loveapalooza long play

Oh. Finally, time stops. Work work work work work. Stress. My brain is full with it. Flitting on the interwebs grasping inspiration in nanosecond doses. If there is one thing that frustrates me, it's the impossible lack of balance in my life at the moment. The work shenanigan makes me so tired I've got nothing left over, not even for basic proper self maintenance. Nuthin! Well, maybe a little bit of cooksy, but even my kitchen mojo refuses to participate lately. I'm also rapidly developing goldfish memory. I put it down to WAY too much info in my work world at a pace I can barely pretend to keep up with.

*Sigh*

Oh, in keeping with previous statement... my news, almost forgot! I got my job, the policy gig I've been doing for past year. Permanent tenure as principal advisor in the policy realm. A relief not to have to go back to the previous work-life, and validation in policy world. Not that I'll be doing that job for a while. Looks like I'll be extended where I am in manager-dom til Sept. Once Estimates over, I can plan hols - woo!

Anyway, irks aside. Good things; K's sister's wedding last weekend, Loveapalooza, (Q's bday eve). The honeymoon came before the vows. The bride wore Akira, we did photos at New Farm Park, followed by the main act (the vows, on stage) and reception (the carousing) at The Zoo, Brissie's most respected live music venue. Oh yeah...

Here's some shots of the peripherals - for the main game, go to the links above...

empty stage...

the groom, best guy and photo-dude wait...

 

 stalking with camer-am-era....

some of the Lusks...

dancefloor moment #one

dancefloor moment #two, with ms k

dancefloor moment #three @ the party end of Loveapalooza

Yes. Naturally the shots of me with choclate mud cake in my mouth, and whooping it up on the dancefloor with K's mum (with my rocknroll face on) are on the cutting room floor... :p

renew

 

Just back from a bush Christmas at Binginwarri, which is usually very breezy and contained. This year it became a nest for visiting cousins, kidlings, uncles and friends, and some lovely, overdue catch-ups were had. It was also the first meeting of K and the relics. And K and half the family. Naturally he got the big thumbs up, especially from the older-female-contingent (I'm not sure they’ve seen a bloke wash and fold laundry in… well, I’m stopping right about there).

We made a few easy trips beyond the bush block… a lazy lunch of fish and chips at Port Albert with Cousin B and her bloke M, where we watched their Small Z plop around in the shallows. We also made a much-delayed inaugural trip to the Celia Rosser Gallery in Fish Creek, where Mum scored a very collectable banksia print for her birthday, K scored a personal hello from The Celia, and I scored a $5 teapot from the Fish Creek Op Shop which was having a sale. A visit to our WWOOFer friends up in the Strezleckis provided mucho inspiration for our land/house building dream.

New years was a scorcher… the extended tribe milled about the barbecue before some wild weather from the west rolled in and provided a stellar full moon light-and-cloud formation. Back on the verandah, the bubbles flowed, the sparklers spitzed and the party-poppers provided instant rainbow moustaches for those who’d outdone themselves on the fizz (ahem).

My long-lost brother and his partner also made a visit late in the piece. In fact, the family stuff ran so long that we ran out of time for a sail on Westernport and a quick-stop in Melbourne… so we’ll be scouting for cheap flights soon to remedy that.

It sounds kind of busy, but there was still time to slow down and enjoy late afternoon walks along the Hedley Range in the syrupy sun with butterfly escort and curious cows. Frogs provided a pobble-bonk soundrack for the evenings. We picked paths over goannas, echidnas... and dreaded tiger snakes. And picked alpine strawberries at the front door, wild forest mushrooms on the bush block, and wild plums down the road... mmm! Inspiration for the new year.

Wishing everyone a wonderous 2010 with much love, health and merriment. x

interstate (love song)

Just got back from a much-needed five-day stint in south west rocks, a cosy beach hamlet in between Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie. A seven-hour drive (one way by car). Magnificent stretches of unpeopled beaches. Sun. A howling wind. And an all-day wedding, very good friends of K’s from The Rock. We took photos.

The stunning Smoky Cape Lighthouse hosted the party. Pink bubbly and Coopers flowed (and spilled) as we danced barefoot upon a soft lawn, overlooking a white, wild coast below - one of the most spectacular dancefloors in the world!  

The sun blazed orange into the hills and the dancing turned serious...

Kidster floral headbands were donned and a plucky bridesmaid turned the tables on the photographers...
 

Barrelhouse, a whippersnapperish blues trio from Port Macquarie unloosed slide guitar, bass and drums into the gusty eve. A fabulous, long, hot day!

After the wedding, we indulged in lots of swimming, took ourselves for a bushwalk to our very own nudie beach, played more with the cameras (and collectively filled about 7GB of memory), and hung out with the lovely newlyweds.

More swimming was had on the beach-hop home, which we began with a slight detour south to Hat Head National Park – where the surf was bliss! We dreamed of parking Alice the bus there. Slightly crazy perhaps, but not completely off the map, since the hunt is on for a more permanent home for the old girl. She has just been relocated from her caravan park on the northside to a generous spot over the road from the House on the ‘Hill. Though she makes a great third (detached) bedroom (and wardrobe overflow, storage shed, etc), she’s bound to raise a few eyebrows.


A taste of summer and five continuous non-work days spent beachside... bring on xmas!

party days

A rather gargantuan party-ish weekend has caught up with me and I am slicing into my rather massive haystack of sick leave. Last week was busy to the hilt preparing for S’s 50th, amongst all the usual stuff. Since I felt responsible for convincing her of the absolute necessity of celebrating such a hefty milestone – how could the person who, in her fabulous youth, started the Eumundi markets and sailed to India with an international fugitive, let her 50th pass without a bit of a knees-up? – I offered to help out with the food. Thus ensued wads of shopping, cooking, dishwashing and organising by both K and I. Buckets of sand were brought from Tallebudgera to bed tealight candles in brown paper bags. Chairs were carted and fairy lights strung. I made a mega pesto pasta salad from scratch. Plus my first ever quiche and samosas. (Thanks to my long-standing recipe recalcitrance – and the freezer gods – visitors to the 'Hill will be plied with samosa filling for months to come...)

The day before the party, R and J (who I hadn’t properly caught up with for AGES) came over for dinner on the deck. Mainly so they could finally meet K… and both parties be satisfied that my besties/squeeze were not just a psychological dependency I dreamed up. The girls drank a yummy red and talked about the boys. The boys drank German beer. And talked about beer. There was chicken, salad, cous cous. And sticky date pudding. Mmm. Oh. And the day before that was S's actual birthday, so we went to Sakura, the local Japanese, for amazing sushi, tempura and sake. Parteeee!

Since she had friends coming from both ends of the east coast and every hippy haven in between, I thought it would be lovely if S had photos from the evening as a keepsake. Here are some of the more experimental results… and a rather cute look at what happens when two alco-mo-hol-happy dreamers play with a camera :)