B-days and back to work

Saturday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Murray's birthday
My mother-in-law Lyn & I

We were treated to a lovely meal at our favourite place - Ribs & Rumps!!!
Lyn, Me, Helen & the birthday boy Murray

And yes we tried something new - Murray had the double burger - WOW it was huge (and yummy!).

I had the fresh barramundi which was lovely as well!

For dessert they surprised Murray by bringing out this lovely little chocolate mousse which had sparklers in it! They came to our table singing Happy Birthday and Murray looked around and nearly said 'whose birthday is it?' Ha ha - he was totally surprised! The dessert was Fabulous as well!

The next day after a lovely wander around Manly we came across the local Manly-Warringah Scottish bagpipe band performing down by the beach! They were raising money for their trip to Scotland to participate in a bagpipers competition!


They even had a group of girls dancing the Scottish fling! Fantastic!

I also finally took a picture of this sign - the beach closest to us is North Steyne (it is just down from Manly - basically the same piece of sand though). I think it is pretty darn fantastic that they won cleanest beach in NSW (our state - New South Wales)!!!

AND so today was my first day of work. Our commute driving was fine (we actually work at the same place here - bizarre I know)! It was a normal first day - lots and lots of information - too much to process in just one day. Also lots of unknowns - like where do they keep the extra printer paper? how do I release my laptop from this desk thingy it is connected to? And how ODD is it that they have signs in the restroom telling you to check the color of your urine to see how hydrated you are..... bizarre! My little team and I went out to a very nice lunch with a great view, then we walked to a place that had fantastic views of the bridge and the opera house - I only wish I had had my camera!!!

Only bad thing - I already have to go to the other work site tomorrow (my job will be split between these sites). SO I have to drive. I have checked out every public transport option - and they are all at minimum two hours - yuck. Driving should only take 50 minutes - but I am leaving MUCH MUCH earlier than that tomorrow (like - giving myself 2 hours cause it is my first time driving this route) because
1. I want to go before the traffic so that I can drive a bit slowly and take in the route and not be freaked out by packed rush hour traffic
2. past a certain point I haven't driven this route before - so the less traffic the better
3. this is only my second time driving outside of our little area - so I am of course a bit scared

BUT my lovely husband has spent the last half an hour printing me out great maps, and highlighting them, and explaining them to me, and taping them together so it is nice and easy for me. I know I just need to get out there and do this to gain some confidence - and I know it will be just fine - I just need to practice practice practice! WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and tonight at work the power went out at 4:45 - we heard that the city's power was out as well, so I asked if I could go home and my boss said that was fine. The traffic was a bit busy, but we got home alright. We saw on the news tonight that power went out in all of downtown Sydney causing 2 hours of traffic chaos - some tunnels to closed, people got stuck in elevators, and tons and tons of terrible traffic. We actually saw a view on the news of people sitting at the entrance to the tunnel we took earlier tonight - eek that was lucky!

Now - here's to the good driving luck extending to me tomorrow!!!