Sleepover Party

Mairead and Hamish came for a sleepover last night. Donna brought dinner, which was lovely, then I gave the kids a shower (Hamish couldn't believe that we don't have a bath!) - and they even cleaned the shower for me! :P It took them ages to go to sleep - we sat down here and listened to lots of giggling, thumping, etc, and got up several times to settle them down. I ended up having to sit in there with them (and nearly went to sleep myself!). So we woke up at 6am this morning (since they were sleeping in our room), and I brought them down to watch ABC Kids. Alastair isn't feeling great, so I'm being lovely and letting him sleep. :) It's 9am though... perhaps the kids want to jump on him... :)

Wedding-ish things!

I've been busy with lots of things lately... shhhh..... don't tell anyone... but aren't the place-cards lovely! :)

We had a lovely day for the kitchen tea on Saturday - it was a very pleasant afternoon with all the ladies! Mum and Meaghan did an excellent job planning it, and we had lots of help from one of my bridesmaids, Bek. Here are a few of the photos...

The Food

The Games

(See how many pegs you can fit in one hand)

(Wedding dresses out of toilet paper)

And yesterday we had the bridesmaids' dress fittings, which Donna is doing for me - and she has done SUCH a good job! The girls all look just gorgeous in them! :)

Everything seems to be falling into place quite nicely... :)

6 weeks flies by!

Wow, I knew it had been a while - but 6 weeks!?!? A little while ago I realised that I needed to get a lot of wedding stuff thought about during the school holidays, because Term 4 is always enormous with students' exams, Christmas/end-of year stuff, etc, then Christmas comes, and since some places shut from Christmas til halfway through January (and then it will be 8 weeks til the wedding) I really needed to get a few things definitely booked. :) So I spent a lot of time doing that sort of stuff. Actually, since so much has been going on, I think I'll update in point-form:

• I helped at Alastair's church fete and made a billion sausage sandwiches.
• I performed as part of the Fisher's Ghost Youth Orchestra at our Bowral concert.
• Alastair, Donna and I went to a Sons of Korah concert - they are AWESOME!
• Mum had an operation on one of her parathyroid glands. And she broke her hearing aid. :P
• We got my engagement ring repaired - a corner chipped off one of the clasps.
• Alastair and I did the Spring Cycle in Sydney with his Uncle Jonathan. 40km - North Sydney to Olympic Park. Woo - go me! (I was sore afterwards!)
• Lachlan came back from the US for two weeks and competed in the Southern Highlands International Piano Competition - he came 6th out of 18 or so people. :)
• I made a billion phone calls to bridal hair and make-up people, had trials, and booked two ladies in!
• I ordered my wedding shoes online - it took two goes, but I have them now, and they're sooo pretty!
• We attended my friend Ann's wedding. She married Mark, my friend Bek's brother. :)
• I helped out at a school holiday fun day run by Alastair's church - I got the pre-schoolers. Wow, I was tired after that. :)
• I met with a florist, booked her in, and paid a deposit. :)
• Alastair and I spent an afternoon making a list of all the stuff in my glory boxes, so we know what we have and what we don't have.
• I bought all the vases and candle holders for the table decorations for the wedding. And spent hours picking/soaking/scraping off all the price stickers. :P
• I made an album with the pictures from our engagment photo shoot by Bethany (she's an amazing photographer).

• Alastair and I took Donna to see U2 3D at the IMAX in Darling Harbour - they are both obsessed with U2. :) I fell asleep in it. :P
• Alastair and I went to Melbourne with a family from Alastair's church (Scott, Kerryn and their gorgeous kids Ben and Emily), so that Scott and Alastair could do the Around the Bay in a Day ride - 210km! It was a fun weekend... I love the Queen Victoria Markets! My dear fiance has spent the rest of the week there, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him tomorrow!
• Meaghan did her A.Mus exam - and passed! We are so proud of her!

This week, Term 4 started with a vengeance - it's Friday night, and I've only got half the things crossed off my to-do list this week! Before I finish though, just a quick note to my almost-sister-in-law Carly: of course I don't mind if you comment on my blog! :) (But that game in Canberra was miserable. :P )

Btw, this is my 99th post. I think that's cool. :)

Oh, and we're under five months til the wedding now. That is also cool. :)

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...

Last Sunday we went on a picnic...

On Sunday we went for a picnic with some of the people from Alastair's church... in honour of Mick and Clare's youngest daughter Ingrid's first birthday. I love Alastair's church family, and there are lots of babies and toddlers to cuddle! It was a lovely day, and here are a few pictures...

* * * * *

Kerryn with her daughter Emily, and me with Donna and Dave's son Hamish. He's absolutely adorable, and I love him to bits. :)

Me with Hamish... he usually smiles.... 

Alastair and I with Hamish and his sister Mairead. Gorgeous kids. I stay with them if I need to stay in Wollongong overnight, and they've become like extra family. :)

Across the duckpond...

Oopsy!

Oh dear... I just got home from Alastair's place, and tucked into three-quarters of a block of Cadbury Peppermint Chocolate......

...my mouth stings. :(

On another note, we had a lovely lovely evening with a "more experienced" couple from Alastair's church - they're coming up for 50 years of marriage! Fae and Kevin are like grandparents to Alastair... just gorgeous... so sweet and encouraging. I was blessed by spending time with them tonight. :)

A week to catch up on...

Sorry it's been a while since I updated... there's been so much going on, and I haven't had time before now to actually sit down and post. As it is, I don't have very long, but I will do my best! :) Cos I really do love blogging... sometimes words just don't come though. We'll see.

Last week (the week before Mother's Day) Alastair and I didn't see each other much. I drove down on Monday morning (since I had a free morning) because he was sick, and consequently home from work. Awww. :) I could only stay for an hour or so, because I had students after lunch, but it was good - I was able to look after him and get him some breakfast. And his headache went away too. :) 

We didn't visit during the week, because Alastair's church had a nightly one hour silent prayer thing going on, which was from 8-9pm. I wasn't allowed to go, because apparently I'd have been a distraction. :P Which is cool, I can handle that. :) But since Friday was the last night of it, I went down and met Alastair at the church when it finished, to surprise him. :) Then we went back to his house with a couple of his friends and talked for a while. 

On Saturday, our Big Weekend started. Alastair did a 30km bike ride, then came up at about 10.30am... then we went for a picnic to the beautiful Macarthur Park, so that Alastair could meet Mrs. Bieman (my adopted grandmother) and Kate, another dear friend. It was just a glorious day, and we had a great time. Late in the afternoon, Alastair took me down to Wollongong, and we had dinner at Kerryn and Smorrie's place... it was so lovely. Their kids, Ben and Emily, are adorable, and we had a ball hanging out with all of them. Then Alastair drove me down to Donna's house... she's now my adopted big sister - I stay with her if I need to when I go down to Wollongong. :) It's so lovely and comfortable at Donna's... I feel so welcome, and she just makes me feel at home... her kids, Mairead and Hamish are also adorable, and they wake me up early in the morning to play with soft toys in Mairead's bed. :) I am soooo blessed by Alastair's friends - they've really welcomed me and made me feel so loved. Hamish is just starting to talk, and he calls me Darla. :P

Anyhow, back on track! Alastair picked me up just after 7am on Mother's Day (I was ready!), and we drove up here for breakfast with my family... then on to Manly for lunch with my grandparents on my mum's side, and her brother and his family. It was really nice watching Alastair get on so well with them all. We had Yum Cha for lunch (which isn't my favourite!), and afterwards, Megs, Alastair and I took my little cousins, Grace and Luci, to the new Cold Rock ice creamery... oh! It was so much fun doing that with the little girls... :) I have loved seeing Alastair relating to all these little people too.... he's so good at it. :)

Anyhow, side-tracked with gorgeously cute kids again! :P Um... during the afternoon we went to Warringah Mall and wandered around there.... looking in jewellery shops.... :) and then we drove to Crows Nest to have dinner with Alastair's mum and her husband, Ashley and Carly (one of his brothers and his girlfriend). They're all lovely people, and I got on well with them - I think. :P I did with his mum, anyway. :) We had Mexican for dinner... and it was very very yummy. We got home quite late... and were very tired.

This week, Alastair has been sick - I think he's run down from all the late nights and busy-ness... poor boy. But he's getting better now. Yesterday after I taught in the morning, I went into the city to be moral support for a friend at a doctor's appointment. Then we went shopping and it was nice. :) I went down to Wollongong after that, and Alastair cooked dinner for us and his Dad and Tim. (Tim boards with Alastair and his dad). Then we watched a movie together, and I drove home.......

Tonight, I'm going down again, but I won't stay late cos I'm really tired. Fae and Keven - an older couple from Alastair's church - have asked us over for dinner, which is really sweet. They're lovely people, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better.

Today, I have so many things I have to do - my list is a mile long! But that's okay... it'll happen. 

I love falling in love. It makes me happy. :)

Easter 2009

Easter was a little different for me this year... I think I'll tell the story in pictures this time.

On Good Friday, I played for our church service, before taking off with Alicea and Louise for our trip out to Dubbo/Gilgandra for Katherine's wedding. Here we are in the car:

The normally 4.5 - 5 hour trip took us 7 hours... this is why:

The cabin in which we stayed for two nights looked like this inside:

I was blessed to be able to catch up with Jemima and Bede for a few hours! They've just moved to Dubbo, and don't have long until their 2nd baby is born... and they live in a beautiful old house:

Katherine and Joel's wedding was on Saturday. I did Alicea's hair:

Dear old Mr. M. was there too:

It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful church, and during the signing of the register a quartet sang The Lord Bless You and Keep You from the balcony:

And it rained:

Here's a funny sign we saw in a Gilgandra service station window:

Alicea, Louise and I just before the reception:

The cake... they're both musicians - how awesome is it?!?!

Joel played his ukulele and sang a song he wrote for Katherine as part of his speech - it was so sweet:

FGYO girls:

Me, riding the hippo sculpture outside the venue:

What some girls get up to when they go away... having my hair coloured at midnight:

On our way home, we stopped at a reserve for lunch. My tomboyishness (which I hadn't seen for a while) came out in full force... up a tree:

... and swinging from the rafters of the picnic shelter:

Alicea and I... just so you can see my new brown hair:

And that's it! Today I've had a nice relaxing day... :)

Off I go...

Just to let you know that I'll be away for the weekend... I'm travelling up to Dubbo with two friends for another friend's wedding - the four of us were pretty close in our bygone orchestra days... all had our 21sts within a few weeks of each other and stuff. So I guess it'll be special to see Katherine and Joel get married, and great to spend time with Alicea and Louise too - we rarely get to now, as our lives have taken different courses...

Today was a weird day... I flapped around and shopped for winter pyjamas and an outfit to wear to the wedding this morning - and I only had the hour Meaghan was having her lesson to do so. Oh, and I had to find underwear too... joy of joys - I do not love underwear shopping. :P Why does it all seem to wear out at once... does anybody else's do that?? Anyhow, for the wedding, I found a skirt - the only one in the shop - reduced from $69.95 to $19.95... and it fit me perfectly! PTL! Then I bought a black top, which unbeknownst to me was 30% off - so I got the whole outfit for just over $30. I was very pleased, as I love a good bargain... and it turned out to be the high point of my day. :)

Then I rushed to get all sorts of things done, (mostly orchestra-related)... and drove to Burwood for my lesson. While in the area, I had to pick up some music for camp next week from our conductor, and drop some off so that he could have it couriered back to the place we hired it from. But I forgot my half of the deal. I was SO cross and annoyed with myself. :( Then I had my lesson (which was good), and rushed home to rush through a whole lot of work before Mum and Dad left for bible study... man, I just feel like this term has been a permanent rush. :P After doing the dishes and folding the washing, I practised the piano for tomorrow's service and Sunday night's service, since I'm rostered on to play then... then I rushed to get all my stuff packed to go away for two nights. 

Something else weird happened today too, but I still haven't worked out what I think about it, so I can't talk about it here... it was weird enough to make me cry. :(

So many feelings, thoughts and emotions... I don't want to go away... I don't want to watch yet another friend enter the state of marital bliss while I am left alone... I don't want to watch three particular friends go through the heartache they're going through.... I want it to be Monday already. I just need a big hug.

xx

Friday Fun. Saturday Stress... and Smiles!

The last two days have held lots of mixed emotions. I totally thought I was getting better at handling said emotions, but alas! I am not. :P

Yesterday was a little bit stressful in general, but after orchestra three friends came over and we had an absolute ball! We ate beef stroganoff, watched Bend It Like Beckam, and played on (used? I don't know what the proper lingo is!) one of our stand-in brother's Nintendo Wii - it was hilarious! Until Meaghan smashed a glass water bottle off the table and onto the slate. Actually, that was just as hilarious, but then maturity reigned and we cleaned it all up beautifully. Two of our friends went home just after midnight (in the middle of a huge storm!), and the other stayed over... and we stayed up talking til after 2am.....

...which was great, but not such a good idea...

Because this morning at 10am, (or yesterday morning rather, by the time this gets posted), we (Megs, biggest-stand-in-bro, and myself) were playing at a friend's wedding. I won't go into ALL the details... suffice to say, the disorganisation and miscommunication made it a less-than-pleasant experience, and we finished up at 4:30pm, after being there since 9am, feeling cranky, used, and quite sad.

However, after that was all over, things picked up. :) Megs and I went into the city with three friends (a married couple and a girl the same age as me - LOVELY people), to watch our biggest-stand-in-brother do a gig with one of the bands he plays with. It was great! Well... you know. I loved seeing all the boys get into it and look like they were enjoying it, and we met other friends in there and showed our support together and that was really nice. But it was VERY loud. :P That's cool though, I can get over that. :) Afterwards, 15 of us went and had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Leichhardt - they put us out the back at a big long table because there were so many of us! And it was SO nice! It was so relaxed, and we all just chilled out, and got to know new friends and old friends even better... I really enjoyed it - and it was just such a great way to end the day. Then we walked up the street and got gelatos.... I had two flavours: choc-mint and boysenberry....ooooooh! It was so good! And another lovely thing was that I didn't have to drive home. I am feeling blessed tonight - I know so many wonderful people, and I just keep meeting more! One girl I met, Michelle - she is so so SO lovely... I liked her immediately. I've met her briefly a couple of times, but getting to spend quality time with her was great... I think she's a kindred spirit. (She even has blonde moments like me!) :)

And now, I'm SOOO tired! I'm going to duck off to bed - and turn my clock BACK an hour because daylight saving finishes, yay! :) Another big day tomorrow, with church in the morning, and an Easter hymn service all afternoon... but I'm sure it'll be nice. I love being involved with nice people, and that's what tomorrow will be. :)

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!

Tired...

I'm physically and emotionally very tired. The physical tiredness is pleasant... I've worked hard with my students the last couple of days, and last night helped friends to clean the house they're moving out of. The emotional tiredness is different... I have a couple of needy friends, going through absolute turmoil, and I ache for them. So my heart is a little heavy tonight.

The weekend in review...

So... nothing earth-shatteringly amazing has happened this weekend, but still, it has been pleasant. Well, mostly.

Friday was normal... shopping in the morning and orchestra in the afternoon. We split Training Orchestra up into sections to help them work on their own tricky bits. I took the woodwind section, and those girls were lots of fun. I enjoy that sort of thing.

Saturday... I slept in a bit and did a few things in the morning - not as much as I'd planned, but not to worry, I'll get over that. In the afternoon I went to a wedding! They invited some people along for the ceremony and afternoon tea - and I was one of those. It was really lovely to be able to be part of their special day, and to catch up with others I knew there. It was held in a vineyard at a horse stud, with the birds flying around and horses gallopping around the paddocks in the background! The rain held off (mostly!) and it was just really lovely. Except I felt again, as I always do, just how lonely it is to go to these celebrations on one's own. Starting yesterday, and over the next five weeks, I have three weddings and an engagment party to attend. I guess I'll get used to the feeling. In the evening, I talked on the phone to a friend for two hours. It was hard work.

And today... I played the piano at church for both services. Beforehand, I wasn't too worried about it, but during the FIRST song, a whole bunch of loose pages of music fell off the top and INTO the piano. Which caused significant drama and made me cross and nervous about the rest of the music. :( But in the afternoon, we had family over - Aunty Kriss, Uncle Matt and our gorgeous little cousins, Grace and Luci. :) We had a lovely time with them... took them for a walk down to the park and stuff... it was just really nice. Here's a picture of us...

I was going to put up a really cute photo of Luci too, but I can't make it work, and I'm too tired to fiddle with it for any longer...

After church tonight, I washed the car. And one of our stand-in brothers came over for a few hours... because, as he said, he hadn't been around in ages... hehe... like a whole week! :) So that was nice. 

And now...... we're back into a week of work!

An update on the last few days...

Wow, life is continually full of ups and downs. I've written that before, I know. But... for some reason it never ceases to amaze me. 

Another update in point form - I wish I would remember to update more regularly!

• Friday: Shopping in the morning, and orchestra in the afternoon. I really, really enjoyed orchestra, for the first time in months. I wasn't worrying about minute details, and I had a ball helping out with training orchestra too. I was helping the three little boys in the percussion section... and by the time their rehearsal was finished, they were really getting it! :) A friend commented on my ease, and the beaming smile I had on. That was especially nice... for so long I haven't been the sort of person that people want to run into on a Friday afternoon, because I was always stressed about everything. One of my stand-in brothers came over in the evening. It was good fun.
• Saturday: I slept in. I had a chat with my real brother on skype. I went shopping with a friend. A few things bothered/annoyed me during the afternoon. I spent the evening with some friends... I was one of three girls who went around to be with these newly-married friends for the evening, to show our love and support as they go through the miscarriage of their first baby. Even though there was an element of what had happened and stuff, it was a really special time together.
• Sunday: Was a busy day... after one of the worst nights of sleep in history! Between church services I caught up on stuff and Meaghan and I visited some friends to find out where in Europe they would recommend visiting. That's right... we ar probably going to stop in Europe after seeing Lachlan at the end of the year! How cool is that?!?! We're also looking at a three-day stop in Egypt (of all places!)... which scares me slightly, but the others promise they'll protect me. :)
• And now it's Monday - the teaching week has begun. It's so nice to not feel completely overwhelmed at the thought of the week... how my thinking has changed. :) It's Week 7 of an 11-week term... we're over halfway! A friend prayed tonight over dinner that we'd look at the work of the week ahead as a blessing, and as an opportunity from the Lord. That was an awesome thing for me to think about. In our particular line of work, we are in contact with SO many different people each day.... what an opportunity that is!

And so begins my Very Busy Tuesday.... I'm tired! I must get to bed before it actually BECOMES Tuesday!

Love you all! 

Tuesday always ends up such a BIG day!!!

Do I ever get on here and say anything without putting an "I'm tired" in there somewhere?

Well... that's a challenge for another day... cos tonight, I'm TIRED!!!

It's Week 6 of an eleven week term... we've hit halfway! :) I'm feeling much better about all my students... compared to what I was at the beginning of term, anyhow. Things are working out, we're working together and it's working well. :) I'm still getting used to "Miss, can I please...?" and stuff, but it's going okay.

Tonight I even stayed awake during bible study - and it wasn't an effort. :)

Hmmm... the last few days, since I blogged.... Sunday was nice. Megs had an SYO concert which Mum attended, so it was just Dad and I at church. Different, but somehow very cool... and I enjoyed being "Daddy's Little Girl" again. One of my stand-in brothers came for lunch, and he and Dad spent the afternoon together... Dad showed him how to sort out his finances and work out a budget. I pottered around doing ironing, cleaning up my messy desk, and all the other stuff I don't get done during the week, but overheard bits and pieces. My Dad is seriously the coolest guy I know, and I have so much respect for him. The three of us then got to have a good discussion about different issues... from moral issues in movies to recent events that have affected us and things (vague, I know, but I can't really say more than that here)... anyway, the afternoon was a blessing for us all, I think. And to make that Sunday even nicer, I was playing piano at church for both services, and the songs were ALL playable (by my standards!), so that was very cool.

Yesterday... Monday... a quiet morning followed by a busy afternoon of teaching, a good chat with a friend, and then a trip over to Burwood for a study on Augustine.... it was a bit over my head, but good nonetheless.

Tomorrow morning, I have my last student for the week. I love the feeling that 9:30 on a Tuesday morning brings... :)

I should go before I waffle on any further.... I just have so much stuff racing through my mind..... 

Love you all! xo

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!

Tonight...

...a cool change came through. Thank you Lord! It was so lovely to be able to sit out on the front verandah at 11pm and not be sweating. And catching up with a dear friend at the same time made it all the more enjoyable!

(Yeah, I know... ladies are supposed to 'perspire', not 'sweat'. But I reckon that any lady who has lived through the last few days would have to have sweated - at least a little bit!)

This afternoon between services, I got lots of organising done. It made me feel like I'd been productive, and that was very pleasant.

Does anybody else besides me "potter around"?

Today was a pottering-around kind of Saturday. Here's a brief overview: I slept in a bit (it was very good), spent half the morning on the phone finding good flute deals for two students (it wasn't as hard as I make out), chatted about nothing and laughed on the phone to another friend for twenty minutes (I love having time to do that!), gave two flute lessons to complete beginners (I love beginners!), made a template for tax invoices with Dad's help (which I now have to issue - blah!), got my finances sorted out - also with Dad's help (he's so awesome at all this stuff!), drafted a start-of-year letter to my Broughton students' parents to introduce myself (though it is likely that they'll never meet me!), started a Student Database in Excel (Excel is not my favourite computer programme), went to the video shop with the youngest of my stand-in-brothers and came out with five movies instead of one (that's what you get when you take brothers, biological or not! :P), ate yummy spaghetti bolognaise for tea (with Ice Magic on icecream for dessert), another friend randomly came to share dinner and the first part of the movie with us too (which was really cool and made my night, as she's not the least bit local, and she came all the way out here just to spend a couple of hours with us), and last but not least, drove said stand-in brother and his cello home, with him changing gears for me all the way (well, most of the way, he forgot that it was his job a few times) so that was kind of novel.

All in all, a pleasant (but very VERY hot!) day!

I just want to say to any of my lovely family and friends reading this that... I. Love. You!