fuchsia fragments

In the whirlwind that is December, it has been a crazy month of working, trying to bake and organizing a very short trip home for the holidays.

It started with what to get everyone in the office for Christmas (next year, I will be more prepared and get things when I am back in Australia!). I managed to make a few gingerbread houses and some gingerbread trees for everyone as well as safe bets of nuts and hand cream! Think it went down well...

Then there was the last minute decision to fly home for 6 days whilst supporting SEA at the same time! So short, so tiring but so worth it. There is truly no place like home with crazy family gatherings that seem to grow in size every time.

And every time that I come home, there is usually a flurry of the same announcements. When I was home from Japan, it was wedding invitations and this time, it was the "I'm having a baby" announcements. So far, know of 4 babies due in July and 1 coming in April... how exciting!

Then, as it is still a PH in Sydney today (not that I get Australian PH anymore), I came back to work to a whole bunch of gifts and warm wishes on my desk. Certainly makes coming back to work a lot easier! And got some pretty cool stuff (and lots of food).

And so we spent much of the rest (if not most) of the evening mingling with the sales people and everyone else. One of the AEs were clearly trying to suck up by taking this awesome photo of my colleagues and I ;)



I literally had to take a powernap after the late lunch. I think we had 22 Jump St on which was pretty hilarious. So it was a very relaxing afternoon. A few rounds of taboo and some game that Velda made up. A few youtube videos (Victoria's Secret Fashion Show) and all around an easy day. Ate more of the leftovers for dinner and feeling so good. Oscar and Mac (the dogs) snoozed and played with us. They are soooo well behaved. Wish Maxxie or Nessie were as good and sociable. Would totally have bought them.

And the drive home was a breeze... it makes me want to drive to work. One day...

Leads to sleep deprivation but its the only time of the year that you have to soldier on. So many lives and people to make happy. And it's the silly season, the one period where you can bake till your heart's content and them some.

Today was more christmas baking and very fortunate to have had the help of one D. Li. Even if her piping does needs work ;)

But awesome teamwork - pumped out all my fondant sugar cookies in a couple of hours which saves me heaps of time. Oh and also made her white chocolate cheesecake with lemon mousse and scorched meringue. it smelt so good. I'm also such a good friend because i baked her a baby sized to take home. that's more than love. <3 p="">
Built my city of gingerbread houses. 11 buildings in total. Mega awesome, so proud. And would love to see the look on their faces when they demolish it!

Another day in the kitchen tomorrow. it's made me realise something though; I feel a little detached from the real world and in my own world. so when i crawl back to my room and to my gadgets, i feel like facebook helps me reconnect. its like the social column of the SMH. oh no... am i becoming dependant??

cake day was mad because everyone liked my gingerbread men and melting moments. =D and clad's Portuguese tarts. yay to $5 all you can eat. lols.

that was the only thing good about work today. because people were literally at our door before we were even open. and the store went off today. the carpark was pretty much full before 9am. and the gates that weren't open had cars lining up back onto the traffic lights. mum and dad were like.. WTF!?

and i cut my hand on a cage. some skin came off. hahahaha ewww. but it didn't really bleed... i seem to bruise and cut myself heaps these days at work. =S

and i had to stay all day. but i wasn't complaining. $$$

but wouldn't people rather go to the beach than the shopping centre?

came home and decided to do a bit of building: gingerbread house. and i am so so so so pleased with out how's turned out. and i feel dumb because mum realised how to put together the would-be chimney and i had no idea how to (so there is no chimney this year... we will work on it next year).

my day just got better and better despite all the setbacks.
work was work with christmas trading. thank goodness i didnt have to stay back eventhough DM was visiting.. i was kinda disappointed at first (time and half and all) but turned out to be a very good decision.
ppl started arriving at around 4ish.. which was also the same time it decided to start to rain.. but still, heaps of fun we had.
we played wii olympics.. LOL omg.. tat was so FUNNY.
and godbrother was here too.. and all my relos are like.. aw.. and HAHAHAHAHA funny (and not so funny) things that happened:
- justin was pinched and he has a scab now from ari
- ari fell for all of justins pranks
- ari vomited after all my uncles (i mean, my two uncles with married kids who are desperate for grandkids *hint hint*) fed him cake (ROFL ROFL)
- coz in law andrew asked if ari was "hire-able" (ROFL ROFL ROFL, the reply was "yeah, ill give u a discount, $100 per hr" andrew: "wait a minute... shouldnt YOU be paying ME?" *everyone ROFLs* HAHAHA)
- ari fell down the stairs (it was just 2 steps and was all happy 2 mins later)
- we had heaps and heaps of cake!!!
- everybody who came brought a botle of red wine (mum was like wtf? and dad was like yep, its a entry requirement)
- bottle of vintage 1992 grange was opened (the cost of the bottle of wine was in excess of $600. no joke.. and it was NICE)
- for some reason, we kept getting international phone calls from relos (these were independent events)
- we all ate too much and theres too much left over even though everyone doggy bagged
- fireworks at the oval was cancelled (boo...)
- andy was sending me stuff and my phone died on me AGAIN (I WAS AND STILL AM V PISSED OFF)
- justin made a comment 'wats wrong with all the phones u own?' (grr..)
i have to say, eventhough it wasnt a complete, every person present, kind of gathering, it was one of the most happy and satisfying ones i've had in a long long time. makes u all warm and fuzzy inside (awwww...) even took a few random pics. mostly of my cakes. my gingerbread house is still alive eventhough more than one person wanted to chop it up!! =D can't wait for the new year one =) i love my family
im all peachy yet pissed off atm.

because im such a nice sister, i got up at the crack of dawn to drive my sister and her friend to padstow so that they could be driven to windsor for their duke of ed camp. and for goodness sakes, it was still dark out. my mum cant give directions and shes just a crappy front seat passenger. i turn onto the RIGHT road and shes like 'what are you doing? this is the toll road. get off it' and so i pull onto a side street. read the map and i was right!!! so we had to go in a circle. tsk tsk tsk cannot doubt whereis directions.
came home and it was only like 7 so i decided to make scones for breakfast. they turned out really really good =D and hahahaha my mum went back to sleep wen we got home. did not expect that at all.. and i was all peachy and awake although i did end up taking an arvo nap.. im such a good napper these days.
and then i decided that since the ovens still warm, i'd try my luck at making my gingerbread house and yayness to me!

i tried to make a gingerbread house today. it was good until it started cracking. guess i was too impatient and mentally tired for it. so i ended up binning about 3 bags of confec along with one batch of gingerbread. i might try again later on in the week pending time. it hurts more when your parents tell you theyre not disappointed. in need of some stability.

we went to dinner tonight at campsie for my parent's anniversary. it was okay.. half bbq and half food. they didnt have dubooki though =( we got back just in time to watch the chasers and lmao. they were so good.
and it must be wednesday night live chat cause everyones talking to me all of a sudden. haha i feel so important.
and i went to buy those cookie cutters i was yearning for and my gingerbread house kit. and i went and showed mum the cupcake tree and cake stand i wanted. and yeah. =)
theres a new one dollar coin for apec. how retarded.