It's all happening!

Hey there dear readers, I'm feeling a bit manic today.

Things have moved into overdrive on the whole World Tour 2012 thing.

What is the World Tour 2012? Well...

It started off as a little idea I had of doing a house swap. I put out the call to see if anyone wanted to come and stay at my place in Australia and let my family stay in their house.

I was lucky enough to receive two offers of accommodation, one in England and one in the US. Thus the idea for a "World Tour" was born.

So, I've been fluffing about trying to do some planning here and there while waiting for the optimum time to book our tickets. I had a travel consultant put together a proposal for us.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and suddenly everything's happening!

I've had to fill out forms and get photos taken for the kids' passports. Who doesn't love filling out forms? I also had to find someone to sign the kids' photos to confirm that it really is them. Then I have to take the kids to the post office for a "passport interview". I can't tell you how much fun it is!

At the same time, we discovered that the travel consultant who put together our proposal has left the travel agent. She doesn't work there any more. The fares that she put together for us are no longer available. We have to start from scratch.

So I freaked out a little bit.

And went to three different travel agents and sat down with three different travel consultants in one day.

And now I have some tickets on hold that have to be paid for ASAP and it's all happening so fast!

Breathe.

I've got travel consultants waiting on my call. And I've discovered that I'm actually quite good at diplomatically telling someone that I've decided to go another way. But I'm still finding it stressful.

It will be a lovely relief when we've handed over our thousands of dollars and I know that everything is locked in.

I'll keep you posted.

A Confession

So. Where do you stand on the issue of Intellectual Property?

Ever broken a copyright law?

Bought a pirated DVD?

What do you do when a TV show that you love isn't showing in your country but is available online?

I think you can see where this discussion is going...

The Vampire Diaries

Here's the story of my love affair with this show.

I stumbled upon Season 1 showing on Go! TV. As soon as the season was available on DVD, I bought it. 

Season 2 also showed on Go! Each episode was "fast tracked" from the US, meaning that we were only days behind. As long as I didn't read too many blog posts or follow too many Twitter users that tweeted spoilers, I could enjoy the Season along with everyone else. As soon as the season was available on DVD, I bought it.

Which brings us to Season 3. Four episodes have aired in the US. And Go! doesn't have an airing date yet. Grrrrr.

Enter Project Free TV.

Would you?

I consider myself pretty law-abiding.

I don't download the episodes to my computer. I don't distribute the episodes to anyone. 

I just watch the episodes.

And when the season is available on DVD, I'll buy it.

What do you think? How bad is this on a scale of one to ten?

And what do you do?

Date night!

Once upon a time there was a girl. She was sixteen and had her whole life ahead of her. So many choices, so many possibilities.

Then the girl woke up and was forty. Wait. What???

For my fortieth birthday I thought it would be really nice if Chris and I went out to a fancy restaurant. Not just the local Italian place down the road. A really, really fancy restaurant.

And so....the date night to rival all date nights.

Here I am getting ready. I'm sure you're sick of dodgy in-front-of-the-mirror outfit shots by now. Sorry. But I thought you'd like to see the beautiful new dress that my mum and dad bought me for my birthday. 

Unfortunately, the weather was not accommodating. So I had to pair my dress with some tights and a jacket to avoid hypothermia.

Here we are all ready to go. I think it's cute that we look positively giddy with excitement!

First we headed off to the movies to see Crazy Stupid Love. Which turned out to be the perfect date movie, especially for a forty-year-old couple who've been together since they were sixteen and were celebrating the fact that they're still in love!

Here we are in the cinema...

I know the photo is ridiculous, but I thought I'd share anyway. By the way, does anyone know how to take photos in the dark on your iPhone? Is there any way to get a flash? Maybe an app?

Then we headed off on the Manly Ferry to Circular Quay.

For those of you who are not Australian, I'll share a little bit about the Manly Ferry.

The thirty minute voyage between Manly Wharf and Circular Quay is an iconic Sydney experience.

Though Bondi is the best known Sydney beach overseas, Manly is just as well known here and is on the north side of Sydney Harbour.

The trip to and from Manly takes you right past the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, so you get plenty of great photo opportunities.

The swell was larger than usual on our trip so it was a bit rough!

Here's the Opera House...our next destination...

We had a little pre-dinner drinkypoo at Opera Bar. Here's a link to the cocktail menu, in case you're interested. I had "Buds and Bubbles". Of course I did.

Finally it was time for the main event - dinner at Aria.

Aria is celebrity chef Matt Moran's restaurant. It's pretty fancy. We felt just a teeny-tiny bit intimidated as we went in.

Luckily we had a delightfully friendly and helpful waitress and we also engaged the services of the sommelier (wine guy!). I told you it was fancy! Between us we managed to put together a menu that was just delightful.

It's hard to look classy taking photos in a fancy restaurant, but here I am with my entree - Scallops spiced and roasted with glazed witlof, pistachios and dried apricots.

Here's my main - Snapper seared fillet with chorizo, zucchini, lemon and a romesco sauce.

I wish I could show you a photo of my dessert as well, but I just couldn't fit one in! Believe me, I wasn't thinking about the points. I would have eaten one if I possibly could. In the end, I couldn't even drink all my "Fall in Love" tea (tea infused with rose, vanilla and chocolate - absolutely divine!).

Chris and I had such a wonderful time that I wanted to share it with you all.

What's the best date you've had?

Happy Birthday Josh

It was Josh's 11th birthday yesterday!

Here he is, just chillin', playing his new Pokemon game on his DS while watching something on YouTube. Who said males can't multitask?!

We had what was, in my humble opinion, a great day! Relaxing and fun.

Josh wanted to go ice skating for his birthday outing. In my house, the kids take turns having birthday parties. This year it was Alana's turn, which means that Josh got to choose a fun family outing instead. He and Alana had a lot of fun on the ice while I tried to stave off frostbite with a cappuccino from the "cafe". I'm not even kidding. I wore a scarf and gloves and still my fingers and toes went numb. One of my fingers in particular went an alarming shade of grey! Luckily I appear to have no lasting injuries...

After skating we came home and just hung out playing with toys and games.

When Chris got home from work we went out to dinner at Gourmet Pizza Kitchen - Josh's favourite.

We had a fantastic time at dinner - laughing the whole time. I love these guys!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Lurking in the corner? Leave me a comment :)

Hey there.

Who are you, my lovely reader?

What makes you tick?

What do you love? Hate?

What posts of mine make you think? Laugh? Cry?

Part of the reason that I blog is the sense of having an audience. A readership. And unlike other writing forums, in which the readership is largely silent and unknown, when I blog I know that my readers can continue the conversation. They can talk back. Easily. Immediately.

That's what the comments are for.

Now I won't lie to you. Of course it's great when I receive a positive response in which the reader lets me know that they enjoyed what I wrote. I enjoy words of affirmation probably more than the next person. It's my "love language"; how I express my love to others and how I like to receive love. So praise me - please!

But really I'd just like to know that you're out there. And get to know you a little.

So please, if you read anything on this blog that touches you or angers you or makes you question something or interests you; if you have comments, criticism or questions; then leave me a comment.

I receive an email every time someone leaves a comment on my blog. I then reply directly to the comment via email. I love to have these little conversations! 

If you use Blogger to write your own blog then you need to ensure that you have checked the box on your profile that says "show my email address". Otherwise I won't be able to email you back because Blogger will just use a generic "no reply" address to email me your comment. Confused yet? If a comment is emailed to me from a "no reply" address, then I can't reply. The only way I can continue the conversation is by leaving a comment under your comment on the original blog post that you commented on. Which assumes that you're going to come back later and read that post's comments again just in case I replied to you. Which is a bit messy, isn't it?

If you don't use Blogger then to be honest I'm not sure how it works! So if you want to leave me a comment then we'll find out together!

I hope you don't think I'm too lame, begging for comments. I just really love to exchange ideas and share with others. And I hope that you do too.