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May 14th, 2008

06:47 am - Turtle Bay Resort We arrived at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore, not far from Sunset Beach, yesterday afternoon. We had 3 hours of Spa treatments at 3pm, which were wonderfully relaxing. I don't usually like facials much, but my pores look beautiful today and my skin is so soft and glowing that I didn't even bother with makeup. So I went back to the spa today to enquire about a few of the products to buy. We've never stayed at this resort because it used to get pretty bad reviews when it was a Hilton. The main building still gets bad reviews, but the newer Beachfront cottages get good reviews, so we booked one of them. After meeting with the sales manager this morning, and looking at the main building rooms, I'm not sure why those rooms got bad reviews... they actually seem quite pleasant. As for our cottage, it is huge and beautiful with a view over lawns to the sea. ( a childfree rant or I don't like babies with my paradise ) Aside from white trash with screaming kids, the resort is as nice and relaxing and resorty feeling as any in Hawaii without the hassle of a plane hop to Hawaii, so I would happily recommend it. Here are a couple photos, and a link to the collection. Current Location: Hawaii Current Mood: blank Tags: 2008, childfree, hawaii, north shore, spa, turtle bay

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May 12th, 2008

06:50 pm - My purchase of the day The 40th birthday present buying started today when I saw something I loved. I'm not much of a girl in that I refuse to carry a handbag, instead preferring only a small wallet, big enough to carry money, credit cards, keys and sunglasses, but with a shoulder strap. I haven't been able to find anything as useful as a Fossil wallet I've been using for 5 years! Today I found the ultimate replacement at Fendi, and since I love yellow, decided to go all out and get the limited edition yellow one. OK, it was pricey, but it's my birthday, and I deserve it! Current Location: hawaii Current Mood: happy Tags: 2008, 40th, birthday, fendi, hawaii

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06:47 pm - View from room 414 View from our room at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach, room 414. Na Hoku catamaran in the background. Current Location: Hawaii Current Mood: refreshed Tags: 2008, 40th, birthday, hawaii, oahu, outrigger reef, waikiki

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May 11th, 2008

07:05 pm - Greetings from Waikiki We arrived in Honolulu yesterday, but in an effort to slow down and RELAX!!... I shyed away from the computer yesterday. Everytime I come to the states now, after living so many years overseas, I experience more and more culture shock. Pete even said to me a couple times today that I seem to have all but forgotten my American ways now. There are actually some things he has to explain to me now, that I once explained to him! I notice both the pros and cons now, and here's a short list (I'll end with the pros to keep things on a high note!) CONS: rude drivers, loud voices, DUH people who just don't get it, Starbuck's Grande extra-tall, mondo bitter stupid coffee, crowded trafficky roads, lack of quality electronics, a.ti.tudes without any justification, the use of the penny (most civilised countries got rid of this annoying denomination at least a decade ago), bad parenting, and how about having some self control in your eating habits so you're not a 3 ton blob? PROS: Variety (in all things except electronics and clothing), cheeseburgers, the chocolate aisle at the supermarket, customer service (which seems to have made a comeback), lots of TV stations, American bacon, American breakfasts, an American passport (amazing how they used to treat us like shit as Aussies, but flash that US passport and they roll out the red carpet), lots of Crocs (comfey), the ability of Americans to understand rather complex food orders, the price of gas, price and availability of non-carbonated drinks, free, fast internet & phone calls country-wide. ( more ) The funny part is that, despite staying at a beachfront property, we haven't yet set foot on Waikiki Beach yet! That's one way to tell when you've been to a place too many times! Anyway, tomorrow we will rectify that in spades, and also have some nice fruity tropical drinks with those little umbrellas in them! I will post photos soon. Current Location: hawaii Current Mood: relaxed Tags: 2008, hawaii

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May 4th, 2008

03:15 pm - Social Obligations Phase 2 Tonight is the next social obligation. Once again, it's something that would be very interesting and perhaps enjoyable if it wasn't work also. One of Pete's best clients is having a big party at her... well... mansion. The party will be full of well-known fashion designers and journalists... and potential clients... those who aren't already anyway. So, part of my stress from the previous week is what to wear... what to wear? Obviously, I can't go to something like this wearing something with a Target label in it, even if it's Stella McCartney designs for Target, can I? I also can't wear something too obviously formal. The last thing one wants to do when going to a party with a bunch of fashion designers is to look too dressed up, or to conspiciously wear one of their designs. From Pete's experience, most of them dress anywhere from casual to scummy, but in that way that only fashion designers can really pull it off. I had a look around this week for just maybe a top from a lesser known, boutique designer that I could wear with jeans to this thing. But when I look at what's on offer, it makes me want to vomit. Honestly, the stuff is SO ugly. ALL of it, and most would look crap on me. As a few people have pointed out, there are some pieces I would look pretty good in from bigger designers like Dior or Gucci, but big designers' clothing is not very inconspicuous, now, is it? So in the end, I figured I have to go for my own style... or the style I would go for if I could afford to buy clothes like that all the time. I found a black and white (well, to be fair, off-white, but so pale off-white it's nearly white) shirt by the Marco Polo label that I like so much. It's not exactly high fashion, but it's ME. And I found these fantastically funky black and exact same off-white colour patent-leather wide-heel pumps. I've decided this is the best I can do without looking too much like I'm trying. Anyway, we're off to that tonight. In my current virus-y condition, I know I shouldn't be having any alcohol, but in this situation 1 or 2 glasses throughout the night will go a long way to making me tolerable to be around and the company I'll be around tolerable as well! Once this hurdle is over, it's smooth sailing and spending the rest of the week figuring out what to bring to Hawaii. Probably not much, as I'll buy a lot of stuff there. Then it's off to Hawaii to relax for a week before I get back for another round of social commitments and the dreaded end-of-year tax stuff, which will be less fun this year than usual... and that's not saying a whole lot! Current Location: home Current Mood: lethargic Tags: clothes, fashion, parties, social engagements

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May 3rd, 2008

04:32 pm - Admission of being wrong... I've been struggling with my webmail, and accessing it from work, because the webmail provider my domain host uses is Horde. It seems in the latest upgrade, the added some registry setting that defaults to ensure the requests from the client computer always come from the same IP. If not, you have to re-login about every 2 minutes. This isn't a problem unless, like our work ISP, your ISP uses aliases and dynamic IPs. To get around this problem, Pete and our domain host guy, who is also a friend have been insisting I try gMail. I'm usually not impressed by things that are a bit of a fad like gMail, but I finally gave in and setup all my accounts through it. And I have to say, I was wrong to ignorantly refuse to try it in the beginning. It is fabulous, and dynamic, and deals with spam SO well, and I haven't yet even figured out everything it can do, but it is VERY good. That is all. Current Location: home Current Mood: good Tags: gmail, isp, webmail, wrong

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04:03 pm - Fishy crisis averted OK. We siphoned off a bucket of water from the small tank we have Endlers Livebearers in and stole a piece of their cotton filter material, and dumped all that into the large tank having the white spot crisis, and then topped both tanks off. Not time for a shower, and a nice massage! AHHHH! Current Location: home Current Mood: okay Tags: fish

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May 1st, 2008

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April 30th, 2008

04:41 pm - Busy busy life Life is strange lately. Pete and I seem to be accruing lots of social engagements, not by choice. As the business takes off, our presence is being requested at a lot of things: Theatre events, dinner parties, etc. etc. These are things that would normally be fun if it weren't for the fact that you're there representing the company, so you need to be on your best behaviour. These situations quickly turn from fun to hard hard work. Tonight's commitment is to go see Billy Elliott at the Capitol Theatre. I like musicals, but this doesn't happen to be one that I'm at all interested in seeing, especially not on a Wednesday night while I am still fighting a flu, and am trying to wind things up at work prior to going on vacation. But this was a "gift" given to Pete by his ticketing company, because his company is their highest generator of tickets, so we're rather obligated to show up. And of course there will be a "function" with drinks, nibblies, and a bunch of boring chit-chat prior to the event and at intermission... argh. I've still been getting knocked around by this flu, the last thing I feel like doing is going to this thing and having to make small talk and sit through a boring play. But I guess that's life. I'm pretty sure I'll be a walking zombie by tomorrow morning. Current Location: work Current Mood: cranky Tags: billy elliott, events, plays, social commitments, work

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