Friendly Fridays

"You can choose your friends but not your family"

When complaining about relatives as a child my mother would always repeat the above saying. The significance of this saying is brought home when friends pass away. While it is unbelievably sad to lose a much loved relative it can be just as devastating to lose a dearly loved friend. For a friend is someone you've chosen to develop and maintain a bond with. A friend can be someone you met while travelling far from home. A friend can be someone you've survived an awful workplace with. A friend can be the person who sat next to you in your very first lecture. A friendship can grew from similarities, differences or even a combination of the two.

I've been blessed with friends from all walks of life, from my home country and many other countries and at the end of the day I love them all dearly. Last Sunday when I heard of the extent of the Victorian bushfires I immediately thought of one of my fellow Erection Team members who lives in country Victoria. There were a few anxious minutes while waiting for her to reply to my text message but thankfully she did. And she was ok. Her town was fortunate to escape the wrath of the fires but the town closest to her wasn't so lucky.

Tragically a girl in my office lost dearly loved friends in the Victorian bushfires. She is naturally devastated and has been keeping a pretty low profile this week. My heart is with anyone who's lost a loved one to this terrible natural disaster.

My heart is breaking...

....... sadly it has nothing to do with Valentines day or anything else as frivolous as that.

My heart is breaking because of this:

............... and this:

.... and this too:

A week ago there were homes, schools, shops and police stations here but now this is all that's left for too many Victorians:

How Much Space do we Really Need?

Amongst a few ofther discourses The Sister dabbled in an architecture degree a few years back. As a result we were both introduced to the wonderful concept of living in comfortably sized spaces described in this amazing book.

Although I struggled big time living in a tiny basement studio I think I could live in a beautiful, roomy closet with all of my belongings. Especially if it looked like one of these four:

One of my favourite design sites ran survey on which celebrity closet you were. I think I'm a mix of all four. Plas a dash of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment closet.

A Step Forward Into the Past

Leaving a job can only ever be one of two things:
a sad experience
or a joyous occasion.

In my so far short life I've had and left quite a few jobs with a mixture of the above experiences.Three years on from my last day at the school where I worked in London I can still feel the anxiety and immense sadness that caused me to break down in front of the whole school. I loved those children, loved the staff I was fortunate enough to work with and loved the families that I'd gotten to know well over my eighteen months working there. I even loved the crazy three-storey Victorian monstrosity and the cramped school yard with no grass!

Words will never encompass the sense of joy I felt when I left the wretched HR administration role I worked for a few months in 2007. Nor could pictures ever capture my miles of smiles as I walked out of that ghastly south London school after my brief stint teaching there in 2007. I have never slept as soundly as after my last day working in snake pit that was the HR Branch I'd had the misfortune of stumbling into.

The last job I left was a mixture of the both. On one hand I was sad to be walking away from such a great supervisor and heartbroken to be removing myself from one of the friendliest, most welcoming teams I'd experienced so far. But at the end of that final day my sense of relief to be leaving was overwhelming stronger than my sadness. I was relieved to be finally working part-time, to be leaving behind all the workload of three people, to be walking away from the reception desk, to be leaving a work environment that frowned upon fair conditions and hours, to be walking away from crazy work expectations and constant demands. And mostly to be leaving rude, arrogant ESL teachers who thought they were God's gift to Adelaide! While I cited the need to devote more time to my studies, which in essence was the truth of the matter, the above list shows all the other valid reasons I had for wanting to leave.

So four months after leaving that last, crazy, stressful, hectic job I somehow found my way back there, to help them out for three days during one of the official busy periods. Never underestimate the lure of a brilliant supervisor when surrounded by so much dead wood at my organisation.The three day visit allowed me to meet my replacement (who is just lovely!) and also to witness the changes that have occurred as a result of my resignation. My lovely replacement only had a few shifts helping out over the official busy period. When this time occurred during my tenure I had been required to work the majority of the shifts. My lovely replacement no longer sits at reception one day a week. The most surprisingly aspect of all was the fact that a casual had been recruited to help my work team cope with the demands placed upon them. Very, very interesting!

Oh how I love taking a step forward into the past!

Wordless Wednesdays

Weekend Round Up

This weekend was a bit of a non-event due to the continuing heatwave (still hitting 40C here!) and the Big Day Out on Friday. It was a great day, albeit hot (43C and no cloud cover). I'll post more about it later though.

So this weekend consisted of waking up hot at my house on Saturday. Heading to Marion on Saturday afternoon where I scored an undercover park and got to shop for some cool summer work tops. The day ended at That Southern Boy's house where he cooked me a lovely bbq tea and we chilled out watching a few great movies. My Sunday has consisted of coming home and sorting out my summer work clothes to see what will work in this heatwave, running through arrangements with The Sister for her friend's kitchen tea that we're hosting in two weeks, started my second mosaic project, caught up on some long overdue emails and made a Cut Copy playlist on my Creative. My lentils are cooking on the stove, my carrot sticks are cut and I'm nearly ready to hit the sack and watch some SATC until I fall asleep.

Shoes for the soul

Seeing as one third of this blog is meant to be devoted to shoes I think it's about time that I gave my fondness for shoes some airtime.

Like many people I love shoes. However I'm not going to gush about them and my proclaimed love. I'm not going to rave about a devotion to a particular label or style. That's been done exceedingly well by many before me so I'm going to keep it simple.

I just love shoes.

As much as I love shoes I'm no shoe snob. By that I mean that I am happy to buy my shoes from anywhere. And I do mean anywhere. Bargain shoe shops, retail giants, sales racks. You name it and I'll have purchased shoes from there for sure. I have actually never purchased a pair of designer label shoes. I hope to keep it that way. I have nothing against them, in fact I would love a pair of these. It has more to do with the fact that I just wouldn't be able to afford a pair and I refuse to get myself into personal debt just for the sake of some fabulous shoes!

Over the last eight months or so my shoe purchases have dwindled due to the contraints of saving for a house deposit. I've managed to break the drought twice.

The first time was while shopping here with That Southern Boy where I brought these:

Two weeks ago I once again broke the drought and brought these which were on sale:

Both pairs are still at that slightly pinching stage where the uppers need to be worn in and my feet need to get used to new contraints.

I can't wait for Autumn and all the winter boots to come out!

Mosaics

Speechie and I had talked for ages about doing a mosaics course. We finally bit the bullet and started one in January this year. Initially my excitement over the course was huge but The Engagement has sort of eclipsed all that. Coupled with our crazy heatwave I decided to skip our third class last week. So my guilt over my lack of interest and my missed class motivated me to start my second project this afternoon.

This is how is looks so far:

I know that technically what I've created is not a true mosaic pattern. But I loved the colours and look of those tiles so couldn't resist a simple style.

Below is my first project, the diastrous washed out pale and pasty garden pot:

I have one last class this Wednesday night and I'll be working on a mirror with a 1930's green and black pattern. Pictures to come!

Twas the night before........

...........my return to work.

Sadly my blissful days of holidays are coming to an end. I will be starting work again tomorrow morning. I shouldn't complain as I know that most office workers have been back since January the 5th and school teacher's went back last Tuesday.

The time has just flown since I finished work at 1pm on Christmas Eve. What happened to my January of lazy around, exercising, reading, baking and organising my room/travel photos and creating travel scrapbooks? Absolutely nothing, that's what! Why? Because I got engaged to That Southern Boy back in early January and it's been wedding planning central for me.

I'm happy to say that we've booked:
church
reception venue
photographer
ceremony musician
reception band
cake

All this is just three weeks. I'm quite impressed with our progress.

25 and Counting

Tomorrow is The Sister's birthday.


I've brought her this card





.....and giving her this dvd






.....and this make up brush which will hopefully be perfect for eyeshadow eyeliner applications





Here is a sneak peek at her birthday cake from this scrumptious bakery in Stepney

Will Sugar Help Beat the Heat?

Seeing as the heat is not going to let up for at least another week I'm looking anywhere for a little relief. Or something to take my mind off the fact that it's so darn hot out there!

After visiting a florist to discuss wedding flowers The Sister and I decided to stop off here to drool over some delicious cupcakes. Bobbie raves about them so I thought it was high time that I sampled some.

We can home with these:

Malteser, Oreo, Raspberry and White Chocolate and Passionfruit. Delicious!

Baby It's Hot Outside

South Australia is currently in the middle of a heatwave. It is currently 44 degrees celcius. It was 43 yesterday and the forecast predicts 44 again for tomorrow.

Friday is going to be slightly cooler at 41 degrees but I'll be outside all day at this music festival. How on earth will I stay cool?

I have been hibernating the past few days. Unfortunately yesterday I had to venture out to pay the deposit for the church where we'll hold our wedding ceremony. And this afternoon I have to head out to meet with a potential florist. The air con in the car is going to get a workout!

Wordless Wednesdays

Tuesday Travels - Seattle

I love this city. For so many reasons that range from it being the birthday of Starbucks (where I discovered the joy of hot chocolate with whipped cream), the setting for one of my favourite shows Frasier, the home of the awesome Space Needle and surrounded by water.

Yes I live in a coastal city but remember, my visit to Seattle was after two years living in land logged England!

Seattle also lays claim to Grunge, the soundtrack to my teenage years.

I spent four fantastic days in Seattle and can't wait to go back there one day.

Wedding Shoes

Ok.

The hunt is on for some red wedding shoes.

I'm heading into the city tomorrow morning to begin my search. I can't wait!

Weekend Round Up

I'm starting my weekend from Friday afternoon seeing as I'm on a slight permanent holiday for the immediate future.

Speechie came to visit with one of her lovely older sister's and her sweet little girl. Sweet little girl just charmed my family with her ability to eat half a bag of chocolate freckles and numerous pieces of mum's delicious chocolate cake. Such a little gem! Friday night was quiet, just chilled out watching tv with the sister and looking through wedding magazines. Saturday I finally had a lazy morning which quickly turned into an afternoon of wedding planning. We went to look at a few reception venues which I loved! Still need to make a decision on that one. Saturday night was spent at a family friend's engagement party. Sunday I had a coffee catch up with a dear friend and then called round to Speechie's stunning new unit. I was so impressed with her hard work and gorgeous colour scheme. Sunday evening I had tea with That Southern Boy and his parents. Lots of wedding talk but I'm enjoying it all! Shame I didn't manage to get in any exercise.

My love for Cocktail Food can go on.

Provided there is enough food to go round I love a good cocktail party. There is nothing like being served tasty little morsels of food continuously for a few hours while you chat with friend and sip delicious wine. My idea of bliss! The only problem for a clumsy party guest such as myself is, how on earth do you hold everything?

Two hands, a wine glass, a napkin, possibly a clutch bag and cocktail food can sometimes end in near disaster for me. Look what I've found! These FingerFoods from Fred and Friends are the perfect soluation to my cocktail party clumsiness (or is it greediness?)

Will you.....?

....Marry me?

I was asked this very question by That Southern Boy just over a week ago and I said yes! It happened here on The Great Ocean Road in Victoria at London Bridge. Very appropriate given the fact that we both loved our time living in London, England.

That Southern Boy chose a ring beforehand, as well as asking my Dad for his permission (a funny response that I'll blog about later). The ring is exactly what I would have chosen, photos to follow soon but can I just say I'm utterly smitten with it!

So the last week has been filled with phone calls, emails and lots of visits to and from well-wishers. We've also managed to squeeze in some wedding planning. Having a few problems booking a reception venue as it looks like we've chosen a popular date for our wedding. More about planning later on.

Come Monday I will be starting my blogging schedule. It's going to keep me calm and focussed while I try to plan the wedding, finish uni and return to teaching.

Drive, drive, drive

Greetings from soon to be Sandy Beaches.

Off on a driving holiday with That Southern Boy on a wine and beach hunt.

We leave tomorrow. First stop will be here in the heart of the Coonawarra wine region. Looking forward to some delicious wines.

Next stop will be across the border, to the land of the Victorians to spend some time exploring this lovely beach town.

Off to pack now. Oh how I love to pack!

Friendly Fridays

Happy New Year!

I have a few resolutions for 2009:

• stop swearing (haven't been all that successful so far)


• stay calm


• be positive


• get fit

I also want to blog on a regular basis. I've set up a few guidelines to help make that possible. Things such as the themes of Tuesday Travels, Wordless Wednesdays and today's theme, Friendly Fridays.

What did you do on New Year's Eve? I was lucky enough to spend it with That Southern Boy and two of my dearly loved friends, Speechie and Miss G at this western suburbs hotel. We arrived early, found some great seats and had a lovely meal. I felt extra lucky as two other dearly loved friends, Little1 and Malibu Barbie also saw in the new year at the same hotel so I was able to spend some time catching up with them. That Southern Boy bumped into some high school friends so even he was able to celebrate the new year with some old friends.

I have spent the last three New Year's with Speechie and Miss G and we also have a great time together. I was never a big fan of New Year's Eve but these two have proven how true the saying is that 'it's not what you, it's who you do it with'.