June...part II

Well how about this...another post within days of the previous one! Will wonders never cease!!!

Just a couple of things...I was reading some of the back catalogue of one of my favourite bloggers - the blogging world's answer to MasterChef - Tom when I realized that it was his birthday recently and nothing had been mentioned. And so, I took it upon myself to rectify this travesty! Happy belated Birthday mate! Hope that the next year ahead will bring you lots of success with both your personal life and your gourmet life!!!

Also forgot to mention that my very talented boyfriend is performing at the Opera House (again) this week - on Thursday and Saturday nights - as part of the Sydney Philharmonia Choir. They are performing Carmina Burana and I'm very much looking forward to going! He's been rehearsing like mad and I'll not get to see much of him at all this week, but it will all be worthwhile! If you're in Sydney, and feeling like a bit of "culcha", come along - there's bound to be one or two spare seats available on the night.

And, just to make the weekend even busier, we're hosting a Christmas in July dinner on Sunday night. Being a Scotsman who lived in London for 10 yrs prior to moving to Sydney, McBrad's group of friends are mostly from the UK and they all seem to miss having a big Christmas dinner when it's cold! And so, we decided to do one this year. Needless to say, I'm going to be doing my best MasterChef impression and attempting to feed the hordes. I'm doing an old favourite, Beer Up the Bum Chicken, which is easy, though not strictly very Christmassy! Ahhh, who cares - it's yummy! :-)

We saw the new Transformers movie last night - wow!!! Story line is somewhat light on, and the movie is geographically challenged (somehow, Petra is within spitting distance of the pyramids, which are apparently quite close to the coast line) but holy heck, the movie is HUGE! A full on explosion of non-stop action! Totally awesome in a very shallow way!

OK, that's it - I'm exhausted from so much blogging! :-)

Christmas...

Christmas is upon us and I have been very neglectful of my poor blog. In my defence, it's been BUSY!

Kylie was last Tuesday and it was a fantastic concert! She did an awesome version of Slow, and the audience went off for Better The Devil You Know and I Should Be So Lucky! But you know what, the best aspect of the whole thing for me was the fact that I got to see it with my gorgeous McBrad. He actually was studying hard for an exam the following day, and in fact, was going over his notes while I drove to the concert. He was a bit stressed about going, but still came along because he knew it meant a lot to me...and it did! Just a sweetheart!

We had our work Christmas party on Friday night...it was themed Bling. I went a little OTT (bet you're suprised by that) and hope to post a pic of my outfit soon. It was lots of fun, and despite my earnest endeavours to avoid drinking too much, I did! I hadn't planned on spending the night at McBrad's because he's not keen on me turning up at some ungodly hour, pissed as a newt. But, bless his heart, after the 26th sms to him, he relented. I left the part at 12:30am so it wasn't that late, but could I find a bloody taxi? NO! So I ended up walking back to his place (Surry Hills) which actually was quite good - gave me a chance to sober up a bit. Of course, I was still fully kitted up in my bling and so got quite a few comments on the way home.

Saturday, we hosted our first "Our Party" which was pretty exciting for me. It was a mix of his and my friends so it made for an interesting bunch - I think there was about 30 of so in total. Fellow blogger Mike made an appearance, as did my lovely friends Evan (though, McDreamy was unable to come along sadly), Dan and Jacqui. A couple of ghosts of Christmases past were also there - namely my first boyfriend Dane and PC - just to keep it interesting. And from what one hears, some of the guests got on better than expected! :-) It was a great night and McBrad and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and I think everyone else did too!

This week, it's been all about last minute shopping - wee giftettes (as McBrad likes to call them) to purchase and wrap and I have to tell you, I'M OVER SHOPPING! Bring on Christmas I say!

We're here for Christmas day and so I'm cooking my first ever Turkey - it's an orphan's Christmas dinner. Thankfully, Tom, our resident culinary king has come to the rescue with some cooking instructions and stuffing recipes! so cross your fingers that it turns out ok.

Boxing Day, my brother Mark and his boyfriend Sim, fly in from London for 3 weeks. So we're all heading down to his beach house on the south coast so I am hoping for some decent sunny hot weather! It will be lovely just to relax and chill out, eat, drink, chat, read and go to the beach. I can't wait! I've got a half day tomorrow so I finish at lunchtime. McBrad is collecting me and we'll be doing all the grocery shopping for Xmas dinner and for down at the beach house so that will be one last chore to get out of the way! But then, 4 days of bliss!!!

McBrad also asked me today if I would like to go to Perth in January to meet his brother! His immediate family all live in Scotland however his niece and her husband moved to Perth a few years ago, so McBrad's brother (her father) is out for a visit. So looks like we'll be going to Perth for a long weekend. I'm just a bit chuffed that he's wanting to take me along to meet his brother - it's like a bit of formal acknowledgement to his family of me being his partner.

Well, I suspect that this may be my last post before Christmas so I just want to say that I hope you all have a great Christmas! This is my first one with my gorgeous man and I feel so very lucky to be experiencing it with him. I hope you all have your loved ones around you for Christmas too! Big hugs to you all.

Monty! xxx

Social...

As mentioned by Tom in his blog, we saw Priscilla The Musical on Saturday night. It's the 3rd time for me but the first for Tom. It's had a few minor changes since I last saw it (June 2007) - some tweaking which has improved it and provided a few more laughs for the audience. It was another excellent night's entertainment from my perspective. As with Tom, I do wonder how it's going to translate to UK audiences with its very Australian jokes. I think the Poms will LOVE it, but maybe they'll need to adjust some of the jokes. Can I suggest that any residents of the UK that do read my blog do themselves a favour and go and see it - I think it starts up early 2009 in the West End.

My mate Dan and I tried to persuade Tom to come out for a drink or two on Oxford St afterward, but alas, he declined. Didn't stop us however and we ended up dancing our socks off at Palms. "We love the nightlife, we love to boogie" indeed!!!

We also had a Private Client Event on Monday night - my Bank sponsors the Australian Chamber Orchestra and so they are very accommodating. Once a year, the Private Bank invites our very best clients to a meet and greet type thing, cocktails and canapes and of course, the ACO. It's a great opportunity for the Bank's CEO and Excutive Team to meet our top clients and vice versa. This was the first one that I've been to, and it was quite interesting seeing the members of some of Australia's leading families, politicians, entertainers and well known business people all in the same room. It was actually a really fun night and it was great to experience the ACO up close and personal.

Last night, one of McBrad's friends had a small gathering at his house so it was nice to just sit and chat to them and get to know them a bit better.

So that's been about it.

Anniversary...

There's a couple of anniversaries to mention, both of which I missed!!!

Firstly, it was my 2nd blogging anniversary on the 23rd October! Yes folks, Monty has been dishing up this frivilous floss for over 2 years now!!! Can you believe it!!! So, a big thanks to all of you who've contributed to my blog, simply by reading it and commenting as well. My life has certainly turned around in the past 2 years and even in the past 12 months since my last anniversary post...all for the better! Of course, my gorgeous McBrad is a large part of my change circumstances!

And speaking of McBrad, we achieved 7 months together last week. It actually passed us by without noticing - granted, we were somewhat in the midst of a joyful and blissful reunion and so completely forgot about everything else. I realized the next day and sent an email to him. But we already agreed not to formally celebrate any more milestones until we hit the REAL anniversary (next March) but still, thought it was worth mentioning.

We caught up with fellow blogger Tom on the weekend - we went out to dinner at Rubyos on King St, Newtown and spent a pleasant couple of hours grazing the variety of foods and drinking some rather splendid wine. I actually dusted off a bottle of '98 Cab Shiraz and it was just perfect (and Tom brought a lovely Aussie Marsanne too)!!!

That's about it. Just a quick post. Have a good week!

City2Surf...

Well, I finally allowed myself to be pursuaded to go into this year's City2Surf - a 14 km "fun" run between Hyde Park in the city to Bondi Beach. Thankfully, the Bank paid our entry fee and gave us a free singlet and provided hot food, copious amounts of alcohol and massages at the end otherwise I wouldn't have done it. As it was, I walked it...I'm not that silly to attempt to run it! Instead, it was a lovely meandering Sunday stroll - and it was quite a pleasant day I must say. For the most part, sunshine and a light breeze, some fabulous views of the city and harbour, and this group of about 8 hot boys dressed only in their Budgie Smugglers kept me entertained. Unlike Tom, who's practically a professional, we started in the "Back of the Pack" and so it wasn't until 10am (ie a full hour after the start) that we actually ran over the starting line! This was about 20 mins AFTER the winner had crossed the finish line! Anyway, I must confess to having enjoyed the day much more than I had expected.

Back at work...

Well, it's now Thursday and I've been back at work 4 days now. UG! It's terribly hard to get out of bed at 6.30am, particularly given how cold it's been! But I've been doing it. Good stuff this week...

1. McBrad and I celebrated 4 months on Tuesday and I just love him more and more and more.
2. We had our annual performance reviews done this week and my boss has told me how much bonus I'll be receiving! YAY! Very excited about that - in fact, I was so excited, I went out and bought McBrad a shirt!
3. Not sure what it was, but McBrad was particularly snuggly last night.
4. Life is just mighty fine at the moment

On a completely unrelated topic, my mate (and fellow blogger) Tom suggested seeing Priscilla when it returns for a 3 month season in October and I think it's a smashing idea! I've seen it twice already, but it's just sooooo good that a third time will be just as fun! So, if any fellow bloggers are interested in going, let either Tom or me know.

Oh the Shame...

Be prepared to be appalled by the following.

A flurry of late night texts last night led to me tearing across the city at 10pm enroute to McBrad's. Nothing new there. But you know that kinda zone you get into when driving somewhere familiar - you can kinda switch off and the car will just drive itself. Well, I had the radio on and I was in that zone. The station I was listening to was Mix 106.5 (wait, I haven't got to the REALLY appalling bit yet) and on comes Shania Twain singing "From This Moment On". Now I'm sure Shania is a lovely lady and yes, back in the early 90's, we all flirted with the pop/country thing (I even purchased "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" on CD) but "From This Moment On" always made me want to puke...it was such a pappy shmappy smarmy made-for-Westie/Bogan-wedding song, with all these lyrics about being "right beside you" and "you and I will never be apart" and "I give my hand to you" blah blah blah. Well anyway, it comes on and I find myself listening to the lyrics absentmindedly and I'm thinking how much I can relate to them and how they are expressing exactly how I feel about McBrad and then my mind wanders to thoughts of a wedding and...what the hell! I pull myself up, shocked and appalled that I'm actually relating to THAT song and that I'm even thinking about weddings! (and yes, you can now all gasp with dismay - we've now covered the really appalling aspects) I know I know, I had it coming, listening to Mix in the first place. And it was late at night, it had been about 14 hrs since I'd last seen McBrad and I was very excited to be on my way back to his place, with the promise of cuddles and snuggles...but it's still no excuse. I'm so ashamed! I mean, I've previously confessed to downloading Jason Donovan to my iPod but even that doesn't rank anywhere nearly as appalling as this.

Speaking of which (and our friend Tom will be delighted that I'm mentioning an Apple product), I did some more downloading today from iTunes - some more PSB, Shirley Bassey (love her version of Get This Party Started) and Justin Timberlake.

My car is now all mechanically done and, with the new tyres and brakes and stuff, is just marvellous! So my little holiday has been quite productive! :-)

It's Mardi Gras...

Well, here we are in the middle (or rather, coming to the end) of Mardi Gras season! The parade and party are on Saturday night and it promises to be interesting to say the least!

Weather at the moment is rainy and in the low 20's (degrees celcius) so not ideal for the parade. Cross your fingers that it is only overcast and not rainy on Saturday. Otherwise, it may just end up being the party for me. Tickets to the party sold out last week and, so I'm told, this hasn't happened for years and years! (lucky for me, I bought my ticket a couple of weeks ago) So it's going to be HUGE! I actually can't wait! Last year was my first MG parade and party and it all went by in a bit of a blur. This year, I'm much more prepared for it. I've also got a heap of friends going - friends I've made in the past 12 months so that's going to be great! And of course, I'll be accompanied by The Tourist - he's been sending me text messages all this week from Port Douglas and I'm hanging out to see him again! Ok Ok, there is an element of lust there, but he's also lots of fun so it should be good! Who knows what will happen at the party too! :-)

I have many fond memories of last year's MG party - the best thing to come out of it is the friendship I have with the beautiful Evan! He's such a gorgeous human being, and the odds of meeting and making what is now one of my closest friends at the MG Party I think is pretty low, so I feel particularly lucky that it happened! So it's going to be our one year anniversary of meeting which is very special.

Last year, I had arranged to meet up with 3 guys off Gaydar...but this year, I haven't. In fact, I have quietened down significantly on Gaydar of recent times. But I'm sure that there'll be plenty of boys at the party to keep me distracted! So watch this space for Monty's Mardi Gras Musings! he he he!

Tonight, I'm off to the Bloggers Meet, accompanied by the publicity shy Tom! This, I think, will be his first public "outing" as a Sydney blogger, so it should prove interesting!

Up, Up and Away...

I feel like I'm turning into Tom, with all my travels! My gay brother Mark, who lives in London, turns 40 in April (6 days after I turn 37) and so, as most of his friends live here in Sydney, has decided that the best way to celebrate would be to meet in the middle somewhere.

So, he's organized to have a week long celebration in Thailand - Phuket to be exact - and being the GBP earning exec that he is, has booked 4 beach front deluxe villas at this rather ritzy resort. Of course, he's not paying for them, only for his own. But thankfully, they're not that expensive relatively, and they do look gorgeous! And so, last week, we were trying to book our flights over. Went onto Jetstar's website and, once all the taxes, food, etc were added onto the bill, it came to a grand total of $1271. I was expecting somewhat less than that and so was quite suprised at how much this so-called budget airline was charging! I had a flash of inspiration and decided to check out how much Singapore Airlines would charge, just to compare. Well, turns out, their cost was $1321...yes, that's right, for $50 more, I get the legendary Singapore service, all the extras, AND (and this is the BEST part) I get to fly on the new A380 between Sydney and Singapore both ways!!!!!!!!! Travel time is a bit more; you have to deplane at Singapore and fly with their budget subsidary, SilkAir, to Phuket; but still, who cares?! And having joined Virgin Atlantic's Frequent Flyer program last year to fly to London (thanks again to Tom's brilliant suggestion), I also will acrue miles flying with Singapore. So I'm totally chuffed with my little win! Told the other boys about it as well, and Carter has booked on the same flight and another of Mark's friends, Davo, is also going to book with them too! So it should be a great flight!!!

And here, I was promising myself that I was going to reduce my travel this year and save more $$ and three weeks into 2008, I've already committed (or spent) about $2500 on overseas travel. Oh well, it's all for a good cause...after all, how often does your big brother turn 40?!

My country...

We've been chatting on Tom's blog about one of Australia's most celebrated poems, My Country by Dorothea MacKellar. Everyone assumes that the first verse of her epic poem is...

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel sea
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me.

This is fact, the SECOND verse of the poem. The first verse just doesn't get the same publicity.

Notwithstanding this, in today's SMH, there was a free Leunig calendar. The first cartoon (for January) was his version of the famous verse which I find hilarious!

I love a sunburt country
A land of sunburnt plains
Of sunburnt mountain ranges
Of droughts and sunburnt rains.
I love her sunburnt horizons
I love her sunburnt sea
Her sunburn and her sunburn
This sunburnt land for me!

Pics...

Pictures are going up on blogs left right and centre at the moment...check out McDreamy's blog and Pedestrian Fair's blog - both have posted recent and 80's pics! I'm a HUGE fan of this.

I must say, now that I've posted a couple of face pics, I'm a lot less nervous about posting more. And seeing as how I've met quite a few bloggers in person now, there seems less reason to hide my face! So, be prepared readers, for more of Monty!

Anyhoo (picked that expression up from Muzbot), met up with fellow blogger Tom last night and we watched The Simpson's Movie - me for the first time, and Tom for the second time. Sensational! I love the Simpsons and this was just 90 minutes of pure Simpsons WITHOUT ads! How good does it get!!! Sensational! And it was great to catch up with Tom as well, as always.

Tonight is C3's birthday dinner. We're going up to The Summit Bar on top of Australia Square for drinks (and I'm meeting 4 of his friends which is kinda scary) and then having dinner in the restaurant there as well. I've not been to the top of Australia Square since 1980 when we came to Sydney on a family holiday. At the time, it was the highest building in Sydney. Not anymore, but I'm still looking forward to going back up! And to the dinner. I'm a bit nervous about meeting his friends. Hope they like me! Hope I like them!