We Have the Keys!!

Yep, the day has finally come! At 11 o'clock this morning we handed over our final check and accepted the keys to our new home. Soooo excited. It doesn't matter to me that the house is barely even finished and we don't have a driveway, or any turf (or tiles, a fence or back deck for that matter), we have somewhere to live and that's all that counts :)

I wanted to stay there all day and unpack all of our boxes, especially all of the ones that have been in storage for the last year, but the Big Man sent me straight back to work. Something about having a mortgage to pay..... he's mean like that. As soon as I finish up this afternoon I am heading back to our other shop to get as many more boxes as I can fit into the car and then I am going straight home. I can't stop giggling when I say that..... I'm going home! To my real home! The one that doesn't have four lanes of traffic and trucks going past 24/7! Did I mention that I am excited!

The Big Man (right) getting the keys from our builder. Their faces are a bit pink because my camera took a little while to get going and I made them keep holding hands. I think they were a little embarrassed!

T xx

Cold, Achy, but Content

I have spent this afternoon and evening sitting on the floor in the tv room, watching the Olympics and making invitations. Yep, five weeks out and still going on them :) Luckily everyone knows when the wedding is and some people have already started to RSVP. Oh well, maybe it will help create the relaxed vibe I am after on the day!

The weather here in Queensland is sooo cold this week and the floor is freezing. I feel old after sitting on the floor leaning over for 4 hours. My back aches, my shoulders are sore and my back is stiff. Small price to pay for hours of Olympic viewing pleasure though! I love the Olympics and double bonus the gymnastics apparatus finals are on again tonight :)

I think I am going to pack up the invites for tonight, pull out my Doona and settle in for a few more hours of sports...

7 Days to Bliss

If all goes to plan for the next 7 days, this time next week the Big Man and I will be handed the keys to our new home.... About time :) I am pinching myself even as I type!

Where we are currently living is on a 4 lane road and we run a business from the house. When we moved in we thought it would just be for 4-6 months, but we have just passed the year mark. So for the last year, the only relaxing we have done is on holidays (which have been few and far between). During the day we are always aware that a customer may drop in without a booking and at night we sleep with the constant noise of trucks and their exhaust brakes. We also use the lounge room as the office, so we really only have a kitchen, bedroom and another little bedroom that we have the tv, and wii in (not that they ever get used). We eat our meals at our desks in the office or sitting on the couch in the tiny tv room and the Pooper has a a gravel backyard instead of grass. The poor puppy used to get confused when we started taking him on walks and to the park, he didn't realise that it was normal to pee on grass and would go for the concrete because it looked the most like his gravelly backyard!

Suffice to say I am looking forward to moving into our new home for so many reasons. Having real neighbours next door instead of businesses, sitting down at a table for dinner, feeling like I can relax and de-stress whilst I am at home, having an outdoor area with a bbq again, having a bath tub, not having groceries fall on my head everytime I open the tiny (and too full) cupboard and so much more.

Building a house has been a real eye opener for us. We have never owned a home before and didn't really look at many existing homes before we decided to build. We really went into it without completely understanding the process, if we ever get the chance to build again we will at least be prepared for how long it takes from start to finish.

This weekend I am only going to think positively and am going to spend the weekend packing up everything that we don't need on a day to day basis.

Please cross your fingers for me that I won't have to spend another weekend living at work after this one!

T xx

The cute things Ava says

I know, I know..... she's not actually my daughter, but seeing as I don't have any kids yet I tend to focus all of my love on to her :)

She really is the sweetest little girl and being that she is 3, she does tend to say the most adorable things.....

Ava talking about her Pappy (my Dad)
Jen (Ava's Mum): Guess what Ava?
Ava: What?
J: We are going somewhere really fun on Friday
A: Where?
J: To Dreamworld! Yay! Do you want to know who is coming with us?
A: Who?
J: Pappy!
A: Pappy has no hair.
End Conversation

The other day while drawing pictures together:-
A: I'm going to draw a picture of Daddy.
J: Okay
A: Big Circle, dot for eye, dot for eye, line for mouth, there!
J: Is that Daddy?
A: No. Its Pappy, he has no hair.

Luckily my Dad got over his baldness complex a few years ago!

The other day I had a few girls and their kids over for lunch and Ava started talking to a (gorgeous) little boy who is quite a bit younger than her and doesn't yet speak a lot.... She chatted away to him for a little while and then looked over at us all and announced "this boy speaks Spanish". I think she must have decided that because she couldn't understand him, he must be speaking another language! Awwww.

Another great thing that Ava has been doing lately is charming the pants off my soon to be in-laws. Every time she goes over to visit them she does the cutest things and I think they are starting to get really excited about having their own grand children soon :)

Just in-case you can't tell, I am really looking forward to having children of my own!

T xx

Bargain Shopping - I Fail

A little while ago I posted about the great bargain price that I bought my wedding shoes for...

Turns out I am not as good at bargain shopping as I hoped. I found these great shoes for my bridesmaids and accidentally bought a pair for myself too. They will look so perfect with my dress and I just couldn't help myself.



So now I have to pairs of wedding shoes. I think I will start out with my new pair and then switch over to my bargain ones when my feet start to ache unbearably :o).


When the Big Man finds out I am going to console him with the fact that unlike some brides that I have read about, I only have one gown!

T xx

Super Busy - Quick Update!

Wow - August is turning into a crazy month for me! I have barely had time to think so far this month let alone blog regularly...

Here is what's on the menu this month:

1. Thirty Day Challenge - This is a internet marketing program that I am doing with my sister and tens of thousands of other people around the world. I am loving it and getting so much out if it already, I just wish I had a few spare hours each day to sit down and focus on it.

2. Moving House!!! - We have our walk through tomorrow and from then our builders have two weeks in which to finalise everything and give us the keys :0) Every time I remember that I will be living in my new home before the end of the month I get giddy with excitement!

3. Planning our wedding... yep still working on this. The wedding is less than 7 weeks away now and I still have so much to do. Luckily I have the two best bridesmaids in the entire world (I love you J and Ez).

4. All the usuals as well... working full time, trying to keep my house clean, spending us much time with my family as possible and making time to catch up with my friends.

5. Cooper (The Pooper) - as I type he is head-butting my arm in the hope that I will notice him and throw the ball for him. (Does anyone else have a dog that head-butts them?)

From what I hear I am not alone though.... it seems like August is a busy month for a lot of people this year. At least it won't be a boring month!

T xx

My First Smiley Saturday!

Every Saturday one of my favourite bloggers - Lightening - has a Smiley Saturday post, where she writes about something that is worth smiling about. I have been meaning to write my own Smiley Saturday post for ages.... so here it is!

The best thing I have done all week was to go to Dreamworld with my Sister (J), our Dad and J's Daughter Ava. All four of us had a great day, but I think Ava (she's three years old) probably had the most fun of all of us.

'Pappy' (my Dad) and Little Miss Ava on the train at the very start of the day.

Little Miss A had such a great time feeding all of the baby animals, it was soooo cute!

Isn't she gorgeous!?

J has recently lost 10 kilos thanks to Optifast, I am inspired :)

For me this was the stand-out highlight of the day.... when it was Ava's turn to have her photo taken with Dora the Explorer she ran up to her and hugged her like she was a long lost friend. It was adorable, there was even a group 'awwww' as she did it. She wasn't really interested in turning around to have her photo taken she was too busy chatting away a-mile-a-minute to Dora. She did turn around eventually and the photographer got a gorgeous shot of her!

J had a great time on the Blue's Clues ride..... I think it was designed for kids J!!

I took Ava for a ride on the Carousel.....

Hehe, Dad and J didn't actually watch this ride before they hopped on and weren't expecting it to go upside down :) Ava said to me, 'Why are they screaming? Have they been naughty?'. It was very tempting to say yes, yes they have...

We had such a great day!! Happy Smiley Saturday everyone :)

T xx