The Birthday

Well I guess it's time to tell you about my birthday.

I was still up chatting to a friend in Sydney when the clock ticked over to my birthday. (Kudos to Ringo for being the first one to wish me a Happy Birthday - at 10 past 12) By one o'clock I was curled up in bed , reading my book and loving being 39. At 1.30am it all went pear shaped!
Emma woke up vomiting and did not stop until 1.00pm!!! Not sure if the poor petal had gastro or food poisoning but I do know that that was the end of any hopes of salvaging the birthday. I had to cancel my morning coffee date and ended up spending the day holding Emma's hair out of the bucket and trying to keep Ben amused cooped up inside all day. Joy.

At 2.00pm we all fell asleep - thank god.

I had visions of coming down with it myself and having to miss the ballet but luckily Em perked up, Mick and Alice arrived and off Alice and I went. I've never been so pleased to see my brother.

We had a gorgeous night as my last post will tell you and the birthday was saved - sort of.

My lovely friends have decided to postpone my birthday and hold the Festival in 2 weeks time.

Sounds good to me.

PS. I did get a pressie in the mail from James and even more exciting ... Kieth Urban sent me an email wishing me a happy birthday!!!


This made it all worth it..

New Romantics

Last night I had the good fortune to see the dress rehearsal of 'New Romantics' - the Australian Ballet's latest production. This amazing triplet has ballets by two modern choreographers - Australian Stephen Baynes - 'Constant Variants', and New Yorker Christopher Wheeldon - After The Rain', preceded by the incomparable George Balanchine's Apollo.

What a fabulous evening and we even had the good fortune to see Steven Heathcote in what is to be his last principal role for the Australian Ballet.

In the words of Molly Meldrum...'Do yourself a favour'

Or to bastardise Shakespeare...'Get thee to the ballet'

Birthday festival

I am of the firm belief that a birthday should be celebrated for an entire week, hence the Birthday Festival as it is known in my household. Unfortunately James does not subscribe to this philosophy and rolls his eyes every time June comes around.

This year not only has he scoffed at the Birthday Festival, but he is 2 states away!

I can always rely on my fabulous parents to make a nice big fuss of me....EXCEPT THIS YEAR. Not only is James away but Mum and Dad are frolicking around Europe while their eldest and only daughter celebrates her last birthday in her 30's ON HER OWN!!!

Luckily the friends and in-laws have rallied around and I actually seem to be having a birthday festival after all.

On Tuesday the lovely Ally at 'Gourmet On Gamon' presented me with this when I dropped in for a cuppa...

She is aware of the Festival and heartily approves.

Today my lovely mother-in-law and sis-in law had us over for dinner and produced this....

Tomorrow is the apex of the Festival (my actual birthday). I'm yet to see what treats are in store but it had better include some major sucking up by husband and parents!!

All Hail To The Festival Of Birth

The Crazy Lady With The Cat

Oh My God! I just caught myself talking to my kitchen appliances! And I don't even have very nice kitchen appliances.

James has only been away for four days and already I am chatting to inanimate objects.

Some would say that that isn't very unusual but at least if James is here I can delude myself into believing he is actually listening.

Best I call the cat in because even though talking to a cat is depressingly spinsterish, it is at least a little less weird than asking the kettle what time Brothers and Sisters is on.

Vs.

The Castle Park

I defy anyone to find a better set of play eqipment than this!

It is the most amazing park and has me gazing in awe every time we visit.

The catch is that it will cost you lots of folding stuff for me to tell you where it is. If you all go there will be no room for us ....so it is the first CHALK secret spot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

A Big Question

Would anyone notice if I disappeared?

The big question was asked on 'Grey's Anatomy' tonight! I defy anyone to watch that episode and not wonder about the answer to that question.

What an immense comfort it is to me to be confident that my absence would be missed. I guess it is one of the often unrecognised comforts of marriage. Often when James is away, as now, I contemplate the terrifying thought that if something was to happen to me, what would my kids do and how long would it be before anyone noticed something was wrong.

Such cheery thoughts for a Sunday night, but how terribly tragic if you weren't sure that anyone would. That would have to be a very scary state to contemplate.

I have come to realise that I have the most amazing group of girlfriends who would come at the drop of a hat and one in particular who would move heaven and earth if she thought I needed her. She worries about me if I haven't returned a call for a few days and this is infinitely comforting.

So to Alex and all my other guardian angels I thankyou and want you to know that I have your back also.

1990

Famous Blue Raincoat

I get very excited these days by the simplest things! This month I've discovered my new favourite place to hang out.

When getting out of the house for an hour is mandatory and there are only so many times you can cope with freezing your arse off at the park.. where else could be better than a warm and welcoming cafe? My problem has always been the issue of 'allowed number of visits per day'. I have realised that if you go to the same cafe all the time then the staff quickly become aware that you have been 3 times in a day.... therefore you need to spread yourself around so no one knows exactly how often you drag your kids to cafes.

As far as Ian and Matt at 'Le Chien' know I am only there every other day....


Here is Matt after discovering my secret



Now that I can add The Famous Blue Raincoat to my list I am pretty much set and can roll from one to another, to another with no one (including hubby) being any the wiser! Clever aren't I!

The Famous Blue Raincoat