I'm Still Here!

About a month ago, life started to get crazy busy. Wade and I had thrown ourselves into house hunting - going to open houses, making appointments to look at other houses... it was getting insane because we couldn't find what we want. Finally, after a lot of discouragement, it was nice to step back and think let's get through the wedding first. So the house hunting is officially OFF for the time being, which, amazingly enough, freed up a lot of spare time to do things that I had let slip, like, for instance, this blog. I've missed writing for enjoyment! This blog is a bit of a haven for me amongst the craziness of life. So, this is just a little post to say, I'm here to stay!

- H

P.S. Oh, and by the way, this is kind of my feeling about searching for a house.

This is sort of a post about money

Ahh August. We are just over one week in, and I feel like I already need to make some changes to the way this month is going. You see, my sweet friend Elza has just made the life-changing decision to go and bring help and healing on The Mercy Ship - a ship that sails doctors, nurses and thousands more around Africa. Incredible, right? When Wade and I broached the subject of donating to her (she has to raise over $10 000 to cover her flights, insurance and stay on the ship), we both agreed that in order to donate as much as we would like, we would have to sacrifice a little bit.

Now, when I say sacrifice, I don't mean eating rice and tinned food every night, walking to work and the like. Although I definitely could do that. No, I just mean cutting down on the little luxuries that I afford myself every month. Just by eliminating some things from my routine, we should be able to save enough to donate. This will mean not going across the road and treating myself to sushi during my midweek shifts, and instead bringing lunch to work. This will mean not buying cute tops as soon as I convince myself that I need them, and instead creating a wishlist here on my blog. This will mean making my own damn espresso at home with my amazing espresso maker that my friends gave me for my birthday, putting it one of the three thermoses I have and taking it with me to work or uni instead of buying a cup when I get there. This will mean no impulse purchases of books (when I have some I still haven't read sitting on my kindle!), music (after Shazamming that awesome track that was playing on the radio), or - my weakness - nail polish.

I'm going to be honest here and say that being frugal - isn't that an ugly word? - isn't my strong suit. At all. And if I'm trying to save for myself, it is almost destined to fail every time. But when I'm saving for a friend - well, that's a different story. I'll probably be documenting long, mournful posts this month about how much I'm missing my sushi, or crafting clothing wishlists on Polyvore, or trying to talk myself out of buying yet another shade of blue nail polish. Ugh, I just read that last sentence, and I kind of hate myself. I feel like I should hashtag it #firstworldproblems. But I really need to practice reigning in my spending and I'm feeling that August is a good time to start! Who's with me?

- H

Here's to not getting wheeled down the aisle...

A few months ago, I started to feel a familiar twinge in my right knee. Every time it would twinge, I would freak out a little bit, and then forget about it. I didn't tell anyone. Then, one rainy day at uni, I was hurrying to class when my kneecap sublocated and immediately began to swell up. Crap.

You see, I've been through this before. Three times, in fact, with my left knee. I spent a few birthdays in surgery, went to Disneyland in a wheelchair, and abseiled in a full leg brace. I spent so long on crutches, that, to this day, one of my nicknames is Hoppy. If you read my blog, you will know that this actually ended up being quite a good thing, as I agreed to go out with Wade for the first time while in hospital. I won't say whether liberal use of my morphine button had anything to do with that decision.

Spending my 16th birthday in hospital. The nurses made me a cake.

So now, over four years after my last surgery, my fears (and my Dad's and my surgeon's) are confirmed. My right knee might just as messed up as my left. We're making jokes about me hopping down the aisle on crutches. Or my dad wheeling me. And most of the time, it's hilarious because my knee is behaving itself, and I'm working extra hard at the gym so that my leg muscles will hold the kneecap in place. But then, on days when it's twinging really painfully every time I put weight on it, I can't help but think, hold out until I get back from the honeymoon! Maybe nothing will happen, ever and my knee will just occasionally sublocate and that will be fine with me.

Or maybe not.

Here's to not getting wheeled down the aisle!

- H

Engagement Session Wears

Wade and I have an engagement session booked in September with our very talented photographer, Scott. We had a little mini session right after we got engaged with Vivid Photography that was incredibly fun, but unfortunately because of the package we didn't get a disc of the images - only prints of our favorites. I'm happy we did it, though because it's really nice to have some pictures from when we first got engaged, whereas the shoot with Scott will be only a couple of months before the wedding.

The mini session was great, too, because I learned what I liked and didn't like about what I wore. I wore a really cute vintage-inspired tea dress that I bought from Dotti for only $10! Here's me wearing it at Elora's high tea. Super cute, right?

Unfortunately the lining of the underskirt showed in a couple of the really gorgeous photos, plus I think it was a little bit shorter than I thought it was. Not as timelessly classy as I wanted!

My hairdresser Kylie - who, by the way I would highly recommend! - styled my hair right before the shoot, and I, for some reason, requested it to be styled down. Even though my hair was / is at that awkward "growing-out" length where it's too long to be a cute bob, and too short to look like an elegant long bob. Plus, I almost always wear my hair up, because I hate using straighters and curling irons on my hair in the morning. So it wasn't very me.

Anyway, I was browsing Pinterest looking for engagement session inspiration when I found this image from the most gorgeous engagement session I've ever seen:

So now I'm on the lookout for a cream dress! Let me know if you see any.

- H

Getting Psyched for the Twelve Week Challenge

Over a month ago, I bought a gorgeous yellow bikini. It was not eenie meenie (nor polkadot - hehe...) so I thought it would be fine to buy it without trying it on. Well, it fit. But my reflection in the mirror after trying it on was discouraging to say the least. After months of regular and tough workouts at the gym, and sessions with the amazing Trevor, I was not seeing the fruits of my labor... in my case, that meant looking good in a bikini for my honeymoon in the Carribean!

I took a picture of myself in the bikini to look at every time I went to reach for a piece of cake from the fridge, or go on a midnight McDonalds run. This was actually working quite well until I went to my hairdressers, and tried showing her some styles I had saved to my camera roll. Of course, while flicking through my photos, I accidentally showed her that glorious piece of art, hereafter named Heather in Yellow Bikini which prompted no end of shame on my part - even though she pretended to have missed it.

What to do now? I knew that the one thing that motivated me to hit the gym in the first place was accountability. Group sessions, eating plans and having people check up on you every week - that was exactly the kind of motivation I needed to lose the love handles and the tuckshopesque arms. I'm definitely not brave enough to post a "before" picture here on the blog, but be warned, there will most likely be an "after" picture of me looking like an Amazon warrior in a sports bra.

Just kidding.

Anyway, this is just a shout-out to my fellow Brisbane-based readers out there in the blogosphere to join me in kicking the last few kilos into the ground. You can sign up for the challenge here - it's not too late! Here's to a bikini-ready Summer!

- H

Just a quick post to say...

I'm an aunt! Welcome baby Hunter James to the world!

- H

PS. Isn't he perfect??

Things that will get me up in the morning to gym it in Winter

1. New Lululemon tanks (they had a sale recently and I bought three - yay!). I'm planning on going back and getting this one for my "I want to be active, but still look cute at the same time" days... like when I play tennis.

2. Sleeping in a sports bra. While not the most comfortable thing ever, there is nothing else that will make me get out of my nice, cozy bed and go to the gym when it's freezing outside. Other than waking up and rationalizing with myself that I'm already dressed, so technically all I need to do is put on some shoes.

3. Rewarding myself. About five minutes up the road from Goodlife Holland Park there is a Zarraffa's Coffee. Nothing makes me feel better (and more smug, I will admit) than sauntering into work after a morning of exercise and holding a steaming cappuccino.

- H

Last First Day

On Monday, I had my last first day of school - ever! While I was daydreaming paying very close attention in one of my lectures, I was thinking about my very first day of university. Obviously I can't remember my first day ever of school - according to my dad, there were lots of tears. But I can remember driving my very unreliable little white car to the bus station, then catching the bus with an armload of textbooks to my very first day of uni. Wade snapped this picture on one of my first days of uni to remember it - I can't remember if it was my very first day, but it was definitely in that first week. Gotta love his artistic angles!

When I got to uni, my first ever class was a web design lecture. Not even kidding when I say that I felt like this, when I pulled out a notebook amongst the rows and rows of shiny, white Macbooks.

I remember the lecturer telling the class that just because we were adept at coding (uh, WHAT?), or had our own web design business (uh, NOT) that this class would still be a challenge. He then told everyone to open up Notepad++, or whatever source code editor we used, as a reference. I felt so incredibly out of my depth, and just wanted to go home. Unfortunately I still had the rest of the day ahead of me.

Now, I look back to four years ago and think of myself trying to scribble down code in a notebook and trying not to hyperventilate and I'm laughing. You know the old saying, This too shall pass? I passed that course. Actually I got a distinction for it. So now, four years later and trying not to hyperventilate about everything I have ahead of me, I can keep thinking This too shall pass. Life goes on. One more Semester to go.

- H

Maslow's Hammer

Today I was reading an article by Tim Challies about the concept of Maslow's Hammer - when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail - and how that compared to what we share on social media. I think about social media a lot - mainly because it's a large component of what I'm studying, but also because my partner has different views to me about restraint when sharing online. I, however, share a lot on social media - not as much as I could, but certainly enough that you could say I have a presence. Because I'm applying for communications graduate jobs right now - and a lot of them in my field require you to have some sort of presence - I've upped my social media sharing over the past few months.

Since getting Instagram a little over a year ago, my thoughts have slowly drifted from "Wow, I'm having a great experience with this person/food/setting/holiday. I'm going to soak it in and enjoy it... maybe take a couple of pictures to remember it." to, "I need to Instagram this." For a while that thought has been nagging me. Part of that is what I Instagram. I post pictures of Wade and I looking happy at weddings, a delicious cake, my new red hair. I don't Instagram pictures of Wade bickering, or of my face after it has broken out, or the big stack of bills I have on my desk that I've been avoiding. Probably because I know you don't want to see it. Mostly because I don't want you to see it.

But there was something else. And I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I read this tonight:

Some experiences are too full to distill to 140 characters and too rich to capture in a photo. Sharing such experiences through social media serves only to cheapen them. Do not allow yourself to ruin a beautiful moment by seeing it primarily as an opportunity to share it with strangers.

 It took me back to two days ago when Wade and I were having a beautiful, lazy day together down at Victoria Point at this gorgeous new bakery. I took a couple of pictures of Wade stuffing his face with this ginormous apple cobbler and some pictures of me with a sour cherry pie - I haven't had a sour cherry pie since America! Right after I took a picture, Wade said to me, "Please don't put that on Instagram" - and I didn't. Nobody but us (now everybody who reads my blog - haha!) would know about that beautiful day, and how delicious the pie was and how happy we were. And that made the moment much more special somehow.

So, for now I think I'm going to cool it with the Insta-spam - Wade will be delighted I'm sure! - and start taking pictures for myself and my own enjoyment, rather than to share with the world.

We'll see how we go...

- H

Engagement Fiesta Planning

When we got engaged, we didn't know if we wanted to have an engagement party. Don't get me wrong, I love a good party. Ask anyone in my family - if there is an occasion to throw a party, I will take it. I just didn't know if we could find the time to plan one! But then we discovered that quite a few family members and friends wouldn't be able to make our November wedding date. But they could come halfway through the year. And so we decided to have a party to celebrate!

Now we're two months out and in the throes of party planning. I figure there are only going to be very few occasions when we'll be lucky enough to be surrounded by all of our closest friends and family - so we're going to do this party right. And by right, I mean, kick off your heels, drink a Margarita, and whack a pinata. That's right! We're having a fiesta! Here's a roundup of my favorite Mexican-themed engagement party ideas.

via Hostess with the Mostess

via First Time Fancy

via Kasey Loftin Photography

via Sweet Chic Events

via Utterly Engaged

via Juneberry Lane

via Modern Hostess

Just looking at all of the possibilities makes my head spin with possibilities!

- H

Little Pops of Neon

When it comes to fashion, for me, being super comfortable and wearing figure-flattering clothes always takes precedence over the latest trend. This has actually come about pretty recently, when three months ago I did a huge clothing cull and sold over half of my wardrobe on eBay - including lots of items that still had tags on them and things I had only worn just once. After reading about the 40 hanger closet I invested in some cute and functional hangers and every time I buy a new item, I make myself donate or sell another item. I've found that I rarely moan, "I have nothing to wear" anymore because I know what I have to wear and I also know that most of the different pieces co-ordinate with each other.

I've also found myself investing in accessories to make the outfit - things like a great bag, or a new pair of shoes, or a great statement necklace. At the moment I'm enjoying incorporating pops of neon into my winter wardrobe. This bag was an absolute steal from one of those cheap handbag stores. I like it because it's neutral, but at the same time it has that great orange detailing! And when neon isn't popular anymore I won't feel too bad about donating it because I got it for cheap. I snapped this quickly on my way to church, so sorry about the quality of the image!

Finishing the Semester

This has been the hardest semester of my life, I told my mom last night while throwing my bag down on the table in a huff, including Semester One, in seventh grade. Semester One in seventh grade was awful. I think that being eleven is awful enough, but a whole bunch of things happened that made that particular semester stand out in my mind as the worst ever. Believe it or not, these past few months, study-wise, have been even harder.

Needless to say, when I went to hand in my assignment, I took a gratuitous "I'm handing in my last assignment for the semester shot" and Instagramed it. You'll notice that I took it from the side because a) the skin under my eyes were so puffy and black from studying that a very sweet lady at work asked me - seriously - if I had been punched in the face recently; b) my hair is getting long enough that I can do cute little side-of-the-head knots; and c) I found these earrings lying at the bottom of my jewellery box and aren't they cute?

Oh my goodness, if my final semester is anything like this then my parents and Wade will literally have to drag me to graduation kicking and screaming. I think I'm just going to curl up in a tiny ball and sleep for a million years, thank you very much!