Impending arrivals

This weekend just gone was spent in the lovely surrounds of Melbourne, attending my cousin's baby shower. Her little girl is due to arrive in less then 4 weeks although just quietly, many of the Mums in attendance suspect that baby hanging on for another 4 weeks is really only an outside chance - the money is well and truly on an early arrival (which my cousin would probably be VERY happy with!). The great thing about baby showers, apart from catching up with everyone and seeing all the baby cuteness on display, is the amazing food on offer - just like a high tea only with all of my childhood favourites including jelly cakes, woo hoo! Even better, I came home with a prize. As my only claim to mothering fame is that Honey Boo, the cutest puddy in the world, is still alive after 7 months in our house, no-one was more surprised then me. The facts on babies that I have stored away in my head is mind boggling as it turns out. Mind you, I am sure it is all down to me being a marketing department's dream - everything I have learnt about babies has come straight from TV ads on Huggies and J&J baby shampoo.

There was also some shopping to be had too. What is a trip away without shopping after all. I don't know why it is but although the same shops are in Sydney, when you visit them in another location, they seem so much better. Maybe it is having Mum and Auntie S there to provide helpful advice makes it more fun. Anyway, I splurged in Zara (yep, it was a weekend of suprises), Target and even picked up some new tan ankle boots on the way back to the hotel to collect my baggage. It was brilliant visiting all of the old lane ways and arcades I used to know so well when I lived in Melbourne and I loved the Collins Place display which was a cheeky nod to Melbourne's rainy weather...

A Girls Weekend and then a Holiday!

Whilst in Hobart for the conference, I was joined by my Mum who flew in on Friday afternoon to spend some time with me. We had a lovely girls weekend - lots of seafood, shopping and champagne! We spent a lot of time at the Salamanca markets on Saturday and trawling through the galleries close by. We bought quite a few accessories between us (could this be the biggest understatement of 2012 so far?!!). I got some lovely earrings and a throw for home which should compliment the renos we are starting in March and Mum got a beautiful scarf for herself and one for Auntie S too. We had a fabulous time and it was sad to get back on a plane on Sunday - Mum heading back to Melbourne and me back to Sydney.

Luckily though it was a short week at work as Eady and I headed off to Hawaii for a holiday on Thursday! Our first visit to this heaven-on-earth was about 18 months ago after an adult lifetime of avoidance (tourist trap anyone?) but cheap Jetstar flights and a hot Aussie dollar convinced us to take the chance back then. Gosh, we are sure glad we did! We had a fabulous time first time around and are delighted to be back for the second time, woo hoo!!

From the mouths of babes

On the weekend, I spoke to our nearly 5 year old niece Stella, who lives all the way over in London. Stella and I (or Little Monkey and Big Monkey respectively) love to have chats about what is going on in the world - what songs we like to sing (Anything on Singstar), why Australia is so sunny (Baba is smiling down from heaven) and who gets to sleep in which bedroom on the family trip to London for Christmas 2011 (Lucky Eady, if Stella gets her way he will be bunking down with Grandma!!). But our chat this weekend took a decidedly serious turn and in the interests of highlighting the brevity of it, here is a direct transcript:

Stella (whispering): Cole-Cole, Can I tell you a secret?
Cole K: Sorry, what was that?
Stella (whispering slightly louder): Can I tell you a secret?
Cole K: Oh, okay, go on then
Stella: My parents are donkeys
Cole K: What?
Stella: My parents are donkeys
Cole K: Donkeys? Your parents are donkeys? What does that mean?
Stella (slightly exasperated): Yes, donkeys. That's what we call people that we think are pretty silly
Cole K: Oh...okay.

So, so harsh. And the worst bit, Stella isn't even a teenager for another 8 years!!

Our hearts are sad

Eady flew to Melbourne very early this morning with his sister Dordie. They heard late last night that their beloved Grandfather, Grandpa Des, had taken a turn for the worse and was not expected to live beyond the weekend. Grandpa Des has been battling lung cancer after being diagnosed a few months ago and whilst he has been fighting it with the understated yet steely strength that he is known for, it has become much a much harder fight over recent days and his health has deteriorated dramatically.

I have known Grandpa Des for close to 16 years, having fallen head over heels in love with Eady at first sight way back then and meeting his family soon after. Grandpa Des was just so lovely to me at our first meeting and made me feel like I was a very welcome addition to the clan despite the fact that Eady and I were very, very young yet extremely adamant that we were made for each other! So whilst there were a fair few cynics in the early days (understandably), we never had to justify our feelings for each other to Grandpa Des as he was able to see just how much Eady and I felt about each other despite our age and our relatively new relationship. He just accepted the whole "Cole loves Eady for ever and ever" at face value and made me feel like a Granddaughter-in-law from the very start. Therefore, it seemed only right that I call him Grandpa Des.

Unfortunately I got a call from Eady early this afternoon to confirm that Grandpa Des had passed away. My heart is sad to have lost this dignified yet warm and affectionate man with a tremendous love for his family. Sad too, for what Eady is feeling right now as his grieving begins. I really just want Eady to get back to Sydney so I can wrap him in my arms and reassure him that for as long as there is love, Grandpa Des will always remain in the hearts of all of those who loved him dearly. Me included.

My Weekend

It has been really nice spending time with my Mum over the weekend. We did all of the usual things we do like chatting, shopping, having lunch and dinner and just taking life at a much easier pace then I do when I am in Sydney. Mum also updated me on all of the local happenings and although I haven't lived there for over half my life now(!), I still like to hear what is going on and how well everyone is doing. I got to catch-up with some of my favourite relatives like Auntie Stef and Uncle Henry who made a delicious dinner for Mum and I on Saturday night and whom we met for dinner each night I was there. For other relatives, like my wonderful grandparents, all I could do was take some flowers to the cemetery. Last April, we lost my beloved Grandma after a long illness. Being from the Ukraine, we called her Baba, which means Grandma in Ukrainian. We all miss her every day and for me, I still find it hard to believe that she isn't around anymore and find myself close to tears whenever I think about her. I guess the only consolation is that she is reunited with her husband, my Dido, who passed away 15 years ago. But I really do miss being able to visit them both and be plied with Ukrainian food of all descriptions. From the time I was little, I was always on the skinny side and Baba took this with great offence and did everything she possibly could to fatten me up. She would exclaim every time I saw her, in an accented English/Ukrainian hybrid language she developed over the years "Ah, my Cole-y, you so skinny, you like a skinny rabbit". I used to think that being compared to a rabbit was quite nice, rabbits are pretty cute after all. What I didn't realise until recently was that she was actually comparing me to a skinned rabbit not a cute and cuddly, fluffy rabbit. Bless, Baba sure knew how to tell it like it is.

Even though I have tried to make Baba's recipes, they just don't taste as good. Luckily we got to visit Baba and Dido's best friends, Mr and Mrs P, over the weekend. I have known them all my life and Baba and Dido knew them for most of theirs - they first met in a war camp in Germany back in the 1940s before meeting up again in Australia. Mrs P had done some baking in the day and I got to try it in vast quantities - sauerkraut and bacon filled pierogi. These are best described as being similiar to dim sum only made from pasta and filled with assorted stuffings like cabbage, potatoes and usually some sort of fatty, delicious meat. OMG, amazing! I told her how much I missed Baba's food and that I was so happy to be eating authentic Ukrainian food again. Mrs. P gave us lots of peierogi to take home and Mum was so concerned that I was going to wolf them all down as soon as we got back to her house that she had to remind me to "Leave some for me!". Ooops, my reputation for eating is well known in Mum's house....

Presents for Cole!

My Mum has recently returned from London after visiting my sister and her family. Although Mum was fairly unperturbed about being over there during the RW (I am sure her one and only true princess is Diana hence the lack of crazy levels of excitement like yours truly), one thing she did get very excited about was the shopping on offer in ye old Blighty. Luckily my sister is quite the fashionista with a detailed knowledge of the whos, whats, wheres and hows of shopping in London and is quite partial to a bit of shopping herself - the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree after all. Usually my Mum is quite happy to discuss things that she has bought herself and has been known to discuss not only the item in question in detail but also how she would wear it and when. When I asked Mum what she had bought herself whilst on holiday she was a little bit cagey and didn’t really answer the questions directly, employing all the usual diversional techniques we did as teenagers when she would question us about what we had got up to the night before. Knowing Mum like I do, this probably means she hit the shopping jackpot and is no doubt cleaning out one of our old bedrooms to house all of her new goodies. Woo hoo! I think I am going to have to fly down and visit her soon just so I can see her new things for myself.

Apart from Mum having a lovely time with my sister, brother-in-law and niece, one of the personal benefits for me was that I got some belated birthday presents! When Mum arrived home from the UK, she promptly posted the presents interstate and let's just say, I am one lucky b'day girl...Firstly Mum bought me a lovely jersey dress in a beautiful purple colour and when I tried it on I felt very much like Ms. Joan Holloway of Stirling, Cooper, Draper, Price from the Mad Men series (minus the boosies of course).

The really cool thing is that the dress can be worn back-to-front should I feel the need to be a little more saucy. I just know that this dress will become a staple item that I wear to The Office. It is by L.K. Bennett which has The Duchess’ seal of approval too. Bingo.

Mum also bought me a gorgeous high-waisted, tulip skirt which emphasises the waist whilst making the width of the hips seem like it is due to the folds and darts in the fabric (as opposed to real hips due to cupcake consumption). The skirt is from the Marks and Spencer Limited Collection range and will easily take me from a work day in heels to a weekend in ballet flats and even to a night out thanks to the subtle metallic sheen on the fabric. From my sister and co. I got a lovely scarf which is beige with pink and blue strips. It matches the skirt perfectly which is super clever present giving from them. I wonder if my little niece chose it? Not only is she very clever but pink and blue are her two favourite colours. Thank you Little Monkey, Big Monkey loves it very much. 

As for my last present, how sweet is this? It was a Christmas present, Christmas 2011 that is! Mum sent it up to me with a little note saying that although it was a Christmas present, I should open it now and enjoy it. I was very impressed by her organisation and when I unwrapped the gorgeous Soma London cardigan, I was very impressed with her choice too. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this cardigan and I am so pleased that Mum gave it to me a whole 7 months early!