adventures – Page 19 – helenthura.com

December 25, 2008February 21, 2012

Oh what a wonderful Christmas

It is 0615 as I write this on Christmas morning and I am sitting in the living room amongst a bombsite of wrapping paper, ribbon and cardboard boxes. Pabbi is awake and Karl is dozing in his bed but apart from that it is just me and the birds. We had a very big night last night and I don’t think it has ever taken that long for us to do the presents, with 9 people though it takes a little bit longer. Oh we had a ball.

A family from Iceland should come every year for Christmas, well at least one every second year. Matthew and I had a blast making a clued treasure hunt for the girls, which had us laughing till we fell off the chair. All those photos will come later though and oh what photos I have, as well as photos from decorating the tree and decorating biscuits.

It has been such an amazing last few days and now there is only three and a bit days till Iceland flies home. After having our Icelandic Christmas last night we will shortly be heading up to The Farm for our Australian Christmas.

Currently Birta is eating chocolate, Silja is playing with her magic balloon, Mum and Pabbi is eating breakfast, Matthew is still asleep (despite my attempts to get him up), Karl is finding chocolate on the tree, Anna and Toti are walking round.

December 22, 2008

Christmas Lights

I have gone out two times in the last few weeks to have a look at Christmas Lights, the first time it was just Karl, Mum and I. We stopped first at a street in Carina which is where the following photos were taken.

We then continued on our way to Rochedale South where Mini Sal (the little brother of a friend of Karl’s) had put on a *little bit of a light display*. Such a *little display* that he won the best new entrant in the lights competition. Which is pretty cool. So cool that he got on Gizmodo a couple of days ago. It was so cool.

Here is a little bit about the display as written in an email that Mini Sal sent.

– It’s all computer controlled, with almost 300 individually controlled channels of lights,
– It’s synchronized to music, which is played on speakers in the yard and broadcast over a low power FM transmitter (which you can listen to by tuning to 91.7 FM),
– There’s about 600 metres of rope light and about 420 sets of fairy lights used in the display, which gives a total of more than 70,000 individual lights,
– The entire display consumes about 85 amps of power when fully on — I don’t actually have the power capacity to turn it all on at once, even after getting 6 extra dedicated circuits installed for the display. 🙁
– The display this year is dedicated to the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, and there’s a collection box out front if anyone would like to make a donation.

The display was soo cool. Lots of red, white and green lights, Christmas music and a whole heap of lights. Here are a few photos from the display and then I will put some of the youtube videos at the bottom which give a good picture of how the display works.

This row of Christmas trees was probably my favourite part of the display, so keep an eye out for them in the video and watch them dance.

The introduction to the loop and a little about the display.

Silent Night – I love how the the lights “wake up” in this.

Wizards in Winter – like many others inspired by this youtube video from a couple of years ago

Good King Joy- watch the row of Christmas trees.

Jingle Bell Rock – do the rock.

Christmas Eve Sarajevo – lots of colour runs in this, I love it

The house is on Childs St, Rochedale South, so if you are in Brisbane and have a free evening, take the kids, take the dog, take the neighbour, it is well worth it.

December 2, 2008December 2, 2008

1240 days or thereabouts

Is roughly how long it has been since I last saw Karl, my big full brother. I can’t really say he is my big brother because I have four of them and Karl is the youngest of them. To say I am excited is something of an understatement.

We have just picked up Karl from the airport, which was all very exciting and this is one of the goodies he brought with him. I keep on bringing the package up to my face and inhaling the delightful smell. mmmmm dried fish!!!!

November 29, 2008

a little bit of class

I remember the first time I saw a Spencer and Rutherford handbag, Grandmum, Mum and I were in the city David Jones. Grandmum was buying stockings, I think it was even the trip when Grandmum bought Mum her good straw hat. There was a sort of inbuilt fancy shelves in the wall and there was a sign that said Spencer and Rutherford and it was filled with these most gorgeous handbags; lots of beads, lace and fancy fabrics.

Since I have started full time work, I have often looked at the Spencer and Rutherford display in DJs and ummmed and ahhhed about buying a bag but time and time again I just couldn’t justify the price. Yesterday when I was flipping through this weeks Brisbane News and saw a little ad, advertising a Spencer and Rutherford clearance sale at the RNA. I ummmed and ahhhed about going but I am so glad I went now! I picked up three beautiful pieces.

I was so taken by this bag – Beatrice but I just couldn’t pay $200 for it. It was so so so so pretty. This is the bag that I really ummmed and ahhed about the most. It looked like it would fit my laptop but what if didn’t? I rang Mum and got her get my laptop measurements off the website but of course I din’t have a tape measure with me. I sized it up with a piece of A4 paper and my drivers licence. Then I spied two laptops at the “cashier’s desk” so I asked if I could see if they would fit, they both did and the cashier aka a man who I am pretty sure was Chris Michaelides the business manager of the company said his wife (who if I am right is Kim Michaelides the creative designer) used to use this bag as her laptop bag and she had a macbook. When I got home, I sighed my laptop well and truly fits inside! This bag cost me $99, on the website they are selling it for $171 and I have seen it DJs for round the $250 mark. nice!

This is the other bag I got. I had been looking at a larger bag of the same fabric in DJs on and off for the past year, so when I saw this bag, I picked it up to my chest and sighed. So gorgeous and so classy yet still cheerful enough for me. I am looking forward to swinging this off my shoulder 🙂 This cost me $79 and in the shops it is round the $220 mark.

My final purchase was a new wallet. I have been using a gorgeous little coin purse that I got at Fossil a few years ago but wanted something a little more grown up and more than just the single pocket. This is what I picked up $39, though mine is a navy colour not the red in the photo. So pretty! If you click on the picture it will take you to the listing on the S&R website and you can see the Matryoshka doll coin purse that is inside it.

November 26, 2008

Gatton and beyond

A few moons ago, Mum, Grandad and I took a trip out past Gatton, just to drive the roads and see what was around. It proved to be a great day for me taking photos with my then new to me 135mm f2 lens. Here are some of the photos

The first set were taken by the side of the road looking at a field of what had contained cabbages and broccoli. I just loved the colour and the patterns. The second series were taken at the Glen Rock recreation park, where we had lunch, a little walk, a read in the info shack and some photos. It was a relativity brisk day for September and at one stage I had a tea towel wrapped across my back to keep out the wind. The wattle was just gorgeous and I loved taking these photos. There was also this gorgeous field of long grass which has the most amazing seed tendrils.

The day ended with us having afternoon tea sitting on the footpath outside the Gatton craft shop as the parks were too windy, which was something we have done before but still quite a sight to see.

November 17, 2008

and tonight I have Oranges

Monday is SES night, the night that I trundle to Group and learn things. Tonight though we were on storm call out from the storms that hit yesterday. When I got to Group, I was quickly given a pair of Oranges (the old jump suit not the new two piece) and a pair of boots. Then it was out to The Gap where street by street we door knocked and assessed the problems so teams could come back in the light tomorrow and do what repairs they can do. I was so excited! It looks like I might get a call out tomorrow night as well, so I am off to get some sleep!

and here is a photo!