It was a matter of time before I reverted back to my lazy entries.
But I guess that's worth feeling gratitude for, because it means I'm busy/productive, right?

Anyway, after the previous Saturday's epicness, I had to chill for a bit.
Sunday was spent with my mum and her bff. We headed to our good ol' haunt in Cabramatta and ordered some comfort food for the belly. Pho Tau Bay's raw beef pho, pork mince wrapped in rice noodle sheets, and the shenfa pork hock noodle soup topped with vietnamese ice coffee. AHMAZING!

Then it was a week of hectic productivity as I scrambled to get my first experimental chapter written up. But lucky I had a few chill catch ups with my faves to look forward to.
First up, Saturday morning I got to have a nice chat with my littlebro as I gave him a lift to work.
Of course, we ended up running a bit late due to Mardi Gras traffic, but I ended up heading straight to the brunch place instead of meeting Cherry at her abode first.
As fate would have it, I ended up our chosen brunch spot first.

Nan's Place in Waterloo.
What can I say? We somehow ended up there from like 11am to almost 3pm.
They sat us in the secret garden, where we had a nice umbrella covering our heads and pots of herbs for company. The food was great - I got the mushroom, avocado and black rice. It was really yummy, if a bit on the saucy side.
I indulged myself with a soy latte as well!
We talked about so much random stuff.
And the waiters/wairtresses - so cute and personable. One of them was seriously like a hobbit with rainbow suspenders.

Then after our epic long lunch we separated ways and I went to pick up adam so we could go grocery shopping before visiting wange
Somehow we ended up in charge of dinner and made japchae (using this recipe) - like most things in life, it was a little bit of a struggle but we got there in the end. Still impressed we fed 9.5 people with a little over $30?
Lexi and Asher were both adorable. I think they would be capable of giving maternal feels to just about anybody. No, thank you. 
Lol of the day would have to be when Lexi took my hand and lead my upstairs to find her rubber duck. She finds her baby one and looks around for the mother one.
Nekminnit, sees Adam holding the mother duck and she just full on starts bawling~~
I wonder when Lexi will stop being scared of the white one :P
She's the cutest, because she recognises the both of us now.

The Hos (including ChoKaHo) crack me up so much. They're seriously like crack.
Also, have to include this amazing exchange with my mum this morning. I'd told her that aunty had given adam $20 red pocket money (which is the same as what she'd given him). And she replies with, oh that makes sense, she treats you like a daughter so adam is like her future son-in-law. Just like I treat you like my daughter. 
What a troll.

Today, I had brunch with belinda bubbles at Three Williams in Redfern.
I NEEEEEEED to go back. The food was so delish. And the coffee was yummy. The wait wasn't too long and the atmosphere was just really nice. Also, cool to be able to catch up with Bel one-on-one for the first time in awhile.
Unfortunately no photos of the super scrummy french toast (brioche, yogurt, berries and nuts) or the cooked to perfection hot chips because it was dark, but argh, so good.

Then after brunch (which again ended at like...2pm) I went over to visit le boo for a little while before heading home to vacuum, do the laundry and OH CRAP I HAVEN'T HUNG THE SECOND BATCH YET NOOOOOOOOO

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We ended the previous night around 2am after an in depth what would you rather: 75% chance of an intruder versus 25% chance of a ghost.
Needless to say, I did not sleep alone in Jenny's room last night.
Instead I shared the couch with Dom who had to bear with my teeth grinding. Sorry Dom!

The next day we woke up to an overcast sky, with plans to snorkel. hmph.
As it started to rain, we decided to drag out our saturday brunch for as long as we could
The service and food at Globe in coogee were okay, it took awhile to get our orders right and it was pretty busy. I had the guacamole special with poached eggs and...you know, same old same old.
The company made it worthwhile though :)






By the time we finished brunch, the light drizzle had stopped so we thought we might as well brave Clovelly.
Jade and I were super super super reluctant to get into the water, which was really cold. The type of cold your body never fully warms up to. Also, the waters were choppy as anything, which was in direct contrast to what I had been told about Clovelly.
Anyway, Pickelle volunteered herself to go first while Jade and I watched from the sidelines. At one point, she started laughing and we thought maybe Jan and Dom had broken her. But apparently she was just having heaps of fun?
Jade was kind enough to hold my hand and slowly brave the cold waters (before quickly diving back out again haha)
Thus, my first adult snorkelling experience happened. And you know what? I didn't hate it.

There was heaps of seaweed and algae as a result of the waves and currents, but it was actually really exciting see the schools of fish. My favourite of the day was probably mr. stripey.
Towards the end, I had a little bit of a scary moment when the water went down my breathing pipe and I couldn't get it all back out. So I stood up (thankful for the shallow waters), but the waves were so relentless I kept getting pushed back into the rocks.
But phew, we all made it out of there in one piece!

Thanks to Dom and Jan, our experienced and knowledgable instructors of the day for making me feel safe at all (most) times!

Then after surviving the Australian coast, we went back to Coogee for a feed at Moo Burgers

I had to make a mad dash because a miscommunication meant adam had left his house to come pick me up before our meal had even arrived. 

So I went over to adam's for some herby chicken and chocolate fountain fondue, before heading back to Pickelle's to find the kids playing Pandemic and then it was out to Dove and Olive to catch up with a friend heading to Brown University for a postdoc position. There were spiders and pear ciders. 

Got home around 12, completely and utterly knackered. 

&

<3

 

donna.

lol, not entirely sure how i got roped into this one.
actually, no - that's a lie. i know exactly how i got roped into this one.

more things to be grateful for: random breaks in storms, flowerpot scones and boyfriends who make detours. oh, and well-timed changes in daylight savings :P
last minute decision to trek up to the blue mountains for the day with bf & co. and it was awesome. came very close to being an all day eating fest, but decided at the last minute to go to sublime lookout. so glad we did because it was so pretty and natural and amazing with the distant storm looming towards us.

 

got back to sydney in time for dinner and the script concert with uni peeps

thus, my march/april concert madness draws to a close :(

what a fortunate cookie! ed sheeran, the script and jason mraz. awe-inspiring performance, great vibe and lovely company in that order. 

as always, enjoyed my car ride home with janice "my, so much has changed in the last year" liew. :D 

late night conversations in the car with janice also rates very highly in my gratitude diary. 

so much to be grateful for. 

can't wait to see what this weekend brings...

 

donna.

one of many things to go into my recent gratitude diary is rekindling old loves. and that includes my love for these three, right here. i'm just so grateful that, though my love has waxed and waned over the years, we're in love in this moment :)
you guys are awesome.
you make me laugh and you make me fat and you make me addicted to caffeine in the best possible ways. can't wait to share more of these moments, whether it be impromptu bra shopping, befriending or befriending the staff, pretentious coffee orders, not talking about people or, hahaha, drooling together...i miss you already <3

donna.

had a fantastic saturday.
woke up super early and bussed it out to the city. was late to get picked up by wynnie, thanks for waiting!
had brunch at bills - really good coffee and ricotta pancakes but a fair wait and took ages to get seated. in cherry's words, not sure if it's worth going back.
then it was nothing happening and it was AH-MA-ZING! i can't remember the last time I cracked up so bad, but have to give credit where it's due. vivian and cherry are awful/awesome people to sit next to while watching an (un)intentionally hilarious movie. the end was just...no words. unbelievably entertaining, up down up down, gasps and lols.
oh! and also, cameo of The Alleyway, was also amazing. Still can't believe we picked it out :P
then cherry had to go byebye, so me, wynnie and vivian went to messina for gelato and the hazelnut flavour was <3.
then it was vivian's turn to byebye and wynnie was awesome to give me a lift back to the hills, via udon and diy-froyo in eastwood.

so blessed.

 

(fail self-cam of the four of us)

donna.