summer 2007 photos

I've just uploaded a new photo album with pictures from Christmas and New Years festivities, including our family trip away. It was lovely to spend some time with my cousin Grace who was visiting from Brisbane.

summer 2007

many of these photos are grace's. thank you!

new years eve - sydney style!

The NYE tradition in Sydney is that you turn up at a vantage point during the day to secure a good spot with a view of harbour bridge which is the centrepiece of the fireworks displays. You bring a picnic and a blanket, maybe some foldable chairs and you camp out till the first set of fireworks are launched at 9pm. This is the kid-friendly session with the midnight session to follow.

This is how I spent new year's eve, with my sister Melissa, friend Natalie and cousin Grace.

We didn't stay out there all the way till midnight though. After the 9pm fireworks we adjourned to a party at our friends Matt and Elaine's place where we engaged in a Singstar battle (a playstation karaoke game). I think the highlights for me were 'Heaven is a place on earth' and 'Ice Ice Baby'. If I remember correctly, for 'Simply the Best' and 'Uptown Girl' our team achieved the highest honour of 'Totally Singstar'. Our hosts Matt and Elaine said they'd never seen anyone get that before!

Contrast this to new year's eve 2006. Winter in Xining!

• Instead of the comfortable 25 degrees celsius we had here (it's not a hot summer), the temperature was way below zero.
• Rather than being outdoors, we were all cosy in a friend's well-heated apartment.
• For entertainment, Singstar was replaced by Empires (too hard to describe) and we listened to the couples in our group tell stories of how they got together.
• And instead of a massive spectacular fireworks display across the city, we set off our own fireworks in the courtyard of my friends' housing compound.
• I remember standing out there in the courtyard watching the fireworks wearing about 5 layers on top, complete with scarf, gloves and boots. As you can tell from this year's pictures, I was wearing just a bit less than that!

Despite the differences, both NYEs were nice in their own way. Both definitely full of happy and warm memories.

Happy New Year everyone!

baby mania

I can't believe it's been over a month since the last post and the irony is that I've been on holidays (vacation)! Anyway, I thought a Christmas post would be in order. It has been a busy time for me with a Christmas production (photos to come), Christmas shopping and visiting friends' babies.

In the last two weeks, I've visited 3 newborn babies, and have one other newbie to visit! I've been a busy aunty!! Here I am with 2 of them:

with Madeline Stonehouse and Imogen Dombroski (holding the toy dog)

with Bethany Wong

Yes I'm in the same top and have the same cheesy delighted grin in both photos - I made the visits on consecutive days. Anyway, with all this newborn exposure, two things really stood out to me: 1) how precious they are and 2) how vulnerable they are.

The other cool thing that I got to do in the last two weeks was to attend the end of year party of a local radio program Open House which was broadcast live. Apart from the beautiful ambience, riveting interviews, great music and yummy coffee and cake, I was most struck by presenter extraordinaire Sheridan's closing comment which went something like this:"2000 years ago, a baby was born. That baby grew up to become a boy and that boy grew up to become a man but he was so much more than just a man."

It was amazing for me visiting these gorgeous newborns and imagining that baby boy born 2000 years ago in a stable in the little town of Bethlehem.

How vulnerable he must have been - the Word become flesh.

How precious he is - a gift from the Father to all people.

Fill us with the wonder of that first Christmas night.

Much love to you and yours this Christmas!

the big THREE-O!

Well it's official. I'm now into a new decade. Bring on the thirties!!! Thanks to Bernee for the link to another blog with other peoples' reflections on turning thirty. It was eye-opening. There are people out there who panic and do drastic things like leave their husbands, quit their jobs or get tattoos. Don't worry, I'm not about to do anything crazy. I cut my fringe - that's about as radical as it gets!

A few weeks ago, at dinner with some friends, we were talking about someone who got married at age 22 - which we all thought was young. One friend commented 'I can't imagine being married at 22!' to which I responded 'yeah and when I was 22 I couldn't imagine NOT being married at 30!!!!' Yes when I think back to my last milestone birthday (21) I realise how much I've changed and how differently my life has turned out to what I imagined. I definitely am not as 'settled' as I thought I would be.

But do I regret anything? In Edith Piaf style I say 'non, je ne regrette rien'! I regret nothing. I never could have imagined that Father would take me on this exciting journey of living and working overseas, meeting fascinating people, doing what I love and learning to trust him more and more on a daily basis. He truly has done 'far more abundantly that I could have asked or imagined'! And I look forward to what he has in store...

This year, I'm so grateful that I've had the opportunity to be with my sister Melissa to share our special day together. Here are some pics from Saturday:


To see these pictures as larger images, click on the links in the slideshow. To see other pics from the picnic BBQ 'Flourish' with other friends on Sat (not our birthday party, it just happened to be on the same day), click here. One of my favourite little boys, Jacob, is the the star of that show!

i'm a twentysomething

well i have just a few more days of being a twentysomething. there are still a couple of things on my to-do-before-i-turn-30 list like get another piercing in my ear and learn to play guitar better (or should i say learn another strum pattern) but with just three days left and with an exam coming up next week, these things will just have to wait till sometime in my thirties!

this is what one of my favourite musician/songwriters, Jamie Cullum, had to say about being a twentysomething:

After years of expensive education,
a car full of books and anticipation,
I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot
but the world don't need scholars as much as I thought.

Maybe I'll go travelling for a year,
finding myself or start a career.
I could work for the poor though I’m hungry for fame
we all seem so different but we're just the same.

Maybe I'll go to the gym, so I don't get fat,
aren't things more easy with a tight six pack?
Who knows the answers? Who do you trust?
I can't even separate love from lust.

Maybe I’ll move back home and pay off my loans,
working nine to five answering phones.
Don't make me live for my friday nights,
drinking eight pints and getting in fights.

I don't want to get up, just let me lie in,
leave me alone, I'm a twenty something.

Maybe I'll just fall in love that could solve it all,
philosophers say that that’s enough,
there surely must be more. Ooooh

Love ain’t the answer nor is work,
the truth eludes me so much it hurts.
But I’m still having fun and I guess that's the key,
I'm a twenty something and I'll keep being me.

OK so not all of it is exactly my lifestyle (I can't remember the last time I drank eight pints and got into fights) but it's still a fun song. Anyway, they say 40 is the new 30, and I definitely know a good number of thirtysomethings who are living like Jamie here.

what do melinda and justin timberlake have in common?

Tonight, watching a TV interview he did with Rove, I discovered that JT is also an avid hater of magpies! He had been attacked in Brisbane. He described them as 'dive bombing gangsters of the air' (or something to that effect - I can't remember exactly). See it's proof! Magpies are evil. Aussie magpies are evil. I'm not alone.

This is such significant news that my blog drought has been broken!

i'm still alive!

A combination of Facebook, busyness and lack of inspiration has kept me from blogging though I promise there's more to come very soon. Stay tuned, listeners!