A few more things done

One of the most common questions I get asked these days is how are wedding plans coming along. Depending on my current mood, I give one of 2 answers, along the following lines, to this question.
(1) Yeah they're going well
(2) Argh, don't remind me, its getting to crunch time

Ha ha :-)

Well I can now say that plans really are starting to shape up. While we were in NZ I booked the ladies in for our hair & makeup appointments at Balliage (that's me, Marea, Fleur for the works and the 2 mums are getting blow waves). Over the past few days we have booked in the flowers with Bunches on Lambton Quay, bought a cake topper off trademe, ordered my wedding ring, tried on yet more shoes, emailed the organist, emailed the priest who is marrying us, emailed the church where I grew up to see if they can please please send through my baptism details to Wellington (I can't get married without that - we posted a them a form about 4 months ago - Paul's arrived about a week later but mine is MIA) and yes we even thought about sending out wedding invitations (yes yes we'll get there - te he - you all have save the date cards anyway - or if I forgot to send you that then I've verbally invited you, sorry Amz). Email is such a wonderful thing isn't it :-)

Today my wedding task is to organise printers for the invitations we aren't able to email out. Fortunately I have the address of one that my work uses so that makes things easier :-)

Right - back to work. Have a great day and take care :-D

RIP Kelly the dolphin

Very sad - Kelly, the last dolphin at Marineland in Napier has died. It's very sad - the Marineland dophins have been around my entire life :-(

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4689041a26642.html

Back in Brisbane

Well we are now safely back in Brisbane after a very busy week in Wellington. Paul and I got lots done for the wedding and also had fantastic times at our respective hens/stags dos.

Thanks so much to all of our fantastic friends who organised them for us - especially Fleur, Kat, Elo, Ben, Megan & Mike! A big ups to you guys and bear hugs all around!!

Also thanks to all of our friends who came along and shared it with us :-) Definitely a once in a lifetime event :-) Good old Paul didn't get to bed until 6:30am on Sunday! What trooper aye ;-) ha ha :-) Thanks to Maria & Peter for paying for our hire car and the petrol so we could get all the way over to Martinborough :-) I think it's a sign of the times that out of 11 people we could only rummage up 2 cars :-) And it was fantastic that Paul's mates flew down from Auckland for the night just to torment *cough* ... I mean delight Paul ;-) Ha ha. Thanks to Marea and Dan for their "presents" they sent over all the way from Europe (I'm not sure exactly where in Europer they were at the time.)

Also thanks to Mary & Pat for looking after us so well all week :-) We had a lovely time staying with you :-)

So I also finally booked the girls in for our hair and makeup for the wedding. We're going to Balliage Hair Design which is upstairs on Brandon St - conveniently around the other side of the block from where we are staying at the Quest apartments :-)

Another good point - I actually found my watch :-) YAY!!! Even though I had emptied out my handbag multiple times, as I was packing on Monday I found it right in the bottom in an area I never stick my watch! I was very very happy to find it as I was totally convinced it was gone forever! Phew!! See, I told you that St Anthony helps you find things!!

Right - best be doing somework as I have heaps on my to do list :-)

Off on my hens do

Well it's 9:24am in Wellington and it's raining and freezing cold. So I thought it would be the perfect day for my hens party :-) Ha ha! Nah I'm very excited about it. Lets just hope the weather in Martinborough is a bit nicer :-)

Off to NZ today ...

Yay - we're finally off to NZ this afternoon. First I have to get through a full work day though. I'm working till 3:45pm and then I'll walk over to central station, pick up my jeans from the dry cleaners (they're hemming them for me) and jump on the 4:11pm airtrain to the airport where I'll meet Paul. Our flight leaves Brissy at 6:40pm and we get into Wellington just after midnight!! What a long day!

I think Paul and I are going to freeze in NZ though aye! On the weekend we had the most amazing weather here in Brisbane! On Sunday it got up to 29 degrees!! We were in shorts, tshirts & jandals even! And today, even though the high is only going to be about 23, it is very very muggy! So I was walking to work in my short sleeved work shirt only this morning - and sweating even in that!! I think it may take a few weeks to get my body used to the muggy weather again after such a nice winter :-)

So in less than 24 hours I shall be in Wellington. YAY!!! I hope you're ready for the Ange invasion ;-) ha ha

Ten tips for a beautiful day

I just got this in an email from my friend Gavin. I thought it was really nice so wanted to share it with you all.

10 Tips for a Beautiful day

1. Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once

2. Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behaviour; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.

3. Only for today, I will be happy on the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also this one.

4. Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.

5. Only for today, I will devote myself to 10 minutes of good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul

6. Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it

7. Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure no one notices

8. Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will guard against two evils: Hastiness and Indecision

9. Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in the world

10. Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12hours, I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life

Our vege garden moves along

Our vege garden is moving a few steps closer. Over the past couple of weekends I have been staining the sleepers that will border the 3 garden beds. I've attached a few photos of the process.

A rough layout of the vege patch. Trying to see where all the boards go & whether the area is large enough. Looks like Paul will be doing a little more digging on the left side.
The design is for 3 beds with 2 narrow paths between them. The boards will mostly sit above the ground around the beds and the path end boards will be sunk down.

We have nasty ants in our lawn that really got stuck into me. That's why my posture isn't the best.

So that's the first lot of boards stained. Now I have to do the second set! It takes ages to do them as each side requires 2 coats. And you need to leave each side to dry overnight. So that's 3 days per board!! Guess what I'll be doing this weekend :-)