May 8 to June 8

Where does time go?

We've been married for ten-and-a-half weeks now. In some ways it doesn't feel that long, and in some ways it feels much longer. Like, we're still in the same school term - and it's feeling like a long term. But then... I feel like we haven't had time to just go for drives on the weekend and enjoy each other's company properly. I don't know. It's just funny.

So, since I last posted, I've started working in a pharmacy (3 days a week), we've been to Canberra for the footy, we've paid an enormous amount of money (just like everyone else does, I spose!) to register the car, I've made a couple of skirts for my mum, we've got our professional wedding photos back, and I've had croup (I was SO sick!). There you go, a brief summary there.

Alastair and I seem to have had an over-abundance of challenges... questions... ideas... moral dilemmas... and that kind of thing, which have surfaced recently. It's really quite exhausting, but has caused us to do a lot of praying, reading, thinking and researching. It's good for us to face these things together and decide what we as a couple really believe.

Also, my friend Laura and her family (father and three brothers) need prayer - their mum passed away on Saturday night. Mrs. Edwards had had cancer for quite a number of years, and so they've had a while to get used to the idea... indeed, they've thought it was the end plenty of times. But I'm sure that doesn't make the finality of death any easier. She's gone home to be with Jesus, and she was looking forward to having no more pain.

On a happier note: Lauren is getting married THIS Saturday! We're flying to Brisbane on Friday night and it will be such an exciting time. I bought a new dress last Thursday night. Yay! :)

I really want to post some photos of our little house soon, too. But now I must wash up. :P

Stuff...

Whoever knew that becoming a couple in a legal capacity was such a long, time consuming, drawn out process! You can change your name at the ATO with just a phonecall, (no marriage certificate or anything), but to put your wife on your NRMA policies/greenslip/whatever, it takes about a dozen phonecalls and hours on hold waiting for "the next available operator". I've got my new driver's license... yesterday we went to Medicare to change my name and get new cards which have each other on them... and we opened a joint bank account. Man, it's all so complicated!

I started back teaching two weeks ago. Always after some time off, I think that teaching is too hard and that I can't do it anymore... but then I get there on the first day and remember that it's okay. :) It's good to be earning money again too.

Speaking of money - I've been working on our budget, and last payday we put it into practice. Yay... sort of. :P We're needing to be quite careful with our spending. I'm getting used to having to shop fortnightly (my mum shopped weekly), but also, I have to remember that I'm not doing the shopping for mum for a family of 5 anymore - I'm shopping for Alastair and I, and we don't need as much food as a family does. Nor do we have space for it. :P Buying two packets of frozen vegies for $6 just because they're on special may not be the greatest idea... because we can't get through them, and only have a little freezer! Yesterday I just went shopping, but when I got home and unpacked it, I couldn't shut the freezer door. I forgot that mum and dad have a chest freezer that the overflow goes into... :P

So lots of learning going on here.

Last weekend we went up to Gilgandra to visit Joel and Katherine for the long weekend. It was really nice (except for the bed!) and we had a great time. :)

Now Alastair is awake and he's made me a cup of tea. :) We're going to snuggle up and watch a movie. Later on, we're going to the footy - go Swans! What a way to spend a Saturday. :)

For goodness sake: it's 3:30am?!?!?!

I'm awake and I shouldn't be. But I've been coming down with a cold for the last couple of days, so I went to bed at 5:30pm last night, and now that I've woken up, I can't sleep any more. I lay there trying for an hour, but alas, my nose is completely blocked and sleep just won't come. It's very sad, actually, because I'm quite tired....

However, I'm going to be time-efficient, and update my blog. :P

Our enormous weekend (as mentioned in my last post) was just that: enormous. Which is probably why Alastair and I are both sick. :(

Alastair came up on Friday night, and we went to visit some of my friends for dessert, as they haven't had much chance to spend time with and get to know Alastair. It was lovely to see them and catch up - and they cooked really yummy individual sticky date puddings for everyone! When we got back, we watched a funny movie with Mum and Dad, and went to bed late. :P

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and down at the bike track early to meet my friend Bethany, so that she could do some engagement photos for us! It was lots of fun, and B got creative, enjoying the fact that neither of us mind being in front of the lens. :P Here's a sneak peek at a few of them: Engagement Photos!

From there, we rushed over to Woodbine McDonalds where we met up with Katherine and Joel, Mum, Megs, and Bek. We girls and mum (those three are my bridesmaids) went over to the bridal shop nearby, and I showed them the wedding dress I like. Or rather, the wedding dress I love. :) And I think we've pretty much decided that it's the one. Yay! :) Then we all went out to Gledswood Homestead, where we met Alastair and Joel, Dad, and Marelle (A and J's mum), as they were all set up and decorated for a wedding, and they said we could have a look to see what ours could look like. It was absolutely b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l, and everyone liked it very much. :)

And then we parted company. Sad times. :( hehehe :) Dad went home to mow the lawns, Alastair and Joel took their mum out for lunch, and the rest of us went bridesmaid dress shopping. I had mixed feelings about it, knowing that I'd seen a dress that Megs and I liked, but also realising that the three girls are all different shapes. We went to the shop, put the dresses on, and voila! They looked good on all three, and they all liked them! We even all agreed on the colour! Hooray! :) We went and found some lunch and talked about it, then went quickly to three other bridal shops nearby to check that they didn't have anything better, and then made our decision. It felt soooo good, and I was very pleased with our productive day! :)

Mum and Megs went home from there, as they had Lachlan's birthday get together to prepare for, and Bek dropped Katherine and I at Olympic Stadium where we met Alastair and Joel, and together we watched the Swans lose by only 5 points to... I forget which team. Oops. I'm such a bad footy fanatic. :P It was late by the time we got home, and we were very tired... which meant that we weren't disturbed by Lachlan and his friends watching movies until 4am like Megs was... 

Sunday morning we went to my church, and I got to play with Lachlan for the first time in over a year. It was lovely... except his 11 weeks here have flown by, and it was his last service before going back to the States. :(

After church, Alastair and I caught up with my friend Ann and her fiance Mark for coffee, which was lovely, and we swapped wedding planning drama stories. :P Alastair hadn't met them before, but he and Mark got on really well, so I was pleased. :)

We went back to my house and sorted out some wedding dramas for half the afternoon, then went down to Wollongong for evening church down there, which was good. Kerryn and Smorrie's 2-year-old Emily knows who I am and apparently when they say they're going to church now, she says "Carla?" :) How cute! They were sitting in front of us during the service, and Emmie called out "Car-laa", and Smorrie handed her over for a cuddle... she's adorable. :) After church we went out for dinner with Meg, Tim, and Mini-Meegs, and it was good to catch up with them.

After all that, it was no wonder that Alastair woke up sick on Monday morning, and couldn't go to work. I was glad I didn't have to teach until the afternoon, so I got to spend the morning looking after him. :)

Since then, I think I've caught what he had though. I guess that's what happens when you share the love. :P Yesterday I got all overwhelmed about a lot of things and cried myself silly, which I think didn't help my general state of well-being, as I was so tired out I just went to bed. And now here I am with this silly dilemma on my hands of not being able to sleep, but my eyes are so tired and sore and my nose is all blocked. :(

Later on today, we have a funeral to go to down in Shellharbour - dear Mrs. Powell unexpectedly went to heaven last Friday. Sad for all of us, but no doubt a relief for her, as she had struggled in the past with cancer and ill health. 

There you have it... my week. There's always something major going on at the moment... like Lachy leaves on Saturday morning....... :(

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...

A photo...

Wow... life is hurtling along at a crazily wonderful break-neck pace! I love love love it, but I'm so tired! And it means that I don't have a huge amount of time to blog about everything... maybe soon... Here's a photo of us at my very first football game on Sunday - I had a spectacular time!!!

Guess what!!!

Today I'm going to the footy for the first time ever! :)

Yesterday, it was Alastair's mum's birthday, and we went with her and her husband to see the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra at Angel Place. It was so good! Then we went and found Haigh's Chocolate Shop... and well... yeah. :) I am totally in love with their Peppermint Truffle Bars! It was also lovely to catch up with Bek afterwards in the QVB... and she agreed to be one of my bridesmaids! 

Alright... I'm off. I'll post properly again soon. xo