The perfect storm and Like A Prayer.

So what an action-packed weekend full of crazy laughter and crazier weather!

Yesterday we had a lovely lazy lie-in until about 8:30am and then Toowoomba got pelted with sheets of rain so deafening I was seriously fearing for the little tin roof over my outdoor area. It just bucketed down for about half an hour, drenching my every desire to start out for Brisbane...

Fortunately it cleared and we were off on our trek to the fair Bris-Vegas. Totally uneventful trip, with Elijah playing music man on the ipod, calling out each random play song and asking me if I wanted to play or skip (note to self: review future playlists. As funny as it was to have my son say the next song was 'Hey Asshole' it was likely rather inappropriate).

Reasonably sunny and just a little bit overcast the whole way, we then pulled up at Cathy's house in Paddington to see water halfway across the road. Obviously we'd missed a bit of rain, we assumed, until we saw the video that Cathy had made of the heart of one of the freakiest storms Bris-Vegas has copped in a while. Basically their lower yard was completely flooded and at the height of the shenanigans, water completely covered the entire road, prompting some caught-on-video road rage, much to our amusement.

So last time was bushfires, and now wild and woolly storms...

We couldn't believe we'd basically driven straight down only to avoid even so much as having to turn on the windscreen wipers...

Anyhoo, we then copped a further lashing later in the afternoon, prompting us to question our evening plans but deciding to forge ahead anyway.

So late as always, with NFI where we were going, we set off to Julie's house. Any Brisbanite would know you're either a northsider or southsider, and never the twain shall meet. Going over the river is like entering a different universe for us committed northsiders.

It was the highlight of my night to stop at the bottle shop at Bulimba to be chatted up by a rather cute (and age appropriate!) attendant who even gave me a discount on my de rigeur pink champagne. Come again...

Indeed.

Several wrong turns getting totally lost on the wrong side of the river later...these two losers finally made it to Julie's pad to see some of the most wonderful people in the world.

What followed was a gourmet spread courtesy of Jules and some wonderful conversation with some amazing people...

And then came a crash of thunder that had us pretty much falling out of our chairs. Oh yeah, another freak storm hits...fark.

So radio set on 80s flashbacks at top volume (to cover sound of thunder) and Cathy and I singing at the top of our lungs (OK I let her sing louder), we made it home.

Several hours of chat sitting on top of her outdoor table (the only dry spot outside the house) and stalking people via Facebook on her ipad, we finally flagged sometime after 2am...

Woke up this morning to...you guessed it...another fricken storm.

After waiting it out we hit the road and made our way back up the mountain, stopping to collect some fresh coral trout (baked for dinner and DELICIOUS).

Lady luck was again with us with not a speck of rain the whole way home..we copped a few showers once we were home and safe but how lucky is that?

And I just log onto the weather website again and poor Brisbane is just about to cop another soaking, likely to be worse than any of the previous...

I lived in Brisbane during the floods last year and it was so devastating, but this is so much worse as there is no warning. I hope everyone I love is staying safe and dry.

So road-trip song of the day...Madonna, Like a Prayer. I think this is the last song she did that I ever liked which makes it all the more special. Sing along with it on your next road trip, you won't regret it!

Oh I was also lucky enough to read what Cathy has started to write of her memoirs regarding her father. It was one of the most amazing stories I've ever read and both of us were crying at the end of it (to date...she's not done yet). I feel so privileged to have been allowed this glimpse into an incredible man, the life he led was nothing short of gobsmacking.

Thank you honey for allowing me to be a part of it.

So I'm thoroughly shattered and happy and exhausted and thankful all at the same time...So lucky to have such wonderful people to share my time with but also so happy to be home in my own bed (no offence Cathy, but you're lucky I didn't scream the house down when your cat jumped on me while I was asleep).

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too! Stay safe Brisbanites!

xx

(Bris) Vegas...part 3. The aftermath.

Pretty sure none of these beverages are recommended
in Skinny Bitch (see left)

How is it that eight girls can make such an unholy mess? I love awesome nights but the aftermath can be brutal so I'm bloody glad I got a good night's sleep and awoke sans hangover (small mercies).


Sadly for me, E woke up coughing up a lung and with bright pink spots on his cheeks so I knew my time in Vegas was numbered. F*#king Ekka flu. This meant I had to forego our planned shopping trip AND visit to a mate of his and his mum which was really unfortunate but what do you do?

We'd offered to give Cathy's teenager a lift to his mate's place for band practice (oh now doesn't that phrase bring back memories?) but somehow he'd managed to go AWOL so time was to be a-wasted.

After a patented half-assed cleanup patrol (ie. bring everything in from the deck and dump in kitchen to 'think about tomorrow'), Cathy and I armed ourselves with an industrial sized icy Diet Coke (or 6) apiece to continue our marathon gossip whilst waiting vainly for # 1 teenage son to materialise.

I was then fortunate to witness one of the most humorous telephone conversations I've ever heard between said missing teenager and mum which included the iconic phrase 'look in the mirror and tell me what a moron looks like'.

Priceless.

Which brings me to the question: what do you do when you realise that you're raising a male version of yourself? Cathy was enraged at Sev pretty much doing the EXACT same thing we used to do and trying to lie his way out of it in the self-same fashion that I remember Miss Housewife herself doing back in the day. Hilarious.

Hey at least he ain't trying to pull the 'dinner and a movie' crap like we used to. Small mercies.

I am anxiously awaiting a blog post from Cathy on this self-same topic.

So, after being 'sugared up' for the road we said our goodbyes, loaded the car with guitars, amps and kids (again...oh the memories) and headed towards The Gap.

Now I have to say, there is definitely one way that Cathy's son does NOT take after her...and that's when it comes to directions. He very thoughtfully and practically gave me plenty of notice to turn including instructions such as 'there's a Brumby's and a Shell coming up and you will need to turn left at the lights after that'.

I say this referring to the day that is forever known in history as 'the day you tried to kill me' (patent pending). As 19 year olds hooning driving sedately in my enormous gold Kingswood, due to my inexperience and Cathy suddenly yelling 'turn right, turn right, turn right', I panicked and cut across three lanes only to be wiped out by a huge Landrover which then led to ME wiping out a fence, median strip and a set of lights.

Impressive.

Fortunately for us, we walked away unhurt. Unfortunately my beautiful gold beast was a casualty, with the boot literally ending up in the backseat which led to the wrecker telling me that if we'd been driving any less than my beloved beast, we probably would've been lucky to walk away.

I lost my beast, which was a dark day in history. But at least I got to keep my friend!

I related this story to a very amused E and Sev as we were driving along, of course.

Anyhoo we dropped Sev off at his mate's to jam and we headed homeward. Driving past the bushfire site (now thankfully put out) was horrifying. It had spread for kilometres in either direction and it was so sad to see the burnt and black landscape where previously it had looked like a dairy commercial. Sad.

Arriving back too late to see the doctor, E spent the rest of the day resting but sadly woke this morning with a raging fever which has only improved marginally as the day has progressed. Here's hoping for an overnight recovery for the poor guy, his cheeks are so pink he looks sunburnt and his eyes are all glassy and unfocused, it's just awful. I'm glad he got a chance to have some fun with X and Sev before this all happened.

So there's my eventful Bris Vegas weekend! Chilling today recuperating and looking at my messy house (and unpacked boxes) but you know what?

I'll think about it tomorrow.

xx

The scene of the crime.

(Bris) Vegas baby (part 2)...I love my girls and hell yeah to DC cupcakes.

Strawberry and white choc cakepops...
heaven on a stick

So back to Brisbane...all in the name of friendship.

It was so exciting to see Cathy and her new, awesome pad, much less the anticipation of the girly gossip, cake pops and diet coke cupcakes to come! Oh yeah!

With the boys happily installed in front of some random video game which inexplicably included beating up Justin Bieber with a chair (?) we were free to indulge ourselves happily in wine, catching up with the usual suspects, some we hadn't seen in awhile and even a fellow Bec who we literally haven't seen since school ended. She is still the exact same, impossibly cute chick we remember and it's just as well she's so bloody awesomely nice or else we'd have to hate her just for that.

It was also awesome to see Tanya, 7 months pregnant, if only because it will be the only time in living history that any of us can boast that our tummies are smaller than hers, even if she is still barely into maternity gear (biatch).

And Julie and Kathy of course...looking ridiculously fabulous as always.

God I have some good looking friends.

And Larissa, straight from the airport and a delayed flight (via the bottleshop...but of course)...tired and sick, but there she was. Now THAT'S friendship.

What followed was several hours of giggles, reminiscing, catching up and generally just revelling in the warmth that great friendship and shared experiences bring. The conversation flowed like wine, and I can tell you that plenty of wine also flowed! So much so that it wasn't until the next day that I realised we didn't even take a single picture.  Ooops.

And the verdict on the cupcakes handmade by Miss 50s Housewife herself?????

I'm in heaven. Better than peanut butter and chocolate ice cream. Yes really.

DC cupcakes may sound odd but I'm here to tell you, they are now my new favourite thing in the whole world. Amazing doesn't begin to describe. Plus we can fool ourselves into thinking they're healthy, as you replace the butter/oil/milk etc with the DC. Perfect.

I won't steal Cathy's thunder for her next blog post but let me just tell you if you ever get the chance to invite yourself around to the housewife hub, you'd be crazy to pass it up.

I know I harp on about friendship all the time, but it can't be overstated how much these girls mean to me. They fill my heart and I come away feeling uplifted and happy and all those wonderful warm fuzzy feelings. I know girls who insist they are 'guys girls' and don't really maintain their female friendships and I can't help but think they're missing out on something amazing. Friendships without agenda and judgement (sadly we've all experienced those) are just so special that words can't begin to describe them. Knowing there's a handful of people in my life who'd be there for me to share my good fortune, help kick the ass of the bad and cheer alongside me in our jail cells (kidding...mostly) no matter what is a pretty damned awesome feeling.

So to my wonderful 'girls' thank you for just being you. And Tanya, I hope you got the quiche out of your shoe, despite the fact that you couldn't bend down.

xx

DC Cupcakes...hell yeah!

(Bris) Vegas baby! (part 1).

Wow, what a weekend! So much to say, so much to write...I think I might have to break this up into a few parts unless I'm going to go for the Guinness Book of Records for longest blog post EVER...

So the long-awaited Friday finally arrived and I was so excited to be heading back to Vegas to catch up with my girls. To be honest, we've probably made more of an effort to stay in touch since I've moved to Toowoomba, but still it feels like it's been ages since I've been able to give them a hug and have a proper gossip of the calibre that is only possible with people you've known more than half your life (gulp).

So after the first aborted attempt to leave town (forgot my iphone - oh the horror), we finally hit the road.

And the traffic.

I've only ever driven the Toowoomba/Vegas route on the weekends or during the week at odd times and never encounter traffic on my back-streets foray from work to home, so I didn't realise that despite this being a much smaller place than Brisbane, peak hour is peak hour wherever you go.

Getting down the range wasn't too bad, at least we kept moving, but then we literally came to a standstill...where we waited, and waited, and waited. Meanwhile it looked like my car was going up a degree more than it should have been, and after a serious Tenterfield debacle last easter where my car's engine literally blew, I'm a little overzealous when it comes to these things. So after a quick pitstop to reassure myself that water/oil ratios were all present and correct, we continued on our (very slow) merry way.

So roadworks after roadworks averted, we pass an electronic sign saying 'Fire Hazard, Hatton Vale. Expect Delays'. Wondering wtf this was all about, we finally hit a decent speed and were on our way, excitedly chatting about seeing Cathy and the kids (whom E just adores) and also totally pumped after E's sports carnival that day where he scored 2nd in the 100 metres, 3rd in the 200 and 5th in the 800 metres, thank you very much my little sportstar!

So here I am slightly frustrated about all the delays as I was hoping to get to Vegas before dark, when we pass through the Hatton Vale region to see this so-called 'Fire Hazard'.

Fire hazard my ass!!!!  It was a proper, old fashion bloody BUSHFIRE.

Seriously, the whole hillside right beside the road on the opposite side was completely alight. There were police and emergency services everywhere and the smoke was so thick it went right through the ventilation systems in the car. Passing by in such close proximity on the opposite side of the road was absolutely frightening. What was worse is that cars were still driving on the other side of the road, literally METRES from blazing trees.

It was terrifying and so, so sad to see such a picturesque area going up in smoke.

I just hope and pray that no-one lost their animals, belongings or god forbid, their lives during this blaze.

By the time we got clear of the smoky haze, it was full-on dark but fortunately we were nearing Brisbane by this stage.

Meanwhile I realised I didn't know the number of Cathy's new house, as she's recently moved since I've been in Toowoomba. Silly bitch decides to just not answer her phone however, so E and I are laughing and leaving increasingly ridiculous voicemails, the last being 'answer your bloody phone!'.

We finally hear back just as we're a few streets away, so out comes iphone maps with E as navigator.

Well there's an error in judgement.

E's skills in navigation include directions such as 'somewhere up ahead we need to turn right but I don't know where'.

And...

'Oh there's the street we were meant to turn down...you know, the one we just passed'

By the time we pulled up in front of Cath's house, I was so relieved to be there I could've kissed the ground. Fortunately our arrival coincided with that of our other friend Kathy (too many (K)Cathys, I tell you!) so I kissed her instead.

And we'd arrived!!!!

xx

Not a great photo due to the smoky haze,
but here's us approaching the bushfire
(and yes, I was wearing my gloves whilst driving, it was cold, OK?