Upcycle – Birdcage succulent planter

One day I came across a beautiful vintage look birdcage that was a bit worse for wear and so had been cast onto the corner for garbage pick up. I loved the style of it and thought it would be a terrible waste to send it to the dump so I grabbed it and took it home. I have always loved the idea of upcycling and I decided I was going to figure out a way to make this into a beautiful planter.

Here is what I was starting with. Meanwhile check out the little photobomber I just discovered haha.

I have no idea what this horrid, tacky, stubborn, pink, sticky crap was, but it was everywhere and a pain in the butt to remove!!! I resorted to an old toothbrush, boiling water and detergent, followed up with some alcohol wipes.

Evil pink stuff

So once it was all clean and pretty it was time to decide what I was going to do with it. I had a vision of creating a succulent planter. The idea being that in time the succulents will grow and poke out through/overhang the bars. So I went shopping…

My haul 🙂

Then it was time to find out if what was in my head would translate well to real life [I should note that I know others have done this successfully, but I was doing it without any instructions from any of those people 🙂 ]. I lined the base with Coconut fibre to stop the soil from falling straight through the bottom of the cage.

Make sure you compress it well. I tried to make mine a bit like a nest with the edges raised.

Then I added in the succulent planting mix and my succulents. Here are some photos of the finished product 🙂

 

I chose succulents that would spread, grow and hang out between the bars nicely as well as flower in different colours.

 

 

I am very proud of my first upcycle attempt. Especially considering there were no instructions… I am happy to report that there were no pieces leftover post construction 🙂

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Thank you Mr. T.

http://theteachingmusic.com/

Queen Latifah:
And the winner of the 2014 Grammy for Best New Artist goes to… CatT.

The audience goes wild and my music fills the theatre as I throw my arms around my Hubby for a massive smooch and then make my way to the stage. Naturally I pause along the way to high five Adam Lambert and pound fists with Dan Reynolds. I make it to the stage and by some miracle do not stage a re-enactment of Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar fall, I embrace and pay homage to the amazing Queen Latifah and accept my amazing award. I turn to the mic and clear my throat whilst trying to subtlety wipe away tears of joy.

Oh Jen, you fall so gracefully 🙂

Me:
Wow! Thank you. This moment… means more than I could ever convey in one acceptance speech.

I came here tonight fully prepared to bow down to any one of the amazing and talented nominees as they won this title; don’t worry I am not suggesting you need to bow to me. The thing is, no matter how hard we push and work and pour sweat, blood and tears into our work, at no point will you ever sit there and go… yeah, I got this in the bag… come at me Grammy. As one of the nominees for this award tonight I found myself in such esteemed company and I wish to thank each one of you for the amazing contributions you make to this industry.

I must also thank Universal Music Australia for taking a chance on an unknown artist from South-West Sydney, for believing in me, for hearing me and my music and helping me translate who I am for all the world to hear. Thank you for fine tuning me because God knows I needed it.  

To my fans, without you there is no way I could be here. Thank you for sharing this journey with me and for seeing something in my music that you love. I hope you continue to be touched by my music and I will do all that I can to keep this train going.

Mum & Dad… thank you for letting me play music too loud and for not yelling at me when I then sung over my too loud music with my even louder voice. Thank you for inspiring me creatively. Mum, thank you for always being my editor and grammar Nazi, you are my guiding light.

Mr. T. … Thank you for being who you are, thank you for being my soul mate and for keeping me laughing for the past seven years. Thank you for encouraging me to sing and not being afraid to tell me when I was flat, thank you for letting me listen to any genre I want and for letting me play Adam Lambert’s music in the car really loud… thank you for learning the words so you could sing along too 🙂 Thank you for missing me singing around the house when I go away, thank you for missing it so much you learned every Adele song so you could sing them to stop yourself being lonely without me. Thank you for loving me, thank you for being my best friend and always being there, thank you for your support. I know you are happy sitting down there right now… really happy, because we are married… and being married means half of this award is yours. Congratulations on your Grammy baby 🙂

Thank you all.

 Inspired by the Daily Prompt

http://www.reactiongifs.com/

Pride & Joy: Fur baby family

What is your most prized possession?

This was a challenge issued by daily post and it really made me think, my instinct when thinking about my pride and joy was to say family, but I do not really consider my family a possession. Google dictionary defines possession as the following:

1. the state of having, owning, or controlling something.
2. something that is owned or possessed.
3. the state of being controlled by a demon or spirit.

We’ll just ignore that 3rd one completely as I am pretty sure no one has ever expressed pride or joy for demon possession – although I must say a novel titled, ‘My favourite demon possession’ would be an interesting read.

She looks happy… right?!?!

So what possession or thing that I have actual ownership of is my pride and joy? Well, whilst I think of my dogs as part of the family I do technically “own” them so I would have to say my fur babies 🙂

I have always wanted a dog, I asked Santa for a puppy for many, many years, but unfortunately he somehow knew my parents didn’t want one so my puppy was never under the Christmas tree come Christmas morning. One of my driving forces for becoming independent was so I could move out of my parent’s house in order to get a dog.

 

Molly

Miss Molly

I quickly decided that I didn’t want a puppy from a breeder or a pet shop; I wanted to get my new companion from a shelter. So onto the interwebs I went (this was almost 10 years ago now so everything was far clunkier than it is now) and after looking at a few different websites I found Renbury Farm http://www.renbury.com.au/ or https://www.facebook.com/RenburyFarm  I saw a 7 month old pup on the site that caught my eye and went to visit the very next day. When I located the dog I had seen on the internet we didn’t really click, the dog was incredibly excitable and just didn’t feel right (it also barked the entire time I was there with my brother and I didn’t think that would go well with the neighbours).

I decided to look around at the other dogs as there were many more onsite than there were on the website, we played with a few, but none of them felt like the right one for me, then I saw this little bundle of white fur hiding in the corner of a pen – I couldn’t even tell what kind of dog it was because it was trying to make itself look as small as possible. The lady from the shelter said she was 6 months and had been found on the side of the road with rope around her neck, she was petrified of people, especially men so my brother shouldn’t go in the pen, she would likely wee on me if I picked her up, but I was welcome to go in to get a better look at her. In I went and after some coaxing I picked her up (with the blanket underneath her just in case) she cuddled straight in under my neck and I knew I had found my companion. She was a 6 month old Chihuahua X Mini Foxy (Chi’s are not a breed I usually take to) and she was perfect.

It took many months of work, but she became a happy go lucky dog who loves men and women equally and will cavort and rub against your legs begging for a pat (or a treat). She is very well behaved and adores nothing better than a snuggle on a cold day. I have had 9 years of amazing joy and companionship with her and she is my pride and joy.

 

Sam

Sammy

The only problem that lingered on for a long time with Molly was separation anxiety, I managed to work through every other issue she had, but if I went away for a weekend or something she would freak out after a few hours and stop eating and drinking and claw at the front door to try and get out and find me. She would also scratch at herself until her hair fell out and her skin bled.

We found a kitten who seemed very lost, but well taken care of (very healthy) so we decided to drop it to our local pound to see if it was micro chipped so the owner could be found. When we left an older woman stopped me in the car park and handed me this fluff ball begging me to take him in for her because she couldn’t do it herself. Apparently it was her neighbours pup and they didn’t want him because they were never home, he chewed everything and he was sick all the time. He was a Pomeranian and I have friends who are breeders so we took him home – he had been owned by an immigrant Cambodian family who had been feeding him their own food so he was very skinny – at 12 months old he weighed 1.2kgs. So we knew he needed vet attention fast.

After a few hours at our home Molly and Sam were inseparable, when I took him to the vet the next morning she wandered around the house whimpering and moping until I brought him home. I went to work and came home to find Sam curled up on the couch beneath my Hubby’s chin and Molly curled up behind his knees – all asleep. It was then I knew we had just adopted another dog 🙂

Sam turned out to have one of the most gorgeous dispositions of any dog I have met, he is a total Mummy’s boy and will trot around the yard after me and happily sit there with my whilst I weed or put out washing. He and Molly cavort and roll around the yard – I truly believe they both think they are much bigger than they are the way they roughhouse sometimes.

 

Thinking back on how these two crazy lovable furballs came into my life I feel very lucky, if I had have gone to Renbury one day earlier I wouldn’t have met Molly and if we hadn’t have found that Kitten and decided to take it to the pound at that exact time we wouldn’t have met Sam. Sometimes life just works out perfectly 🙂

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 🙂

The Big Bang Theory – A love story

 

 

 

My first foray into BBT seems so long ago now, my [then] boyfriend sat me down and said, “you have to watch this it’s so hilarious”, considering some of the utter crap he had exposed me too in the past I must admit I sat down with a fair amount of trepidation and a neutral smile plastered on my face.

So the show begins and two guys walk on, from the way they are dressed they are obviously supposed to be societies accepted view of ‘nerds’ and I think to myself ‘sigh another one of those nerd shows where it’s all about comicon’ and then they walk through a door into a medical facility, the receptionist requests they wait and goes back to her crossword at which point one of the ‘nerds’ looks over and gives her all the answers ‘I think I would hit someone if they did that to me’ and then…

Receptionist: Can I help you?

Leonard: Yes. Um, is this the High IQ sperm bank?

Receptionist: If you have to ask, maybe you shouldn’t be here.

Sheldon: I think this is the place.

Receptionist: Fill these out.

Leonard: Thank-you. We’ll be right back.

Receptionist: Oh, take your time. I’ll just finish my crossword puzzle. Oh wait.

Oops that was a giggle… the neutral smile turned into a real one. Then in the short conversation that followed they discussed the fact that to go through with donating sperm would be ‘genetic fraud’ as there was no guarantee the offspring would have a high IQ. Then the laughter really began, it wasn’t so much that the script itself was hilarious, it was that I have met people like this. In fact I remember going to a Christmas function for my Partners work (works in IT) and after the guys got off their faces (we girls were still sober because someone had to get them home safe) they started what they thought was a very serious and meaningful conversation about the evolution of the condom from history to present day, this included listing the animals parts they were made from and discussions as to how useful each was and a discussion on the manufacturing process of condoms both in ancient times and today (in case you’re wondering the popular consensus was that in the past people most likely manufactured their own rather than purchasing them at ‘Ye Olde Condom Kingdom’ and that in all likelihood they were reused until perforated).

After that first episode I became addicted, mostly because I found hilarity in the similarities between the characters and people I have actually met. I have met someone that has MANY of Sheldon’s quirks (AKA rampant undiagnosed/untreated OCD) this includes the crazy food and daily regime. For instance if they are at work they go to the toilet at the same times each day and use the second last toilet stall, if someone is in there and they can’t pee they become visibly distressed. One of the funniest times was when I went grocery shopping with them and something on their weekly list (seriously the same list every week) was not available. They refused to believe the store had completely run out and made the clerk check everywhere, when none were found they asked to speak to the manager and lodged a complaint that the stores ordering policy was floored. By this time I had already abandoned them for the coffee shop outside.

Then there was the time I went to see the new Conan movie with my [now] hubby and his mate, I’ll be honest I was mostly there to see Jason Momoa in a loin cloth. The lights go down, the popcorn crunches, the choc tops start melting and the movie begins… the first fight scene erupts in an amazing choreographed display of visual rippling muscle awesomeness and hubby’s friend exclaims, “I wonder what the stats are on a sword like that?!” queue me choking on my drink!

Raj can’t speak to women… I know a guy who magically develops a MASSIVE stuttering problem when confronted with women in person (he works in a call centre – he can deal with them over the phone).

Howard is a perve who lives with his Mum… this is so so common it’s not funny. Seriously have you never seen the movie failure to launch? If not don’t bother, Zooey Deschanel is the best thing about that whole movie, just google it and read the summary. Basically it’s all about 30+ year olds that refuse to fly the coop!

Sheldon is some kind of crazy mix of anthropomorphic robot, OCD nut, Einstein-like, celebrity stalker, arrogant nerd with border-line personality disorder who looks like an awkward serial killer when he smiles. I have never met a serial killer, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see Jim Parsons with a cameo in an upcoming Criminal Minds episode – I’d believe that! The rest of these personality traits I have seen, just never in the same body. Perhaps he was constructed by aliens and put on Earth to drive everyone nuts! My favourite parts are when he has no clue of societal protocol or urban slang, “What exactly does that expression mean, ‘friends with benefits?’ Does he provide her with health insurance?” or “You bought me a present? Why would you do such a thing? I know you think you’re being generous, but the foundation of gift giving is reciprocity. You haven’t given me a gift, you’ve given me an obligation. The essence of the custom is that I now have to go out and purchase for you a gift of commensurate value and representing the same perceived level of friendship as that represented by the gift you’ve given me. Ah, it’s no wonder suicide rates skyrocket this time of year. Oh, I brought this on myself by being such an endearing and important part of your life…”

Leonard seems to be the only truly straight man in the show as all other characters seem to display some level of pansexuality at one point or another. The few times you see him in a t-shirt you realise he is actually a built little unit, which is odd for your stereotypical ‘nerd’, but then I suppose when you look like the offspring of Brooke Shields and Eugene Levy you have to make something to even out the ‘brows! His interactions with Sheldon and Penny really make the show and he is a great catalyst for a lot of the humour in the show… of course it could just be that he is greatly expressive with the eyebrows and they work as a distraction. He is the non perverted version of Howard (with MUCH better dress sense – seriously Howard just because all the things you have on are green it doesn’t mean they should be worn together!) he really wants to have relationships and even gets into a few, but is just not very good at maintaining them, some element of insecurity and craziness always gets in the way… which pretty much relates to most failed relationships throughout the history of time.

Since this is now incredibly long (possibly my longest post ever) I feel it is time to bid you adieu. Whilst I am positive there are massive non-lovers of BBT out there and I appreciate your opinion, you will not change my love for the show. I think if you don’t know people like this the show can seem fake, but when you do know people like this it is just hilarious. I am currently searching for the original pilot as it was apparently extremely different and only 2 characters made it to the show we now know and love!

Here’s one of my favs from Penny the corn fed Mid West All American girl with a lotta spunk about her:

Penny: Give my friend his stuff back.
Tod: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Penny: Well then good news! Today’s the day a girl’s finally going to touch you in your little special place. *Kicks him in the groin*

Who of these characters weren't in the original line up?

Meditation – Librarian style

Greetings and a happy Friday to you all!

The weather has been a bit sad of late (yes I am talking about the weather, but I have an awesome point so read on)… the kind of weather where you want to curl up in a comfy chair with a blanky, a [insert hot beverage of choice] and a good book. These days I find myself so busy that I forget to take time for myself to reflect on what I am doing, over this summer break I had a goal… read the books I haven’t been able to read all last year because of Uni work etc. I started many books… didn’t get the opportunity to finish one of them. I started to notice that my usual laid back bubbly persona would sometimes hideaway and I would get snappy, I don’t believe it was from book withdrawal syndrome. I think it was subconscious jealousy at the people I saw that seemed to have time for things where as I always felt so rushed. Last year flew by like a whirlwind and it wasn’t until our trip to Vanuatu where we had banned any and all technology that I felt like I could just breathe and do whatever I wanted and take time to enjoy the moment… I never took my watch anywhere and no phones – we had no idea what the time was at any point and it was fabulous.

But we can’t have holidays all the time (unfortunately) so how do we capture a little bit of paradise in our everyday lives to reduce stress levels, stop our eyes going square and just to stop and reflect and be ourselves? Some don’t feel the need for this, for instance after 2 weeks of no technology my hubby was begging for internet connectivity. Younger generations would probably feel immediate stress at having to leave their mobile at home, where as I now find joy and feel a little naughty when I turn mine off for at least half a day every weekend.

When I used to work in Sydney city there was this little bookstore I used to go to, ‘Maddagen’, it was in the basement of a building and very raw and industrial looking. I used to get a hot chocolate and sit in this GORGEOUS old, kinda worn red leather armchair that would not have looked out of place beside a fire with a gentleman smoking a pipe in it pondering philosophical things. I would sit there and read a book and drink my hot chocolate and sometimes look out the window a bit above me, as we were in the basement you could pretty much just see shoes and ankles (you’d be surprised how many people don’t take the price stickers off the bottom of their shoes). I would go there at least once a week and it was blissful, in all that hustle and bustle of a crazy city I had this perfect little haven hidden away. Unfortunately it was a little too hidden and disappeared one day; I wish I had known because I would have made them an offer on that chair.

I never found a book store/cafe quite the same and even if one came close it seemed to not last long. With the expansion of places like Amazon and the popularity of new technologies such as; ebooks, ereaders, ipads, smartphones and ereader apps Ye Olde Book Shoppe just can’t keep up. Even the Woolworths of book shop chains Borders has gone under. So in the spirit of old book smell and tattered covers I thought I would share this awesome very short article (with lots of beautiful pictures) depicting the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world (according to the author). My favourite comment on the article is, “20 reasons not to buy a kindle”.

http://flavorwire.com/254434/the-20-most-beautiful-bookstores-in-the-world?all=1

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!

 

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)