Happy 1st Birthday Hugo!

So, it's one year on and my little nephew is celebrating his 1st birthday today. Jase and I just got to say happy birthday over Skype, we sang to him and watched him open the presents we sent. He had a lovely grin when he heard my voice, it means so much to see that, just shows that he's not forgotten me! I just wish I could get my webcam working so he can see me too. Anyway, he liked the birthday card a lot more than his presents as it had a big bear on the front! Chris was telling me that Hugo was pretty sick last night with a high temperature, luckily he's feeling much better today, but still a bit sniffly. He was still on top form though, little monkey!

I did it!!

I ran the half marathon yesterday, absolutely estatic!! As you know I was worried about my ankles, but they actually held out for the whole run, unfortunately in the end it was my knee that went. I got to about 16km and that was it, but I managed to run through the pain and I got to the water stand and gulped down a painkiller, there was nothing going to stop me from completing this run! It must have been adrenaline that got me through the last 5kms, and it was such a buzz, I was very emotional when I ran through the finish line, this was one goal I didn't think I had it in me to ever achieve. My time was 2hr 5mins, which was so much better than I'd ever expected, especially after all my injuries! Jason did really well too, his time was 1hr 47mins. It's funny, I really hate the feeling before any runs as I get really nervous, but while I'm doing it, I'm really loving it, it's such a good feeling running the streets of Sydney with thousands of other people and the weather was perfect, although a bit chilly to begin with. On one of the streets, there was a nightclub blaring out the music at about 8am, a few of the clubbers were standing outside cheering us on. Also, you get the young kids who stand by the sides of the road holding out their hands so you run by and high 5 them...really cool!

It wasn't really until I stopped running that I realised how much pain I was in from my knee. I've been pretty much hobbling ever since, and it's such an effort to stand up or sit down, I sound (and feel) like an old lady, I've never ached so much in my life. I went back to the physio this morning and she taped my knee up and gave me some exercises to do, apparently my knee cap is moving around too much...yuk...it's a real sick making feeling, not nice. I think I'm going to work from home tomorrow, it's such hard work to get to work and limp around all day.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the after party for the charity we ran for. I don't think I really said much about our fund raising before....I found the leaflet at my gym, it was the story of a lady and her husband who in 2005, gave birth prematurely to triplet boys. Unfortunately, they died after 1 hour, 10 days and 2 months respectively. Of course Sophie and her husband were devastated. One of the things that helped them with their loss was to start training for half marathons, so this was how their fund raising started.

Last year's half marathon they raised $80,000 for the Royal Womens hospital to help buy new humidicribs for the premature babies, this year with 130 runners raising funds, we're hoping to beat that amount. They really are such an amazing couple, to go through all that and then selflessy go to all this effort to help the hospital and other parents and their tiny babies, and it's so lovely that Sophie is pregnant again, and is due in only 5 weeks and everything is going really well. The after party was quite emotional as there was a few speeches and presentations, I feel so privileged to have helped them in their special cause, Jason and I raised almost $1,200 which is so much more that I'd ever expected, we have lots of generous friends and colleagues. Doing the run was great as Sophie and Ash had running singlets made up with the Henry, Jasper and Evan fund and the hospital name, they even had the tiny lifesize little handprints of Sophie and Ash's triplets on the back, Sophie's motivational message to us was that if we found the run really hard, to just think about her little boys' hands pushing us towards and over the finish line (it makes me teary just thinking about it) well, if that doesn't help you get over the finish line, then nothing will! It was great seeing all the runners throughout the run that were wearing the same t-shirts. Another bonus was, we met a lot of lovely people over the last couple of months, I hope to do it again next year if my body ever recovers!!

I'm getting very, very nervous now about the big run on Sunday. My ankles are still not great, I went for another short run last night and they are still sore, it was such an effort to do 5km, let alone doing 21km!! bit worried really. I went to the physio today and she told me that after the run I should do no more running for 6 weeks...what am I going to do, I've been running now almost every other day for the last year or so, I'm really going to find it hard not to do it, but of course I need to repair my legs, so whatever it takes. I'm going to take some strong painkillers before the run to see if they will help. It's really important to me that I complete this run and I'll do almost anything to make sure I do....watch this space!
Things are changing here at work, we're 'merging' with the British company, BUPA. The vote went ahead this week, and it was pretty much a landslide in favour. Unfortunately for me, it means that it's proving to be a real struggle getting my permanent contract, I really hope I'll get it sorted out by the end of June.
Last weekend I got to catch up with my great aunty Betty who was over from New Zealand visiting her son and family (Grant and Sue). We had a nice evening, playing cards and catching up. We don't see that much of each other these days, I guess we all just lead busy lives.

We had our first flat inspection today. She was very impressed with our clean and tidy flat (thanks to me being so anal!). I envisage a rent rise coming up now though, the renting situation is really bad here at the moment, there is just not enough property around, plus the interest rates are so high, it's making landlords put up the rent by miles. I guess we'll hear something soon, bummer!
Can't really think of anything else to update, so I'll sign off now.

I finally had my hair chopped at the weekend! It's been coming for a long time, but obviously I wanted to wait until after our wedding. I felt pretty sick when she started cutting, but it actually looks ok, I had some more highlights too. I'm just getting used to styling it now, when I first washed it, it felt so healthy and it was easy to get a brush through it for a change. I think I had about 4 or 5 inches cut off!

I just paid a visit to the physio today. I've been suffering with pains in my ankles when I'm running and it's got really bad over the last week. There's been lots of coming and going with new shoes etc, long story, but it finally got so bad I needed to do something about it. Basically the way I've been running has been putting pressure on my bones and muscles and one of the bones is out of place, I also have fluid on my lower legs, amongst other things! She taped my feet up, gave me a really painful massage, and told me not to run until I see her again on Friday, so I'm just hoping that all is ok on Friday, otherwise I'll be buggered for the run which is only in 10 days! yikes! Good news is, Jason and I have raised $680 (and still counting) for our charity, I'm very pleased, but I have a lot to recover for now!

Oh and more bad news, last week I phoned up to find out where our sofa was (it's 3 weeks late) turns out the company are going into liquidation and our sofa is still in China! I've tried to phone up the liquidators, but noone is returning my calls, we just want to know what's going on. I hope we don't lose our deposit...I'm gutted!

We had a really great weekend. It started on Thursday after work where I just went for a couple of drinks for Svet's leaving do. Then Friday, we drove over to Andy and Nicola's place. We left for the pub about 3pm, it was absolutely heaving as it was Anzac day. We managed to get a good spot outside and stayed there for a few drinks. When it got a bit later, we wanted to get to the RSL to play a bit of 2 up and to see the band. The 2up was set up on the lawns outside, it was packed. We managed to get there in time for the last of the games, I lost 2 and won 1. Nicola won all 3 (beginners luck!) Then we had a quick feed, then it was time to go and see the ACDC band. It was such good fun, the band were brilliant, you wouldn't have guessed that they weren't the real thing, Jason loved it!

The next day, we just went to the mall on the way home, we both got measured up for a new pair of runners at the Athletes foot. We thought it would be a good idea to get the best for our feet since we're doing so much running. We took them out for a test run this morning, and they were great.

Training is going really well, I ran 17.5km on Tuesday night, I don't think I'll run more than that in training again, otherwise I won't have a goal to complete the half on the actual day. It's only 3 weeks to go now. I had a bit of a panic last week, but after I acheived that distance, it made me feel a bit better. Although it did almost kill me! We've bought a supplement to help prevent muscle fatigue and we've got some sports drinks, so hopefully they'll help. Only trouble is at the moment I've got a black big toenail, I'm thinking it came from last week when we were doing sit ups at training, your partner stands on your feet, but I had a really big girl, and it really hurt. I'll have to be careful in future! I just hope it doesn't fall off or anything, I'd be gutted if I couldn't run for any reason.

So, today, I've got a bit of time to myself, Jason has gone to meet his cousin, so I decided to have a bit of time out. Not that I've done anything constructive, just ironing and stuff.

Not too much to report this week. We had a pretty quiet weekend after all, which was nice. We were supposed to do a couple of things, but they never came to light. We've pretty much spent all weekend watching dvd's....but that's ok as the weather hasn't been very good. We were hoping our new settee would arrive this weekend, but we've been told it's not in the country yet, so could be as much as 2 weeks away.

I bought myself an Ipod shuffle for my running. I did buy the super duper Ipod classic a few months ago, but it's far too big to have on my arm while I run, it bounces up all over the place..plus I have at least 1,000 songs on it, and I can never find anything I want to listen to....too much choice! So the shuffle is perfect, I've just put my favourite 200 songs on there which will do fine.

It's going to be a nice short week this week, we've got Anzac day on Friday, which means a day off. I persuaded Andy and Nicola to stay around for it so we can go to an RSL and play 2 up, which is the tradition for this day. It's really good fun. The club we are going to also has a tribute ACDC band on in the evening so that will be a laugh.

Actually, I've remembered, we did do something yesterday, we went to the cinema to see Horton hears a Who...I had free tickets and there wasn't much on...but it was a great film, Dr Seuss, very sweet.

That's about it for now...!

Well, they said that I'd have all in the time in the world after the wedding, how wrong can they be, I tell you I haven't stopped. I really don't know how I coped before with the preparations, and my college when I'm not really coping now! We've taken up the challenge of running the half marathon (21kms) in 5 weeks, so every spare minute seems to be used up bloomin exercising! Before the wedding, Jason and I said we were going to stop being so obsessed with exercise when we got back...but it's gone the other way! My training is going quite well, I managed to run 15km last week, but I tried again on Saturday and only managed 10km. I've also joined a group and we are raising funds for the womens hospital for the humidicribs for the intensive care baby unit, not doing too well on the sponsors though :-(

I'll be suprised if anyone reads my blog anymore, they probably have thought I"ve stopped updating so might not bother checking anymore, I can't blame them!

So what else....I'm still waiting for my permanent contract, there is quite a lot going on at work at the moment, so they've had to push back on that for the moment unfortunately. Work is so busy at the moment, it's been very stressful.

We bought a new settee for our flat which should arrive in a couple of weeks, very excited, it's really comfy and it'll make our flat look much nicer. We also booked our flights to go home for Christmas...wohhoo!! I'm sooo excited, it'll be my first Christmas back home in 4 years. We also have our good friends, Andy and Nicola's wedding in Ireland in Jan, so that's something we're really looking forward to. Chris, Martina and Hugo will be going too, will be really great to spend a few days with them. I"m sure Hugo will be really big by then! I hope he'll still remember my voice, we've been on skype a few times and he seems to recognise my voice as he smiles when I first start talking....I'll have to get my webcam up too soon so he can see me, then he'll definitely recognise me when I see him.

Ok, so I'm going to go now...Desperate Housewives is on...plus I wouldn't want to suprise anyone by writing too much in my first post in ages!!

3 years in Australia!

as you've probably guessed from the title, I am now celebrating my 3 year anniversary of arriving down under. It's hard to believe how much has happened in this time. Since I've been here I've met so many great people, I've become a permanent resident, and an auntie! And even more amazing, I've married a wonderful man. Sometimes life has a knack of throwing some fantastic things at you when it was the last thing you expected...I never imagined I'd end up living here when just over 3 years ago I packed up my life and went travelling for a year...you just never know! Of course I miss my family and friends, but I really do have such a great life over here, sometimes it's hard to imagine being anywhere else. But nothing is set in stone, and we will just have to see where in the world we will end up settling down!

Here are a couple of extracts from my blog when I arrived here:

I'm finally here in Sydney after a couple of pretty scary flights. The first one from Bangkok to Singapore was awful, it was so bumpy, I was almost in tears (I'm really not a good flyer at the best of times) The second flight was a lot smoother, but still really bumpy in parts, apparently it's like that a lot when you fly in the tropics, at least now I haven't got to fly again for a while!!The landing was quite spectacular, about 30 mins before we touched down just above the dark clouds we could see strips of orange, yellows and blues, and then we saw the sun coming up whilst flying past the Harbour bridge and the Opera house, that was quite an experience, it made the flight all worthwhile. So I was picked up at the airport by Grant, the flight came through a bit early so he wasn't at the gate right away, I did panic a bit cos I wasn't 100% sure what he looked like! Anyway, we found each other in the end. I've met his son and daughter now, it's funny meeting family that I've never seen before! They are all really nice and friendly and have made me feel really welcome. I had a sleep for a couple of hours, then we went to a shopping mall for some groceries, I'm looking forward to going back there and spending a bit more time (and money!) We're going out for dinner tonight, we're eating Italian which I haven't had for over a month so I'm looking forward to that.

The next day Grant took me on the bus into the city center, it only takes half an hour to get there which isn't too bad, he says they hardly ever venture into the city. We saw quite a lot there, I got a really good first impression of Sydney. Lots of cool shops, I saw the Harbour bridge, the Opera House, and lots of other parts of the city, we were walking around for over 3 hours, trouble was it was raining all day, so we both got a bit wet!! We saw lots of people spilling out of the pubs celebrating St Paddys day. It hasn't really sunk in that I'm here yet, obviously seeing the harbour helped a bit, but it all seems a bit surreal somehow.

Mr and Mrs Mcintyre's Big day!

So, I'm now officially a married woman ;o) Jason and I were married on the 6th February 2008 in Thailand with most of our closest family and friends. We had the most amazing wedding you could imagine, nothing went wrong, the whole day just ran smoothly, and I can remember every single second! The location was just perfect, we couldn't have picked better. The people who worked at the hotel were also very good, and my wedding coordinator was fantastic, she took a lot of the worry away. The only stressful time for me was leading up to the day, and also getting ready on the day, which I think is pretty normal. But it just was so right, as soon as I walked into the chapel and saw Jason, I knew everything would be great.

Being in Thailand, there were lots of extra special touches, for instance, when I came out of my room with my brother, Chris and my bridesmaid, Sue, we were accompanied to the boat by a Thai long drum procession, which was pretty cool, everyone in the resort was staring, which was a bit weird! We arrived at the chapel jetty shortly after, which was when I started to get a bit tearful. Walking into the chapel with my brother by my side, listening to the song I'd chosen, and seeing Jason, and everyone watching was very emotional, plus I almost ran down the aisle, Chris had to hold me back! The chapel looked beautiful, the blue orchids in the white setting with all the rose petals on the floor looked stunning.

The service went really well, I managed to say my vows and my words to Jason without too many nerves, we had a few laughs as well. After the ceremony, Jason and I went outside to hammer our wedding plaque into the wooden stand, then it was picture time. We also had a baby elephant to have our pictures taken with which was very amusing, she was trying to eat my bouquet, and then she sneaked her trunk around Jason's neck and popped his corsage into her mouth...very funny!

After all the photos were done, it was back onto the boats towards the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel jetty, again, we had a drum procession to accompany us. As all the guests hadn't seen them before, so they were all really excited at the sight of them. They took us all to the gardens, where Jason and I planted our very own love tree..ahhh! More pictures were taken, then we walked slowly back to the beach where everyone was supping on their pina coladas while the sun was setting, what a perfect location. Jason and I were called away for yet more picture taking, it's hard work all this smiling for the camera!!

When we had finished, it was time for us all to go into the Casurina restaurant for our reception dinner. The table settings really looked beautiful, and the food buffet was out of this world, everyone commented on how good the food was, and I must say, Jason and I were really impressed. After the food it was speech time, Jason's brother Eddie did a really clever rhyming speech, very good! Then it was time for my brothers, and I must say, it was an amazing speech, he really put his all into it, and I know it was hard for him giving me away, what with our Dad not being there. It was all very emotional, I don't think there was a dry eye, I will never forget that moment. Jason's speech was also very lovely, I really enjoyed listening to him, I know he was very nervous!! I was very touched by some of the things he said, plus it was funny and lighthearted too.

Time for the cake cutting, which was very amusing, they'd given us, not a knife, but a large sword to cut the cake!! we had a good laugh at that! Then a champagne toast.

We'd organised for our guests to light Northern lanterns from the beach when it got dark, Jason and I went first, followed by our families and friends, it was lovely seeing them all set off one after the other.

Then it was time for our first dance to James Taylor's 'How sweet it is to be loved by you'. We'd actually had a few lessons before we went away, which suprised a few people, but I think we were so nervous, our legs didn't go exactly where we wanted them too, oh well...we looked on the dvd and it's not as bad as I thought it would look, it's a shame, as we had a really good routine, I guess we just didn't practise enough, haha!

So, that was the end of the formalities, now it was time to let our hair down and have a real dance. It was such a good laugh, I think most people enjoyed themselves, even Chris and Andy had a 'dance off' which had us all in hysterics, unfortunately though, it's not on our dvd! Even the Thai waitresses were looking in and laughing, and one of them was so funny, she had Unky P on the dance floor dancing away like maniacs!

At about 1am, it was time for us to pack up and leave, I must say I had mixed emotions, I'd had such a fantastic day, I didn't want it to end, but on the other hand, I was looking forward to being with Jason on our own. Of course, Jason carried me over the threshold to our hotel room, and we had a lovely suprise, the staff had put red rose petals on the bed cover for us, very romantic! And the next day, we had a champagne breakfast in our room. They also brought us the rest of the wedding cake to our room, which was huge, no way we were going to be able to eat all that!

Now for the soppy bit...I had the most amazing day of my life, and I'm so happy to have married Jason and am really looking forward to our future together. He really is the most special man, and I'm lucky I get to be with him for always ;o) It was also so great to see all our families and friends again and for us all to be together for this day, thanks to everyone for travelling such a long way and making it a day that we will remember forever.

So, I won't write anymore, I'll update some more on our honeymoon in a few days. Here's some pictures from our special day.

The clock is ticking......

Only 16 days to go to the big day!!! The weeks are just flying by, and I'm absolutely rushed off my feet, so much so, I can't even remember what I've done in the last week! My weekend consisted of haircuts, facials, shopping for the trip, and a 40th birthday party slotted in between. I've got another full on week this week, something to do every night, but it's my last full week of work so I'm not too worried.
The weekend coming up will be very nice, Jason and I are staying in a hotel in the city for a couple of nights... a nice Christmas pressie from Mum, bless! It'll give us time to relax before the big day. Plus it's a public holiday on Monday, which so happens to be Jason's birthday too. Saturday should be good as it's Australia day, we are staying on Darling Harbour, so there will be lots going on there, probably fireworks too, that's if the rain holds out!
I'm hoping to go kickboxing tonight, but again that depends on the weather. We couldn't go Saturday either cos it was pouring down! The weight-loss is going good though, I actually had to wear a safety pin to keep my trousers up today! I couldn't wear a skirt cos of the weather, and these were the smallest pair of trousers I have. I daren't buy anymore, cos no doubt all the weight will come piling back on over the holiday! It's all fun and games here!!

Hentastic!!

So, I had my hens night on Saturday night and what a riot that was! I hadn't really sunk in until Saturday afternoon that this was my hen night and yes, I'm soon to be married. The day was a really busy one, training in the morning, then make up lesson, then to the hairdressers...well a girls gotta treat herself! We started off quite early, the girls came over to mine for a glass of champagne to start, I'd bought everyone tiaras to wear which they all loved. We had a dinner to start in Darling Harbour, the food was yummy. I was really happy, the girls went to so much effort for me, they bought me all these funny gifts, most of them being quite rude, but very funny! And yes, I had to do the veil thing and wear the sash around my shoulders...then I got given some fairy wings, I had all sorts of stuff to carry, but I loved it as I love really cheesy stuff!

After dinner, we went to the Kings St Wharf for the cruise. The boat was gorgeous, and there weren't too many people on it which was good. We took over the dance floor. A lot of people were on the deck outside though as of course it's a beautiful view, but I was only interested in having a boogie! The cruise flew by, after that we went to Retro which is the cheesiest club around. After a few minor hiccups (some of us didn't have ID, well, do we really look under 18??!! I think not!) we go in and had a good time in there. I comandeered Rach's blonde wig, I thought I was the bees knees....not!

Then it was finally time to go home, we all jumped in the taxi and headed off for Rach and Stu's. The lads happened to be back there too, and oh my Jason was very very drunk! Bless him, he was lying on the couch and couldn't move. Apparently all the lads bought him a shot glass which he had to wear around his neck, and they were filling it up all the time! We all had a bit of a giggle there, then it was time go home. I had to leave Jason there, he was in not state to walk anywhere.

The next day Jason came home, still not looking too hot, anyway, he went to the mirror and said sh!t someone's shaved my eyebrows!! I hadn't even noticed... of course I panicked loads, but I took a look, and it's not too bad, just looks like his face is a bit lopsided. I hope it grows back, but in 3 weeks, I don't think there's much chance of that.

So here's some pics

It's been an exciting start to the year, first Monday I got my contract extended at work (it was due to run out at the end of the month) and then yesterday, Jason and I got our Australian permanent residency visas approved ;o) I was pretty stunned to be honest, as we only lodged the application at the beginning of December. It must have only taken 2 weeks to process, because our case officer was on holiday for 2 weeks out of that time. I said to Jason that I must have done a really thorough job of putting the application together!! Anyway, we're both really happy and it's great timing so we can enjoy our wedding and honeymoon without worrying about visas and my work situation.

I'm pretty much on a real high at the moment, it suddenly hit me on Monday night that the wedding was not long away now, I'm a little bit stressed cos I've got so many appointments to keep, but not too bad. I'm sure closer to the time I'll be manically panicking about getting everything ready, but so far so good!!

Well, I'm off to training now, gotta finish the final preparations in style!

Happy New Year to everyone!

We had a great New years eve on our harbour cruise. We were really lucky and got put on the top deck of the boat which was great. The boat set off about 6.30pm and we just sailed around the harbour taking in the scenery and looking at the million or so people that were already lining the harbour for the fireworks. We met some really nice people on our table, they were around our age, which was good, cos there were a lot of families and older people also. There was only 40 or so people on the top deck, so it wasn't crowded at all. When the sun went down, all the boats switched on their lights for the light parade, which they do every year. This years theme was 'the time of our lives' so all the boats had a different year lit up, depending on which year had meant the most to them...our boat was 2007 as that was when the captain bought the boat. There were about 15 or 20 boats in the parade, and they all cruise around and do a lap of the harbourside so that all the people watching can see them, it really was cool to be part of that, we were waving at all the people on the shore, I bet they were really jealous! After dinner, it was time for the 9pm fireworks for the families, of course they were great, but everyone was waiting for the main event later on. When that packed up, people started to get a bit well oiled, and the tables were moved over for the dancing to start. I loved it as the music they were playing was cheese tastic, and there was a lot of 80s music...poor Jason!

For the 12 o'clock fireworks, Jason and I actually sneaked down to the bottom deck as there was a great space at the front of the boat for unobstructed views. I was chatting to a English woman from Liverpool who had 23 of her family here visiting her, and they were all on the bottom deck of the boat!

The fireworks were absolutely stunning, every year it gets better. They had spent 15 months planning them, so I guess they have to be good! At one point, we couldn't see the bridge as there were that many fireworks going off all around, it looked like it was on fire, and there was a barge just in front of the city skyscrapers which was going off, there was fireworks coming out of the building and all sorts! You really can't explain how good they are, it's really something you have to see for yourself if you are lucky enough!

New Years day Jason and I just took a walk down to the beach as it was a lovely day. Coogee was rammed, I'm glad we didn't go down there to sunbathe. It was back to work yesterday, it's been quite busy, but it's been nice as there aren't many people in, so I've been able to catch up on a lot of work. I've even been working late, which is silly cos my boss isn't even there to see it!

I went to the gym this morning and I thought I'd weigh myself to see how badly I'd done over Christmas, but it turns out I was pleasantly suprised, I'd managed to lose almost another kilo! Very chuffed I tell you, mind you I have been running loads just to make sure I didn't put too much weight on! I must admit I'm looking forward to Thailand and being able to eat loads of food....I'm sure Jason will want a refund after we get married and I get really fat...haha! Mind you, I think he's planning on letting loose there too!

It's now 5 weeks yesterday till the big day, and I must say, most things are organised pretty well now, it's just my beauty stuff I need to concentrate on. We did try and practice for our dance last night, but it was a disaster, I just kept giggling...I'm really dreading dancing in front of everyone now! oh well, I'm sure I won't care on the day!

I wanted to post some pictures from NYE, but it turns out I can't bloomin find the cable to connect to the computer, so watch this space!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! We had a really good one. I must say, I was a bit dubious about spending it with friends, it just seems a bit unusual to do that as I've always been used to spending it with family. Anyway, we got around to Rach and Stu's and they'd made such an effort with everything, they had decorated the garden and had all sorts of nibbles and champagne for us. So we pretty much chilled out the whole day, eating and talking. The lunch was very nice, Rach had cooked a special veggie lasagne for me which was yummy. After lunch, it was present time, Jason got dressed up as Santa (we had a couple of kids there). Actually he was more like bad Santa! It was so funny, he pulled everyone's pressies out and we all had to go up and sit on his knee (I got a special pinch on the bum!) Not sure what the kids thought about it all, they seemed a bit scared at first! He did do such a great job though. After the presents, he sat on the blanket with a beer and a cheesecake..not really good for Santa's image! Got some very funny photos. It all went a bit downhill from there, everyone was well on their way and very happy. We ended up in their lounge dancing to Curly's Ipod, I think Jason and I finally got to bed 5am after listening to my new Kylie CD! Woke up at midday yesterday with a really bad hangover, so yesterday we just went to the cinema and had a nice Thai meal.
This morning I went for a run to try and run off all that alcohol. I've actually been very good this Christmas, I've hardly had any bad stuff, just the odd bite of chocolate, I can't afford to put on any weight. Apart from the alcohol, we've been very healthy.
Today we went to the shops and I got my trainers with money that Jason gave me for Christmas, I was desperate for some new ones. We just got back and we used the rice cooker Jason bought me, I was a bit dubious I must say (would have liked something nice and shiny!) but it's a really good pressie and the rice tasted yummy!

Our Christmas tree

me and my Santa hat (stuck on the washing line)

in Santa's grotto

The gang

Here comes bad Santa!

Check out Santa's flip flops!

Giving out the pressies

Santa and Holly

Very Bad Santa

Things start going downhill

So I finally got my assignment finished last week, which was a real relief I tell you. I can't believe that's a year of the course gone already. Still been extremely busy though, even with that out of the way.

I picked up our travel tickets last week, very exciting, it makes it seem all the more real to have them in my hand. The lady who I dealt with was so sweet, she gave me and Jason a little box of chocolates for our honeymoon, I definitely have to buy her something for being so great, the amount of time I changed things, she must have thought I was a nightmare!

I went back for another dress fitting on Monday, it looks great, but they'd taken up the hem too much, so that needs to be sorted and she's taking a bit more in at the back. I go back in a month for the final try on, so hopefully all will be good. I'm actually quite pleased, I had my weigh in at Curves the other week and I'd lost quite a lot. Since I've been going there I've lost 28cm's all over and 3kilos. But I think a lot of that has been from the last few months with all the running and cardio we've been doing.

Work is manic at the moment, we're having to re-do a lot of our documentation, which means a lot of proof reading and dealing with the printers, it's a really long process and there's still a long long way to go. I'm trying to get tidied up for when I go away and Roxanne comes back (she is the person who I took over from) but at the moment, it's not looking likely that I'll have everything sorted...I don't want her to think I'm really unorganised! We are also having loads of people leaving, so that is a headache too, I'll be really glad for a week off next week. Talking of which, I really can't believe it's Christmas day next Tuesday, I haven't bought one Christmas present yet. Luckily I don't have many people here to buy for. We are all having an orphans Christmas around Rach and Stu's, so we are just doing a Secret Santa.

I have another works Christmas party tomorrow night...let's hope it's not a repeat of the last one!!

What a week this has been! Since last Friday, my head has been in a haze! It started off with my work's Christmas party, which was a really good night, but unfortunately, not enough food and too much alcohol has made me forget most of it!! I ended up meeting Jason and his cousin and his cousins mate, who are over from Scotland for some travelling. They decided to play a trick on me and tell me that his cousins mate was his cousin....so there I was saying how lovely it was to meet him and how glad I was that he's coming to our wedding, and it wasn't even him!! They definitely had a laugh at my expense! It was funny though.

The next day I woke up (still a bit drunk), and found that I was missing my phone and my nice new lipstick, not very happy about that, it was that silly little handbag that I took out (that's my excuse anyway). We had to get up and get ready straight away to go to the races for Jason's old works Christmas party. We had a nice table in the restaurant, and a free buffet and drinks, I just had a glass of wine and I was on my way again! We took a bit of time out from the party and found Nicola and Andy who were also there with friends. We had a great laugh, bet a few races, and had some drinks. I also met a girl that goes to our training there...but I didn't recognise her at first cos she looked so glamorous....we're used to seeing each other with red sweaty faces!! After that we went to the Coogee bay hotel to meet my friend from work, Sandra, who's birthday it was. I wasn't sure if I'd see her though as the pub was so big, and I didn't have my phone, but we saw her practically straight away which was lucky. We had a few drinks with then, then I really had to get home, I think I just collapsed into bed at about 9.30pm. Sunday was a real right off, I had a facial, but that was about it for me.

Monday wasn't a good day, I was finishing off my assignment for college, which was due on the Wednesday, and I went to save it and it sent me an error message, so I tried again..but this time all my work disappeared. I tried to find the file, but no luck...all my hard work, gone! I was in a state for a couple of hours after that, absolutely gutted, I'm still feeling it now, I've been in a right bad mood all week. I've got so much on, and I'm so tired and with that to top it off, it just did me in....not good. I just have to face that I have to do it all over again!

Apart from that I'm very excited...only 8 weeks to our impending nuptials..I can't believe how quickly it's coming around! I went to try on my wedding dress which arrived a few weeks ago. Nicola came with me as Sue couldn't make it, so I was happy I had someone there...I've sworn her to secrecy though! I was very pleased with the dress, they just have to take it in and then I pick it up in a couple of weeks. But what that means is that I can't change my weight either way...I'll have to be very careful not to change any of my habits for 8 weeks which'll be very hard.

I'm really looking forward to a holiday too, and of course to seeing my family and friends, and meeting more of Jason's family, it'll be great. I've just been on full throttle for the last year, and the next weeks coming up aren't getting any quieter, I think I deserve a lovely break! Well, onto the weekend again now ;o) I've got a nights reprieve from Christmas parties, so I'm going to get a start on my assignment....again!

Here are some pics from the races...

I'd almost forgotten to update my blog again this week!
I had a nice quiet night in on my own on Friday...it was well-needed!
Saturday we were up early for a training session, I got home and got some of my assignment done, then we both had a lovely massage. This woman came over to our flat, and we can claim some back from our health fund, so it's great. Then we went to the supermarket, then I had my haircut, so I got loads done. I must get up early more often!
In the evening we went over to Sue and Grant's for a election party (as you probably know, we had a federal election last weekend). It was nice to catch up with them as it had been a while. We drove home to the results of John Howard conceding the election!
Sunday I went to a Tahitian Noni party! My friend Nicola is starting up a small business and she is doing these parties to sell the products. It's a bit like a tupperware party, but the items being sold are beauty products and the like. It was very informative and I really enjoyed it, we all got to use the products on our faces, so it was like having a mini facial. Then I was home just in time for the Australian idol final!
This week everyone has gone David Beckham mad, it's amazing, he's everywhere and everyone loves him! All the celebs have been out to meet him. His team played Sydney FC at the stadium last night, they sold 83,000 tickets, not bad for a country that isn't really into football. We watched the game on TV, and actually it was a good game, we didn't expect much that's why we didn't try to get tickets, but it was good. Wasn't very friendly, but that's another matter! He played the whole 90 mins too, which noone was expecting...good on him!
Today he was at Myer promoting his new aftershave, we did go down, but the queues were horrendous, and we only had our lunch breaks, so we didn't hang around....shame.
But really exciting stuff, I got a free ticket to see Elton John tonight!! Our marketing dept had some to give away, so Ryan and I got one each...I'm so excited, it should be great!

It was a nice weekend, although not as quiet as I’d have liked! Friday after work Jason and I met up with Andy, Nicola and Andy’s mate Adrian who he knew from Germany. We started off at the Customs House on Circular Quay where they had put a fake vinyard outside, so it was like a bit of countryside in the city. We tasted a few wines, then had a couple of proper ones after. We then went to the Rocks to have a look at the midnight markets and we were lucky enough to see the fireworks show too. We had a bite to eat and a couple more drinks, then departed for home.
The next day, Jason got up early to do a fitness test with our training group. Unfortunately I couldn’t go as I’d buggered my knee from sprinting on Thursday night, but it was nice cos I got a lie-in! We did a bit of shopping, then Jason took me out for dinner. I really am the luckiest girl, I’d had a bit of a low week, and on Wednesday when I was at college, Jason researched the internet to find a really nice restaurant to take me to. So we went to Newtown, which is somewhere we never really go, and he took me to a Bollywood themed Indian restaurant. It was really cool actually, the guy doing the dancing was really funny, I think Jason was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t any women dancing!
Sunday, we just did some more wedding stuff and got our final immigration stuff ready to send. We’ve just got to wait for Jason’s work application to be acknowledged, then we can send ours in…so could be anytime soon.
That’s about it for now, I have to run to get my assignment finished for college tomorrow!

What a fun weekend. It started off pretty quietly, I had a night in all on my own on Friday, which is quite a rare occurrence. Jason went to a gig so I got out a dvd and had a quiet night in. Saturday it was my friend from work, Ryan's 'fluro' birthday party. It was an early start, I met Linn and Sue at the pub at 12.30, the pub was at Woolloomoolloo and it was very nice, we had a balcony for our group and the sun was out, so it was really lovely. As Ryan is gay, the party was pretty much full of gay men, it was such good fun, we had a ball. Everyone went to a really good effort to dress up in fluro colours, there were some funny sights! I felt my pink fluro hair band didn't really make much of an impact compared to these guys! Everyone was very merry after a few hours...I had everyone drinking Pimms, they all loved it.
We stayed there until about 7ish, then Jason came and picked us up. Just to go back, Ryan went out on Thursday night and met Carson from the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy TV show...he'd got tickets for a posh party where he met him, and they ended up going out partying together afterwards! Anyway, Carson had asked Ryan if he wanted to go to Icebergs (very posh restaurant/bar in Bondi) on Saturday night as it was his birthday too...but Ryan didn't hear from him so he didn't end up going. This is where Linn and I step in! We were determined to see Carson, so we got Jason to take us to Icebergs, just for a look. We had a drink there, then we thought we'd go and have a quick look in the restaurant to see if he was there. We walked through to the end and nothing, but on our way back there were loads of really gorgeous people heading our way (the men were absolutely knee tremblingly handsome!) and then, lo and behold Carson is walking behind them...so me being me went up to him and said 'hello...you snogged my friend Ryan on Thursday night!' (I hope he didn't have a boyfriend in earshot!) and to his credit, he was really polite to us and asked where Ryan was, to which I said 'you should phone him up' anyway, I then touched him a couple of times and babbled some other stuff, then left them to it...how funny. Linn and I collapsed in hysterics in the toilets after...it's a wonder we didn't get thrown out! So it was quite an eventful evening. After that, we went to an italian restaurant and finally had something to eat.
As for yesterday, I didn't do too much in the day, Jason went out after lunch for Rachel's birthday (I hardly saw him at the weekend) and I just chilled out until the afternoon, then I had to get ready for Pam's engagement party. It was a 5.30 start and all the way out west, so I had to leave quite early to get there. It was a very formal occasion, I felt a bit silly getting on the bus with my lovely black dress (and wearing my flip flops for comfort!). I wore a dress that I bought about 3 years ago, but hadn't had the occasion to wear it until now, luckily it's very classical, so hasn't gone out of fashion! I got the bus to Ryan's, then his friend gave us a lift to the place. Unfortunately none of us knew how to get there, and we weren't very organised, so we did get quite lost, then he got pulled over by the police, honestly, I really didn't think we were going to get there. We finally arrived about 6pm, and after nearly walking into an Indian reception (oops) we found the right room. It's a really ethnic area, Luke said that they stopped and asked for directions, but noone could speak English.
The reception hall was huge, and it looked just like a wedding reception, they had 180 guests there (Pam is Italian and her fiancé is Macedonian) so they have the hugest families. The whole thing was very cultural and it was good fun, but it was really OTT, they had speeches, exchanging rings, first dance, video cameras, cake cutting all the usual wedding stuff. Pam really had put everything into this. Her and her fiancé are both only young, just turned 21 so they are both really excited about getting married, but not for a couple more years. There was lots of dancing, and lots of Macedonian music which is very arabic, and starts to do your head in after a while. I really felt like I was on holiday! I love the traditions though, it's a shame that us English/Aussies, really don't have much culture or traditions about us.
So that's about it, had to get the train home which took forever, but finally got to bed about midnight.

Will upload some pics soon...

It's been quite an interesting week so far. I received a letter yesterday from the New Zealand immigration telling me that my application for permanent residency was approved! I'd almost forgotten about it, as it was over a year ago since I applied and since we are now in the process of applying for our Australian residency it's not really relevant anymore. Just shows you how much can change in a year! I'm feeling a bit weird about it though, it seems such a waste to not use it, and after spending all that time...and money! Oh well, I still have to send them a couple of documents and a payment by May next year, so if our Australian residency doesn't get approved, then we can always think about going there then....we'll see.
Apart from that, I got my college assignments back on Wednesday, and I was very pleased with the results...I got 83%...very shocked I can tell you, I didn't expect to do that well. Considering I almost gave up the course because I was struggling to complete them, I'm now very pleased I didn't. I'm still not sure whether to continue the course into next year though as I've decided counselling is not what I want to do...I don't think I'm emotionally stable enough to deal with listening to other people's problems! We had to do a session on Wednesday where we talked with a partner for 15 mins about all the grief we'd had in our lives, and it was really emotional, especially listening to someone else's story. I'm sure you get attuned to it with practice, but I don't think it's something I want to pursue...but who knows!