A Long Way Away

Yesterday the newest member of our family arrived. Little Thomas (who at 9 pound 7 (4.28kgs) is much bigger than little Chloe born 10 days ago...), was born yesterday at 9:15am local time. Mother and baby are doing well.

I was at work basking in the happiness of the news when suddenly it hit that I was not there to share this special moment with the proud parents (both people I consider to be friends with, not just related), and not be able to hold the little baby. (Something I'm sure BabyCakes is probably quietly happy to avoid... all those baby pheromones that make people want one of their own)

It was odd to suddenly feel the weight of distance anew, despite having come to terms with it an age ago.

I miss my brother, and his lovely fiancée, and I look forward to meeting their brand new little boy.

Ikea Furniture, Babies, Cars, Mobile Phones, eBay, Photographers and Dressmakers

Life has been busy. I shall endeavor to explain my title further....

Ikea Furniture
BabyCakes and I assembled flat pack furniture together - it MUST be love.... no one lost a finger, or even better, dignity (mind you BabyCakes did look on in wonder as I pulled out the instructions to read).

Our Ikea visit started (relatively) innocently enough one Sunday afternoon (imminent tax cheque burning a hole in our pocket given our constant saving-for-the-wedding/honeymoon focus) , with the purchase of some new bedroom furniture. Then my infatuation hit its first test of commitment - one box of flat pack furniture that had lovingly been wrestled in an out of the car was less than perfect - the pieces were damaged!

We assembled what we could (that which wasn't broken), and marveled at not only our skill in putting the furniture together, but our excellent design choices and late change in colour, whilst studiously ignoring the poor left over box of chest of drawers, to be swapped at a later date. The following Thursday we loaded up the Triton with the mangled box of Ikea parts, and headed back to Mecca, I mean Ikea. The return process at Ikea at 8pm on a Thursday night was surprisingly easy... they looked at the poor box of unwanted Ikea, didn't give us a hard time about the ripped box we returned it in (who worries about how the box gets opened when one is planning to keep what is inside??), or our desire not to just replace the pieces that were obviously damaged, but to get a whole new box and start over.

They credited the money spent back onto a "refund card" which was pretty cool, because as BabyCakes pointed out, it was a bit like spending money all over again.... We picked out a replacement, paid for it with our returns card and headed home.... I even waited 'till Friday to put it together and complete our bedroom furniture escapade...

Then BabyCakes' Mum wanted to get us our engagement gift, now that she's feeling much better and stronger. So, that Sunday we dutifully went back to Ikea and picked out our dining room table... and some chairs to match. The table is something we plan to keep for quite some time, deliberately buying an extension table to help us out with that goal. Thank you Mr & Mrs BabyCakes for our fantastic new table!

The table was exceptionally heavy, but very easy to put together - just add legs! The chairs however were a different story... once we worked out what the instructions meant it did go a lot more smoothly, but they were definitely the biggest challenge to motor skills that we have bought from Ikea so far!

They only had two chairs left on their shelves late in their Sunday... so guess what? We have to go back to Ikea again!!!

We also left BabyCake's Mum with a fist full of brochures for wall units for her lounge room (she likes Ikea almost as much as I do!), and I'm sure that we could be called on to help once she's made her decisions for that too.

Babies

In amongst all the Ikea visits life did actually keep moving, and BabyCake's cousin and his wife had a very cute baby girl on Sunday evening in Cairns. Baby Chloe was 5 pound 13 ounces when she was born (we'll call that 2.64 in metric terms). Mother and baby are doing well by all reports, proud Dad has sent through several pictures of their little bundle, with huge smiles all round.

My brother and his fiancée have moved past their due date on Sunday and are waiting on tenterhooks for the arrival of their first child too. Good luck guys! They also both started up blogs to document their journey (and have a place to write it down once and refer everybody to it...) Their Journals are now added to my list of blogs I read, check them out if you are interested!

We also found out that BabyCakes' sister is expecting, congratulations Nin, not only on the great news, but for winning the family baby race!


Cars
The Last Sunday in July sees the Queensland Chevrolet Car Club at their annual show and shine at Eight Mile Plains State School. Ordinarily, this event would not be top of my "things to do" list, but planning a wedding does strange things to you.... We saw a really cool car at the Hotrod show in at the RNA show grounds earlier this year, and we were hoping to see it again at this event. We did, and we finally got a chance to meet the owners of the stunning vehicle. This time round we were also able to get a bit closer up and fully appreciate what a beautiful car this 57 Chevy is. They have agreed to pencil in our wedding date and were very glad to hear that we had such strong feelings for their car. We haven't talked prices yet, but have swapped details, and acknowledged a definite intent! Yay! Now we just have to make some decisions about what the rest of of bridal party are traveling in!

(We've organised the bright purple car for the wedding, the other pics are cars I thought were cool)


Mobile Phones
We went and saw The Simpsons Movie. It was fun, just like a giant Simpsons episode in Cinemascope. The weird thing is, that the pre-show advertising caught me... Subsequently, BabyCakes bought me a very cool and very small limited edition Simpsons phone... It's bright yellow! It also has some of those wizz bang new fangled gadgets like a camera and polyphonic ring tones on it. (That's how up to date I am!). As I write this my phone number should have finished porting, in fact I literally got the text to confirm this as I was typing - spoOoOoky! So, I have now changed from Vodafone to Optus, not because I was in anyway unhappy with my Vodafone, but because the phone is locked to Optus for a bit, so it seemed easiest (and cheapest) to swap, at least for a while. Those of you on Vodafone, you will have to start paying for your calls to me, and those of you on Optus, you might get free calls to me... Mostly though.... how cool/cute is my phone??!!

You will be glad to know that even a Simpsons tragic like myself declined to stick the Homer "flasher" on my phone... it is a doo-hickey that flashes when one's phone rings... sad that THAT is the market that the advertising was aimed at, and I bought it.

Now I just have to keep plodding along with the arduous task of manually swapping my contacts over because the old phone wont swap information from phone to SIM and vice versa.


eBay
Last week I stumbled across what I deemed to be a bargain at David Jones. 3 books for $40, and included in that special were the last remaining first edition copies of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" I bought one, along with a copy of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" and "The Bride Stripped Bare". I mulled over my bargain as I went home, and checked out eBay. I was right, copies of HP & the Half-Blood prince were going for more than $13 each... That night I went back and for the princely sum of $40 started speculating on eBay. It was very exciting when my listing received its first bid, and the excitement waned from there as it hasn't as yet had any further bids. There are, however, 10 people watching it... and I haven't told 10 people about it, so there *must* be some more interested buyers lurking for that last minute bargain, mustn't there?

I saw too late (as I was peeling stickers off it) that there was a touch of damage to the dust cover of this edition, which is why it went up first (leading with the weakest). The other two copies (one an adult cover) I haven't quite decided how to manage. I could keep them for a while as they can only go up in value really, or I could sell them to get a quick short term profit.... ahhh the decisions! I guess it will depend on how my first eBay sale goes.


Photographers
I asked a question of my friends a couple of weeks ago, that it seems I didn't want an answer for. It was with regard to a wedding photographer... One of the hardest components to decide on, for me.

Our original budget for a photographer started at zero, then went to $500, then went to $1,500, and now is at the $2k mark... As you can see, there have been some changes in expectations of a photographer in that time. Photography is also something people comment on when reminiscing about their day, especially if they got it wrong. I've heard a couple of friends and family wish they'd chosen different people, communicated more clearly, spent more money or chosen a different photographer. My original thought with regard to photography was that the people were more important than the things. Documenting the day was important, but documenting the people was the goal. This still holds true, but the more I grasp how much we're spending on all the components, the more important that it is documented correctly becomes. I'll admit that there is also a part of me that figures that if we're getting all spiffed up like that I want some damn good pictures of me... it doesn't happen often that I like pictures of me, minimising the risk that I'll hate all the pictures of me seems like a good investment, and this is one of the few chances one gets a significant portrait done.

So, at the moment, the photographer I really like, no one is overly impressed with his offer. Fair enough. I met him, and I clicked with him, he said the right things, he impressed me. (Those in sales take heed - personal connections are important). He offers a lot of time with his service, and not much specifically to touch and feel.

Since then, a photographer who has been sending me fliers from pretty much the first expo I went to has come up with a "show special" that interests me. Her basic package was way over my budget, and didn't include ownership of the digital images, so I'd always discounted her. Now, courtesy of the man mentioned above, the price realisation kicked in, that if I want a professional i will have to pay for it... so her price is in the range (if not slightly under it), and then she added the show special of a disc of all the shots.... bingo! She has my attention.
Tonight we are going to check out her studio and albums... see her work beyond the glossy brochure she sent.

Of course, BabyCakes has to like the photographer too. I realised the other night whilst discussing our options, that the photographer we choose will be sharing and be involved with a significant proportion of our day, they HAVE to fit with us, they have to make sense for us, and what we need.


Dressmakers
Ugh. This has been a task that I thought was going to be much easier, and much more fun that it has turned out to be. I have some specific ideas of what I want, and it seems to simple to me, and yet, people keep telling me how much more difficult (and therefore expensive), it really is.

I've been in touch with two whose names I got from Gardam's Fabrics and am in the process of trying to get together for a meeting (and not embarrass myself like last time). It looks like the week after next I'll have a meeting, and go from there.

I'm glad I don't have the added stress of worrying excessively over the cost - I've been offered my dress as a gift so that I do not let the dollar signs influence my decisions beyond what I really want. Thank you!




Well, I think that is a big enough post for today. Hopefully I won't leave it so long between posts next time!

BabyCakes Has a Wallet!

You might think this a bit of an obvious statement, but we've spent two days looking for it, and asking other people to look for it in their belongings. It was on the top of BabyCakes' computer desk...

...enough said!

On with the more fun things.... I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today... it was fun, and an easy read, once I found the time to read it. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep knowing that the series is over. BabyCakes bought me the book on Saturday morning as he passed the table of them at Kmart. It is the first one in the series I haven't borrowed from the library, and therefore, the only one I read close to it's release date.


Life has been a bit busy of late, I was out at Farm Fantastic at Caboolture on Friday through to Sunday, helping a friend by trying to pretend I know something about plants. The first two days were long and tiring (and the 6am starts were tedious), but the last day hurt a lot. The tiredness settled, the aches felt like they'd never leave and the very slow customer flow was utterly demoralising. The morning rain showers did not help either (an outside stall). We had to load the vast majority of plants that had been brought from Sydney back into the truck as darkness fell on Sunday night. There was a (small) profit turned from the event, but the money was made not from plant sales, but from the extra paraphernalia of planter pots, hand painted resin birds, butterfly magnets and buckets. It was an odd experience. I'd never done an outdoor show selling plants - they've all been under cover or indoors in the past - the relentless wind and dust was draining.




I'm sure there has been more stuff since I last wrote, but I can't think of it at the moment!

I'm Getting Really Excited!

This week I've been looking at (in some detail) two big ticket items for the upcoming nuptials - the honeymoon, and the photographer.

For the honeymoon we are going to go on an Alaskan glacier cruise up the inside passage (not as rude as it sounds people!). I found this news article today, which has made me pretty much wiggle with excitement. I think that because I have been in contact with travel agents, and BabyCakes and I have settled on an outline itinerary that things are finally seeming very real.

It turns out that if one wants to cruise in May, now is about the time one should investigate them for the best (earlybird) prices. We've picked our cruise (best value for money for us), which fits into our schedule and now, I think just about all there is left to do is give someone money for it!

We'll also have a few days in Vancouver before we cruise, to hopefully catch up with my wifey and see the sights.

Yay!!!



I met a photographer at the weekend wedding expo I went to, which was really cool, till I read what his fee was! After much deliberation and to-ing and fro-ing I have come to the conclusion that I think I will regret skimping on this, despite how much I want to come in on budget for it. The budget has already been upgraded once to accommodate photography (not an initial priority), but the more time goes on, the more it seems necessary to get the *right* photographer for us. That's not the cheapest one, nor the most expensive one, but the one that will give us what we want, in a way that works for us.

Jason seems like a good fit, and a guy who has similar value structure to me when it comes to weddings! He shares copyright with the client, so we can get them printed anywhere, and he will have prints done for us, virtually at cost price. He and another photographer will be in attendance till the job is finished (no clock watching), and each picture supplied on disk will have time spent on it for colour correction etc. He has some spectacular shots on his website, and his corporate site has amazing photos too. I think the time involved alone will prove value for money, before the artistry of the shots are taken into account. I look forward to having some spectacular photos of our own.

What a HUGE Weekend

I found my new favourite bottle shop, went to a wedding expo with my Step Mum and Sister, ironed out details in my planned wedding dress, bought a new frock for a cocktail party on Thursday night and had my first ever golf driving range experience....

I almost get tired just typing it all out!

Golfing was kinda fun, and BabyCakes got *really* excited about doing it, which was great. It was good to go out and do something active (not quite "a work out", but better than sitting at home watching movies or playing video games). BabyCakes promises that I did "quite well for (my) first time"... I've been scared of golf since my teenage forays into mini golf... they took me long enough to complete! This is an effort to get past that, and try to learn new things, and most importantly, do active (non-passive) things with BabyCakes. Today was a good, and not too intimidating start - I only duffed a few of them, and even managed to get some fairly decent shots in! We'll probably do another range visit or two, and then maybe attempt a chip and putt course I found near my brother's place.

The cocktail dress hunting was a fantastically successful mission! I found a dress for $50!! Usually when I work out I need clothes for a specific event I can't find them. I found a few dresses to try on (a very few, but that is the joy about being a size 16 - apparently bigger girls don't need to look glamorous - only size 6 - 12s. The dress I came home with was not only one of the cheapest (yay), but the only one as BabyCakes pointed out, that did not require me pulling at it as I walked out of the change room.... I was surprised that the style was as forgiving as it is as it is a stretch fabric, and a dress that on the rack looks like a dress for those pesky size 10s! Now I just need some good "foundation" undies (I'm getting old) and I should be all set! BabyCakes was amazingly patient and a very diligent shopping offsider... he event went looking for dresses for me, and did not once complain when I suddenly stopped when I saw a dress in a window. He offered opinion when asked for it, and waited outside several dressing rooms without complaint. He even paid for the dress once it was picked!! - Back off ladies, he's mine!

The cocktail party should be fun... BabyCakes' cousin is in the Navy and his ship is in town this week. BabyCakes' cousin has invited us, along with more cousins, to come along to the party. - There have been threats for the boys to dress up as a construction worker, policeman, Native American, biker, and cowboy, so the invitee will fit right in, as he will be in his dress uniform! I think realistically, that it won't happen.

The wedding expo was great fun - M & L had never been to one before, so they were all right eyed and excited. I have now been to three, so was a touch more jaded and aware of how "samey" they can get. The three of us sent out our good vibes for me to win the major prize of $8.5k worth of professional services.... but I didn't win, which is fine, as it would have meant a few changes to the existing plans!! What the day did do, was give me a chance to talk over my ideas for my wedding frock, and as M is a very accomplished dressmaker, she's useful person to talk to such things about! We stopped in at Gardams and looked at both patterns and fabrics. Which gave me the strength to think that what I want is not as freakish as I was starting to wonder! They even gave me the cards of a couple of dressmakers to talk to. Hopefully I will find one that I can work with, as the last one I was hoping to talk to has left the country!!

It was a productive weekend. It was fun!

LOLcats - a fave of mine for a while...

I wonder how long till we see it on "Today" or "Sunrise" as a fluff piece now that the Australian mainstream media has found it? I love their very dry way of trying to explain how you at home can also make some lolcats! It should be pretty obvious how to do it once you've looked at a few of the pictures...

I'm so geeky, I went to the cheez to tell them!


My fave (set as my desktop, and has been for some time now) is :

Happycat has run out of happy :(

Life

Life is hectic, but then again I don't know many people that this is not true for.

We had a nice weekend (which flew by altogether too quickly), with a lot of impromptu catching up with friends and family we hadn't seen for what feels an age. We still have more people we need to catch up with, but we are slowly getting round to see people. - Pity the laundry pile is getting bigger!

The current cold weather is also conspiring to keep the bedroom in a state of mustiness, keeping the room closed up in an effort to keep the cold out, and the fact that it now takes a day and a half to get the laundry dry on the line - that's a long term commitment over the course of a weekend!

I feel the need to almost start the spring cleaning-esque stock take (and the subsequent clean out that tends to go with it) as I look around our den/office/computer room and the accumulated "stuff" that is starting to pile, most notably on my desk.

My boss hasn't contacted me to tell me if I work today, after a call yesterday, and one this morning, both unanswered...

I guess if I don't hear by midday I've got the day off....

Wrestling With A Wedding Budget

Yesterday I made an embarrassing mistake. I'd made an appointment with a dressmaker (for "the" dress), and whilst I had mentioned that price would need to be discussed, I didn't specifically ask for a ball park figure. So, my Matron of Honour (MOH) and I met up and went off to talk with the dressmaker.

I had been into the city prior to the appointment and had bought some samples to play with, so I pulled out my collection of pictures of dresses that had inspired me, and my fabric and colour swatches, and was having a lot of fun discussing length of dress, style, colour, sleeves vs. sleeveless. The dressmaker started an impassioned plea for upgrading my fabric to silk because "it is so much nicer", "the look is much better", and "it IS your wedding dress". I thought I did quite well not to fall off my chair when I asked how much it was, and she replied with a calm "$98 a metre" (instead of the $18.99 option I'd sampled). I knew the style of dress I want requires more than just enough fabric to wrap around me... considerably more - 4.5 to 5 metres of fabric in fact... and then it needs to be lined, the interfacing, boning, the other accent pieces and the petticoats and all sorts... I was getting dangerously close to my imagined budget in materials alone.

The dressmaker must have read my face at the same time, and asked me my budget, and did have the courtesy not to outright laugh at me when I told her, but I think there was a titter. Let's just say she thought there would be $1,100 labour alone - and that is with no beading, no train and no lace work.

I should not have been surprised. The wedding "industry" is built around the "But it is you WEDDING!!!!? THE most important day of your life.... " principle.

The pragmatist in me says it is ONE day of my life. An important one, don't get me wrong... but just one...

The suppliers focus on how everything must be "just so", whilst I try to come to terms with the single use nature of what it is I'm doing. I thought I'd managed to find a balance, until I discovered that most brides seem to think that $1,500+ on ONE dress is a reasonable thing.

We left the dressmakers and went for a cup of tea.

We then decided to go look at ready made dresses at a "clearance" shop, given that our girlie bonding over dresses had ended prematurely. It was fun. I tried on about 4 dresses I had no intention of buying... they were all at the $1500 mark, and if I wanted to spend at that level, I'd get a custom made dress.

As always, the last one I tried on was the one that worked best, and the lady was even kind enough to indulge me with a veil to complete the look. My MOH almost cried.... because I was looking very um "bride-y".

The penultimate dress had a neckline cut to the bottom of my bra... and if you know the size of my boobs... that's a bit much cleavage to be flashing - Dad's (imagined) threats of "You can't leave the house in THAT" is not what a bride wants on her wedding day... nor having to go to the wedding with a cardigan on over the frock one just forked out $1,500 for!!!


I had a nice day with my MOH. I do however, feel that almost back to square one on the dress options though. I do know that there are shops that have dresses in my price range, but they aren't the dress I want. I know the dress I want doesn't have to be that complicated to make.
I will chase up some smaller dressmakers that work from home. I would also consider making it myself, it is after all, a dress I plan to wear once.

Or, I might have to look at spending more :/

Nobody Move, I dropped My Brain!

We were given some movie vouchers for our engagement, which we used today to see Pirates of the Caribbean : At World's End.

It was good fun, and much more satisfying than the middle installment... I mean, it actually had an ending.


On the down side, I worked out that someone tried to break into my car last night... and made my lock kinda difficult to use :( It is the first time I've had to deal with such a dilemma, and it is weird! I'm pissed off that someone tried to violate what is mine... and that they damaged my car at a time when an insurance claim would not be financially viable... my excess is already prohibitively high!

Ahh, another life experience to learn from - I just wish it was an experience like the one I had last week.... of putting up a marquee.... THAT was a cool experience to have. They boys' heads managed not to explode from seeing a girl swing a sledge hammer either!

egads... has it been *that* long?

I'm back from our little holiday jaunt... we're home safe and sound, and the cat is glad to have some cuddles again.

1800kms by road really is quite wearying, but I will write more in the next few days as feeling returns to my butt...

Weirdness

I'm starting to have nightmares about the wedding...

I woke up in the early hours of this morning quite distressed because of a dream where I had been almost hysterical when I'd worked out that I'd made a very stupid and obvious mistake by trying to move the wedding overseas the week before the date.... Someone - I'm not sure who - talked me into it, and just as everything was getting set up I had a huge panic attack, realising that i was going to have 150 people turn up in Brisbane, not the tropical island I was on. So I yelled at and generally hyperventilated on Paul Keating - because he's such an obvious guest to have at our wedding!

I had another weird dream about the wedding last week too (but in the way of dreams I can't remember what it was now).

BabyCakes thinks this last one stems from the weekend, where we stopped in at the venue for the Engagement Party, and found out that we and the venue had a different understanding of what we were hiring. We found out we didn't have the space allocated that we thought we did. There was a HUGE miscommunication because they did not clarify and I did not clarify - they knew what they thought they were asking, and we thought we did too, but we didn't. I'm just glad that I have a week to wrap my head around it, because if I had turned up on the day to be told, I would have either cried or yelled - it was even pretty close when I was told - I started getting red, and then I processed the thoughts more, and got redder, and thought of it more and got redder.... I had to walk away and just deal with it without getting the staff there offside.

Now I'm at a point of "it is what it is" because we can't change it. I shan't be taking my business back to the venue for quite a while though.

Spectacular, Spectacular

Yesterday Baby Cakes and I went to the 2007 Brisbane Hot Rod and Street Machine Spectacular at the RNA show grounds. That is a picture of a $7.50 piece of paper (tickets were $15 and that's half of one...).

I had fun, the cars were shiny and pretty. BabyCakes had fun except for the fact that he only saw one person whom he knew. I tried to give him solace in the fact that whilst there might only be one person who he knew, his impact was such that the guy still refused to acknowledge him, 4 years after leaving the industry - I guess the paint business is pretty cut-throat!

We saw some pretty amazing cars, some for how low they were, some for how schmick they were, and some for the astounding design choices people make that don't gel with our sensibilities. I couldn't get over the pin striping on one car - they had spent so much time, effort and I'm sure money, on creating an absolutely seamless clean lined look and then put a pin strip on that looked like it had been done by a 12 year old boy with the wrong paint brush. It was a designed choice but it made no sense to me.

Equally stymieing but much more fun, was a Torana they put on a Dyno machine, just so we could see how much horsepower it had. It was a drag car which had the very cool number plates of "IN DEBT" which made me laugh. The MC then explained that the engine alone was worth $60k, and BabyCakes guestimated the total cost of the car around $130k. That's a serious hobby! The Torana had to be strapped to the Dyno with no less than 6 ratchet straps, had an engine of over 680 cubic inches and ended up on its second ear splittingly loud attempt that we saw, at the 719 horsepower mark. I think the street legal 6 cyl Mazda before hand managed around 370... It was loud and smelly, but impressive, made better for the fact that we actually managed to get a seat in the stands of the "Dyno Pit".

We saw some really cool 57 chevvies, lots of them, but this one was the stand out.

We will be trying to get in touch with the owners via the car club, to see if we can convince them to do a wedding *wink*

BabyCakes never ceases to be amazed what I can link back to the wedding.... He has admitted though that he's glad I'm excited by the wedding rather than the alternative!


We spent the rest of the weekend staying at BabyCakes' parents house. Mrs Cakes is not recovering from her chemo as well as we would have liked to have seen, and so we hung around to give both Mr and Mrs Cakes a bit of support and a bit of a change of pace. We managed to ply Mrs Cakes with a fair bit of food and some different food from that which Mr Cakes tends to supply. We also managed to impart tips and tricks of bulking out snacks and meals with vitamins and the ever important fluids. We were happy enough with the outcomes that we left ;) - BabyCakes probably would have stayed on a bit longer if it was thought to be useful. I'm glad on a purely selfish level that he's at home with the cat and me! :)

May the 4th Be With You.......

My brother sent it to me... I couldn't help but pass it on! (get it??? May 4th... that's today's date har har har!)

Yesterday was a big day for BabyCakes and I - it was our minus one anniversary... 12 months to the day of our wedding - how very exciting!!

We had also inadvertently booked in to meet with our celebrant yesterday, to make sure he was the right one for us, which on having a more in depth chat, he is! It seems quite serendipitous that our first official meeting was one year to the day before the wedding.

We filled out our Notice of Intention to Marry too, so the government knows we want to marry!


The day got bigger too.........




BabyCakes is now a one car man! Someone finally came up with the money for the Commodore. He's a young guy who works for an upholstery company, so he can fix up the interior which was starting to show how old it was... The guy was very excited by the work BabyCakes had done on it, saying "Everything I would have done, you did do!".

I hope he enjoys his new car, I know BabyCakes did. He's done exceptionally well seeing it go; some sadness, but overall, mostly happy... especially to have a big cheque in his hand!


Oh, and Happy Birthday for yesterday Carbs!

Fingers Crossed Still

BabyCakes has been given a deposit for his car. They guy who gave him the money has had his Mum and his Dad around to look at the car. They say the money will be in the bank on Thursday or Friday.

I won't be able to relax till I see the money in the account. Once bitten, twice shy.


We had our first money "discussion" on the weekend. It was weird.

Cross your fingers!

BabyCakes' car is still sitting out the front on the street. The good news is that in the past two days 3 people have been to see it, and more have registered interest. The most exciting news is the young guy that came tonight is bringing his Mum back to look at it tomorrow morning.

Cross your fingers (and anything else you can think of) in hopes that we might be able to sell it sometime soon.

I would rather the money in a bank account to go towards our wedding!

Tell me what you think....

For those of you that know me, feel free to go here and tell me how you see me :) Feedback can be given anonymously...

This is what people have said about me.


This one is the not so nice side of things (but equally as interesting - I guess there will be a few more anonymous ones there ;))

This is what people have said about me.

Where do the days go?

It's been a while since I posted. For a number of reasons. We've had some very busy weekends, mostly socialising with family.

We've been trying to sort out the finer details of the engagement party, and tie down some of the arrangements for the wedding.

Tomorrow night we meet with a wedding co-ordinator at our venue of choice. Hopefully we can confirm a menu and book everything in.

I found a very cool piece of software the other day called iDo couples edition. It is a piece of software to keep track of all the bits and pieces that go to making up a wedding... well most of the bits. I would like a little more detail/customisation to truly rave about it, but I'm picky like that! It has a 30 day free trial of it, which is how I have been using it. I think I will be purchasing the key though, unless I can find a better piece of software before then....

A Sad Day

Today my brother, who has recently come back from the U.S., told me his wife of four and a half years told him she did not plan to join him in Australia.

He's recently moved up to Rockhampton, having organised a job and a house, expecting that his wife and child would join him soon. Seemingly his wife did not expect him to do so well in providing these necessities and was almost upset when he called to tell her.

What this also means is that my brother misses out on seeing his son and given that he cannot go back to the U.S. for some time, doesn't have much opportunity to see him unless his (now estranged) wife brings the child to him.

I'm saddened for my brother and my thoughts are with him in this frustrating and devastating time.


Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that this is where things have got to. The longer my brother was without them, the easier it was going to be for her to not make the move. Shocking as it is.

Big Brother Blogger

My big brother has decided to start a blog (and continue it hopefully!) His blog is listed in the "Blogs I read" link section, and can also be found by channeling the Ramblings of Raoul.

He's a funny guy with a very um, unique persepective on the world. Reading our blogs together might shed some light on how/why we turned out the way we did! :P - Or it might not!


I'm looking forward to reading more about what is happening in his life - he's in the process of planning a wedding too (or at least his fiancé is!), he's starting his own business and has a 9-5 job as well. Should be a lot of blog fodder!

Shakespeare Like You've Never Seen Him!

If you've got some time to watch silly movies, these are fun :)


Tales for the L33t - Part 1 - Romeo and Juliet

Tales for the L33t - Part 2 - Hamlet