New Life

My goodness life has changed. It has been a LONG time since I wrote here. Not because I didn’t want to. Life just got very crazy and my focus shifted drastically during this time.

Health journey wise I lost 48kgs and travelled overseas and was living my very best life. Every kg I lost was hard worked for. There were many reasons I wanted to undertake this health journey. One of these was to give us the very best chance of having a child. We had 4 embryos frozen and the plan was to wait until we felt my body was in the best shape (and we had saved enough) and then go back in for IVF again.

Well….. long story short… we found out last October that I was pregnant… suprise!!!

Much joy, worry, excitement, fear, etc. ensued. What can I say after 8 years of infertility and then being pregnant in the middle of a pandemic I was a barrel of emotions hahaha.

Little Miss C came into the world in May and she is perfect. I couldn’t believe it. So many joyful tears you guys. We had some initial issues with feeding which is a story I will save for another day, but generally she has just been a joy. She surprises us everyday and I still can’t believe how lucky we are.

I have missed writing here and now as I continue on my life journey as a Mum, wife, health and knowledge seeker I really wanted to get back here.

Can’t wait to share and to catch up with you all!!!

Where have I been?

Huge thank you to those of you who have contacted me to see if I am okay. This is why I love you guys!!! Thank you to everybody that has stuck in there with me! 🙂

I know I have been neglecting this space and not connecting with you all as much as I should have, or as much as I would like. I don’t really have much of an excuse, life has just been insane for many months now.

 

After we froze our embies we decided to have some time off from the fertility craziness. The docs didn’t really want to transfer the embies anyway as they felt I was too big.

I spent some time really soul searching and thinking about my life journey and how far I had come and what I wanted the next year (this year) and the rest of my life to hold. You know… nothing too heavy right?! Haha

I know I mentioned in a previous post that I had spent a lot of time researching weight loss surgery and what it could do for me with in regards to my insulin resistance, PCOS and snail thyroid. I also finally found out why sometimes my outer thighs goes numb, it is a condition where nerves get pinched randomly (can be cured or greatly improved through weightloss). So I bit the bullet, after 10 years and numerous diets and lifestyle changes I agreed to have sleeve surgery in April.

What?! I hear you say, but it is already May! Yep, that’s right, already done.

I didn’t tell many people. To be honest after so many years thinking about it and researching to come to the decision that I thought was best for me (even though I was petrified and didn’t really want to do it) I really didn’t want to hear any more opinions. So my parents knew (turns out they told a few people), obviously Hubby knew (turns out he told people too) and a couple of my friends knew.

Managed to not have a huge panic attack before surgery, mainly by trying not to think about it and just going through the motions of preparing. Afterwards I initially questioned all my so called wisdom and research because damn did I hurt. Being someone who is very independent though I was determined that even though I had just had major surgery a couple of hours before I was going to the toilet. So I did.

I pretty much had a dream recovery, slight allergic reaction to the dressings after a few days and slight infection on the surface of one of the wounds. Food wise I have had no issues. Was having issues getting enough protein, but I am getting much better at that now that I have added soft foods back in. Eventually I should be able to have all the foods I have before.

I hear people label this “the easy way”, boy is that far from the truth. For me this was (and continues to be) harder than quitting smoking. You still have to do all the work in regards to healthy food and exercise. It is just a tool, a very effective tool, but it is on me to make it work.

I have been doing well so far. Since 19 March (I am including pre op diet where I lost 6.8kgs) I have lost 13.9kgs. I am not ashamed to say that I am SUPER proud of myself for that 🙂

I know that for doctors the actual weight is what they focus on, but for me I am enjoying the non-scale victories just as much. The issue with the thigh numbness is already noticeably better which is amazing as I would get this multiple times a day previously – In the last 5 days I think I have had it once!!! I also fit into 2 blouses that I LOVED that no longer fit me. In fact they fit me better now than when I bought them! I am also much more comfortable in my car, not that I was uncomfortable before, but it just fits me better now.

It is a challenge everyday. You have to be super prepared food wise so you are not caught out. My father was suddenly taken to hospital last Friday (so a week today) and I was initially caught out a lot… loving coffee and quiches and veggie fritattas from a number of cafes at the moment for dinner as I am going straight from work to the hospital at the moment. Funny part is I can only eat about half, which then means either I get to make sure Mum has a decent meal or I get lunch the next day. Today I am stoked with my leftover pumpkin, spinach and ricotta quiche – you guys SOOO GOOD!

I find I am eating a lot more vegetarian meals. Not on purpose, just because I gravitate towards these meals as I enjoy them. I am glad though as I had been trying to move towards a more plant based diet prior to the surgery because it is supposed to be beneficial for the conditions I have. It does mean that sometimes I am not hitting the protein level I need to be so I have to be careful.

So now that I have bowled you all over with my crazy last few months tell me stories! I have missed you all 🙂

 

 

 

2016 in review

Well the new year is here. I had high hopes for 2016. In truth many wonderful things happened and were achieved in 2016.I feel that the good things are often overshadowed by the fact that I failed to get the thing I wanted the most, a baby. 2 failed transfers, much heartache and being filled with hormones which rival a sorority house whose cycles have synced on the day before AF hits left me a little jaded. I have decided to remind myself of some of the good things that happened in 2016 to get some perspective.

• Hubby and I finally achieved our goal of our own home, whilst getting there was a long road (3 years since purchasing the land long and 9 years of saving long) it is totally worth it because we are both totally in LOVE with our home (I’ll post more on the house another day with pics).
• My youngest nephew Coda was born.
• Hubby and I have gotten even better with our communication. It’s the kind of open and honest relationship I have always dreamed of having. Whilst he is generally the suffer in silence type, he is opening up a lot more now which I love.
• I celebrated 1 year in my role as Reference & Information Services Librarian in January (it will be 2 years tomorrow). Honestly I can’t believe I have only been here that long. It feels like forever and I have done so much in this role.
• I was asked to act up in the Branch & Customer Services Coordinator role for the last quarter of the year. It was so challenging and I loved it. I really enjoyed all the work with the programming and promotions. If they ever develop a role for that here I will totally apply 🙂
• I have developed a close group of friends at work. I am not someone who makes close friends easily and I decided last year to put myself out there more and got great results. The result is a group of friends I can count on, sound off ideas on, have lunch and sometimes dinner with, go for walks after work and to the gym with, go to the movies with, we even went bowling. This awesome group of people has made a huge difference to my work and home life and I have such a great time with them!
  I feel very fortunate to have met people like this in my workplace.
• Hubby and I have learned a lot about DIY (seriously LOVE YouTube!!!). We have done basically all of our landscaping ourselves (Hubby much more than me), we have installed our own washing line and even learned how to lay bricks and built our own brick mailbox. The mailbox isn’t the most professional job, but it is the mailbox that love built and was a great bonding experience and we did much better than Homer did with that BBQ.
  
• I quit smoking! Something I have been wanting to do for the longest time. February  15, 2017 will mark one year since I have quit. Sometimes (rarely now) in times of stress or emotional upset (like 2 failed IVF transfers) I kind of want to reach for a smoke, but I have been so good. VERY proud of this accomplishment. I did put on weight after quitting because instead of smoking I would eat. To be honest I let myself do this because I truly feel that was the right choice for me. Now that I have been successful in quitting smoking I have turned my attention back to my food. I have yet to conquer emotional eating, I am SO bad for this!

 

So there is a lot of really good things that happened this year. Often it is hard to think about them when something that is so all consuming is constantly at the forefront of your mind. I could choose to give in to it, or I could combat it another way. Yes IVF transfers failed for us twice one of which was a PGS tested perfect lil man embryo, Yes I REALLY got my hopes up on the lil man transfer, Yes my FS doesn’t seem to be the most open and communicative. So Hubby and I have done a tonne of research over the past couple of months and put some things into action which I will talk about in another post coming soon 🙂

Kid friendly Easter activity – A day with Hendrix

I wanted to find a fun, easy and not overly messy or destructive activity to do with my nieces and nephews for Easter. So obviously because I am a Librarian I hit up the Googs and I saw some great ideas that I seriously considered.

Shredded Wheat nests

There were these Shredded Wheat Nests from BBC GoodFood – for the Aussies out there I am pretty sure shredded wheat is weet-bix 🙂 Whilst I didn’t end up going with these I was inspired by the nest concept and for their Easter gifts I made chocolate cupcakes and carrot cupcakes and in my first foray into cupcake making I decorated them like little nests.

Not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself. Note for future: it is hard to prevent brown icing from looking like poo… consider another flavour icing 🙂

There were activities that needed dyeing, gluing, sticky taping, painting, cooking, cutting and many of them were things the kids would lose interest in after one day and then they would be broken on the floor and I would feel like crap because I had put a lot of effort into creating that activity for them. Before anyone says anything, I am aware that this is how the world works and I should get used to it, but I haven’t accepted that yet.

So I decided to develop an activity that was fun, educational and not wasteful… you all think I am mental don’t you? 🙂

But I did it 🙂 Pretty sure I am not the first to think of this, but it was my own idea.

So here is what I devised:

The kids would create, decorate and consume an Easter egg craft.

 

Easter Egg Biscuits

Here is what you will need:

• At least one packet of Arnott’s milk arrowroot biscuits (or equivalent biscuit that is vaguely egg shaped)
  
• Icing sugar
• A variety of food dye
• Mixed lollies and sprinkles

Yup that is all… so here is what we did. I had a fun test run with my nephew Hendrix and we had a whale of a time!

First I mixed up some plain icing mixture, I then sat him on the counter and asked what colour eggs he wanted. I added a few drops of blue (his choice) food dye to the mixture and got him to stir and change the colour. He LOVED this part and thought it was magic and yelled for everyone in the house to come watch him turn it blue 🙂

Then we iced the milk arrowroot biscuits and I put out the decorations for him to decorate it. Once he was finished we sat down and ate them.

Yummo!

Just a tip – to keep the mess factor down put sprinkles in a shaker and don’t put out massive amounts of the lollies… they will go everywhere hahaha.

Finished product

He was also fascinated by the fact the icing turned his tongue blue.

I love how kids get fascinated by gross stuff, so amusing!

By getting him to repeat out loud everything we were doing he also learned quite a few new words which was fabulous!

Rating: 9 out of 10 have fun with your friends

So in answer to the question: When you do something scary or stressful do you prefer to be surrounded by friends or by strangers? Why?
I would choose Hendrix my little Buddy/Nephew/Godson because when I do stressful or scary things I know that even if I fail utterly he will still think I am wonderful and invite me for a tea party afterwards.

52 books in 52 weeks

New Years Eve 2013 resolution time. We are all familiar with the almighty resolutions list we create for ourselves each year, most of us are also aware of exactly how long that list usually lasts, so this year I wanted to create a different kind of list. I didn’t want my list to limit me as much as previous lists have e.g. lose 10kgs – things like this on your list are not fun, they are a chore, for those who are successful with things like this I truly salute you, but I hate them on there. So, since this is my list, this year I put what I wanted on it rather than what I thought I should put on it and so far it has been a lot more fun keeping to the list.

The list

1. Try new things – Challenge yourself.
2. Lead a healthier lifestyle – you can combine this with trying new things – e.g. new recipes, new foods, new activities, have fun with it.
3. “Home truths” – Don’t lie to myself or blame things on others that are all on me.
4. 52 books in 52 weeks – read 52 books in a year – try new authors, things you wouldn’t normally read and finally read the Hobbit – you have had it for years!!!

It’s a short list, but I have stuck to it for four months and it has been great! Here’s some of my progress:

Try new things:

Done

Home made waffles – I have eaten waffles before, but never cooked them… so good!

Salmon steaks with rocket and walnut salad – never had either before and cooked it all… I am now a salmon lover! (Not big on seafood generally)

Roast pork loin with roast apples, onion, zucchini and potatoes – I have eaten pork before, but not pork loin and never with roast apples – it was amazing!

Tried my hand at cake decorating for my brothers birthday, he loved it!

Until yesterday I had long hair… now… big change!

Coming soon

I have the ingredients to make individual baileys cheesecakes… that’s going to happen really soon

I am currently devising an Easter activity for my nieces and nephews (oldest is 2.5) which will not cover them in goop whilst still being fun – will post my failure or success haha.

Nieces and nephews are still a little young for tonnes of chocolate so I am thinking decorated cupcakes for easter – watch this space.

 

Healthier Lifestyle

This has ended up being mostly food based, but it is interesting how slight changes have made big differences, where before I would maybe munch on some potato chips I now go for black sesame brown rice crackers – so good! I have a bigger lunch now, rather than just a sandwhich I have salad as well which keeps me fuller and sometimes I don’t even suffer from 3.30itis 🙂

The harder part has been soft drinks, whilst I never had tonnes of it – maybe a glass a day I am now trying to not have any. It’s weird, when you have not had it for some time and you have a glass it makes you feel thirstier than you were originally!

 

Home truths

I came up with this because – well it’s kind of complicated, but I just started seeing so much violence in everyday life and it really bothered me. When I say violence I am being extremely general, in addition to all the horrible events I see in the news I mean the discourteous way people deal with each other on a daily basis. People are so self-involved these days that nothing external seems to penetrate their tiny universe. I had already started thinking along these lines, but decided to include it in my resolutions one day after a woman at the shops was on her phone in her own world and smacked into my trolley (which had my 2 year old nephew in it), lost her balance and impaled my foot with her stiletto. I helped her up and asked if she was ok, to which she replied, “why don’t you watch where you are going you fat f*&#!” My reply, “I might be fat, but you are ugly inside and out and no amount of hooker make up or heels can fix that. Get your potty mouth away from us, I don’t want my kid exposed to your filth” I am not going to lie, that come back felt good. I felt I had managed to knock her down a peg or two without stooping to her level, but hobbling home I found myself reflecting and wondering if I could have done more to avoid that scene. I decided I needed to be more reflective on my behaviour on a full time basis to try and balance out some of the ugly karma in this world 🙂

 

52 books in 52 weeks

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS CHALLENGE!!! Please see progress below:

Number	Title	Author
1 – Jan 1-5	Earthly Delights: a Corinna Chapman mystery (2004)	Greenwood, Kerry
2 – Jan 6-12	Heavenly Pleasures: a Corinna Chapman mystery (2005)	Greenwood, Kerry
3 – Jan 13-19	Devil’s Food: a Corinna Chapman mystery (2006)	Greenwood, Kerry
4 – Jan 20-26	Trick or Treat: a Corinna Chapman mystery (2007)	Greenwood, Kerry
5 – Jan 27 – Feb 2	Forbidden Fruit: a Corinna Chapman mystery (2009)	Greenwood, Kerry
6 – Feb 3-9	Cooking the Books: a Corinna Chapman mystery (2011)	Greenwood, Kerry
7 – Feb 10-16	Babies in Waiting (2012)	Fiore, Rosie
8 – Feb 17-23	Kushiel’s Dart(2001)	Carey, Jacqueline
9 – Feb 24–Mar 2	Kushiel’s Chosen (2002)	Carey, Jacqueline
10 – Mar 3-9	Kushiel’s Avatar (2003)	Carey, Jacqueline
11 – Mar 10-16	A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire)	Martin, George R. R.
12 – Mar 17-23	A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire)	Martin, George R. R.
13 – Mar 24-30	A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire)	Martin, George R. R.
14 – Mar 31 – Apr 6	Divergent	Roth, Veronica
15 – Apr 7-13	Insurgent	Roth, Veronica
16 – Apr 14-20	Allegiant	Roth, Veronica

 

Let me know if you want information on the books I have read, happy to share thoughts or recommendations. If you have a recommendation for me to include in my 52 books in 52 weeks journey please recommend away 🙂

Christmas

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over…

I think it is important to review your successes at the end of the year. Whether they be big or small, reminding yourself of what you achieved during that year (even if you thought it was a bad one and are happy to see the backside of it), for me at least, makes the fact that it is the years end more meaningful.

So my year in review…

This year I managed to:

•  work full time,
• continue earning my Uni degree at night (with really good marks),
• arrange a wedding to my best friend in the world – light of my life – my Nubby (AKA New Hubby – yes he hates it hahaha),
• be blessed with my first nephew (and now godson) – beautiful Hendrix,
• had a beyond fabulous escape to Vanuatu,
• climbed and stood on the rim of an active Volcano,
• clambered up and all around the most breathtaking waterfall I could ever imagine,
• fed an 80 year old sea turtle,
• held baby turtles,
• paid off all the credit cards (much to the banks dismay – they keep contacting me offering me a larger limit – NO!!),
• went tandem aqua zorb balling,
• got a tan! (I have 2 colours, cracker-white & cherry-red, I have never ever gone brown, thank you Vanuatu!),
• lose 20 kilos,
• found out I will be blessed with a niece in early Feb courtesy of my younger brother & his partner and plus, also, my godson Hendrix will score a brother or sister in late June 2012,
• I continued to have an amazing best-friend-like relationship with my Mum,
• despite my new hubby’s younger brother’s best efforts to do anything and everything rudely, wrongly and disrespectfully while he invaded us for the majority of the year I did not commit any felonies!,
• I didn’t lose any friends and as far as I know I didn’t gain any enemies 😀
  

  Me & Mum

Obviously there is more to my annual report, however the highlights are looking promising and I would have to say that what I have accomplished over the past year really does outweigh the stresses and craziness I sometimes felt! All in all I would have to declare 2011 a success and I believe I am ending the year with my stock up rather high and am therefore entering the New Year with renewed vigour and awesomeness 😀

A Very Bridal Christmas

So we did it, I am a married woman… was it everything I expected… kinda more actually.

7am – I wake up to torrential rain… in fact it was the crescendo of the rain against the roof that woke me at such an ungodly hour on the day of my wedding when I should have been attempting a last minute “ditch the bags underneath the eyes” beauty sleep. In my sleep brain stupor I thought, oh god that can’t be rain, so I half-hopped – half-rolled, but mostly dragged myself out of the single bed in the guest bedroom of my parents house, opened the bedroom door and peeked out into the hallway to the front door the entire wall of which is mostly glass. A moment later the constant drum of rain on the roof was interrupted as I cursed like a truckie when I saw the crazed downpour that was occurring outside! The PG version ranted similar to the following, lousy no good lying weatherman… what does he know?! Should be clearing pfft! It’s heavier than it has been for the last week! It’s a freaking hurricane out there!!!

I then realised that I was not the first to rise and my father was already awake watching the the floodwaters rise (okay so I am being a little dramatic, but there are only so many ways to say it was pissing down before you actually say that!). Decided to forget about it and deal with it as it comes, it would all be okay as long as my Maid of Honour brought me the cappuccino she had promised and the other bridesmaid who was flying in from Cairns actually arrives here – Seriously there is too much abuse aimed at QANTAS to explain that story… long story short… she should have arrived at 10am on Friday, but QANTAS overbooked her flight by 30 people and then was extremely rude to her when she explained her urgent need to get to Sydney on the next flight, the staff member was stupid enough to admit that they had overbooked every flight out of Cairns by at least 20 people for the whole weekend and she probably wouldn’t get to Sydney until Monday. Ohhh Fuuuuu….. so I told her to go back and demand a manager and threaten to call every news crew in Cairns to get them there to see all the teary people that don’t make it on flights this weekend… She got a full refund of her tickets and free flights to and from Sydney! TA-DA that’s how you deal with QANTAS it turns out.

So Maid of Honour comes through with the coffee… Bridesmaid calls from the airport at 10am to ask where I am… ahhh I’m at home I told you we couldn’t pick you up today. Jump on the train it comes pretty much to the door, my Dad will come pick you up. Ok… 10 minutes later… the rain has flooded the train tunnels and the trains aren’t running… OH FUUUUUUUUU……. this is the address get in a cab!

So eventually I get all my bridesmaids in a row… yes believe it, but then one of them couldn’t get her dress done up all the way… hysterical laughter outside, kinda over the drama as none of it was created by me, but everyone expects me to fix it so get a drink and go for a walk outside… she got into it in the end… she has a 3 month old bub and she hadn’t fed her yet so she expressed milk and then magically fit into her dress. I don’t know why she then took the milk with her into the wedding car… because then we had to find somewhere to leave it before she could get out of the car. People seriously… common sense!!!!!

Meanwhile everyone is running around like chooks with their heads cut off trying to figure out why I am not stressed… they almost lost their minds when no one could get my 6month old nephew to sleep – he had been crying for almost an hour when I demanded my Dad hand him over (my bro and his partner had gone down the street to get her hair done) 10mins later he was out to it and I put him in his cot – stressed people does not a sleeping baby make!

My friend who did my hair and makeup turned up on time because she is amazing and did my hair and makeup beautifully! So well that my Mum then asked if she had time to do hers. Seriously she is so amazing – she has even done hair and makeup for music videos! I had organised for everyone to have lunch because I have been bridesmaid many times where there was plenty of alcohol and no food and therefore bridesmaids staggering down the aisle. Unfortunately, by the time my hair and makeup was done everyone had eaten everything and not thought to put food aside for me hahaha, so Dani (hair and makeup genius) and I gorged on Tim Tams and had a Tia Maria and Lemonade each instead… totally a decent pre-wedding feast 😀

So we get there 10mins early to be told we might have to start late because 2 of the groomsmen stayed in the hotel room to help their wives get their babies ready – seriously?! The wives are incapable of handling a 6 month old?… okay then… – so I let them know if the boys are not here by 4pm I am walking down the aisle and they can feel bad about it because they were told to be there by 3.30pm! Cue one of the flower girls having a fit – and cue me not being surprised because I had predicted this… hence 2 flower girls. So only one flower girl walked down the aisle.

Meanwhile for an hour that morning the girls had practised walking to the music… slowly… steadily… I made them walk extra slow because I figured they would quicken up due to nerves. Not only did they quicken up they pretty much cantered down the aisle and didn’t wait for me to cue them to walk… ahh where did the girls go? Oh crap they are all down there already… oh well guess Dad and I will still chill out here and wait for the next chorus to come around… waiting… waiting… oh there it is okay Dad let’s go!

So out we walk… the sun is shining, the flower girl who has only just learnt my name (she’s 2.5yrs old give her a break) is screaming out, “Mummy look! Cat! Cat! Mummy pretty Cat!” and trying to run back down the aisle to me, my Mum is crying, other people are crying and trying to get my attention, the hella late groomsmen both showed, the groomsmen left on their sunnies… but I didn’t notice. Didn’t see any of it! All I saw was Trent waiting for me at the end of the aisle. Hard, practical, logical, organised Trent… grinning and brimming with tears at the sight of me… and all of a sudden I felt like a beautiful goddess.

I remember every part of the ceremony because we never took our eyes off each other, someone apologised to me later for arriving halfway through the ceremony… I couldn’t have told you they weren’t there… for that 30mins in time there were no other people, there was only me and him… and it was PERFECT!

 

Samhain

What is Halloween to you? Growing up in Australia, there was never much celebration of Halloween, it was widely thought of as an American holiday. As a kid I really didn’t care, I just loved the idea of dressing up and getting free candy and was not impressed that I couldn’t do so. However as I grew up a bit and discovered my love of the Celtic culture I discovered that there was a different side to Halloween, it is believed that it is linked (or that it developed from) the festival of Samhain or summer’s end.

Whilst Halloween is celebrated on one night Samhain was actually a harvest festival and celebrations sometimes went for days. There are many similarities posed to a festival of the dead and in some Gaelic folklore it is referred to as such. Whilst it was a harvest festival and celebrated summer’s end, it is also believed that the celebration held spiritual undertones where the long days were now passed and the long nights would begin, it was believed that the veil between the living world and the afterlife was thin. Families come together, build bonfires, feast, sing, dance and tell stories of loved ones who have passed, some still hold the custom today of setting a place for the deceased.

There is a lot more to this story I know, I have basically provided a brief summary of hundreds of years of tradition, but if I went into much detail I may offend or start a massive debate 😀 Which is not my aim.

Having Gaelic ancestors that I know very little of I am very interested in this culture, apart from the fact it is a harvest festival and time to take stock of supplies for the winter (apparently a lot of what is consumed during the feasts is perishables). I find the custom of celebrating the lives of one’s ancestors a rather beautiful tradition, having a celebration during which you tell stories of their lives in a way I believe really does bring part of them back because you are renewing your love for them and their memory in your heart and those of your family. In this day and age sometimes we forget to really spend time remembering and telling stories to our children of those who have come before us and I find that a little sad. My nephew (the first in my family) is now almost 4 months old and my grandfather and grandmother passed away almost 10 years ago now – way before everyone had webcams, YouTube and Smartphones etc. they were from the days where the phones were so big it took a whole day to dial a number. My family have started writing or typing up little titbits and stories about my grandparents before we forget them, in the effort to create a kind of ancestor folk lore pool of knowledge (ooh just made that up, but doesn’t it sound schnazzy!), we realised that we had forgotten so much about two people who were such a major part of our lives and that my nephew (Hendrix) would never know them if we didn’t tell him about them. So we hope to tell him stories about them so that he learns about where and who he came from. I might share some soon…

Hendrix

Meanwhile just as a side note… I still love dressing up in costume and partying on Halloween and am completely stoked that Australian’s are now very accepting about the holiday (20 years later). I am even having my hen’s party on Halloween weekend and we will be dressing as a bevy of Pirates! As a lover of Gilbert & Sullivan as a child and Johnny Depp as an adult there really was no better choice was there?! I finally get to be a Pirate Queen!!! What/who will you be on Halloween?

Grace O'Malley

My Favourite things

Okay I will admit it, I am a total and complete “lister” I like lists, I love reading posts created by other “listers” (yes it is a word, because I say so! If ‘bootylicious’ can be a word then ‘listers’ is a shoe-in!). I have decided to embrace my love of lists after my previous post and after trawling through the hilarious musings of Barb Best http://barbsblast.wordpress.com she’s awesome check her out!

Now, when I say, “my favourite things”, I don’t necessarily mean objects like chocolate (although that is definitely high on the list) as I feel this is a bit limited. Plus running of a list of objects I love kind of feels like when I ask my 2.5yo niece what she loves and I get back, “Mummy, Daddy, Horsie (plush toy), Indy (families dog, she can’t say dog though – if she sees a big dog it is called an “Indy”, if she sees a small dog it is called a “Shorty” which is her Nan’s dog’s name – SO cute!) & Chuggington! So I am not going to limit myself to objects, I am discovering that my posts are as much about what I want to say as what I want to share with others, so here are my self discovery musings for today.

These are not necessarily in order, well except for the first one.

1/ Family – there is nothing better than family time, ‘laxing out on a weekend for no reason with your siblings or your parents. My Mum is my best friend, I tell her everything, she is my Hero and the reason I wanted to become a Librarian.

2/ Going to sleep to the sound of rain pattering on my window – it’s just so relaxing, does it make me need to pee? Sometimes, which is frustrating, but generally this is only when I needed to in the first place.

3/ My fiancée – 4 years on and he can still make me laugh until I cry, a practical thinker and not overly romantic, but thoughtful and very loving and a hell of a lot of fun! Quite intelligent and definitely not a bore to talk to on any number of subjects. Has been frequently mistaken for Charlie Pickering, he actually autographed something one day because the person wouldn’t leave him alone, good thing they didn’t check the autograph though because he signed it as himself and once went clubbing decked out as Jack Sparrow, practiced for a week to get the walk and talk just right and as we were walking through the city was actually asked to come into clubs and was paid $50 by some dude on the street for being “f***ing awesome bro”. Light of my life, I look forward to many interesting years ahead of us and god help us if our children are as crazy as either of us!!!

4/ A massive belly laugh – is there anything better? Think about your last really fabulous chortle, cackle, guffaw (possibly accompanied by a pretty decent snort), how brilliant did you feel afterwards?! Laughter is definitely a perfect prescription for most any ailment. Almost as good as an orgasm, but not quite… and sometimes just as much clean up 😀

5/ Chocolate!!!!! – NOM NOM NOM does this really need a reason? It just is and it is perfection! Someone should write a blog about it, I can see it now… “Travelling the world… one chocolate tasting at a time”. Chocolate used to be a form of currency, it is probably a good thing it isn’t anymore as I would be oh so poor, in fact lactose intolerant people would rule the world because everyone else would be eating their money!!!

6/ Music – Music is like the weather, no matter what it is it will have some affect on you, some will love it, some will hate it. Music is like modern day poetry and just like poetry some of it belongs on the wall of a public toilet and some belongs in the halls of fame! There is nothing better than driving along in your car and pumping some song that makes you so gleeful and singing at the top of your lungs (yeah that is probably me at those traffic lights). Nothing more special than singing to a crowd and seeing how you are effecting people (hopefully in a not wanting to stick fingers in their ears way).

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7/ Friends – I have some friends that I consider my brothers and sisters, I truly embrace the ideal, “friends are the family you choose for yourself” – I have no idea who said this originally as I have seen it so many places. Recently saw it on a plaque in someone’s bathroom right next to, “if you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie” not sure how they relate, maybe it’s just me.

8/ Work – I am one of the people lucky enough to love my job, I am in the exact organisation I have dreamed of working in and have the satisfaction of knowing that I got myself here through really hard work and a lot of crappy jobs that I took just to get me experience in the right stuff. Plus the access to books is awesome!!!

9/ The beach – I can be wound as tight as a boa constrictor on it’s prey, 5 minutes sitting in the sand listening to the waves and I am as relaxed as a new born with a full tummy. I don’t know what it is, but the beach just speaks to be on some base level, it balances me out somehow. No I am not a water sign, I am a creative, firey-ass Leo… it literally feels like being at the beach just moderates the flame for a while or brings down the internal temperature. I don’t understand it, I think something that feels that good (and is legal) doesn’t warrant an explanation.

I was planning to be really unique here and stop at 9 because most lists have this innate need to make an even number and 10 is a pretty clichéd number, but couldn’t leave out this last one…

10/ Animals – I adore animals, and I detest anyone that abuses animals! My fiancée and I have taken in 4 dogs, 3 cats, 3 birds and a pregnant guinea pig over the years, all of which were badly treated and we have found homes for more animals that we just couldn’t help. People say animals take more than they give and they are beneath us, I don’t think that is true. It’s not like I am asking for dogs to have the right to drive cars or vote or anything, but I don’t think they should be kicked around and treated like garbage and I know that the animals we have rehabilitated love us unconditionally. They don’t care if I haven’t done my hair or make up, or if I have blemishes or stink because I just got back from the gym, when’s the last time an animal called you fat? Much kinder than humans, although if you don’t have them de-sexed they do “spray” pretty much everything, marking it as their own, which is a ‘fowl’ experience! (Pun intended hehehe :D)

Bridezilla

Yes another stereotype – you must have heard this one right? I wonder where this initiated, if you know please do share it with me. As you can see from my profile I am currently working full time, studying at night, planning a wedding and numerous other responsibilities that are too tedious to bother listing hehehe, needless to say stress levels sometimes get pretty up there, particularly now around major assessment due date time, or as my fiancée calls it, “bye bye love time” as I crawl into a hole until the assessments are done. But this year I do not get that luxury as we are 9 weeks away from the wedding and everyone wants something from me.

I have to admit I have had what I would consider Bridezilla compulsions, I have wanted to chuck a tanty, I think I have chucked a couple – maybe even pretty decent ones, obviously they were all completely warranted though because there is no way my level-headed self would explode over something inane like having to glue thousands (okay hundreds) of pin-head sized diamantes onto blasted invitations is there?! Grrr damn little pin-head sized diamantes I hate you sooooo much!!!

It’s funny some girls I know talk about their dream weddings for years before they even meet a guy they would even consider marrying. I wasn’t like that, when we decided to get married and started talking about what we wanted I honestly wanted a really small personal ceremony on a beach (only because we both adore the beach) with immediate family and our two best friends and then to walk up the beach and have a BBQ. Somehow that went from under 30 people to just over 100, now I have a decent sized extended family so ok I could accept this, but then everything wasn’t good enough for someone. It didn’t matter that this is our wedding and not what we wanted and if we tried to stand up for ourselves then people started saying their side of the family wasn’t coming blah blah blah. Oh for heaven’s sake!!! We are not dramatic people, we do not like or enjoy drama, we wanted to elope, we said we were going to cancel the wedding – we were told we would be disowned if we dared elope (this was not from my father – I could have understood it from him as I am the only daughter and he would miss his opportunity to walk me down the aisle – no my parents said if we wanted to elope they would pay for it because it would make us happy. Cue the awwwwwws :D).

So whilst I have attempted some pretty darn good Bridezilla impressions over the past year, somehow people know it is not me and I do not mean my crazy threats. I find this completely unfair, the one time I wish to embrace a stereotype and my fellow man shuts me down… is this what irony feels like?

Where are we now? We are going along with whatever we are told, we both have personalities that are too laid back to keep stressing as bad as we have been. So we will do the little dance, make some little vows, and get wed that night like we are being told to… and then we are taking off to Vanuatu for the wedding WE want. Shh no one knows yet hehehe.