Swimming Pretty in the Glass-Half-Full 2012: Day 112 - Off to Melbourne!

Steve's brother turns 50 on 24 April and decided to throw a big party at his home so we headed on down to Melbourne to join in the celebrations.

It was quite the journey to get there. Fog delayed our departure from Sydney - if only we'd known when we rushed down the banana bread we had for breakfast - and kept us circling Melbourne airport for at least an hour meaning it took us 2 1/2 hours to reach Melbourne. So much for an early Saturday morning arrival. (When we left my home at 6.30 am there was fog lingering everywhere which should have given us some indication of what awaited us.)

We spent a lot of time aloft - thank goodness I packed extra magazines to read and bought Saturday's Sydney Morning Herlad so we had something to keep ourselves amused.

Carolyn, Steve's sister patiently waited for us at Melbourne airport - she sensibly took along her e-reader so she wasn't stuck staring at the ceiling while our plane circled above - then took us home via the bottle shop (where we bought Ric's birthday present) where a beautifully made bed, with Lindt bunnies atop it, awaited us.

Next stop was lunch at Steve's parents' place - so lovely to see them as always and the food was lovely. We headed back home mid afternoon for a much needed nap, without which I would not have survived the party! Sad but true...

The party was wonderful. Melissa and Darren have fabulously good taste and the tables were set out beautifully, the food was delicious - they had two very cute guys making paellas in the traditional large dishes - their friends were so much fun to talk to, and the wine flowed smoothly.

A lovely night.

No, not alien craft landing but gorgeous lanterns Melissa had suspended in the trees,

Swimming Pretty in the Glass-Half-Full 2012: Day 77 - Out and About In Sydney Town

 It's a truism that's been been proved time and time again - you never really explore your own city until visitors comes to town.

So it was that today I went to Paddington Markets - where I bought the coolest hand painted cloth cats (trust me, totally awesome) and a pair of authentic 70s-era silver sunglasses, unearthed I think in an archaeological dig somewhere in Europe! - the Paddington Reservoir (an old 19th century brick reservoir that been converted into a cool sunken garden), Rekorderlig Swedish pear cider at the Paddington Inn, and Brett Whiteley's gallery in Surry Hills, which was fascinating, absolutely fascinating since it came complete with his art, the LPs he listened to as he painted, his graffiti still on the wall... as I said fascinating.

My guy glaming it up

The delightful Darren and Melissa

Melissa told me about this cool new photo app called Hipstamatic. So much fun!

And why did I do all this cool stuff, stuff I wouldn't ordinarily do? Because my gorgeous guys brother and sister in law, Darren and Melissa were in town for the weekend and wanted to hang out, and so we did. We had a ball! For a start they're seriously fun people to spend a day with - the conversation and laughs don't stop, and they're willing to explore and see all sorts of things. I haven't enjoyed a day more in a long time.

One of the things I am grateful for, apart from primarily being supremely grateful U have the beautiful partner I do, is that his family are the loveliest people. Spending time with them is such a joy and frankly I wish we saw more of them. The same goes for my family too. It's the one part of living in Sydney I don't like - not seeing family as much as I want. Anyway we got to see them today and it was so much fun.

Then after a quick dash home, we had dinner out at Blu Ginger, an Indian restaurant I love in Milson's Point - our first choice, Ripples was booked out - and Steve's friend from Canberra days in the late 80s joined us, Lynette. She is animated, fun, extrovertive, and it was such a pleasure to meet her after hearing so much about her.

Awesome view of the harbour down on Lavender Bay (and of Melissa's arm too!)

Steve and Lynette as we dropped her off at Double Bay

An awesome day and night all around. Thank you everyone!