Put a smile on my heart...

This man never fails to make my heart happy...even when he annoys the heck out of me...

I will love you always <3

One year on...

A year.

A whole year.

Where did 365 days disappear?

Today is our first wedding anniversary.

I cannot believe that an entire year has passed in what feels like the space of a heartbeat. But oh, what a heartbeat it was! I love my husband more today than I did yesterday and I'll love him more tomorrow than I did today.

So here's to a magnificent first year of marriage to the most amazing man I have ever known.

Love you always,

Busy Bee

Woo! So I've been a busy little bee lately. Between starting work early and finishing late, my craft store, making dinners, cleaning, vet visits and camping trips, my birthday, new camera and general life activities, I haven't had much time to stop and think!

So here's to my first Sunday in 10 weeks spent at home doing not much at all!

And here is the last 10 weeks in photos!

Enjoy!

Good News :)

They have found me a new course to do! Yay!! I'll now be studying (entirely) externally through the Sunshine Coast University!!

So in a week or two I will be back into the studying gig, how exciting!!

Uh oh!

So, I've been in this new job for 4 weeks now.

I'm meant to be studying a Certificate III in Library and Information Services through Southbank Institute of tafe.

Southbank sent my boss an email last week.

They don't offer tha tcourse anymore

*faint*

Apparently the group that look after all BCC trainess is madly running around trying to find another institution that does offer that course. I am under the assumption that if they can't find and equivalent course, then they'll have to offer me a better one, perhaps a certificate IV instead. I'm not complaining :P

So here's hoping they find me something soon. One month down, eleven to go!

Put a smile on my heart.....

I love my husband!

I really really do. And for more than one reason!!

But why do I love him so much today?


He bought me a Cannon 450D SLR camera! That man is a dreamboat! I can't wait till it arrives and I get to start snapping some fantastic images!

The New Job

Wow, I have been so crazy busy with this new job. There has been so much new information to learn that I just haven't had time to think about anything else all week!
So once I've got settled in properly with this job, I'll be back to posting more regularly.

P.S. On the upside, I've already borrowed a STACK of books :D How much do I love working in a library!!

ANZAC Day

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the dawn, we shall remember them.....LEST WE FORGET

For those of us in Australia and New Zealand, April 25th holds special significance. And as someone who has had family members in the army, it truly does mean something to me. I've taken the following from the Australian War Memorial Website.

What is ANZAC Day?
ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

What does ANZAC stand for?

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.

Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914, Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only 13 years. The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.
The Australian and New Zealand forces landed on Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated, after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers had been killed. News of the landing on Gallipoli had made a profound impact on Australians at home, and 25 April soon became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in the war.
Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign left us all a powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as the “ANZAC legend” became an important part of the identity of both nations, shaping the ways they viewed both their past and their future.

Early commemorations

The 25th of April was officially named ANZAC Day in 1916. It was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt. In London over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets. A London newspaper headline dubbed them “the knights of Gallipoli”. Marches were held all over Australia; in the Sydney march, convoys of cars carried wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended by nurses. For the remaining years of the war, ANZAC Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.
During the 1920s ANZAC Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the 60,000 Australians who had died during the war. In 1927, for the first time every state observed some form of public holiday on ANZAC Day. By the mid-1930s, all the rituals we now associate with the day – dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two-up games – were firmly established as part of ANZAC Day culture.
With the coming of the Second World War, ANZAC Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in that war. In subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include Australians killed in all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.
ANZAC Day was first commemorated at the Memorial in 1942. There were government orders prohibiting large public gatherings in case of a Japanese air attack, so it was a small occasion, with neither a march nor a memorial service. Since then, ANZAC Day has been commemorated at the Memorial every year.

What does it mean today?

Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national remembrance, which takes two forms. Commemorative services are held at dawn – the time of the original landing – across the nation. Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet to take part in marches through the major cities and in many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are more formal and are held at war memorials around the country. In these ways, ANZAC Day is a time when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.

The Dawn Service

The Dawn Service observed on ANZAC Day has its origins in a military routine which is still followed by the Australian Army today. During battle, the half-light of dawn was one of the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the “stand-to”. As dusk is equally favourable for attacks, the stand-to was repeated at sunset.
After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they had felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. A dawn stand-to, with its symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, became a common form of ANZAC Day remembrance during the 1920s. The first official dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph in 1927.
Today dawn services include the presence of a chaplain, but not the presence of dignitaries such as the governor general. They were originally very simple and followed the military routine. In many cases, attendance at the dawn service was restricted to veterans, while the daytime ceremony was for families and other well-wishers. Before dawn, the gathered veterans would be ordered to “stand to” and two minutes’ silence would follow. At the end of this time a lone bugler would play the Last Post and then conclude the service with Reveille, the bugler’s call to wake up.
In more recent times families and young people have been encouraged to take part in dawn services, and services in Australian capital cities have seen some of the largest turnouts ever. Reflecting this change, those services have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers, and rifle volleys. Other services, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to, familiar to so many soldiers.

The ANZAC Day Ceremony

At the Australian War Memorial, the ceremony takes place at 10.15 am in the presence of people such as the prime minister and the governor general. Each year the ceremony follows a pattern that is familiar to generations of Australians. A typical ANZAC Day ceremony may include the following features: an introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, a recitation, the Last Post, a period of silence, either the Rouse or the Reveille, and the national anthem. After the Memorial’s ceremony, families often place red poppies beside the names of relatives on the Memorial’s Roll of Honour, as they also do after Remembrance Day services.

Blogging and the Internet

I came to a realisation the other day.....I spend too much time on the computer.

Would you like to know how I came to that conclusion?

Well I'll tell you anyway....

Every month that I have been unemployed, we go over our 8GB download limit about 10 days before the end of the account period.
When I am employed, we don't go anywhere near our download limit. Why? because I am at work all day, and not sitting in front of the computer wasting my life surfing the internet.

I don't know why or even HOW I spend so much time on here. I get bored with facebook about an hour after I get on, yet I stick around, just in case something interesting comes along.

*sigh* I need a life! hahaha.

It'll be back to the daily grind this Tuesday, which means less time wasting, which will be such a wondrous thing because I think I'm starting to go a little stir crazy.....

I got a new job!

I have worked (on an off, on a contract basis) for the State Library of Queensland for two years. Then in December of last year they decided that my contract would not be extended again. So I was stuck with looking for a new job. 3 months later, and still nothing was looking promising. I'd had 2 interviews with no luck.

Then FINALLY there was a job that I really DESPERATELY wanted. I can't describe how much I wanted this job. It was PERFECT. It was a traineeship at the Mt Gravatt branch of the Brisbane City Council Libraries. I would be completing a Certificate II in Library and Information Services.

So I eagerly filled in the application, snazzied up my resume and cover letter and sent it away.

A week went past. No news. Another week. No news. Then finally they rang me and offered me an interview. And I tell you what, I ACED that interview. Absolutely aced it. I had to do a quick work test as well. All I had to do was sort a small trolley of books into Dewey Decimal order, ant the other half into Authors Surname Alphabetical order. Please, 2 years at SLQ, I had that trolley finished in about half a minute. I think they were a little tiny bit shocked, it was funny as!

They then sent me off for a medical test and a WHS functional test. I have never done so many squats and bends in my life!!

Anyway, 2 and a  half weeks passed and I was starting to think I hadn't done as well as I had thought. Nerves started to kick in, and I started looking for other jobs.

THEN THEY RANG ME AND OFFERED ME THE JOB!! I was so excited!!

I start on the 27th April. Yay for me!! I will finally have a qualification, and it'll be in something I really really enjoy!! I can't wait!!

:D

The Yellow Ribbon

I'm feeling quite good about my newest venture (here and here as well)
Tell me what you think :)

Birthday Wishes

My dad is 60 tomorrow and I'll be 22 on the 21st (The queen will celebrate her birthday as well!), and I have found exactly what I want for my birthday.

Too bad it costs $299!! *sigh* I've tried it on and everything. I went all the way into Brisbane to the "They Call Me Kitten D'Amour" store just to try it. Oh well, I'll just have to find something else then won't I :)



Maybe one day it'll be mine....

Dance the Night Away

I was just flicking through our wedding photos and came across this rather cheeky one....

And I had a good giggle, like I do every time I see it. I'd just told him that he WAS NOT allowed to grab my butt in front of my dad.... so he did it anyway! Cheeky boy!

But that's not the real point of this post. The picture got me thinking about the song we played and just how much I love it. We had our first dance to Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. It is a beautiful song with a bit of rock right at the end, which suited us to a tee!

I initially chose it, just because I thought it was "pretty", but the more I thought about it, the more it fit. The beginning of our relationship was a bit rocky and we stood by each other through it all. My eldest brother did not like hubby at all. He had been good friends with my ex, and didn't like my reasons for breaking up with him and was determined to have something against hubby. And my parents didn't like him either after someone fed them some mis-information. Then my ex piped up and decided to spread some rather juicy rumours about us which nearly ruined some friendships. Not to mention the ups and downs we've had since then. BUT, we didn't let any of that get to us!

And the music was just us. We like a bit of the slow life, but also enjoy the fast paced lifestyle as well! 

Here's the lyrics,

Your Guardian Angel - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

When I see your smile
Tears roll down my face I can't replace
And now that I'm strong I have figured out
How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul
And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one

I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I'll be the one

I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love, my whole heart
Please don't throw that away
Cuz I'm here for you
Please don't walk away and
Please tell me you'll stay woah, stay woah

Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I'll be okay
Though my skies are turning gray

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
[to fade]

Did I mention that I get a little bit teary whenever I listen to that song now?....'cause I do....

Let's hear it for new blogs!!

I love discovering new blogs to read. But the most exciting part is when you find someone you know! And then you look at their blog and it is just so very very "THEM".

Case in point: Nomes

It's got such a classic and elegant feel about it...definitely Nomes. So go check her out!!

Cutting away half the car makes....a whole car??

Well my dear hubby has decided that he wants to do away with half of his car. Yep, just half. The back half. The useful half. You know, the half where you put all your stuff when you go camping. (Not that we go camping all that often. But nevertheless) There has been a whole lot of banging and grinding going on up in the shed today. It's all a bit mental if you ask me.

Meanwhile, the site supervisor enjoyed a nice big lunch.....

Missing Him

Hubby has gone away for the Easter long weekend and I am missing him something fierce.

A king size bed is so lonely when there's only you in it :(

My little wish list......

Since I got married (which really wasn't all that long ago) I've noticed that the little wish list in my head is slowly starting to grow. Some of the things I would like are really simple and easy to do or to acquire, but others, well they might just take me a while. Let me show you just a few of the things on my wish list......

1. I would love to make the perfect red Velvet Cake. It'll be light and fluffy and have a gorgeous cream cheese frosting.
2. I would then like to make this one.....When I can make this, then I'll be one happy wifey
   
3. I would love to have a vegetable garden. A big one, like Jamie Olivers. It'll have pumpkins, chilli's, carrots, leeks, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, cucumbers......not too mention the fruit trees! Oranges, lemons, limes!
4. Acreage. I would dearly love to own some acreage. I want to put a few animals on the land, just a few ;) How do you like the sound of.....a horse, a cow, a goat, a donkey, a sheep, some chickens, some ducks, some geese, a dam with some fish. Not much then, eh? Then I'd have room for my vegetable patch as well! And plenty of room for my Boof to run around.....
5. Photography. The last on my list at the moment, but definitely not the least. I will get a DSLR this year. And I will get a degree. And I will make it big!..........well the first 2 anyway!
   

How about you? What's your wishlist?

Comments

I am really loathe to do this, but unfortunately I have had to add word verification and comment moderation to the comments on my posts. I was getting some rather interesting (and unsavoury!) comments on my posts.

What a bother!

If you'd like to see some more.....

If you'd like to see some more shots from the wedding, here are the links to my facebook albums :D

Pictures from my brother
and these as well
These are from Lashay

And the professional shots - Hotel
Ceremony
Family Shots
Golf Course

Photos round the Golf Course....

Here's some of the professional pics from around the golf course.....