The three busiest weeks of the year

The last 3 weeks were probably the busiest ones for me in the past year. My sister and her boyfriend came to visit and stayed with us during their travels, so I got to do a bunch of activities that I was holding off from until they would be here.

During the first week, Claude came by herself. I showed her around the city and the beaches, we went to Melbourne, saw the "Fairy Penguins" (they are sensitive and sometime prefer being called "Little Penguins") and we had some surfing lessons so that we could be pros by the time Nick arrived.

The next week when Nick arrived, we did as many Sydney things as we could. The Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, the zoo, beaches, pubs, cafés, shops, etc. Claude and Nick also took 2 day trips to visit the Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains.

And the last week was one of the most idyllic ones I've lived. We packed a car with 3 surf boards and our things and headed down the coast to Jervis Bay and Shellharbour for a week of surfing, beaching, sun-bathing, exploring, relaxing, eating and drinking. Luckily, the weather warmed up by then and summer finally started so that we could all work on our tans!

Claude and Nick are already back home and I sure miss having them around to play Hearts after dinner but I know I'll see them again soon.

And now, only 3 more weeks to go and I have to get ready for the cold. Next week, I will be in Brisbane for my first real Aussie Christmas, complete with seafood and lounging by the pool.

What can one do before noon on a sunny day?

This Saturday, we woke up early (6:30am) and met up with our jet-lagged friend Dave for an early morning walk and swim at the beach, followed by breakie and coffee by the Harbour.

This weekend was the start of Sculpture by the Seas and last year, my friend Emma went with my boyfriend and I was jealous of all her pictures. This year though, I got to see it for myself. Sculptures by the Sea is a 2-week event where there are about 100 sculptures scattered from Bronte to Bondi beach. Most of them are obvious, but a few are a little bit harder to find.

The day's weather was perfect for this, and a swim in the ocean was well deserved after walking from Bronte to Bondi and back all before breakfast. After breakie, we went back to Dave's place for coffees with a view. I would say more about this but the pictures are much prettier than my words.

It's been a while!

I know, I know...it's been a really long time since I've last posted anything. Don't worry, I'm still alive and doing well. I've just been a bit busy and a lot has happened in the last few months. Before getting into a quick recap of all the wonderful things I've been up to, a bit of news:

I'm moving back to the motherland in January - or frozen waste-land as my boyfriend likes to say!! We will be living in Montreal so that I can find a job in a more creative environment and so that the man can enjoy as much hockey as he can. He's already gotten into the habit of wearing his Habs jersey on days when there is a game. Yes, he even wears it at work, and he's wearing it at this very moment.

Back to the recap of the last few months:

My birthday was spent in the Hunter Valley. We had heaps and heaps of wine, good food and I had fun swimming outside in the middle of winter :) Shortly after, I landed a new job, being a wine sales rep, which now makes every day feeling like my birthday again!

August was a quiet month where I worked, figured out if I was to go back to Canada or stay here, enjoying spending time with friends and discovery even more hidden treasures in Sydney. I've also let go a little bit of the blog I was doing aside this one about writing and communications. It's not that I've let go of the idea completely. It's more that before getting back into it, I want to have a better direction for it.

In September, we went to Melbourne for a week of cafés, secret bars, graffiti and shopping for me. We were there during the 1st Grand Final and it was quite the affair. The Grand Final here is the equivalent of the Stanley Cup, but if the game ends with a matching score, instead of having overtime or an "shoot-out", the game stops there and they have to re-do it all over again the following week. It's all anyone could talk about for the rest of the week!

And now, it's October and the month is almost over. I've been to the Noodle Night markets, have stored away most of my big jumpers and coats and have taken out my shorts, skirts and dresses. I've already been to the beach 3 times in the last 2 weeks only and am planning for more and more time by the sea. I've done a day-long surf course to help me get back into it and managed to stand up on my first wave. I've even graduate to using a smaller board :)

In the next few weeks, I am attending my first "Network Canada" event as a volunteer for the Halloween party, my friend Penny from London is visiting for a couple of week and then both my sister and her boyfriend are coming to stay with us for 3 weeks. I promise to keep this going, because the next few months should be exciting.

Until next time!
mp

Wine snobs

Since arriving in Sydney, I have learned quite a few new things about my boyfriend. I already knew he liked wine, but it took living in the same country to realize that he's more on the side of wine snobism, than simple a wine amateur would be. And living in the same household as a wine snob, I can't help myself but to slowly become one myself. In our home, we have:

• One tasting chart on the fridge to help us describe what we taste
• Two casks of wine (one white, on red) for evening when it's just the two of us
• Two wine bottle openers and bottle stoppers
• About 20 or so bottles stored in a cupboard so they can either age, or wait for special occasions

We love our wine! And so, in the past week, we've had quite some fun doing wine-related activities.

First up, mulled wine. It is winter here in Australia which is relative considering that the coldest it's been is well above zero, but I do get very cold regardless and so a good cup of warm red wine was on the menu last weekend. We had just been having drinks with friends in Sydney's oldest pub (Lord Nelson) and on the way home we stumbled on the The Rocks Markets by Moonlight. We could not resist.

People warming up next to  a fire in a metal bin. Keep it classy Sydney.

Me and my mulled wine...and yes, a scarf and a coat in the middle of June!

This past weekend, cousins from Brisbane came to visit. They were in town to celebrate their wedding anniversary and shared an evening with my boyfriend and I, once again in the Rocks where we made a new discovery: Wine Odyssey. It's a tasting room/restaurant/permanent wine show.

There, you can get a card that you put in one of the machines closest to the wine you want to taste and you have a choice of selecting a taste, a half-glass or a full glass. There is a wide variety of Australian and international wines to taste that range form $3  to $28 for a taste. The $28 taste is for the Penfold's Grange, one of the most expensive and supposedly delicious wine on the planet. Once you are done with your tasting, you give the cards back and the total amount is tallied up, so for the same cost as 2 glasses in other bars, you can taste about 6 or so if you stick to the lower price range.

My handsome wine snob boyfriend. He's even got a wine tasting grin.

 

I was staring at the Penfold's Grange, amazed by the price for a taste. $28!!!

Life in the land of (F)unemployement

I've rarely ever been unemployed for more than 3 weeks. I've always managed to jump from coop-job, to uni semester, to contract job, to full-time work and so on. And now, I think I know why. It still hasn't been a total of 3 weeks yet, and I already have had enough things on my plate to keep me busy and get me out of the house every day for one reason or another. It's almost as if all this free time just means that it's the perfect opportunity to cram as much as I can into my days with things I day-dream of doing when I work in a cube.

Unemployed or self-employed?

During the last week, my life has changed a bit. What’s happened is that I no longer work at the bakery. I had known for a little while that I would end up wanting a change of work, but it all happened much faster than I thought, without any other seriously good job prospect in sight, and it ended on of sour note.

Walking home that day, I was talking to my boyfriend about how the events of the day turned out and the conversation ended with him telling me something along the lines of “Welcome to your first day of full-time freelancing!"

Time flies by...

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I've last posted anything. And it's not for lack of new things to talk about. I've just been busy so I'll do a quick round-up of the latest activities.