If you don't hear from me anymore...

...it's because I've died of boredom. Behavioural finance boredom. Soo looking forward to dinner and drinks at the local in a couple of hours.

Stormy morning

I'm on the ferry to the city and the surf is huge. This will be fun...

It's so grey and foggy that I can't even see out the window. So I'll just show you a photo of last night's dinner instead.



Fig, prosciutto, bocconcini and basil salad. Think it's a jamie Oliver recipe. Anyway, it's to die for. You know I've told you I get addicted to food right? Like Korean BBQ, sushi and blueberries etc. My new addiction - FIGS. OMG how good are figs. Is it possible to have a fig tree on the balcony?

Rainy days

Rain, rain, rain! It's been raining all day. I had to buy an umbrella on the way to work. I don't know how many times I have done that. Always from the same convenience store in circular quay. They must have made a fortune out if me. But we still don't have a single umbrella at home. Maybe if I buy a really expensive umbrella I won't keep losing it. Is that logical? Or just another excuse to go shopping?I'm not sure but I will give it a go.

I'm on the ferry on my way home now. Manly fast ferry has lost the tender to be the government appointed fast ferry service for Manly but has decided to stay in business and try to compete with the new fast ferry service. I wonder if all the promotions and corny letters they have been bombarding their customers with in the last couple of months will pay off? I think I will stay loyal. At least for a while. I mean, they sell wine and beer and let you watch tv ;).

Now I'm almost in Manly and about to meet up with B for a drink at four pines!

Something about the weather and all the good weather coming to an end

If you think the title for this post is a bit strange it's because I asked Brett to come up with a title and promised I would use it whatever it was. He clearly didn't put too much effort into it.

But it's true that all the good weather is coming to an end. Just hope it will stay nice for our camping trip over Easter!

We had sushi and sashimi for lunch today at kamakoochi and went for a long harbour walk afterwards.









Manly is unreal this time of the year. Almost no tourists and awesome weather. Def my favourite place in Sydney!

Lazy lovely Saturday

Had a fabulous day in Manly today with ML. We did everything I predicted we would do last night. That is, we had breakfast at bench, went shopping for a bikini for ML, went snorkling and had coffee at Barefoot. I also bought some new Havianas.




We also had takeaway pad thai in the sun at the wharf. Now I'm at home with a sore throat.. But I refuse to get sick so I'm going to have lots garlic and vitamin C for dinner tonight!

Going home!

Met up with ML after shopping with LMC. We had sushi at our fav sushi joint and then wine at bambini. Then ML decided to come to Manly with me. It's the first time a friend has decided to go from the city to manly to hang out with me AT NIGHT in five years. A historic day!! Tomorrow we're having breakky at the beach and then snorkling. ML's going to buy a new bikini first. Unless she wants to go skinny dipping that is. Then we're going to have another coffee. Or maybe two...

I heart autumn in Sydney

Another gorgeous autumn day. I've got the day off and going shopping in Paddington with LMC. Is there a more relaxing way to get to the city than by ferry? I don't think so.

Absolute FAIL

Finally at home on the couch with a cup of tea. I'm trying to stream episode three of Swedish Hollywood wives but the TV 3 website is down. Why can't things just work the way they are supposed to? Now I have to stream channel 5 shows instead. Not happy.

Had a uni assignment due today where the task was to make an Absolut Vodka ad that would continue their global marketing campaign. The winner, voted by the class, got a bottle of Absolut!You could submit as many ads as you wanted so I made two (I photo shopped two images that I found on the web)  - one Absolut ad and one counter ad. Not that I'm against drinking in any way - just because I had a good idea :)

                                                                                                                                          Original Image: The  Daily Telegraph

                                                                                                                        Original image: schoolnet.gov.mt

Once upon a time

When we visited Sweden a little while ago I looked through an old photo album from my trip to South America in 2003.

It was strange to see photos of people that I share so many amazing memories with but I can't even remember the names of anymore. It also made me wonder what all those people are doing today.

That Dutch guy we travelled with from Ecuador to Peru who helped me get back my stolen backpack. The British guy in Cusco who liked the Sophie Zelmani album my travel partner C played. Those two American brothers who ate our salty lollies and were totally disgusted. The Canadian girl who introduced me to surfing. The people we spent four amazing days on the Inca trail with. All those people that we had so much fun with for such a short period of time. I'm trying really hard to remember their names. But I can't!

I would love to know what they are doing today. Wish I had kept all those email adresses. But in reality I probably wouldn't get in touch even if I had.

Then I realised that B could have been on that list. The cute Australian with the crazy beard and gorgeous smile who patiently explained all the English words I didn't understand in the book I was reading. And who claimed he was a pilot. Crazy talk.

B could have been one of those people whose name I now have forgotten and only have a vague memory of spending a few days with in Peru seven years ago.

But he's not.

Somehow we managed to avoid becoming short stories and vague memories of each others lives. We stayed in touch. And in love.

In 6 months time we will get married. It will be the best day of my life.

Blueberries

PB has made me addicted to blueberries. She bought 3 boxes when we went camping and I couldn't stop eating them.



All I could think of this morning when I woke up was blueberries. And now I'm having blueberries and coffee from Max Brenner for lunch.

Our weekend away

Back home now after a weekend of fun camping and climbing in the Blue Mountains. I took soo many photos so instead of just telling you about our trip, I will illustrate with lots of photos! So here we go.

We set up camp in Perrys Lookdown near Balckheath. And for those of you who thought I was talking about serious hiking and climbing might me disappointed now. Because as you can see we're talking luxury camping here - palaces, queen size beds and down doonas. Our tent was the biggest one with two bedrooms - or a balcony as Brett likes to call the second bedroom.

One of our little camping traditions is to buy a kinder surprise for each person in the group. This time PB, ML and I were ecstatic when we found a massive kinder egg for all of us to share. The boys weren't too happy about our idea and did everything in their power to stop us from buying it. But as you can see we won. I guess $15 is quite expensive for some cheap chocolate tho..

  The boys went climbing on Saturday afternoon but PB, ML and I were too tired/lazy to join them so we spent the afternoon laughing, eating hot cross buns and...

...entertaining ourself in other ways! (We hadn't even cracked open the wine at this stage).

When the boys got back we had fajitas, drinks and played cards all night.

This morning we went climbing at Mt York! Except for ML who had a cold and fell asleep on a rock in the sun.

We had lunch at the Imperial hotel in Blackheath. And we actually had a lot more fun than this picture shows, even though we were pretty tired. The most entertaining part of the lunch was when PB asked the the bogan barmaid what was in the vegetable pasta and got the response "No darl, it's just pasta. And vegetables". PB ordered roast pork. The Imperial hotel sure know how to make people excited about their food! But at least it gave us something to laugh about.

Then we went home. But we're already scheming a new trip...

On the road again

This massive spider was hunting us last night...

Will tell you more about our trip when we get home in a couple of hours!

We're on our way!!

We've packed the car, picked up ML, got breakky from Maccas and now we're on our way to the blue mountains!







ML is feeling a bit fragile this morning. And so am I for that matter..

Will blog from the camping grounds if I have mobile reception. Now - time for "who am I"!

Buzo

Just got back from a great night out with Dangerous D and K. We went to a fabulous restaurant in Paddington, Buzo, where our friend - the amazing pastry chef R works. She spoiled us sooo much with aperitifs, drinks and desserts. Soon Buzo will open a wine bar next door to the restaurant that she will be manging - and I definitely will be visiting.

When we got home (surprisingly early for a Friday night) we had another drink on the balcony. Shirinski was ecstatic to have us home and to be let out on the balcony. She also made me refill her crystal water bowl.  

Off to bed now. Camping and climbing in the Blueys tomorrow. Can't wait!

Blondie?

Why is it that every time I go to the hairdresser they try to convince me to be a hair model in a photo shoot.? Because I have quite long hair and natural hair colour probably. I always say no because they can do whatever weird haircut they want. And also because I've had a bad experience from it.  About 6 years ago I let a hairdresser talk me into doing it and was a seriously ugly hairdo - which I really HATED.

Anyway, today my hairdresser tried really hard to talk me into doing it again. And it didn't sound too bad actually. I told her she couldn't cut the hair at all because I want long hair for the wedding. All she wanted to do was to put three different blond colours in my hair that would blend in with my natural colour. She also promised to revert it afterwards. Should I do it? Maybe...

Wedding cakes

Been spending the evening googling wedding cakes. There are so many different options to choose from that I have no idea what to get.

These two gorgeous cakes are from Sweet Art. The second one is probably a bit too traditional for my liking tho.

I really like these two that I found on "the knot" website. Which is a great website btw. You can find it here.

This white chocolate covered cake is another favourite.

My only problem with the above 'traditional' style wedding cakes is that they usually look better than they taste. My experience from wedding cakes is that they can be a bit dry and hence not very tasty. Most of them are made of fruit cake (which in my opinion is the most disgusting cake there is) or some sort of mud cake, which I don't like either.

So I guess another option is to have a Croquembouche - like the one below. It's made of yummy custard filled profiteroles. And it looks sensational too! The one below was made by Adriano Zumbo for Masterchef. Adriano Zumbo has an amazing patisserie in Balmain that I would recommend everyone to visit.

                                                Borrowed this photo from a blog called not quite nigella

Last hurrah for summer

Ok, I know I promised to update last night after I got home but I fell asleep in front of the TV. Anyway, Brett picked me up from uni a bit before 8 (I left at bit early) and we decided to go to spice I am. I'm always so pleasantly surprised when I go there because the food is always even better than I remember. We had the usual stuff - Basil crispy chicken, Massaman beef, and Satays for entree, as they had sold out of fresh spring rolls (or snoppar as ML and I call them). 


Then we went home and had a drink on the balcony.

 Shirin had fun with the flowers. It looks like she was just sniffing them but I can tell you that she wasn't. They're too irresistible for her.

I'm starting to realise that we won't spend many more evenings like this on the balcony. Summer is definitely coming to an end. I'll miss it!

But this winter we're going to install heating on the other balcony, so we'll be able to hang out there soon. When I think about it I actually can't wait for winter. Snuggle up in front of the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and wearing boots and winter coats and SKIING. 

Slack

Been a bit slack updating my blog lately. I just finished work and I'm off to uni now so don't really have time to write much right now either. I'll promise to update later on when I get home. But I will show you a photo of my uni. So much nicer than UTS!

Bagpipe madness

Just had yummy pasta with chicken, spinach, garlic, chili, semi-dried tomatoes and cream. We had some lovely bagpipe background music to accompany dinner as well.. or NOT. There are a bunch of bagpipe musicians practicing at the manly oval twice a week until 10 pm. OUTDOORS! It sounds like they are playing in our lounge room. That's how loud it is. I know more people than B and I hate them because there's always someone yelling at them to shut the f##k up. They must have bribed the council. I don't see any other reason to why this can be allowed to go on.

The worst thing is that they always play the same tune. Over and over again. Listen to it and tell me it's not the worst song you've ever heard.

Sunday in Manly

Had a lovely day in Manly today. Met some friends at Gazebo for lunch and drinks. I had an absolutely amazing leek and tomato tart that I would happily come back for. Everyone else seemed really happy with their food too - except for Brett who paid $23 for a chicken salad that belonged in a supermarket tin. So disappointing.

I know it's not the best photo, but look at it! How disgraceful is that. And the thumb down is never a good sign.

After a few hours at Gazebo we moved on to four pines and had more drinks and yummy sticky date pudding.

Then we went home and cooked a thai chicken salad and are about to stream some TV show. Love lazy Sundays.