Happy Australia Day!!

So its Jan 26 today, (well, for me right now, anyway) which means it Australia Day for us. YAY!

I love Australia Day. I love Australia, so its a given that I LOVE Australia Day. (Greatest place on earth - just saying)

I had to work today, (SUCKS), so i didn't get to go celebrate out on the streets or anything fun like that, but living in the city - where people come to celebrate cause there is big festivities - i saw everyone coming in when i was leaving and hanging around when i came back in after work.

On my way to work it was great, loads of different people of different nationality's (is that what it is, if they are all Australian? Or is Cultures the right thing? They weren't all white Australians is all) all wearing the Australian flag, either as tattoos, shirts, hats or had flags.
It was a great feeling.

Then off to work....

Now my work has a dress code. No thongs. So sadly, even though they are iconic Aussie footwear, i didn't wear any. :(

BUT!
I did wear Jean shorts and a Bonds (wifebeater) singlet.
Iconic Australian Wear, i must say.
Sadly, i didn't wear a flag at all though. :(

Ive mentioned my work a few times here, basics are i work in a call centre, part of my job is to take calls from the offshore reps when they need help.
These are people in an Asian (i guess you would call it that?) country,that are trained to speak with an American accent to help Australian customers. Makes sense right?
Anyway, i no longer really notice the account, but today when they were wishing me a Happy Australia Day, and saying GoodDay (or i guess trying to say G'day) i noticed and it made me feel so much pride.
They aren't even in the country and the euthesium in their voices when they were saying it, was great. Just great.

Fast forward 6 hours or so......

I finish work and get home to find the husband has bought PRAWNS (NOT Shrimp) for tea. Yum!

....the only other acceptable thing to eat today is Lamb. Cooked on a barbeque, after being encouraged by these... Seriously watch them. I'll wait.

AND....
I managed to watch part of the fireworks in the reflection of buildings from my balcony.

So.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY to you whereever you are. I hope your day is/was/will be fabulous.

Christmas, 2010, and all the rest

Part 3.

So on Boxing day we have a family get together with my Dads family, at my Grandmas.
For as long as i can remember, we would always go there, see my Grandma, Pop, Aunts, Uncles, and all my cousins.
My grandma and Pop lived in the same house they bought my Dad, Uncles and Aunt up in, so its great.

I have missed these for the last few years. Either through having to work, or being down with the Husbands family. While i didn't really mind it, I missed my Grandma. A lot.

My Pop passed away a few years ago, so my grandma has moved houses and its different now.

We tried going to Aunts/Uncles houses instead of my Grandmas but it wasn't the same, so we always came back to her house. (Also there is a bit of infighting within the family -what family doesn't have that?- so if it was at this persons house, this person wasn't going to show etc etc).

This year, my little sister had to work, so she didn't come, and my older sister was hanging out with my Mum, so she didn't come either. Just Dad, Kez, my Brother and Me.

Now, keep in mind, the last time i saw all the family, it was a few years ago.

So, We show up and yeah...

Throughout the day, some of my cousins showed up.
One of my cousins is 19.
(18 is the drinking age here, keep that in mind).
My cousin was bragging all about how she goes out and drinks all weekend. OK, i thought... 19 yr olds do that...
Then she started talking about how she has plans for the future..
Her plans, you may ask?
She aspires to be one of the following:
~ Playmate of the year 2012.
~ A Jim Beam Party Girl
~ A Jager girl

Now, i know what you re thinking.
Surely, she can't be serious.
Oh, but she is.
My gosh.

Next up, she was talking about how she couldn't eat lunch, as then she would have to have ONE WHOLE EXTRA DRINK in order to get drunk that night.
Indeed she did vocalise this to everyone who was eating.

Well then.

The rest of the day was great.
Got to spend some great time with family i haven't seen in ages and it was good.


----------------------------------
Sisters Birthday.


So for my sisters birthday, we were to have lunch with my Dad, Kez, other Sister and Brother, and then have Dinner with my Mum.

We ended up doing those things, and had a couple of drinks on the way too.
Apart from spending time with ALL my family that day, there wasn't really anything majorly major happen. Apart from the birthday and cake eaten of course.
But a good day was had.

OH! Almost forgot. Got her the most amazing card ever.



Awesome no?

Christmas, 2010, and all the rest

Part 2

Christmas.
My awesome dad woke me and my sister up. Early. Not on purpose. But it was early. Like before 8am.
None of us are "children children" anymore. My youngest sister is 15, brother is 17 and my older sister is 27 (or was on the 27th of December). So none of us have that, wake up really early , has Santa arrived yet, excitement. Its generally about spending the day together for us - or at least for me anyway.
Plus we usually have to wait for my older sister to arrive to do the presents thing together anyway, and she is ALWAYS late.

This time, we didn't wait. And it was good.


Just a little background...

My Dad and Step mum (Kez) have been together since i can even remember. Whenever i have a memory of my dad, i have a memory of Kez also being there. I'm 25. That's how long they have been together. But they have only been engaged. Never married. Could never really afford it. (To be honest, Kez kept saying on Christmas day how long they have actually been together, but i have forgotten).

So, My dad is usually the one who plays "Santa". He usually hands out the presents, but no Santa suit.
This year, he said someone else to do it, My brother volunteered*.
While i don't have any pictures of the tree, we usually have presents underneath and IN the tree, Dad had bought Kez something from the jewelery store and put it IN the tree, in its original jewelery bag.
So of course, my brother gave that one out first, cause we all wanted to see what was in it. :)

My dad wrote a cute hand made Christmas card saying something like, "I love you, This is the year, pick a date" (I don't remember exactly, but it was super sweet AND he is super known for not showing emotions). That set Kez off on the tears. Happy tears, of course.
Then she opened the present and in it was two wedding rings.
Crying. Crying. Crying.

We were all happy, and it was great.

Then she opened the present that me and the husband got her.
This.



Only with our initials. My two sisters, brothers and dads.
It can be found here if you want your own, i would recommend it!
This caused more tears!
While my older sister and i may never have realised it, she loved it so much, cause I had put our initials on it, (my younger sister and brother are her blood), she was so happy, cause we had 'accepted' her.


THEN!! (YES, it does get EVEN better!) My little Sister, who just got her first job this year, decided she wanted to get everyone their own present from her, with her own money - BLESS!- and she got my Dad and Kez a calender with photos of our whole family on each of the months, and a picture of each of us on all our birthdays. It was the sweetest thing ever.

LOVE.

The rest of the day was spent eating and drinking (tequila shots are always fun.) and just spending time together.

LOVE.


Part 3 continues onto Boxing day, and the 27Th which is my sisters birthday.


*He volunteered, as i found out later, as knew that he was getting clothes for Christmas and had gone out the weekend before... Needing clothes to go out, he opened one of his presents early, worn the clothes, washed them, wrapped them back up and stuck them back under the tree. Sneaky one, my brother.

Christmas, 2010, and all the rest

Part 1.

So i haven't posted in a wee while, and that was mainly 'cos i had no computer, but i thought i would come back. :)

Christmas.
Christmas was amazing. I don't think that i have heard anyone say they had a bad Christmas- wait, i had one friend who got sick on Christmas, apart from that. It seems it was great for everyone.

Ok. Christmas.
This was the first Christmas that i have spent away from the husband, since we have been together. He left to see his family in another state the morning of Christmas eve. I had to go to work that day and then i was off to see my family.
We usually do the whole, spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning/lunch with one family then on Christmas day, fly down/up to the other family and spend Christmas night and boxing day with the other family.
Loads of travelling.
I'm usually back at work on the 27th, (which is also my older sisters birthday-the 28th is our nieces too), so I'm spending almost every second of my 'holidays' travelling. Full on.

But this year, we were separated. It was hard. At first.
Then i got distracted by work and travelling to see my family and distracted by them, and it was OK, cause we had sms, and phone calls, and it was hard, but OK.


So anyway, onto the good of Christmas.
Christmas Eve.
While i had bought the husband a present (even though we both said no presents), and sent it down to his families as a surprise, we have raffles at work for random things. Iphones, ipads, xbox kinnects, etc etc. No one (in my department) ever knows who wins, so we all think its a rort, but it doesn't stop me from buying a ticket.
So Christmas eve, work was quiet and one of my guy friends at work desperately wanted to win this raffle -he spent $40 on tickets. I was bored and had spare cash in my wallet, so i bought 3 tickets ($10).

I was supposed to finish work, but was bumming around, cause i was a little afraid of lugging my heavy bag chocked full of presents to the train -I do not know how Santa does it ;)- turns out while i was bumming around, my manager was looking for me, cause i had won the raffle.
What did i win, you may ask?



I'm not even certain what it does, can do, and i think its like an ipad, but meh.

But it made the husbands Christmas a little more surprising. I felt so so so bad for my friend who really wanted to win, and didn't though.

Then i travelled up to my family, saw my cousin and her little baby and it was a fantastic Christmas eve.



Christmas day will be continued in another post.
I was going to do it all in one post, but this was like 15 pages long.

Happy.

There are a few things that have made me happy the past little while, and i thought that that would be a good starting point back here.

Lets start with me thinking of 10 things, and if i end up with more, hurrah!

1. Christmas. Was amazing. Will post about it later.
2. One of my credit cards is paid off - well, some of it was transferred to another card, (at a cheaper interest rate) but same same. 3 to go!
3. I'm mostly loving work at the moment. Plus....
4. I applied for a new job, and while it was scary to apply and now wait, its a good thing and it makes me happy.
5. The husband got me a new computer for Christmas, and i just spend some hours catching up on blogs. Happy.
6. I have my sister in laws wedding next week, and while i have a dress and shoes, i gotta get a whole bunch more stuff but I'm not stressed about it.
7. Started to watch HIMYM season something ( i can't remember which) and its all episodes i haven't seen yet.
8. Now, don't judge me here..... but Jersey Shore. I have Foxtel, (cable i guess) and recently discovered MTV was added to my package, and i watched Jersey Shore for the first time. So terrible i couldn't turn it off.
9. The Husband arranging and booking our next holiday. Bali. Yes, i may seem like a Bogan Orstrayan, but I'm not.
10. WEDDINGS. I have a bunch either this year, or in the coming years. And I'm super excited.
11. Out of the blue compliments. I don't usually like compliments, but it did make me feel good.
12. Clean Laundry. Esp fresh from the dryer.
13. Not loving the heat right now, but the storm we just had, and the thunder rumblings. Beautiful.
14. Sleeping through (almost) New Years. Had no plans, fell asleep on the couch, woke with 5 mins for the fireworks (which are actually just down the street from our house - but we be lazy), and hearing them outside and seeing them on the TV, and then going to bed right away.
15. The husband cooking me dinner. It took him awhile to get it started, but it will be delicious to eat.
16. Happy friends. I haven't (that i remember) have any get sad or cross or cranky since Christmas.
17. Lie to Me. When we finish HIMYM we got Lie to Me to watch and they are just both awesome.
18. Before I die, I want to... Even though some of these are so sad -the hospice ones especially- but they make me happy about life.

I am loving this year sick.
And i could probably continue this list, but my dinner and HIMYM is waiting for me.

Happy list...

So its valentines day this weekend, and while i have a valentine, and we have plans to go to the movies, i didn't want to blog about valentines day, like many bloggers have. Not that its not great, but it kinda sucks. Lets be honest. The pressure is worse then a birthday or Christmas, and if you love someone, you should tell them every day,not just one day out of the year.

Anyway, so i thought i would make a list of things that make me happy, and not talk anymore about valentines day.

Happy list.

1. Children. When they are questioning and just being is amazing.

2. Rain.

3. POSTCARDS! I was having a kinda crappy day yesterday, but then i got two postcards and BING! day turned around.

(postcard wall at work)

4. Tourists. I love the tourists that come into my city. I like being able to share it with them.

5. The Cross.

6. The park and fountain next to my house.

7.Family. No matter, whenever i see them, i always am smiling.

8. Cupcakes. The lamington one is to die for!

9. Paying off debt. A bit boring i know, but knowing that the owed amount is going down rather then up, makes me happy.

10. Facebook stalking nuff said. ;)


So i think this is gonna be a ongoing thing and I'll just keep adding to it, and hopefully, it will be longer then my 'things that annoy me' list. :)


PS. Spell check, LAMINGTON is a REAL word!!

Stuff that happened.

Today is my two year wedding anniversary.
We're having pizza for tea and then watching Dexter and that's it.
Last year, we had KFC. (and i don't think Dexter was involved).
We're low key like that.

I like it.

Maybe if our anniversary fell on a weekend and not a day we both had to work, we would do something but meh, either way, I'm happy enough.



Yesterday was my works first Christmas party.
Well, really it was the social clubs party, but same thing in my mind.
It was a cruise and it was quite fun.
My feet and legs were hating on my today though.
And my head was not nice to me either.
And i would like a LOT more sleep.
But it was worth it.

I'm a little bit more excited about the next Christmas party though.


That's all i have for now, cause I'm waiting on my pizza and am getting cross.

Yesterday

Spent a day with the God kidlets.

Fun was had by all.





PS. Although the God parental ness was given to me, I would love them nonetheless.

Prettiness in the Park

People are making Kings Cross super pretty and making me smile everyday.

For more info go here.

In other news, went to Trivia with my work last night. It was way fun, but there wont be a blog post about it, for two reasons.

1. I don't remember a lot of things from it.

and

2. the stuff i remember shall not be shared.