Kids and Adults

For the first time in God-knows-how-long, Hornet arranged for a breakfast ride to the Left Bank. I remember that last summer the rides were always good and the food was awesome. This time we met up at 0800 at Scarborough and it was great to see some new faces and some "old" ones.

We took off not long after 0830 and headed over West Coast Highway. A couple of us got caught at the lights and then it was Goodnight Vienna. Nobody waited for us and after Spuddy had gotten lost, I took over and took the three bikes for a bit of a cruise through Floreat, Subiaco, Claremont and then down Stirling Highway to Fremantle.

The roads were wet, but luckily enough we didn't get rained on. While eating, some showers passed but once we had finished waffling on, the sun came out and it was time to kick on.


Around lunch time I had a nap and later in the afternoon I geared back up in my riding gear and headed off again while the rain was at bay.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Neil's 10th birthday (revisited for the 4th time). I must say, it was the most interesting 40th birthday I've ever been to!

I arrived to the party at around 1600 to find a massive bouncy castle and everyone dressed in school uniforms. The party was well and truly swinging when I arrived. There was meat roasting on a spit, pass the parcel, lucky dips, toys, fairy bread, party pies and soft drinks galore! I quickly ripped into some fairy bread and pushed it down with a nice icy cold Coke.

After saying hello to the other guests, it was time for me to tackle the bouncy castle. Neil was already in there and as soon as I got in, it was ON! I was immediately wrestled to the ground and pinned down. After I got back up, it was time to get Neil back, I bounded in his direction and he quickly stepped aside and I missed him completely. I kept bouncing around for a few more minutes until I ran out of puff.

Later in the night, Casa, Jamie and I decided to go have a crack at the skipping rope she had won in the lucky dip. First of all, Jamie and I had one end each and Casa was skipping. Of course, I had to go one better and asked them to start the rope and I would run into it. Needless to say, I am the undefeated run-in skipping rope world champion. Haha!

There were more games and prizes, the food came out, the champagne was popped, the speeches were lovely and then the cake came out. I started the song off and soon everyone was singing Happy Birthday.

I left not long after 2100 to find that it was raining. I was tired and had already said goodbye to everyone so I just braved it in the wet on the way home. The trip from Ballajura wasn't very eventful and not long after I jumped on Tonkin Highway, I found the roads to be dry and just cruised on home.

When I woke up this morning, I decided to get some work done around the house. I basically wanted to get the '400 going (blow the cobwebs out), rip out the dying potted chillies and plant some flowers and replace the hibiscus that had died after being stomped-on by the lovely gentlemen that painted the fence.

After charging the battery (twice), the 400 started beautifully and ran like a gem for a few minutes. Unfortunately after the long period under covers, the grips have started to deteriorate. Also the headlights are cactus. That bike will still need a fair amount of work in the coming months.

Once the bike was sorted, I had to get Mirkz to get the busted bathroom globes out for me this morning as I couldn't reach them. Not long afterwards I headed to Bunnings to get some potting mix, plants and flowers. Strangely enough, there weren't too many people there for a Sunday and I was quite surprised that the whole experience was quite calming!

I baked up some cannelloni this evening and then hit the garden with shovel and all. I planted some snapdragons and pansies in the pots under the patio and placed the hibiscus where the old one was. I trimmed up the lavender next to it and also fertilised the lemon tree also in the same garden bed. I'm looking forward to nice fresh lemons in time for summer and Coronas! (yes, I know it's meant to be lime....!)

Now its time for a glass of Cabernet Merlot from Darlington Estate and soon it will be time for bed.

Another busy weekend, but a lonely one. Only a few days more until Robin is back from New Zealand. With any luck, I'll be visiting him in NZ when he heads back there in October.

Cake or Death

I had my Birthday party at Hornet's house on Saturday, with a BBQ with some good mates.

I made a nice greek salad and my famous honey and balsamic lamb cutlets (thanks to Donna Hay) and bought a stack of porterhouse steaks and chevups. We kicked off with some samples of PAMA pomegranate liqueur and Disaronno. Hornet and I then hit the Canadian Club 20yo on the rocks and were kicking back a few well before the food was cooked.

After dinner we were all just sitting around chatting when Hornet hit the lights to which I replied, "ooh, mood lighting!". Little did I know that he was about to burst into song; "Haaaaaaaapy Birthday toooo yoooooou". Everyone sang along as the cake came out. A beautiful pavlova with heaps of candles that spelled out "happy birthday". What an awesome surprise!

I had a feeling that something musn't have been right as both Jamie and Pete were both listening to me very closely the few minutes before the cake came out. In fact, Julie had demanded that they keep me busy while the candles were being arranged. I feel so cheated! (hehe)

We all took advantage of opportunistic eating and even after we were all well full of cake, we did another round, and yet another round until there was almost no cake left.

The night ended not long after midnight and I spent Sunday relaxing, doing the washing and sleeping.

Twenty Seven

It's my Birthday today and I'm here at work, answering the phone and taking it easy. Our administrator is on holidays and her backup is at a course for the day so I'm taking over the office. So far I've had two calls and two visitors. Not much in it really. I'm enjoying the peace in the office and catching up on all the little things I should have done earlier in the week.

I had made some sausage rolls on Tuesday night and I, along with the two other guys in the office ate the rest of them for morning tea. Mmm! Those and a hot thick cup of PNG coffee and I knew it was going to be a good day.

I've had heaps of SMS and email from everyone (thank you all my lovelies!) and I just received a beautiful bunch of flowers from Jess and Joel.


Robin got in early and was the first to email me (at 4am) some Birthday wishes. Miss you babe, wish you were here!

I'm also looking forward to heading out for dinner with mum and dad. We're going to my favourite Chinese restaurant in East Perth. Hurrah! Bring on 4pm!

09/09/09 - Unlucky for Some

I had realised that things were never going to be the same again.

The powers that be, had shut down my Facebook on my BlackBerry.

No more poking.

No more status updates.

No more social networking.

They are taking a little bit of "happy" from my life.

One app at a time.

Damn.

Father's Day

I drove over to mum and dads house at around 11am, dodging the usual "Sunday Driver" suspects, with a card and gifts. We all chatted for a bit while mum finished off making obiad (its not lunch and not dinner, its about half way). On the menu today was goulash with potato pancakes (placki ziemiaczane) with a cucumber salad and a cold cabbage salad. Mmm! I was in heaven.

We had obiad with a nice bottle of Late Harvest from Darlington estate and topped it off with a cheesecake. As it was only about 1pm when we had finished eating, mum decided that she and I should head into the city and go shopping. Dad was quite happy to just enjoy another glass of wine and pack the dishwasher.

So off we went into the city, starting out in Myer where we raided the sales racks for dresses. After trying a few on, I noticed a lovely white dress with large red flowers printed on it, was hanging on a rack in the main walkway. Noone was at the rack as they were full price, but something about the dress just made me want to grab it anyway.

Lucky for me, it fit like a dream. Its flowy and goes out from the waist and I've already nicknamed it my "princess dress". It has a black strap that ties around the waist and just tops it off perfectly. The trim and stitching is flawless and you can really see the value in the money spent on this little white number. Mum also bought herself a new dress and after checking out the new Boss perfumes we headed out the door to the Merchant for a coffee.

Now, like all good shopping trips, you can't buy a new dress without matching shoes now can you? No! So off we went through David Jones and around the mall to Emporio. Anyone that knows shoes, knows that you really can't go wrong with four floors of them. Mum spotted a hot pair of red suede and black leather heels to go with my dress. They even go well with the jeans I was wearing. Score!

Then it was back home again and here I am, sitting with another slice of cheesecake wearing my new shoes in. There goes yet another weekend and it's back to work again tomorrow.

The Photo Project

I couldn't help myself. After making a frame of "famous" photos for Robin for his 30th Birthday, I decided to get a frame made up of my own photos as a little tribute....

...to myself