Tanya's Survival Guide.

How to Survive a Baby Shower.

1) Bring bottles of wine.

2) Make sure you have at least one other friend there who also drinks wine.

3) Make sure you start drinking early (this makes the baby games funnerer).

4) If you are playing a game where you have to wear pegs around your neck and not say the 'b' word (baby) because if you do say it you will lose a peg, it's most fun to go to the clothes line and pull off pegs to add to your collection. That way you will have A LOT more pegs than everyone else and you will win the game. P.S. No one seemed to notice that I had a ridiculous number of pegs hanging around my neck - more than the number of people actually at the shower (and they weren't even drinking!!!).

5) You might like to start your own game called 'drama' where you acuse a friend of not giving you their peg when they said 'baby' (even though they didn't) and when someone points out you just said the 'b' word tell them they cannot have your peg because the game is rigged! (In fact it is rigged by you.. cos you went to the clothes line earlier and added a few hundred pegs to your own collection but they don't know that).

6) Keep drinking wine.

That's how I survived my friend's baby shower.

P.S. Luckily my friend doens't use the internet.. otherwise I would have to give back the egg cup I won in that 'pegs around your neck' game!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.

I never normally blog about a book I've read.. but I loved "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" by Mark Haddon so much I thought I'd review it here.

It's a very easy read with short chapters and it's written in simple language because it's from the point of view of a child. The child has aspergers and a brilliant mind. There's a central story line where the child is investigating the murder of a dog in his street. But intertwined with the story are chapters about math, the universe, science, etc, which I found fascinating to read.

I thoroughly recommend this book. 5 gold stars!

Sydney Trip.

Greg and I went to Sydney over the Cup long weekend. We arrived on Friday night and after dropping our bags off we were taken to the Opera Bar, which is next to the Opera House and has beautiful views of the harbour. It was the perfect way to start our weekend in Sydney. My only complaint is that it rained and I got rather soaked. In fact it rained almost the entire time we were in Sydney, except for Sunday when we had the most beautiful, sunny weather!

We spent our time in Sydney seeing all the usual sights.. Opera house, Harbour Bridge, CBD, etc.. and went to Manly for the day. We took advantage of the sunshine on Sunday and ended up back at the Opera Bar, enjoying our drinks while lazing in the sun. I had a great time and am now thinking Sydney makes a great weekend getaway!

No Internet Credit Make Me Go Crazy!

I am really frustrated at work at the moment because I have run out of Internet credit. We are now capped on our usage and when we run out we have to go and ask for more. The point of the Internet cap is to slow people down in their Internet usage. However, while I've been carefully monitoring my usage, other people at work have continued with their huge download rate. When they run out they simply go and ask for more and are given more. The only thing the process does is cause annoyance while you can't access the Internet.

Since I monitor my usage I asked for more credit before I ran out. No one did anything about it and a few days later I ran out. I've asked MANY times now for more credit and all I keep hearing is "oh yeah I forgot to reset it".

It is so frustrating to be at work without my sanity (AKA Internet!). Not to mention the fact that I also NEED the Internet for some of my work!

Cam's 30th Birthday.

On Friday night was Cam's 30th birthday. He organised a cruise along the Yarra with drinks and nibblies included! The sights were great, the food was great, the company was great, there was dancing and plenty of alcohol.. what more is there to say. :)

Phantom of the Opera.

Today I went to see the latest production of The Phantom of the Opera. I thought it was a fantastc show, though at times it was hard to hear words during songs. Definitely recommended. :)

Pick Ups.

Last night I went to see a play at the Fringe Festival called Pick Ups. The show contained several skits all based around people trying to pick each other up. It was face paced and funny and definitely recommended.

This is England.

I just saw the movie This is England and really liked it. I haven't seen a good movie for a long time! The film was thought provoking. moving and heavy at times. I definitely recommend it if you're after a powerful but highly entertaining film.

Are you good at problem solving?

Thought I'd share.. very funny I think!

A trip of indulgence.

For my birthday Greg organised a trip away to Hepburn Springs - including three nights of accomodation in a cabin AND an afternoon of pampering, which included access to a mineral spa and sauna, a one hour aromotherapy massage and a one hour facial. After that I was floating..

We also went for a walk to the springs, had lunch at the Boat House cafe on the Daylesford Lake and made it to the Dayelsford chocolate cafe!

Definitely a birthday experience I will remember! :)

Here's some photos from our trip:

Boat House cafe	Chocolates from the chocolate cafe
Spring water	Our cabin