27 Dresses......well....5 so far!!!

Sooooo I've been a bridesmaid 5 times in the last.....4 years or so. Since my younger sister tied the knot in September 2008, I've put on a pretty dress, fancy shoes, got my hair and makeup done, carried flowers down the aisle, fixed dresses and makeup, got drinks, given hugs, organised photos, created Hen's nights and weekends as well as bridal showers, played Toilet Paper Bride more times than I care to mention....and generally been a bridesmaid what feels like many, many times.

After I was bridesmaid to 3 very close friends within 5 weeks of each other (actually, before the actual weddings even happened!) I told all my other friends 'No more, sorry.' Being a bridesmaid can be stressful, is generally expensive, and takes a lot of time and energy! Not to mention, when all you see around you is people getting married, you really start to think that you want that, too. And it can mess with your head :-S (but thats another story)

This meant that friends I think may have asked me, couldnt. Which was tough. But some of them found other ways to include me, such as doing a reading at their wedding (which I loved!)

Since it's been a while since I last blogged, I though I would make this one a bit longer, and I figured out how to add photos (although they're in the opposite order I wanted - I'll remember that next time!)....so here are the dresses I've worn as a bridesmaid so far.....



FEBRUARY 2011 - Little Sister's Wedding
So, I have 2 little sisters, and in February this year, the youngest one tied the knot with her Defence Force Man. It was a military wedding, with a guard of honour, men in uniform, and lots of fun! There were 3 bridesmaids, Little Sister L's BFF M, myself, and our Middle Sister J. All our dresses were the same colour and fabric but different styles, to suit each of us. I opted for a more straight across bust than the other girls and it was one of my more favorite BM dresses to wear!


APRIL 2009 - C and D's Wedding
My Girlfriend C, who has her own blog (http://superluminous.wordpress.com/) and inspires me to get back on here all the time, married her perfect match D in April 2009,...... almost 2 years ago now!
Her bridesmaids were her BFF A, myself, and E, who are all really close friends ourselves. We all went shopping together for these dresses and tried to pick something that fitted C's idea for her wedding, but that we were all happy and comfortable with as well.
I wore this dress a few times afterwards, but after a while I knew I wouldnt wear it again, and wanted it to go to a good home. Sooooo......I sold it on ebay. It was such gorgeous material, and such an unusual colour (my Englishman wore a blue and brown tie to match rather than purple or grey). I'll always think of that dress with warm memories.


MARCH 2009 - Wedding of the ex-friend....
This photo is not from the wedding (I can't find the photos and I'm positive I wouldnt have deleted them out of spite!)....but I was maid of honour to a girl who was a good friend, in fact I would have said my best friend at that time. Things changed last year and we're no longer friends (but thats another story!).....but this is the dress I wore for her wedding. It was custom made, boned and fitted. This was the most expensive bridesmaid dress I ever had to pay for! It did fit well, but unfortunately, it just looked like a bridesmaid dress. I wore it in this photo to another wedding 2 or 3 weeks later as I just simply couldnt afford to go and buy any other dresses,.....ex-friend's wedding was the week before C and D's wedding and a month after my friend Miss A......

FEBRUARY 2009 - Miss A's Wedding

This wedding was SO MUCH FUN!!!! Miss A is a long-time friend and I was so excited when she asked me to be a bridesmaid for her. Our dresses were very different to all the other BM dresses I've worn- Miss A had a vision but had bought this gorgeous Thai Silk to make the dresses, which I think limited the options for how our dresses would turn out......... and while the dresses turned out differently to her vision, she was really happy with them (I think!) and they really fitted with the rest of the wedding (which was stunningly over the top - diamantes, feathers and frills everywhere!)
I haven't worn this dress again but I had such a brilliant time in it on the night, and it was so much cheaper than most of my other dresses, that it didnt matter. This photo is me with the other 2 BMs, who were such fun fun girls. We had an awesome day!

SEPTEMBER 2008- Middle sister J's Wedding

I have 2 little sisters, and when the middle sister J got engaged to her man J (I like to call them J Squared...haha), she asked Little Sister L and myself to be bridesmaids, along with her BFF G. She expressed a wish for black BM dresses and one weekend when I was in town, the 3 of us went to look at one she had picked out. L and I tried it on and approved, and J said "great, I'll get G to come in with me one day and if she likes it we'll get them."

Just as we were walking out of the shop, G and her man M walked in - perfect timing! G tried the dress on and we bought them on the spot.

This dress has been my cheapest BM dress so far and the one I've worn the most. I had it hemmed from below the knees to just above, and I've worn it a number of times to the Races and other weddings. It's colour helps - black never goes out of style - and it fits so nicely!

I have one more scheduled set of BM duties in October this year - my Englishman's little sister S has asked me to be a BM for her and I am so honoured. She called me the day she found our dresses and has had mine sent to me! I feel so lucky to be included in the family in such a way as S, my Englishman, their parents and S's man D are such beautiful people.

I've been lucky that none of my dresses has been hideous, they've all been different in colour or shape, and (apart from one) I've been able to avoid the worst of bridezilla behaviours.

I can only hope, when its my turn to pick bridesmaids, that I can do as good a job as my beautiful friends did of being gracious and considerate.

Being a bridesmaid was a little stressful at times but gosh it was fun!

Pasta Sauce

I have discovered that I am quite good at making pasta sauce.

Nothing fancy mind you, just a basic, yummy, tomato-based pasta sauce.

Before I met my Englishman, pasta sauce generally came out of a jar. I think Raguletto was the favoured brand as it was cheap but still yummy. Sometimes, I would almost make the sauce from 'scratch' if I was making Spaghetti bolognaise. But it would still start with a jar.

My Englishman taught me to make pasta sauce from scratch....but at some point I got so good at it that I'm the one who tends to make pasta sauce at our place these days!

So here's a general run down of how I make my sauce. It's pretty rough, I make it up depending on what we have in the fridge but there are a few basics that I always use, which are:

* Fresh tomatoes - for a pasta sauce for 2-3, I use anywhere between 2-4 fresh tomatoes, chopped fairly small. If I dont have any (or only one) I substitute tinned toms (diced, crushed, whatever!)
* Onions - we buy bags of smaller brown onions and I'd use 1 or 2 of these, chopped kind of medium....
* Garlic - I use fresh but I love the jarred minced stuff, so convenient!
* Basil - I like fresh ( used to have a herb garden but it died) ..... I keep a squeezy thing of basil in the fridge just in case....
* Salt and Pepper - of course :-)
* Tomato paste - to help thicken the sauce. I usually throw in some tomato ketchup/sauce as well.

The rest, like I said, depends on what's in the fridge/cupboard! For example, tonight i added:

* 1/2 a capsicum, chopped small
* 3 or 4 button mushrooms, sliced
* a couple of splashes of red wine vinegar
* Some water

Other things I like to add include:
* Red wine
* Oregano (when I remember)
* Other herbs (as above!)
* Stock
*Sweet Chilli sauce
* Bbq sauce

So the method goes something like this....

* Get everything chopped first so you can't get confused!
* Heat a fry pan and add a splash of oil (less than a tablespoon, more than a teaspoon)
* Add the onions and half the garlic
* Saute the onions until they start to soften and brown
* Then add the capsicum (if you're using it) - as it takes longer to cook than the other vegies
* Add the tomatoes, squeeze in some tomato paste and tomato ketchup (and any other sauce you want to add), stir it a lot and keep the heat up for now
* add some basil, salt, pepper, a splash of red wine or red wine vinegar, the rest of the garlic, and maybe some water if its getting a bit thick/chunky...
* Turn the heat down a bit and let it simmer. Taste it. If its too salty, add some water or some tomato sauce. If its too sweet,, add some salt, or vinegar.
* Let it simmer as long as you like! Add a bit more water, or stock, as you go to keep it from getting too thick.
* Cook your pasta. We usually get some Latino Ravioli, the fresh stuff that cooks in 3 minutes. Tonight, because we're trying to save money, we just had good old dried fettucine that takes about 10 minutes to cook.
*When the pasta is all cooked, drain it and give it a rinse with hot water..
* Serving is up to you. My Englishman likes his pasta put in the bowl and the sauce spooned on after.....whereas I like to mix it all together in the saucepan before I serve it!

That's it. I should have taken pictures but I forgot! Anyway........we enjoyed it. The Englishman thought my sauce was a little too sweet (thanks to a bit too much tommy sauce) but I liked it today. I've made better though.

Bon Appetite!

Motherhood is Easy? Opinions opinions opinions

There's been a furore around an article written by Jacinta Tynan last week about Motherhood, and how her experience has been one of ease and happiness:

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/is-motherhood-really-that-hard-20100802-1131y.html (cut and paste to your address bar)

A friend of mine blogged about it and another posted an article another journalist has written in response:

http://francescawriteshere.blogspot.com/2010/08/so-you-think-motherhood-is-easy.html

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/motherhood-a-piece-of-cake-youre-kidding-20100807-11pec.html (again, cut and paste please!)

A related article about model Gisele Bundchen was posted not long before this and also created all kinds of anger and disapointedness in Gisele's apparent ignorant, flippant comments about making breast feeding compulsory to 6 months old....

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisislondon.co.uk%2Fshowbiz%2Farticle-23862796-breastfeeding-for-six-months-should-be-law-says-gisele-bundchen.do&h=0906a

I've just now also watched on tv Jacinta Tynan and Mia Freedman speaking about the article, with Jacinta defending her position and Mia, I guess, trying to clarify the different positions and ideas people seem to have on the issue.

Now, I'm not a mother, I have no children yet, I barely even have pets! But I do have lots of friends who have children, friends who are pregnant, and I have my own mother, aunts, grandmothers and other people I know who have and are experiencing motherhood.

So I wanted to weigh in with my opinion, not so much on motherhood itself but more on how everyone seems to feel about it.

Motherhood IS hard. It has to be! There are sleepless nights, a loss of 'me' time, its more difficult to leave the house to do things, and there are so many more things to do. There is a little person (and subsequent little people often) who depends on you for EVERYTHING, and their only way to communicate this is to cry, scream, or be quiet.

But Motherhood also has lots of perks. There is this little person that you love and that loves you back, unconditionally. They make you laugh, they are amazing to watch growing and learning everyday.

Some women's experience is one that is a lot easier than others. Like Jacinta, they have an easy baby, a minimum of issues with conception and childbirth, no mental health issues (honestly, the number of times she mentioned that annoyed me! You don't have to suffer from Post natal depression to get upset or feel overwhelmed, I would have thought that was normal!), and who knows whether she even breast fed!

Other women really struggle, through no fault of their own. Constant morning sickness throughout pregnancy, difficulties conceiving in the first place, then the need for emergency Caesars, mastitis, colicky babies, ongoing sickness, husbands who have to work away, toddlers......things get hard.

And I think sometimes these women maybe worry for their newly pregnant friends and want to prepare them for this. Because you don't really need to be prepared for the good stuff, but you might need to be prepared for the hard stuff. Forewarned is forearmed, right? These women know there are positives but they aren't as important to warn their friends about.

It makes sense to me that women want to warn their fellow expectant mothers about how bad things could be. But in a way it is a little sad, because I KNOW that every single one of these women would have SO many positive things to say about their choice to have children, and I believe that every one of them wouldn't have it any other way.

So, here is my challenge to the mothers that I know - you don't need to say that motherhood is easy, because you know that isn't really the case. But remember to tell all those women who are pregnant, trying to fall pregnant, or are just waiting for the day when they can, about the good stuff as well as the hard stuff. About the fun stuff as well as the yucky stuff. About the amazing stuff as well as the really tough stuff.

You are all amazing by the way!!!

City 2 Surf EEEEKKKK!!!!

The Kindness of Strangers

I got help from a stranger today.

I had to go to the airport, to take some people there for their flight. There were some boxes that needed to go with them, and the people being 'little people', they couldnt carry them, so I had to do it.

I parked the car as far away from the terminal as I think was possible! Not meaning to of course, a combination of nerves and not knowing the airport, but never mind.

After taking my passengers into the terminal to meet their flying partner, I went back to the car to get the boxes.

The boxes were.......awkward......and sort of heavy, but not too bad. However as it was a loooong walk, a few people saw me struggling........

At first, I was hesitant to take any help....the first lady was walking the opposite direction to me so it was silly to take her help........... But further along a young man asked if I was ok, and where I was walking to, and offered to help. I felt awkward, but the boxes were getting heavy, and he looked capable, and his girlfriend seemed happy enough for him to help!

And I would have felt bad and silly not to accept. So I did.

Oh the kindness of strangers! These people were lovely and I chatted to them as we headed upstairs to the terminal. They walked all the way up to the opposite end of the terminal to where they needed to go and when I thanked them profusely, they smiled a lot and said 'no worries!'

I think the whole experience was a good one for both sides. I got some help (and I struggled with the box I had anyway, which was the heavier one), and the young man got to feel good about helping someone out for no reason except he was there.

I love when people do that. And I like to think I would do the same for others.

I just wanted to share that. It was a nice thing that happened to me today :-)

Spiders - Things my Englishman has taught me #2

In England, spiders can't kill you.

In Australia, spiders are more likely to kill you than not. Or at least make you really sick if they bite you. Or really, really hurt.

AND they're a lot bigger here. And hairier. And you find them in your house, not just in the garden.

My Englishman was in the kitchen cooking this evening when I suddenly heard a yell (we won't call it a scream because, to be fair, it wasn't) and then a voice saying "You barstard!! You little barstard!!" and a little laugh, I'm assuming because he was in shock.

There was a spider in the crockery cupboard!

Now I have no idea what type of spider it was - too small and thin to be a huntsman, not dark enough or short/squat enough for a redback or anything like that, and no white tail.....just a really average looking, brown, thin, long legged spider.

My Englishman says "Well what do I do with it?" I suggest, as its sitting in a small bowl, to get a piece of paper and put that over the top, to try and trap it. NO no, Englishman wants to open the window, then pick up the bowl and throw it out.....I tell him that won't work, and when he goes to pick up the bowl, of course, the spider runs away.

Still in the cupboard mind you.

Next, he tries 'getting' it with his knife. I think he got a couple of legs, and then couldnt get at it.
"Ahhh, itll die now,....right?"

"Um, no, spiders dont die when they lose a few legs. You need to kill it love, you can't just leave it in there."

At this point, my Englishman's answer is to close the door of the cupboard and pretend its not there.
Until he opens the door 5 minutes later and screams - "ARRGGHH! "

The spider is still there, and its moved.

Cupboard door gets closed again.

You'll notice that in all this, all I've done is told him what to do. That's because I'm not a fan of spiders either. I probably would have had a go if I was on my own, I certainly wouldnt have left the spider in the cupboard like that, but I'm tired and cold and not planning on getting in the cupboard for a day or two. So I dont really care.

So my lesson for today? I might need to deal with the spiders myself if I want them gone in the future.

And, Englishmen are not used to spiders.

World Cup Fever

So, the Soccer World Cup starts soon...or has it already started??

Last World Cup (4 or 5 years ago?) I discovered a love of watching soccer (or football as my Englishman calls it- thats a whole other blog though) or at least, watching Australia's Socceroos play soccer in the World Cup. On a whim, when Aus was going well, myself and a few friends decided to get up early and watch the next Aussie game.......how exciting!

We decided to do so at our friend Brooke's house, as her other half was in Germany where the World Cup was being played. Someone picked up Macca's coffees, the rest of us brought chocolate, sugar and loads of enthusiasm and the 4 or 5 of us sat around in Brooke's living room, yelling at the tv and slowly learning the players names and the rules of the game.

By the end of the first game we watched, we had a pretty good understanding and had some favourite players already - mine was number 6, little Timmy Cahill, second favourite being Lucas Neill. When Australia won, our enthusiasm only became more and we planned our next early morning World Cup party with excitement and anticipation.....

The next game we watched (and I've had to check with my englishman to find out this as I cant remember) was the game against Italy.......for those who watched last time, and even those who didn't but watched any news to do with the Socceroos, the game against Italy was nailbiting and had a horrid, unfair-feeling ending. Poor Lucas Neill, penalised for something he didnt do! Horrible Italian players faking injuries and just a general feeling of injustice. Australia were the underdogs, the underdogs should win shouldnt they? And this time we even deserve it! Maybe?......

Either way, getting together with my girly girlfriends who know nothing about soccer and watching those 2 games taught me a lot about the game - not just the rules but the way it is played - the psychology behind it, the strategy and the unfairness of calls the refs can make.

This year, I'm looking forward to having my Englishman around to explain the intricacies of the politics, give me information about the other teams, and spur my passion for my country and watching sport enough to make me get up at 4am to watch Australia games, and even heading into the city in the middle of winter to watch gameswith a whole heap of other crazy football fans.

In return, I spose I'll have to watch a few England matches as well ;-)

I've got my Socceroos scarf and I'm ready to cheer my team on!!! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!