretty impressive, seeing as a year ago, I thought the blog thing was way too complicated ...

However, once again, I haven't posted for about a month (bust at work and having too much fun generally), so, at the request of AB, I'm going to be doing a monster post after this one!

Happy easter!

2007-04-08T14:57:00.000+10:00

I have had 3 blissfully work-free days so far...

I have spent it sleeping in, bumming around, shopping with mum and PB, reading and watching DVDs. I hung out w M on Fri nite - we were a bit nanna-ish and just had a cuppa and chilled at her place, and I caught up with SMC and Mesiti, which was good, as I haven't seen those two for what seems like ages.

PB is back from Melb for the break, so we're going to spend some sibling quality time together tomorrow at the races.

Definite highlight this week will before Weds - I have a day of leave to go to Ladies' Day at Randwick - YAY!

*ahhh* happy days!

Big weekend...

2007-03-18T22:58:00.000+11:00

Well, Im pleased to say I just had a weekend jam packed with fun...well, most of it. I did some apartment viewing yesterday, which, of course, was more depressing than fun, however the rest of the weekend was great!

Started off by seeing The Singer, which is showing as part of the French Film Festival at Palace in Leichhardt. Not too bad...its about this older washed out (older) "crooner" who tries to pursue this younger woman...however I dont know whether I'd actually recommend it - maybe I judt dont deal with not-happy endings very well.

Then, after some consideration, I decided that I would take up a friend's invite to catch up for a St Pat's Drink at PJ Gallagher's out is Parra (yes, Bel, athough I did say yes strsight away, I did have a think about it afterwards). Anyway, I am REALLY surprised at what a great time I had there.

There was quite a mixed crowed: people who had just come from the races (some classy looking, and some not so classy looking), people out for a St Pat's drink, some older guys who looked like locals, some major skank sorts (I bumped into a girl in the bathroom who had some serious silicon happening - at one stage she patted her very bare (and big) chest, and it actually rippled like a waterbed - just wrong), anyway, I digress, and then there were also the leprechauns. So yes, a very diverse crowd.

The music was also great - lots of old stuff - the sort of stuff I used to rememebr hearing on 2WS, which always used to be on the radio at home in the mornings before we headed off to primary school. I am not generally known for getting up on the dance for and dancing in a sober state - however thats exactly what happened - and didnt stop till we decided to leave at about midnight. I suprised even myself.

Then Sunday, I did the Bridge Walk. We started at North Sydney, slowly meandered across the Bridge, whilst being subjected to hideous flourescent yellow baseball caps and blowup Bridge hats (see pics here). Despite the very tacky, old style Hollywood epic type music
that was blaring through loudspeakers along some sections of the Bridge (and the guy who stood up on a barricade and spontaneously burst into song, singing Happy Birthday), it was actually a pretty cool afternoon. We then hung around the National trust House, which was cashing on on all the people around, and then tried to find something to eat, which was a lot harder than we all expected. We felt like Japenese, but the places we know of were not open...so we had to trek from Circular Quay back up to the Rocks, after we decided on a pub dinner at the Lord Nelson.

So yes, all in all a GREAT weekend.

*postscript my legs were killing for about 4 days after the Bridge walk

Book Club & Reading List 2007

2007-02-24T19:17:00.000+11:00

Being the nerd I am, I decided it was time I started up 2007's reading list. A quick review of my reading list, confirmed that I am definitely NOT reading enough fun stuff ... hopefully I'll be able to do a bit more fun reading this year.

Book Club Reading List:

[Feb 07] Drylands by Thea Astley;
[Apr 07] Stone Cradle by Louise Doughty
[July] Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
[September] Kite Runner

And stuff I read in between:

Mafia Wife by Lynda Milito;
The Debutante Divorcee by Plum Sykes, yup, seriously high brow stuff;
The Yes Man by Danny Wallace, a recommendation from Parrish - moral of this story is "say yes more" and you never know what good things will come your way!
Ines of my Soul by Isabel Allende (I found this kind of hard to get into and am still trying to finish it...I don't think its a train book - more of a "to-be-read-over-the-weekend" sort of book;
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven). This guy is a really amazing, sensitive writer. I read the majority of this book whilst training to work, and had to read with my sunnies on, as bits of it are real tear jerkers...B lent me the book, however, I love it so much, I'm getting myself my own copy. It's a great book to help you get some perspective on life.
East West by Salman Rushdie;
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - an absolutely fabulous read!
God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - takes a while to get into it

How long's it been since high school?!

2007-02-18T19:12:00.000+11:00

I was out with one of my friends from clerkship days (which seems like AAAAGES ago, especially after having the new clerks in over christmas), and anyway, we were having a chat about her High School reunion, which is due in October.

I asked her what year reunion it was. When she told me it was her 10 year reunion, I was astounded - "Are you serious?! What year did you graduate from highschool?!" Her response: 1997. Just like me.

I cant believe its been 10 years.

Underground...

2007-02-18T19:08:00.000+11:00

...is where I've been since work started up again this year!

I had one of my friends comment that I hadnt blogged for a while, so I thougt I might log on to see just how long it's been. It had been so long that I'd forgotten my username AND my password. Not good. Anyway, am back in...

I am managing to keep my gallery (see left) more up to date than my blog - well excpet my Melb pix - we went to Melbourne in the new year, and I still havent had a chance to put them all online. There are too many!

A new play thing

2006-12-31T01:22:00.000+11:00

I finally got around to buying a brand new laptop to replace my poor (and very beat) up laptop. In its defence, my old IBM has served me very well - I originally got it back when i started law school (ie 2001-ish), so the poor things been around for a while. Plus, I probably wasnt the most attentive owner ...

I made the most of the end of year sales and have now moved up to a swanky looking Compaq V3142. Alhtough I'm loving the speed at which this thing operates (my old IBM processed at a snail's pace), thre are a couple of things that are really pissing me off about my new toy at the moment:

I have never been a mouse kinda person - Ive always used the little mouse button on my keyboard... however this computer only has one of those thumb pads whicih is sending me around the bend;
the location of the backspace and delete buttons are switched around; AND
the home, end and page up and page down are in totally different locations...

Thanks to the above, according to pb, Im looking like a bit of a nanna when Im typing away, desperately searching for the key I'm after!

A new low...

2006-12-29T16:01:00.000+11:00

Mrs B and I were out and about recently and bumped into one of her old friends, who I don't think mum has seen for ages (and who I don't recall ever meeting - although she recognised me, so I assume I've previously met her).

Anyway, after the standard chit chat, she asked me "So, have you started working yet?" : 0

I actually haven't had anyone ask me this in YEARS.

As it turns out, she thought I was around 18 (and quite possibly still at uni). This means I look almost a decade younger than I actually am, which would be a good thing if I was fifty - but is not such a great thing at this point in time. The most recent age guestimate I was subject to (prior to this) placed me at around 23, which was not too bad.

So 18 is now down as my new low. Yay.

Champers

2006-12-15T22:46:00.000+11:00

I've been lucky enough to manage to quaff quite a few exy champers over the couple of months...and not always at my total expense, which is always bonus.

Of course, the gals and I managed to score a bottle of Moet at the Races in November...

We had work practice group drinks at Hemmesphere and I got through a couple of glasses of what has to be the most amazing champers I have ever tasted: Billecart - Salmon Rose Champagne NV. At $163 a bottle I'm not surpised it tasted that great. It made the Bollinger taste pretty ordinary : P

Like one of our clerks said, maybe one day I'll be a partner - and when I do, Billecart will be end up a standard drink : P

Melbourne Cup

2006-11-08T23:50:00.000+11:00

After much coaxing from Thommeny and Bairdling, I agreed to take a day of annual leave and go to Randwick for the Melbourne Cup.

The day was great!

We had to get off to an early start, as Ms T wanted us to get to her place bright and early (8.45ish). After a couple of wardrobe changes I (painfully) made my way to her place near Central. One thing I learnt about wicker picnic baskets is that, although they look, great, lady like, etc etc, they are a pain in the ass to carry around, especially when you are carrying a fragile hat in the other hand. So yes - the short break from Central to Thommeny's place was great : P I ended up there in a bit of a sweat.

Ms T, being the super organised event planner that she is, allocated each of us certain food to bring, so as you can tell from the pics, we did not go hungry. In fact, are table was the ency of many a passer by. We even had food left over - so much that when the girls went to place a bet I was left with strict instructions to try fob off as much of the food as I could to (preferably attractive) men. I think I succeeded (I should have taken some photographic evidence.

We spent the day doing the following:

drinking champers;
placing bets;
more champagne;
people watching/critiquing hats, clothes, shoes;
taking photos...

Highlight of the day was accidentally being given a $100 bottle of Moet by the waitstaff, when in fact we'd ordered and paid for something far cheaper. This was followed closely by getting a photo with PornStar. I told my brother that Pornstar and I were dating. He didn't take that pretty well ... it was very funny.

A picture says a thousand words, so here they are.

Live 'n Local

2006-11-05T00:17:00.000+11:00

Going to a concert and being surrounded by tweenies is guaranteed to make you feel twice your age.

Apart from that, the Veronicas, After the Fall and Evermore were great!

Pics are here.

Sugar hit!

2006-10-29T00:05:00.000+10:00

Seeing as it was getting so close to the end of Good Food Month, and I still hadn't had a sugar hit, and as I hadn't yet taken mum for our annual sugar hit together, I decided I should take Mrs B for a nite on the town.

After consulting the GFM website and narrowing down our options to all the hotels with dessert sampling platters, we decided that to go to the Intercontinental.

The Intercon was serving a dessert plate by Karl Beil which had pistachio & praline pyramid with red currant Drambuie salad, Chestnut & sago cone with malibu couli, and Cherry cheesecake slice on Kirsch compote. The accompanying wine was Orange Muscat Aperitif.

My favourite was the sago cone; mum's was the pistachio and praline pyramid (which I found too rich and creamy). I'd actually never had sago before - its got quite a nice texture, with all the little beads of sago.

Let's Do Lunch...

2006-10-26T21:51:00.000+10:00

As work has slowed down a bit over the last day or so, I decided I should make the most of Good Food Month's Let's Do Lunch and head off to one of the swanky restaurant's in the City for an equally swanky lunch.

I had really wanted to go to either Aria or Becasse, which are standard places we (that's the royal, "law firm" we) take our clients. Unfortunately though, Im not quite yet senior (ie important) enough to be joining clients for exy lunches on the firm...

Becasse was too far away from the office and therefore out of the question, and Aria, unfortunately has a system where they have two lunch intakes - in at 12.30 and out at 1.15 and in at 1.30 and out at 2.30. I thought this was kind of unimpressive - everyone knows that the poor folk who work in the city have standard 1-2pm lunches. Plus the 2 session thing reminded me too much of a cattle call (I am a notoriously slow eater, and the last thing I need is someone tapping me on the shoulder at 1.15 telling me I need to finish up my gourmet lunch because the next round of diners are on their way in).

So next on the list, due to proximity to work and swankiness-factor was Wildfire, which from what I've heard, is known for its seriously overpriced steak. Previous to lunch today, I'd only been to Wildfire once - for work, looking for a client (that I had never met before and so couldn't recognise), so they could execute some documents. Plenty of fun. Today's visit was far more enjoyable.

Wildfire was offering Tasmanian salmon fillet served with quandon berry, fennel casserole and almond sauce, served with Brown Brothers Sauvignon Blanc, 2002 or James Squire Pilsener and post dinner coffee. The almond sauce was pretty interesting - I've never thought about combining almonds (or any nut for that matter) with salmon...and it had slivered almonds sprinkled over the top which added a nice crunch to it...I would have taken a pic, but I felt that whipping out the camera at this place may have not looked that great.

Bye Bye Pierre

2006-10-13T09:23:00.000+10:00

Well, pb has left Sydney and gone to Melbourne for his 2 year secondment with PWC. So bye bye pb.

There was initially a bit of confusion amongst some of my friends as a result of someone (who shall remain unnamed) who obviously wasn't listening properly when I told him about pb's impending departure - as a result of this word got around that I was going to Melbourne.

Anyway, as a result of pb moving, my mum, as well as my dad, are now computer literate, which is pretty impressive. I received my first email from mum this morning when I was at the office...asking me whether I was going to go out tonite : )

I wonder if she'll post a reply to this blog : )

Eat myself silly...

2006-10-06T22:34:00.000+10:00

October is the foodie highlight of my entire year because its Good Food Month!! And the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the Sugar Hits (especially the sample platters - why have one dessert when you can have three?).

Seeing as we're not even a week into October, and Ive been working too late anyway, I haven't had a chance to make it any of the Hotels for dessert. However, I gave myself an early mark tonite and I made it to the Night Noodle Market. I particularly wanted to go this week, because, for some reason I was under the misapprehenson that it was only on this week -but it's actually on every week nite up to 20 October.

I was absolutely ravenous by the time I got there. I had been really keen to get something from Yai Thai - I've had Yai quite a few times before (always delivery to my office when I've been working late), so I have been really keen to try it in a non-work ambiance! But unfortunately they only had a couple of noodle soups, which just would have been too difficult messy to eat (not spill on myself) while sitting on the steps of Hyde Park, and a couple of spicy meals, which were not an option as I'm not very good with spicy food.

Seeing as I was ravenous, and as we managed to "slide" into the Phat Boys queue quite nicely, I ordered from Phat Boys' next door and got the Basil Chicken with rice. I was a a bit dubious about it - basil has always struck me as being a bit of a euro herb as I've always associated it with Italian food and my mum's cooking - definitely not Thai food. However, the meal was great! And they do really generous servings as well - I had thought about getting a dumpling (?) with it, but changed my mind when my meal was dished up.

Plus I had to leave time for dessert - those tiny pancake-y things with chocolate sauce and strawberries that seem to be all the rage at outdoor events (I can remember how to spell their name).

I think this is the second year that it's been at Hyde Park - it previously used to be down at the Botanic Gardens. The set up this year was a lot better than it was last year - there were definitely more tables - although we ended up eating on the steps. The one thing I prefer about having it at Hyde Park, is that Hyde Park is a bit more interesting - with the fountain, paved paths, the avenue of ancient figs trees (which are eventually going to disappear : ( ), the church in the background and the steps to sit on. They had also strung up rows of red lanterns and brought in a few of those large Japanese-style garden sculptures to get eveyone in the noodle mood.

One thing I've noticed about outdoor foodie events in Sydney - dogs! They're everywhere. People bring them along with them. Saw an absolutely HUGE black dog ... who had a collar with diamantes on it : P There were even a couple of dogs who decided to eat out sans owner tonite ...
Pics (when I download them) will be here.

Neighhh!

2006-09-30T21:40:00.001+10:00

A bunch of us donned frocks, fascinators and hats and got in touch with our inner princesses at Royal Randwick today .

We were in plebs today - wasn't too bad. We got a nice patch of lawn at the far right of the course and planted ourselves there for the majority of the day, only uprooting ourselves to (i) place a bet, (ii) re stock on the champers or (iii) check out the *ahem* form (its amazing how, as you move from one end of the track to the other in plebs, the sort of people you see changes!)

I just love the buzz at the races - the people watching, the horses, and just hanging out in the sun with a glass of champers. There were some amazing looking people out and about. There were also some very ugly shoes around too - even one of my guy friends noticed how some gals were having issues getting the whole shoe/dress co-ordination thing happening.

The AJC has put a Punting Guide for Princesses on its website. It's pretty good. I really should have had a read through it before I went today - I haven't been to the races in so long that I had to have the basics of a "place" bet explained to me by one of the TAB ladies - which was kind of embarrassing.

Pics of princesses and horses are here.

ARRRR!

2006-09-20T09:52:00.000+10:00

I just realised we all let International Talk Like A Pirate Day slip by without even an ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Maybe next year.

Into the kitchen ...

2006-09-10T13:28:00.000+10:00

It was with trepidation that I made my first foray (for a long time) into our kitchen as solo chef (as opposed to assisitant, photographer, or general nuisance), to test out a recipe from one of my new recipe books: "500 Cupcakes", which was an impulse purchase from Peters of Kensington.

I used the recipe for the Raspberry and Coffee Muffins, but as we didn't have any raspberries, I improvised and made Strawberry, Date and Coffee Muffins instead.

I had my "finished" batter and it was all going smoothly till I realised I had a block of untouched butter on the bench...the book listed butter as an ingredient, but then made no mention of it in the method section!! So I had to melt it up and add it to my ready batter. I also wasnt sure how much they would rise when they were cooking, so I didnt put as much batter in each cupcake as I could have. Still, was all good.

Even my mum was impressed - and she is a tough judge!

Il Locale

2006-09-07T22:07:00.000+10:00

Meighan and I had dinner at Il Locale at Haberfield last nite. Although it's pricier that the other restaurants on Ramsey Street, we thought we deserved a treat: I have now finally finished the grad program at work and Meighan has had a very successful month with her new health and fitness regime. I've also been wanting to eat here for a while, as its always buzzing with people at dinner and lunch time whenever I've happened to be driving past.

We ordered the Seafood Platter for One (M) and Spaghetti with Lobster and Broccoli (me).

Here are the results of our amateur gourmet food critiquing:

Seafood Platter for One
What was it:
Octopus, prawns in shell, calamari tube, pippies, mussels and other miscellaneous crayfish (no veggies) with broth served on crusty Italian bread (to soak up the broth from the stew).
How much:
$28
Comments:
The presentation of this meal was very impressive - a very deep white bowl brimming with seafood - prawn antennae, mini octopus tentacles - so it was off to a good start. As described above there was a whole myriad of seafood in there. The seafood and stew, which M was pretty pleased with, was served on top of a couple of slices of crusty Italian bread (at the base of the bowl), to soak up the seafood broth. I sampled a bit of the brothy bread, and it was pretty tasty. M found the meal really filling and didn't finish off all the bread and both at the bottom of the bowl. She thought it was pretty good value too, compared to my meal.
Rating:
Credit - probably a high credit from M's feed back

Spaghetti with Lobster Tail and Broccoli
What was it:
Bowl of spaghetti with half a lobster tail with soft cooked broccoli in a pink cream sauce.
How much:
$25
Comments:
This was my first foray into the world of lobster (believe it or not) and I was totally unimpressed by the tiny half tail. When the menu says "lobster tail", the implication is that you will get a whole tail. Have they not heard about misleading and deceptive conduct? The meat was also a bit dry. As the menu didn't mention anything about the sauce in the description of the meal, I assumed it was a tomato based sauce - I was unpleasantly surprised by the pink cream sauce, which wasn't in the menu's description (I'm not a huge fan of creamy sauces) so that was another no no. The broccoli was a good addition as it cut through the creaminess a bit, but if it had not been so soft cooked and bit crisper, it might have made the meal a bit more interesting.
My mum's pasta kicks ass compared to this meal.
Had they asked me what I thought about the meal (as often happens when they clear up), I would have griped to them. However they didn't, so I didn't.
Rating:
Pass, and I mean bare pass, like 55/100

We spent a fair bit of time eying off everyone else's meals (in their defence, everything smelled great), and as the fish and meat mains looked pretty impressive, as did the pizzas, we came to the conclusion that maybe these people just don't do pasta very well. However, this SMH review, makes me think the whole menu might be a bit hit and miss.

Desserts were all around the $12 mark, which I think is a bit much, particularly as you can just go across the road, as we did (to Dolcissimo) and get some great desserts for a lot less.

Would I go there again? Probably not.

SYD - BNE - ROK - GKI

2006-09-03T08:32:00.000+10:00

Well, I just came back from my trip to Great Keppel Island and I had a FABULOUS time!

Woke up at 4.30 am-ish on Tuesday to get my 6am flight to Brissie. The only downside to going to GKI is that you have to get 2 flights, and then a coach and a jet cat (or alternatively charter flight, but unfortunately, the charter flights only take bookings for a minimum of two people) to the island itself.

I was initially a bit disappointed with my room, simply because it didn't quite live up to the picture on their website (they made v good use of "mood lighting" ), but really, it was actually pretty good, and best of all...the beach (and pool, for when I was feeling lazy) was literally a minute from my doorstep!

I had to share my balcony with two possums. The first time I noticed the possums, was when I was going to put my towel out to dry on my first day and one was clawing at the flyscreen door, trying to get in. This was kinda disconcerting. I was held hostage in my own apartment by a feral possum :) They actually were ok to live with, and so long as I kept the door shut I was fine (one of the guys who was living a couple of apartments down from me got bitten on the toe - I didn't see what happened, but only heard the commotion, and it was pretty funny).

The weather on Tuesday and Wed was absolutely glorious! Lots of sun!!! Needless to say, I spent most of my time outdoors, either in one of the pools, or lazing about on one of the beaches reading or just laying about. I did a bit of snorkeling too, and *drumroll* I even did a bit of "bush walking" to Shelving Beach, one of the more isolated beaches away from the resort. This reminded me why I am not too huge a fan of bushwalking.

Apart from the breakfasts, the food at the Resort Restaurant isn't really that great. Lunch is v boring, and they only do buffet dinners. The muzac they play there is a bit ordinary (all that Mix sort of stuff) - and they play the same stuff - the 3 times I walked in there for lunch, Bic Runga's "Sway" was playing. Major groundhog day moment each time.

However, there is small pizza place, not associated with the Resort that makes unbelievably yummy pizzas. I had their Capri pizza 2 of the 3 times I visited them - nice thin base (not oily- bonus points), tomato sauce, mushrooms, spinach (silverbeet, not that English spinach, raw and sliced thinly, including stalks) and fetta cheese (it comes with onion, but I ordered it without). I never thought I'd say this, but Young Alfreds' - you have competition. They were playing one of Neil Diamond's "live" concert CD's one nite - so funny - my parents were (are) big Neil Diamond fans and he used to get a lot of airplay at our place when I was a young'un - so that was kinda cool...nice and nostalgic.

The great thing about the Island is that everything is close, and they really do have everything - one nite I takeaway-ed my pizza, then picked up a "takeaway" champers & OJ from the Wreck Bar, and planted myself by the pool beneath the Sunset Bar, where they happened to have a live acoustic due performing - bliss.

Thurs and Fri were proof that the slogan "beautiful one day, perfect the next" does not hold true - we had 2 full days of constant tropical rain. So it was just me and the possums on the balcony (joined by some lorikeets), reading. It cleared up on Fri nite, so I went out for dinner and had a chat with a couple who drove up to Qld from the nthn beaches in Syd, saw a movie at the Sunset bar, and then topped the nite off with a drink with some other guests at the Wreck bar. Till 3 am. : )

Yesterday, Saturday, was my last day : ( I was a bit bummed about the relatively early check out time (10am). But I was determined to squeeze as much sunshine from this holiday as possible, so after a coffee on Fishermans Beach in front of my place, I then wandered off to my fave beach there, Putney Beach, and lazed about reading (I havent enjoyed reading this much in AGEESSSSS) till it was home time:(

I have to admit, I am a fan of the whole traveling solo thing. Its really not as bad as I thought it would be. It has some downers, like eating alone, having to apply sunscreen on your own (I realised this morning I missed a few spots), not having anyone to take photos with /of you, and getting a bit freaked out when I was bushwalking (there were a couple of really steep rocky bits and I kept on thinking - what happens if I fall and sprain an ankle while I'm out bushwalking - no-one will miss me!!!)

However, the big bonus is that I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Which was really nice. It also helped that most of the other guests and staff were pretty friendly, so I wasn't a total nige!

Whoever said a change is as good as a holiday had it all wrong. Sometimes, nothing is as good as a holiday.

Happy snaps are here.

Sun here I come...

2006-08-28T15:30:00.000+10:00

Well, I am officially on leave for a whole week from today!

So far I have slept in, had breakfast, mucked around with Flickr, sort of started packing, and been relatively unproductive.

Even better, I am, flying off for 4 days of sun tomorrow :)

Baby book club

2006-08-12T17:58:00.000+10:00

We had our first bookclub with baby session today. Poor Soph wasn't having the happiest of days :( Here she is with Fiona during one of her quieter moments...

Todays book was Nancy Mitford's "Love in a Cold Climate". Quite a light and fun read when you get into it - we figured it was probably the 1950's equivalent of chick-lit or Mills & Boon.

Pleasant surprise

2006-08-04T09:28:00.000+10:00

I shuffled into my office yesterday morning and was greeted by these : )

Silver Service

2006-07-31T23:18:00.000+10:00

Ever since I've had to frequently catch cabs home from work after hours, I have introduced a Silver Service only policy. I hopped into a few cabs today and (2 Combined and one SS). My experience in each, along with a charming SS driver reminded me why I generally only SS it:

Non SS

grotty cab (which often smells funny), with vinyl seats for easy cleaning after a protein spill on a Sat nite;
drivers who (i) insist on listening to talk back (during the day) or Richard Mercer's Love Song Dedications (at nite); (ii) insist on driving with both front windows open in the middle of winter; and (iii) get shitty with you when you ask them to either change the radio station or close the windows;
drivers often start driving off before you are properly in or out of the cab and have closed the door (happened today);
drivers who have issues with English (speaking it, understanding it, or listening to it on the radio).

clean, unoffensive smelling cabs (and drivers);
comfy seats;
drivers more than happy to (i) change radio station and (ii) close windows / change air con;
wont drive off until you're completely in or out of the cab - the driver I had tonite was nice enough to let me know he was going to wait till I got into my car before he drove off;
willing to have an intelligent, and usually pretty interesting conversation with you, which makes the ride home a lot more enjoyable.

I learnt that you should never make assumptions about your cabbie - I was chatting with my driver tonite and he had one hell of a bohemian and interesting life to date:

has lived in Dubai, Canada, Sydney, Lebanon, Paris;
retiring in 4 months (jealous), to his farm house in France, near Nice (super jealous);
two ex wives (yet still managed to hang onto the farm house - told him that was an impressive accomplishment);
has worked as a freelance photographer, insurance salesman, and muso (plays piano, violin and something else which I cant remember).

It got me thinking, maybe there is something to be said about being cabbie ... I dont know many lawyers who own property in France ...

The Count of Monte Cristo in Malta

2006-07-15T18:52:00.000+10:00

I watched the Count of Monte Cristo recently, and while I was watching it, I had a sneaky suspicion that parts of it had been filmed in Malta. Not only did I think it that certain scenes were filmed in Malta, I thought I could actually pinpoint some of the locations.

The Maltese coast, for example, is basically all limestone and only certain sort of plants can actually survive on it, so the coast has this particular texture and colour when you look at it from a distance. And its often scattered with mini-fortresses and castle like buildings, which were built as a result of various attempts of invasions over the ages. There are also a couple of really pretty lagoons where the water is incredibly blue (the particular place I am thinking of is called the Blue Lagoon, funnily enough), as well as some really distinctly shaped rock formations (one of which is called "The Window" - needs no explanation) ... anyway, some of the shots in the film really reminded me of these places. (I'll try put some of our Malta holiday snaps up on my Flickr over the next week or so.)

So I turned to trusty Google to see whether I was actually right and lo and behold...I was : )

This is the best site I found about the Count.

As well as the Count, some of the more "big" movies to make Malta's filmography include:

Popeye (1980);
Cutthroat Island (1995);
Gladiator (2000);
U-571 (2000);
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (2003);
Troy (2004) - which I did watch and didn't recognise any of the locations...

which I think is pretty impressive for a country that has a total area of 316 sq km, and under 200km of coast line (ie tiny). Apparently, "Malta makes more films per head than LA" ... I actually cant believe I haven't done one of those film tours when I've visited - maybe next time.

Finally out and about... to Naniwa-Tei

2006-07-15T13:32:00.000+10:00

I've been getting v busy at the office, and have not been able to blog, let alone come up with anything *ahem* sharp and witty ... work doesn't provide the most interesting material to write about ... even if it did, I try to impose a "no writing about work" policy - which then leaves me nothing to share!

However, the tide is turning and yesterday, I got up to something fun. Mel and I went and had Japanese at Naniwa-Tei, in Circular Quay, in the lane, just next to Herringbone. The restaurant itself it kitted out pretty sparsely, and is not flash looking, but apparently, by Foodie Mel's standards, the food was really good, compared to other Japanese she's had. As my only interaction with Japanese has been limited to Wagamama's (which probably doesn't count as real Japanese) and Masuyas (more often than not, after hours and take away), I'm not really in any position to comment on how the food actually "rates". However, I can say I really enjoyed my meal (a Japanese salmon risotto with egg - it reminded me of this soup/rice dish my mum makes), although I think our second pot of green tea smelled a bit like brussel sprouts, which was not good. The place was also filled with Japanese diners, which was also a good sign.

I spent most of the evening eyeing off everyone else's food : ) ... it ALL looked so good! I was also in awe of how much those tiny Japanese girls eat! There were a number of them having the "all you can eat" deal and seriously pigging out ... one couple had been eating for so long that the gas cylinder that was keeping their hot pot thing going ran out (ok, so maybe that wasn't entirely their fault, but it was very funny!).

Unfortunately neither of us had our cameras with us (I know!!), so there are no pics of the food. I did have my camera phone and took a pic of our dessert, which was a pancake thing filled with red bean and was in the shape of a fish. V cute. But I am having IT problems and cant se

My desk chair

2006-07-02T23:16:00.000+10:00

Mel just blogged about a chair. I just saw her on msn and told expressed my disbelief that she blogged about a desk chair.

Then I found out she has desk chair envy because I sit in one of these all day (see below - well mine has a different back, and there aren't as many stainless steel components in mine, otherwise it looks the same).

So I decided my desk chair deserved a blog too.

She also blogged epsom salts. I'm leaving it at the chair.

That's all!

2006-06-25T21:43:00.000+10:00

As many of you may know, The Devil Wears Prada (DWP) is my all time favourite chick lit novel.

And, the GREAT news is that a movie of DWP is soon to be released!

Exciting stuff!

Even bigger news is that hottie Simon Baker has been cast as Christian, the love interest that our leading lady should really be staying away from. And as some of you may know, I have a soft spot for Mr Baker ... despite the fact that he has managed to photographed stepping out in some pretty ordinary kaftan like garments of recent times.

A link to the site is here. It's quite a fun site ... they picked great music as well I could play around with the site all nite, but unfortunately I have contracts to read : (

Anyway, I will most definitely be seeing this when it's released ... which is apparantly September 28. I hope it lives up to the novel!!

**Update 30/06/06: Props and clothing from the movie are being auctioned off at ebay - let me know if any of you decide to glam it up at the office :P

"Beware of the man of one book" (Thomas Aquinas)

2006-06-20T20:52:00.000+10:00

I was dying to do some reading on Sunday, but there wasn't anything new in the house that I actually felt like reading, and Giles recently reminded me about Basement Books in Central, so I decided to go book shopping after work this evening.

Basement Books is the literary equivalent of DFO or Birkenhead - heaps of books, including classics and relatively current releases, and all on sale. It's a book worm's nirvana!

As we had our Bookclub catch up on Saturday, I was planning on buying our next bookclub book, Love in a Cold Climate, however I couldn't find it. That's probably the one disadvantage of this place - you won't necessarily find the specific book you're after, as they have different stock coming in all the time ... but you'll always find something you'll want to read.

For example, although I couldn't find Love in a Cold Climate, I managed to leave with the following:

Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (I have been wanting to read this for ages - I started reading it on the way home, and although I dont think I'll enjoy it as much as The Devil Wears Prada, it still seems like a fun read)
Perfume by Patrick Suskind (highly recommended to me by my hairdresser when I went in for a a haircut over the weekend)
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (I really enjoyed About a Boy, so thought I'd give this a go)
Spicery: A Cook's Guide to Culinary Spices by none other than Elizabeth & Ian Hempill, owners of Herbies at Rozelle, and mum and dad of Soph, one of our book club gals. It took me a minute to make the connection when I first saw it on the shelf, right next to Jamie Oliver's book!*
The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver*

*Although I do not cook (I can when I need to), I had to buy these two. For starters, when i do cook, I LOVE Jamie's recipes - they are usually really easy (ditto Spicery), and very yummy (although Jamie could have included more pics of the finished meals in this book).

I was going to get Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room, but the editors/publishers didn't do the book any favours when they were doing the page layout - small font, light text printing, and minimal white space on the pages. Even if it was a good read, it would have sent me blind. So that was a bit disappointing. I also thought about getting White Teeth by Zadie Smith, but I suspected it was something that I may not finish ... I wasn't particularly sold on On Beauty her recent release, which was our last book club read.

All in all, a good night of book shopping.

My enthusiastic contribution to the World Cup Fever Mk 2

2006-06-19T22:36:00.000+10:00

I woke up at 1.45 am to watch the Aust v Brazil match, from the comfort of my warm bed. Quite a good effort, I thought.

I wasn't awake enough to catch the offside rule in action though.

I watched the first half of the game - until Brazil scored their first goal - and then I went back to sleep. I (correctly) suspected it would all be downhill from there.

My enthusiastic contribution to the World Cup Fever

2006-06-16T22:06:00.000+10:00

I received the following (female friendly) explanation of the offside rule recently, and, in the spirit of the World Cup, I thought I would share:

You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the till.

Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have. The female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire.

Both of you have forgotten your purses. It would be rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes.

The shop assistant remains at the till waiting.

Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma. She prepares to throw her purse to you.

If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes! At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and whilst it is in flight" you could nip around the other shopper, catch the purse and buy the shoes!

BUT, you must always remember that until the purse has "actually been thrown", it would be plain wrong for you to be in front of the other shopper and you would be OFFSIDE!

I decided to illustrate it:

Makes absolute sense now :P

And while I'm talking sport, which as we know doesn't happen very frequently, I have to mention SBS's Nerds FC. I'm not sure whether anyone has been watching it - I've managed to catch a couple of episodes and its a crackup. It's a reality TV series in which 14 guys (super-nerdlings) who seem to have no sporting prowess what-so-ever (not that there's anything wrong with that) who undergo 3 months of intense training with the goal (no pun intended) of becoming an "all-star team".

They have even produced their own music video clip of a v catchy tune.

All da (vinci) hype

2006-06-10T19:35:00.000+10:00

I went to Leichhardt today to catch up with Giles for a coffee. One of the things we touched on was the Da Vinci Code (the book). And funnily enough I saw this sign up at the All Souls Church, on the corner of Marion and Norton St, on the way back to my car. I had to happy snap it.

I actually just read the Da Vinci Code last week. I figured it was about time I did, seeing as the movie had just been released (I dont really like seeing the movie of a novel unless I've read the novel first). Anyway, I found the book kind of underwhelming. The first 2/3 was great, and a total page turner, but Brown lost my attention towards the end - unlike Angels and Demons, which had my attention from beginning to end.

I also went to a talk this week, "Decoding the Da Vinci Code", hosted by the Sydney Institute. Basically the seminar was a critique of the contents of the novel by a historian who specialised in the study of religious history. Apparantly each page of the book contains some sort of factual inaccuracy which can be verified by basic research (eg the claim that there were oringially 80 gospels - there were only 22; Silas the Opus Dei monk - there are no monks in Opus Dei). It seems the major issue with the book, is the forward, which states certain legit "facts" which the book are based. Combine that with the fact that there are lots of people out there who have no substantive factual knowlegde about the religions concerned ... and you have a heap of people taking what they read to be fact.

I dont know why the book was so popular...I found it difficult to finish. And when I read it, I took the contents as I would take that of any other fiction novel...ie fictional.

Anyway, I dont think I'm going to see the movie...this billboard isn't the first bad review I've come across.

No chance in hell with a side of dessert

2006-06-07T11:02:00.000+10:00

I saw "No Chance in Hell Hotel" at the Darlinghurst Theatre tonite.
It's by same people who wrote "Bangers & Mash", which also played at the DT a while back (I think I saw it with the Chambers people). The playwrights/director obviously loves incorporating music, more particularly singing, into to their productions, usually with a hilarious result. They were both unbelievably silly and fun plays to watch.

If you subscribe to DT's mailing list, you'll get emailed about their "ticket rushes", to buy cheap tix for their midweek shows.

Highlight of the nite for me though was dessert at Young Alfred - honeycomb and strawberry parfait. As anyone who works with me knows I LOVE that place. Love the pizza. Love the decor. Love the dessert. I've become a bit of a regular. I'm actually going to a farewell dinner there on Friday nite* ... he he two visits in the one week. Needless to say, if you haven't visited and tried their pizza, you're missing out.

* Friday nite - had dinner at Young Alfreds tonite. Ordered a Little Sister Pizza (potato, rosemary, caramelised onion and gorgonzola - yum as usual but for some reason was v oily - maybe from the cheese?). Resisted the temptation to order the parfait for dessert again. I went for the chocolate terrine with marmalade ice cream and caramelised pistachios. Parfait wins hands down.

Question - Why is my firm's CEO the coolest CEO?

2006-06-04T17:43:00.000+10:00

Answer:

He gets photographed at the "second dinner in the Krug Dozen* progression" hosted by the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and appears in the social pages of the Sun Herald (See "S" at page s4)...
With his wife Ms "look at moie, look at moie"...
And gets described as "an impressive cut of a man".

Need I say more.

* I googled this function and couldn't find anything about it. However, it seems that Krug is the French Champagne of French Champagnes, so Im assuming this is a series of Krug sponsored dinners (12 dinners with 12 guests at each?).

Of Middle Eastern Appearance

2006-06-01T23:04:00.000+10:00

I went to the opening night of the photographic exhibition, Of Middle Eastern Appearance, tonight.

This was no ordinary exhibition, though - it was Ed Giles' (ie Kath's brother's) first exhibition. Ed, along with his friend, Cameron Barrie, jointly exhibited photos taken on their recent trip to the Middle East.

There were some really stunning photos and plenty of varied subjects: cityscapes, mosques, markets, shoes (more specifically, moroccon slippers), food, kids at play, and people at work. Being a novice "photographer" (and I am using that term in its loosest sense), it was really interesting seeing how others view the world through their camera lens.

Of course, the whole Giles clan was out in force in support: Mum, Dad (looking very artsy, all in black: ) ), Tory, and Kath & Anthony!

I also bumped into a woman I used to go to uni with - apparantly Cameron, who exhibited with Ed, works with her - such a small world!

The exhibition is open from 1 to 14 June at the Blanco Negro Gallery at 72b Fitzroy St, Surry Hills - go and have a look!

Anonymous Lawyer - The book

2006-05-27T19:28:00.000+10:00

According to Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground, there is going to be an Anonymous Lawyer book!

THE ANONYMOUS LAWYER BOOK IS ALMOST HERE . . . According to Amazon.com, Jeremy Blachman's novel The Anonymous Lawyer will be available July 25, 2006. Meanwhile, review copies are getting out. Howard Bashman reported that his wife "tremendously enjoyed the book." And at AutoAdmit.com, a reader wrote what's purported to be the novel's first review. The verdict? "It's funny. Very funny actually." Nor is it merely a collection of old posts. "Virtually the entire book is original content." If you're interested in the way the Anonymous Lawyer weblog became a book, you can find a lot of information at Legal Underground. There are both posts about the "unmasking" of Jeremy Blachman as the Anonymous Lawyer, as well as Blachman's landing of a book deal with the prestigious Henry Holt & Co.
Another post that's interesting in retrospect was one about the debate that
ensued after the Anonymous Lawyer weblog was first noticed in the newspapers:"Who's More Funny: Jay Leno or David Letterman? A Post About Two Webloggers Who Criticize Anonymous Lawyer." As detailed there, one of the
criticisms of the Anonymous Lawyer weblog was that it condoned poor treatment by partners of their associates. I didn't agree--I thought just the opposite, in
fact--but it will be interesting to see if the debate begins anew once the book
is published.

I have to admit, my morning ritual at the office usually involves Anonymous Laywer: make coffee, check emails, scan SMH on line, and check out Anonymous Lawyer. I'm also just a sucker for lawyer-life novels...although sometimes I find they can cut too close to home eg taking documents to expensive restaurant to get signed - done; working with eccentric people who may or may not also have bizarre habits - done; billing more than 24 hours for a day at the office - not achieved yet, but have heard that it actually does happen within the profession.

*update - to celebrate the impending release of the Anonymous lawyer book, Blachman has set up a new website www.anonymouslawfirm.com (ta mel) - sounds like a great place to work. As well as the AnonLawFirm and AnonLawyer site, he also has ANOTHER blog - I dont know how he finds the time ...

Wakey Wakey...

2006-05-26T00:16:00.000+10:00

Well, today was a pretty big day...

It started off with a 6 am start, so a few of us could catch up for brekkie in the city at 7.30 to celebrate Meighan's jet-setting off the Canada for her scholarship at McGill University. Sahe did not sound pleased when he responded to my 6am wake up call. Can't imagine why.

Breakfast was at Mirabella's, which is in the foyer of the AMP Building in Circular Quay. The poached pears with marscapone on cherry toast is a great way to start the day.

Pics of brekkie are here.

During lunch. seeing as it was such a glorious sunny day today, I took the camera out to the Botanic Gardens, to have a bit of a play around with it and take some happy snaps. I've done this a couple of times this week. I am slowly improving and am loving the black and white function.

After work, a couple of us had planned to attend the Civil Lit Committee drinks, but that plan was abandoned for a drink at Wine Banq - which was a good move, as they had a live jazz / swing band, Cotton Club, performing. It was a really relaxing way to end the day - comfy sofa seats, not too much light, and a glass of wine. It was also really enjoyable seeing a bunch of people, so obviously, having so much fun performing and doing their thing. Ofcourse, I took pictures, but unfortunately, they didn't turn out!

Mel and Andrew tie the knot

2006-05-20T15:02:00.000+10:00

Mel, one of my high school friends, and her finace, Andrew, tied the knot today at St Martha's Church in Stratty today.

It was a really lovely ceremony, and, of course, Mel looked great.

Unfortunately, I forgot to charge up my camera battery, so I only got happy snaps up till the exchange of vows during the service (which is the important bit anyway!). Needless to say, the battery situation got rectified during the service-reception break.

The reception was at La Montage, in Leichhardt (it's the place we had our uni Law Ball at). It's the only function centre in the Inner West (that I know of) that actually has really pretty surrounds - on the water, trees lit up with little fairy lights in the evening... It was a great evening and everyone had a lot of fun. I got to catch up with a few girls from high school, which was good - it'd been a while since I've seen most of them!

Pics of the happy occasion are here.

The new Bub and Fiona's bachelorette pad

2006-05-14T17:56:00.000+10:00

Mars and I visited the clan at Westmead Private yesterday to get a peek at baby Sophia.

The new addition to thefamily is certainly one cute kiddie - heaps of black hair, very alert (she kept on moving her head, following all the camera snaps), and with Therese's long fingers : )

I think Sophia is still getting her yelling lungs in order - when she wasn't feeling particularly happy, she'd do a cross between a cry and a squeak (v cute). Although, most of the time she was pretty placid. While we were there she got a feed, had a nap, had a nappy change, got to spend some time with the myriad of visitors - including grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins - who also dropped by to say hi.

I haven't had any need to visit many hospitals in recent years, and I was surprised that TG had a such a swanky room :) And, as you'd expect there were flowers everywhere!

I took along my new Ixus 55 and gave it a test run at the maternity ward. The primary reason I upgraded to a digital was that I am a truly shocking photographer and was tired of paying to develop photos that looked not that great. Unfortunately, having a digital camera does not make much difference to the quality of my final photographic product. Anyway, with that disclaimer, happy snaps (blurry shots and all) of the new munchkin and happy family are here.

After visiting Therese and Mark, we headed off to Balmain for a do at Fiona's lovely new place. As usual, the food at Fiona's was fabulous...I should have taken some snaps of the food seeing as our resident food photographer is in Brazil, so those of you who couldnt make it can see what you missed - but I just feel weird photographing food at a party... maybe next time :)

It's a GIRL!

2006-05-12T13:04:00.000+10:00

TG and Mark are the proud parents of Sophia Anne

When: 11 May 2006, 11.45pm
Weight: 3.165kg
Length: 47.5 cm

According to TG, Sophia is quite a looker!

Duct tape ...

2006-05-10T21:28:00.000+10:00

... should only be used for home maintenance...and not clothing.

http://www.ducktapeclub.com/contests/prom/entries.asp

: \

Book Club Reading List 2006

2006-04-29T21:44:00.000+10:00

A bunch of the Chambers girls and friends started a book club in November 2005. We try to catch up every 6 weeks or so to critically discuss (ie either rave about or bitch about) our selected book. It's great because it makes a nice change to all the legal materials I have to read at the office... and I dont do enough leisure reading anyway. Apparantly one of our Chambers boys tried to get a guy's book club up and running in competition to ours (after he was informed it was a girls only event). As far as I know it didnt get off the ground :)

Here's our reading list for so far:

[Nov 05] March by Geraldine Brooks (shortlisted for the British Book Awards: Best Read of the Year 2006; winner of Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) 2006 - can't understand why- this has got to be one of least enjoyable books I have read)
[Feb 06] The Sparrow Garden by Peter Skrzynecki (shortlisted for National Biography Award 2005) - absolutely loved it
[Apr 06] The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (winner of Man Booker Prize 2002) - think I read it one too many times
[Jun 06] On Beauty by Zadie Smith - not entirely sold on her style of writing
[Aug 06] Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford - a Mrs Leslie pick, so high probabiliy of it being a great read
[Sept 06] The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
[Nov 06] The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (loved it so much the first time that I thought we should all read it)

And this is what I've been reading in between:

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (I decided to read this after seeing the movie, In Cold Blood; this edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's also included 3 of his short stories: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar and A Christmas Memory)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (of Tuesday's With Morrie fame)
The Ambulance Chaser by Richard Beasley (of Hell Has Harbour Views fame)
White Lies by Damian Marrett (author of Undercover)
Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women's Success in the Law by Lauren Stiller Rikleen (totally depressing view of the legal profession, particularly wrt women)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (this was a recommendation from Sophie, and is a FAB read!)
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (I'm had been planning on seeing the movie so thought I'd better read the book - the first two thirds is an absolute page turner...the rest - not so great - I am no longer planning on seeing the movie.)
Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult
Perfurme by Patrick Suskind (not really a page turner, and a bit dark, but not too bad)
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (the prequel to Love in a Cold Climate, which we did for book club last month. Ms Mitford seems to love really abrupt endings to her novels...which is always a bit of a shock)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (absolutely fabulous book recommended to me by Danielle!!! Up there with Haroun for being an engrossing read. This is going to be my next book club pick!)
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by GabrielGarcia Marquez (really not as risque as it sounds and quite a quick read)
Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman (I actually prefer the novel to the posts on his site, Anonymous Lawyer)
When in Rome by Penelope Green (a nearly-thirty's story about ditching life in Sydney to live la dolce vita in Italy - didnt like the writing style, but it made me want to ditch my dictaphone and head off to Italy!)

TG's Baby Shower!!

2006-04-22T18:10:00.000+10:00

Well, we had a perfect, sunny day for Therese's lakeside baby shower at Lake Parramatta Reserve today! Most of the PLT gals were there, and we were joined by TG's sister, and aunty-to-be, Lisa, as well as Sita(grandmother)-to-be, Mrs Evelyn Betros...aka Mrs B.

It was a great to have a catch up and chit chat. Lisa also deserves a mention for her fabulous golden syrup (?) cupcakes (they had the best marshmallow-ey icing!) ... and, of course, it wouldn't be a proper "girly event" without games!

So, with the assistance of Google, I played quiz-mistress and subjected everyone to various trivia about baby development, Hollywood bubs, the who's who of nursery rhyme and Therese specific questions. Trying to remember what went on in those nursery rhymes and who did what was a real trial on everyone's memory!

Giles organised a baby-food tasting session, where we sampled 7 jars of babyfood and tried to identify the flavour of each - bonus points if you were able to identify which 2 of the 7 were organic. I failed miserably! General consensus was that the fruit jelly baby food actually tasted kind of reasonable (I could have quite happily finished off the whole jar of the banana custard) BUT some of the vege and meat "meals" were deadset gross. Moral of the story - if you wouldn't eat it, chances are bub won't eat it either!

We ended with "Guess my Girth" - everyone got a piece of ribbon and had to estimate how much went around TG's tum (I got clearance from TG before naming the game this). The results were pretty funny: both TG and her mum overestimated her girth (big time); poor Sam lucked out and got a piece of ribbon that didn't go all the way around TG's tum; and fabulous Giles' guess was spot on!!!

Baby Stanton, in utero, now owns his/her first pair of Adidas, care of Mel :)

I think one of the most memorable moments was when Therese unwrapped the present from her mum. Mrs B gave Therese a gorgeous white crocheted bonnet and a matching baby cardy...but this was no ordinary cardy. It was made by Therese's grandmother, who passed away a while ago (and who TG was named after). So as Mrs B said, this was a present from Therese's grandmother. So Therese and Mark now have a baby heirloom...

Mel's pics of the day are here.

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Call me Nigella ...

2006-04-16T14:33:00.000+10:00

As I had the house to myself this weekend, I had Mel, Lou, Jess, and Bel over for my first dinner party ... where I did all the cooking ... without mum's help!

Having not done this before (and not having had a trial run), I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing (esp the risotto), but I think it worked out well. We had a yummy warm rocket and squash salad and an asparagus and mushroom risotto for the main (which Mel helped me prepare!), followed by chocolate pudding with vanilla icecream and strawberries.

Mum wanted photographic evidence of my culinary skills, so Mel very generously obliged. Pics of the spread can be accessed here.

Happy easter all!

James Blunt - I know why he jumped!

2006-04-14T00:54:00.000+10:00

Lisa and I went to the James Blunt Concert in the Hordern Pavilion last nite. It was the first of his concerts in "Australasia" and he didn't disappoint - it was GREAT!

Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the hot dogs and his support act!

I ordered a hot dog, paid an extortionary price, and got a cold dog. Not nice. The support act, Clare Bowditch, accompanied by one of her "muso" buddies playing various percussion instruments, was worse than the hot dog ... she just really sounded terrible. Lisa and I thought that maybe Mr Blunt picked a totally crap support act to make him sound even better. It worked. Anyway, we had to put up with over an hour of her singing which was punctuated by intermittent-Sinead O'Connor like shrieking.

James on the other hand, sounded fabulous live. You could just tell that he and the band were really enjoying what they were doing. They performed about 4 or 5 funky new songs which haven't been released in Australia yet, so I'm really looking forward to the next CD. He also did a couple of acoustic versions of his songs - just him at the piano. It'd be great if he released one of those "live" concert CDs - the songs as performed on his Back to Bedlam CD are pretty sedate compared with the renditions we got yesterday.

Lisa and I were having a chat about the sort of personality he would have. "Cheeky" would be appropriate I thinkas he seems to be quite a character. A couple of time he clambered onto the huge amps (speakers?) on stage, played for a bit and then did the whole rockstar jump off them, which was actually kind of funny, more than anything else. He also made a comment before performing the song "High", that as most of the guys in the audience wouldn't be able to sing along to that song, they could take that opportunity to "have a pull" or "cop a feel" of one of the girls around them. So, he's quite a lad. Lisa concluded that his really "emotional" lyrics are basically a ploy to maximise sales to female fans :)

He has a pretty interesting background - it seems his family is not musical in the least; he was also in the army for a while and spent a few years as a peace keeper in Kosovo...

His performance of "You're beautiful", the final song for the nite, answered the question of why he jumps off the cliff into the very cold looking water in the film clip for the same song! While he was performing this song, the film clip "continued" on the screen behind the band - he jumps because there a bunch of mermaid-like women at the bottom of the ocean. I have no idea who they are, but at least I now know why he jumped : )

My place in cyberspace

2006-04-10T21:42:00.000+10:00

Well, after regularly checking out Mel's blog, and the fabulously entertaining (although sometimes too close to reality) Anonymous Lawyer blog, I have decided to take the plunge and get my own place in cyberspace!

As Mel (aka Martha or MDiddy to the closest of her friends) has often said to me, if it wasn't for her blog, she'd never remember what she got up to in her younger years! And for all the relatives and friends overseas, it'll help you keep track of whats going on in Sydney.

When I get a digital camera and become more technologically competent, Ill try setting up an online album. One step at a time though.

So welcome to my blog :)

We'll see how long I manage to keep the blog alive ...