I’m struggling to write at the moment more like the last year I’ve struggled. I spent some time recently looking through old blog posts and gosh I used to write. Now I struggle to craft a few sentences into something resembling a story.
I’ve just spent the last ten  minutes trying to write an opening sentence about Saturday night. Instead I’ve written the above.
Saturday night, I went to the Judy. ahh, the Judy for a show called Rumour Has It: Sixty Minutes Inside Adele. Sam was in town so she came along, as did one of the nursies from my old work and her daughter. It wass a fantastic show. I would go as far to say that Naomi Price live was better than the Adele studio recordings. I like Adele, she write a good song and has an amazing voice but I often feel listening to the studio work that it’s just a little too equalised. I love music with good dynamics. Music where you know the singer is feeling those words from their toes to the every strand of hair on their head.
Naomi Price brought that oomph into the songs of Adele on Saturday night along with some cabaret comedy, some sass and some all round good times.
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and the next couple of weeks are going to be just as crazy. I had a post typed up the other week when uni results were released but my phone ate. Suffice to say I did exceptionally well on the exam that I was sure I had bombed out on. Exceptionally well in the sense of jumping round the house like a Maasai at 6:30 in the morning excited.
Last Thursday night, I tripped the light fantastic across the stage of the Concert Hall at QPAC. Level of overall excitement that night? Oh, about 300%. This graduation ceremony meant 500 times more to me than my undergraduate ceremony Looking back at that post now makes me realise just how much I’ve changed in the last six years! To start with I now own more pairs of heels than I do flats! I also graduated with a full mouth of teeth (the fake tooth that I had back in 2006 broke the day before the ceremony). Just like my undergrad there was only a small number of people graduating with my degree (13 grads and 5 of us at the ceremony). Unlike my undergrad though, I knew just about everyone graduating with my degree (Graduate Diploma in Business – Professional Accounting) and those who graduated with the Masters as we’ve all done at least 75% of our subjects together. This of course meant that before the ceremony, during the ceremony and afterwards there was lots and lots of excited chatter, hugs, drinks and celebrations.
My dearest friend sent me flowers at work which of course made a bit of an emotional mess as it had been a roller coaster day at work. I also got some more flowers, cards, a graduation bear and a bottle of bubbles which made me feel very loved. I’ve had a lot of support from those I work with the last 2.5yrs since I returned from uni and as one of the ladies said “it feels like we are all graduating with you”, so true.
The Accountancy school lucked out and got the evening graduation ceremony. Mum had arrived the night before and was ever so kind to drop me at work in the morning with all my accoutrements. I got ready at work, with a flat iron plugged in beside the ECG machine and a revolving stream of work mothers taking photos, rearranging my dress and what not else. Then it was onto QPAC for the real deal to begin. I met up with T who I started with two years ago and we went off to get robed and played a game of Cinderella trying to find mortarboard that were exactly the right size. Once we were robed it was time for a celebratory glass of bubbles.
There was then more bubbles and hot chips to give us fuel for the next few hours before we lined up for photos, photos and photos.  Before we knew it it was time for us to head back stage again for our final briefing. We thoroughly enjoyed walking the hallways of backstage at QPAC. It was quite something.  Seats were found on stage and then it was a briefing and then we watched our family start to stream in.  After a bit of waving and pointing Mum found me on stage.
I was the 182nd person to graduate on Thursday night. That was a lot of names to read out before me! QUT was live streaming the grad ceremonies but unfortunately only two people I know were able to watch the stream. For the rest of my family and friends the website kept crashing. 🙁 🙁 🙁
When the ceremony was finally over after much, it was time for lots more hugs, excited chatter and what not with another round of celebratory bubbles. Smiled so much all night. Then we had to return our gowns and head back to reality. Reality for me is just under seven weeks left at my current work before I head off into the big accounting world. Going to be a bit of a change!
Tomorrow – I have work (of course), I get my tooth implant, I’ve got postgrad orientation stuff to do at uni and then I have The Whitlams with the QSO tomorrow night.
Friday – Work and then straight to the airport to catch a flight to Hobart.
Saturday – Wedding of my cousin on the beach at Coles Bay/Freycinet
Sunday – Post wedding activities and flying home Sunday night.
Monday – Work and first uni lecture
Tuesday – Fly to Japan for 2 weeks. (Yeah, I’ll be missing four classes – two for each subject, whilst I’m away)
I’m so crazy looking forward to going to Japan. G (one of my best girl friends) and I are going to have a blast (literally as they having a bit of a cold snap at the moment and it is forecast to snow for the days we are up in the alps!!!).
It’s going to be crazy. I bought a new lens the other week, the 28mm 1.8 which will be one of the two lenses I’m taking to Japan, the other will be the 50mm 1.4. I was thinking of taking my 16-35mm 2.8 but it is a heavy piece of glass. I took a few photos with the 28mm the other day and I’m impressed
I think this could have been the theme song for the eastern seaboard states this summer. It’s something everyone is talking and asking about. Just how is the water?
I’m now mostly settled back in the family home. I did however receive an upgrade from the West Room (my former residence as young adult) to the Balcony Suite (which my two brothers lived in at various times). Apart from obviously having a balcony (it’s 2.5m x 0.9m as in big enough to have perhaps a table and chair but no more than that) it has windows on two sides facing south and east over the garden. I’m not just talking about a window on each side. I’m talking about windows that run the entire length of two sides of the room from thigh height to the ceiling.
Believe me I’m in light heaven. There is light and I love the light.
Went to lunch today at Gusto da Gianni at Portside with the ladies from work as one of the nurses turn 60 on Wednesday. The decor was interesting, cohesion was lacking in some areas, not just with the decor but also with the serving ware. Every single dessert dish came on different serving ware. The gelato was served in a what is best described as a Tuscan pasta bowl and the tiramisu was in a gorgeous conical frustum glass bowl. It was different. That aside the food was generally pretty ok.
These photos are the end of the flood for me. I’ve spent time with SES cleaning up streets, I’ve spent time in my own clothes cleaning up streets, I’ve spent time sorting through my belongings and the water logged belongings of total strangers.
The house on Saturday 15 Jan
The house on Thursday 13 Jan in the early morning.
and that folks is how the water rose and fell on the house that I used to live in.
Well, I’m sitting at my Mum’s house as I type this as in a few hours we’ll be heading to the airport to go to NZ for 10 days to hang out with my Aunt and her family. It’s funny, at work people have been asking why I’m going to NZ for Christmas to which I reply I have family there and the response is always the same or similar “Helen, you have family everywhere” (in matter of fact not really, just Iceland, London, NZ and Tassie but it does seem like everywhere).
All my baking and creating has now come to an end for a year as I handed out presents and parcels to friends and co-workers over the last few days.
All the staff in my section received a little goodie bag, which consisted of 2 Christmas Tree sugar cookies, 1 Lebkuchen Man and 2 little chocolates.
The front.
The back.
My girls all received a double stack of decadent goodies. Which was filled with a jar of my Strawberry Jam (which reminds me I must take a photo of one of my jars – they looked so pretty), sugar cookies, vanilla rings, rum balls, sunshine/apricot balls, 3 types of nut brittle (hazelnut, peanut and almond), loftkökur and lebkuchen. That also reminds me, I’ll have to take a picture of of what the little bags inside the boxes look like -that will have to happen next year.
Tomorrow is a lovely day. December 1, the countdown more officially begins for Christmas. On Sunday, I lit the first candle in my Advent wreath. Tonight, I’ve spent the evening making a big paper chain garland, not exactly sure where I will hang it but probably crisscrossing the ceiling of my room. The most important decision that I need to make between now and tomorrow is where I’m going to put my little tree this year. The first thing I did when I came home from work this afternoon was to polish the silver tray I put it on.
ahhh exciting times. This weekend I’ll be doing my first “official” batch of baking and making.
I’m a bit disappointed that I won’t get to put up my vintage tinsel tree this year but there’s not much point since I’ll be in NZ for Christmas.
Saturday night was the Christmas Party and oh it was a great night. Check out my hair!
I got my hair done on Saturday morning and that really made me decide what I was wearing – I had about 3 options lined up and in the end settled on the frock in the above photo (obviously), it’s from Veronika Maine and I love it. It was my birthday frock this year. I found the glasses on ebay – got 3 pair of empty frames for about $15 (score). If I ever need glasses, I hope I can get lenses put in those frames … I wore a netted petticoat to pouf the dress out, pearls (of course) and on my lips was MAC Ruby Woo (that classic matte red lipstick). I’ll have to wait till I get some photos off the others to show you the shirt I got for N. It’s a classic.
We had everything from 20’s flappers to us Mid Century Girls to 80’s glam rock. Just about everyone put a lot of effort into their outfits which made judging for the various prizes very hard!
