Christmas!

Hey Merry Christmas!!! We had a great day! Spent it with Brad's family and it was lovely and hot! It was a bit strange for me having Christmas in the heat but it was lovely to spend it with family and the food and presents were all fantastic!
We are getting ready now for my parents arrival which will be Sunday night our time. And tonight (Saturday) I'm heading out with a few friends for my Australian hen night. I will take photos and post them up tomorrow if I can. We are also going to be throwing a New Years party in our house so we will hopefully have a good time and good pictures from that too!
So I'll take this chance to say Merry Christmas once agin and Happy New Year to everyone from Brad and I!

Hello. It's been a busy month so far. All the Christmas presents are bought and wrapped, and in the case of the Irish ones, in the post. All the Christmas cards are sent and our tree still has some baubles on it (there are some still out of the cat's reach).
Thanks to everyone who sent us a card and to the people who sent presents! We haven't opened any presents yet so Christmas morning will be all the more exciting.
We've also received some wedding cards, thanks everyone who sent one. But we would like to suggest that people hold off on any wedding gifts until we're back in Ireland. Saves you spending loads on postage to Australia and us posting it back to Ireland in a few weeks.
I went to my work Christmas party last week which was good. We also went and saw Twilight at the movies after a little bit of Christmas shopping.
Got my leprechaun hat (with attached beard) in the mail. Thanks loads Gemma! Gonna take it in to work to show all the gang in the office. I've been doing some long shifts at work with the lead up to Christmas and will be going right up to my 12 hour shift on Christmas Eve. The cat was obviously concerned that I might not have woken up this morning at 2am for work, so she took it upon herself to charge up and down the house doing her 'cat howling' at 1:40am. Just as well I've got the next 2 days off!

Oh Christmas tree

Hey so last week was quite busy for us. I met up with Marlene and Lindsey for dinner (which was great), Scott and Mel hung out with us on Thursday and stayed for fish and chips dinner, and I had a job interview on the Friday. We also went to Alana and Darren's wedding on the Saturday. It was lovely. All black and white theme. The wedding took place outside in the courtyard of a hotel in Bendigo and the reception was indoors at the same hotel. The food was nice and she had a fantastic cupcake wedding cake made by Brad's auntie Anne. I also managed to post off the Christmas cards and presents so I can rest now till next year!!
All this and a week of very early starting for me. Christmas time has brought some nice 3am starts along with it (that's arriving in work at 3am). The wedding was a great laugh and would have been even better if I'd been able to take advantage of the free alcohol. Summer has been in hiding and we've been getting plenty of storms here and also some colds, probably due to the crazy changes in weather every day. Aimee has had her sore throat and sniffy nose all week and now I can feel my throat tingling too, just in time for my days off. Off into the city tomorrow to pick up Aimee's wedding band, which we had specially made.
We also put up the Christmas tree and Tinky took to pruning it right away as well as stealing the bobbles off the branches. 'Twill be the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature will be stirring, except for the cat rolling a christmas bobble across the wooden floorboards.

News, news, news!

Hello all just me today, Brad is still in work. So Happy birthday again to Eadaoin and Leanne. I bet you both had great birthdays. I haven't got much news. The weather here has been terrible all this week thunderstorms and all! Brad and I haven't been out really, its been too wet. I met Marlene for lunch during the week it was great to see her and start to plan my hen night! Of course its only the Australia one as there will be an Irish one too. We also saw Helen (Brad's mam) and John who came to visit us yesterday. We had a nice lunch and did a bit of shopping (Helen bought a Nintendo DS and insisted it had to be pink!).
Okay so let me see what else.... we had dinner with Seamus and Jocelyn Ryan a couple of weeks ago and then the next day called over to their house to see Niamh who is just so funny and cute! We also called up to Narelle (Brad's sister) and Bruce's to see Nicholas for his birthday. So the wedding plans are continuing, we have organised my wedding band which is the hard one to sort out cause of the style of the engagement ring. And Brad has his suit and looks very handsome in it. I'm sure he'll make the perfect groom but then I am biased! Anyway there's no more news. I'm meeting up with Lindsey and Marlene this week so it should be fun. Bye!

Happy Halloween!

We had our Halloween party last night. Because Halloween is still widely unrecognized in Australia, it ended up being more a small get together but was a lot of fun none the less. The house was fully decked out for the event with bats and a carved pumpkin. I dressed as Obi wan from Star Wars clone wars and Aimee was a french Napoleonic officer. We had BBQ sausages and chicken along with salad, lots of nibbly things and a host of spooky Halloween themed songs playing through the night.

So it was a good time had by all anyway. And we had a chainsaw massacre and some very suspicious pies cooked by Mrs. Lovett! We are trying to convince Scott and Mel to have a party next year and we're even giving them our spider chandelier to get them started! We've put a few photos below so take a look!

Halloween countdown!

Hey just me today. I'm just letting you all know we have no news! Well except the fact that we are getting ready for our fancy dress Halloween party we are having on Friday night! It should be fun I hope to put some photos up on the blog the day after and I should be able to say if it was a success or not (I'm praying people turn up!). Other than that there is no news so I'll post something more interesting on Saturday! Bye

Barbeque time!

Hello all. So we haven't been up to much lately which is why we haven't left any messages. We were in the Victoria market in Melbourne city last Saturday which was great for me cause it reminded me of my time here last year. We didn't get much at the market but we did get some nice ham and cheese in one of the delis and Brad bought 6 doughnuts and ate 5 of them! This week we went to see Seamus play in the Celtic club (another old haunt!). It was great as we hadn't seen him play since last year and we met some of his friends and had a good night. I also got some free shoes this week (the benefit of working in a shoe store!). Yesterday Brad got out his BBQ (you can see his photo) and we had a lovely lunch made especially nice by the 27 degrees heat!

Last night we took a trip into the 3rd dimension to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D at the cinemas. It was good and Aimee jumped when things flew at the screen and all the kids in the cinema screamed. Had the day off work today so we did the BBQ lunch again. Was still 30 degrees at 6pm today, so another perfect day for it. Also ordered our Halloween costumes. Hopefully should have those by the end of the week!

New House

Hey it's just me today. Brad is still in work and suffice to say my new job didn't work out so now I'm back to just having one job again. Anyway, I thought I'd let everyone know we moved in last week (on Thursday) and we have started to settle in. We have scrubbed and cleaned and the place looks better and I burnt my sage so the house feels more welcome and on Sunday I baked Ginger cake so it smells better now too!
We don't have much left to unpack or sort out just our garden but that will be done soon. It's feeling a lot more like home now. So much so we've even decided to have a Halloween fancy dress party here! We only have to wait and see if anyone can make it before we start organising the costumes. That's all our news at the moment though. I'll put up another post soon. Oh and Mark and Emer it's not too early to start Christmas shopping if you have to send the presents in November to make sure they get to Ireland in time!! So don't give out!

Hello everyone. Well we have a bit of news this week we are moving on Thursday! So our first night in the new house will be Thursday night, after we've cleaned and scrubbed it thoroughly as the previous tennants left it in a bit of a mess. I am going to burn some sage too cause it's got a miserable feeling to it and i hope that will cleanse it and make it feel more homely. I started my Christmas shopping today too, picking up a few things to send to Ireland! Oh and I start my new job on Tuesday!

Hello all. On Friday we had a little family engagement dinner in Bendigo. Everyone had a great night and the food was great. Was good to catch up with all the family. The picture is of us cutting the delicious chocolate cake that my Auntie Anne made for our engagement.
Going to be a pretty busy week with all the cleaning and moving. Somehow the previous tennants even managed to put marks on the ceilings. (I think they were doing spider pig!) Hopefully we'll have our internet back on again this time next week so we can post our next message from the new place.

How's the serenity?

Hey so today is Fathers day in Australia (so happy fathers day Les) and we were out last night for dinner in Kyneton with Heather, Les, Narelle, Bruce and Nicholas. It was great spending time with Brad's family and hearing all the news. We have news ourselves we got the house we looked at so we are moving to "Serenity Way" off "Nirvana Drive", I'm sure its going to be heavenly!! We don't move just yet though and we will let everyone know what are new address is when we do. Oh and I've got a ticket for Kylie in December and I'm so excited!



Should find out when we can move into the new place this week. Just waiting for the owner to get carpets done. Been a bit under the weather lately with some nasty colds going around the office. Aimee brought home a big stash of giant pills to help me get by as well as lego to keep my mind off the pain.

Dinner Party!

Hi all sorry we haven't been in touch but there hasn't been much to say. We went to view a house last week and we are waiting with bated breath to hear if we have it. I have bought the bridesmaid material now and it's winging its way to Ireland as I write! Brad has been working hard as usual, doing some overtime and I have been looking for a new job and went for an interview with a recruitment agency. We had a great night last Thursday as we had invited Scot and Mel over to our house for dinner and surprise! they came! I cooked enchiladas with rice for dinner and I made brownies for desert which we had with vanilla ice-cream! Mel and I then polished off the bottle of champagne before our guests headed home. It was a success my first dinner party! Brad and I are going to be out with some of his family on Saturday night as it is nearing father's day in Australia and it is also Les' birthday. I'll update if we have more news about the house.

One ring to rule them all!

Hello, so here it is the photo of my engagement ring (or should I say our ring), anyway here it is we picked it up during the week and I've been getting used to wearing it! We haven't been up to much this week just hanging out. We still have no new house but I'll keep you posted!
Raining cats and dogs here for a change. Weather looks to be pretty close to Dublin's at the moment. Couple of new houses coming up that have potential so will hopefully have a new place soon. We went and saw Star Wars: The Clone Wars last night. It was a great movie and good for some laughs. Apart from that it's been lots of Olympics on the TV. Apparently if you're an Aussie swimmer and get a silver medal, there is something wrong with you.

Dum dum de dum

Hey,
So we've set a date! It's all set! Brad and I will be signing all the papers and legally married on January 9th 2009! So those here in Australia keep the date free and everyone in Ireland check out the blog the day before and after and we'll post some photos here!
On another note we have to move out of the house here cause the landlord is selling but we hope to find something soon in the same area! We're doing fine though except Brad is a little under the weather with a cold (the cat keeps jumping everytime he sneezes! it's so funny). That's all the news so far, keep in touch
Aimee

Zorb II: The Zorb strikes back

Kia Ora!! Or hello! How is everyone?! You'll all have to start leaving messages on this! So Brad and I are back from New Zealand as you may know we had to go there to sort out my visa but its all done now and I'm ready to start the job hunting!
We had a great time. Our hotel was lovely and very central and despite the horrible weather (two storms hit Auckland while we were there) we managed to have a great time. We visited Kelly Tarltons and saw the Sharks being fed. We took a fantastic day trip to Waitomo to see the glow worm caves (www.waitomo.com/waitomo-glowworm-caves.aspx) and continued on the same day to Rotorua to do some zorbing! We also went to a geothermal park and saw a Maori cultural show.
After the visa got sorted we also had a go at the Skywalk at the top of the Auckland Sky Tower 192m up! www.skywalk.co.nz/ This was excellent but slightly scary as the wind was very strong from the storms and I did feel like I was going to be blown off the tower! All in all it was a great trip.

NZ was loads of fun and it barely felt like we were out of Australia. I can see why a lot of people refer to it as the 8th State. Zorbing was loads of fun and the Sky Walk was a little scary but really exciting.
The Chicken Cordon Bleu was an absolute credit to the airline.

Wicked Birthday!

It's my Birthday!!! Last night Brad took me to see Wicked! It's the story about the wicked witch of the west from the wizard of Oz. We liked it, is very witty and the music is good. I got a lovely birthday card from Brad's mum Helen (Thanks Helen) and Brad gave me a card and a very snazzy i-pod touch! I have to work out how to use it now! Spoke to my mum and Gem this morning on Skype. They were on to wish me a happy birthday. We are heading out to dinner tonight and its been a nice birthday so far!







I particularly liked the small touches on the show, like the street lights out front of the theatre that were all green and the drink glasses that had green lights built in.
This morning was a dipped theme lunch/late breakfast consisting of potato wedges, pita bread and various flavour dips. This was followed by more pavlova than we could possibly eat. This evening will be some fine quality oriental dining at Silks in the city.

Hey all!
So I have a bit of news for anyone who's keeping up with the blog, Brad and I are going to New Zealand. We're heading on the 28th till the 1st of August so I can sort out my visa (fingers crossed). Anyway we are looking forward to it, it will be a nice holiday and Brad has never been to New Zealand. We are staying in Auckland but we'll make the most of it by doing a few tours outside of the city. We've even booked a 4 star hotel!
I've also got some other news. Brad has gotten tickets to see Wicked! for my birthday. We're going on thursday and I'm so excited! I can't wait to see it! I hear its booked out on Broadway so I hope the Melbourne show will be just as good. I'll post a message after we've seen it!
Love Aimee

Just arrived (sort of)

Hello all!!
So I arrived safe as you may have guessed!! I am doing fine. Getting over my jet-lag! Its hard work though. Brad and I have been getting used to one another again! We went to visit his mum Helen at the weekend (It was her birthday) and we went out with his family for dinner. It was great they make me feel so welcome! And other than that Brad has been letting me "play house" by getting little things to make it feel more like our home and not just his. Still no word on the visa for those who want to know. And I got a new number but I sent it to most people so if you don't have it ask. Anyway thats all for now. We went to see Hancock earlier its good go see it!
Missing you all lots
Aimee

Aimee's Farewell

Hello there, so this is it I'm off yet again! To those I leave here in Ireland I miss you loads already. To everyone I'm going to meet in Melboure (especially my handsome Fiance Brad) I can't wait and I'm nearly there see you soon!
Keep in touch everyone!!

Jet Lag

Arrived back in Melbourne on Friday and still waiting for my body clock to catch up. Once I got the all clear from the customs beagle, I stepped out of the airport to be greeted by the frosty morning air.
Now I'm wide awake at 3am but struggling to stay awake at 4pm. Not bad though when I start work at 3am. Makes me the most alert person in the place!

Engaged!

Ok so its official! Brad and I are engaged! He very nicely asked my dad this morning and my dad very nicely said yes! So its all agreed, the wedding will be next year- 2009- so keep it free!!

Celebratory dinner was great, hopefully will have a repeat back in Aus soon!

Ah France

So we are just back from France. We had a lovely time, the weather was great! A bit hot in Paris which was bustling as always. We visited all the major landmarks, the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and of course Disneyland!!
We strolled around but saw a lot in 4 days before heading to visit my uncle Rich in Montsoreau. It was very quiet there and we spent our time visiting Chateau's in the Loire region. We found it very relaxing after the excitment of Paris and we liked it a lot.
I'm sure we'll make it back again for another visit!

Brad arrives in Dublin

Arrived in sunny Ireland, much warmer than expected. Resisted the urge to mention "how green everything looks". Lovely country side though. Met the McGills for the 1st time in the flesh and they were all great as expected.
Aimee has the Dublin tour all planned out including a trip to the Phoenix park, Guiness warehouse and some of the city. I'll post photos.

~Brad.