Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!

Friday:
-Trip to Castlemaine
-Very enjoyable car trip with Seamus
-Purchase of soap, included an encounter with two lovely old Great Danes who seemed permanent fixtures in the shop
-Pleasant browse through antique and book stores
-Awesome lunch and great coffee at a cafe- reassuring us that good coffee now does exist in Castlemaine
-inspection of some houses in what will be our price range in 3 years. All very exciting.

Saturday:
-DaySpa visit
-My aunt and uncle came over for afternoon tea and brought with the them wedding present from that side of the family, which is all the glassware we could ever need. A really useful and lovely present.
-Dropped in at Andrew's housewarming where he very nicely plied me with sangria and tequila jelly shots
-Dropped in at Sarah and Daniel's place for a MUCAAS pub with Mark

Sunday:
-Trip to Olinda
-Originally intended to be in Olinda for breakfast but we gave in to our growling tummies when we past a Pancake Parlour about half way.
-Tea and scones at the Pie restaurant in Olinda
-Browsed the shops in the village and bought lollies, chocolates and hand painted china cats (as you do)
-Checked in to Candlelight cottages, where we stayed for our first anniversary of starting to date two years back.
-Had a spa!
-Had a nap
-Had a hot chocolate curled up in the loungeroom and listened to pretty classical music
-Walked back to the village and had a wonderful dinner at Immerse.
-Walked back and cuddled up together watching Breakfast at Tiffanys

Monday
-Wished each other Happy Third Anniversary and Happy 1 Month Until Our Wedding
-Received some very cute red crystal earrings from Seamus which I am wearing right now
-Cooked Breakfast
-Showered, packed and said goodbye to the charming couple who run Candlelight Cottages and their two dogs and one cat
-set off to head back to Melbourne very slowly
-found an antique store and bought a bread bin
-found a chocolate factory and bought chocolates
-lunched at Chateau Yering in Yering which was absolutely AMAZING! I had a heritage tomato salad with goats cheese, Seamus had a duck waldorf salad and then we both had a snapper and wine, and finished with french patries. I got rather giggly from the champagne. We liked it so much we're thinking of coming back next year and staying there a few days as well as at Candlelight cottages, maybe for our first wedding anniversay...
-Got back to Melbourne and met up with our celebrant at the Quiet Man Pub so she could sight legal documents and we could finalise everything.
-Got takeaway Thai from the Asian Kitchen, the best Thai in the area
-Cuddled up on our own couch at home with our cats and watched Roman Holiday

One month left...

mc_shamo and I stayed in a small, secluded cottage in Olinda. If you're ever staying in the Yarra Valley area stay at this cottage. It was just beautiful. Oh, and get the Lover's Retreat Package... but don't buy extra cheese. We stopped at Yarra Valley Dairy on the way up and went a little crazy on goat's cheese, then found when we were ready for dinner the antipasto platter already had three different types of cheese on it, and cream cheese stuffed bell peppers... yum... the champagne was great too, and the second night we had champagne (well, "sparkling wine made in the champagne style") made from blueberries.

The weekend was filled with places with wine and cheese and good, good food. We went for walks and looked in antique shops and had scones and jam and played cards and had spa baths and got lost in a national park. We also listened to the radio and spent time just talking and being snuggled on the couch. I turned my phone on three times during the weekend, never for very long. I don't think we ever turned on the tv.

impostinator, you would love it there; plenty of walks and the local craft shop sells Jo Sharp yarns!

Last time I was in Olinda was May 2006, for Theatre In Education. I was there under very nice circumstances then, and though I would never have thought at the time that I'd return with one of the same people under such different circumstances, it was still really nice :-) (By the way rin_tin_tin_, we tried and tried to find that weird candy corn thing you bought last time, but nowhere had it.)

We ended up bringing home wine, cheese, soaps, jams and pomegranate molassas. Oh, and a chopping board to join the placemats and coasters that will be broken out when we move.

Oh yeah, and Seamus and I have now been together a year!

Definitely want to go back, winter would be awesome there.

Happy Chris.