Pip's 40th

It's been a month of 40th Birthdays so far. We celebrated Donna's 40th in early Feb, followed by Anthony's and now Philippe's.

Birthday Boy!

We met up with Philippe, Guy and Troy after work on Friday and headed to the Minus 5 bar at Circular Quay. This place is a bizarre concept where you rug up in Ugg Boots, gloves and a huge jackets and then enter a bar made entirely of ice! The hefty $30pp (for 30 minutes no less!) includes a vodka cocktail (in a glass made entirely of, you guessed it, ice!). All goes well for the first 5 minutes then after the cocktail has finished and you have to amuse yourself in an ice cave overlooking the best sunny harbour in the world it loses it's shine somewhat. It should be called "5 Minute" not Minus 5.

Troy and I posing at Minus 5

After that 'experience' we all got cabs to Surry Hills where we had a table booked at Cochin, a Vietnamese restaurant. Now, I'd like to say that it was fantastic however, it took the ONE waitress around 15 minutes to bring the menus and then she hovered over us trying to take our order straight away! Odd!!

When the food did arrive, it was pretty good but the atmosphere seemed tarnished by the obvious lack of wait staff. Guy, Troy, Jodie and I bought Philippe a really nice Pierre Cardin watch for his birthday. Philippe was over the moon with it and took off his old watch to replace it straight away! We did enjoy the food and a few drinks but I can't say I'd rush back.

We made our own entertainment at the restaurant

We all headed out to Oxford Street post dinner and this was the night before the annual Mardi Gras so everywhere was packed. We tried to find somewhere without a queue that ran the entire length of Oxford Street and finally find a place and settled down for a few birthday drinkies. We ended up getting talking to a nice selection of random strangers before heading home and leaving the partying crowds to it.

Anthony's 40th

Backing up from Donna's birthday, Anthony had arranged for a party at his place for his 40th. Now when I say party, I mean PARTY!

Jo and Anthony enjoy a pose in front of the camera

The man had a bar (complete with bar staff), the entire party catered by Simon Johnson, a professional photographer and a chef to cook us all a seafood paella in front of us in what must've been the world's largest frying pan!

Simon Johnson cheese board. Honestly.

Jo and I arrived at 6.30 to see the final finishing touches being made to the cheese board before the party really took hold. The party did have a theme of 'Carnivale' but I'm afraid Jo and I were all fancy dressed out after Donna's birthday and our drag escapades.

Well ok, not quite all fancy dressed out

Nathan and Anthony however did look fantastic (see pics). I'd love to have some more pics to publish but my bloody camera broke that night. Grrr.

Anthony & Nathan all dressed up

The party started off fairly slow as you can imagine and as the night went on we met some great people. It seemed not many people knew others apart from Anthony & Nathan so we were all in the same boat. We hit it off with "Amy" the photographer (I can't remember her real name but towards the end of the night she had her make-up done by someone else and she looked exactly like Amy Winehouse!).

It's Amy Winehouse!!!

I'm not really sure how it happened but we did end up on Oxford Street until about 3am and whilst walking to get home all I can remember is people shouting out "Amy! It's Amy Winehouse!" Hahahahaha.

Alishia & Sienna

Here are some pictures of our neighbours twin girls; Alishia and Sienna. We've known their parents Lisa & Christian since we moved into our apartment and they lived next door to us (they now live across the complex but still close by) so that's over 3 years now. We've seen their twins grow up and they are just so cute!

Bath time! Hmm, that water looks funny!

That's why the water looks funny, check out their mucky faces!

Dinner was good, the bits that went in my mouth were anyway.

All clean. Complete with humiliating hairstyle, thanks parents.

Donna's 40th Birthday

The day had finally arrived, the day of Donna's 40th birthday party. For those that don't know Donna, she is the party planner of all party planners! No detail too small, no expense spared and this was obviously no exception. The invites had been sent and the themes were; "Tight & Bright" or "Uniforms". Jo and I deliberated over what to wear for a while and no doubt most people I'm sure expected us to take the uniform option. So we didn't. We headed to House of Priscilla on Oxford Street (think 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert) and found our outfits in a surprisingly short space of time. After a few changes, we'd found the perfect get up and made the booking. We were going in drag.

Two weeks later on the day of the party we went to pick up the costumes, made a slight adjustment by choosing wigs instead of a headress, bought some ridiculous false eyelashes and obligatory glitter before heading home to a marathon dressing up session. It took hours but we finally got it together for a pre-party photo shoot.

Connie and Carla

We when got the party about 6:30 (after having to hail a taxi and walk through the entire pub in this get up) Donna's face was an absolute picture of hysterics! As the night wore on, the amount of effort that everyone had gone to became apparent. Everyone looked awesome and of course the birthday girl looked totally fab in her tight & bright air-hostess uniform!

Birthday Girl Donna, Ang & Trish pre-dance routine

Donna and Trish had rehersed a dance routine for mid-party fun and it was brilliant! Beautifully choreographed complete with flight crew bags and in-flight meals :) We all had a great time, although my feet after a night in those platforms might not ever be the same again!

Honestly, the eyelashes are good aren't they!?