tuesday 26/4

tuesday was the end of our little coastal getaway and sadly time to come home. 

here are some holiday happy snaps from our trip. i love the beautiful beach shots.

we have another long weekend this weekend so we're heading to rainbow beach. 

have a lovely weekend everyone. relax, do something different or just have fun. 

monday 25/4

monday was anzac day and matt, jason, janet and i woke up at 5am, rugged up in multiple layers (socks with ballet flats are very fashionable at that time of day) and headed to the wauchope rsl for a coffee before attending the dawn service that was held in the main street. it was a special morning for me as i closed my eyes and thought of my grandad john who fought in world war two and of my brother who is in the navy today. i bought two pins from a soldier at work earlier in the week, one army one and and one navy one and wore them proudly. i'm not sure if any of my family at home attended a service and wore grandad's medals or not, i hope they did and one day i would like to. some touching words were said at the service, wreaths were laid, the bugle sounded, the marching band played, we sang the national anthem and as the sun rose i remembered them, just as the ode reads. when it was over i placed some rosemary by the memorial. rosemary symbolises remembrance and we all placed some on grandad's coffin before saying our final goodbye. the dawn service really does remind me of how lucky we are to have the freedom we have.

sunday 24/4

matt turned twenty five on sunday. it's hard to believe we met as teenagers and now we are in our mid twenties together. we had a lovely breakfast at home and gave him his present, a 'gopro' camera for him to capture his beloved spearfishing and dives. we then spent the day at the beach, soaking up the beautiful weather. matt and jason tested the camera out while i read my book, took a few dips and went for a walk over the rocks. we had lunch in town followed by a fast melting ice cream before heading home to his grandmas. this photo was taken before we all went out for dinner at the country club. he's wearing the shirt that i gave him on our first christmas together. he still looks as handsome in it as when we first met.

saturday 23/4

first real day of our holiday
sleep in
jam on toast
drink tea
beautiful weather
explore hilda's garden
wave to the express train
drive to port macquarie
choose a beach
swim
sunbake
read
relax
walk
nap
watch matt and jason spearfish
snorkel while holding matt's hand
lunch at the pub
lemonade
sand in the car
salt on our skin
wind in our hair
thinking holidays are the best
drive back into the country side
hot shower
wet togs on the line
evening nap
drop matt and jase off at the rsl to watch the rugby union
curl up to a movie and eat chocolate with janet and hilda
pick up the boys and hear their funny stories from the night
fall asleep exhausted

friday 22/4

on friday morning matt and i still didn't have any plans for our easter break. 

we had thought about going to perth or darwin but in the end it was too last minute, even for us.

matt came up with the idea of going to visit his grandma in wauchope, near port macquarie, in nsw. 

so we packed our bags, picked up his brother jason and commenced our eight hour road trip!

thursday 21/4

on thursday after work i went to the gym. my personal trainer took me through my new exercise program that i have to do twice a week... on my own. i am going to need some serious motivation for that to happen. i don't know that this wall would be the best to focus my attention on while attempting my work out. 

i'm home

 

hello! 

i'm sorry i dropped off the face of the blog earth last week. thursday flew by and suddenly it was friday and we were on the road to matt's grandma's house in n.s.w - our last minute easter holiday plan. with very little reception i didn't even log on to my laptop so i have lots of catching up to do, starting now!

chicken soup success

feeling very proud of myself, tonight i made a delicious homestyle chicken soup!

matt has been sick since sunday and i've been working my way up to making a soup for him. 

last night i bought him a chicken and sweet corn soup from a local chinese store... not quite

today for lunch i bought him over an organic pre made pumpkin soup from the shops... getting closer

tonight i bought all the ingredients and came home to make a chicken soup from scratch... success!

i didn't even cut corners with the ingredients, buying things such as thyme, parsley and whole peppercorns. it turned out perfectly, just like mums, and matt didn't have to intervene once! 

best of all, i'm hoping it makes him feel better and that it clears up the cold that i have coming on. 

in true pre-easter spirit

apart from my home made fried rice for lunch, all i have eaten today is chocolate.

lots of little eggs, a bigger egg and a large proportion of a milk chocolate lindt bunny.

easter is going to be the end of my healthy living idea but i plan on enjoying it while it lasts.

cleo and friends

"it's 1972. skirts are up, pants are down. girls can have anything: fabulous careers, fashionable clothes and oral sex."

tonight was spent with my two best friends watching 'the birth of cleo' on abc.

in between our chatter, laughter and thorough enjoyment of delicious pasta and far too much connoisseur ice cream, it was quite interesting.

i'm not sure if that makes dinner party #2 of our weekly dinner party plan all those weeks ago but i do know that it is my turn next so that i can repay my lovely masterchef friends.

we're planning on catching up each week to watch 'angry boys', chris lilley's new series that starts in may. if you loved summer heights high and we can be heroes then watch the trailer here and get excited!

love always

happy birthday to my grandad john for today.

we will never stop missing, loving or remembering you. 

love always jess.

easter

easter is getting closer!

but we still have no plans.  

i want to fly somewhere new. 

boy

such a heart warming new zealand film... watch the trailer here and be sure to hire it out next time you visit the dvd store. then if you like this (or love it, which i know you will), be sure to see eagle vs. shark. also wonderfully funny. movies like this make me wonder why i waste my time on american rom coms. 

need a read?

three books i couldn't put down

cherish every moment

my close friend lost her beloved grandad today

heartbreaking for her, as anyone who has ever experienced the same loss would know

she gave me a book for my birthday which is a life list for women. one piece of advice reads:

honor your grandparents

they love you in a special way that no one else can

this is very true for me and i have no doubt that it was the same for her too

thinking of her and her lovely family at this sad time

dream #284

tomorrow i have to pull out all of the clothes from my wardrobe, refold them and put them back in again - neatly. at the moment they are shoved in and spilling out all at the same time. i know i don't help the situation by going out and buying more but shopping is my weakness. this reorganise is almost a weekly occurrence. the space i'm working with makes it hard to see all the things i own and what i might want to put together as an outfit each day. this in turn means i tend to go for the closet thing that i can see and that doesn't require ironing. what i would give for a walk in wardrobe... i could hang almost everything and sort by seasons and colours and categories. if i can achieve that in life i will be one step closer to being truly happy. just look at carries from sex and the city 2. ok so fictional yes. but does that make me want it less?

certainly not.

this friday

i...

woke up really early. got a lift to work from a sleepy matt. had a funny cab driver for the ride to the airport. caught a 7:30am flight to sunny sydney for a meeting. enjoyed a creative presentation from our agency. now have a long list of things to go away and google. drank coffee and ate starburst chews, a good way to start the day. was given the guided tour of the agency and experienced what i like to call 'office envy'. they are so creative it's not funny, it wasn't long before i felt 'creativity envy' too. passed some time by creating a word find for dougal using the theme of dogs. completed word find made by dougal for me, themed with cat words at my request. flew back to brisbane and slept soundly on the plane with 80s music playing in my ears. more emails, more meetings, more notes, more work. late lunch at 3. left work at 5 and caught the train into the city for some 'me' time. had my fingers and toes painted in an autumn shade. purchased some very pretty pink ballet shoes... among other things. caught a cab home that had nice leather seats. lit some candles and read my favourite sections of the new frankie. ate watermelon for dinner. stayed up really late.

i heart it

kahli introduced me to this wonderful website called we heart it. here are some pics i fell in love with immediately. 

 

the simple things

simple but beautiful

catching the sushi train

sushi today with k.

love our lunch dates!

goal setting

i went to the gym tonight. woo hoo, about time. i signed up over a month ago to the gym near work and tonight was the first time that i stepped foot inside since signing up. not good! 

i am looking forward to a more active lifestyle, one of the reasons why i moved back to queensland in the first place. i have a nice young guy as my personal trainer and tonight he recorded my weight, measurements and skin folds (that wasn't at all embarrassing...) and he calculated my bmi and body fat percentage. i don't think i did too badly but i certainly have work to do. my goal weight is 60 kilograms which means i have 5 to loose. i can't remember that last time i was that weight and it's quite exciting to have a goal. 'a dream is just a dream. a goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.' i haven't quite decided on the deadline part yet. 

the last time that i was confident with my fitness and body was when i was training for the brw tri in melbourne. looking back it was really motivating to train for that event and to see all of my hard work pay off in the form of not drowning or collapsing during the tri! i really wish i had of kept up some level of consistency but it's never too late to get back into it. tomorrow night i am joining beth in a training session at her park so i am off to a good start at least. i just have to avoid the birthday cakes, morning teas, bowls of lollies and bags of chocolates that seem to constantly parade through our office. today two minties somehow made their way into my food diary... a moment of weakness perhaps! 

so why am i sharing all this? i hope that by writing it down on virtual paper and putting it out there will keep me on track. and don't worry, my blog isn't going to become a daily progress log where i record each and every thing i do or don't do. but when i do decide on a deadline i will be sure to let you know. wish me luck!

who can resist a thumbs up when you achieve a goal you never thought possible. clearly i can't!

happy to be finished! the ultimate reward was sharing it with my beautiful friends lu and kathleen

easter treat

how sweet is this easter garden tea party setting. it has inspired me to plan my own.

hot cross buns. chocolate eggs. tea in pretty cups. fresh flowers in little vases. divine!

fall in love

summer coda

australian film

love story

must see

miles away

long distance love. i wouldn't recommend it. feeling like this is just the beginning.

rugging up

autumn is setting in and i was feeling the chill in brisbane this week. lucky i had the beautiful warm loop scarf that my aunty rosie gave me for my birthday. it is so nice and cosy, i've had it on almost all week. it reminds me of melbourne and all the big lovely scarves everyone would wear down there. only you wore them almost every month of the year there. mine are in a box somewhere now, it might almost be time to get them out again. i always get excited for the colder months. the grey skies and rainy days bring out the wooly big jumpers, button up coats, beautiful boots and gorgeous scarves like these. 

dream time

tonight i am
feeling oh so very tired.

if only i could have a sleep in tomorrow. 

this afternoon at work i was feeling a little flat.
so dougal kindly lent me his ipod. 

it wasn't long before jack johnson
was filling my ears and soothing my soul.

 why has it been so long since i've listened to him. 

i used to play his music non stop. 

his songs are beautiful. 

my happy place.
on and on.

b is for

is for baby. my wonderful friend is going to be an aunt!

friday birthday fun

my actual birthday on friday was so much fun. as someone who doesn't mind the occasional limelight i was made to feel super special and loved and that's what made it such a good day.
i woke up early and went to pick matt up for our breakfast date.
when i got to his house he was actually waiting out the front.
that was a present in itself as i feel like i'm forever waiting for him!
we had a delicious breakfast (mine was not so nutritious though) and a cappuccino together.
i got to open my present and card, the card first of course. inside i read...
'i'm so lucky to have a beautiful girl like you in my life. i would be lost without you!'
very sweet and sometimes true. next i opened my present, a beautiful blue case filled with all kinds of estée lauder goodness. make up, skin care, perfume... what more could a girl want!
and at last, a girly present from matt. something it's taken me a few years to achieve.
he really was gorgeous, telling me all about each product and the process he went through to choose it.
then it was time for work. when i walked in my whole team was wearing party hats and yelled out a loud 'happy birthday' for the whole office to hear. i was so shocked, it felt like a mini surprise party.
my desk was covered in a happy birthday sign, balloons and streamers. my phone, computer, keyboard and mouse were also wrapped in streamers which conveniently made it difficult to do any work straight away. instead i replied to my birthday messages from my lovely friends and family.
our normally empty lolly container was full and i was given a cactus in a gorgeous turquoise pot and a bright pink birthday girl badge to wear for the day.

as i took everything in i noticed that there were pictures of cats and kittens everywhere.
my computer even had whiskers. i was presented with a card that had a white fluffy cat on the front (sound familiar?), a mug with a kitten on the front and my friend danielle had made cat cupcakes!
again, what more could i want on my birthday but than to be surrounded by cats!

we went for our morning coffee and then sat down to enjoy cake, all before 9am. not only did i have chocolate cat cup cakes, alice had made an amazing sponge cake. she was telling me once that her dad makes a killer sponge and i told her that it was my favourite kind of cake. well her dad has taught her extremely well because it was so so so good. fresh cream, jam, sponge, fresh strawberries.
already i felt extremely spoilt by the gorgeous girls and boy at work. the effort they went to really was unexpected and i am very lucky to work with such thoughtful people. plus i think they enjoyed it too! after unwrapping the streamers from most of things on my desk and doing some work it was time to head off for a sushi lunch at ginga in the valley. i love sushi and ginga is a great place to go.
the afternoon was spent discovering more cats. the girls had put cat pictures in all kinds of hidden places. i would open my book in a meeting and there would be one. then i'd open my draw to get a pen and there would be one. it really did go on all day as the girls promised!
that afternoon, just when we thought we couldn't eat anything else, we had some cheese, dip and biscuits and then the countdown for 5 was on. luckily it came quickly!
after we finished work a small group of us met up for a drink at the waterloo which was really nice.
they kindly helped me smuggle some clear straws out as we left as i couldn't find any for my cocktail party. how cool is that! so that was my morning and day at work.
all in all just lots of birthday fun. if only birthdays happened more often!

my birthday

best. day. ever.
and i can't wait to tell you all about it! but first i have a weekend brimming with pure enjoyment to attend to.
side note: if today is anything to go by, i have a feeling the next year will be something special. i'm going to make sure of it.

1/4/11

pinch and a punch for the first day of the month...

white cat in a party hat! i mean... white rabbits!