fuchsia fragments

foodie week.

kicked off with ultimate skyfail. read here... mumbrella: skyfail @ event cinemas

had dinner at miss chu tuck shop which is in the same building as chef's gallery. but downstairs. then got gloria jeans and cha time in preparation for skyfall.

it was supposed to be good. full cinema, good atmosphere, supposedly awesome movie.

randomly discussing relationships, game theory and matrices (all interrelated topics of course...).

and movie starts. and about an hour in... it all goes downhill. W T F !!!

but hey, we smart girls - so we got our free movie voucher, but we WANTED TO SEE THE END OF SKYFALL. so we snuck into vmax. and probably watched the first hour or so again.

which meant it was late when we finished. so we were like embarassing ourselves running through the cinemas and down the stairs (maybe a bit like cinderella if you want to be poetic) to make it to our respective bus, bus, bus or train.

and i WIN!!! even though i live the second furthest from the city. express train trumps buses!!!

today...

met two of my favourite contractors. was gooooooooood meeting. very easy going and laid back. of course, i'm their fav person at my company ;)

then randomly bumped into jan after work. so we went froyo.

then i went to bevo to catch up to catherine and hear about her americas trip and what to do and what not to do. and tab was randomly on the table behind us.

food was awesome. mushrooms and haloumi, ink spaghetti with crab and fresh chilli and mediocre tiramisu. but such good value even though couldn't use entertainment card with weekday special. but still really really good for a local restaurant!

now need to catch up on some zzzzz time!

pretty unexciting really...

not stressed. i did take home work that i will have to have a look at. year end reconciliation and payment summaries. but apart from that, it was business as not-so-usual in finance. . .

nick decides to rock up later than me, and leave just after 4 today. "b-o-o-f-h-e-a-d". Yet again, up to me to hold down the fort in finance! I seem to be doing that quite often (and quite well!) these days.

He even admitted to having neglected me these past couple of weeks! YOU KNOW IT!!!!!

anyway, was supposed to meet up with sarah for drinks but i am so drained i postponed it till next week. probs catch up for lunch.

will be visiting my grandmama tomorrows!

and going to D2Ds tonight with joyce. YAY!

i had a meat pie and pizza this weekend... and steak and chips at sizzler last night. yummo. oh and did i mention the ricotta cheesecake? although i do half believe that i will stick a finger down my throat and regurgitate it all back up.

i hate what has become of target. im disappointed in the people who i thought were friends. im disappointed in what the store has turned out to be. and im bitterly disappointed in the fact that if they are management, they will take advantage of you - no matter the cost including ur HSC and uni exams. SCREW URSELVES DUMB F*CKS WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MORE IMPORTANT.

no wonder i can't (ever) find the will to go back (again).

on a brighter note, i had a catch up dinner with a couple of really good tarjay mates. at sizzler!!! hahaha haven't been there in years! expensive for what you got but it was about the company. (janice didn't seem to think so...) but i'm always of the belief that its not where you eat, its who you're eating with. besides, we (after her insistence) went to D2Ds for dessert (although, it would have been included in the price we paid at sizzler... but nooo, she didnt like the dessert there).

yeah, i get annoyed at people who pay a decent about for a buffet... and then decide to leave to go and have dessert elsewhere eventhough dessert including coffee and tea is included at the buffet. a big WTF for me. because:
1. its one night
2. its a waste of money when u've technically already paid for dessert
3. its a bit of a drive from sizzler back to bevo (locally speaking)

so proud to see amanda and mon grow up so much. been through so much and still overcome it all :-)

havent opened my textbooks this weekend. so many chores to finish. had to go places. worry about other things.

and i get really annoyed when you ask for my advice. so i give it to you. but you don't want to listen. if you don't want to listen, then please don't ask. and if you think you are so smart, then you can figure it out by yourself. and its not that i don't want to be supportive, its the fact that you've asked for my help and then you say you don't need it. make up your mind.

it gets old - really fast. and it annoys me. a lot.

Monday:

A million + 1 things to do at work. And spent most of the day on the phone to dear old Bob. They say it takes 14 times for something to become a habit. I called Bob at least 20 times today. And at times, I don't even know where all my hours, minutes and seconds go.

Dinner in bevo tonight. 3rd rock. For some strange reason, we decided to slip D2Ds. And just as we're seated at 3rd rock, Gools walks past. And we all freeze and stare at each other through the glass. He comes in to say Hello quickly. Turns out him and his other gay half were having dinner at D2Ds. So randomly coincidental! So we went to have coffee with them afterwards. Good times. Hilarious memories.


Tuesday:

I'm still wondering where all my time has gone. Come into work and I'm told I get to take either of the company cars out for a spin. =D

A lots of chinese whispers going on... very unimpressive.

I got the Prius cause we had a client meeting in Epping today. Good ride - after you figure out how to drive it. I think the meeting went well. We sold quite a few impressive value-adds. And its great to finally put a face to the voice.

The drive back into the city was stop-start. slow and tiring. So i played a lot with the controls on the car. :)

Assiette. Degustation. Tuna, thumbs up. Rabbit, thumbs down. And banana mousse and peanut brittle, hands down a winner.

So tired by the end. Wasn't sure how I would make it to Wednesday at the time.


Wednesday:

Still had the 5 am wake up. Still went to the gym. Functioned on coffee the morning. Was in limbo by early afternoon. Luckily, my TL was away on jury duty! Had time to catch up. As per the recent-usual, left the office late.

The only dine-at-home night of the week. And it was good food. Some time with the relos.


Thursday:

A day off! Feels like a lifetime since i had one. And what a gorgeous day albeit windy it was. I adore the South Coast.

Woronora Dam. Gerrigong. Bald Hill. Stanwell. Thirroul. Kiama. Kangaroo Valley. Moss Vale.

Fresh air, amazing drives and beautiful scenery. Cows, a blowhole and coastal towns.

A day to unwind and forget about the city life. Felt like a condensed sea change.

And dinner at my favourite chinese restaurant - Crown Dragon@ my favourite club. A new benchmark is set. And it smashes the old one.


Friday:

Finally, it's arrived! And the 13th too. Time to say goodbye to the relos. at 5am. So many ppl i know r jetting out today. I can't count them all on the fingers of one hand.

Half yearly review time. All good and on track.

Chinese whispers comes back to bite certain people in the arse. My team are getting along so well compared to others. Truths come out. The old vs. the new. I learnt some things that i didn't know about the company and more importantly, the people.

Friday drinkies. Non-alcoholic and just the one. Perfect way to unwind.

We all had somewhere to be so called it in early.

Had the best eating-out experience all week. Sahara. Burwood. Absolutely smashing Turkish cuisine - tabouli, shish, lamb, kebabs, salad, baklava - nom nom nom. And we ordered just the right amount. Unlike the table next to us. Wasters! Hilarious how we were checking them out the whole time. tehehehehe.

Inception. A combination of Juno, Titanic and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Pretty good. Not quite sure if its rave worthy.


Saturday Saturday:

Wasn't meant to be a sleep in. Because i was up at 7. really. I just decided to snuggle into my conforters. Another day in the backyard. Spent some time risking my life with an L-plater. Jan came over for a bit.

And another amazing dinner at Crown. Can't say no to free meals.

So much for getting things done.

And tomorrow is another partying day.

Good times.

(Idina Menzel - Wicked Soundtrack - As Long As You're Mine)

So many subtle changes happen in life that are gone and forgotten. One change that I dislike is computer problems, upgrades, glitches etc. It just takes too long to update and reinstall everything and to get your settings to what they were before. Its a little like being resistant to change.

Its been a pretty rough and tumble week for me. Things happening at work and outside of work.

Most of it, you can get over (or, just smile and move on) but some takes a little longer and leave a bad feeling in your mouth... i'm so grateful for the allies/ friends i've made at work - within my own team and outside of it too. And its so comforting when more than one person says that they will support and stick up for me =D

And those who are thankful for when i help them make it that much more pleasant. Because there are quite a few pricks there who take everything i do for granted.

what pissed me off most was when my TL said

"i'm not getting involved in this"

when i said to one of them to do their own work (that I WAS NOT supposed to do). i mean, just cause u were off sick for two days doesn't mean i'm the one who has to do ur work for you. there arent any concessions - it doesn't work that way and we have processes there for a reason!!! do it urself and come to me when its ready for me to do my part!

i spent a lot of time on the phone to one of my clients this week as well as actioning over 100 of his emails. lol. he can be so funny and frustration at the same time.

my team hosted morning tea on friday as well. it was awesome because:
~ i made brownies
~ we got the right amount of food
~ we got nice food
~ there were little boys (those lil cocktail sausages that people have some weird fascination with there)
~ we made this awesome spinach, sour cream and soup mix dip
~ myself and colleague did the shopping! =D

in between catering and preparing for that, i was trying to locate a missing vehicle thats been lost for 3 months O_O

another thing that worried me a bit through the weekend was my grandma. she was in emergency for 6 hours on tuesday. =( constipation and remnants of her virus from earlier. but shes ok and on some pretty strong drugs for a month or so.

had dinner last night at the local German restaurant. Schnitzel. talked heaps. tarjay. politics. work. plans. future. road trip. paintball. chu almost killed me cause one of the poles on the gate to janices apartment broke off and slammed into me O_O i didnt even know wat hit me until like 3 seconds later... lol.

and today, we had lunch at grandmas place today - havent done that in so long with justin and aunts and uncles. grandma was so happy she ate as well =D =D

and justin and i went to visit the new franchise Paparotti on Railway Pde in Kogarah that a few of justins old HS friends opened about 3 weeks ago. Place looks good. Gave them some free marketing tips (LOL!) as well as some ideas of what i wouldve done if it was my cafe/ shop. tried their buns and coffee and bought another 10 back for the family. hahaha.

Good luck to them - their location is a little bit of a worry but we'll just see how it all goes. PapaRotti is apparently really famous in Malaysia for their coffee flavoured buns. If you're ever around, tell me to take you there one day ;)

So much planning to do. HV. Port Stephens. Birthday (?). WSS (?). Long weekend. Paintball. Port Stephens/ Road Trip. STUDYING.

LOL~

had the fattest on top of fattest days to end the week. i want to strangle someone.

we had dinner at bevo last night cause cousin was back from hk for a few weeks. so got shouted dinner. lobster. fish. the usual chinese restaurant foods.

and justins like HEY! lets got to D2D's for dessert after.. as if i wasn't already full enough from dinner.

dinner was quite the let down. food took forever. we started at 6:30 and didnt get out until like 9:15. it was like literally 1 course per hour for the first two hours and then all of a sudden, they come in droves. and food wasn't that good.

so we went to D2Ds.

and him and monkey got iced chocolates rated 20 out of 10 and i settled for peppermint tea. to cut back the calroies as you do. plus, i wasnt about to drink that fat stuff at 10 pm.

and and and

we got the chocolate deliquesce which is sort of like a souffle but not. its a warmed chocolate cake ooooooozing with melted chooclate inside with a side of gelato

AND

the original mars bar and nutella cheesecake with whipped cream and gelato.

so yes, i couldn't breathe after that. i felt like i took years off my life. and today, i swear my clothes feel tighter =(

had to this week now. le sigh~

they bought so much stuff home that i thought christmas had come early.

it didn't.

what a let down. i didn't even get everything i asked for. no clothes whatsoever. no food. but a load of crap. and my mouse pad. and hair clips. and a couple of red pockets.

thanks for thinking about me guys.

i spent a lot of my afternoon outside with my chickies today. watched them run around being chased by scout. haha it was cute but they probably didn't think so.

we had a big family dinner at bevo tonight. and well, i can't recall the last time we had a big family dinner at bevo. in fact, i can barely remember the last time i went to bevo for dinner with ppl other than going to one of the three regular cafe haunts we hang around. feels like i was on the other side of the er 'cultural' fence for lack of better word.

the restaurant is probably one of the newer ones of the strip. rather small, uncomfy seats, small upstairs area (where we practically took up the whole space - lol - there was a couple of were going to sit on one of the side tables but i think we were too loud and rowdy so they went back downstairs..). the food was below average. salty. fried rice was totes fail. the fruit and dessert were good though.

apparently we were connected in some way with them. i dont know through who or how exactly...

im feeling heaps full and thirsty at the moment. and ohhh the feeling of walking on freshly mopped floorboards.

~pleasure.

we talked and talked all night.
*giggles*

then we youtubed rpattz amongst other funny things.

and then drove to bondi to watch 2012.
so awesome, awe-inspiring.
so worth the voucher price.
and i didnt mind that it was almost 3 hours long.
although i dont think it was completely plausible.
and the two kids were so cute.

then i came back and had dinner - "dinner" - with chu and jan.
had a drink. didn't feel like eating.
said goodbye to chu =(

im not buggered.
ready for bed.

in the process of watching glee. tehehehe. yes i do like it thank you.

and today, me and janice went to bevo to watch FAME.

all these songs in my head now =D

it was alrite. next movie.. probably mao's last dancer. =)

i still feel full from last nights dinner. =X

i had dinner with jan and andrew and michael tonight.

lol for the blue mountains.

*adds more items to shopping list*

*prepares to get wasted with drinking games*

and midnight madness.

need to stock up on red bull. lots of it.