Wow, it's been nearly a month...

My goodness... I knew it had been a long time, but I didn't realise just how long! Our weekends have been enormous, and our weekdays filled with trying to stay afloat with all the usual things... So in an effort to catch up on a billion and one things that has happened, this is going to be a rambly, newsy post without much direction - cos that's the way I think and it makes it easier. :P

The weekend after I last wrote, Alastair and I went up to Coffs Harbour, so stay with some of his closest friends... Richard and Suzanne are lovely lovely people and their children are gorgeous. :) I feel blessed to count them among my friends now - and add to that: Richard is going to marry us. :) I think that's really special. So anyway, we went up there so that I could meet these people that Alastair kept telling me about - and I certainly wasn't disappointed. They made me feel so welcome, and we spent the weekend sharing over cups of tea, doing a jigsaw (750 piece, with 5 extra pieces and no edges at all!), resting, fishing (ew!), cuddles with the little ones, a movie at the quaint Sawtell cinema, lunch by the beach, and other fun things. It was truly a blessing to get away for a bit of a break.

During that next week, I tried on wedding dresses for the first time! Oh. My. Goodness. How awesome is it, to put a dress on, look in the mirror, and go "Wow. I look like a real bride." It was amazing, and I really like the ladies in a shop only 15mins away. We did look further away, but I have a really good feeling about this place in Leumeah. :) Mum and Megs came with me the first time, and I took Dad and Lachlan back another time to see if they liked the two dresses that I liked... and this weekend, it's worked out that I can get the opinions of my other two bridesmaids - yay! It's an amazing feeling to be in a wedding dress... kind of makes it all real.

The next Saturday was Dad's birthday, and we had a family picnic out at Warragamba. It was just lovely... the six of us having a barbecue and just hanging out together, in a way we haven't been able to very much. So we had marshmallow throwing competitions, kicked the footy (and Alastair split his pants! hehehe...), ate birthday cake, and just generally enjoyed our time together. It was nice and relaxed, and a very special time. I love my family. :) The next day we got up early and drove to Canberra with Ashley and Carly, because the Swans were playing Melbourne (Carly's team)... it got to a maximum of about 6 degrees and it was miserable and rainy and yucky. But at least I was with my wonderful fiance - that makes anything worthwhile. :)

The last week in July for me was full of trying to get 14 students enrolled for AMEB flute exams... filling out all the forms, getting fees from parents (which is still happening... grrr), organising a student recital as performance opportunity for them, as well as all the normal teaching and stuff that fills my life. Like being the best fiancee I can possibly be. :)

So then we hit August running... it started with me driving down to Donna's after orchestra on the Friday, and we had a 5th and 2nd birthday party (brother and sister) to go to the next day. It was fun... and even had a jumping castle! Do you know how long it has been since I got to be a kid on a jumping castle?? Too long. Liana handed me her 18month old son, and said "There you go Carla, an excuse to get on!" hehehehehe - yay! So I got on... and when all the kids got off to play Pass the Parcel, I stayed on... and did some flips and just generally got rid of some energy. :P That afternoon we drove up to my home. Alastair took my Dad to the footy (which he REALLY enjoyed, of course!) and Megs, Lachy and I went to an ABO concert (Alastair's mum is the receptionist, and had given us three free tickets in the dress circle!). It was a good night... except that when we got home late, Alastair and I had to spend time sorting out a little problem we had with each other on the way in........ such is life. :) My church the next morning, Alastair's in the evening... this is why we are so tired - trying to live two lives!

Last week was full with a whole bunch of general stuff, sorting out a heap of music for orchestra, getting up to date with all the filing here for Dad, contacting students' parents over and over... and stuff. On the weekend, we went down to Minnamurra for our "Growing Together In Christian Marriage" course, which ran from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. There were six young engaged couples, and the older couple who were running it, and we were staying in a retreat house... it was just the right number of people to be cosy, and we all got on well. Alastair and I got on particularly well with Stephen and Rochelle... and we've purposed to keep in contact and become better friends. :) What was really cool, was that it's the first time we've met new people as a couple. Up until now, all the "meeting" has been us meeting each other's friends... which has to happen, but the lopsidedness can be tiring. But we were both starting from scratch, and that was a pleasant experience. We learned a LOT... I came away feeling rather overwhelmed, but as we've "unpacked" bits and pieces and talked more about it, I'm feeling better. :) It was excellent (run by Anglicare), and I would highly recommend it. It's given us lots of food for thought, and skills to help our marriage run smoothly - at least, that's the idea. :)

This week has been the usual... which I won't go over again :P and we're gearing up for another enormous weekend. Today is Lachlan's 20th birthday, so that's exciting! Alastair and Michael are coming for our family dinner, cos they're part of the family. :) Yesterday I took Lachy out for coffee, and it was great to spend time with him... I've been busy, and he's been quite sick a lot of the time, so it was nice to chat about all sorts of things, do some shopping, and then I gave him a driving lesson in the manual... which he found rather exhausting... hehe. :) I do love my brother very much, and will miss him again when he flies back to the States on Saturday week......

So... that about brings you up to date. I will endeavour to not leave it as long between posts from now on! I'll have a heap to write about after this weekend anyway, I'm sure..... 

I love you all very much! (But especially my gorgeous fiance! xo)

A week to a view...

Oh my goodness, it's been a week since I posted and so much has happened! I'm on the go all the time these days, and when I do have a spare minute, I have to prioritise and use it for more important things... not that keeping up with you isn't important...... I hope you know what I mean.

I've loved being busy, but I'm really looking forward to next weekend (13th/14th) when we don't have ANYthing on... yet. :P This weekend is shaping up to be as busy as ever - I'm sure it'll be lots of fun though. :)

Since I blogged... on Friday night Alastair picked me up from orchestra and we chilled here... then on Saturday we left early and went down to Canberra for a Swans game. Joel and Katherine came down from Gilgandra for it too - it was SO good to see Katherine again! I'd post a link to Alastair's blog here because it has a photo of him and I with Joel and Kat, but there's a really hideous photo on there of me which is ewwy, so I'm not linking it. :P We came back via the Axelbys', and it was just lovely to spend time with them - and be able to introduce Alastair to them! Their home is always open to us, and I love visiting them... was so pleased when my fiance came away feeling like he'd just made 12 new friends. :) He even managed to cuddle Michael... 

Photo courtesy of Rachael

On Sunday morning, Alastair got up early and went for a ride with Jonathan. We all got up early too, and went in with stand-in brothers Michael and Jono to meet Lachlan who was arriving home from the US! It was a loooooong wait, but so good to see him again. (Of course, I cried). We went in to Circular Quay and had brunch there all together... it had been too long. Alastair dropped in on his way back down to Wollongong in the afternoon, so my brother was finally able to meet my fiance in person. :) Lachlan brought us a beautiful hand-blown, hand-painted vase as an engagement present... he carried it all the way from PA in his hand-luggage. :)

At Circular Quay...

It's so hard to get a picture with everyone being normal with these guys!

A random pose Michael had the brainwave of and I made everyone do. :)

Btw, Alastair gets on so well with all my family. I really love that. :)

So this week we've been working hard of course with all the usual things... work and teaching and organising and all the rest. I've got an hard-back A4 book with lined pages and on the front I've written "Engagement/Wedding Stuff"... it's a place where Alastair and I can write anything we like... from guest lists to gift lists... and other things... like random stuff we're thinking about that we don't want to forget, just so we don't have to have a whole bunch of random papers lying around that will get lost. All our engagement invitations are out, and I've had 29 'yes' RSVP's already, so that's exciting! Nanna is taking me shopping in the city next week for a dress to wear to the 'party', which is really lovely of her. 

Besides all that, I've been down to Wollongong and stayed the night at Donna's twice already this week - and tomorrow will make thrice! On Monday I went down to watch the church netball game, and afterwards Alastair and I had a bit of 'us' time... we don't often get it! So that was lovely - we went to a little Italian place in Figtree before I drove to Donna's and slept like a log. Tuesday I taught all day and Bek came for dinner afterwards, which was great - life has changed for both of us in the last little while, and we don't get a lot of time for that sort of thing. She's also one of my bridesmaids, so she, Megs and I discussed colours for a little while. Still undecided. :P

I was in Wollongong last night too, as Dale and Cass (there's a gorgeous photo of her baby on there!) invited us for dinner. Alastair went to school with Dale - so they go back a loooooong way, as they're both old. :) I felt amazingly comfortable with them, and their kids, Callum and Annabelle are just gorgeous! Call me clucky, but man! I'm in my element down there with all the babies and toddlers that Alastair's friends have! :) I got to give Annie her bottle after tea and she went to sleep and snored in my lap. :) Back to Donna's for the night, and I came home this morning to have a day of doing normal stuff, sorting through boxes of wool/spinning supplies, making FGYO flyers/programmes/etc for our next concert, and working for Dad. Tonight two of my youngest students made their debut at their school solo night, so I went an accompanied them on piano. They did so well and I was so proud of them. :) When I got back, there was still a heap of work to do with Dad, and being tired, I didn't handle it brilliantly. The highlight of tonight was, of course, talking to Alastair before he went to bed ages ago.... and since then I've been finishing work off, replying to emails, and stuff like that.

Tomorrow I'm off down to Donna's for the night again, as I'm helping out at a working bee on Saturday morning at Alastair's church..... and there are lots of other things planned for the rest of the weekend too.... but for now, BED! I need to get there ASAP! I hope I haven't forgotten anything I should've written! Anyhow... right now I am feeling very blessed. God is good to me.

Love you all! xo

A couple more photos, just cos they're there... :)

Lachlan and I outside the Opera House looking over the harbour...

Daddy and his girls...

It's been a while!

I just wrote an introduction to this long-overdue post... and then deleted it. 

It really was quite pathetic.

So in an effort to get back on track... in the last nearly-two-weeks since I last updated, some of the things I have done are:

• taught 42 flute lessons to gorgeous girlie individuals... and it wasn't as hard as it used to be! I think I can actually do this... :)
• had an awesome evening with  friends I don't know all that well, but with whom I can completely be myself - and they offered me honorary membership in their family! I particularly love the dad in that family - he is such good value. :)
• attended a friend's engagement party - and felt again the feeling of still being alone when all my friends are getting married.
• paid a phonebill (oh the joys of being a grown-up)
• had too many late nights (more joys of being a grown-up)
• booked overseas flights for myself, my sister, and my two stand-in brothers to go and visit my REAL brother at the end of the year! Countries we plan to visit are: USA, England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Egypt. (Am mildly scared about the Egypt bit, but I'm sure it will be okay...) :)
• played in a great concert with the Fisher's Ghost Youth Orchestra... and even managed to play a piccolo solo [mostly] in tune!
• watched the Training Orchestra - at the same concert - play their little hearts out so brilliantly, that my teacher's heart swelled with pride as I clapped and screamed and whooped after every piece they played :)
• ached over a few friends who are going through really rough times... and felt torn as I struggled with wanting to be there for them with a listening ear and an everlasting hug, and needing to let them learn to trust the Lord for themselves.
• played the piano at two church services... and even improvised around a few chords as background music before the service. Huge step for me to actually do that in public...
• ate a whole block of Club Peppermint Chocolate.... and a whole block of Milky Bar... Mmmm.... I will get fat.
• done two weeks worth of filing in two days... and a huge amount of ironing.

Of course, there were lots of other things that have happened and that I've done, but those are the things that come to mind as I glance through my diary. I hope to be more posty from now on! Tonight I am tired, and I'm missing my real brother. I want to talk to him. :( But on Sunday, it will be 8 weeks til he comes home! Yay! :) 

Love you all!

I'm on my way to bed...

But I just wanted to say: Today was Tuesday. Actually, today is still Tuesday. But for the first time this term on a Tuesday, I can actually say, "Today was a good day!" and it was! I'm tired, that's for sure... and I even had to teach double lessons and everything... but I still came out smiling! God is good to me.

A couple of things struck me as hilarious today:

• My youngest student is Tiffany, aged 7. She has her lesson straight after school on Tuesdays, and she's a complete beginner. And she comes out with the most outrageous things I've ever heard. As far as I know, she leads a fairly dismal existance, living at two homes and never knowing whether her mum or her dad or her grandma is picking her up, and her big brothers pick on her (or so she tells me, anyhow...). But today, she told me that her mum makes her practice on the carpet, in case she drops her flute. I thought that was a good idea... but then she told me (in a very serious tone of voice) that she hates standing on the carpet because "my alley cat throws up all over it... you know... and that's because of my mum's bras". What the?!?!?! How weird is that?!?!?!
• The other funny thing was teaching at the same school as a friend (actually, he's one of my stand-in brothers) was casual teaching at today. We had to greet each other as Mr. Dench and Miss Glen (except he got mixed up and called me Mrs. Glen!) :P so... it was a weirdly professional environment, but I thought it was a novelty and kinda fun all the same. He got to go ten-pin bowling while he was at work because he was supervising sport today! :)

Okay, so perhaps they're not as hilarious as I made out, and maybe you really had to be there. Sorry. :P And then I found $50...

It's been a while...

Wow... it's been nearly a week!

When I began blogging, I told myself that I wouldn't slacken off like everyone else seemed to. :P But oh well, it looks like it happens to everyone. :)

This last week has been very full, but I've coped much better than in recent times, and I'm really thankful to the Lord for that.

Since I've posted, some of the things that have transpired (nice word, huh? :P ) are:

• I slept over at a friend's house on Friday night, and stayed up much too late. But it was all good fun - one long D&M really, so it's okay. :)
• On Saturday afternoon I had a lovely long chat to my brother, and that was SO good. It had been too long. :)
• And in the evening, Megs and I went to a movie with two dear friends. It was great. Well, actually, the movie wasn't. But the company was. 
• On Sunday, I didn't have to play at church. Either service. That was nice. :)
• In the afternoon I caught up on some things on my never-ending To Do list. My close friends know how much I love crossing things off that list! :)
• One of my stand-in brothers visited late on Sunday night... it was lovely and relaxed and we just chatted about lots of random things. As well as talking about serious things - like going to bed at a decent hour. :)
• On Monday, I slept for half the day, just because I could. :)
• I taught 21 flute lessons this week. Wow, I'm awesome. :P
• Also this week, I had two more people (now known as the mothers of students #24 and #25) call wanting lessons for their daughters!
• My week of teaching seemed easier - for the first time this year, I've felt 'in control' of the lessons I was teaching and what was going on. It's good to feel like The Teacher. :)
• I've managed to get lots of normal, boring things (such as organising, vacuumming, dusting) done this week... which I have not been managing at all this year, so I'm feeling productive. :)

And...

• Tomorrow I have a flute lesson with my new teacher. I've been loving my lessons with her so much! Maybe I will even get to catch up with a friend while I'm out... :)

While all this is good progress... I still ache inside for something....... and I'm tired now, so I'm going to bed. Love you all!

Just thought you might like to know...

... I'm REALLY excited about planning our trip to see Lachlan at the end of the year - it's so much fun getting started on it!!!

I'm also really tired... and it's only Monday. The problem is, because Tuesday is such a big day for me (it starts at 5:30am), I spend half of Monday night getting organised and catching up with stuff... I think I need a new plan of attack.

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that...

...and you shake it all around (clap clap clap)... Yay! I love the chicken dance. Seriously.

Okay, so that was a weird way to start My First Real Post... aside from My Obligatory First Post.

This blog scares me a little. And for several reasons. I won't go into them all, but my main fear is that I am "copying". I used to dislike it so much when my sister copied me! Now I know that imitation is one of the highest forms of flattery, but between the ages of about 7 and 17 I totally couldn't think of anything I found less flattering. Anyhow, my dear friend Danielle, who told me today that she wants to convert the world to blogism, said that if I had a blog, whe would read it. So she helped me to set one up... she held my hand (figuratively speaking) each step of the way (as I asked an astronomical amount of silly questions). And so today begins a new chapter in the life of Carla.

So... what does one write in one's blog? How do you all know how to write such interesting posts, which are so much fun to read? Does one get better at it, as one goes along? I'm feeling slightly intimdated, in case you hadn't guessed.

Perhaps I shall start by telling you that it is my sister's birthday tomorrow. I love birthdays! Although, truth be told, these days birthdays in our house are a little different, since my little brother is on the other side of the world. Oh hey, maybe I should tell him that I have a blog now, and that he can read it if he likes! Actually, that sounds like a good plan to me. I just miss him so very much! But you know what? Since Lachlan left, I now have two extra little brothers (well, as far as age goes... one is little, and the other might as well be my twin) ~ but they are friends of ours (and Lachy's) who have stepped in to try to fill the void he left. And I must say, they're doing a pretty awesome job.

Anyhow, back to my sister's birthday! Tomorrow, she will turn 23 - I can't believe she's that old! I can't believe I'm as old as I am either, but that's beside the point. After dinner, we are having some special local friends over for dessert and games.... we've planned the menu, want to know what it is? The birthday cake will be a chocolate cake, then we're having pavlova with cream and ice cream, fruit salad, and rocky road. Being the fantastic big sister that I am (haha), I already have the pavlova in the oven. My organisations skills rock. Haha again. Dear me, I am such a strange person. What I think is the best thing about tomorrow though, is that it's all about Meaghan. Not about me. Not about anyone else. Just her. And I want to make sure that she knows that.

Tonight in church my mind started wandering. Does that happen to anyone else? And do you hate it as much as I do? It was very warm inside, I was rostered on for playing piano (which tends to stress me out a bit), and I had a sore neck. It makes me cross when I don't take in the sermon like I should. Anyhow, I started to wonder what I will look like when I grow old...

I think this must be The Most Random Post Ever.