I'm conflicted...

I'm was conflicted recently when Jamie came home late after a few drinks after a work dinner at the Casino, so got all ready to deliver my "I don't care how late you stay out, as long as you tell me where you are and let me know you are ok, so I don't worry" lecture.
Turns out staying out late at the casino was rather fruitful. Somebody won a case of very nice pinot by remembering the name of the pediatric surgeon who spoke to the audience of stockbrokers before dinner (turns out he had the same name as some one Jamie went to school with - regardless, top work by him on remembering), and it also turns out someone won several hundred dollars playing black jack after dinner... So my conflict is clear - do I lecture, or do I encourage him to go back to the casino the next night and bring home more grocery money and pinot?
Might I add this isn't the first time that a late night out has turned into profits from gambling from my beloved, pictured here with the first taste of the fruits of his night out.
So far, the best way I've come up to deal with it is to insist that gambling related gains be spent immediately.

Anniversary burgers...

So we were married for six months last weekend, which might not seem like a long time, but as I've pointed out to a few people, it's better than Pamela Anderson's (accumulated) marriages, so hey, it's something. And it was a Saturday night, so we got a cheap deal on wotif, and checked ourselves into the Sheraton on the Park (where Michael Jackson got married once).
The plan was always to get room service and watch a movie. So... here were the burgers. They were tasty, and we both gave them a 7 out of ten. Truly though, eating a burger in your bathrobe in a five star hotel is an experience that rates very near to the top of my favourite things to do. And of course, booze must be involved.
We bought a couple of cases of wine not long ago at a bottleshop, and I was suckered in by these medals on a bottle of bubbles, but failed to read the details of said awards. Turns out it's the "Best wine for enjoyment in the tropics" at the Cairns 2008 wine show... well... Sydney in winter is kind of uummm, tropical, when you look at palm trees, maybe? Anyway, the bubbles weren't terrible, but the "Marsha and Jamie 2009 wine show" won't be in a hurry to give it an award or buy it again.

Hubby pouring said bubbles. I dragged him out for a winter wardrobe update the next day, and it turns out the credit card company froze his card due to "abnormal card activity" after that days efforts. Ah ha ha. But he did really well.

"Hello, Dodd, what are you liking right now? What are you selling?" (couldn't help it - I was planning on posing for this photo as soon as I walked into the room and saw the phone and desk).

Note the possibly tropical plants outside??

Animal stories.

I love it when cute animal stories make the news or the papers. It's awesome. I'm a total sucker for it. And today, in addition to the "pet of the day section" (GREAT idea by the way - the AFR would totally boost its readership if it did this), Sunrise also had a story about a four year old boy who flushed his little one week old cocker spaniel puppy down the toilet to clean it. Ba ha ha. And then he blamed his two year old brother for making the dog dirty. The dog lived, and it's all over the net. I just saw it on the news too. And the dog and the kid are totally cute.

Another awesome thing is that it's not quite 6pm, and I'm at home and in my PJ's. I very quickly volunteered to go to some productivity commission hearings because they were just around the corner from home, so I got to come home for lunch, and I got to file from home, and when I was done, it was just a short walk to the living room to hit the couch and read my new Delicious mag. So while normally I'd still be at my desk, I'm in my uggs watching Dr Phil reading food porn. Win, win!!

UPDATE: So my veggie curry was cooking, I was still revelling in my pyjama and Ugg-bootedness, and then Jamie called me and was all "so, do you want to go to Pizza e Birra for dinner". uumm, yes, of course I do, I'm breathing aren't I. Turns out he flew back early for a surprise!!! Best surprise ever. I was sitting here thinking how great it was that he'd be on his way home this time tomorrow, and then there he was! YAY!

Sunday night and lost pashminas.

Another productive day today. Did all my cooking - soup and curry. Also made breadcrumbs. I bought some ziplock bags yesterday so I can label everything in the freezer instead of pulling out a bag of something and wondering what the hell it is. It was a drizzly day, so turning on the heater and having a constant pot of tea on the go felt very cosy while various things bubbled away and steamed up the windows.
I cleaned out my wardrobe - lots of clothes for charity. I finally let go of my pink suede boots. I haven't worn them for years, but just haven't been able to get rid of them. I also lost the ability to have perspective about them. I gained it today.
I try to clean out the wardrobe reasonably regularly (maybe 4 x a year), and sometimes I hang on to things when I clearly shouldn't. I was in a ruthless mood today though, so there was lots to go. My rules (which can be flexible if it suits what I want) are that if I haven't worn it in a year and wouldn't pick it up and buy it now, it goes. Another rule is that when new things come in, old things have to go out. And new things have come in...
I've bought a few things on sale in the last couple of weeks, which I'm pretty excited about. I wanted to embrace the work frock more, and now have a cute navy blue wool baby-doll-ish dress (but it's not to cutesy) from Country Road (of course), and a grey dress from Sportscraft which is fitted and has half sleeves, and the material is lovely and heavy but stretchy, so it's really flattering. And it's really plain, so as Em said, you can wear it with lots of different accessories, and it looks and feels like a new outfit. And both less than half price. I love sale time. I also have a new black silk pussybow blouse and a long stripy cardigan, so am very happy with my wardrobe updates.
Speaking of accessories, the advent of cold weather means the pashminas get to come out again! I do love a good pashie, and last week I was a bit distraught because I couldn't find my red one (it was my first one and has always come travelling with me, so holds a special place), and tried looking for it every night - our house isn't big, and there are only so many places it could have been, and it wasn't anywhere... I thought maybe I'd accidentally put it in the cupboard when I was putting something else away, so I pulled everything out - no pashie. It's so not like me to lose things either. However, just as my frustration was about to boil over into an accusatory phone call to Em, because my pashies live in the spare room - where she stayed last weekend, it occur ed to me in the middle of the night to check behind the shelves where the pashies live, and lo and behold, there it was! It was such a feeling of relief, and after taking a deep breath of it (perfume, baby shampoo and dust - just in case you were wondering, the baby shampoo smell is because that's what I wash them in, normal detergent is too harsh), I gave it a cuddle and put it back on the top of the pile for next week. I couldn't wear it immediately because I was wearing a green t-shirt, and pairing green and red just smacks of Christmas to me.

The collection: red, grey Burberry (thanks hubby), pink flowers, grey, black, pale blue, and faux traditional burberry.

I'm watching Masterchef right now (Catie and Linds, you don't know what you are missing) and Po is wearing a red scarf with a green top. She might as well stick a star on top of her head.
p.s. Chris is totally going to win.

Em and Muz visit.

Yeah, so Em and Muz came to visit last weekend, but I failed to take a single photo. Which should be testament to how much fun we had... Time and sensibility left us on Thursday night, and we all paid the price on Friday, but after a nap we were ready to go out for dinner. We went to Bistrode, which was nice, but I think we coud have all been more impressed. As always, having Em and Muz here was awesome fun, and time just few by... and then they were gone. If I belived in emoti-cons, I'd use a sad face there (I don't believe in emoti-cons). Em turned 30 on Thursday (even though I called her on Wednesday to wish her a happy birthday... at least I got in first), so HAPPY BIRTHDAY EM!!!

Saturday antics.

Jamie is away on business, so I've been amusing myself. And amusement is necessary, because who would have thought, there is only so much bad Foxtel you can watch. So, this morning I went to yoga, and then straight to Bourke St Bakery for some ham and cheese croissants. YOGA NEMISIS was there in the queue before me and bought something stupid like soy and linseed bread. Meanwhile, I was contemplating whether to buy one ham and cheese croissant or two. Lets be honest, the "one" case was never going to win. So, home with my treasures and the papers, I was a happy girl. Tea gets made in the china on the weekend, so who am I to break tradition? So coupled with the Simpsons morning marathon, it was an ideal morning. After breakfast, out come the favourite cookbooks, to make a shopping list. Which I pretty much do every weekend, but it never loses the fun. Especially when a trip to Fratelli Fresh is in order (which it is every week). Beautiful fresh produce, a kick ass cafe upstairs (and the word cafe doesn't even come close to describing it), and lots of trendy urbanites queuing to get their slightly overpriced produce. But it's so worth it. And I'm totally different from the rest of the urbanites... pffft, I bet they don't even get excited by fresh peas. Upstairs is where all the oils, pasta, cafe and coffee are, and this is the view down to the fresh section. There are four aisles of fresh produce, a cheese fridge, a meat fridge (including deli goods), and the other half of the room is dedicated to (free) cooking classes. And they are always cranking out blues/ the Beatles/ Dolly Parton or something equally cool. I get excited every time I walk in, and it is such a great feeling walking out with (paper) bags bursting with flowers, baguette, ripe tomatoes, shiny eggplants, freshly sliced ham, and other exciting treasures. I'm planning on making a bit pot of pasta e fagioli (with fresh borlotti beans), and also a big pot of (diet) butter chicken (which is really sans the butter and cream, so it's chicken in a yogurt sauce, but it's still awesome), and stocking up the freezer.

After unpacking all my treasures, there was no time to rest. There is a community centre that has just opened up the road, and it has, wait for it... a LIBRARY!!!! So I had to go join the new library before it was a week old, because, well, I've been so totally excited about this for the entire time they've been building the library. I was on my way into the city (to get a massage - important), so I didn't get any books, but my god it was exciting. I'll be back next weekend with the hubby to check out some reading material. Oh - it's also a pretty cool building - all greeny architecty, passive solar, etc. View from the side:

View from the park across the street:

So then off for my massage (which was awesome) and the a peruse around DJ's - they had stock that was on sale on BOXING DAY which they had clearly just held in storage and then rolled back out. I'm afraid this shopper recognised more than one item. And also spent all her money allocated for sale spending, at Country Road, as usual... It's like a bad boyfriend - I can't say no, and I resolve not to every time, but I just can't help myself. Country Road even remembers our anniversary of when I became a card holder for gods sake - AND sends me credit vouchers to spend to celebrate the occasion. I'm helpless in the face of that.

So I've just chowed down on a steak sandie and a rather hefty glass of wine. The heater is on, my PJ's are on, and all the laundry is done. It would all of course be much better fun with hubby home to regale with tales, but for now, the blog will have to do.