The past week has been quite busy, what with all the exercising I've been doing. I started full on back with my training last Monday, had a really good week of exercise. I did a catch up class with the outdoors training I do last Thursday, it was a cardio class and it was a killer. Trust me to pick that night to start it! We had to do hill runs, which didn't mean just going up the hill once or twice..it meant going up and down god knows how many times. I really did think I was going to be sick! Then after what 30 mins or more of that, we went back to the park for some sprinting. I do really enjoy the classes even though they are really tough, it's good to have someone pushing you all the time. Actually, we've just got back from kickboxing. I got paired up with this lovely Irish girl, at the end we had to lie down facing each other and lift up onto our feet and elbows, then we had to high 5 each other...every time we high 5'd we cracked up laughing, and then I smacked her glasses off by accident which made us laugh even more, I don't know where we got the energy from to stop collapsing!

The weekend was quite nice, quiet again. We met up with Linn and Martin and Sean on Friday night, we hadn't seen them for a while, so was nice to catch up. Then on Saturday we went to a Sexpo for a laugh. It was very amusing, there was lots of naked people walking around (as you'd expect) and some of the stuff they had at the stalls were very outrageous (to put it nicely). We saw a man painting pictures of people with his you know what...the paintings were suprisingly good! There was pole dancing and male strippers and lots of show bags with weird and wonderful things inside. After a while though it all gets too much!

Sunday morning we went for a run, and then I had a pedicure, which was lovely...that's about it really.

I had some sad news last week that my Grandad had passed away on. He had been poorly for some time, and he'd been in a home for a couple of months so at least he isn't suffering now. I hadn't seen him for nearly 6 years, the last time was at my Dad's funeral, so it brought back a lot of feelings about that too. I'm sure he's in a better place now.

Was feeling sad over the weekend because of that, so had another quiet one. I went back to the doctors on Saturday as I was still coughing, he gave me a puffer which has really helped and I am no longer coughing my guts up! Jason and I are also on a no-alcohol regime until the fun run, we are into our 3rd week now and it's going well (probably cos we haven't been out tho!) We are going to do 5 weeks, so we're halfway there.

We've just got back from kickboxing, and I'm struggling to type cos my arms are shaking so much! It was good fun again, I'm glad to be back exercising. I even went to the gym this morning too.

So, not much to tell since my last entry. I'm still not feeling 100%, I've got this horrible cough still, but I'm a lot better. Hence we had a pretty quiet weekend. We didn't do hardly anything, just watched dvd's and went to the cinema on Sunday. I didn't make it to my kick boxing yesterday as whenever I exert myself I start coughing...plus it's been really cold here, so that made up my mind! Only 4 weeks to go till the City to Surf, and my hopes of running it are slowly lowering, at this rate I'll be walking the whole way!!

I'm hoping to do a web link with my brother tonight so I can see little Hugo again. Chris has sent me lots of videos, and Hugo is all laughs and smiles...so cute!

I'm suprised if anyone is still checking my blog as I've been so slack in updating it, but here's another update just in case!

Well, the end of financial year at work finally came to a close, thank goodness, that was pretty full on, we had some drinks on the Friday to celebrate. Saturday was my Birthday (2 weeks ago) I had an ok day, I must admit I was a bit down and not in the party mood which I normally enjoy on my birthday, I was missing my family as they were all together in Slovakia, and I guess I panicked at turning 33! aargh! But I did get some lovely pressies, my cool sunglasses from Jason, and my brother went out of his way and sent some really cool animations of us all on his blog. This was my 3rd birthday here in Oz, who knows where we will be on the next one!

I had my annual review at work the other day, it went really well and my boss was really positive and gave me some excellent feedback, my bonus looks good too....fingers crossed it all works out ;o) He is trying to keep me on until February, but it all depends on the lady who is on on maternity leave and what she decides to do, hopefully I'll find out soon.

Last weekend Sue came out with us for a friend's birthday, hadn't really seen her socially for ages, so it was great to catch up. It wasn't really a big night, but I woke up on Sunday with an awful cough and then it developed into achey muscles and shivers and feeling basically awful. I had to go to work on Monday morning as there was some stuff that needed doing, but I ended up going home at lunchtime, and I've been off since. I'm feeling better today, still not 100%, but I'm going back to work tomorrow, apart from anything, I'm bored stiff.

Jason and I went to a kick boxing class last Monday, it's outdoors training in the park just up the road, I've been wanting to go for ages, but it's been raining all the time. It was a really great class, bloomin hard work tho, I was stiff till the Thursday. We ended up signing up for 12 weeks, we need to do all we can to stay in shape. Unfortunately though because of my flu, I couldn't go on Monday, hopefully I'll be fully recovered next week. I was doing so well last week with my running and training and lunchtime training sessions at work.

I've just been reading my brothers blog, it's so funny, there are entries from Hugo and it's so sweet and amusing. I finally have seen some more updated photos and he has really grown lots, I look forward to checking Chris's blog everyday for some new ones! Hugo was 4 weeks old last Friday, bless him! Chris and Martina had their first wedding anniversary yesterday, congratulations guys. It's hard to believe that it was a year ago we were over there, it'll be going on 2 years the next time I see them :-( I've put some more photos below this.

We finally got our wedding invitations sent out last week and we've had some lovely comments from people that have received them already, they can't believe that we made them ourselves which is very flattering.

On Saturday, Jason took me birthday present shopping, he wanted to buy me some sunglasses as my cheap $10 ones were annoying him as I was always squinting. It took me about an hour to decide which pair to get, in the end I settled for a funky pair of Gucci's! Yes, I know I have expensive taste! I can't wear them until Saturday though, mind you not as if it's sunny enough for them!

After that he took me to a bridal shop over the water, I'd seen the exact earrings in a magazine I want to wear for our wedding, and luckily it mentioned that they sold them locally. So I was really pleased when I got there and found them...plus a matching bracelet, so of course I bought them! Can't get them for another month though as they have to order them in. Then we went to the mall to pick up a heater for our lounge. We didn't get one though, they had all sold out. But I did get some lovely shoes...also for the wedding, I found a great pair and they were half the price of the ones I saw at the wedding shop, plus they weren't bridal shoes which I didn't really want to get cos I wouldn't be able to wear them again, so I've got an appointment on Thursday to try on my dress once more to see if the shoes match.

Sunday we went to another mall, and this time we did pick up a heater, and a couple of dressing gowns, and some pjs! so we're all rugged up for the winter now. Can't remember if I said we'd bought an electric blanket a couple of weeks ago...I love it!

That's about it really, work is still busy, I'm looking forward to the finish of the end of financial year!

Here are some more pics I pinched from my brothers blog!

How strong is Hugo...he can already hold his head up which is pretty amazing for a 4 week old baby...how clever!

aaahhh!

Well, it's 11am on Sunday morning and I thought it was about time that I made a bit of an effort to write a proper update!

I've been pretty sick for the last week, cos winter is here, there are lots of bugs going around, loads of people have been off sick. I had a day off on Tuesday, but I had to go back on Wednesday as we've got so much work on (that's the trouble with my job, I just can't have the time off). It's the end of financial year June 30th, so as we're in Financial Services it's the busiest time of year. We are just rolling out a new PDS for our Superannuation product as there have been lots of government changes. This has been a nightmare, cos the graphics guys are making mistakes, then the printers are behind because they've had to sort out the artwork, so we're a couple of days behind production which isn't good. Anyway, that's boring!

I'm feeling a bit lost this week, my brother has been in Munich, so I've had no updates on Hugo and no pictures either, I bet he'll have changed loads when I see some updated ones. Chris has been really good, he realises that Mum and I really want to see pics, so he's been putting them on his blog regularly. Hopefully when he gets back home we'll see some more!

Not sure if you'd have seen it on the news, but we've had the most awful weather here. It's better now, but last week it was horrendous, John Howard declared it a natural disaster. The worst hit was Hunter Valley where all the wineries are and Newcastle which is an hour or so up the coast. There were really bad floodings causing the river banks to burst, the places were evacuated and I know there were some deaths too. It was awful in Sydney, I tell you, the drainage here is really bad, I've probably mentioned this before, but the roads just get totally flooded, and this time cos the weather was so bad it was even worse. Up in Newcastle, a huge petrol tanker got grounded on the beach there, I'm not sure if they've managed to move it yet, but there were worries that it was starting to break up, and obviously that would be another disaster. We've pretty much had rain since that, but we've also had a few sunny days. It's getting colder now, Jason and I bought a nice electric blanket last weekend, it's absolute bliss...we love it!!

We have had a pretty quiet weekend so far, we had a friend around for dinner on Friday. We had leek and potato soup, Jason has been making lots of soup lately since I've been sick...bless! Neale had just got back from 3 months in Brazil to visit his girlfriend, so we checked out all his pics.

Yesterday, we went to see Shrek 3 in the morning. I got some free tickets from work. It was really good, the film flew by though. After that we went home and got on with making our wedding invitations, I must say they look really great, I'm really pleased with them, and we haven't made any major mistakes yet! We have still to carry on today, but we're over half way there, hopefully we'll get them sent out early this week.

Well, I'd better go so we can get started again!

As promised, here are some more pics of Hugo

















These are the most recent ones

Haven't really had much chance to write...again! I can't even remember what I've done over the last week, so I'll start off with little Hugo. I finally mananged to see him over the webcam last week, it took me and Chris all night last Sunday to try and get connected, so in the end we postponed it to the next day and it was worth the wait. We had about 30 mins on the camera and Hugo was so well-behaved, I was really impressed, he didn't cry once...Chris had just fed him so he had the cutest hiccups. Sorry for being boring, but he really is the most adorable baby, it's so sad that I can't be closer to him...he's just so cute and tiny, it's making me very broody looking at him I tell you! Chris is so happy, it was really lovely seeing them together.

I'm in the process of trying to upload some more pics..but I'm having trouble, so I'll try again in the week.

It's a boy!!

What an amazing day Friday was. My little nephew Hugo Lewis Plant was born into the world at 00.26 on 25th May weighing 6lbs 7ozs and 48cm long. He's the most beautiful little baby, and I'm so proud.

Chris phoned me on Friday morning just before my college course was about to start and told me the happy news. Of course I just started blubbing on the phone and couldn't find myself to ask any questions! I went back in the room crying and everyone was worried... then I announced I had just become an aunty and everyone congratulated me..funny! Anyway, I couldn't really concentrate for the rest of the day, my mind really was distracted. I finally got home in the evening and Chris sent me a lovely email with some pictures and we spoke on Skype for a bit. He was frantically running around trying to sort out Huey's birth certificate and passport, so they can leave Vienna and go back home....sounds like a nightmare. Anyway, I think he got most of it done, so they should hopefully be home early next week, then I can see him on the webcam, I can't wait! It's been so difficult being all the way over here, and knowing that I won't see him for months :-(

So, here are so photos of gorgeous little Huey with Mum and Dad

So, I finally get around to adding another entry! I've just been speaking with my brother and also had a nice chat with Martina....they are awaiting the imminent arrival of their little baby. Chotcho is due tomorrow, but they did think that the little'un would arrive early, so the last few days I've been glued to my phone waiting on any news! Anyway, Martina has an appointment at the doctors tomorrow, she is getting some natural medicine to hopefully bring on the birth, so it could be any day now...it's all very exciting. Martina sounded really well and relaxed which is good, I'm sure I'd be panicking like mad, so I was very impressed! So watch this space!
My weekend was nice and relaxing, I tell you I needed it after the busy last 2 days at work, Friday was a nightmare, everyone wanted everything doing plus I had to leave at 4pm to get the train to make sure we were at the retreat on time. By the time I sat on the train, I was shattered and stressed, so was really looking forward to getting away! We got there about 7pm on Friday night, so we didn't see much of the place as it was pitch black...it was also absolutely freezing and there was a bitter wind, Sue and I couldn't believe the change just from travelling 2 hours! Our accommodation was really great I was very impressed, it was quite new and had an en suite bathroom and electric blankets which were a lifesaver!. After we'd unpacked we went to the meditation hall for a 30 mins meditation, then it was time for dinner. After that we had a welcome talk with our group for the weekend, then it was time for bed. We didn't get so much sleep that night, me because I was sleeping somewhere new, and Sue because the wind outside was so loud (luckily I had my earplugs, so didn't hear it!). So by the time we had to get up at 7am the next morning we were still pretty tired. Again we had another meditation and then did some tai chi, after which was breakfast, then a talk. And that was pretty much how the whole weekend panned out, we did have a really good time, the place was great and the setting was beautiful, the views were pretty amazing, the people who worked there were lovely...they give up their precious time just to come and look after their guests (they all volunteer) they really looked after us well. Saying that, by the time Saturday lunchtime came, I'd pretty much had enough, it was so full on with the meditating and the talks, I didn't feel so relaxed anymore. Our group was 50 people, so you're constantly making small talk with everyone and it got pretty tiring, so on Sunday after morning tea, Sue and I decided to leave early and get back home...what a good decision that was, it meant I got home at a reasonable time and I could relax a bit before my course on Monday.
As for this week, I started my communications course on Monday, and I'm having the best time, it's the best (and most challenging) course I've ever done, the people are so great, we all really connected pretty much straight away and there has been a lot of learning and sharing about ourselves. Even in 3 days I've learnt more about myself than I ever have before, it's really hard to explain, but it's just a great journey to be on (that makes me sound all counsellorish!) but it's true. I took a weeks annual leave to do this, but I don't begrudge using my precious holiday, it doesn't even feel like I'm doing a training course....we've still got another 2 days to do and I'm really looking forward to them. It is pretty intensive too, we've had assessments and lots of readings to do, I even had to do a presentation to the group on Tuesday (we only had notice on Monday) so there wasn't much time to prepare. I was absolutely scared stiff about this, I've never done a presentation before, but I did it, and passed the assessment which I was really pleased about, it was quite a buzz, but I was so glad when it was over. This course is really taking me out of my comfort zone which is a good thing, I'm gaining so much more confidence, I'm even enjoying the role plays and speaking in front of the group now...who'd have thought!!
So here, are some photos from the weekend
This is where we stayed



The view from our room


The Stone Cottage at the bottom of the hill


The gardens of the Stone Cottage

We had a nice weekend, Jason's friends were down from Brisbane, they weren't staying with us, but we did catch up with them on Friday and Saturday night, so I was feeling pretty tired yesterday. We were also really busy doing wedding stuff. On Saturday we went to a wedding stationery shop, we had an appointment with the woman who owned it, she hand makes all the invitations etc, the stationery was beautiful, there were so many to choose from. So we told her what we were looking for and she drew up a couple of designs and gave us a quote. Obviously we wanted to shop around a bit, so after we went to another place where my friend from work got hers. The invitations weren't quite as nice, but we started to look around the shop and saw that you can actually make your own, which intrigued us. We had a lot of ideas and the lady in the shop helped us find all the stuff we needed, so we bought a couple of blank cards etc for a test run before we made up our minds. So, on Sunday we got out the craft glue, the glue gun and all our other bits and bobs and got to work. I was quite happy cos Jason and I really wanted the same style, so there were no arguments about that ;o) We made two cards, the second much better than the first, but we were really impressed with how they turned out, so I think we will probably go with making them. I'm really pleased we are making them, I think it adds a personal touch (but don't worry, they don't look like 5 year olds made them!!) This was the first wedding thing Jason and I have really done together, apart from looking at hotel websites, so it was really nice to do this with him, I'm sure sometimes Jason feels like I'm taking over...he's probably right though, I'm a bit of a control freak, but I'm trying to keep him involved!

So that's about it from me. I've got a pretty quiet week this week, no college which is nice. We're playing tennis tomorrow night, and then I'm off to the Blue Mountains on Friday after work for the weekend with Sue. We are going to a retreat I found out about through the meditation school I sometimes go to. It looks really beautiful on the website, it'll be a nice break away with no TV, or alcohol! I just hope it's not one of those retreats where you can't talk all weekend....I definitely think we would struggle with that one!!

Everything has been happening this last week. Our travel for the wedding is now confirmed, I put the deposit down on Tuesday...exciting! We have to pay for our flights in the next week too. Also, I've found my wedding dress ;o) I went back to the shop where the 2 I liked were from and I saw another one, so I tried it on and both Sue and I knew it was 'the one'. I'm so relieved as I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get that feeling of buying the perfect dress, I even tried on one of the other ones I liked before, but I tell you it looked noway near as nice,how lucky that I saw this one. So I put my deposit on that too (that's how much I loved it!) The reason I was worried about finding something was that they take 6 months to make the dresses, so I had to get it sorted pretty quick, so that's another thing I don't have to worry about...well, it's to the wedding dress diet now!! We also had a look at bridesmaids dresses for Sue, but it was only a quick look as I'd already spent most of the afternoon posing in the mirrors in my dress!Saturday night Jason took me out to dinner as a thank you for getting all the travel arrangements sorted, which was sweet, we went to the Italian up the road. Sunday we went to see Spiderman, really enjoyed it, great special effects. This week I haven't had a chance to speak to anyone, I've been really busy studying up on my college notes, we had an assessment last night, have been very nervous about it as the mock one we did last week didn't go too well. I wasn't prepared for it at all, plus I'd had my flu vaccination and I think my head was a bit spaced out! Anyway, it wasn't as bad as I thought, I think I did ok, I'm trying to be positive! I must say, I've forgotten what it's like to write, my hand was really aching after the test! We have now got a two week break between terms, but I have signed up for the Communications course on one of those weeks, I've had to take a week off work to do it, but I need to as part of my course, bit of a waste of holiday, but never mind, the course is supposed to be really good.

So now I can relax a bit over the next week which is good. Well apart from going to wedding invitation shops at the weekend...it never ends!!

I'm really excited today, our wedding arrangements are nearly confirmed...we've signed the contract with the hotel, and nearly got the final travel details through, so it's all happening ;o) I'm off wedding dress shopping next weekend too, (Saturday and Sunday) my friend at work recommended a good shop, so I'm going to check it out on Sunday. I did go looking quickly on Saturday down Parramatta Road, but there was nothing much there I liked (as usual) so watch this space!

Last week was a bit strange, we had the Wednesday off work for Anzac day, (not that I'm complaining!) we met up down the pub for the traditional game of 2 up and we also watched the crab racing...which lasted all of 2 seconds! Friday night Jason and I went out for dinner, which we don't do that often, it was a spontaneous decision, which is always good. I was feeling a bit tired after our netball game in the day, we won our firstgame ;o) It started off a bit of a disaster though, most of our players dropped out, which meant there were only 5 of us, then on the walk to the sports hall, we lost a player, which meant we were forfeited a point every minute we were late (you can't play with less than 5 players) so eventually when she turned up we started at 7-0 down! Anyway, cos I'd managed to poach a player from our other (good) netball team, she scored loads of goals and we ended up winning 12-11, which was a much needed motivator I tell you!unfortunately I can't play next week as I have another training course, this time it's Word. So that's about it, Saturday we were supposed to go for a birthday drink with a friend, but it didn't happen, so we just stayed in, then last night Rachel came around for dinner.

I've had quite a nice weekend, Jason has been away in New Zealand, so I've been enjoying living on my own for a bit, I've forgotten what it's like to be on my own, but now I'm feeling a lonely and I'm glad he's coming back tomorrow!

I met up with Sue in the city on Saturday night, we don't often meet up at the weekend so it was nice not to have to worry about getting up for work the next day. We attempted to go to some different bars, but we found out a lot of them are shut in the CBD at the weekend, so we ended up having to walk to the other end of the city. We did go to one cool bar near Circular Quay, on the 47th floor which revolved, but after a while it made me feel a bit queezy! Yesterday I just tidied the flat and chilled out a bit which is always nice. I actually started to read back on my blog from when I was in Thailand and when I first arrived here. It's amazing how different my life is now to when I first got here, I feel like a boring old woman, although I'm always busy, my life isn't nearly as social as it used to be...I don't know how I did it. But I guess when you are single, you do go out more. Maybe I should start making more of an effort. It was quite funny looking back though, you do forget a lot and it's great to be able to check back on the past.

We've got a really nice week this week, Wednesday is Anzac day, so we all have the day off, I think we will go and play 2 up at the pub (it's an Anzac day tradition).

The weather has been shocking today, I got absolutely soaked on the way home, there were torrents of water running down the road and the pavements, my feet were soaking. But it is a good job that it's raining as they were saying in the news if it doesn't rain in the next 6 weeks, the price of all fruit veg etc would go up 5 times because there would be no water for the crops, it's quite frightening, you don't realise how bad it actually is here for lack of water.

Oops, it's been 2 weeks since my last update (that sounds like I'm in confession!). As usual, things have been very busy what with trying to organise the wedding and work etc etc. The wedding plans are coming along nicely now after a bit of a stuggle with communications. We nearly changed the wedding location to a different area it was so hard to get a response, but they came through in the end, luckily as we had our hearts set on this place. So, we've nearly booked it all up, just waiting for the flight quote which we should get tomorrow, then we can get it all sorted and start telling people where we are having it. It's all really exciting, it's going to be a lovely wedding, I can feel it, and not just because it's ours, but there are lots of nice little suprises and it's going to be totally different from a normal church wedding. I've also got an appointment at another bridal shop on Thursday just to have one last look to see if there is any other dresses that jumps out at me.

Work has been a bit quieter this last week as my boss has been away, it gives me the time to catch up on my work. I had a really nice suprise from him the other day, he'd written me an email and said how much he appreciates my work and he'd like Jason and I to go out for dinner on the company...cool. We're going to save it for our anniversary which is coming up soon. Jason is actually off to New Zealand on Wednesday, we thought it would be nice for him to see his family while we are still here as it's been ages since he's seen them. Unfortunately I can't go as I have no holidays, and we really should be saving as much money as we can. So I have a girls night out next Saturday!

Had a really lovely weekend, firstly I'm really happy as my friend Sue has agreed to be my bridesmaid. She's been a good friend for me over here, and she's been such a great help coming shopping with me and and I think it'll be even more fun if we are both looking at dresses together and doing all the girly stuff. I would have loved to have asked Martina too, but unfortunately it's not really practical when it comes to choosing dresses, plus I can only afford one bridesmaid!!

On Saturday it was Martins 30th birthday, he had chartered a catamaran for a cruise around the harbour in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day we were really lucky with the weather, and we had the best time, it really was a fun way to spend the day. We went out after to a couple of bars, and you can imagine everyone was a bit worse for wear, I didn't get home until 2am...not good, I'm still recovering today! I was a bit sad as I couldn't get the chance to speak to Chris as it was his birthday too, I did try to phone from a friends phone, but we couldn't get through (mind you it was probably a good job as I probably wouldnt' have made any sense!) I did manage to get to speak to him on yesterday tho, so we had a nice chat. He had a great day with Martina, sounded like he got some nice pressies too. He's really excited about their imminent arrival, it's really not long now, just next month, I can't believe where the time has gone. I'm so excited for them, don't know how I will cope with not being there when chotcho comes along tho, I think it will be very hard, I just expect lots of photos!

Last Friday I played netball again, I enjoyed it much more, probably because they didn't stick me in defence this time. I scored a goal!! We still got thrashed though....11-1 haha! The other teams defence were really good,we didn't stand a hope in hell of getting the ball and they were really competitive too...I mean we're just there for a laugh and some exercise, but some of the teams are so serious. I was still knackered after, most of us played the 2 halves, we only had one substitute (but at least we had a whole team this time). After work we all went to the Social club Trivia night. It was good fun, and we didn't have to pay for anything which is always good. I got quite a few answers right too!Saturday I went to Parammatta again with Sue this time to try on my 2 favourite wedding dresses. I thought I would come back with an answer to which one I wanted, but I'm more confused than ever now! Sue is very patient with me! In the evening I was so tired that we decided to have a night in. We walked to get a dvd at 7.30pm as it was Earth Hour, not sure if you'd heard of it, the whole of Sydney were supposed to switch off their lights for an hour as a campaign for global warming, so we switched off all our electrics and went out to see how dark it was. I must be very naive, I thought that everyone would make an effort, but I was so disappointed, we were walking down the road and couldn't believe how many didn't even bother, what a let-down. Some people just don't seem to care at all.

Sunday we didn't do much, we met the guys for a couple of hours in the evening.

There has been a big hoo ha in the news about the way the Tsunami warning was handled here for the recent earthquake in the Solomon Islands. They evacuated parts of the Queensland coast and they closed the beaches and the Sydney harbour ferries here in case anything happened, I guess they can't take things too lightly after the one in Asia, but some of the politicians have been accused of scare-mongering, or not informing the public what was going on.

So as promised, I've finally got around to uploading some pics.....

This is Hyams Beach at Jervis Bay...in the Guiness Book of World records for having the whitest sand in the world


and this is Murrays beach, just up the road from Hyams


A wild kangaroo we spotted at the Botanical Gardens in Jervis Bay


At our friends wedding on Saturday


Gemma and Garry during the ceremony


Some pics of the Take That show at Martin Place I went to see the other day




with the Sunrise show presenters


A shot of Mum at the Harbour


Imagine our shock when we returned from the supermarket and saw this hulking great spider on our wall! The picture frame on the wall in the pic is 42cm in length, so you can sort of get the idea of how big the spider is....




we thought about putting our hands in the picture so you could get more of an idea of the size, but thought better of it!! I was only saying to someone the day before I saw this that I'd been here for 2 years and only saw one big spider, that'll teach me! I'm not sure if it's bigger than the one I saw last year, but it's big all the same, I'm so glad Jason was here to dispose of it!!
Which reminds me, it was my 2 year anniversary here a couple of weeks ago!

Thought I'd better catch up on my blog again, I think it's been nearly 2weeks! So, Mum went home a week last Saturday, was very sad to say goodbye,it's always hard. She got back home ok, and I think she now feels like she never had a holiday!!

So, what's been happening....we went to our Irish friends wedding on Saturday, it was at Bilgola beach which is on the Northern Beaches. It was our first beach wedding, so we were really looking forward to it, and to picking up some tips for ours! The ceremony didn't start until 5pm, which was lucky as it was such a stinking hot day, but it actually started to throw it down just after they'd finished taking the photos which was very lucky. It was a great day, I really liked the informalness of the occasion, we really enjoyed it, we went to a house after for a bit of an after party, and then went back to the hotel, very tired at about 3.30am! Luckily Sunday the clocks went back, so we had an extra hour to sleep! We got back home before lunchtime, went to the supermarket and then chilled out for the rest of the day which was really nice.

Oh, I played netball last Friday, our first game of the tournament. It didn't start off very well, half of our team didn't turn up, so there was only 5 of us, but luckily, we managed to poach 2 players from another team, so we didn't get disqualified. Anyway to cut a long story short, we got thrashed (well actually it was 6-3, but it felt like more!) I've never been so knackered in my life, we had to play 2 x 13 minute halves and it was sooo hard, I thought I was going to throw up at one point, then I thought I was going to faint, it was awful, I didn't feel right until the next day, but then I could hardly move I was so stiff. I laugh about it now, but it wasn't that funny then!! So we have another game on Friday, but it should be better as we have recruited more players, so we will only have to play one half each, which suits me!

That's about it really, well the interesting stuff anyway, I won't bore you with the usual day to day stuff.

I've really been neglecting my blog of late, just been very busy!

Had a great week off work last week. We were supposed to be going to the Blue Mountains last Monday, Jason even took the day off work, but the weather was miserable so we decided not to risk it, seeing as we've been there before when the weather wasn't so good. So, instead Jason kindly took us to Parramatta so Mum and I could go wedding dress shopping! We parked at the shopping mall, and when we walked through Myer (a department store) we were stopped and asked if we wanted a free make-over....of course we said yes. Anyway, turns out, my girl was new (I was her first customer!) so I wasn't so pleased when I looked in the mirror afterwards...I had about a ton of bronzing make up on my face, and my eyes looked awful. Mum's wasn't so bad, but it was still far too much make-up...she hated it. So we dashed to the loos to try and scrub it off!! Anyway, after that, we went to a couple of bridal shops...I found 2 more lovely gowns, and now I'm even more confused than ever. I'm going to take Sue with me in a couple of weeks to see what she thinks, but I won't go into details for obvious reasons!

So that was Monday, Tuesday the weather wasn't so good again so I think we went to the pictures. We did the beach walk on one of the days, from Coogee to Maroubra. We also went to the shopping mall and I spent lots of money!! Friday night we took Mum to the Rugby club to watch Linn and Martin do their jazz set which was really good.

Saturday we were up early to set off for Jervis Bay. We had a lovely weekend, it was about a 3 hour drive down, so we got there about lunchtime. We stayed in Huskisson which is a really tiny town, it was absolutely beautiful down there, Jervis Bay is renowned for their white sandy beaches. We took a long walk to check out the area, had a lie down on one of the beaches for a while, then headed back to get ready for dinner. We went to a nearby town and had a lovely Mexican feast (even Mum ate it which was great!). Next day we were up early, Mum treated us to a Dolphin cruise (Jervis Bay has lots of dolphins that live there). It was quite slow to start with, but we did see quite a few dolphins in the end, although they were pretty far away, we definitely would love to go back again. After that we grabbed some lunch from the bakery, then drove back through the National Park. First stop was the Botanical gardens to see the wild kangaroos, we were really lucky and saw 4 of them, we got really close up, Jason took a really good video of them. Then we went to the famous Hyams beach, which is in the Guiness book of records for having the whitest sand beach in the world. It was a lovely beach, but I was looking forward to Murrays beach, which the lovely lady at the motel said was even nicer than Hyams. Hyams was nice, but very crowded. Murrays beach was our last stop and it was worth the wait, it was a stunning beach, and hardly a soul there, the water was turquoise blue and the sand bright white, gorgeous! You can go snorkelling there too, so Jason went off and took some pics of the fish. After that we drove back home, I was a bit depressed cos I had to go back to work the next day :-(

Work was pretty busy as I expected, was quite hard to go back! So, as for this week, on Tuesday evening, Mum and I did the Harbour Bridge climb! I wasn't really that excited about it, I was really nervous and scared, I hate heights! But as everyone told me, the first bit is the worst, you have to walk along some really narrow walkways until you get to the actual bridge, and you can see right down below you, it was very scary, and really high too, I was shaking like a leaf. But I got through that and some more hairy moments, but once we got onto the archways of the bridge it was much better as you can't see right down below you as they are quite wide and it was much more sturdy. Another bad bit was crossing from one archway to the other to get back down. It was an amazing experience tho and we were really lucky that the weather was great, the views were cool. The group we went up with were really nice, mostly English tourists! I can't remember facts and figures as to the height etc, but we learnt some interesting things (that we were very high up among one of them!) We got a couple of pictures taken which Mum bought at the end. The whole thing took about 4 hours, including getting geared up with all the equipment, so we were pretty exhausted by the end. Overall it was a fantastic experience, definitely worth the money and I'm really glad I did it with Mum.

I actually asked my boss on Weds if I could take the day off on Friday as it would be Mum's last day here before she flies home, he said it was cool, and he even told me to take yesterday off too, but I said I had some stuff I urgently needed to do, so he told me to leave at lunchtime, which was really nice, so I got to spend some more time with Mum. So after a nice afternoon (and a bit of a heart attack....I couldn't get hold of Mum on the phone and I thought she'd had an accident...turned out she'd knocked the plug for the phone out of the wall!) we met up with Sue and Grant for dinner. It was really nice to catch up with them again.

Today we took it easy, then went for a bit of a walk and did some shopping, we've just eaten dinner and are now settling down to watch a dvd. It's still really hot though, today has been a killer, and it hasn't cooled down still.

Mum is leaving about lunchtime tomorrow, I'm trying not to think about it as I get upset, and I know that I won't see her now until our wedding next Feb :-( It has been really nice seeing her again.

Oooh, I've just remembered something else, I saw Take That on Thursday morning! I got into work and Ryan said "Take that are playing at Martin Place in 10 mins for the Sunrise TV program, do you want to go??" so naturally I said yes! We ran up and got there just in time, they sung Back for Good twice, I guess one was a rehearsal for the TV program. They are really good live, I must say I didnt' recognise a couple of them to start with as they look a lot older. There were quite a few people there, lots of screaming girls, well I say girls, they were probably my age!! but they are older now, and so are we, so I guess that's their fanbase now. Anyway, it was good, and I got some good pics and videos too. I've got lots to put onto my blog, I just haven't had a chance yet. I do really love Sydney, I've got to do so many cool things here.

Finally got our computer back!! It's all good, apart from us losing our documents on the hard drive, that'll teach me not to do a back-up! oh well.

It's been an exciting couple of weeks, so much has happened. We went to see the Queen Mary 2 when it was docked here, you probably saw it on the news. It was a huge ship, quite amazing, it was packed with people trying to get a good look. The QE2 came in that evening too, I couldn't hang around to see it though as I had to get home. I did however see it the next day as it was docked in Circular Quay.

Mum arrrived last Saturday, it's great to see her again. Although I had to work last week (which was very stressful and busy) she managed ok on her own, she even has been going to my gym! We went wedding dress shopping on Thursday night, tried on a few more dresses, but I still think that the one I tried on before is my favourite. I did try on another one which was lovely too, so that confused me a bit, I don't think I should try on too many more otherwise it might be a difficult decision. We're going again next week, so I'll see what else it about.

Friday we went to see Priscilla (Queen of the desert) at the theatre. It was really good, the costumes were amazing. The theatre was full of gay men, and they loved the show!

Yesterday afternoon, Mum, Sue and I went to watch the Mardi Gras parade(yes, we've had a gaytastic weekend!). Had a great time, the parade was amazing. Apparently there was about 350,000 people on the streets. I actually sat down, then looked to my side and a guy I work with was sat there with his mates. It was great fun, Mum kept asking him all these questions about being gay...typical Mum! Ryan, another colleague came over too, but he didn't stay as he'd paid for a ticket for a rooftop view. We had such a laugh, some of the floats were very good, Rupert Everett was there also, he followed the Dykes on Bikes, I got a great video of him going by in the car, I'm really chuffed with it. We had loads of people coming up and kissing and hugging us....well I say us, mostly they were kissing Mum, they loved her!!

I have the week off now....yay! Hopefully we'll get to do some nice things, but I think the weather is forecast not so good (it wasn't so good last week either) I feel a bit bad for Mum that it's not been great. Anyway, that's about it for now, will post some photos soon.