Fine Dining

Renovations aren't all bad. Here we are at our temporary dining room table enjoying an antipasto dinner.

Here you can see where the laundry/dunny/kitchen was and the boards that are now the kitchen wall (see photo below).

Here's the backyard. It's in full Crepe Myrtle bloom at the moment with both neighbours' trees overhanging and giving us a nice cosy garden. This photo is of Michael dreaming about cutting the low overhanging branches off. Bad Michael.

Makeshift Kitchen

For those of you who know our house, behind that cladding is where the kitchen used to be. They cut a piece out of the bench and this is now the camp kitchen. In 3 months this will become bedroom number 3.

Trees

Hi Mum, this is what you gave Michael for Christmas. I didn't come out so well in the photograph but it'll have to do. A beautiful weeping cherry. You'll also be stoked to know that the Japanese maple sprouted new life today after 2 months of playing dead. It is well with my soul.

The Biggest Loser

Well, this is it. The day we have been waiting for for years. We've unashamably moved into thirty-something obsession with...not a lap dog and not a "very advanced" baby but a house extension! The builder started today and we could sound totally absorbed with our new project over the next 3.5 months. You might scoff but when you come and visit you'll be loving your guest room. For bookings phone 0433 21....... (Oh, and my husband HAS lost a bit of weight in the vicinity of 15kgs. That's my hubsband and I'm damn proud)

Yesterday

How cute is this little ol' garage with a green door. So cute. Not cute enough to make the cut though because she is being sacrificed for an open plan pavilion room with beautiful bifolds facing into our north facing garden. Am I sounding obsessed yet?

After 1 day

Yesterday

This is the back sleep out of our house aka Rachel's Studio. This is how it looked yesterday and then when I came home tonight...no, not a tornado but a demolisher.

After day 1

Yesterday

After 1 day

Here I am, taking the glory for all the hard work.

Wedding bells

Here are our friends Juliet and Mezi. They got married on Saturday and the wedding had lots of great Tongan features including an abundant supply of frangipani decorations.

Outdoor reception looking lovely and summery. When we got back in the car the temperature guage read 43~. Michael said his icey cold beer never tasted so sweet.

Three Little Pigs

There really were 3 but the third one was halfway to my plate by this stage. This is one thing I love about Sydney, you can go to the next suburb and feel like you have gone overseas. The multiculturality (!) of this place is wowing. Our friends send their kids to a local school in their local, everyday suburb and it is 98% NESB. That's not uncommon in any given region in Sydney...except the North Shore which is the equivalent of the Claremontesque suburbs in Perth.

Happy New...

Here's us at New Year's celebrations smack bang on Sydney Harbour. Our friends saved a large space for about 20 people from 5am that morning. We turn up at 9.30pm (from the airport picking up Cam and Libs) simply to eat food and dangle our legs over the harbour wall and into the famous body of water. Here's a few photos of the experience.

Weaving my table magic. The red velvet was a winner.

Lunch with the Barrs on Christmas Day

Wot Michael Got For Christmas

Two Jaffas up the nose by one excitable nephew...who ate them afterwards.

Wot I Got For Christmas - Part A

Well, it might not mean much to you but I was very lucky Michael sold a church the week before Christmas. We had gone to do a reco-tour a few weeks before to see if there was any church relics for purchase. This was part of my Christmas present as well as some old trestle tables with years of Sunday School paint on them. I love 'em and I love 'im.