Blog Award catch up

I have a few awards some of them from awhile ago that I haven't mentioned. Still not part 2 for the engagement party post. Work has been a bit hellish and I have a to do list that is pages long. I've sort of lost my voice from tiredness and some stress (I think) and it's hard working in retail without a voice. Anyway, these awards make me happy =) Thanks lovely ladies.

I got this award from the sweet, sweet Julia of This Daisy. This award is for blogs that have attitude and gratitude. So I will give this one too.... Nicole, Sara, Claire, Ellia, Paula, and Always a Bridesmaid.

The wonderful Lisa of The Brunette Girly Girl gave me this award. Here are a few blogs I love. So I pass this award to...Kristen, Bonnie, Kellie, Megan and Melissa, Laura.

This one is from the lovely Always a bridesmaid, finally a bride (yay fellow bride to be). Ok since this is a Meme award I have to reveal 7 things about myself. And tag 7 others.

1. I wear glasses but I'm always wearing contacts. I've had glasses since I was 8.

2. I love all types of veggies except I don't really like pumpkin (unless it's soup or bread) or sweet potato.

3. I got my right leg/knee stuck under a swing when I was 7 and even now it feels different to my left knee.

4. I can understand Tagalog (Filipino main language) but I can't really speak it or read it.

5. I've never broken a bone before but I did sprain my thumb while playing touch football in high school PE.

6. I'm absolutely obsessed with stationery. I love going into stores, browsing blogs and websites. I just love it!

7. I was a 'witness' to an armed robbery at the local convenience store. The police saw me sitting at the bus stop and asked if I saw a guy running past me and I did. They told me he had held up the store and they asked the usual questions about what he looked like etc. I had to do one of those face recognition things (I can't remember the correct term) at the police station. The weird thing is the guy who held up the store smiled and said 'how's it goin' to me as he walked past before it happened. To appear normal??

And I tag and award Lisa, Caro, Andhari, Julia, Heather, Danni, Amanda.

I got this one from the gorgeous Kristen of While We're Waiting. So with this award I have to tell 10 tidbits about myself (your going to be sick of facts about me lol).

1. I adore fairy lights. I've bought a few types and really want to string some up in my room. I know my future house will have a few different sets strung up.

2. I was home when a guys broke into our house a few years back. I screamed when I saw him walk past me. The thing is I had a weird feeling that there was someone else in the house so in a way I almost anticipated him. But it was weeks before I could stay home alone.

3. I've always wanted a four poster bed with the light, gauzy curtain all around (strung with fairy lights of course).

4. I love pretty things and can be quite girly, but I'm also a bit of a fantasy/sci-fi nerd. I love Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Star Wars etc.

5. I wanted to start a collection so I thought post cards would be good. This is why I joined Postcrossing.

6. I absolutely looovveeee to receive mail and write letters. There is nothing better than after a long day at work and finding a letter or a package waiting for me.

7. I have a really weird thing for Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond. I sort of used to have a crush on him back in his Titanic and Romeo and Juliet days but got over it. But when I watched Blood Diamond...I loved him in that movie and I adored his accent. Love South African accents.

8. I threw out my journals from age 12 to 19 after I went on some rampage to get rid of them. I'm regretting my decision now because they were full of so many memories. I'm especially sad about my high school memories.

9. Even since I was in year 10 (15 years old) I wanted to become a PE teacher. And then I finally got into the course at uni and decided my passion had changed.

10. Jason and I took a salsa dance classes for about 10 weeks. I needed to choose some type of physical activity for one of my uni courses. It was great fun! Would love to do it again.

I award Cassie (a new blog friend), Nicole, Laura, Kristin, Nicole Marie.

And this is my most recent award from the beautiful Nicole of My Teacups in Peony. To see the rules for the Superior Scribbler award check out these posts. Here and here.

I award these fantastic scribblers. Julia, Kerri, Andhari, Kristen, Claire.

Thanks for all the love and support my gorgeous girls. I truly appreciate you all and I'm so glad for this blog world. I hope you made it through this post.

Weheartit

Sigh, I just love the look of fairy lights. The have this ethereal glow and just look so pretty. Sorry I clumped all the awards in one. I would have liked to give each one and each beautiful blog friend more recognition. Thank you ever so much!

Not part 2

I was hoping to have part 2 for the Engagement party but I haven't quite organised all the photos yet. It's been so busy with work, organising and just everyday life. I have so much to catch up on.

Yesterday after a nice 5 hour shift at work (I say nice because most of my shifts are over 8 hours so 5 is great in comparison) I went into the city to get my wedding dress! And to try it on. I took a photo of the dress in it's protection bag but you can sort of see through and I still don't want Jason to see it.

So because I haven't got any engagement party pics I thought I would share some inspiring Max Wagner pictures.

Max Wagner

I think this is beautiful. I would love to incorporate wish tickets with the wedding.

Max Wagner

I adore the hair clip.

Max Wagner

Love the balloon.

Max Wagner

I just love pretty umbrellas.

Max Wagner

I thought this was very clever.

Max Wagner

So pretty. I'm not a huge fan of ferries wheels but I like photos of them.

Image by Laura

This was our gift table and Wishing Well. I added the fairy lights and a few candles. The cupcake stand had the chocolate favours for the guests.

On the list now......

* Wedding invitations and other stationery

* Bridesmaids dresses and groomsmen suits

* Centre pieces and other decorations

* Transport

* Hotel

They are on the list for now. I still have a lot more to organise though. Still have to write the thank you cards for the engagement and just catch up on things. All I want to do is read and watch Alias on my one day off. Sigh.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Engagement Party Part 1

Me getting the decorations that I wanted to add ready. In my outfit but not the beautiful shoes I bought that day.

I have to do a post about the lovely dinner Jason and I had with Laura and her hubby Josh. It was the night before the party. And my Narnia adventures.

This is part 1 of our Engagement party. Our engagement party on Saturday night was fantastic! I already had the biggest week and it felt like I hadn't had a day off yet. I spent the day doing lots of last minute things like making the thank you gift/favours and just trying to remember all the details. It got to the point that I didn't really feel like the party at first.

I don't have heaps of photos at this moment just a few from Laura, some from my sis in law, and a few I took. I still need to get my dad's copies and other brother's copies.

All photos by Laura from here.....

This shows how small I am even with massive heels on.

Me and Thara (one of my bridesmaids).

Me and Kristina, another bridesmaid. Don't know what happened to my hair.

Me and Laura, another bridesmaid. And actually in front of a camera for once. I adored her dress.

A close up of my butterfly deco.

They had these really pretty pillars and I had so much fun decorating them.

A close up of my pillar decorating. This was near the end of the night hence the melted candle.

Jase and I cutting our cakes. My name was spelt wrong on mine =( There was only one N instead of two (my full name is Gracienne - it's a french name apparently). It's a Filipino sponge cake. It's really yummy and light. Too bad about the name and what's with the face I'm pulling?

Caeleb posing properly. He brought his Nintendo DS.

My sis in law (another bridesmaid, matron of honour) and Isaiah and Caeleb. I can't believe they posed.

My oldest brother Rolf and Cael conked out.

There are more pictures to come. They are just some of Laura's. She did a fabulous job. She made me some prints too.

It was such a lovely night. I tried to circulate and talk to as many people as I could but it can be so hard. I barely took any photos myself. Besides the cake cutting and a few speeches we didn't have any other formal things. By the end of the night I was so tired but so happy with how it all went.

There may be a few posts about this night. I hope you enjoy. Any questions and I'll answer them =)

Engagement Party tomorrow!

Image via Snippet & Ink

I've always thought this looked amazing.

Eeepp! It's our engagement party tomorrow night and it feels like it has come so fast. I've been working a fair bit the past few days and so tired. I was setting up Christmas (decos and such) and it's tiring work.

Anyway, this isn't much of a post as I have lots of things to do. Thought I would share part of my decorations for the engagement.

Here you can see me taking the photo. That dvd is full of engagement photos that Laura took and she made the dvd cover.

As you can see I have a thing for pretty things and the colour pink. I have more of these decorations I just wanted to show a sampling.

There's also going to be some photos courtesy of Laura printed out and I've cut out a few paper butterflies that I might decide to use. And I'm also thinking of putting fairy lights around.

It's all very exciting and I'm busy today. This morning Jason (he got a day off work) are going to watch the Dawn Treader filming, then picking up his step brother and his gf, then go off to see a townhouse we are interested in and tonight meeting up with Laura and Josh to talk engagement at this place called The Belgian Bar.

Sorry this is a dull post. Next week I will have one all about the Engagement party and other happenings. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Just a minute in...September

Image from Flickr

Hey lovelies! It's now 4 months, 2 weeks until our wedding. And our engagement party is next weekend! Eeee!!

Joining... PostCrossing, An unofficial Hunger Games forum

Wanting... To join the Letter Writers Alliance, to receive more mail, to buy more Moleskines

Creating... Some little bridesmaid booklets

Trying... To figure out decorations for the engagement party (votive candles, paper butterflies, pictures in frames and paper pom poms)

Writing... A letter to the lovely Julia, to my Compassion sponsor child, in my journal

Reading... Catching Fire again, assorted bridal magazines

Watching... Alias season 3, Gilmore Girls Season 1, assorted YouTube videos

Feeling... A bit jumpy (?), excited, emotional

Needing... To stop procrastinating and to start being more pro active with my goals

Wishing... The 3rd book in the Hunger Games is out (sigh have to wait a whole year), we had a pool

Dreaming... Of decorating my own home, buying some furniture

Hoping... The Hunger Games trilogy will become popular but not fan girl screaming popular (ugh! completely put me off Twilight especially because I fell in love with the series way before all the hype but it's been tainted by it and I don't think I will ever like it the same way again)

Image from Flickr

I want to see this movie and I would love to go camping like that for a day.

Bits

Image from Tumblr

I wouldn't mind being here relaxing.

I'm feeling out of sorts lately. I have so much to do but I don't really feel like it because I've only really just gotten better now. So don't mind this post as it will be all over the place.

On Saturday I went to work finally and Jason came to visit me. He bought all 5 seasons of Alias! He's absolutely the sweetest! He bought it as a surprise present and it was the most wonderful thing to happen while I was at work unpacking Christmas decos and hacking up my lungs. He is simply the best!!!

It was Father's Day on Sunday here in Aus so after church, the family went to have Mexican for lunch. So good and filling. Here are a few photos from the day.

Caeleb had this cute little outfit on for the day. The tie was the perfect touch. This is him being posing seriously.

This was just before church started. Caeleb was mucking around this toy. I was the one who told him to put it on his nose.

I just love peach ice tea, though I prefer the Lipton version, it's still so good.

My fajita. I could only eat one this one was so big! It was delicious! I love Mexican food. And this restaurant is really fun.

Had to show both boys. Caeleb and Isaiah. It's hard to get Isaiah to smile properly for the camera. So bad that I didn't even get a photo of my dad seeing it's Fathers Day. But everyone else was taking photos anyway.

The other good surprise was I found out that I could buy Catching Fire. A friend from work mentioned that she found it at Kmart of all places and I was so excited because it hadn't been released in Australia yet and I had already ordered a copy for me and another friend Claire from Amazon. Then on Sunday Claire messaged to tell me she found it and bought me a copy. So after lunch Jason and I went to meet up with her at Borders. We ended up chatting away with her and her bf (who works as security at the shopping centre). I was too nervous (I've been waiting for this book awhile) to read it straight away so I watched about 7 episodes of season 1 of Gilmore Girls which Claire had lent me.

This is the version I have but I will be getting the hardcover version from Amazon soonish. Seriously this book serious is amazing!! The Hunger Games is the first book, Catching Fire is the one just released and the third book will come out next year sometime which is going to be torture waiting for it. I'm obsessed with this series and I have to say it's one of my absolute favourites! It's dark, intense, absolutely twisted but it is so addictive. Truly check these books out.

The basic story of The Hunger Games is 24 kids are chosen to fight to the death in an arena while the rest of the country watches. It's set in a post-Apocalyptic, dystopian world. What used to be the United States has been turned into 12 districts (well 13) and the capital Panem. It follows the story of Katniss Everdeen and it is emotional and some of the things shocking but there is a bit of romance too so it's not all brutal. After I finished The Hunger Games I re read it. I couldn't get this book out of my head. It haunted my dreams. It's hard to think that it's a childrens/young adult book. And now I'm re reading Catching Fire and it's evoking those same emotions I felt when I read Hunger Games for the first time. I give this series my highest recommendation.

Anyway, I hope you didn't mind my little side rant about this amazing series. I hope you have a fantastic week!

More Engagement Photos Part 2

Hi Everyone. Thanks for all your comments on the photos! I have more to post and then I will post the rest on our Wedding Website. I'm definitely feeling better today though. The worst has passed. But I missed out on 3 full days of work and that sux especially because I hadn't been getting many shifts lately and I really needed them. Oh well because it's coming up to Christmas (ack!) I'll be getting a lot of hours soon. I was meant to unpack Christmas decorations on those work days I missed (Christmas decorations already!). I went to the doctor and I had some type of asthmatic flu. So I was given this prescribed inhaler and it's been making me cough up phlegm (sorry for the disgusting over share) the past few days. But I do feel a whole lot better.

Anyway, here are more photos from the engagement session. The first lot was here. And of course the last post.

I just really like this.

Obviously something was really funny

I thought to add some black and white pictures too. I want to give a big thank you to Laura for taking the time to take the photos, edit them and then put them on a DVD for us. Love you girl!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!