Return of the Mac..er...Raq!

Once again I have completely neglected my blog.

Another year has gone by before I even gave it a thought, with many a social, family or work event to count down the days. Perhaps it's time to give a brief recap of the highlights and lowlights of the past twelve months.

1. The Boyfriend and I are engaged. Technically he is now The Fiancé, soon to be The Hubby as of March 8, 2014.

2. We got a furbaby! He is a little black cocker spaniel puppy called Wilson (same weekend as the engagement). He is not so little anymore.

3. I won a facebook competition at the beginning of the year to meet one of my favourite authors, Rachel Vincent. She was in Australia for the first time promoting the release of the final book in her YA series, With All My Soul. I was invited to attend the inaugural Harlequin Summit along with a number of other bloggers who had travelled from all across Australia. Managed to find one girl from my city too, who happens to blog at: http://www.speconspecfic.com/
Anyway, drove that morning to Sydney, went to the summit and got a bag of goodies (ARC's of books). Also had some books signed by Rachel Vincent, photo op and an invitation for coffee after the summit was done. As far as I know it wasn't part of the competition and there was no way I would let an opportunity like this pass me by. We found a Gloria Jeans open nearby (as everything else was shut) and hung out for an hour and a half. It was amazing experience and I doubt I would be able to win anything as cool as that again. Later on, I discovered on her blog that her favourite photo was of the two of us together and that she loved the little souvenirs I had bought up with me. Check it out here: http://www.rachelvincent.com/blog/2013/03/04/australia-part-1-sydney/

4. Wedding planning. Many hours have been dedicated to preparing the spectacle that is to be our wedding. I am just the teeny tiniest bit stressed, there are a million things to do and it feels as though they will never be done. Just over two months to go now.

5. Went out for a lovely Mother's Day dinner with my family and some relatives, to a brand new Brazilian restaurant that had opened only two days before. We came away from that encounter with salmonella poisoning. A week was spent in agony, as The Fiance and I tragically attempted to look after one another at home while the rest of my family chilled at the hospital with another 100 people who all decided to be sick with same illness at the same time. Turns out it was the largest outbreak of salmonella poisoning in my city ever recorded. A total of 150 people were infected. On the bright side I lost 5kgs in a week.

6. My sister Miss Drama is mother to the most loved and doted upon little girl and now is expecting baby number two. This time they are looking to find out the sex in order to prepare for the little tacker's arrival late May / early June.

7. The Fiancé and I bought a vinyl player. We are hip and retro now, except for the fact we have the tiniest collection of records. No matter. We are still cool.

I can't really think of any other major or significant event of this past year. If there was anything else I guess it must not have been important enough to warrant my immediate attention while writing this.

Here's hoping that it doesn't take me another year to write the next blog post.

Over and out!

O Christmas Tree

This year, as it was just The Boyfriend and I living in the house, we decided to make our own Christmas tree. I spent ages trying to come with creative ideas before we settled on wrapping a plant trainer with twine. Over the course of four evenings I wound & wound & wound the twine over each leg of the plant trainer, with only one incident  of self harm where I was trying to pull the twine tight and it snapped, causing me to punch myself in the mouth. The Boyfriend thought it was hilarious. I did not.

Once it had been completely wrapped, it was time to decorate! I found these cute, small baubles in red, white and two tones of grey. Coupled with that was a silver, metal star and some fairy lights. All in all it looked pretty good.

 

 

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to make a wreath for the front door, so we went without. But we did decorate other parts of the house with fairy lights; the conservatory and the family room. Also we had a bit of fun with the decorations and I must say I make a pretty decent Christmas tree.

 

 

 



Now just to wait for Christmas.

 

Over and out xxoo



Chicky Babes

Who doesn't like week old baby chicks?

A few weeks ago, The Boyfriend's parents had been incubating some chicken eggs and we happened to be there for dinner as they were starting to hatch.

We spent most of the time squatted down next to the incubator, watching as this chick slowly started working its way out. It was the first time I had seen one hatch and it was amazing to witness this struggle for life.

 

Later that week The Boyfriends parents were away for a few days and his sister was watching the farm for them, but her and her partner were going away for the weekend and the chicks required supervision. So we kept them for three days, making sure they had plenty of food, water and exercise.

We let them roam free in the conservatory, after checking all the doors were looked and no other birds would be able to prey upon them.

They had a ball, pecking and scratching for food, moving together as a little pack. By the end they became used to us standing around, holding them, so they would run around my feet. I'm just glad we didn't manage to kill any of them.

Over and out.

Could it be? Matchbox Twenty!

It's been a while since I last went to a concert, but last Thursday night my friend convinced me to go with her to see Matchbox Twenty. I am so glad that I did. Unfortunately for me I left my camera at home and had to make do with my phone camera. Most of the pictures did not turn out well.

When my friend and I eventually rocked up, the line for entry stretched several hundred metres long! Fortuntely, once it started moving, it moved quickly. Not quick enough to avoid the polluted air of the smokers waiting directly in front of us.

 

Due to the delay of entering and the process of finding our seats, we missed most of Evermore's set. Apparently they have a new album out, we only managed to catch the last two songs of there gig, but I haven't listened to their music in a while and I don't believe I have any of their cd's.

 

 

 

During the interval my friend decided to get some food for us while I stayed back in our seats. Five minutes past. Ten. Fifteen. As it started crawling up to the twenty minute mark I finally received a message from her saying that she's getting closer to the front and could use some help carrying the food and drinks back to our seats. I climbed up the steep staircase, paying careful attention as to not trip up the stairs, and walked around to the food stall. My friend wasn't there. Confused I turned around and continues in the other direction for a while until I came across the line for alcoholic beverages. Guess who I found waiting in the wrong line? By the time we switched to the correct queue, INXS had finished setting up and were beginning their set.

 

 

Man they were good! They played all my favourite songs, plus some from their most recent album which I don't actually know. It was good to have the ones I didn't know, as it gave me time to rest my voice. Don't know how much good it did me in the end as it almost left me completely as their set finished.

 

The curtains were pulled shut as the stage crew prepared for Matchbox Twenty's performance. The crowd were slowly becoming more restless as the minutes stretched out. Next thing we knew a film was being shown on the curtains, welcoming the audience and introducing the main act. Together my friend and I sang our way through the show, probably to the disappointment to the people beside us. She captured some video footage and during the playback (in the car on the way home) we could hear someone, not sure who, singing loudly and proudly, yet extremely off key. I really hope that wasn't me!

  

 

  

 

All in all it was a great night and I am glad I finally got off my backside to have some fun.

 

Over and out! X



And They Called It, Puppy Love

I cannot wait for Christmas! I know it's still roughly 10 months away, but The Boyfriend and I have already decided on what we are getting: a puppy!

For the moment we are still looking as there are many breeders out there, as well as many things we need to consider such as:

• Breed: At this stage it appears we are narrowed down to either a Cocker Spaniel or a Spoodle
• Price: I know we don't want it to be a factor yet there's only so much we can pay towards the new little thing (some can be quite expensive)
• Colour: The Boyfriend and I are still debating over final colour but that depends on what breeder we end up going with. One thing we both agree with is that we prefer the golden variety
• Gender: This one we both strongly believe in getting a little male puppy considering we already have a name for it

In the meantime we need to update our yard to be puppy/dog safe (including fixing up holes in the fence) and get prepared for the addition to our family.
I cannot wait to welcome home Wilson!

Over and out!

And You Thought I Was Gone...

But I'm back again!

Now that uni finished, I find myself with less free time than I previously had. Hence the hiatus in blogging. There have been numerous things that have happened between now and then:

• My cousin had a little girl early january
• My sister Miss Drama also had a little girl in February
• The above sister is now also engaged
• The Boyfriend's sister and partner became engaged in July
• Received a much deserved pay rise
• The soccer season has come and gone, unfortunately we ended up towards the end of the ladder

I have been living with just The Boyfriend now for about 7 months and it has been truly wonderful. Setting up home in my our own way has been fun but slow going. Eventually I will finish decorating the house to my liking but until that happens, I will have lots of bibs and bobs to use in place.

For now I shall keep this short, but I shall return!

Over and out.

Junk Mail Love

Discovered this in my junk mail folder today and it made me laugh.

"Hello Nice to meet you,
How are you and how is your work?
I hope that all is well with you,
My name is Aisha, I know that you
may be surprise how I get your email,
I got your email today when I was browsing
looking for honest partner, then I feel
to drop this few lines to you and I will
like you to contact me through my
email so that we can know each other
and exchange our pictures, and we may
become partner. Remember that distance
does not matter what matters is the love we share
with each other. I am waiting to hear from you soon."

They do say that distance makes the heart grow fonder...but I don't think I'll be in touch.

Over and out.