It took four days, five people, two cars, a bottle of Rose and six Victoria Bitter stubbies but we did it. Ange and I have finally moved into the new house.

Day one began with a quick trip to the mechanic to fix a hole in the car exhaust that really couldn't have come at a worse time. Once that was done I started shifting a few basic items across to the new house.

Being the foodies that we are, we spent day two setting up was the kitchen. I do have to say that the novelty wore thing once we got to the fourth box of bowls and platters. Because really, there's only so much ceramic you can see in one day.

On day three we received the first of many deliveries. We quickly dubbed the refrigerator "Disco Fridge" in honour of the two blue neon lights running down inside of it.

Day four, Sunday, was the big one. My parents came up from the hometown to help us move the bed, computer desk, wardrobe and the other various detritus I tend to accumulate.
Both sets of parents met, and much to Ange's delight, they got along just fine. Of course it doesn't hurt that most of the bonding was done over that fantastic combination of wine, beer and food.

There's a bit more to do around the house yet. We're still unpacking boxes, and waiting for the final deliveries to come. But once that's over we can finally relax enjoy our adventure in rental housing.

Highlight of the ordeal would have to be the following conversation I had with my mum. To set the scene, we're all downstairs ready to leave the house. Mum is in the upstairs bathroom:

Mum: "I can't figure out how to turn this bathroom light off."
Trav: "Just flip all the switches."
M: "I have, but it still won't turn off."

At this point I walk upstairs to find out what's going on.

M: "That light." Mum points to a round skylight in the ceiling.
T: "That is a skylight. You cannot turn it off because you cannot turn off the sun."

I come from good stock.

I recently read that the best thing you could do on St Valentines Day is stay inside and cook your loved one a meal. it's certainly full of romantic overtones, but the main thrust of the article was how stressful it is for a restaurant to manage that constant influx of diners arriving two at a time.

Of course if everything went to plan then Ange and I would be in our own house, sitting around a table eating some sort of romantic candlelit dinner I'd made for her. But, fate being what it is, I've had to brace myself and put everything in the hands of one of the better cafe/restaurants north of the city: CocoInc. It also helps that their fixed menu is a bargain at $40 per head.

We've eaten there before, so we know the food is brilliant. Although every time we've been there in the past the place has been mostly empty, with no real pressure on the kitchen.

For Valentines day the guys at CocoInc have implemented fixed seating times. So I'm sure they do have some experience in handling the demands of a full room, even if they are only a few months old. We're hitting them at the tail end of the night, 8:30 to be exact, so it'll be interesting to see how they've been coping.

I've always considered my birthday less a single celebration and more as a series of events. To this end I give you a run down of Trav's 28th birthday.

My birthday started off badly, with work forgetting to organise a lunch. By the time they got around to it only two people had responded in the affirmative. Not wanting to look like a sad case I asked them to move it to the next Friday.

Things picked up that night though. Ange and I headed out to SOS. As one present she'd organised for me. Another being the copy of Warioware she'd given me two weeks earlier. It was our third time at the restaurant, but with a rotating menu based on seasonal produce we were always going to be surprised.
To keep a bit of continuity we started off with a bottle of Carlei Green Vineyard Pinot Gris 2006. The same wine we had the last time we dined there, only slightly younger.
Unfortunately SOS haven't updated the menu on their website, so I'm only able to give vague descriptions of our meals.
Ange started off with a entree seafood spaghetti and then moved on to a banded snapper fillet for main.
I grabbed the three mushroom risotto for entree and a serve of scampi tails with red wine vinegarette for main.
We'd discussed getting gelati on the way home as a dessert, but as soon as we saw the homemade honeycomb with chocolate and blood orange syrup we just had to have some. It was a wise decision.

After a bit of confusion Ange and I met up with Mike and Justine out at Lygon Street the following night. They handed me a bottle of Mount Gay rum and an iTunes card, which I really wasn't expecting (but thanks again, guys!)
After pushing into the crowd to begin the search for a place to eat we soon discovered the added bonus carrying around a bottle firmly wrapped in a brown paper bag confers. Every hawker on the street would offer outlandish incentives if we would eat at their establishment. They'd soon back down once I point out that bottle contained rum and not a wine varietal. Except for one enterprising chap, who offered me a bottle of rum twice the value of the one I was carrying. You could only imagine the quality of the food at that particular eatery.

After we had enough of squeezing past the throngs of people we picked a restaurant (as with Mike I don't remember what it was called) and made ourselves comfortable at one of the outside table. Though we quickly moved inside once the smoke from nearby diners started to choke Justine and Ange.
After re-settling ourselves in the relatively noise free, but 100% cigarette-free upstairs area we set about ordering.

Ange ordered the Fettucine Marinara, then quickly changed to a risotto. I grabbed the Rigatoni con Salcicia (ordered in flawless Italian no less. Mike went for a risotto with mussels, while Justine opted for the Vegetarian Risotto.
The restaurant also gave us a free bottle of Sav Blanc Semillon, which was nowhere near as sweet as it should've been for something with Semillon in the blend. Ange and Justine gave up after half a glass each, leaving Mike and I to power through the rest of the bottle.

The meals weren't spectacular, having sat for some time under a heat lamp. My rigatoni had actually begun to cool around edges. A quick stir soon redistributed the heat throughout the plate. I should mention that Ange let it be known that I can cook a better Italian meal than they could. Possibly the best compliment ever.
Once we'd cleaned our plates we wandered over to the opposite side of Lygon Street for icecream. Not long after that we went our separate ways. It wasn't that late, but the meals weighed heavily.

Sunday afternoon Ange and I headed out to the Belgium Beer Cafe on St Kilda Road to meet up with a few of the ZGeeks. The meals were good, if a little too pricey for what they were, but it was a nice way to spend a lazy, sunny afternoon. Especially as we ended up back in Lygon Street for another round of icecream.

About a month ago I mentioned how Ange and I had driven down to Wilson's Prom to celebrate new years. I'd snapped a few shots, but wasn't really happy with the results. Apart from an evening of photography for a work event, I hadn't touched my camera at all since we left Wilson's Prom. Thinking back on it, I why.

I was beginning to get very critical of my photography style around that time. After looking through the photos I took in the Prom nothing jumped out at me and it felt like I'd lost my spark. Fast forward to last weekend. My sister, Sarah was celebrating her 21st birthday, and asked me to act as official photographer. I was a bit worried about how my shots would turn out, based on my opinion of my new years work. But tonight, after going through the 120 odd shots, I'm actually really impressed with the work I did. So the break really did wonders.

It's probably a good thing I took that break as well. I was able to occupy the creative side of my brain with less visual stimuli. I finally finished off Brave New World and, even began writing down basic plot points for some story ideas I've got floating around in my brain.

This is also one of the reasons the site has been quiet of late. Even though Charles has been hanging out for the next installment of my random thoughts, in my head, it was either the site or my stories. Now that I have most of the plotting work done I'll try and keep this thing updated more often. I may even post some excerpts of my writing.

Hey, now there's an idea!