Happy Birthdays!!

Today two very special people in my life are celebrating their birthdays. My beautiful Sister J and my wonderful Puppy Cooper (who isn't really a person, but he counts just as much).


I'm sure lots of people would like to claim that they have the best sister in the world, but I am afraid that J has had that tittle sewn up for a long time :). I could spend hours putting together an essay on why she is the most amazing young lady that I have ever met, but that would probably be a bit boring for you all, so I have put together my top five reasons why she is the ultimate sister (and person).

1. She never, ever runs out of love. No matter what is going on any given day she always takes the time to tell you that she loves you. She ends every phone call, email and chat with "I love you" or just 'love' if she is running late to be somewhere :) No one in our family ever doubts the amount of love and affection that she has for us all.

2. She has the patience of a saint. A lot of us (even me, ok well mainly me) can be very trying. J is the one person you can rely on to keep on smiling no matter how frustrated she must be feeling. I can't remember the last time she lost her temper even though I used to have a habit of picking fights in order to let of steam. She just keeps on smiling and being understanding.

3. She is an amazing mother. When J fell pregnant it was unexpected and none of us knew what to expect. My goodness have we been blown away. From the moment that Little Miss A was born, J has been a natural. If I can be half as good at mothering as she is, I be very proud of myself.

4. She has a strong will and courage to match. J has tried a lot of things in her life, she has run several businesses, moved overseas for work, given birth, worked through a long distance relationship, graduated from high school with an OP2, been to university, worked in the corporate sector, helped her Husband run a business and now enjoys being a stay at home mum. And she has just turned 24!

5. She is my best friend. I grew up knowing that I would always love my sister, but I had no idea that she would turn out to be one of my best friends. We can tell each other absolutely anything and some of my favourite memories are of hanging out with her either lounging around, playing guitar hero, dining out, playing with Little Miss A, or drinking cocktails.

Also. (One too many, I know). She (along with my two other bridesmaids) was the ultimate Bridesmaid. On the day of my wedding and in the weeks leading up to it, she was so organised and suportive. J thought of absolutely everything and even fixed my dress on the night :)

Happy Birthday J, I love you with all of my heart xxoo

Photo taken by the very, very talented Jodie Litzow from Litzow Photography

Cooper on the other hand is not very patient or understanding, but he does have a lot of love to give :). The decision to adopt him was one of the most fulfilling and rewarding things that we have ever done as a couple (besides getting married!). Every morning he jumps up onto our bed and gives us puppy love before he curls up again and falls asleep by our feet. He makes us feel like a family! To top things off he loves his Aunty J almost as much as he loves the Big Man and I!

Happy Birthday J and Cooper (the Pooper)!!!!

T xxoo

Hail to the Truck Driver

That's me by the way. Yep, I drove my first truck today! Not something I had ever really planned on doing, but at least I can check it off the list of things to do before I die.....

We hired the truck today to move BFF's furniture from her storage shed to our new place (she's letting us use all of her things whilst she goes overseas to live out her dreams xx). I put my name down on the contract, but I didn't actually intend to do any driving. And I wouldn't have except I wanted to come to work to check my emails (no internet at home, story for another time) and realised that the I had left my car keys and mobile phone in the Big Man's car and he was already at work. So BFF and I hoped into the truck and drove to work. Slowly. Driving a truck for the first time is not something that you can rush :)

All went well with the driving and we made it to work in one piece. But once we were here we also remembered that we hadn't bought my work keys with me...... After five minutes of throwing things at the first floor window and laughing so hard that we almost peed ourselves The Big Man finally came to the window and then let us in. He was pretty impressed when he found out that I drove the truck!

Anyhow I better get back downstairs.I'm parked over two car spaces to make sure that no-one dents my rig!

T xx


Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/34129050/

I'm Back...... and I'm Married!

Phew, it has been a very busy couple of weeks since I last checked in. We've done it though! We are finally married!

Seeing as I am the Queen of last minute preparations, the week before the wedding was kind of hectic..... My Mum and BFF banded together, baked wedding cupcakes and generally bossed me around :). I ran around getting my dress finished, making favours, planning the menu, finalising the guest list, picking up relatives from the airport and tried to stay calm. Luckily my gorgeous sister organized all of the last minute Hervey Bay details (the wedding was in Hervey Bay) and a let me vent to her as often as I needed (which was about 7 times per day!).


Once we got up to the Bay all of our relatives pitched in to help with the very, very last minute details. (We were wrapping chocolates and making menus up until 11pm the night before the wedding).


On the day though everything came together perfectly and there isn't a thing that I would change! Sure, not everything went as expected..... Little Miss A (my Niece and flower girl) stood in an ants nest moments before she was supposed to walk down the aisle and was then carried down the isle screaming at the top of her lungs; I got so swept up in the moment during the ceremony and forgot to keep repeating my vows (I just stood there staring into the Big Man's eyes!); my sister and BFF had to perform emergency surgery on my dress so that it could be bustled for my dance; the Broncos game was on tv in the bar adjacent to the restaurant and half the men at the wedding looked like they were going to cry at the end result! But as far as I am concerned all of those little things make the wedding more memorable and give us something to look back at and laugh about. I can honestly say that it was the best day of my entire life :)




The biggest highlights for me on the day were; spending all morning getting ready with my Mum, my Grandma, my wonderful Bridesmaids and my Niece; arriving at the reception and seeing everything set up perfectly and then seeing the Big Man standing there waiting for me; walking down the aisle with my Dad; having my Grandma sing at the Ceremony, my sister's beautiful reading from Corinthians, the kiss(!); The Pooper joining in with the clapping in his own special way by barking; having a cocktail break during the photos; having all of my relatives there on the day and especially having my two uncles as our drivers on the day; our amazing friend Mitch writing and performing a song for us; the "cutting" of the cake (we had a cupcake tower, but I forgot the cake knife, so instead of cutting the cake I smooshed a cupcake into the Big Man's face); the speeches; and our dance that was extremely elaborate and that we had only practiced it 6 or 7 times (it was nice to hear everyone ooh and ahh at the right moments!!) Ok, ok, I know that is a lot of highlights, but I absolutely just loved every part of our special day :)



Now I have a couple of weeks to get used to being Mrs Riley before we go on our honeymoon!


Back soon (I promise!!)

T xxoo

Photo credits, the amazing Jodie Litzow took our professional photos (I highly recommend her to anyone getting married in the Hervey Bay area) and the other photos are from my family and friends.

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