Look what I brought home from the markets today! I just love hydrangeas… They are so full, so round and so beautiful! They weren’t all that cheap but I had to have them when my eyes landed on them… So now they sit on my dining room table, adding a splash of warm lavender and purple to my home…

I love how flowers not only brighten up my home but also my heart :) I’ve had a wonderful weekend and I can’t wait to share with you what we got upto yesterday! In the mean time, I have to go study for an exam I have later this week…

A girlfriend of mine from Malaysia is holidaying in Melbourne at the moment so a bunch of us took her to dinner at one of Melbourne’s most popular Mexican restaurants – Mamasita.

A friend of ours got there just after 5.30pm and he put out names down… In the mean time, we headed across the street to a bar for a couple of drinks. We waited an hour and a half before the restaurant called us to say our table was ready!

When we got to the restaurant there was a huge line coming down the stairs and out on to the street. I’d never been to the restaurant myself so I was extremely curious to see what their interiors were like and what their food was like! I’m glad to say that I wasn’t disappointed…

The restaurant itself is pretty tiny, hence the long queues… They have an extensive tapas-like menu and an even more extensive exotic drinks menu. We could not let the night get away without a couple of orders of sangria and margarita – though I couldn’t drink that much from having to scull my beer (I never drink beer!) from the bar earlier as we’d gotten the call from the restaurant just as our new round of drinks arrived.

We had a combination of everything from chips and salsa to tacos to quasedillas (spelling?!) to the most beautifully marinated prawns and duck. We had to end our meal with dessert of course… Sweet corn caramel pop corn ice cream!

Overall it was a fantastic experience and the food did not disappoint. It certainly proved worth the hour and a half long wait. The other thing I really liked about the restaurant too was despite the fact that they were completely flat out, even after we had finished our mains and dessert, they did not feel the need to rush us out the door even though there was a queue of waiting customers a mile long. They let us digest our food, indulge in a few more drinks, conversation and laughter.

Pleasant night, I thought :)

It’s Australia day down under today! More importantly, it’s a public holiday! Hah, just kidding. Well I am glad to have the day off but Australia day is a lot more than a day off from work :)

Today, Marc’s dad got his Australian citizenship! A very exciting occasion indeed… His dad was born in the UK many years ago and his family came to live in Australia when he was just seven (they also came to Australia by boat! How cool is that? Very Titanic-ish). I’m not sure why he’s never considered becoming a full blown Aussie for so many years, but we are all so happy to have him as ‘one of us’ now! We’ve been calling him ‘Aussie Tim’ all day.

We spent a small portion of this morning at his citizenship ceremony which was actually a very lovely thing to do. What better way to spend today than at a ceremony where hundreds of people become Australian! My favourite part is always when they sing ‘I am Australian’ which personally I think should’ve been our national anthem! It always brings a tear to my eye and gives me that warm, fuzzy, proud feeling of living in this beautiful country…

After the ceremony we headed back to Marc’s parent’s where we had a ‘fair dinkum’ Aussie BBQ. If you don’t know what fair dinkum means, google it. It’s slang. I love Aussie slang! Sometimes just to be funny, I try and throw in some very Aussie slang and colloquialism in my conversations with Marc… It either impresses him or cracks him up… Usually the latter because it sounds so awkward coming from my mouth or I use it in the wrong context…

So that’s our Australia day… Low key and feeling grateful for this land we are on…

That’s Happy Chinese New Year for those of you scratching your heads reading the post title. So yes, Happy Chinese New Year, my friends!

Yesterday was the first day of the new year. Normally we would have a ‘reunion’ dinner with family on the eve of the new year, but since my brother in law was out of town on Sunday, we celebrated yesterday instead.

My sister had made a booking weeks ago at a famous dumpling restaurant in the city for us to have CNY dinner at. But lo and behold when we got there, they did not have our reservation! Gah! Stupid restaurant! My sister was furious… The restaurant didn’t have any spare tables so we had to have dinner elsewhere.

Marc and I suggested a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown that we always go to and luckily they had a table available! It turned out to be a lot more fun – the restaurant was in the heart of Chinatown which meant we saw about 4 different lion dances and heard a string of firecrackers. It was all very lively and colourful!

Lara was hilarious – I was carrying her when we spotted the first lion dance across the street. As we watched from across the street, she was a little terrified and wanted me to take her into the restaurant… The loud and heavy drums and cymbals must have been a little scary.

I have to say, I don’t think I’ve celebrated CNY in Chinatown for a very long time. I’m glad we were there last night though because the atmosphere was almost electric. There are quite a number of my work colleagues who also celebrate CNY and we’ve been talking about all the various traditions and superstitions in celebrating the new year… I’m pretty sure we also baffled some of our other non-Chinese colleagues… And this may seem weird, but because of all the crazy tradition and superstition it actually made me feel a little proud to be Chinese.

I miss this. Watching the sun go down. On the evenings which did not rain in Bali (believe it or not there were a few despite the daily torrential downpour), we spent our evenings at beach clubs laying on our backs, soaking in a tropical sunset knowing that it will be awhile before we get to do this again whilst feeling the height of relaxation.

Like tonight for example. I spent about an hour reading in bed and that normally puts me to sleep, if not, at least close to sleep mode… But not tonight. I’ve spent the last 30 mins lying awake creating a to-do list to add to my already existing to-do list on a makeshift post-it note I’ve shoved between pages of my weekly organiser.

On my second to-do list are reminders for me to email my wedding coordinator regarding a whole range of things that I’ve suddenly panicked about! I also have to email the florist. Email the decor company. Speak to Marc’s mother about something. The list doesn’t end.

Why am I journaling this? Because I need to have some sort of record as to how this journey I’m on towards my most special day thus far? Is just in one word (or maybe two) – crazy and stressful! It should also serve as a reminder that I am never ever to plan another wedding ever again. Ever. Luckily I don’t predict my soon-to-be marriage to only last a mere 72 days like a certain Kardashian (I love Kim by the way and only feel sorry for the girl).

This may sound like I’m having an awful time planning my wedding but really, it’s not awful. Stressful? Yes. But I feel extremely lucky to have found the one I want to marry. And it’s a lot like childbirth, I imagine. The labour (of love) is excruciating, but the reward is magical… And that is really it. I cannot wait to be married.

Time to try sleep again.

I’ve just realised its been a fair while since I posted on Marc’s nephew Will. I think the last time I wrote about him was just after he was born! Or maybe it was his first birthday. Anyhow the kid is 15 months old now!

Our relationship with Will is an odd one. Marc and his brother aren’t overly close. Yes they do talk and get along but they are nowhere as close as what we are with my sister and her kids. We mostly catch up with Marc’s brother and his family at family gatherings or special occasions. Whereas with my sister, we catch up on a weekly basis and are a lot closer.

That’s not to say that we don’t love them or anything, I guess that’s just the way our relationship is! Not everyone has the same relationship with their siblings. So the fact that we don’t see Will as much, he doesn’t seem to warm to us as quickly. That and the fact that he is a very sensitive and high-maintenance kid! As in, he fusses quite a bit and seems more grumpy than your usual baby. But I guess that’s just the way he is and that’s completely fine! Apparently his dad was just like that when he was a baby!

So Will is 15 months now, he is walking and almost running! He loves to get into things, pick up objects he’s not supposed to… He loves climbing onto chairs and couches… He has a full head of curls which only get curlier by the day… And he does have beautiful eyes and a gorgeous smile! He’s a hard baby to please… No amount of peekaboo, game of chase, tickling or general funny expressions can make him smile… It’s hard work!

Will seems to have a special relationship with his grand-dad (Marc’s dad) and they both have very soft spots for each other. In fact, I think grand-dad is the only one besides his parents who can make Will smile on the spot.

So unless you’ve been living under a rock in Melbourne, you’d know that the Australian Open is well underway. A few of my colleagues and myself managed to score some ground passes through work so we spent most of Wednesday afternoon at the tennis!

It was a very hot day unfortunately and I got burnt! Grrr. Even after slapping on a ton of sunscreen! I hate getting burnt not only because it hurts like hell but also because I’m terrified of getting skin cancer. I have to say that in the past I’d gladly lie in the sun to get a tan but now? I try and avoid it if I can… Yes it’s nice to get a little sun and a little summer glow. But hours under the sun to get the perfect tan? Not my thing anymore! I have seen too many documentaries on skin cancer to be so completely blaze and ignorant about the whole tanning for beauty thing.

Anyway! There’s my rant for the day! We had a great afternoon besides getting burnt… After watching a match and a half, we decided to head to the beer garden for a couple of drinks in the shade… Much better! Thanks work for a pleasant afternoon!

So hard. But I have to push myself!

So we’re back in Melbourne now… And back to work tomorrow… I won’t say that our time overseas flew because it didn’t really feel that way, but I’m still a little in shock that we are in 2012.

More than anything I’m so completely excited about the new year and to be able to make a fresh start on so many things, including working towards the few things I have on my list to achieve this year. At the same time I have this very awkward, nervous feeling inside of me and I’m not quite sure what it means or why I’m even feeling it but I’m hoping that once we settle back into the routine of things over the next few weeks that the nervousness of the new year will kind of dissipate away. I have a feeling it’s because our wedding is a mere 4 1/2 months away! I am beyond terrified that the next few months are going to whizz by in a flash and I would not have gotten everything organised for the wedding in time. Sorry, that’s the control freak and perfectionist in me talking! Despite this stupid fear of mine, I of course cannot wait to be married. And secretly between you and me? I cannot wait to not have to plan or organise another wedding for the rest of my life! Hah!

Anyway! Our trip to Bali was fabulous. I feel like I’m now home and refreshed. Ready to start the new year. The first thing we did when we landed early yesterday morning was crawl into bed. Marc and I are never good sleepers on planes. So we went to bed and had a solid 5 hour nap. It was divine.

As soon as we woke up, we did a load of laundry (omg, the laundry!) and headed to my sister’s for dinner and so we could see the kids. We always, always miss them like crazy. They were ecstatic to see us. I know that because Lara wanted to hold my hand the entire time we were there and she demanded to sit next to me at the dinner table. Then, at the table, the sweet thing could not stop rubbing my arm and smiling at me. I think she was happy to have me home and that made me feel completely over the moon!

Last night after dinner, we came home and I had to pack up our Christmas tree. I was so dreading it but knew that it had to be done. I couldn’t possibly let it stand in my living room all year till Christmas came this year… Or could I have? This morning I spent the entire morning cleaning our home from top to bottom… I don’t know about your home but if mine is left unoccupied for longer than a week, the layer of dust that collects is just disgusting.

This afternoon, one of our friends was having a birthday BBQ so we spent the afternoon in their backyard in the sunshine catching up. It’s nice to be with friends.

We are missing Bali! We’ve been spoilt over the last week with our almost daily massages, manicures and pedicures… How unimaginable to go through this year without them on a daily basis! Haha. Back to work tomorrow… I think I’m ready to start work again. And I’m feeling ready to start a gym routine again so we’ll see how it all goes!

Hope you’re all having a wonderful start to the new year!