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January 28, 2011

TGIF...



Gone are the days when Friday nights would mean getting all dressed up and ready to paint the town red (yes, you are officially old when you actually begin to use the phrase 'paint the town red').  My 18yr old self would cringe in horror to think a time would come when I would look forward to Friday nights not as a time to go dancing, but rather as a time to relax, put my feet up and enjoy a movie or eek - maybe even read a good book! Oh how times change.  

Tonight I couldn't wait to get home from work and enjoy a quiet Friday. I walked in the door and as I flipped through the mail I discovered a card from one of my best friends back home that brought a smile to my face, always a good way to start the weekend.  Since J was out with a few mates, I got complete control of not only the computer but also the remote - happy times.  Hope your weekend is off to a great start...

January 27, 2011

Australia Day...


I love Australia Day.
Since moving here almost 4 years, Australia Day has become one of my favourite holidays.  For those of you who don't know, Australia Day is like the down under version of 4th of July.  The country comes to a stand still and national pride is on display everywhere imaginable.  Luckily, yesterday the sun was out, the bbq turned on and we relaxed the day away with friends and way too much food.  The only thing missing was fireworks.

January 26, 2011

Suit Up...



This past weekend J and I took a stroll around Paddington and I got the urge to pop into a few of the shops. For most people this would be a normal reaction but for those that know me, know that I am not a huge fan of shopping and have even less interest in fashion. Yes, I know for some of you that is hard to fathom. It's not that I don't enjoy new clothes, I just hate the process and seem to be hopeless when it comes to putting together outfits.  I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of person and for many years that is the only thing i wore, however, it is a totally different story when I'm shopping for someone else.  

In this case, the 'someone else' was J and I happily helped him scout out a few things for a new job he'll be starting next week...

p.s. - Happy Australia Day to all you Aussie's....we're off to the beach!

January 23, 2011

The Island...



Here are a few last remaining photos from China. We had one free afternoon to take a ferry over to Gulangyu Island and explore the tea houses, markets and amazing views of the ocean. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend...

January 21, 2011

Five Senses...


Sensory overload.  Everywhere I looked in China there was something new to take in - sights, smells, food. The sheer size of China is overwhelming and the fact that Xiamen, a clean modern city of a few million, is considered small compared to some areas is just staggering - and hard to capture and express in just a few photos...

Since this was a work conference little time was left for adventure but we did manage to find a karaoke bar in the form of a giant pirate ship (yes, a full size ship in the middle of the city) and lead the bar in a rendition of 'Sweet Caroline'. I was also roped into dressing as a koala bear to represent Australia in one of the conference events and bravely tried the local seafood cuisine during 13 course banquet dinners.

Lastly I am happy to say that I survived my presentation and was pretty proud of overcoming my fear.  I did have a mild panic attack when I first saw that the stage was huge and look as if it was hosting Anthony Robbins. There was no table to hide behind so I had to work the stage as if I was auditioning for 'So You Think You Can Dance'.  When the mic (which was clipped to my jacket, leaving my hands free so I could attempt to make professional hand movements - whatever those are supposed to be?) stopped working I had a moment of panic creep in but luckily it was fixed before anything major happened.  

Once it was over I completely blacked out and don't remember anything that was said but since the audience clapped I assume all went well.  Let's hope I don't have to do another presentation anytime soon...but at least this time I'll go into with a bit more confidence.

January 20, 2011

Fine China...


After a long layover in Hong Kong, I'm finally back from Xiamen, China. I had some interesting adventures and yes, am happy to say that the presentation went off with only a minor microphone mishap. Unfortunately Blogger was banned in China so I'm just logging on now to get caught up. I'll be back tomorrow with more photos and a recap of some of the more amusing moments of my trip including how I came to eat intestine, jellied eel and somehow ended up wearing a mascot-like Koala costume...

January 14, 2011

Smells Like Teen Spirit...


In the wake of such tragedy in Queensland, it seems trivial to write an ordinary post.  I have been reading so many stories about lives destroyed it just breaks my heart...may those affected know we are thinking of them.

We could all use a smile right about now so I figured that I'd post some embarrassing photos and give everyone a laugh - at my expense. For the past 2 days I've been away at a company retreat - yes, it was like something out of 'The Office' - and had the joy of dancing in our group skit. This year's theme was musicals so we drew 'High School Musical' out of a hat and channeled our inner cheerleaders. Complete with pigtails and pom poms, I did my best Zac Efron dance routine and happily made a fool of myself.

At the moment, I'm frantically packing my bags because tomorrow I head to China for a sales and marketing conference. The conference is run by our head office in the UK and there are a handful of us from Australia going. I'm excited because it's my first trip to China and the line-up of speakers looks really interesting - that is until I realized that I am one of the speakers. What??? As I was glancing over the agenda I saw (much to my horror) that I was presenting with the director of my company.  This was the first time I had heard anything about it and for those that know me, understand the sense of panic that came over me. I have a paralysing fear of speaking in public. It's like the second I try and speak in front of a group (large or small) my face turns bright read, my voice quivers and my brain shuts down.  Fun times.  I managed to throw together a PowerPoint presentation and hopefully will be able to report a few amusing stories from my trip...back in a few days!

January 12, 2011

The Birthday Girl...


Today I am 32 years young. 

In honor of my birthday I took the day off work so that J and I could hang out together and be as lazy as I wanted without the interruption of sales meetings, spreadsheets and other work related annoyances. Okay, it's also because I've got a conference coming up and will be working for the next 10 days straight but since my birthday just happened to fall at the right time, I figured why not?  

I've thoroughly enjoyed my big day - sleeping in, talking to my family, a voicemail from my sisters with a rendition of 'Happy Birthday', a trip to finally get my iPhone, shopping in the city, sitting by the pool and flipping through magazines, getting a hilarious book from the 80's from J's parents and finally dinner with J. I'm not a big present person (I got spoiled anyways) but I only had one special request - Mexican for dinner.  I was not disappointed and many margaritas later I am welcoming 32 with a smile...this also happens to be my 100th post - where did the time go?

*On a side note and a very humble one at that - I am sending thoughts and prayers to friends up north - may you all stay safe during such a devastating time...

January 11, 2011

Family Matters...


Any weekend that involves eggs and hollandaise sauce is going to be a good one.  Combine that with some strong coffee and sunshine and you've got yourself a pretty perfect weekend if you ask me.  

I feel guilty admitting that I managed to stay in my pj's until noon on Saturday while I caught up on emails and laundry.  The weather was too nice to stay inside any longer so J and I grabbed our towels and hit the beach, only leaving when our skin began to sizzle (okay, this is a slight exaggeration but it was really hot and you get the point).  Back home, we got ready to head out to a friend's bbq but not before I managed to work a bit on my presentation for next week's work trip to China (more on that later, but let me just say it involves public speaking -gulp).

Sunday was a family affair.  Over breakfast we celebrated the arrival of a new little cousin and while the exhausted parents opened their gifts, I took a few photos of this beautiful cafe in Glebe, which is the restored Belleveue House.   With bellies full of eggs, toast and way too many cups of coffee we wrapped up the weekend by reading books and looking up how to make the perfect, wait for it - hollandaise sauce. yum...

January 10, 2011

Santa Surprise


We put away the Christmas tree this weekend.  There were almost tears.  I hate this part of the holidays, when the decorations go away, the baking stops and I have to go back to secretly listening to Christmas carols on my iPod.  

Since J knows how much I love Christmas he surprised me with a belated Christmas dinner when I came home from work last week.  My family had sent us a box of presents from Boston so we turned up Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' for the last time, poured ourselves a glass of eggnog and sat under the tree unwrapping our presents.  We restocked our Dunkin Donuts coffee supply, J got a headlamp for camping that provided some fun photo opps and I got the bread making book I've been wanting (yup, I'm a bit of a dork) among other awesome goodies from back home. It was the perfect way to wrap up an amazing holiday and I can't thank J or my family enough for making it so special, I love you all. x

January 8, 2011

Bali Bliss...


Okay I promise this is the last Bali post...

I just had to share a few final photos before I come to grips with the fact that I'm no longer on holiday (I'm finding it hard to adjust to reality).  Now, I could sing the praises of Bali for weeks however I think I'll leave you with a few deep thoughts to ponder over:
  • Do not - I repeat - do not get a spray tan right before you leave for vacation.  Even if your friend got one at the same place and looked really cool, don't do it, you will look orange - very uncool. 
  • When walking in Ubud, avoid slippery sidewalks or you will most likely fall into a drainage ditch on your first day, causing not only embarrassment but unsightly bruising all over your legs. Again, very uncool.
  • If you happen to wear contacts, I strongly suggest putting on your glasses when stumbling to the bathroom at night. You never know when you are going to find a snake waiting for you. Yes, this actually happened. 
  • 'Bali Belly', much like it's cousin, Montezuma's Revenge, is not enjoyable in any way, shape or form. This is true even if you try very hard to convince yourself that it's  similar to a 'cleanse' or 'detox'
  • The movie 'Stepbrothers' -even while suffering from Bali Belly- is still hilarious.
Well that's it folks - back to reality...
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