Last week and weekend were pretty calm. We had an intense work out Tuesday night. I had Thursday off to work Saturday. Brandon and I ran some errands and had a nice lunch at the Tramsheds at a place called Fish and Co. We bought and hauled a new cat tree for the living room home from Pet O. (the staff there are so friendly and helpful and always offer to help carry our litter and stuff out to the car for us. We joked that we should let them and see how far they would haul it home for us, since we do not have a car and live just a few blocks up the street. ;)) Saturday at work was mellow and we were able to catch up a bit. Saturday afternoon, Brandon and I went to Broadway mall for more errands. I found a sun hat despite it being Autumn and all the winter stuff is out. We also got a 11 games in one in one game board that had backgammon on it. I taught Brandon how to play that night. Sunday, we went to the same church in Balmain. In the afternoon we took the bus back to Rozelle/Balmain to walk the main drag of Darling St. and check out all the shops there and the Rozelle Collector’s Markets (like a big garage sale). We ended at the Balmain Bowling Club to see my friend from Sydney Ladies Social sing with her band. It was all covers of Aussie bands, so we only knew a few, but very good! Very entertaining.
We got some mixed news from Wisconsin recently. Brandon’s Grandma is recovering, but it will be a long road. She has moved to a nursing home for more care and physical therapy. My dad has not been well. He is going for more tests to see what is causing it, but they fear his surgery didn’t hold. 🙁 I really hope it is something else going on, or they may need to go through the whole process of tubes, surgeries, and extended care that he went through last year again. What a nightmare for my parents. It is a waiting game for him to have the tests and find out what is up. In better news, my brother in law had a good recheck and got the go ahead for doing his physical therapy on his own. Please keep praying for and sending good thoughts to all three of our family members going through these medical problems. I am so thankful for my health! It can be such a fleeting thing.
Wisconsin has also been hit with an extended winter, though it is spring there officially. They broke the record for snow fall in April and are currently in the middle of another storm that has dumped more than a foot already. How depressing and crappy for everyone there. In a season of birds and flowers, everything is white and dead still. Hang in there! It has to warm up eventually! Good luck and be safe shoveling, blowing, and driving in all of that snow! Yuck! Summer has been hanging around for us. The weather has been hot and gorgeous!! Above average temps for Autumn and no rain. It has been high 70s F and low 80s F for weeks. Sunny and lovely! Autumn is suppose to hit us this week with nights cooling down, but we have been lucky so far; a month and a half in, and average temps are just coming now.
This week at work was a bit more calm; we got to catch up on a few things. Friday night I went to the musical Mamma Mia at the Capital Theater with my friend Cazz. It is in the city and everything was pretty close to get to. She had gotten a room at the hotel right next door, so we had her famous espresso martinis there before and after. The show was so good! The set, the acting, siging, dancing; everything was stellar. The audience got up and danced at the end. So much energy and fun! After, we walked a few blocks to a Japanese restaurant we were going to eat a late dinner at, but they were booked out all night. We hopped on a cab to go to a pizza place, but when we got there the line was out the door. So we walked back closer to the hotel and went to Hungry Jack’s instead (Aussie Burger King if you have forgotten USA peeps). We were hungry and it hit the spot. We then checked out a few bars that were not very active, before hurriedly walking to Palmer and Co. Australia has lock out laws that prevent you from entering a bar after 1:30 am or if you seem too intoxicated, and 1:30 was approaching fast. Palmer and Co was a cool, hidden, underground, prohibition, 1920s style pub. The awesome bartender made us delicious amaretto sours (not like in WI, much more sophisticated with egg white and fanciness). The waitresses were dressed up like fancy flappers and the waiters in fitted suits like Joseph Gordon Levitt in Inception. It was an awesome vibe and fun to people watch in. We then took a cab back to the hotel and decided to call it a night. I took a cab home since it was so late and the Light Rail stopped running at midnight.
Saturday we went on a walk around Annandale, then took the Light Rail to Darling Harbour. The National Maritime Museum was putting on their annual wooden boat show. People from all over brought their boats for display and they had historical and educational skits on. There was food and market booths, along with boat accessories and even a wooden boat building competition. Really neat to see all these boats in tip top shape and the care and detail that some of them went through in restoration. We walked through the Harbourside Mall, to re-familiarize ourselves with the shops and restaurants there. It probably is just as close as the Broadway Mall for our shopping needs. Saturday afternoon Heidi came over to hang out. We met two of her friends in Enmore for dinner and drinks. We had a really special Uber driver on the way there who sounded like he should break up with his girlfriend. Very talkative. The restaurant was Bloodwood and they specialized in share plates and then everyone gets to try a bit of everything. A pretty common thing for restaurants to do here. We had a bunch of delicious dishes and dessert. We then Uber-ed back to our place and Heidi stayed over. We headed to church in the morning and were going to go to the beach, but it ended up being too windy for it. Heidi drove us to Pyrmont instead for lunch with a view. She dropped us home where Brandon got some work done and I soaked up some balcony time. We then went for a walk along the Foreshore and played some Left for Dead, a computer game where you fight zombies. We are still trying to beat this special map that looks like Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings and we can never make it. I can’t wait for Heidi to stay over again and we can all play. (we bought her Left for Dead last year to play with us. :))
The cats are still getting raw food added in at night. Caprica is still getting an upset stomach from some things despite her herbs and probiotics. She will also outright refuse certain meats or things I give her. I didn’t anticipate her being this difficult. Oh well, it may take a bit, but we will keep trying. Fiyero eats whatever we put in front of him. He is a little miffed about having to gnaw and chew though; usually he just swallows the kibble whole. This new way of eating is so time consuming. He gets tired and just stares at it, willing it to be nicer to him. It has been an interesting and entertaining process.
Brandon and I have been watching a lot of House Hunters International. Watching it after moving overseas, we have so much advice for these poor, inexperienced people. We also came to the realization that for the price of a home in Sydney (1-2 mil) we could buy a castle in France or Ireland. Pretty crazy comparison. We knew this city was expensive, but a castle!!! Sure the upkeep and bills would be much more, but if you AirBnB it out or rent it for weddings, you could recoup your costs. It may even end up more practical. 😉 We shall see. May have to tour some castles for sale when/if we go to Europe in the future.
Have a great week everyone and hope our warm weather is heading your way Wisconsin. You may have to wait until Tuesday though, suppose to be 82 F tomorrow. 😉
