Sometime in the week after the wedding
I went to book club for the first time. A girl from work, Carli, and some of her friends and friends-of-friends have formed a book club and I went along to see how I like it. It's perfect for me - they spend about five minutes talking about the book and the rest of the time talking about other girlie things. Very enjoyable.
Friday 18 November
I caught up again with my adorable friend Mattie. He was just coming over for a quiet night watching a DVD but at the last minute we decided to head out for dinner. At the restaurant we ordered EVERYTHING on the tapas menu and washed it down with a lovely drop of NZ Sav Blanc...tasty.
However, I was later regretting the wine and late night because I was on call for an SES Eastern Group exercise - we were told it would all happen between 12 midnight and 12 midday and so of course at 12.13am after six minutes sleep I got the call for...
Saturday 19 November
... our SES "activation"
The first part of the exercise was easy and lots of fun - just a few of us were called out to do a "search" of Norman Creek in our new floodboat. All run-of -the-mill until one of the "characters" on board (aka our Group Leader in his Oscar-winning performance of an idiot) fell overboard into the Brisbane River. So then we had to do some rescue stuff, which was fun. (Keep in mind this is at about 3am)
The rest of the group was then called out and we made our way down to the old deserted quarries in Karawatha State Forest (near Kuraby). This is where I was really starting to regret the wine - we had to do a full land search and recover victims from all over the quarry (Southern Group SES members had been stashed around the area before we arrived), as well as use the boat for some recovery. All good and well until the sun came up and the heat reflected off the shale quarry - it was like a sauna in there, and made worse by our lovely, cover-everything, thick overalls and boots. Ugh...this wine headache was really starting to take hold now, especially trying to lug 100kg victims over rough terrain in full sun.
So after they trucked in a Macca's breakfast I quickly volunteered to help man the Ops Centre and do radio comms. Ahhhh....shade, a comfy chair, and a good view of the rest of them out there sweating in the hot sun :-) For the remainder of the morning I stayed put.
After we packed up, cleaned up back at our Morningside Headquarters I finally got home around 12'ish. As I had a Tupperware party to go to, I decided to lay down for just a little while to get some sleep. I finally woke up after a seven hour "nap".
Sunday 20 November
Sunday was a quiet day - just some Chrissie shopping with Fi.
Wednesday 23 November
The work Christmas drinks... I was one of the last four standing and the last to leave the pub. Need I say more?!
Saturday 26 November
My gorgeous little niece had her end of year ballet concert at the Powerhouse in New Farm. Here's a pictures of her adorable costume:
Monday 28 November
A very exciting day...my new little niece Annika Tatum was born at 1.45pm weighing 3620g!!! She's a little sister to Sharda (see pic above). Here's a photo of my beautiful new niece:
Thursday 1 December
Book Club met up for their Christmas dinner at Monsoon. Iit was a fun night - I had this gorgeous "Lemon Meringue" cocktail and divine lamb shank Indian curry for dinner. Yummo!
Friday 2 December
My Marketing unit had our Christmas party (organised by yours truly!) at Augellos in New Farm. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy the pre-dinner drinks because I had to do a last minute trip out to the airport to try and get some publications on a plane (all 40 boxes or 400kg of them!!). It was a tad stressful - 20 minutes to get to the airport in heavy rain, Friday evening peak hour, past three road accidents and without messing my party hair. But we made it! We were a tad late to dinner, but then we enjoyed a couple drinks, some divine pizza and dancing.
Saturday 3 December
Twas the night before Chey's birthday party and hence the annual pilgrimage to Fi's house to decorate the birthday cake. It's always a good laugh - neither Fi nor I are very good at it, but we always have a go and the results are usually good. This year was no exception with the cake being a huge success with the birthday girl.
Sunday 4 December
I picked up my niece Sharda and took her to Chey's 5th birthday party. It was a great day - the weather was kind (it normally rains for Chey's party!) and the kids had a ball playing in the park, and all over "Uncle Tony". I had fun running around playing games like Statues and What's the Time, Mr Wolf. Remember those games?!?!
After the kids were exhausted and stuffed full of lollies and soft drink, Tony and I visited my sister Ronda and her husband Brad and then we invited ourselves to dinner with Mum and Dad.
Friday 9 December
My head hurts just thinking about this evening - the Lord Mayor's annual reception for SES members. It's a cocktail party held at City Hall with presentations to members and lots of finger food and champagne. After a few too many our group went down the road for dinner and a few more (wine this time), then on to the Victory (cringe!) to settle in for the night (shots and vodka). After some of our group were kicked out by over-zealous security (they picked on the sober ones!!) we moved to the balcony in the Premier's bar at the casino (frozen slushie daiquiris). Yet again I was one of the final five standing...or leaning...when I left them at 4am. I was barely able to keep my eyes open and didn't particularly want to see the sun come up, much to the disgust of the stragglers I left at the bar. It was home to bed and panadol for this little chicken.
Saturday 10 December
After a very big sleep-in, I did it all again (December is soooo tiring!). This time, it was with Tony, Fi and Scottie and we went down the coast to support a friend of ours, Mal, as he was DJ'ing at a club in Broadbeach. Mal did a fantastic job, as always, and we had a great time dancing to the awesome mix he played.
Sunday 11 December
After another sleep-in Tony and I went to my SES group Christmas BBQ. It was heaps of fun - there was lots of food, some backyard-style cricket, a pool for the kids and even a visit from Santa - complete with pressies for the littlies. After Santa left (the reindeer were getting restless) our Group Leader presented every member with a certificate of appreciation for the number of hours they've contributed to the community. I was totally surprised to learn I've volunteered 144 hours of my time in a little over six months of service.
Monday 12 December
The worst day of the year - my grandfather on my Mum's side passed away. He was a very sick man and it was expected, but this still doesn't make it any easier.
Saturday 17 December
After a very hard week, my sweet boy took me on a Saturday night date - we had a lovely Thai dinner and then saw King Kong. It was a very long movie and could have easily had an hour shaved off it. Good if you like watching Naomi Watts pull every single facial expression under the sun. Five out of 10.
Sunday 18 December
Time for the annual Dodgy Secret Santa with the uni gang - this year's theme for the presents was red and as always, it had to be something tacky and under $10. Even though most of our group is in London we managed to coordinate a web-cam hook-up despite busy pre-Christmas schedules and time zone differences. It was 9am and hot in Brisbane and 11pm Saturday night and freezing in London. Tony and I went to Cath and Grant's place, while Davo, Jaimee, Damian, Ben and Mitch went to an internet cafe. It was sooooo good to see my pals and wave madly at each other!
After enjoying brunch with Cath and Grant, Tony and I went to my Nanna's house for a BBQ with the family. My uncle and cousins had come up from Gosford and it was the first time I'd seen them in ages. Despite the reason everyone was there, it was lovely to have all my family together.
Monday 19 December
The most difficult day of the year - my grandfather's funeral. I've always found public speaking easy, but reading a few short passages I'd written about Father was the hardest thing I have ever done. But I was determined to do it - I needed for him to be remembered by someone in the family, not just the celebrant.
Wednesday 20 December
Dad and I did his Christmas shopping for Mum at Chermside. Always good fun.
...to be continued...
