Byron Bay

We have the wedding of Adam and Samantha to go to in October and its in Byron Bay. Today I booked our accommodation! We are going to drive up from Sydney on Friday the 22nd and home on the Monday.
I booked this lovely house for us to say in! http://www.byronbeachrealty.com.au/barefoot/barefoot_house/index.html
We are going to stay with Samantha and Chris (ok, so quickly, just to confuse you I have 2 very close friends and both their names are Samantha - and so is mine! CRAZY!) Shannon and Rohan (Erin's brother and GF) and not sure who else? (Place sleeps up to 8)
Should be a fun weekend!

Nope

Just a quick one.
Nope. Negative.
Try again next month.
Really upset, but it was only the first try and I know it can take months and months.
My motto to keep my spirits up is going to be "Practice makes perfect"

I'm sick

I'm sick with the flu.
I started feeling a bit off on Monday, Tuesday a little worse and this morning when I got up at 5.30am I was feeling TERRIBLE.
Problem was, I had to get up and get moving. I had a regional trip planned with work to visit some of my accounts.
I write this post now while sitting in my hotel room in Griffith of all places.
Tomorrow night I will be in Wagga, but then Friday after going to Albury I am heading down to Melbourne to visit my family!!! Yay! One thing that helps to make me feel better. But feel crappy and miss my husband. 5 nights away from him. Boo
The issue with being sick and possibly pregnant is that you can't take anything. Grr. Nothing but a bit of Panadol. And with no Health Food shops in my sights I don't know if I can take any vitamins or herbs???
A Few more days and we will know if I'm up the duff or not. So fingers crossed and I wont curse being sick too much and cross my fingers and hope.
Oh, and I got a speeding fine today. Grr. I need to slow down a bit.

Let them eat cake

This is our wedding cake. I just loved our cake! And it tasted devine too!
I looked in lots of magazines and just couldn't find anything that I liked. I was searching one day yet again and came across a picture of about half a cake as part of a Myer registry add.
That was that. That was my (our) cake!
So we made an appointment with the lovely Bev Brown from the Southern Highlands one Sunday, showed her the picture, ate way too much cake and drank lots and lots of tea and there you have it! Our cake was organised!
Late last week I was looking on the Polka Dot bride web/blog and noticed that they were doing a call out for 'Spring inspired cakes' so over the weekend I emailed over about 4 pictures of our cake!
I don't know if our cake will be 'published' but I was pretty damn proud of our cake, so thought I would give it a go.
Not sure when the article/post will be, but if we are in it I will have to post about that too!

Oh, and how about this! Married 4 months today!!!

The proposal!

My darling husband proposed to me in Monte Carlo exactly 16 months ago today!
This shot wast taken by me not long after it all happened.
I had no idea what so ever that he was going to propose! It was a very very big shock.
After the proposal, we mosied around for hours in loved up bliss and didn't call anyone for hours and hours! It was really nice to just enjoy being together and letting it all sink in and be in-love.
I'm so glad we did it that way and I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Sunny Sunday

Walking our the Anzac bridge on our lovely Sunday stroll, I decided to take my camera with me
My husband was telling me all about the old way to get into the city and how long it took to get anywhere. The Anzac bridge has 4 lanes going either way. The old bridge only had two! And they would have to stop it to let boats pass through. He said it was a nightmare getting to work
I adore the Harbour Bridge, I think it is really cool and the history of how it was built is so interesting. But I think the design of the Anzac Bridge is cool! It really is quite stunning.
We walked to the fish markets. About a 30 minute stroll from our place. It was soooooooo crazy busy. People everywhere. We bought some Barramundi and some green prawns. We took them to my brother and sister-in laws house for a yummy lunch! I cut up chilli's and garlic for the prawns and we then cooked the fish with some lemon and ginger. Yum, Yum Yum!!!
This is us on the walk back home. That's my darling husband with the phone glued to his ear. Grr... It was like that on the way there too. He was very very busy with work calls today. Must have been lots and lots of people buying cars today. I had my jumper with me. Why I took it I will never know, it was such a glorious day I didn't need it.

And now its Sunday night. Finishing off the day and getting ready for a busy busy week. I'm off on a Regional trip on Wednesday morning to visit some of my accounts. I will finish up in Albury on Friday and then zoom down the freeway 2.5 hours and stay with my family for the weekend!!! I'm originally a Melbourne Girl! I can't wait to see everyone. It's been a while.

New York New York

This is a picture taken at our wedding of Emme and Daryl.

Emme (Emily) was the stylist for us and made the place/venue look great.

I met Emme through another friend of mine and we have formed our own little friendship along the way. As have our men.

Last night we had dinner and a catch up with this pair, because we haven't seen them since our wedding! (Granted they have been away on a five week working holiday in Italy, England and Thailand) - We were actually supposed to see them last Thursday, but there has been a bit of sickness between the 4 of us, so it was cancelled till tonight)

They have big news!!! They are moving to New York in February next year for Daryl's work! And well Emme wasn't too keen at first, but like she said "It certainly wont harm my career!"

We had a super yummy meal at The Lord Dudley In Paddo.

Have you ever been there? It's great! You walk in and feel like you have been plonked into a pub somewhere in England! The wine was great, the conversations were great and we came home with big smiles on our faces after such a great night!

We will be sure to go and visit them later next year! They are planning on getting a 4 br place in Brooklyn. And when they get there they are going to do the try for a baby thing too!

We will miss them dearly, but there has already been talk of one very big leaving bash at their house in Bondi! That will be a fun, over the top, great night!

The Two Week Wait

I thought I would post this that I found on a website bellybelly
This is me right now, and its hard. There is no one that I/we can really talk to about it except eachother. So... Dear blog you get to hear all about it...
We have about a 8-9 day wait from today... Fingers are crossed.
Oh, and I promise I wont obsess and I wont make this blog all about babies. In fact! We got plans from the architect yesterday! But they need to change stuff. Grr. So we will have to post them another day.

14 Things to Do when 14 Days Seem Like Forever, by Lynn Steen
Please note that this is a humourous article and is not intended as advice.

As any woman who is trying to get pregnant can tell you, the two weeks from ovulation to the due date for your next period are pure torture. You promise yourself you’ll just wait it out, distract yourself with other activities and you won’t even THINK about taking a pregnancy test until you’re at least a day overdue. Then something happens – your breasts start hurting in a slightly different way than they did before, you get slightly nauseous, you have some spotting, or nothing happens, but you find yourself waking up wishing you could go to sleep again so that it would be another day closer to knowing. You can’t think, you can’t sleep, you can’t work, and you start taking HPT’s days before they are even possibly meaningful. You are deep in the abyss of THE TWO-WEEK-WAIT!
In my opinion, it’s no use advising women to stop obsessing, it’s impossible. Instead, I give you a list of more productive ways to obsess. Please note, however, that there is a limit that each woman must define for herself, between indulging in some baby daydreaming and going overboard. I’ve included some examples below:
1. Take a walk around your neighborhood and figure out what will be the best route for strolls with the baby. Find areas with nice pavements and easy curbs. Go ahead and daydream. But do NOT buy a stroller for the dog.
2. Clean out your wardrobe to make room for the maternity stuff you’ll be buying soon. Try on anything you haven’t worn for six months. Yes, if you wish, you may put a pillow in your undies to see what will work as maternity wear. But taking a picture of yourself like that is going too far.
3. Start a journal. Write down everything you’re feeling. It will be a great opening chapter for your child’s baby book. If you can’t put your feelings into words, draw something; try to create a symbol that expresses the frustration you’re feeling. Don’t get that symbol tattooed on your ankle.
4. Plant a hope garden. Or a hope rosebush. Or a hope citrus tree. You want to grow something inside of you, well start by growing something outside of you. Nurture it. Feed it. Give it water. Talk to it. But do not send out birth announcements.
5. Get better at photography. Really learn how to work all the buttons and settings on your camera. Experiment! If you have a digital camera, get all the downloading and editing stuff worked out. You will be well prepared once you have a baby, and will be able to get some great shots and get them emailed to your family before the child’s graduation. Do not take photos of your cervical mucous, even if Toni Weschler begs you.
6. Make an appeal to the committee meeting going on inside you. Sperm, egg, uterus, corpus luteum, progesterone – they are in there either making a baby or not. Treat them like any other unruly committee you’ve ever addressed. Yes that’s right, go ahead and talk to them. Put your hands on your stomach and tell them how much you respect them. Make your best argument in favor of a baby, and then let them decide. It’s out of your hands. Addressing the committee within earshot of normal people is not recommended.
7. Paint your toenails. Imagine how difficult this will be when you are pregnant. Go shopping for the perfect pink and blue nail polish in preparation for a celebration polish. Alternating colors on the day you find out you’re pregnant, or a single color for the day you find out the baby’s sex. Don’t be tempted to paint a cycle day countdown on your big toes.
8. Make a cup of herbal tea. It is a nice ritual: boiling the water, adding the tea leaves, pouring into a nice china cup, adding some milk or sugar, sipping peacefully. Ahhhh. There’s nothing that a nice cup of tea won’t help. Yeah right. Well it does kill a little bit of time.
9. Swim laps. Think about the sperm and how they need to swim to your egg. Imagine that you are a sperm, the end of the pool is the egg, then GO, GO, GO! Don’t wear a tail or anything. Just imagine it quietly.
10. Make lists. List all the people you will tell when you get pregnant, and in what order. List all the little jobs you need to get done instead of obsessing about this 2WW! List all the healthy activities you intend to do this week. List all the girl and boy names you like. Lists are helpful for all sorts of things, most of all for passing time rather than actually doing something.
11. Create a fertility dance. Choose whatever music speaks to your soul and make up a dance routine as a prayer to the universe for the growth of an embryo. Move your hips, rotate your belly, let your arms flow – but close the curtains.
12. Prepare a folic acid feast. Cream of broccoli soup as an entree, followed by spinach lasagne, enriched whole grain garlic bread and frozen orange juice sorbet for dessert. Dedicate the meal to your baby-to-be. Just don’t set a highchair at the table in his or her honor.
13. Delegate the burden of the two-week wait. Clearly someone has to worry constantly during this time, but does it have to be you? Divide the days up among your best friends and closest family. On their assigned day they are required to think, wonder, and worry all day about whether you are pregnant or not. At the end of the day they have to call or send you email describing how agonizing it was. Also they have to report to you if they had any “symptoms,” such as sore breasts, excessive urination, nausea, bleeding, fatigue… you will be surprised how many people, male and female, have early pregnancy symptoms if they just look for them.
14. Write a list of 14 things to do during the Two-Week Wait and post it to the internet. For me, this killed nearly 3 hours. Now what? I’ve still got 9 days to go? Aaaarrgrhhhh.

Bangers and Mash

We had the most basic dinner tonight! Good old Bangers and Mash! It was the best!

I was just craving good old mash with some sausages and it was great! The Mister had some peas, but not for me!

I love having old favorites like this every now and then, they are not at all good for you.

But they sure do taste good!

I wish I had remembered to take a picture of ours, but this one I found is about identical to what we had!

Cocktails

So on Thursday and Friday I had my quarterly sales meeting. We get everyone to come from NZ, QLD, Vic, WA and join us in the Sydney office.

Every sales meeting we have a "challenge". This meeting the "challenge" was cocktail making (or otherwise known to be "recipe for disaster")

We finished up at lunchtime on Friday and all headed to The Zeta Bar at the Hilton for our lesson.

Well, it goes without saying... WE HAD A BALL!!! It was a absolute blast and one of the best times I have ever had with my fellow work colleagues.

I am a huge fan of the Cosmopolitan. I didn't jump on the Sex in the City bandwagon, I just like it! So I was super excited to be making them! YUMO!

We made Martini's, a Gimlet, THE Cosmopolitan and a Moscow Mule.

We got to hear all about the history of the different cocktails too!

I highly recommend to get a bunch of people together and go!

Just check out http://www.barsolutions.com.au/

And we all got a Belvedere Vodka show bag to take home too!

The one and only COSMOPOLITAN - A cocktail created by Neil Murrey at the steakhouse in Minneapolis in 1975 then reinvented by Tony Ciconi in 1979, and made famous by Sex in the City in the 90's

45mls Belvedere Cytrus Vodka

10mls Grand Marnier

60mls Cranberry Juice

Dash lemon juice

Shake/strain into a chilled Martini glass

Garnish with a flamed orange peel

My dad

My dad walking me down the isle on my wedding day

My amazing family. L-R Brother Matt, Bro-Inlaw Chadd, Dad - Peter, Me, Erin my husband, mum - Christine, Brother Jack, Emma my sister

I reckon my dad is tops! He is the best dad in the world and he would do anything for me.

My parents had me pretty young, they were only 19 and dad worked two jobs just to support his family.

Wednesday marked the 3 year mark since he very bad motorbike accident.

3 years ago I was called up by mum so say that dad had been in an accident and was being rushed to the Alfred hospital in Melbourne.

The next morning she called me again to say that dad had broken his back in 2 places and that they had no idea what the outcome was going to be until they operated.

I was beside myself. My then boyfriend (now husband) phoned Qantas straight away and had me on the next flight to Melbourne. He didn't even flinch at the $450 cost. Bless him.

What was the first thing dad said to me when I got there? "Waste of money Brownie, you should have bought a house" (Brownie being my nickname because I am the only brunette in the family)

It was horrible, terrible, I have never been through anything like that in my life. Here was my dad the super hero laying in a hospital bed, and we didn't know if he was ever going to walk again. Mum was amazing. Truly amazing.

Anyway, that's enough about the bad stuff...

Well, the opp went for about 12 hours, he had the best surgeon in Australia and my boy drove all night to be with me because I asked him.

Dad was ok. He still is ok. He is going to be celebrating his 50th birthday in a few weeks.

But it was oh so close and it could have been so much worse. He is on medication (painkillers) every day.

BUT he is an amazing person. A wonderfully amazing person. He is my dad. My hero. And we are the luckiest family in the world.

Ok. That's enough tears now. And although I don't feel that I have explained it properly, I feel better for typing this now. And I know that I will never forget that day. I will love and appreciate my family more than ever, because you never ever know what can happen.

And

So, it's actually not a secret... We are trying to fall pregnant.

And my cheeky husband is telling people!

I have told 2 very very close friends. AND they are sworn to secrecy.

But everywhere I go, I get the oh, so you guys are trying are you!

Jeepers Creepers... What if it takes months and months or sadly years? You just never know do you?

Anyway, I just shrug them off and say "Oh, well you just never know, practice makes perfect"

We shall see, And I think my little blog will be the first to know! I'm keeping you a secret for a little while yet... (Can't post you in my Vogue signature little sister might see you) That way I will have an outlet to be excited, whinge about morning sickness which is sure to happen as my mum had be very very bad with all four of her children. And all the other bits that come with falling pregnant, being pregnant and having a baby.

Anyway, that probably also explains the "And" in the title of my blog.

A Busy Week

Audi Centre Parramatta

Baby Eloise

Last night we had to go to the grand opening of the NEW Audi Parramatta.
My husbands company is 49% owned by them.
We actually had a fun night. Bumped into my old boss.... Interesting....
Had a few champagnes. Mumm. Watched a few acts, had some yummy yummy food!
They launched the new A8. Went home and bought cheeseburgers on the way!

We don't very often have to go to these fancy pants events (good!) but we do always seem to have a fun time while we are there.

We have a very very busy week this week...
Monday - Visit Emma and baby Eloise at Mater Hospital - She is beautiful!
Tuesday - Audi Grand Opening
Wednesday - Dinner at a yummy restaurant for a Friends birthday
Thursday and Friday I have a work conference.
Thursday - Dinner at Emme and Daz's house (she did all the styling for our wedding!)
Friday - Drinks at Zeta bar with work (I have to go) and dinner.

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ARE GOING TO BE HUSBAND AND WIFE DAY...

Girls Girls Girls

Some very exciting news! My friend Emma had a baby girl this morning at 3am! They called her Eloise Amy. I haven't heard that name for a very long time. I think its lovely.

And! My other friend Sam found out yesterday that she is having a girl! She is due Christmas Eve.

Another friend is about to have her baby... Guess what? A Girl!

There has been so many babies amongst our friends! And lots and lots and lots of GIRLS!

There's Lola - December, Mila - Feb, Hania - April, Scarlett - April, Hannah - May & Alexandria - May! There were a few boys but how about all these girls!!!

I wonder what we will have? Wouldn't a girl be great! Think of all the hand-me-downs! But then a boy would also be so so lovely! He would have lots of "girl friends"

Two Timing...

Two posts today!

So today I got the file of the existing floor plan from the architect!

So, that means we are about 2 weeks away from receiving proposed plans!

Really really really excited!!!

Also, my friend Holly the hairdresser moved into her new little studio today! She has just left a very bad relationship and is starting all over again. Good for her!

Now off to the pub to meet up with my husband and the girls for a bottle of champers to celebrate Holly's new digs!

Cherio! Have a great weekend!

The ball is rolling

The surveyor sent us the survey yesterday!

That means that the Architect can start on our drawings!

Then it's submit to council and wait.... and wait.... and wait....

Damn councils...

Big Sister

I'm the big sister.

I love being the big sister!

This photo is from our wedding.

The scared one is my husband.

The others are (from left to right) Chadd my wonderful brother-in law, Jack 'The Golden Child', Erin My Mister, and then Matt the middle bother.

They were mucking around at the end of the night, pretending to threaten my husband... "You had better not hurt my sister, or else" (My dad and his brothers did this for real apparently when their sister got married. I was 3, I was their flower girl! Dad and my uncle are now the best of friends. In fact "uncle Gibbo" was the MC at our wedding!

I also adore my sister Emm, she is the best! But more about her another day.

Birthday Boys!

Yesterday was my brothers birthdays! "Twins?" you ask? NO!

M the older one was 22! And J otherwise known as the golden child was 19.

It is pretty cool having 2 x brothers with the same birthday, and last year was a big one. They turned 18 and 21 on the same day had a party and it was great.

I miss them :-( They are in Melbourne and I'm in Sydney. But I spoke to them last night and all in all they had a pretty good day, liked their presents from me and my little sis (their 2 big sisters)

What crappy weather in Sydney today, I just want to curl up on the lounge and watch movies... But no, its back to work we go...

Keep warm everyone, not long till spring!

I hate Mondays... And to blog or not to blog?

I hate Mondays - But not this week!

For some crazy reason, my employer believes in Bank Holiday Monday!!! - I work in the Finance and Insurance sector and apparently we fall under this code.

So, I'm still in bed! Yep, I Will admit it! And carrying on with my little blog.

I have received 3 comments so far from 3 posts and they are both from 2 people who's blogs I read too! How did they find me? I'm not at all sure how this little blog land works? But, I'm sure I will work it out soon enough.

So, that gets me to the bit about "To blog or not to blog?"

I really can't even tell you why I decided to start doing this? Maybe somewhere I can put down all my thoughts and feelings?

I haven't even told any of my friends or family about it! Not even my HUSBAND! I don't know what they will say? I don't want them to laugh at me!

So, maybe I will keep it just amongst "us" for now and see how we go.

In other news, the survey er and the drafts person came over during the week to start on the bits we need to begin the renovation project. It will now be a couple of weeks before we hear anything or get to discuss anything, so the husband and I went 'window kitchen shopping' yesterday. We got some good ideas!

Just to give you an idea, our little house is a semi on 135 sqm of land! TINY! But we love it all the same, and because we live so inner city, to get much else would have cost us MILLIONS!