Category: Brizzie

Happy Birthday Ma

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The main purpose of our visit this time around was Hubs’ Mum’s 60th birthday. Hubs and I took it upon ourselves to organise the “do” and it was so lovely to be planning such a lovely occasion and being surrounded by family is always wonderful.

We stayed at the family house in Wooloowin which was  vacant at the time, so it was a bit of a “camp out” which was fun! And a bit chilly in the mornings!

We came across my old violin that I had in primary school. (Did you know I played violin for 3 years? I then saw the light and switched to double bass. I never looked back, and I think everyone was grateful!) Hubs decided to pick it up and give it a crack, and I asked if he’d like me to teach him to play Happy Birthday for his Mum. He did as much practice as time permitted (not much) and Chanbe was happy to help him out with a few pointers too.

Saturday, the day of the party rolled around, and there was lots of preparation to be done for the 4 potjies we put on. Okay okay, Hubs put on! I was his Sous-Chef for the day and just did what I was told (within reason…) He was the master of ceremonies though, and did an amazing job keeping everything bubbling away.

He did 4 pots in total; 1 lamb, 1 beef cheek and ox tail, 1 beef brisket and 1 goat. I was rather skeptical about the goat but it was incredibly tasty!

This was the final product: 4 amazingly tasty dishes, each with its own flavours, served over polenta. Everyone raved about the meal and I was very proud of Hubs’ efforts – feeding 30 or so people is not easy!

We then took our places around the fires and kept toasty warm. It was a rather chilly evening, so I was so glad we had these. It also created a wonderful party ambiance. 

Ma made a lovely speech and Hubs said a few words too. It was so special for Ma to have her 4 kids and partners and all of her grandkids together.

Everyone had a lovely afternoon and evening and it certainly kicked off a great holiday for us!

Happy Birthday Ma! And here’s to the next 60! 🙂

Dinner with the girls

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Get a photo. I told myself at least 5 times leading up to tonight’s dinner. Get a photo.

I arrived back at the car. Dammit. I forget to get a photo.

I just had dinner with 2 of my best friends. I’ve known these girls my whole life and they’ve known me most of theirs. They’ve seen me at my best and my worst. They’ve watched me triumph and they’ve seen me struggle. They’ve celebrated my joys, and wept for my heartache.

They have always felt more like sisters to me than cousins. Up until last year they didn’t even know they were identical twins. I was always convinced they were fraternal, because I could not remember a time when I couldn’t tell them apart. Plus even though they were similar, to me they have always been very different people.

But one thing has remained constant. They have always been there for me. We are all living in different cities these days, which makes nights like tonight incredibly rare and special. Just the three of us. Reminiscing, talking about family, our parents, our current challenges and future plans. I’ve never been embarrassed to tell them how much they mean to me, and their ability to ring or text or email at just the right time is uncanny.

Amy and Emma. You are beautiful, talented, generous, loving souls and I miss you heaps. But I know we’ll always be a big part of each other’s lives, and we’ll always have Spaceballs.

The end is nigh

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I can’t believe my Nablopomo is almost at an end! Since my first post was on the 7th of May, my final post will be the 6th of June. That works, right? And, um, that’s Friday. It’s been quite a challenge posting everyday, and not just resorting to photos (too much). I’ve enjoyed the extra writing, and finding things to talk about even when not much is going on. I have a couple of things planned to write about for the next 2 days, but nothing for today really. I just read over that first post and remember the feeling I had when writing it. I felt tired but optimistic that the following month would be a nice, Wifey-focused month. And it definitely has been that. It’s been really lovely and I have had so much time to myself as well as with family and friends which is what I wanted and needed.

My parents have had an amazing time, as usual, with the kids, and I love how familiar Chanbe and Quindy are with them. I do often wonder what it would be like living in the same city as my parents full-time, but I don’t dwell on this. I know the time they have with the kids is so special and that I get just as spoilt when we stay here, so I chose to enjoy what we have, not wish for something that may or may not be “better”.

It’s also put me in a better frame of mind for our return to Mount Isa on Sunday. I just want to get home to Hubs and even though I know things aren’t going to be dramatically different, I have a few strategies to cope a bit better this time around.

2 more posts and 4 sleeps to go 🙂

The reunion

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I’ve just spent 15 minutes scouring my blog for a photo of our lovely friends from Townsville and I couldn’t find a thing! I know I’ve taken lots of photos, intending to blog about them, and the only post I can find that I have mentioned them is this one! Maz and Hubs worked together and we met her and her husband and 2 year old son, Jarrah (now 3, far right) in the first week of Hubs’ internship. Maz was also very pregnant, due about a month after I was. We were immediately drawn to them for so many reasons. Basically, they were just awesome, and shared lots of the same ideas as us. (Does that make us awesome too? Welllll……)
Anyway, they were in a very similar position as us in that they had no family and only a couple of friends in Townsville as they had moved from Perth so we found ourselves spending a lot of time together. Chanbe and Jarrah had a bit of a rocky relationship, with Chanbe asserting a bit too much dominance over his friend, but after a while, that calmed down a bit. And when Quindy and Alyx were born only a month apart, it was lovely to watch them grow together. Maz and I got along like old friends, and Haz and Hubs could spend hours talking about cars, BBQs and stuff bought at garage sales. 
We really did have such a great time with them, and it was hard saying goodbye when we finally left for Mount Isa. They opened their house to us so many times, including for Chanbe’s 3rd birthday party, and when we were homeless for a couple of weeks between moves. We are very lucky to have met them and still keep in regular contact with them.
So when I found out that Maz and the kids were going to be in Brisbane the same time as us, we organised a catch up at Southbank. That’s where the above photo was taken. The 4 of them played so beautifully together, and it made us miss our time together even more! I’m so glad we had the opportunity to catch up, and we hope our paths keep crossing over the years to come.

Continuing with the theme…

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… of late blog posting, here is a photographic run-down of our trip to Brisbane. A month ago. Oops.

Waiting at Mount Isa airport

Fun in the park with Poppy

Cuddles with Nanna

Bottle rockets and flying a kite with Gran and Grumpy

Fly fishing practice with Grumpy

Super fancy High Tea for Nan’s 80th

So many more memories without photos, but always in our hearts. Our next trip to Brisbane is a mere month away, and already I’m excited 🙂

Leaving “home” to come “home”

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Hubs and I left Brisbane and moved to Melbourne in June 2008, just before I started this blog actually. Every place we lived in from then on, I seemed to prefer to Brisbane. Melbourne had amazing coffee and beautiful food, the public transport was incredible, and Hubs and I were newlyweds living in an exciting town, exploring it together. Wangaratta was a nice change of pace and it was where our little Chanbe was born. Mount Beauty was, well absolutely beautiful, and we met some lovely people there.

In the time we lived in Victoria, whenever we visited Brisbane, I always complained about how bad the traffic was getting, and I was generally excited to get back “home” (ie wherever we were living at the time).

I wrestled with so many emotions during my trip to Brisbane in the last fortnight. It brought up feelings in me that I hadn’t felt about the city in a long time. I was homesick for my hometown. I miss my friends who have made so much effort in the last six years to keep in touch and to catch up when I’m in town. And my family. I miss my family so much.

I miss the city I grew up in.

As I was driving to West End on the second day of my trip to meet up with a friend for some yoga (and wine) (together!) (Best. Yoga. Ever!!) I went through the northern suburbs where I attended church and youth group, and later became a youth group leader; I passed friends houses I used to drive to for Melrose nights back in the 90s; I drove the familiar route from Aspley to Kelvin Grove, and reminisced about all I had been through in those streets and suburbs. I drove past my old primary school, high school and uni (all in the same block) and through the city where many a fun night was had with my gal pals.

I had come home. And it hurt that it was only going to be for a short time.

Of course my home is where my Hubs and family are, but I just wish that physical place was Brisbane at the moment. I’ve kind of touched on how I’m finding it a bit tough up here, but it runs much deeper than that. I know it’s early days, and things might turn around, but Hubs and I are wondering if we made the right choice moving out here. Hubs has had a few disappointments at work which has taken away from his enjoyment of the job, and I am really struggling in our very small house with no yard. And there’s really not much to do here with the kids in the afternoons. It’s a question of “do we go to the lake, to the family fun park, or the pool?”

And it’s so hot. So so so hot.

Hubs and I are already talking about where we want to move to next year and the list just keeps growing! So far we have discussed Cairns, Perth, Broome, Melbourne, Ingham, Brisbane, Bundaberg and even South Africa! Hubs and I have come to the realisation that the “place” we move to isn’t going to make us happy, instead it’s our attitude and feelings towards our life that will determine our happiness. We know we have to stop looking outwards at things and places for happiness, and start looking within. Which means regardless of how we feel about being in Mount Isa, we can be happy here too.

It just might take a bit more effort than we thought. Now. It’s Sunday afternoon. We went to the lake this morning, and the pool is closed, so it looks like it’s off to the family fun park!

Making Pierogi

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A few months ago, my lovely cousin asked me for my recipe for pierogi, as she wanted to try her hand at it sometime. I suggested that when I was in town the following month (October), that maybe we could make it together. Actually, I said “LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN” in no uncertain terms. So we did. And it was awesome. And so was the pierogi 🙂

Getting pretty close to how Nanny used to make it! A few more tries should do it 🙂

Busy Brizzie

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Actually, it’s not busy at all. I just like how “busy” rhymes with “Brizzie”. Ummmm…. yeah. Let’s move on.

We arrived in Brisbane yesterday after a very successful, easy flight, thanks to Hubs’ Mum accompanying us after spending a few days with us in Townsville. Chanbe was a superstar and Quindy was delightful, albeit rather squirmy! I had a great night sleep last night, apart from Quinn being wide awake from 4-5am, as I didn’t have to wake up until after 9. Felt amazing! It’s lovely and cool down here, so I got to get under the covers which was so nice.

I really don’t have much planned other than making pierogi with my cousin on Friday, going to another cousin’s engagement party on Saturday evening, and catching up with Hubs’ sister and her girls on Monday afternoon/evening. Oh, and it’s mum’s birthday on Saturday, so it would be nice to do something special then too. There are other things to do, sure, but it’s nice to just laze around a bit and not be rushing around.

I’m feeling very positive at the moment. We have a lot on our plate (nothing new there) but in general, I’m just feeling very optimistic about life, which is giving me energy. It looks like we’ll be heading to Mt Isa next year – Hubs’ hometown! He grew up there and left when he was about 13 years old. We know it will have changed a lot, but we are excited about the new challenge this move will bring. It’s somewhat hard, as we are quite enjoying our lifestyle in Townsville, but this is a different opportunity for us, and we just feel we’d like to give it a go. And after that? As usual, who knows!?

So here I am. Just kicking back. A bit different to a year ago!

Dorothy got it right

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There’s no place like home. We have had such an amazing time in Brisbane; staying with Gran and Grumpy, catching up with family and friends, and spending amazing quality time with people. But it’s time to go home. I miss Hubs (he went home 11 days ago to get back to work) and I miss our little routine we had going on up in Townsville. I need to feel settled again.

But things won’t stay settled for long. Hubs’ final rotation is in Ingham (chicken, love’m) so we will be packing up in the next 2 months, putting our belongings in storage, and moving in to a 2 bedroom unit for the 10 week rotation. And after that? Well, the jury is still out, but we will hopefully find out in the next month or so. 

This has probably been one of the best Brisbane visits I’ve had in years. I really wanted to have one-on-one time with people, as I find when we have lots of people over at once, it’s just too hard to have an in-depth conversation, and I leave feeling exhausted, but not really knowing what anyone is up to. Not this time. I can leave tomorrow, feeling closer to my family and friends than I’ve felt in years.

A few more highlights:

We turned Quinn’s seat around! 

Chanbe visited a fire station!
Chanbe drove Gran’s boat: (in the driveway…)
Even though packing awaits, I can’t wait to get home. The last move was pretty horrendous, and I believe no other move could be any worse than that, so I’m rather unfazed by it all. Plus, we have more of a plan this time around! I have quite a few of my 101 in 1001 to give you updates on, so I’ll be back soon!

Another 5k

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In the lead up to my first 5km run, I also signed up for the Bridge to Brisbane and recruited another one of my wonderfully supportive friends to run it with me. Unfortunately, my pulled hip muscle prevented me from running this event, so we walked it instead. And since we weren’t running, we decided to have a nice relaxing brekky at Restaurant Manx at Portside beforehand. The eggs Benedict I had was so delicious, and the coffee (2 coffees, actually) were Melbourne-standard delicious! A great yummy start to a fantastic walk filled with some always-needed girl time with my friend. It also meant we could chat the whole time instead of me huffing and puffing my way through. I’ve lost a bit of fitness in my recovery, but I know how quickly I can get that back once I start jogging again, so I’m confident I can get back into it once my hip feels better.

Being so far from my close girlfriends is sometimes really hard, and this year I really have had some great quality time with quite a few of them, which always recharges my soul.