sweet felix

I've spoken about my friend Kara here a couple of times...she was the friend with the baby shower a few weeks ago...

She gave birth to this little bundle of joy yesterday...what a cool day to be born :)

Welcome to this world Felix Jakobi, it was wonderful to meet you tonight and I hope we get to see you again soon, you are very cute and handsome. Seriously his nose SO sweet...

I hope you will grow nice and strong and learn lots from your mumma and pappa

two years

It's been a fun, enjoyable, challenging, sometimes down right hard, crazy, changing, adventurous, at times frustrating, stable and unstable at the same time, a time for learning, exciting and rewarding 2 years. Probably a couple of the best and most challenging years of my life so far. 

And he's the only one I could do it with.

I love you my beloved, Happy Anniversary...I hope we have many more years of learning, growing and fun a head of us!

Thanks for stopping by this week to join in the fun of wedding week and for your sweet comments! It has been fun to look back and enjoy photos and reminiscing on our wedding day. I hope you have enjoyed the fun too! Hope you all have a wonderful week! xx

The photos

 We had a lovely lady called Sonya take our photos for our wedding. Most of the photos used for all these wedding week posts have been by her (except for a few like my shoes and the teapots and truffles). Sonya is a graphic designer and when she shot out wedding she was working full time in that profession and doing wedding photography on the side.

 
(some photos of the handsome men...they have mainly been of the girls so far!)

 
 I had met Sonya a few times and her lovely younger sister pointed me her way when we were planning our wedding. It was wonderful to work with someone who was professional, took beautiful photos and a heck of fun to be around!

 
 
 

You can check out more of Sonya's beautiful work...here! She is in the process of setting up a new business for wedding photography and invites so that is very exciting and we wish her well with that. There is no doubt she will do a fantastic job. She's a talented lovely lady.

wedding week- the bridesmaids

 I'm blessed with 3 younger sisters...so it was pretty easy to work out who my bridesmaids were going to be. I have been bridesmaid for a couple of my close friends but they helped out in other special ways for the day.

They spoilt me with a wonderful hens night. Including a body shop party at my parents place, delicious dinner...where pretty much everyone bought mini quiche! ha so funny...
B and C sang a beautiful song in our ceremony as we signed the register and J said a beautiful speech at the reception. It was wonderful and I had fun having them be beside me on my big day. The girls that know me better than I know myself sometimes.
They also told me later...that I turned into a bridezilla which I think is a bit untrue....they tend to over exaggerate sometimes!! ;)

grateful in the midst of struggle

This week has been a bit of a struggle.  Last week my mum lost her dad and so this week my immediate family, Mumma bear, Papa Bear and myself and 3 sisters all made our way over to Western Australia from South Australia, some by plane some by car. It  has been a really emotionally draining week. It was almost impossible to get out of bed this morning because I was so physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted and my brain was not kicking into gear...and I also don't drink coffee. So I didn't get up...until 8.3am a whole hour after my alarm went off...I am grateful that my job allows me to do that! But I digress. It was very special that I was able to go to the funeral and be with Mum and Nana. It was a nice funeral, lots of people turned up to pay their respects to Pop.Some very good family friends travelled 400kms to come and support us. Man  that was incredible. There was a slide show and he was honored as someone who fought for our country in WWII. I felt proud to be his grand daughter. But you know taking 3 days out of work is hard...work doesn't stop so I came back today to a fairly long to do list, one major thing for Tuesday....which nearly tipped me over the edge....but then I played the chocolate game at youth and it was good to laugh with the youngins I work with! But I am glad and grateful in fact to have those days to greive, to attend a funeral and that it's Friday so I only had to do it one day!

So even though life kicked me in the shins a few times this week I am graeful for

Being able to get reasonable prices flights to Perth

That we finally were able to get flights and the ash cloud stayed away

credit cards to pay for said flights

I got to hang out with my cousins and see what they are up to even though the reason we came together was sad...AND this is probably the thing I am MOST GRATEFUL for this week!

That we were able to say goodbye to Pop in a special way...

For friends who travel 400km to come and support my mum and dad at a funeral, the friends who know you so well (probably because you have known them for 25 years!)

Thanks for reading...it was quite cathartic to type that...I am seriously tired so I might come back tomorrow and re read it and think gosh waffle! BUT there are lots of gratefuls in the midst of struggles!

check out more grateful souls over at the lovely Maxabella loves...check out her giveaway too! It's a real winner! :)

honeymoon

We went to Tasmania for our honeymoon! It was fantastic! We saw snow, ate LOTS of really yummy food. Stayed in some really nice places...it was great. staying in doors a fair bit too! ;0...The only down side was that Tim was really sick! :(

We threw snow balls at each other on the top of Mt Wellington

Enjoyed Hobart and the Salamaca Markets

We took a chair lift in the Botanical Gardens...I nearly lost a shoe!

The morning we went to Dove lake (at Cradle Mountain) it was -2...there was ice all over the place! Tim had fun picking it up and smashing it! HA

We had a relaxing time and did a bit of driving and enjoyed seeing the beautiful state that is Tasmania. We hope to go back there some day!

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!