Over and out...

I'll be away for a few days. Not going anywhere special, mind you, it's just going to be a rather busy Christmas and New Year for me is all. I'm afraid I won't be able to update for awhile.

Here's just a brief look at what's currently in my social calender:

1. Complete furnishings at house
2. Go to Sassafras
3. Christmas Party at Mum's place
4. Boxing Day party at friends' place
5. Arnie's sister coming down from New South Wales - staying at our place
6. Accompany said sister shopping for probably 3 days
7. New Year's Eve party at my place
8. New Year's day party at my place

This is just a tentative list which I am quite sure I'll add on later during the week.

I'll be taking the whole week off from work and will be back on the 2nd of January wherein a ton of work will be waiting. I have just received my targets and it is rather challenging. I will definitely try and meet it. After all, the monetary incentive is quite promising!

Just in case I don't "see" you guys, thanks for your continued support, for reading and taking an interest in my ho-hum life.

Have a safe Christmas and fantastic New Year!

My current alcohol fave

The Sassy Melbournite Recommends...






This happens to be my most favourite wine at the moment. I first got a taste of this at the Sky High Bistro in the Dandenong ranges wherein I took a chance and ordered a glass to accompany my anti-pasto platter.


It is one of the most beautiful tasting wines I have ever tried and I have been hunting for a bottle since. I have been unlucky. I recently found out from the franchise owner of Vintage Cellars in Port Melbourne that this particular wine is not available in the shops. You can only buy it in the winery cellar itself.


So last Sunday, Arnie and I drove to Yering Station Winery off Melba Highway in Yarra Glen (just 30 minutes from Ringwood). Yering Station happens to be the first wine vineyard in the state of Victoria, dating back to 1838. It is the most lovely property and judging by how "country" the place looks like, you would feel like you have travelled hours to get to the place, when in fact it is only about an hour from the city.


So, off to the cellar to purchase the wine. The great thing about wineries is that you can taste everything in the menu for free, except for certain items that specifies it is not available for tasting. I have tasted about 8 different varieties of wine... all this before lunch!


Arnie and I bought 4 bottles. It's Tuesday today, and we only have 2 left. Not enough for New Year's eve!


So, we're planning to go back to the winery on the 30th and probably purchase a whole case... hahaha!


Highly recommended if you like your wines easy and sweet but not sickingly so like botrytis blends. Perfect with chilli hot food and light desserts. Can also be enjoyed by itself.


A bottle costs $17.50, a whole case costs $199.50. Excellent value for money!

Old and grey...

I know it sounds vain...


but yesterday after my morning shower, there it was...


standing at attention, a terrible sight...


I found my very first grey hair...


ARGH!!!

I wish I was the first...

I am in love with Arnie and have been for the past six years.


No other man has invoked womanly feelings from me. He made me aware of my desires and allowed me to let go of my inhibitions without judging me but instead, supported and guided me in finding my way.


We enjoy our lives together. It's barely a week and we are both settling into our shared domestic lives very well. We are very compatible in every way, if you get my drift.


Amidst the packing, I stumbled across old pictures of him when he was in his 20s.


Regardless of the 80s garb and hairstyles, he looked so cute, so taut, and so hot.


Not that he isn't less of a hottie now, but a young Arnie?


It made me quite... excited.


God, you'd think that having sex with the same man for six years would have quelled any pent up frustrations, huh?


Damn photos!


Just looking at a younger Arnie made me think, if we met around the time he was 25 I would have been 16... yikes!


But it still didn't stop me from fantasizing... how about when he was 18? Around the height of his clubbing days? If I were the same age as him, we could have met in one of the numerous night clubs he frequented back then. Apparently, he was an exceptional dancer - still is now - and anything could have happened...


I understand that experience is the best teacher. Arnie at 18 would not be the same as Arnie at 31 (his age when I first met him), but still... that young, firm, taut, cycling God that was MY Arnie...


Have to get a cold shower now...

A legend dies...

Maximo V. Soliven, publisher and writer for the Philippine Star, died last November 24 of complications from cardiac arrest.


Being an alumnus of O.B. Montessori Centre, I have had the privilege of meeting the man in person numerous times in parties, Tuesday assemblies, and just seeing him pass by to visit. I even served him a glass of wine during a Food Technology project we had to do in third year and he even praised me for pouring it perfectly in his glass without a drop of it spilling! It's a well known fact that his wife, Philippine Ambassador to UNESCO and O.B. Montessori Ex-President Preciosa Soliven, was his wife.


A very intelligent man, he never ran out of interesting quips to tell us impressionable teens back then. I especially enjoyed his stories of the past when he was a younger journalist battling injustices head on during the regime of Apo Marcos (as he so fondly called him).


I will no longer see his Latin quips, his catch phrases (Salamabit, Sanamagan, Susmaryosep), and his fair but critical views of the current government. First Teddy Benigno, now him. What is left in Philippine Journalism?


Rest in Peace, Mr. Soliven. May you enjoy sipping Earl Grey tea with Alexandre Dumas discussing "The Three Muskateers" in heaven.