Singapore Sling

After making a quick decision to move our flight from night to morning on the 7th we arrived in Singapore at around 3pm - having happily scored Jarratt an extra 2 usable hours for his 30th birthday. After a revealing shower and change of clothes, but nothing too sexy, we strolled down to Raffles Ball and Billard room for a slightly overpriced Singapore Sling. Having leisurely downed the wonderful concoction we piled into a taxi and headed to Singapore's Night Safari. After a game of silly buggers in the souvenir shop we indulged in a dinner of duck and rice with a side of vegetables and men drumming in their speedos. Then it was all aboard the Night Safari Tram.... despite forgetting the tripod at our 4 star hotel, we managed to snap some pretty photos of both the lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!) That night we fell into bed in agreement that Jarratts 30th had been a memorable one :)

Day 2 saw us roll down to the esplanade to check out the stunning performance centre and the iconic Singapore flyer. Afterwards we had an extended pit stop at Merlion park where we swallowed a lot of water. We then explored the MRT network and arrived at Orchard Road for a spot of shopping before an amazing lunch of soft shell crab, chicken fried rice and crispy dango. Ater lunch we began the hunt for the highly anticipated fish massage in Chinatown. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful - despite being offered a massage by many questionable ladies in doorways. Instead we wandered the markets and enjoyed the atmosphere filled with many goods and dragons in preparation for Chinese New Year. From there we spent a lazy hour frolicking in the pool and followed it up with a chili crab stylish, romantic dinner in Boat Quay. That night we had a tripod sponsored photo shoot on the top floor of our hotel. Beat by the heat, we fell happily into our air conditioner room - well prepared for our 73oam flight to Delhi!

Bec at Raffles front entrance.

Slingtastic!

ROAR!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

A little arty with my new camera!

Attempt Number 7 without tripod turned out pretty good.

There's something in the water...

Bec + Purchases :)

Pool fun!

Love.... sweet.... love :)

Howzat!

2 posts in 10 days..... come on! Thats impressive.... having been on hiatus for such a stretch I'm feeling the strain on the fingers - but a new years resolution is a new years resolution!

Since we last spoke J and I have been busy ringing in the new year with friends and watching Australia pretty much hand the ashes over to the English! Its been an interesting week and a bit.

It all started New Years Eve with a spectuatular celebration at Lin and Andy's house. We arrived early in the afternoon and after a quick introduction to Bubbi and an attempted cuddle with Anna (Viv and Dave), we headed to the roof for a dip in their amazing pool. We then spent the rest of the afternoon watching the sun set and decoding some pretty poor sky writing - R U OK? I was also deeply amused by Anna's storytelling on a stroll to the unit to check on a crispy potato bake! After dinner we said goodbyes to The Family Van Der Meer and knuckled down for some quality time before the 9 o'clock fireworks. We managed to swindle a pretty neat possie for both the nine and twelve o'clock fireworks before singing our throats dry, what an amazing start to 2011!!!!

On New Years Day we did a mad dash to Austimir to visit with Nathan and Nicole (soon to be) Woll.... hahaha - Nicole Woll, as well as Scott and Jen. The house was UNBELIEVABLE!!! - despite its nudist feel, Scott and I both promptly decided we were moving in. That was until I learnt about the bones, knife man and scary miners house, which Nath did have a more colourful name for! After our tour of the grounds and a quick hose of the garden, we spent the rest of the day having a lazy afternoon of beach, beers and Baywatch experiences ;) Memorable moments including a near drowning that was not 'for real', a surfboard attack and one incident that required a shout of "GET A ROOM!" The rest of the night was spent frolicking in the spa, feeding Nicole's mum too much alcohol and a noble man riding the travelator! The following day we headed back to Sydney after an amazing breakfast to high five Garcia as he turned the big THREE O!

The rest of the week has been spent at the Cricket where we have been less than impressed with Australians form. Highlights have been the new friends made, losing my mind over all the celebrity sightings (but no Warne!!!!), Jane McGraths high tea and being caught out on tv waving like a mug! :)

Tomorrow is Jarratts 30th (Happy Birthday Bubba, LOVE YOU!) and to celebrate we're off to India via Singapore. We've yet to pack, but I'm pretty sure we have more pills than clothes at this stage - so much so that I'm sure I will rattle all the way to the plane. But as long as its to the tune of Happy Birthday, I don't mind.

Till next time, xoxoxo

Just chillin'

Nicole "Miss Photogenic, bird claws and all" Woll

Nathan "I've come to clean zee spa" Woll giving the lawn a once over.

Sir Scott Noble Walters .... ridin' it ... ohhh yehhhhh!

Adrian, Gazza and Bill

Bec, (me mate) Glen and Carly.

"Those boys sure have had a lot of beers today!"

"They're lights, LIGHTS!"

Home Sweet Home

Wow.... I'm a little rusty at this whole blogging thing, but I'm ready to dust off the keyboard and have another crack at bridging the gap between today and our last post. So, hold onto your computers kids, this could take a while.

In order to be systematic about this updating blog I'm going to organise it by major events/items that have occurred in the last year. Feel free to skip the irrelevant items that you're already aware of.

The Unit
In January of this year (2010) we moved into our humble 2 bedroom unit at Penshurst, complete with internal lanudry and lock up garage! The whole battle of finding a unit was quite an undertaking with most units in our price range being snatched up at the first open inspection and often for more than the asking price! Feeling a little depleated, Jarratt and I came across this lovely little unit that required a little modernising and snapped it up for less then the asking price, GO US! 12 months on and a cupboard there, air conditioning here, a new laundry there and our little house was fast becoming our home. We still have a few renovating mountains to climb, the kitchen being one, but its all part of the fun.

Renovating Master!

Work
Jarratt and I have been very fortunate to fall quite quickly back into jobs upon our return to Australia. Jarratt, as you know, picked right back up with his old boss and, as for me, after working casually through Term 4 2009 in two amazing schools, I have just finished a year block on a 2/3 class with my contract to continue next year but on a 5/6. Wish me luck!

Christmas
It wouldn't be a very good December blog if I didnt mention Christmas, right? Well, Christmas was MAD this year. With Christmas Eve drinks with friends, Santa's arrival at the Tandek's house early Christmas morning, a brief pit stop at the Wyatts and a mad dash to Maitland to catch Mum between shifts. Boxing Day was spent mostly sleeping! Although we did manage to be awake long enough to trek out to the Hunter Valley Gardens and join in the festive cheer of the Christmas Lights Spectatular. Also gave me a chance to try out my new baby - my Canon EOS 550D with Tripod. The following day, Gyspy John joined us, along with The Swans Supporters for lunch at Muse, which despite the delay was very yummy!

Christmas Morning at the Tandeks.

Hunter Valley Christmas Spectactular!

An aMUSEing lunch :)

Family

In both camps, family is well. Most notable mentions is the recent arrival of little Benjamin and the bump that has began to expand on Caryn. The two doting soon-to-be parents are looking radiant and not in the least bit aprehensive about their Feb arrival. I admire them, I would be quietly freaking out, particularly after a recent conversation with Mummy Swan Supporter! In other news, Mum got re-married this year to the most amazing man. I've never seen her so relaxed and happy, I'm delighted for her and Santa! (haha) As for Uncle John, he continues to renovate and travel and take us to the RSL for lunch/dinner regularly. He has been a real help to Jarratt and I throughout the whole year, I hope he knows how much we appreciate him. The Tandek Kids continue to grow and entertain us and Grandma and Opa are holding the helm of Wyatt ship strong.

Little Ben and Nanna

Too cute for words!

Here comes the bride....

The Tandek Trio

(Bailey, Capri and Tayla - top to bottom)

Friends

Friends have been moving and a shaking things up this year. Laura, up and moved to London, which was enthralling - something she's always wanted to do. I'm so proud of her and am DESPERATE to get to see her in Ye Ol' London town before she heads home! Keels continue to live it up and Freo and Ejay is still a very busy bee. Lin and Andy bought and settled into their very own lovenest. And Bec continues to be my allie in the battle that is primary school, whilst also becoming the best cupcake maker in the histroy of cupcakes. Kev and Jaz surprised everyone announcing their marriage after a trip to Africa. Bridge and George also tied the knot and have added to their score card with a little-one on the way. Dave and Bec, Nic and Nath, also made commitments to each other and have become engaged in spectactular settings. And last, but not least is Lucy and Tom who have undertaken a recent ambitious renovation of their bathroom and the reason we keep one eye on flight prices to Tassie.

Ladies who lunch :)

Wine-o's - HOT TIN ROOF!

Looking Ahead

In Jan 2011 we're off to India, via Singapore, which we're both incrediably excited about - despite the mixed reactions we get when we tell people. We will also ring in the New Year with great friends and head to the SCG to shake our heads in disgust at the Aussies efforts in the cricket.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many posts in the coming year.
We hope you're having a very safe and happy holiday.

Talk to you soon.Love Us, xoxoxo

So overdue....

Well hello there stranger... Long time no read. Which is entirely Jarratt's fault may I add. :) After years of updating this blog (almost) entirely single-handed I decided I'd let J take the reins and do a few posts. How foolish I was. So I have finally caved and decided if I truly care about the blog and our avid followers I'd need to get back into it.

So here goes:

Its been almost.... oh my.... 3 months since we arrived home. Where does the time go? Its been an absolute whirlwind of activity, which I'm now going to rack my brain to remember. hehe.

We flew into Sydney and were warmly welcomed by all our family and friends, feeling great to be home. The first month was a wave of dinners, catch ups, drinks and general merriment. The next month was a little more stressful. Having no real idea what we were going to do now. You see, we had spent the last 3 months looking forward to getting home that now that we were.... we weren't quite sure what to do with ourselves. Perhaps we should of stayed in London longer? Was a question that passed through my mind, i'm sad to say, many a time. But, slowly and surely we started to get our ducks into line. J took up a position with his old boss, I infiltrated my way into two pretty amazing schools and we got our finances in order to decide if we are in fact ready to make a home together. Big decisions!

With Christenings, Weddings and Christmas just around the corner, life doesn't seem to be slowing down for us. But I guess thats the point, if you dont grab the bull by the horns - it will just pass you by.

Love you all. Bec

Hopefully, next time I write we'll be a bit more settled, with more to update you on.
Til then. Lots of love, Us.