Melbourne, my love.

Finally - I've got my arse into gear. Here's the down low on my recent trip to Melbourne. Some highlights and photos.

Hmmm...Where to start? In the words of Sista Maria: "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start."

HEN'S NIGHT SATURDAY

I arrived in Melbourne at 6.30pm to a rainy Melbourne wearing a thermal top and a fleece (possibly a little bit overkill). The rain was unexpected, but a welcome surprise. After a lead weight nap and a few errands, I turned on Hen's night mode.

Stop 1: Lisa's Hen's Night @ Secret Garden of Dance, Camberwell.

What's going on here then?

After a laughter filled salsa, barn dance and an alternative version of musical chairs, I left the girls at Lisa hen's party to move on to my next hen's party.

Stop 2: Karen's Hen's night @ Imperial Hotel, Chapel St
Time for chatter, food & drink

The proud mother-in-laws-to-be: Moira & Ann

Mmm......Michelle, Marika & Mariela

The glamourous Daniella & Marika

Lovely ladies Renee, Mandy & Jasmine

Stop 3: Room 321, The Como, Chapel St
Change of venue to let the Three Minue Angels work their magic.

Karen, the gorgeous bride-to-be
Complete with glass of champagne, flashing sash
and tshirt displaying most unflattering photograph of Stuart

Next, an aerobics class... No, not really.
Sarah from Pole Divas (the sexy chick in the skin tight hot pink singlet and black leggings) came by and gave us a lesson in lap dancing. Surprisingly it was heaps of fun and all of the girls really got into learning how to strut their stuff!

To cap off the night, we headed back to the Imperial for some reminiscent clubbing. Hitting the dance floor with D, Tan & Kaz took me right back to Lemon Lime Vodkas at Redheads! They even played my favourite dance song for the moment: Put your hands up for Detroit. It was an awesome time! Huge kudos to Amanda and Jasmine for all of their hard work to make it a seamless and adventurous night despite the many hiccups.

GOURMET SUNDAY (aka Fat Sunday)

Sunday morning I caught up with the Pons in their new Doncaster residence. Absolutely love the house. And Jessica & Christopher, you are the most well mannered children ever! And thanks Brendan & Beatriz for the hugest and yummiest of breakfasts!

Christopher, Brendan, Daniella, Jessica & Gayle.

Next it was on to Plume to catch up with my family and see if I could fit any more food into my stomach. As it turns out, yes I could. Hard to go past Yong Tofu and Char Siu Bao's at Plume.

Then for dinner it was to Donovans, St Kilda, for Katherine's Birthday (apologies for lack of photos). I have always wanted to go to Donovans, as it has long been an icon on the Melbourne culinary scene, and I wasn't disappointed. Despite the fact that it seats 120 people, the dining area feels like the dining room of a friend's beach house. It's cosy, without being squashy. The meals, ranging from grilled prawns to fish to pasta to chicken pie were all delicious. And the service was amazing. We were quite blown away, when after ordering a peppermint tea and commenting that she should have ordered a chamomile tea to go with the honey, the waitress happily offered to exchange it for her. I would say that Katherine, Amy, Monica, Cheryl and I were all in agreement that Donovans definitely lived up to its reputation.

MORE CATCHUPS

AXA peoples catchup: Me, Lulu, Truc, Canny, Matt & (Anna)

Little Person's Catchup: Zoe (& Katherine)

Zoe again... she's so cute!

There were many more catchups and dancing sessions including Lebop at Ashburton, Timon visiting from Japan, the Brunswick gang at Thaila Thai (just as good as it ever was), Anna with the atrocious parking in Fitzroy, lunch with Tania and dayspa'ing with D. I won't list them all, but thanks to everyone for the brunches, lunches, dinners and making some time to catch up, it was a really lovely week.

Wedding #1

Lisa and Ben got married on Saturday 31st March at the Sacred Heart on Rathdowne St Carlton. With such a beautiful church and Lisa looking radiant in white, I had tears in my eyes even before she started walking down the aisle. The reception was a cocktail affair at the Mandalay in Northcote. The speeches were an absolute highlight. They were all so composed and heart felt, I think I cried through all of them... I hoped that my tear quota had been used up in preparation for the next day. A gorgeous venue, with way too much food and an awesome play list! It was difficult to leave.

Ben & Lisa's wedding dance
Photo c/- Susie (thanks Suse!)

Wedding #2

Karen & Stu were married on a glorious day at The Boulevard, Kew on April 1st. The ceremony was held outside in the sun. As beautiful as it was, with the sun shining on my back, I began to feel uncomfortably hot... but then I looked at the groomsmen and was thankful that all I was wearing was wearing only a dress. It was the perfect day though, from start to finish. Being lucky enough to be part of the bridal party, I was able to follow the couple around one their big day. Here are just some of the photos.

Jasmine gets her hair done by Jila who did such a wonderful job with all of us.

Amanda also gets glamourised before we head off to Myer for makeup at MAC.

Jasmine & Ann give Karen a helping hand with her dress.
Meanwhile Karen, already looking slendiferous,
has a celebratory champagne to ease the nerves.

Karen - elegant, stunning, beautiful!

A high five for moral support from nephew Xavier

The gorgeous and newly married Mr and Mrs Wales, Studley Park

The Johnston Family
Lara, Amanda, Xavier, Paul, Suzy (the dog), Stu, Karen, Phil & Ann

Three very green Bridesmaids: Me, Amanda, Jasmine

The handsome groomsmen take a few mintues out.
Andrew, Richard, Dave and Stu.

Happily married for a few hours now.
Karen & Stu outside the Rivoli.

Back at the reception, everyone joins in with the Scottish dancing.
With reels and doseedoing called, it kept us dancing until the end of the night.

Frank (on loan from Daniella) & I join the dancing.

A self portrait of sorts!
Not sure what is going on here.

What a big day!
Paul, Tania, Me & Daniella

AND THAT WAS IT! My trip to Melbourne... more or less! xoxox