To be married

I read a blog post recently on what it was like for that blogger to be married to her Husband.

 

While I’ve only been married for a few months, S and I have been together for a long time, so I feel like I can comment on what it’s like to know marriage and know my Husband.

 

Since we got married, S has worked a lot. By a lot, I mean that sometimes he isn’t home until I am in bed and he’s also had to work some weekends. For a while, I wondered if I’d ever have a normal marriage again where I got to see him every night…until I realised that there is no ‘normal’. This is a season we are going through. He works hard for the business he works for and we reap the rewards in the long run. Just because life is busy now, doesn’t mean it will be busy always. And so we learn to let life run its course while adapting and changing to accommodate, rather than fight against the changes.

 

And so, to know what it is to be married and be in a relationship with S.

 

- I know when the alarm goes off, he’ll still sleep in for another 10 minutes.
- I know that he loves good food just as much as me.
- I will watch the strange movies he picks because I know he enjoys them.
- To know that when he comes home from work, he’ll have a little yogurt to tie him over until dinner.
- To laugh at his jokes.
- To not be able to breathe from laughing at his jokes.
- To know that without his morning coffee, his mood will be down.
- To always take his coins.
- To know when I need encouragement, he will give it freely and honestly.
- To know when I need support, he is there.
- To have a fan that knows everything about me.
- To be a family. To share a home.
- To annoy him and know that he won’t snap.
- To chat all day long and still have stuff to talk about when we get home.

 

And so much more.

 

Being married to S is wonderful and I can't wait to see how the chapters in our life turn out.

1, 2, 3

Here is a cute photo of sheep I took in Joadja.

1. With just over a week to go until I head off to Bali, I haven’t even started packing my bag. I am what I would call an unorganised traveller. Once I get the accommodation and flight booked, everything else takes a back seat. I still need currency, travel insurance and to pack my bag. Maybe I will do that this week, but it’s more likely to be done the day before if we’re being honest. Anyway, this trip can’t come soon enough. My motivation at work is so low at the moment and I need a relaxing break. New Zealand was good, but days of skiing aren’t exactly relaxing.

2. A few of my electronics decided to die within a week of each other. My kindle broke in New Zealand, I dropped my phone in water (although, surprisingly it’s still working just fine. Do they take time to die?) and my laptop cord died. All of my charger cords seem to fray and then die. Is this just me? Why do my cords fray? I wrap them properly, I think!

3. I am so lazy at the moment. No exercise (I can’t run until my knee heals properly, but that’s no excuse not to do other stuff), no working on my little project and no doing the other things I love. I can also chalk it up to being busy, but I feel like I keep saying ‘I’ll do that tomorrow’ and then a week has passed and I haven’t done anything. Where is my motivation at?

 

How has everyone else been?

Eating out | Baroque, Sydney

 

S and I went to the Rocks recently for the sole reason of tracking down Baroque and ordering Truffle Cheeseburgers. We've both got a new-found love for truffle everything since our friend T made us truffle risotto, so it's only natural that as soon as I saw this on a menu, we were there the next day.

 

Baroque is a beautiful restaurant and seemed to be quite busy for Saturday lunch. I'm sure most people aren't going for the burger, but that did not deter us. For $20 for a burger and fries, I thought it was well priced and I certainly did not leave hungry. In fact, I was a bit annoyed I was so full because the desserts on display were nothing short of amazing and if you know me, you know I love a good dessert. Not to worry, we'll save that for another day.

 

On to the burger. I love burgers, especially ones on brioche buns. The meat patty was moist with plenty of truffle distributed around the patty. The gherkins and tomato chutney were a welcome addition and gave that extra little bit of flavour to the burger.

 

Of course, any burger is made complete with the addition of chips or fries and these fries also didn't disappoint. Salty and crunchy and delicious.

 

The best part was, we had a whole meal including coffee for $50. Um, that doesn't happen at The Rocks so we were pretty happy with that.

  

Have you been to Baroque?
Do you love a bit of truffle?

What have I been up to?

We went on a bit of a date night on Friday night to an old favourite - Glebe Point Diner. I was hoping they had chilli, lemon and garlic crab linguini and my wish was granted. I am new to the world of crab and I must say, I quite love it. Glebe Point Diner gets pretty busy and we usually prefer to go on a weeknight but the service is perfect no matter what night you go. The wine list is extensive and for a hatted restaurant, the prices are reasonable.

Burnt alaska was the dessert of choice. I have a new found love for bombe/burnt alaska and can't go past it if it's on the menu. This one had salted caramel inside which was a nice component of an already delicious dessert. 

Saturday morning my Sister in law and I were up bright and early to take a trip to the flower markets. I took only $50 knowing this would be enough for flowers and breakfast and came away with 4 bunches of flowers, breakfast and change. Honestly, it's such a great place to visit. A lot to look at and if you don't know what you're looking for, like me, then you spend a lot of time wandering and umping and ahhing. That isn't too bad though.

I got two bunches of these stunning tulips and they're just starting to open now. Such beautiful and vibrant colours!

What has everyone else been up to?

Overcoming fear

I’ve known for a while now that I would be presenting a paper at work in front of people that had been in the industry for 20 years longer than I have. People who are subject experts being presented to by someone who’s been in the industry for just over a year. To say I was daunted and nervous was an understatement. I put off presenting, pushed out finishing the paper and even tried to just have my boss present it because of fear. Fear they would question my facts. Fear they would know a lot more than I did and call me out on mistakes. Fear that I would look stupid in front of these knowledgeable people.

 

The other day, I clicked over to fatmumslim and read her post on presenting in front of 200 people. I thought to myself that if someone who is just as nervous as I am, just as anxious as I am can present in front of 200 people for an hour, then surely I can present in front of 10 people for 10 minutes. After I read Fatmumslim’s post, I started to change my mindset and told myself I can do it and I will do it. I told myself that it doesn’t matter what the people in that meeting say – they all started somewhere too.

 

This morning was the presentation and I came to work with a sense of calm. 10am rolled around and I walked with my boss to the meeting room and was still calm. I was surprising myself! I sat down, listened to the start of the meeting and my heart beat started to race. I calmed myself down by thinking of the delicious lunch I’d be having today because by then this would be over and I would still be alive!

 

I presented, I got questions and no-one called me stupid. The feedback I got was helpful, not nasty.

 

It wasn’t so bad after all!

 

Honeymoon Part 1 - Queenstown, NZ

Queenstown, in all its glorious scenery, is a place that I have travelled and will travel to over and over again. With the abundance of wineries on offer nearby, the carved out ski fields and the ever growing mélange of restaurants, there really is something for everyone and every budget.

Our mini honeymoon started with a smooth flight over to Queenstown, sailing through the mountains in to the tiny airport. We picked up our rental car for the week – a Toyata Rav4 we affectionately named Pipie and headed on over to our accommodation at Copthorne Hotel and Resort. The theme of the stay was skiing, so we picked up our rental gear from town and then went to get ready for our first meal of the trip at Rata.

 

There is no hiding the fact that I love food, and good food at that. I had researched and chosen restaurants based on excellent reviews and I didn’t put a budget on what we’d spend on food because when you only get a week long honeymoon, well – you make the most of it.

Rata didn’t disappoint. We were promptly seated when we arrived and although the restaurant was full, the service was prompt and friendly. We went here twice after loving it the first time and both times ordered different meals.

We ordered:

Smoked warehou croquettes with black sesame, soy mayonnaise | Goat cheese profiteroles with Rata blossom honey

Chicken liver parfait, pistachio, orange, crostini

Roast pork, Havot tete de cochon, cauliflower, vanilla poached apple, brussel sprout

The second evening we had a booking at Botswana Butchery. I again had heard many great things about this place and upon walking through the door, we were greeted by friendly staff and a buzzing restaurant. Botswana Butchery specialises in group bookings with their many private dining rooms, but from where we sat, we wouldn’t have picked that. In fact, it wasn’t until I went upstairs to the bathroom that I realised just how huge this restaurant was. You would expect a restaurant serving so many people to be slow, but this was not the case. The service was fantastic, friendly and the waiter was more than happy to give a rundown of the menu and recommendations on what meal to choose. We were also surprised at how large the meals were after expecting typical fine dining small portions. Along with the meals, we ordered three sides and by the end of the meal, we were stuffed. Not too stuffed for dessert though luckily. I’m not sure I could ever be too full for Bomb Alaska!

 

Apart from these two restaurants, we tried a couple more, but none as good as these.

Skiing in New Zealand was fantastic with the choices of either The Remarkables or Coronet Peak. We skied at The Remarkables for two days, then Coronet Peak for 2 days. Well, for me only half a day at Coronet Peak as I stacked it and injured my knee resulting in a bit of a mountain rescue and a sore knee that I can’t straighten! But apart from that, we really enjoyed it and my skiing was a lot better than it has ever been. I even dared to hike up a mountain with my ski’s in hand to check out the view of Lake Wakatipu…meaning a little off piste skiing to get back to the ski runs. All good fun though.

 The last day was spent exploring Queenstown and a quaint little town about 10 minutes away called Arrowtown. It has a real Country Western vibe to it with plenty of little pubs, shops etc. We only spent about an hour there and that was enough to do a walk of the whole town.

It was a great trip. A quick one, but a good one.

Have you been to Queenstown?