A Right Royal Celebration!

Monarchist or republican, I don't think it mattered yesterday when the entire world celebrated the Royal Wedding! It was such a nice change from seeing death and devastation on our television sets!

So, to celebrate (and have an excuse for something a bit out of the ordinary!), we decided to have our own little Royal Wedding Dinner!

Firstly, I dressed the table. Not particularly regal but with a couple of special touches!

These included a couple of London double decker buses (direct from our trip there last year) and some kissing love birds who we've named Wills and Kate!

The entree was a plate of canapes......smoked salmon, cream cheese and fennel on one and cream cheese and sun dried tomatoes on the other!
On the menu for mains was Dear Husband's speciality....Oyster Soup Rockefeller.....accompanied by herb bread and an extremely fine bottle of grape drink plonk from Coles (the kids love this stuff and it was pink so all the better!)
Dessert was particularly successful.....Berry Chiffon topped with a fresh strawberry. As you can see, the effect was very nice!
Naturally, we were completely full at the end and retired into the media room to view the live telecast of how the real royals do it! My only complaint was that I could not find a crown in any shop anywhere for us to wear! They seemed to be all sold out. Go figure!

The whole evening was heaps of fun (despite my children being completely fussy in their eating!) but was followed up by the inevitable scourge...the washing up! If only we had a few maids to wait on our dishes at the end, too!

Happy Easter

I am a little late in posting this, but for all of you who are still reading my blog, hope that your Easter was fabulous.

As well, I hope that all Aussies and New Zealanders today had a restful and reflective ANZAC Day. Usually, I write a lot more. This year, I'm not! Such is life!

Easter Holidays and a Trip To GOMA!

For the uninitiated, GOMA is short for the Gallery of Modern Art, situated on Brisbane's Southbank cultural precinct. During the January school holidays, I had promised to take Miss Eleven to visit there as a) we'd heard that it was fantastic and b) it was free!!! Unfortunately, the week we had planned to go was so rained out that that entire area flooded and everything shut down until the waters receded.....so no GOMA visit!

Fast forward to the Easter holidays and no floods meant that we could go! And what a fun time it was! Not only was it very hands-on and child-friendly but there was something of interest there for kids and adults alike! Unfortunately, there were a few queues (nothing compared to our Europe trip though!) but the exhibits were well worth it!

My favourite was the finches exhibition and the 'First Jobs' pictures! I hope you enjoy my little iphone montage of our day! Miss Eleven loved the balloon room despite the hour's wait! The exhibition finishes next week so we are probably one of the last people in Brisbane to go! But it was fantastic fun and very much recommended!


The white brick construction table:

Wall of posters? Messages? Not sure:
I loved this exhibit....so retro and interesting:
Down the slide to the GOMA exit!

Brisbane Planetarium and Botanical Gardens

I took this when doing my motherly duty and volunteering as a parent helper for my daughter's class excursion. No, it wasn't to the planetarium proper, but to the surrounding Botanical Gardens. At one point, when I was just about to drop, I sat down and looked across to the imposing Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium building and just couldn't resist getting out my phone for a picture!

(And yes, I have worked out another way to get my iphone photos onto my computer! I have no idea why it wouldn't work the old way!)

I Am Not Ignoring You!!

Life is hectic so this is one of those 'excuse posts' for why I haven't posted!

1. My pictures won't load from my iPhone to the computer! No idea why! It's so annoying cause I have a gorgeous picture or two to upload....download....whatever!

2. We got carpet laid! Anyone who has done this will be taking sympathy on me about now! It was a whole weekend of moving the furniture of half of our house! What a job! Boxes and boxes of important items/junk/crap....along with the furniture....had to be moved out of five rooms and stored into 2 rooms! It was a nightmare and I still cannot get my car in the garage as my kids decided to store some of their belongings there and it is a standoff as to who puts it back!

3. Work! I know, we all blame work....but I have worked a few extra days and....well....you know the rest!

4. High school interviews. Can you believe that my baby is going to high school interviews? She has another 18 months to wait, but after sitting through interviews, waiting on offers and taking up an acceptance, she is counting down!

5. Children who have a social life that is better than mine......enough said!!!

6. The study renovation! As I type this I am actually sitting in it....although it's not finished! More on that to come!

7. Sport...the netball season has begun and that takes out our Saturday mornings again.

8. Running to doctors. I was sick with swollen, aching joints. I went to doctor...had blood test...went back to doctor....went to specialist....went for another blood test....went back to doctor....went for another blood test.....went back to doctor annnnnddddd....it is a virus! They have no idea what but it mimicked arthritic symptoms and was very painful. I'm on the mend now and my blood levels are returning to normal! Phew!

9. Ok, I'm at a loss about here....but you get my drift! I've been busy!

I am hoping to have pics etc up soon! Right now, I am off to pick up my teenager who is currently enjoying himself at a Good Charlotte concert!