Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 259 - Big Day! Relaxed Night...

BIG DAY on campus my friends!!

The video that I was filmed for, and appear extensively in, has just gone live on the net, and I couldn't be more proud of the brave people who appear with me, and the fact that I got to participate in something that means so much to me.

If it just saves one life, it will be totally worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b8RnlpuJXo

We also made it onto the Herald-Sun's website which is exciting (and amazing given it's a Murdoch publication!)

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/optus-it-gets-better-video-thought-to-be-an-australian-first/story-fn7x8me2-1226138916720

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Artwork on the street

I went out walking this morning, despite how tired I was (mainly because it does refresh me and makes my work days that much more bouncy and productive...plus I ate Thai last night!), and found this adorable piece of stuck on art work on the brick walls of the railway underpass on Coulson Street. These pieces never last long, thanks to passing vandals and snails, so like many pieces before it, I have photographed it to preserve it for posterity since one of the things I LOVE about Erskineville is that fact that, gentrified or not, it still has a loveably unkempt charm about it....

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Bye Bye Ngaire (pron Ny-ree)


One of the joys of the last few years has been getting to know my cousin Ngaire (pictured below with her sister, Moirag) far better than I did growing up (my Dad, fostered at a young age and bounced between relatives wasn't especially close to his family for quite some time, meaning we mostly saw my mum's side of the family). Our catch ups are always fun, and full of laughter and intelligent conversation, and she is also one of the loveliest people I have ever met into the bargain.


Sad part now is, although it is an awesome step forward for her, is that she is leaving Sydney for 12 months to work in a school in Arusha, Tanzania, that caters to young adults who would otherwise not be able to afford to go to secondary school. It is an inspiring endeavour, and I am so proud of Ngaire for wanting to be a part of it. To send her off, she organised for work and uni friends, and family to have drinks and pizza with her at The Roxy in Parramatta. While the music was crazy loud - loved the songs but we were right near the speakers which made talking a challenge at times! - the vibe was fun, food awesome, and I also got to meet her wonderful friends, and get to know my cousin, Moirag, and her partner, Pam, a whole lot better. We also got to ride out to Parramatta and back (my gorgeous guy's old work location from years back), which was fun, especially on the way back with some of the crazy and harmless people who get trains late at night.

Pizza and wine (which thanks to a ditzy barmaid came in a champagne flute at one point)

My gorgeous guy and I

Me, Ngaire and my gorgeous guy

Fun with Instagram 1

Fun with Instagram 2 (on the train home from Parramatta)

Fun with Instagram 3 (also on the train)

Redfern station very late at night - thanks to Instagram again

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 258 (Thursday 15 September) - On the Road (Show) Again

An early mark of sorts today to attend a roadshow - major division wide presentation - of the division that was behind the It Gets Better video. The event was held at The Big Top @ Luna Park (Sydney), from which the views are amazing, and was unlike anything my division can afford to do - multimedia, blaring rock music, waitered drinks and canapes afterwards - and most importantly the public preview of the video which really seemed to affect a number of people. I was there with my new work friend, Brett, a 22 year bright extrovert who is also in the video and a really lovely guy.

It was such a good afternoon in fact that it was totally worth the mad frantic morning of manic work from 7.30 - 1 that preceded it.

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Followed it up that night with dinner with my wonderful friend, Waz @ Stir Crazy Thai. Yum food, lovely cool but pleasant evening (so we sat outside), and a great conversation.... perfect end to an amazing day.

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 257 - Top Gun Bodhi!

It looks like my 1 year old nephew has joined the Air Force...or at least a Hollywood-esque one!

I just hope he's not expecting a fighter jet for Christmas...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 256 (Tuesday 13 September) - Crazy Busy Mad!

ARRRGGHH!!!

10 hours at work, no lunch, massive unending stress.

No more please.

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 255 - Mixed Bag o' Fun

TONIGHT!

A chair at Happy Chef, tweeted while I waited for Fahmi & Steve to turn up (I came straight to Newtown from work)

The menu board at Happy Chef from which I ordered a Spicy Beef and Wonton soup for dinner, as did my gorgeous guy (very honeymooning couple of us I know!)

These are the tickets to the movie we saw @ Dendy Newtown - Beginners. Wonderful but far less rom com, and far more indie that we expected.

Satan's power supply - found this on the way back to the car near Holy Sheet on King Street and it tickled my sense of humour

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 254 - Bus Stop to Bunnings Hell

New Sunday, new cafe - the Bus Stop Espresso on Victoria Street, Enmore. It doesn't have the full range of menu options being primarily set up to capture commuter traffic at the, you guessed it, bus stop just outside it's door, but the pesto scrambled eggs and shaved ham on sourdough was delish (even though I had managed to develop a small but painful ulcer on my gum right next to a tooth and was finding eating painful....what is it with my teeth these days?!) the quirky very high seats were fun , if cold, to sit on, and it was lovely to catch up with our very good friend Fahmi...

Then my gorgeous guy and I went to Bunnings on Parramatta Road for a quick in and out to grab extra screws for the IKEA unit we're assembling. While the shopping was indeed Speedy Gonzales quick, getting out of the car park was a 1/2 hour nightmare and I vow and declare we shall never go there again! So we got home a little later than planned but still managed to fit in a nap, after which I wrote an application letter for a job I am going for at the Sydney Writers Centre. It came together well, thanks to my gorgeous guy acting as a sounding board, and then we got down to assembling the bottom part of the Besta entertainment unit before chicken & chips for dinner (yummy gourmet chicken from the shop up the street) and viewing of the latest Dr Who episode, Night Terrors, which wasn't brilliantly good, but wasn't awful and was far better than the confusing twaddle of confused strung together vignettes that characterised season 6 part 1.

Graffiti seen on way down Enmore Road - very funky

I wished I could have stayed to snuggle but work called and so I headed home, ostensibly for an early night but it turned out, not so early night as my iMac suddenly started speaking like a robot after I lent on the keyboard and it took me ages to figure out what I had done! Lesson learnt...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 253 (Saturday 10 September) - Toasting IKEA Jinnah?

Big sleep in today and we didn't really sit down for brunch till about 11.

Fun part was that it was the first time my gorgeous guy and I had really used the new IKEA dining room table and it looked fabulous with the pink/orange placemats and coasters contrasting gorgeously with the chocolate brown colour of the table.

I then got down to finishing off a passage of my novel I am rewriting, while my gorgeous guy headed back to his place for vacuuming and cleaning (yep all the sexy fun stuff!), we regrouped for a quick trip to IKEA to swap a damaged panel of his new entertainment unit with a brand spanking new one, before we went to Jinnah's for dinner in Dulwich Hill (we were going to have Bangladeshi cooking in Marrickville but the restaurant ended up looking almost empty and not quite what we were after). It was as quirky as ever, down to the owner starting to turn off the music and some lights when it got to 9.30pm to encourage us to leave. (Oh and I got to wear my scarf one last time so cold was it - yaaaaay!)

Some things never change..

Friday funnies HAHA

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 252 - Dawn on King Street

I have often spoken about how much I love my morning walks.

I love the exercise. I love listening to my music. I love the sense of being alone and wrapped in the darkness before dawn where life doesn't feel so busy or urgent as it is does when the sun rises. I love being truly alone for an hour - doing good for my body, mind and spirit. I love being one of my favourite streets in the world (I would say favourite but Robson Street in Vancouver is also lovely).

I love mornings just being me.

PS. Dinner tonight was AWESOME! (Yes feel free to use high pitched squeals in there!). My gorgeous guy and I went to Fahmi's place for dinner and ate the most delicious biryani (rice flavoured with lamb, or chicken and spices) EVER. He made it from scratch using a family recipe, and coupled with a superbt Tiramasu for dessert, and lots of wine, the night was damn near perfect.

Thanks Fahmi!

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 251 - Hair! Cut!

I got my hair cut tonight.

Not that remarkable.

What was remarkable was that I tweeted about it, had a chat with a Twitter friend about it, and sent my boyfriend a pic from the train.

So no longer do I just get my hair cut.

I have a Social Media Experience (SME).

Much better.

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 250 (Wednesday 7 September) - Technology Hates Me

Tonight technology had it's revenge.

For what slight, real or imagined I cannot say (perhaps neglect since while I love technology, i fail to use it as fully as I should), but tonight in quick succession my internet ran out of juice (reached the end of my usage for the month two days before the due date- aarghh!), and my DVD player lost all connectivity suddenly to my TV (no idea why - it just happened out of the blue)

Thankfully my iPhone didn't join this wholly unjustified rebellion - this is what I get for allowing images of the Arab Spring into my room, and mentioning the Terminator movies in passing conversation with my partner - and woke me up right on time.

No prizes for guessing my pet piece of technology at the moment.

Yes, that's right DVD player....It. Ain't YOU!

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 249 (Tuesday 6 September) - Bye Bye Francis

A very sad day today.

My very good friend (and ex), Francis, who found a job at work for me, and lobbied hard to get me an interview, left the company I work for today after 15 years! He has a fabulous new job, perfectly suited to his skills, and in this case, I think the grass will be so green it will be vivid neon lime.

Still, even though I am happy for him, work won't be quite the same without his larger-than-life exhuberant personality and our heart to hearts about work and life, especially on the days when I wanted I was so frustrated I just wanted to walk out of the office.

He will be greatly missed but so happy he is beginning a great new chapter in his life.

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 248 (Monday 5 September) - Picking Up My Baby

Not as dirty as it sounds people! (Although a little role playing here or there can only be a good thing which is where I will leave the topic, thank you.)

My guy came back from his solo trip to Melbourne to see his Auntie Win for her birthday on the Saturday (she's way over 90 and still very much with it) and Fathers Day celebration with his family on Sunday, and it was so very good to see him! It was odd not having him around on the weekend, especially at social events involving mutual friends, and odd not being in Melbourne with him (I was missed too by his family especially his 7 year old nephew Hugo who asked where I was because he likes that I play LEGO with him....too cute).

I am very happy to have him back and in my arms :)

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 247 - A Trifle Roast

After a nice quiet day at home, not quite getting as much as I wanted but making some progress on the novel, cleaning up my room etc, the day finished off in style with a Fathers Day dinner at my friends, John and Essie's place - the cheese & fruit platter for entrees was divine, Essie cooked an awesomely yummy beef roast (with potatos to die for....but I didn't), and dessert, a distinctly non-trifle trifle was delicious plus.

Add in the company of John, and Essie, friends Fahmi and Steve and it was a most fabulous dinner out, and home in time to iron my shirt and make lunch for Monday (that was not the exciting part just in case you think I may have lost the plot completely on my trifle sugar high)

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 246 (Saturday 3 September) - Tres Bien, Tre Viet

No rest for those who like to socialise!


I started my outings todays with a 50th at the Dolphin Hotel in Surry Hills with lots of work friends, wine, and great, fun conversation. I had a ball.

My foot and knee (and presumably the rest of me) at the Dolphin Hotel

Raced home, chilled a little and met my friends, Waz and Fahmi, for a walk up King Street, Newtown, for drinks at The Bank then dinner at Tre Viet, which had great food, great company and the flirtiest, campest waiters, one of whom met us the Imperial Hotel (gay bar) afterwards).

Waz at The Bank

At Tre Viet (damn flash on the iPhone let me down!)

FUN!