Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Well Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you've been having a fantastic day. I just thought I'd share a pics from our day. It looks like Paul and I must have been good this year as we had lots of pressies to open this morning :-)

Here are my presents to Paul (on right) and presents from Debz & Lance and also some Paul's parents and sister Claire sent over from NZ (on left).

Here are my presents from Paul as I discovered them on the deck this morning. He set it all up out there last night. Didn't he do well :-)

The Christmas crackers I made for us. I love crackers but bought ones are crap. So I made them instead! I couldn't find the "cracker" part though so that's my mission for next year!

Our Christmas breakfast - YUMMY!

Just like Christmas day should be!
Me enjoying my new present, reading a book and having a coffee. *sigh* ain't life grand :-)

Paul on the phone to his family in NZ and cooking our lunch on the bbq :-)

Paul setting up his Christmas present - a mini home theater system.
Pretty much a stereo system with a DVD player that hooks into the TV.

The stereo system all set up :-)

Well we're off to the neighbours for a bbq for dinner now so hope you all continue to have a fantastic Christmas!

Ange

Christmas build up in Brisbane

I have decided that Brisbane is a great place to be in the build up to Christmas.

The shops are open really late in the week or so before Christmas so as long as you don't go in the last few days you can do your shopping without the crowds being too big. I guess lots of shoppers didn't think about that when apparently at midnight on Thursday it was impossible to find a park at Chermside. When Paul and I went on Tuesday after work it wasn't even that busy - yay for getting in early!

Anyway so there has been heaps going on in Brisbane lately.About a week ago Paul and I went for a drive around some of the surrounding suburbs where we live to have a look at the Christmas lights. I love Christmas lights and boy do heaps of people go bonkers over here! here a a couple of pics from the competitions website. They're not very good quality but give the general idea of some of the ones we saw (I forgot to take my camera - whoops) and a few others. 7 news had the winners in a bunch of categories on at the end of the news each night and they were just unbelievable. Some of these people had been putting up their lights for the past 3 months and had "train rides" and all sorts around their properties.





On Friday I was walking to the train after work drinks when suddenly the sky lit up. No I hadn't passed our drunk. Instead there was fireworks coming from the river. So I hang out the front of the station for a few mins and watched them before running the catch my train. Then on Saturday night Paul and I headed back into the city to catch partake in some more festivities that had be put on at South Bank. We, along with lots of others, went down to the river and watched an awesome fireworks display - loved it!

Then we walked past the Suncorp Plaza where earlier they'd been singing Christmas carols, and walked past the Santa display where all the kiddies were getting their photos taken, past the trees set up with Christmas lights and the ferris wheel to the Cultural forecourt (actually has green grass this year too) where they had a giant tv screen set up and were playing movies. We had missed watching Happy Feet but sat down to watch the Chronicles of Narnia instead with a nice white chocolate Magnum ice-cream. Very cool! The whole setup in South Bank was fantastic - they had lots of other stuff going on to like Christmas Pantomimes for the kids etc.

I haven't been to see the Christmas tree lit up in Queen St mall yet so Paul and I might do that after work tonight.

Then it's off to "midnight" mass at 10:30pm to sing carols and remember what Christmas is really about. Then we can get up really early and open our presents - wahoo (yep - this is about the time I digress in maturity to be an excited 5 year old again). And just when you start thinking people have forgotten what the Christmas spirit is someone goes and surprises you. Our lovely neighbors have invited us over for a Christmas BBQ. Cool aye! So for Christmas dinner we'll be popping over the fence around 5pm to have a bbq with Roy & Deb (& Jack the Rottweiler - he's only 2 and looks bit scary - but he's really just a big softy really :-) and their son and his family). So it won't be such a lonely Christmas after all.

Anyway better go and do some work.

Have a wonderful & safe Christmas everyone. Take care on the roads!!!

Ange

Things that make me smile

So more in with the spirit of Christmas, and definitely definitely in the spirit of procrastination (as I'm meant to be working) I thought write a list of things that make me smile.

You know what I mean - when you see something or think about something and you can't help it, a smile just appears on your face. I love that moment!

So ... my list of things that just make me smile (in no particular order):

1. puppies
2. kittens
3. chocolate
4. Paul (*puke* I know)
5. hugs
6. flowers that smell nice
7. happy little kids playing (*cluck**cluck*)
8. thinking about my house
9. morning coffee
10. the smell of coffee
11. nice smells in general (baking, perfume, nice boys etc etc ;-))
    
12. a good book
13. a good movie
14. giving someone a present (stole that one off Tanz - so true)
15. mum phoning from the UK
16. receiving a present
17. buying new clothes that I like
18. hearing a song I like on the radio/stereo etc
    
19. getting something for free
20. seeing someone do something nice for another person
21. sleeping in
22. finding money in a pocket
    
23. talking to a good friend
24. seeing you have an email from a friend
25. receiving postcards in the mail
26. good food
27. good wine
28. Monteiths summer ale
29. thinking about Paul proposing (*puke* again I know)
30. my ring :-)
31. Christmas lights
32. book shops
33. Better homes and gardens (tv program and magazine)
34. wearing something you were given a present that makes you think about that person
35. seeing my friends have updated their blogs as it means I can catch up on their lives
36. remembering happy family occasions
37. thinking about nice things people have done for me
38. remembering finding the house warming present my family got for us
39. smiling at someone and having them smile back
40. achieving something I've worked really hard for
41. Marea!
42. doing something quirky
43. winning - at anything
    

Ok that's my list for now :-) And guess what! I have a great big smile on my face now! So I reckon you guys should all think about your own list of things that make you smile as its definitely a nice way to start your weekend :-)

Ange

Airing your laundry in public

Ok - so I really don't like having "personal" conversations in public. It's embarrassing and I'm pretty sure the rest of the world doesn't really want to know about my problems. Therefore I definitely don't like it when strangers decide that what would make your Friday morning even better would be to hear all about their problems. Thats right folks, I have another horror story.

Normally I catch the 6:43 train into the city but this morning I was sleepy and ended up only getting out of the shower about the time the train was due. Whoops! So instead I had to wait and catch the 7:11am train. NEVER again I tell you! There was this chick sitting in the seat behind me (who I had almost sat next to - phew) who about 5 mins into the trip (it's a 30 min trip) rang a friend on her cell phone. Well that is normally annoying enough by itself (public transport phone calls should be "in and out" ... very quick). However this was no classy lady - she was white trash through and through (think Kim). She proceeded to have a very loud and ver personal conversation including the following topics:

• alluding to "the problem" and "the other thing" while talking about her and her boyfriend
  
• talking about going to the chemist and putting "cream on it" and "its started to go away"
• Talking about her sores and how 10 other people have "it"
  
• talking about how supportive "Darren" was and how she was quite surprised
• talking about how Darren didn't come to be bed last night till 11pm and then she was like I can't tonight Darren.

Ok - so this was about the time my cell phone came out and I text Paul with how repulsed I was. I couldn't even concentrate on my trashy morning train novel she was that distracting. Oh yeah - is now also a good time to point out that the train was packed - there were people standing all the way down the aisle.

Thinking it it couldn't get worse I prayed her cell phone battery would die or something. And then the conversation took a major turn for the worse. She then decided it was necessary to go into way more detail about "the other thing". Yes my friends - apparently she has thrush! I heard all about it and how she as "inflamed" and how "sore she was" and how "she has discharge". ARGH!! I still feel dirty thinking about it. YUK!!! I WANT A SHOWER!!

Seriously - was the women so daft that she thought the rest of us couldn't hear her! Hello - I was approximately 40cm away from you! Thank goodness I didn't sit next to her and her thrush and whatever STD she had obviously picked up.

Fortunately she got off at Central station so I had my final 5 mins ride without her. I also made sure that when she walked past me to get off the train that I kept my arms inside the seat at all times. Yuk yuk yuk yuk!!

Ok - I just had to share that as it was just way too much trauma for one person to handle on their own! I hope you all have a better day than how mine has started out!

Ange

Yay - I now love Christmas again

Ok - so last night after sitting on the couch watching the news for 20 mins or so I decided that it would be best to go out looking for Paul's present again before everyone started going shopping mad on late night shopping (tonight).
After the disappointment of Tuesday I had moved on with my present idea and had a few other things up my sleeve. However as luck would have it I found exactly what I wanted to get Paul - yay! And it was even better than I had intended! Of course you all have no idea what I'm talking about so this means nothing to you! But it shall all become clear after Christmas day! Unfortunately as Paul reads my blog I can't reveal it to you first - that would just be wrong anyway ;-)

Anyway so now that the frustration of trying to find this present is over I can go back to loving Christmas. Although it's still weird having no Christmas tree to decorate or nativity set to put up and hide baby Jesus from etc etc. I always remember asking mum if I could put up the Christmas tree as a kid because I loved decorating it. But mum didn't like us putting it up too early so the anticipation would go on and on until we were finally able to put it up. But none of that this year. Oh well - at least I have my own house to enjoy ( yes I know you're sick of hearing/reading that). I was about to say next year will be better but since we will have just gotten back from the wedding I'm not so sure that's true! But I'm going to keep my eye on the boxing day sales and see what I can pick up for cheap anyway. Yay for sales. Although top of that priority list is a lawn mower as our lawn looks awful! It's be raining quite a bit lately and it's also been kinda warm - so that grass has been very happy (aka growing). So first thing boxing day Paul and I are off to Bunnings etc to see what we can pick up.

Well better do some work. Only 3 more days of work till 8 days off in a row - wahoo!

Christmas Shopping

Ok - seriously! I have to stop going to the mall to do innocent Christmas shopping and coming home with no Christmas stuff but plenty of booze! Yes that's right - the booze cupboard is well stocked and the Christmas cupboard is pretty bare ;-)

A couple of weekends ago Paul and I went to Brookside shopping centre (about a 5 mins drive from home) to get some Christmas decorations and a rubbish bin. We found no ideal rubbish bin, no ideal Christmas decorations (since we actually don't have a tree) so instead bought a couple of boxes of 4X beers (as a side note here: you can't buy a dozen beers in Aussie - you either buy a 6 pack or they make you buy 24 bottles or 30 cans - bonkers I tell you).

The other occasion was last night. Paul and I braved Chermside shopping centre after work and were very happy to fund that there actually weren't that many people around even though it was open till 9pm (everyone must really leave things till the last minute). However, even though I knew exactly what I wanted to get Paul I just couldn't find it anywhere (being restricted by knowing "exactly" what I wanted to get and an ideal price range I was willing to pay for said item). So after walking around the entire shopping centre (no small task I tell you) and even stopping off to say hello to the pet shop (the kittens were SO cute) I ended up only getting a bottle of Villa Maria Sav wine from Dan Murphys.

Hmm - I think it's actually easier to do Christmas shopping if you don't really know what you want to get (or if you're super rich and money means nothing). It's official - I don't like Christmas shopping anymore. Well that's until I find something else for Paul that I really like (fingers crossed). So tonight I shall brave the crowds again with some new ideas in mind! Fingers crossed the traffic and crowds are kind to me. And thanks goodness I only have 1 person to buy for!!

Wellington

Well I was just doing my daily perusal of the stuff website when I saw the coolest pic of Wellington. So I had to "borrow" it to put up on my blog.
It's amazing how after being in Brisbane for almost 6 months (yes thats right folks - almost 6 months) how Wellington looks so small! But I still love it :-)

New haircut

Well I finally got sick of my hair growing out and decided to get it cut yesterday. I figured that my hair grows quickly enough that I can grow it out in time for the wedding next year. And with summer being upon us my long hair was just too hot. Plus it was getting really ugly and boofy (hmm - that may not be a real word).

Sorry Tanz - I know you prefer my hair longer ;-) But I definitely prefer my hair shorter. And I've had lots of positive feedback from the guys at work so that must be a good sign since guys traditionally don't notice things like haircuts :-)

So after Paul got home from St Johns last night I got him to take a few pics. I haven't washed it yet so tomorrow will be the first real test of the cut. I think I'm going to have to buy a hair dryer though as my fringe has a major cowlick in it so it tends to go crazy when left to dry by itself :-)

Front view - don't mind the face ;-)
The hairdresser said my old sloping style was "dated" so she wouldn't cut it like that :-)
The front is long enough that I can tuck it behind my ears which is just the way I like it!!

The back view.
You will notice the top is quite long but the bottom is very short & off my neck - yay!

The side view.
Now it looks a bit more boofy than it really is as I had been slouching on the couch watching tv. It sits a little closer to my head than this pic (I think)

This that and the other thing

Man - what's up with the weather in Wellington lately! Go Wellington! I innocently checked stuff when I got into work this morning and there the weather forecast says the high for today is 20 degrees! So in disbelief I went and checked the metservice website and it reckoned the high for today is 23 with an expected high of 24 tomorrow! That's almost at Brisbane levels tomorrow - we're set for a chillier 26 with it getting back up to 30 by Monday. Although I don't really notice day time temperatures as we have air con at work and it is freezing! Way too cold aye! It's a bit of a shock (first go at writing that I put sock - whoops) to go out at lunch time sometimes when it's 31 or 32 outside - like walking into a wall!

Well I went for my first run in a few months last night - very tiring!!! I figured out on google maps that it was about a 4km loop around the railway line - down to Oxford Park station and back around past Grovely station where Paul and I catch the train from every day (you can see it at http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=14388927970835008790,-27.403904,152.967985%3B6500185445753650216,-27.407625,152.972365%3B12719500060159039039,-27.400950,152.963274&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=83+woking+street,+keperra,+qld&daddr=Cribb+Ave+%40-27.403904,+152.967985+to:Scanlan+Rd+%40-27.407625,+152.972365+to:-27.401032,152.963998&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=16&via=1,2&sll=-27.40295,152.965245&sspn=0.013735,0.028667&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1)
It's pretty easy to extend it as well as I get a bit fitter as I can just go another block down the train line towards Mitchelton:-) Paul biked to work yesterday morning but I don't think I'm fit enough to give that a shot yet as it's just under an hour of hard biking. I can go for a run ok but I'm not very "bike fit".

Well I haven't really talked about anything very interesting in this post - it's been more of a brain fart. But oh well. So just to continue on that path - Paul and I bought ourselves a bbq from Bunnings last night. They're great as they're open from 6am till 9pm so you can go whenever. You won't believe the number of businesses over here that are open 9-5 Monday to Friday and maybe Saturday mornings and that's it. So go Bunnings! Actually no bad Bunnings as Paul and I have spent way too much money there lately. What have we bought - from memory:

• BBQ
• Pots & saucers to re pot our house warming plants. (2 cool self watering ones so Ange can't over water the plants)
• Potting mix for above
• 2 10 metre lengths of grey water hose to pump our washing machine water onto the trees.
• Watering can
• 3 Rubbish bins
• Rust off stuff
• Turps or Meths or something that Paul needed (aka Man stuff)
• 2 of those briscoes type fold up chairs
  
• Garden fork
• A little garden fork and spade thing
• Line trimmer (needed for doing edges when moved out of old flat - evil property manager)
• Mulch for the big trees
• Gardening gloves
• Electric bug zapper for outside
• Broom
• Brush and shovel
• Padlock
  

Now I'm sure there's probably a few more things that I have forgotten - but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. So you would think that's all we could possible want right - wrong! I actually want everything in the shop - but that's besides the point. The next things on our list are:

• Fertiliser for the plants (they were out of stock of the one we wanted last night)
• Potentially one more pot
• Spade (when we decide to build a vege garden - but that has to wait for a rain water tank)
• Outdoor table and chairs
• Lawnmower
  

And everything else I may want will probably remain on the want list as we have to start paying off the mortgage :-( Good thing we got our full bond back from Chermside or we'd never have been able to afford half that stuff.

Well better do some work now.

Latas
Ange

The team golf photo

Well i didn't have any photos but here is one that Brooke took at the first tee :-) This was just before the rain shower that made the morning really muggy. Then the sun came out and it was all redness from there on out :-)
My bosses are the 2 in the red shirts - Pete on the left and Gary on the right.

Back to work but only 2 weeks till Christmas!

Well I'm back at work on a Monday morning after having 3 days off work. Well technically only 2 but having our work Christmas do on Friday was pretty much like having an extra day off. And it came at a good time too as I was at that point where you just don't care anymore. There is only so long a person can run in overdrive - and I'd been doing that for quite a few weeks. So as you can imagine I am definitely looking forward to the Christmas break! And the best part about it - Paul and I don't have to drive anywhere - YAY! On Christmas eve we will go home from work, sit around the house and then go to "midnight" mass at 10:45pm (mass is at 11pm but with carols at 10:45pm). Then we will go home, go to bed, wake up, open presents (yay) and still not have to drive for 8 hours anywhere. Of course the downside is that we're by ourselves for Christmas - but oh well!

I forgot to bring the cable from my camera to work to I can't put any pics up from the Christmas do on my blog today. But I had the best work Christmas do ever - and it pretty much didn't involve any alcohol so how good is that!

We went out to the Royal Pines Resort golf course on the gold coast and played 18 holes of golf. And it was so much fun! We were playing 3 man ambrose - everyone hits the ball and then you pick the best shot and play your next shot from there. I had one of my bosses in my team and he plays golf about once a week and could hit the ball for miles! So that was really handy as frankly my drive left a little bit to be desired. It would have taken me a long time to get down some of those fairways aye!! However I did a couple of good drives and a few good shots from partway down the course. Also thanks to Dad taking us to put put golf as kids lots I could actually put ok :-) And it was very cool driving the little golf buggies around the course - wahoo :-)

Anyway after 5 hours of playing golf in the blazing sun we were all pretty tired and hungry. So we went to the resort pool where we had a huge feed put on for us and all you could drink alcohol for 2 hours. However we were all far too tired to get tanked so I had 1 beer and a bubbles & OJ mix (really refreshing!). I'm such a booze hag aye ;-) Then after lunch (lunch having started at 3pm) a bunch of us went for a swim - that was so nice :-) Afterwards half us came back into Brisbane and went to Lock N Load in West End for dinner and a drink. And can you believe it they served Monteiths Summer Ale! I was in heaven! Paul came in and joined us and we hung out there for a few hours until the stragglers decided to go clubbing. However I was too tired, too poor (had used my $35 I'd saved up on dinner and a couple of Summer Ales) and was wearing shorts & my tshirt from golf so Paul and I caught the 12:43am train home.

So ... the moral of the story!
Christmas events do not have to be big drunken affairs to be fun! I'd much rather do something active and fun and get to know my work mates better (and remember it) than get drunk and (frankly likely) embarrass myself!

Anyway so got to do some actual work now :-)

Ange

p.s. Yay - Paul and I finally get our phone connected tomorrow!!

1 year till the wedding

Yes that's right - it's exactly 1 year until Paul and I get married. Exciting aye! Whats really funny about it is that I wasn't actually the one who realised this - Paul did and had to remind me when we met up for lunch today. Cute aye (yes yes I know - stop gushing Ange).

Hmm - 1 year to go! Lots to organise in that time. All we have so far is the church and the reception locations booked. Better start looking for that wedding dress! Oh yeah and better sort out the guest list aye ;-)

Well better get back to it! Busy as always!

My first walk to work!

Well this morning was my first walk to work from the new house. And it's definitely quicker which is very good.
In Chermside I caught a bus every morning which took about 30 - 55 minutes depending on traffic (average was 40 mins) - plus a 10 min walk either side.
Now it's a 10 minute walk to the train station (past Eagle Boys, KFC, Video Ezy & Maccas - bad!!), a 30 min train ride and a 5 minute walk to work. Much better! It's not so good for Paul though as the bus used to stop right outside his work but now he has to walk about 10 mins from the closest train station.

Well have lots to do. My brother and his misses are flying out of Brisbane back to Wellington after a wedding in the gold coast over the weekend. So I'm going to be having a coffee with them at some stage today. That on top of being so busy at work is going to make for a long day (week). At least I have our Christmas do on Friday to look forward to. We're going out to a resort on the Gold Coast (something Pines) and we're playing golf and then having lunch. Should be awesome! Work is picking up the tab for the bus out there, the golf game and lunch so all we have to pay for is the golf clubs and any food/drink outside of lunch - seems pretty fair to me!

Better go. Hope everyone has a fab week!

Ange

p.s. Paul just sent me the following link in an email. I've seen it before but it's still good :-) http://home.versateladsl.be/bavertel/fun/swf_ani/monitor_cleaner.swf

House warming gifts :-)

Well this will have to be a very quick entry as I'm in at work on Sunday. Since we can't get our phone connected till Dec 11th I'm having to use the internet at work to check emails etc. And since settlement on Thursday turned into a nightmare I have a bit of work to catch up on.

Anyway we moved in to the new house on Thursday night and Friday ok. We were blown away on Friday when we came home from one of our many trips between Chermside and Keperra to find a whole bunch of plants and a bottle of nice bubbly on the deck. These were a house warming present courtesy of my family in the UK. So a big thanks to Marea, Dan, Mum, Liam, Jules and Matty :-) I knew Marea was organising something but was only expecting a single plant. So To find all those was amazing. In fact I'm pretty sure my first words were "Oh wow"!!

I took a few pics at the time so that the family can actually see what they got us :-) We've since bought a couple of pants with drip trays to move a couple of plants inside :-)

The plants on the deck as they were when we got home :-)
The green of the ferns looks really nice against the deck & house colour.

Ange getting a bit keen to crack open the bubbly

A side view of the plants on the deck looking into the house

Paul getting confused about whether he is man or dog

I've moved one of the plants into the hallway. The hallway looks much nicer now :-)

A couple of pics of the house not yet seen (weren't on the real estate ad)


The laundry and old back door.
Lots of laundries in Brisbane seem to be external. The view of the back yard extending out from the deck.
The old owners left an old rickety table behind so that should do quite nicely until we can afford our own one :-)