My Life in Song - Where You Lead

Where you lead by Carole King, aka the theme song to Gilmore Girls. If you have never watched Gilmore Girls, I recommend you do. It's amazing. 

Memories:

1. Doing a little finger dance with Niki during the intro to Gilmore Girls. She introduced me to the show. I am so glad she did. :)

2. My mum and sister at graduation. I don't even think this song was playing at graduation, but they had both taken to watching Gilmore Girls together, and started doing the finger dance together. At the end of graduation a song was playing, and they were happily doing a little finger dance at me. I think it was at that point that I knew I'd have to find myself a quiet place to go cry for a bit. :)

Adorable

I realise that I am currently just posting youtube video's, but life is just work and eating at the moment, so not much to report on. Plus this is super adorable. :) Enjoy!

My Life in Music - Spice Girls

Ah, the Spice Girls. I'm sure they bring back many memories for most girls that lived through the 90's. I loved them! There music still makes me smile.

Every time I hear one of their songs I think of a couple of different things. Firstly, living in Austria. My friends and I loved them. My friends had their barbie dolls, t-shirts, etc. I'm pretty sure the only Spice Girl things I owned were their CD's (I'm pretty sure it was all on CD by then, I may have had the odd tape?), their video (it was bright green!) and a body spray/deodorant thing. I remember once spraying a boy with the deodorant thing, because him and his friends were following me and my friends and we didn't like it (or maybe we did, and it was our way of flirting, I was about 9 at the time, so who knows!). I also remember telling my mum about it, she didn't look too pleased. It's odd the things you keep in your head!

Secondly, the Spice Girls make me think of our car journey's to Confirmation classes. My best friend and I were in the same class, so we would go to one of our houses after school on a (I want to say) Thursday, and hang out/do our maths homework together until it was time to go to Confirmation. On the way we would listen to the Spice Girls, much to the dismay of the other girl we were car pooling with who seriously looked like she would have rather died than participate with our fun, and dance the whole way to church. :)

I think I shall always have a spot for the Spice Girls in my heart.

Fun Fact: James had never heard this Spice Girl song before the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics. Well, he asked what song it was because he had never heard it before. I felt speechless.

Let's draw more

I can't remember where I found this, but it's so true. Well, partly true, it's not the ONLY way, but a way. Reading works too. :)

Welcome back X-Factor

That's right, X-Factor is back on our screens! Yay! Unfortunately for us, we are in Australia, so can only watch the whole episode of the Australian X-Factor...which, doesn't quite do the 'bad' acts as well as the UK. It's all good, good, amazing, good...which gets a bit boring. They are also on a mission to create an Australian One Direction, they are actually going to put solo acts together to make the ultimate boy band AND get One Direction to come mentor them...oh dear! We still get to watch some of the UK X-Factor acts on their youtube channel, and so far they have produced my favourite acts.

Above is Jahmene Douglas. Oh man, he made us smile so much. That cute little laugh at the end of pretty much every sentence is just adorable! James said he thought he was definitely going to be good, because he has that musician/actor weird quirk thing going on. He was amazing.
Below, Sheyi Omatayo. Cookie Monster. Hilarious.

Quote to Inspire #38

Irish Proverb - such true words.

The Visa is in

Yesterday (Friday) morning, James and I went and handed in my Visa application! Eeee! We had a minor moment of concern. There are a couple of ways in which you can pay for the Visa, and the form says if you are paying by debit card, you have to pay in person. So, thats what we planned to do, because I have a debit card. We went to the Visa place, queued at the information section and then asked where it was we had to go to pay for the Visa, to be told by the man the other side of the counter that you can't pay by debit card. It's an option on the form, why would you give people and option on the form that isn't an option? I showed him my card, just to make sure, and he said "No, you'll have to get a bank cheque" (or something along those lines, I was a bit too annoyed to pay too much attention). We stood around a bit confused as I tried to convince James the form gave me that option, and it said in person. I showed him on the the computers they had for information. Whilst we were doing that a nice lady asked if we had any questions. She explained that since about May 2011 they changed things so that you could no longer pay by debit card, but said Mastercard's can be used as credit cards. We quickly changed that on the form, and she stamped our forms with a "received" stamp, and it was in! Yays! Stupid man behind the counter. But yay! It's in, now we just have to wait.

Also, the lovely lady who took in the application asked me what Visa I was currently on, and when it expired. She did not seemed concerned about it expiring in November. I am hoping (fingers tightly crossed) that this may mean we should be granted the Visa by then. I won't hold my breath though.

I don't really know what to do with myself anymore though...I have no Visa to work on.

Wise Words

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He was a very wise man. :)

In other news, I made a playdough pizza at work with the kids. Toppings included: mushrooms, sausages, smarties, marshmallows and lemons. Yum!!! :P

My little Medical Adventure

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I went for my Visa Medical today. It was interesting. As told, I arrived 15 mins early (30mins actually, but thats only because it was either that or late), got my ticket and waited. When my number was called I went up to the desk and had my Visa Medical forms checked out, all sorts stamped on them and then got my photo taken, "No smiling!". I have never understood why we can't smile, do people really walk around not smiling more than they do smiling? Wouldn't they be more recognisable if they were smiling in the photo? Wouldn't everyone be that bit happier with their photos if they could smile?
Anyhoo, that done, I had to go wait in the X-ray room. I went to the bathroom first, so didn't actually have to wait. I was guided to a cubical thing to put on some top/apron thing for my chest x-ray. I was kind of excited about the chest x-ray. I've never had an x-ray before. It was a disappointment. I don't know anything about hospitals and all the machines they use, but I was hoping for something cooler than I screen I had to press myself against, a 'click', and it being done. But I did not get any more than that. Major let down.
Next, was some more waiting. Then I got called through for the sight, height and weight check. With the added urine test...remember how I said I went to the bathroom before? Silly me. I have no idea why the lady who directed me to the bathroom didn't just say "You'll need to give a urine sample soon, might be best to hold it in.", but she didn't. Oh well. My sight is fine with my glasses on, score! My height is 165cm, and my weight 64kg. I like getting official measurements from doctor people. :)
That done and it was another wait, for the blood test. Eeek! I am awful with needles. At school when I was little, the school would do vaccinations, and everyone had to go wait for them, even if they weren't getting one that year. I was in tears because I thought I was going to have to get an injection, sobbing. I don't do needles. But, I had braved my way through them last year, so I told myself I could do it. My name was called. I went in, sat on the chair, stuck out my arm and turned my head away. I felt the prick, and then myself getting ever more faint. After it was done, two little tubes of blood, I was seeing black. I was not breathing properly. I couldn't speak, and I was crying. I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't control it. I felt dizzy and faint. Needless to say, I shall not be donating blood any time soon.
After a 5-10min calm down in the blood sample room I moved on to my last wait, the check up thing. My blood pressure was taken, heart listened to, and that groovy knee-hitting-leg-kicking thing done. And DONE!

I have spent the rest of the day doing nothing because my arm hurts and I'm super freaked out blood will just start spurting out of it. I know that's silly, but I am silly. :)

Medicals are interesting.

Visa stuff

This week has been full steam ahead with my visa application. We spent quite a while getting ready, basically getting our head around what we need to do...and which forms we need to fill in. It was a slow and stressful beginning, the amount of stuff that needs to get done, and the price of it, was extremely overwhelming! But we're getting somewhere now! I got quite a lot done this week, dedicating each evening to one form, and spending today getting the little things done (I didn't get any work, poo).

So far we have:
-My form filled out
-James' form filled out
-My character check form filled out
-All but one of our certified copies of numerous things (passports, birth certificate, proof we live together, proof we share bills, etc. etc.)
-Photos to show our relationship through the years
-2 statutory declarations from James' family (with 3 more to come)
-My three Police checks (one for each place I've lived the last 10 years) sent off

Still need to do:
-Medical (booked for tomorrow morning, and paid for)
-Mine and James' statutory declarations of our relationship

Awesome! :D I am a very happy bunny at the moment! Being able to see the finish line makes things so much easier!

Happy Things

From here, unfortunately sold out.

Today, one of my good friends, and old housemates, sent me a link to this picture saying that it was "So Katie". It makes me really happy that this is how I am remembered. It is such a lovely way to be remembered. :)

Also, the picture linked to two awesome things. Firstly, the link my friend sent me took me to a pinterest page all about tea. Ah tea! It's lots of pretty things related to cups of tea and coffee, it makes me happy browsing through it, if you'd like to have a look, you can here. Secondly, the print was originally from a cute little corner of etsy, Amanda Catherine Designs. I haven't even had a proper look at all her stuff and I'm already loving what she does. :)

Hope you're all having a lovely day!

Dreaming up an outfit

Every now and then I see something online, or in a shop, that sparks all sorts of outfit planning in my head. Generally these outfit plans revolve around the piece I've seen and usually only one item I have in my wardrobe...it's not the best plan for money saving, but then I rarely end up buying all the components for my make believe outfits, so it doesn't hurt me to dream! :) Todays outfit day dream revolves around TOMS new Zebra shoes and some green trousers I already have (which in my head can also be replaced with my red, maroon and blue trousers for different effects). Here's my daydreaming:

Gold Worlds Links Necklace from uncommongoods. I fell in love with this necklace the moment I saw it. It's gorgeous, I love the world, and this just makes me want to travel! 

Lace Back T-shirt from Kookai EU. I tried this on in the shop whilst shopping with my Mum and sister, we weren't convinced it was worth 80CHF, but it sure is pretty and fit ever so comfortably, and this outfit is all about comfort. 

Green trousers, these are from River Island, but mine are from Emerson in Big W.  I think neutrals look nicer near my face, so I love coloured trousers for adding colour to my wardrobe. :) 

Finally, the Zebra shoes from TOMS. Aren't they cool? I think so. :)

So there you go, the little outfit occupying my mind at the moment. I can totally see myself wearing this in South Africa, or Australia. :)

Little Mix - Wings

I discovered this song a couple of days ago, and since then it's been keeping me happy and stopping me going crazy with all this Visa nonsense I've been dealing with. It's a really catchy, upbeat song. I love it. :)

Ow!

James and I have started exercising. We want to be fit, plus we'd like to look good for the summer, but mainly we want to be fit. So we've started to do a 2.6ish km walk/run in the evenings, two nights of that, and then a day of abs work. We only really started last week, so we've only done one abs session and well...it hurts! I found an abs workout on pinterest (apparently originally from this blog), and most of the comments on the site seemed to be about how good it was, so we thought "Let's give it a go!" Oh my! Ow! We are in pain. I mean, our legs hurt a bit from running, but now, any kind of moving hurts. We both think we need to add some extra stuff to it to work our backs as well, because we're walking around hunched over, standing up straight just hurts too much! So, we're adding some stretches and back exercises next. And maybe some arm and chest stuff. I'm thinking we may also need to add quite a few 'break' days and reduce them as we start aching less, but we'll see!

So, if you want to seriously hurt your abs, I have the perfect workout for you!

Sunshine, tea and chirping birds

Yesterday I got myself quite bummed. The whole Visa application process is very draining, and plain annoying. I had felt quite on track, and like I would be ready to send it off in a week or two...but now, it feels like it may take longer, AND it's going to cost more. I had assumed the Police and Medical checks could be done between being granted the Temporary Visa and the Permanent Visa, but apparently not...and the medical costs a nice $332. Yikes! So yeah, yesterday I was bummed out about all that. So I thought, maybe it would be good for me to start listing things worth being happy about. There are so many little things in life that are worth being happy about that I, and possibly others, forget about. So, I want to take some time every now and then to think of them. :)

Here are a few for today.

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Birds chirping. I love spring and summer time, the sound of birds chirping is one of my favourite sounds. It's oddly relaxing and happy, I love waking up to the sound of birds. :)

source, source, source 

Sunshine. Ah, sunshine. Doesn't sunshine just make you feel instantly better. I find the weather can really have an affect on my mood, and the sun makes me so much happier and productive. I also love the feeling of sunshine on my skin, mmm. Sunshine AND birds chirping are the best combination for a summer nap.

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Ah, tea. I wouldn't be British if tea didn't make me happy. I love tea. Yum, yum, yum. Who doesn't feel better after a nice cup of tea?

My Life in Song - Walking on Sunshine

There are no particular memories that come to mind when I hear this song, I just LOVE it, and have since I was about 15. I think this was definitely one of the songs I overplayed a little during my high school years, and it is still one of the few songs that can cheer me up. :) It's so uplifting and happy.

I did a theme song quiz, back in the day when doing quizzes like that was a craze, and I got 'Walking on Sunshine', needless to say I thought it was a pretty good result since it pretty much was my theme song.

What was your teenage theme song?

Quote to Inspire #37

Done by me, quote found here.

Making Friends

Bondi (there was an ice skating rink, on the beach!)

One of my old colleagues, from my job before my holiday, gave me her number to get in touch when I got back from Europe. I'm not very good at getting in touch with people. I'm not very good at making friends...I'm friendly, and get on well with people, but like making that step from being friendly with someone and making a friend, I'm not so good at that. So, it took a lot for me to text, but I'm glad I did. We get on well and had a lovely time. We chose to meet at Bondi, since I had never been and I knew she knew it well. We walked along the coast, and then eventually found somewhere for coffee. A cute little place that also sold books. It was really quirky, and felt very welcoming and homely. :)

I think I may be making friends in Oz. Yays!

My Life in Song - Stand by Me

This is another song that has been redone and brings to mind a certain redone version. For the longest time I have been unable to hear this song without thinking of Timon and Pumba (and some awesome frogs). For some reason I thought this was a perfectly normal connection to make, but apparently not.
So for all of you who have missed out on this 'wonderful' redoing, I give you Timon and Pumba singing 'Stand by me' - originally sung by Ben E. King (the version above).

My Wonderful James

Yummy treat James whipped up for me!

I got back to Australia last Saturday evening, and struggled to get back into a proper sleeping pattern before today, which is why I told my employers I wouldn't be available for work until today. Since my job is casual, it means that I could be called the morning of a day I've said I'm available to do a shift. So, this morning I got up at 6:45 so that I could get myself all woken up and ready incase I got a phone call about work today. I never got a call. It bummed me out a bit. We're getting pretty low on money, and I stress about things like that, so I kind of wanted to get back to work so I could make money. A short shift would have been fine, just something to get me started again with this new agency. So, yeah, I was bummed. I had bummed myself out pretty bad and was just lying on the bed (I know...I could have done something...). Anyhoo, this is where my wonderful James get's his 'wonderful' title, he's super sweet! He saw that I was upset, so ran me a bath (tidied the bathroom up a lot too so there wasn't as much stuff lying about) and went to the shops to get a few things to make something whilst I was having my bath. The picture above is what he made, pastry with chocolate ganache and strawberries. It was yum! We then watched 'The Usual Suspects', a good movie, I didn't predict the outcome, I like it when that happens! Needless to say, I felt a whole lot better afterwards. AND I then got a call about work tomorrow, YAY! 

So, my James is wonderful and awesome. I am very lucky to have him. :)