February 2010 Highlights

G'day! We meet again!

Since landing back in Sydney I've hit the ground running. There was so much to do when I first arrived! I could write a novel to catch up on everything since my last post, but there a few highlights that are definetly worth a mention.

Meeting Nick's brand new baby niece, Ciara, who was born just a week before I landed was incredible.

She was so so tiny and gorgeous, and her mother even let me have a cuddle!



She is a bouncing 8 week old baby now and still oh so good to snuggle with :)

Another definite highlight was the trip Nick and I took to the Hawksberry river for a five day camp-out music festival. The vibe was amazing and Nick and I danced each night away to an awesome line up of bands. The festival is big on organizing dress up events and Nick and I took full advantage of the opportunity to do a little facepainting...


... ok a lot of face painting!

I wasn't about to spend the free time I had before uni started hiding from the sun inside like I did last year, and made sure I hit the beach for some 'Triple S' fun (Sun, Sand, Surf. Yes I made that up myself. Yes, I'm a nerd.)

I pulled my best version of "Blue Crush" and almost* surfed pipe! (*By 'almost', I mean I stood up in white water. Yay!)

More importantly, Nick and I and a few friends had a great time at the beach!

Moving right along into some cultural highlights... celebrating Chinese New Year with my friend Jane was waaay cool, and the costumes, singing, dancing and chinese lion dragons were worth braving the torrential downpour to go and see:

Then of course there was Valentine's Day. Not a day that's been very pleasant for me over the past year or five, but this year was pure bliss!

Nick planned an awesome day for us to spend together. We packed a picnic and drove into the Royal National Park, (where we'd gone on one of our first dates.) There, despite the overcast skies and slight drizzle we rented a canoe and went for the most surreal and dreamlike paddle up a tree-lined canal. The weather was actually a blessing in disguise as the water, and park in general was pretty deserted and felt like our own slice of paradise, just for us to enjoy.

Along the way Nick in all his orthinological glory, pointed out the myriad speciese of birdlife, presenting themselves along the bank. (A bird is on the branch just to the right of my head.)

Spotting the usually shy liar bird through the trees was an especially delightful treat, and we giggled at its machainery-sounding robot noises interrupting the silence of the earily still and quiet wilderness. I also admired some wonderful wildflowers and plantlife as we stretched our muscles paddling along, enjoying our weightlessness in the canoe as it glided across the water.

We pulled into the dock just as the drizzle turned into rain, and upon disembarking from the canoe, dashed over to an undercover picnic area to devour our well-earned feast. We had decided on a medditerrainian theme of baquette, olives, feta, sliced meat, and grapes and boy did it it the spot! Of course we had to give a nod to the Brits, and opted for a carten of custard for dessert. Turnes out a hollowed out grape filled with cold custard is super tasty!

Thanks babe for such an amazing Valentine's Day 2010!!!!

Oh My Gosh! Look who's here!!!

[I'll give you a hint...]

But first some updates!

Where have I been you ask?

Ok folks, I know it's been a while since I've blogged but I have lots of reasons for having been so busy. Firstly, the last couple of weeks of my trip to home to Canada was a whirlwind to say the least! In completing my goal of catching up with every friend I have (and their parents too,) it was a bonefide race to the finish. An "Amazing Race" one might say, since it was so amazing to get to see all of my beloved friends whom I miss so so much!

I have to show you this photo of my girlfriends from Oakville and me at Tenleigh's "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. I swear the second hand stores put in a special order just for us cause we managed to pull off some doozies!

Speaking of dressing up, I had a great time getting together with my Brock girlfriends for a Christmas Pajama party! It was so great to be there, and to see that the girls haven't changed a bit (well okay maybe some have a tiny bit; see below.) I love going home and being able to slide back in to old friendships. Of course I wish there was a cosmic black-hole through which I could go home to see my friends every other weekend; however, on the upside, I have wonderful memories of this year's visit, and am very satisfied in the fact that I at least got to congratulate one friend on her engagement and another on becoming a mum-to-be!

Of course I can't forget to mention the absolutely fantastic parties put on by my friends Kristen and Sean. Their apartment has the most amazing view- perfect for midnight noise-making to bring in the New Year!

Now not to worry, I know what y'all are thinking... but I did do stuff other than raid Goodwill and party. Yes, to balance out the parties, Kristen and I enjoyed some very refined and civilized socializing with our friend Mara and her cute little toddler. Seeing adorable Skylar again was great as the last time I saw her she was a wee new-born at my going away party. My- they grow so quickly!

Of course no trip would have been complete if I hadn't of tried to outdo myself in a feat of culinary genius. Ahem, since Masterchef's roster was complete, I decided to recruit my Aussie mate, Jessie as guinea pig for a homemade feast of bruscetta, pancetta caesar salad, creole chicken chili, and New York cheesecake with raspberry sauce and blueberries (yes, the cake was homemade too of course!)

I served up the meal on our finest china, and, as Jessie was preparing to make the move back to Perth, we toasted both of our returns to Australia. Jessie, I hope we get to see each other again soon (PS please don't make me eat any Vegemite)!

Lastly, I absolutely HAD to go to my favourite Vietnamese restaurant in Toronto, I've mentioned it before here, and it was even better than I'd remembered. Kristen, Sean and I were joined by our out-of-town friends Jess and Di for an oh-so-scrumptious and drool-worthy dinner of rare-beef pho and rice-paper spring rolls. Topped off with copious amounts of tea and laughter, I left the restaurant with that satisfyingly stuffed feeling that I can only get with Asian food.

Well that's it for the post-trip round-up. More very soon (I promise!) on how I've been keeping busy since arriving back in Australia. Ta-ta for now!