Monday Catch Up

Monday 19 March 2012 - My goodness, how the time does fly. I have had a break from The Daily Muse, clearly. It isn't really even living up to its name of The Daily Muse right now, but let's set about fixing that. Today's post is for my cousin Kylie xx

Well, the last post was written after a tough couple of days, apparently. I am feeling in a better state of mind this week though, which is pretty brilliant, I reckon. Since then - I went to Free Zumba at King George Square in the city on Wednesday - to find that the Brisbane City Council hadn't turned on the electricity for Carol the instructor to operate her music. Bugger. Not happy about that, but at least I got home early and got to do some chores. Great huh.

On Thursday night, I went to Milton for the Market Research session - on politics. Knowing (and caring) as little as I do about that subject, I felt a teeny bit stupid and uninformed, but hey, they wanted all kinds of people with little to lots of political views, and they still paid me for my time. So hopefully I helped them with their "research", as they helped me with my finances...!

Friday after work, I was heading for the station to catch the airport train, when my friend Corina came out of the building behind me. She was up from Sydney, and was also heading for the airport to fly home, so she let me share her cab AND got me into the Virgin Blue Lounge for a while - lovely! Especially lovely to stay in there when I found out my flight was delayed for an hour... Meantime, she got me onto Words With Friends on our phones, which I became hooked on in quite a short time...

New Parliament House - our nation's Capital

So, I flew to Canberra and arrived at about 10:30pm their time. My friend Kim and her cousin Vicki were waiting for me, bless 'em. Vicki was our chauffeur, entertainment and tour guide over the weekend, which was extremely kind of her - she was great, even if she was a mad Manly fan... I hope she had a good time too. Kim and I stayed at her Uncle Bernard and Auntie Jeanette's place at Queanbeyan, about 20 minutes drive from Canberra city. They were absolutely wonderful hosts, feeding us, making lots of coffee and tea, and providing comfy beds (and an excellent showerhead in the bathroom!) and really making me feel welcome. Very generous and kind people.

On Saturday, Kim, Vicki and I went to the National Gallery to see the Renaissance Art Exhibition. Mightily crowded when we walked into the first room, but I got in line to sidle my way slowly around the first few paintings, with my handy dandy audio guide in my ears. Kim & Vicki were sharing theirs, so they had to stick together - leading, I believe, to stories being cut off when someone got bored, and one or the other being jerked along in a different direction, a comedy of errors really... I liked having my own! The crowds dispersed more, the further along I went, strange how that happens.

The works of art from the 15th & 16th centuries were on loan from a small gallery, the Accademia Carrara, in Bergamo, Italy. I love this kind of art - advertised as Raphael, Titian, Botticelli and Bellini, there were many more artists whose works were great as well. An example of one I really liked (enough to get the fridge magnet!):

The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria - by Lorenzo Lotto

 Afterwards, we all went for lunch at the big shopping centre in the city, and did a bit of shopping. That night, Kim, Vicki, her husband Jimmy and 12 year old son Cade, Bernard, Jeanette and I had dinner at Bellucci's Italian Restaurant in Woden - fabulous service, great food. Hard to fault, and so I definitely recommend it.

On Sunday, we girls did some more shopping at Fyshwick - DFO. I spent ages in the Typo shop - I  never realised how much good stuff they have in there! Bought a Wallpaper guide book on Barcelona and a cute little alarm clock - which was tagged as $9.95, but I worked out later, they charged me $19.95 for... took a little of the shine off that shop for me. Hmmph. Ah well. I also got a pair of Diana Ferrari black flat shoes with 40% off, which was really a bargain. Then at JB Hifi, my favourite store, I bought the Breaking Dawn DVD and the Any Questions For Ben? soundtrack on CD.

Flying back to Brisbane, Kim & I weren't sitting together - she was up the front, I was second row from the back, near the screeching child (admittedly, only for takeoff and landing). I was next to a nice guy who immediately introduced himself as "JJ" and shook my hand, and I told him my name. We chatted towards the end of the flight, after I noticed that he was reading a book on Body Language, while I was sitting there with my arms folded protectively (or, I could have been cold you know). Then at baggage claim, he got his bag and said "Nice meeting you, Nicole". Yep, see ya. Such an impression that I made, clearly. I had to laugh though. He was probably about 25 anyway, I estimated.

Anyway, after a good sleep last night, it was back to work today, and Zumba tonight. I have been writing this while watching Team America on the telly. Funny, funny movie. Love that the Kim Jong Il puppet sounded so much like Cartman from South Park.

I am officially Up To Date with the blog. Hope it was simply fascinating for all my many, many followers =)