Monsy's Place

i HEART the philippines

2007-06-25T17:40:00.000+10:00

Sheda and Arezo...just for you

So I've been back from the Philippines for almost 3 weeks now. And all I can really say, is my heart lives there. The original reason for my trip was because my aunty was sick. My mum went for two weeks to help out and I followed soon after, u know to help out with her healing process - after all it is as if I am the family clown that can make people laugh.

It was my first time travelling alone internationally but it didn't bother me although I was wondering who I'd talk to for a whole day. Noone.

I had a 5 hour stop over in Malaysia and decided to sleep in the waiting area like a real person in transit. I then walked around, shopped, ate, internetted then jumped on my next flight.

MANILA - What can I say? I embrace Manila. Let me sum up a few of my observations that really makes this place what it is:

- When driving, if you can squeeze 6 cars into 4 lanes then do so.
- If you want to take over an oncoming lane so that there are 2 lanes going one way and 4 lanes going the other (instead of what originally was 3 and 3), then do so.
- Noone wears shoes and socks - it's thongs, thongs and thongs.
- There are no prams for kids, they are either in your arms or already walking (even if they look too young to be walking).
- Air con and temperature are ALWAYS two extremes.
- Everyone sings and CAN sing.
- There are so many shopping malls that it blows my mind.
- People have drivers and maids.
- Ice Tea is as common as water.

These are just a few things that really stood out for me.

Anyway, back to the trip - I spent the first four days shopping and shopping with my mum before she left back to Australia. I would spend most days at home doing work, heading out for lunch here and there and then visiting my aunty in hospital.

My mum and I were also very fortunate to have dinner with the Laurel family at the Shangri-La Hotel. We met most of Paolo's family which was really lovely (Paolo is a friend of Fan's who lived with us for a few months)

I managed to fulfil my duty but just for one night in the hospital as care-taker. Unfortunately the night that I stayed there was a blackout. No light or no aircon for most of the night. Not a pleasant way to be spending time in a hospital.

Mons in hospital mode:

Oh, and I walked downstairs one day to see the people downstairs preparing for a party and cleaning their own chickens. It was definitely something I had to take pictures of...

I also got a chance to jump on a bus to the Bicol region. In particular, Camaligan where my family live. After an 8 hour bus ride (lying down on a lazy boy recliner!!) I arrived in the wee hours of the morning to be greeted by my Uncle Joy, and my cousins Adrian and Glenn. By the time we got home, the kids were up and getting ready for school. I spent a day in the town of Naga, exploring the markets and shopping centres.

Here I found some dried fish which is a real delicacy!

The streets of Naga...YES they have McDonald's!!

Here are some pics of my family members (aunties, uncles, cousins...)

I got back to Manila and spent a night out with some of my Aunty's employees - Arlene, Yvette and Rodney. We had a great night out down at the Baywalk (where we ran into a hilarious midget man), rode on a horse and carriage, and finished up at Karaoke!!

And another GREAT thing...all you can eat Japanese for 10 aussie dollars!! Yeah, all that food was for two people...

And that was almost it. I had another dinner with Peter and Maia which was really nice and saw some of the girls I had been out with the week before when I went with Peter and Maia to Tanya's birthday party. We went to Quezon city where all the bars are and I got to 'spin' at one of the bars which was awesome!

And then it was all over. Time to pack my bags (which were 15kgs over!!) and head home to Melbourne. My aunty was home and feeling much better. It was sad to leave...but not without plans of heading back soon.

My Aunty Beq

For more photos head to
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10125&l=8a3ba&id=729616350
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9457&l=7fa24&id=729616350

Manila here I come...

2007-05-23T10:00:00.000+10:00

I'm heading to Manila this weekend. 2 weeks. and you know what that means - time to revitalise my blog!!

I'll be around with more stories and pics!

The Chevron

2007-05-04T14:35:00.000+10:00

I bet you didn't know that Kylie and Danni Minogue have bought apartments at the new Chevron apartments in Melb...

But really, we don't care about them, it's the fact that Bec and Nima have now moved there. And Bec and Nima moving in pretty much means I have moved into there, Pedro has moved into there and Naysan has moved into there too. After all, we do like the group situations. Something about separation anxiety comes to mind.

Anyway, Bec and Nims, congrats on the fun new place, where I'm sure lots of fun times are to come!

Bec at the front door

Pedro in front of the foyer art...interesting...

Mr Bellamy in Melbourne

2007-04-21T11:44:00.000+10:00

I felt like i disappeared for 2 weeks, and here I am, even more weeks later trying to write some posts.

For two weeks we had the pleasure of introducing "English Steve" to the finer parts of Melbourne. A few trips to Ramsay St where Neighbours is filmed, some fun nights out on the town, and most of all lots of LATE nights at the Jafari household (late nights where I would still have to get up after 3 hours of sleep for a full day's work). But you know what, it was GREAT fun. And nothing short of what we show all our guests when they come to Melbourne.

Anyway, here are some pics of what we got upto...

A trip to Dandenong for the Afhgani Kebab - Fanny, me, Steve, Jilla & Sussie

Some Cirque De Soleil - QUIDAM

Coffee on Lygon St

Milkshake's in Mt Dandenong

And what is a trip to Melbourne without a kebab day in Lilydale

ohhh K-Mart...

2007-04-04T14:07:00.000+10:00

Fan, Sue and I had an excursion...to K-Mart.
It was very random but we managed to have a bit of fun...

In the shoe section...

Shoes that we wanted to buy for Yuta

Sussie's formal shoes maybe?

These were just funny!!

And then we moved onto the bag section...

And this is at the point where we heard "Security Section 3, Security Section 3" and we resumed shopping like NORMAL people.

Jelly anyone?

2007-03-30T16:23:00.000+10:00

Yes, I used to spend my time at work making jelly. Actually, I really used to spend my time at work defending myself and this is how I did it...

So this was one of my best office pranks. I can proudly say I don't think this one has been beaten in our office to date. I'm a proud proud employee :)

Some friendly faces

2007-03-21T22:37:00.000+11:00

WE LOVED THIS

(and just so you can see each and every one of us, I have flipped the photo)

Dandenong - Where the best Afgahni Kebab resides

2007-03-21T22:14:00.000+11:00

For those of you who know how much persians love their kebab, you will understand the great feat that occurs to go to Dandenong in order to eat some kebab.
Fairly often, people decide to embark on what some would deem a 'feat' to head all the way out to Dandenong just for some kebab. Although don't let me fail to mention that the kebab we eat in Dandenong is actually Afghani kebab. But here in Melbourne, it's the closest thing we can find to persian tasting kebab!
Nonetheless we try to do it often enough to satisfy our cravings!!

So here is the Jafari family plus a couple of friends at our last kebab dinner...

They made me do it

2007-03-20T23:49:00.000+11:00

We were driving in the car and all of a sudden Fanny had an urge...then Sussie got the urge...

And then they FORCED me to get the urge...
Yeah...I dunno either...

I like to call it Mechuca

2007-03-20T23:28:00.000+11:00

After a 3.5 hour bus and train ride, several episodes of Heroes and lots of catch up chatting, Nathan and I made it to MECHUCA (pronounced meh-chu-ka).
A 10:00pm pick up by the lovely Nava, saw us head straight to the ONLY place that served food that late at night - McDonald's. A quick bite and we drove straight home to say hi to Annie (Nath's mum).
A cup of tea and an hour or two later and we decided to call it a night.

The next morning we were spoilt with a wonderful breakfast from the Wistaria Tea Rooms.

And we HAD to do a tourist shot while in Echuca!! It wouldn't have been the same without it...

Paddlesteamer Capital of Australia

2007-03-16T10:18:00.000+11:00

That's right, I'm going to Echuca tonight!

Elise's Hen's Weekend - Rye

2007-03-13T10:57:00.000+11:00

I just spent the last weekend in Rye for Elise's Hen's Weekend. It was amazing. A great house, great company and good times!

The weekend consisted of a winery & brewery tour in the Red Hill area, some fun games, a bit of a spa, some movies in our home theatre, cranium, pool & table tennis!

Here are some photos of the weekend.

Some singing in the car

Some video from the brewery

It's Friday

2007-03-02T16:05:00.000+11:00

and this is how fun my day was...

Good Vibes

2007-02-14T12:27:00.000+11:00

Went to Good Vibrations on Saturday, it was awesome. Snoop Dogg was there and he rocked!

Some random girls that we became friends with:

I'm home again

2007-02-09T12:28:00.001+11:00

So after a hectic three weeks, I'm back at home...for now!

My last trip took me upto Mackay then about 2.5 hours drive west of Mackay to a coal mine site. I didn't manage to get many pictures of the coal mine, but you can imagine what it looked like...black?!

We lived in the "village" with the miners. It's basically just accomodation for the miners, but apparently it's the best mining accomodation in Australia. And for the first day that I was there, I didn't see one girl! But slowly, during the course of the week I'd see ladies around.
Here are some photos of where we lived for a week:

We were stranded an extra day due to the storms and almost had to stay in the miners' village for a whole weekend. The rains eased a bit however on Friday afternoon and that's when we made our escape.

I dropped into the Gold Coast and spent some time with Sally, Siamak and Yasmin. I'll have to find the dvd's we watched and upload them. Some absolute classics - dvd's of our weekend's away when all the gang used to live in Melbourne. And some even funnier ones that will have to remain a secret until you see them for yourselves!!

Anyway, back to Melbourne and back to work straight away.

We had in influx from Perth come in - Ms Ruhi, Mr Baz and Elmo have been in town for a few days. Lovely to see the kids and can't wait til they come back.

Some fun news is that Bita is back in town. I went to get her from the airport, we had some dinner and did lots of catching up, then went over to Caroline's for more catching up.

And so that's it...this weekend has a lot lined up, so hopefully the camera will come out and the stories will get posted...

SERIOUSLY HILARIOUS!

2007-02-02T11:02:00.000+11:00

My friend Karlie just sent me this story...I haven't stopped crying!!

Have a read:

My bro's gf is a disability worker and does day care work for acquired brain injury people. So her daily job consists of going swimming, bowling, movies, heaps of fun stuff. Any ways, the other day they went on a trip to the aquarium and somehow they managed to loose one of their clients (brain injury guy about 20-30 years old). How the hell do you loose someone in the aquarium. Any ways, they looked everywhere for ages, and no luck. So they ended up having to call his parent and security. Anyhoo, eventually he comes strolling up, SOAKING wet from head to toe, even his backpack! They could not get out of him why he was wet or where he had been. So his parents took him home and still could not get anything out of him. Anyways, she undresses him and puts him in the bath. Later goes back in the bathroom to find him in the bath with a live penguin! hahahahaha. She rang the aquarium to tell them, and they were like 'oh its ok, we quiet often get people taking things from the gift ship, thanks for letting us know'. and the mums like... no, I have a live penguin in my bath! hahaha. So they had to tell her how to look after it for the night and bring it back in the morning! Can you believe it! So funny! I just feel sorry for the penguin! It would of been funny, all these kids sitting around and then see this dude jump in a tank (it was one of those full length glass ones, so he would of had to go around the back) and shove a penguin in his bag! So funny!

P.S. I'm out in the middle of nowhere, but will have some GREAT pics and stories up soon!

Our obsession with Schiavello

2007-01-19T11:40:00.000+11:00

Schiavello is located on the corner of Power St and Queensbridge St Southbank. Whenever Pedro and I walk past, we see people inside having their cups of coffee and reading the paper. Note: Schiavello is not a cafe! Therefore, we are actually envious of these people. You will often see us staring into the window like homeless people, as we walk past in the freezing cold.

Anyway, yesterday as we were walking past on our way home, we see our good friend Caroline sitting on a couch inside Schiavello............Pedro couldn't contain himself and he was jumping up and down yelling "it's Caroline, it's Caroline" Lo and Behold, but the door to Schiavello was opened and we were accepted inside. It was at this point that Pedro and I relayed our stories to those on the inside of fantasising about being inside Schiavello drinking coffee's. So guess what we did...

So that was it - a dream come true

But it's tradition...

2007-01-19T11:35:00.000+11:00

At Binh Minh, a vietnamese restaurant on Victoria Street, they have a traditional birthday cake. Needless to say, it wasn't actually Fanny's B'day, but we insisted it was just to see what tradition this place has...

Back again

2007-01-18T16:00:00.000+11:00

No really, this time it was for work!! I headed back to Sydney after only leaving there 2 weeks prior. I think I'm giving people in Sydney the wrong impression - I don't actually like it there!!

Anyway, once again I was able to take part in some fun events whilst I was there...

Shawn's 21st - We had a lovely dinner a Wagamama's the proceeded onto Karaoke, and boy oh boy do those guys LOVE their Karaoke.

And this is a photo of me and Maice...because I love her.

Then I spent an evening with Arezo and some other lovely lovely people, where we talked about the top 10 things about Arezo going to Afghanistan.

After Sydney, came the adventure to Newcastle for both work and play. I visited my high school friend Belinda, and her boyfriend Petey. Bil and I caught the train to Newcastle, which I don't think I will ever do again as it is a 2 hour 45 minute ride. But here is some of the scenery along the way...

Oh and here is Belinda...that was my scenery for the duration of the train ride.

And now I am back in Melbourne...but not for too long.

BRISBANE, ur NEXT!!!

Masked

2007-01-18T15:31:00.000+11:00

My friend Tina is leaving Melbourne and heading back to Brisbane.

There was a little party that was held last Friday...and we had to wear Masks...
have a look what came out...

le sussie est venu à la maison

2007-01-16T12:43:00.000+11:00

Sussie Came HOME!!

Yay, so Sussie got back from France and bought me fun things.
But the only fun thing I took a photo of is this:

And I don't know why but I was so excited to have this shirt...it must have been the deluded state I was in seeing as I was running on minimal sleep.
But it is so fun to have Sussie home (even though a few days after she got home, I had to jet off again).

Destiny Time...

2007-01-16T12:28:00.000+11:00

So after months and months of work...the week finally came.
Designing Destiny 2007
All I remember is my staple diet of water, water and water for 4 days, not sleeping for many days and running away from cockroaches.
But i'm told it was a great conference, which is what makes it all worthwhile. I do also remember seeing loads of people who I hadn't seen for ages...it was nice to see them but sad that I had no time to sit and chat to them.

Anyway, here are some pics that I had from the amazing week...

The DD models:

The Melb team (aka Dream Team):

Venus, Mons (Zoe) and Tash (Zoe):

Anisa and Jafs:

So now that that is all over...I have to find myself a hobby to take up my time after work now!

Christmas, New Years and everything in between

2007-01-16T11:11:00.000+11:00

So for the festive season, I decided to make my way to Sydney.
Christmas day was spent in front of the tv, a few days after that I was required to be at a desk in our Sydney office which really comprised of taking two hour lunch breaks then going home straight after my two hour lunch breaks, then a lovely new years after which I had one hour sleep then flew back into Melbourne. Crazy...as usual.

And so it was New Years...

Oh I also went to Vafa G's B'day party which was quite fun.
I had to take this pic of Vida to acknowledge how cool she looked in these sunnies -

Then after all that fun...came Destiny time...

WOW

2007-01-11T18:21:00.000+11:00

Please don't hate me!! I have LOTS of stuff to add to my blog!! I don't even know where to start.

From New Years in Sydney, to the Designing Destiny Conference, to Sussie coming home...it's all been happening!!

Can't wait to share all the fun pics and stories!!

Designing Destiny

2006-12-21T11:47:00.000+11:00

National Baha'i Youth Conference

January 4th - 7th
Latrobe Bundoora, Melbourne

Click for rego and info

Click here for Designing Destiny's MySpace

Surprise!!

2006-12-21T11:16:00.000+11:00

Sunday saw me jet off to Adelaide to surprise Navs!! It was the day just before her graduation ceremony. Fanny was the first surprise on the Thursday as she arrived with Nima. 3 days later I arrived in Adelaide and snuck into Nava's room while she was still in bed to surprise her!

We spent the day at Linda's house where we had a lovely lunch for all the graduates and their families. There was so much amazing food and the weather was awesome!

Sunday Night was Nooshin's Murder Mystery B'day Party.

We all got dressed up into our characters, some better than others...

So all in all, there were lots of surprises on the Sunday.
BUT, when you thought that all surprises were over and done with...

Monday morning, whilst waiting for our flight back home, Fanny and I grabbed a bite to eat and sat in the little cafe near the Virgin Terminal. As we walked in, a girl was staring at us...a girl that we knew!! It was my friend Prue, who I had wanted to see when I was in town but didn't get a chance to call...Prue was on her way with her sister Penny and Penny's boyfriend to the Sunshine Coast for Christmas with her family.

And the surprise-ful weekend in Adelaide was over...

Chimmy Chim Chim

2006-12-21T11:11:00.000+11:00

My mummy and I had a lovely day together last weekend. Rushing around town getting some fun bits and pieces that I needed. But we had a quick little stop at Chimmy's on Bridge Road for some lunch with Caroline.

IP Systems School Girl Mona

2006-12-15T16:45:00.000+11:00

In addition to my Park Ranger Mona post there is a new Mona doll available on shelves today!!

It's the IP Systems School Girl Mona!!

And for a limited time only, get School Girl Mona with her friends.
The IP Systems Class of 2006.

Hurry! While stocks last...

Look what's sleeping on my floor

2006-12-10T23:33:00.000+11:00

This is Nathan. If anyone could call himself my little brother it's this kiddo. My mum has looked after him since he was 6 months old and he has very much become part of the family.

Funnily enough, when I used to take him out with me, people thought that he was my kid. Can we please acknowledge how blonde he is and how not blonde I am!! Anyway, people used to ask me how old he was. I would look at him and ask, "How old are ya buddy?" and he'd look up, show me three fingers and respond "Three!" Quite funny and everyone just gets so confused by it.

Anyway, Nathan had a sleep over the other night and even though there were about 5 spare beds in the house, he wanted to sleep on the floor in my room. CUUUTE!!

Yet another wedding

2006-12-07T23:16:00.000+11:00

Just when I thought I was all wedding'ed out, my friend Adam called me one day and told me he was getting married. Adam and I went to primary school together and haven't seen each other probably for around 2 years. Adam's bride is the lovely lovely Jess. They really are a great match!

I was very fortunate to be a guest, DJ and MC at this wedding. The ceremony was at the Rhodedendron Gardens in Olinda with the reception at nearby Fortnums in Sassafras.

Here's the one and only photo I took of the night!!

A bit unsure

2006-12-07T22:36:00.000+11:00

When I look at photos of these two girls, I can hardly see how I am their sister.

They are just so stylish if you ask me. They have cool hair, cool clothes and are always looking hot to trot.

Then we come to ME...

Stylish?

Well Dressed??

Hot to Trot???

I could go on, but I'm kinda trying to save myself the embarrassment!!
Anyway, can you see now how I'm kinda a bit confused?
And YES, they really are my sisters...

Sussie d'en France

2006-11-25T02:13:00.000+11:00

(Sussie is off to France)

Here is some cute footage of us saying bye to little Sussie for her six weeks in France!! How exciting.With Mac.Rob's French exchange, Sussie will spend one week in Paris and five weeks in Bordeux with her host sister Helene and family. Helene came and spent six weeks with us in Melbourne earlier in the year and now it's Sussie's turn to head over.

2 Personal Shout Outs

2006-11-25T01:28:00.000+11:00

Sorry guys, but this had to be done (and I know I have many more lined up), but I have two personal shout outs...one to Golriz and one to Vince.

The first is for Golriz. Here is the photo of you and my Daddy-O at the lovely BBQ we had.

Cuuuute - Love this pic!!

So the next one goes to to Vinny. He and Manijeh had a little debate as to whether or not Melbourne had Krispy Kreme's.

Vinny, all I have to say is...This box represents Krispy Kreme's and seeing as Manijeh was right in saying that we do have them, I think you better go and buy her a box today...

If you're interested this is some info about Krispy Kreme's arriving in Melbourne thanks to Wikipidia!!

The first Krispy Kreme store in Melbourne, Australia opened on 22 June 2006 at 6.30 am in the suburb of Narre Warren at Fountain Gate Shopping Centre, and features a 24-hour drive-through service. Though most store-locations outside of Australia usually operate with a long schedule including both early mornings and late nights, the twenty-four hour operating model is unique to Sydney and Melbourne. The store is currently hugely popular amongst Melburnians, some of whom queued for several hours during the store's first few weeks running. The drive-through queue during this period was often over 500 metres long and has been controlled by hired security guards and Narre Warren police, who directed traffic and calmed customers. When the store first opened, people had waited for 3 days creating a drive thru line over 2 kilometres long. The drive through line did not stop until about three weeks after the opening and the internal store was constantly forced to remove people from the building after closing hours.

Krispy Kreme opened its second Melbourne store in the central business district of Melbourne on Collins Street. The store opened on September 26, 2006. Unlike the Fountain Gate store, doughnuts are not produced on site, but rather delivered many times during the day from both Fountain Gate and Dandenong. The Fountain Gate store is the only manufacturing (or factory) location in Victoria. A third store opened at the Chadstone Shopping Centre, on the 2nd November 2006. A fourth store is due to open in December at Knox, but unlike the stores at Chadstone and Collins Street, it will be a 'Hot Light' store, similar to Fountain Gate.

An oldie but a goodie

2006-11-21T14:21:00.000+11:00

Check the moves out!!

23 today

2006-11-20T16:05:00.000+11:00

Today is my birthday...
The girls at work (Deearrn, Elizabeth and Terri) keep doing sneaky things. Today they went and bought a couple of boxes of my favourite donuts and surprised me while I was on the phone (working hard of course!)

This makes spending your b'day at work a bit more tolerable :)
Thanks guys!

Life's like a box of chocolates...

2006-11-17T13:15:00.000+11:00

IF I got to choose what chocolates I could put in my selection of favourites, these three would definitely be in THAT box.

(Arezo, Nima & Nazy)

That's the best way I could describe the love I have for these three people. The thought slapped me in the face when I saw them in this photo together, it just made me so so happy.

Canon meets the family

2006-11-14T20:34:00.000+11:00

I brought my new friend home to meet the family...this is the warm welcome that it received.

Mumma Alice who was watching Dancing with the Stars:

Sussie who was starting to pack for her trip to France:

Hugo who was getting some good behaviour lessons and got rewarded nicely:

Poppa Emmy who was making his cup of tea:

Everyone got along nicely and my family loved Canon. It's gonna be fun times from here on in!!

Stay tuned for the new adventures of Mona and Canon.

A day full of Tash

2006-11-14T14:40:00.000+11:00

Tash came to visit!! I got to spend Friday night and all of Saturday with her...and it still wasn't enough!! We went shopping and bought lots of things...Tash thinks I'm a bad influence on her, but I think she's a bad influence on me. I bought things that I totally didn't need!! Jeepers.

Anyway, it was a fun day. We squeezed lots of fun tidbits into the short time we had - a breakfast at Sassy's, hanging out with mumma Alice, some shopping on Smith St, visiting Fan at work, having some lunch in Block Arcade, a bit of a play with Hugo, a drive in Jafsy and not to forget - a visit to the shops, which led to the introduction of my new best friend - Sergio Mendes. Tash ur a legend for opening my ears to Sergio...Here's a clip I found.

Come back soon please Tash!!

Bring on the Canon

2006-11-09T17:11:00.000+11:00

Just so you know, I'm buying a new camera cos I'm sick of my blog being crap without photos. And reusing old photos just isn't cool enough!

Coming Soon to a town near you...

2006-11-01T16:43:00.000+11:00

This weekend:

Melbourne - Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne...

Jafs is on her way!!

Jafari Ladies Lunch

2006-10-26T15:38:00.000+10:00

The rest of the ladies in my family met me for lunch today: Mum, Fanny and Sussie.
We went to Block Arcade and enjoyed a nice meal in the sun!
Then we got dessert...
This is sitting on my desk at the moment, but won't be for much longer!

Raspberry Brulee!! It's VERY yummy!!

Park Ranger Mona

2006-10-23T17:16:00.000+10:00

My usual morning antics mean that if I haven't thought about what to wear to work the night before it usually ends in disaster in the morning...well usually when I realise at 11am it becomes a disaster! I thought I did a good job this morning...until I saw myself in our reception area mirror!!

I LOOK LIKE PARK RANGER MONS!!!

And yes, because of how I was dressed today I sat in the park and fed the animals...the possums!! Today I loved wildlife. Can't wait to get dressed for work tomorrow!!

Joke of the day

2006-10-20T13:02:00.000+10:00

How do you make a tissue dance?

Put some boogie into it

Princess Alia

2006-10-18T11:40:00.000+10:00

Meet Alia...

I have often referred to her as the cutest baby I have ever seen!! She is definitely in the top list of cutest babies I know!

Alia's dad sits right across from me and I get to hear fun stories about her all the time.
Alia also comes to visit us at work sometimes.
She likes to hug her teddy bear, blow kisses and she loves riding on her bike.

Mr. Whippy

2006-10-17T22:02:00.000+10:00

On my last day in Perth Mr. Whippy visited us...I LOVE MR. WHIPPY. He loved me too cos I brought him customers.

I kept yelling out to him "Thanks Mr. Whippy, you're the best Mr. Whippy!!" while I was waving like a 5 year old.

He thinks that I thought his name actually was Mr. Whippy. He was a sweet man!!

Stalker

2006-10-17T21:53:00.000+10:00

Manijehcalled me her stalker today. I dunno why? Would putting a photo like this up constitute as stalker style activity? I'm not quite sure...

The week before

2006-10-10T22:06:00.000+10:00

The week before the wedding consisted of lots of fun adventures. The Hen's night, Penguin Island, Rottnest Island and just lots of hanging out...

More wedding photos

2006-10-10T21:31:00.000+10:00

I figured out a funner and easier way to show you guys my photos...

Kalinz and Luke's Wedding - October 2006

THE Wedding

2006-10-09T08:14:00.000+10:00

Just a few photos to keep you happy for now.

My bags are packed...

2006-09-29T15:21:00.000+10:00

So...finally...it's almost time to fly again!! Ok for those of you who are saying "You just flew last week"...umm, well I don't really know what to say to you!

My bags are packed and I'm heading to Perth. Kalinz and Luke's wedding is next Friday and I've managed to take some time off and spend this week over there.

Very much looking forward to it as there will be an exciting array of people to catch up with!!

Caaaaaaaan't wait to put vids and pics up!!

Wannabe

2006-09-26T14:14:00.000+10:00

Tash said my dad was mean to her. But look at her! She's all smiley and stuff. I think she secretly wants to be a Jafari.
My folks went to Sydney and met some cool people that I have been talking about. Tash and Isra feature in this photo with Alice and Emmy (We call him Emmy cos it is cute!)

P.S. Tashy, do you wanna be part of our family? That would be rad!

Picnic on Northwood St

2006-09-25T14:41:00.000+10:00

I was on the phone to Nazy today and while we were conversing she stopped to tell me about some people having a picnic outside her house. While this may sound normal, I knew it actually wouldn't be. I was picturing in my head where the picnic would have been.

Nazy continues to tell me about this red car, with ladies dressed in red, holding a baby with a red cloth who are "having a picnic". Confused? I was totally confused!

Then she got off the phone to take a picture and show me...

This photo was taken from Nazy's balcony................aaaahhh, a picnic on the nature strip right outside her door...what the?? Then it all made sense...not fully though seeing as there is a park around the corner. I told Naz to go and tell them that there was a park nearby...she didn't agree with the idea. And then I kept asking Naz what they were eating. They had chips - corn chips.

Oh well, I hope they had a lovely picnic on Northwood St.

Nazy, can we have a picnic there next time I come? Looks like a nice spot I guess.

mmm...breakfast

2006-09-25T10:52:00.000+10:00

Look what's sitting on my desk...

Yummmm, breakfast. We were so bored last night that we drove an hour to Krispy Kremes. So much for our detox...I'll start detox again tomorrow.

My blog is sad...

2006-09-19T16:01:00.000+10:00

...because I haven't uploaded my photos or video footage from the infamous Sydney trip (aka no parents = no panties part one). They are still on my camera but they want to be on my blog. So now my blog is sad and so am I.

Lorne aka Fat Camp!

2006-09-04T14:37:00.000+10:00

I was so excited on Friday to spend the weekend with two lovely ladies - Belinda and Catherine - away from the hustle and bustle of city life whilst we escaped away to Lorne. Belinda kindly offered us a few beds to sleep in at her holiday house...

We arrived on Friday evening, had dinner at the Lorne Pub and went to 'The Bottom" where we played pool for the rest of the night with the locals. Needless to say the local girls weren't very accomodating while all the boys chatted to us all night. Oh except for our friend Bec...who was rather friendly - especially when she came up from behind me and grinded herself against me as she was "dancing"!!!

Anyway, we got up early on Sat morning, had a lovely breakfast and then..................went for a walk!! Belinda and I tried so hard to avoid going on a walk (Ok, so I think I resisted more than Belinda) but we had a few plans up our sleeves:
1. Belinda or Mona to fall and crack their head open in the shower which would require a trip to the hospital.
2. Belinda going on the walk while Mona would stay home and bake the cookies - Someone would have to stay home to bake cookies of course!!
3. Belinda or Mona to fall and hurt themselves in any other way which would result in NO WALKING!!
So, none of these plans worked and to Cat's delight we all went for a walk. It actually was really lovely and we came home quiet tired and hungry. We spent our Saturday night over a lovely dinner and watched some TV - Beaches in fact. Looooove Beaches. But I didn't ry. Catherine and Belinda had the tissues out...Oh and I forgot, we had dessert - Toffee Apples YUM YUM.

Now Sunday - Oh I LOVED Sunday...we had our breakfast and Belinda and I knew we were up for another walk. These were our visitors for breakfast - Belinda is scared of birds...haaaahahah.

Anyway, back to our Sunday avo...we delayed it for as long as we could but the time came where we fulfilled our promise of going on another walk with Catherine! This time we went bushwalking. Picture this: Belinda and Catherine taking turns walking in front with a short legged asian stumbling 10 metres behind them (YES! that's me!) THE whole walk I was way behind, so behind that I would have to jog and sometimes sprint every now and then to be able to catch upto them. All I can really remember in terms of conversation was me yelling "I hate my life" and other comments relating to my hate for the bushwalk that became similar to that of a FAT CAMP scenario!! Just call me FAT MANDY!! The walk led us to a beautiful waterfall where I was able to catch my breath for 5 minutes before having to hit the road again and walk all the way back!! In total it was about an hour and a half that we walked...or in my case jog/ran!!

We hit the road at 4pm and headed back to Melbourne - me snoozing in the back seat!! It was a great relaxing weekend at Fat Camp...
However last night I did miss sharing a single bed with Belinda and I missed Cat telling me how many calories are in our foods and deciding where to walk next! Love ya girls!!

Hugo's Wardrobe continued...

2006-09-04T13:01:00.000+10:00

This one is his cutest one I think!!

We're Bringing SEXY BACK...

2006-09-04T13:00:00.000+10:00

Yet again, one of our eventful nights in Melbourne...Enjoy!

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Hugo Visits...

2006-08-30T15:27:00.000+10:00

Hugo dropped by today...he's all big now...

Sometimes I do fun things

2006-08-28T13:07:00.000+10:00

This weekend wasn't one of those times when I do fun things. A kinda packed weekend, but not necessarily an enjoyable one. What a shame. Although I am preserving all my fun feelings at the moment, to be used during the next couple of weekends where I have lots of exciting trips planned.

Stay tuned...

This was a bit fun though - I had lunch with Sezzy and her posse. Sez and Sab were in town from Perth. Some of you may remember Sez and Sab from my previous post about my Perth Family - the McPharlin's.

Me and Sezzy...

Mons, Sezzy, Elly & Maryam

Where in the world is...

2006-08-28T13:02:00.000+10:00

Farnaz Sabet??

So that was a question I had in mind when Rach and I organised a little dinner date and she mentioned that Farnaz would be coming along! FUN!
We had a small dinner at my house with some lovely ladies - Marlee, Rach & Farnaz. I cooked some burritto's and we sat on my bed and chatted - doing some major catching up.
The answer to the question - Where in the world is Farnaz Sabet?? She is currently in Melbourne, after coming from Jordan and on her way to England.
Great to have you round Farnaz!

QLD the Sunshine State...

2006-08-21T16:25:00.000+10:00

Friday night in Brisbane was spent in great company at a restaurant called Hot Plate with...

Sumars and Arman

May and Enoch

Mons Peddy and Sam

(I was the lucky one who had two dates!! Ok who am I kidding, we are the three singles...hot and totally eligible might I add!)

After dinner we spent the night Salsa dancing...either dancing or checking out the dancers. I wish I had've taken some footage of the crazy people that were dancing - great to watch!!

Then I went and spent the night at Nooshin & Kiana's pad...where Foad's Little Helper was reunited with Nooshin.

This is Foad's Little Helper happily
hanging out in Melbourne

And this is what happened when I returned
him to Noosh and Ana was around

So anyway, Saturday was spent at MOVIEWORLD!!!!! Ana has all the pics, so I will add some later but here are a few that I had. Oh and I also have video footage of the Lethal Weapon ride...a ride that I totally didn't want to go on and it left me feeling pretty average for the rest of the day. And all you could hear me screaming was "I HAAAAAAAAAAAATE YOU!"

The girls with the cool cab

Noosh and I totally ready for Shrek 4D...Sexy glasses huh?

Saturday night I went to a Persian Restaurant and had Kebab!! YUM!!
Here are some of my new friends...Peddy's relatives...Jaffar, (ME), Iraj and Parvin.

And Sunday morning was a big sleep in and breakfast/lunch with the girls. Actually you can't even call 2pm lunchtime can you??

Kiana and I both scored eggs with 2 yolks...that's right, one egg = 2 yolks!

That was our trip to Brisbane in a nutshell...until next time...Mons and Pedro signing off...

Bananarama

2006-08-21T16:14:00.000+10:00

How long has it been since YOU ate a banana??

Courtesy of Kiana's trip to the markets,
I ate one on the weekend. It was YUM!

Safety Houses

2006-08-16T15:14:00.000+10:00

Who remembers what a Safety House is? Let me refresh your memory...they were the houses you could go to if someone was following you or if something happened on your way to or from school. Remember now? What else do you remember about Safety Houses? The logo was a bright yellow picture of a house with a face on it. (Oh wow, that descrpition is spot on and very relative to my next point!) .

Tuesday night is my Women's Bball night. This particular Tuesday we had to get spare singlets as both teams had the same colour. So what colour do you think we end up wearing?! YELLOW! Now after all the comments that we made, firstly about how big the singlets were, the comment that topped it all off was at the end of the game when I finally decided what it is we looked like - You got it - SAFETY HOUSES!! What made it more funny was my reference throughout the match to "housing my 3 kids in this bloody singlet". And so there came the perfect analogy to our basketball game in yellow!

Team Safety House - Mons, Cheez, Claire, Catherine & Amy

Hugo on Bridge Rd

2006-08-07T10:44:00.000+10:00

Mr Hugo had his first day out on Bridge Rd. When I first put him down after getting out of the car with his lead on, he refused to walk - therefore getting the nickname "Princess".
We went and visited Monib and Caroline, walked around Richmond and stopped for some lunch at Chimmy's. There was a huge water bowl for Hugo to have a drink, while we sat and had some yum food and coffee.
Hugo managed to find a big bunch of sugar that had been spilt on the floor...here he is with his big tongue licking it all up!
After our stop, we walked along Bridge Rd where every passer by stopped to greet him. Needless to say Peddy and Nima were fighting over being able to hold Hugo's leash in pursuit of some attractive women!!
Our big Saturday ended at home in Lilydale, everyone coming over for a big feed of Kebab!
P.S. Check out the nice sunny weather that we had in Melb this weekend!! YAY!!

Surprise!!

2006-08-07T10:37:00.000+10:00

There has been a recent obsession amongst my friends to want to smash food onto someone's face. We all know it's no fun to do it to someone if they are expecting it, so check out this clip of me doing the dishes after Feast and Peddy making use of the leftover hommus!

And here is Peddy again...this time trying to get Nima with cheesecake. Let's just say we were all weary of each other after these attempts!

Reggie's B'day in Melb

2006-08-02T16:40:00.000+10:00

Thanks to Dorny for sending me these pics...

These are some of the photos taken on Reggie's B'day.

We had dinner at Groove Train and had some yum cake after! there were lots of fun people who we had dinner with and some who even dropped by after.

We then ended up on Chapel St at Tryst and the Lucky Coq...and what a great night that was!!

Hugo's wardrobe

2006-07-27T10:41:00.000+10:00

For those of you who have been following the adventures of Hugo...here he is in his new jumper!

To Poll or not to Poll

2006-07-24T15:47:00.000+10:00

I wanted to see how well a poll would go. I'm thinking of introducing a weekly one.
This first one is to test the waters...

&amp;lt;a href="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://polls.blogflux.com/poll-3582.html"&gt;Take the poll&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://polls.blogflux.com/"&gt;Free Poll by Blog Flux&lt;/a&gt;

Entertainment...Melbourne Style

2006-07-24T11:18:00.000+10:00

Ok, so after eating all the pizza you possibly can, and watching all the dvd's you'd wanna watch on a cold night in Melbourne this is what we do to entertain ourselves - Make home videos!

I have to apologise for the sound quality but this is too good to hide it away til we one day decide how to fix this problem. My suggestion is to put your headphones in and turn them right up!!

Also, stay tuned for more home vids as the cold nights in Melbourne continue...

Perth invasion...

2006-07-24T11:09:00.000+10:00

This week and last week we have seen quite a few Perthies make their way over to Melbourne. First of all my lil Julzy came and has been staying in my shoebox with me, and then Carmel and Dorna arrived, and then Lobna and Reggie touched down.

It has been very lovely to have them all visit me. Even though my place is a tiny crack in the wall. Carmel and Dorna came for a night visit at about 11:30pm one night on their way home. They brought over some bubbly (the non-alocholic sort of course!) and we cracked it open and shared a glass or two. What I thought was the funniest was that they were walking the streets of Melbourne holding what resembled a champagne bottle and looking rather lost as they were trying to find my apartment!! Here is a photo of us. Clearly you can tell I was in bed before they popped in...

And the next morning saw the arrival of Lobna and Reggie. They dropped in at 6:30am. Which was just delightful. They jumped into bed with Julia and I (Once again proving that four people CAN fit in my bed!). I decided to get up at 6:45am and start getting ready for work - a record if you ask me, as I don't think I have ever tried getting ready for work any earlier than 7:45am! But we decided it was a silly idea to be at work so early, so we all went for a lovely breakfast. Now THAT was a great start to the day...

Hugo

2006-07-14T11:19:00.000+10:00

Lots of people have asked to see a bit more of Hugo.
Here is some footage that I took on Tuesday night...

Adelaide Part 2

2006-07-14T09:32:00.000+10:00

My obsession with Adelaide continues...What is it that keeps bringing me back to this place? 6am flights, group breakfasts at 8am, scones at Muggletons...these are a few of the recurring events. I dunno what it is, but I sure as hell love going back there and hanging out. This time was a little sad though cos Noosh was making her big move to Brisbane. So when I got in early Saturday morning we all met at the market for breakfast. It was lovely to see everyone up so early...as we ate our lovely breakfast at 'The Big Table'.

Another highlight of the weekend was our dinner at Cafe Buongiorno. It was a romantic dinner for four - Nava, Linda, Mona M and myself.

Some of the funniest comments came out of Linda that night -

"I'm gonna get boogie with it"
Translation: I'm gonna get jiggy with it!

"la la la, higher the mountains..."
Translation (song): give it back you hijacked my mind and soul...

After dinner we spent a lovely cosy evening chatting with Biella and her puppy, Baci.

Anyway...then we come to Sunday. A Sunday in Hahndorf for scones and tea at Muggletons. Not to forget the company of two lovely ladies - Nava and Vadi.
I have this short clip of video so these two can look like superstars on my blog!! Nava is promoting the apricot strudel that she bought from a little German bakehouse.

That's about all...until my next trip to Adelaide.

Coldplay

2006-07-05T12:45:00.000+10:00

Got a nice warm fuzzy story for ya...

Some lovely GEMS* in Perth had bought tickets to the Coldplay concert in Melbourne, but then they were also able to get some tickets to see Coldplay in Perth...So last Thursday I got a phone call asking what I was upto on Sunday night. My answer - NOTHING! SO...I got given, very generously given, 2 tickets to Coldplay for Sunday night.

Then the dilemma arose...WHO do I take with me? After calling both my sisters and asking "What do you think of Coldplay?" and getting less than satisfactory answers, someone suggested I take Ali!! I called Ali and told her not to plan anything for Sunday night as she would be spending a night with me. I told her to make sure she is free and whatever happens DO NOT TAKE A SHIFT AT WORK. I think I really pushed my point, so much so that I felt like a freak after I got off the phone to her. I mean a night with me isn't worth that much that I'd want to make sure she got the night off work and not cancel hanging out with me...for aaaaanything...no matter what! (I think you get the point).

Anyway, Ali pushed and pushed to find out what it was and even started calling all her friends in Adelaide thinking that the suprise was that they were coming to Melbourne.

I was so excited when Sunday night came and I couldn't wait for Ali to figure out what the suprise was...But she got to my house and goes "I know what it is...Coldplay". After trying to pretend I didn't know what she was talking about, I gave in and told her we were in fact going to see Coldplay! YAY!

Anyway, after that long long intro, we saw Coldplay and it was RAD, AWESOME, AMAZING! I have some video bits that I will have to post up later but for now here are some pics of the stunning people that were in the crowd watching Coldplay!

* Oh and By GEMS I am referring to Kalinz and Luke - Thanks Guys, you ROCK so damn much!

Can u see us? Ali and I are the ones standing...ok so I'm a bit short, but I'm standing!

WOO!! We're going to see Coldplay WOO!!

Hip Hip Hooray!

2006-07-03T12:25:00.000+10:00

Peddy came home!! And we took him out for his B'day. We went to a wicked place called Mr. Wolf which is this nice pizza place in St Kilda. They make awesome yum pizza with fun toppings - like proscuitto and rocket!! And a broccolini pizza...soooo yum! So we ate lots of pizza and washed it down with some mud cake.

This is my TRIBUTE to Pedro...

A new Jafari

2006-06-30T14:45:00.000+10:00

Introducing the newest member of the Jafari family...

HUGO

Hugo is Fanny's new baby. He is a Pug X and is 8 weeks old...So far all he really does is sleep!

One Big Happy Family

2006-06-22T11:30:00.000+10:00

For years now I have been dubbed a McPharlin. As soon I step foot onto Perth soil my name changes - automatically.
So this morning, Julzy sends me a few emails. First one had this photo of the McPharlin family which was titled "Your Perth Family":

The second email she sent me was titled "The Future McPharlin in-laws" and had these photos:

I was slightly shocked by this picture of Julia. And here I am to recify the situation. Let's also note, that the phrase 'Future' McPharlin In-Laws refers only to Julia now...soon she will be the only un-married McPharlin left...This is where the shout out to Kal and Luke go and the BIG CONGRATS on getting engaged!! AWWWOOOOO!!
Anyway, I've sidetracked a little bit...back to my original reason for this post - THE ANSWER TO JULIA's QUESTION...ready? Drum roll please...In-Law number 4 for the McPharlin Family is............................

P.S. Julzy can you PLEASE leave a comment here so people know that this is for real and that it's not one sided and I am not on drugs and that our love is real? hahahaha. No but seriously, can you leave a comment so that I don't look like I've lost the plot. Ok thanks!

Running a muck in Adelaide

2006-06-22T09:50:00.000+10:00

Sorry it's taken me a little while to get back on here. I was in Adelaide over the weekend and wanted to get all my photos together before writing a new entry. But I haven't managed to do that. but I have some worthwhile photos anyway!
SO...Adelaide...yeah...I ACTUALLY had a blast! We went to Goolwa for a night with the crew (all the lovely ladies and Willy the token boy! oh and Baci the puppy too). It was a great night and we just chilled and chatted and danced. In the morning we went to Hahndorf (a little German town) and had breakfast like a family. Then I went to Education for Peace classes with Nav and Noosh and seeing as it was the kids last day we did some filming which is gonna turn into a wicked video clip (I'll upload it once it's been edited). After Edu we had dinner at the Ferdowsi residence where Mumma Ferdowsi fed us all (and can we all please note that I am the new favourite kid in the Ferdowsi house...Navs, don't forget when you move to Melbourne your mum said I can take your room...Thankyouuuuu!)
Anyway part of the fun that night was to dress up for Noosh's photo shoot. The theme was paparazzi and here are some awesome photos of everyone.
1. Nava the Diva
2. Ali the Art Critic/Tranny
3. Kiana the alcoholic mother
4. Mona - aka BG-Unit

Whoah! This is SARIOUS!

2006-06-14T11:56:00.000+10:00

I've been looking for this for ages. When Nima was in town with Nabil and Vedad they showed us this clip of the Persian shop assistant, Edward Petrossi who fought off a robber in his store. For those of you who know the Persian accent you will appreciate this!! Hope you love it as much as we do!

HOW CUTE!

2006-06-13T15:34:00.000+10:00

This is Zane who gets cuter every time I see him. I hope my kid turns out this cute!! Either that or I'm putting in an order for the next kid that Haifa and Mehdi pop out! hehe.

Scott and Terri's Engagement/Wedding/Party thing!

2006-06-13T14:42:00.000+10:00

Here's a story for you...

Terri, a friend from work had her engagement party on the weekend. Funnily enough she hired a HOT DJ for the party, ok so who am I kidding, she hired me for the night. Actually the funny part is the fact that even though it was an engagement party they suprised everyone and got married in the morning. I'm told that most people were expecting it but still, how fun!! So the Engagement/Wedding/Party celebration was held at Milano's in Brighton and was just lovely! The guests were such keen dancers which made my job nice and easy!
Not much more to report, other than the fact that Terri looked stunning and Scott looked lovely in his suit.
Oh and Chook and I were able to pull an all-nighter and I still managed to make it to breakfast in the morning. Good times!!

FFF

2006-06-10T00:18:00.000+10:00

The letters 'FFF' stand for Flimsy Flippery Five. Ok, so maybe it doesn't but none of us can really remember what FFF stands for since we introduced it as our name.

Let me set the scene. About 3 weeks ago, there were a group of five of us who spent this one night together and got into deep and meaningful mode. Not to mention we had already become best of buds and at 5am titled ourselves the FFF...once again, who KNOWS what we meant when we said FFF.

So let me introduce this clan to you:
Top left we have Nima: a Canadaian who we all fell in love with who visited Melbourne.
Middle: That's me!
Top right is Pedro: Originally a Brisbane boy who has made Melbourne his home...appppang!
Bottom right is Nava: She is the love of my life, the wind beneath my wings, the sauce on my pie.
Bottom left is Aram: Yet another Brisbane boy who has ventured out to Melbourne...and so he should cos Melbourne is cool.

Anyway, so there you have it, the story of the FFF.

Welcome

2006-06-09T22:51:00.001+10:00

So the time has come, where I have found Monsy a nice cosy spot on blogger.com! I've left my msn space where it is and decided to venture out to this unknown sphere of blog world.

My main motivation for this is my fellow peers who have been consistent in asking me to update my blog. I've taken one step further and I am now dedicating my life to this blog. Not just that but I figure that the useless emails I send to my random groups of friends will now have a place and not be so useless, as I will now write here instead of sending out mail which I'm sure noone reads anyway. This way, if my life interests you in any way shape or form you can come here and read about it!