Happy Christmas Everyone! May Your Days Be Merry, Bright...... and Free From Tinsel-Related Choking Hazards!

So here we again, friends, family and country men and women (and urban based dwellers also!).... two days till Christmas explodes in all it's multi-coloured, bauble-strewn, tinsel-saturated Santa-clogging glory, and I am finally wrapping up my good old Christmas rave for yet another fabulous year.... and what a year it's been! Floods, pestilence, locust plagues.... wait no, that was Exodus in the Bible.... my life, by contrast, has been refreshingly free of all of the above, which is great on many levels (think of the money saved on Raid alone trying to kill all the locusts!), and instead has been marked by the love of a wonderful man, all sorts of social outings, time with special friends, a trip to Canada, great movies, music and food, and a massed choir of angels who... wait, no, also the Bible.....my bad....

Suffice to say I have whipped myself into a frenzy making sure the tree is all lit up, and covered in baubles and ornaments (including the fabbest silver-sequined balls this side of Mardi Gras!), I have wrapped and sticky taped all sorts of goodies and placed them under my tree, hosted a Christmas picnic in the park with a pink and brown bauble hanging centrepiece, created a Christmas blog which you're now (hopefully) reading, and I am getting ready to jump on a jet plane tomorrow to return once more to the Ancestral Estate in Alstonville for 6 days of time with my gorgeous family (including my darling new niece, Zara!), excessive eating, markets at Bangalow, brunch at Byron Bay, playing bowling on the Nintendo Wii, and lots of DVD box set watching....phew..... I may even get a few naps in too! Think I will need them!

All that to say, it's Christmas, my favourite time of the year, and I want to wish each and every one of you the best Christmas since someone invented sliced fruitcake, and the sort of year in 2010 that will have you pinching yourself to make sure you're not dreaming....unless, of course, you're naked, being chased through the woods by zombies in a post-apoclyptic wilderness.... in which case,  you are dreaming.. or possibly not, in which case I recommend getting a gun and locking yourself in a supermarket somewhere!

Given that the likelihood of zombies chasing anyone post-apocalypse is remote in 2010, may this Christmas and the new year bring you joy, peace, and the best eggnog you can brew! Have a fabulous time!

Surfin' Santa!

Found Him! No, Not Wally..... Mr Right!

After years spent bemoaning my singleness (while at the same time enjoying my life regardless, I should add!) and going on more dates than the sands of the Sahara - OK that may be a tad hyberbolic but it felt like that at times! - I found Mr Right this year.... at a New Year's Eve party.

The delightful part was it all a magnificent unexpected surprise. After trying hard to find someone via referrals from friends, and the internet (through which I made some brilliantly good friends!), I ended up meeting the guy I am now with, Stephen, via one of the good friends I made via a set-up date years ago, Fahmi. Stephen used to come to Sydney a lot from Bathurst on the weekends for the opera etc, and stayed with my friend Fahmi more often than he didn't. Since I saw Fahmi quite a bit on the weekends for brunch, movies etc, I used to see Stephen now and then, and we'd talk a little here and there. He came across as a lovely guy, and truth be told, I thought he was handsome from the moment I met him.

But nothing much progressed till last October when Fahmi was in Singapore for 12 days, and as is usually the case when Fahmi's away from home, I fed his cat. The final weekend of his trip, Stephen was due to stay and we arranged an exhange of the house keys at The Union hotel near Fahmi's. What I expected to be a quick 10 minute hand over of keys, ended up being a 3 hour epic, during which I drank some white wine, enjoyed Stephen's company immensely, and ended up accidentally on the best first date of my life! Trouble was he was still living in Bathurst, and after two long distance relationships that hadn't worked that year, I walked home thrilled to have spent the time with this beautiful man but not really thinking it would lead anywhere, much to my great regret.

But Stephen, as enamoured of me as I was of him, had other ideas, and after moving back to Sydney mid-December (not for me I must stress - his work contract had ended!), decided he would make one last play for my affections at Fahmi's New year's Eve party. (Fahmi, god bless him, had blithely not interpreted my constant questions of him about Stephen, and Stephen's to him about me, as actual romantic interest at all, so neither had any idea of the level of the other's interest! Hilarious....). I turned up with my friend, Peter and Stephen immediately said "Hi" and we got on as beautifully as before, but it wasn't till he said he couldn't let me leave the party early (he had me confused with another friend of Fahmi's, also Andrew, who was leaving early for another party) that I twigged that he was interested. I was thrilled, and we ended up spending much the whole party together, and even kissed at midnight. Awww.....

That amazing night has led to the loveliest year of my life, where Stephen and I have firmly become established as boyfriends, where he met my brother, Stephen, and Mum & Dad, where we participated in all sorts of fabulous things together like Fair Day, yachting with friends, countless dinners.... every second of our time has been delightful, and I have loved discovering more and more of what makes him the man of my dreams  - he's so warm, caring, down to earth, funny, intelligent, articulate, so easy to spend time with in any circumstance, my friend, and soul mate, and the sort of person I want to be with all the time. I have been truly blessed by his presence in my life this year, and I am looking forward to many years more.

Christmas Fun!

                                                                  

                                                                             

                                                                              

FINALLY Leaving on a Jet Plane.....

After lots of domestic flights this year, mostly to see my delightful new niece Zara, but also to celebrate my birthday, and sadly mourn my dear Auntie Liz's passing, I finally made it past immigration, got an Air NZ flight on October 25, and made it to San Francisco, USA, and then Vancouver, Canada.

I hadn't been back to North America in four years, and I really missed the place, and my very good friends in Vancouver, Sandra and Ken, and their gorgeous kids, Katie and Graham. There is something about Canada particularly that feels like home, and I love going back and doing a mix of tourist stuff and just chilling with my friends.... and oh, shopping....lots and lots of shopping! Needless to say VISA and Mastercard encouraged me to go...

First stop was a city I have visited 3 times before - San Francisco. Why visit a 4th time? Well for starters it's a beautiful city from the stunning harbour to the one-of-a-kind neighbourhoods (and the oyxgen tank required effort it takes to walk up and down...or bike.... the hills connecting them!) to the icons that dot the city like confetti from an exuberant wedding. My decision was made mainly because my friend Warren was going to be there on his way back to Australia after business there and a trip around the USA, and I thought it would be cool to catch up with him in a totally exotic locale (plus try as we might we hadn't found a time or place to catch up in Sydney for 2 months so why 10000 km away?!).

So I joined him and his wonderful friends, Warren & Leith, and Jason & Melinda, in SF, and hit the ground running visiting Alcatraz on the first day, which was amazing and had audio guided tours (with commentary provided by old guards and prisoners), and which also involved a boat trip across San Francisco Bay with the stunning views afforded by that of the skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. Finished off the day with a wander through Pier 39 and Fisherman's harf, where we were staying, before dinner. Jet lag then claimed and I crashed for the night.

The next day was spectacular. We went bike riding around the Bay, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and via Vista Point down to lovely Sausilito, a cute village on the opposite side of the bay with great shopping and seafood. We caught the ferry back and then the four guys cycled up Hyde Street (SO steep!) before cycling down Lombard Street (the zigzaggy one you would have seen in countless shots of the City). We finished an exhausting but fun day in The Castro, SF's gay quarter with dinner at Nirvana, after dinner drinks at Blush Wine Bar and after-after-dinner drinks at Twin Peaks.

I left the SF the next morning after a quick trip to Ghiradelli Square near the hotel, and headed straight to Vancouver for 10 days with my lovely Canadian friends, Sandra and ken and their delightful kids. Since I have been to Vancouver 9-10 times before, I didn't have to overdo the tourist bits - although I did make it to Granville Island (artists market), Kitsilano (funky neighbourhood with a mix of unique shops and main line chains plus the delectable Sophie's Cosmic Cafe!) and Stanley Park (love the sea wall walk! Bliss!) again - and so concentrated on shopping, lazy cocktail-fueled lunches with Ken, hikes around local parks like Minnekhada (which looks so wild that you'd swear you were in The Rockies - awesomely beautiful!), and enjoying special family moments like celebrating Halloween where I even got to give out the candy dressed in a monster mask, long black haired wig and a pink cowboy hat! It was my firstv real Halloween and an absolute bundle of fun! The neighbourhood was decorated to within an inch of it's life, everyone dressed up, and the kids were having a ball!

I also got to do some very ordinary stuff like drop off and pick up the kids from school, run errands, chill and watch cable TV, and Ken and Sandra mangaged to get me totally hooked on Farmtown, this cool game you play on Facebook where you establish and run a farm. Sound boring? I only wish it was then I might be able to leave it alone!

The flights there and back were wonderful - Air NZ is great! - and I got to see some cool movies like Moon, The Time Traveller's Wife, and the whole holiday allowed me to wind back the stress from my highly stressed, full on job as an Executive Assistant to the MD of the Wholesale Division at Optus. I had such a good time that I have no intention of leaving it another four years to go again!

Christmas is Crazy! Some cartoon fun.....

                                   

                                                                             

Goodbye My Darling Auntie Lizzie

L-R : Me, Auntie Liz, My Aunt Helen and my Mum (opposite me)

One of the constant fixtures of my life growing up, in a family where we were very close to my Mum's family, was my Great Aunt Lizzie, my Nanna's sister, who was almost Aunt Mame like in the way she approached life. Granted she probably wasn't as flamboyant, but she wasn't far off it, at least to me. 


For a boy from the country, her life was amazingly exotic, larger than life, from the fact she lived in Sydney (and close to the City in Darling Point) to the large colourful Elton John-esque glasses she wore, the fact that she did her grocery shopping at David Jones, or travelled everywhere in hire cars. Every aspect of her life was so totally different to my world at that time that the special trips down to see her on Kirklands buses from the North Coast were like this journey into a Willy Wonka-type world and I used to adore the trips to go shopping in the City, dragging her across town in her 70s to buy exotic stationary at Grace Bros, traveling by hire car, eating at DJs, or sitting in her sunroom watching the inhabitants of Eastbourne Avenue come and go.


She was possessed of a hearty. ready laugh, a sense of the ridiculous (when a silly idea entered her head, or she said something not quite right, she would start with a low giggle, that she'd try to stifle before it built to a crescendo of endless full-bodied laughs that were infectious in the extreme!) and a sense of fun that led her to do things like hitching up her night gown when she was babysitting us in the early 80s in Alstonville, and dancing in our make believe disco in the kitchen.

She did have a propensity to express her opinion loudly at inopportune points - "Well this doesn't look like a nice restaurant does it?" as we entered the place - and repeat the same stories over and over (Australians in France waving Aussie flags by the side of the road anyone? LOL) but they were all part of her charm, and in the end what I loved was that she was FUN, bright, colourful and exuberant, and made sure that every moment of her life reflected that.

My dear Auntie Lizzie, whom I loved very much, died this year in August at 101,  and she will be greatly missed. 

Pretty Lights....Pretty Liiiiights!

All Zara All the Time! Or When I Became an Aunty!

The first shot I received of Zara

...and I wouldn't have it any other way!

                                                             I am a very proud Aunty
On July 8 this year, my lovely sister Helen, and my brother in law Shayne welcome their first child, the gorgeous Zara Chantilly (named after a town in northern France that my paternal grandparents had a connection with) into the world, and she charmed every one from the word go! I have never seen a cuter baby, and I, along with everyone else in the family, became a committed lifelong fan of this sweet little girl from the moment I saw my first photo, and even more so when I met her in the flesh for the first time in mid-August. She is just adorable, and I couldn't be happier to have this beautiful new life in our family.

She has continued to develop in leaps and bounds (sitting up now it seems all by herself!), and I have been able to witness snatches of that, during visits to Mum and Dad's in August and November, spending the intervening period hounding Helen for photos, and yet more photos! That has actually been one of the loveliest parts of this delightful girl's arrival - the extra visits up to see the whole family. I am joking to my family and friends that Zara will likely bankrupt me as I keep traveling up more and more to keep close to her and be a real Uncle.....oops, sorry...Aunty! The extra visits have reminded me how wonderful it is to spend time with my family, and while Zara is a joy in her own right, it's been great that her arrival has spurred me on to re-discover how lovely it is to spend time with my family, whom I love very much.

It's Beginning To Get All Legal At Christmas!

Jingle Bells



Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

A risk assessment must be submitted before an open sleigh is considered safe for members of the public to travel on. The risk assessment must also consider whether it is appropriate to use only one horse for such a venture, particularly if passengers are of larger proportions. Please note, permission must be gained from landowners before entering their fields. To avoid offending those not participating in celebrations, we would request that laughter is moderate only and not loud enough to be considered a noise nuisance.

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer



Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.

You are advised that under the Equal Opportunities for All policy, it is inappropriate for persons to make comment with regard to the ruddiness of any part of Mr. R. Reindeer. Further to this, exclusion of Mr R Reindeer from the Reindeer Games will be considered discriminatory and disciplinary action will be taken against those found guilty of this offence. A full investigation will be implemented and sanctions - including suspension on full pay - will be considered whilst this investigation takes place.

While Shepherds Watched


While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
All seated on the ground
The angel of the Lord came down
And glory shone around

The union of Shepherds has complained that it breaches health and safety regulations to insist that shepherds watch their flocks without appropriate seating arrangements being provided, therefore benches, stools and orthopaedic chairs are now available. Shepherds have also requested that due to the inclement weather conditions at this time of year that they should watch their flocks via cctv cameras from centrally heated shepherd observation huts.


Please note, the angel of the lord is reminded that before shining his / her glory all around she / he must ascertain that all shepherds have been issued with glasses capable of filtering out the harmful effects of UVA, UVB and Glory.

Places To Go! People To See! Things to Do!

............. and a surplus of exclamation marks it seems too!!


What a year! As always I ended up trying to cram more into the available calendar time than a workaholic at a major corporation - and trust me they try to squeeze in more meetings than any reasonable person should attend! - and spend much of my time racing from symphonies to Mardi Gras events to Eurovision nights out and even Christmas in July..... if it involves, fun, fashion and food, then I will be theer, with my friends, and taking photos!

SYDNEY FESTIVAL
January

We started off the Summer of endless events at the Festival's opening night which consisted of lots of concerts and events scattered around the City, much of which was made car-free for the event. I especially loved the French accordian funk pop band that tore up the night with an infectious energy, and some oh-so-sexy French musings, and a bizarre orchestral group that used giant pipes built into the sahpe of a ship and lots of fire to make some very odd music. Still the crowds flocked there, and it was tough to move around....well until they tried to teach everyone the official Sydney Festival Dance (much like the Chicken Dance but nowhere near as graceful.....yep it was that bad!)...

Next up was the perennial favourites Symphony in the Domain and Jazz in the Domain..... The Symphony was lovely as always and we were joined by very good friends, Warren, Ian and Peter, along with many other people who dropped in here and there through the night to our Kingdom of Rugs.... Jazz was weirder with the music really more like Macedonian Folk Polka Punk Accordian Dance Jigs... most people spent the majority of the night trying to work out what on earth was going on, and still bemused, decided to get up and dance anyway! The only drawback was the extreme heat on one of the days which saw us arrive at 4pm to a near deserted Domain (one plus point of a searing hot day!) and spend the two hours till the sun went down cowering under umbrellas trying not to burn to a crisp.....

OPEN AIR CINEMA
January & February

I love this event! Two months of movies every night - no, I don't go every night; it just looks like I do!! LOL - on the edge of the Harbour at Mrs Macquarie's Chair (still blue, plastic and damn uncomfortable after a long movie) with panoramic views of the City, Harbour Bridge and Opera House... bliss.....there were no wild storms this year, just one very bad movie (The Day The Earth Stood Still) and some excellent ones ( ), lots of fish and chips and white wine at the tables before the movie, and one movie I missed altogether thanks to bronchitis (my gorgeous guy and his friend Mark went in my place... worst part was it was a French movie I missed and I love them! But I love my guy more and he enjoyed it so that was the important thing! Naturally I am booked in to see 4 movies in January 2010, eat lots of more fish and chips, and spend time when I should be watching the movie gazing in thankful amazement that I live in such a beautifyl City and I get to do things like this right in the heart of it.

FAIR DAY/MARDI GRAS
February/March

One of the things my beautiful guy does exceptionally well, and there are many things, is conceive a clever, creative out of the box idea for an event and then bring it to life, in all glorious colour and detail. So only weeks into the relationship, but already aware I had someone very special in my life, I found myself spending countless hours, and many late nights, helping him realise his camp vision for Fair Day (which is the launch day for the Mardi Gras festival and is held at a major City park, with all manner of stalls, entertainment and fun) by glueing, holding, painting (lots of painting!), patiently waiting while he worked his magic, and simply just being supportive and helping him get it all done. It was wonderful to see him bring it all together, learn more about him, and spend that special relationship-growing time with him.

The result? An amazing day with the theme of "Alice in Wonderland". The tent looked fantabulous with light as air purple and white material extending from each corner, silver and purple home made chandeliers gracing each tent centre, a tilted cake stand festooned with bright colours and tarts and cakes, a lime gingham tablecloth, an old museum display book on which I overlaid a story I had written explaining all the characters we were dressed up as..... and so many admirers of the trouble we had gone to that we were getting photographed very 2-3 minutes by countless people including a whole heap of gay media outlets (None of which, sadly, printed anything other a photograph of one of the guys as a rabbit.) I had an absolute ball, and one of the funniest parts was that many of my friends got to meet my beautiful guy that day for the first time when he in "costume" (not drag, thank you! LOL) as a rather slutty looking Alice! So much fun and we're already gearing up for next year.

Then a week later, it was time for the ever glamorous spectacle of the Mardi Gras parade. We grabbed our usual spot on Flinders Street opposite the church (oh delicious irony!) there, and had a great time with friends, bonded with the parade marshals assigned to us (go Trisha!), and watching a fabulously camp colourful display of floats go past....some just there for the fun of marching; others with a serious political message. As always it was exhausting but more fun than a Mini full of extrovertive clowns!

EUROVISION (and the 25th Anniversary of Kerry and Andrew's friendship)
May

Who would have thought that 25 years after we started in first year Modern Asian Studies at Griffith University than Kerry Ward and I would still be such close friends? Well me for one, and Kerry for another! It was just one of those friendships, and 25 years after instantly becoming fast friends, we decided to mark this milestone event with a big party on the finals night, 2 days of semi-finals nights leading up to it, and all the Russian-esque food and vodka we could get our hands on! My beautiful guy even sewed two Russian flags for us, and Kerry & I spent hours folding crepe paper into funky ribbons that we threaded around red, white and blue balloons (three of which are still blown up in my bedroom! I have no idea why that matters but I thought I'd mention it anyway!) to decorate my apartment.

It was lovely to spend those 4 days with Kerry (which included a visit to the Blue Mountains, and afternoon tea at a teapot museum in Leura....yes a teapot museum!), indulge our mutual love of the kitschness of Eurovision, and share it with a number of close friends on the Sunday night at a party that was more fun than a barel of monkeys hopped up on ed cordial and Skittles! Yes it was THAT much fun!

MY BIRTHDAY WEEK
21 November - 29 November 2009

Anyone who has known for longer than 5 seconds will know that I love birthdays generally but especially my own with almost religious fervour. (I may even start a religion based on my birthday if I ever get the time!) So it seems only right that all that fervour shouldn't be channelled into one tiny 24 hour day when it's really screaming out to be spread out over an entire week of celebrations. I am only too happy to oblige and so I spent the birthday week doing the following wonderful things:

Saturday 21st - My family's birthday present to me was a flight back to Alstonville for a weekend of Wii bowling, cuddles with new niece Zara and a yummy gourmet BBQ tonight to which my dear friend, Kerry devoted 4 hours of travel time to attend. I was wonderfully spoiled!
Sunday 22nd - still up at The Ancestral Estate with brunch in Byron Bayand more time spent chilling with the loveliest family of them all.
Monday 23rd - a romantic birthday dinner with my gorgeous guy at Stir Crazy Thai in Erskineville
Tuesday 24th - I had some more delicious food and drinks- ribs and cocktails - at a funky ribs and steak place, Hurricanes, in darling Harbour with my bestie gal pal Sammi from work.
Wednesday25th (The Big Day!) - spent this at work but I was inundated with facebook and text wishes, and phonecalls, as well lots of pieces of cake and chocolate! YUM! Then that night my beautiful guy Stephen took to ultra-swish, cafe Sydney with views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House for a delicious romantic candlelit dinner with all the trimmings. It was a wonderful night!
Thursday 26th - a quiet event-free night at home.... much as I love my time out, this was lovely too!
Friday 27th - This was my birthday day off filled with lots of chilling out and a lovely meal that night with my special guy. I usually don't work my birthday but the 25th was mega busy so Friday was it.

Saturday 28th - The big gather-all-my-friends-unto-me night! Started with drinks at Kinselas in an art deco room that used to be a funeral chapel, tapas dinner at Cantina Bar and Grill, and coffee afterwards at a cafe at the top of Oxford Street. A perfect night with a group of exceptionally special friends.
Sunday 29th - The Birthday Week concluded with a twilight picnic - no vampires or werewolves present thank you! - in Sydney park eating fish and chips, and drinking wine with Stephen... and sparklers standing in as fireworks. Blissfully romantic.

I had absolutely the best time, due mainly to the presence of one very special man, who is the greatest gift I could have got. It was a very special birthday and I am a very blessed man.