Tag Archives: The List -2012

Three Quarters Done

Posted in Family, Food, Life, The List by

It’s been a while since I did a list update, so if you are not interested in what is and isn’t crossed off the list then please continue to the next blog, but if you are here is what has happened since my last update here it is…

A lot has been happening since July and a few more things have been chipped off the list… So once again here is what I have done so far… click the links on the ones that have their own special blog for the full details if you wish…

2. Make my own ice cream

3. Read 6 books

8. Make a photo book with our wedding photos

13. Make breakfast muffins

16. Bake Meringues

19. See some fireworks

22. Watch a sunset with Dave

24. Finish watching Mcleod’s Daughters

25. Fix up super stuff

26. Ride a push bike at least once

28. Go and hear live music

30. Go Camping

31. Go to the museum

32. Stay at the Langham

33. Get our wedding pictures framed – completed 21/7/12

It is so nice to have our pictures framed and up and I think that they look amazing… very very very happy!

34. Have a bath

35. Make a mocktail

36. Do a fun run/walk – completed 26/8/12

I have officially crossed this off the list, although I am not done yet so I have broken it into two parts… so for now I have completed a fun walk… the Parkinson’s Walk with some work colleagues…. but next weekend I am doing a fun run as part of the Melbourne Marathon series so watch this space… that will be part 2.

37. Go on a Road trip

39. See a Musical

40. Have a rainbow paddlepop

42. Finish unpacking my stuff in the study

55. Clean the gunk off the little hav

56. Eat at 10 different breakfast places

58. Visit a country town I have never been to before

59. Go to a Wedding – completed 22/9/12

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged enough to witness some good friends of mine get married, it was a beautiful day and such a lovely wedding.  I am so thankful for both of these guys and that I could be part of this special day!

57. Bust a move in a random location

60. See the fire balls at crown

62. Learn a new joke

63. Visit Castlemaine

64. Visit Bendigo

65. Do my own washing once

68. Wash my own car – completed 7/7/12

This was actually more difficult than it sounds, I am actually quite week and the high pressure hose is not… therefore when washing my car I look like an idiot trying to control the hose enough to effectively wash my car… luckily Dave seems to be happy to help out!

70. Send 5 Cards just because – completed 2/7/12

Every one likes a random card…

71. Play with playdough

72. Have a hot jam donut

73. Go to a football game

76. Go a term without Maccas

77. Sing in the shower – completed 7/7/12

This one doesn’t get a picture… trust me, you’d thanks me

79. Go to the beach at least three times

80. Go up a look out and look over the city – completed: 7/7/12

Dave and I went up to the top of Mt Dandenong, had a lovely lunch and a little look out… on a beautiful winter day too I might add.

81. Have a pot of tea

83. Bake something for work

84. Do 3 exercise classes

86. Get and exercise piggy bank

89. Go to a concert of Dave’s – completed 4/8/12

This was probably the most extravagant school concert I have ever been to, complete with a 7 course dinner and my spunky husband doing his thing.

95. Check my car’s oil

96. Swim laps at the pool – completed 27/8/12

After deciding it would be bad taste to take a picture of either me or others actually swimming in the pool, I opted for a picture of my goggles instead… enjoy

97. Do a water areobics class

98. Play with sparklers

99. Try and espresso

So there you go… I’m now over three quarters of the way through, still a bit to go, but once again this is a nice reminder to get back on track with a couple of the longer term list items… I still need to be more deliberate about cooking dinner, exercising and doing my devotions, I still need to stop eating chocolate at breakfast, and I still need to keep focused on my weight loss, chores and date days… I can’t cross them off the list if they are not done, and they need to be done… But so far not too bad,  I am getting there and still having fun doing it.. only 49 to go.

I want to ride my bicycle

Posted in Life, The List by

Yesterday I got a new bike… and I am quite excited.  I haven’t really ridden a bike all that much in the last couple of years, in fact I usually avoid it at all costs, but recently I have found myself looking at people’s pictures of the places they have just ridden to and being a little bit jealous, just like the way I feel about pictures of people who have just completed fun runs.  These are both things that I wish I could do.  Now I know that technically I can do them, I just don’t… but I think I am actually at the stage where I want to, but my body hasn’t quite caught up to my brain… I am going to have to practice and train… yuck…. but I will get there.

Anyway, yesterday in a moment of weakness, when Dave asked me what I wanted to do I suggested we go for a bike ride.  Sitting in my garage was a bike that my Dad had kindly given me when he returned from China.  It wasn’t anything special, but it was a bike, no gears, no normal pedals, but two wheels and a frame.  Once we got it back to our place Dave put some new peddles on and it had lived in the garaged until yesterday… when we dragged it out, dusted off the cobwebs and attempted to ride.

All was fine until I wanted to go up hill… no gears… no stamina… no can do… so I got off and walked.  At the top of the hill I got back on and started to ride again, a little bit downhill and then more up… this time I tried to persevere… but no… the bike broke… the pedal snapped clean off.  Luckily for all in the area I was in a ok mood by this stage… I didn’t cry… I didn’t throw the bike… I just got off and walked back home again.    

Once at home I mentioned that I would never ride that bike again and Dave… who loves to ride… decided it was time for me to have a new bike of my own… So off we went bike shopping… and here is my new… cheap… pink… but much more effective… bike with two well attached pedals… I then attempted the same ‘track’ again… and despite my lack of fitness, it was much more enjoyable… although hills are still hard… lucky Dave can give me a boost if I need it.  Oh and my new bike looked pretty awesome the whole way.

Oh and I got to cross no. 26 off the list.

Half way

Posted in Family, Food, Life, The List by

Wow I can’t believe it’s the middle of the year already… seriously how does this keep happening…

Anyway, I decided that being the middle of the year it was a good time to do a list up date because while there are lots I have posted about there are still a few that have happened which haven’t made it to a blog on their own… so here is what I have done so far… click the links on the ones that have their own special blog for the full details if you wish…

2. Make my own ice cream

3. Read 6 books – completed 25/4/12

Here they are…

1. Sing you home – Jodi Picoult,   2. The Girl with Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson,   3. It – Craig Groeschel

4. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins,  5. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins,  6.  Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins

And the reading continues… I am officially a book worm once again.

8. Make a photo book with our wedding photos – completed 20/6/12
It looks pretty good if you ask me… complete with my favourite pics from our amazing photographer as well as some others taken by friends and family.

13. Make breakfast muffins

16. Bake Meringues

19. See some fireworks

22. Watch a sunset with Dave

24. Finish watching Mcleod’s Daughters – completed 14/4/12
It’s done… all done… there is no more and while it feels good to have finally finished all eight seasons… I am a little sad, I wish there was more…

25. Fix up super stuff

28. Go and hear live music

30. Go Camping – completed 7-9/5/12
I did actually blog about this as well… again… I just forgot to mention crossing it off the list in the blog… check it out here

31. Go to the museum

32. Stay at the Langham

34. Have a bath – completed 15/4/12
I decided that photos of this would be inappropriate and unwanted, so you will just have to trust me.  I have in fact had a couple of baths (as opposed to showers which I have daily) and they were all very relaxing… I think it is something that I need to do more often.

35. Make a mocktail

37. Go on a Road trip – completed 29/6/12
Even though it was back to Bendigo again, I have decided that it still counts, Dave and I went, we spent the night hung out with friends and we were in the car for more than an hour… so road trip it is…

39. See a Musical
I also saw Annie the musical in May, which is one of my all time favourites and definitely worth seeing…

40. Have a rainbow paddlepop

42. Finish unpacking my stuff in the study

55. Clean the gunk off the little hav

56. Eat at 10 different breakfast places

58. Visit a country town I have never been to before – completed 7-9/5/12
I did actually blog about this as well… again… I just forgot to mention crossing it off the list in the blog… check it out here…

57. Bust a move in a random location

60. See the fire balls at crown – completed 18/5/12
I was lucky enough to catch up with my buddy Jana in the city for dinner and as both of us are terrible decision makers we ended up kiking through the city using the ‘urban spoon’ app to choose our destinations.  It was a workout, but on the plus side, I got to spend more time with Jana, we found places we had never been to before and I got to see the fireballs…

62. Learn a new joke – completed 26/5/12

63. Visit Castlemaine

64. Visit Bendigo – completed 24/6/12
It was a quick sticks trip just to hang out with my mate Melface… and the rest of course but she had flown over from WA so I guess that’s worth mentioning… Super fun… just like it always was… and here is a picture of my journey home the next morning… it was nice to watch the sunrise over the country side.

65. Do my own washing once – completed 2/4/12

71. Play with playdough

72. Have a hot jam donut

73. Go to a football game

76. Go a term without Maccas

79. Go to the beach at least three times

81. Have a pot of tea

83. Bake something for work

84. Do 3 exercise classes

86. Get and exercise piggy bank

95. Check my car’s oil – completed 12/6/12

97. Do a water areobics class

99. Try and espresso

So there you go… almost halfway there, still a bit to go, but this is a nice reminder to get back on track with a couple of these… I need to be more deliberate about cooking dinner exercising and doing my devotions, I need to stop eating chocolate at breakfast… seriously it is not a breakfast food and I need to keep focused on my weight loss, chores and date days… because I can’t cross them off the list if they are not done, and they need to be done… But so far not too bad,  I am getting there and still having fun doing it.. only 60 to go.

A Tale of Fortunate Events

Posted in Friendship, Life, The List by

I love it when really good things happen one after the other.  I must admit it doesn’t happen any where near as often as I would like, but it does happen and today was one of those moments.

The morning didn’t start that well, I started my training for the fun run I am doing with some friends of mine and if I were to say it went badly, that would be an understatement… seriously, it was not pretty, despite my determination and amazing outfit… it was rubbish, but it’s just the start I still have a long way to go, but I have now officially started working towards no. 36 on the list… ‘Do a fun run’… I am also hoping that it will help me with no. 1: ‘Lose 10kgs’ and that I will look great for my no. 59: ‘Go to a wedding’… Anyway, the day didn’t start that well and work was fine, nothing too exciting just your standard day, but as I was leaving work I got a call from another friend with some very exciting news.  He had managed to upgrade our seats for the Carrie Underwood concert we were going to later that night… we were now super super close.  So a little excited about that I headed home where I collected the mail and went inside.

I love getting snail mail, I always have, I have to admit that since I moved out of home the buzz has worn off slightly because I now get bills and boring mail too, but I still get excited when something unexpected comes through… and tonight I hit the jackpot… there was a package and two pretty envelopes… and bills NEVER come in pretty envelopes so I knew the must contain something good.   In the mail tonight I got an engagement invitation, a wedding invitation and package all the way from London.  Usually an invitation of any kind would make me enjoy my trip to the letter box, but two special invitations and a package… far out… the postie did well tonight.

The package was from my cousin in London, who had discovered that I love the royal family… a lot, so she sent me some things from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee… check it out:

A picnic rug, a magnet, a double-decker bus stress… bus, Wills and Kate masks and a program from the jubilee weekend… awesome… seriously awesome!

And then if that wasn’t enough we headed to the concert… which was jam packed with surprises including bad dancing… really bad dancing… mum’s being controlled by security and making thier kids move to other sits so that mum can see better, big hair, big hats and awesome music… Oh and did I mention the awesome upgrade of seats…

This afternoon truly was a tale of very fortunate events…

Aquarobics – That Awkward Moment When…

Last night I crossed number 97 off the list… go to aquarobics… luckily I didn’t need to do this alone I got to go with my brother and two friends… As much as I loved it there were a few awkward moments…

There was the awkward moment when you get there and realise you bring the average age of the class down by half…

The awkward moment when you are busily doing the actions and you realise your bathers aren’t covering as much as they should be…

Or my favourite from last night, that awkward moment you leap out of the water to continue the actions to the chorus of the YMCA and no one else jumps… hilarious… but awkward.

I actually really enjoy aquarobics… it really is a lot of fun and a pretty good workout.. who knows perhaps it will become more regular in my life… I think I would like it if it did… I guess that’s actually up to me?

Anyway, it’s now off the list.

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Meanwhile at the Langham…

Posted in Life, Love, The List by

There is something magical about the Langham hotel… seriously something magical.  This weekend Dave and I returned to the Langham to celebrate our one year anniversary, ideally we would have gone the weekend of our actual anniversary, seeing as we were in NZ, we postponed it a week.  The thing is though it doesn’t matter when you go, it’s always the same there, in fact sometimes it feels like you walk into a different time zone, or that time even stops while you are there, because it is just so nice.  I feel like if you were ever to cross there in some kind of live news feed it wouldn’t matter when you did it because it would always be “Meanwhile at the Langham, everyone is still happy living in their perfect hotel rooms with friendly staff who are always happy to help”  I would imagine crossing to the Langham would get boring really, but not if you were actually there… it was just be nice and relaxing and awesome…

Anyway, it was really nice to have our own ‘meanwhile at the Langham’ experience this weekend.  And as a bonus… because it was our anniversary we were spoilt by the staff, I got my own Langham rose on arrival and we were delivered some surprise cake just to help us celebrate.  I have decided that I would love to live at the Langham… I know my finances won’t let me and that if I was to live there it probably wouldn’t be the same, but I imagine that if I was a real princess I would have a castle that was like the Langham and that it would always be a nice place to be… but its back to reality for now…  at least in my imagination I can still think about ‘meanwhile at the Langham’.

Oh and now I can cross number 32 off the list… because we have stayed at the Langham

525,600 Minutes

Posted in Family, Life, Love, Top 10 by

Wow… today is Dave and I’s one year anniversary!  I think it’s a bit of a strange feeling, because while it doesn’t feel like we have been married for a year, it does already feel like forever.  I am not really sure how that is possible, but that’s just how it is.  Anyway, 6 months ago I wrote a blog with similar sentiment, and just like 6months ago I thought things would feel really different when we hit the 1 year mark.  Before we got married, lots of people told me that the first year would be the hardest, adjusting to life together, sharing my things and my space, but other than having to be a little more considerate and owning up to my unnecessary purchases, it just feels normal… in fact I think that part of me is still waiting for it to fall apart, because apparently it’s supposed to… but so far so good.  Maybe if you asked Dave he would have a different account of the last year, after all, he certainly does more than his fair share of house work… but I am getting better, you can’t fix 25 years of bad habits overnight.  We are still busy,  I still have to plan to see Dave because otherwise our lives get in the way of each others, and I am still messy, so really not that much has changed.

I think the biggest difference of the last 6months perhaps compared to the previous 6 is that we have grown stronger together, which I didn’t really think was possible.  Each day I am reminded how very very blessed I am to have found someone like Dave.  He is so much more than I could have ever hoped for and I don’t know what I would do without him.

So this time round I thought I might share 10 things I have learnt since I got married, they are a mixture of highlights and random little things, because I don’t really think I have any profound marriage/life-lesson pearls to give… so here are 10 things I now know…

1. Christmas is just as good when you wake up in another house with your husband rather than at home… Santa still comes… in fact Santa is funnier at Dave’s place, maybe it’s earlier on the run?

2. Fun Dave is still my favourite – I am getting used to grumpy Dave he does have a purpose and he does get things done… but it doesn’t really matter how much I need grumpy Dave, I still like fun Dave better.

3. Dave can do anything… even save the same bird twice.

4. We don’t need to do everything together.  This is something that I still struggle with, but I know it’s true… in fact it’s a good conversation starter if you do do separate things… seriously… otherwise we are boring.

5. Our next adventure isn’t that far away… buying a house… although Dave has told me he isn’t sure he wants to renovate a house with me because apparently I am annoying, so I guess we will just have to keep saving forever.

6. Love is doing something you don’t like because it makes someone else happy… Here is what I know,

When I do chores, which I hate, Dave is Happy…

and when Dave helps me cross things off the list, which he hates… I am happy…

7. Dave loves Dex more than he let on originally.  When Dex first moved in with Dave, Dave would refer to him as my dog constantly, but since we have been living together, I have noticed that Dave actually loves Dex… so much that Dex is even allowed to cuddle Davo while he is wearing a suit.

8. Despite his often grumpy exterior… Dave is an encourager… he gives me money when I exercise, he helps me with my homework, and tells me a I am good cook even when it’s not true.

9. House work is better when two people do it together… but it doesn’t matter how domestic I become Dave is still much better… but I am trying.

10. Nagging pays off – well eventually… and my last blog about my trip to New Zealand is proof… 7 years of nagging… and this is my view this morning… not bad…

Just call me “Bear George”

Posted in Life, Study, Work by

Well I survived my first placement… camp and all.

I was actually much more nervous about teaching than I though I would be, I think I had had a lot of friends that had had (wow that’s a lot of hads) bad experiences on teaching rounds, so I think I spent my first week waiting for it all to fall apart, but it didn’t.  I did realise though, that my chemistry knowledge is apparently buried a lot deeper than I thought, and will need to excavated (more than just dug back up!) before I go on my next placement in August.

Prior to my placement I was also a little worried about camp, because lets face it, I am not that outdoorsy and the possibility of a hike/rafting trip was not really my idea of fun.  The thing is though, I have spent a long time convincing people, mostly Dave, that I would be fine hiking or even rafting if needed… but deep down inside I wasn’t so sure.  But the camp has come and gone and other than a few stiff muscles the day after, I survived the hike, camping in the bush and all, luckily I didn’t need to prove my skills in a raft though.

Anyway, here are three things I learnt (well three random things… not necessarily the only things)

  1. Year 8 boys can have an offensive smell on a hot day… what ever the time.
  2.  I don’t know as much as I thought I did about chemistry… but I will
  3. And when it comes to camping… I am a pro… I can set up the tent, cook my dinner, get a good nights sleep, carry my pack all by myself and return home still looking awesome…

Oh and just in case you were wondering, yes yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday was a picture of were I had camped the night before… pretty amazingly beautiful if you ask me… I felt like I could have just walked off the set of McLeod’s Daughters… almost a dream come true.