melbourne in a flash

we went to melbourne and now we're back. we caught up with friends who i hadn't seen in a year, and cousins who i hadn't seen in two! we took in the sights, shopped a little (only a little), we ate, we drank, we soaked in the magnificent culture melbourne has to offer. really, melbourne completely canes sydney when it comes to culture, but sydney rocks in every other way shape and form!

amongst my favourite places were Zampelis Cafe Greco @ Southbank (so. much. cake), Melbourne Goal where Ned Kelly was hung (hanged?), the beautiful old chapels & spanish donuts @ Victoria Markets!









































Oh and did I mention the very oddly named international beers found at Transport? For those who aren't so creative, read Cocaine.. and err.. just verbalise the next, you should get it *wink*

mtv music awards!

panu ~ oOOOoo he's sooo good! ~ got us freebie tickets to the Australian MTV Music Awards! I'm soooo excited! Amongst the acts are Black Eyed Peas, Good Charlotte, 30 Seconds to Mars (ok, Jared Leto is still hot regardless of his excessive use of eyeliner, all right??), Sneaky Sound System (!!!), Evermore... and Pink!

And then, the following night, we are going to Pink's I'm Not Dead concert. This all comes off the back of our little Melbourne trip ~ 6 sleeps to go!

eastery catty

as some of you may know, i do a stack of charity work for the Starlight Children's Foundation. some of it i do in my own time, but my manager has been so kind as to write it into my KPI's and so as of a year ago, I've been able to do starlight stuff at work!

Each April, I run a Kid's Easter Day where we turn our Function Room into a carnival ~ magicians, face painters, animal farm, reptile farm, balloons, showbags, fairy bread, activities... the lot! We invite staff kids as well as Starlight kids and it is a day of fun, coupled with near death exhaustion. 100 screaming kids for one afternoon - can you handle it??

Last Friday was the big day. It's a shame that privacy laws prevent me from posting photos of children without permission (cos some of them are so cute!), so I'll only show you some photos of my friends, with our creepy crawly buddies from the reptile farm! Oh, and Kelly with a bunny *cute*





















saturday, i was still recovering from the exhaustion, so that was a write-off!

and on sunday, after a big fat yumcha lunch with mummy Segura & about 12 other people (that is the way to have yumcha ~ big groups), panu and I took a drive up to Palm Beach, about 45 minutes north of Sydney. we walked from the marina to the beach, lazed around, ate ice cream, and spied on the cutest little sausage dog!

it was beautiful.

long weekend!

daniel's farewell @ v-bar, 300, dinner @ I'm Angus, panu's birthday, lots of cake & a feast at the segura's... oh and the best sangria ever! what a weekend!

easter goodness!!

my boss, a 41 year old man, has taken to baking like a duck to water. somebody ~ i dont know who but i do thank them endlessly! ~ gave him a recipe book of 200 muffins & cupcakes for christmas and he has since been enthusiastically trying to go through the book one by one! Amongst other delectable flavours, my very most favouritest flavour was last week's cookies & cream cupcake... *yuummmmmmmmm*

so today we get to work and there is a little parcel on each of our desks. in the parcel are 3 homemade shortbreads in the shape of bunnies, a chocolate cupcake with little easter eggs on top, and just a couple of extra cadbury eggs, just for fun.

i love my job *grin*

my weekend was...

a. relaxing
b. unbelievably beautiful
c. unforgettable
d. not long enough!
e. all of the above

i choose option e, thanks.

despite having to work for a couple of hours on sunday (sooo busy *grumble*), this weekend just gone was one of the most beautiful weekends ever. we're talking about a sky so sapphire blue ~ actually no, it was more topaz blue, but that doesn't sound as cool ~ with warm sunshine and the most gentlest of breezes, for 2 whole days over a weekend! Is Murphy's Law finally working in our favour?

Wanting to suck up as much sunshine as humanly possible, panu & i headed out for a walk on Saturday. Starting at his place in Crows Nest, we trekked down Pacific Highway, through North Sydney and Milsons Point, and over the Harbour Bridge. Once over the bridge, we wandered around The Rocks, before heading down to Darling Harbour for lunch, and over to Pyrmont. After Pyrmont, we trekked back through Chinatown, up George St and back to The Rocks, where we'd parked his car the night before...

Here's our path:

While on the bridge, I took a moment to stop and absorb the views. It's incredible how beautiful Sydney is, and I cross the bridge (albeit by car) every other day, and I don't appreciate what I have at my doorstep. I love Sydney.

anyway, that was just Saturday! The weekend was "all of the above" for a number of other reasons:

• a fun friday night with friends @ opera bar, followed by cocktails @ ecq.
• brekky on the balcony with my man ~ he makes the best sausage & eggs!
• tapas for dinner @ encasa and dessert @ ice and slice ~ yum!
• late lunch @ lamrock cafe, bondi beach
• napping on the couch, my head on his lap, while he read a book *awwww*
• lamb cutlets for dinner, smothered in mint jelly, and pavlova for dessert *drool*
• oh, and a mango, macadamia & cream weiss bar for second dessert!

God, we're going to be fatties...

here's hoping easter weekend turns out just as well!