It all kick-started with a long & arduous Bikram session on Friday evening. Those classes often feel like the longest ninety minutes of my life, but I always manage to leave feeling limber, loose & revitalised. I also knew I was in for a weekend of largely consuming refined sugar & wine, so I had thought I better do something to balance things out. After very nearly drowning in my own sweat, I headed home to find both babes snoozing, and a glass of red poured and waiting for me on the bench. And so it began... (Not really, I only had one glass & went to bed at 8:30, but I was saving myself for Sat you see?)
Saturday's itinerary was rather jam-packed. Firstly, I was going to meet up with my girlfriend Abbey to browse around at the bridal expo in the city. Does anyone else find that expo's always, always seem to disappoint? Im not even sure what I expected, fresh decor ideas? Dress inspiration? At the very least cake testing. It provided none of the above. (Not one cake.) We pretty much paid $20 to do a 5 minute lap around the room, avoiding a trillion pamphlets & pesky salespeople. So we took the first exit & headed straight across the road to a pub for some food & banter. Two hours later, we left with a slightly more solid 6-pack from so much laughter. Nothing beats having a catch up with a like-minded girlfriend, and considering I barely ever get to do it, it was, quite simply, marvellous.
Later that afternoon I had to get quite a few things done prior to our date night, so Oli took the kids for a big walk whilst I blasted music & cleaned and cooked. That hour was amazing. I managed to completely clear my head, just running on auto-pilot & absorbing the tunes. (There was also red wine involved). Thankfully, I had pumped a big stock of milk in preparation for these few days, so I had complete freedom.
Before we knew it, Teesh & her gf Sarah arrived to take over parenting duties. Prior to having kids; I always saw myself as being a free-spirited mama- offloading them onto friends/fam would be easy & stress-free. However, this is not the case. As I ran around listing the exact temp the milk must be, and doing a step-by-step of how to change Oscars nappy, I realised just how pedantic I have become. I'm no where near as cool as I envisioned. Purposely booking dinner at 7:30pm so that I could still put them down my way proves that. Let go Gemma, let go.
Anyway, here we are all spruced up & ready to rock! (I do not miss make up or hair straighteners by the way, such a chore)
Highlights from the evening were;
1) being I.D'd upon buying my first drink (still got it)
2) taking a long & hilarious stroll down memory lane with a highly inebriated Oli
3) tomato spinach & Gorgonzola gnocchi
4) arriving home to find both of the kids hadnt awoken at all
5) ripping off my dress & putting on my trackies within seconds of arriving home, then proceeding to do drunken headstands with Sarah
Lowlights from the evening were;
1) there's actually only one lowlight. One pretty significant lowlight. I broke the number one going-out-to-dinner rule.... Never, EVER, fill up on bread & dip before your main. I had pretty much starved myself all day in anticipation for the feast that evening- and then I showed my true amateur dining colours as I devoured that dukkah. It was freakin good dukkah. Alas, when my mouth-watering gnocchi arrived, I was only able to eat around 5 measly pieces before raising the white flag.
Rookie.
I know. I'm still disappointed in myself.
Fast forward to Sunday morning..
Oli pulled out all the stops, and after our initial cotton-mouthed fatigue, we perked up and had a brilliant day as a family. There was also unpictured maccas, lasagne, a birthday badge, family guy, and to top it all off a really good movie called "The Grand Budapest Hotel". This oddly eccentric, colourful masterpiece, was really funny! Ralph Fiennes is one of my all time faves, he always delivers a wonderful performance.
All in all, I had one of the best birthdays yet- I think I quite enjoy this ageing business. (I say that now as I'm still supple skinned)
That brings us to today... Thus far, we have been for a big sweaty stroll;
Made this masterpiece for lunch;
And now, I'm perusing my new Anabel Langbein "simple pleasures" cookbook that Abbey so kindly gifted me for my birthday. You know you're old when you get cookbooks for your birthday & absolutely love them eh?
Fresh recipes coming right up!
Hope you all had a fantastic weekend too
Gemma
Thought of the day "I swear I can hear that chocolate mud cake calling out to me from the fridge..."
No comments:
Post a Comment