Birthday Paaaaarty

The night finally arrived of my 30th birthday party. Nelufa flew up to Sydney (a bit later than expected after Barry booked her flight from Sydney to Melbourne not Melbourne to Sydney!), Tanya and Ryan came down from Newcastle and we all had fun during the day.

We all started to get ready around 5pm and Jo and Tanya took off to the pub early to get things organised. I got a lift with Ben and I arrived around 7.30pm at the Clock to a group of my friends smiling faces, pictures of me all over the place with balloons! The night was fantastic with so many people making the trip from all over Sydney to be there. Thank you to everyone who came along and made it such a special night.

I was totally spoilt and had so many fantastic gifts it was completely unreal. I came away with; a massage at Your Sanctuary in Paddington, G-Star gift voucher, Gordon Ramsay's new cookbook (which is so delicious!), the new Coldplay and Kasey Chambers/Shane Nicholson CDs (both of which are awesome), tickets to see Kasey/Shane at the State Theatre!!, Peter Alexander nightie, movie tickets, manicure vouchers, the list goes on! Jo with help from Donna and others did an amazing job of everything, I really couldn't have asked for more.

Jo, Amy and I posing for the camera

Donna was the resident photographer (see pics below including the best photo of Jo EVER) and the money we put behind the bar didn't last too long but that was probably a good thing considering we left the pub at midnight and a smaller group headed to Palms on Oxford St until 3am!! It all started with Donna and I listening to Sneaky Sound System on her iPod in the queue, followed by the usual Palms tunes, a few beers and then I don't really remember much after that. Great night!

The delicious birthday cake!

Donna, Me, Bronwyn and Jo - all smiles!

The best photo of Jo - ever!

The big 3-0

It's my 30th birthday today and I was awoken to cards and pressies around 6am :) I was truly spoilt with jewellery, clothes, vouchers and more from Jo, friends and family alike.

Unfortunately I still had to go work on the big day and even thought I thought I'd done well to not let anyone know at work I was proved wrong in my fortnighly team meeting! My team had found out somehow and I was treated to them all singing Happy Birthday and an amazing hazlenut chocolate cake! Bloody delicious!

It's all counting down the my party on Saturday night now....really looking forward to it!

Haircuts and new bikes!

I've been going to the same hairdresser in Neutral Bay for about 5 or 6 years now. Cathouse has undergone a few changes since then and over time became more of a Rockabilly clothes shop that hairdressing salon. It didn't come as huge surprise to find out (via Facebook!) that it had closed it's doors for the last time.

After much research and nervousness both Jo and I decided to try Daniel Mostyn on King St in Newtown. Jo tried it out first on Saturday and then I went on Sunday. More about that later.

Earlier in the day we thought we'd take a nice long walk as it was such a great day and there haven't been many of those especially on the weekends for a while. We ended up walking through Surry Hills to Oxford St, Paddington. While walking along we randomly ended up looking in Woolys Wheels at some bikes. We weren't really looking but when I saw the Avanti Blade 2.0 I thought "why not take it for a spin, just for fun". We walked out with 2 brand new bikes!

Jo's Blade 2.0. Mine is the same but all matt black

So, after spending my surfboard insurance money on two bikes I went off to the hairdressers in search of a new look. I think I've had the same/similar haircut for probably around 18months - 2 years now so it was time for a change. And Daniel Mostyn is the place to go for something different! It's a very "out there" kinda place, with all black walls and a bit cage thing in the middle where they take photos of you and discuss what would suit you.

I met with Stacy, the Art Director for a chat (this was after my wine glass of water with lemon and little mini pudding!) and we decided to go darker in colour and a bit shorter in the cut. The colour was on in no time and I was taken to the dungeon room (all black walls, graffiti everywhere, no windows) for a shampoo. Then Stacy told me her "idea" for something different, which I thought sounded pretty cool so I went with it. You'll have to wait for my birthday party post for the photos :)

Relaxing Weekend

Jo and I decided to spoil ourselves this weekend in celebration of our upcoming birthdays. We started off getting a coffee a great little cafe in the Strand and then heading to Endota Spa at Martin Place for an hour and a half massage - absolute heaven!

At about 1pm when we were finished we walked over to David Jones Food Hall on Market Street for some freshly cooked noodles and a glass of wine. We spent some time walking around the shops and made the mistake of walking into G-Star. About 2 hours later we walk out with a new pair of jeans for Jo's birthday - she's going to wear them to my 30th birthday party in 2 weeks.

We capped of the weekend by staying at the Amora Jamison in the city and having dinner at the Charr Restaurant. The food was great, service a bit stuck up though. After dinner we took the short walk up to Circular Quay and the Opera House on a really clear and cool night.

Powderfinger

Jo, Donna and I went to see Powderfinger play at the Enmore Theatre tonight. We headed off into Newtown and Enmore for a few pre-show drinks at the dodgy pub next door. The only reason it gets people in there is because of the theatre next door, it's such a dive!

Having said that, I think we were the last people to leave the pub and get to the show as they had already started and we were crammed in as we were in the standing area. We made few friends as we weaseled our way to a better standing position to watch Bernard and the boys bang out some of their big hits.

All in all, it was a good show (not spectatular) and it seemed to be missing something but I'm still not quite sure what. Perhaps it was the venue, the crowd, my mood, who knows.

Busy few days

It's been a busy few days.....here's a bit of summary.

Thursday 29th May
Off out for a work dinner in Surry Hills. We start off at the Clock Hotel for a few drinkies and then onto Aree's Thai for dinner. Jo however is living it up in the city at an IBM party hosted by Donna, hence it has a theme (hat party) and she gets home after I do.

Friday 30th May
Jo's cousin Karen, partner Paul and 3 boys came to stay a night with us in Sydney before they flew out on holiday to Vietnam. They got back today and stayed one more night before heading back to Coffs Harbour. You'd think they would be tired and over going out but no, not Karen! They were off out to see Billy Elliot before flying home on Saturday to Paul's 50th birthday party with a 100 people that night! Mental.

Saturday 31st May
Our good friends Kate & Vanessa are expecting their baby boy in August so we drove over to Cremorne (to Kate's Mum & Dad's beautiful apartment) for their Baby Shower. We took some cute baby boy clothes and enjoyed a great afternoon meeting lots of new people, eating amazing food and sharing a great experience for two new mums! We then finished off the day by baby sitting little Alishia & Sienna for our neighbours Lisa & Christian. Awwww.

Sunday 1st June
Off to see the Sydney Swans kick Richmond's ass at the SCG! We took a bloody full on picnic and luckily Julie brought ponchos for everyone as it started raining in the third quarter. Sydney won by a country mile so we celebrated by enjoying a few drinks at the Fox & Lion at Fox Studios.