Color Me Barbra

I've been enjoying my Christmas present to myself, 'Barbra - The Television Specials' on DVD. I watched, 'A Happening in Central Park' first - I've always loved her Chiffon gown, one of which is showcased on her first Christmas album! I then watched, 'My Name is Barbra'. An interesting note: the title is a number composed by Leonard Bernstein in 1943. Today I watched 'Color Me Barbra', which was filmed in color. The songs were chosen like ingredients for a tapestry rug, the hairstyle and make up were the same and those nails - like Buddah! I adore vintage Barbra and this is a fabulous showcase - she is simply extraordinary, she is simply Barbra...

Most of my Xmas break consists of going to ICE Cafe, eating, drinking, driving and visiting friends. Today we drove to Daylesford to visit our friend Fae, who recently moved there. Gable is slowly seeing parts of Melbourne outside of our comfort zone! The temp tomorrow will be high 30's, so we're trying to decide what to do after we meet up with Tony and Mal at...Ice Cafe!

Alan bought me a computer game called, The Movies, which has consumed numerous hours of my life...it's so addictive, even Alan is addicted, which doesn't really work because we are both desperate to use the computer to play this silly game...

The theme to my 40th birthday party will be Color Me Barbra - I'm so excited. But don't tell anyone, it's a secret.

12 Days of Christmas

After a long day and even longer drive home, I had a drink to top off the day, after being greeted by Gable and Alan. I wasn't sure if I should go and face the crowds of Christmas shoppers or simply go out for dinner with the boys. We had to drop off a 'French Phrase Book' that belonged to Andrew Best. So we drove along St Kilda Beach and thru Elwood, showing Gable some of the sites. We caught up with Andrew and his friend Philip, who is travelling to Paris on Xmas day. Later we drove to ICE Cafe and had dinner. Gable had a giggle about Kangaroo being on the menu...We introduced Gable to Ben and finished the evening with some grocery shopping. I found some Egg Nog! A Canadian tradition.

Tonight we are meeting up with Tony and Mal who are in town visiting their family for Christmas - I'm exhausted already!

Christmas Cheer

Last night we went to a Christmas party at John and Ian's place. They live in South Melbourne in a renovated building that use to be a pub complete with wine cellar. Gable came along and we introduced him to some of my soccer buddies including Captain Colm, Paul, John, Ian and Anthony. Alan finally met the boys, as he hasn't had the pleasure of playing soccer on Monday nights. It was a fun evening. I was very tipsy on champagne and we gorged ourselves on a sausage or two...Alan was the designated driver. It didn't help that the temperature was 33C.

I'm Dreamin'

The party season has started with a vengeance! On Friday night we had my work function at the Proust Bar in Hawthorne. Alan came along and met most of the clan including Lana and Emma. Damien was there with his girlfriend and the big wigs too. Susan and Mary. Mina came along with her fire fighter husband.
Sat morning I went to breakfast alone as Alan stayed home with his Mum. Shayne gave me a Tiffany & Co. bag. Just because. He received a Tiffany key ring from work - all the employees received one! Sat afternoon we had lunch with a friend of Alan's who moved to Wollongong from Manhattan. She's in Melbourne on business. We had lunch at Automatic. She met an Aussie - as you do. We listened to Carolers and the watched the Christmas Spectacular in the foyer of the Crown Casino Hotel. It definitely put us in the Christmas spirit.
Sat night we went to the St Kilda Yacht Club for another party - Craig and Jamal. They had one last year. It's a lot of fun. A huge range of people go, including Doug and Heather. The topics of conversation were: nipples, Peter's sexuality, cats and Doug's weight loss.
Today Alan is working at another forum. I went to the gym and I might write some cards etc later. It's a perfect day - 27C and not a cloud in the sky. I think Alan's Mum is happy resting in her room? I might hit the beach! Tis the season...

Harry Potter

I had Monday off, so I debated about going to the beach or the movies. It was a very hot day, probably 27C, so I opted for the movies. Like Nicky Kidman, my fair skin just isn't built to withstand the sizzling heat of the sun.

I took the tram into the city to see Harry Potter at the new Melbourne Central cinemas, which I quite like. It was a 1:45pm showing and after three hours it was 4:30pm. I did enjoy the movie; however I haven't read the books, so it did jump around a lot. Dan Radcliffe is proving to be a very cute young man. And the opening scene featured a snake, a very LARGE snake!

My day ended after I did a quick tour of Big W and the health food store. I bought some more protein powder and headed home. I returned to find Alan home. I then went to Soccer and met up with Captain Colm, Paulie and Rando. I must admit Colm did look devilishly handsome without his shirt on. I took my t-shirt off only because I was ready to faint from the heat, (and then the others were ready to faint from my ghastly pale skin).

Later a herd of English backpackers came over with their 'real' soccer ball and asked if we wanted to play a game? Luckily we were just finishing up and didn't have to succumb to the embarrassment of playing a real game with straight lads. As much fun as that sounds, we were better off leaving them to it...

ICE CAFE

I call it the social event of the year. ICE Cafe throws an annual Xmas Bash to thank their loyal patrons for spending copious amounts of money on their delicious food and service. The alcohol and food were abundant and free - it's happy hour once again. It started at 4pm and closed once the last Moroccan chicken ball was eaten and the potent punch was drank...the party started to die down after the first hour, then everyone spilled out onto the footpath, that's a side walk for those not from down under! They had a show and a stripper! Fantastic entertainment! All the boys were there, except Shayne (our Shayne). We counted and we actually know four Shaynes?! Our Shayne had a headache and missed the fun. Actually it wasn't much fun without him there. There was a big guy at ICE, who would have made Shayne hit the floor. Alan actually grabbed his ass. "Big" Guy or BG wore a t-shirt with 'Killer Queens' on it. Like we had to ask if he was straight or not...I spoke to 'my' Shayne but lacked anything witty to say and he lost interest like a nun at a Guns & Roses concert! Oh well. We left around 8pm. We drove Jason and David to our place because we forgot to bring the video camera with us. Jason wants to borrow it. It's a secret, so I can't tell you the reason and it's not what you're thinking! The boys stayed for a drink and then dinner and met Mother Strum...It was a pleasant evening!

On the weekend, we had breakfast at ICE, which is normal, then Sat night we met Steve & Steve (from Sydney) for dinner at ICE and then Sunday was the Xmas party. I have today off, so I naturally had coffee and a strawberry smoothie at ICE before grocery shopping. It was our first time grocery shopping in the new car...no more buses or trams! It's a beautiful day - I should go to the beach, but like the recluse that I am, I will go to the movies - Melbourne Central and do some shopping...I want to see Harry Potter, even though I'm not a fan of the books. Ta ta.