We finished work at 3.00 pm today and sat in the boardroom all afternoon sipping champers and nibbling nibblies. Yum. It was partly to mark Oaks Day (another big day on the Spring Racing Carnival calendar) and partly to celebrate the arrival of a partner's second child.
I got my hair cut and coloured tonight. Aaaah.
I love the way the trees and grass seem to glow in the early evening sun. I love that there is sunshine in the evenings, now that it's daylight savings.
Aaaah, public holidays. Ya gotta love em. Today is Melbourne Cup Day, a day off for the horse race that is the pinnacle of the city's spring racing carnival.
It's dubbed the "race that stops a nation" but it didn't stop me lazing away the entire afternoon in the gardens in the sun (and er...eating a Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate bar while reading about the evils of the sugar!).
I had a nice sleep-in this morning after a late-ish night out last night to see the Wagons gig at the Northcote Social Club. I was not disappointed - it was sensational. I absolutely loved it. I can't pick a highlight, it was awesomeness wrapped in stupendousness and rolled in chocolate sprinkles.
I plan to see them again at The Famous Spiegeltent in a month, which will be a double delight - great music and a special venue.
The support acts last night were pretty good too, especially Sydney's Dead Letter Chorus (below). I'm totally loving Aussie music right now.
Melburnians, what did you do with your day off (if you got it)? Anyone been to a great live gig recently? What about to the Spiegeltent?
This is the last picture I will take with my old camera because today I bought my new one! Woohoo! It's a Canon Powershot AS 2000 IS with 10 megapixels and a 6x optical zoom. It was on sale too. Noice!
I have a huntsman spider in my kitchen which simultaneously pleases and scares me. As long as it stays out of my bedroom, we'll get along fine.
* A tasty dinner ending with yummy lemon tart at a restaurant (called Birdie Num Nums!) with a bunch of new friends.
* Exploring a street I've never been to before and thinking, "Hey, I feel really at home here".
* A man with his face painted like Marcel Marceau...driving a Magna stationwagon (one of the dullest, most conservative family cars there is).
* A beautiful and unusual flower (above). Is it an azalea?
* Half-peeled banana cufflinks. I'd like to meet the guy who'd wear them!
* A drunken sailor - or at least a very disconsolate dude in a sailor suit - sitting on the steps at Windsor train station.
* A pair of dogs standing at the automatic door of a Priceline store looking in after their owner, the golden retriever's nose just poking inside.
* An hour spent nosing about the Chapel Street Bazaar second-hand wonderland. I saw framed prints of 1940s "nudie cuties" nestled up to a picture of Jesus, the ugliest Madonna and baby Jesus ornament in existence (below - that's seashells stuck on a heart with sand glued to it) and a chocolate tin the same as the one my mum used to keep her loose buttons in when I was a kid. It was priced at $58!
* Saying Onitsuka Tigers (the brand of my new sneakers) in my head with a silly Japanese accent.
Weeeeee! My tax refund has arrived, which means I get to go camera shopping. The tax man gave me back a little more than I was expecting too, which was a pleasant surprise.
I can't wait to get out there and start taking pictures with my new camera. I've taken some great shots with my basic little Kodak Easyshare, but I'm excited about upgrading.
Bouncy, bouncy
I already did a little shopping in anticipation of my tax refund. I needed some new casual sneakers (i.e. not gym shoes) and I saw a pair that I instantly loved. I normally struggle to find sneakers I like - either the style isn't right or I don't like the colours (turquoise and canary yellow anyone?), but these ones were perfect in every way.
I had to order them in because I couldn't find them in my size, so I got to enjoy the anticipation of their arrival instore. They arrived on Tuesday and I wore them for the first time yesterday. I love new bouncy, cushiony sneakers!
And quiet! I'm so stealthy in them. Guess they don't call 'em sneakers for nothing, hey?
I want to wear them everywhere!
Yet more glee!
I got me some tickets tonight to see one of my new favourite bands, Wagons, on Melbourne Cup Eve. Woohoo!
I walked down my favourite street on the way to lunch with a friend today. Caroline Street (above) is lined with beautiful old houses and slopes down to Toorak Road under a canopy of plane trees. It's a shady oasis on a warm day like today. I had a nice lazy Sunday afternoon lunch and a G n T with Dee, sitting out the front of Bridie O'Reilly's on Chapel Street watching the world go by and catching up on news.
On the way home, I walked along another beautiful street which has many old three-storey buildings that were once stately homes (with names like Mandeville, Montalto and Moore Abbey) but are now posh apartment buildings. What I like best about the street though are the quaint "Please kerb your dog" signs nestled among the greenery on the nature strip (below).
I ask and I receive...again
A couple of weeks ago on my other blog, I pondered the difficulties of trying to find an environmentally aware guy with a social conscience in the world of online dating, without sounding like a self-righteous, anti-fun hippie.
Not that I am looking just yet, but when I am ready, I have found a fabulous alternative called Single Volunteers. It's a group of single people who get together to do good deeds, like cooking meals for homeless people. What a great idea, hey? It's Melbourne-based and run through www.madwoman.com.au (mad stands for 'making a difference'), which does a lot of other great things in the community, not just bringing like-minded singles together.
PS Stephanie, if you're reading this, I'm sorry!
How was your weekend? Do you have a favourite street?
I donated blood today for the first time! It's one of those things I have been thinking about doing for years and today I finally did it. Woooh! I feel very helpful and virtuous.
I don't know why I put it off for so long because when I have blood taken for tests I always watch and I find the sight of my blood morbidly fascinating (when there's no gushing wound involved). I think it was just the prospect of sitting there with a needle stuck in my arm for a longer period of time that deterred me.
But pah! It was nothing! And clearly I am a superb bleeder because I pumped out the requisite 475ml in about 5 minutes compared to the average is 8-12 minutes. I didn't even have time to finish reading a trash mag story about Angelina Jolie struggling to raise 17 kids under the age of 7 or whatever.
Then I got to the recovery area where you can have a drink and a snack while you sit for 15 minutes and they had Target puzzles to do - and I got the nine-letter word! Yay!
