Category Archives: Life
Being Mrs George
So I have now been Mrs George, or ‘Mrs G’ as Dave’s students tend to call me for a whole 6 months and its gone really really quickly, in fact I can’t believe we are 6 months down the track, it just doesn’t feel that long. I have been trying to think of things I have learnt in the last 6 months or ways that I have changed, but to be honest, I still feel like the same old me, except that now when I go home Dave is there too, although it seems that if I actually want to spend time with him, I still need to pre-organise just like before. I am sure that I have changed because that is what tends to happen as you get older, or change your environment. I am sure I do somethings differently, I am sure I think about things in a slightly different way, but I think at the moment its safe to say there haven’t been any major changes… and if there have been I am yet to notice.
Anyway, seeing as I am really no different than I was before I thought instead of profound life changes I would share my top 10 moments of married life so far, some highlights if you will, of my first 6 months of being Mrs George, oh and they are in no particular order because they are all wonderful:
1. Our amazing suite at the langham for our Honeymoon… It was amazing, amazing views, amazing service, amazing company and just ask Dave… it was huge:
2. Our overseas honeymoon to Disneyworld and New York… what’s not to love about Disneyworld or New York for that matter… they are pretty much the coolest places on the planet. It was so nice after all the frantic planning and preparation for the wedding to just be able to hang out and do some pretty cool stuff while we were at it. I love all things disney and all things theme park so being able to spend 8 days in the most magical place on earth was beyond comprehension. New York was also incredible, because both Dave and I had already done the tourist visit of NY, we got to the live the high life, sleep in, shop, have dinner, see a show… awesome. Some particular highlights of the trip include:
– The first moment when you see the castle in disney world
– Being able to wear Miney Mouse ears for 8 days straight and being completely normal
– Standing in the warm summer night air watching the fireworks over the castle
– Rounding out our wedding experince by seeing Jesey Boys on last time
– Casually strolling through central park
– Church at Brooklyn Tabernacle – it was like sitting in a CD recording… amazing.
3. Being able to go away whenever we want, just because we can, no double checking with mum and dad, just packing the car and going, wether it be to Inverloch, Warnambool or just for a drive to who knows where. It’s nice to just spend that time together too. Oh and when we go away with the big band now we get to stay together… coz now we are married and all, no more 30cm rule for us.
4. Being Wifey… I think making Dave’s birthday cake and favourite meal for his birthday was fun, but I think more than that I have liked being a wife… not that I really have to do that much because Dave is a pretty much a Domestic God in his own right, but I do like making house.
5. Getting my very own Tupperware – what can I say no household is complete without it, and now I have some of my very own… filled with baking goodness
6. Being the proud Mrs George watching Dave do his thing during at school. I don’t think I could have been prouder than I was watching Davo conduct for The Sound of Music, or mastering the sound desk for Star Trek he is an amazing teacher and the school is very lucky to have him. He was also pretty impressive on the various instruments he played with the big band in Halls Gap recently… well I was impressed anyway.
7. Setting up our Christmas tree… I know its early and I have explained why, but this year it was even more special as Dave and I started our own tradition together. This will be the first Christmas I don’t wake up in the family home… but while I am sure it will feel strange, its exciting.
8. Lazy weekend breakfasts at our new favourite cafe right around the corner… going out for breaky is always awesome, but now that we have this little cafe that feels like ours, it makes me feel like a real adult.
9. Date Nights are even better now that I don’t have to drive home after or that Dave doesn’t have to leave… and with the new addition of the Star Trek Moives… they just got even better…
10. I am pretty sure the moment when I became Mrs George has been the biggest highlight of my year, maybe even my life… my wedding day was everything I could have hoped for and more, but nothing beats that moment when you realise its actually happened… your married, that’s it… and it’s the best. Just recently we got our photos back from our Amazing Photographer Kelly at Alexroad Photography… here are some of my favourites… oh and she has some favourites too check us out at her blog… Thanks Kelly for these amazing memories…
Wordless Wednesday
5 Reasons I am a Hoarder
Am I a hoarder? I feel like this is a terrible question for me to be asking, because I am really really really hoping that the answer is no, even though I already know in my heart that I probably am. It’s a good question to ask though, because I don’t know really know what the full definition actually is, I mean maybe I am not so bad, I am not collecting old TV guides or plastic cups, I am very happy to rid my life of unwanted trash, but I do find myself holding onto things that may or may not be sentimental one day.
You may remember that a few months ago now I wrote a blog all about the last few boxes I needed to unpack… in fact if you don’t remember and you are curious you can read/re-read it here… Anyway, I even admitted in the blog that the ‘last few boxes’ was actually more like 15, what I failed to mention is that those 15 boxes filled a room… and it looked kind of like a dump site… in fact although I am ashamed of it… this is what the room looked like at the beginning of August and at the beginning of September…
So while September was a massive improvement on August, I still had a lot of crap around. Since then, I have continued to work through the piles slowly but surely, but there is still a long way to go… but I have been very proud of the amount of things that I have just thrown out. But a little while a go my simply incredible husband surprised me by just organising the room a bit better, he didn’t actually unpack anything or throw anything out, because that is my job… and so it should be… its my crap, but he just moved it so that the room was functional, giving me my own space in our little house, which was overwhelmingly unexpected and now the room looks amazing and I now have my very own study!
Anyway, all this talk of sorting and the unveiling of a fully functional room has made start wondering whether or not I would classify as a hoarder, and why is it that I feel the need to hold onto things?
I think the answer is yes… I have a mild dose of hoardism… No, that’s probably not a word, but you know what I mean… but why is the real question and these are the top 5 reasons that I have come up with to explain why I hoard…
1. I am lazy
Instead of actually dealing with things when I get them, eg cards, bank statements, magazines, junk mail, important mail, receipts… I tend to say ‘oh I can’t be bothered with that right now, I’ll fix it later…’ but later never comes and what was one little piece of mail eventually turns into a large pile of unsorted paperwork and odd things.
2. I like to reminisce
I like to reminisce on most things, but in particular on my life… in fact I guess you could say that my little collection of blogs is actually just a form of hoarding… Anyway, in this, I find that having physical items, or written words help me to remember things that I had long forgotten, I guess it’s like my obsession with photos… I like to look back and see how I have changed, how my life has changed, where I have come from and what I have achieved… that’s not such a bad thing is it?
3. It’s genetic
Look… at the risk of offending her… I think my mum is a little bit of a hoarder too, and I think that this is where I have got it from. Mum loves to show us things from her past, her old houses, the streets she lived on, and anything she can find… and I think that this, mixed with the fact that I actually really like history and looking at actual belongings and writings of people from the past has made me want to hold on to a lot of my stuff so that one day I can show my kids… In fact you could probably say I am building a little time capsule of all that was and is me… just so they can sit there and listen to it, whether they like it or not.
4. You might need it one day
Look, you just never know when you might need something… a reference, an extra comb, a spare eraser… its all quite important really, there was a reason it all came into my possession in the first place so who am I to say that purpose is complete?
5. I watch too many cartoons
So this may be the reason most things never actually make it to the bin… I think I have watched too many cartoons and have started to believe that I will hurt the feelings of inaniment objects if I just casually disgard them, because lets face it, most of the cartoons I grew up with were about things that came alive when the humans were gone, or everyday objects that had feelings, dreams and lives just like you and I… Let me give you a few examples:
Toy Story 1, 2 and 3- Johnston and friends
- The Brave Little Toaster goes to Mars
- Raggy dolls
- Beauty and the beast
- Brum
- Budgie the Little Helicopter
- Super Ted
- Gumby
See what I mean… all normal things with a heart and feelings… wanting to be used and treated with kindness, not to be forgotten and then just tossed out with the rubbish…
So that’s my reasoning… I guess it doesn’t change the fact that I am probably still a hoarder… but it makes me feel better about it… oh and the problem seems to be limited to areas belonging to me… I have no dramas throwing out other peoples stuff… check out what I managed to achieve in Jake’s room on my Wordless Wednesday… Of course gloves and sented candles were requried… but now it looks amazing and there was no hoarding what so ever.
Wordless Wednesday
Christmas is coming…
It’s been a while since my last post, and for that I am sorry, I find it not only disrupts, I guess, the flow of the blog, but it also disrupts my ideas and thoughts that I want to share, but I guess it doesn’t really matter because I am back now, and do you know what? The countdown to Christmas is on… yes yes I know it’s still November, but I don’t care, if I could have Christmas all year round I would.
This week I have been reminded again how precious and fragile life is, and how important it is to spend time with those that you love and if you can’t spend time with them, telling them that you love them, because you just never know what is around the corner. I guess one of the things, among many, that has made me think about this is that Christmas is just around the corner, and in my brain Christmas = love and family.
So Tuesday, which those of you fellow Australian’s would know was Melbourne Cup Day, Dave and I continued on a family tradition of mine, putting up the tree. I guess being salvos the cup has little meaning for me, and don’t get me wrong I love having the public holiday, but when you take the drinking and gambling out of horse racing there isn’t that much left… I am sure others would disagree, but it just doesn’t do it for me. Generally I still pick who I think will win, but other than bragging rights to anyone who will listen, it doesn’t go much further, and just for the record… yes in the past I have picked the winner… Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make is that seeing as we get the day off to spend with family and friends, this day has often given my family and I the chance to stop spend time together and actually put the Christmas tree up. I think we put it up so early for a few reasons:
- Mum loves decorating the house in all things Christmas, something which she has passed on to me.
- Putting the Christmas tree up is a whole family game, everyone needs to be there, well as many as can be, because that’s what makes it special
- The sooner the tree goes up, the better…
So this year, being the new Mrs George, I decided that this was something that I wanted to keep going with my new little family, so tonight after tea, Dave and I started the process of ‘Christmasfying’ our house… and I think we did a pretty good job, in fact you can check it out for yourselves below…
I am really looking forward to Christmas this year, I am not sure why, it can be chaotic, depressing and frustrating… there are some obviously good parts though I guess, maybe I am just hopeful it will be a peaceful and loving day, maybe I’ve just listened to Michael Buble’s amazing new Christmas CD once to many times already and have become deluded… Who knows, but I guess the reason for the season brings hope and life to all… so maybe I will just keep holding on to that and wait and see…
Wordless Wednesday
Tough Questions
Last night at church we had our second panel type set up for the year or the as we spread across the twittersphere #bhsaforum, the night’s questions we’re all based on the idea of ‘taboo’, things the church doesn’t talk about and was designed to give people the opportunity to ask questions they have always been afraid to ask at church. From where I sat in the sound room, playing my hand at social media junkie, and following in my brothers (yes plural, and yes both my younger brothers are much better at it than me) foot steps of multimedia genius, the night was a success, in that questions were asked and wise honest opinions were shared and I left feeling like I had a lot to think about and a few more answers, not all the answers, but a least a few more.
But I guess the night got me thinking of why people are afraid to ask questions like this, I guess the world has this idea that the church is supposed to have black and white answers on these often very grey issues, that we as a body of Christ should be able to offer decisions and guidance in these messy parts of life and I think that perhaps it isn’t that easy. For sure there are things that the church does have a black and white opinion on, but there is lots of situations where it all gets a bit confusing and the answers aren’t as clear or as direct, but, I think
that’s ok.
To be honest, I don’t think we are supposed to have all the answers, because if were able to do everything without seeking and searching… why would we need God? And yes the bible is there as a guide, but I think that God chooses to leave somethings a little harder to decipher because he wants us to seek him, and ask what he would have us do. I think its ok to doubt and question, because out of the seeking of answers we grow. If we never challenge anything, we never need to grow.
I guess I also think that often there are clear answers, but they are often confronting and hard to teach and perhaps instead of embracing these we shy away from the complete separation that holiness calls us to. We get torn between the challenging life of purity and holiness that God calls us to live and the message of love, grace and mercy, which is also true, because sometimes it can be hard to work out how the two fit together. I think we also forget the church is made up of sinners, so that while we may know the answers, lots of us struggle to live it out day to day and so, we are afraid to give the hard answer because when we do because we have fallen short so many times before, we get labelled hypocritical.
The thing is though, when it all comes down to it, God’s standards are high and hard, and we all have fallen short, but because He is love, life, hope, forgiveness, mercy and grace and because Jesus has already paid the price, if we are seeking Him first and above all other things, it’s ok. Oh and I think when we offer God’s answers and speak the truth, rather than ‘the churches’ answers and actually say that they are His, then, while we still remain accountable for our own actions, if/when we fall short, God is bigger than that, and there is no one better to use us in our weakness than Him.
I’m glad that wasn’t me…
There are some moments in life that make you go… ‘oh man… I’m glad that wasn’t me’… and this is one of them… This is the scene Dave and I found in our street when we got back from the shops this morning…
It’s kind of hard to see but there is 4 fire trucks, 2 police cars, 1 unmarked police car and a MFB relief van… Full on. It turns out that while we were out this morning a house across the road from us burnt down. Luckily, no one was hurt, but they lost a lot of their things and probably more significantly a good portion of their home, pretty devastating…
The Circle of Life
So firstly I just need to apologise for not blogging for a few days, I haven’t been very well, but I am back, so never fear.
Anyway, I guess today’s blog is a bit of a sad one, yesterday I attended the funeral of a friend of mine’s mum, it was a really sad day, as we said goodbye to a mum, a sister, a wife, and a friend that was most definitely gone too soon. And while I don’t really want to dwell on the funeral all that much, I guess that’s where the blog has started, because it was because of the events of yesterday that I find myself sitting here writing.
Yesterday I was just reminded that we really do belong to a circle of life, and there is no denying it, and I was reminded this for two reasons. The first thing that reminded me of this was the fact that the last time I had seen this particular friend and two of my other really good mates from school was at my wedding, celebrating a different kind of life milestone, one that is much happier, yet here we all were together again less than 6 months later, celebrating a life that was now gone. It was just confronting I supposed to have these two significant events, so close together and with just the business of everyday life in between. The second thing that reminded me was another of my friends told me about a baby that had just been born, in fact, the baby was born at the same time as my other friend’s mum had died. It just seemed so difficult to comprehend that one had gone and another arrived at the same time, but in a weird way it also made sense, as I guess as that’s what makes it the circle, its not’s complete until it restarts, I guess it just seems unfair that one must go so soon sometimes.
Today also made me realise how important time is, and that it really shouldn’t be taken for granted. Sometimes I think I waste a lot of time, or think I will put things off, send that card later, make that call next week, but I guess it’s a risky game to play because we don’t always get next week, or tomorrow, and things need to be done straight away or they won’t be done at all. I think that it was a good reminder to hold and cherish those I love, and to not to take the time, the laughs, the love for granted, but to savour it, always savour it.
The Most Curious George 