Birthdays & Boozehounds

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front this week, as I've been busy tying up loose ends at work before my holiday.  But birthday update - what a lucky girl I am!

My lovely hubby took me for dinner on Wed night (which was the worst day ever, weather-wise, I must say!) to the wonderful Blancmange in Petersham.  We have been there a few times and it's always good.  This time I discovered that afternoon, when workmates asked where we were going for dinner, that my colleague's flatmate is the head waiter there.  My colleague rang him to tell him to look after us ... and when we arrived, right after he seated us he came back with two glasses of bubbles and said "these are from Paul".  Awww, how sweet. I won't attempt to write a review but I'll just say, if you're in Sydney and you haven't been there - go, GO.  Especially go on a weeknight, as they have a wonderful special deal on Tues-Thurs of 3 courses for $55.  That's right - good deal for the quality you get.

On Sat I had a haircut.  On the spur of the moment, based on a photo of Zooey Deschanel that I saw in the magazine I was reading while my colour was on.

Yeah, like a haircut is going to make me look like that.

You may recall that on Christmas Eve I kind of went for the semi-fringe - the sideswept, Clayton's fringe.  Well, this time I just said bugger it - go the whole hog.  All based on that photo and a whim ... and the nagging feeling that I might be running out of time to get trendy haircuts on a whim so I'd better do it now.  So I did!

Crappy iphone pic - and yes, my husband took it, which is why boobs are the focus of the shot, not the haircut!

It is a too long & thick on the left-hand side ... but will try not to worry about it until I can get it fixed.

Then, on Sat night I had a fantastic dinner with friends, which is where this photo was taken, at the also wonderful Thanh Binh in Newtown.  This is also an old favourite of mine - if you like a good fresh rice paper roll, this is the place for you!  There were several wonderful friends there, including the always hilarious Mel who has a great blog called King St Challenge.  I'm sure she will do a better review!  Luckily she had not already been to this restaurant, so it was not only a birthday dinner for me, she managed to knock another one off her list.  We then joined Mel and others the next day to knock off another one, for lunch at the Coopers Hotel.

So it was a very boozy time, and I just haven't really managed to stop since then.  Have slid into holiday mode.  I had all good intentions of being a perfect angel this week - no booze, lots of gym, only clean food.  And then I went - ah well, it's nearly holidays, it's still my birthday week/fortnight/month ... so who cares?  I will have so much hard work to do when I get back from hols!!

We fly out on Saturday, early evening.  So excited!  Not about the journey - as a former Qantas employee who became far too accustomed to staff travel, the thought of flying in Economy on Jetstar for 10 hours is practically giving me hives.  But I am very excited about getting there.  Our first place is the treehouse in Volcano Village on the Big Island - it has an amazing spa bath and fireplace.  And I was even able to arrange a romantic candlelight dinner, cooked by a local chef & delivered & set up in the cottage for us ... he is even picking us up a nice bottle of wine.  I think this will be perfect for our first night & I'm treating it like part 2 of our honeymoon.  Better go pack!

Happy Birthday to Me

Source: http://www.kateconnick.com/

Thanks Rover - that about sums it up!  It's my birthday today.  I'm 36 ... downhill slope now.  But there's so much to look forward to in the next year.  Holiday to Hawaii in 10 days time - woo hoo!  Then getting the surgery out of the way (that in itself is not something to look forward to so much), then spending 3 months recovering, having good times alone with my husband & preparing ourselves before hopefully getting up the duff fairly quickly (whilst having fun trying!).  We'll see ... will be interesting to see what's going on around here next year on my 37th birthday.

As it is July, I've certainly had my share of crappy weather birthdays in my life.  But I think this one might just win.  Hope everyone in Sydney stays dry and safe.

I Haz Broccoli!

Look - I have grown vegetables!  Yay.  These photos were actually taken about a week ago, the broccoli is bigger now.  Must take some more shots.


This is one of about 10 showing heads now - this was the first & is the biggest.



Still no heads on the cauliflower - it seems to be a much slower grower than the broccoli.

And even leeks too ... although I'm not really sure these will grow to proper size. 

Maybe I wasn't supposed to plant them in clumps like that.  As seedlings they came in clumps and were like tiny chives, so I just planted them as they were - did not think I needed to separate each one.  But now I think maybe I was supposed to do that, as they seem now to not have room to grow to proper leek size.  I did the same with the onions - not sure if they'll have the same problem.  Any expert opinions out there? 

The lettuce & rocket are still going strong & I have just planted some more of both in a long, rectangular pot too.  There are some promising looking carrot tops as well, but leaving them there until after we get back.  Of course the broccoli will all be ready to harvest when we're in Hawaii.  Boo.  Oh well - a cocktail on the beach at sunset might help me get over it.

But home grown veggies - yummy!  Even Lucy is licking her lips in anticipation!

More Wedding Bells

Well, I had a phone call late this afternoon from my friend Suze (she was our bridesmaid).  I missed the call, but she left a very happy sounding message saying she was calling from Byron Bay (she is a teacher, so on holidays) with "some news".  I felt pretty sure I knew what the news was going to be, and I was right.  I rang her back, and her boyfriend had proposed last night, on the beach up at Byron.  How lovely for them!  This made me crack open some bubbly we had in the fridge.  Nice to have an excuse to do that on a Tuesday night!

In other news, I haven't posted since my appointment with the surgeon last week.  He didn't pressure me into having the surgery, but from the information I'd been given, it really seems the best option.  Once I said I was definitely going to have it, he agreed this was the best choice (I'm sure he wasn't just saying that because of any monetary benefit for him!!).  He told me a bit more about my fibroids, and said the biggest one is the size of a baby's head!  That is enough for me to want them out, right there.  Because we're going to Hawaii at the end of this month, I'll be waiting until after that for the surgery - even though I'm very aware of them now & know now that the stomach pains I get are probably because of the fibroids.  I can't wait to get them out, although I am not looking forward to the recovery.  My surgery is booked in for 31st August - first up in the morning.  He will not know until he starts playing around whether he'll be able to do the whole thing laporoscopically or if he'll have to cut me right open to do the job properly.  So I won't know until I wake up whether it will be a 2 week or 4-6 week recovery time.  Hmmm, fingers crossed for the former.

Must.Stop.Eating.Sugar

So, I think I can definitely call myself a non smoker now - it has been over 2 weeks and not a single puff.  Hooray for me!!!  However, on the downside, I have done what I swore I wouldn't. I have been eating sugar: lollies, chocolate, cake, you name it.  Also drinking wine every night.  I very rarely eat that sort of stuff (umm, the sugary treats, that is - wish I could say the same about wine) & definitely did not suddenly want to become a food-scoffing pig in place of cigarettes, because that brings a whole new swag of problems!  But alas, I admit I totally lost all interest and motivation for healthy eating or gym going, and had a bad couple of weeks on the healthy lifestyle front.  Honestly, it was like I just didn't care anymore.  This has been me.


Source: http://healthhabits.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/emotionaleating1.jpg

Not sure if this has been due to the stopping smoking, or finding out about my fibroids, or maybe a combination of both ... maybe I just needed a bit of relaxation & comfort eating.  But no more!  I have been healthy the last few days & went to the gym yesterday (getting sore now). 

In other news, I have been to the specialist and he was very nice.  He thinks getting the fibroids surgically removed is the best idea & has referred me to just the guy to do it.  Hopefully he will be able to this via the keyhole type of surgery, which requires much less recovery time than full-on abdomen surgery.  However, there is always the risk that, while under, something may happen that necessitates a hysterectomy.  Obviously this would be terrible and not at all what I want.  The doctor told me, although it is a risk he has to inform me of, he has never seen this actually happen.  I will be seeing the surgeon dude on Wednesday & hopefully can book in for the procedure really soon.  Regardless of whether he can do it the keyhole way or it's full open surgery, either way we will have to then wait 3 months before starting to try for a baby.  It's just that the keyhole surgery would be a much shorter and easier recovery for me.  I will give an update after I see him.