I met Sue from work last Thursday night, I had arranged to go around to her flat for the night to raid her wardrobe for my works Christmas party next Friday which has a Chicago gangster Club theme, I have absolutely nothing glam to wear so Sue said she'd help me out. We had a nice meal at hers and I tried on a few dresses and found the perfect one, it's a bit clingy, but as long as I don't eat much for the rest of the week I should be ok!!

Friday after work I went to the gym, I have actually been going in the mornings lately, but because I stayed at Sue's I hadn't made it 3 times that week. I much prefer going in the mornings, once I'm out of bed I'm ok, it's just getting out of bed at 6am thats a killer! I've even noticed a difference in the shape of my body which is great. Anyway, back to Friday, I was the only one there for a while, so Michelle worked me out really hard, I had to do the circuit whilst she counted the reps I did on every machine, and on the 2nd time around I had to go even harder. I tell you, I thought I was going to be sick I was exhausted! It was good tho, it's not often you get one on one time.

Saturday, Jason and I went to our follow up appointments at the Chiropractors. He took a look at my back and my posture and he told me I had a sway back, which means a very acute curve in my lower spine, and then at the top, my neck goes forward, what with my wonky shoulders and waist, it seems I have to have a lot of work done to get my posture corrected. We are both having our x-rays next week and then we will go back for a further consultation...what a nightmare!

I didn't go out on Saturday night, I've really needed these last 2 chilled out weekends, they have been great. Last night I went to see Kylie. It was a really great concert, no U2, but still good fun. It would have been more fun if I wasn't on my own, but never mind. She put on a really good show, I was quite suprised at how raunchy it was, no wonder all the gay men love her shows, she has loads of hunky men galavanting on the stage in skimpy costumes. I did wonder as there were lots of children there, if it was my kids, I probably would have covered their eyes...but as it was, I really enjoyed it ;o)

I had asked Jason to tape the final of Aus Idol for me in the hope that I could just watch the announcement when I got home (I knew that I would find out the next day before I could watch it myself) but I didn't bargain on some loudmouth girls on the way to the train shouting out that Damien had won....I tell you I nearly turned around and shouted at them, bloody idiots. So they ruined it for me :-( Oh well, I will still watch it sometime this week.

It's been a really hot day today....38 degrees and very windy. When I came out of work I could smell the smoke from the bush fires out west, there was even the embers from the fires floating around the sky, it was quite eerie. There are real problems at this time of year with the fires, even some houses have been burnt down.
When I got off the bus near home it had cooled down considerably. What a relief!!

Went back to see U2 again last Monday night. It was really good again, maybe not as good as Saturday as we were right up in the heavens as only seated tickets were left, so the atmosphere wasn't as good. Also I stood up and the woman behind me told me to sit down, which I found really bizarre as we were at a rock concert!! Anyway, we found another couple of seats where people were being a bit more enthusiastic, so I managed to stand up there.
Tuesday I finally was able to meet my friend from Munich, Nicola who was visiting her sister. We had a nice lunch and a bit of a catch up. It's so funny how many people I know from overseas that have come over here.
Apart from that it's been a pretty quiet week, which I needed after the last few weeks. I went out with Sue after work on Thursday, was great to see her again, I haven't been able to for a while. As usual we had a laugh, it's great to have a chat with a girlfriend like Sue.
On Friday at work I got roped into playing netball! Bernard (they play mixed teams here) has asked me before, but I've always said no, I mean, it's been over 15 years since I've played and I didn't want to make a fool of myself! Anyway, he asked me again on Friday and I said no again, but after I felt really guilty, so I said, ok, if you can't find anyone else than I guess I can do it. So, of course, he couldn't find anyone else so I had to do it. For some silly reason they put me on as Goal Keeper which I found hard to understand considering my lack of height! Anyway, I coped, but it was pretty hard, I managed a few blocks, but couldn't stop any of the goals, I was pretty knackered afterwards, I didn't expect the GK to have to work so hard!! We did actually win tho 12-10 which I was pleased about, I didn't want them to lose because of me!!
I didn't finish work until a bit later on Friday, we had a few drinks courtesy of work and I did have a lot of work to do. I came home to a lovely home cooked meal, lentil burgers with a cheese, onion and spinach relish...it was absolutely yummy, I'm such a lucky girl! I was so looking forward to the weekend and doing nothing, we've been out so much lately and we've hardly done anything on our own, but this weekend we didn't have so much on.
Saturday morning we went to the Body, Mind and Spirit exhibition, we spent lots of money on books, spine alignments (my shoulders are very wonky!) hand cream etc etc. It was a very interesting day. In the evening, Jason went to see Pearl Jam again, I had a nice night in on my own...I don't often get any 'me' time so I was looking forward to it. I actually ended up on the phone all night tho, first to Mum, then on Skype to Chris. We did have a good long chat as it had been a while. I did manage to fit in watching my dvd, Mrs Henderson Presents, which was very good.

Sunday Jason and I went around to Grant and Sue's for Grant's birthday. We had a really nice evening, Grant's sister Helen was there visiting from New Zealand with her husband John, Mum and I met them when we were there last year. Had lots of yummy food and wine, then came home to relax a bit before going to bed.

I was up early on yesterday to go to the gym, I must say that I do feel much better going in the morning, it's just so hard to get out of bed! I had an induction course at work all day, it wasn't as bad as I thought, but it's annoying cos I've got so much work to do I would rather be doing that.

Happy News!!

I can finally tell you the great news that I'm going to be an Aunty!! My brother and his wife are 3 months pregnant! They told me a few weeks ago whilst Mum was on holiday over there, I was talking to them on Skype with the webcam and Chris showed a picture of the scan. I couldn't work out what it was for ages, thought it was a picture of the galaxy....then I realised what it was. Obviously the first thing I did was burst into tears!! It is such amazing news, they were all laughing at me, I actually didn't stop crying for the next couple of days. I'm really happy, but I'm also very sad that I'm so far away, I didn't realise it would affect me this much, I didn't think I would feel this way, I don't mean to sound selfish, but I am a bit cos I want to be a part of my neice of nephews life (see I'm starting myself off again getting all emotional!!) I guess I will just have to deal with it and I'm sure they will always be sending pics and stuff. Chris is amazing, he knows just how I feel, so he really understands what I'm going through so I don't have to explain anything to him, and I know he'll always make sure I'm a part of their lives.

So Martina had the 3 month scan on Monday, and all is well, he/she looks more like a baby now in the picture, it's very exciting!!

Went to see U2 last night and they were amazing....I'm still buzzing!! Luckily Jason's back was so much better that he felt up to going to the concert, which was great news...those painkillers were really doing their job! We got to the Olympic park pretty early for a few drinks before going into the stadium. When we got in there, we were really close to the front, plus the stage was elevated so it was a bit easier to see than normal. I actually ended up missing Kanye West, but I wasn't that bothered, we were getting drinks and t-shirts at the time (got a really cool t-shirt!). He only was on for half an hour.

When U2 came on, we all went mad...the atmosphere was electric. I actually had a bit of a cry (I know I'm really sad, but it was really overwhelming, plus I had drunk a couple of buckets of wine!!) had the best night ever, they played for over 2 hours, it was amazing, best concert I've been to. I had another couple of cries throughout the night (a couple of the songs remind me of going to Wales when I was little with my Dad), everyone was laughing at me, I was singing through my tears. I'm a bit stiff today from all that jumping up and down! It's so great that I finally got chance to see them live, I've loved them for years and they didn't disappoint....in fact we had such a good time that Jason and I have bought some more tickets for the extra show tomorrow night!! I'm really excited ;o) The visual show was amazing, a great sight to see.

some pics

It was a pretty late night last night so we had a bit of a lie-in today. We went to the Newtown festival this afternoon for Rach's birthday celebration. It was a boiling day and absolutely packed, we had some nice food and listened to some bands then I came home and Jason and Reece have gone to the pub for a bit. I'm just getting ready for Australian Idol, it's the final 3, all very exciting. I'm a bit gutted tho as I've just found out that the final is on the same night as the Kylie Minogue concert I'm going to, plus Linn is probably getting more tickets for the final, so I guess I will just have to tape it, it's a real shame as I've watched the whole series...oh well, you can't have it all!

It's been a bit of an eventful week. Last night I had to call an ambulance for Jason, he had injured his back playing touch rugby. He came home in pain, but could walk, so he took some painkillers and had a rest, then went to bed. But about 2am he woke up in agony, I didn't really know what to do, I didn't even know the phone number for the ambulance so I had to look on the internet. It was pretty scary cos he was so bad, it took all my control to stop my voice wobbling when I was speaking to the hospital! We got to the hospital about 3am where Jason had some x-rays and more painkillers. Luckily there were no abnormalities on the x-ray. At about 4am he had some more painkillers, the doctor came back 2 hours later to see if he could get out of bed, but he was in too much pain to stand up, so she gave him some more to see how he was in a couple of hours. I thought I'd better go home for an hour to try and get some sleep, I was supposed to be working, I also had to organise someone to pick up Jason's friend Reece, who'd come over from New Zealand for the weekend, such bad timing I tell you, luckily Rachel had the day off so she did if for us. So anyway, I had an hours sleep, then spoke to my boss who said to take the day off to look after Jason. Then I went back to the hospital to pick him up. I got him home ok, he's still in a lot of pain and can hardly walk, he's really drugged up on painkillers, poor thing. I don't know if he'll be able to go to the U2 concert tomorrow, we'll have to see how he feels...fingers crossed.

As for the rest of the week, Monday, not only did Linn, Martin and I get tickets for Idol, but we got VIP tickets!! It was great fun, I regressed to being a teenager, I loved it. Got the butterflies before going on air, Linn was laughing at me cos I was all hyped up. After the show, the presenter Andrew G who knew the guy who had got our tickets asked us if we all wanted to go to the green room after. Of course we did go, Anthony Callea (former Oz idol winner) was there, then we met the presenters. I talked to the remaining singers, there are only 3 left now. Jess who I want to win was so sweet, she gave me a hug when I told her I thought she should win! So that was a great night. When I got back I watched it on video, and we were on TV loads, when I went to work the next day, one of the guys said that the cameraman much have fancied me as we were on so much, haha! they were all really jealous.

Tuesday it was Melbourne Cup day, I went to the pub with my boss and the guys (I was ordered to!) I came 2nd on the sweepstake and won $16. In the evening we went to the Pearl Jam concert. It was really good, although I only knew about 3 of the songs.

Wednesday night we went to dinner with Sean, Tommo and Rach, had a lovely Italian meal..yum.

Last night I had my weigh in at the gym. I lost nearly 6cm all over...2 from my belly, 1 from my waist and a bit from my thighs, but I had managed to put on a bit of weight. The trainer said that was normal tho, as muscle weighs heavier than fat...so I'm on track.

Well, I was really sick last Sunday night, I had to take the day off work on Monday I was so bad, so I didn't get a chance to see my boss from Munich on Monday night. Luckily I was feeling better on Tuesday so I managed to meet up with him then. It was nice to catch up him and his daughter, she is over here for a while to improve her English. They took us to a really expensive seafood restaurant at Darling Harbour. It was very nice, but the portions were very small..so small in fact that I was still hungry after!! I'll stick to cheap and cheerful next time!

I haven't got to catch up with Nicola yet, I didn't hear from her all week, but she called me at the weekend, and we hope to meet up when she comes back from up the coast.

We had a really nice weekend at Hunter Valley, we went up straight from work on Friday. Linn had hired a really nice house for all of us, it was so peaceful, right in the middle of nowhere. Friday night we just had a few drinks in the house, then Saturday we went out for the wine tour. It was a great laugh, we all dressed up, Linn asked us to wear some sort of headwear and footwear for it...she was dressed up as a ballerina! There were some funny costumes, imagine the looks we got, there was about 15 dressed up! We visited some really nice wineries, one winery they had a huge St Bernard, he was so cute.

We had quite a big party when we got back,but I was so tired I had to go to bed about 11pm. You should have seen the state of the place in the morning, it took a lot of cleaning up.

Today we left at midday and took a drive to a couple more wineries and did some tasting in some cheese and chocolate shops. We bought some yummy cheese and tried some chocolate dipped strawberries and marshmallows...heaven! I really love Hunter Valley, it's so peaceful, and of course drinking wine, eating cheese and chocolate helps!

Tomorrow night Linn and Martin have got me a ticket to see Australian Idol at the TV studio, unfortunately it's not the show when they sing, but the elimination night, but it should still be good fun, wonder if I'll get on TV?!!

This week's gonna be so busy again, Tuesday night we're going to see Pearl Jam, Weds we're going to Seans for dinner, then Friday Jasons' friend is arriving from New Zealand for the U2 concert on Saturday...it's all go!!!

here are some pics

Our house for the weekend

The gang

me and Jase

the St Bernard