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!

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 245 (Friday 2 September)- Day of Farewells

Today I said goodbye a lot. Not by choice naturally, and I hate it when things end, but things were indeed ending - some temporarily, some permanently - and so I said goodbye....

First to my gorgeous man who flew to Melbourne for a long weekend with his family for birthday celebrations and Father's Day lunch. I stayed the night at his place, we were on the road at 6 a.m. and I still made the 6.58 train. Busy start to the day, and sad too since I love our Melbourne trips.

My beautiful man smiling as I take his picture outside the Virgin terminal

I got to work in time to farewell my lovely friend Francis, who after 15 years, is moving on to greener corporate pastures a lot closer to home, and far more aligned with his skills and the things he loves doing. We celebrated, naturally, we a buffet breakfast at the on site cafe which was actually quite delicious, if massively unhealthy!

My colleague, Sandra, and Francis (centre) and me

Finally I said goodbye to my desk for at least one lunchtime and grabbed some sushi at the local shopping centre with my friend Bill. So nice to get away! Alas we had to go back.

Onogiri HAI!

TGIF Funnies!

I found these gems on a fabulous tumblr site called The Ambiguity Report, Maybe (http://theambiguityreport.tumblr.com/archive) which you must visit - it is chock full of the most wonderful things that will make you think, smile and laugh out loud.

Enjoy, my dear lovely friends and family!

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 244 (Thursday 1 September) - Fly Me to a Sushi Train -

Today at work they launched a brand new marketing program that spared no expense and an included what was supposed to be a flying elephant but which looked to me, and to many others, like a pachyderm having ecstatic congress with a wave. Nice try and better luck next time folks.

Far more successful was dinner with my beautiful man, and present shopping for his nieces and nephews, in the City after work (Hobbyco sells Smurfs so I bought two) and sushi dinner at Makanai, where Asagao once was. The decor is fab if a tad on the overcrowded side, but it was brilliant just to stop and talk, and the train trip home was enlivened by my gorgeous guy playing with his new plane-shaped stress toy on the way home. Who says commuting isn't fun (occasionally)?

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 243 - Bodhi !

One of the few things (along with caramel and news of a new album from Coldplay) that can totally change the flavour of my day for the absolute better is getting photos of my nephew Bodhi, or my niece, Zara sent to me by their respective mothers (my sisters). They are both adorably photogenic, with bright personalities and my only regret is that I don't them more. At least I get the pics so I can keep in touch that way.

Today was Bodhi's day and I loved the pics. He remains cute beyond belief!

Yes he is wearing a nappy as a chef's hat!

Cuddling and giggling with my cousin, Rebecca

Funny faces with Rebecca!