Ballooning @ 5.30am

Surprise! Happy 40th Birthday Husband. I am sure that's not what he wanted to hear at 4.30am. But i did keep it a secret for so long. when it came to the day before the forecast was not good. only 40% chance that the wind was going to be light and the rain was going to hold off and there was a thunderstorm forecast......

IS IT BALLOONING :-)

yes. i am so glad he was pleased.....

the day unfolded......

Meet at a local heritage hotel -Hyatt -for a debrief. travel about 30min north and check the forecast again. Let of a helium balloon and make a final decision (my fingers are crossed soooo hard - if we had not have lifted off the 4.30 start would have been a sore spot all weekend)


30 min later and we are holding the balloon filling it with cold air - watching the sunrise

add some hot air and its ready for lift off. OK a glass of champagne

up up and away. so peaceful, so smooth and ok some strawberries and more champagne

float over Canberra for about 45 minutes and ready for landing

the bestest bestest landing ever, not even a slight bump just a gentle as a bird.

pack the balloon in a down pour of rain :-(

picnic of coffee/hot choc/strawberries and the best homemade chocolate sauce - sorry recipe was a secret but so good.

back to the Hyatt for more champagne - traditional prayer and blessing of the balloon.

buffet breakfast - we will be returning for a buffet breakfast again this was good!

stage two of surprise unfolds

now to our spa hotel for the rest of the weekend. we had a mountain of sleep to catchup on and basically didn't leave the room. room service dinner in our PJ's

and well back to reality today.

but we have come home to all 10 fish in the pond living :-) and marks birthday day on Tuesday. more surprises? well at least his real birthday present.....

The ballooning company if you want to check out how much fun we had

www.beballooning.com.au

mums gone home ;-(

we had a great time having mum here. i had some time off work and it was a long weekend last weekend so we did have some time together. mark was away in melbourne for a night so we even got mum and me time :-)did heaps really - floriade - annual flower show- mainly tulips but very pretty - mum has all the photo's except the gnomes


we did heaps of walking and bike riding. i am a true believer that we see more of the state emblem ie black swan out of WA than what we see in WA. we saw these swans on mums first day her.

thanks mum for spending the week with us we had a great time

mum's here

mum arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon to a st kilda loss and marks goodbye to $100 to his dad.


went for a quick walk around a local water way and saw some swans/ducks with 5 signates.





today was a boat cruise along/around lake burley griffen with lunch. very nice and relaxing tour with some good comantry from the skipper. daggy weather but worth the tour.

went for a drive up to telsra tower at the top of black mountain.

Mum and i have been for a great ride to find some room for cheese and crackers. mum got swooped by magpies but not before she tried to ride marks bike with the handle bars back to front. oh how i wish i had got a photo.......................

Its hard to believe that we e-loped 12 months ago. Well so much has changed in 12 months... We managed to escape to the coast for the weekend and found a great guest house with awesome outdoor spa at 29oC defrost those Canberra'ns defrost. And yesterday we went to Rick Steins restaurant. yummo yummo

spring is nearly here

Yes we might get to 14 degrees today..... the boys have gone off to work again and wearing shorts???? but its warm.....

Mark making a snow angel after he fell knee deep into a river (bahhh bahhh)
Tegan snow tubing it was great fun!!! she wants to come back next year after she has earned enough money to pay for another holiday
Lunch with unlce mark and aunty lorna why mum and dad are having their ski lesson. shhh dont tell mum i am eating chips again :-)

pics

okay some random pics
first one is the pond in our backyard at 8.30am today
Brrrrr

boat trip

Yesterday we went on a really relaxing lunch boat cruise on lake burley griffen with dad and irsh. It was a really nice cruise and a great way to spend a sunday.

Daddy arrives today and one little boy is very excited. Dom came and went yesterday, had a really good night on Monday night it was good to spend the day in the kitchen and with all the good smells and healthy yummy food. Dom had a chilly 5 degree start to his Tuesday morning. Outside at the moment its 3 degrees. Inside its a warm toasty 18 degrees. We have central gas heating and have it set at 18 degrees to come on at 6am just in time for the boys to get up. Once the house is warm it stays fairly warm.... so far...... wait until June and July.

woops

yes the i phone has taken over!!!
but we have all been really busy. Easter, shop making, and getting the i phone up and running and making furniture and having two days off in a row for both of us.

we have nearly i think made our house until i find something else i wanna buy


we have a non-ikea table and chairs for 8. two spare rooms with bookings available. Irsh the electrician has a long term booking for one. Dom marks boss/cousin has Monday night booked for room 2. Wednesday night room two is booked with marks dad for a couple of weeks. Helen and Geoff have room two booked for around Australia in 30 days visit in July so basically the bookings are filling fast. if i had some time to waste and the internet know how i would attach a booking form but that's a bit above me. he he

easter was fairly busy at work but we did manage to get friday and saturday off together. went for a drive on the saturday to bungendore. lovely lovely country town in NSW booking coming up for a romanitic weekend i hope???? visited a couple of winerys and enjoyed our saturday together. Friday was a day at home and doing very very little

Sunday it was back to work for me :-( and well mark was sooooo bored he was trying to balance a bowl on his head when i left.


monday and tuesday back to a full day of work for me and a busy one at that.

wednesday - today = lasagne in the oven and a glass of wine already and its only 6pm. its dark ok! day light savings has finished!

pictures

When my bag got stolen i lost my digital camera :-(
But on Friday i moved to the world of apple and brought an Iphone. yes i have spent way to much time playing with it but have learnt how to upload pics off it.

The plant is about the only plant that you can buy over here. Most gardens are weeds and some houses are full of artificial plants

This picture is the side board that mum bought us for our wedding present it does have a matching table but we are waiting for that to arrive in ACT. About two weeks away.
Meanwhile i have put one of the dinner sets in our sideboard - which we got for our wedding present - its been through the dishwasher but its to good to use :-)

We had a win on Friday night. we quite often go to the local club for a cheap dinner and on Friday nights they have a meat raffle - we usually get about $5 or $10 worth of tickets - cause the food is cheap and alright the drinks are bloody cheap and well they are not getting any money of us for the pockies. We have been going for a couple of weeks and haven't won anything so this week we put on $20 and won TWO meat packs. I think we are ahead and have a freezer full of beef.
Yesterday the corned beef went in the slow cooker and we came home to lovely dinner after a busy day at work. Much to marks surprise he does like corned beef or I am just a better cook than he remembers his mum being :-)

Marks at the shop again today hoping that the builders have finished and he can start painting. I will see how they go but may go in later and see how i go at painting.......

Rest and Relaxation

Yes its Friday and i have the day off. Not much planned. We have had a fairly good week this week.

Marks shop is coming together really nicely. the reception walls should be up and standing today. Wil has started painting them (i secretly think he is enjoying the painting) and hates it with a passion especially as mark has spent the last day making sales. the sales are going really well and he has lost count of the number of sales.

I spent two days out of my store this week and went to queanbeyan one day and spent the day playing in another store. Wednesday i went to a northern suburb store and am sure that i am a nasty nasty person on the outside. I will be back in the northern suburbs next Wednesday and doing my usual stuff resulting in a staff member being dismissed for theft. Its not my fault that i know the difference between right and wrong.

We had our cleaner come through on Tuesday it was so nice to come home to a perfectly clean house with a clean fresh smell to it.

Yep so i know we are "dinks" - double income no kids with a dishwasher and cleaner. But we both work full-time and this is our little thing that we would rather pay for than do ourselves.

Well i am off to look at getting a new phone, send a package off to mum and enjoy my day of rest and relaxation. might even play in the garden :-)

Friday :-)

Yep its Friday and to make it all that bit more exciting i have Saturday off. Yes finally a day off. 12 days straight and its been a long 12 days. But what does one do with a day off. visit the hairdresser - goodbye Grey hello hair dye

Seriously this extended trade has its advantages and disadvantages. really the negatives is that i work in retail but the positives
i now do the food shopping on a Sunday at what ever time i like and Wednesday night the work alarm didn't get set and security rang me at 9pm while i was out i went to coles and got new light bulbs and ice-cream. if i wanted to i could even go to kmart until midnight.

I have decided not to make dinner tonight - nice one- night off. we are going to the club for dinner and they have a meat raffle, i think its about time its our turn to win.

busy busy

yep its been a while.

Marks shop is coming along nicely, his little office is set and ready to go just need to finish reception and show room. he is pretty proud of his office. Wait until he gets home and sees the "thing" i brought for the wall today......

Me been working working and working. two days in sydney was full full on and fun although all work. great to meet the area and find out what they are all doing with their own stores. but heaps to learn and three weeks to forget it all before we actually get to use it. Its just me and the part timer at the shop at the moment so no rest for me. its all starting to fall in place and have busted budget by $5000 this week. happy happy. have done a few interviews over the last day or two and a new guy starting tomorrow. fingers crossed for a day off (maybe saturday)

all in all its going well really - had a bit of rain over the weekend and some sun today

Take Care

day by day

Another week of work down and tomorrow off :-)

Had a big night last night. Clare (sydney solargain) was staying and as i didnt get home til 9pm it was 1 am before we headed off to bed. good night though and a few drinks was had.

A busy week ahead for Mark and I. Stocktake monday and a chance for a clean slate at the local liquorland. I am off to sydney of wednesday for a two day training course. I am sure mark will be busy painting and making walls fall....

wow its been a week without blogging

soo much has happened. i am getting into the swing of my own store again and cleaning it out and up. stocktake on monday so its going to give me a chance to have a fresh start. doing some recruiting this week hopefully some talent in canberra as unemployment is very low. i am sure all the good staff have been taken.

on the other hand mark has a set of keys. yes keys to the shop. finally. so this afternoon it was a matter of the boys doing boys things and smashing the extra walls down. it needs a heap more work but its so nice to finally have a shop.

All is revealed

Yes so one staff member less and I have my own store again. Yes it needs lots of work and i have a challenge ahead of me. but its close to home and i should have it sorted out in a couple of weeks, meaning no more 60hr weeks. I will be doing my 40hrs that i get paid for.

Sunday off this week so will get to relax for a while before irsh gets here from Perth :-)

Its there for the taking

well as promised here is my work update.....

I spent all morning printing reports and burning information to DVD resulting in a 3 hour interview with asset protection. finally after 8 hours i get to come home and a particular staff member was walking to the police station......

More tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed for promotion :-)

What a busy little start to the week. Had a good weekend not having to work was nice. Sunday was really nice - rainy weather and just mark and i for the day. went to some markets and got some really good cheese, olives and fruit/veg which kinda just led to a hiring a DVD and eating all this good cheese and small goods......

Mark had a pretty stressed working Monday and spent all night printing - worth it in the end. Tender was submitted on time. Its been a little easier with home visits so far this week for him but still keeping him on the phone and email all day.

the duplicate marriage certificate arrived yesterday so once again its mr and mrs mcgavock. so i spent the afternoon doing some paperwork. new drivers license again.
and my poor car has lost all its WA ness. it got service last week and given the go ahead to get it registered in ACT (kinda like going over the pits) so off to the license center yesterday and new number plates and new sticker. today it got new tires. lucky car:-)

My work......... All will be revealed tomorrow!!!!!!!

Friday

Yes its Friday and what a week its been.

I have some cards and off this afternoon to get some PIN numbers :-)

I have a couple of hours work this afternoon and being a DC delivery day means i want get much time other than to clean my one wine shelf. Its all soooooo dusty and dirty.
some rules are meant to be stretched but not broken, why break so many rules for so long? (well now i am around you might just suffer those consequences). I have to thank some good training and leadership that has made me think outside the square. If it all proves to be solid evidence i am sure you will all know quick enough :-)

Mark still doesn't have a shop and is sick of waiting and waiting and waiting. he has a few sales and its all ticking along nicely. only a few home visits booked for next week but the weeks tend to fill up pretty quickly. Only one more week and the electrician will be here.

Valentines weekend and as i haven't had any access to money believe i have a good excuse for not buying any pressies.

The rains are here

yep its raining again but before each wet spell we have massive massive thunder storms. and such loud loud thunder (poor nanna would have to go to bed with ear plugs).

Had a good start to the week - the work thing is getting there. got paid today so that kinda makes it feel better. off to queanbeyan next monday to help out and then off to sydney for a training course in early march. very quite store and its getting less and less dust.

Last nights semi gourmet dinner went down well. lamb fillet, cant seem to buy it in WA. lamb is Marks fav meat. it kinda felt good to make an effort again after feeling so down over the weekend :-)

pulling it together

well i have spent today getting another marriage certificate - via express post this time :-) and ordering new bank card. contacting library and other clubs/loyalty points to organize new cards. i am sure asking mark for money all the time is going to wear off very quickly.

spent the last two nights watching the sun rise. why is that i wake at 4am and don't go back to sleep until 6am...... must be stress and the reason i have a headache all day :-(

It was kinda nice to have the day off and spend sometime doing the paperwork etc. work again tomorrow and only for a couple of hours. enough to get me out of the house and home early to cook a gourmet meal for my husband as i haven't been the most pleasant person to be around the last two days. mmm will have to try something new :-)

lost and stolen

ugh i am supposed to write on this a bit more often. sorry mum.

Work is okay, very quiet store and with staff that don't have any idea, i spend all day filling fridges and pulling forward. i swear nothing has been done since i was there last. its all okay though and 20 hours this week means i can get my car serviced. (had to get a new battery this week already)
I was at work yesterday and was a bit busy and unfortunately my handbag was snatched. boo hoo. it had my newly received marriage certificate in it and my camera with photos that we had taken that morning on an adventure to telstra black mountain lookout. double boo hoo. luckily mark had dropped me off at work and had the car/house keys and my mobile was not in there. police and security where great but i don't hold hope (secretly wishing) that i will be getting my shit back. bastard bastard

have to move on!!!!!

feel a bit lost just my phone and keys to carry around.....

we have Paul (marks work mate from Perth arriving tonight about 10. and yes i will be in bed. he flies back on Tuesday night and will be visiting commercial properties with mark while here. schools and retirement homes are his gig....

mark and i ventured out to some markets this morning very very expensive but similar feel to the fremantle markets.

need to feel human again, will do the replacement cards and stuff tomorrow. GIVE BACK MY STUFF BUSTARD!!!!!

ps your on cctv and the police have your pretty picture :-)

back to work tomorrow :-)

Yes back to the world of employment tomorrow. Big 6 hour shift..... But its kinda nice to be able to ease myself into the employment world.

This leaves today to play in the garden/pond and remain in holiday mode. Yes bought some herb plants yesterday and looking forward to planting them and watching them grow until it freezers over? If that's what happens!

The pond before i attacked it!

Hi, Mark here, lorna has just supprised me with this web blog, what a clever wife i have, so now you will be updated on how we are, this is unreal.

bye for now

The beggining

Well i kinda decided it was good enough for my younger siblings to have a website it was now my turn. If its easy enough i will put the older brother on to it to. Seeing we are not in our home state no more its a quick and easy way to catch-up with each other and hopefully not as much as a time waster as face book. I am not sure how i will go with the photos and stuff but you never know if you don't give it a go........



But hey i can upload photos, come back to my post and edit it. I think i know what i am doing. HA HA that's the funniest thing i have heard.

Well the picture above is our first night in our house with furniture. (We arrived with two suitcases and had three days with only the suitcase.) We still had heaps of boxes to unpack and unsure of where things belonged. Still unsure on where somethings belong....