I now pronounce you stinky & bird

And that which God has joined let no man put asunder.....asunder? who uses that word anymore? In any case what it means is that Astrid (aka Stinky...don't ask!) and Chris (aka Big Bird) are now married! Yay! And probably at this time somewhere walking along the shore of white sandy Hyams Beach.

The wedding was a beautiful day....well not weather wise....and a joyous day for both Bride and Groom. It started early, and not running on adreniline like at my own wedding, copious amounts of caffiene was required to kick-start the day. After an hour or so of beautifying at the hairdresser we returned home for further beautification and breakfast.

Considering it was election day it was a nightmare in Karimbla road with the polling booth right next door. We caused a bit of traffic chaos when the limo turned up and double parked but once people saw a bride emerging from the house it was all okay.

Anyway, I'm not going to go on about the rest of the day....most of you where there. But I will say there are photos on Facebook which you can access via this link enjoy!

Dum dum de dum, dum dum da dum

Did that sound like the wedding march? Well it should cause my little sister gets married on Saturday....YAY! I'm so excited, anyone would think I was the one getting married.

Watch this space (well actually the photo albums) for more photos of Astrid & Chris's special day....awh

As chief bridesmaid/matron of honour/whatever, I'm supposed to give a speech with a 5 minute time limit.....good luck. No-one ever stricks to time limits. We said the same thing at our wedding and I think Dad ended up talking for about 15 minutes including mentioning the win that the Hockeyroos had had against the Dutch the night before at the Olympics. I think he was just trying to 'stick it' to my new Dutch in-laws.

The most interesting part of the whole wedding will be the mechanical bull, yes you read right! Chris has ordered a mechanical bull for the reception. Apparently my sister was not overjoyed by this decision so we'll see if the mechcanicl bull actually eventuates. If it does, it will certainly be a wedding to remember! Photo: here's me with the bride & groom....and here's me riding the mechanical bull in my bridesmaid dress! Noice!

Ah the joy of weddings.

Oh Danny Boy

Those of you who are fans of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) will know what I am talking about when I say that I was disappointed that Danny 'the most wonderful male dancer in the world' Tidwell did not win last night.

I must admit that Sabre (who did win) is also a beautiful dancer but there is something magical about Danny when he performs. He is unbelievable to watch, you can't take your eyes off him. Some major ballet or contemporary company better snatch him up or they don't know what they've missed! I've told Al that I'm adding him to 'my list'.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing 'armchair judge' when the Australian version of SYTYCD comes out in 2008.

PS - What the hell was the host Cat Deely wearing last night? She looked like a cross between an ostrich and a toilet brush!

The sound of one hand typing

This is it....slow and annoying. I am right-handless today as my de quervains has flared up again (like carpel tunnel but in my thumb and wrist). It means I can't do much with my right arm. Last night at ballet was particularly funny trying to attempt port de bras with only one arm.

I am jealous of those ambidextrous people out there who are not inclined to favour one side over the other and can write with both hands. Meanwhile I had trouble signing for a purchase on my credit card this morning.

In news from the world of Al....Al was called out to fly last night at 9:30pm. A last minute part delivery to Townsville which couldn't wait, apparently. 7 1/2 hours of flying later Al arrived home just in time to see me off to work on the bus. I was exceptionally pleased to hear that he got 7 1/2 hours of night flying logged AND to top it all off he actually got paid for this one! Wait for it folks, it won't be long before the sugar mama can retire!

This is one-handed Hol signing off.....

Our life in pictures

If you want to view some of the pics from our life follow the yellow brick road (or the links below) to view the photo albums I have on Facebook.

My Family
Life in BrisVegas
Astrid & Chris's Wedding etc
Arnhem Land Adventures

Enjoy!

All I want is a room somewhere

Actually I really want more than that. I want a sizeable house, with a great view of something spectacular in a nice area close to everything but out of the 'rat race'.

Sounds impossible doesn't it? You would think so in this economic climate and all the debate being thrown around about housing/rental affordability.

When it comes to the crunch, however, it is not about what I want, but what I need. At the moment I am stuck in a debate with Al about whether we need to move to a house or whether our apartment is sufficient for our present needs. I want to move to a house (NB: we are talking renting here not buying), but Al believes that we can make do with our little art-deco flat for a bit longer. There is definately a question of want -v- need here. I want to move to a bigger place but I agree that we do not need to.

My thoughts then beg the question 'since when have we (we meaning 'society') been so caught up in what we want that we forget what we need?' When did our focus shift so dramatically from having those essential things for life (ie food, shelter etc) to having everything, even if we know we don't really need it! An article today on news.com.au suggests that Gen Y have no focus on saving, merely on spending. A little shocking when you consider that according to the results of the survey, 83% of women plan to live of their partner after they are 50 yet most Gen Y's would rather spend money now than invest it into their Super. So much materialism, so little time.

So back to my original dilemma...of course I may want a big house in a nice suburb, with 2.4 kids, a dog and a luxury car, but I don't need it to be happy. I may have to remind myself of this every now and then when I get carried away with life, but its true. I think the world would be a much better place if we were all content to have what we needed rather than everything we wanted.

Brush with fame

For those of you that haven't visited the new(ish) home of holnal in the Brisvegas I will draw a little picture for you. We live in a suburb amongst the BMW driving, latte drinking, bocconcini eating, boat-shoe wearing types of Brisbane. I quite often look out of place wandering down the shops on a saturday morning in my trackie dacks and a t-shirt.

This morning was no different except for the fact that I ran into (almost literally Bernard Fanning from Powderfinger. After almost breaking my neck in a 'double-take' type action I quickly whipped out my mobile phone to text Allan about my encounter. The reply I got went a bit like this:

"Did you ask him out?" (remembering this is my husband on the other end)
"No, he's not on my list"
"He could be an alternate"

Now those of you giggling have obviously seen Friends on more than one occasion but to cut a long story short I did not ask our Bernard Fanning....and to be quiet honest the thought didn't cross my mind. I was too busy thinking about the skinny flat white in my hand and the criossant that awaited me at home. Oh my god...maybe I fit in better in the suburb than I thought!

Company Schizophrenia

Last week I was working for Alcan, this week I am working for Rio Tinto Alcan and now apparently next week (slight overexaggeration) I could be working for BHP Billiton Rio Tinto Alcan. Try answering the phone with that!

Today BHP announced that it had attempted to launch discussions with Rio regarding a full global takeover which would be one of the biggest in history. Rio has said "hell no!" (not those exact words I'm sure) and rejected the offer at this stage. BHP being the tenacious bugger that it is, however, won't give up that easily so stay tuned for more on that front.

Meanwhile I'm trying to engage employees with the company they work for, however no one really knows who they work for at this stage. Its all very confusing and I suspect that everyone is counting down the days till Christmas and wishing it would come a little early this year.

Stay tuned for more in the exciting adventures of my work life.

PS its a little sad when there's more exciting things happening at work than in my personal life :-(

Welcome to the world of pure imagination

Hello family and friends,

Welcome to my world of pure imagination. This is not to say that I live my life in a fantasy land....although that would be fun...but that there is a world of possibilities out there for everyone. And I don't know about you but I intend to try as many as possible in my life time.

In order to facilitate my world of pure imagination I have decided to jump off the MySpace bandwagon and take myself back to the pure art of blogging with this site. I will periodically publish some of these blogs on Facebook for the benefit of those addicted to this new craze but I intend to write more on this blog than anything else.

Via this blog you will see my quirky thoughts and musings on life, whether you like it or not ;) I will be keeping my myspace account active until the end of the year so you can catch up on anything you might have missed so far.

So let the bloggin begin..........