We are alive!

Just when you thought that I had forgotten how to update my blog - SURPRISE!!! I can tell you all sorts of excuses about why I haven't updated my blog, including work trips to NZ and interstate, going to Melbourne for a wonderful 80th birthday - Ian's Auntie - Auntie Lorna, mixed with general work and wedding preparations - however, I have a new camera, and have taken heaps of photos over the last 6-8 weeks and now I am back online - you are going to have the update! Life here is very busy - the weather is getting warmer, we had our first swim in our pool yesterday, it was 34 degrees, and the pool was 28 degrees, lovely! The wedding plans are coming along well - I can't believe how fast time flies! - it is only 7 weeks until we get married, and almost 5 weeks 'til Rach leaves the UK for her big trip downunder, we are so looking forward to it, Ian reckons we are going to kidnap her and not let her go back to England!..... Anyway - enough of the excuses, I thought I would attach a photo of Ian and I taken at Auntie Lorna's 80th - isn't it great! Hope you are all well - I am thinking of you this weekend, scrapping your little hearts out......

Where I live....

Ok you English girls, I thought I would email you some photos of my little part of the world. Recently the tallest residential building in the world was completed on the Gold Coast - these photos were taken from the 78th floor..... This is what Rach will be enjoying in December.... Check out the window cleaner (above) - how would you like his job - he abseils down the building cleaning as he goes - scary!

Bath time.....

Just before "Grandma" came to stay it was bathtime! - Hudson (14 1/2 years old) - loved it, he likes any attention BIGTIME - however little Lucy (8 months) was very unsure!

This is the 1st time that they have had the hydrobath, the smelt lovely for days, until Ian gave them a bone 2 days later, which Lucy promptly buried in the garden. You should have seen how fluffy they were after their blowdry - very cute!

Brunch with Uncle Tom

Today is Sunday and what is better than brunch at the beach - the Northcliffe Surf Club in Surfers Paradise. My Dad's brother Tom and his wife Gloria are over from Palmerston North, New Zealand, so Mum, Ian and I met them for brunch...... Rach, I have also put a photo of my two orchids on here so that you can see them in flower, I am very proud of them - The are both phalenopsis orchids, the white ones are the ones that are going into my wedding bouquet along with one yellow rose from the rose bush that Auntie Lorna (Ian's Auntie) was given when Ian's mum passed away - I think these are better than the images we found on the internet - and I wanted to skite!!! - I can grow orchids just like mum!

What's been happening here....

Well thanks to my sister Rachel in England (who is my bridesmaid) so those of you who don't know her soon will! - I am getting much better at this Blog - I know how to do piccys and am waiting on the music lesson - although one of Rach's friends (Allie - she must be a nice person!) has got a video - it is VERY cool, hmmm.. May be I still need to master the basic post. The other day Ian found this nice pic of Mum, Ian and me beside our pool (spot the gnomes in the garden) taken earlier this year, so I though I would have a go and putting it in my post - so here goes! - ok... it appeared at the top of my post, and not in the middle .....hmmm..... Rach - help!!!! Anyway it is there so I am feeling a little bit clever! I was just reading in my sisters blog www.themayoressofjellytown.blogspot.com about our Christmas traditions with Canadian Butter Tarts and Mum's famous trifle - isn't it funny, I don't think I could make them as well as Mum so I don't - I have however mastered the Christmas Cake that my Mum and her Mum made, it was also Mum's wedding cake, and it is Lovely - especially after you feed it with Brandy for a few months! This year I am not sure that I will be baking - our wedding cake is white chocolate and fresh raspberry mud cake, and there will be enough of that to sink a battle ship, but we wanted to have some left to last over Xmas with everyone still being in Melbourne. I might have to get Rachel onto the Butter Tarts when we come back to Queensland. The wedding plans are coming along well - Mum and I went to look at wedding shoes yesterday, but wasn't sure so need to keep looking - I have until 22 November to find some which is when my dress comes back from America and needs to be taken up. Anyway - the dogs need a walk, and I need to get Mother organised for our shopping expedition, it is 8.00am. Mum goes back to NZ on Tuesday early am, so need to make sure she has everything crossed off her list to do while she is here. We are having brunch with Uncle Tom and Gloria tomorrow (visiting Gold Coast from Palmerston Nth NZ) well that's today's installment...........

Ok Rach - you got me - here goes.......

4 jobs i have had in my life:-
Deli chick (for Mum & Dad), Sales Manager, Sales Manager, Sales Manager - boring!

4 movies i would watch over and over again:-
Notebook, The Sound of Music, The Green Mile, Top Gun

4 places i have lived:-
Christchurch (NZ), Brunei, Brisbane (Australia), Gold Coast (Australia)

4 TV shows i love to watch:-
Dancing with the stars, Deal or No Deal, All Saints, Border Security

4 places i've been on vacation:-
London, New Orleans, Tahiti, Fiji

4 websites i visit regulary:-
Stuff (NZ newspapers), Ebay (Australia), Commonwealth Bank (to see where all my/our money was spent!) Airtrain (where I work!)


4 of my favorite foods:-
Chocolate....... Chocolate........Chocolate.......Chocolate!!!


4 places i'd rather be right now?:-
On the beach in Fiji, Sitting beside our pool with a Gin & Tonic and a good book!, Cafe in Hampton Street (Melbourne), On the waterfront in the Northern Territory Australia - awesome place!


4 things that make me smile:-
Ian when he is playing with our puppy (Lucy), Ian when he has cooked a dinner, and sits down with a nice bottle of wine, Ian when he is painting the fence - actually Ian doing anything!!

Ok - that's it about me.....

Rach, you had better keep me up to date with all this "stuff!"

Welcome!

Hello!

Welcome to the Blog of the Queensland Lakes. This is going to be fun. Can't wait to tell you what we have been up to, and the joys of Puppy training on a Wednesday night - they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks - and I am not talking about Hudson!!!

Watch this space for news, update on wedding plans, and general chat from sunny Queensland.