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Bring on 2-0-0-8!

Happy new year, everybody!  Ravi & I spent NYE at the Turkish restaurant Efendy, sampling their NYE special dinner (3 courses - all divine!  I wish I had 2 stomachs!).  Better yet, this was the first NYE where we've WALKED home!  Love it!  Didn't matter how much we drank, it was only a hop, skip & a jump back to our place.  We watched the city fireworks from our balcony as well as the TV - the only time you'll see television personalities & presenters drunk on air.

Hope everyone had a wonderful NYE & I hope you get everything you want in 2008!

Stuffed like a Christmas [insert meat of choice]

                                                                                Along with Christmas eCards & rabid last-minute shoppers, Christmas also brings with it invitations to eat, drink & be merry.

• Ravi, Captain Booger Features & I celebrated Christmas eve with family at my Aunt & Uncle's place, where we stuffed our faces with Christmas ham, pork (lechon for all you Filos out there), potato salad, noodles (palabok), chicken (adobo), rice & a gingerbread house (for dessert).
• Boxing Day lunch was a barbecue at David & Astrid's place where we saw their cute son Taliesin for the first time (he has a penchant for biting knee caps).  When I write barbeque, I mean bar-be-que!  There were 3 massive slabs of meat (Flintstones-style) on this hi-tech barbeque range that could navigate planes down from the sky!  We didn't stop eating until 4pm when we left to . . .
• . . . host Boxing Day dinner at our place for 14 friends.  Of course we over-catered!  We served marinated chicken drumsticks, roast pork, capsicum stuffed with cous cous, potato bake, corn on the cob, & fruit salad for dessert.  Friends brought pasta salad, chciken salad, duck & chocolate crackles (which the kids loved).  There was the usual exchanging of gifts & consumption of wine - a great time was had by all!

Captain Booger Features gave me a Diva necklace & Ravi a key ring that emits a beeping sound when someone whistles (great for locating missing keys as an alternative to Ravi's current system of looking with his mouth: "Has anyone seen my keys?") - pretty soon the thing was beeping irrespective of whether anyone whistled, driving us bananas.

Ravi got me a cute little red handbag & an iPod nano.  I got Ravi a stainless steel Superman amulet & necklace from Nomination, & Ravi & I got the captain a foosball table.

It's been an utterly satisfying & fun Christmas because everyone I love dearly is happy & healthy.  I hope everyone had a very happy Christmas  :)

Murphy's Law Strikes Again

    Don't you hate it when the forces of nature conspire with each other to make you look like an idiot?

One Friday night, I was staring intently in my wardrobe, trying to decide what to change into for drinks with an old uni pal (Nicolle).  I had sweated in my t-shirt & jeans that day after a very nice lunch at Becasse courtesy of a research agency.  The unrelenting sun beat down on me as cab after cab passed me by on my way back to the office. 

Back to my wardrobe problem - I was in a panic because Ravi & I had to leave soon in order to get to the Rose Hotel on time.  Ravi suggested I wear what I was wearing yesterday - I hadn't sweated in those clothes (being in air-conditioned comfort that whole day) & my shirt & skirt were hung neatly on a hanger (so I wouldn't need to iron them).  Ravi said the chances of anyone from work seeing me at the bar that night were pretty slim.  I listened to him (in hindsight, why, oh why did I listen to him?!) & so changed into my outfit of yesterday.

When we arrived at the Rose Hotel (Ravi, Lilanee - another uni friend - & I) who did we see but another uni friend (Barbara) sitting at a table inhabited by people from the advertising agency my work does all their below-the-line advertising through!  What made it worse was that I sat through a 4-hour workshop with one of them (Nick) yesterday - in this very same outfit!  I was mortified!  I tried hiding behind Ravi but Nick saw me & came over to give me a drunken hug & kiss.  What are the chances?  What are the chances?  About 98% in my case.

Don't you feel sometimes that Someone 'upstairs' is laughing at you?

Lilanee, Ravi & I ended up catching up with Barbara since Nicolle failed to show up.  Apparently no-one called Nicolle about her email invite (and she was already on holidays when I emailed her back a few days later saying we were coming) so she thought no-one was free to catch up.

Christmas with Guys & Dolls

                                                                                       The work Christmas party was a strictly gals 'n gangsta affair, with everyone dressed up in mobster suits & flapper dresses, dripping with pearls.  It was held at teh Crystal Boudoir room at the GPO.  It was great seeing everyone outside of a work environment, packing guns, learning the Charleston & talking with people outside their own departments.  Ravi was a big hit with his white suit, with a number of people commenting that he should have won the 'best-dressed' award - he probably would have if we had arrived at the party earlier for the judges to have a look at him.  Hardly any gossip - just that one of the Networks guys headbutted another Networks guy.  No lawsuit appears to have been filed.

Kris Kringle at Work

                                                                                 I love Kris Kringle, especially if I'm Secret Santa to someone I know because I love getting them presents that relate to them as opposed to generic presents that everyone (& therefore no-one) likes.

This year I was Kris Kringle to Little Miss Trouble (who, like me, also reports to Mr. Forgetful).  She & I get along famously, probably because we are so much alike & give Mr. Forgetful hell - his fault for employing strong women!  For $20 (maximum spend limit) I got her a voodoo doll with the word 'the boss' written across the chest (complete with a set of needles), & a toy remote control for women to control men with a push of any button (useful for when Mr. Forgetful gives her crap).  She loved it.  When she opened it in front of the team, I turned to Mr. Forgetful & said, "You'll definitely know when she's thinking about you."  He laughed (but deep down I'm sure he was scared).  hehe

Another Year, Another Yum Cha

It's become a tradition to celebrate Dad's birthday with yum cha so we found ourselves chowing down on prawn dumplings, dim sum, chicken feet (Yech!  But Mum, Ravi & Captain Booger Features like it), tripe (yech!  But Dad likes it), etc.  This year we gave him 2 sets of summer pyjamas & a couple of Westerns on DVD (all featuring Clint Eastwood in his salad days).  'Til next year . . .

O Happy Day for Ginger Kids!

  Mick married Karen in a traditional Catholic ceremony on a day filled with sunshine & smiles - how come weddings always seem to be bathed in golden light?  Karen looked gorgeous in her white wedding gown & Mick looked very dapper in his 3-piece wedding suit.  Ravi & Nate (always stirring trouble when priests are nearby - especially Catholic priests) wanted me to go up to the priest when he was handing out the Eucharist because the pagans I was sitting with in the back were hungry & they heard the priest was handing out 'crackers!' 

For the reception at the Queen Victoria Building Tea Room, Ravi & I were put on the loud table (again! - right next to the band) where I was re-united with all my ol' Sharman Networks buddies.  Whilst eating dinner, drinking wine, laughing at the speeches, toasting the happy couple & dancing to '90s hits, the Australian public made history by changing the governing political party.  Kevin07!

Even at 32 I'm still going to 21st's

                                                                                My cousin turned 21 & celebrated by throwing a big party themed in honour of his hero, Michael Jackson.  I never saw so many MJ lookalikes, cubic-zirconia studded gloves & greasy afro wigs!  I had a great time despite having to become impromptu master of ceremonies for the speeches.  It was also funny watching Mark's friends dust off their black & white brogues & bust a breakdance on floor!

Peter Marries His Girl-Friday

I've never attended a wedding which required me to take an afternoon off work but I did just that when Lauren married Peter.  It was a gorgeous sunny Friday afternoon when they exchanged vows at the Botannical Gardens in front of a stustue of a mare & her foal, their family & friends - & encroaching Asian tourists with their digital cameras.  It was with a mixture of happiness (for Lauren & Peter) & naughtiness (for taking the afternoon off of work) that we watched them recite their own vows & kissed to seal the deal.

Reception was at Dalton House.  Ravi & I were put on the loud table (that always happens to us - maybe that's why we always have such a fun time at weddings).  We had loads of fun chatting with the interesting company on our table (a young married couple from Perth on their 1st trip to Sydney, a young unmarried couple - a lawyer & a builder - moving to Dubai, & the boyfriend of the bridesmaid) & boogeying to '80s tracks.

When the cousins come out to play . . . .

                                                                                Ravi's younger cousins, Anthony & Marie, came down to Sydney for a few days from sunny Bris Vegas, specifically to watch the play.  Despite the play being aborted, we still showed them a good time . . . broadway-style:

• Thai dinner at trendy King Street Wharf & a walk along the promenade in Darling Harbour where a Latin festival was in full swing - a band was playing live Latin music & professional Latin dancers were teaching the throbbing throng sensual salsa moves.
• Took them to yum cha since they had never been before - they bravely tasted chicken feet for the first time!
• Introduced them to miniature golf.
• Lunched at teppanyaki bbq - I was the only one who failed to catch my fried rice when the chef threw it at me, resulting in a shower of fried rice & vegies all over my lap!
• Shopping, shopping & more shopping!

They were great fun!  We were all sorry to see them go - especially Captain Booger Features who kept asking, "I wonder what Anthony & Marie are doing now?" after they flew back to Bris Vegas.