...so perhaps not the end, end...

So guess what.
I am engaged!

Paul propsed in an outrageously romantic and thoughtful manner and of course I graciously accepted. (Graciously but perhaps not elegantly. There was alot of tears and as a result, less than attractive slobbering, mucus flow and weird hiccoughy noises)
So I find myself once again here at my blog, writing a whole bunch of shit that few will read but the act of which will bring me great satisfaction.
I have found the documenting of my life events here in this format a very cathartic exercise. As things inevitably raise to a fever pitch here at Wedding HQ, I will need this bloggy bit as a vehicle to quiet the headnoise my manic brain creates when over excited (as I am very prone to be)
It is also, as always, a convenient and easy way for a lazy girl to keep my far flung friends abreast of events as they unfold. Feel free to skim and only extract the actual info you need. (dates, venues, homicidal rages and suicidal urges..)

I am incredibly excited about the proposal and impending nuptials. The whole notion of all of our peeps coming together for a week long party is my idea of heaven. Not to mention of course, the fact that I have found an amazing person, who matches me perfectly that I wish share stuff with forever – and am enjoying mostly every minute doing so. Our little inter-species family is something amazing and brings me so much, joy, contentment and quite often hilarity. To quote the great Cole Porter, who could ask for anything more!...

So check back again soon. Track my progress on this wedding planning mission and feel free to comment anytime with suggestions (always received enthusiastically) or preventative Bridezilla techniques. (My greatest fear of becoming)

This is the end....

There will be no more blogging for an indeterminate period.
Fo reasons too lengthy and probably quite boring to recount, I have decided I no longer have the inclination to continue this blog.
Photos of our life can be viewed and commented on at my flickr site. Other than that - hey, remember the phone? Give me a call and we'll catch up. Of course there is also good old reliable email.
When I get back on the saddle and decide to do this again, in another format, rest assured I will let you know.
I sincerely thank you so much for reading, and it sure was fun while it lasted.
Love and kisses
L-Mxx

We are off on holiday, fools! So don't wait up.
There will be another blog gap I should imagine, however down in the more civilized southern states I believe they have these internet cafe contraptions where I can take the lap top and use their wireless network.. I don't know.
Anyhoo, please be assured that if I have a spare moment I will be checking in with tales of high adventure and intrigue.
I now also have a myspace page, you should get one too.
See you in the soup.

Cocktail Hour

Last night was the introduction of Cocktail Hour at Casa Mystones. It was a roaring success. But before I elaborate, let me give a brief history of The Cocktail Hour. (which neither lasts only an hour, or involves "cocktails" as such)

This version of Cocktail Hour was conceptualised back in the mid 90s in a little house in Como, Perth. I was living there with a bunch of Darwin expats and we had few friends and had even less money. We had to make our own fun and thus the Cocktail Hour was born.
One sunny Spring afternoon, we had all gathered at home after a long day of attending uni lectures, part time jobs or basic loafing around in a stoned haze. It was payday and after the pooling of resources. allotment of monies to various household expenses and a run up to the local for a couple of goonbags, inspiration struck. We gave ourselves half an hour to find the most flamboyant and sexy things in our wardrobes (good taste by no means a requirement) put on a great deal of make up and the most impractical shoes we owned. We then regrouped on the back verandah, gussied up our cheap wine with fruit garnishes and paper umbrellas and proceeded to get shitfaced in style. This became a payday tradition - until of course we finally made friends and developed a more extensive social life, it dropped back to about once every couple of months.

Cocktail Hour resurfaced many years later when living back in Darwin, this time in the beautiful Ludmilla House with A-M and Sam.
The main addition to this version was character development - not only did we dress up, we were required to take on another character for the duration of the evening. Being older and also
employed, there was the added advantage of better quality beverages.

Yesterday while sitting at my desk and looking to all intents and purposes that I was deep in thought about pressing issues regarding my various duties and implementation of work practice..(blah blah blah blah) I was in fact reminiscing about those good old days and upon my return home instructed the family that Cocktail Hour had arrived and "you better go get your glam on".
Half an hour later, Tash was rocking the tiara , I had on perilously high shoes, Paul was blinged, Mel had dropped in and was attacked immediately with PVC and faux fur, Brother Brett even got in on the action with a very Micheal Jackson Smooth Criminal look. Hilarity ensued and the re-institution of an obviously recurring tradition was complete.
Do not underestimate the power of green eyeshadow and excessive drinking.

5

It's been another short hiatus in the bloggingness of L-M. This is for a number of reasons, the main one being nothing has been happening. Really.
I can update you in a list. In a "top five things that have happened in the world of L-M" list. This will be very easy.

5 - We made friends with our handyman neighbour. We have been living next door to this bloke for about six months but have only just had opportunity to meet him. He's nice, and he's handy.

4 - I got depressed, then sick, then better, then happy again. Partly hormones, partly the weather, partly general melancholy about my environment. But I'm all good now.

3 - I realised that there is less than two weeks until we go on HOLIDAY and I am very very excited and can think of pretty much nothing else.

2 - Another friend has announced that she is leaving Darwin, but this time under not very happy circumstances so I am not going to complain about abandonment, just wish her well for the future.

1 - I taught Matilda to say "Chris is a gaybo" so that next time she sees him this is how she will greet him. Hilarious comedic value? Child exploitation? You decide.
(Brett has informed me that if she gets kicked out of child care for saying inappropriate things, then it is I who must stay at home and look after her in childcare's stead. So this may be the last experiment in making Matilda say funny rude stuff)

Those of you that know me and thus know my story, are aware of my past incarnation as a BookSeller. Bookshops were my thang and I thought I would always be working in the bookselling industry in one form or another. Often I look back with the romanticised eye of one who has been out of the retail game for a while. I wistfully recall the "good old days " and wonder why I ever let myself become another public servant, button pushing drone when I could be surrounded by great works of literature and having interesting and educational conversations with the intelligent, reading public.

By some form of kismet, or strange twist of fate, somehow a phone call was transferred to me that was a client who was having trouble getting in touch with my employing institution's Bookshop. The conversation that ensued, which is reproduced for you below, reminded me in a stark and blinding way how grateful I am to no longer be in the retail game - even though I am so obviously all about service.

Frantic Caller : I have been ringing and ringing the book shop and I can’t get through. I have emailed and emailed and they won't respond. I have one simple question and I can get noone to answer me.!
Me : You should check the contact details you have because I find that very hard to believe, perhaps I can help you.
Frantic Caller : I have just moved to Adelaide and I want to know if there is anywhere here I can buy my books,(increasing in panicked volume)Where will I find the books I need in Adelaide?? "
Me : a long explanation of the online and telephone ordering processes in the 20th Century.
Frantic Caller : You don't understand I am in ADELAIDE!
Me : We don’t have an Adelaide branch of our bookshop
Frantic Caller : will any Adelaide bookshops sell my books?
Me : I am not privy to the stock ordering habits of the South Australian bookselling community, or any selling community for that matter"
Frantic Caller : well where are the bookshops in Adelaide?
Me ; I recommend you refer to the Yellow Pages. I hope that was helpful, goodbye.

And I hung up.

Not the most hilarious anecdote , I know - but it really resonated with me. It's nice to know that I may well have made the right career choice after all.

More on Bono

(Taken from the wonderful Popbitch newsletter)

Vanity Fair have invited "pop-humanitarian"
Bono to be guest editor of the July issue, to
try and "rebrand Africa". Some magazines
have been sharing some other facts about Bono:
* In the year since it was founded, his Red
campaign (licensed to Gap, Motorola, Apple etc)
has raised $18 million - but companies have
spent $100 million to market it.
* Bono doesn't invest his own money in Red.
* Apple sells a Special Edition U2 iPod. Its
profits are not donated to Red.
* U2 made $389m from the recent Vertigo tour.
Its revenue was then funnelled through
companies mostly registered in Ireland and
structured to minimize taxes.
* U2 moved its music publishing company to
the Netherlands from Ireland in June 2006, six
months before Ireland ended a tax exemption
on musicians' royalty income.
* Richard Murphy, adviser to lobbying group the
Tax Justice Network, says "This is somebody
who's exceptionally rich taking the opportunity
to shift his tax burden to somebody else, but
then asking governments around the world to
spend that tax take in the way that he would like."

It's Love

Paul and I have a practice of providing each other with email updates throughout the days that he has off from work. This is because he is at home and generally loafing around, and I guess loafing around is what best describes what I do at work.
I just received this update regarding our pending meal tonight..

"All is going well. The sauce is completed, which is delicious if i do say so myself (Asahi agrees with me). It is reducing as i type this. Next is a clean up and preparation for the cheese sauce - the trickiest part of any lasagna. This is not only because it requires the delicate balance of dairy products but also that it must be quickly followed by assembly so that the cheese sauce is at the correct consistency during this most crucial stage.i timed myself and came in at a good two hours for this first stage - not even one cigarette break. That was of course the first thing i did once the sauce was nicely simmering and now this update. The cheese sauce happens quite quickly, so i should have this pretty much wrapped up by the time you get home. Nice work."

Now who the hell wouldn't want to rush home to that! This is yet another reason why I love that man.

Happy International Women's Day!

Today is International Women's Day - so excuse me , I must dash off to engage in empowering and womanly activities.

He still hasn't found....

So this is how Bono's most recent campaign for sainthood has turned out. Twat. Go back to making music asshat - stick to what you are good at. Was it not blatantly obvious from the get go that capitalism and charity make strange bedfellows.

I'm angry

disclaimer - please skip over this post if a) you have no interest in reading another bloody blogger rabbiting on in an overwrought way of the state of Australian politics b) have already heard me go on and on in an overwrought way about the state of Australian politics or c) are my Dad.

It is rare that I get passionately engaged in domestic political issues. I am certainly aware and thus generally bemused. 16 odd years of conservative government has left me somewhat cynical and much as I exercise my privilege to vote, I have become resigned to the fact that our status as the "lucky country"has led to a complacency and greediness in the general Australian public that looks after the hip pocket as opposed to the good of the community, both domestically and globally. A blind eye is turned to the deceit and outright arrogance of our esteemed leader - as long as we are assured that our false economy is still standing strong and interest rates on our mortgages aren't going to rise too dramatically ( fat lot of good that did ya , 2004 coalition voters...but I digress)
The repeated bullshit and blatant hypocrisy that is fed to us continues and I am inured to it. Until today.

Ian Campbell has been unceremoniously dumped from his cabinet minister duties for having met with the now infamous Brian Burke. John Howard in his infinite wisdom has removed this unsightly blight on his team simply to enable him to continue attacking the Ruddster on an issue that Rudd has already proved to be a non event. who gives a crap!!?? Alexander Downer and Mark Vaille remain as loyal knights to Howard's throne after acknowledging their acquiescence and support of the AWB while doing dodgy dealings with the evil super villian of our time SADDAM HUSSEIN (dah dah daaahhh..)- on the eve of us supporting and contributing to an invasion of said dictators homeland. What?? Is this an episode of Yes Prime Minister? NO - the premise is far too outlandish to be used in a witty and clever UK satirical sitcom, no - this is our freaking Australian government.
The fact that dear Johnny has made a tap dance and showstopping tune of clearing the decks of all things possibly affiliated with Brian Burke is nothing less than ludicrous, transparent and blatantly hypocritical. It makes me so so so sad to think that come election time, just like the children overboard and those pesky invisible weapons of mass destruction, that this ridiculous farce will probably be forgotten in lieu of varied propaganda campaigns all focusing on WHAT you can GET from the old faithful and how risky change will be to the retirement fund. Are Australians that greedy? Can we sell our souls while being blind to the erosion of our very defining characteristics (see - outsourcing of manual labour, I.R. reform, sale of QANTAS and TELSTRA etc...) I may be naive, but I now have very little faith in the general Australian public and their political ethical fortitude - so does the the old tenet ring true? - a nation gets the leader it deserves?

We are gonna be rich!

As of 12.17 pm this afternoon there have 42 views of this photo that appears on my flickr site of Tash, on the couch , in the hotel room on Saturday evening. This is unprecedented viewing statistics for me and I am perplexed as to why it might have happened.

Is there an untapped fetish market out there for tired pregnant girls in vintage lace frocks, lounging? If there is, I am going to find ways I can exploit the many pregnant women I have in my social circle at the moment and make myself a millionaire! Look out Joe Francis!

WET

wow! Talk about pissing down! It has now been raining for more than 24 hours, interspersed with periodic terrifying lightning strikes followed by louvre shaking thunder. It takes a floatable device and a flashlight to traverse the murky waters from my carport to the front door.
The back yard - which was recently a tropical paradise for lounging with a Tom Collins and playing the occasional game of boulles is now best described as a lake. Paul was brave enough to go out with flashlight and tape measure to best assess the situation (B.O.M., give him a call - he knows what he's doing...) The results are in - it's fucking wet out there.The best thing to do is to batten down, open another bottle of wine and wait for Noah.

My Stones

It was all a false alarm! I have no internal namesakes to be concerned about. The tests are back and there is no evidence of any stoney products residing in my personal plumbing.
As happy as that makes me, the doctor is still at a loss to explain why I was in excruciating pain for a week. This leaves me feeling a little uneasy. Apparently all of the organs viewed via ultra sound came back looking AOK. The only thing left to do is have more blood tests - these ones specific to my liver. When these are assessed I will know if there is something further to be addressed or if I just had an inflammation of the liver that has gone away due to me taking anti-inflammatory drugs and modifiying my diet and grog consumption.
So regardless of the outcome, I have finally experienced a catalyst for change. Having undergone the worry, the tests and not to mention the extreme discomfort of whatever my condition was - I can see how my lifestyle could possibly lead to alot more problems in the future.
I have by no means experienced an epiphanic moment and have now seen the light, going to go tee total and eat only organic, free range, free trade mung beans. I am just going to pull back a little. Lower my grog consumption and make an effort to eat a little better (goodbye centimetre thick butter on my vegemite toast in the morning). I can already feel the benefts and my bowel is very grateful. Who knows I may even lose some weight in the process. (see, I have worked it out, that's how they do it)

Pictures

I have finally got around to sorting through all of the pictures taken over the silly season. I am slowly uploading them on to my Flickr account. Go and check them out - you may appear there!

NB: Some may ask why there is only a single photograph of my lovely sister Danielle in the Christmas Collection - even though she travelled all the way up from Kalgoorlie for the illustrious event. This is simply because of the threat of grievous bodily harm issued to anyone who approached her with a camera. We don't treat such threats lightly. She is scary man.

It also becomes apparent that there is an inordinate amount of shots featuring moi. All I can say to address this, is that Flickr Sites are often an exercise in narcissism - and this particular one is no exception.

Now this is what we call the monsoon...

It is pissing down. Not pissing down like you southerners know it. Good old fashioned, tropical, electrical, crazy time pissing down. The frogs are deafening (despite Paul's best efforts at sound pollution control - darling, screaming obscenities at wildlife just doesn't work as well as you would hope) The sky is a vivid indigo and the lightning is nothing short of spectacular. The fact that we have only metal chairs, metal legged table and I am typing on an aluminium encased computer has freaked me out enough to move inside from the skyshow and ensconce myself in Paul's computer room sanctuary. I have completely taken over and suffice to say, a certain computer nerd is not amused.
Tash has just returned from a mercy mission to KFC. There is nothing to eat in the house other than vegetables and fruit which wasn't enough to satisfy the masses. All I am able to do is watch and breathe in deeply through my nostrils - however a brief reminder of the stoney pain I must endure if I was to indulge is enough to keep the junk food demons at bay.
All in all I am currently feeling very nice. I got my peeps around me, a crisp glass of semillion, broadband access and the promise of a cool, rain soaked nights sleep..if the frogs shut the hell up.

Weekend

The weekend was pretty quiet - the stones are giving me gip, so as a result I have been trying to take it pretty easy.
The highlight of the weekend was a big screen backyard viewing of Pan's Labyrinth. If you haven't seen it, go and see it. Now. Drop what you are doing and head directly for the nearest cinema.
This movie has such a lasting impact I have been dreaming about it for the last two nights since seeing it. (Movie review not as evocative as Leons, but you get my gist right..)

This week I plan to rest, eat well, try not to drink and await the impending surgery (to be scheduled at a dr appointment tomorrow) I'll let you know how it goes.

Catch Up

Alot of water has passed under the bridge over the last month or so. Things have been extremely hectic recently around Casa Mystones (this is the current term used to describe Paul and my shared status , a combination of both of our surnames - a term which has further connotations as you read on...)

As I have been out of touch for an extended period - and as is obvious, have not updated this blog either, I will attempt to provide a brief update on the happenings and whereabouts of me and mine over the last few weeks.




Paul's exhibition opened! After so many months of preparation and creation it finally happened and with a bang. From what I can gather, it was a success and he has received only positive feedback. He even sold a couple! (thanks Megsy for kicking that off) The work was beautifully framed and had a huge impact when presented en masse in the white room. I am so proud of Paul , and the opening was such a thrilling and fun night. He even made the paper. (although the NT News knows him as Paul Myapp...amateurs)

In additon to the excitement of the opening, good old Sydney Sam flew up to attend - and brought with him his gorgeous new girlfriend Evonne ( who, just quietly, I am now deeply in love with- so Sam and Paul had better play their cards right is all I can say) One of the highlights of their presence was the congratulatory bottle of Moet they gave to Paul. I have never tasted Moet before- the closest I have gotten to real champagne was a bottle of Veuve Cliquot one NY in Sydney. Holy frikkin moly that stuff rocks! It was like angels were tap dancing in feather shoes on my tongue. Now I believe the hype! But champagne aside - we had a lovely time with them. Unfortunately they could only come for the weekend so their stay was brief - however the time we had was well spent and we were so touched that they would make the effort to come all the way up here to be with us for Pauls big night.



The champagne hangover had only just started to fade when we slid straight in to my birthday! Last wednesday I hit almost a third of a century - 33. It was certainly an understated affair but I had a lovely day. I had the day off work and the only other non-worker I know at the moment Tash the Pregnant, came over. She was lovely company and made me feel very special. We ate, I drank and we watched trashy cable in air conditioned comfort. It was awesome and I learned alot more than I needed to know about raising 16 children in rural USA or how to prevent my 13 year old hoochie daughter from getting pregnant to her 21 year old boyfriend.

When the worker drones all knocked off they made their way to our backyard where we threw together a bit of an impromptu bbq (Aaron had his first bbq cooking experience - can you believe it , at 35 years of age!) It was delightful and inevitably culminated in a karaoke challenge.



Having had my birthday celebrations immediately after the hustle and bustle of the exhibition opening, my residual hangover was pretty forthcoming and needless to say I was feeling a little out of sorts. So I was hardly surprised to wake on Friday morning with a persistent crampy pain in my right side. I am often waking with persistent crampy pains and usually put it down to my bad posture at my desk at work, or my bad eating/drinking/smoking habits. This persistent crampy pain however was particularly persistent and by lunch time I was pretty much crippled by the pain and unable to walk , sit, lie , breathe or think without much moaning and face scrinching. Tash the work colleague took control of the situation and raced me off to a medical man who promptly diagnosed me as suffering from gallstones. Eeeww. So I am now drugged up to the eyeballs awaiting keyhole surgery to blast these babies to kingdom come. The pain comes and goes but on the whole I am just feeling pretty ordinary. Updates on stones status to come.

Sorry about the lack of posts lately - it will be my new weeks resolution to post more often.

Have a good weekend!

Things are getting better as this new year progesses. Every day, things seem a little more light and promising (or perhaps just a little less oppressive and intimidating) Even work is looking up.



The big OH SEVEN started for me with more of a limp fizzle than a bang. The departure of key members of my posse making me reassess how I might or might not roll. For reals.

I joined Fergal and Tash on the weekend for a lengthy and illuminating conversation over a fairly substantial amount of bacardi which helped me realise the importance of not defining myself by those that surround me. I am not a product of my social life, rather it is a product of me. It might sound like a load of self indulgent codswallop , but just that simple concept brought everything rushing back into perspective for me and has made me fell a damn lot better. (It is also worth noting that it may take some people a shitload of time just hanging with a yak on top of a mountain in Tibet to come to the same conclusion)



Nonetheless, as most of you are aware I am a rabid social creature and I have jumped right back in that saddle. There is some stuff happening that y'all need to be made aware of.



Next Friday is Australia Day. In the afternoon we are going to be rocking out in what has become a tradition of listening to the hottest 100 on JJJ, eating bbq and damaging our elbows and knees in ways that don't bear describing by partaking in the glee of a home made slip'n'slide. There is also patriotic act of draping every possible surface/body/tree in the Aussie Flag.

Here, at last years Oz Day bash, Roni and I show how good we can all look revelling in our nations pride.

Hot on the heels of that we have Matilda's Birthday, Sister in Law Tash's birthday, Paul's Exhibition, MY BIRTHDAY and a holiday to Brisbane and Sydney.

This is how L-M got her groove back.

umm...

I have half an hour to kill - I have finished work but am hanging around waiting for Paul so that we may attend the art exhibition of a friend.
Obviously this is a good opportunity to take advantage of the spare time to write something witty and erudite to get y'all through the weekend - however I am having a mental block and can think of nothing other than "mmm...beer...mmm...cigarette...." This refrain is circling around my synapses much like a Homer Simpson moment.
So have a good weekend and I am sure I will be full of cheer and good wishes come monday morn.
xx

Save the Territory from Old Kent!

"Australian Monopoly is being put together with regions not streets, and each state/territory has 5 options. Now it's open to public vote what gets included.

From Jan 8 - Feb 10 you get one vote per state/territory per day. The state with the most votes gets to have the dark blue (mayfair) squares & lowest votes gets brown (old kent)."

http://www.monopoly.com.au/

Thanks to the lovely Corinne for the link!

If we were breeders

So I finally start feeling better about missing the Shortus-Donehue clan and what do I receive in my inbox this morning but the above picture, taken the day before the family departure. Don't we look cute? Of course I am referring to Paul and I. The kids look like they always do - diabolically endearing - we do love those little squids. Tracey mentioned in her accompanying email that Kaley (on Pauls lap) asked mum the other day if they could please go over to LM and Pauls place? SO they haven't forgotten us yet! Yay
Well there you go, the only photo you may ever see of Paul and I looking like parental units. Kind of awkward but happy all the same.

my boyfriend is better than yours..

Paul is having an exhibition. It opens on the 9th of February
Y'all better be there! (Virgin has some special deals going on - c'mon asshats , get on that plane!)
Check it out;
http://www.topendarts.com.au/whatson_details.php?id=2476

and this is the complement blog;

http://www.oldinknewpaper.blogspot.com/

so long...farewell...auf Wiedersehen..good night

The remaining Darwin mob say goodbye.

Goodbye Matt and Tracey. After a very long and prolonged farewell period Matt, Tracey and the kids have finally dragged their sorry Queensland lovin' asses up up and away. Although they are only two people (well - 3 and a half if you include the kiddikins) the gaping hole they have left is a void not easy to fill. Who now will drop in for a glass (or bottle) of wine after yoga classes on a tuesday afternoon? Who will tell us stories about the newest mosquito plague to hit far remote arnhem land? Where the hell am I going to host my next Australia Day hottest 100 extravaganza if not in M&T's backyard? Obviously it goes without saying but I must add - who can I share the karaoke loving joy of belting out Spandeau Ballet hit GOLD at top volume? These examples are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how much I miss them. This clan were not just great friends, we had become a form of family - like they say - friends are the family that you choose.

Fare thee well also to Kym and Brett - more deserters (of a sinking ship? not sure yet...)

As generations before them have done , Brett and Kym have gone west in search of gold and glory .

Well not really - but Brett did have a great opportunity to take over the family business and I think they both wanted a bit of a change. Change however , is NOT what I wanted.

Kym and I have been friends for over 15 years. We have had some really big ups and downs, but just the knowledge that she was close and always there, was something so comforting that I took it for granted. Now that she has gone it has affected me alot more dramatically than I thought it would - I am hyper aware that I can't just go and visit if I need to - I can't email her and invite her over at a moments notice and she certainly won't be dropping in every thursday this year to watch Lost with me.

I had the great honour of being bridesmaid at Brett and Kym's beautiful wedding last year and I am so glad I got to share that process with this awesome couple - made all the more poignant due to their departure.

So now it's just us.

I was sad - but now others are returning from the end of year southern hiatus and things are slowly returning to normal. I know there is always change - the ebb and flow of social circles. The upside is I have more reason to go on holiday now and more people with which to stay.

I love and miss you mob!