Sunny Queensland!

Going to sunny Queesland for a week and a bit... will attempt to blog when I'm away but that really depends on how much time I have after I swim and eat and swim and sleep.. it's 31 degrees and sunshine there this weekend, let's hope that sticks!

Stop drooling Katie!

There ain't nothing in this world better than a big fresh slice of pavlova...

Brett's 30th @ Pier 26

On Saturday night we headed out to celebrate Brett's big 3-0 at Pier 26. It was an excellent night, and Brett obviously had fun because at about 1am, he was evicted for his drunken behaviour... hehe... that's how all 30th's should end, right?








The rest of the weekend was low key... And although I'm not an AFL fan at all, I felt a strange twinge of pride when Sydney brought home the cup *ahhh* Victory over Perth! Hehe... The league finals are on this weekend, I'm much more into that - who to support? Tigers or Cowboys?

Baby porcupines.. so cute!

The pic of these little porcupines are just way too adorable to delete so I thought I would post it on here to share their unbelievable cuteness... *awWwwwWWww*

Look at their tiny little hands and feet !! I know they will grow up to be prickly bastards with claws and all, but look at them now... so..... cuteeeeeee!! I want one!

Bowling and other things

Finally! Here are some photos from our bowling night 2 weekends ago @ AMF Randwick. A fun night was had by all even though most people didn't quite reach their preferred score. Euge however, reached his goal of "69" pretty easily and managed to gutterball the rest of his frames. Hmmmm.... We'll have to go bowling again sometime soon and I know some people *coughmel&cam!cough* have been practicing in secret!!! Naughty!!

It's been a hectic week with Bennie & Mags around, but it's always good catching up with old friends. I took the day off yesterday to hang out with Mags - I haven't stayed up past 11pm for a long time but chatting with Mags, we talked til 2am without moving from one spot. Talk about catching up!

Yesterday I took Mags shopping, and then more shopping, then walked along the beach at Brighton and had a bowl of fries. Last night Brett, his brother Adrian and nephew Mark got back from the snow and we had a feast at their place (one main, 3 desserts - this is how life should be!)... I've eaten way too much this week...

Happy Birthday Babs & Mags!!.. and Bec!... and Raffy!

Today Mags & Babs official turn 25! *Yay* Mags will be arriving in Sydney at 6am tomorrow morning so we'll celebrate this weekend. Happy Birthday chicks and thanks for being great friends to me.

Birthday wishes also go to my brother's girlfriend Bec, who turns about 28 years young today. Bec is cool.. and God knows how she puts up with my brother but the fact that she does deserves respecta! See you in a couple of weeks!











Last but not least by any means, happy first birthday to one Raffaelo a.k.a Raffy... who came into our lives last November and it has been a crazy and slobbery year since!

Damn Screen Resolutions!

I logged on from home last night on a different laptop and realised that with a maximum screen resolution of less than 1400 x 1050 pixels, my photos look very uncoordinated and scattered all over the place. I felt a bit annoyed cos I spend some time getting my photos to fit on the page the way I want them to, but now I realise that some of you may not even get to see the the way it's meant to be....

Having said that, most of you probably have new laptops or PC's so you probably do get to see the correct layout.

*sigh*

By the way I'm very quickly getting sucked into Grey's Anatomy.... Cant. Stop. Watching.

New challenges for a new year..

To challenge myself, I've taken on a couple of personal ongoing projects which will help me in my career as well as my life in general. The first challenge is to participate in a mentoring program at work, where I undertake one on one mentoring workshops with some senior managers in order to build up my own mentoring skills to help out other co-workers or anyone else really. I've overcome many many personal challenges in my 26 years, and although I've only had a handful of years in the professional world, I've had the chance to work in a variety of roles, in a variety of companies and with a great mix of people. I'm supposed to draw on these experiences to counsel and mentor others... Mentoring isn't about showing someone how to do something, or telling someone how to do something. I don't even really have to have done that thing before. It's more about having a wide range of ideas and suggestions and the ability to foresee possible consequences and provide an unbiased and objective view. Talk about a challenge... what if someone screws up because of my advice.... hmmmmmm....

My second challenge involves public speaking which I know 9 out of 10 of us are petrified of. I've joined Toastmasters, which is a national club based on building leadership and public speaking skills. I've been to all of one meeting so far and it was pretty scary!! I'm not afraid of prepared speeches... but impromptu speaking in front of a crowd is a different ball game all together (and you get penalised on the number of umm's and ahh's you do). I'm far more nervous about Toastmasters than I am about mentoring, it's more of a challenge, but that's what's driving me to get involved at the moment.

So along with my personal fitness challenge, these are two more things I want to achieve. Speaking of my personal fitness challenge, I did a pump class on Tuesday night and it brought back floods of memories from uni when I used to do pump every other day. It was awesome fun.. but I'm still walking like I have a stick up my butt !!

Another year

It's my birthday today. I am a year older, and would like to believe that I am wiser than I was 12 months ago. I know that I'm more boring *haH*. If memory serves me correctly, last year I spent my birthday raving at Gas, not sleeping, and watching The Lion King the next day on a high. Riiiight. This year I had chilli crabs for dinner and spent the night in. Well all is not lost. Although it is superstitiously bad luck to celebrate after the day (but I'm not superstitious so it's all good), I am going bowling with some friends this Saturday. Should be a good laugh if nothing else.

So what did I treat myself to this year? Something a little out of the ordinary... some much valued time with a photographer. Here is a sampler:

I've also treated myself to a gym membership with non other than Fitness First (yep, I've become one of them) so watch out for a leaner, fitter Cat! Among other gifts, Al bought me a funky little white & yellow gold diamond pendant which is so funky. Totally unique.

Thanks to everyone for such sweet birthday wishes... As you get older birthdays seem to lack in importance, but it's still awesome to know people remember.

I miss all the people who aren't here with meee.....

Surprises

The best presents to receive are those that you don't expect... and that you love. Thanks Reen.. Was having an average day today but you have brightened it!