favourite detail(s)

stockings and shoes

 the beautiful flowers

The delicious food...and the lovely people who served it! 

 our invitations...

and order of service made by this talented lady...she also did the power point too...

DIY wedding bon bons

It's not secret I love badges...so I wanted to share the badge love on our wedding day.

 I hired a badge maker for a day and went to town. I have a lot of fun...so much so I ended up buying a machine to keep...forever!

 We decided we would get some delicious truffles from this lady, she did us a good deal because I worked there for about 6 months when I moved to Adelaide in 2006. They are really good truffles...believe you me!

 ...this one is just for fun! 

 I sewed 110 of these little bags...put a couple of truffles in and attached a badge to each bag, each guest (in theory) was meant to get one...but I think a few people got a few more...

some little details from our reception...our bouquets went into the teapots when we got to the reception

something old, something new

I pretty much covered this one all in one little hanky...

 My Nana had this handkerchief at her wedding...60+ years ago...so it was REALLY old! It was also borrowed...and in the middle of the hanky was a beautiful little square piece of blue fabric...and of course it was new to me! 

 My dress was new....I did a post just completely dedicated to my wedding dress a while back...

I loved it. The lady who made it did an amazing job and it was perfect for me. People also said to me that it was perfect for me and it suited so well...I especially love it when students comment on it...I have some photos on my desk at work, so when they come in to visit they often look around on the walls, it's a conversation starter, especially with the older girls!

My pretty sisters wore blue...but that was just coincidence! They looked pretty cute though!

wedding week!

It's almost 2 years since Mr Spilsbury and I tied the knot! We've been loving each other...and driving each other crazy ever since! This lovely ladyrecently got married and she had a wedding week to show some of the lovely features of her and her husbands wedding. So I am taking a trip down memory lane and re living some of my favourite moments and memories. I hope you enjoy along with me! :)

flea market finds

I went op shopping with a couple of my sisters...quite a few weeks ago, but never got a chance to share all the treats we found! I showed them a few op shops they hadn't been to before in the eastern burbs of Adelaide....actually it was the same day I found these treats..

These beautiful canisters were out on the discount table at this wonderful shop... I was pretty stoked!

check out some more fantastic flea market finds over here...

home made high tea

 You know when you get together with a group of friends and you have such a nice time...4 hours go by without even realising it...

 My sister decided to surprise a friend for her birthday and do high tea for her at her house...we slept through alarms this morning so there wasn't any cucumber and egg sandwiches but there were scones...

 and delicious cupcakes

 and PLENTY of delectable tea.

So today I am grateful for home made high tea with friends who you can have a good laugh with and be having such a nice time...you forget the time!

Check out some more gratefuls here!

heavy heart

I got a call early yesterday morning from my mumma to say that her papa had died. He's been in hospital for a couple of weeks after getting sick, with a chest infection. It's been a pretty sad time.  Mumma went to Perth to visit because he didn't recognise one of mum's sisters and so she thought she better go. We thought there was going to be recovery and rehab but on Monday he went downhill.

I'll spare the details. All I know is I have a heavy heart.

Mum, Dad and my youngest sisters have started the drive over and Jek and I are heading over Tuesday.

that's me and pop!

I have many memories of Pop, but my favourite is when I spoke to him on my 21st birthday. He told me Happy Birthday Londing, I was in Papua New Guinea sitting on a mountain when I turned 21. I always tear up when I think about it. 

So here's to our Pop, may he rest in peace.

Frank Claire Coumbe

24-6-1922 til 23-6-2011

a lesson in self care

It has been an intense week. Good intense though! I went to a conference about self care. The church I work for had it's national lay workers (people who aren't ordained as ministers) conference held at the beautiful sunshine coast. It was perfect timing, I totally needed to get out of my work space and have a good hard think about where I am with what I am doing, why I have been a bit of a crazy lady lately and get a handle on what is scaring the pants off of me...(this might have to be another post...but it is likely to do with the blogging rut I had!) We heard some pretty horrific stories about burn out, did a simple stress test and heard about ways to ward against burn out, along with a lot of other very worthwhile things! I've realised a few things. I need to find a good GP, The kind I can go to to talk about woman's matters openly and honestly and also to have regular check ups to keep stress at bay, I think I have found that GP which is a bit of a win for me. I need to regularly get a massage to look after my back and shoulders, Tim and I need to re do our budget so we aren't so (sometimes unnecessarily) worried about money, and I need to keep being empowered and assertive to say no to some things. I had a few light bulb moments and it was great. I had some wonderful conversations with old friends and new, and some really hard conversations with some struggling friends. I still have lots of things to think and reflect and pray about but I am feeling a lot more grounded. I am so glad I got to go to this conference and that we didn't get stuck in Adelaide because of the ash cloud! 

The week wrapped up with a very short but wonderful visit to my bestie. We laughed, we cried it was very important to see her. There was also a lovely family dinner to celebrate our brother in laws birthday. It was wonderful to spend time with Tim's family, even if it was just for a little while.

so this week I am grateful to get out of the weekly routine, to meet new people, reconnect with old friends and feel like I have a bit more of a handle on what's going on in my world at the moment, hug family and friends who I usually can't due to distance!

For more gratefulness...check out Maxabellas corner of the net!

offspring

For some reason I really enjoy this show.

It's a bit of a chance to just sit and go into a pretend world for an hour. The world of Nina and her pretty crazy family and their sometimes pretty crazy world. The things that happen can be a bit far fetched...but hey it's nice to escape every now and then.

We're here in Qld this week, I'm going on a conference and Tim is hanging out with his folks. It's really nice to be away from the routine and I am really looking forward to the conference starting tomorrow. We've had a relaxing day enjoying a delicious meal cooked by Tim's mum. So good, we all had to have a nap afterwards!

Hope you've had a wonderful long weekend if you're in the south and eastern parts of Australia. Hope you have a wonderful week!

back to Paris?

Wow this is exciting! I mean I was only reminiscing of our trip just over a week ago. And I was just checking out this wonderful blog...and what did I find! 

Oh Gosh!

The lovely Jordan, her husband and kidlets moved to Paris around 4 months ago and now they hosting a 

give-away for 2 people, flights paid to Paris for 7 nights!

we were in Paris in December. It was wonderful

 How cool would it be to win the competition and go back! We can only hope and dream! 

being assertive, making peace and being grateful about it

There are a few parts to this story.
The first part
I am taking a course at the moment for some professional development and personal development too I guess. When the course started we had to set a few goals about what we wanted to achieve during the course. One of mine was being assertive in my work and the people I work with (and in my personal life too, but the course is more about your work) and being able to say no to things I don't actually want to do, I've been bad at this in the past, but I feel like I have been making some good progress with this one. And I feel positive about it.
The second part
I saw something on facebook that really annoyed and offended me. So I let the person know. I didn't comment on the status but sent them a text and didn't hear back. I left it for a while and then called them. And they were pretty cold. I sort of let rip about how I felt and that I thought they should think about what they put on facebook, that they don't need to put everything that comes into their mind on facebook. They let rip back about always been given a hard time about what they put on facebook. They ended up crying and this was sad crying, like what I had said had uncovered some deep hurt they were holding in and this was the last straw. I felt sick to my stomach that I had made them cry.
The third part.
We decided after we had had it out that we would catch up this morning. Have some special time today. It was really good. We made peace.
I felt like I expressed how I felt, but then when I was thinking about it later I probably got a bit passionate and aggressive and was a bit hard on them.
It was important to make peace because this person was my sister.
So I am grateful for asserting myself and making peace.
For more gratefuls pop over to this lovely blog, you'll love it!

blogging rut

image

I really enjoy blogging 

...but at the moment I feel like I'm in a bit of a blogging rut...or maybe it's I don't have time to blog when events and interesting things happen...or maybe winter is setting in and I need a dose of can be bothered

It could also be that our Internet has been major temperamental...

Whatever it is hopefully my blogging mojo will be back soon! 

winter rememberance

Today is the 1st day of winter...

We had a glorious day here in Adelaide, I wish I'd taken some photos but I didn't. I took my laptop out into the quadrangle and did my work out there to get my daily boost of Vitamin D!

And then I got thinking about how it's 6 months since we were in France! Since we went to Disneyland! Since our overseas trip! I can't believe it. How fast is this year going. I still get asked how our trip was...and some of it is half a year ago! But I love remembering and talking about it. It was a great time.

The winter won't be as fun without the snow! But at least I won't fall on my bum in the ice.

Hope the start of Winter or Summer was a happy day for you...wherever you are in the world!