Category: Melbourne

A weekend visitor

/ Renae / Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, our friend Ian came down for a visit. He’s been threatening to come down for a year and phoned us on a Wednesday to tell us he’d be here Friday night til Sunday! So we booked him in for Saturday afternoon and evening and looked forward to it with great anticipation.

About a year ago, Hubs and I went on a winery tour with our friend Nate, and one of the bottles we bought was a Verdhelo from Sticks Winery. We had been saving it for Ian’s visit as we knew that was one of his favourite varieties of wine so of course, we had to buy some cheese and bikkies to go with it!

We headed out to Hardware Lane, as Ian is our jazz buddy and there’s live jazz at Hardware Lane most nights. There are also LOTS of restaurants and way too many spruikers. Business is obviously slow EVERYWHERE as we were offered free bottles of wine, Cosmopolitans, beers and bourbon to try and convince us to dine at a number of places. We opted for a place called Pop.

It had no Pop.

The free bottle of wine was actually really nice, and about $40 on the menu, but we were right in the middle of the 2 groups playing jazz so we couldn’t really hear either of them which was disappointing. The food and service weren’t really up to scratch so we decided to look for somewhere else for dessert.

We went down to Block Place which is a neat little lane way in between the Collins Streets (little and big) and went to Caffe e Biscotti for a night cap. Hubs wanted “something different” to drink so the bartender took full advantage and made him a Frangelico, Kahlua and lime. I won’t disclose the cost, but it was a delicious drink! Ian had a liquer coffee with Cointreau and I had a port.

The drinks really were lovely but not something we could afford regularly!! We also ordered a stack of pancakes to share which were delicious, but the best thing about this place was the little jazz band outside! They were great and really added to the atmosphere of the place. The service was good and it’s somewhere I’d like to go back to try the meals. But definitely only for a special occasion.

A great night out in Melbourne!

Chilblains

/ Renae / Leave a comment

No, I’m not telling him to chill out. I’m talking about chilblains. (I looked up the Wiki article link, but it had a gross picture on it. Now, how many of you are going to look it up?…) I was talking to a friend down here a few months ago and she was telling us that she gets chilblains and she explained what they were. It’s where your extremities – usually fingers and toes – are sensitive to the cold and blood vessels get inflamed and cause numbness, itchiness and pain.  For the few weeks before that, I had a really sore toe (the one next to the big toe) and it was really sensitive to touch, and sure enough, that’s what it was. My doctor said that it could take up to 6 months to get better, but it might also get worse, and sure enough, the next toe down is sore now.

It’s HORRIBLE!!

I thought it might get better after a month in the US summer, but they’ve gotten worse since being back home. Stupid cold Melbourne weather.

Now my toe can’t go to the market…

Oh when the Saints….

/ Renae / 4 Comments

Well it’s that time of year again. AFL Grand Final Weekend! Yee-haw! And what a season it has been for our team, St Kilda! We have only lost 2 games all season and we are up against Geelong (who have also had a cracking season) in the final tomorrow. Geelong are going in as favourites, but only just. And to be honest, I like being the underdog. But the Saints haven’t won a premiership since 1966 so it’s our turn!!

And just so you know, Hubs and I picked St Kilda as our team last year, so there was no jumping on any bandwagon for us! We are heading over to our friend’s place for a Grand Final Day BBQ, but the weather tomorrow doesn’t look so good (8-15 degrees with showers) so it might be an inside BBQ instead. Regardless, a great time will be had I’m sure.

And as an added bonus, the Broncos are playing the Storm (I hate those Melbourne players) tomorrow night as well so we’ll be watching that on the big screen somewhere too! Can’t wait!

So GO THE SAINTS!!!!!!
and
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!

Echoes of Them

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Every year at Newman College, they hold a visual art competition. The theme of the competition this year was “Echoes” so Hubs did a photo composition. He spent some time practicing the execution of the photo, and then the final product took about half an hour to complete. (i.e. taking a number of different shots, changing the lighting, the positioning, the shutter speed etc.) Then on the way home from the pub one Friday night, Hubs stumbled upon some hard rubbish that the uni had discarded. There was a cabinet there with 2 glass doors intact, and Hubs decided that one of them would make a great photo frame!

Hubs had the photo enlarged to poster size and it looked amazing.

The prize of $500 is awarded at one of the fancy-pants dinners around this time of the year, so we got all dolled up (as usual) and attended. And then the winner got announced.

“And the winner is, Echoes of Them.”
And I went nuts, but Hubs had forgotten what he had titled it!
“By Hubs Hubsband.”
And then it sunk in. He was beside himself. He was in shock. And I had tears in my eyes. My goodness I was so damn proud of him.

There were 24 entries and his was chosen out of all of them, as being the best. And it was. Here’s the award-winning-photo with an award-winning photographer.

And the description that accompanied it:
“The humble couch is part of the fabric that brings us together. Each person who sits on a couch leaves an echo of themselves in the room, on the lives of those who share the couch.
The memories of those who have been before combine with the memories of those who are present in an echo of the past, present and future.
The theme of ‘echoes’ is central to the piece – the echo of the past in the photos on the wall, the ‘echo’ of the present in the man on the couch, and the echo of the future in the friends who are with him.”

*sigh*

Now Hubs is trying to decided between a “new” camera lens or a “new” laptop.

Congratulations Hubs, from a very very proud Wifey.

The Stars shine again

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Last year I talked about how Hubs was playing Stars Footy. Well, he’s at it again! They have played 2 games so far. The first game was against Kendall College – these poor guys have to travel an hour to get here, they only have enough players to run on (no subs) and they get beaten (not as convincingly as you might expect) by a mob of Newman players who think it’s funny to do the “Braveheart Run” at the start of a play.

It was a fun and exciting match and the lead was shared by both teams before Newman came away with a win. There were a lot more kicks and marks (where you catch the ball on the full after it has been kicked at least 10 metres. I think that’s right) taken which made it a good spectacle. I won’t mention how freezing cold it was on the sideline, as I’m sure the players felt the chill in only their singlets and (short) shorts. Like last year, they had more players on the bench than on the field, so Hubs only got about 15 minutes of game time. He had a great time though!

The next game was a bit less thrilling for Newman unfortunately. We were up against a very strong Ormond team and even a goal off a Braveheart run couldn’t save it for us. There were fewer subs this game and Hubs had a really good run. I was so proud! A “brawl” at the end finished the game 1 minute and 34 seconds prematurely (I was timekeeper) but it may have been for the best!

I took some photos at the first game, but they pretty much looked the same as the ones I took last year! I’ll try and get some more at another game. There should be a couple more to come.

Go the Stars!!

Shabu Shabu-licious!

/ Renae / 2 Comments

On Saturday night, Hubs and I were invited over to dinner by our friends Rohan and Miya. Hubs and Rohan study together. Miya is half Japanese, and they treated us to a Japanese dish called Shabu Shabu. And as Hubs put it “It wasn’t just a meal, it was an adventure!”

We got to cook our own fresh ingredients like carrot, cabbage, fish, tofu, spinach, spring onions and bean sprouts and noodles and “fish” them out when they were done! Then we placed them in our sauces which were ponzu sauce with spring onion, or sesame sauce (my fave!) and then onto the rice. I can still taste the yumminess of it all! And it was so healthy as well! Just boiled ingredients and tasty sauces. I wanted more and more but just couldn’t fit any more in!

We then finished off the meal with a lovely self-saucing chocolate pudding and some of my choc-dipped strawberries. It was a lovely evening with new friends and we can’t wait to go on Rohan’s Dad’s yacht some time in the near future! (Now you HAVE to take us! Ha ha ha.)

Here’s a photo from the evening – check out the awesome set-up!

And hopefully a photo of Rohan and Miya to come (cos I forgot to take one of them on the night – I was distracted by the food!!!!)

Home Sweet Home

/ Renae / Leave a comment

In case you haven’t heard, we arrived back home from the USA to Melbourne on Sunday evening, after spending the day with friends and family in Brizzy on Sunday (well, a few hours anyway!) Our trip was incredible. Truly. It couldn’t have been better than it was I’m sure. I think we did enough planning to take the stress out of it, but not so much that we couldn’t change our plans here and there. Hubs is currently downloading the photos (we’re fast running out of hard drive space!!!!) so I’m planning on doing a NaBloPoMo for August starting on Saturday (obviously).

Oh, and the weather here sucks. I got SO used to bright sunshine and warm days, EVERY day. You know, like living in Queensland. It’s about 15 degrees here now. Phoooey. I guess it makes me appreciate the good weather when we can get it!! Already looking forward to summer again…

Autumn in Melbourne

/ Renae / 3 Comments

Everyone loves Autumn. How could you not? There’s no point describing Autumn in words, when pictures can tell the story so much better.
Enjoy!

I found this leaf among thousands! I heart Autumn!!

Around College

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Here are a few more photos of the College that we took in January.

The Dining Room

Inside the Dome Dining Room (You can see High Table in the top right)

Outside our unit

The view from our balcony

Happy Birthday Hubs

/ Renae / 1 Comment

As many of you know, I LOVE surprises. And I love giving them almost as much as receiving them! So the last month or so I’ve been scheming behind Hubs’ back, planning a big celebration for his 2nd 21st!! He was getting cranky that everyone else on college is having their 21sts so I thought “why not!?” So I went to work on the organising. I sent out emails, used my friend’s facebook account (cos apparently it’s easier than emailing the entire med student cohort) and got busy planning the cake. Just remember – I don’t do things by halves…

Here’s the progression of the cake:

With Hubs not around, I got to lick the bowl all on my own!!!!!!!

Maybe I should have shared it after all…


Enough about the cake. Let’s get to the prezzies! As some of you know, Hubs got a new SLR Digital camera from our families which he LOVES, but even better than that, I had a street named after him!!

(Biggest coincidence – this street is about 3km away from where we live and just around the corner from the pub we were having his party at!!! CRAZY!!!)

Right. The Party! There were friends, balloons, embarrassing 21st speeches, lots of beer and wine and a GREAT atmosphere at a fabulous pub called The Brunswick Green. I highly recommend it! I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story…


Eeeeeeeeeew grooooooosssssss!


A couple of friends from Brisvegas – Jodes and Nate (and Hubs’ birthday pot!)

Hubs’ friend from Mackay was also down for the weekend for his birthday, so of course we had to meet up for a drink!!

A few nights ago Hubs and I were cuddling and he told me I fit perfectly next to him. Like a puzzle piece. It’s not hard to love this man.
Happy Birthday honey.