The FAT Website est. 1999
2017 was a special year for us. Firstly – the big stuff. We have a baby on the way! We only know them as ‘Littlefoot’ today but we’ll get properly acquainted in early 2018. This year we also bought a house; something Jen and I have been talking about for years. We also adopted Shadowfax, a rescue cat from the RSPCA who likes exploring, eating and sleeping. It was pretty crazy as all of these developments occurred in the space of a couple of months.
What else happened in 2017? The usual stuff. Going to football games. Playing football games. Dining out at new restaurants. Playing video games. Drinking whisky. Reading books. Watching movies. Not blogging as often as I should.
2017 was a big year for family and friends too. Andy and Beck got married. So did Alex and Anna. My parents moved from New Zealand to Malaysia. My sister-in-law lived with us for ten months (!).
Looking back on it, 2017 was one of the best years. Here’s to 2018 being even bigger and better!
We bought a house! Which meant that after nine years we finally moved out of our apartment in Tank Street. We had a lot of happy times there.
Our new home! Sure the kitchen needs a little work and the garage door is busted but the place already feels like our own. It has a fantastic garden, plenty of living space and we couldn’t be more pleased.
We flew to Wellington in February to catch up with family. I went to the football with my brother and his daughter, went for a walk along the beach with Mum and had a whisky or two with my Dad.
We adopted an orphaned cat in July named Shadowfax. He was only six weeks old when we got him. He’s a darn cute cat.
Thanks to my work, I got to check out the Australian Open for the first time this year!
In September we visited a llama farm. They are fantastic creatures with a lovely temperament.
The whisky cabinet got a few new additions this year including an Arran malt from my folks, a Glenfarclas from my In-Laws and a Spey River from a good friend. The South Island single malt was a treat from Jen!
We dined at Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner By Heston in Melbourne. Highlights included the ‘meat fruit’ entree which has the appearance of an orange but is a chicken parfait inside.
I played plenty of indoor soccer in 2017 for the Electrics and Faster Again. I set myself a target of scoring 50 goals for the year and finished on 81!
We were lucky enough to see lots of great shows in 2017 including Green Day’s American Idiot, The Book of Mormon, Tim Minchin’s Matilda and a lecture from Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I played netball for the first time in my life this year! Our team (formed at work) is the mighty Poona Bay Fire Chickens. We haven’t won a game yet but I’m having fun learning.
We ate some fantastic food in 2017. Some of the highlights include the suckling pig and toffee apple at Vaquero and Taro’s truffle ramen.
I went clay pidgeon shooting for the first time this year! I was surprisingly okay, landing 17 out of my 30 shots.
After nearly ten years of inner city living, we got into gardening in a big way this year when we moved into our new home. We’re growing strawberries, chillies, eggplants, lemon grass, you name it.
I went to a couple of wrestling shows this year. It was really cool to meet a couple of my favourite wrestlers – Colt Cabana and Tessa Blanchard.
The Super Nintendo was the first video game system I ever owned so I was super hyped in 2017 to pick up the Super Nintendo Mini Classic. I played Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country and The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past all the way through from start to finish.
After a few years in the wilderness, Nintendo came back in a big way in 2017 with the Nintendo Switch. It was my favourite console this year highlighted by a couple of amazing new Zelda and Mario games.
We visited Melbourne in November this year for a weekend. We ate in laneway cafes, explored the city and had a good time.
Board games are still one of our favourite ways to unwind. We kept up our monthly Table Top sessions with Jules and Jadon throughout the year.
We went to dozens of football games this year at venues big and small. Highlights included away trips to Etihad Stadium in Melbourne (Brisbane Roar vs Melbourne Victory) and Westpac Stadium (Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne City). My favourite game to watch live this year was seeing Brisbane Roar get revenge on Western Sydney Wanderers by knocking them out in the finals with a 6-5 win on penalties.
Twice this year the Electrics finished top of Division Six in our Thursday night league!
We said farewell to far too many great Brisbane Roar players this year including Thomas Broich, Jamie Maclaren, Brandon Borrello and Dimi Petratos. They were all fantastic players who gave us plenty of great moments.
It was especially sad to see Thomas Broich’s career finally come to a close. He is without a doubt my favourite player of all time. A maestro on the field and a gentleman off it.
We were lucky to attend two weddings this year – for Beck & Andy and Alex & Anna. I actually got to be a groomsman for Andy & Becks wedding – a real honour!
It’s now my third year working for Entertainment! I work with a great bunch of people 🙂
Our first Christmas in our new home!
We’ve had a fantastic 2017 but nothing will compare to 2018 when Littlefoot arrives. Our world is about to be turned upside down!
