I bought some flowers for my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law this afternoon and stopped at their place to wish them a happy early mothers day. They both loved their flowers. I also bought my mother-in-law 2 new books our the trip to Bali which she loved.
This is my Mothers Day present from J and Abi. Just a neat little lens for my DSLR. Can't wait to start using this for portraits.
Everything from Monday afternoon till today, Thursday, is a blur.Yes, 3 whole days and nights of blur.
Hello, my name is Sam and I suffer from migraines. If you have ever had one, you will know what I'm talking about.
I felt a migraine creeping up on me over the weekend and foolishly didn't obey the signs to slow down and relax. And boy did I pay for it.
I feel like I've been beaten in the head with a baseball bat. My eyes and neck are still sore. Only now, is the pain easing. I'm exhausted after having several sleepless nights.
My husband has been sick in Manila with a travel virus so we have both been on the phone to eachother, swapping horror stories. I hated not being able to comfort him, and he the same.
Taking care of a toddler on your own for week with a migraine was torture. Abigail is one of the sweetest human beings I have ever met, but trying to care for her was almost impossible. I could barely stand and function on Tuesday, thank goodness for Crayola Crayons, Yo Gabba Gabba, tiny teddies and books galore.
Then my gorgeous sick husband calls me from Manila this morning with really crappy news. Our brand new Volvo being transported up from Melbourne was damaged on the transport truck during a freak hail storm this week and is longer for sale. It has been damaged so badly that they can no longer sell it as "brand new". So now, again, we have NO CAR! We can either walk away and buy another car or order the car we wanted which will take 3 months. I have no words. How can we have so much bad luck trying to buy a car? I know that's what it is, just bad luck. But the timing couldn't be worse.
Did I break a chain email a few years ago? Walk under a ladder? What the HELL is going on?!
Abigail has been missing her Dadda, and calls out for him in the night, half asleep. From what I can remember, we have enjoyed lots of kisses and cuddles, but I can tell she does miss him when he is away. Only 2 more sleeps until he is home. I feel sorry for him, having to fly home tomorrow when he is unwell.
It's just a really crappy week. I know it's almost over and I can't wait. We missed Gymbaroo this morning which Abigail was upset about. She looks forward to the class every week. How can it be Thursday?! 4 whole days just gone, like that.
So there's my rant. Hurry up Saturday morning. Can't wait to wake up and see James home from stinky Manila.
That's right. Only 17 sleeps till we head north to Indonesia to celebrate James's 30th Birthday. While our trip is only 1 week in duration, I am positive it will be enough to refresh the batteries. My in-laws and brother in law are joining us on the trip.
We have a private villa booked in Uluwatu on the southern tip of Bali. The villa comes with a full staff that include Villa manager, Chef, Driver, Security, House Keepers, Babysitter and even a Spa Therapist who comes to the house for spa treatments. I might never want to come home actually. The owner of the villa has 2 small children herself, so I don't need to take anything with me. High chair, cot, booster seat, car seat, and toys are already available in the villa. Getting closer to perfection by the minute.
I plan to read, swim, spa and eat amazing local foods. Since we have a private car with driver, we plan to explore parts of the island we have never been to before. This will be my 3rd time to Bali. My husband and his family, this will be their 5th time to Bali. The locals are lovely, caring and honest people. Shopping in Seminyak and Ubud. Drinking cocktails in cliff top bars, watching the sunset. I can't wait!
We have been telling Abigail that she is going on a plane in a few weeks and she seems to get excited. It's only a 5 hour flight so I'm not too worried about it. She has flown longer flights in the past so hopefully it will be a breeze. I have a whole family of help, sitting right beside me as well.
This is where we are staying. I couldn't resist posting these photos. 17, 16, 15... Hurry up!
A famous line that was said to myself and my 3 siblings in Disneyland in California, many holidays ago. We were having our photo taken with 'Marilyn Monroe' and she said to us as we posed;
Diamonds, I like diamonds, say diamonds, DIAMONDS!
Marilyn was seductive and sexy as she posed with us. She lingered on the last "diamonds" and really drew it out, diamondddddds. My sisters and I laughed at the time, even as young pre teenage girls. To this day, we still bring it up at inconvenient and inappropriate times, just for a laugh. My younger sister even puts a sultry voice too, much to our approval. I'm going to hunt for the actual photo of this memory, I'm sure it's at my mother's house.
This post holds little information, just a brief insight to a happy memory of mine. I'm having a less than ordinary day today, missing James in Manila and my brain is definately frazzled at the moment. House hunting has really taken a toll on me.
James is off The Philippines this morning on a business trip. He's been to almost every financial city in Asia, but never Manila.
He's only gone for 6 days, but always, he is missed dearly. He left early for his flight, giving Abigail silent kisses in bed before he left. Abi and I are used to being alone for periods of time, but it never gets any easier. She asks for him in bed, and doesn't understand when he doesn't come home every night. But I know how hard it is for him to be away from us too. In a foreign city, working hard, meeting new co-workers. He seldom gets the see the sights, unless he is taken out by clients. It would be hard to visit so many amazing places and never be able to full appreciate the whole experience.
I remember an old dance song that begins with "On my plane to Manila" which is very fitting to start the week. The lyrics continue, suggesting to dance without wearing seatbelts, I know there will be none of that on James's flight to Manila.
After waking up at 3am to hear Abigail vomitting in her cot, we spent the next few hours changing sheets, pyjamas, blankets and slept on towels, pre-empting the next upchuck. Since Abi's headcold has lingered for 2 weeks, I decided a visit to the Dr was overdue. A stomach bug and headcold was the diagnosis so we headed home for rest and cuddles and stories. Had an uneventful indoor day, the weather was gloomy and I was grateful that Abigail slept for 5 hrs.
Woke up early to start the day on a high. Dropped off Abigail at my mothers house to prepare for a day of househunting. You can read how my day went here, it was exhausting, mentally and physically. Had a quiet afternoon sitting in the comfort of my family's home, talking with my parents while Abigail slept. When she finally woke up at 4pm, we cuddled Nanna and Pa goodbye and headed back into the city for Tacos and crappy Saturday night TV.
Sunday
Another early rise this morning. We dropped Abigail at my in-laws house and headed to Auto Alley in Parramatta. For you overseas peeps, Auto Alley is a VERY long stretch of road in suburban Sydney, with every car dealership next to eachother. It's very convenient but overwhelming at the same time. Thousands of people all looking and test driving cars.
We test drove cars and made decisions. A big one. A new car purchase. I'm much more positive that this is the car for us, for our family. A trusty Volvo, they don't get much more safe than that! Drove to my in-laws to pick Abigail up who had just woken from a nap. As we drove home on the M2 / Cahill Expressway, our positive mood was rubbing off onto Abigail. We were listening to Mos Def and she was singing along in the back seat, enjoying herself. I felt like a radical Mum, introducing my daughter to hip hop at such a young age, haha. Another busy week ahead. Can't believe it's May! MAY!
Ballet - The Silver Rose at the Sydney Opera House
James and I decided to have a grown up and arty date night for April. I purchased tickets to The Silver Rose at the Sydney Opera House when they had almost sold out. I was lucky to buy 2 seats in the 6th row, a complete beginner's fluke!
My mother-in-law drove into the city with her overnight bag to mind Abigail and stay the night in the spare room. We showered Abigail in kisses and headed out for an early dinner at Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill on Bligh Street in the city. James had the signature dish, a wagyu beef burger. He loved every bite as we enjoyed our swish surroundings.
We were grateful for the slow downhill walk from the restaurant to the Opera House to walk off dinner and enjoy the fresh autumn breeze. There was a chill in there and we both wore jackets and scarves. I'm no expert at the ballet, but the crowd were dressed quite well. I've been before and seen people wearing tracksuits and thongs. We saw mothers with young aspiring ballerina daughters, old ladies linking arms, eating dainty sandwhiches and couples, like us, enjoying a night of culture and art.
The 3 acts were all different and lovely in their own right. I find my mind often wanders watching the ballet, but I am drawn to the music and the exquisite bodies of the dancers. We could see the orchestra from our seats and during the performance, I spent a few minutes watching 1 violinist flipping pages of her sheet music and staring at the conductor. I thought to myself, why are you staring at this woman, ENJOY the dancing!!
This was James's 1st time to the ballet and while he confessed it was rather long, he did enjoy himself. Hopefully he will agree to another performance with me later in the year. He gets to choose our next date night, he mentioned seeing a movie which we NEVER seem to do anymore. I was hoping for an art exhibition but what can you do. If he happily sat through 3 hours of ballet, then I will return the favour by sitting through a 3 hr action movie for him. The things you do for love.
Today we bought a new car! The car that I originally fell in love with 2 months ago. And now it's mine!!
The Volvo XC60. We test drove 3 different models of the car. Then we went over to BMW and test drove the new X1 4WD. It's barely a 4WD though, not much bigger than the 1 series coupe. I admit, the BMW was really nice, but pretty small in the back. The boot in the Volvo is bigger too, which is important to me. There is a 3 month wait for the BMW as well, but the Volvo just landed in the country and I will have my new car in 3 weeks. Which really helped make the decision easy for us.
Here is my new car. Need to think of a good strong name for him. Volvo. Vovo. Iced Vovo. Olvo. Olva? Oh gosh, ok, maybe he will just be XCEEEEEE.
Mine is Black Exterior with Cream leather interior. We drove behind one last night on the Harbour Bridge and it was so cute and fiece! When you brake hard, the brake lights are a special LED pattern that flash at you. Disco Volvo!
Now I am officially a Volvo driving Soccer Mum! Woo!
Today was hard. We viewed 8 open houses and except 1, they were all a big disappointment.
I cried on the way home from the last house. We left Abigail with my mother as she Abi is still not 100% well and I'm sure the last thing she felt like doing, was being driving around, getting in and out of the car etc. It was easier doing the house hunting without Abi because we could really look around with a fine tooth comb and actually inspect the house top to bottom.
Today made us realise that perhaps we should just build a new house on our land. We drove to our block of land after we picked Abigail up and sat there, gazing at the possibilities. Our future, Abi's future, on this block of land. I hate being a Virgo sometimes, my terrible procrastinating and indecisiveness plagues me often.
I realised that, while my life is really all over the place at the moment, the issues with the car, the house. These are all temporary. I have my health. My husband and daughter love me, we are a very happy little family. I am thankful for all my friends who care about me and my family who support me through thick and thin.
I am grateful for where I am, right now. Tonight. With love and happiness in my life. Yes, I don't own a home yet, but that will change very soon. And yes, recinding on the car contract was very frustrating and time consuming, but it's just a car. It's not the end of the world.
James and I are house hunting again. We have decided to sell our block of land and buy an older house instead. We have had 2nd thoughts about building in the area where our land is, and we also don't want to wait the 12 month turn around time for a new house to be built and completed. Patience is not my virtue.
Our land is going back on the market this weekend and our agent hopes to sell it for $30K more than we paid for it which would be fantastic.
In the mean time, we have started the gruelling task of house hunting. Some weeks I love it, jumping on Domain and seeing all the new houses for sale. Other weeks, it's so disappointing that I could cry.
Last Saturday, we viewed 10 homes, only 3 were really appropriate for our family's needs. Tomorrow we have 12 to view, but realistically won't get to all of the open homes.
My favourite part of the web browsing, is the catch phrases on each home listing to entice you to open and read more info. These are some of my favourite opening linesof the recent home listings I've been reading:
Opportunity isn't knocking, it's screaming!
This is just brilliant. Now the agents are SCREAMING for my attention.
Top This!
Simple, to the point. Top this open home. Well, I went... And it sucked.
STOP, you're home.
Warning, this is your new home. Scare tactics won't help you Mr Agent.
A pleasure to call home.
Any house that isn't a pleasure, is no house of mine. But most of the ones we viewed last weekend, were FAR from a pleasure.
I'd say, close to perfection.
Mmm, close, but not quite there. The 1970's kitchen and bathroom are a dead giveaway.
Happy memories begin here.
Yes, leave your scary nightmares behind at your old house, and move in here.
Thanks Mum, this is home.
Playing the Mum card here, which is hilarious. Can we have this house Dad? Ask your mother.
And my all time favourite:
Is this your new home?
Maybe, but probably not. In fact no, this house is next to a cemetary!
I will be adding more of these amazing opening liners as the weeks progress. I hope for my sake that we find a house sooner rather than later. I can't stand these poetic real estate agents anymore.
Date: Thursday 22nd April 2010 Venue: Lyric Theatre - Star City, Sydney Event: The Wiggles 'Wiggly Circus' Live in Concert Attendees: Myself, Abigail, my sister Jacki and her son Mikey.
After seeing Dora the Explorer in March, I decided to purchase tickets to see The Wiggles LIVE. Even though both Abigail and my nephew aren't into them yet, I assumed a morning at a concert full of young children and live music would be fun... And I wasn't wrong. The 2 kids loved it. Abigail spent most of the concert sitting next to my sister trying to eat a packet of biscuits in Jacki's handbag and Mikey danced in front of the seats, bewildered by the bright lights and characters dancing.
The crowd of children were much older than that of Dora's live show. The parents seemed more relaxed too, obviously with older children they could really sit back and watch / enjoy the show.
The Yellow Wiggle is my favourite for sure. He's the youngest and newest member of the group, and it shows. He actually did most of the singing and is the official band leader. We had a really fun morning and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Our next concert is Yo Gabba Gabba Live on Saturday June 5th, I cannot wait!! Abigail will be beside herself on the day.
I have endured the most frustrating 4 days. I cannot believe it.
After waiting 2 months for my new car, we are recinding on the contract of purchase. I won't name the dealership we bought the car from, but after some digging around, they have a known reputation for terrible customer service and shady servicing.
On Friday, we were excited to collect our Land Rover Freelander 2 4WD, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Today my husband came to an agreement with the sales manager to recind the contract because the car was not in mint condition, despite being brand new. Covered in scratches, the whole body of the car. They refused to do a repaint on the car and refused to do anything really. They were happy for us to walk away from the contract and be on our way. In many ways, I am relieved about the whole situation. I had a weird feeling about it from Day 1. I didn't like the sales guy, nor the customer service. I actually didn't even test drive the car, only my husband did. After test driving EVERY OTHER CAR on the market in our budget, we based our decision to purchase the Freelander on logic and a little desperation.
So now, here we are. 2 months later and NO CAR. We know that if we want something new, we will have to wait for a spec model from overseas. So we are considering buying an ex-demonstrator from a dealership too.
These are the cars we are looking at this weekend.
I am in love with the new Volvo XC60 4WD. We looked at this car 2 months ago at another dealer and I fell in love with it immediately. The sales guy gave Abigail the most AMAZING red ballon while we inspected the car. I almost loved the car that little bit more, because of the perfect red balloon that came with it.
This is the BMW 3 Series Touring wagon. This is the 1st car we looked at and it was slightly out of our budget. It still is, but I am being hopeful that $20K will fall in my lap this week so I could afford this beast.
This the Audi A4 Avant wagon. This is the 2nd car we went to look at and is also out of our budget but we may have found an ex-demo available in Sydney which would be fantastic. Saw another Mum driving this over the Anzac Bridge a few weeks ago and she looked pretty cool in it. Maybe I could be that cool Mum, hahaha.
Subaru Outback AWD. We *almost* bought this car. We were having the papers drawn up, and would have taken delivery 2 weeks after that, as the car was already in stock and in the country. It's very safe and affordable, but something is holding me back. I can't put my finger on it. I was really surprised though, at how far Subaru's have come, it was really nice inside and had all the latest specs and techs inside. This would suit us too as it is suitable for alpine conditions and we could take this to Thredbo in winter and not worry about chains for blizzards etc.
So, here are. Starting from scratch all over again. I'm not going to dwell on the whole thing, because I vented all weekend about it and it's over now. We aren't buying that car and that's the end of it.
Here's to more car shopping this weekend. More sales pitches. More free coffee. And hopefully, more red balloons.
After today's dramas, I thought this song was appropriate for Flashback Friday.
Also, watching Limah's facial expressions when he sings is just way too funny. Seriously, what the heck??!!
The Never Ending Story was the 1st movie I ever saw the cinemas. I went with my older sister Jacki and my Dad. I was terrified of Gmork, the werewolf villan. He was probably the most horrifying thing from my childhood nightmares. That, and Freddy Krueger. Great, now I'm going to bed thinking about Freddy Krueger... And horror movies... And the Ghoulies... And Pet Semetary... Wahhhhh
UPDATE - I did NOT pick up my car today. The car was not in mint condition when we arrived at the dealership to collect it. I almost cried with frustration. After waiting 45 minutes at the dealership, we told them to fix the problem PRONTO and left. Cannot believe how imcompetant people can be. It's a car, how HARD is it to stick to a contract!??! 2 months I've been waiting for this car. And it arrived in the country 7 weeks ago! It's been sitting at the dealership, just delayed for various reasons.
Will update soon on the situation. I think I sprouted 50 new grey hairs after today's dilemmas.
Husband just bought us a Land Rover Freelander 2. Black exterior. Almond leather interior. Booyah! Cannot wait to take my new baby for a long drive. We are going to the beach house on Saturday for the long weekend and can't wait to break in the car on the freeway.
J and I have debated over a name for a car, which we think is both very important. My 1st car was named Snow White. My car in Singapore was just named 'Jetta' after the model of the car, we were obviously in a bad mood when we named him, haha. Husband's 1st car was named Bessie, his 2nd car that we just sold was named Alberto after the stud Italian alpine skier Alberto Tomba. At the moment, we are planning to name the new car Lando Calrissian after the General in the Star Wars movies. I am aware Lando Calrissian was a black character in the movies, and the car is black, but also because the car is a Land Rover... Lando... Land Rover... You get my drift, haha.
Here is my new car, but mine is black. Will post some pics of mine as soon as I get the keys!
At some point, I think every woman has listened to Love Songs with Richard Mercer on late night radio. Yes, that photo above is the infamous MR LOVE! I doubt many unlucky ladies in love have gained anything from his advice on love or life, but it's the only place you can listen to soppy love songs when you feel the need.
I love a good love song. A powerful ballad that makes you cry and think of your loved ones. I used to make my husband "mixed love tapes" when we were dating in high school. These tapes consisted of songs from artists such as Bon Jovi, Boyz II Men, Jodeci, All 4 One, Puff Daddy, East 17, En Vogue, Silk, Brandy. In other words, REALLY TERRIBLE love songs!!
The 90's were big on love songs such as "From this moment on, How Do I Live, Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, I could go on and on. Like Celine Dion's heart did in Titanic.
These are some of my favourite lesser known love songs. I love love. It's my favourite word in the english language and I often miss my nights with Richard Mercer.
xxx
This song just shatters me. I love this song. Utterly beautiful and devastating at once.
This was released as Duran Duran's career was coming to an end and some fans will say this isn't their best work. Nonetheless, I love it. It's sexy. Very sexy.
I'm so happy I got to see Human League perform about 10 years ago in Sydney. They wrote some amazing songs in their career. This is one of them. It reminds me of when there was doubt and sadness in my life and I picked myself up and turned it all around.
This is the 1st song I heard as a married woman. James and I walked out of the church to this song. It reminds us of being young in love.
This was our 2nd dance at my wedding. I danced mostly with my Dad for this song and it was lovely.
An oldie but never goes out of style. "Loving you forever, is what I neeeeeeeeed".
Sexy. So sexy.
Not the most obvious love song, but it strikes a chord with me.
Was quite a big fan of Junkie XL's production back in the early 00's and this was always my favourite song of his.
This song gets me every time. It's featured in lots of movies for good reason. Wahhhhhh
From the soundtrack of 'Cruel Intentions'. Love it. Simple and romantic.
Next love song post will include tacky 90's RNB love songs I promise.
