Evan's 54th Birthday

Sunday 24 February

Please keep this date available. You are all cordially invited to come and celebrate my Birthday 🎂! Angel, Fiona, Jen and Eva are also invited! Pls inform them. The more the merrier 🎊 🎉 

With the exception of the What & When, I have yet to decide on the Where and How. Please watch this space.

P.S. sorry Mui, pls ask Pratik (did I get the name right?) to join us as well 😜🤣.

So this was Evan's FB family evite

Janet and I trained it to Hurstville and walked to Carlton, to have lunch - which was kebabs with salad, leb bread and garlic dip.

Then for dinner, Evan had prepped ribs, in a water bath, which he then finished off in the oven. He also had a 1/2 baked salmon with veggies.

Bindy made him a chiffon cake, while I bought donuts to make a donut cake. Darren and Jen supplied the choc chip mint ice cream.

Everyone was there, except for Angel.

Belinda Carlisle in Concert

Saturday 23 February 2019

Arranged to meet up with Ronald and Leah at Strathfield at 6pm.

Went to dinner at Hiroba, Japanese. Had a Sushi and Soba set, Ronald had the Karage Chicken and Sashimi bento box and Leah had the Tempura Udon. Ronald paid for dinner.

We then caught the train to Newtown.  Walked to the Enmore theatre.  Our seats were upstairs O27, 26, 25.

Theatre was packed, sold out session.  All age groups. Although Belinda was a bit late out on the the stage, she sang all the hits from Runaway Horses and others, performing bare footed on stage.

After the show we caught the train back to Strathfield, via Redfern - express, and got back just past 11pm.  Ronald was enjoying the night out without kids, so we went to Lab to have cakes and coffee, after checking that Hello Happy was closed.  I had a hot chocolate, Ronald and Leah had lychee crushers, a cake and a crab roll. I shouted dessert.

Sat and talked until staff announced they were closing, so we finished up, walked back through the tunnel, said our goodbyes and I walked home.  

Premier's Gala Concert

Friday 15 February 2018

I took a 1/2 flex day on Friday, so that I could attend the Premier's Gala Concert and also check out the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival.

Both Lily and I got the free tickets for the concert, 16 tickets in total.

Finished work at 12noon and met up with Evan at Strathfield. We had lunch at Hiroba, Japanese. Evan paid for the meal. He had a karage chicken bento box and I had a tempura udon. We then caught the train to Central and walked via the underpass to the back of Haymarket/Powerhouse and then through the Steam Mill lane to the ICC theatre.

 As we had time, I wanted to check out what freebies were on offer at the CNY Lantern Festival. Bit of a disappointment. They all wanted your details or you needed to be using Wee Chat. So after walking around and taking photos of each of the lanterns, zodiac animals, fishes, dragon, we decided to go up to the Exhibition halls level to check out the views from up there and find out where the others were.

They had finished their lunch at Darling Harbour food court and were heading to the ICC theatre. Managed to see some of them, the others we saw when we headed to our seats which were on level  3, all the way up top, as Tim Campbell called it, the "Kosciusko" section. 4 rows down from the very top. Thank goodness for the big screens and eye glasses.

Performances by Casey Donovan, Marina Pryor, Adam Brandt, Tim Campbell and the Martinez bros (with Victor Martinez in lead guitar), the show was very enjoyable.

After the show, we made our way down - lost some people - found some people. Checked out the CNY Lantern Festival - Lily, Mary and Teresa managed to get some freebies.

I came away with a lantern and a waterbottle (I was thirsty) after filling in fake details.

Then we slowly walked to Market City - slowly as in U. David's pace stopping frequently whenever Evan took a photo.

Finally got to Market City and found a table in the food court area downstairs. Bought food to share and ate our dinner, before the oldies headed back home, catching the light rail to Central.

Evan and I stayed on to watch the lighting of the lanterns. We listened to the opening speeches, but I was getting tired, so suggested we find somewhere to sit and wait it out, so we sat along the outside of the exhibition hall and people watched and waited. The opening of the festival was at 7pm, but unfortunately for us, the lighting didn't happen until after 8pm, I was just about to give up.

We went up to the hall level to get a birds eye view first of the lights, and then back down to take closer pics. They did look better lit up. We did a loop and then headed home.

Lunar New Year Festivities and Dragonboat Racing

Saturday 9 February

We (Lily, Janet, Kaylene, Evan, A. Cath and I) caught the train out to Town Hall and walked to Darling Harbour to catch some of the dragonboat action.  It's just not the same, now that we no longer paddle.  Plus with all the construction going on around the harbour, and the fence which prevents you from being up close to the action, it's not as exciting.

Manage to catch some lion dancing in front of McDonalds, whilst Kaylene treated us all to frozen cokes.

Did a loop around Darling Harbour, over the Pyrmont Bridge and then to Market City to catch the lion dancers on high poles at 3pm.  Had to wait 20mins before they started.  Almost had a repeat of an incident several years back where a dancer fell off the poles, but this time, he managed to land on his feet and could get back up and continue performing.

By the time they finished we were all starving, so we found a table and Janet and Evan went off to order the food - Thai and Chinese - ended up sharing, char kway teoh, singapore noodles, pad thai and a pad see ew. After lunch I bought us some Chatime drinks, continued on to the markets - Janet and A. Cath checked out the fruit and vegie section. Bought some vegies and then we walked to Central to take the train home.

We missed the Hurstville Lunar New Year festivities as we were attending Tamlyn and Hani's wedding that day, Saturday 2 February.

Wedding of Tamlyn & Hani

Saturday 2 February

Amazingly we were all ready and the first ones to arrive at the church.  Darren came home and so, Janet, Fiona and I went with him.  Lily, Mark, Kaylene and Nathan came in the silver car. Justin had ice hockey and Sophia had teaching.

The ceremony was held at St Gertrudes Parish, St Benedict's church, in Smithfield.

The bride wore white, the bridesmaids, all 3 sisters wore gowns which were white and gold. I think this is the first time I have seen Hani in a suit.

The priest was very unconventional, showing a video in the middle of the service. Not quite a traditional mass.

Both sides filled the seats. The mother of the groom wore a red dress.

Outside the church there was some photos taken and drumming and dancing.

After the ceremony, Lyn invited us back for tea and cakes. They also had arancini balls (rice with corned beef) and roast chicken, but not enough. Nathan ended up going with Ryan, Mathew etc to a charcoal chicken place, and brought us back some chips and chicken.

Went home, to change my outfit, and rest a bit, before we had to head to the reception.

Mark drove the Tarago, with Mark's mum in the front, Teresa and Lily in the middle and Janet, Fiona and I in the back seat.

The reception was held in the Banquet Room at Curzon Hall in Marsfield at 5.30pm

They had a sign-in book, photo booth with book and pre-drinks, before everyone was asked to take a seat.

Janet, Fiona and I were on table 10, with Justin, Sophia, Nathan and Mathew Simon.

Alternate food options.
Entree: Scallops or Eggplant
Main: Chicken or Steak
Dessert: Creme brulee or Ice cream parfait

Very traditional with introduction, speeches, toasts, dancing, tossing of bouquet and garter and farewell.

Noisy drumming and music. DJ had the music on loud - playing a mix of English and Lebanese music.

Lots of dancing

On leaving, we took most of the floral displays as they had been created by Xavier, The real flowerboy, who had told us we could and should take them.

Went home in Justin's car, with Daz and Sophia, dropped Daz off at Jen's, before going home.