It's been a hard week of eating and drinking! Steve was working in New South Wales and was away from Tuesday until Friday. Consequently I caught up with Christine on Tuesday straight from work and got stuck in with making light work of a $10 42 Below Vodka cocktail! We had a great evening catching up and gossiping following her recent return to Melbourne after a quick trip back to Hong Kong.

Wednesday was spent with Claire, Lucy and Charlotte and we caught up on Charlotte's new job, Claire's weekend plans to Daylesford plus new puppy potentially and Charlotte's imminent trip to Hamilton Island over pizzas, dessert and wine.

Thursday was Cumulus evening with Kirsten as we sat at the marble and watched her boyfriend Blake whizz in and out of the kitchen. As usual it was a delicious meal and the chit chat was fun too.

Friday was my last day at Hudson and I enjoyed a great lunch at Red Spice Road with my team many of whom are friends. They showered me with love and warm wishes and saw me off to my new adventure with fragrant flowers, powerful red wine and plenty of Lindt chocolate for sustenance!

Friday was also the day Steve came home and we kicked off his 36th birthday celebrations. First stop Cutler and Co in Fitzroy. It was an impressive meal and who should be on the table next to us but George Calombaris! Seriously, he must be stalking me! The funny thing was that some of my colleagues had spent their Friday lunch at Maha and had seized a photo opp as he was there. Then I see him and he's sat so close, Steve can eavesdrop on their conversation! He was there with his partner originally and then another guy joins him followed by another female. And I look at the guy and I think, he looks familiar. And then it clicks, it's Adriano Zumbo, patissier extraordinaire! He's based in Sydney so is in town for something...maybe sourcing a Zumbo spot??? Well I don't want to start rumours. Anyway I didn't want to disturb and intrude on their evening out but it was cool to be sat close by.

Saturday was a fun day. Steve and I started with a spot of birthday shopping. The birthday boy wanted a new going out shirt and some new shoes.

We then got a phone call from JCray who were in town from Sydney. Recognise them? Our very own Sydney New Year hosts. It was great to be able to return the favour a little bit and spend the day with them showing them round Melbourne stopping off for some lunch at Chin Chin and drinks at various rooftop and riverside water holes. We even managed to squeeze in a quick shirt shopping excursion for Craig along the way!

Saturday evening was our Press Club experience and we had a wonderful time there seated at the Chef's table watching all the action and eating just so much food. At one point I thought there was too much food and drink going on and we were just so close to going over the edge of enjoyment but a quick palate cleanser livened the soul and we were off chomping away in delight again! And of course the highlight was Mr Calombaris. So we saw him two nights in a row so I think that makes us BFFs right? He welcomed us, prepared some quick oyster amuse bouches type things for us and he and his team just ensured we had a great evening. I'll go into more detail in the review when I write it.

We finished at the Press Club about 10ish or maybe a bit later and caught with JCray and this time with another UK Hays colleague, Louise who is now in Perth for a few post dinner drinks close to home. Some conversation, couple of vodkas and entertainment from some arrogant youth who thought he could scale the underside of the pedestrian bridge monkey bar style over the river but failed halfway and dropped right in with a splash, took us through to the early hours and we headed to hours for one for the road. In Louise and my case, it was a cup of good old English tea but the boys were big and manly enough to indulge in beer or wine.

And today...well you'd think after all that excitement it would be a rest day...but no there's too much fun to be had!

Steve went to watch the footy (Richmond v North Melbourne and the Tigers lost by 3 or 4 points) and I spent the afternoon in a great pub in Richmond. We've had some mild weather of late with blue skies and some Winter sunshine so we made the most of it and enjoyed a table in the courtyard area and when it got cold the heaters came on. I met up with Greg, Kim and Tanya from work and Greg introduced me to his other friends who were in town.

Tired faces, smiley faces but faces of people who enjoy each other's company and have touched each other's lives. They're the best people to spend Sunday afternoons with.

Next week is my lady of leisure week before work starts. Looking forward to it already!

It's Steve's birthday next week and he's received a few early cards and a gift also came his way from home.

A treat from home and blast from the past in this box of goodies! Thank you Graeme, I-Lin, Eddie and Amelia Grace.

It's been a busy week at work culminating in a frantic Friday! What better way to relax than with a few post work glasses of champagne which meant I was 20 minutes late for my date with Steve! And he claims I was dwunk by the time I got there. I'm not convinced by that but I sure was by the end of the meal as the pics prove.

Steve very kindly wined and dined me with a bottle of Moet and some Wagyu beef as a celebration of my new job as I finally sorted all the paperwork, contract, start date etc last week.

Saturday evening saw us board the Titanic with the Barnes and Chris for our voyage to New York.

As refined ladies and gents we enjoyed the privilege of first class and even the Captain came to sit with us and make sure we were satisfied customers.

And true to history, halfway through our journey, after we'd eaten which was lucky so our meal wasn't disturbed, we hit the iceberg! Look at the shock on our faces!

The lights flashed, the were big bangs galore, the chandeliers shook and we had to be rescued!

We were safely rescued and we arrived in New York sailing past the Statue of Liberty!
And our celebrations included a dance to "My Heart Will Go On" disco remix!

Our Barnes Bonanza Break continued with a trip to Werribee Open Range Zoo.

We boarded the Delorean of buses ready for an exploration into the African plains where we saw zebra, different antelopes, hippos, giraffes, rhinos and ostriches.

It was fun weekend spent with Karly, Cam and baby Barnes before her arrival. We've known the Barnes for just over 12 months and we've had so many fun experiences with them and look how far they've come in the time we've known them. So far in fact that they will soon be a family of three!

We're very lucky to have made good friends with them and we know we will continue to have great times together. Look at that photo of Cam with his daughter to be - they're so pleased and proud!

Here you can see Cam pretend to be a little monkey!

Next week will be my last week at Hudson so I wonder how that will feel. I'll keep you informed. I've been there over 18 months now so it feels right to move on to a new challenge. Steve will be away for the majority of the week visiting clients outside of Melbourne and he'll be back in time for some birthday celebrations!

It's been a busy but relaxing fortnight and we've been up to various things. Last Saturday I had a spa date with Karly where we indulged in massages for our weary bodies. My masseuse asked me to leave my awareness outside the door during my treatment and when we finished she asked my awarenes to slowly return to me. I found that a little bit weird but other than that I enjoyed the session.

Prior to the treatment we had lunch together and also with Cam and Steve. Food was decent and at the end of the meal we were given little fudge squares. I commented they looked like wombat poo. What do you think?

After the massage, Steve and I headed to East Doncaster to see Stefanie and her lovely parents. They very kindly invited us to dinner and we had steamboat which is where there is a pot of boiling water ad everyone cooks what they want to eat in it. My what a feast! Her parents had gone to so much trouble and they'd been to several different markets to make sure they bought the best quality ingredients for us.

It was really nice to have dinner Chinese family style and the Wongs were so welcoming. Stefanie's dad kept filling Steve's wineglass and had also bought lots of beer. They were firm friends by the end of the meal and they also watched some Wimbledon together. Steve's comment to me afterwards was that he'd drank so much he thought it was a doubles game they watched!

The next day (Sunday) was also a no cook day as we'd been invited (kind of) to Chris and Katherine's for dinner. Chris and Katherine are Steve's work colleagues and they're from Denver. I meet Katherine now and then for dinner after work. I say we were kind of invited in that at Friday night drinks, Andrew Demery (of Stacey and Andrew and one of the other PwC Senior Managers in Steve's team) verbally wrestled an invitation from Chris and we piggy backed on that! Stacey is currently in UK for 2 weeks so it was part of the keep Andrew company rally. Anway we enjoyed so homely baked chicken and some good company and conversation so great way to spend a rainy evening and end the weekend.

This last week has gone by quickly. Steve has been out with work on Thursday and Friday.
I was out with Tanya and Sherry from work for dinner on Tuesday which was lovely and relaxing. It was a wet and wintry evening and we were in a warm pub with a log fire eating steak and chips and drinking red wine - perfect! I also had a very impromptu and indulgent dinner at Nobu with Kim from work on Thursday. I was literally packing up ready to head home and we were saying bye when the conversation turned to dinner plans and neither of us had any so off we went together! Lots of laughter and it felt good to indulge.

The other significant happening this week was that I resigned from work on Tuesday as I have a new job! I'm going to be working in internal recruitment for a company called TRUenergy, a gas and electricity supplier. It's based one block up from where I currently work so that's an extra 3 minutes or so to my 7 minute commute! I'm sad to be leaving some great colleagues but at the same time looking forward to doing something slightly different in an environment and industry that is really new to me.

Whilst Steve was out on Friday night drinking and singing karaoke, I stayed in and watched three terrible teen movies back to back whilst making panna cotta! Rock and roll!

I woke early on Saturday and even though Steve was horribly hungover and tired from a late night he had to join me as he'd promised to help prepare for hosting a little gathering for 6 of our friends that night. That's why I spent Friday evening making panna cotta! Saturday was go go go and we chopped and prepped and cooked ready to feed Claire and Martyn, Charlotte and Nick and Steve and Lucy.

We decided to use our newly acquired Thai cooking skills and started off with a chicken tom yum soup. Main courses were a Penang pork curry, roast duck and a cucumber, cashew and chilli salad. We did cheat with the duck and ordered it from Pacific BBQ! I learnt that little trick from Jacqui who had previously served me this and it's such a great idea. Dessert was coconut and vanilla panna cotta with mixed berries.

We rounded off the meal with a very un Thai like cheese course. Steve and I provided a hard cheese called Prima Donna which is a Dutch Gouda cow's milk cheese which we had first tried at Claire and Martyn's place. We also had two Brie cheses one from cow's milk and the other from goat's milk.

We asked each couple to bring a cheese to add an element of surprise. The Worthingtons brought Roaring 40s blue cheese from the relatively local Tassie King Island. We had a the beautiful soft and creamy Meredith Dairy goats cheese and Steve and I love this one with a pumpkin, rocket and pine nut salad or just spread on a cracker! The most adventurous cheese came from Nick and Charlotte who brought a cheddar matured in a French cave with a mould rind. The cheesemonger told Nick that when it is eaten, care must be taken to avoid the rind because the mould is cave mould which can cause illness. Yes, we took care to avoid the rind with the braver amongst us getting close!

It was a fun evening as is always the case with this crowd and they were all so complimentary about our cooking which means it's always a pleasure to have them round.

This morning was not quite so pleasant though as Steve and I woke with raging thirst and pounding heads! We spent the morning clearing up and the rest of the day on the sofa before a walk along the river and a pleasant dinner out.

It's now bedtime, but Steve is naturally distracted by Wimbledon and the Grand Prix. He may well stay up but I will bid you good night!