Palooza 2012

A break from the vegan posts today to talk about palooza! WHOOP! Do you remember last years trip? You can read about it here, here and here. And see pics here. That's how epic it was, it took 4 posts to communicate. FOR REAL.

Anyway, annual trip is here again! We waited until May this year because Feb was kinda hot last year and we didn't enjoy the sweatbox Sydney became. The time has come!! This Thursday night we fly out, Anna, Fleur and I on the prowl again. We come home Sunday and we have a billion plans to fulfill in the middle there. I want to check out some vegan stuff, we'll hit Zumbo's again, and we are soo going to Madame Tussauds in Sydney, maybe a skywalk, definitely a massage (already booked, thank you Scoopon!) and I cannot wait to catch up with my Sydney mates again on Friday night!!! We're also considering karaoke Sat night (which means I am considering a bottle or two of vino to myself Sat night...)

I cannot wait to spend some time with my besties again, I love these trips. Fun packed into awesome. BRING IT ON!

Holidays!

I am currently trying to plan my next holiday. As you are aware if you read me often, I tend to make a habit lately, of taking off with 2 of my best mates for long weekends of indulgence and drunken silliness. We're planning another trip, but not until January, because Fleur is headed to Europe with her hubby in less than 8 weeks, lucky devil!!! So we are talking City V Island adventures at the moment, both hold definite appeal. Which would you choose? Either way, there is bound to be a lot of relaxation, good food, and cocktails.

Aside from that, I want to plan my own holiday. I'm in a bit of a bind though. I have an outside chance of a fairly decent holiday early next year to Europe, but it may not come through. If not there is still a good likelihood of a mini solo trip overseas sometime next year. I'm thinking maybe Italy or France. Bliss.

On top of that, I would really like to take the kids away again. Last year we went to QLD, this year somewhere different. I want to show them out country bit by bit, state by state. Tourist destination by tourist destination. Giant banana by giant shrimp. You get the idea.

In summary, I need to win the lotto. :/

Meet 4 of my closest friends

Watch any popular movie or TV soap, and you'll soon realise we women are supposed to have a circle of close friends that we see regularly, and can tell anything to. We are supposed to shop with them, party with them, and entrust everything to them.

But how many of us actually have those friends in reality? Until recently, I had friends, but not the inner circle I have now. It takes a lot of trust and courage to be able to let people that close. I wish I had done it long ago. it's the best thing I ever did. I have so many wonderful friends. Some I see often, some only online. They are all supportive, and love me for me. I am extremely lucky. I also have a few that I see often, and that know all my secrets. Let me tell you about my inner circle.

Megs.

I first met Megan in about 2005, she was just marrying her partner, Andrew, and was keen to start a family. I had Finn, and she and I bonded over parenting. I always kept a degree of distance, I'm not even sure why. But when my marriage faced imminent breakdown, I let her in and told her everything. She was supportive. She never judged. She just cared. 6 years later, I am godmother to her 4 gorgeous sons, and we have girly best friend dates where we see movies, or share a meal, or go for a walk. We are inseparable, and so alike in so many ways.

Fleur.

I met Fleur a while back, must have been around 2007 ish. We were friends for years, but we never really spent large amounts of time together. That all changed around 18 months ago, when we somehow broke the pattern of a more distant friendship, and became closer. We share secrets, confidences, and let me tell you, you fuck with one of us, you fuck with both of us. I'm protective of Fleur. I can't tell you why, god knows she can fight her own battles. I think she is more sensitive a soul than she lets on sometimes. She's inspiring, and she's a fuckton of fun. And boy can she party. Paloozas would not be paloozas without our Fleurbie!!

Annabel.

Anna I met less than 15 months ago. Now part of the party pack, she is another of my closest friends that I love to see as often as possible. Anna is a sweetheart, I love going out with Anna because she has such a free and happy spirit. She dances with wild abandon, and she has confidence I envy. You need a job done, Anna will get it done. She is loyal, and generous and I am so glad that we became friends!

Christie.

Christie is different. I've only ever seen her face in person once. She lives on the other side of the world, yet her friendship is as important to me as if I saw her daily. In fact, I do, in a way. I email her almost every single day. I tell her every thought, every insecurity, and every achievement. I regard Christie as a teacher of sorts. From her, I have learned to be a stronger woman. I have gained more self confidence, and I have learned about relationships, communication, and happiness from within. She inspires me. And I will continue to nag her to put together a Vegan cook book. Food so good you don't even notice meat missing. So much yum! She is a smart cookie. I'd be a bit lost without her, that's for sure.



I am so grateful for these friendships. But beyond the close intimate ones, I am grateful for the words of support that come from a tweet, an email or a text. That will pick me up with a kind word when I have a bad day. These friends I may not see often, I may not contact daily, but every one of them is valued and treasured. I really feel lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life.

Random thoughts on our young women/ Challenging the stereotype of drunken men.

What's up with the young women of today? You go into the childrens clothing section of any major department store and for girls as young as 5 and 6 there are mini skirts and navel flashing shirts. Really?? Do we really need to sexualise them so young? I know I sound old saying this... but, when *I* was a preteen, holding hands and peck kisses were a massive deal. We weren't skanky and trying to win the approval of guys in skimpy clothes and promises of sexual attention. What is going on??

In fact, this growing notion of disempowerment in favor of male approval infiltrates so many areas of pop culture that it's no wonder young women behave this way more often. I read the Twilight series. I read a similar series recently, minus vampires, add in angels. In both of these, the female protagonist is a simpering, ditzy, twit, who will give up her own beliefs, wants and strength, all "for love." Seriously? Where the hell are strong female young women who tell a guy that does them wrong to bugger off? Who have chutzpah and self respect and value themselves?? I worry about raising a daughter in our current society. I hope that she has more guts than the common portrayal of a 'popular' and/or loved teenager.

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Whilst I am on stereotypes and the like, I wanted to challenge one. What do you think of when you imagine a drunk guy? Do you think creepy, sleazy, violent or gross?? That's what we are led to think right? That's the common image presented to us by media most of the time.

I disagree. Strongly. Every time my friends and I have had a night on the town in the last year, we have encountered a huge number of drunk guys. None of us have ever found them to be anything other than friendly, fun, and happy. I went out last Saturday night, I spoke to a few drunk guys and had some good chats. Many others would courteously allow me past with a smile and a step back. Some would randomly hug me without speaking a word as they made their way through the crowd. Clearly drunken behaviour, but lovely all the same. Those who flirted did so without being pushy or rude. When we left, a group of guys gave up their cab so that we could put our drunken friend in first and get her home safely. That's gentlemanly. It's generous and its kind. It gives me hope. Give the 'drunk guy' label a change. I think it's surprisingly and happily wrong in most cases.

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What do you think of these issues? Let me know with a comment.

Palooza photo post

As promised! This is the view of Hyde Park from the balcony of our room. One day, we saw a guy sleeping down in the park for ages, until some old guy came and got close in his face and woke him and they talked for ages then left together. We couldn't decide if it was a homeless guy and a case worker, or a seedy proposition... Either way, it was intriguing.



This is the jetboat we rode on. So much fun! So much water. Goodbye Kelly's good sleek hair. :/



Obligatory Harbour Bridge shot.



Obligatory Opera House shot. Both taken at Circular Quay.



Fleur, Kell, and Anna - all soaked through after the jetboat ride.



See? Seriously, there was a body painted Native at Westfields in Bondi. I know!!!!



Ohhh yessss. First of many shots for the night.



"Shake whatcha Mama gave you!"



Cardboard Megs gets fresh...



Group shot after yum cha. Including cardboard Megs.

Post Palooza. Part 3.

Sunday... Home time :(

Waking up on Sunday was a painful experience. I think the first words from my mouth were "are you still drunk?" and Fleur replied "yep." It took a while for the room to stop spinning. The headache and sickly feeling lasted far longer. We took stock of the night before, realized how much we spent, cringed at how intoxicated we were, and despaired at the far too early checkout time of 10am. It was so hard to get up, shower, and pack up. Fleur summed it up best: "This must be what Lindsay Lohan feels like every day."

At 10am, we were almost ready, but still packing the last of our gear up. The phone rang and Anna answered. The person said it was reception and we needed to be out NOW. Anna was apologising and freaking out when the caller started to laugh. And that pretty much sums Michelle up perfectly. Shes a ratbag. I've known Michelle for almost 10 years or so. We met online, and stayed friends through so much. Both of us had a lot of trouble getting pregnant, and we bonded over it (and our mutual feisty) to become really close mates. I was so excited to finally meet her in person after so long. And she was more awesome than I expected.

Chelle had volunteered to be our chauffeur for the day, and she drove us to yum cha where we were meeting up with some of our closest and oldest mates. There was 10 of us (11 including cardboard Megs who finally got out of the hotel room and saw some of Sydney). Dear friends who had shared my IVF journey (and I their own struggles): Sarah, Erin, Siew, Jo, Mez, Nat, and Chelle. Yum Cha was a scary prospect so hungover, but it actually went down really well. So yummy! And it was great to meet these girls in person, and hang out as friends. I miss them already. Whilst i was hungover and quiet (for me!) I valued that time so much. It was not enough. I really hope they follow through on the idea of coming down to Melbourne for their own palooza later this year.

We then took Megs about the city, being photographed with a random street performer and so on. I think real Megs enjoyed our attempts to include her in our adventures. We wanted her to come so much, and she was missed. This was the best we could do! Chelle dropped us off at the airport, and we checked our bags and far more subdued than our flight to Sydney, we flew home. I napped a little on the plane, but it took me well over a week to recover from the weekend properly. I'm old!

So that was palooza. One of THE best weekends I've experienced. Photos coming next post! We have made a pact to make it an annual event, so... we'll be back! Until then, we are already planning Megs bday bash next month. Sure to feature are Japanese food, burning the floor, and drinking. Oh la!!!!

Post Palooza. Part 2.

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Post Palooza. Part 1.

I have to break palooza into three parts. We really did that much. Firstly, TL:DR - Best weekend ever. I have not had such a fun time in ages, it was fantastic! We crammed a heap in, and it was nowhere near long enough.

Thursday night, Anna picked me up and we headed in to Andrews Airport Parking along with cardboard Megan. We were so sad Megs couldn't come with us, Anna made a cardboard version and we took her along with us. So funny.

So we got driven to the airport, the driver warning us of the dangers of drinking too much. Heh. As we were checking in, Fleur joined the line and told us she had been about to go and get on the shuttle to get to the airport, when some guy had accosted her offering a $15 limo ride instead. Along with a bunch of other strangers. So she took it up and arrived in style. Lol!

We grabbed a bite to eat, and got caught up in a random argument about donuts when some guy decided to join in on our conversation. "Donut king are the best!" he shouted with fervour. Um. Okay then!?

On the plane we were those passengers. We're sorry. No we're not really. We were chatting and giggling the entire flight. Since it was an after 4pm flight, there was a free piccolo of wine. Score! We downed that and the stewardess returned after Anna told her we were on a girls weekend with another piccolo each. Mid way through that, she came back again with an enormous bag of mini packs of pretzels and another 3 piccolos of wine. "Take these back to the hotel! Just don't tell the cabin manager!" she said. What a lovely woman she was. We were so stoked. So, on a slight buzz now, we arrived in Sydney. My god it was hot. Humid as hell. It was 11pm at night and we were sweltering. We grabbed a cab to the hotel and checked in. We stayed at The Hyde Park Inn, and it was a good room. We kicked back and eventually went to bed sometime around 1am.

On Friday we woke up and had breakfast and headed to circular quay on the double decker wacky trains. Whilst waiting at the station, we heard quacking. Some guy on the opposite platform, was quacking. WTF??? It was so bizarre. We all got the giggles and fell onto the train laughing. At Circular Quay we got some gelato, and took the obligatory photos of the bridge and opera house. Then, it was time.

We had booked a jetboat ride through Spreets a few weeks back, for a bargain. We decided to brave the no poncho required, and jumped in. Oh. My. God. That thing could move!! He would wave his hand in a circle and we'd all count down to an awesome 360 degree spin. All of us ended up soaked through. Such a salt water drenching! God it was fun though! The Thunder Jetboat ride was well worth it. We met some odd character in Sydney. Whilst we were waiting for this ride, a cruise operator next to us was trying to sell a cruise to Korean tourists. When they walked off, he turned to us and said: "well that was a waste of time. You know what they were? Energy vampires. Seriously. They suck your energy out. Like a prune. He will live longer now and I have a year off my life. I feel just.. drained.. you know? Have you ever seen the movie cocoon? With the old people? And the alien thing sucked their youth? It's just like that. Only energy. They are energy vampires. You really have to watch out for them because they will come..." and on and on he went. Fleur and Anna lost it and were laughing their arses off. I was nodding and empathising with the poor crazy man and trying to escape onto the boat...

After that, we decided to jump straight on a ferry, still soaked, and head to Manly. We walked around and found an outdoor restaurant where we had King Prawns and wine for lunch. Fleur had to teach me how to peel the prawns, which was... an adventure. Eww. They tasted damn good though! Then we walked to Adriano Zumbos patisserie , and indulged in fancy cakes and macaroons. I had something called a Craigie Bam cake - chocolate dacquoise, chocolate sabayon with salted caramel debris, chocolate caramel creameux, caramel mousse. Soooo yummy.

Then we just caught the ferry in time to head back to Circular Quay, and back to the hotel. The humidity meant none of us had dried out from the jetboat ride, so we changed before heading out to meet our lovely friend Marisa for an after work drink at the Darlo Bar. When we walked back into the hotel, Anna asked the receptionist if she knew somewhere we could go and get a manicure and pedicure. She disappeared to the back office, and we assumed she was getting us information. Instead, she returned with the manager who asked us how much?? We looked at her a little confused. "err.. I don't really know..." I said. She asked the other girls who replied similarly confused. "SO none of you know how much?" she said accusingly. Anna said "we just want to know where we can go to get a pedicure!!" "ohhhh!" the manager replied, as the receptionists hands flew to her face and she bolted out to the back office. Fleur had had it. "What on earth is going on? What is the big deal?" she asked, frustrated and confused. I started to giggle. "I think she thought we were offering the mani/pedis" I said. "Yes. That." The manager replied. We were in hysterics. How very odd!!!

So, we caught a cab to the Darlo Bar, and the taxi driver asked us what we were up to. We told him a girls weekend. He then told us if we had husbands, they'd cheat on us because all men do, none can be trusted, he knows, hes a man and they can never be trusted, and anyway, if they DID cheat, it was deserved because we had gone away. As we left the cab (me biting my tongue to not argue), he says "Hope your husbands are still there when you get home..." What is with the weird people there, Sydney?! Anyway, we sat there in the Darlo Bar waiting for Marisa, having a few drinks and people watching. Let me tell you, if it is people watching you are after, this is the place to go. Oh my. Some very, very odd characters. And almost certainly a gay bar. We had a good time chatting with Marisa, who was glowing in her pregnancy, and then we all walked down toward Kings Cross to get some dinner. We decided on a Japanese restaurant and Marisa introduced the three of us to the wonders of edamame. So. Freakin. Yum. We spent ages just talking and laughing and having a good meal. My idea of heaven! Afterwards, Marisa's lovely husband drove us back to George Street where we had tickets to a movie at Gold Class. We ordered 2 cocktails and a super sundae each to devour throughout the very odd movie. Classic crude line: "It's like there's a crime scene in my pants!" Ooookayyyy. After that, we walked back to the hotel, there were people everywhere. I know it was a Friday night and all, but the place was pumping. People everywhere. I know we were up fairly late this night chatting, and we decided we'd hit the town the next night to burn the floor. And boy did we.

And this was just the first 24 hours!!! Stay tuned for post palooza blog part 2! (after part 3 I will do a photo post of the entire trip!)

Standing on a precipice

I have 2 weeks left. 2 weeks before life becomes a haze of chaos when I start the Master of Teaching with Deakin. Some of the materials arrived today for the English class. The teaching ones won't be far off. It looks like an interesting course, challenging, but achievable. I'm excited about it, but nervous too. It's been so long now since I was in the workforce, it will take some adjustment. This is why I kept studying all this time, it kept me in the loop and skilled up.

F started grade 2 this week, it seems only yesterday he was starting playgroup, clinging to me, desperately attached and bonded and still a baby, really. It should get easier, that first day, but I still shed a few tears on the drive home. God help me when I take 2 kids for a first day. RJ is starting playgroup at montessori shortly as well, though I will be with her. She started dance classes last week, and F is back at karate this coming week, so things are busy already. Adding study in to the mix is sure going to keep me on my toes.

I will finish my 2 weeks of remaining leisure up with palooza. Sure will be a way to go out with a bang! It's hard to balance being a mother, with being Kelly. But to me, it is so important to be more. I don't want to lose my own identity. I love being a mother, and it is a huge part of who I am, but it doesn't make all of me. I am still Kelly, and I still have my own interests and passions, my own goals and my own life. Going away with friends, studying, writing... This is why when I blog, I blog about all kinds of things. Sure, my kids make up a huge part of it, but I have to make sure I don't lose Kelly. Its crucial.

A friend of mine, Gayle, sent me a message today that totally made my day. She had been reading the blog of one of her favourite authors, and sent me the link saying that she felt I had a similar 'voice' and may enjoy her work. It was flattering and encouraging (and a new author is always gold!) I was thrilled when the first post I read by the author mentioned The Tea Party (think band not politics). Definitely some similarity there ;) It has inspired me to go back to my writing again, to keep plugging away at it, and exploring it. I am trying not to focus so much on the end goal of publication so much as just experimenting with works and enjoying the process. Bliss for its own sake.

Pre-Palooza Post

I am not sure that I coined the term palooza (as I did prezactly and awkwidity) but I am certainly helping popularise its usage. A palooza is a party. With Alcohol. Or just an awesome time. With alcohol.

My first true palooza was last year, a hotel room, many bottles of alcohol, and good nosh. WIN! There've been a few since. There is an enormous one in my future. Next month, 2 friends and I are flying to Sydney for the weekend. 3 nights, much fun. I see a cocktail night on the horizon, and oh so many good times. One of my friends has also conned the other two of us into going on this jetboat on Sydney harbor, and we are also considering the skywalk (268m/880ft off the ground!) as well as hooking up with some of our lov-er-ly girlfriends up there. I think they are also insisting we hunt down Adriano Zumbo's patisserie, after seeing his creations on MasterChef. We may roll home...

It's definitely going to be a massive weekend. Keep your eyes peeled for the post-palooza blog post in late February!