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! :-)

The Garden Revealed...

OK, here's the pics of the completed garden. It's a shame that I didn't take any pics of the pre-renovation garden, but you'll just have to use your imagination - basically, it was just all covered in 8 foot tall hedges, very dark and closed in.

And here it is, being used - having pre-dinner drinks and presents a Christmas...before sitting down to eat our Turkey dinner.

Christmas card...

"Hi handsome, What a lovely year knowing you and having you in my life - I'm a lucky man I know...

Thank you for all your love and kindness. Looking forward to growing together more in 2009.

Love McBrad x"

What a gorgeous man. No wonder why I love him so much!

Hope you are all having as wonderful Christmas as I am.

Monty! xxx

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

Wednesday...

Well, it's Wednesday nigght and it's over a week since my last post! Lots to update. First major update - I'm at home on my new laptop...and before you all ask (as Scotty has already), NO it's not a Mac! But it is an early Christmas gift from my gorgeous McBrad which I am totally chuffed with! He was thinking about waiting until Christmas before giving it to me, but decided not to, due to my previously blogged home PC issues! What a sweetheart! I am the LUCKIEST man alive! :-)

Anyway, what I did want to mention was an episode last week. Last Thursday, I met up with my friend Jacqui and her sister and mum who were visiting her from the UK. We met at Opera Bar, had a couple of drinks and then, it was off to the Opera House. Why, I hear you asking. Because my gorgeous McBrad is not only the hottest man in my life, but he's also very talented. He was performing Handel's Messiah in the Concert Hall as part of the Sydney Philharmonia Choir! It was an extraordinary moment, when I took my seat, my eyes scanning the 500 member choir, looking for him. And when we locked eyes, and he smiled at me, a mix of emotions overwhelmed me! It's very difficult to describe - I was very proud of him, I was excited to see him on the stage, I couldn't help but admire how very handsome he was in his tux, and I could feel just how much I loved him. I was like a love struck teenager the whole concert - everytime he stood up to sing, I couldn't stop grinning and when he'd look at me, I had to struggle not to wave at him. It was an excellent evening!

It was a full on week for both of us - we are both very busy at work at the moment and he was either rehearsing or performing every night last week and so Sunday night after the final performance, we just wanted to have a quiet night in. Which we did. We also had our hands full over the weekend, as Noodle had a friend sleeping over. Archie, another Groodle too, but he's white, was there for four days and nights, as his owners had their daughter's wedding to attend. So it was quite a busy weekend, trying to manage two increasingly large dogs whilst trying to keep all the new gardens puppy free. . . unsuccessfully as it turns out, but no lasting damage done. Anyway, so it was a tiring weekend.

I was out at lunch today trying to get some small presents for McBrad's two god-daughters and I noticed that there were lots of kids out. I don't want to offend any parents here, but seriously, children should be banned from the city! Clogging up the streets, running all over the place, screaming and yelling - just drives me insane!!! Let them go to the Westfields or something, anywhere that I am not! Grrr... Anyway, I managed to get a couple of small gifts for each of them, so that is one less thing to worry about.

I also went to Myer and did something very sappy...I ordered a couple of baubles to hang off his Christmas tree...one with my name on and one with his on! I know I know...it's horrifically sad, but it's our first christmas together and I wanted to commemorate it somehow.

Anyway, there's about 34 more posts still in my head and I really don't want to make this a 5000 word thing. It's a challenge not being able to post at work as I often will think of something to post there. In times past, I'd just put it straight down but now, having to go home and post is much more difficult. I'm tired after work, need to cook and eat and after that, I just want to chill. So it will require more discipline on my part.

Well, that's it. I will post more soon. Promise.

Tuesday night...

...and I'm here at home (well, McBrad's home, but it feels pretty much like home to me), Poison (Alice Cooper) is on and dinner is in the oven. Oh, and now Haddaway (is that how you spell it?) has come on. Glass of chardy is being consumed rather quickly.

Anyway, I sat my exam yesterday and think I did ok. To be honest, as long as I get a Pass, I'll be happy. It's exceedingly dull stuff. But it's good that it's all over...for this year anyway. Not going to start the next one until 2009 so I have a few months off which is bloody marvellous!

I've come to realize over the last couple of weeks just what a commitment having a pet is. Noodle consumes my time at home. Being a Groodle (which is a Golden Retriever/Poodle cross), she's got the insatiable desire to retrieve stuff and so is always dropping (very subtle this one) her favourite toy at my feet, so that I can throw it and she can run and retrieve it. It's very endearing but after a while, I just want to concentrate on what I'm doing. I've got to wake up earlier than normal so that I can take her for a run before I go to work. I've got to come home after work and feed her and walk/run/play with her. It's normally well after 7:30pm before I can get to making my dinner etc. And she has an burning curiosity about everything I do - particularly if it has anything to do with food. She is such a sweet tempered thing and is the most social puppy I know, but she is a big responsibility. It's not something I would've thought possible even 12 months ago but she's a responsibility that I have willingly taken on as a surrogate father whilst my gorgeous McBrad is away. It's one less thing he has to worry about and is one thing that I can do to support him.

Anyway, the official count down has begun - only 6 1/2 days until I see McBrad again! So it's only around 150 hrs to go!!! I've missed him so much!

Pet Shop Boys is on now. I was talking to my brother Mark yesterday and he mentioned to me that it's only 9 weeks until Christmas which blew me away! It's come around so quickly. It's also quite exciting as Mark and Sim are flying over from the UK and will be staying for 3 weeks! They fly in the morning of Boxing Day and so we'll meet at the beach house and have a slightly delayed Christmas! (McBrad and I will be here in Sydney for Christmas Day itself and will probably just have a lunch or dinner with some friends) So it will be great to catch up with them (and the rest of the boys - there'll be 8 of us down the coast) and spend some time in the sun and at the beach and eating, drinking and relaxing. It will also be good because McBrad will be able to spend a bit more time with Mark and Sim and get to know them better. After all, Mark's my only family member that McBrad is likely to get to know in the forseeable future anyway.

And now Tina Turner has come on. And on that note, I think I shall leave you. Ciao!

Post-Christmas...

Well, I'm back in Sydney and I'm well rested, extremely relaxed and just a touch sunburned. Nothing too dramatic, just the back of my legs, my lower back and a patch on my left shoulder blade where I obviously missed putting the sunscreen on.

But I did have a great time down at the South Coast. Weather was pretty damn fine - apart from a big storm Christmas eve, it was sunny and warm. I made my Beer-up-the-bum Chicken on Christmas night, as well as a strawberry pavlova for dessert so we were feeling very fat!

Mark and Sim rang us Christmas night, and we opened our respective presents whilst on the phone. And what did they get me??? Yes, the present that finally dragged me into the 21st Century, an IPod Nano! I was very excited about that! I've spent half of today trying to download songs to it and I've mostly succeeded. So it has been the BEST present!

I had originally planned on coming back today (Friday) however yesterday was a bit overcast and I was really fanging to get back to Sydney and to life! So I took off early, and I have to say, the drive back was good. The traffic southbound however was absolutely chokka block, stop start all the way. I would not have wanted to be in their shoes!

Today, after a sleep in, I cleaned up around home, did my washing, and sorted some stuff out. And then, hit David Jones' half-yearly clearance! And bought up a storm! Got myself a new suit (to match my new job which I start on the 7th) and a new shirt and tie. I still want to buy another suit and some more shirts/ties. Also got some more wine glasses, tumblers and a dinner set. So I was pretty chuffed about that.

So it's been a great Christmas, and this weekend should be pretty good too. And then, NYE! I can't wait!

Oh, and thank you to all who sms'd me xmas wishes over the past few days. It was lovely to hear from you!

I guess it's Christmas...

Well, it's 11.50am on Christmas Eve. I'm sitting here at work...it's dead! Which is a very good thing. We're on skeleton staff but thankfully, the clients have decided to get themselves on holidays and are not bothering us! So, I've done a little bit of work - just the finishing up of a couple of outstanding matters - and have chatted to some colleagues, played some games online and have read a few blogs. I'm leaving around 1.30pm and am driving straight down to the beach house so I should be there pretty early! It's going to be an interesting Christmas - I'll be spending it with my brother's ex-boyfriend Phil and Carter so it's a bit of an orphans' Christmas - but it will also be fun! I'm also making my internationally renowned Beer-Up-the-Bum chicken which the boys are looking forward to! And I am sooo looking forward to just chilling, going to the beach, lying in the sun, drinking beer and champers and relaxing! Lovely!

So, I will be offline for a few days - returning to Sydney on Friday 28th. So, I want to say thank you to all of you, my readers, for your contribution to my blog over the past 12 months. I have learned lots from you and appreciate every single comment you make. Have a great Christmas everyone!!!

Lots of Aussie hugs to you all

Monty! xxx