Things I am Thankful For...

Original found {here}, also found {here}

• Slowly, but surely getting excited about song writing again! Feeling inspired and excited about ideas and potential collaborations.
• Pinterest! If you don't know what this is then check out my page {here}. Pinterest has seriously helped inspire me this week and I have a new lyric notebook starting to fill up :D
• Hugs that literally physically prevent you from breathing and all the words and feelings conveyed in those few breath-taking moments.
• A taste of heaven whilst at Church last night - AMAZING, beautiful, stunning, tear-bringing, life-bringing, eye-opening, hope-breathing, reality-checking, flaming AWESOME Worship moment! There is nothing better, not one thing, than being in HIS presence! Need to remember that!
• Once again for Mike, who I saw cry (good tears) last night for only the second time. What an amazing evening! So incredibly thankful to be on this journey with you, what an adventure and what a JOY!
• Finding my voice again... thanks to a fantastic new music find, I have been singing all week. And strangely enough, for a singer, that hasn't been very common of me in recent years - ask anyone. Audrey Assad - 'The House You're Building' = AMAZING album! It's hard to pick one song to share with you but here goes...

Thankful For...

• The FACT that HIS Love never fails, never gives up and never runs out on me!
• Morning sunshine after a couple of days of rain
• My Husband who still thinks I'm lovely when I'm so sure I'm not
• Having so much singing to do I'm actually losing my voice (need to get training again!)
• For being woken daily with a hug
• Time to pray whilst walking in the sunshine :) After a couple of weeks of distance and confusion it was great to connect again.
• For someone whose only technically 'employed' 9 hours a week - I am feeling really busy!
• Female friend time playing Lego Star Wars on the Xbox! Yes you read that right lol! Jess - we shall do it again! :D
• We looked after our friends 9month old last night and he/we survived! He didn't even cry - in 3 hours! Thank you God! :D Also turns out he loves the camera. Blog, meet William...

(NB Just because I realise how a post about babies looks like straight after a post about my wedding... don't even go there lol! Not me, we're not at all broody! We just have lots of friends with very cute babies! Absolutely no need to currently 'watch this space' :P)

Wedding Photos!

I finally have photos to share with you!!
Photos of the best day of my life! (so far! :P)
We have a portfolio of 700 photos plus about 4000 raw images taken by our official photographers plus some talented friends and family. I am finally going to share with you a few of Mike and my favourites because as I'm sure you'll agree I can't put them all on here.

So here you go... enjoy!

Busy busy busy................Wedding Planning!!

It's official! When I'm not travelling I am a RUBBISH blogger!
My excuse is that I honestly do not know where time is going at the moment. The last 4 months since I returned from New Zealand seem to have been eaten by some large 'time-eating, money-eating, job hunting' monster! Fortunately this monster also loves tons of fun, laughter, romance, creativity and wedding organising - thank goodness!!

In 25 DAYS Mike and I are getting married!!!!!! Extremely excited as well as remarkably organised and just overall VERY ready to be married!!
'So where are we upto?' I hear you ask....

• Suits purchased (and looking VERY good I may add ;P)
• Dress's almost finished - final fitting this weekend! :D
• Rings - purchased and waiting in their boxes :)
• Tables/seating planned - phew!
• Beautifully colour-coded timing/logistics spreadsheet well underway
• Favours - half made
• Place names - finished!
• Band and PA logistics - well underway
• Fresh cut flowers sourced
• Honeymoon - completely paid for!!! :D
• Hotel - booked ;)
• Car - booked
• Cake - being decorated right now!
• Photos - planned
• Bunting - 250 metres worth made - thanks Leah!
• Make-up and hair practiced
• Jewellery - made
• Thank you gifts - purchased!
• Flat to live in post wedding - final paperwork being processed!
• Marriage Prep - completed
• Glassware, tables, jugs etc - booked!
• Venues - paid for
• Food - planned and paid!
• Order of services - designed and printed!
• Centre pieces - stuff sourced and ready to be made
• Table decs - sorted
• Bridesmaids - styled :)
• Best Man Ushers, Father's of Bride/Groom - suited and booted
• Mother's of Bride/Groom - outfits sorted :)
• Sister's of the Groom - Wedding Certificate Witnesses - Tick!
• Bann's read - Tick!
• Hen Do (photos on here soon) - Done!
• Stag Do - Planned for the 18th June

Plus about a million other small details and personal touches - TICKED OFF OR PLANNED, all with minimal argument or stress! We make a FANTASTIC team! :D

Phew I think we're nearly ready to go! Good thing too as we don't have a free evening or day now for 2 1/2 weeks, then we're moving house!! 

Somehow I think these 25 days are going to disappear at an unbelievable pace! 

Mike - I LOVE YOU! Can't wait to be married to you! :D

Things to be thankful for...

It has been aaages I know, am going to try getting back into the swing of things with being thankful - as usual there is so much to be thankful for...

• A beautiful weekend with family and friends celebrating my little sister Sarah's 18th birthday! A very sunny weekend involving the biggest chinese takeaway you've ever seen for 18 people, an amazingly funny video we all put together for Sarah, Mike experiencing more of my crazy family, wedding talk (can't avoid that these days :P) and lots of fun!

(P.S. My husband-to-be is gorgeous!! :D)

• Spring/summer is most definitely here! We don't really get much of a distinction these days (silly global warming!) and it seems to go straight from freezing winter to blazingly hot summer (well... blazingly hot for England anyway, I know we don't match up to you aussies :P).
• I love summer evenings and blossom and it being warm enough to not wear a jumper. Lovely jubbly!
• Small and large financial blessings - like unexpected free bus journeys, creative contributions to wedding preperations, constantly finding more in bank accounts that you thought would be there! :)
• Finding out my Auntie Rachel is coming all the way from OZ to be at our wedding and represent the Aussie Bunch! Amazing! :)
• The 250 metres of colourful bunting my sister has made for our decorations.
• Potentially huge job opportunities coming my way soon!
• 2 months and 4 days till our marriage begins!!
• Mike being more and more amazing, and supportive and lovely and understanding every day!
• Finally feeling a lot better after 3 weeks of on and off illness and feeling rubbishly low!
• Music and it's power to help me feel emotions I knew were bubbling away in there somewhere!
• My internet stumbling put out to share on my new Pinterest Account :)
• The awesomeness of creation - check out this stunning video...

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Christmas Present Day!!

Ok I know that christmas is old news but yesterday I got to use my Christmas presents! Brooke Fraser Gig Tickets and a day trip to London! As you may well remember at Christmas time I was half way round the world from Mike so that's why it happened yesterday - and that's when the gig was!

It was an AMAZING day and by far the BEST gig I've ever been too. Brooke was already my favourite musical artist ever but she really blew us away yesterday - INCREDIBLE!
We left the venue positively beaming! :D She's playing in Birmingham on the 12th April and London again on the 13th - there's still tickets - go see her!!

Oh and a lovely afternoon was had visiting the Natural History Museum funfunfun! All in all a truely lovely day! Thank you Mike! :D Here are a few piccies...

Something I Made Earlier.....

I've really been enjoying the whole graphic design thing lately, what with wedding invitations, websites etc etc it's a good thing really :)

Here's something I've been making over the last week or so - an Anniversary pressie for Mike - will get it printed in some form or another at some point for our new flat hopefully :)

Hope you like...

365 Days Ago.....

368 days ago....
.... Two months worth of 'getting to know you' conversation, connection finding, a couple of sort of official dates. An amazing day trip together, ending with us finally talking about 'US' and realising that decisions needed to be made.
366 days ago....
.... Was the end of a weekend of decision making for both of us. I had made my decision and had a peace and joy about that decision like I'd never before felt.
365 days ago....
.... We had that conversation. The one where I told Mike that I wasn't going travelling for a year anymore, and he told me that he wanted to be with me even if I was! :)

The year that followed has been amazing, eye-opening, laughter filled, emotional, full of joy, love and honesty. We survived 60 days apart whilst I went travelling and have pretty much seen each other the vast majority of the 305 remaining days!
In just under 3 months time, I get to marry my best friend and have tons more years filled with the same. It's going to be an interesting journey I know and it won't be easy but I have no doubt we can do it. I can't wait now!

God is GOOD, his timing is quite often surprising but always perfect! His LOVE will never fail!

Looking forward to the next 25,550 (or a few more or less) days!

Mike, I Love You - Always.

A little bit of Thankfulness...

Today I'm thankful for...

• Productiveness! WOOOOOOOO! It seems that having an appointment at 8:45 in the morning then getting back home only 1 hour later really sets you up to fill the day with lots and lots of usefullness!
• Several things ticked off on to-do lists
• The NHS - I know the UK may complain a lot about it but GET SOME PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE! We have FREE healthcare and THAT is a blessing! (Not even America has that!!)
• The cute photo on this post today! Amazing! Comes courtesy of www.interfacelift.com - I LOVE THAT WEBSITE! Even better is the fact that Mike and I have been given Salt and Pepper Shakers just like these for our new home :)
• Wedding plans coming together nicely - apparently we're really organised! 
• Hugs, hugs and more hugs!
• Ug boots for use in FREEEEEEEEZING England!
• That I wasn't in Christchurch for the earthquake as the hostel I was in only 3 weeks beforehand is now no more!! 
• That everyone I know in Christchurch is alive and well!
• My band - I love you all - it's a priviledge to make music with you :)
• The UK benefit system. Though flawed, it's allowing me to job-hunt and carry on living in Bath paying rent and bills :)
• Pancake Day!!!!! I'm sure I will be even more thankful for this later on today when my mouth is full of pancake! :D
• Mike - have I mentioned he's amazing!? :P
• That everywhere in Bath is walkable (and when I don't want to walk, my fiance has a car :P shhhhhhh)
• Finding the wedding shoes I wanted online for £9.99!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!
• Honesty, friendships, hope and an exciting future unknown! 

There's just a few to be going on with :)

Things to be Thankful For... Travelling Special :)

 Well, It has been over a week since my return to the UK. My photos are sorted into albums on my computer, my tan is fading, my summer clothes are washed and put away, my bank account is empty, I am well and truly back on British time and my raincoat is getting a workout! On more happy notes I am HOME and back to Mike and marrying him in 4 months!!! (So a bit more excited to be back than your average traveller :P )
I'm sad it's over but my trip was EXACTLY what I always wanted it to be! I have an unbelievable amount of things to be thankful for about my trip. Let me try and share as many of them as possible with you - the big things and the tiny little things.

• I may have gone travelling on my own but I definitely wasn't really alone! God walked every little step with me, he even went before me and showed me the way for a lot of it. I was half a world away from all the people I love but I could never be too far away for him to be there. Thank you God for being my comfort and guide in new and strange places, my home away from home, my strength, my joy and my story wherever I went! Thank you for sharing this great experience with me, for enjoying my enjoyment and showing me more of your beautiful creation. For hearing my prayers spoken in times of laughter and times of tears, for answering those prayers and for taking me a little bit further on my journey.

• I had very high expectations of New Zealand, and it completely blew them out the water and was even better that I ever imagined! New Zealand is by far the most STUNNING, friendly, diverse, clean, safe, welcoming country I have ever been too and I think you should all go there (though not at once cause you'll ruin it lol!)!

• The trip went off without one technical hitch! I didn't lose my passport, or my money, or my phone, or have anything stolen, or miss any transport, or get lost, or run out of money, or break anything........ or fall in a volcano, off a glacier, into hot mud, or over in an earthquake! None of my flights were delayed and I had no major turbulance. I didn't get too sunburnt, or sick, or devastatingly homesick (I was very homesick at times but it didn't ruin anything). The worst I got were bad blisters, a scraped knee, jet-lag, a little bit of sunburn and two colds! All in all God kept me safe and I am very thankful!

• I lost track of the amount of blessings, answers to prayer and miraculous circumstances I had. Tons of circumstances that just shouldn't have happened so easily. Miraculous early check-ins allowed, aisle seats next to empty seats on planes, money going further than it should have, loads of small-world moments, unexpected free meals and drinks, out of the blue 'deep and meaningfuls', immaculate weather in places where it always rains, countless 4-bed dorms for the price of 8-bed dorms or lower, whale watching of a standard that even the guides were stunned. And SO many more! Not to mention the miraculous recovery of a guy on our bus who by all means should be dead but all he's lost is the memory of 3 days! (For the full story read here!) Wow!

•  I have now... seen active volcanos (even climbed one!!), walked on a glacier, been whale watching, gone travelling, visited New Zealand, visited Australia, had a Wagga Christmas and been in Sydney for New Years Eve. That's 8 things off my Life To-Do List - not bad!!

• The wonders of the internet and Skype in particular! Being away from Mike for 2 months without such technology would have been a lot harder (and it was hard enough as it was!). Through the wonder that is Skype we were able to have regular face to face conversations so clear it was like we were in the same room! In fact it was so easy to talk this way (we had no idea how we'd find it before I left) we often accidentally filled the whole time available with banter rather than talking about all the things I'd been doing! lol! :) Even more of a blessing was the fact that in 2 months worth of skype dates there was only one with real technical difficulties such as insanely slow internet! Miracle!

• Spending time over Christmas with lovely Family who went above and beyond to make me feel at home. Their generosity blew me away and getting to know them all a lot better and sharing their lives and homes for a while was absolutely lovely and a huge blessing! Hope to see you all again soon :)

• That through my powers of organisation and through some very helpful advice from a friend over 18 months ago (thanks Tom!), I easily avoided having to stay in any scabby hostels! Not one! Am very thankful for YHA hostels and lovely little independents, the fact that I bought YHA membership 5 months ago for only £10 and the fact that the membership and bulk-bed vouchers got me $25 - 4 bed dorm rooms in some hostels where the price should have been $35 for 8 bed rooms! Saved me a fortune! Plus YHA hostels are lovely, clean, friendly, have amazing kitchens, are organised and extremely eco-conscious and are full of everyone from young families to pensioners, all whilst still each having their own personal character! Before I started this trip I had no idea how hostels worked and had only heard the horror stories. I am so thankful that in 2 months I have no horror stories to tell you, only lots of good advice to share and lots of lovely memories. :)

• I'm so thankful for all the photography opportunities and fun I had taking them, some of them even came out quite well (maybe there is a little bit more of my Dad's talents rubbed off on me than I thought). But honestly, God provided the scenery and the camera did the hard work, I just pointed it in the right direction! For my beautiful little Camera - you are amazing! Thank you for taking my 3 1/2 THOUSAND holiday photos so beautifully and without any fuss - you did a great job! Thank you for having a stunning Macro setting and anti-shake technology, for being so small and for eating your way through batteries surprisingly slowly for such a lot of use (Box of 20 batteries lasted the whole 9 weeks - impressive!)! Oh little camera I couldn't have done it without you! I shall be giving you a break for a while now, you deserve a holiday... at least until the next good sunset anyway :P

• For my Michael! (If you don't like soppy love stuff then you may want to skip this point or get a sick bag :P ) He waited for me, supported me, encouraged me, got up insanely early countless times to Skype me when he HATE'S mornings,  bought me surprise phone credit, text me back in the middle of the night and loved me just as much over the 11680 miles space between us as he does standing right next to me! I so thankful for him in all his wonderfulness! I am even thankful for our time apart, for how well we pulled it off, for what a blessed time it was for both of us, and even though I didn't think it possible I Love him more now than before I left :)

• That massive, heavy objects like Boeing 747's can make it off the ground and fly insanely high and insanely fast all the way to the other side of the world in just one day - Amazing! I am also thankful for in-flight entertainment. A 28 hour flight home, not being able to sleep, would have been a lot more terrible if not for the 6 movies, numerous tv shows and music I was entertained with! I am even thankful for airplane meals - mad I know! On long haul flights they're really not that bad, even quite nice. And they give you a lot of food (5 meals on my flight home!).

• I ate A LOT of holiday ice-cream and still managed to get back to England a little skinnier than when I left lol! It must have been all that hiking :P

• I'm thankful for all the time I spent watching sunsets and sunrises, hunting for seashells, walking along beaches and getting my feet wet, reading books, exploring places and towns with no hurry to be anywhere at any particular time, meeting new people. For lots of lazy afternoons in the sun - ah who am I kidding - lazy days, small world moments, the fact that 'one scoop' in New Zealand really means an ice-cream the size of 3 scoops, actually enjoying reading my bible, individual reading lights in hostels, the feeling of bare feet on grass, canned meals that actually taste quite good, free kayaking, free BBQ's, insanely beautiful hostel locations, 'free food' shelves in hostel kitchens, the lovely sound of flip flops! And so many more little things I can't remember them all!

• Hostel book exchanges - brilliant idea! This meant that 14 of the 15 books I read on holiday were free and more than half of them were actually quite good! I even read 'The Hobbit' half way round New Zealand :P

• For having a great sense of direction, a photographic memory and good map reading skills! Without even using a map the majority of the time I managed to explore cities and never once get lost or even worry about it!

• Last, but definitely not least, I am thankful for how things are now, for how I feel now I'm home, for what I learnt whilst away, for things I improved at, for problems I overcame, for passions re-ignited, for new passions discovered, for the break I had, for feeling more relaxed and more motivated all at the same time, for knowing more about myself and actually quite liking who that person is, for feeling more prepared for what is to come both known and unknown, and for standing firmer than ever before in the knowledge that EVERY LITTLE THING is in HIS HANDS and life is going to be brilliant!