11 minutes.

That's how long it took me to drive to work this morning.  I love school holidays + Christmas holidays + free parking at work.

Actually I'm a bit disgruntled to be here today.  I came to work excitedly last Friday ready for my last day of work for the year (despite a marathon 7am til 1pm meeting) and looking forward to some time off.  At 10am my boss told me I would be working over the Christmas 'break'.  Not happy Jan.

Then we went for a team lunch/drink and I forgot all about it.  I had a Pink Octopus cocktail, it was delicious.  I also had some fish which was also delicious.

Good to see the rest of Sydney getting into the festive spirit -

I had a Christmas and Kris Kringle dinner with friends which is our yearly tradition.  The Kris Kringle game always proves to be very funny and it's always a late night.  I told a friend I would shame his butter consumption publicly because frankly it's disgusting.

Sunset at my friend's apartment balcony is always a hit because ummmm well check out the view.

I only STARTED my Christmas shopping 2 days ago.  I am NOT prepared for this Christmas at all.  Still trying to get a few things sorted around the apartment (iinet technician can't come out til 10th Jan so no internets for us but hooray we have Foxtel and hooray we have a microwave).

Hope everyone else is more prepared for Santa than I am!

Vivid Sydney!

I go to Vivid Sydney every year because it's just beautiful.  I think I have an appreciation for this city/country and tend to do more touristy things because I grew up in a third-world country.  It makes you appreciate the little things like being able to walk down the street without being chauffered by a driver who's carrying a gun for protection.

Anyway I digress.  Last year I was hugely disappointed by the Opera House show - they just had a chick 'dancing' on the Opera House and that was about it.  I prefer more colour/shapes/geometry and this year they delivered!

PS - my blog now comes with watermarks to prevent photo stealing.

Kitchen mishaps, final exam and sticky-taping cars back together

I did not have a good day in the kitchen yesterday.  First, I sliced my finger on the mandoline which I had set to its thickest capacity (thick mandoline slice + finger = pretty deep cut).  I won't show you any pics because frankly it's disgusting, but the blood leaked out of the band aid :S  Then I managed to splash hot oil across my chest which dripped onto my t-shirt which was touching my stomach.  Not a good day.  I stayed out of the kitchen today.

I had my exam today (last exam ever unless I stupidly decide to do more post-grad study which is entirely possible).  I'm freaking out a little because I finished a 2 hour exam in 55 minutes, but I triple checked that I answered every single question.  I did find this subject reasonably easy compared to previous subjects' so maybe that's why?

Balloon sculpture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Darling Harbour

Since I was already in the city, I met up with some ex-work colleagues for lunch.  They complained about work and it reinforced why I left.  Some things never change which is very sad, especially at such a huge corporation.  I popped into Daiso and was restrained and only made one purchase (weekly pill container).

I met up my youngest sister when she finished uni and we visited Pitt St Mall.  I went to pay off my Marcs layby and popped into Topshop for the first time.  I know, very late to the party.  I wasn't a huge fan of Topshop when I was in Europe so didn't feel the need to visit when they opened the Sydney store.  I did like their nail polish display but nothing else caught my eye.

Got the shock of my life when I bought a Chuppa-Chup from 7-11.  The last time I bought a Chuppa Chup (admittedly it was about 10 years ago), it cost me 30c.  Today it cost me $1.50 and the cashier didn't give me the 50c change so it ended up costing me $2 (I'm not about to argue with a heavy-set man about 50c).

What???  So sticky-tape isn't enough to hold a car together??