2009 in review

Today being the last day of 2009- first of all, wow. Second of all - a lot happened for me this year.

Let's recap:

In January, we spent New Year's Eve in Queensland. I went to a Casting Crowns concert. I went to the beach with my friends.

In February, I started my last year of Bachelor of Arts. I started back with violin lessons. Our church started a Youth Group and I was asked to be one of the leaders. Later in the month, my Uncle Jeff & Aunty Nicki came to visit from New Zealand

In March, uni was back in full swing. I started tutoring an 11 year old girl I knew from dancing. I started back working at PAC, for two hours each on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I started babysitting two of my ballet teacher's kids every Wednesday.

In April, I went to America with my dance studio. We danced at Disneyland & travelled around LA and then I went to New York with 2 friends from dancing and had the most amazing time.

In May, I had to come back to reality. I went to my first ballet. I saw the Nutcracker at the Sydney Opera House with my ballet teacher and some other students from dancing.

In June, I turned 21. My grandma and grandad came to visit for the occasion.

In July, I was hospitalised twice, once for a pilonidal abscess (which resulted in having my first ever surgery) and two weeks later, for a horrible bout of gastroenteritis.

In August, I started working at PAC as a junior school sports helper for a few hours each Friday. I also went on a mission trip to the town of Molong with my church.

In September, we flew to New Zealand for Neil's nephew's wedding. We went skiing in Queenstown. On the day of the wedding, held at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I honestly believe I have never been so cold in my life. It was -4 degrees outside.

In October, I partially dislocated my knee, and had to endure weeks of painful physiotherapy in the hope of being able to compete in the group Eisteddfod my dance group was entered in. I didn't make it. But...

In November, Mum & I started yoga. I finished my uni exams, and unofficially finished my Bachelor of Arts for good. I went to see Britney Spears in concert at the Sydney Acer Arena.

In December, my cousin Andrea arrived from New Zealand. We did lots of tourist-y things. I was able to dance in my studio's dance concert. I made it through all 8 routines without any pain or further injury!


Whew! Just looking over all of that exhausts me!


And not to mention:
I took up photography.
I saw lots of movies.
I worked part time at Jeans West.
I learnt to bake.
I cut my hair, grew it out and then cut it shorter a few weeks ago.
I babysat for 4 different families.
I taught Sunday School.
I participated in a book club.
I read lots of interesting books, outside of the book club.
I learnt A LOT.

Shopping marathon

There's only 3 days left of 2010, and so how am I spending these last few days?







Shopping.


So many stores are on sale, and you better believe I'm going to take advantage of that. Because hello, who doesn't get excited when they see a pretty dress that was once $44.99 on sale for twelve dollars and fifty-two cents?!?! (True story, I bought it at Target yesterday).


Today I am picking up my friend Elise at precisely 9 o'clock sharp, and we are driving the approximate 500 metres to the Plaza (I love that she lives in such a central location!). We'll park in the first spot we find (preferably on Level 2, because that way we don't have to walk up or down any stairs to get to the good stores) and hit up the bargains.

The 9 o'clock part is supposed to help us avoid all the crazy people and carpark madness that I had to endure when I turned up at lunchtime yesterday. Not my wisest decision. But it did result in the afore mentioned twelve dollar and fifty-two cent dress being purchased, so I can't say it wasn't worth it.

Whoops, gotta go. It's 8.16am and I still need to get dressed. I need to find an outfit that looks good and is comfortable but is easy to take on and off. And then I need to decide on a hairstyle that doesn't get wrecked every time I try clothes on over my head.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. One that needs proper attire.

Christmas Day

We had a really great Christmas - even though it rained the entire day. Not a very traditional Australian Christmas, weather wise, but it was what we got.

We started off with Christmas morning at our house, with breakfast and then presents. I got lots of practical stuff that I'd asked for, like a music stand for my sheet music, a new 2010 diary, new camera lenses, etc.

At about lunch time, we went over to Ronda's house for Christmas festivities. Ronda is a family friend, the mother-in-law of Aleata who we have known for years. We celebrate Christmas with Aleata & Adam and their kids Zack & Chelsea, Helen & Kearney (Aleata's mum & dad), Ronda (Adam's mum), Luke (Adam's brother) and Carwyn (Aleata's brother). This year, Pip (Carwyn's wife, they got married earlier this year) and her daughter Sofia came along too. Every year, each family takes a turn at hosting Christmas. Last year Christmas was at our house. This year it was at Ronda's and next year it will be at Aleata & Adam's.

Anyway, every year we have a Bocce tournament. We even have a trophy that gets engraved with the winner's name each year. But last year, we started a new tradition, and it can be said to rival the Olympics. We have 5 games, and everyone is entered into the competition, their names drawn out of a hat to see who the couples will be that verse each other. We have big pieces of paper for each game, drawn up like scoreboards. Everyone starts out playing in the first round (unless they have a bye) and then the winner of the first couple takes on the winner of the second couple, and so on. That becomes the quarter final, then we have the semi final, and then the grand final. But it's not just the grand finalist that wins. Oh no, it's far more complicated than that! The grand finalist of each game gets 5 points, the runner up 4, those in the semi final get 3, and so on.

After every game (there's Pass the Ball, Pin Cup, Two-Up, Golf & Bocce) the points are tallied. This year, because of the rain, we didn't get to do all of the games because we were outside. While we sat under big tents for most of the day, the games needed lots of space, and with the rain, the grass turned into mud pretty quickly.

Nevertheless, 9 year old Zack was crowned Bocce Champion, and that night he apparently slept next to the trophy! I didn't see his victory, because I left to go spend time with my girlfriends since we normally don't see each other much at Christmas. We had lots of fun just exchanging gifts, eating leftover food and generally hanging out, catching up and laughing.

It was good to be able to celebrate Christmas with both groups of people. The Christmas lunch and related festivities were great, but nothing beats hanging out with your girlfriends, eating, laughing and celebrating another Christmas.

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve.

I'm off to our Christmas Eve church service - we're having rocked up carols tonight.

(But I'm on creche/child minding, so I'm not sure how many carols I'll get to sing!)

Retail

I work in retail and my feet hurt.

That is all.





Just kidding.


I've worked three days in a row and it's killing me. Or should I say, it's killing me feet. As a uni student, I never spend much time on my feet (I'm always sitting in lecture halls or at a desk somewhere), so to be standing up all day is just not happening for me!


Luckily, I get tomorrow (Christmas Eve) off. I'm so excited for Christmas! Already there are presents under our tree - I've been trying to suss out what they are, and I think I know what the one for me is. Sorry, mum! I can't help it that I'm a good guesser.


You know what else? I can't believe the number of people that leave their Christmas shopping so late. Just tonight, I had a girl come in who had only started her shopping yesterday. As in the 22nd of December. Talk about cutting it close... But it kinda made me happy because she spent lots of money in our store and helped me make my target for the day (my Sales Manager Dad would be very, very proud!)

I've done a lot of my Christmas shopping online this year, and it had proven to be very valuable in that it saves me time and I don't have to go out to the shops and fight my way through the crowds! If you could only see Penrith Plaza at this time of year.... One word. Chaos.

I kind of like it though - after all, it wouldn't be Christmas without the gifts and the shopping and the crowds, now would it?!

From our family to yours...

Here is our Christmas card for 2009!

Christmas Tour of Homes

I'm taking part in The Nester 's Christmas Tour of Homes.

Welcome to our house, all decorated for Christmas!


As you walk in the front door, this is the first thing you see...




To the right is our formal lounge room....

Our tree...

Decorations in our wooden cabinet...

Our hallway...

Our stairway... (with my cousin from NZ acting as a model!)

Our house has a lot of Asian influence, so I always like to "Christmas-fy" this Buddha statue.

Moving into our kitchen, my cousin Andrea had lots of fun placing our Santa figurines in various locations...

This is our buffet table in the dining room...

The dining room table...

The nameless room with the pool table, opposite the kitchen...

Looking into our lounge room...

I love this garland!

This Merry Christmas wall hanging is a new addition to our lounge room this year.

More Santa figurines in our lounge room...

Thanks for visiting!

Deck the halls

I feel like I need to preface this post by saying I LOVE Christmas!
Love everything about it - especially the decorating! I have been buying Christmas decor and homewares since November (Bed Bath N Table, anyone?!) but wasn't allowed to put most of them up until December.

Luckily, Andrea arrived right on December 1, so on December 2nd, you better believe we were putting the tree and all the decorations up!

We go for a David Jones (fancy Aussie department store) look with our Christmas tree. Andrea and I had so much fun putting the lights on, going round the maypole with the tinsel and then hanging the million baubles, all whilst listening to Christmas music!






Andrea taking charge of the blue tinsel.

Hanging the baubles

Me placing the star on the very top



Our tree is so tall, I have to stand on a bar stool to reach!

Christmas Cake Balls

Jessica is hosting a Cookie Recipe Exchange on her blog, and I thought it would be fun to join!

Every Christmas for the past few years, my Mum makes these Christmas Cake balls (I help!) We got the recipe from my godson's mum.


The recipe is as follows:
800g fruit cake (although I was thinking I might try cheesecake this year...)
250g block milk or white chocolate
125g butter
2-3 tablespooms of Irish whiskey (or you can substitute with another liqueur such as rum, brandy, Kahlua, Frangelico etc or use vanilla essence or orange juice)


Melt half the block of chocolate and the butter in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

Crumble the fruit cake in and add the liqueur and mix it in.

Spread greaseproof paper on baking trays and using a teaspoon amount of the mixture, roll it into balls and then put them in the fridge for a few hours to set until they become hard.

Then melt the rest of the chocolate in a bowl as before and spread a teaspoon's amount over the top of each cake ball until it is completely covered.

Makes 40.



This year, my mum & I made them using Kahlua and 125g milk chocolate (for the mixture) and 125g white chocolate (for the icing). We also added a quarter of a red glace cherry to each one, so it looked like a mini Christmas pudding!

Don't they look cute?

Friends & Family

Andrea went home today.

I'm a bit sad.

We had so much fun together, going shopping, swimming, discovering, exploring and eating. (A lot of eating, haha!)




As much as I will miss her, I will have these guys to keep me company.

Remember I promised to take a more recent photo of me and my four friends? (Seeing as the last group photo of us was more than 3 years ago!)





Well, here it is:

From left to right: Elise, Laura, Claryse, Keisha & me on the end (someone had to set up the self timer on the camera!)


Love these girls.

My cousin comes to visit

My cousin Andrea arrived yesterday. After a disastrous morning (for me, I meant) which included running late, being stuck in peak hour traffic, not being able to switch off "avoid motorways" on Tom Tom - which meant I went the long way through the backstreets of Sydney, being stuck at one particular set of traffic lights for four light changes, and then turning up at the wrong arrivals gate, I finally found her.

She swears she was only standing there for "20 seconds" until I got there, but I think she's just being nice.



Since she got in pretty early in the morning, we decided to make the most of being so close to the city, and we went exploring, Sydney-style.

We drove across the Anzac Bridge, and I showed her Centrepoint Tower, and the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

I took her to Darling Harbour (after finally finding some parking, only to realise it would cost us $30 for 2 hours. Welcome to Sydney!), and we got coffee and strolled through the shops and walked along the harbour side.

Being from a tiny town in New Zealand, she was constantly amazed by the skyscrapers and the sheer size of the city. I guess I'd gotten used to it, having lived here all my life!

For lunch we went to Pancakes on the Rocks (best pancakes ever!) and once we found parking (a miracle in itself!) we had to run for it, as the beautiful Sydney weather decided to unexpectedly change on us and pelt down some warm rain. Andrea was amazed by this too- she kept saying "It's raining, but it's warm rain!"

When you live in a country that's practically Antarctic, I guess you don't get much warm rain. You don't really have a need for sleeveless dresses or shorts either, because Andrea had to stock up on those whilst we were in town too.



After lunch, she was pretty tired from having to get up so early for her flight that morning, so we headed home and I'm going to tell you that she fell asleep in my car.

It's true.


(And for the record, our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins might read this blog, but I'm pretty sure Andrea herself doesn't! So hopefully I'm safe!)