Fin de la semaine

Weekends are the best.

Seriously.

I mean, I know Wednesday brought Origin, Thursday means late night shopping...

psh, they got nothin'. 

Weekends rule.

(Whoa. Am I 12 years old or what?)

Phil and I had a special treat this weekend.  

We had a special deal voucher for Firefly Restaurant near the city.

We were certainly not disappointed.  

First of all the ambiance was amazing.

I loved everything about the restaurant.

From the basket lights to the vintage feel, it was perfect.

The food was fabulous as well  And each course was so so different.  

I think we had about 7 courses come out. 

(picture small what I like to call {celebrity sized courses} mind you)

Corn Fritters with Prosciutto and Pesto...

Pinos Churrizo, Haloumi with Sauce Romesco...

Lamb Backstrap...

Chocolate Mousse...

etc. etc. etc.

One of my faves had to be the Zuchinni Fries.

I mean really? Who would've thought?

Mmmmm.

Did not disappoint. 

We'd go back, if the prices were reasonable minus the voucher.

In another life maybe...

Then it was a surprise jaunt to where we got engaged.

That's us.  Just engaged.

November 2009.

:)

Oh Philip, you are the best.

Weekends Rule.

Check-it

Check out my post today over at our cooking blog...

you won't want to miss it. 

Promise.

http://cookinforcouples.blogspot.com/

Nothing much

Life is plugging along here down under.

This weekend we spent Friday enjoying some much needed down time.

Saturday we spent with Caylee & Dan...visiting and reminiscing of Phil and Caylee's youth years.

Then it was onto the Stake Talent Night.

Oh jeez.

Where to begin?

Maybe I just won't...

Let's just say that at one moment (or many moments) we felt like we were at a Born Again Christian church.

"STAND UP! PUMP YOUR FISTS! REALLY LOUD MUSIC! RAPPING!"

Yup.

Just won't begin.

On another note, our niece Pacey is 1 yr old.

Maybe her birthday was back in April but here's a dress and some hair accessories I made for her.

I'm working on my crafting skills.

There's at least some improvement right? :)

And that's all for now.

FIST PUMP! STAND UP! RAPPING!

Ba Ba Ba Bowling

Rainy & cold days make the best bowling days.

We've experience a weekend or two like that lately in this Australian Autumn so what did we do?

Bowling.

Andrew and Alex are such good sports.  

We called them up to see if the wanted join and the agreed without hesitation.

At least I think they did.  Hmm...

Phil did super.

Compared to this sad lassie...


He tripled my score.
Yes I said tripled.
I've never thought of myself as a bad bowler, but boy was I wrong!
Bowled a 35.
Yes-definite bad bowler.
S'okay though.  It was still fun.
35.
ugh.

LOTR

So ummm- A couple weeks ago Phil and I went here...

and saw this...

Let me just tell you about this.  

It was amazing.

Yes, we went to see Lord of the Rings, at the Opera House.

But this time it was a step up...the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra and Choirs provided the music.

Live.

See told you, amazing.

Those of you that know me, I'm kinda music freak. 

Like orchestras and bands and symphonies and such.  

Spending my high school years engulfed in it, who wouldn't be?

So I loved it. Every.bit.of.it.

And Phil loved it too.  I mean, let's be honest: music for me, movie for him.

But he enjoyed the music too.  He told me. Out loud.  And he wasn't lying.  

He loved it too.

The acoustics in the Opera House are to die for.

Seriously.

When the audience was clapping at the end, I had to cover my ears.

When the percussionist was brushing the drum with his hand, I heard it. From the back row.

(ps. Back row seats in the Opera House are not bad at all. Perfect view from anywhere you sit)

And who doesn't love a view like this during intermission?

I was gushing over everything.

The acoustical music cylinders hanging from the ceiling.

The choir's voices.

How the conductor kept right in time with the movie.

I even said "COOL" or "WOW" a couple hundred times out loud.

On accident.

I couldn't help it.

And Phil just laughed at me.

Seriously, one of the best things I have done/seen.

So Good.

xoxo

The Best!

Phil is special.

Like a good special. Not the elementary school kind where no-one wants to be special.

He's the good special.

The good kind that surprises his wife {aka me!} for no reason.

Yes. Good special.

Well Thursday at lunch, he arrived at my work to share a lovely lunch with me.  

And he shared something else. 

Tickets!

To see Mary Poppins the Musical. In the city. That night. In a few hours!

What the?!

He listened. I'd said I wanted to go but wasn't sure we could cough up the bones for tickets.  Well good thing he just kept his eyes & ears open cuz good prices came our way and he snatched them.

So that's where we spent our Thursday night.

All of it.

And we loved it.

All of it.

It was so good!

The Capitol Theatre in the city is beautiful.  

My favorite was the lobby with decorated with umbrellas...

And another little surprise came when we were there.

Alyce and Eric (Phil's sister & husband) had tickets for that night as well and without any prior communication between us, our seats were ended up being 2 away from each other. 

On the same row!

And what did the 2 kind ladies in between us do?  

Oh they just moved right over so we could all sit together.

It was perfect!

Good special Phil.

Good surprise Phil.

Good husband phil.

Thanks!

Finish

To finish off our holiday in NZ we spent sometime at the Museum, time with one of Phil's companions and some good family game time.

The Museum was really cool.   It had a bunch of stuff relating to New Zealand's origins.  

The Maori Temple was really ornate.  They even wove the walls in intricate patterns.

We had to take our shoes off to go in to show respect.

It was amazing!

This HUGE boat could hold up to 100 men going to fight during war.

It was made from one huge hollowed out log.

I would definitely be scared to see 100 men rowing towards our village with their huge eyes and tongues!

 Phil made me pose for this.

No comment. :)

Our last night there we were able to see Auckland from a beautiful lookout.  

I love New Zealand. 

 We will definitely be back!

Thanks Dad, Mum & Rach for showing us around.

Miss you!

xoxo

Rotorua goes on...

After seeing the Maori Village it was off to zorbing.

"I've been dreaming of this day all my life."

Cheesy?  Yes.

But this is the kind of thing I love.

Mum, Rach and I had a blast!

Slightly like a ride in a warm washing machine.

With two other people.

So fun.

Next up: the tram.

We loved seeing all the amazing scenery and were excited for the luge at the top!

The fog and rain still refused to clear for us but we didn't mind.

We'd already gotten wet from zorbing so figured we'd just keep on soaking. 

The luge was really fun and you could go as fast as you wanted down the paved path.

There was even room to pass (side-swipe) each other.

Bless New Zealand!

We luged through the beautiful forest all the way down the mountain.

New Zealand is so beautiful.  

Tropical, mountainous and green green green!

They had little stops along the track where you could 'park' your luge and walk around and enjoy the scenery.

After luging the weather decided to lay off.

And look what we got!

The view from the mountain was spectacular. 

Here's our little attempt at a panorama of it.

Really, pictures just don't do it justice.  It was amazing!

Beautiful Rotorua.

xoxo

Whakarewarewa

Day 3 was off to an early start.

Breakfast...nope.

Ice Cream...yes!

Please just try to imagine the best ice cream you've ever ever ever tasted. 

Now multiply it by a gagillion.  That is NZ ice cream.

This special little shop is where all the General Authorities go to try the best NZ has to offer, at the best price too.

11 scoops?  I'd like to see that one in real life.

Hokey Pokey, mint cookie, passion fruit, boysenberry...you name it! 

Oh Pokeno...I miss you!

Then it was off to the next destination...Temple View.

This is where Phil went to the MTC.  That's the whole MTC behind us.

Yes, I said whole.

One house..their dorms were separate.

Look famililar?

The sign is gone (there is a new MTC closer to Auckland now) but here's Phil in his 19yr old glory!

He told me all that's changed is now he's able to choose his companion.

Pick me! :)

Temple View is so pretty.  

It's where the old church college used to be so there's a little community there.  

Onto our next stop for the day....Rotorua!

It was a rainy & foggy day so we had to get creative.  Luckily we were able to visit a māori village where villagers still live.

The bottom sign is the name of their village in māori.  

Try to say that, and then when you're done, try to say the eaiser version up top.

(Fakarewarewa)

The village was built on hot pots which the villagers use for heating their homes and for cooking and bathing.  We got to see their 'earth ovens' where they cook all their food, right in the ground with no fire, just the natural steam.  It sure smelled yummy!

And we also got to see a show including traditional māori music and language.  

They use their tonuges and eyes to generate fear in their enemies.

It worked...I was definitely freaked out!

Phil's demonstrating his tongue of fear here.

Scared?

We enjoyed Whakarewarewa and learned heaps about the māori culture of old.

Phew... enough for now.

Gotta go practice my tongue of fear.

Hei konā rā

xoxo