It's been an extremely hectic few weeks that I'm having trouble remembering what I've been up to! Here's a quick summary in dot points.

• It was my birthday on Saturday. We spent it on the coast for a Raw Honey music weekend. Lots of rehearsals, good food and I got to try sailing for the first time! I even saw dolphins who came over to check out what we were doing!! One of my friends baked a very delicious apple and prune birthday cake. Everything was just so very cool.
• Work has been really flat out. I've been working on the one project which is drawing to a close, which meant that my workmate and I have been in report writing mode for the past week and a half.
• Flights to and from America has been booked. We're flying into and out of San Francisco. In between stuff hasn't been finalised but I'm looking forward to finally meeting bluesmoon.
• We're finally gone through settlement with our new townhouse in Watson. It all happened on Thursday and it's been a mad rush trying to organise carpets, window furnishings and furniture. The new townhouse looks absolutely fabulous and the outdoor entertainment area is just gorgeous. We met our new neighbours and they're such lovely people. I wish we were moving in now...Anyone know anyone that would like to rent a fully furnished 3 bedroom townhouse for a short term lease?
• Hubby got me another birthday present - a MSi Wind Notebook! He actually ordered the white version for me but we've only just noticed that they sent the wrong one - the Love Edition. It was meant to be white so we can both use it. LOL!
• I'm off to Perth this weekend for our friends' engagement party. Unfortunately we couldn't afford to both go so I'm representing us!

Happy birthday to my hubby, Alastair!

It's been a great birthday! Cake at work, cake at music rehearsal (divine chocolate cake made by a dedicated friend, who was sick but still found the energy and time to make a cake for me!), more eating goodies, presents from lots of people including gorgeous flowers from a work friend who was on leave but came in to bring flowers and cake....

Beautiful Lindt chocolate cake - so yummy!

I was also very pleasantly surprised this morning when I opened the door, and found a box from Amazon. It contained three books from my family (including my lovely sister) from my Amazon wishlist. Books that I've been wanting for quite a long while. I loved the timing and I loved how mum and dad bought stuff on the internet!!! Whao!!!

Some of the birthday presents

I've had a few friends inform me of the birthday week concept, which I'm thoroughly enjoying at the moment. The idea of the birthday week is to spread the birthday festivities over a week, rather than just on the actual birthday. This has been working out particularly well, as I have quite diverse groups of friends that don't necessarily socialise in the same social circles. I'm finding it much easier to meet with small groups over the week, rather than try to organise one big birthday bash (which I'll probably do for my 30th birthday - which isn't far off now!).

The birthday festivities started last week with a visit to the delectable Koko Black with some friends - a chocolate heaven on earth. I know that the chocolate cafe idea is not new to the rest of the world (particularly Europe), but it's newish to Canberra and it's hot hot hot! Once we managed to get a seat, the line magically went out past the door, with people waiting in great anticipation for a seat. I had an extremely delicious hot chocolate, followed by a Belgian Spoil for Two. Yum!

Today, I caught up with some friends for lunch at a newish place called 2 Yummy Noodle House. The crispy pippa duck was delightful. The Fillet Steak with Black Pepper was surprisingly tasty with a gentle flavour of pepper (I can't stand it when cooks go heavy with the pepper). We also had a vegetarian omelette and prawns, both which I didn't eat ;). Anyhow, 2 Yummy Noodle House is worth going back!

Pressies, birthday cards and good wishes have started flowing in, including a gorgeous looking 2005 Botrytis Semillon Sauvignon Blanc from Jeir Creek (such a beautiful golden colour), and a beautiful Bvlgari perfume (beautiful scent and bottle design).

I’m sitting on the motel bed, feeling a lot better after a shower. It’s Alastair’s birthday today. We celebrated by visiting the Western Plains Zoo. We did so much walking and I’m really exhausted, but it was such a fantastic day!

We started the day leisurely, with a delicious breakfast of croissants at one of the local bakeries. Once we got to the zoo, we were surprised by the huge line up of cars waiting to get into the zoo. About 35 minutes later, we finally made it through the gates, paid for our tickets (only 30 cents for Alastair as it was his birthday!!!), and found a parking spot.

Soon after, we were at the Information Centre signing disclosure forms for the Wild Africa Encounter and Big Cat Encounter (in case we eat eaten, etc). While there, we found out about the Giraffes In Focus session, where for $3, you can hand feed and photograph a giraffe. We booked two of the last few tickets.

While waiting for our zebra striped bus to show (for the Wild Africa Encounter), we wandered around the nearby exhibits, checking out the cute Spider Monkeys, Lemurs, Meerkats, and African Wild Dogs (who were fast asleep).

The Wild Africa Encounter was really enjoyable. It’s $25 for each adult, and much recommended. The Encounter provides a behind-the-scenes look at the behavioural enrichment programs for the Black and White Rhinoceros. Our guide was really friendly, and her New Zealand accent was really cute. We got to check out parts of the zoo that’s normally closed off to the public, and we even got up and close to a Black Rhino, and some giraffes. All up, it took about an hour. I learned quite a bit about how to breed rhinos!

We stopped for lunch at the kiosk, before setting off to check out the Black Rhinos (again, but this time, from the public viewing areas), Barbary Sheep, Camels, Scimitar Oryx, Giraffes, Addax, Eland, two White Rhinos, two Cheetahs walking around their enclosure, Asian and African Elephants, three hippopotamus, gibbons, some Bongos (they have such funny stripes), zebras, Persian Onagers (they looked like donkeys), a wombat (who was surprisingly quite out going!), an echidna, some funny looking Tapirs, guanaco and rhea.

Fun fun fun! We took heaps of photos, which we’ll upload once we get back to Canberra (and back to broadband….).

One of the many things I love about this zoo is that the animals aren’t behind any cages. They’re cleverly enclosed in large areas where fences are subtly hidden, often looking like you can walk straight into their area (or swim across to their enclosure).

Tomorrow, we had the Big Cat Encounter, plus all the keeper talks that we missed out today. Plus having come all this way, we HAVE to hire some bikes and cycle around the zoo. The bikes were all sold out today. We hope to hire two in the afternoon. Cycling around the Zoo will just finish the whole weekend nicely.

Just after 5pm, sore feet and all, we wearily and happily left the Zoo. A quick stop past the supermarket bought us veal and kangaroo steaks for the bbq (for dinner tonight, and lunch at the zoo tomorrow).

Gorgeous weather, great company (aww, spending time with My Love), and an absolutely fantastic zoo.

Wow - I've been so flat out that this birthday has seriously snucked on upon me. But despite the low key celebrations (dinner with Alastair last Saturday night, and yum cha with one group of friends on Saturday morning), I still LOVE birthdays. To me, birthdays are very special days. I really appreciate it when friends (including all of you) and family make the effort to wish me happy birthday in a variety of ways, so my thanks to those of you who have sent emails/sms/LJ posts, etc.

Alastair has outdone himself in regard to my presents. Check out the loot:

He's not a present kind of person, but knowing how much it meant to me, he went to the effort of organising a present for me. He even wrapped up part of it (interesting use of an old computer box - he doesn't believe in the use of wrapping paper :P ).

I don't think people realise how much sentimental value I attach to my birthday, even if it's an sms, an email, livejournal post, phone call, birthday card, etc. I always try my best to wish my friends happy birthday, and do my best to make a birthday card so that it arrives on time. Although I have to admit that I haven't been the best with LJ birthdays.

As for today, I baked an Orange Flourless Cake and took it into work to share with my workmates. Unfortunately it was a bit under baked. I'll have to try it again and make sure it's baked properly. The whole day went past in a flash. Lots of meetings and tasks to complete. Now I'm just feeling really exhausted!