All I want for Christmas

 

Says it all really!

40th Birthday (Part 1)

Well I guess you only turn 40 once don't you... so it was time to do it in style!

 

On the 1st of December I had my first 40th birthday party.... yes I did say my first.... next weekend is a party with the Lucas family and then more celebrations on my actual birthday!

 

 

When designing a birthday cake it (of course) had to include a handbag and having the book was an added bonus.  The cake was made by Kellie Cakes on Worrigee Street in town and she did an amazing job.  And it tasted great too.... chocolate mud cake!

 The tables were decorated with jars filled with my favourite lollies as a child and there were some of my favourite toys scattered ove rthe table for people to play with.  Rubik's cubes, slinkies, tiddlywinks, Lego, snakes and ladders, go fish.... to name a few!

 The first thing that was organised for the party .... at Tasha's suggestion.... was the hire of a photobooth.  It was a lot of fun and at the end of the night I had fun photos of nearly every person at the party.  (One person managed to escape without getting their photo taken). 
You pose for four pics and they are then printed out in a photostrip which is given to the guest and a copy of it was placed in an album where the guest could write a message.  A copy of every photo taken was also given to me on a disc.

 

Why was this party important to me?  This party meant so very much to me as a few years ago my Mum was determined that if she made it to the age of 70 she would celebrate.  Unfortunately due to other circumstances she ended up not having that party and not long after that we were told her cancer had returned.  We ended up giving her a celebration for her 71st with all her dearest friends and it was a treasured day of memories (and also her last birthday before she died).

It made me aware that we should not put things off and I decided then and there that my 40th would be spent with my special friends.  Each person invited was very special to me and I was so extremely thankful to everyone who came.  Some travelled from long distances to be there and some were local but I am so grateful for each one of them that made me feel like I was worth putting that one night (or weekend for those who travelled) aside to celebrate with me.

With my own breast cancer scare in the past few months it was even more important to "seize the day"

 

We ended up having 49 people there - and I would like to thank each and every one of them.

 I have some of the best friends ever and I will admit in some of my low times I wondered if anyone would feel I was worth the celebration but I was blown away by the effort made by people to come along. 
I only wish the evening went longer.... The photobooth was fun but there were so many people I missed having my pic taken with - luckily I have the album with their photos to remember the night by.

Next weekend is a bbq at home with the Lucas family.  There are just waaayyyy too many of them to invite along to the party but I couldn't celebrate without them so I am looking forward to the next installment of my 40th birthday!

Sydney

Well we are half way through our week in Sydney and all is going well.

Kyle is really enjoying his time at Vibewire - not only is he finding the people there to be very welcoming and friendly but he is doing so much.  He has been out with a film crew and he has been given his own articles to write for their website along with some editing projects to work on.  Very busy!

As for me... I have simply been enjoying the time to wander around and explore.
Monday I spent wandering around Pitt St Mall and QVB, doing lots of window shopping and strolling into proper shops without people wanting to go!  I tracked down Galaxy bookstore.... oh heaven.  They are a specialist book store that sell sci-fi fantasy and horror.  A geek's dream!  I did visit the Lindt cafe to find that they no longer sell strawberry dipping platters.... what a travesty.

Tuesday was my day to play tourist.  I started by jumping on the city sightseeing bus and doing the city route which goes through the rocks, to the harbour bridge, opera house and through the centre of town - it takes about 2 hours and was really interesting.  Then I changed buses and did the Bondi tour.  I hve never actually been to Bondi beach before so it was great.  Then we weaved back through Rose bay etc to come back into the city.  I then spent some time in Madame Tussaud's at Darling Harbour.  They don't have anywhere near as many ffiggures as London but you can interact with them much better in Sydney!

Wednesday my morning was spent at the aquarium.  I LOVE aquariums but from past experience my family tend to walk through at a vigorous pace and glance in tanks as they rush by.  So today I took advantage of the chance to stroll through and stop and look.  I spent ages watching the rays and the sharks.  I love the sharks.  I spent some time chilling in front of the penguins and met a rather "friendly" dugong who I have named Randy.  He did try to get very friendly with the wall quite a few times.  I think the divers were happy they had a mesh wall between them!

I have walked..... a lot..... although my husband tells me that because I dont have the pedometer it doesn't count!  I have to say my legs are just about to give in.
It has been great staying with Mark and Mel... Kyle and Declan have been having a great time together.

Plans for the rest of the week... tomorrow I will take Kyle into the city and then head back to Mark's to get ready for work... yes thats right working on my week off!.... well actually I am heading into a software company office for a demo of their medical software.  Have a loooooong list of questions for them.... he he wonder if they are prepared for me?

Then Friday.... who knows... I was planning on spending it down at circular quay and the rocks but the weather report doesn't look promising so we will have to wait and see.

A month!!

Wow... we have been home from our holiday for over a month now and what a month it has been.

It's one of those weird time paradoxes (paradoxii ??) in that the last month has been so busy and seems to have flown but it also seems like it is months since we were away.

The last month has provided lots of dramas and interesting (??) times.  It seems that Tasha has decided her new favourite place to hang out at school is the Principals office!  She must like it a lot - she spends a lot of time there.  She has also been testing things at home as well... boy am I so glad of the deal made many years ago.  (you see when we had babies Tony was much more used to dealing with teenagers than litle children so he made a very silly deal.... I would be responsible for the baby care and he would do the teenage years!   haha.  He thought that workign with youth would prepare him.... soooooo different when its your own1  Oh and he probably thought by the time they were teenagers I would forget the deal.... no such luck!).

Yesterday my little boy (who is taller than me..... he gets that from my dad's side of the family) officially finished junior high.  He has a week of work experience next week and then he returns to high school as a senior student and starts his HSC studies.  WOW that happened so quickly.

Work has been full of ups and downs.... unfortunately we have not won the lotto so I must continue going!  Tony is back at work and heading into their busy time of year.

As for me.... the last month has been full of highs and lows.  I have had my own health scares this month and have gone through more testing, poking and prodding.... however I do have the best friends ever.  They are there to support me.  They give me their love and care.  They remind me to smile.  They let me vent.  I really don't know what I would do without them.

The next month looks to be a busy one as well.  Tomorrow Kyle and I head for Sydney for the week.  Kyle has work experience with Vibewire in Ultimo so we will be staying with my big brother for a week.  I plan to catch the train in with Kyle each morning and then fill my days exploring the city... doing all the things that I have wanted to do but that the family would not be interested in.  Then I will catch the train back with Kyle in the afternoon.  Having the whole day to myself does feel really indulgent and selfish but... okay I'll admit it..... it also sounds like a slice of heaven!

Then is will be Christmas preparation.  I am looking forward to a weekend with Cass, I have a BIG birthday coming up (scary thought).  Oh and hopefully at some stage I will find the time to go through and edit all those holiday photos....  eeeeekkkk.

Blogging time

Well blogging every day on our recent trip has awoken the blogger bug in me.

If you missed it our holiday blog is here:  www.ourtriptoremember.blogspot.com

The problem is.... life seems so dull compared to the holiday!  We are having issues with teenagers at the moment that have me pulling my hair out.  Life has thrown us some curve balls over the last couple of weeks that we are working our way through.  Apart from that I am still looking for time to sit and edit holiday photos. 

Anyway hopefully things will settle down and I can get back into blogging without just sitting and writing AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH for every post!

Bits and Pieces

One of my favourite things about Facebook is the sharing of quotes, photos and ideas.  I love scanning my newsfeed to see what has appeared today - there are a couple here I thought I would share!

Firstly the to do list - although you will note Miss Jane that this is obviously not a girls weekend list and there is no mention of brides or handbags!

 I have been looking at canvases lately to go in our refurbished lounge room.  I love the "family rules" type canvases and have been looking a those and at plaques with family quotes on then but when I saw this one I just fell in love - Isn't it just a wonderful family canvas!

Proud Mama

Wow only 20 days to go before we fly out!  The last few weeks have been insanely busy between work and trying to get things organised for the holiday.  I have also been doing the photo a day challenge for August - I will post the pics here tomorrow (I hope).  I am also in the process of setting up a travel blog for the trip - will make sure I post the blog address here when its ready to go!

Now for the proud mama news.....
,

We went to the Uni for the Shoalhaven Media Makers on Friday night.  It is an amazing program for teenagers and one that I am so proud of Kyle just for being involved in.
You can see more about the program here
http://www.shoalhavenmediamakers.com/index.html

At the end of the course each student presented a short multi media presentation on a subject of their choice - Their were a variety of subjects covered varying from cyberbullying to recycling to a campaign to build a new skate park in Ulladulla.  Kyle chose to do his on a subject that he wanted people to understand more about.  You can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aPnb4MUlug&feature=youtube_gdata_player&noredirect=1

I am one very proud mother!

*** addit.  Ooops it appears the links aren't working so you may need to copy and paste the address into your browser.