Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
This week’s theme is ”Music” and here are some music moments from our time spent in Fiji.
From the left: Joe, me and Akuila
Dokko – the local landowner, and proprietor of the staff kava hut – this was my Christmas present to him … he really REALLY wanted a banjo, bless his heart!
I finally managed to put the final stitches into Part 2 of my Quaker RR:
And here’s a comparison of mine and Nickis pieces hanging out together this evening – this photo is quite deceiving, as Nicki’s piece is quite a bit smaller than mine, I should take a photo of them side by side properly so you can see the difference, it’s awesome!:
Then I started part 3, which is part 1 of 2 that I’m stitching on Nicki’s RR. I have to admit I struggled a bit stitching this tonight, as the fabric’s high count is really hard to see … thank goodness for my Ott-Lite, or I don’t think I would be attempting it! It will look really pretty once it’s stitched, though … it just might take me a bit longer than normal to stitch it! 😉
The highlight for me this weekend was having my ex-flatmate up to stay for the night in Sydney. She flew off overseas this morning, but before she went we managed to have a great day out yesterday. We drove out to Bondi Junction, which is a first for me – the Westfield shopping centre out there is awesome! I totally fell in love with Norton St Grocers, and filled my basket up with wonderful fresh and healthy produce … thankfully my basket was too full by the time we came across the deli section, so I couldn’t stock up on non-healthy options … but, I’ll be back LOL.
Tonight I really enjoyed the fresh figs I’d bought yesterday … I can’t believe the difference between dried and fresh figs – fresh figs rock!!! 😀
This week’s theme is “Thankful” and I have to say I have many things to be thankful for in my lifetime – friends and family that have helped be grow and become the person I am today … opportunities to experience many different adventures along life’s pathway … and the opportunity to travel and broaden my horizons and life experiences. I am thankful for all these things – thankful for the richness of life itself! Here are some snippets from my life of which I have been thankful to experience…
Katie and I put on a final farewell dinner for Lisa last night, and it was absolutely wonderful if I say so myself! We’d discussed having crayfish months ago (aka Rock Lobster), and I said I’d treat us for the final meal … yesterday morning I took a trip out to the Sydney Fish Markets for the first time (and fell in love with them while I was there – I think I’ll be going there once a month to buy fresh fish!), and cried at the price tag, then cried again as they got yanked out of the tank and put into a bag with their litte tails still flapping … yikes …
Anyway, the shop put them out of their misery and sliced them into halves for me, and I picked up a fresh whole snapper to keep them company, along with a couple of tuna steaks. I will definitely be living on bread and jam for the month of February (or at least until next payday) ‘cos the bank balance was emptied out hmmm, but a promise is a promise. Katie made Pannecotta for dessert (which I’ve never had before) – oh boy it was scrummy!
We took some photos of the evening’s menus, so thought I’d share it (sorry Mum, I know you’re sitting there as green as a shamrock with jealousy! haha).
First of all we take some fresh crafish/rock lobster, and slice them in half…
Then we sprinkle with cayenne pepper and a dash of sea salt, and baste with a marinade made from garlic, oil, lemon juice and brandy. Eventually, after a couple of extra bastings during cooking, they’ll come out looking like this…
Add a bit of potato slice bake (which unfortunatey looks like it’s mashed in this photo!), and add a basic tossed salad, and you have a scrummy meal that will have you sighing with satisfaction for hours afterwards. Katie was ooh’ing and ahh’ing for ages, saying her taste buds were in ecstasy as every element of the meal was amazing – thanks Katie, that’s a huge compliment 🙂
We had great fun at the end all trying to get into the crayfish legs for that final little fleshy morsel hiding in there – lots of giggles and cursing abounded LOL. We even cleared and set the dining table for dinner … it was lovely eating all together … it’s only taken us 12 months to use it! LOL.
Afterwards Katie was sent into the kitchen to finish off the preparations of her Pannecotta desserts – and this is the result … how beautiful do they look? And they tasted just as beautiful! 🙂
We ended the night by finishing off my Christmas present of chocolate port … just enough left in the bottle to half fill three glasses for the Three Musketeers … and here’s Katie’s self-portrait of us all at the end of the meal while we were sampling our ports.
All in all a really wonderful night – we’re going to miss my flatmate Lisa a LOT … both at work and at home. She will definitely be missed, bless her.
We were supposed to all be going to Manly for lunch today with other friends of Lisa’s for their farewell lunch, but I’ve woken up with my throat being worse, and heading to my chest, so I’ve decided to sit here with a mug of Lemsip and have pulled out of the festivities. I figure it’s probably wiser for me to have a day sat around home vegetating than being a social butterfly and sharing my bugs further. Never mind, I still have wonderful memories from last night to keep me warm and cosy today … I might even get some more stitching done! 😀
What an awesome night out … after my Chiro session tonight we headed into the city of Sydney, and plonked ourselves down in our seat near Mrs Macquaries Chair, at the Open Air Cinema. What an exquisite setting it’s in … the huge movie screen sits out over the water in the harbour, with the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge sitting proudly and magnificently in the background, with the occasional bat flying overhead. Here’s a photo of the setting from their website – just awesome!
And to top it all off we saw the BEST film – “In Bruges“. A lot of people probably wouldn’t enjoy it (including my Mum) as it includes lots of profanity … and the humour is quite dark … but Colin Farrell was an absolute treat to watch, and we all laughed our heads off at the shocking quips and humour – highly, highly amusing! And I’ve always been a bit of a fan of Brendan Gleeson, so it was a double treat for me! The movie was much better than I was expecting, and I’ll be sure to add it to my DVD collection once it’s been released 😀
Here’s one of the earlier parts in the movie that yanked my chain … and one of the few parts with no swearing! 😉
Ken (Brendan Gleeson): Coming up?
Ray (Colin Farrell): What’s up there?
Ken: The view.
Ray: The view of what? The view of down here? I can see that down here.
Ken: Ray, you are about the worst tourist in the whole world.
Ray: Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn’t, so it doesn’t.
Sick humour, most definitely (it gets much worse) … but awesome viewing on the big screen! One of Colin Farrell’s best performances in my eyes …
Just dropping by to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Hopefully you all had fun seeing in the New Year in whatever you chose to do so. Personally I joined the squillions of thousands of party-goers crammed along the harbourside in Sydney to witness the most spectacular fireworks display I’ve ever seen! It was a nightmare for me getting there, thanks to over-full and late trains causing me to miss my last ferry to Balmain, but a bus trip and short taxi ride later and I was joining my party group in time to play “celebrity heads” (which was a total hoot!), have a few drinks (OK, perhaps more than a few!), and a lovely dinner. My group had all been sitting in our selected position since lunchtime, but I got there late after working all day.
Anyway, I’m so glad I made the effort to go along and join them, and the fireworks truly were spectacular. The crowds were phenomenal, but I’d still do it all again next year given the chance! Here are a few photos of the fireworks at midnight, along with a shot of how clearly we could see the harbour bridge in front of us … prime real estate, we had, that’s for sure LOL.
and the piece de resistance for me … look at all that gunpowder going up … this little Annie was in childlike heaven!!! 😀
If you want to see a quick video clip of the start of the fireworks, you can check it out here! And if you have more time to spend and fancy watching the first 8 whole minutes of some spectacular fireworks, check out the You Tube video here 😀
Here we are – Christmas is past and the New Year is almost upon us … blimey, how did that happen?!!!
I spent a wonderful few days with Brenda and Nigel over in the northwest suburbs of Sydney for Christmas. As usual Nigel did an exceptional job of Christmas dinner and we dined on turkey breast, baked ham, new potatoes, fresh beans and peas, followed by Nigel’s famous pavlova (the best I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying something as I’ve tried many; it was always my fave dessert growing up). Nigel doesn’t drink, so Brenda and I made up for his allowance, and we definitely imbibed a fair bit over those few days … including a bottle of Iron Gate Sweet Shiraz that I brought back from the Hunter Valley, and now Brenda is in love with it too 🙂
Santa was very very generous to me this year – my flatmate Lisa spoilt me rotten with some yummy chocolate dessert sauces, whisk and tea-towel set, a little tub of Mango Daiquiri mix (ie just add booze and chill), a Frangipani calendar and a beautiful bottle of Chocolate Port from Flaschengeist in a Christmas tree shape … boy she has a good memory, and Brenda and I had to sample it on Christmas Day to complete our Christmas dinner festivities. My other friend (who is about to become my new flatmate – see more below) bought me a beautiful blue and gold necklace and earring set, but I forgot to take a photo of it as I’m wearing it today!
Mum bought me a stunning greenstone (NZ Jade) necklace (I chose it when I was in NZ), with a fish hook shape with a whale’s tale at the end … very pretty 🙂
I also spend my Christmas money on an exquisite piece of glass sculpture – we hunted for the entire day for one with ‘just the right colourings’, and just as we’d given up we found one in downtown Auckland. This is a “Koru”, or Silver Fern frond, and I just adore it to death. Unfortunately the photo was taken without a light shining through it, so you can’t see the beautiful colours … I really must try to get a good photo of it. Brenda really loved this one too. Eventually I want to have a glass display cabinet which will house my stitching smalls, and this will sit on the top shelp with a spotlight on it to highlight the colourings 🙂
Brenda and Nigel gave me something that I will truly treasure always – Brenda does ceramic classes, and she’s done some incredible pieces … and this year she made me a Christmas keepsake that will bring years and years of happiness while it’s proudly on display. Handmade gifts are the best, and I feel truly honoured to have one of her pieces to call my own!! 😀
Talking of exquisite hand-made gifts, I also finally remembered to take a photo of the stunning ornie that Katrina gave me for Christmas, and it’s proudly hanging on my hand-made ornie tree. Thanks again Katrina, I really really love it!
Today I went shopping after dropping my mobile phone off to be sent off for repair, and unexpectedly picked up a new Christmas tree with 75% off at Myer, which means this year is the final time I will have a teeny tiny wee tree … next year I will have a big 2m tall tree overpowering the lounge space … and I can’t wait!! haha. Next year that should mean I can combine my bauble ornies with my hand-stitched ornies 😀
I did take a couple of photos of the various Christmas displays in my wee lounge to show Mum, including my set of 3 tables that the removalists tried to demolish (they broke 3 entire legs off of the largest one) – Nigel managed to glue them back together for me over Christmas, bless him, so I’m thrilled to have my tables back on display again yippee 🙂
Mum, this is the centrepiece display I was telling you about on the phone … I really love it!
And I finally “finished” another piece and put the ribbon around my flat-fold that I made quite some time ago (probably 2 years ago now!) – I love the bright red of the ribbon.
While I was shopping today I also scored a couple of cans of English Heinz Tomato Soup … ah, I’m in heaven! The Aussie version of Heinz soup isn’t quite the same, so I had a wee splurge. Not in the photo is also a bag of lemon sherbet bon-bons and box of Black Knight licorice 😉
I also picked up a couple of other treats … including a “fish on a stick” … this is also a photo for Mum’s benefit! I made a decision after visiting a shop with a marine/ocean/beach theme months ago that I really want to have that sort of theme for my lounge, and have been buying a couple of pieces every now and then (I think Susan set the seed with all of her dream home decor photos months and months ago, and it must have been sitting at the back of my brain all this time!) … first of all I bought some starfish for my coffee table when I had my girlie weekend away with Brenda and friends, and I’m now thinking of stitching some small shells along the edge of my sheer curtains … but now I have my own blue fish on a stick too! I also bought a wee tub of coral and shells to place in a plain glass bowl, but didn’t take a photo.
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On a different note, last night I had a right royal treat – Tannia and her OH came to visit and stay the night. Even though it was a whirlwind visit, it was so lovely to see them both again – I miss them here in Sydney! I actually felt a bit flat after they left, and ended up taking the day off work to make up for a day I worked while in Auckland during my annual leave. Hence the reason I spent the day shopping, I think! I did feel really bad, though, ‘cos Tannia was her ever-thoughtful self and brought me some luscious gifts, and I had nothing to give in return … I’m such a bad friend! 😦
Thanks so much again Tannia, I love everything, and I miss you loads! {hugs}
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The final news that I intimated about earlier, is that my flatmate Lisa is heading back to Melbourne at the end of January. Her secondment is up then and she’s not interested in renewing it for different reasons … some job-related and some personal reasons. I’m going to miss having her around the place, as we’d become quite close over the last couple of months especially. All is not lost, however, as Katie is going to be moving in instead – her own living situation isn’t great (her flatmate is a druggie and, although quite good fun, is quite strange!). At least I won’t have to find someone else that I don’t know, and don’t have to struggle to make the rent on my own, which is great! Fingers crossed it’ll all work out, and we find living together OK.
Rightio, I think that’s just about all the news for now … I’m a bit scatter-brained at the moment, so I’ve probably forgotten something! I thought I’d better hurry up and make a post, though, as New Year will be here in 2 nights, and it’s unlikely I’ll be back online until we’re already into 2009!
On that note, I’d like to wish you all a prosperous and wonderful 2009!! 😀
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