Alicia in Wonderland

Today I went to a quaint little tea room in the Blue Mountains that proclaims to have the largest private teapot collection in the world! There were over 3000 teapots in this house-turned-restaurant-slash-shop!

It was also home to lots of antiques and vintage pieces- everywhere you looked, there was more to look at!

Walking in, surrounded by all the teapots, I felt a little bit like I was in Alice in Wonderland (you know, the Madhatter's Tea Party). Either that or like I was visiting my grandmother for afternoon tea - except it wouldn't be my grandmas, because they are both trendy and cool! And they don't have ugly floral tablecloths.


Anyway, without further ado, I give you
Alicia in Wonderland

(I'll put more photos up tomorrow)

(love this photo below- I am getting artsy and more adventurous with my photography!)

Freedom

So that's it. I've officially finished my Bachelor of Arts as of yesterday.

Today's my first day of freedom :)

(That'a smiley face on the end, in case you didn't know Dad I mean, anyone)



Last night, after I finished my exam, I waited to feel some sort of euphoria or excitement. And I got nothing. Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet. Maybe once I get the official "Yes, we're really letting you graduate, and here's the piece of paper to prove it" then I'll be excited.



For now, I'm enjoying sleeping in, not being as stressed, getting to enjoy the hot summer days we have coming up.


I've also been trying to catch up with each of my 5 best friends, since we all get a little crazy busy towards the end of the semester and don't see each other as much as we'd like to.



Have I mentioned how successful we all are?!



Elise finished her Medical Science degree at the University of Sydney and just got accepted into Medical School!



Laura finished her Bachelor of Communications at UWS and just started a very grown-up marketing job in the city.



Claryse is part way through her Arts degree, and is looking to transfer to study Dance Education at Macquarie Uni next year.



Keisha has had a very lucrative job at the Australian Taxation Office for a few years now, and recently got promoted, is getting married in April and is looking for a block of land to start building a house.



And then there's me, finished my Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) degree, and starting my Masters of Primary Teaching next year!

This is the most recent photo I have of all of us - from our graduation in 2006! I know - terrible! I'll have to take a new photo of the 5 of us, but here's Claryse, me, Elise, Keisha & Laura.

(Except imagine Elise with shorter hair, Keisha with red hair and Laura with long blonde hair, because that's how they look now!)

So Close

I am so close to finishing my degree!

All that separates me from all the glory and pomp and circumstance is one pesky exam on next Monday (the 16th). An exam that's scheduled to start at 5.30pm! (Who has energy to do anything at that time of night?)



It's also getting so close to Christmas!

I love Christmas! It's my favourite season.

I feel like Christmas doesn't last long enough, so I've followed The Nester and started bringing out some of my Christmas decorations early!



These are some of the decorations I've already put out around our house (Okay, they're only out because I bought them on one of my Wednesday shopping trips with Laura to Bed Bath N Table, and they're too cute to put away in a box and wait til December!) I think I've mentioned before that every Wednesday Laura & I go out for brunch and we always, without fail, go straight to Bed Bath N Table afterwards. We're there so often, the ladies recognise us and always say "It must be Wednesday!"


My first Christmas themed purchase from Bed Bath N Table was this colourful metal wall hanging. They had it hanging in the shop and it was love at first sight. I love the colours.

I also love these little terracotta ornaments. They're meant to hang on the tree, but I think they'll look much better hung around our house! Maybe on the wall, hung in a line... I'm not sure yet.

I bought these "Ho Ho Ho" blocks at the same time that I bought the terracotta ornaments. Laura teased me (in a good natured way) and said I always pick "country" stuff. But they're so cute! I originally had these arranged in a horizontal line across the glass table in our formal lounge room, but when I went to take photos of them this morning, I saw that my mother had moved them and arranged them vertically like this instead.

This wooden tree spells out "Christmas" in the shape of a tree. I bought this on an earlier trip. Laura again teased me, saying it looks too "country". But I love it. This was one thing I didn't buy straight away from Bed Bath N Table; I saw it one Wednesday and didn't buy it, but when I saw it the next Wednesday I decided that I still loved it, and therefore it needed to be bought!





These candles are (shock) not from Bed Bath N Table! I actually bought the big red candle from the post office sometime last Christmas when I needed to spend over $10 in order to use Eftpos! Turns out it was a good impulse buy, because I absolutely love the colour! To make it a bit more festive, I added the two glittery silver candles I got as a present last Christmas from one of my dance students.

Children & Wonder

I have a quote printed on plain white paper that is pinned beside my desk right where I sit now, typing this.

It says this:

"Sometimes, looking deep into the eyes of a child, you are conscious of meeting a glance full of wisdom. The child has known nothing yet but love and beauty - all this piled up world knowledge you have acquired is unguessed at by him. And yet you meet this wonderful look that tells you in a moment more than all the years of experience have seemed to teach"


As I walked from the teacher's carpark across the playground today, within seconds of my feet stepping onto the pavement I must have had about five kids from the Year 3 class I work in call out...
"Hello, Miss Parata!"
"Miss Parata, are you coming into our class today?"
"Look at ______, Miss Parata!"
"Miss Parata, I got ______!"


(And I'm proud to say, the Headmaster was walking towards me, coming from the opposite direction at the same time, and I got more greetings than him!)


The kids make me smile. I love the way their minds work. What's important to them is what's going on right now. They're not worried about tomorrow, or the next day. They're worried about how long it is til lunch time and how much longer do they have to wait until they can go play?


Today in maths, I look over at one little boy in the class (who is often off with the fairies) and expected to have to get him to focus and get moving on his work. I look at his sheet and see he's already completed the whole thing. And it wasn't particularly easy either.

I love that kids can surprise you like that. Just when you think you've got them nailed, they pull out something that turns you on your head.


So many people underestimate children. I think they have more wisdom than we give them credit for. They're not jaded by the world yet. They think they can do anything, become anything, be anyone they want to be. Most kids, if you asked them, wouldn't tell you they aspire to be a secretary or someone with a desk job. They'll tell you they want to be an astronaut, or a zookeeper, or a superhero. I love that. That "dream big" attitude all kids have.

We need more of that.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my number 1 reader, my Dad!

He turns the big 5-0 today.

(Dad, I know you said it's just another birthday, just another day, but it's more special than that! Special enough to warrant a mention on my blog.)

Hope you have a great day Dad!

Love,
Daughter #1