Another lovely weekend

We went to see my in-laws again this weekend to celebrate my Mother-in-law Lyn's birthday.
Sister-in-law Helen brought along awesome car snacks and we enjoyed working Murray's old i-pod to death on the 3 1/2 hour drive.

We had a gorgeous lunch out with amazing food and birthday toasts, and a nice relaxing afternoon.

Sunday, after a bit of shopping and a chai latte (yummm), we made our way back to Sydney. Big mistake to leave earlier than we usually do though at 2pm (thinking we'd miss the traffic). Turns out everyone else must have been thinking the same thing and the roads were PACKED! Next time we'll hang out a bit longer and leave later in the afternoon to have a decent return drive time.

Last night we watched a bit of the only late night comedy tv show here (granted it's only on once a week....) Rove. He annouced that after 10 years on air, last night was his last show. Honestly? My first reaction was "good - now maybe they can find someone funny!"
He just is NOT funny! I like the other regulars he has on the show, they are usually quite entertaining, but I just don't like him - and it's HIS show - not good! I wonder if they will replace him or just scrap it all together? Hmmm will be intersting!

The one funny thing on the show last night was that they filmed this particular show outside so they could have an Aussie BBQ. Each of the regulars brought along sides - Hamish & Andy couldn't decide between healthy or not, so they brought apples that were cored, with hot dogs in the middle. Ha ha. One lady said she was too lazy to actually make anything, so she gave Rove a bag of instant potatoes - which he though would be funny to open & pour in his mouth right there (but no - it was not funny). Another guy brought BBQed dim sum. Ewwww

I was not interested enough to stay up and watch the whole show though. I think they should just take Jay Leno - whose show has JUST started being shown here - and move it from it's current time slot of 6pm (we'll NEVER get to see it that darn early!!) to a decent night time slot like 9pm. I know I for sure would watch it every night!

Ben & Jerry's - mission complete

We made it to Ben & Jerry's Wednesday night. The place was PACKED - queue out the door! They didn't have a lot of selection of ice cream to buy in pints, so we had them fill up a few pints from the scoop flavours instead (for a dinner party last night - not just to go home & gorge on)! I also had a tiny cup of mint ice cream with huge chunks of chocolate - it was fantastic! They have SUCH a great location as well - right off of Manly beach - that place is going to be crazy busy this summer!

In other news - the weather has been amazing here lately (other than the couple hours of rain & a thunderstorm last night). It has been around 30c every day (90f) and that is also the forecast for the weekend - hooray! I heard on the radio this morning that it is meant to be 40c (110f) on Monday - holy cow! I guess that must be out West where they don't get that cool ocean breeze. BRING ON SUMMER - I'm loving being able to wear my sandals again!

10 months

After 10 months here, you think there wouldn't be many things I hadn't come across.

However, I bought what I would call Apple Sauce the other day - for some reason they call is Apple Puree. I guess that literally makes sense!

Also - I still hadn't figured out how to convert Kilojoules (kJ) to calories. All labels here list kJ and only some list calories as well. So today, I finally looked it up, because seeing kJ on a label means nothing to me.

How many kilojoules in 1 calorie? The answer is 4.1868.

Hmmmm - good to know!

Nice Weekend

We had a nice weekend down at my in-law's place - including a lovely BBQ out by the beach!

On the way down we got sidetracked a bit though. We were driving through the small town of Ulladulla and saw a small dog darting in and out of traffic. Murray quickly pulled over and I ran out and called 'HERE PUPPY! ' (even though he was an older dog - a small terrier I think). He turned when he heard me and started running full speed towards me, just as an SUV swerved to miss him - SO close! He was SO scared, and jumped right up into my arms. We turned around and drove back into town and stopped at the local vet that another person who had stopped told us about. They scanned him and could see he had a chip, but the number wasn't registered in their systems, so they said they'd have to keep him there until the vet could call the main chip registration line and find out who is owner is. Poor little thing, he was shaking he was so scared! But they took him in to feed him and give him some water, and I'm sure he'll be fine. I am just SO glad we were able to get him off the road safely!!

Almost casual day

All I can think of today is 'I can't wait to wear jeans tomorrow' ha ha - gotta love causual Fridays at work:)

One exciting thing is that the Ben & Jerry's website (no I am NOT obsessed! well... maybe a little bit) has annouced that their Kombi 'The Rolling Cone' will be toured around Melbourne last month and will be touring Sydney this month giving out free ice cream - EXCITING!!!!!!!

A little piece of America

1. 'This is it' was great - I was pretty darn impressed by how good his voice sounded. He did look super skinny, but still showed off some classic dance moves. Would have been an amazing concert. I enjoyed watching the movie though, toe tapping & interesting!

2. Official annoucement (from me at least:)

Ben & Jerry's has opened their first store in Australia and IT'S IN MANLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

It opened this past Monday (so I hear!) and is located down near ribs & rumps, facing Manly beach. It is open 10am to 10pm every day.

Their website says: 'We’ve gone to town and even decked our new pad out with tables, chairs and free wi-fi access so you can sit there enjoying the sea view until the cows come home.'

I am SO there - YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

****** UPDATE - I have been informed that the shop is MASSIVE and they will be giving away free ice cream on November 28th (I wonder if that's the official opening that Ben & Jerry themselves are coming too?). Since that is the day my parents arrive, Mom & Dad - prepare for a Manly walk + ice cream!!! Hooray! Should be a Great way to combat jet lag!

Horses & Stuff

EVERYONE has asked me today who I am betting on - because today is the Melbourne Cup (horse racing).
It's a big deal, apparently.
So finally I gave in and used the coins in my purse to bet.
It was a random draw - so I have $1 on 'Musef' and $2 on 'Spin Around'
I know I won't make big bucks based on those piddly bets - but I hope one of those 2 wins!!!!!

Oh and just FYI - it's BOILING today - 35c (100f) in the city and 37c (104f) out west (where I'm working today). Eeeeeeeeeeek - I am NOT looking forward to getting into my black car when the work day is over!!

**********UPDATE************

I went downstairs at work this afternoon to where they were live streaming the race. Last minute a guy was trying to sell off the last 3 betting spots and I overheard him say one of the horses was Daffodil. I had heard on the radio this morning that Daffodil was in the running to win. So my colleague & I both agreed to put down another $5 each and we did rock paper scissors to see who would draw first - I won, with scissors. I thought my 33.33% chance of picking the slip of paper with Daffodil on it was slim - but I GOT IT!!!!

Our department had ordered a lovely selection of cakes for the ocassion - a massive tiramisu, a chocolate cake with cream & cherries (that's what I had!), fruit & custard tarts and lots of different pastries. WOW! Nice surprise!

Then we all stood around to watch the race - which took mearly a few minutes.

And I lost :(

The winner - was a horse called 'Shocking'

Bummer - oh well, it was kind of fun to participate in the whole event a little bit anyhow:)