prepared

M and I are excited to be heading down to Sydney tomorrow to meet with his Uncle Ken. 

We love Uncle Ken - he's very fun and silly, is awesome pastor and come November he is going to marry us.

We're excited to have him be such a part of our special day, that we will always be able to have the pastor that married us in our lives and that he is one who means so much to us.

Tomorrow we will start our first session of our pre marriage course 'PREPARE'

+ Uncle Ken is going to fix all that is wrong with Morgan!
As I, of course, am pretty much perfect ....

we're off to a great start huh ;)

hehe

Good thing the Mr knows I'm just joking here! 
A lot of our married friends and family have highly recommended pre marriage courses to us as an excellent tool for heading into marriage with + we're excited to begin.

 I will let you know how it goes.

Also talking about recommending ...
we are really loving this book and our dates and would recommend it to engaged couples for sure. Not only do you get to go on ten fun dates along the way but you will also discuss a lot of things before marriage - dealing with conflict, each others expectations of marriage, household chores, traditions and working out how your differences can actually balance each other out and make you a much stronger couple.
Also in the current Kt + M library is this book, which I'm really enjoying reading at the moment too.
:D

Kt hearts Pobke...

Christine Pobke + Pobke photography that is ;)

Last Saturday M and I were lucky enough to meet up with our very talented wedding photographer Christine.

Christine came all the way from Canberra (mostly) just to meet us + snap our pictures - how lucky are we? This is the first time we had ever meet face to face! Having only ever talked via Skype or email before & there was plenty of excitement both sides. I mean this girl is both fun AND makes you look like a superstar ... and we think we're pretty fun too ;)

The first time we met she squished into the back of our car with all, I repeat ALL of our props - not even sitting but lying across all our stuff camera cradled in front of her totally excited to be there - I knew then and there I was going to LOVE this girl!

Plus she also helped me get changed in a field, saw my undies eep! and kept on taking photos when I would say 'ooh what about this' + 'one more?!'

yup she's pretty amazing and if you live in the ACT or NSW even you should check her out!

Christine found an amazing field in Centennial Park, Sydney for our engagement photoshoot - I loved it. So much so that I think we will have to go back there and picnic one day!

As we met at highschool and are very much high-school sweethearts we added a little bit of  an old school theme to our photoshoot - school books, old suitcases, chalkboards and an amazing old school desk Morgan picked up from his neighbour THAT MORNING!

totally made the shoot!

Only bumma was forgetting the cute apples we took ages buying that morning in the car during our shoot - the ones with the perfect stems. But they did fill up hungry tummies on the way home.

Look guys the twister quilt !

oh and a mention must be made to my amazing makeup artist Melissa of Melli Cosemetics who did my makeup trial earlier that day. 

I would also really really recomment Mel - her makeup is an artform and you can tell she just loves her job and has a real passion for makeup!

We had a lot of fun trying different ideas and effects until we were both happy with the result and knew it would match in with the wedding theme perfectly.

oooh and I got my foundation airbrushed with a gun too - so fun!

I am just so happy I got to use my trial for something fun too!

Here is our sneak peak Christine just put up!

Thank you Christine we love the and are so excited to see the rest!!  ...

(plenty more to come!)

excited.

So I just found out that Anthropology now ships to Australia!! 

eeek!

 of course it's not quite the same as spending an hour or so in the two story store in Seattle with:

a bunch of 8 fellow blogging ladies ...

8 tummies full of PF Changs ...

+ 8 fortunes from our fortune cookies ...

(1 lady with a fortune telling her that she shouldn't really shop ... what the?! ... poor Andi!)

3 babies 

(1 who was quite cutely shopping all by herself hehe )

  +

at least 6 cameras (Andi - I need pictures please :)

but I am happy just the same...

I just wish the postage wasn't so ridiculous!

 I am really kicking myself for not buying myself and M these monogrammed mugs when I visited.

I really did eye them for ages.

But at over $40 to have them posted here looks like they will just have to stay. 

I wonder if anyone stocks anything similiar here in Oz ...

anyone seen anything?

post edit: Just went on the Urban Outfitters webpage and they now ship to Australia too! With much more reasonable shipping prices might I add.
hopefully 'pandora' will be next :)

Back again..

Back from (another) holiday of...
FUN!
a last family holiday before the wedding kinda fun...
of fun with good friends... (who are basically family anyway)...
of meeting long-lost relatives... a grandfathers brother ... a grandfather I never got to meet ... Who I know only through the stories telling of his funny sense of humor and of the joker he was... and getting a sweet glimpse of him through his equally funny brother...
of pouring through an old family bible...
of meeting mum's cousins - I never knew she had so many!
of a brother getting his license first go...
of a funny moment when the RTA announced he wasn't able to take his driving test with possible 'projectiles' in the car...
of sitting in the RTA along with ALL our holiday supplies so he could take said test ...
of water park fun ...
of slides and rides and giggles and screams (fun ones of course) ...
of palm trees and beaches...
of sand and sunshine... (and a little rain too)
of 4wdriving and swimming...
of trivia nights and lawn games...
of early morning walks and chats with the lord ...
of a tonne of special moments.

and of me just wanting to drop in and say hi...
I'm back again...
to stay.
Well for awhile - there is a honey moon in the planning for later this year!
I'm feeling content and so blessed tonight - even though the fun times have been had and now is the time for planning and organizing (some of it stressful) and settling back down and oh some serious job seeking (cause savings only last for so long!)

and ...
of promising to stick around more this time + blog too :)

I'm back!

So I am on this amazing + dear ladies list..
why?
Because I haven't blogged in too long and perhaps, just perhaps maybe she misses me too?!
:)

So here I am. back + blogging... It's been only two weeks since I have returned from my month long trip to the States and yet it seems so much longer. I've wanted to blog to share photos (while wishing I had taken more) but truthfully I have just been a little swamped ...
a fiances birthday, a mothers birthday, a brothers birthday, a wedding (in which M was a groomsmen + quite involved), a school rowing regatta, a brand new car of his with a $1,200 problem (luckily still  covered under warranty), some frustrating banking problems (both with M + my accounts) lots of wedding preparations + appointments, last minute trips to find Paige a dress for the wedding, a suddenly falling down formal dress - thank goodness for Hollywood tape + bra enhanchers is all I can say... and lots + lots of running here and there.

I feel like I don't even know where to begin.

What I can say is I have been super blessed by my trip to the States. + I'm still trying to process it all! Super blessed to have met the most amazing bunch of women ever - who have given me so so much - inspiration, encouragement, beautiful memories and lasting friendships. I totally adore each and everyone one!!

and I feel I have grown so much since my trip too! To say I stepped out of my comfort zone boarding a plane to another country, leaving mine for the first time and meeting up with a bunch of women I had never met in real life before is kinda an under statement.. like I told Leslie I don't think I even thought about it too much - I just did it - crazy I know!  But now I know I am capable and able to do big things, to stretch myself and just go for it. + I have the sweetest bunch of real life girlfriends because of it.

see all this rambling? It's because I just can't seem to sort all thats floating around in my brain out.
So stay tuned for photos and blog posts as I try and sort out the most amazing trip and get back into the swing of normal life...

oh but did I mention we leave tomorrow morning for our last family vacation? + that by Saturday I will be relaxing beside a pool on a tropical island off the coast of Brisbane with my family and our 'extended family members' - hmmm maybe 'normal' is still a little while off yet ;)