Alohra! It's been a long time!

Tis the season to be me-herry! You know it's Christmas when you see cars sporting reindeer antlers.

December, not unlike the final sprint of the 400m hurdles, is the month where we celebrate the closing of another year with fun, dancing, parties and fine company.

First stop: our work Christmas party that was held at the Lowenbrau. We feasted on pork knuckle, sauerkraut and "lukewarm" chocolate pudding. Admittedly, the menu sounded questionably unappealing, but happily a tentative taste here and a gulp of alcohol there and the spread was surprisingly pleasing. So very deutsch, so much bier and lots of Edelweiss. A suitably jovial party.

That night, I watched an incredible sunset as I flapped about in the swimming pool. Summer in Sydney, need I say more? I drifted along, staring at the sky, getting feasted on by mozzies and wondering how in the world December has come around already.

The next day, my sister and I popped around to Mrs Rocke's house for a wonderful spread of moroccan sausage pilaf, three different salads and a mango custard pudding. We were spoilt for choice, time, fabulous weather and excellent conversation.

[Spider catches its next meal:]

Friday whirled around and Miss Ebae and I wandered amongst the buskers and sellers at the Rocks Markets with Miss SJ. It was like high school all over again and we were treated to a secret three minute performance in a hidden alcove along the street- a French Ring Master lured us in and in the tiny little space behind the red curtain, a lady with double jointed hips did a daring dance with bells and swords.

[Oprah flew in and created a media frenzy:]

[Miss Ebae:]

That night Man from Mars also flew in and on Saturday, we attended a beautiful wedding reception to celebrate the marriage of NivRah (Melbourne's classier and more ridiculously good looking version of Brangelina). I loved the saris, the stunning colour, the speeches, the couple's first waltz dissolving into Taio Cruz's Dynamite and the food. May you both have a splendid partnership together.

[The couple's first dance:]

[Man from Mars and his uni friends:]

The next day, we headed off for our annual December trip. In 2008, it was the South Island of New Zealand. In 2009, it was the Great Ocean Road. This year, it was Broadbeach, the Gold Coast. With winds and floods buffeting much of the upper north coast, we toughed out some turbulence on the plane (lots of people looked green around the gills) and were greeted to a tarmac full of rain. Sideways rain, upwards rain, downwards rain and lots of rain. Add to that we had no umbrella and needed food supplies. Then mix in a little optimism that the "shopping centre isn't too far away" and what you got was too seriously wet people. Not cool when you're a dedicated glasses wearer like myself.

Thankfully, we were granted two full days of sunshine where we basked in the beach sand, slid down the slides at Wet N Wild and mellowed out as the sun went down. On the days it rained, we rented out some Oovie dvds: Letters from Juliet (my choice), Salt (Man from Mars' choice) and Transamerica (a unanimous decision). All in all, we had a great time.

[A ladybird!]

[Wet n' Wild:]

[Man from Mars all tanned and beachy:]

[A soft sunset:]

Today, as I returned to work on the eve of Christmas, I was greeted with a buzzing workplace excited for Christmas. It's Miss K Kaif's birthday on the 28th and we celebrated with a Thai lunch and street corner photo:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, YOU FINE LADYY!

As the year draws to a close, I'm feeling the annual "let's reflect" wave coming on. It's been a year packed with life, work, some anxiety, theusual self-exploration, friendship, the occasional feeling of uncertainty ("is what I'm doing, what I'm meant to be doing?") resolving into a generally content sense of satisfaction. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's all passed in the blink of an eye. Where'd the year go??

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

So I got an album...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjld9K-_5xTi2VziHQALYcwmaL3Ch06lp1D6QNDWPxnoSZhA5wiKfG-MNULMv9ZfYRp9lshhA7Ai_5bOIO_HnQzN-WU0hTLNebBzZaJ76fVoYTPV4eKb8c9uhj6IncI7Jnv_ueUmS1XDTI/s400/Mariah_Carey_-_Daydream.jpg

The first cassette tape I ever purchased with my own money was the Mariah Carey's Daydream. It cost $19.99 and One Sweet Day was #2 on Rick Dee's Top 40 (always pipped to the post by Coolio's Gangster's Paradise).

I played that tape over and over and remember trying to copy the cover photo for the purposes of a year 6 homework assignment.

I also remember taking part in the Hills District Music Festival where one of the featured songs we had to sing was Hero and Mrs Moth, the school's music guru was constantly reminding us to "ignore those trilly bits, just sing it without the trilly bits! (Like we listened, Hero was not Hero without those trilly bits).

Songs bring back so many memories.

Today I purchased Mariah Carey's Greatest Hits for $9.99 at JB Hi-Fi. It has all of her awesome songs from the 90's. So many great songs- all very emotionally charged. It takes me back and makes me a little wistful for a simpler time.

Can I say it too many times?

Combining my appreciation for alliteration and hyperboles, I've decided that the best way to describe this weekend is with various appropriations of words starting with the "phuh" sound. By way of example, 'phucking phenomenal".

I hopped down to Melbourne and instead of the predicted rain, cloud and dreariness, the weather was phucking phenomenal.

As a direct result of the phucking phenomenal weather, the setting of the sparkling sun brought about gorgeous shades of golden rose: phenomenally phucking phantastic.

And then there was the food. Ezard's. Two hatted mastery. Hands down phor real phucking phorever phabulous.

Before this all gets too silly, I'm indulging the wannabe photographer in me, and providing a photographic essay:

[Iron gate complexity:]

[A partially broken, jagged wall face:]

[Sharing the roads with the horse and carriages:]


[Phantastically Phrench at the Le Trisket Creperie:]





[A ginger topped pair of siblings- the sister clearly dominates with her steely stare and war ready stance:]


[Jaw-dropping graffiti at its Melbourne best:]






[See that series of dots under the right eye of the face on the right? This is what it says close-up. I suspect it was courtesy of an engineering student/actuarial lover:]



[We passed giant giraffes- the human in the suit crouched on all fours, atop 2 pairs of magnificent stilts:]

[Ezard's. The entree. I stopped taking photos because I felt like I was disrupting everyone else's food experience, which was undoubtedly the best food experience of my life:]

[A unicorn exploding with verve and colour:]

[Because we live in a material world:]

[Truer words were never said:]

[The unforgettable sunset near Flinders St Bahnhof:]

[Man from Mars gritting his teeth as I pester him to "pass me my camera, I wanna take another photoooooo":]

Phucking Phenomenal.

The Ultimate WallArt...

I stepped out of the back exit of our building and spied these in a little alleyway across the way.

I can't tell if they've been they're all along, or if they've only recently been put there and I just haven't noticed. Either way, I think they're babushka brilliant.

What happens in the Ladies' stays in the Ladies'...

Men often wonder what girls get up to when they flock to the Ladies' Loo.

If only they knew.

Today, a girlfriend (who shall remain nameless) and I wandered to the bathroom and she commented on the way I was trotting ahead of her- hurrying forward, talking over my shoulder, in short, choppy snippets. Meanwhile, she was managing to keep up, without breaking her languid stroll:

Dude, dude, I'm not even running and I'm keeping up with you.

I explained that it didn't matter, I was still going marginally faster than her. I then reiterated that although it may not seem like it, my legs could step up a gear, when the situation called for it:

Me: Once, my sister and I were walking to the station and we came upon a dead animal, but it wasn't really obvious, it was hidden amongst shadows-- and I only realised what it was when I was almost upon it. You don't understand - I ran so fast, I never even knew I could run like that. Meanwhile, I left my sister behind and after she caught up with me she was like: "Now I know how you'd be if we were both in danger: you'd just run for the hills and leave me behind!"

[By this stage, we were in the ladies' and entering the stalls. We shut our respective toilet doors and, like most girls, continued the conversation]

Nameless Girlfriend: Omg, the only time I ever recognised how fast I can run was when we were in Melbourne and I thought this guy was following us. He was almost floating, he was going so fast. And so I was with my girlfriend and I started sprinting and accidentally left her behind. So I was like "Babe, RUN!" and I freaking sprinted in stiletto heels.

I could picture Nameless Girlfriend demanding Babe to RUN and her description of the scary man was so funny that we both started laughing like the "gaggle" that you see on those ads for Tena pads. It affected our ability to carry on our business in our respective stalls and Nameless Girlfriend gasped:

Omg, I've stopped midflow (more gaggle laughter, followed by a pause. Then what could only be a pause for concentration- then a resumption of business. The stop-start made us laugh even harder-- it got to the point where we weren't laughing out loud anymore- only silent laughter punctuated by squeaks).

Nameless Girlfriend (wheezing): Omg I have to stop laughing, I'm scared that I'm gonna fart!

That set us off again and we laughed, and laughed and laughed. Eventually, we emerged from our stalls. Her eye make-up was officially smudged for maximum panda effect. My face was red and splotchy and I told her that I was laughing so hard and I was so doubled over as I sat on the loo, that my face was *that* close to the floor.

Could it have been funnier? It was possibly the most memorable bathroom trip of my 26 years.

And yes, to all you boys out there? You should be jealous. Because that's what goes down in the Ladies' Loo.