Seeing In The New Year

I'll probably be seeing the new year in behind closed eyelids!

Adoring Husband is still awake, which is very surprising considering that he has been working hard in the shed on a very hot day, making a useable workspace for himself. I expected that he would be unconscious by 7.30pm.

It is currently 10.30pm and we are watching "Singing in the Rain". It finishes at 11.30pm so we may be awake for the stroke of midnight .. though I doubt it lol.

I struggled to do anything constructive at my desk today. It was very hot (our air conditioner is still on the blink) so I found lots to do other than working on my website. I did contact my logo designer and approved her revision work on my logo.

Vegan Chickie recommended a documentary which I watched on Netflix today called "Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things." Very interesting. I am definitely not a minimalist .. you only have to look at my large pile of shoes to know that!

I repurposed an old New Years meme that I originally created in 2014 ...

... and posted it on Facebook.

Adoring Husband and I drove to the shops to get coffee this afternoon and the queue for ice creams was VERY long. Our town is filled with tourists at the moment and the caravan parks are full ... I'm guessing it's not too pleasant in those tents and camper vans!

I plan on starting the New Year on a high, with plenty of motivation to get things done!

My new year's resolution is to get more sleep. I plan on going to bed earlier and getting between 7-8 hours of sleep every night. It's probably the one bad habit that has caused me the most grief this year - 5-6 hours of sleep is not conducive to good health, so that's what I will focus on in 2017.

Having said that ... it's already after 11pm!! That's not a good start! So I'm off.

Happy New Year everybody!

Nite all.

Friday Frenzy

Today was certainly not as productive as the last two days.

I came across a couple of obstacles that brought me to a sudden stop and it took me a while to figure out what to do each time, so it was slow going.

If I'd been on as good a roll as yesterday and Wednesday, I might have foregone my Friday night at the Bowls Club and continued working, but as it was, I needed the time out as well as a couple of drinks with the girls to wind down.

We were all unlucky in the raffles, the 100 club, the lotsapots and the membership draws.

When I arrived at the club tonight, and before I walked inside to greet the girls, I decided to go take a look at the renovations that are going on at the other end of the club.

Apparently the builders are almost two weeks ahead of schedule and right now, it's easy to figure out the floor plan and layout. I estimate that it should be ready to open inside 6 weeks, if all goes well.

So here we are at 9.15pm and I am well and truly ready for bed.

Adoring Husband didn't go for the afternoon coffee run today, so there is no caffeine pumping though my veins to keep me awake until after midnight.

I'm feeling decidedly weary and I have no news, no memes, no quotes, no videos and no photos to share.

This will be very light Saturday morning reading for some.

Having an early night might mean that I can go visit my boys at the boat ramp early tomorrow.

I'm even going to beat Adoring Husband to bed!!

Nite all.

On A Roll

Another good day at the office.

I've written the first post for each of my pages on the site, ie 5 posts. I've made some more changes to the website .. I guess that's the good thing about it taking so long to complete, I get to make improvements before people even see it.

I completed a few pages of my business workbook.

Adoring Husband and I both walked along the beach this afternoon and that helped me complete my watch's bossy health check for the day. I fulfilled the exercises, the movement and the breathing requirements. Yes, I am still breathing lol.

Tonight, I stood in the kitchen for almost two hours cooking 60 chicken and pork meatballs. If I was smarter, I'd have used two frypans, which is what I would normally do, but I was a bit brain dead after my day at the desk, so like a dazed and confused stupid person, I only used one frypan and spent half of my evening in the freaking kitchen, cooking six or seven meatballs at a time.

What a doofus! They tasted pretty good though and now AH has lunch prepared for tomorrow and I can work through the lunch period.

We watched a fantastic Big Bash 20/20 game of cricket tonight. The result came down to the wire and the game was won with the very last ball bowled. The Perth Scorchers needed 3 runs off the final ball to defeat the Melbourne Renegades and Ashton Agar hit a massive six off the final ball.

We are really enjoying the Big Bash cricket every night. Television viewing is not great at this time of the year, but the cricket is holding our interest.

Even better, the tennis will be starting in a couple of weeks!!

I've just realised that it's after midnight! Gotta go!!

Nite all.

  

Good Day at the Office

Today was a good day.

I still didn't get as much done as I wanted, but I'd probably say 80% of my 'to do' list was completed.

I've changed my website address slightly, asked my designer to change one small aspect of my logo, tweaked a couple of things on my site, updated some plugins, changed some passwords, had some discussions with my domain host, used my rebounder four times, made lunch, cooked dinner, done three loads of washing and brought Adoring Husband's washing in off the line and folded it, answered and deleted many, many emails and written out tomorrow's 'to do' list.

If the next two days can be as productive as today, which they SHOULD because I don't have to do any washing AND I feel like I'm on a roll, I'm certain that the site can be live by Monday. Who knows what new obstacle will fall in front of me between now and then?  Fingers crossed it's clear sailing from here!

I only completed about half of the health activities requested of me by the bossy watch today.

Such sad news about both George Michael and Carrie Fisher this week. We've lost so many talented well known names this year. I truly admired Carrie Fisher and I really hoped that she would pull through after they announced that she was in a stable condition in hospital. I almost feel like I've lost a friend and ally.

As we edge closer to the end of 2016 and look forward to a fresh new start in 2017, I thought I'd share the last Christmassy, festive meme before the season comes to an end.

... and on that note, at 11.30pm, it's bed time for me.

Nite all.  

My Vision

Well! There is one more thing crossed off my 'to do' list for 2016.

Finally! I've completed my 2017 vision board - actually I have three more things that I want to add to it, but I don't have them at hand just yet - hopefully in the next couple of days, however, it is complete enough to remove from my desk and hang on the wall, where my eyes can view it, my brain can process it and I can both consciously and subconsciously begin to fulfil my visions for 2017.

This morning I received the first draft of my new logo from a very talented artist/graphic designer from the Canary Islands. She has done a terrific job and I love it! That should be finalised by the new year (maybe even Friday) and I'll share it here as soon as I receive it!

Coffee with the girls was fun this morning. The Blonde Bombshell brought her little granddaughter along and Tweedle Dee arrived a bit later because she had been at work.

We had some good laughs, especially at The Old Speckled Hen's expense. I wish that I could re-tell the story here, but it's not my story to tell. Just know that it was jaw dropping, gasp inducing and even brought on a squeal of horror!

I put my Apple Watch to good use today, by going for a long trike ride and spending four x ten minute stretches on the rebounder, which means that I completed over 100% of my required movement for the day. I walked for 2kms, triked for 5kms, rebounded for 40 mins and was on my feet often enough that the watch did not once tell me that it was time to stand up.

I doubt that I will put as much effort into tomorrow's activity requirements.

While I fed Adoring Husband beef casserole that I had in the freezer for dinner, I finished off the bag of lychees that the J half of The Inveterate Travellers offered me yesterday. OMG so sweet and juicy and delicious. A little bag of heaven right there.

We've had some crazy rain this afternoon, and according to a story on the NEWS tonight, we are likely to receive a few more downpours like that over the next few days.

That's fine with me, because I intend to spend the next 3 days in my workspace (while pleading with the workspace gods to not throw any interruptions my way) and I plan on making my way through my 'to do' list in the most regimented way possible.

I am absolutely determined to make some serious headway this week!

Here we are, not even 10pm and I am off to bed for an early night. If the psychotic dogs allow it, I will get a good night's sleep and be up bright an early to start a good day's work.

Nite all.

A Day Boxed Up

I wish I'd taken photos today.

I took my camera, but it sat in the ute all day.

The scenery was beautiful, the weather was cloudy and mild, the water divine, the company warm and friendly, the food delicious and the wine was just right.

Aside from the short stretch of sand driving (my second least favourite thing to do) and the also short stretch of 4WDing over hill and dale (my absolutely least favourite thing to do), it was a most pleasant way to spend Boxing Day.

We sat our chairs in the shallows of the fast flowing Mary River and let the water flow freely through the legs of our chairs and around our own feet and legs. It was cleansing and grounding and cooling and therapeutic.

Adoring Husband had a successful go on a kayak, rowing around in circles for a little while.

We really couldn't have asked for a better day, as far as weather goes, and until today, I hadn't met half of the people there, but they were pretty easy going and good for a laugh.

It was nice to catch up with The Inveterate Travellers - J&P - it's only been six years but J and I have kept in contact in our own small way, reading each other's blogs and commenting on the special events as they occur.

We chatted about her Mum in Toowoomba - I shall call her the Pearl of Wisdom *waves frantically* I know you're reading this!! I will visit you next time I am in Toowoomba!

After about five hours of fun and relaxation, it was time for Adoring Husband and I to pack up and head home.

We left with enough time to stop at Sexie Coffie before it closed at 6pm. We arrived there at 5.45pm - just in the nick of time!

The drive home this afternoon, was much more pleasant than the drive to Evergreen this morning, with much less traffic on the road this afternoon, nevertheless, I was relieved to pull into our driveway and be out of the holiday traffic altogether.

So many idiots on the road. I swear that Queensland drivers go to 'Special Risks' school. It's almost as if there is a competition giving a prize to the person who takes the biggest risk which can potentially cause the most damage and death possible.

The stretch of road between Tiaro and our turnoff has the worst statistics in QLD for car accidents and road deaths, so you can understand my discomfort, especially in holiday season.

We made it home safe n sound and are both feeling pretty relaxed after such a pleasant day. So a big thank you to The Best Cousin in the World for inviting us to your river for the day. We loved it.

My pillow is now calling me so ...

Nite all.

A Very Movie Christmas

There are two ways that I enjoy spending Christmas.

The very best Christmases are spent with family, but unfortunately, they are very few and far between.

The next best Christmases are spent at home with Adoring Husband, doing absolutely nothing.

He kindly allowed me to sleep past stupid o'clock this morning. He brought my coffee to me and then brought all the gifts from under the tree, to the bed, so we sat up in bed tearing paper off presents and making animated sounds in appreciation of our haul!

My favourite gift was ten mini metal tongs and two large stainless steel tongs. I am forever losing tongs! They disappear from my kitchen utensil drawer and I blame Adoring Husband all the time, lecturing him incessantly and practising my best nagging techniques on him.

I shouldn't run out of tongs for a while.

I also received from Adoring Husband, "Bridget Jones' Baby" dvd, an Apple Watch and a charging station. Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour gave us money, with which we bought the complete original series of Batman and Robin (for me) and some Star Trek rubbish for AH.

I bought AH a garden blower and vacuum.

So we did very well for ourselves!

It took a while to set up my watch and sync all of my devices, then I had to complete an update on my MacBook Pro.

Finally, we made ourselves presentable and went visiting. A local man in town, whom we like to label "The Major" has been inviting us around for a Christmas drink ever since we moved here, and today, for the first time ever, we knocked on his door.

He was very surprised! We were invited in and he was trying to put together his Christmas present, but had reached the point that triggered the stress hormones, so Adoring Husband followed him into the work shed and helped him. It only took ten minutes and The Mayor was very grateful.

We spent about an hour chatting with him and his wife The Happy Holidayer, before returning home for lunch.

It was a huge spread of seafood and fruit ... messy, but delicious!

After lunch, we watched the Bridget Jones movie.

The remainder of the day has been spent on the phone having Christmas chats with Bubbles and with Number One Son, and watching Christmas movies and some Batman and Robin.

Dinner was leftover seafood and salad.

And now, the day is done. Another Christmas done and dusted.

It must be time for bed.

Nite all.

The Eve of Christmas

You know what it's like when you set your alarm and you know you have to wake up early?

It's impossible to sleep soundly. I tossed and turned and the dogs got me up once during the night (what sort of a stupid habit are they developing?), and I was wide awake, long before my alarm sounded.

We were on the other side of The Bay before the clock even reached 6.30am.

We found a little fresh seafood place around the corner from Urangan Fisheries, but they only took cash, so we drove around the corner to our original destination, but the queue was a mile long (already!), so we drove to the marina, found an ATM and returned to our first stop.

By the time we pulled away from the curb, our esky was chock-a-block full of seafood - for just the two of us!

The pier markets were our next stop. We found coffee and I spent money on stuff that I did not need (as you do at markets). A couple of crystals for the frangipani trees in our front yard. A lucky golden cat with a waving arm. A little leather purse for club nights. A bag of tomatoes. A big bouquet of flowers.

We returned to the car and still, it was not even 8am.

I needed to replenish my supply of peppermint chocolate chip coconut ice cream, but Go Natural didn't open until 8.30am.

The decision was made to go eat breakfast at Aquavue, but as we rounded the corner to the eating area, there were about 50 bicycles lined up along the fence and the 50 riders were all seated in the cafe. We took an immediate U-turn and decided instead to go for a walk along the beach.

It was a stunningly beautiful morning ...

We didn't get very far along the beach before my body decided that it needed to rid itself of some coffee, so once again, we took a U-turn and walked back to the public amenities.

They were disgustingly filthy and I had to do some heavy duty cleaning before using the loo. Ew. Gross!!

Finally, we could get my ice cream!

From there, Dan Murphy's was our next stop. Another 30 minute wait for 9am to arrive. There was a very long queue of people waiting in both directions, including impatient children and teenagers. When the doors opened, we were in and out very quickly.

We arrived home at 9.30am and unpacked the car.

Once again I attempted to do some website work, but the brain couldn't focus, so instead I worked on my vision board and did some artwork to add to it. I wrote my story of what I want for 'me' in 2017 and recruited a young lady to create a logo for Romance Your Life.

I joined Adoring Husband in the lounge room but he was watching a Dr Who Christmas Special marathon on the Syfy channel on Foxtel. Not my cup of tea at all. So I had a whinge and waited until 4.30pm for my 'Love Actually' date with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet (who insisted that she is a "G" girl and should be included in this tradition).

One large packet of potato chips and half a tub of peppermint choc chip ice cream later, the movie was over for another year, but thoroughly enjoyable, as always!

Now, I am going to wrap Adoring Husband's Christmas presents before I head to bed.

Adoring Husband is like a small child on Christmas morning and always wakes me up at stupid o'clock to open what's under the tree.

It's already 10.45pm and will be much later when I've wrapped the presents. So this is your warning my darling!!! Stupid o'clock is not an option!!

From Adoring Husband and I ...

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Nite all.

Merry Service

Last night, I enjoyed an unusually early night. I was in bed before 8pm reading, and asleep by 9.15pm, only to be woken by two of the psychotic dogs at 12.15am and again at 2.30am for a trip outside for toileting requirements. Just a little bit annoying!

At 3.30am, Adoring Husband got out of bed to calm the other psychotic dog who was carrying on like a pork chop. She has PTSD since the tornado, so every time it rains, she panics and cries and howls if left alone. I know how she feels!! So the rain disturbed her during the night and she disturbed AH.

AH served my coffee bedside at about 6am and I sat up in bed reading until it was time to get ready for a trip to the Bay.

We headed into town at 9am to have some photos developed and from there, Adoring Husband dropped me off at Stocklands Shopping Mall while he went shopping at my least favourite place in town, Bunnings.

I desperately needed some retail therapy, and there were heaps of 50% off sales, so I bought myself number of tops at a couple of different shops and a lovely mint coloured bath mat.

The girls serving in the shops were all very happy and friendly. Considering how busy the centre was, it was nice to receive such friendly service. Well done to them!

We bought a couple of large take away coffees before braving the supermarket, where we needed to buy dog food. It was crazy busy in there!

We ran into Lady Lynn also bustling her way through the throngs of crazy trolly pushers.

Luckily, by the time we reached the checkouts, there were a couple of self serve spots free, so we quickly scanned our groceries and made a hasty escape to the car park. From there it took us ten to fifteen minutes to get through ridiculous traffic to the street.

AH was clever enough to take the back road, so we avoided the traffic lights and long queues and rather quickly found ourselves on the road home.

It was good to be home before lunch and after unpacking the groceries, I attempted to get some work done at my desk but it was still difficult to focus, so I gave up and decided to watch a movie instead. "Finding Dory" was my movie of choice and I really enjoyed it.

AH accompanied me to the club tonight, which was nice, and for the first time in a while, I drank wine with the girls. There were only three of the usuals there tonight and we were not the slightest bit lucky. It was a pleasant evening.

We need to be up bright and early to drive into Urangan to buy our fresh seafood for Christmas Day and the pier markets are on tomorrow, so we'll stop there for a quick look. The last time I bought fresh flowers from the markets, they lasted about two weeks, so I hope that stall is open again tomorrow.

I need to replace the Peppermint and Choc Chip coconut ice cream that I've eaten over the last two days. I think I like it even more than the salted caramel!

So on that note, I should head to bed. Much sleep is required!

Nite all.

Done for the Day

I am off to bed for an early, early night.



Tomorrow is going to be a better day.

I won't have it any other way.

Nite all.

Topsy Turvy

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get." Forest Gump

The twists and turns in life sure keeps us on our toes! What a year it's been for the family. More on that another time.

Our appointment with the financial advisor was long and overwhelming with so much information to take in and lots of paperwork to read at our leisure over the Christmas break. It was an interesting 80 minutes that we were pleased to be finished with!

We met Best Cousin in the World and Marco Polo at Aquavue and enjoyed a relaxing early lunch talking and laughing about family quirks (for want of a better word). We met her friend, The Peaceful Warrior, who was also a lot of fun and who willingly joined in our conversation.

From there, we were originally going to the movies to see "Rogue One" but Adoring Husband decided that he wasn't in the mood to sit down for another two hours, so we went on a shopping spree instead.

Go Natural was our first stop where I bought three tubs of coconut ice cream to keep me satisfied over the Christmas/NewYear break. I plan on eating at least an entire 500ml tub while watching "Love Actually" on Christmas Eve with Vegan Chickie.

JB Hifi was next where I considered buying the latest Bridget Jones move, but AH, much to his frustration, told me that I didn't need it (I guess it's one of the gifts under our tree!). I got 'Finding Dory' and 'The Secret Life of Pets' - for ME, not Chicklet lol.

I also paid for a Star Trek dvd that AH was going to buy himself - but now he's not allowed to watch it til Christmas Day. Haha.

We considered buying a portable air conditioner to keep us covered until our new unit is installed in February, but decided that $700-$800 was a bit too much to spend on something that we would only use for two months.

Instead, we opted for a good quality pedestal fan and now we each have one to blow a cool breeze directly on us in the lounge room.

Grocery shopping and lotto tickets. I'm either going to win $25million tomorrow night, or $31million on New Years Eve. That will be a nice way to start 2017 and of course, I'll share with my favourite people!

I also bought myself two more journals. I've lost count now!

We had an amazing sunset tonight - right on dinner time - so I only got a quick pic with my phone.

I am looking at tomorrow optimistically with the expectation of having a satisfying and productive day at my desk. It's now 9pm so it's even possible that I'll get an early night!

May Thursday be kind to you!

Nite all.
  

Energised

Can you feel the energy in the air?

For various reasons, 2016 has not been a good year for a lot of people. It has been so bad, in fact, that the positive energy building for people's expectations for 2017 is palpable!

I have lost count of how many locals are having huge family gatherings for Christmas. The last few years have been different, with many people "having a quiet one".

Adoring Husband and I are having a "quiet one" this year.

The energy in our town is charged with vibrant, positive happiness. It's lovely!

So I was thinking of things that we can do to start 2017 in a way that brings you happiness and self love. Changing the way that we care for ourselves proactively.

Make a list of all the small things that do, or could, bring you pleasure.

• Eating lunch outside
• Taking 15 minutes during the morning for coffee and a good book
• Sliding in between crisp clean sheets
• A long relaxing bubble bath
• Spend 15 minutes playing your favourite music and dancing around the room
• Baking your favourite muffins
• Writing a letter or receiving a hand written letter
• Singing REALLY loud when you're alone in your car
• Watching your favourite movie on dvd or Netflix
• Buying yourself fresh flowers to display in your favourite vase
• Enjoying an afternoon nap
• Phoning a friend for a leisurely catch up
• Watching a sunset or sunrise
• Bringing a smile to somebody's face
• Walking along the beach with bare feet and splashing in the shallows
• Picnic at the park
• Talking to the dog (or cat)
• Creating art with the grandkids
• Relaxing in bed after you wake up and planning your happy day
• Meditate
• Stretch
• Start a 'gratitude' journal
• Plan a trip with friends
• Stroll around your garden 
• Go through your old photo albums
• Visit a friend or neighbour
• Browse your recipe books and find something easy and delicious to make
• Go for a swim
• Take yourself on a solo date
• Tell somebody you care about, what makes them special to you
• Be kind to yourself - look in the mirror and tell yourself what makes YOU special
• Doodling
• Have a 'no housework' day
• Give yourself a manicure or pedicure (or shout yourself a professional one)
• Go to the markets
• Walk around the block
• Make a jug of water infused with your favourite fruit and drink it during the day
• Eat your favourite dessert (any time of the day)
• Diffuse your favourite essential oil
• Spend time on your favourite craft or hobby

Those are 40 things that I could come up with off the top of my head. You may only come up with 20, or you might have 50 or even more!

For the next 100 days, do ONE thing off your list every day. It might be the same thing three days in a row - it doesn't matter - as long as you do something that makes YOU happy.

It might only be for ten minutes of the day.

It might be an entire day for just you.

Be mindful. Be in the moment. Feel your happiness. No ... I mean REALLY FEEL it!

It's easy to take those happy, self indulgent moments for granted and they pass by without even being acknowledged. They are much more enjoyable and much more therapeutic when you soak it up.

I enjoyed a relaxed and happy coffee morning with the girls today, was productive at my desk and this afternoon Adoring Husband and I soaked up some sunshine, felt the sand between our toes and the wind in our hair as we walked along the beach hand in hand.

It was a glorious afternoon with lots of people swimming in the warm water and we were greeted by plenty of friendly dogs and puppies along the way.

I was grateful for some more time at my desk before preparing an easy dinner of leftover lamb shanks for Adoring Husband, while I enjoyed a toasted ham and salad sandwich. We opened and sliced our Christmas ham at lunch today. Yum!

A nice early night for me tonight. We have a BIG day planned for tomorrow, including an appointment with the financial advisor, lunch with the Best Cousin in the World and a movie date with AH to see 'Rogue One', among other things.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Nite all.

Compassion and Individuality

The first card that I drew from my affirmation box:

"Compassion"

When you show greater compassion towards yourself, the universe automatically responds by showering you with greater blessings.

The second card I drew was from my Oracle Cards:

"Individuality"

We may all look superficially the same at first glance, but we each carry a unique genetic blueprint. You need to combat your fear and insecurities and acknowledge your personal gifts and power. Engage fully in your journey and integrate the lessons that you've experienced along the way. Don't embark on the journey if you plan on following the same way as everybody else. Add your own flavour to it and make it yours. Stop pretending that you're happy being just one of the crowd and begin seeing yourself as worthy of being heard. You have something to offer. You can, and will make a difference because you hold within your heart sacred knowledge that no-one else has, and now is the time to remember it, unveil it and share it with the world.

Kind of weird and appropriate don't you think?

Before I drew these cards, I had spent a frantic hour at the Post Office trying to figure out the cheapest and fastest way to send parcels to four different people in four very different locations.

It's not that I was poorly organised.

I had ordered some extra goodies online about a month ago and was waiting for them to arrive so that I could add them to the gifts that I'd already bought. Two weeks ago, I received an email to say that they've been shipped, BUT they are sill in transit as we speak and I just couldn't wait any longer! I should have known better than to order anything from overseas.

So today was as far as I could stretch the wait and I sent everything by Express Post. Now I have all my body parts crossed, hoping that they arrive at their destinations before Christmas!

I really worked up a sweat at the PO, so I figured I deserved another coffee haha.  From there, I stopped at The Motivator's house to get the address of one of the ladies who attended the Le Reve party. I wished her a Happy Christmas with her family, gave her partner, The Fisher King, some advice about being happy while surrounded by noisy family and headed home.

I threw some lamb shanks in the slow cooker with lamb and chicken stock from the freezer. 

There was little time to spend at my desk before the air conditioning guy came to measure up for a quote for the new AC system. He was here for about 45 minutes, climbing in the roof to quote for the ducted AC and then measuring walls, both inside and out, to quote for split system ACs.

The insurance company called and will send somebody else out to quote. We will get a couple of other quotes too. Whatever happens, it will be, at the very earliest, the beginning of February before anything gets done. We are preparing for a long hot Summer. 

I filled out more of my workbook and completed my list of 100 things to do in 2017. It was much easier to fill out this year, than it was last year. I don't think I even came up with 100 things last year! I must have a look at that list and see how many of them I actually completed.

Ok, I just checked the list ... I only thought of 78 things to put on the list last year and I completed 46 of them. Funnily enough, I have already listed the things that I didn't do last year, on this year's list!

We were supposed to attend a Christmas party at Cheelii lagoon this afternoon. It was organised by the people who live in that section of town, but the rain came down twice in the hour that the party was supposed to start and we decided that we didn't want to contend with the rain AND the sandflies. We must be getting old.

Well, our Christmas lights have gone to bed, so that's my cue to do the same.

Nite all. 

Stinker

Ugh! It was a stinker of a day today. Very hot and humid with not much of a breeze to cool things down.

After eating grilled fish and chips for lunch today, I felt like crap (why do I do this to myself?). After my body converted all those carbs to sugar and overloaded my liver and pancreas, I felt an overwhelming desire to nap.

I fell asleep at around 2pm and woke in a sweaty sauna at around 3pm. Even the fan directly on me and switched to 'high' had little effect.

I dragged myself out of bed and took my iPad out to the alfresco area, where it was shady and a lovely cool breeze was blowing through to make life much more pleasant. It took about fifteen minutes for my body temperature to reach a comfortable level and I kind of wished I had a hammock in which I could gently swing and doze!

I had a reasonably productive day at my desk and feel happy with my progress on the website. It's frustrating how the more I cross off my 'to do' list, the more I add to it! I'm wondering if I should start thinking along the lines of "less is more" and stop making it so complex.

Late this afternoon, we excitedly showered and dressed in preparation for meeting everybody at the pub to share a meal with Rebel Mardi and the Lifesaver, who were back in town to celebrate a friend's 70th birthday today.

There were about 22 of us filling two tables in the restaurant and there was lots of laughter and lots of catching up. We have such a nice group of friends and always have a good time when we get together for occasions like this.

It was especially lovely to chat with Rebel Mardi, who is looking happy and healthy. Her new life is obviously agreeing with her. The Lifesaver was his usual cheeky self and he too looks good!

Adoring Husband and I were the first to leave and AH is now (and has been since ten minutes after we arrived home) reclined in his chair, sound asleep and snoring loudly.

We've had a little rain tonight and there looks to be some more weather heading in this direction. It has certainly cooled things down outside.

It's 9.30pm and I'm going to attempt to have an early night.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, with Christmas parcels to be mailed, more Le Reve deliveries, the air conditioner guy coming to give us a quote and plenty more work on the website.

Nite all.

A Day To Reset

I had big plans for today, until I was reminded of our Frack Free meeting which was to start at 9am.

As passionate as I feel about this cause, right now I have other important things on my mind, which are starving for my attention, so I felt a bit 'put out' having to attend this meeting.

Having done the hard work to get the signatures from the two outer sections of our town, I feel that my job is done, until we need to hit the remaining two sections.

What is being planned right now is outside my scope of interest, so I would like to withdraw until the next wave of surveys need to be completed.

All things considered, (like the time of the year being silly season) it was a good meeting with eleven of us in attendance, and plenty was achieved.

From there, I had a lovely morning with The Motivator. She gifted me some delicious natural body products and this beautiful timber box with a tree of life lid. It is now the new home of my many and varied bracelets.

She made me feel very spoilt and very special!

Adoring Husband spent the day selling Christmas Cakes door to door, raising money for the SES, but had a two hour break in the heat of the day, which he spent at home, eating lunch and watching the 'Twilight' movie with me, which was being aired on one of the Foxtel channels.

Not long after lunch, my Le Reve lady delivered all the goodies that were bought at my party last week, so tomorrow I'll be pedalling around town delivering them to their new owners.

This afternoon, I made a list of everything that I hope to achieve with my website this week leading up to Christmas. I plan on being very productive and at the end of the week will be awarding myself a gold star for 'solid achievement'.

Right now, the only achievement I have in mind, is getting a good night's sleep.

Nite all.

Home Once More

Well, it was difficult to leave the Chicklet house this morning, knowing that our next visit is such a long way off and I'll have to travel much further. Chicklet was not happy either and requested that I put her in my iPhone with my collection of Pokemon characters!

The Bare-chested Chef dropped me at Cooroy, where I embarked on some much needed retail therapy which eased a world of pain. I followed that up with some RSL poker machine love. I figured that since I haven't gambled for some weeks now (while the club is under renovation), I could afford to have a little play today.

The poker machine gods were not as kind to me as I'd hoped.

The train station was the busiest I've ever seen it, with the platform full of people waiting in the heat and large family groups there to say farewell to other members heading north.

There were two cheeky males, who appeared to be father and son, and who boarded the train without tickets, found two spare seats and then avoided the gaze of the train steward as he checked the rest of our tickets after boarding.

I didn't dob them in, because I enjoyed watching their pleasure in hitching a free ride from Cooroy to Gympie.

Another man in a seat behind me, introduced himself to his fellow passengers and proceeded to tell them the story of his accidental swallowing of a false tooth and then went on to describe the necessary search for said tooth every time he needed to use the bathroom!

Far too much information for such early conversations. One wonders what form of sterilisation was used before returning the tooth to it's rightful place????

The mind boggles.

I was happy to arrive at my destination, along with a dozen other passengers, and Adoring Husband and I had to fight our way through the crowd to reach the car. We had to sit in the car and wait because somebody had kindly parked directly behind us and we couldn't get out.

They certainly took their time - long enough for me to make idle threats while sealed in air conditioned comfort.

The psychotic dogs were very happy to see me arrive home. Ruby gave me her signature wide smile, baring her teeth by raising the top lip and lowering the bottom lip and wagging her bum and tail with wild abandonment. Colli ran around in circles barking endlessly, while Jack lurked behind them both waiting for me to notice him.

After the warm welcome, I quickly put Hainan Chicken on the stove to cook, while I unpacked my suitcase and then made myself presentable for my evening at the club.

As usual, it was a pleasant evening with the girls, even though none of us won a single thing and then, much to the shock of the bus regulars, I rushed out and stole the front seat, which is usually reserved for one of the old local blokes. He realised he'd missed out, so returned inside to grab himself another beer!

Here it is, rapidly approaching 11.30pm and I have been ready for sleep for about two hours now. I shall go and lay my head on the pillow before I get my second wind.

Nite all.

Dinosaur Dress-ups

Yes, most of our day consisted of dressing up, rearranging appendages and fancy dressing multiple dinosaurs.

No chasing Pokemon today, but we did watch some Pokemon cartoons.

Did a little creative and artistic digital colouring in on the iPad.

We had some crazy giant ball fun through the house until Chicklet lost her voice from laughing so loudly and we needed some time out to calm down.

Pizza for dinner. It's been about three years since I had pizza .. not since changing to Paleo .. and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything, although I ordered a basic Hawaiian, which isn't very adventurous I know. It did have a fairly decent gluten free base on it.

At the end of today, I think we are all pretty exhausted and need a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow, I head home again .. in one respect, I am not looking forward to it because our air conditioner has had the royal order and cannot be repaired.

We're getting a quote on Monday for a whole new system, but it will be February before it can be installed. It's going to be a long hot Summer and I am not even a little bit happy about that!

I told Vegan Chickie that I would be returning to spend the Summer here in her air conditioned house.

There is something with very large and loud flapping wings outside this bedroom window. I'm not sure if it's swooping down to catch something for dinner, or if it is sitting in one of the trees flapping it's wings, but it's like the sound effects from a horror movie. Perhaps it's a dragon???

Makes my heart skip a beat every time I hear it!

No photos to share and no exciting news, so I guess I'll sign off here and get some sleep. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, you'll know that the giant winged creature has taken me.

Nite all.

Unwitting Collector

Yes that's me.

I have now become the unwitting collector of Pokemon, using the Pokemon Go app.

Here are two of the eighteen characters that I caught today. There are 250 characters to catch and train.

We even went walking in the heat, to the park, where my app told me there had been sightings of Pokemon, and where I caught six of the little blighters!

Apparently, there is more to this game that just catching the characters, but I certainly hope to avoid getting any more involved than the little bit of fun that we had today!

At least it was pleasant at the park under the shade sail.

We also played

• dinosaurs
• created some art with the new felt tip pens 
• painted some ceramic sea creatures
• attempted to put together some skeletal dinosaurs (except I accidentally snapped one of them!)
• played hide n seek
• played Plants vs Zombies
• played on the swing
• played dress ups with my jewellery on the dinosaurs
• tricked Mama into believing that we weren't the REAL Chicklet and Bozzy Wozzy, but a pair of imposters.
• baked a dinner of chicken and vegetables and gravy
• had bath time
• read four bed time stories.

It's quite amazing just how much you can fit into one day.

Congratulations goes to my niece in Mackay, who, after a 40 hour labour, gave birth to a whopping 9lb 2oz baby girl on Monday night! Congratulations to my sister, Squirt, on becoming a first time grandmother too! All very exciting!

On that note, I shall love you and leave you. It's almost 11.30pm and I should probably get some sleep in preparation for another big Chicklet day tomorrow.

Nite all.

All About Timing

For some strange reason, I was certain that I needed to be at the train station at 10.46am today.

I was out of bed bright and early, so that I could shower, wash and blow dry my hair, make myself presentable so that I could rush down for coffee with the girls before heading straight to the station.

While at coffee, I took the train ticket out of my bag and discovered that I didn't need to be at the station until 12.14pm!!

It seems I have been experiencing some difficulties with 'timing' this month. I really must work on that!

We had to put the Blonde Bombshell in a 'time out' this morning ...

... five minutes of silence because she was just talking way too much and way too loud! She even timed herself! She knows we love her. She also knows we love her to shutup sometimes!

Adoring Husband and I arrived at the station fifteen minutes early and the train arrived at the station ten minutes early which caught everybody off guard.

Nobody was actually on the platform.

Adoring Husband and I were sitting in the air conditioned car chatting. The only other person catching the train was standing beside our car, with a friend, smoking a cigarette. So it was a sudden mad rush to drag our luggage up to the platform as the train pulled in.

There were only about eight people in my carriage, so it was a very quiet and uneventful three hours between Howard and Cooroy. I did some reading, dozed for about an hour and then played solitaire for the final leg.

I had taken my own lunch to snack on during the trip, for which I was grateful, because the dining car was about four carriages away towards the front of the train. I would have had to carry my handbag and my computer bag, both of which were very full and very heavy.

Keeping good time, we arrived at Cooroy train station ten minutes early and the Chicklet family pulled into the car park as I wheeled my suitcase down the zigzagging ramp.

It was a pretty quick drive home while we listened to Chicklet talking ten to the dozen about Pokemon and Pikachu. It seems that Minecraft is no longer 'game of the month' and I need to download and learn how to play Pokemon now!

Vegan Chickie and I chatted, and Chicklet put together the interconnecting dinosaurs that I brought with me. I had to multi-task and play dinosaurs while chatting at the same time. I'm not good at multi-tasking, so the afternoon felt like a bit of a shambles, however, it was also fun.

The Bare-chested Chef prepared a delicious meal of steak and veg (roasted sweet potato, potato, brussel sprouts, cherry tomatoes, mushroom and asparagus) which was just what my tummy needed to finish the day.

Chicklet removed all the heads, arms and legs of the dinosaurs and reassembled them to create her 'ultimate' team of dinosaurs - or as she liked to call them - the ultimate of the ultimate dinosaurs. They even enjoyed bath time with her.

We seem to have very slow internet tonight and it's taking forever to load pages and send emails and edit photos, so I apologise for the unedited phone photos posted here tonight. I'm feeling decidedly weary and am not in the mood to wait for everything to happen.

On that note, I bid you a fond good night!

Nite all.

One More Sleep!

One more sleep (or no more sleeps by the time you read this!) and I will be on the Sunny Coast with my little Chicklet.

I'm excited to see her.

I hope she's excited too!

My sister Squirt is awaiting the birth of her first grandchild, nicknamed 'Squidgy'. Squidgy has now reached eleven days past his/her due date. I spoke to Squirt on the day that Squidgy was due, but she has made no contact since. I wait with bated breath!

I've had a totally unproductive day (as far as website work is concerned), a lot of which was spent at The Motivator's house, and some of which was spent either packing, or discussing our air conditioning unit with the serviceman. He only had bad news to deliver for our Christmas season and it seems that we have been the victims of a company ripping off vulnerable people after the tornado.

The good news is that he discovered this major problem before it burnt our house down with us in it! He has now disconnected the power to our air conditioner until we can either have it temporarily repaired, or completely replaced.

Well, here it is 11pm and I have a big day tomorrow, so I shall sign off with a flourish *imagine me gracefully swishing my arms about and pirouetting out of the room* as I bid you all adieu.

Nite all.

Plan the Year

After tidying up my desk, I hoped get a lot done with my site, but didn't get very far. I seem to have hit a road block and I have to figure out where to get some help.

Every time I sit down, a big black curtains drapes itself over my brain and I just can't seem to move forward.

I've written a 'to do' list, but I'm not sure about the order that it needs to be done. If I take the wrong first step, it could mean a lot of extra work to fix it. I need help.

So, hoping to get some inspiration, I dragged out the 'My Shining Life' workbook for 2017 and began to fill it in.

I wrote down my hopes and dreams for 2017 and how I'm going to take care of myself. I listed the things that I'm going to stop doing so I can move forward and what I'm going to start doing to move in the right direction. I selected some activities that I want to try (like sculpting, pottery, singing), books that I want to read, places that I want to go, workshops and conferences that I want to attend.

It asked how I would like to treat my body e.g. what I need more of (like sunshine, exercise, sleep) and what I need less of (like stress and potatoes!). I chose which rooms in my house that I need to declutter (I decided on my bedroom and the laundry).

I decided how much income I want my business to earn and then wrote down all the ways that I can earn that income.

I worked out different ways that I could help my community, selected an amount of money that I would like to be able to donate to charities and then selected the charities that would benefit from my donation.

I planned a retreat for myself.

I cultivated some 'mottos' for myself to follow for the year. My mottos will be ...

• Inspire people when you can
• Be kind to everyone
• Follow up and finish
• Believe you can and then DO IT!
• Romance Your Life

I listed ten things that I want to celebrate about myself.

I provided a vague description of how I want to spend my birthday next year (because I'm really not sure about that one yet).

That is as much as I achieved this afternoon.

Next in the workbook, is making a list of good habits that I want to create in 2017.

I'm only halfway through the book and when it's finished, I have a business workbook to complete! They are beautiful books, fun to fill out and definitely provide inspiration.

Right now, I'm off to bed. I'm inspired enough for one day!

Nite all.

Hullo Russia!

I don't know why or how, but overnight, this blog received 600 views from Russia.

Russia was not interested in just one post, but shared the views over many of my posts.

So ... hullo Russia!!

It's been a Christmassy kind of day.

Firstly, I tidied one corner of my workspace so that I could fit my rebounder in the room. I spend so many hours sitting at my desk, I decided that I needed to break it up with some exercise. The last time I visited my doctor, he said that I needed to move more. So this is my way of doing just that.

Secondly, I turned on my salt lamp and diffused some 'Celebration' essential oil. I love the scent of celebration, especially the hint of spearmint and peppermint.

Next, I wrapped all the Christmas gifts that I'm sending in the mail. I used plain brown paper and wrote my Christmas messages on the paper, explaining why I chose these gifts.

My word for 2017 is "INSPIRE", so I chose gifts that I hope will inspire my friends and family to create a wonderful year for themselves. To follow through on everything that they began in 2016 and feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

We had two Christmas parties to attend this afternoon, but Adoring Husband did a bit more damage to his back this morning while rushing to clear the SES barbecue gear away as a storm hit, so one party commenced and continued in our absence, while the second party enjoyed my wondrous and joyful company for two hours.

The weather was overcast and quite windy, but at least the temperature had dropped which made it much more pleasant than the hot humid days we've been experiencing of late.

The guzzler

Windswept beauties

Half of the group

Adorning the table

Missy the wonder dog

The Quilting Queen

This was a street party for a street that we don't live on. Our house backs on to a house that sits on this street. That crazy lady in the last photo lives in that house.

It was a lovely group of people. It's a quiet street full of friendly welcoming faces and this is the third time that I've joined them for a festive occasion, but only the first for a Christmas street party.

I'm glad that I made an appearance. My contribution was the leftover lime and blueberry cheesecake from my party on Tuesday. It went down a treat.

I was home before 8pm and was able to dish up dinner to Adoring Husband. I've had a beef casserole in the slow cooker all afternoon, so it was an easy preparation tonight.

Before AH climbed into bed, I massaged some Do Terra Ice Blue Rub into his back. Hopefully, he will wake in a little less pain in the morning.

I still have the faintest hint of flutters, but very much improved from the last five days.

That was my Christmassy kind of day.

Nite all.

Fluttery Mess

I believe that I've figured it out.

It's possible that I have an allergy to nuts.

The last time I got these flutters, was when I made Adoring Husband's birthday cake, which was a chocolate brownie cake with nuts.

I had the flutters for five days, which is how long it took us to eat the entire cake.

Thirty nine days later (Monday just gone), I began making tarts which consisted of a nut base and which I did the taste test on.

That was when the flutters began this week.

We have been slowly eating the leftovers of the tarts all week and the flutters have remained with me all week.

As I ate the last slice today at lunch time, I made the connection.

So now I will avoid nuts for a month and do another taste test to see if I react the same way.

What a pain in the butt!!

I am drinking beetroot/carrot/celery/radish juice attempting to cleanse my system of the offending toxins quickly.

Needless to say, I am not well enough to go out tonight, but will have an early night to sleep it off and hopefully, by avoiding nuts, I will wake up refreshed tomorrow, flutter free.

Here are some of the photos from the town Christmas party on Saturday ...

This is an early post for me. I am off to rest.

Nite all.

Blurgh

I'm feeling blurgh.

No motivation. Discombobulated. Weak and lethargic. I can't seem to get comfortable. I don't want to lie down. I don't want to sit up. I don't want to stay standing.

I tried essential oils and the salt lamp. No go.

So I'm here to have a whinge and then quietly slide off to bed and hope that sleep will help me feel better tomorrow.

My essential oils that I ordered from The Motivator's party arrived today, which was exciting.

Even more exciting was a shipment of silver and semi precious gemstone jewellery that arrived from India in a sealed tin and then wrapped in calico which was sewn around the tin. It was all lovely.

I decorated the Christmas tree. Adoring Husband spent yesterday hanging decorations around the house, so it was my job to do the tree. It didn't take long and it looks very Christmassy.

That's it from me.

Nite all.

Brain Mush

I finally had a day to sit at my desk and do my thing.

But my brain failed me.

I couldn't focus.

Luckily, there were lots of little things that I could do, which didn't require focus, so my time wasn't completely wasted.

For the second time in two days, I needed a nap! It has been four years since I needed to nap in the afternoons, so I either really overdid it for the last two days, or I'm simply getting old.

I did edit one of last week's photos ...

The ladies all looking very bright and happy and enjoying their Christmas lunch.

After my nap, I was bright enough to go the trivia night with Adoring Husband. We only came 5th out of ten teams this week, so there is room for improvement next month. We had a good time and AH contributed well .. even though the chair made his back hurt.

It's well after midnight, so it's time for me to sleep (again).

Nite all.

Terrific Tuesday

Well, only four out of my thirteen guests did not attend today. I'm surprised by two of them not attending because they were very keen. Ah well.

The party was a success. I received $350 worth of products for $63 because two people booked a party and my guests spent more than $600. Now I get to attend another two parties to build up my delicious collection of essential oils.

Thank goodness my food was a hit and now I need to provide recipes to three different ladies for four different dishes. Even Reality TV Queen, our biggest critic of 'all things food' praised my spread and left with a full belly and a smile on her face.

After everybody left, Adoring Husband and I both cleared everything away and I got to have a power nap for about twenty minutes, which was just what the doctor ordered. My lower back is giving me a bit of grief, but that's from standing on the tiles in the kitchen for hours on end. I just need to rest it.

We hardly had time to sit down before it was time to pack the esky ready for our monthly barbecue at the Lions Park. I packed the leftover nibbles and dips, as well as the chocolate energy balls and we carefully arranged everything in the esky so as not to squish or spill the food.

For the second month in a row, the wind was unbearable at the park, and made it very uncomfortable for us all. It was difficult to keep things secure on the tables and our words were taken away by the wind making it hard to have a decent conversation.

Quite a few of our group were missing tonight, being out of town, so it was an intimate gathering.

As everybody began preparing the barbecue hotplates ready to cook the meat, I realised that we had left our meat at home! Ugh. So we didn't eat any dinner. We were still pretty full from the party spread, so by the time we arrived home, we decided not to bother with dinner at all.

It's now 8.30pm and I believe it might be time to lay my head on the pillow and catch up on some sleep. The psychotic dogs woke me twice last night during my five hours of sleep, and I feel that it's catching up with me.

We have trivia tomorrow night, but I'm looking forward to a quiet day at my desk where hopefully, I can edit all the photos that I've been promising for more than a week!

For now though ...

Nite all.

Crazy Monday

Well, I started at 9.30am, stopped for 20 minutes at 1pm, then for 20 minutes at 5pm - ish, and I just sat down at 8.15pm. Still, I have not finished!

Today, I've marinated 3kg chicken wings, made 15 devilled eggs, 12 apple and walnut muffins, 20 smoked salmon and cream cheese rollups, one key lime cheesecake with blueberry jus, one chocolate, vanilla and blueberry layered tart and 30 chocolate energy balls.

I still have to make the cheese platter, the fruit platter, the vegetable sticks with guacamole, cashew cheese and the fruit punch.

Just to top things off nicely, my heart flutters started again at about 1pm. Obviously, I've put myself under enough duress that my body is responding accordingly. Soooo annoying!!

So I've been diffusing Wild Orange essential oil, which has done a great job of settling things.

I should have taken a photo of my kitchen at the height of my productivity. Even Adoring Husband was scared!

This is my short break, so I thought I would do something productive while I was resting. A short blog post.

Oh, I received a big package of jewellery today! The first of my stock to arrive for my website shop!! How exciting! Now I have to set up my light box so that I can photograph it all. So much to do!

Well, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to continue my marathon. So much to do, so little time!

Nite all.

No Miracles

There was no miraculous healing of my tongue, but it IS healing. Thank you for asking :)

Not a lot has happened today.

I showed my website (what there is of it) to The Motivator, who loved the layout, the fonts, the colours and the content and she gave me some good advice to improve it and then some excellent marketing advice and ways to improve the value and presentation of my photography.

She also had some additional sales ideas that I really love.

So I came home and noted everything down before I forgot!

It took me two hours to figure out how I could ... I'm actually not going to tell you what it was that I wanted to figure out, because it was something so simple, I'm actually embarrassed that it took me so long to figure it out.

The point is - I figured it out and I'm excited!

I still didn't get to edit the Christmas party photos today, and probably won't get to them until Tuesday afternoon now, so watch this space.

Now I'm off for an early night because I have MUCH to do tomorrow!

Adoring Husband hurt his back again yesterday while on SES duty, so he is of no use to me at all right now. I may even have to work for him in the morning if he hasn't improved. That will require me waking and rising much earlier than usual!

Eep!

Nite all.

I Must Have Lied

I must have told a lie.

I've had a pimple on the end of my tongue for three days now. My mother used to tell me that if I told a lie, I would get a pimple on my tongue.

It hurts! It hurts to eat. It hurts to drink - especially coffee. It hurts to talk. It hurts to brush my teeth. It just plain hurts!

Tomorrow, I will wake up and it will have miraculously healed. Fingers crossed.

There was a meeting this morning at 10am for the 'Frack Free Burrum Heads' group.

I was supposed to attend.

Instead, I rode across town at 1.45pm and waited for everybody to arrive. At 2pm, I checked my emails on the phone, only to discover that the meeting was in the morning!

Such a doofus!

This afternoon the town held it's annual Christmas party in the grounds of the local hall.

I attended because one of our local ladies asked me to be there with my camera to take a photo of her with Santa, who just happens to be her neighbour.

There were more people there than usual. Definitely more kids than usual. Everybody was commenting that we don't have that many kids living in town, so I think we were catering for a lot of 'out of towners'.

Still, it was a very happy event. The kids were all having a ball. There were two giant inflatable slides, a jumping castle and a seat with a water bucket balanced above where you throw a wet sponge at a bullseye and if you hit, the bucket tips water over whoever is sitting in the seat. There were lots of kids lined up for that one.

Until Santa arrived.

That's when all kids dropped what they were doing and swarmed together in a huge moving wave towards the fire truck that he arrived in.

In a matter of ten minutes, all the kids had received their bag of lollies and a thank you handshake from Santa. Then it was time for all the adults to get their photos taken .. who knew there would be so many women choosing to sit on old Santa's knee to have their photo taken?

Thankfully, it wasn't me who had to take their photos! All I had to do was create the window of opportunity for Snow White to take her turn.

Having waited for over an hour to get this photo, I was disturbed by the fact that Snow White was totally distracted by everything that was going on around her and did not look at the camera. Even though I called out to her twice, to look at me!

I haven't had a chance to look at the photos and edit them yet, so you can expect a barrage of photos on tomorrow's post. Some from our lunch on Wednesday and some from today.

Instead, before I head to bed, I will share this!

Nite all.