Brianna's Christening and THE Afterparty at Chez Danoz

The lovely Dann family of Clare, Anthony and Declan recently welcomed a new addition to the family - the lovely little Brianna Dann. Below are some happy snaps from her Christening day - highlights included climbing Mount Dann (aka the driveway); the Lebanese Feast; Dave heading too close to the cliff edge in the backyard (Rush moment!) and the pink cupcakes with smarties and jelly beans - yummo Clare!!






Clockwise from top left: The Dann Family with Brianna and her Godparents; Anthony enjoys the feast; The Butlers, Erica and Greg; The Pikes, Dave and Shell; The Clancey's Tab and Justin; and the Rush moment - Dave steps closely to the edge...

Singstar - "Darling Donovan" Performs!

We recently headed to Taree to celebrate the much anticipated christening of our god-daughter Cassidy. The service was lovely and she was a very good girl (it's hard to stay still for such a long time!).

The next day, we introduced the Donovan's to the wonderful world of Singstar! As you can see from these photos, we have a budding rock star on our hands...

I act as bodyguard to my niece and God-daughter; 'No autographs please' - Miss Donovan shys away from the paparazzi

Cassidy joins in a sweet duet with her mum Dani

Lunching with Pink Hair

On a lovely Saturday, I headed out to Camden for my bi-monthly haidressers appointment and lunch with Ann-Marie and Nicholas. I had previously had some Burgundy streaks through my hair and thought they looked unique and nice - hence I requested more. Unfortunately, as tragic fate would have it, the blonde seemingly crossed with the red and we had...PINK!!! I naively left the hairdressers with damp hair and no clue until I got home and started to blow dry it...And began to panic. I had pink hair?! Ok, maybe it could be cool?? I caught up with Ann-Marie for lunch and ever the true friend, she assured me it was lovely and looked fine.

Nicholas starts to grow into a big boy! And posing with 'yummy mummy' Ann-Marie

I woke up the next morning and decided that this was not the case and booked an appointment with the Joh Bailey hair salon in Bondi. Lots of dosh later...And my hair was blonde again with ever so slightly a hint of pink. Needless to say, I have since sought a new hairdresser.... ;-)

Be gone pink hair! I pose, a relieved blonde again

A Doting Aunty Al

I just wanted to take this opportunity to feature some cute snapshots of our adorable neice and newphew - see the most recent shots below:

CASSIDY ALYSON

Constable Cassidy; The lady of the many hats;

On her way to the shops with Uncle Cam and Dianne (Grandma)

WILLIAM JOSEPH

Christian (aka Daddy), Dianne (Grandma) and young Will prepare for his Christening; Grandpa PJ introduces Will to Guiness (get them started on the good stuff early); Daddy and Will - two Joeys boys

Bushwalking in the Blue Mountains

On a lovely Autumn Day on 2 April, Cam and I joined mum and Dad for birthday bushwalking in the Blue Mountains.

Before the bushwalk...

We set off early as it is a surprising distance from Randwick to the mountains (100kms) and after meeting with mum and Dad at the foot of the mountains, decided to spend time at the National Park in one of the first Mountain suburbs.

The picnic spread...spoilt within minutes by my spilling soft drink on the picnic blanket.

To reach the park, we had to drive down some rather daunting hills (which many a cyclist was trying to ride up!) but nothing was too challenging for our new car and we followed a short dirt road to a nice picnic clearing. Once we had partaken of the birthday feast (including KFC and birthday cake), we decided to hike it off along a bushwalk graded as 'Beginner'. By the time we were halfway to our destination, there were serious questions to the validity of this claim by the Department of Parks and Wildlife however, we pressed on, inspired no doubt by the promise of the stunning view of the Nepean River that was to come.

After what seemed like abseiling down the remainder of the mountain, imagine our surprise and disappointment when we reached the river - and the end of the path that was not the park or grassy area we were expecting but a patch of sand about 50cm squared....We had to perch on a rock to relax! We stayed for all of 5 minutes before facing the inevitable task of climbing back up the hill...aided by my trusty walking stick, I huffed and puffed my way up the mountain, stopping every 5 metres to avoid an asthma, heart or panic attack. Kudos to mum and dad or their positive attitude up the hill but I still don't think they believed me when I assured them we were not trying to knock them off in the bushlands. Cam in the meantime, proved the fittest of the group and practically bounded back up the mountain.

The rock upon which we perched when we reached our destination; The Nepean River

The sandy patch; Dad, Mum and I successfully reach the top of the mountain.

On the way back to our cars, we spotted some kangaroos resting in the park and they were more than happy to oblige our photos.

Happy Birthday to mum and Dad for the 1st and 9th of April!

Farewell Festiva....and Zoom Zoom Zoom!

Another chapter in the Merlino Diaries draws to a close and my little Festiva has been sold to make way for the new family Burgess Mobile (a moment to reflect).

But with every closing chapter, a new one is created and thus enters our new Mazda (Chakka Zoom Zoom, as christened by PJ recently). Please see pictures below of the proud new parents:

With driving now a pleasure, Cam and I have taken several trips up and down the coast already but decided that one of our first was a spin around the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and in particular, I was keen to drive out to the Heads past Vaucluse - very scenic!

Music and Merriment at Jacaranda Lodge

The weekend of the 25th of February heralded not only Anna's real birthday but a weekend of frivolity in Taree, with special guests Tony and Sylvia, direct from London's Hampstead Garden Estate (insert wolf whistles and cheers).

Me in my party dress and new shoes ( perhaps I am trying to show off my eyelashes?!)

Saturday evening saw a party hosted in their honour, complete with professional karaoke tunes as arranged by Dani and Chris. Fear set in and I vowed to not take to the stage however several glasses of Marlborough wine got the better of me and before I knew it, I had microphone in one hand and Cam as my backup singer in the other and was belting out 'Stuck in the middle'. After a terrifying 4 minutes, I survived this experience and decided that Cam and I would be well suited to a duet - so we took Chris aside and asked him to assist us in preparing a rendition of 'Please don't ask me'.

The adults table looked rather tame at the start of the evening; the kiddie table, with PJ as our guest (one night only)

In the meantime, as it was party central, Miss Donovan refused to stay in her crib and demanded to be seen by the public - see shot below in her jumpsuit, struggling to keep her eyes open but refusing to be beaten by such a threat!

As the aspiring duo toiled hard at the song preparation, Dani took over and entertained the masses with her beautiful country twang and sassy nature. The crowd were then privy to a rare treat as Burgess and Burgess took to the floor in what was surely a heartbreaking rendition of the Olivia Newton-John and John Farnham classic (I shall leave you to determine in what way it was heartbreaking..).

Edna and Dianne kicked off the evening with a French rendition of...a French song?!; The gents step up to the plate with a noisy version of 'Oh Lord, it's hard to be Humble'. Indeed :)

As the evening wore on and the wine continued to flow freely, I even found myself adapting to my surroundings with the greatest of ease - my proudest moment that evening was surely being able to collect Cassidy before she ran down the driveway, in one arm, whilst not spilling my half full glass of wine in the other :)

Who is this handsome fella then? Young Fred makes an appearance; Uncle Cam and Cassidy; Cam and I - the dynamic duo