Thursday, September 27, 2007

I've been meaning to put this up for a couple of days!
Had a pretty quiet weekend as we were in preparation for our run. Saturday night we just popped out for a couple of hours to meet up with some friends who we hadn't seen for a while.
The run on Sunday was great, I really enjoyed it. The day started off a bit chilly, but as soon as the sun came out and our bodies warmed up it was beautiful. The run was really nice as we saw some great views. It was good to as it wasn't as busy at the last one we did, you got to have a bit of breathing space. I was very happy with my time...I did 9km in 55.23 mins, I must say the last 2km I really put my all into it, I had loads of energy still left and I wanted to complete the race in under 1 hour...so I reached my goal. It's funny, I seem to get competitive towards the end of these events.
Been feeling pretty tired since...we did go to kickboxing on Monday night too...I don't know where we get the energy from. I'm actually trying my dress on again on Saturday and I'm worried that I haven't lost any weight since last time...time will tell!! I would hope so after all this exercise!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

I didn't get a chance to update my blog yet this week. I've always got so much on my plate, it's terrible how quickly the days and weeks go by.
Last Friday night I finally met up with Sue for a couple of drinks, it'd been so long since we saw each other. After an hour or so, I managed to persuade her to come to the football with us...I was meeting Jason, Nicola and Andy at the ground. Was a good night, although I didn't really watch much of the game as I was talking. Sydney FC were playing Wellington, Wellington won. It was very different from the big games I'm used to seeing, the stadium didn't seem packed at all, and the atmosphere wasn't quite there. Soccer, as they call it here, isn't really one of the big sports here. After the game we had a couple more drinks, then headed home.
Saturday we just went down to the beach for a lie in the sun, then we stayed in in the evening. And Sunday we met a couple of friends for lunch which was nice, the weather was beautiful.
This week has been full of training and homework for me. We have the Bridge run tomorrow, it's a 9km run, so I'm not dreading it as much as the one the other month. We start by running over the Harbour bridge, which I'm looking forward to as I've never walked over it (I've walked on it, but not over it, if that makes sense!). Then we go around the botanical gardens, and back to the Opera House, should be a good morning.
Last night we went to see Ratatouille at the cinema, was very funny about a rat that can cook...I love the Pixar animated films.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I'm sat here, and I should be doing my assignments right now, but I really can't get my motivation going, so I thought I'd do a quick blog.
It was a short week at work last week as we had a public holiday on Friday due to the APEC conference. I actually had an exciting moment on Thursday morning, from my works window I saw George Bush and his 30 or so vehicle motorcade leave the hotel car park, I had a prime view. Not that I could see him..only his car... but at least I saw a bit of the action! Actually we were watching the news over the weekend, and for the last evening of the conference the government put on fireworks on the harbour for all the leaders and their wives....and I have to say I was very disappointed about that, it's pretty disgraceful, what a waste of money, and when I say fireworks, they don't scrimp one bit, it's a full on spectacular show. I could think of many more things that money would have been better used for, but anyway!
So Friday afternoon, Jason and I drove up to the Hunter Valley for the weekend...and I must say it was just what the doctor ordered. We've been saving so hard for so long, we've hardly done anything else for ourselves, so we thought it was about time. We stayed just outside the Valley in a town called Maitland in a lovely 4 star serviced apartment. It was like a ghost town there, we went out on the Friday night with plans for a lovely meal, but we couldn't find hardly anywhere to eat, and the whole place was like a ghost town, we didn't see one person! In the end we found a pub with a bistro, but it was more like an RSL club, not very romantic...and luckily for Jason (not for me) he did get his wish to see the rugby game on the TV (while eating dinner!)
Saturday, our bus for the wine tour was late, eventually, it turned up an hour and a half late. We were a bit annoyed, but didn't want to let it ruin our day. We had a great day, we went to lots of wineries we hadn't been before, a lot of the boutique ones which was great. We didn't really have a proper chocolate or cheese tasting though, but we were going to go back the next day anyway, so that didn't matter. When we got on the bus back to the hotel, we all had a gift pack with 2 bottles of wine each on our seats...the company had given them to us as an apology for being late which was very nice...we added it to our growing collection of wine that we had already bought! Had a snooze on the way back as you know drinking lots of alcohol in the day makes you sleepy. We had a low key evening and just ordered a pizza and watched a dvd.
Sunday we checked out and drove back to do a bit of cheese and chocolate tasting... I didn't feel like any more wine though (well that's until 11am when we go to the Arrowfield Estate!!) We had another great day, after some cheese tasting we went to Palmers Lane where they were having a Spring festival. We stopped off at one winery, (actually it was a shed) but anyway, we had sample of the chardonnay, then were treated to a show of a couple of Latin dancers....then it was our turn to join in, except that I wasn't dancing with Jason, but the guy who owned the winery (shed). They showed us some moves, but at one point it got a bit embarassing cos I had to move up and down him quite closely.. bless him, he asked if my boyfriend minded!! After that, he said we could have a complimentary ride on his bus, you should have seen it, it was an archaic double decker bus. Luckily we were only going up the road to a couple more vinyards, so we thought we would go. On the bus were some kids that were playing at being the bus conductor, one of them must be a local cos he was very knowledgable about the area, we were quite amused. At one of the vinyards we entered the race of the rubber ducks, but unfortunately did not win anything. So we did get to taste some more cheese and had some chocolate dipped marshmallows which were yummy. We've brought back heaps of wine and some cheese too, but we have to be good now as we have our Bridge run next weekend, 9km, and I've hardly done any training..oops!
here are some pics from the weekend
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having a dance
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the little kids on the bus
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and the big kid..
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the duck race
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musicians at one of the vinyards
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and the happy ending
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yummy
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Bush arrives....
It was very exciting coming to work today, George Bush arrived in Sydney last night and the Harbour part of the city is in total lockdown. I must admit it's been a right pain in the bum since Monday, there are fences and road closures everywhere and getting the bus to work has been awful. Today it's even worse. there are police absolutely everywhere and 3 or 4 helicopters flying over the building... you see Bush is staying in the building over the road from where I work, just across a little road. We can see everything from our window, there are snipers on the hotel roof (better be a bit careful with that one) and our building had armed guards all around it this morning, it's very surreal being within a few metres of one of the worlds most powerful men, I've never seen anything like it. Apart from a couple of fighter jets and helicopters hovering overhead, nothing really eventful happened during the day....we missed it when he drove to meet John Howard.
When I came out from work there were even more police and a huge police truck and loads of motorbikes parked out the front. I think another leader arrived too as they blocked off another road when I was walking to the bus and there was a motorcade driving past. Tomorrow will be the most interesting day, Bush is apparently driving through the city in the morning rush hour,..lets see how that goes!
I spoke to my brother last night and saw little Hugo on the webcam...well I say little, he's grown so much, sometimes you dont' realise when you're just looking at pictures. He's still as cute as a button! Here are some pics
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my favourite
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Sunday, September 02, 2007

It's been an eventful week at work, we had a safe shelter alarm the other day, which meant we all had to move to the 'safe' side of the building. This happened because we are located next door to the hotel where a lot of the world leaders are staying next week. We also had an F16 jet going past our window the other day, it was quite surreal! I'm wondering what next week is going to be like. Better be prepared for lots of security searches.
I went out with my work colleagues on Friday night, one of the Systems guys was leaving, so they put on drinks and food in our coffee lounge. We had a few there, then it was off to the Opera bar and then the Rocks for a couple. By the time I got home it was 1.30...don't know where the time went! I didn't get up til late yesterday, we just cleaned the flat (well Jason did most of it as I was a bit worse for wear) and then we went to see the Simpsons movie. In the evening Nicola and Andy came over for drinks and nibbles. It's so great to be able to hang around with those guys again, I've especially missed Andy since I left Munich, it's weird to be living in the same city with them again.
They left quite early this morning as Andy was having some surf ski lessons or something. So Jason and I just went to pick up some shoes for him for the wedding. I think his outfit is all sorted now.
We decided to get out of the city next weekend, we have a bank holiday on Friday because of the APEC, so we've booked in at Hunter Valley for a couple of nights. I can't wait, I love going there. We got a really good deal which includes a full days wine tour, starting at 9am at the Champagne winery...then following off at the chocolate shop where they sell the best chocolate dipped strawberries and marshmallows...hows that for breakfast!!