Wishing I could get married to the love of my life over and over!

Lionel + Kristine from LednCoise on Vimeo.

Something worth updating

Wowsa, its been ages since I've updated this bad boy. So what's the latest and greatest..... I'm engaged!!! And have been for the last 6 months. So I am consumed with all things wedding. Loving the whole planning process and putting in a little extra effort resulting in amazing keepsakes & memories for this most momentous time in our lives. So here is a little something we produced:



Yes! Can't wait to marry my monster and have lots of little monsters.

post holiday blues....

Yes... we are home... We were away for 6 glorious, marvelous, delightful, amazing, crazy, booze-hounding, sight-seeing, fabulous weeks... I had a hand written blog which I intended to transpose now ... but I'm relunctant to bring back memories... I avoided going through all my photos for this last week since returning.... post holiday blues in full swing it just might put me over the edge... to do something rash... such as quit my job... sell our house... sell my bf body... (hehehe) just so we can holiday again.... all I can think about is- when is the next time we can go on such an amazing trip... and... man we need to get out of Sydney. Move to Paris, San sebastian or Rome... travel to south america... travel the world for 2 years... work random jobs... not work at all if I can help it.... maybe I can marry and divorce some rich dude for some serious alimony payments... sure my bf wouldn't mind if it meant we could fund our travel addictions... or maybe I should play the lotto... yes I should buy a ticket at lunch time at work tomorrow... damn I have to work.... ferk...yes this blog doesn't make sense... and being at home doesn't either.. :(

Day-Dream

I can't believe that it’s nearly half way through the year and I'm just short of 8 sleeps until I jet off to London for the trip of a lifetime.

It all started 8 months ago on a random Monday at work, I'm sitting at my PC skimming through my calendar for my daily outlook for the week, when my favourite subscription e-mail pops up as an alert on the bottom right hand-side of the screen. I immediately click on the travelscene e-mail signed from my amazing travel agent- Lisa, as nothing makes the day go faster than a 10 minute day-dream of island escapes, safari getaways and romantic rendezvous.

Sure enough, that one mouse click took me there. I scanned the email for tantalizing destinations and as I scrolled down the page, I imagined flying over and onto an island of lush green valleys, uncrowded towns with undeveloped coastlines, my body instantly relaxing…2 seconds later, my mouth is watering for the taste of margaritas whilst I lay on a white powdery beach, my face tingling for the feel of the hot tropical sun….I get squimish in my chair as my feet start to move, dancing a night on the town away to the rhythm of the buzzing casino lights and the hum of the crowded strip....

Then, all of a sudden, a dollar sign, four red little numbers with an asterisk wake me from my incessant day-dream. I'm shocked back to reality by the ridiculous price of $1190* for a return ticket to London. Upon further enquiry and without the *, I discovered that the airfare was $1698 and was valid for travel in the peak of European summer! Compared to any other enquirie I've in the past, this was an absolute steal.
A short email and a phone call later I was resolved- Europe was to be our next great adventure.

Come Monday afternoon, we received our e-tickets, the savings/planning marathon kicked off and the count down began. Now, on a random Monday afternoon, just days away from the trip of a lifetime, I am skimming through our daily outlook for the next 6 weeks and I am excited that my day-dream 8 months ago will be a reality!

This gives me goosebumps. Love her.

What a ridiculously talented woman!

Drink to the New Year!

Goodbye 2010!

Now that the year is almost out, I feel it somewhat necessary to take stock of how far I’ve come in 2010. To see if I’ve resolved any of my new year’s resolutions and to pause if only for a blog, to reflect on learnings for the year that’s been.

As far as new years’ resolutions go, I had my 2010 list written down somewhere but I can’t seem to find it so I guess that's an automatic fail right there. In fact, since moving out last year I have many a lost thing: hats, belts, books, jewellery and socks galore. In our tiny apartment with limited storage for my limitless junk, lesson learned: I need to resist hording so much useless stuff or my man Lion will just have to settle on one section of our wardrobe.

So, a couple of fails right there but the good news is, I am more the wiser.  And even though I’ve lost my resolutions list, this doesn't detract from another lesson I’ve learned time and again which is, to always write down of all my life’s aspirations. No matter how big or small. Writing it down, helps to ensure you dont' lose sight of them and sends it out to the universe to be fulfilled.

Now I know I sound like I’m off with the fairies so I’ll bring it back to earth. It’s so important to be clear about what you want, but I’ve also learned that thinking really hard about isn’t going to make it happen. And not to get all self-help on you, but take note of these wise words: if you want something , get off your fat arse and do something about it. Before you know it the stars align. 

It just came to me as I wrote the words ‘fat arse’, that one of my new year’s resolutions was to stop shovelling so much crap down my pie-hole. This on a day to day basis is a difficult feat. My favourite Thai restaurant is so readily accessible and I access it often enough that the delivery lady knows my name and gives me 3 free soft drink cans with every delivery. There is also a McDonalds around the corner from us and last month KFC re-released the hot and spicy chicken which doesn't aid my resolve. My mouth is watering just typing about it, even though I stuffed my face at dinner and polished off a bag of mircrowave popcorn just now. Damn you colonel sanders and your 11 secret herbs and spices. Resolving to stop eating crap-Fail. But at the very least I’ve offset the effects of my takeaway addiction somewhat, by dancing my socks off and drinking a lot of multivitamins. I've also learned to never set this as a resolution again as doing so, is setting myself for inevitable failure. 

And so the story goes, as the years comes to an end, we all wonder where the year has gone and whilst I’ve had a few fails, I’m a little wiser for it and it makes success all the more rewarding and celebrated.  2010 has been a fabulous year indeed.We ate to our 1 year anniversary in our first home; We loved to our 6 year s together; We applauded to my man’s graduation; We drank to winning 3^rd at Nationals; We cried with joy to the birth of our first-niece Addidson and we laughed, lived, danced to amazing family and friends!

So I wonder what’s in store on for 2011? I know a few things for certain,  I will live more,  laugh more, love more, dance more, learn more, basically do all the things I love, more. (Well maybe not eating).

xox.

I almost forgot- I will also be partying it up more. Especially when in Europe in July!

Hell yeah! Happy New Year!!!!! Yee-Ha.

Goodbye 2010 & look forward to meeting you 2011.

This Girl is Fierce.

Bwahahahaha

Random anecdotes shared with me today.

A friend’s grandparents went for a walk every morning collecting the postman's discarded rubber bands. They have been doing this for 40+ years and now have a hefty collection of giant rubber band balls. The rubber band balls great for entertaining grandchildren and the morning walks great for blood pressure.

A friend would sell off his other half for $30,000. This would be for the cost of building a shed.

A friend’s couple friend bought a family home off a swiss couple. Lets name swiss couple Pierre and Beate (P&B) and other couple John and Joanne(J&J). P&B were very sad to be selling their house and decided to invite J&J for a farewell/welcome dinner before the property finally settled. J&J went along for what they expected to be a lovely meal and banter about the quirks of the home- certain windows jamming, the water takes a while heat up and the like, but when  dinner commenced J&J found it quite peculiar that P&B had  J&J's linkedin profiles printed at the dinner table. P&B proceeded to fire off interview like questions about their past jobs and future career prospects ending the night off with a final question on how J&J intended on paying their electricity bills. Apparently P&B payed it by direct debit and it was crucial for them to know that J&J would do the same.

 

A customer named Mark called through to phone banking, customer Mark insisted to be called Jesus during the call and threatened to hang up if not followed. As the operator refused to call him Jesus, customer Mark hung up and rang back several times with the same obscure request. He made his final call to make a formal complaint because they would not call him Jesus. 

The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle

Festivus in Kirribilli

Had a fabulous Sunday eating cheese, shrimps off the barbie, sweet delights, and hanging with friends under the bridge, drinking to the start of holiday shenanigans.

Weekend Fun

Loved StereoSonic

The Music.

The Atmosphere.

The Sun.

The High.

The Summerlove.

All day dance-a, drink-a,-thon
and fun with
Friends, friends, friends

I want to be coddled.

When I get sick, either flu or stomach sick...

I become the biggest baby ever.
I want to punch people in the face, but often do not.
I want my mummy.
I want to tell people to fuck and often do.
I want to be coddled and fussed over.
I want to take any drug that will restore regularity and my delightful self.

Cry Baby

For my friends who really know me, you would know it well that I cry a lot.

I cry when I’m sad. I cry when I’m blissfully happy. I cry when I find something ridiculously funny. I cry when I’m mad. I cry when I watch movies that rouse any of the aforementioned emotions. I even cry when my girls Ran and Lu re-tell the story-line of ‘PS I love you.’

I guess you can call me a cry baby or a wimp but I like to think of myself as extremely in touch with my emotions… A feeling being?

Anyway, I decided to research on the internet (a most trust-worthy source) how I can stop the urge to cry and found some really great tips (italics denotes sarcasm):

1. Apparently, screaming helps sometimes. Get something to scream into that makes it muffled and quiet. (hmmm... I’m sure this would not have been appropriate if I did this when I was doing my speech at Jojo’s 18th bday, or when I did a toast for my dads 50th)

2. Cross your eyes. This is a way to prevent tears from forming. (I tried this the other day as I watched the blind side and not only did I still cry, but also gave myself a headache. My brain doesn't like it when I confuse my eyes like that)

3. Practice long, slow deep breathing every day. ( I do apply this everyday… but not to combat my crying spells hahahaha not going to get into it)

4. Shift your jaw forward sharply. Apparently this facial posturing is incompatible with crying and will usually stop an impending crying spell quickly and effectively. I tried this facial in the mirror, and it is incompatible with pretty and seeing how I looked pulling this face made me want to cry

5. Smile and laugh to avoid being the target for bullies. Absolutely nothing to do with preventing a good cry. But I thought was the only good advice that I found.

Anyways, off I go. There is even a higher probability that I’ll cry today, as being pre-mental, I mean pre-menstrual makes me a little bonkers.

No. 3 Baby!

So for the last couple of months I've been MIA. Not just from blogging, but from many a social event. How it pained me to say no to a Friday afternoon beer. But whilst I have missed it, the sacrifice has paid off! We've been training crazy for the 2010 Australian Salsa Classics which just wrapped up this past weekend.

This is our first comp and it has been the most amazing thing ever!We placed 3rd at the Nationals- Professional on 1 Division and I couldn't be more thrilled. It feels like first!!!!

Love to Mikey-mon my wonderful dance partner, my brother from another mother.

Love to my family and friends who came and supported us on the night and for your positive vibes.

Love to Latin Motion, my other family. To everyone there who has supported Mikey and I. A special thanks to Oli our instructor and counsellor ;)

Last but not least, love and cuddles to my darling Lion who has supported me throughout this entire journey. Thankyou for everything!

So here is our first ever Comp debut:



xoxo

Kiss The Girl! love

OMG One of my favourite Disney songs.I'm pretty sure this is going to be played at my wedding...

I remember as kids, my cousin and I were in love with Prince Eric and we used to fight about who was Ariel. My argument with my cousin was that I was most like Ariel because- I had long hair and because I had a nice voice like hers. LOL I don't know how I also missed the most obvious point that I was most like Ariel cause I am also a princess. haha Funny.

Blog Fatigue :(

It has been 40 days since my last entry and I have many a blog confessions. However due to my annoying habit of over-committing myself, trying to do a million things at once, somethings had to give.

One being the blog. I have been so mentally and physically drained the last month, that after a days end of work and dancing I can barely string a couple of sentences together let alone write a whole blog.

Second being decision making about anything generally outside of work. A sure sign that I am fatigued is that I resign all decisions regarding the day to day domestics, weekend activities over to my bf or to anyone else involved really. My standard answer being- 'whatever babes- up to you...' Seriously, if you asked me to join a plot to rob a bank over the last month I would have been perfectly agreeable.

Thirdly, not a biggy but definitely an energy waster is small talk with people I don't really know and/or I don't really like. On any normal day, I am somewhat amenable to chit-chat with just about anyone, but this last month I can't be f'ed. Perhaps its a bit anti-social of me, but... I don't really care.

Anyhow, I am slowly catching up with myself and with spring about, I feel it in the air and in my step. I do feel automatically energised...

I asked a couple of work mates to start running with me at lunch and surprisingly there were some takers. The running club was born and ready to bring sexy back hahaha.

Anyhow. I'm signing off. I have go do the hundredth thing on my to do list... OR I might just take a nap. hmmm.

xoxo

Hit & Miss of Domesticated bliss

Some of my most favourite and not so favourite things in our first year of co-habitation:
He loves to cooks. I love to eat. :)
He cooks the best lamb chops in the world and Lamb chops are my fave. :) :)
I ask him to vacuum, instead he decides to fix a tap that doesn't need fixing. :(
I clean and disinfect the toilets, while he takes out the rubbish. :) but also a :( (cause I really don’t like having to clean toilets)
I get to wake up next to him every day to give & get plenty of cuddles.:):)
When I roll over to his side of the bed and put my face on his pillow to be closer to him, I realise my face is in a puddle of his drool. :(
Our ensuite is teeny tiny so we bash into each other when getting ready for work in the morning :( He’s started using our other bathroom, :)
He sometimes forgets that we share a bed and squashes the shit out of me when he rolls to the middle of the bed. :( But in the middle of the night when the blanket is not on me, he will pull it over me to make sure I’m warm aaaaww. :) :)

Not in that kind of mood.

I went into the art store today to buy some materials for a mood board I'm working on with an 'island escape' theme. This will be an out-and-out cinch since I've been harnessing this energy for the last dreary cold month from my longing of a tropical getaway. Which by the way remains unbooked but all planned out- a short, but heavenly sweet holiday to Bora Bora with the boy in tow, white sand through our toes, swimming in clear blue warm water, cocktails on the beach and daily massages... (insert big sigh here) But I digress, where was I? Yes that's right, I can't wait to get stuck into this project.

The lovely art store lady was really helpful, showing me all the different types of adhesives I could use for samples with different textures/materials etc. As far as art store ladies go, she was definitely an expert and also was kind enough to suggest another theme for my project...

She quite excitedly recommended doing a Brothel theme, saying to me- 'You could go wild!'. Now I had to do a double take cause I wasn't sure that was what she said and secondly, I didn't think that she would be serious. But yep, that is exactly what she said and she was plenty serious. I replied... 'hmmm maybe not quite the clientele I am looking to do business with but that's interesting...' and then I started to have visions of red light '69' neon signs on dingy street corners and PVC, PVC leather everywhere... She went on to tell me that her husband made up the neon signs for these businesses and three very important reasons why there were the best customers to have:
1. They will always pay whats agreed to- never going back on their word
2. They always pay above market price and finally,
3. They will always pay in cash

Whilst these were pretty compelling reasons, I think I might stick to the g-rated clients and art store lady should stick to selling art store stuff. But it made for an interesting visit to the art store nonetheless.

Out of curiousity though, I have since googled ‘brothel’ just to see how I could possibly start such an association and let me tell you they weren’t exactly advertising ‘interior designers’ wanted...

Don't worry be Happy

This song always chills me out and lifts my spirits.

Doreen & Vic The cutest old couple in the world

OMG this is the cutest commercial ever... aaaaw