The mock oranges (Murraya paniculata ‘Exotica’ or orange jessamine) in the front yard and all across Brisbane bloomed in the last few days.
On Sunday, there were no flowers, just thousands of swollen buds ready to burst with the off white petals and that scent which just screams Brisbane.
On Monday, the trees had started to open up the flower buds. Â The scent started to spread in the air.
On Tuesday, the trees were covered in a mass of flowers and the white carpet was starting to form on the patio and lawn.
This morning, as I opened the front door at 6:30 to welcome the day into the house I was hit with that mock orange perfume, it spread through the kitchen and said “autumn is here”. I watched as petals gently danced in the breeze to the patio and lawn below to form that white carpet which we all know so well.
I’m an accountant now and as people at work love to say, we get two times a year we can make new year resolutions.
Instagram has most certainly taken over as the place where I post the random photos that actually once formed what was \random life. My long defunct photo log. Â Still this little corner of the web means so much to me. Â It has been part of my life for over eight years. So, so, so, so much has changed in those eight plus years.
Friday night we had the EOFY party at Cloudland and it was actually the first time that I have ever been to Cloudland. Three has been many failed connections and aborted plans over the years but on Friday night it finally happened.
What am I planning for FY 2014?
Biting the bullet and getting chooks for my backyard.
Doing a big clean out of stuff that has accumulated round the house.
Fix the record player.
Create more.
oh and eating a lot of pumpkins.
It is resolved that for the year ending 30 June 2014, Helen will not be concerned about trying to catch up with all those photos she has never posted or the drafts that never got finished. It was further resolved that Helen will blog the present.
I’ve got four days left at my current job before I embark on a big change and go off to be an accountant. I’ve made three cakes to farewell others in the last 10 days and I’ll be making another one tomorrow night for one of the guys who is posting out on Wednesday. All those cakes will be in another post shortly…
On Saturday I went up the coast. After having my farewell party the night before. I was very good and only had four drinks all night. One of those was a frozen apple pie cocktail. That was divine Just like drinking an apple pie. So, so, so good.  Saturday was not classic beach weather but the water was nice and the waves were quite decent. An old Woodfordia friend was having a vintage garage sale on Saturday -> thus the reason for the trip up the coast. I picked up the most divine Osti shirt dress. So, so divine and just the loveliest colours. A photo may appear at some stage.
Going back to the day before, Friday. Friday marked Chan’s last day working for the company and it marked a week left for me with the company before I change jobs as well. Big things abound for the both of us this year. We’ve been desk buddies etc for the last 18mths 🙁 We met up for one last coffee at Pour Boy, the best coffee consistently in our end of town.
I took my first box of stuff home the other day. That’s the first time it really hit me that I’m changing jobs. Nothing says change like packing up five years of your work life and then walking out the door with an archive box filled to the brim. I’ll bring another box home tomorrow and that should be just about everything I think.
I’ve got my eye set on a few events later this year which mean I need to get my fitness back to a pre-uni and pre-flood level. I moved away from Asics GT 2100 series that I’ve lived in for the past x years and picked up a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 9. OMG, I enjoyed my Asics but these shoes are like playing in a whole new ballpark. They’re light, just the right bounce and by darn they are blue.
Just like almost every other house in SQLD, the  mock oranges have flowered and then of course it rained so off came all the petals. Will have to give the patio a very big clean on the weekend as those petals almost bake onto to the tiles. Fun times. People keep commenting on the scent when they visit but I smell nothing 🙁
Chan finally had dinner at Catcus Jack’s after hearing the rest of us at work rave about it for for the past few years. Chocolate Nachos, so, so, so good. One time we will go to Cactus Jack’s and have dessert first I think.
Last Sunday, I finally got my beach wish for the summer. Blue skies, great weather, open beaches, perfect water temperature and darn decent waves. I’ve tried a couple of times this summer to go to the beach but every time I’ve been thwarted by crap weather, closed beaches or last minute plan changes. The girls at work near on couldn’t believe it that I finally got my beach day.
Just loved this detail on the Ladies change rooms at North Burleigh.
I picked up a tray of strawbs at the start of the month for $9. Hello strawberry jam!
Strawberry jam, cooling so I can test it for set.
Strawberries, sugar and lemon juice waiting to become jam.
Glass jars all washed and waiting to go in the oven before they get filled.
And one last picture for this lot. A snipped of one of the baby quilts I’m making at the moment 🙂 Just love that May Gibbs fabric.
There we have. The first ten days or so of Feb-ru-ary in photos.
Really not much has changed since I made that post on Nov 24, 2008. Speaking of the number 8, this little corner of the Internet that I call my own turns 8 in March! Wow!
Here is the list from 2008, I’ve changed one or two
1. Dew drops
2. Jacarandas
3. Botanical gardens
4. Hot chocolate
5. Live music
6. Christmas ornaments
7. Honeygold Mangoes
8. Kitchenware stores
9. Salad
10. Gum trees
11. Oxfam
12. Lavender
13. The markets
14. Liberty prints
15. Thunderstorms
16. Ginger beer
17. Soft hair (I’m guessing I meant freshly washed hair)
18. Photography
19. The sound of cicadas
20. Folk
21. Msn Ahh the days of MSN Messenger and ICQ before that. Nowadays it is Skype, sweet sweet Skype.
22. The Mountain Goats
23. Ginger nuts
24. Patterns
25. Postcards
26. Christmas
27. Mowing the lawn
28. The smell of the rain
29. Polished floors
30. Going bush
31. The dairy section
32. Dresses
33. Window seats
34. Handkerchiefs
35. Pesto
36. Pain au Chocolat
37. Cherries
38. Colour
39. Falling snow
40. Reading
41. Cloves
42. Country roads
43. Rocking chairs
44. DIY
45. My family
46. Fresh flowers
47. The Farm
48. Roast chicken
49. Book shops
50. Pot plants
51. Sea kayaking
52. Soup
53. Lush
54. Melbourne
55. Pink (colour)
56. ABC Fora. Now rebadged as ABC Big Ideas -> I still love it.
57. Recycling
58. Girraween
59. Bed linen
60. SES
61. My camera
62. Morocco
63. The beach
64. 4zzzfm
65. Cooking
66. Marigolds
67. Bollywood
68. Cake
69. Central Asia
70. Tupperware
71. The library
72. Free range eggs
73. Kitchen aid
74. Iceland
75. Weddings
76. Ice cream
77. Fairy lights
78. Rosemary
79. Milk
80. Internet banking
81. Ikea
82. Henna
83. Lip balm
84. Brisbane
85. Green grass
86. Water
87. Tetris I used to play a lot of Tetris. I’ll insert Figgjo Flint Lotte in on this line I think.
88. Pasta
89. Laughter
90. Jam jars
91. Wattle
92. Friends
93. Sunshine
94. Woodford
95. Quotes
96. Nectarines
97. Pretty things
98. Smiles
99. Fireworks
100. Life
Only one really big change, the other two are just changes to bring them up to 2013. There are a couple of other entries that I could have changed but it was a hard call.
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!
