Happy new year to all!

I’m breaking the blogging sabbatical with an update of December and plans for 2010.

The Phuket triathlon saw us having an extended weekend in Thailand. I experienced my best leg wax ever. I was a little surprised when I was told to allow 90 minutes for it and said it was ok if they did it quicker. While my legs are long, they are not that long. It began with soothing music and a head massage (I was worried she thought I wanted my head waxed) and a mask was then placed over my eyes.

From there, something nice smelling was massaged into my left leg, some hot wax put on, the material strip, riiiiip and then quick patting applied. It was painless. Believe it or not. The right leg was the same and then I received a shoulder and back massage. Great start to the holiday – painfree waxing. This was followed by a cocktail to remind me where I was.

Next weekend we christened our now not so new dining table with a six person dinner party. Mr Shallot cooked up a storm and I did the raspberry coulis for part of the dessert. Oh, I also prepared the nibblies and the cheese and biscuits. The party was a hit with a few leaving past midnight which is quite late for transport in this area of HK.

The following was the dog Christmas party back in Discovery Bay. We drank mulled wine, chatted and watched the dogs run around with tinsel, Santa hats and bows. There were about 15 dogs running around and it was great to watch. We then had a fabulous lamb shank lunch at the Waves.

The next weekend was Christmas (we were with friends) which naturally meant more food and drink.

Now for NYE. We went out for a set dinner at 9.15pm followed by dancing – the first time I’ve seen a dj operate just with two ipods. Unfortunately there was a rather drunk woman there who while trying to put her boobs back into her dress managed to tread on my foot with her stilletto. The night was young (around 1am) so we went to another club in Lan Kwai Fong – us and half the other expats in HK. Surprisingly it wasn’t as crowded as we expected particularly after experiencing a number of Opera House / Botanic Garden new years in Sydney.

After catching the 3am ferry home, I managed to have my morning shower at 4pm. We pottered around for most of the day which was necessary given my body felt like it was 90 and Mr Shallot’s head felt like it was mush.

This meant I was ready for movement on Saturday so the dog and I went for a two hour hike. That was enough exertion for one day. Shopping followed on Sunday and now here I am, back at work.

One of my big goals for this year is to take my lunch to work one day per week. This is because I tend to eat takeout at my desk each day and there is a huge amount of plastic and waste that goes with it.

It was easier for me to do this in Australia as I prepared my multigrain salad breadroll each morning but it is a little more difficult here. Firstly, breadrolls that don’t taste sweet are difficult to come by and secondly, I have less time in the morning to prepare. So, it started today with leftovers from last night and some yoghurt (I’ve bought a big container rather than the six pack to help with the environment part given that’s why I’m doing this in the first place).

This whole period has given me an idea of a Christmas Offset Scheme similar to the carbon offset scheme that many airlines have. This would all be done online where people can donate based on how much they think they’ll consume over this period eg. one Christmas dinner could be worth $10 which would then be donated for emergency food in a third world country. Let me know your thoughts as I’m developing this idea further at the moment.

I’ve also started to check my 2009 goals. Some of those need to be updated for this year too. So much to do and so little time!

* Thanks to Prince for the title to this post (though I’ve slightly adapted it).