Monday, March 31, 2014

Sunday 30 March – What a weekend









Current location: Anglesea
11.11am, Eating brunch, again. We've eaten so well this weekend. This morning we came to the most awesome cafe I have been in a really long time – it's in the middle of a nursery and there are flowers everywhere! Plus the food was insanely good (so good I had to order cake in the middle of my breakfast in case it ran out). Seriously, their white chocolate and cherry cake would have to be in my top 5 foods I've ever eaten. It was amazeballs.

After scoffing our faces, we went out in the sunshine, and headed back to our holiday home, tidied up and left to check out a giant mine in the middle of the national park. Pretty bizarre but really cool to see! Andy and I then headed back to Lara, where Andy played in an impromptu basketball match and I went back to Marie's house (Andy's cousin) and hung out with her, the family, and the alpacas!
We had a lovely family dinner, then headed to the airport for a delayed flight back to Sydney.

Saturday 29 March – Whodunnit?






Current location: Anglesea, Victoria
11.11pm, Playing Cluedo. I haven't played for years and years, and was still getting the hang of it! It's hard! We were all pretty tired with that lovely feeling you have after a day of fresh air and activity, plus an evening of wine and cooking. We started the day slowly, with tea on the amazing balcony that looks over the national park, and then went for a fantastic brunch with extra sausages, yum! A few of us then hit the beach for the afternoon, with Annie taking all of two minutes to learn to surf – she's a natural!
We decided to walk home from the beach, which took an hour and included a gigantic hill, and then we rewarded ourselves with a huge barbecue and wines out on the balcony as the sun went down – everything I wanted from this lovely weekend away!

Friday 28 March – From country to coast





Current location: Lara
11.11am, Having breakfast in Lara. We had a slow start today, then Toni, Andy's cousin, and us two went to an awesome antiques market and for a delish lunch, while having a good catch-up. I love the countryside around here, the colours are spectacular and there's just so much space!
In the evening, we drove down to Anglesea, on the Great Ocean Road, where we were meeting three of our friends, Emma, Fran and Annie, for a lovely weekend away.

Thursday 27 March – Living it up in Lara



Current location: Lara, Victoria
11.11pm, Sitting on the couch, drinking wine. Not my couch though.Andy and I are down in Lara, near Melbourne, where lots of his family live. I love coming to visit them here, Andy's cousins are always so welcoming and fun and lovely, and it's nice to be in a family situation when my family is on the other side of the world!

(Pic of some of the family taken from last time we were visiting)

Wednesday 26 March – Ironman March, done!


Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Celebrating. Today I finished the last part of Ironman March, which means that this month I have run 42.2km, cycled 180km and swam 5km – although I didn't realise until the last day that I only had to swim 3.8km to fulfil the Ironman part of the challenge! But yay, I am done! It's been nice mixing up my exercise, and having something to motivate me, but I'm glad it's done. And I have NO idea how people do all that in one day!

(Picture taken from Weheartit)

Monday 24 March – Book club babes


Current location: Bondi
11.11pm, Wrapping up book club. It was a cracker this month, although we were missing a few key people, and we were talking about The Invention of Wings. It was about two sisters who were some of the first women to speak out about the abolition of slavery in the 1800s, and should have been an awesome, interesting story. But I felt it was a bit of a missed opportunity, and the actual story of the sisters and their family was more interesting than this partly fictionalised one. However, it's definitely a page-turner, and taught me a lot about slavery in America. We had a great chat, lots and lots and lots of laughs and a huge amount of food and wine too, not to mention the beginnings of plans for a book club holiday, haha! Man, I love book club.

Sunday 23 March – Swifts superfans!


Current location: On the train
11.11am, On my way to Sydney Olympic Park. Today is round 4 of the ANZ Netball Championship and Swifts, the team I support, are playing the Qld Firebirds. It was always going to be a tough game, but the Swifts, as ever, were amazing, and started super strong, which left the Firebirds chasing for the whole game. Call me a glory supporter, but I'm so glad the team we decided to support this season are so good!
Afterwards, I went for a swim in the Olympic Aquatic Centre, to try and finish off the swimming part of my Ironman March. Only a 5.5km run and a 12km cycle, and I'm done!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Sat 22 March – Fitness and family


Current location: Erskineville
11.11am, Getting ready to go to netball. I rode there, played an hour, then went down to Bondi to swim and meet my auntie and uncle. Today is the last day I'll see them for a while, as they leave tomorrow to go up to Cairns and then back to Wales. We had such a beautiful afternoon on the beach, relaxing and swimming, then went for coffee and cake. Going to miss you amazing people!! 

Friday 21 March – Uncle Pat and Auntie Den



Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Erm, asleep. Yes, it's Friday night, but I'm a bit of a nana at heart, so Andy and I were fast asleep! We'd been out for dinner with my amazing auntie and uncle, who are in Sydney for a few days while on a trip to Aus. They are the most gorgeous people and I've been having the best time hanging out with them. They're just so kind and loving, and also crack me up with their funny Welsh accents and general awesomeness. We went for a drink in Circular Quay, then hopped in a cab to Darlinghurst to have dinner at Una's, an amazing Austrian place where we normally go for breakfast.

Ps, the name of the blog post is a bit skewiff – Pat is actually my auntie, and Den is my uncle. But once, when I was aout seven years old, they accidentally said it the wrong way round. I thought it was the FUNNIEST THING EVER and, because they're awesome, they have called themselves Uncle Pat and Auntie Den to me ever since. Silly billies.

Wednesday 19 March – Mr Lego!


Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Hanging out with Lego Man! Work is so funny sometimes.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Tuesday 18 March – Taking down the meanies


Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Posting pictures to Instagram of our team. Tonight we had a heller of a netball match against the meanest team I think I've ever played. They were so aggressive and angry and bargy and mean! But we kept it together and ended up winning by one goal, which is always a nice victory! So proud of Hoops, we're still undefeated so far this season!

Sunday 16 March – Raining on my parade


Current location: Victoria Park, Sydney
11.11am, Swimming! As part of Ironman March, I still have a bit of swimming to do (and running, and cycling!), so I dragged myself out of bed and made it to the outdoor pool. It started raining just as I got there, which was fine as I was getting wet anyway! But after about 10 laps, the thunder and lightning started, and everyone had to get out the pool. I took this as a great excuse to ride home (in a storm, pretty hilarious!) and stay on the sofa for the rest of the day.

(Picture from Let it go)

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Saturday 15 March – Happy birthday Roch!






Current location: Newtown
11.11pm, In Earl's Juke Joint. I love this bar, and a big group of us had come here for Rochy's birthday. The bar was so hot (but we cooled down with lots of cocktails!) but so fun. We all ended up at our house to carry on the party, and it was the perfect end to a long, lovely day.
I started the day with celebrating Rochy's birthday with cake and balloons, then cycling to netball, which is in Bondi (about 9km away) in the beautiful sunshine. After netball, Jess and I had a lovely lunch and then I went to get my hair cut. As I was in the hairdressers (for three hours!), the heavens opened and there was a massive lightning storm. Very dramatic but very annoying to ride home in with my new haircut! Haha, never mind. Nothing a great night out didn't fix!

Friday 14 March – Date night with my hot date



Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Coming home from dinner with lovely Andy. As we were pretty busy on Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate a month later instead. I came home from work to a G&T, some flowers and a book Andy had made me of photos of me star-jumping around the world. Super!
As tomorrow is our housemate Rochy's birthday, we then spent a couple of hours baking her cupcakes, then went out for a wander through Erskineville to find somewhere that was still serving food. We ended up at Stir Crazy Thai, and I had the most delish Chiang Mai curry. Happy late Vday!

Wednesday 12 March – Pools and pubs




Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, At work, wishing lovely Sarah Hughes a happy birthday. She works on the floor above me, at InStyle, so I ventured up there to deliver her a strawberry tart for brekky and a chilli plant. After work, I powered on with Ironman March and went for a swim, at the beautiful Prince Alfred pool, and then went to the pub to help Sarah celebrate. Happy birthday beautiful!


Monday, March 10, 2014

Saturday 8 March – Take me down to Paradise City!







Current location: Newtown
11.11pm, Rocking out. Tonight was Paradise City – a new night my friends Kara and Phil had put on, and we were loving it! Think Meatloaf, John Farnham, Bonnie Tyler and everything else in between. Tooooo much fun!

Friday 7 March – Date/double date night






Current location: Newtown
11.11pm, Walking home from Newtown, where Andy, Rochy, Jdog and I had been out for dinner. I finished work early today, thanks to working late last night, and so Andy and I jumped in the car and went to Bondi, where the sun was still out and we managed a swim and a sunbathe and a read before going for a margarita at the Beach Burrito Bar. The weekend starts here!

When we got home, we ambled about a bit, then went up to The Hive Bar with Rochy and Jdog. After a drink or two, we were all pretty hungry, so went up to Cheeky Czech, which I've been wanting to try for a while. We all went pretty traditional with our choices (me goulash, Jdog schnitzel, Andy some sort of yummy meat thing and Rochy a Czech risotto!) and the portions were masssssssive. It was such delicious food, and amazing value, plus the place is lovely and sweet and the staff were great. I couldn't fault it! Super-stuffed, we got back home, sat on the sofa and fell asleep!