I hope you like this new song I'm playing. It's Neopolitan Dreams by Lisa Mitchell and those of you who know anything about my taste in music will hopefully agree that this song fits nicely into "my" genre. :) I love Lisa Mitchell. She's an Aussie artist and former Australian Idol contestant (when she was 16! made it to the final 6!) I've always loved her song Coin Laundry, it has a fun rhythm to it and I then fell in love with Neapolitan Dreams while doing an itunes store search to see if she'd done anything new recently. I hope y'all love it as much as me. I love the bell kit in it, the bells just tug on my heart strings after spending a good 7 years of my life playing them. It's on heavy rotation on my playlist as well as "Fingertip" by Aqualung. If you want to know. ;)
p.s. "The House That Built Me" makes me cry. I know it's not the same as my story because it's just my parents living in the house that built me and I'm not broken or anything. But I cry anyways. Because out here it kind of is like I'm someone else. I hope mom and dad never sell that house. It would feel like the final nail in the coffin of the life I had and who I was... am I getting too deep for blogger now? It just came on the radio then and I got a lil emotional. lol Just sharing. :)
Baby Brainstorming
I think I've had the Baby Moment. Shock and awe! I know, me. I think because I've been spending so much time with everyone elses babies lately...whoever said they aren't contagious LIED. Because I've definitely been clucky lately (as the aussies say.) I've decided I don't want to wait as long as I did before, even if there's no pitter patter of feet in the near future. I was thinking about it and the reason I got so freaked out by the idea of having more than 1 baby was because the idea of 2 small children was overwhelming. But I really like the idea of having about a 5 year gap so the oldest is in school most days and I'll have a lot of time to spend one-on-one with the youngest. I think I could manage that. That plan would be nicer if If I'm 25/26 for #1 and 30/31 for #2. Also, if we have any trouble conceiving, it would be REALLY convenient to find that out before my biological clock starts ticking on me to boot which is another good reason to start trying in 18-24 months from now instead of 5 years.
All of that said, logically speaking, it's not the logical time to have a baby. So we'll wait. And (I think) I'm okay with that. At the end of day we'll have to look at finances at that stage and see if we can afford to have a beebs. I know they are expensive! We'd need to have at least an extra $1000/month for a baby. We have about that now, but the only way to have that much excess comfortably is to be 100% debt free which would give us an extra 250/wk wiggle room.
Okay, money-wise...how would a baby effect our ability to purchase a home? It would push that back a few years, but how many years? We could afford to do both straight away, but after all the necessities there would be little to no room for any extras. I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck...but Chris would really like to try to move up in the company and won't be in a position to have the level of promotion he'd like for another 6-10 years anyways. If we have a baby we get to move into a bigger house too. As Chris climbs his way up the ladder, we get nicer houses as well. Houses we only have to pay $50 a week to live in... so maybe having a little beebs before we have to pay a mortgage is a good idea? I don't know. It's so much to consider.
Okay, so what about me? What about getting an apprenticeship? Getting a degree? I don't know. The apprenticeship is only for 3 years, but I don't even have one yet. If I don't have an apprenticeship by October (they usually come up in September) I'm going to take it as an official door closed. I'm not going to spend life waiting around for something to happen. I can't really afford a degree right now without any financial aid, and won't be able to for 2 more years when the aid is available to me so I definitely won't be sitting around for that either. Apprenticeships, Degrees, babies, all of it will happen on God's time and I'm having full faith that all that timing will reveal itself without me needing to micromanage it any longer. So I'm just going to continue following the path that is laid out in front of me wherever it happens to lead, even if it's nowhere close to the plan I've created for myself, and trust that path laid in front of me is God's path. :) Faith is awesome that way.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Don't know what to blog about really! Let's see
I had some drama-rama the likes of which I haven't seen since I was 17. That was pretty damn annoying, for lack of a better descriptor. The pettiness and short-sightedness just boggles the mind. Really, it boggles. But whatever. Since I'm not 17, I don't have the energy or patience or emotion to waste trying to grovel with someone who I'm so obviously better off without so I'm just going to brush my shoulders off and move forward. :) I think I officially have an enemy or something now and it's a small town so I'll have to see them around...that's awkward. And even more annoying. UGH. I need a better word for "annoyed." Exasperated? Beleaguered?
Anyway.
We're going to New Zealand with Ashleigh (who has been renamed "Shlee" ;) ) and Turtle next year! Dunno if I've already shared that....But it's really happening. :) Beef is definitely coming too and I think maaaybe Tippet? Maybe? Or was it Jono? I don't know. Maybe Tim and Lizzy too. Kara seriously talked about saving to come, but hasn't talked about it since so who knows. Regardless, it's going to be a blast! I've never been skiing, so I'm excited. I'd also love to do a wine tour and maybe get a proper massage. If I'm at the level of fitness I want to be then, it'd also be great to go hiking or bike-riding...then again it might be too cold. Chris wants to go sky-dyving and bungee jumping which I am NOT interested in, but Beef is going to do it with him so I don't mind. We've also never taken a week long vacation like this before either, usually just little mini-trips to Brisbane so it should be really great :) I was getting a little teary thinking that I'm going to have my first hot Christmas this year, so I'm excited that I'll at least get to have a good cold and snowy holiday 7 months later. If I've already talked about New Zealand ( I think I have) I'm SORRY. I'm just excited. :P
My french cooking is still going really well. The house is no longer spotless, but it's still at a place that I could just do a quick 1 hr tidy-up and have it spotless again so at least there's that.
I'm going to start planning our garden for the spring. Next month is when we'd start planting so we have to start preparing now. We're going to put a gazebo on that 3mX3m block of concrete in the backyard where I *think* a shed must have stood at some point. This is my inspiration:
Of course it will be a cheapo version of that and, since I don't have nice furniture like that, REALLY cheapo version.... but once I put my twinkle lights up inside it and our table and chairs underneath it and put a path of pavers leading to it it should be really nice. :) I wish we could afford a Bali hut:
But they're like, $3000. lol Not happening. It's not really my style besides...but they just look so cool! The whole Polynesian trend is HUGE in Australia so it's always neat to see someone who's built one. :)
Also, I'm reading Oprah's biography. It's unauthorized by Oprah, but most of the stuff in it is pretty believable. Apparently she's a big fat liar and manipulator. Interesting. I got it for 50% off at B&N when I was in Texas, so I'm surprised it's been as good as it is. I'm not very far into it yet though, so we'll see.
I've been spending time with Elisha, a girl I met at the AOG church a couple years back, and I really like her! It's good because she's as needy as me when it comes to friendships so I don't have to worry about annoying her by being too clingy or texting too much or paying too much attention. I love that! She's the first fashionista I've met in Moranbah as well, she loves a lot of the same styles as me. Loves Gossip Girl. lol She has two little babies, but I'm starting to figure out how to be around kids now. She's older than me, but I'm not sure how much. I think she might be 28? Dunno. I love meeting people that I can unashamedly be 100% myself around without fear of judgement or jeering. Awesome. :)
We found out Petra's been escaping by pushing open the louvres (we'd mistakenly left unlocked) so she could look out the window. Only when she walked through the louvre vent, it would close behind her and she'd get stuck. So she pushed the screen out of the window to escape, and ended up outside. So sad! She would have fallen into the bushes once she pushed through. :( Poor kitten! Though I think she spent all day trying to figure out how to get back into the house rather than exploring, so at least there's that.
Tim and Lizzy's housewarming party is on Saturday this weekend. It should be good to catch up with everyone. :) I'll let y'all know how it goes.
I had some drama-rama the likes of which I haven't seen since I was 17. That was pretty damn annoying, for lack of a better descriptor. The pettiness and short-sightedness just boggles the mind. Really, it boggles. But whatever. Since I'm not 17, I don't have the energy or patience or emotion to waste trying to grovel with someone who I'm so obviously better off without so I'm just going to brush my shoulders off and move forward. :) I think I officially have an enemy or something now and it's a small town so I'll have to see them around...that's awkward. And even more annoying. UGH. I need a better word for "annoyed." Exasperated? Beleaguered?
Anyway.
We're going to New Zealand with Ashleigh (who has been renamed "Shlee" ;) ) and Turtle next year! Dunno if I've already shared that....But it's really happening. :) Beef is definitely coming too and I think maaaybe Tippet? Maybe? Or was it Jono? I don't know. Maybe Tim and Lizzy too. Kara seriously talked about saving to come, but hasn't talked about it since so who knows. Regardless, it's going to be a blast! I've never been skiing, so I'm excited. I'd also love to do a wine tour and maybe get a proper massage. If I'm at the level of fitness I want to be then, it'd also be great to go hiking or bike-riding...then again it might be too cold. Chris wants to go sky-dyving and bungee jumping which I am NOT interested in, but Beef is going to do it with him so I don't mind. We've also never taken a week long vacation like this before either, usually just little mini-trips to Brisbane so it should be really great :) I was getting a little teary thinking that I'm going to have my first hot Christmas this year, so I'm excited that I'll at least get to have a good cold and snowy holiday 7 months later. If I've already talked about New Zealand ( I think I have) I'm SORRY. I'm just excited. :P
My french cooking is still going really well. The house is no longer spotless, but it's still at a place that I could just do a quick 1 hr tidy-up and have it spotless again so at least there's that.
I'm going to start planning our garden for the spring. Next month is when we'd start planting so we have to start preparing now. We're going to put a gazebo on that 3mX3m block of concrete in the backyard where I *think* a shed must have stood at some point. This is my inspiration:
Of course it will be a cheapo version of that and, since I don't have nice furniture like that, REALLY cheapo version.... but once I put my twinkle lights up inside it and our table and chairs underneath it and put a path of pavers leading to it it should be really nice. :) I wish we could afford a Bali hut:
But they're like, $3000. lol Not happening. It's not really my style besides...but they just look so cool! The whole Polynesian trend is HUGE in Australia so it's always neat to see someone who's built one. :)
Also, I'm reading Oprah's biography. It's unauthorized by Oprah, but most of the stuff in it is pretty believable. Apparently she's a big fat liar and manipulator. Interesting. I got it for 50% off at B&N when I was in Texas, so I'm surprised it's been as good as it is. I'm not very far into it yet though, so we'll see.
I've been spending time with Elisha, a girl I met at the AOG church a couple years back, and I really like her! It's good because she's as needy as me when it comes to friendships so I don't have to worry about annoying her by being too clingy or texting too much or paying too much attention. I love that! She's the first fashionista I've met in Moranbah as well, she loves a lot of the same styles as me. Loves Gossip Girl. lol She has two little babies, but I'm starting to figure out how to be around kids now. She's older than me, but I'm not sure how much. I think she might be 28? Dunno. I love meeting people that I can unashamedly be 100% myself around without fear of judgement or jeering. Awesome. :)
We found out Petra's been escaping by pushing open the louvres (we'd mistakenly left unlocked) so she could look out the window. Only when she walked through the louvre vent, it would close behind her and she'd get stuck. So she pushed the screen out of the window to escape, and ended up outside. So sad! She would have fallen into the bushes once she pushed through. :( Poor kitten! Though I think she spent all day trying to figure out how to get back into the house rather than exploring, so at least there's that.
Tim and Lizzy's housewarming party is on Saturday this weekend. It should be good to catch up with everyone. :) I'll let y'all know how it goes.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Got my nails done!
I'm in love with gel nails. If you haven't tried them before, you should because I am ADDICTED. If you don't know what they are, the nail artist paints the gel on just like nail polish only it has to be cured under a UV lamp for 2 minutes between layers so it takes about 2 hrs for a manicure instead of 1. But, when you're finished, you have the most perfect manicure of your life and it lasts 3 weeks before you have to get the cuticles filled. 3 weeks after that you get them soaked off/filed down and start again!
I don't have a photo of my nails, but my inspiration was this photo:
She did a great job, mine look *exactly* like that and I love it! The best part is that once you leave the salon your nails are 100% dry so you can't dent the polish (cause it's not polish) and they also make your nails SO strong. If you have trouble growing your nails because they tend to peel or break off, try gel nails! They actually make your nail healthier and they don't have to do any of that grinding down on your nail bed like with acrylic. If you like the french-tip look they can do that for you too and it looks just as good as acrylic without all the damage.
I'm an official convert. :)
I don't have a photo of my nails, but my inspiration was this photo:
She did a great job, mine look *exactly* like that and I love it! The best part is that once you leave the salon your nails are 100% dry so you can't dent the polish (cause it's not polish) and they also make your nails SO strong. If you have trouble growing your nails because they tend to peel or break off, try gel nails! They actually make your nail healthier and they don't have to do any of that grinding down on your nail bed like with acrylic. If you like the french-tip look they can do that for you too and it looks just as good as acrylic without all the damage.
I'm an official convert. :)
I'm holding out.
This was one of the busiest weeks I've had to date since I moved here and I'm LOVING it! I'm a very social person, so I'm just thriving on all the attention I've gotten lately. :) I've been booked up every single night this week and even got to spend a whole day in Sarina with Ashleigh which was SO refreshing. It's so nice to be able to spend time with someone who you can say anything to, even if it's politically incorrect or might make you vulnerable, someone who accepts you as you are....I love that. :) Some of my newer friends in Moranbah can make me feel embarrassed about my opinions or choices sometimes and it makes me feel so free with Ashleigh. I don't have to think, we just hang out and it's easy. And I LOVE her baby Ezra. I think she's my adopted niece, officially. I freaked out the other day because I realized that she's not going to stay a baby forever. I know it should be obvious and it is....but it still is mind boggling that one day soon she'll be speaking to me. And that in 10 years time, which seems like such a short time to me, she's going to be in 5th grade....I think I realized how quickly childhood passes and that scares me. Part of me just wants to freeze her as she is now, so precious and innocent and the whole world is new and exciting to her....but I'm also really excited to see her grow up. I feel so much love for Ezra and she's not even mine, not even blood, so I can't fathom the love Ashleigh must feel for her or what it will feel like when I have my own.
I've felt really happy and fulfilled this week. :) Maybe because my social needs as an extrovert have been met and even exceeded....I don't know. I didn't realize how much I thrive on social interaction, but I feel more alive and motivated this week than I have since I was visiting fam. in Texas so I think I need to start making more dates with people!
I have to be honest about something. I am 100% happy with my life the way it is. I like my freedom and that, you know, if I want to drive out to Sarina for 2 days in the middle of the week I can and that I can go to the gym every day and cook a new recipe for dinner every night and cuddle my kittens and read a book and watch a movie any time I want to...I like my life this way. I've felt pressured by some people to find a job, any job, straight away and I confused that pressure as something I wanted....but it's just confusion. I would LOVE a hairdressing apprenticeship, so I am holding out for that. Period. I don't want to find a random full-time job doing something I hate and adding stress to my life and filling my days with work that leads to no end goal. I wouldn't mind doing some casual work here or there...but I'm not going to hunt down a full time job just because it's what people expect of me or think is best for me or something. I've decided. So, I've given up on admin. work, officially. I'm just not cut out for it. The job description says things like "must have high numeracy skills (ha!) exceptional time management and organization. (ha and HAAA!)" and the list goes on. It describes a person opposite to myself....I get anxiety just thinking about it. *YES* the money is unbelievable...but we don't actually need all that money. We can afford for me to hold out for hairdressing. I'm also just starting to find my groove and happiness in Moranbah and I really don't want to mess that up by throwing a fast-paced desk job into the mix. Maybe this all sounds really spoiled...I don't know. It is a privilege to be able to hold out for something I love. But Chris said that there's already one person in the house doing something they hate for the money and he doesn't do that just so I can go off and do the same thing and be miserable... So I'm holding out. :)
The house is still relatively clean, after a whole WEEK of us living in it too. Surprised? So am I. ;) I even had Mel and Hayley over for dinner tonight just in case this is the only time our house is clean enough to entertain. I should take pictures. LOL
I love y'all! Sorry this isn't a more in depth update, but I'm sleepy and have to go to bed.
xoxo
I've felt really happy and fulfilled this week. :) Maybe because my social needs as an extrovert have been met and even exceeded....I don't know. I didn't realize how much I thrive on social interaction, but I feel more alive and motivated this week than I have since I was visiting fam. in Texas so I think I need to start making more dates with people!
I have to be honest about something. I am 100% happy with my life the way it is. I like my freedom and that, you know, if I want to drive out to Sarina for 2 days in the middle of the week I can and that I can go to the gym every day and cook a new recipe for dinner every night and cuddle my kittens and read a book and watch a movie any time I want to...I like my life this way. I've felt pressured by some people to find a job, any job, straight away and I confused that pressure as something I wanted....but it's just confusion. I would LOVE a hairdressing apprenticeship, so I am holding out for that. Period. I don't want to find a random full-time job doing something I hate and adding stress to my life and filling my days with work that leads to no end goal. I wouldn't mind doing some casual work here or there...but I'm not going to hunt down a full time job just because it's what people expect of me or think is best for me or something. I've decided. So, I've given up on admin. work, officially. I'm just not cut out for it. The job description says things like "must have high numeracy skills (ha!) exceptional time management and organization. (ha and HAAA!)" and the list goes on. It describes a person opposite to myself....I get anxiety just thinking about it. *YES* the money is unbelievable...but we don't actually need all that money. We can afford for me to hold out for hairdressing. I'm also just starting to find my groove and happiness in Moranbah and I really don't want to mess that up by throwing a fast-paced desk job into the mix. Maybe this all sounds really spoiled...I don't know. It is a privilege to be able to hold out for something I love. But Chris said that there's already one person in the house doing something they hate for the money and he doesn't do that just so I can go off and do the same thing and be miserable... So I'm holding out. :)
The house is still relatively clean, after a whole WEEK of us living in it too. Surprised? So am I. ;) I even had Mel and Hayley over for dinner tonight just in case this is the only time our house is clean enough to entertain. I should take pictures. LOL
I love y'all! Sorry this isn't a more in depth update, but I'm sleepy and have to go to bed.
xoxo
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Weekend Update Jul. 24
Okay, so it's only saturday which is a little early for a weekend update, but what can I say?
This was a great week! I got a new cookbook in the airport last weekend called "The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook" by the author of that book French Women Don't Get Fat, have you heard of that book? She was on Oprah. You can google it. lol Anyways, the recipes are really simple to cook and are so different from anything I ever make and are also, apparantly, healthy for you! My goal for the week was to cook dinner every single night and I have succeeded with the help of this book! The theory behind the whole French Women Don't Get Fat thing is that you should ask do I need or do I want the next bite. It's like shopping: do I want or need the new shoes? So many of us just buy the shoes either way, but if you can't afford them, you're more likely to not buy the shoes, right? Well I've tried to apply that to eating. If I am eating just because the food is there and not because I'm hungry I tell myself I can't afford to take that next bite, it costs too much (i.e. my health because I am obese and have a family history of diabetes.) And it's working so far! I've also been in the gym at least twice a week and so far I've lost 15 lbs since a month ago. This only puts me back at where I was in oh, say, April. But progress is progress. :)
_____________________
This is Melanie, or Mel:
This is Hayley:
They are my new friends I keep talking about! Hayley is a 5th grade teacher and just moved here from Brisbane. She has had trouble adjusting to Moranbah life after living in the city too, so it's been nice to have that in common with someone. Mel just got a new job as an admin assistant with a company here in town. She is born and raised in Moranbah and actually went to elementary school with Chris even though he doesn't remember. lol They are both good friends. Mel has been going to the gym with me and we started a Zumba class together this week. It's HARD but fun! It reminds me of when we used to go to those drill team workshops at the high school as kids....I'm not in the shape I used to be though, that's for sure! Maybe I'll actually be able to salsa dance after all this though. I've been trying for years and just look silly....something about the hip swirling just doesn't compute to me. lol Anyways.
After Chris and I had dinner last night, we went up to the pub with Hayley and her friend Amanda. Chris has NEVER been to the pub with me so this was quite exciting! I think he was nervous because I do look at him with rose-colored glasses and have a tendancy to dote...and he was afraid no one could live up to this. Except for that he IS all that I say he is and more! Everyone loved him of course and I even overheard some friends (when they thought I wasn't around) saying they didn't think guys that great existed and how cute he is and I just beamed and beamed and feel so lucky. Can you tell I am in love? hehehe I think there are other nice guys out there for my friends too, I just don't think they're going to find them at the Black Nugget at 10pm on a Friday night. I'm just sayin!
I was thinking about leading a speed dating group once a month or something...there is just NO WHERE for any of the nice single girls to meet the nice single guys except through mutual friends and it's just not possible for everyone to know everyone else like that.... I don't know if anyone would go, but there's needs to be something. Some kind of mixer or something. I don't know!! Ideas anyone?? I feel like mine are cheesy. lol
Tonight I am going over to Mel's place to watch a movie and have a girls night with Hayley. It should be nice. :) I think Chris will appreciate the time to play a PC game or two while I'm away as well! :P I gotta be ready to go in about an hour though (which if you know me is pushing it!) so this is all I got for now.
I hope all of y'all are well and that this was a good update for everyone!
This was a great week! I got a new cookbook in the airport last weekend called "The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook" by the author of that book French Women Don't Get Fat, have you heard of that book? She was on Oprah. You can google it. lol Anyways, the recipes are really simple to cook and are so different from anything I ever make and are also, apparantly, healthy for you! My goal for the week was to cook dinner every single night and I have succeeded with the help of this book! The theory behind the whole French Women Don't Get Fat thing is that you should ask do I need or do I want the next bite. It's like shopping: do I want or need the new shoes? So many of us just buy the shoes either way, but if you can't afford them, you're more likely to not buy the shoes, right? Well I've tried to apply that to eating. If I am eating just because the food is there and not because I'm hungry I tell myself I can't afford to take that next bite, it costs too much (i.e. my health because I am obese and have a family history of diabetes.) And it's working so far! I've also been in the gym at least twice a week and so far I've lost 15 lbs since a month ago. This only puts me back at where I was in oh, say, April. But progress is progress. :)
_____________________
This is Melanie, or Mel:
This is Hayley:
They are my new friends I keep talking about! Hayley is a 5th grade teacher and just moved here from Brisbane. She has had trouble adjusting to Moranbah life after living in the city too, so it's been nice to have that in common with someone. Mel just got a new job as an admin assistant with a company here in town. She is born and raised in Moranbah and actually went to elementary school with Chris even though he doesn't remember. lol They are both good friends. Mel has been going to the gym with me and we started a Zumba class together this week. It's HARD but fun! It reminds me of when we used to go to those drill team workshops at the high school as kids....I'm not in the shape I used to be though, that's for sure! Maybe I'll actually be able to salsa dance after all this though. I've been trying for years and just look silly....something about the hip swirling just doesn't compute to me. lol Anyways.
After Chris and I had dinner last night, we went up to the pub with Hayley and her friend Amanda. Chris has NEVER been to the pub with me so this was quite exciting! I think he was nervous because I do look at him with rose-colored glasses and have a tendancy to dote...and he was afraid no one could live up to this. Except for that he IS all that I say he is and more! Everyone loved him of course and I even overheard some friends (when they thought I wasn't around) saying they didn't think guys that great existed and how cute he is and I just beamed and beamed and feel so lucky. Can you tell I am in love? hehehe I think there are other nice guys out there for my friends too, I just don't think they're going to find them at the Black Nugget at 10pm on a Friday night. I'm just sayin!
I was thinking about leading a speed dating group once a month or something...there is just NO WHERE for any of the nice single girls to meet the nice single guys except through mutual friends and it's just not possible for everyone to know everyone else like that.... I don't know if anyone would go, but there's needs to be something. Some kind of mixer or something. I don't know!! Ideas anyone?? I feel like mine are cheesy. lol
Tonight I am going over to Mel's place to watch a movie and have a girls night with Hayley. It should be nice. :) I think Chris will appreciate the time to play a PC game or two while I'm away as well! :P I gotta be ready to go in about an hour though (which if you know me is pushing it!) so this is all I got for now.
I hope all of y'all are well and that this was a good update for everyone!
Our weekend away
So much to talk about, so little time!
So, Brisbane was pretty much one of our best visits ever. I don't know if it's because it's been a full year since our last stay there or if it's because it's been so long since we took a romantic weekend but it was just a really special time. The Wintergarden (shopping centre adjacent to the Hilton) on Queen St. is undergoing a lot of renovations at the moment, so that kind of forced us to get out of our comfort zone and walk further than we usually do. There's lots of new shops and things going in everywhere you look, it's really exciting!
On Friday we were lucky enough to have our luggage be the first off the carousel giving us just enough time to SPRINT to the train ticket stand and be on our way with one blinking minute to spare as the green sign so kindly reminded us. I was not going to sit on that platform for 30 minutes in the freezing cold! This worked out well because we were able to check into the hotel by about 9am and go straight to Coffee Club. They make a better Flat White than anyone anywhere, hands down! Then we proceeded to partake in one of our very favorite pastimes: people watching. :) We like to make up stories about the people as they pass. And 9am is one of the very best times because you get to see all the people commuting to work. I must say, everyone in Brisbane is much thinner on average than anywhere else we've been. It must be all that walking! Perhaps if we were looking at the people who drove to work they would be significantly softer. Perhaps. ;)
After Coffee Club, I'm not quite sure what we did with all our time. Mostly just browsing shops while Chris trailed behind me I think....but before we knew it it was noon and time to start heading to ARIA for lunch. But we were le-tired and decided to order room service and have a nap instead. lol It was my first steak in months and it was everything I'd dreamt it would be. The nap was nice too :) From there we proceeded to trek to Spring Hill for our appointment with our photographer and boy is Brisbane hilly! They don't call it Spring Hill for nuthin! My calves were screaming in protest, my forehead was glistening and I was a bit huffed and puffed by the time we got to the studio. And the secret of all the thin ones in Brisbane is revealed: hills. I am decidedly out of shape, but that is quite beside the point isn't it? :P
We spent the next 3 hours poring over 900 pictures and were, somehow, meant to narrow them down to less than 200. It was a really special time for us though. It was different being able to look at the photos in real size without a watermark and some that we'd completely looked over before became real gems in our eyes. One of the most special moments for me was at the reception as I was dancing with Daddy and seeing the way he looked at me. That one's going in a frame! We hired Marcus 1st and foremost because of his unbelievable ability to work the landscape around you into the shot in ways you'd never imagined and some of the shots just took our breath away! These are our top 3 shots:
He loves:
I love:
We love:
After our appt. with Marcus, it was almost time for pre-dinner drinks and canapes which are free in the executive lounge of the Hilton when you are in an executive level room. So I got my party dress on and we had a couple beers and tried all kinds of different canapes...only to find an hour later that we were both stuffed on canapes and didn't need dinner after all! So we went downstairs for the ceremonious overpriced cocktail in the lounge and found that they have DISCO'D my favorite cocktail. :( In all the years we've been going to the Hilton, I've gotten the same thing and now they don't even put it on the menu?? Sad day. Ah well. We had drinks until about 9pm and planned on going upstairs and ordering room service and maybe watching a movie...but next thing I knew it was 4am and I was in bed, fully clothed, shoes and all. Chris was much the same next to me. HA! You'd think we were seniors.
Saturday we had the breakfast buffet downstairs and it was SO nice. Gourmet chef doing omelets made-to-order in the middle of the restaurant, every fruit, muffin and danish you can imagine. Fresh barista brewed coffee any way you like it! It was the nicest breakfast we'd had in a long time. We were happy chappies. :) After breakfast we walked to the Myer center. There I found out that there actually IS quite a good selection of nice fashionable plus-size clothes designs for women in Australia, just not in Mackay! (I'll remind you "plus-size" in Oz is anything over a US size 10.) But Myer is coming to Mackay, they're building it as we speak, so I could be in luck after all. :) Okay, I am seriously digressing from the point of our trip to Myer: TWILIGHT ECLIPSE! woooo! I even bought a sparkly ring from this new accessories shop in the Myer center that's two wolf heads. It's prettier than it sounds and does NOT look like two llamas as my friend Hayley keeps insisting. It's my Wolf Pack ring, in honor of our trip to see Eclipse. :) It was so good! I only read the book once like 2 years ago now so there was some stuff I'd forgotten about and of course there wasn't enough fight scenes for Chris but we both agreed it was one of the best movies we've seen all year. Maybe if I was more of a "twihard" or whatever I could complain about it, but I just thought it was great. :)
That night we had dinner at a place called Gusto da Gianni, because I was craving GOOD pizza and had looked at reviews online that said this isn't the best in Brisbane but is still worth checking out. (pizza is my favorite food in case you didn't already know.) We had so much fun! I don't know what it was, it felt like it did when we were dating again when everything is new and fresh and exciting. We laughed through the whole meal and shared stories we never had, even though we thought we knew everything there was to know about each other. We went back to the Hilton and had a few cocktails in the lounge (yes there's lots of alcohol in our weekend away, what can we say? :P) and there were a bunch of beebs there for their "formal" which, from what I can gather, is like the Aussie version of a prom. It was so precious!
We had another early night and were in bed before 10pm but still slept in until 8 the next day which was nice, and had a quick breakfast in the exec. lounge before heading back to the airport.
Last weekend was so good for our marriage! I don't know what it was, it's not like we were having problems or anything before, we're both still very much in love and that's never wavered...but it's like last weekend put a bit of that uninhibited infatuation back into our marriage and it feels like the honeymoon phase all over again and it's really nice. :) Even though it was an expensive time away, I think it was worth every penny when it brings us this much closer. I'd recommend it to anyone. :)
So, Brisbane was pretty much one of our best visits ever. I don't know if it's because it's been a full year since our last stay there or if it's because it's been so long since we took a romantic weekend but it was just a really special time. The Wintergarden (shopping centre adjacent to the Hilton) on Queen St. is undergoing a lot of renovations at the moment, so that kind of forced us to get out of our comfort zone and walk further than we usually do. There's lots of new shops and things going in everywhere you look, it's really exciting!
On Friday we were lucky enough to have our luggage be the first off the carousel giving us just enough time to SPRINT to the train ticket stand and be on our way with one blinking minute to spare as the green sign so kindly reminded us. I was not going to sit on that platform for 30 minutes in the freezing cold! This worked out well because we were able to check into the hotel by about 9am and go straight to Coffee Club. They make a better Flat White than anyone anywhere, hands down! Then we proceeded to partake in one of our very favorite pastimes: people watching. :) We like to make up stories about the people as they pass. And 9am is one of the very best times because you get to see all the people commuting to work. I must say, everyone in Brisbane is much thinner on average than anywhere else we've been. It must be all that walking! Perhaps if we were looking at the people who drove to work they would be significantly softer. Perhaps. ;)
After Coffee Club, I'm not quite sure what we did with all our time. Mostly just browsing shops while Chris trailed behind me I think....but before we knew it it was noon and time to start heading to ARIA for lunch. But we were le-tired and decided to order room service and have a nap instead. lol It was my first steak in months and it was everything I'd dreamt it would be. The nap was nice too :) From there we proceeded to trek to Spring Hill for our appointment with our photographer and boy is Brisbane hilly! They don't call it Spring Hill for nuthin! My calves were screaming in protest, my forehead was glistening and I was a bit huffed and puffed by the time we got to the studio. And the secret of all the thin ones in Brisbane is revealed: hills. I am decidedly out of shape, but that is quite beside the point isn't it? :P
We spent the next 3 hours poring over 900 pictures and were, somehow, meant to narrow them down to less than 200. It was a really special time for us though. It was different being able to look at the photos in real size without a watermark and some that we'd completely looked over before became real gems in our eyes. One of the most special moments for me was at the reception as I was dancing with Daddy and seeing the way he looked at me. That one's going in a frame! We hired Marcus 1st and foremost because of his unbelievable ability to work the landscape around you into the shot in ways you'd never imagined and some of the shots just took our breath away! These are our top 3 shots:
He loves:
I love:
We love:
After our appt. with Marcus, it was almost time for pre-dinner drinks and canapes which are free in the executive lounge of the Hilton when you are in an executive level room. So I got my party dress on and we had a couple beers and tried all kinds of different canapes...only to find an hour later that we were both stuffed on canapes and didn't need dinner after all! So we went downstairs for the ceremonious overpriced cocktail in the lounge and found that they have DISCO'D my favorite cocktail. :( In all the years we've been going to the Hilton, I've gotten the same thing and now they don't even put it on the menu?? Sad day. Ah well. We had drinks until about 9pm and planned on going upstairs and ordering room service and maybe watching a movie...but next thing I knew it was 4am and I was in bed, fully clothed, shoes and all. Chris was much the same next to me. HA! You'd think we were seniors.
Saturday we had the breakfast buffet downstairs and it was SO nice. Gourmet chef doing omelets made-to-order in the middle of the restaurant, every fruit, muffin and danish you can imagine. Fresh barista brewed coffee any way you like it! It was the nicest breakfast we'd had in a long time. We were happy chappies. :) After breakfast we walked to the Myer center. There I found out that there actually IS quite a good selection of nice fashionable plus-size clothes designs for women in Australia, just not in Mackay! (I'll remind you "plus-size" in Oz is anything over a US size 10.) But Myer is coming to Mackay, they're building it as we speak, so I could be in luck after all. :) Okay, I am seriously digressing from the point of our trip to Myer: TWILIGHT ECLIPSE! woooo! I even bought a sparkly ring from this new accessories shop in the Myer center that's two wolf heads. It's prettier than it sounds and does NOT look like two llamas as my friend Hayley keeps insisting. It's my Wolf Pack ring, in honor of our trip to see Eclipse. :) It was so good! I only read the book once like 2 years ago now so there was some stuff I'd forgotten about and of course there wasn't enough fight scenes for Chris but we both agreed it was one of the best movies we've seen all year. Maybe if I was more of a "twihard" or whatever I could complain about it, but I just thought it was great. :)
That night we had dinner at a place called Gusto da Gianni, because I was craving GOOD pizza and had looked at reviews online that said this isn't the best in Brisbane but is still worth checking out. (pizza is my favorite food in case you didn't already know.) We had so much fun! I don't know what it was, it felt like it did when we were dating again when everything is new and fresh and exciting. We laughed through the whole meal and shared stories we never had, even though we thought we knew everything there was to know about each other. We went back to the Hilton and had a few cocktails in the lounge (yes there's lots of alcohol in our weekend away, what can we say? :P) and there were a bunch of beebs there for their "formal" which, from what I can gather, is like the Aussie version of a prom. It was so precious!
We had another early night and were in bed before 10pm but still slept in until 8 the next day which was nice, and had a quick breakfast in the exec. lounge before heading back to the airport.
Last weekend was so good for our marriage! I don't know what it was, it's not like we were having problems or anything before, we're both still very much in love and that's never wavered...but it's like last weekend put a bit of that uninhibited infatuation back into our marriage and it feels like the honeymoon phase all over again and it's really nice. :) Even though it was an expensive time away, I think it was worth every penny when it brings us this much closer. I'd recommend it to anyone. :)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Hey you, with the face!
It's been a while! I'd be lying if I said I've been so busy I couldn't update, it's more that nothing of consequence has really happened until lately so now I am updating!
We are leaving for Mackay tonight and fly out to Brisbane in the morning. Woo! We're creatures of habit, so you won't be surprised that we're staying in the Hilton on Queen St as per usual and don't have any real plans other than to finally choose our photos for our wedding album and have a look at the video footage they took. That should be really special, I'm going to wear waterproof mascara!!! hahaha Our only other goal is to see Eclipse (Chris actually really likes Twilight btw, I think he has a man crush on Jacob and laments often why anyone would choose someone so pale and skinny over a ripped werewolf. ha!) and that new action movie Knight and Day. We're seeing them in Brisbane instead of Mackay because Mackay cinemas are, frankly, shit. For lack of a better word. They just are. :P I'm going to try and find a theater in Brisbane with digital projection too so it should be great! Other than that we plan to take full advantage of the executive lounge at the hilton with their free breakfast and pre-dinner drinks and canapes and maybe have dinner at South Bank. Dunno. We'll just play it by ear!
We went into Mackay yesterday because, and I don't want to freak anyone out, Chris needed to have a CAT scan. He's just been having headaches lately and they want to rule out everything, most likely there's nothing wrong with his brain.... It meant he got the day off though and we got to have breakfast at Coffee Club, my FAVORITE thing for breakfast, and a mug of yummy steamy frothy flat-white. You can't beat that. The most exciting thing that happened yesterday was that I finally found out, once and for all, what size I wear in Australia....drum roll pleaaase! 20!! And I'm not ashamed to say it. :):) Because I can actually walk into Jeanswest now and buy a pair of jeans. This is a first for me! I should note that this is a 20 misses and not a 20 womens (plus) which is also nice to know I can shop outside of a plus size store. Woot! Life will be a lot easier when I'm an AU 16 so that I can buy clothes most everywhere, but all things in good time. ;)
I'm getting my hair done today! We've been slowly slowly going more and more red, but it's still more of a dark auburn at the moment and I'm shooting for more of a light auburn a la Ashlee Simpson (haters keep hating, but I LOVE HER. so shutup. :P)
She's also wearing the Juicy Couture motorcycle hoodie jacket that many have copied but few have mastered. I covet it. Anyways. Ever since she went red, I've loved her color and have been working up the guts to go red too. I think I would have done it a long time ago but I have been every other color under the sun and I know, without a doubt, that I look best as a deep brown. End of story. So I tried to just be happy with brown....but I can't. I have to know what it feels like to be red. I've been just about every shade of black, brown, blonde and even platinum and I have to explore the red spectrum before I can go about my life normally again. Yes. It sounds crazy...but that's just me! Her hair is really light though, like a level 6 and I'm def a level 4 underneath even though I'm a level 5 on top so it's going to be a while before I can fully get there. I'm getting a little impatient. Where's one'n'only Colorfix when you need it??
OH! And, before I forget, we've booked the tickets and are def going to the Hillsong conference next year. I enter in with a healthy level of scepticism as there's still some things about that church that I just don't trust....but the conference should be good regardless and I'll bring a healthy grain of salt along with me just in case!
We are leaving for Mackay tonight and fly out to Brisbane in the morning. Woo! We're creatures of habit, so you won't be surprised that we're staying in the Hilton on Queen St as per usual and don't have any real plans other than to finally choose our photos for our wedding album and have a look at the video footage they took. That should be really special, I'm going to wear waterproof mascara!!! hahaha Our only other goal is to see Eclipse (Chris actually really likes Twilight btw, I think he has a man crush on Jacob and laments often why anyone would choose someone so pale and skinny over a ripped werewolf. ha!) and that new action movie Knight and Day. We're seeing them in Brisbane instead of Mackay because Mackay cinemas are, frankly, shit. For lack of a better word. They just are. :P I'm going to try and find a theater in Brisbane with digital projection too so it should be great! Other than that we plan to take full advantage of the executive lounge at the hilton with their free breakfast and pre-dinner drinks and canapes and maybe have dinner at South Bank. Dunno. We'll just play it by ear!
We went into Mackay yesterday because, and I don't want to freak anyone out, Chris needed to have a CAT scan. He's just been having headaches lately and they want to rule out everything, most likely there's nothing wrong with his brain.... It meant he got the day off though and we got to have breakfast at Coffee Club, my FAVORITE thing for breakfast, and a mug of yummy steamy frothy flat-white. You can't beat that. The most exciting thing that happened yesterday was that I finally found out, once and for all, what size I wear in Australia....drum roll pleaaase! 20!! And I'm not ashamed to say it. :):) Because I can actually walk into Jeanswest now and buy a pair of jeans. This is a first for me! I should note that this is a 20 misses and not a 20 womens (plus) which is also nice to know I can shop outside of a plus size store. Woot! Life will be a lot easier when I'm an AU 16 so that I can buy clothes most everywhere, but all things in good time. ;)
I'm getting my hair done today! We've been slowly slowly going more and more red, but it's still more of a dark auburn at the moment and I'm shooting for more of a light auburn a la Ashlee Simpson (haters keep hating, but I LOVE HER. so shutup. :P)
She's also wearing the Juicy Couture motorcycle hoodie jacket that many have copied but few have mastered. I covet it. Anyways. Ever since she went red, I've loved her color and have been working up the guts to go red too. I think I would have done it a long time ago but I have been every other color under the sun and I know, without a doubt, that I look best as a deep brown. End of story. So I tried to just be happy with brown....but I can't. I have to know what it feels like to be red. I've been just about every shade of black, brown, blonde and even platinum and I have to explore the red spectrum before I can go about my life normally again. Yes. It sounds crazy...but that's just me! Her hair is really light though, like a level 6 and I'm def a level 4 underneath even though I'm a level 5 on top so it's going to be a while before I can fully get there. I'm getting a little impatient. Where's one'n'only Colorfix when you need it??
OH! And, before I forget, we've booked the tickets and are def going to the Hillsong conference next year. I enter in with a healthy level of scepticism as there's still some things about that church that I just don't trust....but the conference should be good regardless and I'll bring a healthy grain of salt along with me just in case!
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