Whimsical

A little road trip

2012-02-19T07:31:00.000+11:00

A couple of weekends ago, the BFG and I took a little road trip to Narranderra (about 6 hours out of Sydney) for our friend Fiona's birthday. We don't normally do road trips because the BFG isn't a fan of long drives. He'd rather jump in a plane and just get there. I did look at flying when I realised it was a six hour drive and we were going there and back in one weekend. But only Regional Express fly there and for the both of us, it would have been close to $1000. For that sort of money, we could have gone overseas (like Tasmania overseas!). So driving it was.

The Big Merino - no wool

We stopped over in Goulburn on the way there and stayed one night with my parents. There is a great bakery at the big Merino which I can highly recommend.

Windmills along the way

We sped through Gundagai but didn't stop at the Dog on the Tucker Box, straight pass Wagga Wagga and then finally through to the Riverina district where there were massive signs warning the dangers of bringing fruit into the area.

Narranderra

There wasn't much to do when we got to Narranderra because pretty much everything closes after 12pm. But we did get to see Fiona's lovely house with the fantastic vintage cooker (which isn't used). We also decided to go to the Tourist Information to see what there is to do for the rest of the day before heading over to the party.

Largest playable guitar

The Tourist Information Centre actually houses one of Narranderra's attractions. The World's biggest playable guitar (record held in 1994?). Of course the BFG felt the need to start twanging it, much to my embarrassment considering it was deathly quiet in the centre (we were the only ones there).

The other thing to do in Narranderra apparently is to spot Koalas. Now, I've NEVER seen a koala in the wild. They're really not that easy to come by. So we asked the woman at the counter who told us that we probably won't need to drive right into the sanctuary because some of the koala's have escaped so I was pretty excited about prospect of seeing one of those sleepy Australian icons.

It was only a short drive and went into "The Common" and kept our eyes peeled. The place is rather badly sign posted and actually looks like a scene from The Blair Witch Project. We only passed maybe 2 other cars. Anyway, still looking, looking..... still looking... still looking... and nothing. We drove right up to the sanctuary and even got out of the car and started walking around (while being attacked by these ginormous ants). The way the woman in the Information Centre was going on, you would have thought the area was inundated with koalas. Nothing, nudda, nil, zero, zilch. Not a koala in sight.

Anyway, we gave up and went back to the hotel to mooch around until we were ready to go the party which was just slightly out of town on a property. The theme was 70's.

Me in my 70's getup. This was the best I could do having only spent 3 years in the 70's.

There was shag pile carpet, lots of old records, and mostly everyone dressed up. It was fantastic. The property was absolutely gorgeous and you wouldn't believe that you were on a huge working sheep farm. The best thing that I noticed straight away was how friendly everyone was.

After leaving Narranderra, I realise what a charmed life Fiona and her husband have made for themselves. When they first said they were going to move to Narranderra, the BFG and I were like "why?" But I can see how moving out of Sydney has been so great for them. Cheaper property prices, less traffic, less people and being able to work for herself and from home. And most importantly, having extra time to do other things. Me, jealous? - not much.

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T22:57:00.005+11:00

Kung Hei Fat Choy!!

Chinese New Year is a much quieter affair for us now than it used to be when I was a child. I used to love Chinese New Year. There were so many traditions that we followed, like all the cleaning, visiting family, all the food, the visits to the Buddhist temple etc.

Then as a teenager, I used to go to the Chinese New Year Fair that the Chinese/Vietnamese community put on with all my friends, going on the dodgy rides, eating heaps and staying out late because we could. We would also go to the Buddhist temple for the midnight firecrackers, the insane amount of incense people burned and stayed out late because we could.

This year, we celebrated with a lunch at my sister's place. My parents came up to have lunch with us and there was roast duck, pork, and chicken. There is my mother's special dish of chinese mushrooms with chicken, dried scallops and this fungus stuff that looks like hair. This is also the first year I actually have to give out those red packets due to my married status. I kind of wish that we did a bit more so that my nephews can experience the fun, the culture and the traditions that all comes with being Chinese.

I'm also currently working on Rosamund's Cardigan in Malabrigo Worsted. It's getting a bit big for my commute knitting but that's ok. I've decided to start reading more on my train ride to work. I've set myself a goal of reading 20 books this year. I'm keeping track on Goodreads and hope to post here as well. I'm not that good at writing reviews but will give it a go. I'm currently reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Might have something to do with the movie and the new BBC series.

I've also decided to try to be a "morning" person in 2012. This may sound a bit strange but I've always had great difficulty getting myself together in the mornings. I used to skip breakfast so I can have an extra 15 minutes sleep. I've been getting up at 5.30am most mornings and the plan is get something done. I've been going for runs in the morning as I no longer find the time or energy in the evenings. The problem with being a morning person, is that you can't also be a night person. This means that as I type this at 10.53 pm, it is way past my bedtime.

Book Review

2012-01-20T21:54:00.000+11:00

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

One of the girls in my bookclub picked this book because she's an absolute Jane Austen fan and Pride and Prejudice is her all time favourite. This is her pick. Based on the fact that "Pemberley" is in the title.

Admittedly, I read a Sydney Morning Herald book review before starting on it and so may have coloured my judgement on the book. The reviewer was quite scathing on the fact that James' writing style is dark to Austen's light. Also, the reviewer mentioned how the book started off rehashing the whole Pride and Prejudice story.

I tried not to be too annoyed when I read was reading through the retelling of the original P&P and hoped the mystery part would be compelling. If I were PD James, I would just assume the reader will know the original P&P story and if they didn't will give them a reason to go and seek it. I was disappointed because it just wasn't the compelling murder mystery I was expecting. There was nothing overly dark and sinister and the plot seemed to have been written without much excitement.

I listened to PD James' interview on the radio and she said that she tried to write in Austen's voice. I think she failed miserably. The only thing I thought that might Austen would have focused on was the shame a scandal would bring to Pemberly.

View all my reviews

Karcha Graffiti

2012-01-09T20:36:00.000+11:00

The egotistical part of me loves to see my name all over the place. The BFG had some fun with his Karcha high pressure cleaner and the bit of manky concrete outside our house.

Reply to comments:
Fiona - WIP is "Work in Progress". I decided to just jump right in and try making clothes. I made some cushions when we first moved in and I also want to make a small quilt when I have the time.
Katie - The top fits but can do with a bit of adjusting. It looks alright from neck down to the bust but I was excited to use the one step button hole feature on the sewing machine. I'm making another and trying practice.

Making and a forgotten WIP

2012-01-08T16:16:00.000+11:00

Today is the last day of my holidays and it's back to work tomorrow. I've had a great mini holiday mostly at home with the BFG. We've gone swimming most days at the local pool, made it once to the beach on New Years Day and pretty much mooched around the house most of the time.

I've done a bit of reading (new Kindle for my birthday), and mostly relaxing. I had plans to repaint the house, but a few days before my holidays, I just did not think that I would have the energy to embark on such a large project as painting the house!

So instead, I've been busy doing other things, like making this top. It's the Sencha pattern from Collette. It was easy enough to make, but I'm a real novice when it comes to sewing. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but I know for sure that there are a gazillion mistakes.

Front

Back - buttons from All Buttons Great and Small

I also had to clean out one of the drawers in the cupboard in the craft room and found these two embroideries I had made at least a year ago. They are from the iron on transfers from Sublime Stitching and they are motifs by Inside a Black Apple. I have a feeling I was trying to make drawstring bags for the BFG and I (for Christmas). How lost was this WIP? I'd completely forgotten I'd made them. I still need to sew them up into bags.

The best time I've had so far these holidays is spending time on our deck enjoying our new outdoor setting. We also got an umbrella for it as well seeing as we don't have a covered deck but I had to take it down when we had really strong winds one afternoon. Incidentally, I also broke the BFG's toe while trying to put it away.

Keep on Posting

2012-01-03T13:51:00.001+11:00

Hello!! I'm back. Well sort of. I feel guilty about this blog. I still love blogging, but as Pom Pom says, life gets in the way. So just a recap on what I've been up to.

Visiting my parents in Goulburn in Spring when the canola fields were out in full yellow force.

Pandering to little people (note - he's not mine! Some days I wish he was and some days I'm glad to hand him back)

Making copious amounts of caramel popcorn - recipe here.

Still running - mostly just doing the Bay Run but I did do the City to Surf for the first time this year and again the Bridge Run.

Visiting friends in Dungog and trespassing to see abandoned historic farmhouses.

Eating Danish hotdogs at the Danish Christmas Fair

Drinking French beer at the Belgian Beer cafe

Christmas in the City

Knitting shawls with Danish yarn

Baking Christmas cookies and making the kitchen a mess!!

Birthday dinner at Assiete

Playing with my new Mac Book Pro on our new outdoor setting (we are officially all grown up now! We own an outdoor setting!!)

I'm looking forward to 2012 because I finally feel settled. We moved into our new home in late March 2011, and got married a week later. The house still isn't how I want it to be. But as the BFG says, "we don't have to do everything straight away".

I realised that I really suck when it comes to resolutions. So rather than have resolutions, I've got some goals I'd like to accomplish in 2012.

First up is swimming lessons. I sort of do know how to swim but know that I can improve. We also bought a 20 pass to the local swimming pool and we're going to try to go every day for the rest of our holidays.

Secondly, excercise more. In the last few years I've been pretty good with the running but I only really run enough to get through a running event or to keep my weight at bay. I think I really should try to improve, either through speed or distance. I also need to be more consistent with the running too. The BFG bought me a new pair of fancy schmancy runners so have no excuse now.

Thirdly, be happy. Throughout 2011, I felt like some days were such a battle. Not that I can't get out of bed type of battle, but more like, "crap, who do I need to chase up now" type of battle. It's tiring and makes me cranky. This year, I'm just going to tackle these people and problems like it's just another task to get done, rather than get all antsy and angry about it.

And of course, I say this every year blog more. Now that I have a new computer, yet again, no more excuses. I have a lot to say and sometimes I don't think the BFG really wants to hear all of it.

Ladies who lunch

2011-09-28T19:19:00.006+10:00

I've taken a week off work to basically not do very much. The ironic thing about this is that I've been quite busy. I had planned to take a week off just to be away from work and catch up on doing house things, shopping, going to the movies by myself, etc. But I realised that I actually have quite a few friends (and my sister who works from home when my nephews are in day care) who are free during week days. Oh, if I only I could be like them!!

Needless to say, my week off has already been quite full on. Monday I visited a friend who is on maternity leave, so it was nice to hang out with her and her daughter (and husband who happened to be sick at home that day). Tuesday was spent hanging out with my sister and my nephews. Gosh I love them, but my eye finally stopped twitching when they went home! Wednesday was spent having lunch with two lovely friends and trying something new!

I have since made three recipes from this cook book.

You may recall that the BFG and I visited Ottolenghi when we were in London last September. I ended up ordering both books and have made two recipes this week, the honey, rosewater and hazelnut chicken, and the kosheri (a rice and lentil dish). Last weekend, I made the roast lamb. It's a fantastic cookbook and all the recipes are quite tasty. I also have Plenty by Ottolenghi as well which is the vegetarian cookbook, so looking forward to making a few dishes out of that one.

Yesterday I met up with two friends for a coffee. Not just any coffee, one that cost $9 a pop. It was for Kopi Luwak! That's right, coffee from coffee beans which have passed through a cevit. To be honest, it was nothing special. Or the guy who made it burnt ours.

I also baked some Pane de Casa, recipe here which turned out nice and chewy.

This morning is spent reading blogs, blogging and enjoying my craft room.

Soon, I'm off to another lunch! I really could get used to this!

Weddings and the longest Lunch

2011-07-17T19:50:00.004+10:00

This Saturday, my lovely younger sister married her long time beau of 10 years! The weather has been a bit wishy washy and we were worried it might rain. But luckily the weather held up and it was a cold but beautiful day.

The wedding was held at Dunbar House in Watsons Bay. Yes, the both of us married within months of each other. But in true Lucille style, her wedding was pretty spectacular. There was heaps of food, from the tea ceremony to the lovely meal at Dunbar House itself.

For someone who didn't cry at her own wedding, I got very teary when she got up to sing a song at the reception. We were all a bit wary when she said she'd sing, but heck, if anyone was going to pull it off, it would be her!

Today, however my lovely husband celebrated his birthday (a lot of eating happened this weekend!!). He generally takes me to pretty fancy places when it's my birthday (the most special being Quay), so this year I thought I'd treat him (and me of course) to Berowra Waters Inn.

Such a beautiful restaurant set right on the Hawkesbury River. There were two degustation menus to choose from (6 courses or 8 - so of course we went with the 8). Lunch started at 1.30pm and we finished at 5.15pm. It was one heck of a long lunch. But with a most beautiful view.

Happy Birthday BFG!!

Things I've been wanting to do

2011-06-17T13:27:00.005+10:00

Our house came with an overgrown veggie bed which I was quite keen to fix and start growing stuff. It was great seeing as I'm not very handy with a saw or drill, it meant that I didn't need to make the bed myself.

The problem was that we were heading into Autumn when I started to dig out the weeds and grass and top up with more soil. So I picked a few what I thought were "winter" veggies. Sydney gets quite a few sunny days through winter so I didn't really have many doubts that things won't grow.

I planted beetroot, silverbeet, radishes, brocolli, random chinese veggies my mother gave me, herbs etc.

After all that, the only thing that grew were the radishes:

With all my posts about moving house and my wedding, I haven't actually stopped knitting. I've made quite a few things but I just forget to blog about it or post it on Ravelry. I thought I'd just rectify that here. I suddenly felt like crocheting. I think it had to do with the fact that you get instant gratification because the piece grows so much faster than knitting. A friend of mine is about to have a baby girl, so I made her this baby blanket using Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 Ply Cotton. My sewing skills actually suck, so I found it quite difficult to get the binding on the sides right. This may also have to do with the fact that I have this really ancient Epismal sewing machine which I picked up at a garage sale for $10 and then cost me $100 to repair!

I've also jumped on the Instagram bandwagon! Here is a photo of this giant piece of artwork in the foyer of my work building:

I've been looking at getting some prints or "something" to hang on our rather bare walls so have been looking around for inspiration.

Running in Autumn

2011-05-24T18:44:00.001+10:00

I'm less motivated to go running in the evenings after work. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that it's getting colder. I think I'm just lazy. So I've been going before work. The really nice thing about going when there is light, is seeing Autumn everywhere.

We live in a relatively "leafy" area and seeing the trees turn colour has been great. But having said that, I did spend over an hour raking the fallen leaves off the magnolia tree in our front yard. I'm sure the tree was mocking me as I cleared the leaves, it would drop a couple more ruining my good work.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Setting up house

2011-05-23T18:59:00.001+10:00

With the wedding over and done with, all my energy seems to be focussed on setting up our house. I've been on the lookout for new lamps, floor rugs, prints and artwork for our empty walls and "storage solutions".

We used to have these spare dining chairs in our room which we used for putting our "in between" clothes. You know, the clothes that aren't quite ready to be washed but you can't put it back into the wardrobe with the clean stuff. I decided that the chairs can't come back into the bedroom as it's too unsightly. Hence the need for these storage solutions.

So my favourite part of the house? Why, the craft room of course!

This is the view from the craft room. It's actually the craft room on the proviso that it is also the guest room if guests come to stay. It's the second largest bedroom in the house and also the one with the nicest view out to the backyard and reserve behind our house.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Married

2011-04-10T14:07:00.003+10:00

So! We're married. 2 April 2011.
It was a great day if I may say so myself. I had an early start getting my hair and makeup done and then the BFG and his family came over to my younger sister Lucille's house to do the traditional "door kicking" thing (it's really a chance for bridesmaids to get some cash out of the groom and give him a hard time!).

We did the tea ceremony with his family and my family and then we were off to our civil ceremony. The ceremony was held at Banjo Paterson Cottage Restaurant down by the river. Our marriage celebrant was great. She really personalised the ceremony. The BFG and I wrote our own vows.

I didn't have a bridesmaid and the BFG didn't have a best man. We walked down the aisle together and that's exactly how I wanted it to be. Our sisters did a great job of doing the readings and my older sister and her husband both made a speech on behalf of my parents (who would be mortified if they had to get up and say something). The BFG's parents flew in from Denmark and his sister and family came from the UK. It really was lovely having everyone there.

The funny thing is, I've always HATED weddings. I love the idea of being married but the whole process of the wedding used to scare the crap out of me. But we had a very laid back ceremony and wedding so I think it all worked out in the end.

I'm quite proud to say that I didn't turn into a bridezilla (although I did have one incident that annoyed the hell out of me). The only thing I was quite hung up about was getting blue shoes (which I did get in the end) and getting a cake that matched the invites (that happened too - but seriously, now that I think about it - who cares??). I would have been happy to have been married in my own backyard (which we now have one too!!).

We also moved house in the same week. How crazy was that? Silly silly silly. That's all I can say.

Counting down

2011-03-15T21:51:00.003+11:00

I realised that there aren't that many weeks (or days for that matter) left till moving day and wedding day. I have done zilch with the packing. Yesterday I was rather dismayed when the BFG went through the online booking process for the removalists and ticked "NO" to the packing service. I could easily have paid for help from complete strangers packing up my knickers.

As for the wedding, I feel like I've been pretty laid back (apart from my Bridezilla moments with the BFG), I've made some pretty definite decisions about the wedding. I bought my wedding dress off the rack from Carla Zampatti, booked our wedding venue after just checking out one place, printed off our invitations ourselves with the help of someone in our Presentations team at work, etc.

But for some reason, I was really hung up about having blue shoes for my wedding. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I saw a really nice pair of robin egg blue Mary Janes with a cream trim on a wedding site and had it in my head that I should be married in a pair like that. Needless to say, I found NOTHING that remotely resembled that perfect pair of shoes pictured in my imagination. I looked on the American eBay site for Chie Mihara shoes, contacted the one and only supplier of Fluvog in Australia (in Melbourne!) to see if they have anything close to it and even contemplated getting a pair made.

Before I actually resorted to such Bridezilla foolishness (and cause serious damage to my credit card), I found a pair of blue vintage Ferragamo T-strap shoes on Etsy. They came today in the mail all the way from France!! Oh how I love online shopping! And I doubly love the Australian Dollar sitting at parity with the US Dollar!!

And so finally....

2011-02-22T15:32:00.003+11:00

We bought a house! Settlement is on the 25 March so I just nicked this picture off the real estate website. This is the back deck.

I'm happy and glad to finally have my Saturdays back. No more open houses, trudging through dilapidated houses which go for arm and a leg and probably your liver as well. No more arguments with the BFG that went like this: "I DON'T CARE THAT IT HAS A SMALL KITCHEN, WE HARDLY COOK".

Oh and did I tell you that my wedding is on the 2 April? We're going to try to move in before the wedding. Crazy I know. Luckily, the house doesn't need much work and we're not having a huge wedding.

Where Librarians gather to take over the world

2011-02-02T09:45:00.004+11:00

The ALIA Information Online Conference 2011 is currently on and I'm attending two out of the three days that it is on. This is the fourth one I've attended (the first as a vendor, so was stuck at the exhibition stand all day).

Because I finally caught up with technology and now have an iPhone, I decided to reactivate my Twitter account while attending the conference. Wow, what a change this has made to enjoying the conference. It's interesting to see what other people were thinking about the Keynote speaker in real time (kind of like passing notes in class about the teacher).

I also went to the Twitter meet up after the conference welcome drinks and got to meet a few people who were twittering all day.

This is Iarla Flynn from Google, one of the keynote speakers.

I had to take a photo of him and send it to the BFG. There is a story behind Google and the BFG. For those in the know, I'm about to marry a guy whose name is the same as another famous ex-Google employee (hint: he's the one who defected and went to work for Facebook).

Anyhoo... follow me on Twitter.

Welcome 2011

2011-01-07T14:45:00.001+11:00

I have to say, I'm quite happy to see the end of 2010. It seems like quite a few of my friends feel the same way.

I had about ten days off work over Christmas and New Year so that was a much needed break. The BFG and I had a couple of days at the beach and since I tan easily, I now look like I've been somewhere quite exotic.

Wedding plans are now in full swing (as in we booked and paid the deposit for the reception venue). I wish I could get more into it but sometimes planning a wedding seem like such a chore! Oops did I just say that??

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Athens, Spain and UK

2010-12-30T20:28:00.002+11:00

I thought seeing as the year is drawing to a close, I'd better finish off these holiday posts so I can finally start talking about other things!! After beautiful Santorini, the BFG and I stayed a few days in Athens, then a week in Spain and then a week in the UK.

The Acropolis

The Parthenon

We went to this sandal maker as it was recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide (which I've yet to return to you Katie!!) It's a very cute shop with poetry all over the place run by three generations of sandal makers. I picked a style, they measured my foot and an hour later, the sandals were made - I just had to wait a while before wearing them as I needed to let the glue dry! They have had heaps of celebrities go there, one being Sofia Loren!!

Our main reason for going to Spain was to eat. It was a toss up between Italy and Spain and in the end, the thought of buying Camper shoes at the source won out. This was one of my favourite places to eat in Madrid - the Museum of Ham!

Royal Palace - Madrid
Symbol of Madrid

We took a day trip out to Toledo on the bullet train - lovely walled city

Suckling pig - yum yum

Marzipan

Creepy sculptures at the Train station - creepy BFG coming out of it's ear included

After a week of eating and being complete pigs ourselves (and a pair of Campers each), we flew out of Madrid and into wet wet London Luton airport. I know Luton from that show Airport (think that's what it's called) and all the fun stuff that comes with flying Easyjet. I have no complaints of either really. It was just wet and miserable when we got to Luton. We had to go pick up our hire car and found out that they do not hire out automatic cars - so no driving for me! We ended up having to drive to York because we had left buying the train ticket thing too late and it was phenomenally expensive. It actually worked out cheaper to hire a car and drive. But seriously, a 3 hour drive took 5 and a half because of the rain and all these roads being closed.

Knaresborough near York - we had a few days in York as the BFG's sister and family lived there. Just what I imagined the English countryside to be!!

The Minster in York

London
I seriously don't recall why I was so desperate to go back to London. It wasn't as fun as I remembered it to be. But I have a feeling it was because I wasn't interested in going to see all the usual London sites (eg Westminster Abbey, the Palace, etc etc) because I did all that last time. In fact, we found London to be expensive, full of people and a bit drab. I wish we had gone to Oxford to visit fellow knitter with the same name instead (next time Lien!!).

I did get to spend a day with a friend of mine who I met through work and also some colleagues in our London office (this was purely social - so no work for me!). The most exciting thing we did in London was:

Celebrity spotting

and eating at Ottolenghi.

Ok, I can't believe I'm going to say this. But I found our trip too long. I'm not saying that 4 weeks off work was too long, but that traveling for 4 weeks is too long. Next time, I'll just go for 3 weeks and have a few days to recover! Anyway, the nice thing about being engaged to a European, is that there are always reasons to go to Europe.

Santorini - Greece

2010-12-19T21:01:00.004+11:00

Just outside our Oia house
Church
View from just outside of our Oia house
Island transport
The colourful houses of Oia
Trekking on the volcano
Black sand beaches

If you plan on going to Santorini, I would highly recommend staying in Oia rather than the main town (Fira). The BFG and I aren't really party all night people and so sleepy Oia was just perfect for us. Disclaimer: Oia is only sleepy for about 2 hours in the day, then the tourists from the Cruise ships come up for the views and the sunset!!

Copenhagen

2010-12-04T08:46:00.008+11:00

It's been a while since the last post hasn't it? I haven't forgotten about my trip. Lots happening on the home front and most of it not good. I've been so sad, angry and trying to cope that it seems everything is secondary. And unfortunately this blog is one of the little things in my life that gets neglected. But I'm trying to stay positive and get back into life.

Anyway, back to my trip and happier times. We stayed in Copenhagen for 4 days. After the disastrous attempt at riding a bike back in Svendborg, the BFG decided it best if we (or me) not attempt to ride a bike in supposedly bike friendly Copenhagen.

Louisiana - Modern Art Gallery
Kronborg Castle
Finally a photo of me! Nyhavn
Royal Opera House
Cheap cheap raspberries!!
It was September and the Danish elves were already out to play

What would a visit be to Denmark be without seeing the Queen?

Odense and Hans Christian Anderson

2010-11-11T16:46:00.003+11:00

A street in Odense

Paper cutout by H.C Anderson

3-D paper cutout by H.C Anderson

We did take a trip over to Odense (about a 20-30 minute drive from Svendborg) to go see the Hans Christian Anderson museum which has been built around the house purported to be where he was born. While the house is nothing exciting, the exhibits showing his paper cut outs were amazing. Definitely worth the visit if you happen to find yourself in Odense one day (third largest city in Denmark - so chances could be high).

Ærøskøbing

2010-11-10T16:12:00.004+11:00

A couple more photos of the Sound (or Sund - in Danish) near where the BFG's parent's live.

Vindeby Harbour

Svendborg Sund Bridge

So the week we spent in Denmark, we had ONE sunny day and I'm so glad we got to go to Ærøskøbing which in on the island of Ærø. This meant a trip on the ferry and the BFG's dad took the car. (If you read the Denmark section in Bill Bryson's book "Neither here nor There", he talks about taking ferries in Denmark and the whole time we were on the ferry I was reminded of his book.)

Ærøskøbing

Church in Ærøskøbing

Ærøskøbing

Doors of Ærøskøbing

Summer house - Ærøskøbing

Smoked Mackeral and beer

We decided to go to Ærøskøbing after reading about it in my very old "Europe on a Shoestring" Lonely Planet guide (the one I bought the first time I went to Europe but didn't read at all the whole time I was there!). But in that guide, they called it Ao which is either an oversight in Editor's proofreading, or they couldn't get the Æ letter to happen on their printers (I couldn't work out how to get these Danish letters to appear either. I've just been copying and pasting what the BFG had typed previously in my Picasso albums!!)

Svendborg - Denmark

2010-10-26T20:33:00.004+11:00

I had booked our flights to Europe with Thai airways mainly because they let us fly into Copenhagen and out of London for a fairly decent price. Now that I think about it, there is a reason for that. Our flight between Sydney and Bangkok was rather uneventful. Uneventful because the BFG promptly put his headphones on and tried to watch as many inflight movies as he could which meant very little talking. There was a 4 hour wait in Bangkok where I decided that we just had have some Thai food (we were in Thailand!)

The second part of our trip from Bangkok to Copenhagen was really long. Like 11 hours long. Like this is a really old plane and there are no more personal screens, and you can really tell you are in economy long.

When we finally landed in Copenhagen, we proceeded to go buy train tickets so that we could take the train out to where the BFG's parents lived. But not before the BFG consumed what was to become one of many hot dogs. The Danish really like their hot dogs.

On the train, I was thinking how things weren't really as expensive as the BFG was making it out to be. Our train tickets only cost about $12 AUD which I thought was pretty cheap for a 2 hour ride. However when the conductor came round to check out tickets, we realised that we had only purchased a seat and not a ticket. It took me a while to work that one out too - I was trying to come up with all these scenarios as to why someone would buy a seat and not at ticket. I thought it was just assumed that you would be travelling if you bought a seat. Anyway, turns out we had to pay extra for the ticket which actually cost something like $60 AUD each - ok, so now I see how it can be expensive.

What felt like a journey of epic proportions (because by now, I felt like I've had 2 hours sleep and we had crossed a massively long bridge that connected Zealand to Funen), we were picked up by the BFG's parents at the train station.

The BFG's parents live on Tasinge, an island in Svendborg (think Denmark - all islands). Cute thatched roof houses scatter among the apple trees (there are apple trees EVERYWHERE) and rows of houses with their window blinds drawn looking like little display homes line the streets. What amazes me is that there are no mass produced match box houses anywhere in sight and people still live in houses where the roof can be blown away by the Big Bad Wolf!

We went for a drive around, with the BFG's mum pointing out the sights and we had a short stop in Summerland (think that's what it's called) - an area full of summer houses. Below is the summer house the BFG's family owned for a long time and which his grandfather helped build.

While poking around and nosying at other people's summer houses, we picked at wild berries and apples. During the drive, the BFG's mum also pointed out the wild pheasants roaming the countryside. My first reaction was "wow, free food". The BFG's reaction to that was "gosh, you're so Asian".

And we're back

2010-10-26T12:05:00.003+11:00

It's been two weeks since we arrived home and it feels like so long ago that we were half way across the world. I'm trying really hard not to dwell on my post holiday blues and get back into work and life in general. Luckily, there was a very cute, very small package waiting for me when I got back. A package in the form of a new nephew. Yep, my sister had another baby while we were away and Baby J (who is now a little terror in his own right) has someone he can pick on (or love - depending on the mood).

The other thing I had waiting for me when I got back was wisdom teeth surgery which I had done last Friday. Because I was getting more than 2 out, I had to go under a general anaesthetic. There is absolutely nothing fun about that.

Anyway, I'm going to start blogging about my trip. Normally, I keep a travel diary whenever I go overseas but this time, I didn't. It's all in my head and I have a lot of photos to help me remember.

This is the second time I've been to Europe. The last time was in 2000, I went by myself and joined a Contiki tour for 3 weeks. While I don't mind the organised tour, I think I had way more fun this time with the BFG doing our own thing. I think what made it so good was that I travelled with someone who I really enjoy being with (unlike organised tours where you're just confined to a bus with people you wouldn't normally share appetizers with) and in the case of Contiki tours - more Aussie bogans than you can poke a stick at. Sure, the BFG and I had a few disagreements while we were away (as the good people of Athens and York can attest), but at the end of the day, I'm still glad that it was him I was with when I found myself with a terrible sore throat and not being able to speak any Spanish to the pharmacist, or sharing the excitement when we thought we were spotting celebrities in London, or even having someone to sit next to on the plane (so you can try both the chicken AND the beef).

Madrid - strike

2010-09-29T04:29:00.000+10:00

Just got back from Toledo. General strike on in Spain tomorrow but it looks like the protests have started!

Athens

2010-09-26T16:11:00.000+10:00

I'm blogging about Athens just as we're about to leave for Madrid. The BFG and I spent the last two days exploring all the ancient and archeological sites. The Parthenon was the most amazing thing I've seen for a long time. Remember doing "projects" at school? Well I did one on the Parthenon and it's great to have been able visit in person!

We also did an Athens walking tour which I highly recommend even though I thought it was a bit expensive. The two of us have also been eating like crazy! I'm getting fat so it will definitely be back to the weight watchers way of life when we get back!

Oia love

2010-09-22T16:56:00.000+10:00

We love Oia so much we decided to stay another day. Luckily we can stay in the same apartment I had booked. We're having breakfast at this cafe overlooking the caldera and this is the first photo I can get of the blue domed churches without the hordes of tourists vying for a photo op.

I'm having a really strong greek coffee with my breakfast for the equivalent of $5 AUD. Back home I would be mumbling and grumbling about paying more than $3 for a coffee. Here, wouldn't even bat an eyelid. At least it's a bit cheaper than Denmark where we paid around $8 for a coffee.

Anyway, something else I've noticed here in Santorini? There are heaps of Australians here. That segment they did on Getaway a few weeks ago must have really worked!

Oia - Santorini

2010-09-19T23:56:00.000+10:00

This is the indulgent part of our holiday. I've booked 3 nights in Oia and we're staying in one these old Oia houses on the cliff. No words can express how truly beautiful this place is. Having left a rather chilly Copenhagen this morning, the warm weather is a welcome change.

We're about to go get some supplies and hopefully find somewhere where we can have a gyros.

Nyhavn

2010-09-17T18:27:00.000+10:00

We're about to do the very touristy thing and take a canal tour. The clouds are looking rather ominous but it's been like that since we've arrived in Copenhagen.

I have never seen so many tall skinny people with funky glasses in my life! The BFG has been pointing out all the women with legs up to their armpits to me. Oh and the all the stylish people on their push bikes! We did try to do a bike ride when we were still in Svendborg. Let's just say it wasn't the brightest idea of the day. My butt and legs hurt like there was no tomorrow and total distance cycled? Less than 3 kilometres! I had seriously thought we could make use of the free city bikes but I think at the end of the day, me walking would be safer - for me and the Copenhagen folk.

No longer here

2010-09-16T00:32:00.000+10:00

Just a quick update until I find an internet cafe somewhere I can write a longer post. But here you can see where the little mermaid should be. She's on loan to China at the moment for the world expo. Luckily the BFG's dad drove us here cause it's not close to the city centre. I'd be pretty pissed if I had walked all the way just to find this!

Hello Denmark!

2010-09-13T17:45:00.000+10:00

We've finally made it here to Denmark! It's been a while since I've taken a long haul flight and it makes me realise how far Australia really is!

This is a view from the BFG's parent's house on their top floor. They live about two hours out of Copenhagen in Svendborg. We will be going out on a ferry today and it's a lovely day! I was worried it would rain as it did yesterday when we arrived.

Did you hear about the hotel bombing in Copenhagen on Friday? Lucky we weren't there but seriously, the guy was trying to bomb the cheapest and nastiest youth hostel in Copenhagen.

Engaged and on our way

2010-09-11T15:17:00.000+10:00

So The BFG proposed to me last Sunday! Just before our mega trip away to Europe. Thought I'd share while we wait for the plane to take off. I love love love this ring. It's the Georg Jensen fusion ring. He said this is the "proposal ring" and we'll pick an engagement together. I thought it was sweet and very "Generation Y" even though we're both so past that!

I am a calm person... really

2010-07-28T16:38:00.004+10:00

Actually, that's a lie. If you know me, you'll know that I don't tackle things calmly. I talk pretty fast, accidently raise my voice when I get excited about things and in general am a drama queen.

The last few weeks have been this up and down roller coaster ride with my emotions. All because we are trying to buy a house. This isn't the first time I've done the house buying thing. I did buy a farm and built a house and I was there for most of the time when my younger sister bought her place. But it seriously does not get easier and I don't really feel any wiser each time.

So, the BFG and I have been looking for nearly a year now. In hindsight I'm not all that sure why it has taken us so long except that it's an expensive exercise. So in the last couple of weeks, I really thought we had found THE ONE! A lovely weatherboard cottage with polished floorboards. Not exactly in the suburb we were previously looking in but it was close to a train station and I can still get to work without having to get up too early.

We made an offer, offer was rejected, we made another offer which was also rejected and vendors were going to sell to someone else. Fine - put that one out of my mind. By the end of the week, I was already onto looking at other properties. The real estate agent called the BFG. The sale didn't go through with the other buyer and did we still want to buy it? Yes of course!! I've already started to imagine me living in that suburb and have checked the local library (open till 9pm each night), the local yarn shop (yes - really - there is a yarn shop within walking distance to the house) and all the other boring stuff like where to shop for groceries.

So we set about doing our due diligence and ordered building and pest inspection reports, organised finance and at the same time trying to fend off the real estate agent who was pushing us to sign the contract of sale. So you know this will end badly right? As I am panicking about the idea of being guzumped and having the property sold from under us, the pest report came back and guess what? Termites!

I have a friend who bought a house where termites were found. She fixed it and is now living in it. But she did buy that house dirt cheap many years ago. This house is not dirt cheap (no house is in Sydney). The worst case scenario for this house was a tear down and rebuild.

Needless to say, I'm really disappointed but glad that we didn't buy an expensive dud house. One of the most stressful aspects of house buying was dealing with the real estate agent. She seriously is a piece of work. Lucky for me, the BFG is generally quite calm and collected and can deal with these things. Me, not so good.

Anyway, I've decided to channel my energy into organising our month long holiday to Europe in September. I've already booked the flights. We're still undecided as to where we want to go (Greece, Italy, France, Germany???) but we will definitely be going to Denmark (my first visit) and England as well as Spain. We finally settled on one week in Spain because of my love of Camper shoes and Zara clothing.

Bye bye Melbourne

2010-06-03T18:51:00.000+10:00

My flight to Melbourne was delayed yesterday so felt like I had spent all morning waiting at the airport. I had a conference to attend in Albert Park (so pretty!).

I decided to take advantage of this trip to Melbourne and stayed an extra day to catch up with friends and do some shopping. I've been following Pip's blog - "Meet me at mike's" for a while, so I decided to drop by her little shop in Fitzroy to have a sticky beak.

I'm quite in love with the Melbourne trams! Really wish Sydney would put them back in and go to where people need to go - instead of just servicing a handful of people!

Flying

2010-06-02T07:50:00.000+10:00

I have only ever missed one flight but that was enough to make me paranoid enough to get myself to the airport insanely early.

Oh... And last night the Socceroos beat Denmark. Not everybody is happy! Me? I'm thrilled to bits.

What I'm Reading

2010-05-20T17:57:00.000+10:00

Just wanted to try posting from my new-to-me Blackberry!

She said.. he said...

2010-04-27T12:29:00.002+10:00

Conversation with the BFG at Berkelow Book Barn in Berrima yesterday:

Me: "Why don't we randomly select one of these really old books each, read through it and tell each other what it's all about"

BFG: "Lets not"

Me: "You're no fun"

BFG: "You already know that. Why don't we play network games - pick one each and we both play"

Me: "Ok - so will you do the book thing?"

BFG: "No"

Well, that was basically the gist of the conversation.

Finding Nemo

2010-04-07T22:01:00.009+10:00

The BFG was a bit offended by my last post of "nothing happening here". I suppose I feel like I've been so busy trying to get stuff done that I forget the stuff that I'm doing is actually quite significant. And the most significant is that I have finally moved in with the BFG.

We've practically been living together for the last year, but I still kept my room at my sister's place, paying rent and stopping by to pick stuff up whenever I needed it. Finally, I was sick of not having all my stuff in the one place and so we decided that I may as well officially move into the 2 bedroom flat he was already in. Anyway, there you have it, while I didn't think moving house was that exciting, I guess moving in together is something significant and worthy of a mention on this little blog.

So after the move, the BFG and I went to "find Nemo"...

We spent a week up at Port Douglas (an hour and bit out of Cairns). It's currently their wet season and so it rained on and off for most of the time we were there. Despite the rain, the weather was warm and a bit humid so we were still able to enjoy the pool in our hotel.

We booked a reef tour with Aristocat to go snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. The day we went the weather was fantastic. Sunny blue skies and the reef was everything I imagined it to be (we went to 3 different sites out at the Agincourt ribbon reefs).

I was quite paranoid about being on open waters because I'm a pretty crap swimmer and I have a real fear of drowning (probably one of the worst ways to die). Luckily, the tour offered "flotation aids" which is just a fancy name for a pool noodle. I wasn't ashamed to take one (better to look the dork than be on the 6 o'clock news). The BFG who is a pretty good swimmer took one and then realised that it was hampering his diving down towards the coral (I was happy to just gently float on the surface) and ditched his at the third site we went to.

The day after, we were booked onto a day tour to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation which also stopped at Mossman Gorge.

Me at Cape Tribulation

One of the things to see up in the Daintree is the Cassowary. If you've seen the movie Up, the whole tour was like the hunt for this elusive bird! We finally caught sight of it as we were leaving the Daintree.

We didn't see any crocodiles on our Daintree River Cruise but not to disappoint, we did manage to spot one or two when we went on the Lady Douglas river boat.

This was a truly relaxing holiday as we had quite a bit of time to do not very much. Generally not the way I holiday, but after having no time off last year, this was just perfect. Oh, the other thing which we did do a lot of was eat...

The tropical fruit up in Northern Queensland is so much cheaper than in Sydney. I couldn't resist and bought heaps of rambutans and mangosteens from the Sunday markets.

Our last night in Port Douglas we decided to have this huge seafood platter for two. I'm glad we saved this for last - it meant that I didn't have to try to fit into a swimming costume the next day!

We're definitely going to try to go back and perhaps next time, we might actually give diving a go.

Nothing to see here...

2010-03-23T23:24:00.003+11:00

This is about the most exciting thing that has happened to me in the last few weeks.

We bought a shoe rack.

Now where were we??

2010-02-07T21:10:00.010+11:00

Oh that's rights - Christmas and my Birthday passed all too quickly. Then New Year happened and we went to "Lawn with a view" and watched the fireworks from the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Then Australia Day passed with a visit to the Australian Museum which I haven't been to since I was five. They moved the poor mummy to a crappy location in a foyer to the Gem and Minerals collection (I was quite disappointed to see that they did this). And for our Australia Day dinner, I made Pavlova with my new KitchenAid mixer - but it sank - and I nearly cried.

This new year, I've decided to be more "productive". Knit more, craft more, read more, cook more (ok - this one might be stretching it a bit), and run more. In doing so, hopefully I will be more organised (I'm not sure how I made the connection here, but there you go). So my new year's challenges - I have totally stopped using "resolutions":

On being more organised
To begin with, when the BFG's parents were here, we had to clean out the spare room so that the BFG and I can move into it. We've managed to maintain a level of tidiness in there and it has been great as a second place to hang out. I'm in the spare room as I'm typing this, thinking how wonderful it is to have a proper study. I do a bit of work every Sunday night (yes work work - so it is available first thing Monday morning) and it's so nice to be able to do this at a proper desk as I look out the window instead of hunched over my laptop in front of the TV like I normally do.

So the plan is to keep the spare room tidy so I can work properly in it and hopefully have it organised so that I can finally find everything (my paperwork, craft things, etc).

On reading more
I have powered through several books since Christmas. As one of things which I'm doing to be more productive, I have taken to reading for half an hour before I go to bed. So instead of falling asleep in front of the TV, I make an effort to get my sorry ass off the couch, get myself ready to go to bed and actually read for half an hour.

This has resulted in me finishing:

"The Slap" by Christos Tsiolkas (we did this for my bookclub and this book generated a lot of discussion - highly recommend it);

"My Life in France" by Julia Childs (got this after I saw the movie);

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson (I must be the last person to have read this but I got it because the BFG's parent's bought me the third book and I've been wanting to read it for a while).

While I wait for my next instalment of the Stieg Larsson trilogy to arrive (and also my next bookclub book (which is Cormack McCarthy's "The Road")) I am reading Kathy Reichs "Deja Dead" which I picked up at the op shop for $1 and also "Green Greener Greenest" by Lori Bongiorno which my sister gave me.

On Knitting and Crafting
I have also managed to further develop a new craft! Remember the tatted choker from my last post which my friend Katie made for me? Well I was totally inspired to pick up tatting again which she had shown me how to do a while ago. This time, I've actually completed something (excuse the photo - I just took it and it's late already).

I made this tatted bookmark which still needs to be blocked but I love it already. I've got grand plans to make tatted jewelry and other bits and pieces.

On Cooking
When I say cooking, I generally mean baking (because that's the fun stuff). Apart from that disastrous Pavlova, I've made a great chiffon cake (and a bad one), a fruit cake using a recipe that Katie sent me (who got it off someone else) and some cookies. I've also started do to meal planning. Seeing as we can't eat cake every night and I really hate going to the supermarket, I've decided to spend a few minutes each Sunday night thinking about lunches and dinners for the week. Luckily the BFG is quite agreeable to my suggestions and hopefully this can lead to painless supermarket shopping trips.

On Running
Last year I participated in two running events - the Bridge Run and the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. This year, I don't think my work is sponsoring the Sydney Running Festival which the Bridge Run is a part of and instead, they are going to sponsor the City to Surf. So while I'm sure we'll still do the Bridge Run, this year our goal is to try to run (hopefully, if not at least run most of it) the whole 14 km of the City to Surf.

I think this list isn't too difficult to maintain.

Birthday surprises

2009-12-31T14:34:00.010+11:00

This seems rather indulgent and a bit smug at the same time - dedicating a whole post on what I received for my birthday and Christmas. As you may or may not know, my birthday happens to fall on Boxing Day. Most people when I tell them make sympathetic noises and lament on how sucky that can be. When I was at school, it did seem like a big deal as I was never there for people to fuss over like my friends had when they turned up to school on their birthday. But since entering the world of adults and started to work full time, I can see the positive side of having one's birthday fall on a public holiday. It means that I never have to work on that day.

I did receive a lot of presents this year, despite our family just doing Kris Kringle and only buying one present.

So my favourite? It has to be this:

The BFG and I have had many "discussions" as to why I "need" to have a KitchenAid mixer. Not just any mixer and definitely not the K-mix by Kenwood who is trying to look like a KitchenAid. So I was utterly surprised to open this on Christmas day.

You know when someone loves you when they buy you an expensive piece of kitchen equipment even though they secretly believe that you don't cook enough to warrant one. I've always wanted the almond cream one as I love how it looks so retro. Now we just need to find that house, with that perfect kitchen for me to display it... I mean, use it in.

So the other present I wanted to show off was this beautiful tatted choker which my friend of many talents Katie made for me. This was such a thoughtful gift and it looks absolutely stunning on.

I also received the third book in the Stieg Larsson Millenium trilogy from the BFG's parents and so am keen to start reading the whole series. My sister and brother in law got me an umbrella with the Eiffel tower on it (ok - apart from my obsession with knitting, I also have a small collection of Eiffel towers collected from my own and other people's trips to France). My younger sister Lucille who is much more fashionable than I am got me new jeans which fit perfectly.

I also received some new notebooks from the BFG's sister and also my friend Becky. One of them, I'm saving as a travel diary for our upcoming trips this year and another I've decided to start writing in everyday again. I've always kept a diary but I find that I write more when I am particulary angry or upset about things and it's quite therapeutic. Not that I plan to be an angry and angsty person every day of the new year, but even writing down a line that summed up the day or week would be helpful when I want to remember things - good and bad.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T13:58:00.004+11:00

Merry Christmas! The BFG's parent's are here from Denmark and so we celebrated Christmas last night as is tradition with Europeans. Today was spent lounging around and then going to my sister's place for more food.

The BFG's Christmas elves came out to play along with some new friends.

I wanted to get a tree this year but the BFG who is a bit anti-Christmas decorations was not keen on the idea. So we made do with the little wooden tree he already had and on it I hung this beautifully tatted Christmas bauble which my friend Katie made for me.

Asger and Luna has also come all the way from Denmark to come and live with us.

Anyway, tomorrow is my birthday so I'm going to try to sleep in. I had plans to go to the beach and the movies but rain has been predicted. So we might end up just going to see a movie and playing with my new toys which is another post altogether. I have so much to show off!

A minute in Sep, Oct and all the bits in between

2009-11-02T15:55:00.007+11:00

So joining a monthly meme is still not enough to keep me blogging more regularly. Terrible I know. I still read other people's blogs (actually I read a lot of blogs), I just neglect my own.

Anyway, in trying to keep with the theme:

Looking: We're still house hunting. However, I've decided to channel the "Information Professional" in me and actually do this in a structured and informed way. This weekend, instead of a few hurriedly scribbled notes on a notepad, I had a whole bunch of properties and their open times printed out which we sorted, prioritised and worked out the order in which we would see them.

Lunch at Pappa's Patisserie in Haberfield after viewing 7 properties

Reading: Heliopolis by James Scudamore. I haven't finished a book for my book club in a long time so I was pretty excited how quickly I got through this one. This was a nice easy read. I wasn't particularly engaged with the protagonist or the rest of his family but the descriptions of the divide between the rich and the poor in Brazil is a great eye opener.

Admiring: Book club was at my friend Becky's place. The BFG who did not read the book, wanted to come along because Becky bought one of these:

Image here

Watching: I am totally hooked on this season's "The Amazing Race" - they're in Cambodia now but they started the race going to Vietnam! Brought back all these memories. The other show which is bringing back memories is Luke Nguyen's Vietnam.

Making: Why is it that I always start something big just as the weather warms up? I'm currently knitting Coraline by Ysolda Teague. I've already done the main part of the body and now up to one sleeve.

Eating: October being the Sydney International Food Festival, my manager and I went to a couple of the "Let's do Lunch" specials. Unlike last year where we tried a few different places, this year we were so impressed with the massive steak at Mad Cow we went twice!

Running: The BFG and I both did the Bridge Run this year. I really think next year I can run the whole thing. Next week, I'm doing the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge again (5.6km).

Planning: Some holiday. I really need it. Since my trip to Vietnam last year, I have only had one day off work (apart from public holidays and being sick). The trip to New Zealand doesn't count as I was tired before I left and more tired coming home (on the first flight back in the morning). I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think the type of holiday I really want is one where I lie on the beach somewhere with a good book and some knitting (I'm not normally that type of holiday person, I'm the one that has the itinerary all planned out to the minute with specific sightseeing goals all mapped out). But seeing as we have a huge trip planned for next year (and how the RBA spoiled Christmas), it will more likely be a holiday by our pool (which is really just as nice).

Forever young, I'm gonna be forever young...*

2009-09-22T23:50:00.003+10:00

The BFG and I made a quick trip across to Christchurch, New Zealand (literally left Friday evening and returned first thing Monday morning) for a weekend away. I can't exactly say it was an impromptu, live by the seat of our pants, do something spontaneous because we're young and can go overseas at the drop of a hat - type of trip. I booked the tickets ages ago.

We basically spent the Saturday sightseeing around Christchurch. Went up the Cathedral (reminded me of that time I climbed the Arc de Triomphe but back then I was ten times more unfit than I am now). We also did the very touristy thing and took a ride on a gondola down the Avon River.

(Clockwise)
1. Christchurch Cathedral
2. New Regent St
3. The BFG (an uncooperative photo subject)
4. Tram
5. Punting on the Avon river
6. No entry sign (Of course I drove down that exact street.)
7. SOL Square (South of Litchfield) - funky bar district
8. Christchurch art gallery
9. Theatre next to the Arts Centre
10. Arts Centre
11. Avon River
12. BFG having a beer (very rare sight -he normally never drinks alcohol or coffee - or anything that I regularly indulge in.)
13. Me in front of the Cathedral. That scary hairy thing I'm waving around? It came off my jacket. So glad when the BFG pointed out that the stupid thing can be removed.

On Sunday, we decided to hire a car and drive out to Lyttleton and Akaroa which is just over the hills from Christchurch.

1. The speedy red Mazda 3 we hired to get to Akaroa
2. French street signs in Akaroa
3. Fish and chips
4. New Zealand green lip mussels
5. Me at Akaroa
6. New Zealand sheep - and no I was not about to hijack one for its wool!

It was a wonderful trip despite it being so brief. This is a great first step for us as it means we should be able to travel together when we go to Europe next year (fingers crossed nothing is going to jinx it). See the thing about me when it comes to travel is, that I can be quite a control freak. I'm pretty easy going once I arrive but its all the preparation for a trip beforehand that I need to have a say in. I agonise over things like which hotel to stay at (I changed my mind at least 4 times just for this trip), which travel insurance we should take out etc. I asked the BFG to book the hotel BUT I just couldn't NOT have a say in it. It's terrible and a character flaw, I know but I just can't help it. Oh well... Greece here we come!!

* song from the Tourism New Zealand ad

Just a minute in August

2009-08-31T21:35:00.005+10:00

Making: Swallowtail shawl - a while back, I won a prize on my friend Pom Pom's blog (without even knowing I had entered a competition - they're the best ones I think). The prize included two skeins of Morris & Son's Empire yarn. I decided to make the Elizabeth Zimmerman's February baby sweater for the baby in my life - the chubbers who is my nephew. Unfortunately, when I finished it, it was too small - how is it that babies grow so fast??? So I frogged it and re-knit it into the swallowtail shawl.

Reading: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke. Have you seen this monstrous tome? I just couldn't finish it. It did not hook me in and I think I just kept half heartedly tried to read it for my book club meeting. As one of the girls in my bookclub said "it would be twice as good if it was half as long".

Eating: After last month's dinner at est. for the BFG's birthday, I didn't really know how I would go back to regular restaurants once I've experienced fine dining. So I was pretty excited when the BFG decided to take me out to dinner to Forty One. The view was pretty spectacular and if you ever go, you must visit the bathrooms. There are floor to ceiling windows looking out onto Sydney Harbour. We had the 8 course degustation menu - well that was the only choice really. The BFG suggested I have the matching wines as well but seriously, I'd be totally tanked with that much wine. I wanted to enjoy the food and wanted to be sober to the end so just ordered one glass. I've saved the menu to start a collection (as in, I hope there are more to come).

Playing: Board Games. This Saturday past, the BFG was at work so there was no house-hunting. So I went and did something I've been meaning to do for a while and that was to check out the local op shop. I love garage sales and op shops. The BFG - he's not so keen. So with a whole Saturday to myself and not having to deal with real estate agents, I hopped down to the local Vinnies and managed to come away with a 1983 version of Trivial Pursuit, 2 vintage Scrabble sets, a retro-looking top, belt and a lovely bone china plate.

The thing about playing board games is that I am fiercely competitive. I hate losing. So when the BFG wanted to play Trivial Pursuit rather than Scrabble, I knew I'd be in trouble. Especially questions from 1983.

Doing: Running - The BFG and I have signed up to do the Bridge Run (9km) again this year (well I signed us both up and he had no choice really). We went for a trial run yesterday morning and did the Bay Run (7km). It wasn't so bad but I did get a blister.

Shopping: Glasses - I've always worn contact lenses because I'm vain. And also because the last pair of outrageously expensive glasses that I bought just did not fit my Asian face. They were plastic and Miu Miu. But they kept sliding down my nose. I basically wore them between the bathroom when I took off my contacts to the bedroom. I decided to give the glasses thing another try and so recently bought another pair of outrageously expensive glasses. This time, they are plastic and Prodesign. I'm hoping the Danish have got it right and designed a pair of glasses which will sit on my face properly. My Danish boyfriend approves (but then he is rather patriotic about most things Danish). So far they have been pretty good. I wear them during the week but on the weekend I still go back to my contact lenses - because I'm vain.

The thing about underquoting

2009-08-09T20:25:00.003+10:00

I thought that underquoting in real estate was supposed to be illegal! So the BFG and I went to look at this property a couple of weeks ago. We were told by the real estate agent what it was expected to go for and yesterday the property sold for $200k more than what we were quoted! This is the one reason why we don't want to go to Auction if we can help it. I really liked it, but the BFG wasn't that taken by it (he felt that it was pokemon small). My reservations about it was that it was across the road from a school. Anyway, luckily we didn't proceed with paying for a house inspection because that is way out of our price range!

I understand that generally it is difficult to see what sort of money the property will eventually sell for but if a real estate agent has been working in the area long enough, I'm pretty sure they would have a fair idea. Man, that really pisses me off.

Anyway, rather than go watch the auction like we had originally planned, we went to see a couple of other properties. We saw two properties which were complete dives and one which I'm in love with but just that little bit out of our price range. Oh well, I guess we're not in any real hurry but I just hate how house hunting just sucks up your whole Saturday. The funny thing is, we did go have a look at two one-bedroom apartments which were for sale in the same block. I suggested to the BFG that we should buy one each. It might make for a better relationship =)

Just a minute in July

2009-08-03T22:44:00.004+10:00

I've decided to officially play along with the "Just a minute" meme. Other players here. So you can at least expect one post a month.

Reading: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I really enjoyed reading this book but it was a really hard slog. The BFG suggested it for our July bookclub book. Because we can't share a book (we read at different speeds), I bought a copy from the guy who sets up stall outside the hardware store in Newtown on the weekends and my friend Jill kindly lent me another copy.

Watching: Coco Avant Chanel, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Transformers, the Muppets (on DVD).

Celebrating: Heaps of birthdays! Most importantly my wonderful BFG. Happy Birthday BFG! I took him out to dinner at est. The service was wonderful and the food was fantastic.

Making: Elijah. I finally finished making up Elijah and even took him out when we went to Kazbah for brunch with the BFG and his friends. I had second thoughts about giving it to my nephew Baby J, (thoughts of slobber and a lot of yanking went through my mind) but he's cuteness packaged as a baby so who am I to deny him?

Getting used to: New haircut. One day while I was at home trying to rid myself of the hacking cough of death, I decided to trim my fringe. Looking like I'd been attacked by a hedge trimmer, I decided to go get a proper cut. Now I'm sporting a heavy straight fringe. Some days it looks good, and on others it looks like I've just stepped off the mainland.

Searching: For the perfect new home. The BFG and I are house hunting. It's taken up so much of my excess thinking time that I'm already a bit over it. And we've only seriously started looking in the last 2 weeks. I just wish the perfect house in the perfect suburb at the right price just magically appears. All before summer hits please. Another summer in the BFG's hot apartment is not something I'm looking forward to. But then I do have my real home to go to I suppose - that has air conditioning, all my stuff, my bed, my favourite piece of furniture.... hmmm... maybe we should just move into my place***

***Have you ever seen this old episode of Gilmore Girls where the mother (can't remember her name) dates this guy and they decided to move into her house but then things get a bit weird because there is an uneven balance of power over the living arrangements as he feels like he's living under her roof. Well that's what we are trying to avoid.

Declutter

2009-07-14T16:25:00.003+10:00

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This ad sums up how I am when it comes to "knowing about stuff". Yes I admit it, I suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). This is where I find myself subscribing to a zillion and one things which I immediately hit delete once it reaches my Inbox. I hate the idea that I might not be on top of all the latest current events, trends (not that I really follow any), news and gadgets.

Today, I've decided to overcome this irrational fear and just discovered this really neat function called "UNSUBSCRIBE". That's right folks - gotta say goodbye to those emails from lastminute.com (I think I have only bought something from them once), Alan Kohler's Eureka report (I don't even remember why I subscribed to this investment newsletter - oh right, I work for an investment bank... that may have had something to do with it), visitbritain.com (yes, yes I will be coming but not in the next 6 months), americanapparel.net (I hate the way their models are in their newsletter - I have to make sure nobody is standing behind me before I open them up because they are so risque) and would you believe, I'm also unsubscribing from fairfax.com.au (publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald). I am literally on the SMH website all day, I don't need a follow up email to tell me what I've already read - especially one for business news, one for entertainment news and one for general news.

The idea now is to unsubscribe to everything that I automatically delete. First step - declutter Inbox. Don't know what the second step is as I can only do small amounts of cleaning at a time.

Just a minute in May

2009-06-08T18:55:00.007+10:00

This meme seems like a good way for me to do one massive blog post to sum up all that has happened in May.

LOVING: my new nephew (Baby J) who was born on the 20 May 2009. I've never really been one for babies and children but my friend Jill tells me that you do end up loving your own. But I think this extends to baby nephews as well. I believe that this addition to our family has finally filled that yearning my father has always had for a boy.

MAKING:

Baby Blanket

Elijah for Baby J

READING: When in Rome by Penelope Green, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - I'm rotating all three titles depending on how I'm feeling.

WATCHING: Harper's Island, Masterchef Australia, Spooks, Love My Way

SHOPPING:

Shiny shoes for work and play.

COOKING: Bundt cakes. I bought myself a bundt mould and from there, I have since made a chocolate and matcha one, a sour lemon one and an apple and cinnamon one from the last Donna Hay magazine.

LISTENING: This American Life (I'm really loving this podcast), getting back into Cast On, CraftLit, Get It Done Guy.

PLAYING: Living a retro life:

That he might really wear these vintage ties

What I would look like if I were me now in the 70's

DOING: The Global Corporate Challenge. I've been going on walks around the harbour during my lunch to try to clock up 10,000 steps each day. I realise that on an average day, I only walk about 3,000 steps.

Something finished

2009-04-26T20:15:00.005+10:00

That's me and my finished Minimalist Cardigan (bad picture - but it's just another black cardigan) and Cobblestone which I had finally finshed for my dad. This was yesterday on the BFG's balcony. He was playing computer games, so I set the timer on my camera phone for the picture. I'd use my camera except the battery was flat (and it was at my house) and I was impatient.

I look really tired - I wasn't really but some days, I just have that look. Generally it ties in with a bad hair day. I'm going through that "I think I should let my hair grow stage" which might last around 2 months before it annoys me so much that I'll make a visit to some random hairdresser and then sit there hating the haircut. I'm also thinking I need to start living the Weight Watchers way of life again.

I tried to find the cable thingy that goes from the phone to my computer but I've misplaced it (story of my life!) and remembered the Bluetooth function on the phone and my Mac. Love Love Love it when technology works. Zap, Zap, Zap and the photos were transferred.

Finished objects but nothing to show

2009-04-20T11:57:00.003+10:00

I've been bad with the blogging. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm bad with taking photos - or taking photos and then getting around to getting them off my camera. That has been my excuse for not blogging anyway.
If you actually go to my blog rather than read this through an RSS reader, you'll notice that I've updated my progress bars on my projects. Firstly, Cobblestone has been finished, Anna's shawl is now 90% done, I've killed off the Mr Bean Bear and added a few other things which I have finished recently.

I finally sewed up the Minimalist Cardigan after the BFG nagged (it was kind of sitting on his couch for about 2 months) and I love it. It's kind of heavy but that might have something to do with the very dense moss stitch. After finishing off that particular piece, I had this renewed energy to actually make an effort to finish off other languishing projects. Which of course leads me to Cobblestone which I started for my dad (ages ago). I stopped because I couldn't get my head around the short rows. So I fudged it a bit (but I think I get it now).

Anna's shawl - I tried to get the same colour again (I didn't even care about the dye lot) but Bendigo Woollen Mills no longer make it so I'm using a similar yarn but in a shade darker to finish off the border and be done with it. I love it but I'm over it too. It's a lace shawl with 36 or 38 repeats - I've only done about 25 and then ran out of yarn. Just...need...to...finish...it...

As you can see, no photos - I think I'll try to put some up soon. But no promises.
I realise that my weekends have been rather unproductive. A lot might have to do with just being sucked into that mindless vortex that is the television, catching up with friends and just generally not doing very much - although I think the BFG would disagree with that statement. He's happy to potter around the apartment all weekend, but that would seriously drive me insane. I need to get out of the house at least once every day.

The only other exciting news I've got to share is that the BFG and I are going to New Zealand in September. We're only going for the weekend (leaving Friday in the afternoon and returning first thing Monday morning). I'm excited because it will be our first trip away together - if we don't kill each other, it might mean we can attempt somewhere further away (like Venice). And the other reason why I'm quite excited is that spinning wheels are $100 cheaper (the Ashford brand ones anyway) over there than here in Australia. Okay, so I'm still thinking about the logistics of lugging home a spinning wheel but it's something to consider!

I took a spinning lesson quite a few years ago but never really got into it (and I've always thought that the hand spun yarn came out a bit "home-made") but I'm re-thinking the whole thing and might go get a couple of more lessons before making a commitment to buy.

So she says...

2009-03-18T17:22:00.005+11:00

Last night, I went out with a few friends (baby and toddler in tow - theirs not mine) for dinner and drinks. Dinner was a rather mundane affair at Hurricane's which had opened up in Darling Harbour - is it me or does having a fantastic view over the harbour give restaurants the right to serve just "so-so" food?

The highlight of the evening was a tarot card reading at the Watershed pub. I guess anything to draw in the crowds during this current "economic climate". A quick shuffle of the cards, cut the cards into 3 piles and then pick one pile was all that was required to have my fortune told.

Here is a quick summary of what she said to me:

There is an older man with a child who I will be getting closer with.

I will be made an offer to work overseas and I'll have to make a decision as to whether or not that is something I want to do.

I should be expecting a windfall in the form of a salary increase or bonus - more than I expected.

I will be making some financial decisions which will be quite positive.

A younger sister will be successful in whatever she does.

My family situation is good.

Okay, so she wasn't exactly the most exciting clairvoyant out there but it might have something to do with the fact that I was probably number 2359034831 person of the day to ask for a reading.

I have to say, I am a bit sceptical of these sorts of things (although I do subject myself to a daily read of the horoscopes when things aren't working out swimmingly for me - it's really TALKING TO ME!!)...

Anyway, with what she has to say, as far as I know the BFG does not have a child out there somewhere (how creepy would that be??) and there is no way I would want to date someone with a child - I'm reserving my "children love" for my own (people tell me that it will kick in when you have your own children - so we'll see).

As for the money situation - jeez, I really really really want that to happen. But this is why I'm sceptical:

The press keeps telling us that Australia is headed into a recession due to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC - or Global Fool's Crisis - as I read somewhere) AND I work for an investment bank. I'm lucky I still have a job, so why would they be offering me a salary increase now?

Isn't everyone coming into a windfall with the Government's $900 handout?
I completely suck when it comes to managing my own finances (ok BFG - you didn't just read that) so I doubt I would be making any great financial investments.

In terms of my family situation - well let's just say we haven't exactly been The Cleavers for a while. Although the bit about my younger sister might be true as she's a bit of a go-getter and the BFG and I (well it's mainly my idea) have talked about moving to Venice (this was just a random idea I had one day - why not Venice?).

Knitting with green

2009-02-20T17:13:00.004+11:00

I'm back at my usual haunt in the Botanical Gardens during my lunch hour for some knitting, reading and enjoying the sunshine. I suddenly have my knitting and reading mojo back but find that the two activities are in conflict. Which is why I'm working towards being able to do both at the same time. I am also obsessively watching Pushing Daisies during my commute to work which also cuts into my available knitting/reading time. Who would have thought there was knitting content in this short-lived series?

Because I'm still trying to work out the 'knitting without looking' thing, I'm just making a pair of simple stockinette stitch socks. The yarn is Tofutsies (that weird mix of wool, soysilk, cotton and chitin [fiber from shrimp]) and a pair of really short Hiya Hiya needles. I'm yet to work out how to do the gusset and toes using such short needles. I'm not sure they are the most comfortable needles to use, but there is definitely a novelty factor about them. It's like knitting with miniature needles.

To the zoo

2009-02-17T15:56:00.007+11:00

On a rather wet and rainy Saturday, the BFG and I decided (well actually, I decided) that we should go to the Zoo. The main reason for the visit was so we could see this absolute darling:

I was saying to the BFG, "so we're going to see the Pygmy Rhino". He replied with that exasperated tone that is nomally reserved for little people under the age of five "It's a Pygmy Hippo that we're going to go see". I'm not sure why I had it in my head that it was a rhino, but the one I wanted to see was the new baby!

A trip to the zoo wouldn't be complete without a visit to see the controversial Asian elephant exhibit:

I fully support the breeding programs of the zoos, but actually seeing the elephants in such a small enclosure, I truly believe that they should have been sent to Western Plains Zoo where there would be more space for them.

We also spent a lot of time looking at the Giraffes as the BFG felt a common connection with them because of their height.

Despite the small enclosures for some of the animals, they do get the best view:

A knitting post... Koolhaas

2009-01-14T17:01:00.007+11:00

The BFG is currently visiting his motherland on the other side of the world. To ensure that the cold in the northern hemisphere does not cause permanent damage to his brain cells and that we can continue to have adult conversations when he comes back, I made him this:

Pattern: Koolhaas - by Brooklyntweed
Yarn: Naturally Harmony 10 ply - 1.3 skeins used
Picture: When I asked him to take a picture for me of the hat, in my mind I had envisioned him with Koolhaas in front of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Instead, this is a picture of him in front of his grandmother's old house.

I actually started making this around August last year and completed it. But when he tried it on, it was too long and to make it fit properly, he would have had to roll the rim which I didn't like the look of. So, I just left it sitting there. I figured we were moving towards warmer weather and so there was no hurry to try to fix it. Anyway, I told him I'll try to get it sorted before he leaves. This of course didn't happen till literally a week beforehand. The pattern calls for 5 pattern repeats for the male version, and seeing as it was a smidge too long, I'd rip it back to 4.5 repeats. I think I was overestimating my skills in reading my own knitting. This pattern used a stitch marker which moved every 6th and 8th row of the pattern. So of course, there was no way I would be able to rip it back and work out where I was. I ended up ripping it right back to the ribbing and started knitting pretty much from scratch. I seriously hope he takes care of this hat because there is no way I'm going to be making another one. The cable needle nearly drove me insane. To top it off, I was knitting this on what must have been Sydney's hottest days in his really hot apartment.

Anyway, I've soon got another finished object to share and that is the Minimalist cardigan I was knitting. I've knitted up all the pieces, they are blocked (as well as I could do this) and now waiting to be sewn up. If anybody out there has some good tips on making this process less painful (like any outsourcing companies who might want to take the job), please let me know!! I feel like I need to enlist professional help.

Year in Review

2009-01-02T15:55:00.000+11:00

In 2008:

I got a new job - I seem to get a new job every time I move house. I'm not sure why this is, but for the last several years, each time I have moved house, not long after, I find myself a new job. (Someone once thought that I got a new job each time I got a new boyfriend - but I've had more different jobs than I have ex-boyfriends so that can't be it). So having moved house in late 2007, it was time to move on. I wasn't actively looking but I was feeling a bit bored at my last job and I wasn't quite sure how to handle this weird situation with a married German colleague (as in I didn't quite know how to tell him to just f*ck off). Anyway, word got out that I had itchy feet and an email offering me an interview saw me start the new job in February. A job which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!! Okay, not so much love as in - really, I'd rather be working than knitting sort of love.

I met the BFG - I've always found it interesting to see how other bloggers introduced new flames and extinguished the old. For me, I chose to just stop writing about him. But how to introduce a new person in your life without explaining where the old one went? Well, I figured that most people who read this blog are my friends and already know what is going on in my life. Others who found it through Google probably don't really care. So while Princess Mary met Prince Frederick of Denmark - I met the BFG (who unfortunately is in no way related to the Royals).

my Grandmother died - I've always had a strange relationship with my grandmother who passed away in April. Each time I visited, she would ask me "So, when are you getting married?" And each time, I would reply "Not yet" (I'm not quite sure why I didn't try to come up with something wittier, but somehow I don't think she would have got it). Anyway, the last time I visited her before she was transferred to a nursing home, she was still conscious and her question to me again (and mind you, this is from a woman suffering from dementia) was "When are you getting married?"

I finally graduated from my post-grad studies - I realise that academia and I were not meant for each other. I loved going to the lectures, participating in the discussions in tutorials and getting student discounts again. But I hated, loathed and was generally quite averse to the actual assignments required to pass subjects.

I went to Vietnam - When I went to Vietnam in August, I had this thing about photographing all these different signs that had the name (or word) "Lien" on it. I don't know why (could have something to do with my narcisstic tendencies?). From this, I realised that my mother could not have chosen a more common name. I had no trouble finding signs, etc with "Lien" plastered on it. It was on most buses as well. Go figure.

my uncle died - So having gone through my thirty years with no close family dying. In 2008, I experienced two. The thing about Chinese Buddhist funerals is that a) they go on for days and b) there is a huge amount of chanting/praying/kneeling which goes on. I have had longer conversations with my cousins at these funerals than I have in the last five years.

In 2008 I have learnt:

that I am good with small projects - Going by the number of completed small projects (mainly hats and scarves) and the number of completed larger projects (I'm thinking things like jumpers and cardigans) in 2008, I think that I need to work with my strengths (short attention span) and not get too hung up about my weaknesses (commitment phobia). I read knitting blogs every day where people are churning out a finished object every other week. I have come to accept that it is OKAY to not finish a project, that it is OKAY that friends and family don't get knitted presents from me, and more importantly, it is OKAY to have more than one project going at any given time.

that public transport and I will have to learn to live with each other - for my 18th birthday, I bought myself a new car. It probably wasn't the wisest decision for an 18 year old to make as I worked my ASS off for years to pay off that huge shiny red "love of my life". She was a red 1995 Honda GTI (automatic - because for the life of me, I CANNOT work a manual car) and guys on the road used to want me to race them (as if I would want to race my beautiful BRAND NEW car!). Anyway, now that its gone, I have not replaced her. Nor do I think I will in the near future as the environmentally responsible thing to do is NOT to have a car. But seriously, sometimes it kills me not to be able to go wherever I want to because Sydney transport is so crappo. I now buy train tickets in 3 month blocks, own pre-paid bus tickets and even have an inkling as to how buses work and how much I need to pay. A year ago, I didn't even know where the bus stops were.

So, after all that, Goodbye 2008 and Welcome 2009. I look forward to keeping up with my "every year's" resolution of being more organised, knitting more small and (hopefully) large projects, being more environmentally aware, persuading more people to take up running, converting more people to use less plastic (myself included) and convincing the BFG to take shorter showers.

A verry merry Christmas and happy Birthday

2008-12-30T12:48:00.005+11:00

This year, I spent Christmas day at the BFG's house - sleeping. It's not like I have been working super duper hard in the days leading up to Christmas. I managed to stay awake enough to exchange presents, eat breakfast, and dozed on and off while we tried to watch "The Librarian" (yes... this is extremely geeky of me and how could I have not known about it earlier?).

We ended up making our way back to my place for Christmas dinner where there was ham (my parents have a real fascination with Christmas ham and every year there is more than enough to feed the Republic of Congo), prawns, salad, and even lobster (credit crisis? what credit crisis?).

Not surprisingly, there was birthday cake. Not for Jesus, but for me. The sucky thing about having your birthday on Boxing Day, is that NOTHING (except for supermarkets) are open. So in order to have a fairly decent birthday cake, my sisters always get one on the 24th and we have the cake on Christmas Day - same every year. Same again this year.

After having such a sloth-ish Christmas Day, I was much more energetic on Boxing Day. So the BFG and I walked from his house to the cinemas (crazy crazy thing to do as it took over an hour and it was the beginning of what was going to be a really really hot day). Last year's Boxing Day blockbuster at the movies was Atonement. This year it appears to be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - which is of course what we went to see. Oh... watching that movie made me want to hop on a plane to New Orleans and have some good ole' chicken fried steak!!

Seeing as it was really getting to be a hot day, we took the bus and then the ferry to Manly for a stroll by the sea. It would have been nice to have gone for a dip in the surf, but seeing as we're both not that organised, we didn't have our swimmers with us. So we just enjoyed staring at the British backpackers. I stared at their blistering lobster red skin and the BFG, I'm sure was staring at something else.

Movies and the Beach - that is my favourite way to spend a birthday!

Kylieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

2008-12-18T11:27:00.004+11:00

Kylie.com
One of the benefits of working where I do, is that my company has a Corporate Box at Acer Arena. Normally, an email goes round our department if there are spare tickets to an event and we all madly respond to try to get tickets. So far, I've been to see Celine Dion (not really my thing, but my sisters love her) and Eros Ramazotti (no idea who he is but apparently quite popular in Europe). So I was particularly excited when our little pod of support staff were invited to see Kylie Minogue on her Australia tour. We were allowed to bring a partner or a friend. All my colleagues brought a girlfriend. I brought the BFG as he is a HUGE fan (I'm kind of glad I didn't know this when we first started dating... even though I try not to judge people by the music they listen to).

Although her music is not something I listen to on high rotation, nor something I would purposely go out and buy a ticket to, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. It was pure entertainment and I'm completely in awe of the way she is able to bop around on 9 inch heels. It was also quite a shock (and rather embarrasing to admit) that I know a lot more words to her songs than I realise. When she sang Locomotion (or parts of it), it also made me realise how old I am!! She released that song when I was in Year 4!

My favourite part was her "Geisha" themed act and it was also where she sang this song (okay... I admit it, there is one song I really like):

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas...

2008-12-09T07:05:00.006+11:00

I suggested to the BFG that we should get a tree to decorate his place. That was met with a resounding "NO". Okay... then. End of story. I didn't realise he was such a Grinch but according to him it's more of a matter of being a Scrooge. To my delight, his mum pointed out that he actually had some Christmas decorations stashed away somewhere. After some persistent nagging (I don't think he realises that I'm a complete expert in the art of nagging), he finally brings out the box containing these:

Handmade dolls (I assume they are hand made - they look it).

These are my favourite - girl and boy cutouts.

Some cross stitch the BFG made (yes - I know - he can do crafty things too!!). Actually, I do recall him mentioning on our first date that he has done some cross stitch when he was younger.

A little wooden Christmas tree candle holder with little yarn dolls.

There were a whole lot more cutouts to string across the wall which were very vintage-y cute (probably are considered vintage now) and very Danish but he refused to let me put them up. He was pretty reluctant to put out the dolls and the tree but of course I promptly removed all the crap on the side table and set them up for display. Now I just need to find some fairy lights. Did I mention that I love fairy lights?

In which Librarians plan to take over the world

2008-11-26T21:00:00.005+11:00

A friend I went to uni with pointed out this YouTube video someone made about Information Science. On the one hand, I am completely freaked out by the fact that they bothered. On the other hand, what a F*cken nerd!! One of the things I really didn't get when I was studying Info Science was why we were constantly debating the question "What is Information?" Countless lectures and tutorials where bored students were forced to think about information in a thousand different ways but the conclusion was always the same... there is no one definition. Whatever. And if I ever hear the name Brenda Dervin and her bricks and bucket theory again, I'll scream. Wait, that's not true. If I hear one more aspiring Librarian say "I want to be a Librarian because I love books" I'll scream. You don't want to be a Librarian because you love books, you have to like people too. Ummm... which could be the reason why I studied to be one but never became one. Heck, I can't even catalogue, so I would have made a pretty crap Librarian anyway. Do I really care about the Dewey Decimal system which never had enough scope to include new technologies such as computers so that whole subject needed to be shunted in the front with zeros? And more importantly, do I really care about controlled vocabularies and thesauri? Probably not enough. But then I thought you just had to like books to become a Librarian.

Warning, the video below goes for more than five minutes. But you might learn more from that than doing a 3 year Bachelor course in Information Science.

Good Food Affare

2008-11-24T09:13:00.007+11:00

Another foodie event was on this weekend which saw the BFG and I take one particularly long winded bus journey to Castle Hill Showground. The main reason why I wanted to go was because the doyenne of Australian cookbook publishing Margaret Fulton was going to be there. We arrived just in time for her beef welllington demonstration.

One of the first cookbooks I ever read was a Margaret Fulton dessert cookbook (can't remember the name) so I was quite delighted to see her in person. She's very funny along with her daughter Suzanne Gibbs and for someone who is about to turn 85, she's still churning out those cookbooks.

Margaret Fulton (left), Suzanne Gibbs (right)

I also have some mystery knitting that I finished this weekend. This is a present which will be sent off. I'll post another picture once the recipient has received it.

And although I've picked up Anna's shawl again, I finally ran out of yarn. Bendigo Woolen Mills no longer make the colour Venetian. I have a cone of 3 ply in Peacock which I can use to finish it with. The BFG suggested I finish it with the peacock colour and then dye the whole thing. I think the problem is the dye might not take evenly for the two types of yarn. What a predicament!! Too depressed about it to continue, I started another project instead.

This is the Minimalist Cardigan from the Fall 2007 Interweave magazine in exciting black. I'm not quite sure what the yarn is. I bought it from Bendigo Woolen Mills last year when I went to Bendigo in their back room. So no ball bands. It was cheap though - $1 per ball or something like that.

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Goodreads

2008-11-21T13:59:00.006+11:00

I'm really bad at keeping records of books which I've read and books we have discussed in my book group. So I was quite excited when I found this particular website where I can make a record of the books I've read and also keep thoughts and comments. This would be good for when I need to go back to try to remember how I originally felt about the book. Anyway, I'm starting to write my reviews, but after reading this one below, I realised that they are not really reviews but more about what I thought of the book.

Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung

My review

When I first started reading this book, I thought that there was so much I could relate with growing up Asian and living in Australia. But then I found Alice really quite annoying towards the end of this book when she talks about her relationship with the Anglo Aussie guy she starts dating. I just want to tell her to get over it, being Asian doesn't mean that it needs to get in the way of living your life. It obviously wasn't an issue with that guy and he went out of his way to adjust to the "Asian-ness" of her family and he still liked her.

There is a lot of stereotyping in this book which started to bore me. For example the old Asian woman at the markets bargaining down to the last penny (we all know that Asian women do this so nothing new there) and the fact that she ends up being a lawyer. Okay, so she probably chose to be a lawyer (and this is an autobiography) but it just adds to that whole stereotyping of Asians only being interested in pursuing careers in law, medicine and accounting.

There were some highlights. For example, when she describes how the way her grandmother and mother talk to each other. How every comment contains "bones". That is a very Chinese saying (and a very bitchy Chinese way to be). Basically, it means that there are underlying messages in what is actually said (never good). Her mother and grandmother's relationship sounds like my mother's and my late-grandmother's.

View all my reviews.

Movember

2008-11-19T16:51:00.001+11:00

Because I finally donated!!

Creepy

2008-11-13T12:02:00.008+11:00

So when I said that there were still a couple of weeks before the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge, I was completely wrong and it was on yesterday. But I didn't really have to worry about it because I ended up just running/walking with my Manager and it turned out to be more of a social thing than competitive. Although the high achievers in my company ran the whole it in a very short amount of time. It turned out to be a nice sunny day and the 6 km didn't feel very long. You can see some photos of the race here, but there are no pictures of me! Thank goodness. I was wearing a shirt with my company's logo on it and it was about five sizes too big and was the most unflattering outfit ever. However, there are pictures of Railcorp employees wearing the most ghastly green shirts - but it did make them stand out (and they won the t-shirt competition).

Anyway, feeling like I didn't put enough effort into the run (and after stuffing myself with food from the corporate tent afterwards), I went back to the BFG's place and went for another 30 minute run with him. So that was a total of 11km (run/walk) that I did yesterday.

The BFG is also participating in Movember. I think it started off with him being too lazy to shave for a couple of days. I personally am not a fan of the moustache. But seeing as this is for a good cause ...

He decided that he wasn't going to do the whole moustache thing first but progressively shave the beard off. This is him pre-shave.

And then in a moment of insanity, he decided to shave off just the chin section. We're thinking which part should go next (and what shape). All I can think of is that my work Christmas party is on at the end of November in which he will be sporting the extremely creepy looking moustache. Yuk...

Anna on XPT

2008-11-10T11:37:00.004+11:00

When I was in primary school, the XPT used to zoom past while we waited for the regular train to take us to our swimming lessons. The boys in my class used to go "oooooohhhhh.... the XPT!!" with great excitement. I used to think... hmmm.. it's just a train.

Well yesterday, I got to see what the excitement was all about when booked myself onto the Sydney to Melbourne service as it stops in Goulburn on its way through. I still stand by what I thought all those years ago... it's just a train. The BFG saw me off at Strathfield station and no, it was nothing like this:

I will hold you in my dreams

Although I did have these romantic notions of wearing a 1940's cloche, a travelling coat and gloves while waving goodbye as the steam train pulls away from the platform. Instead, I hopped onto the train, waved a quick goodbye to the BFG as he trundled off to catch a regular Cityrail service into the city and whipped out my ipod and ...

Anna's shawl!! In the two and a half hours it took to get to Goulburn, I managed to work out where I was up to (which required ripping back a couple of rows) and get into the rhythm of lace knitting again as the countryside sped by.

Consolation prize

2008-11-04T15:25:00.004+11:00

So none of the horses I put money on today got a look-in at the Melbourne Cup. The one time I actually took the time to go down to the TAB, mark the little boxes and queue to hand over my cash. I really wanted Profound Beauty to win! How could you not with a name like that?

I was already thinking about what to do with my winnings. So my consolation prize is that the RBA cut interest rates today. The money I save on my home loan next month, I think I'll go and blow it on more yarn.

Thinking, thinking, thinking

2008-11-03T17:06:00.003+11:00

The BFG and I have these strange conversations where I'll ask him "What are you thinking?" and he would reply with "Nothing". Then he'll ask me "What are you thinking?" I would say "Nothing" and he would go "Oh, come on - you're always thinking of something".

I have to say, this is probably true. When he says nothing, I believe him because he probably is having a moment where his brain is like a cabbage (his words not mine). I'm generally having a zillion thoughts running through my head that it's easier to say "Nothing".

Based on this, it could explain why I started on an easy garter stitch project for lunch time/commuting knitting. I'm freeing up my mind for all the things I need to think about.

So while sitting in the Botanical Gardens (yes I've started again!) and working rows and rows of garter stitch, these are the things I was thinking about (in no particular order):

how the heck I managed to forget a few crucial steps when re-programming the timer for my dad's automatic watering system this past weekend because this morning it wasn't running properly;
going to the supermarket tonight on my way home and how unfair it is that I got lumped with it when Lucille works shorter hours and closer to home than I do;
having to re-run a Banker's request when I get back to the office which had already taken me all morning to put together just because he forgot to tell me that he wanted the figures in Australian Dollar;
that I should start looking into campsites for the camping trip I suggested to the BFG for December;
how I really should be working on Anna's shawl (see sidebar) because it's been woefully neglected for the past year;
about visiting a friend this weekend who just had a baby (incidently, I have two friends who had babies within days of each other and I have not done any baby knitting - surprise, surprise); and
that I really should go for a run tonight as the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge is coming up in a few weeks.

I'm sure there were other stuff that I was thinking about but I'll need to save them for when the BFG asks me that question again (generally when he has run out of things to talk about) because he knows that I'll always have something to say.

Food Food Food

2008-10-01T15:55:00.004+10:00

So if you haven't already noticed, it's Good Food Month starting today. In previous years, I have just attended the night noodle market and also a couple of the Sugar Hit events. My current manager is a self-confessed food-a-holic and was quite keen on many of the events. Today we went to Glass in the Hilton for the Hat's Off lunch. We both had the Duck Confit and a glass of Chardonnay and watched while the kitchen staff yelled out orders (in a rather refined, yet not unlike Gordan Ramsay kind of way) and even managed to get a glimpse of Luke Mangan himself.

Other lunches I'm booked in for include Becasse and Ocean Room. I also tried to book lunch/dinner for the BFG and I at Quay (because it won 3 hats in the SMH Good Food Guide awards and we're both shallow and go purely for these types of reasons) but didn't manage to get a booking as they a) don't do lunch on weekends and b) fully booked out for weekend dinners until the end of the month.

On the weekend, the BFG and I went for a run (can I just say that running at 10am is not a good idea - especially when we are heading towards warmer weather - yes I'm talking to you BFG!!). To reward ourselves, we went into the city and had a late lunch at Bills in Surry Hills where we both got the scrambled eggs with chippolatas. So apparently Bills is famous for their scrambled eggs. I thought it was nice and creamy (I think the copious amounts of butter and cream added to it helps) but the whole experience was a bit of a let-down and I personally think its all a bit overrated. However, I can attest to Bill Granger's scone recipe - it's the only one that has ever worked for me. Afterwards, craving something sweet, we went over to Balmain to Adriano Zumbo where the BFG bought me one of every flavour of his macaroons (they're the new cupcake!), a citron tart and for himself a chocolate pastry thingy. I grabbed a coffee from Bertoni Casalinga and we made our way to the park to stuff ourselves full of sugar.

Needless to say, all this eating has not helped me in living the Weight Watchers way of life. The problem does not end there. Next week, I have my work Offsite (which unfortunately isn't really offsite for me as it's held in Sydney this year) which will involve much more eating (2 dinners at what I hope to be some fancy schmancy restaurant) and heaps of ~~boozing~~ networking and training.

Bridge Run

2008-09-24T10:44:00.004+10:00

On Sunday, the BFG and I did the Bridge Run. We took the train to Milson's Point and as the train was approaching the station, we saw all the families who were doing the 4km Family Fun Run. At the back of my mind, I was thinking that I should have signed us up to do that one as I didn't really know if I was up for running 9km. Of course I wasn't ready to run 9km!! I haven't been keeping up with the running and its been about a year since I last ran 5km straight. Well at least I didn't overestimate our abilities and signed us up to do the Half or Full Marathon which was all happening that day.

The BFG and I had decided that we would run/walk it while we listened to the Couch to 5 K running podcast. That's how sociable we are when we go running together. God forbid, if we had to actually talk to each other!!

I really enjoyed it and I think the BFG secretly did as well but was not ready to admit that publicly. Anyway, I finished it in 1:09:03 and the BFG's time was 1:09:04 - because that 0:0:1 millisecond made all the difference!

Afterwards, we went to my company's corporate tent and stuffed our faces with fruit and pastries. Having done the race, we both felt the need to go and spend more money on running gear and so the BFG got himself some new shorts (but he refused to get the short shorts) and I got us both the Nike + Ipod kit.

So the plan from here is to be able to run the whole distance for the Bay Run. And I still have the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge coming up in November.

Vietnam

2008-09-18T21:43:00.004+10:00

The thing about keeping a blog is that I always feel a bit guilty if I've been neglecting it. Before I set off for my trip to Vietnam, I was trying out all sorts of things on how I might post to this blog while I was over there. I had it all worked out where I would snap photos from my phone, email it to my Blackberry and then post to the blog from the Blackberry. Of course I did none of that. I think I took a couple of dodgy photos with my phone but didn't do anything else. And then I returned to Australia with good intentions to blog about my trip. For some unexplainable reason, getting the photos off my camera, onto my computer and then posting about it all seemed too hard as I tried to get back into work, keeping the house tidy while my sister is on her big Europe trip (okay this one is definitely a lie - my mother has been to Sydney a few times to tidy for me), etc. I found trying to sum up the whole trip in one blog post was a bit difficult and I'm not normally one with only a few words.

But here I will try:

1. Vietnam was hot - so much so I got a heat rash. At first I thought it was bed bugs. When I panicked, my mother assured me it was something I suffered from when I was a baby as well.

2. We still have a lot of poor relatives. I don't think anybody realises how good they have things here until they go there. But then we also have some relatives who have done well for themselves. Everybody talks about what happened when the war ended.

3. Things were cheap. Really cheap. Maybe too cheap.

4. Vietnam has cheap broadband internet in out of the way places. Why is it then that Telstra can't get it right? My own internet connection is so dodgy and I only live in the suburbs?

5. I've always had great issues with using toilets in foreign countries. Vietnam did not cure me of that. In fact my paranoia has become worse.

6. I really want a scooter now. I am incredibly jealous of the fact that every second person in Vietnam has a scooter. My mother was horrified at the number of scooters and completely freaked out when crossing the road.

7. I'm glad that going to Vietnam did not make my mother cry. I'm glad that my mother and my aunt did not kill each other on this trip. I'm glad that my cousin Alan was there to act as peacekeeper.

8. I suffered from real coffee withdrawal symptoms. At the same time I was starting to become a diabetic with the amount of sugar present in the awful crap they call coffee and which I persisted in drinking every morning. I think my father misses their coffee. I still can't understand why.

9. The dogs in Vietnam all look like Ewoks. When they bark at me, I threaten that I will eat them - they do that over there - I don't think the dogs realise how real that threat can be.

10. I will go back. Next time I will go North as Ho Chi Minh city was fun for about a day. Cholon (where I was born) was fun for maybe half a day.

So I'm back and I've still got to get the photos off my camera and onto the Mac. Here is a selection from Cousin Al's swish new camera he had bought from the trip. I think being a Project Manager makes you one of those super organised people. I'm yet to give him a copy of my photos.

Me, trying to blend in with the locals at the market.

Ho Chi Minh city

Lunch at a relative's house.

Hello Summer - where are you?

2008-07-29T16:07:00.005+10:00

Winter - I like you... really I do. I like how I can:

layer my clothes to hide my ever-increasing waistline;
dress in my usual colours of black, grey, brown and red;
knit with wool;
eat hot food; and
walk around with a scowl on my face.

But I think it's time for Spring or Summer to make an appearance. Winter, its not entirely your fault that I have:

caught a cold twice in the space of one month;
not been able to go for my nightly runs because, frankly, its too darn cold;
stopped living the Weight Watchers way of life because hot chips are so much more satisfying on a cold night than salad; and
left my favourite umbrella on a train and now have to deal with the world's dumbest umbrella purchase ever.

I think its important to understand that I need the warmer weather so I can:

Start training for this.
Make this mess:

look more like this:

Oh who am I kidding?? The change in weather will not get my desk anywhere near Kikki K perfection; and
Get up earlier so I'm not constantly late to work.

Because I am of the impatient variety and you, Winter, who I feel is overstaying your welcome, it must be I who will leave you. Not for long. Just two weeks. I am sure you will still be here when I return. So next Thursday, I will bid you adieu as I head off to the warmer climes of my birthplace.

Beating those darn curses

2008-07-22T16:21:00.005+10:00

I had grand plans to knit something in time for The BFG's birthday last week. But yet again, my ability to "knit to a deadline" let me down again. Not that I was going to make anything elaborate. I think most knitters know about the Sweater Curse, I was not quite willing to risk that so early in the relationship (and not to mention the number of wasted knitting hours when I could be making something for myself). Having already experienced the Scarf curse (remember this - yep, never made it to the recipient. Lucille's boyfriend got it instead) a small - really small - project was in order.

So I chose the London Beanie.

The usually camera-shy BFG.

I knitted this while watching Farmer Wants a Wife last night. Shocking - I know, but it's so bad I can't stop watching it. Anyway, it was so quick to make that I'm going to make another one for my dad with the left-over yarn but this time I might make it a bit bigger. The pattern calls for about 40 rounds before decreases which make it a bit short - hence it doesn't really cover his ears and at 72 stitches, is just short of cutting circulation to his head.

Ravelry Swap #3

2008-07-22T07:15:00.003+10:00

I find it difficult to knit to a deadline (as seen with many unfinished baby items) and so when the Australian Group on Ravelry had another swap and decided that it should be small items, I thought I'd risk it. Thanks to the lovely FeistyWench for this fantastic package:

Fingerless gloves, chocolate, tea for one, HANDSPUN JUST FOR ME YARN (it has my name on it!!) and a card.

The Perfect Winter Day

2008-07-21T13:06:00.003+10:00

With all the hoo-ha about World Youth Day recently, I thought a nice couply thing to do was to join a rally to hand out condoms to the Pilgrims. I found out about the Rally through Pom-Pom. When I put the idea to The BFG, he suggested we go to the Mountains instead and have high tea. Given the choice between facing thousands of Pilgrims all singing and chanting or a nice quiet afternoon at Lillianfels sipping tea and eating cucumber sandwiches, the Mountains seemed like a much more civilised option.

We took the train, arming ourselves with juice, muffins and Top Gear.

Scones, cakes, sandwiches and Chai tea

When the three tiered cake stand came, we discussed what our modus operandi should be. Both The BFG and I agreed we should work through the savoury and then start on the sweet - unlike Yum Cha where I'd be quite happy to have the egg tarts in between the prawn dumplings and chicken feet. I suppose the delight of afternoon tea is that you can take your time sipping tea and daintily eating the tiny sandwiches and cakes as opposed to hoovering through the selection. Which was why we were both quite surprised at how full we were by the time we got down to the last 2 pieces.

Teacher's peace plan

2008-07-08T15:45:00.003+10:00

Guess who happened to arrive at work at 10.45am this morning (yes, I was late - The BFG failed to mention that trains left once every half hour on his line after peak times) and had to fight through this to get into work.

Actually, these sorts of rallies and political protests happen quite often outside my building. I always have a guilty look on my face as I walk past the picket lines and try to get into work. As if, somehow going into the building they are protesting outside of is somehow supporting the other side.

However, today's rally by the NSW Teacher's Federation is the biggest gathering I've seen so far. I went to a public school and can generally understand the cause of public education teachers. But it appears that one of the reasons they are protesting is that they don't want Principals to make hiring decisions and prefer the old system of service transfers (whereby teachers who were willing to stick it out for a few years in some hick country town gets preferential treatment when opportunities for transfers come up). I personally think Principals should have some sort of say in hiring and that it should be based on merit rather than length of service. If I was a student in one of these hick country towns, I would hate to go to class knowing that the teacher who is teaching me is only there waiting for the next ticket out. I would hope they were there because they genuinely want to make a difference to children. Although, having said that, it's not exactly true about how I feel about my job. My care factor for EV/EBITDA and PE multiples is pretty low to non-existent but I'm sure Bankers who ask me for it don't know that!

Speaking of public schools. I went to school with a lot of Jonahs.

All things Rosy

2008-07-08T13:46:00.004+10:00

Just a quick post to show that I have still been knitting. I finished this a few weeks ago and presented it a friend of mine who I enjoy weird experiences with. Not the trippy, happy, rainbow-type experiences but more the "I can't believe this weird shit happens to us all the time" type experiences.

Pattern: Rose Red by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cleckheaton Studio Mohair

I feel like I've worked with nothing but red yarn lately. Apart from this hat, I also made another Verity for Lucille in red and am currently crocheting a hoodie for a friend's baby (also in red). Umm.. oh yeah, the baby was born last Sunday. Luckily I made the hoodie in 6 months size. All pieces are done, just need to put it all together now.

Another 10 years on that one

2008-07-02T16:39:00.003+10:00

A couple of week's ago, I went to get a photo taken to get a visa for my upcoming trip to Vietnam. Being paranoid about passport photos, I had that slightly spaced out, closed lip face when posing for the photo. The friendly guy who was taking my photo goes "you can smile for visa photos" so I was like "oh, okay" and so put on a demented toothy grin and had the photo snapped.

While I was putting the paperwork together for the visa application, I realised that my passport expires in November and even more paranoid about being stuck in Vietnamese immigration, I thought I had better renew the passport. The new passport photo guidelines meant that the photos taken for the visa were useless and I had to get new ones.

There is no such thing as a pretty passport photo. My passport application interview at the local post office was at 9am on a Saturday morning. At 6pm on the Friday evening, I was desperate to get a photo taken and so went to the pharmacy down near Circular Quay. After a day of staring at the computer and dealing with bossy bankers, my eyes were bloodshot and the bags were big enough to make Carrie Bradshaw proud!

The BFG grabbed the photos eagerly as soon as they came out of the machine and went silent. I was like "they can't be that bad?" They were.

The next morning at the post office, the woman taking my application goes "you look much younger than you do in the photo" and promptly processed my application. Guess I've got that for another 10 years.

When people ask if I've ever been to Vietnam, I've found it rather difficult to answer. I guess I was there in 1977 for all of 6 months, but I don't remember any of it. So yes, I have been but I can't tell you where to get the best Pho. And my belief is that all the best Pho chefs probably left Vietnam and have all opened restaurants in Cabramatta.

Graduating - again

2008-05-15T22:51:00.003+10:00

I ummed and ahhed about attending my graduation for the postgraduate studies I did. But my mother who is quite proud of the fact that I'm about the only person in the family stupid enough to return to University, insisted I go. So really, the whole ceremony thing was for her. I did enjoy going though as my undergraduate graduation ceremony was a bit of a blur. This one was nice and short. I have been to four other graduation ceremonies apart from my own and each one I was there out of obligation. Each time I felt that watching a slug squirm through salt more bearable.

Although what I did find interesting were the PhD students. Each with an thesis topic more obscure than the last. Where do people find such inspiration?

Postcards

2008-05-14T23:28:00.004+10:00

A new "important person" in my life (you may be hearing more about him, but I promised I won't mention his name on my blog so will be referred to as The BFG -in reference to one of my favourite Roald Dahl books!!), mentioned that he liked receiving postcards. I like receiving them too but never really know what I should do with them afterwards. Whilst I like receiving them, I'm terrible at sending them. Each time I go overseas, I'd buy postcards with the intention of sending them as soon as I've written on them but never really find the chance to. The recipient usually gets the postcard after I've returned home. Or when I went to the States in 2003, a postcard I bought in Los Angeles didn't get sent till I was across the other side of the country in New York.

So this week, I found myself at lunch in a coffee shop with no knitting and nothing to read. So I decided to send The BFG a postcard:

There has been a lot written about the lost art of writing letters. I don't think my issue is with writing the letter but more about getting my ass to the post office to post it. Anyway, I've decided to try to do this more often. So if you receive one from me out of the blue, it's because I thought of you and chances are, when I was thinking of you, I was sitting alone somewhere and needed something to make me not look like a complete loser with no friends.

A happy coincidence

2008-05-14T23:16:00.003+10:00

It's been a bit chilly this week to do much knitting in the Botanical Gardens. But one day last week, there was just enough sunshine to grab a coffee and the current purple project and get out of the office.

Although the sun was out, it was still a bit cold and so I brought the wrap that I normally keep in the office with me. I realised that I must have looked like some strange batty woman with so much purple around. Not only is my current project purple, the knit picks cable, my wrap and coffee cup were all the same shade. I was also sitting near a bush with purple flowers.

Making Contact

2008-04-09T15:54:00.002+10:00

You know how people come into and out of your life? Sometimes they stay around and become a part of your life or you lose contact and they belong in your past. Today I tried to meet up with someone I had met a couple of years ago through work (who is also a knitter) but bad communication on my part meant we missed each other. However, while waiting for her, I came across someone who I very nearly became sister-in-law to. So I was quite pleased that he approached me and suggested we have lunch sometime.

Thinking that was the end of my "connections", I got a phone call from a friend who had bumped into someone I used to work with and gave me her details. It was a Manager I absolutely loved. I called her straight away and talking to her brought back so many memories for me. When I finished uni,I worked 2 jobs. One was my full time job with a publishing company, and then I would work Thursday nights, Saturdays and Sundays with this Manager in a retail shop. Apart from work, I didn't have much spare time to do anything else. But I never really noticed it. My second job was more like my social life because I really enjoyed the company of the people I worked with. So while I no longer miss the crazy hectic schedule of rushing from job to job (weekends are bliss now), I did miss their friendship.

So while I'm extremely thrilled at hearing from people I haven't seen in quite a number of years, I doubt I will be joining schoolfriends.com to find people I went to school with. That can stay in the past as far as I'm concerned. The movie, Romy and Michelle's high school reunion comes to mind whenever I hear about up coming school reunions.

Good luck ahead

2008-04-01T22:38:00.004+11:00

Some days when I walk down the street, I just want to be invisible. By this I mean, I wish charity workers would leave me alone (most of them work on commission which I'm totally against and why would I be offering my bank details to someone on the street anyway?), cameras outside my work wouldn't be pointing in my direction, people dressed in bear outfits wouldn't approach me, etc - you know, everyday stuff.

So while waiting to cross a set of lights today, this strange man stares at me and starts talking. Seriously, this is the bit I HATE!! I believe that I'm a fairly sociable person, but for some reason, I hate it when I get approached by random strangers. This is why I never ask lost-looking tourists if they need help (although I appreciate it when other people ask me when I'm lost in a foreign city).

Anyway, what riveting and insightful piece of information did this guy have to share with me while we both waited for the traffic lights to turn that one shade of green?

"You're going to have good luck in the next two months"

Umm.. not what I expected and no further explanation. And why in the next two months? Why not now?? When I got back to work, I checked my diary to see what could possibly happen in the next two months that could bring me good fortune. The only thing I could see was a day trip to Melbourne for work (which means a 4.30am start for 6.30am flight - how is that good fortune??), and my graduation in May (I'm still paying for my post grad studies so in effect I'm not ahead on this one) and then basically, nothing.

My recent windfall has been to score some free corporate box seat tickets to the Celine Dion concert (but I've already got those) so not exactly happening in the next two months. I'll wait and see... but probably won't hold my breath.

I may have mentioned before that I absolutely loathe cooking, although I don't mind baking and making desserts - the fun stuff. Bad things always happen to me when I'm in the kitchen and generally avoid it if I can. I have some scars to prove it. My sister (the one I live with) cooks for me and makes most of my meals. She loves to eat and can't bear the idea of a boring meal (whereas I don't cook so try not to be so picky and just eat whatever).

Anyway, to combine her love of food and cooking (I think she genuinely enjoys it so I feel that each time I let her cook for me, I'm contributing to her happiness), she has started a food blog. Here is the link to her blog: One chopstick cook.

Running short

2008-03-23T17:14:00.008+11:00

I feel like I've had so much time off!! First Christmas, then the extra two weeks, the few days between jobs and now a long long weekend! I feel like I've hardly worked at all! But this has been a pretty productive weekend. Firstly, two days in Goulburn with the parents and siblings and some friends. Apart from the showing the friends around town, we also explored some new territory. My mother goes to English classes at the local TAFE (she has been trying to "better" her English for years on and off) and has met a lot of friends there. Some of whom were originally from Thailand. One particular friend volunteers at the Sunnataram Forest Monastery which is in Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands. I'm not particularly religious but my mother is and she has wanted to go back for a while, so we took her and she packed the car full of vegies from the farm to donate to the monastery. It was absolutely beautiful out there. The monastery is set on 100 acres and the day we went, it was all misty and very spiritual. I liked how the people there were extremely welcoming. I found out that you can actually stay there for a few days for meditation, etc at no cost! This is so unlike a lot of Chinese Buddhist temples where I feel as if it's all about making money. When we arrived, they provided us with this fantastic Thai vegetarian lunch. One of our friends who were visiting with us is vegetarian, so she was happy.

We also went to visit the Goulburn Brewery which was having a market day. This place was another surprise find - so quaint! They still brew their own beer to sell on premises.

What my parents failed to tell me before I left Sydney on Saturday morning was how cold it had become in Goulburn. Considering I was still wearing a sleeveless top to work on Thursday, I didn't expect it to get so cold in the country (and being only 2 hours out of Sydney - how could the weather pattern be so different??). Luckily I brought my knitting along (but even that didn't keep me warm):

It's the lace ribbon scarf from the latest Knitty. I'm using the two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight which my brother in law bought for me on their trip to Washington DC last year. In the picture, that is already one skein. The problem? It's going to be too short and so it's certainly not going to look like the one in Knitty and will not go around my neck several times. Oh well... I'm hoping that when I block it, I can squeeze an extra 10cm out of it.

At work, I've been feeling very productive. In my last post I said that I haven't worked so continuous in so long!! Well my knitting has been the same. Here are some FO's (okay - one of them is an old one but I finally sewed in the ends and blocked it so it can be worn!!). So here I present - the fruits of my recent labour:

Rusted Root by Zephyr Style in Cotton Fleece.

Lace panel
I finished Rusted Root quite a while ago but I keep losing my wool needle and never got around to sewing in the ends. I finally bought another set and ta-da - completed!

Completed - Jaywalkers

I recently went to the French Film festival with a couple of friends and I was frantically trying to finish Verity so that I can wear it and look the part. Unfortunately I'm really not that fast a knitter and couldn't finish this in one night. But I did manage to complete it over three days (including train and lunch time knitting). When I finished it, I realised that I actually look really bad in hats and now that I've cut my hair quite short, it looks even worse so I asked Lucille to model it for me.

Verity by Ysolda in some Bendigo Woolen Mills yarn (not sure what it is as there were no ball bands)

It still needs a button. I'll need to visit the one in The Rocks to pick a nice vintage-y one.

Seems like quite a busy weekend? But wait there's more. I also went to the Easter show with Katie and did our usual rounds of the Knitting competition, saw the dogs, alpacas, and mohair goats. Because I still felt like I had more energy to burn, I also went and did the Bay run (although we just walked it) this afternoon in the hope that the one hour walk will burn off all the chocolate and hot cross buns I've been stuffing myself with all weekend.

Settling in

2008-03-11T21:37:00.005+11:00

I haven't been to the Rubi and Lana knitting group for a while. Apparently at the last meeting, everyone asked Elaine how her new job was. There was a bit of an identity mix-up. But that can be understandable as even I have trouble identifying Asians.

So how is my new job going? I have one word for it - intense. I don't think I've worked so continuously for a long time. But I actually enjoy it. The research is the type I like to do - very specific requests. I have to say I'm not such a fan of vague research requests. An example of this is "Can you find me some information on the thingumy jig thing industry? A client of ours is interested in moving into this market". Ummmm.. it would be okay if the industry was the size of Rio Tinto, but trying to find information on something which perhaps two people in the world have an interest in? Very difficult, if not impossible. To top it off, for some bizarre reason, people who ask for these sorts of things can't take no for an answer. "But there must be something out there!!"

I think I've finally found my way around the office and more specifically to the office. Whilst the building I work in is quite a well known one in Sydney, the first couple of days, I was still getting lost trying to find it.

In my old job, to while away the lunch hour, I would spend time at a nearby cafe (and when extremely desperate for quiet - Starbucks) and knit. I've been trying to find a similar place where people won't stare (they do anyway) and it's away from the mad rush of lunch hour. So to my surprise (although you would think that growing up in Sydney - I'd know) I found out how close my new office is to the Botanical Gardens. What an absolute oasis in the city!! Armed with my skim latte and my Jaywalkers, I spent today's lunch hour in the rose garden. I'm happy now.

Second Jaywalker in progress

A sneak peak of the Harbour Bridge from the Botanical Gardens

Whilst getting back into the swing of things, I have started to increase my running again. Since moving into the new place with this killer hill, I have been rather slack with the running program. My walks to the train station every morning and most evenings (4km each way taking me about half an hour), has been giving me excuses not to go running. Seeing as I feel a bit more settled into the new job (another excuse again), I have started to increase the intensity of my runs (as in I've moved beyond week 3 of the Couch to 5K program). Tonight I did session 3 of week 5 (one long 20 minute run). Although I had previously completed the program, re-doing it again has been a bit of a killer. I don't actually have any goals in mind except to finish the program again although a few people I know are planning on doing the Sydney to Surf. I don't have such aspirations. I might enter and just walk it but who am I kidding? I have never been the athletic type and I don't really plan to start now!!

From the beginning

2008-02-20T22:04:00.003+11:00

Today is Day 3 in my new job and Day 1 of having a new internet connection! I put off getting one for ages as I was trying to find a cheap way of "getting connected" without having to get a phone line.

I finally had to get one due to the fact that my new job has restricted access to a lot of websites. This means no checking of personal emails, blogs and Ravelry.

Starting a new job is always quite nerve racking. A series of questions goes through my head and generally have nothing to do with the job itself. These include the following:

What if nobody talks to me?
Can I live with crappy stationery?
Can I trust putting my food in the fridge?
Where to get a good coffee?

It's all these little things which I will have to sort out - the job itself is the least of my worries.

The new workplace is on Level 48. Lucky I'm not afraid of heights but seriously, I wonder what they do during fire drills. I'm not sure I can cope with walking down 48 flights of stairs.

I've been budgeting in lift time because it takes so long to get to the top. Remember my desk from my last job. Well I've lost the water view and am now back in a "cubicle" along with 99% of other office workers. I can see the window from where I am but can only see the sky because we're so high up.

I'm also extremely far from the bathroom and the kitchen. So no more sneaking away for another cup of coffee.

I also find it difficult to find my way around. I think this company likes to hide everything behind doors. And every door looks the same. I have trouble picking the right door to get to the corridor which will take me to the toilets. The kitchen is also hidden behind a door which looks like the same door that takes you to the corridor that takes you to the toilet. Did you get that?

Two weeks of nothing

2008-01-19T21:12:00.000+11:00

You know when children chuck tantrums and scream "I don't want to do that"? Well that was how I felt on the last day of work last year. I REALLY didn't want to go into work anymore. I didn't really know why I felt this way as my job isn't exactly rocket science and the people I work with are pretty darn fantastic. But it could be the lack of a challenge. Unfortunately, my financial situation prevented me from going in and handing in the white envelope.

But because of my lack of finances, I did have 2 weeks worth of annual leave up my sleeve. So I rang my manager and asked for 2 weeks off after the Christmas break (she was NOT impressed but gave it anyway).

So what have I been doing with 2 weeks off with no plane tickets booked? Not a lot but the time has gone by pretty quickly. I actually had a mild panic attack as I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself. However I've found that the time has gone by so quickly.

Here are some highlights of me finding something to do when there really isn't all that much to do.

1. I went for a job interview with an investment bank and got the job.

2. Went to the movies all by my lonesome and saw 2 Days in Paris.

3. Went to the opening of the Open Air Cinema and saw the Jane Austen Bookclub.

4. Went to the beach with Katie and got caught in a rip and needed help from a guy nearby (worked on my tan while I was there despite near death experience - okay might be a bit of an exaggeration here but still!!!)

5. Survived a family lunch in Goulburn where all uncles, aunts and cousins attended (despite my father's attempt at hiding but 25 acres isn't really all that big when the whole clan is there).

6. Spent 2 days in Terrigal at the Crowne Plaza and also at The Entrance.

Fish and chips at The Entrance

View from my hotel window

9. Resigned from my current job.

10. In between I've been working on Cobblestone for my dad. I thought that I might have finished it by now but my attention span is rather limited. I'm about 90% done now!

So that was two weeks ago on my two weeks off (it's been a while since I've blogged).

Since then:

11. I started the first Jaywalker sock using the Araucania yarn from my birthday gift.

12. Ran a doggie fat camp (gotta be cruel to be kind):

This dog is WAY too fat - no excuses really!!

13. Did a stocktake of my current WIPs and while not completely unmanageable - still ridiculous to be starting new projects.

Anna's Shawl - looks like the Eunny Jang's Print O' The Wave Stole and everybody knitted that one!. I'm running out of yarn and am procrastinating about what to do!!
Only one Hedera completed - why did I start on the Jaywalkers when I've still got another pair that I haven't completed? Don't know.
Cobblestone - still currently working on this one!!
Rusted Root - only needs to be blocked.
Ivy - needs to be sewn together. This has been sitting in my WIPs for about 1.5 years now!!

So these are only a few that I will mention. There are a few other smaller projects which will need to be frogged. But then again, frogging is such a pain - rip, rip, wash and wind up again - it's a project in itself!!

Anyway, this year's new year resolution? Same as every other year - to be more organised!!

Ravelry surprises

2007-12-31T12:52:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post to say that I received my Ravelry tea cosy swap package from Serenaj:

The tea cosy is so cute!! Did I ever say that red is my favourite colour?? The most surprising in the package was a packet of shortbread from Miss Mauds. I love staying there whenever I used to go to Perth for work! How did she know? Anyway, all the food items have been devoured - well still working through the tea, but there was also some Lindt chocolate and lavender scented hand cream!

Thanks heaps SerenaJ!!

Birthdays and Christmas all together

2007-12-29T16:38:00.001+11:00

Christmas this year has been a bit of a quiet one, with both the older sister and her husband choosing to have a white Christmas in Idaho. So this year, it was just Lucille and I packing the car and driving down to Goulburn to spend a few days with the Parents.

But prior to that, there was a small gathering to celebrate the fact that I've turned the big three-O.

First there was cake:

then some well wishing:

And a surprise gift from my little sister's good friend Linda - a gift voucher to Tapestry Craft. A quick visit to the city on my day off found me picking through the remains of the sale. I ended up stocking up on extra tips in my Knit Picks Options and a skein of Araucania sock yarn.

On Christmas eve there was another party in which I won the first hand at Mahjong:

Christmas day was spent bumming around the farm and antagonising the dogs (or was that the other way round?). Boxing day (also the day I actually turn three-o), saw me come back to Sydney to make a delivery with my dad. On the drive back, a stop at Pheasants Nest at the petrol station ended up with this strange conversation with this strange man:

HIM: "Hi I'm Dave by the way"
Me: "I'm Lien"
HIM: "So where are you going?"
Me: "Goulburn"
HIM: "So where are you from?"
Me: "Goulburn" (I'm not really, but heck, has anyone seen Wolf Creek??)
HIM: "So you're farmers?"
Me: "My dad is"
HIM: "So what do you guys speak? Cantonese, Cambodian, Vietnamese?"
Me: "Cantonese"
HIM: "So do you guys normally marry your own kind?"
Me: "I'm not married" (LIKE WTF??)
HIM: "OH YOU'RE NOT MARRIED?????

Like what the heck?? Do I have this "DESPERATE and DATELESS" look on my face and why ask me just as I turned 30??? Needless to say, I just turned to my dad and said to him once you're done with the coffee, we're going!!

Anyway, my mother decided she'll take the 27th off and go on a day trip with us. We ended up going to Canberra (where else?) and a quick detour to Bungendore for devonshire tea at the Wood Gallery.

A bit of Christmas crafting

2007-12-11T09:16:00.001+11:00

We had grand plans to buy a live tree and decorate it for Christmas - however the environmental side of me was playing tug-of-war with the Christmassy side of me. Anyway, in the end finances won out. A cut tree is about fifty bucks and well, lets just say there is better things to spend a fifty on than something that ends up being deadwood in a couple of weeks.

There are heaps of trees near where my sister lives (one of those leafy areas) and so we managed to pick up a few twigs and spray painted them silver. We had some decorations left over from previous years, so we added them to the tree.

The other thing which we were too cheap to fork out for was a Christmas wreath. In this month's Better Homes and Gardens magazine, they had instructions on making a wreath using Eucalyptus branches and leaves. Here is my version:

It's a bit bare at the moment. I'm looking for some grevilleas to add some colour but haven't seen any around locally (as in on some Council property). Actually, I haven't seen these plants around for quite a while - they used to be everywhere!!

I think this may be it for our Christmas decorating. It's taking things down after Christmas which is the real pain in the ass. Also, I think our neighbour has enough decorations for all of us. They even strung up some fairy lights over the eaves outside my room - very pretty and I can stare at them for hours.

Every vote counts!

2007-11-26T09:21:00.000+11:00

Each time there is an election, our family tries to go somewhere interesting to cast our votes. Last time in the State elections, we went to the local correctional facility. This time we just found a place which was having a fete at the same time. Had I known that John Howard was going to be at Ermington West Primary school, we would have made our way down so I could give him dirty looks!!

Saturday night, we had an election party at my friend Jill's. There was heaps of champagne popping as we celebrated Kevin Rudd's victory. No guesses there as to my feelings for John Howard. My excitement grew even further when Bennelong was won by Maxine!

Apparently a senior Liberal advisor blames it on the "fucking Chinese" and the Asian vote for John Howard's loss of Bennelong.

Ummm.. yeah - that's me! I still remember the uproar in 1988 when JH made those anti-immigration comments - I was eleven at the time and my parents listened to a lot of Chinese radio!

A colleague of mine commented that since returning to Australia after several years overseas, she's noticed the drop in tax rates and how fantastic that is. Yeah - but has she noticed the lack of funding to Education and Health? That the tax cuts have been to the people in the higher tax brackets?

People Watch

2007-11-22T16:57:00.000+11:00

I do quite a bit of people watching - not weird, stare at them type of people watching, but more observations of strange human behaviour. I think I do this not because I'm really all that interested in the person, but more because I like to know that there are stranger people out there than me.

I've been writing these observations in my diary, so here are a couple to start off with:

Friday 16 November - 8.32 am - train from Parramatta to City.
Male - wearing Prada belt, Bvlgari watch, Gucci bag.
I have 2 questions: Does he think he's decked out enough in designer labels? Why is he catching a train?

Thursday 22 November - 1.35pm - Starbucks - Cnr of Margaret and York St
Male - business attire - reading the Australian Financial Review. Starts laughing out loud. For the life of me, I CANNOT fathom what story in the Fin Review could cause an "out loud" laugh. I'm thinking his share prices went up.

Getting back on track

2007-11-18T13:29:00.000+11:00

A new year's resolution which I make every year but never seem to keep is "to be more organised". This week, I made a start -and yes, I realise that November is a bit late!! So the assignment is completed and sent through. Hopefully March next year will see me with another mortarboard atop my head, ready for graduation.

I made it to Rubi + Lana's for the SnB and stayed most of the day there. It was great being there and not having to think about the whole host of other things which is currently making me anxious. Needless, to say, nearly a whole day of knitting produced significant progress on "Rusted Root" (still can't understand why the designers called it this!!). No recent photos, but here is one I took a while ago:

I also managed to go for a swim in the afternoon in our pool. I don't think I ever really appreciated the whole "indoor pool" thing, always preferring an outdoor pool with cool refreshing water and the sun shining above. Until, I noticed all the BUGS which also like a dip but cannot swim!!

So, in my quest to get back on track, here is my teapot for the tea cosy swap I joined on Ravelry. This is my "everyday" teapot which is a bit naked. My "save for special guests" teapot already has a beautiful cosy from my One Skein pal, Candy.

So what next? I'm about to cast on for the tea cosy for my pal and catching up with friends which I feel I've neglected for ages. Friday night saw me wobbling out of Cafe Otto in Glebe after sharing half a bottle of wine with a colleague (umm... Asians don't take alcohol very well). Luckily the family came and picked me up to take me home.

Tonight - off to Brighton-le-sands to a lebanese restaurant for more catching up. Next week sees me lunching with an old uni friend I have not seen in years (she hasn't seen me since I've lost all the weight, so I'd be interested to see what she's going to say!!). And then to an election picnic next Saturday (nothing political about it, just happens to fall on election day) and then an election party (yet again, just happens to be on that day) to again remind people I have not fallen off the face of this earth!

Excuses, excuses

2007-11-11T14:24:00.000+11:00

That seems to be what I'm constantly racking my brain with lately. Excuses as to why:

I have not finished my assignment - only one darn thing to go before I graduate!
I have not kept up with my knitting
I didn't finish reading the last book for my book club
I still haven't posted a picture of my teapot for the tea cosy swap I joined on Ravelry
I haven't started knitting the tea cosy for my pal
I have not been going to Rubi + Lana's
I haven't done a host of other things which I said I would before the end of the year - most of it administrative!

I could blame it on my complete lack of time management skills but I think at the moment, it has a bit to do with a reassessment of my life. This also leads to show my lack of ability to multi-task. It appears that I cannot think about these things and be productive at the same time.

Anyway, I took last Wednesday and Thursday off for a bit of a road trip to Canberra to have a bit of think and clear to my head. Along the way, I stopped by at my parents. Despite my allergies to the dogs, there is something about them that could always brighten up a drab day.

I was glad to see that Goulburn has had a bit of rain and everything looks green again.

And also to see that our supply of tomatoes is going well this year.

Having about 4 hours of driving each way to Canberra and back, I'm still as unsure as ever.

Here is a snippet of a text message conversation with my friend:

HER: I reckon when it comes to the crunch u'll know.
ME: Hopefully, I'm generally quite indecisive. Like ordering at a restaurant. When it comes to the crunch, I order the wrong thing.

Sometimes I really wish there was a magical 8 ball which will help me with these things!!

I'm allergic to dogs!

2007-10-01T15:52:00.001+10:00

I've always suspected that I had a canine allergy. When I used to live at home with the four white fluffies, my eyes would water, my nose would get all runny. Now that I've moved out and only go visit my parents every so often, the whole allergy thing would flare up. However, my parents refuse to believe that their precious little white balls of yapping fluff is the cause of my misery. They keep telling me its hay fever.

Anyway, my suspicions were confirmed this weekend when I went to visit Honey:

I went with my friend Rebecca to Canberra to visit our friend Lorraine. A weekend to Canberra is always nice and every trip makes me think that perhaps I can live there. I used to think Canberra was the most boring place and can't understand how it ever became Australia's Capital. It might be an age thing, but I'm starting to feel that a job in the public service and being able to live within five minutes of work is starting to look appealing.

Anyway, what's a trip to Canberra during Spring without a stop at the Floriade?

How to ask for a payrise

2007-09-23T08:39:00.000+10:00

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a seminar called "How to ask for a promotion or payrise". It was one which Lucille's company was holding. The main thing I got out of it was not to whine and go on and on about why your boss should give you a payrise. (Incidently, I've tried asking for a payrise in my previous job and I followed all the correct procedures, such as research and provide evidence, etc but at the end of the day, if your boss just doesn't have the money or the inclination, I don't really think there is a point.)

Anyway, the point of this story, is whilst they tell you not to whinge and whine to get what you want, there are times when it does work. My other sister was going to Canada to meet up with her husband who was there for a conference and which sucker got called to service to take her to the airport? Yep, me again. (This happens EVERY year as they seem to take an overseas trip once or twice.) This time, it was stretching the family ties a bit as she had an early flight, we had to leave the house at 4.30am. On the drive to the airport, I whinged and whined about how I had to get up so early and how unfair it was if I was involved in a high speed crash as it wasn't me who was getting any benefit from getting up so early, etc etc(A LOT of people speed during this time of the day - they must think they can get away with it).

Well, I think the early morning just made my sister snap, cause she goes "Fine, I'll get you that thing you wanted!!!"

Cool, so I got it. And here it is:

I've been wanting a yarn winder for ages but just can't justify the cost of what the Australian suppliers were charging for it. I knew they were going to Washington DC and so I looked up yarn shops in the area. I only found Stitch DC and so told them that I wanted one of those from there. They also bought me some baby alpaca (which will probably be made into a scarf) and some handpainted sock wool.

Now, I wonder if I have a bit of a whinge to my boss tomorrow, if I'll get similar results.

Oh and a postcard promoting a new book which is, for once, NOT aimed at the young and hip but at (can I say this?) older generation:

Alpacas not APEC

2007-09-08T21:53:00.000+10:00

The whole APEC thing has been getting on my nerves of late. In particular because there were security operations next to my work. I can see the all the police with their sniffer dogs from outside of my window at work (right next to Wharf 8). Even the P&O cruiseship has not made its regular appearance. Sydney has been eerily quiet and it was kind of creepy. I imagine what a police state would have been like. Whilst I generally don't oppose APEC, world leaders can meet, nothing wrong with that. But if locking down a whole city just so some frickin dignataries can wine and dine and be "shown" Sydney, that totally pisses me off. Not to mention the amount of money spent on securing the city. But securing it for whom? The barriers they have put up have made it more of a hazard to get around and if a bomb really was to go off, then surely there would have been more fatalities as people are forced to walk in cramped spaces. But then I guess we're the little people. However, it has given me some small bit of satisfaction to see that it has rained all week here in Sydney. The stupid pollies who think that they must "show off" Sydney as opposed to holding the APEC meeting in Canberra (it is our Country's capital!!) didn't have much to show as the skies opened up.

But anyway, enough with the bitching. Our regular knitting group decided to go visit some Alpacas instead. David organised a visit to Belgrave Park Alpacas in the Blue Mountains. Candy and Mandy (yes, friends with rhyming names!!) came to pick me up for the drive to the mountains. I made a fennel seed cake (based on one which I'd had at Katie's) and brought my knitting along.

The group of knitters!!

How cute!

More cuteness

When the mountain air started to get too much for the average Sydneysider, we made our way to Katoomba for the Blue Mountains Chocolate Company for some "real hot chocolate".

A quick stop at David's to visit his kitty cats (which you may of heard in his podcast) before heading home down the motorway.

Tiger

Ravelry

2007-08-24T09:19:00.000+10:00

After much umming and ahhing over whether or not to join Ravelry (I succumbed to Facebook with much hesitation and good reason too!), I finally got my invite. I'm just Lien! See you all there...

In the news!

2007-08-23T13:42:00.000+10:00

You can make your own headlines here.

Current love: lace knitting!!

On the block

2007-08-19T23:17:00.000+10:00

A few things which are blocking!! Firstly, the "Feminine Puff Sleeved Cardigan" by Stefanie Japel in her book Fitted Knits.

I'm quite pleased with it as it turned out quite neat (as in, no bad lumpy sewing). This was quite an easy to knit top as it was knit from the top down. I should have made it a bit longer but I'll do that next time as I wouldn't mind making it in a different colour.

And another thing which I whipped up pretty quickly, is "Branching Out" from Knitty. I made the lace scarf for my older sister whose birthday is coming up. Both items are blocking at the moment.

However, a wet and windy Sunday means that these will take a bit longer to dry.

I still have quite a few unfinished projects but I don't really feel like picking them up again. We're moving house next week and I have to organise for a removalist, start packing, etc. I think this would be a good time for me to go through my WIPs and rip, rip, rip!!

On to another thing, we went to visit my grandmother today. She had been in hospital for about 3 weeks because of an infection in her foot. We went to the hospital but was told that she had been discharged yesterday. So much for communication between our families!! Anyway, my grandmother has dementia and has trouble remembering things. When we went to my aunt's house (whom she lives with), out of me and my sisters, she remembers me!! It's really sad to see someone you know slowly losing their memory and I'm just glad that for the time being, she is living with my aunt who takes care of her.

A few off the needles

2007-08-12T19:08:00.000+10:00

Lien, my namesake asked to see the completed Candle Flame Shawl. Here is a picture of it (modelled by my sister Lucille):

I completed this a while ago and as you can see in the last picture, I've still got to weave in the ends. I'm going to pack this up and send it to a friend of mine who is currently living in England. Seeing as it's going into Winter over there, she'll probably have more use for it than me.

Another finished object to show off is the scarf I made for Raymond. This was also finished around the same time but seeing as he's been soooooo busy at work, I got Lucille to model it as well:

The third FO I have to show is this ear flap hat. The pattern is in the Paton's Jet and Inca pattern book (same book as the ill-fated cardigan):

Wow, three finished objects in the one post!!

On to another thing, as some of you may be aware, there was (I think its now over) this rather nasty to-ing and fro-ing about intellectual property, and the copying of styles on the knitternet (regular knit bloggers and readers know all the ins and outs of what is going on). I have to say that I followed it all for a while with the sick fascination, similar to that of watching a car crash. But till now have not commented nor blogged about it in case I get flamed (although, how I'm not sure). But mostly because I thought it was all a bit childish and don't they say that imitation is the best form of flattery? However, I think I've changed my mind about that (umm... what's new?). I actually think its creepy and has anyone watched Single White Female? (Incidently, I loved this movie.) I acknowledge that I, myself decide on my next project based on what someone else has already made, I try to at least acknowledge who I got the idea from (thanks Pamela for the Candle Flame Shawl) and I'm sure with Ravelry, there is going to be more of the same but please, at least rotate who you are ~~stalking~~ taking inspiration from!! So that's my two cents worth.

Lunchtime Knitting

2007-08-11T18:08:00.000+10:00

A friend of mine invited me to go running with her during our lunch break. There are two reasons why I hesitate to take up her offer. The main one being I loathe to have to get changed, get all sweaty and then return to work as there is only around 2 showers for the whole building at my work. (Although my friend did offer to let me use the showers at her work - but she works for a competing firm, and that somehow seems unfaithful.) The other reason is that I have taken to knitting during my lunch. I previously used to browse the shops but seeing as I work in the boring part of town, I've already visited each shop several times over.

So it has been my quest to find a nice coffee shop to sit and knit. You would think that there would be a lot to choose from, but I'm looking for one which is quiet - rather difficult during rush hour lunch, and that has a little private spot for me to sit and be left alone. The closest I have found is Espresso on Sussex Lane. It's a cute little cafe wedged between all these terraces right smack bang in the middle of the CBD. Their set up isn't ideal because it doesn't feel private. But it's close enough to walk to so that I can still get a bit of knitting in.

My standard drink of choice, Skim Milk Latte. I used to think that life was too short for skim milk, but Weight Watchers has brain washed me.