Day 182

Dad's birthday today, Happy birthday dad!

Nutty tried really hard to get into this picture, but I managed one without her!

Day 181

Random shot of the year but I really like it!  total accident actually, the camera fired as I was turning it off while looking for wedding shoes during lunch.  

Day 180

Bit cold this morning (for Sydney anyway!) Brrrr  .4 outside and 8.2 inside.

just realised looking at the photo that our weather nerdy thing is displaying the wrong date, had to double check the date settings in my camera to be certain it was the right day

Day 179

Our local park and a late afternoon walk to explore it properly.  Lots of bush regeneration happening and so many plant names to drag from the back of my brain. Use it or lose it they say....

Wallaby grass

Sunset from the top of the hill

 Brendan sussing out the mown area.  It's a surprisingly large park!

Day 178

Lunch with friends in Newtown and a gorgeous sunset on the way home.

Mum rang while we were out at lunch to let me know Dad's mum had passed away.  Very sad, my last grandparent and in an unobtrusive way a big influence on me and I'm sure all of my cousins and of course dad and his sisters.  Glad she's at peace now after a very good innings, less than a week to her 98th birthday

Day 177

Tree planting in the nearby national park was 'work' for today courtesy of our corporate social responsibility program at work.  Gorgeous day out and nice to spend time out of the office doing something I  used to do for a living.

Steaming mulch

Our MD on the right and CSR dude on the left.  View is looking over Lane Cove National Park towards Chatswood

A scribbly gum

Day 176

What an historic day!

We have our first Female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and a red head to boot!

In other news we have a new rug courtesy of Ikea and on sale :)  most importantly it received Nutmeg's seal of approval as we rolled it out.  We're now 95% happy with this room, all it needs is curtains and some pictures on the walls.

The lamp on the buffet is new too

Day 175

Low light and hand held is an ongoing interest with testing out the G11, so some mundane subjects coming up!

The kettle

Day 174

I sent out some invitations via an online invitation site last week without realising they have  a promotion on to 'win' something.

So the parcel arrived today and the box was immediately occupied by Nutmeg, surprise surprise!

then she yawned........

Day 173

Breakfast on the go (yep, still low res! grr)

Day 172

Testing low light conditions was something I wanted to do this coming week, and Nutmeg discovering herself  in the mirror we bought yesterday.

Ready.....

Set......

GO........!!

Attempting not to look at herself in the mirror, but letting the other cat know she's there.  Pretty funny!

Day 171

Off to Ikea to buy a sideboard/buffet 'thing' to go in the dining room, but first some basking in sunshine.....

still low res shots as I hadn't realised I'd changed the setting.

Day 170

Friday night and we're both worn out, so Pizza it is!  not inspiring photography but a photo of our day to day life

Day 169

A series of shots today as Nutmeg proved too photogenic and I reached my 5 year aniversary at work so received a gorgeous pair of Orefors crystal wine glasses (note Champagne used to christen them, only appropriate!)

Day 168

Day 1 of the G11 and although there are only subtle differences with the G10 and 11 such as slightly smaller hand grip the biggest thing is the clarity of the screen, it's so much sharper, clearer and all that.

not sure how I did it, but I changed settings mid photo stream so my favourite pic for today is a lower res version

The marshmallow type shapes are the roofline of the Sikh centre, and are gold when the fog isn't shrouding them in monotone

Day 167

So I've gone to the dark side and purchased myself a Canon G11.

Dad will be ecstatic only because he'll get his G10 back that I've been borrowing!

Thanks to my friend who helped with a great deal on this camera and memory card :)  It's greatly appreciated!!

Day 166

Apparently after a shower my skin is not clean enough.  Nutty has been following me around licking my skin after I shower for the last week or so, it's quite bizarre. if i don't let her get even 1 or 2 licks in she gets quite upset, not aggressive at all but sort of cries out or wails for a few seconds repeatedly!

The photo below was unavoidable, she knocked over a photo frame while trying to lie down on the speaker to take full advantage of the sunshine.  there was almost enough room but not quite so she made room very gently.

Day 165

Woohoooo a new washing machine! :)  uses about 1/4 of the water and takes nearly twice as much washing.  Never thought I'd be excited about a new washing machine!

Day 164

We have a long weekend this week, so Monday is a public holiday woohoo!

Today was spent shopping for a new washing machine and buying ingredients to make prawn Okonomiyaki for dinner mmmmmm

This is the recipe I used, though bought the okonomiyaki flour instead of normal plain flour.  It feels a lot finer and squeaky like corn flour or rice flour.

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/holidaytraditionalfood/r/okonomiyaki.htm

Day 163

Tonight we went to "The Great Moscow Circus" which is almost an all human circus with a few little ponies thrown in.

Several highlights included the double jointed hula hoop woman!

 

 

 

Day 162

I picked up a package that arrived with wedding things in it and no sooner had I put it on the bed than Nutmeg was there to inspect it.  Every box that arrives she is there to inspect the new smells and sits on it for ages and very reluctantly moves out of the way to let me open the various items.  Very funny!

Day 161

Any of you ever read lol cats or Caturday?  This pic says "on noz, I is sprung" a million times over!

These are our bedroom curtains and she loves running backwards and forwards between the cotton backing and the sheer front and sliding on the extra bits that I need to take up.  As if this isn't enough fun, she then thinks she needs to attack the curtains so that now there are little holes in random spots along the curtain at cat head height.  I'm not too worried, I should have taken them up before I put them up, but didn't have any cotton for the machine I've borrowed, now I do so I'll attempt to remove the enticingly long bits lol

Day 160

Need to take Nutty out for a walk soon, she's going a little stir crazy with all the rain around.  This was plopped next to my hand bag tonight, think it's a message!

She's turned into such a snuggle bunny and slowly becoming a real lap cat with all this cool weather and has reverted to sleeping on the bed with us, not in her bed on the chair next to the bed where her blanket is also (spoiled I know!)

Day 159

My older sister Lisa gave me this and it's a favourite piece, though unfortunately it's also very heavy so at the moment I don't get to wear it all that much.  Once i sort out my neck alignment issues hopefully I can wear it again.  Love the contrast between the reds and yellows and the dining table.

Day 158

So it's sunday and I've invited a couple of friends over for a BBQ, only thin g is I over invited (not everyone always comes) and everyone has accepted, some last minute but that's ok!

Brendan and Nick waited for Dan so they could get some MTBing in prior to the BBQ but Dan was late, so they headed off without him intending to be back before guests arrived, but got caught up, so arrived home covered in mud after all but 1 of the 16 (yes 16) people arrived! hahaha  pretty funny sight.

Another great day, so good to catch up with everyone, bit hectic as we needed to move a table inside due to it looking like the sky would open up on us outside.  Such a pity, it was lovely outside I thought.... soft eastern suburbs people ;)

I didn't actually get a photo of a single moment of the BBQ, so will have to get one from a friend who I noticed was taking pics.

I did get this though, Brendan being silly

Day 157

We have guests this weekend, but i'd double booked myself due to a change of plans for a friends significant birthday (49 +1) and I booked a Tupperware party in for the afternoon.  After the T party I made my way home, got changed and chatted with guests and Brendan and was then picked up by a colleague and whisked away to the Significant Event of the year :)

Gorgeous cake, great party, fabulous food (must get the caterers name) and wonderful people.  No personal photos on here but my album will have some included.  Such a wonderful night!

Day 156

I finally found a pair of "hoodies for your feet" slippers with snowflakes on them.  They came out around mother's day but sold out almost immediately, I was wandering through Target with a colleague on our way to lunch and stumbled across them

yay!!!  toasty tootsies, brendan will be pleased, no more ice block feet :D

Day 155

It's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring.... well not quite, but with 53mm of rain today we might need an Ark soon!

The gutters are struggling to cope in 2 or 3 places, so we'll have to get up and clear them or see why they are leaking when it stops.