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Work, Play and a Trip Down Memory Lane

30/9/2012

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Busy week at work for Steve and I. Friday couldn't come soon enough! That feeling was shared by my colleagues so we had a little wind down sessions Friday afternoon where we had drinks and snacks and enjoyed each other's company. There are  lot of talented and committed people working on this project...lots of big brains!

Kylie (my boss) and I enjoyed some time with these guys who all work on the project I'm on before heading to another drinks session with colleagues from the People & Culture team of which we're also a part of. Belonging to two teams keeps things interesting!

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Here you see the Recruitment team (most of them) and they're great fun and really good at what they do. It's a privilege to work with inspiring people!




Steve and I met up afterwards and enjoyed dinner out at Pei Modern. We celebrated our 8th anniversary this week!

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8 years of marriage! Look how much younger and thinner we are!

We love our wedding day and I'd love to do it all over again...to the same man I might add just to reassure him!

We celebrated on the actual day (Tuesday) with a dinner outside in an alleyway in a very typical Melbournian cafe / bar. Prior to that I was having wine with the ladies from work so it was a whole lot of fun if not romantic.

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It's strange to think that when I was selecting things for the wedding; dress, hairstyles etc. I wanted to choose things that were timeless so they wouldn't date and in years gone by when we look back at photos they wouldn't seem as if they were from another era.

Well, that's an impossible feat so to all brides out there, don't bother. Just go with what you want; trend, fad or tradition! I look back at these photos with a lot of love but they are pictures from an early noughties (2004) wedding. The curls, the strapless A line dress, Steve's cravat and frock coat, the roses and calla lillies...all of it! Even the style of photographs has evolved.

I guess it was naive of me to think my choice would be timeless. Well I guess the most important thing is that Steve and I have a marriage that is timeless and that resounds true!

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Today I met up with my ex boss and friend Jacqui and Pete and Tom. We enjoyed lunch by the river and a little walk trying to spot crocodiles in the Yarra River!

As always the boys were entertaining telling me that they're now 4 and have pedal bikes.


This weekend in Melbourne has been a big one! Saturday was Grand Final Day (kinda like FA Cup but much bigger). It's almost like a public holiday and everyone stops to watch the game. Shern and Jon were kind enough to invite Steve and I round to their's to watch the game and enjoy sausage rolls and a BBQ - so Aussie of us!

And today is the National Rugby League final so another sporting day. We exercised by making a chicken and veggie pie and eating it!

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Spring is in the Air? Or is it?

23/9/2012

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Steve was able to crank out the shorts on Saturday and we can feel the temperature rising from the depths of cold Winter to the inviting call of Spring.

Although when I say depths of Winter, the coldest it ever got was 5 degrees and that would have been at night or first thing in the morning and certainly during the day it was more around 8 so all very manageable.

More recently we've been hovering around 15 degrees, teasing with 20 and Saturday hit just over 20 although it felt much warmer in the sun. With Spring comes beer terrace weather and a general desire to enjoy the outdoors more. So we met up with Rachel and Tim today and enjoyed a pub lunch, attempted some outdoor drinking but it got too cold once the sun disappeared but the signs are promising for a good Summer!

And because I love her so much, I'm keen to share the latest pics of the wonderful Amelia Grace!

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I can't make up my mind whether she's saying hi to the World or doing a lady like fist pump! Either way she looks pretty happy although according to her mummy she tends to either be crying or asleep! Troublesome little poppet.
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Amelia doesn't seem too happy with the bonnet but we love the eskimo look!
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Classic uh on, excuse me look on her baby face!
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Weekends Aren't Long Enough...

16/9/2012

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Sunday evening has come round and it's been a relaxing weekend. Steve has a sexy voice these days. He's come down with a sore throat, cough and croaky voice but this didn't stop us catching up with friends and having a jolly good time.

We had Sunday lunch in Williamstown with Karly, Cam, Karly's mum Nicky and Baby Indy. Indy was on her best behaviour as she slept throughout and didn't stir even when I rudely picked her up out the pram for cuddles.



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Ling and Noah came for dinner on Saturday evening and Steve and i enjoyed spending the afternoon preparing food for them. We decided to do family style Chinese cooking which is quite a lot of work as it means several dishes but we enjoyed it and they were very complimentary.

After dinner Ling and I had girltalk and she tried on my different sunglasses...

Steve and I spent the morning shopping for ingredients and the afternoon prepping. We steamed a Barramundi Asian style. Poor fishy! Had to cut off its tail to fit in my steamer! We also made braised beef short ribs with daikon and Chinese mushrooms and for veggies had a fresh cucumber and cashew nut salad.
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I am still missing home and wishing I could go back to see this little princess. At the moment we think we'll be back in March for three weeks but that seems ages away and Amelia is growing and changing every day.

Every morning I reach for my phone to see if I-Lin has sent me any more photos or videos. Steve and I lie in bed going through the photos again and again and watching the videos repeatedly!

This morning I woke at 6am, had a look at my phone and watched a new video of Amelia crying loudly wanting her dinner. I played it next to Steve's head on loud so he could experience what it's like to have a baby cry at inopportune moments. As I thought, he didn't like it! So I-Lin and Graeme (with the help of Amelia's grandparents) are doing an incredible job. All you parents out there, you have my respect. It's not something I want to sign up for necessarily but you do it so willingly out of love.

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A Cultured Weekend

9/9/2012

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Another week at work with some school night activity on Thursday when I met up with Charlotte, Claire and Lucy at a Mexican restaurant as well as an impromptu wine Wednesday with colleagues where one $5 glass of wine soon becomes many....

This meant we wanted a fairly low key weekend which we have achieved. Steve and I enjoyed a Friday night work drinks before hanging out with Stef where we consumed dumplings with some beers and then Steve watched AFL whilst Stef and I chit chatted in our pyjamas.

Saturday - we had plans to take the V Line train to the country and explore an area known as Kyneton with a stop at a brewery and a lovely late lunch with Claire and Martyn. Sadly trains weren't running and were replaced by a coach service so we decided to postpone to another day and do something else instead.

We ended up at the Napoleon exhibition at the National Gallery Victoria where we spent a good 2 hours learning about the Corsican and his beloved wife whom he renamed Josephine. Interesting love story and a certainly different take on Napoleon than what is learnt back home! I think there was one minor mention of Waterloo and that was it!

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The highlights of my week have been receiving photos and videos of my dearest niece Amelia.

I love watching the videos and have been playing them non stop. I have a great one of her drunk on milk where her eyes dart here and there and she's trying to fight the sleep but doesn't succeed and in between there are a two gummy smiles and few tongue pokes!

I-Lin and Graeme are doing a great job although sleep is something of a distant memory now.

Amelia has a preferred sleeping pose much like the one Usain Bolt strikes following victory!
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Amelia Grace Hall - You Are My World!

2/9/2012

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I am so proud of my amazing lil sis who brought Amelia Grace into the World about 8 hours ago and of course Graeme was there helping her out. Amelia looks so Chinese!

I-Lin had what sounds like an eventful labour experience and Amelia was finally delivered by C section weighing 8lbs and half an ounce or 3.6kg for those into their metric. I heard Amelia cry on the phone when I spoke to Momma Hall. She and Poppa are doing well but extremely tired. 2nd September 2012 - a special day for this happy aunty. Made my heart fill with joy when I-Lin told me she thinks Amelia looks like me when I was a baby! What a great thing to hear.
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Other things this week pale into insignificance! Work was very busy as we ran graduate assessments for three days and assessed probably around 100 young people for graduate positions. Certainly some interesting insights along the way. Oh young people how confident you are and how unconsciously incompetent you are!
 
You can see from this picture whilst we work hard we also take time to laugh which I think is incredibly important.

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Friday night was certainly exciting and had Amelia Grace not decided to make an appearance would have had had top billing in this post!

We went to the Press Club with our friends Kirsty and Marty and were treated to a sensational food experience under the expert hand of George Calombaris. George cooked for us himself and devised a new and exciting menu that even his team hadn't seen before. A truly great evening and there's more details under Restaurant Reviews.

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Saturday we had a stripe themed pub crawl! Not really but this photo seems to suggest it! We met up with some of Steve's work colleagues and their wives so there was Jon and Shern, Andy and Stacey and Steve and I. We started at the Matilda Bay Brewery in Port Melbourne and celebrated the first day of Spring.


It's late now - almost midnight - but I can't sleep. I keep looking at pictures of Amelia Grace! It's like I need a fix. I have instructed my cousin Carine to take lots of photos when she goes to visit and as soon as Momma and Poppa have the energy, I want videos and photographs! She is all I can think about right now. I want to ensure she has a happy life, a healthy life and not have to endure any hurt or hardship. I can only imagine that my feelings are merely a fraction of how I-Lin and Graeme must feel.

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    Authors

    We are Steve and Minda and we've been given the opportunity to move to Melbourne for two years. We arrived November 2010 and passed that two year milestone and are now Australian citizens! This is a blog of our experiences as we move to this new country, settle in and have fun!

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