best of the best

Fabulous Aussie author Bronwym Jameson has inspired me to write a "best bits of 2005" list. I used to do this every New Years Eve when I was a kid. Fave movie, fave song, not of the year past but in that moment so that I could track back how my tastes change. I can't remember when or why I stopped but now is as good a time as any to continue.

FAVE MOVIE: The Notebook – I only saw it on DVD this year which is pretty much how I see all my movies nowadays bar the big blockbusters - I'm a total big screen sucker for those! As to The Notebook - how romantic can you get? I mean really!

FAVE TV SHOW: Arrested Development – "They're illusions, Michael. Illusions." Followed a very close second by House - how on earth did they make a drug addict with a bad attitude such a sexy hero? Also loved Gray's Anatomy and Lost to bits!

FAVE SONG: The Reason by Hooberstank I played until the CD player refused to play it any more. Also adored Ben Lee’s The Gamble.

FAVE MOMENT: Meeting my godson Lachlan and my close friend's son Tom for the first time. They are simply dreamy, feisty, handsome, chatty young boys and I adore being Auntie Ally so much.

FAVE HOLIDAY SPOT: Palm Cove – think palm trees, coral, a white sandy crescent beach, and nothing but discreet resorts. Heaven. Seriously. Hubby and I spent much needed rest there snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Yum!

FAVE PURCHASE: New kitchen – I can’t believe anyone managed to live with the old one for the last 40 odd years. Jeez!

FAVE BOOK: This was the hardest of all! I enjoyed much of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Winced my way through A Million Little Pieces. Cried through Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. Adored several Jodi Piccoult novels including My Sister's Keeper which kept me guessing the whole way through. And I loved many Harlequin novels including Joan Kilby's Whistler trilogy, Barbara Hannay's The Cattleman's English Rose, The Business Arrangement by newcomer Natasha Oakley, Nicola Marsh's Impossibly Pregnant which I feel blessed to have lived through from its inception, and Trish Wylie's Her Unexpected Baby which was one of the best Harlequin's I've ever read.

Hope you all had a fabulous 2005 with many many new favourites...

Ally

so this is christmas

I have a terrible memory.

It's shocking. I barely remember what day it is today much less what I did yesterday. Okay, so somehow I cn keep the most minute details of my current work in progress in my head for months at a time, but ask me how my weekend was...? I have to reach far far into the recesses of my mind to let you know.

Yet I remember Christmas like it was yesterday.

I remember the Christmas I got my first bike. I remember getting Pinkie, the oddly shaped stuffed rabbit that my Mum made from a pattern. I remember getting the gold locket my father bought for me when I was sixteen. I remember getting records - "1984 on Fire" was the greatest", and tapes - "Choose 1985" was a classic, and CDs that I played over and over on Christmas day until they drove everyone else in the family mad.

I looooove this time of year. The decorations in shopping centres. The musak in carparks. The extra pace, the hurry, the frenetic feeling in the air - is that excitement or pure panic? I love the search for Chrissy gifts - feeling no pressure whatsoever that I have to buy. I want to buy. I want to give my family that wake-up-Christmas-morning-with-a-bunch-of-brightly-wrapped-presents-under-the-tree feeling that I love so much. It's joyous. Exciting. The anticipation has been building for weeks...

And I don't really care if I get a $3-00 book of mind bender puzzles (actually I really like those types of books as they can keep us all entertained through Christmas lunch and beyond!) so long as when I slide down onto the lounge room floor in my pajamas with my hair a mess there is a package there with my name on it, I know that a memory to cherish is being created.

Wishing you all happy holidays!

Ally

PS. Try this one at Xmas lunch!
A prisoner was made to carry a heavy sandbag from one side of the compound to the other. When he got to the other side, he had to take it back again. This went on, hour after hour, day after day, until the prisoner realised that he could put something in the bag that would make it lighter. What was it?

the best medicine

Laughter really is the best medicine, right?

Can you feel any better than when you laugh? Even a mere smile is enough to put me in better spirits even if the current state of my spirits is just dandy.

I have a heap of funny photos in my computer, most have come emailed to my hubby from friends and colleagues. I always forget they are there, until one day I stumble upon them when looking for somthing else and whammy! Grin from ear to ear ensues.

So I am going to post some pictures that give me the giggles. I know humour is subjective, so I understand if you don't laugh uproariously or even get one of those twitches at the corner of your mouth..

But come on! The picture is hilarious!!! Where did you leave your funny bone this morning?

Right, sorry. Calming down. It's just that I take my funny business seriously. So if this piccie doesn't grab you, I hope the next one on down the line will!

spoil sport

ally@allyblake.com