Six years and counting

30 Day Shred - Day 15

I sent Dave on his way this morning. We usually leave together and scooter to work, but today I had to go to the post office when it opened at 9am.

I had my parcel pick-up slip in hand and was about to go into the post office and realised I didn't have my ID. In fact I drove all day yesterday without it! I had left it in my yoga bag on Sunday. It was already past 9am and I had to drive back home to get it.

OK take two...

Finally got my small parcel! It was a long tube. I couldn't fit it in my scooter, so I stuffed it down my jacket and it sat between my legs half way in my jacket.

All day I proclaimed how excited I was for my anniversary. I was telling everyone that I had to be out of there by 6pm. And you know what happened - everyone kept giving me last minute requests.

By 6pm, I still hadn't written my card and was still writing emails. "5 minutes", I texted back. I finally shut down my laptop, packed away my desk and changed into my new Hollister dress I got for the occasion.

On Saturday when I was looking for presents, I surprisingly found a very romantic navy lace dress for only $35 at Hollister at Bondi Junction. I used to be a Hollister junkie in high school. I went in looking for t-shirts for Dave and found the perfect anniversary dress.

When I finally walked out of my building, one of my stakeholders called me and so I chatted to him while Dave waited patiently in his suit and sun glasses. He looked adorable sitting there with his big grin and a big blue box.

Candid photo - is this what I look like at work?

"I found this guy waiting outside of work for me. It must be that time of year...happy 6th anniversary to us! I wonder what's in the box?!"

I posted this Instagram photo on Facebook with the caption above. I have never received so many likes (150+) and so many comments pleading to know what was in that box!

Sepia Menu

A seafood lover's delight

As we walked past my building towards my other building on Sussex Street, I guessed we were going to Sepia. We always go to a nice restaurant for our anniversary and this was the only one I could think of that I perhaps mentioned. Dave mentioned we were supposed to go to Tetsuya, but cancelled the reservation when I told him I heard it was overrated. So he looked up other restaurants and found Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide's 2015 Restaurant of the Year!

Rather than go for the full degustation (they make me unappreciated the food because I end up in pain by the end). The menu was very basic. You either get the seven course degustation or the four course menu. We went with the latter because they give you two options so Dave and I ordered opposite items so we got eight courses in the end.

Sydney Rock Oysters

Not on the menu, but we had to get them to start. The lemon vinaigrette was perfect with the oysters.

Salmon roe and tomato juice jelee

A little amuse bouche

Sashimi of Yellow Fin tuna, Jamon Iberico cream, pink beauty radish, wasabi, pork crackling 

Dave swears there was nacho cheese. It must be the cream plus pork crackling.

House made chèvre, rhubarb, beetroot, rye, native violets

I'm not a beet root fan, but great way to serve it. It was like digging through beetroot sand to find the goat's cheese treasure. 

King crab, dashimaki tamago, kabosu, sweetcorn and sushi rice, ume mirin jelly, Japanese land seaweed

I've been eating so many eggs, so this wasn't that exciting. The big King Crab claw was though!

Miso black cod, silken tofu, nasturtium flower butter dashi, bamboo shoots, garlic chives

The bamboo soaked in the broth was the best part of the dish. The more you chew, the more flavour developed.

Western Australian marrons, pickled myoga, lardo, aonori, yuzu and shellfish emulsion, shell powder

I've never had marron. It was like a mini lobster. The sand was like eating crushed exoskeleton. Must eat them all together for the best flavour.

Japanese pumpkin cannoli, toasted buckwheat cream, pumpkin praline caramelised miso and pumpkin ice cream, popcorn sugar

Like mini cigars. Very salty and nutty but I kept going in for more.

Frozen strawberry, Champagne chiboust, alpine strawberry jelly, strawberry sherbet, pistachio 

Very sweet, but complimented my salty pumpkin cannolis.

Surprise dessert!

Crack the stones and you'll find either raspberry, chocolate or passion fruit filling. But you don't know which one is which.

Stones Dessert

Chocolate and Passion fruit were the best filling flavours.

Dave and I walked in for a 6:30pm sit down and were out of there at 10:15pm. It was a long dinner, but it went by fast with what seemed like a trail of never ending dishes. We decided to go home straight away instead of open presents at the restaurant. It was a good decision because I didn't even know what was in my tube parcel. Plus we wanted to be comfortable where we could privately open our presents without the rest of the restaurant peering over at us.

A bus/tram scroll of where we come from and all the places we've lived in the last six years.

Dave wanted to go first. He first read my card "I'd follow you anywhere, but not in a creepy way". It was a cute card from Typo and it had an image of a world map on the front. He teared up and said I could be creepy if I wanted to.

He popped open the parcel and unravelled the glossy print. He absolutely loved it. I wish it was already framed, but I'm happy to go get it framed this weekend. I found the design in Etsy. I looked up bus/tram scrolls from Sydney based stores and found Coco Ella Designs. I bought it last Thursday, got my proof that night over email and it was printed and shipped on Friday! It was exactly what I wanted with the correct font sizes. I can't wait to see how it looks framed and on our wall.

I went next. That blue box was taunting me all day. I gave it one tear and found the card. I looked at the card first since Dave said he wishes he hadn't wrapped it with the present. I read it and started to tear up. It was a very heartfelt card including "You're the only woman I think about and the only one I want to kiss goodnight." I teared up and we embraced.

"So what's going on here?"I said as I pointed to the front of the card. Dave and spent countless hours in the evenings 'working'. He researched all the resorts in the Maldives and found one that suited our holiday tastes and our price range for the Maldives. Everything is pricey there, but this is our one holiday for 2015 so we're going big. Karumba is a five star resort near the airport. It's a 15 minute boat ride away. It's the 10th best resort according to trip advisor. The resort built pillars around the resort years ago and overtime coral have grown around the slabs. It not only keep big waves away, but will be amazing snorkelling!

And finally what was in the box...

I got a new Macbook Air! At first I thought it was funny looking at a laptop that I use at work (but I have the 10 inch version), but I couldn't think of a better lap top. It's lightweight and has a iOS which I'm trying to master. In marketing communications, you tend to be on the computer a lot so it's good to upscale in both iOS and Windows. Dave sees I'm finally back to blogging and doesn't want me to use my crappy six year old Toshiba that makes my legs feel like they're on fire. I'm a lucky girl...

So no 30 Day Shred workout today. I'll replace a rest day with today's workout instead. I am blogging for the first time on my new Macbook Air. I have the love of a man who understands me and cares for me. This couldn't be a better anniversary. Here's to six years and counting!