whybother?

Brought to you by Lightening. Feel free to join in.

Just for something different, I was in Sydney this past week. A group of us did the whole tourist thing on Monday and Tuesday nights.

On Monday, we took a short walk over to Surry Hills, to a fantastic pub with an awesome $10 meal menu. There were 20 choices!! As everyone knows, I love my food. I enjoyed a ‘fair dinkum’ chicken parmiagiana (yes, I do realise it originated as an Italian dish), complete with eggplant. Most pubs leave the eggplant off, making it a faux parmy. It was gooooooood.

On Tuesday, we decided to really let our hair down. We caught a bus to The Rocks, then went for a wander along the waterfront at Circular Quay. We booked into a restaurant, ironically named ‘The Waterfront’, where we enjoyed some of this

and some of this

and a bit of this

Gotta love that!

I haven’t yet had time to check in with my bloggy pals. I’m saving that for a treat for later on. I have, however, purchased my ‘Smiley Swap’ item, so Sarah, if you’re reading this, it’s nearly on its way. I hope you enjoy it as much as I think you will

Take care all, catch you soon.

Smiley Saturday was created by Lightening. To find out how to join in the fun, visit her here.

I actually wasn’t planning to participate this week. Instead, I was going to indulge in a massive moan. I decided to have a quick look at Lightening’s page for inspiration (she’s good like that) and found this:

How could anyone see this, and not participate in SS? So thanks Lightening, for redirecting my thoughts in a more positive direction. In recognition of your special powers, I hereby grant you this:

  You may not be aware of the fact that I consider you a friend, so now you know!

Anyhoo, back to SS…let me think. I started at my new office this week, and I really love it. It’s completely different to the other office, and there is a more positive, energetic vibe. To start off with, there actually seem to be almost enough staff! That in itself makes a big difference. Instead of one or two people trying to do everything, the burden is shared. I even got bored yesterday, and had to go looking for things to do! The manager and other staff seemed really surprised when I asked them if they had anything they wanted me to do for them!

The kid and I spent a pleasant evening preparing and cooking dinner together the other night. When mum called in unexpectedly, we were able to share our meal with her. That was all very unusual, which made it more special.

Nothing else leaps out at me. I’ve already posted a couple of times about the enjoyable week I’ve had, so I don’t want to repeat myself!

With regard to the ‘You Cheer me up’ award, Lightening has already given it to everyone I would give it to! All the blogs I read cheer me up, that’s why I read them . If anyone reading this would like to take it, please feel free. If you wouldn’t mind, just leave a little link to Lightening in return.

I wish you all a Smiley week! 

Smiley Saturday is the brainchild of Lightening.

I have been away all week, so the biggest smile was when I came home and wrapped my arms around my loved ones. It was quite a traumatic week for me, in many ways, so that homecoming was even more special than usual.

Today, we had the yummiest lunch ever. We totally indulged ourselves, and overspent, but hey, it doesn’t happen every day! We went to a beautiful restaurant, called Leaves and Fishes. Daz had salt and pepper squid, I had a delicious lamb salad and Mol went for fish and chips. Daz and I also shared a beautiful bottle of bubbly.

We went for a bit of a drive, and ended up at the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company. I was tempted into buying some belgian buttons: milk, dark and white, and a bit of turkish delight to counter the effects of all that choccy! There was a delicious chilli chocolate, which I sampled and enjoyed, but the price of that was just extortionate!

For the first time in recent memory, the weather was fine and sunny. The vineyards looked an absolute picture in the autumn sunshine.  We are blessed to live in such a beautiful region.

After my moan last week about not having many readers, or any bling, Kim has taken pity on me and passed this on…… 

Thanks mate! So, as always, I’ve been fortunate enough to have plenty to smile about. Hope you can say the same!! 

Brought to you by Lightening.

Plenty to smile about this week! First and foremost, I WASN’T IN SYDNEY! It’s the little things in life…

The Mol had exciting news about being accepted into her school’s dance group for Starstruck. Her excitement certainly left me with a big grin. Then there was the day I asked her (as I always do) how her day was, and she replied, with enthusiasm, "It was really good". Putting that response into perspective, she usually grunts that it was ok, or not too bad.

I have booked myself into belly-dancing classes! I know, the image of that is quite disturbing, but I can assure you I am strictly a tracky-dak girl. There will be no swirling skirts or veils for this little black duck. That put a smile on the faces of Daz and Mol as they tried to picture it. Actually, Darren managed (just) to keep a straight face. Poor old Mol made a valiant effort, but it was too much for her, and she dissolved into hysterical laughter. I can’t really blame her.  

I finally finished up at the 45-minutes away office yesterday! Woo hoo! I’m moving to a 30-minutes away office, which is an extra couple of hours NOT driving per week. Gotta love that. The guys at work totally surprised me by giving me a going away gift! Maybe that’s because they were relieved to see the back of me!! They gave me a lovely box of Lindt chocolates, and a card that they all wrote in. I was very touched. I’ve only been there a short while, but I seem to have made an impression! Those of you who know me will not find that surprising. I didn’t say what kind of impression I may have left

This week, Daz and I managed a few hours to be adults, socialising in the adult world. It was very pleasant. On Tuesday we met a friend for dinner, and last night we went out for dinner again, with some other friends. On both occasions, Mollie was not present! No offence to Mol. Love her dearly and all that, but it was nice to just be a couple, not parents for a few hours.

Finally, I’ve discovered some new favourite blogs. I have a tendency to only read a certain few regulars. I enjoy them, but I forget that there are squillions of others out there to enjoy. So, I went in search of some new ones to add to the collection. It didn’t take long! They’ve already given me plenty of reasons to smile, and in some cases, brought a tear to my eye. Hello to my newbies. I look forward to getting to know you. Thanks for letting me peep into your lives!

May the coming week bring plenty of smiles to all of you!