Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Monday, 25 November 2013

to talk about good times..

I was recently asked about the last time I felt truly excited about something.

Instantly thoughts of my overseas travels came to mind. I have been lucky to have been overseas on several occasions and always look forward to the next trip.

I had gone to New Zealand in High School as part of a Netball sports trip but it took some 10 years before I ventured overseas again. I had always thought of travelling overseas but something always stopped me and if truth be known, I was probably just chicken. So, in 2005 when a friend of mine from Canada invited me to her wedding, it was the kick up the butt I needed to make the trip - no excuses now! I took 6 months leave from work, got myself a work visa and off I went!
Katie and I met when she did a Uni Exchange Year in Australia and came to Mt Isa on a teaching practicum and worked in my classroom.
After the wedding I went on to explore Canada on my own for a few weeks before getting some work at a diner in Banff.
Joe Btfsplk's Diner in the main street of Banff.... no longer there apparently :(

Some happy snaps...
Canada is such an amazing country and I loved every minute - except when I had to leave!
That year I also spent a few weeks discovering the UK. As it was my first time overseas and I was travelling solo, I stuck to English speaking countries!.

I didn't have a digital camera back in those days so my digital pics are limited! Loved the UK but got a glimpse as to why they are so miserable all the time....They never see the sun!



Sadly it took some time before I travelled again, I had settled back in Toowoomba, bought a house so money was often tight. It was only that I had enough frequent flyer points from my previous overseas trip that earnt me a free flight to NZ. So, in 2009 I did my first (and last) Contiki tour. This time travelling with some close friends of mine..

2011 was a big travel year for me! I had been working out west, living in teacher accommodation and working a job that had extra financial benefits due to the amount of time I spent away from home. In January I spent about a week in Vanuatu! Such a beautiful beautiful country, and so cheap to get there! Seriously, I think a week in Vanuatu is cheaper than a week at the Gold Coast! Vanuatu has been twice voted the happiest people in the world! As a tourist sometimes it's easy to forget that it's a third world country. The resorts and tourist attractions are so well maintained and the people seriously are SO NICE! My friend who was meant to come with me was sadly caught up in the massive floods that were engulfing so much of QLD at the time and I look back now and think that I was even lucky to make it to the airport and out of the country. Luckily I was also able to find another friend to take her place, as I'm not sure it would be somewhere I would want to travel on my own.
Was SUCH a hard time - Sunset Bungalows (Left) was where we stayed... I think you can see why! On the Right was the Day Spa where I spent the morning being pampered by a gorgeous little local lady who I swore was reading my mind!


The children performed traditional dances for us! They were so cute I wanted to bring one home! On the right is a local man who cooked us a traditional meal.
Later in 2011 I took some long service leave and travelled to the UAE and then onto Europe. A close friend of mine teaching in Abu Dhabi prompted me to venture overseas again. It also gave me an excuse to travel to a country I probably would not have travelled to solo!
So much money in this country it's ridiculous!!! Such beauty!
After a few days there I headed off to England solo for a few days, caught up with a few friends and then on a tour around Italy, Switzerland and France!

Some of the main highlights of the trip was spending my 32nd birthday at Wimbledon! Love tennis and during the rain delay of 3 hours got to see many of my favourite players! Nice was one of my all time favourite spots, possibly due to the cocktails on the private beach with our own personal waiter and the remnants at Pompeii were just crazy! Was determined to drink Champagne in France and do something reckless and out of character - parasailing over the Swiss Alps seemed to be appropriate! We were in Monaco the day Prince Albert of Monaco almost didn't get married to Charlene but saw them driving along the streets on their way to the Casino for the reception.

Now since that time overseas holidays have again come to a halt. This January I had hoped to travel to Vietnam but sadly that will only happen if the house sells but after 3 weeks on the market and not even a sniff of a sale, it's not looking likely!

A definite on the bucket list after Vietnam is the USA! Just a shame it's soooo far away! One day.....

Linking up with Kirsty at My Home Truths this week for I Must Confess... this week's prompt was to talk about time... seems appropriate that I link up given the title of my blog!

http://myhometruths.com/

Monday, 28 October 2013

to confess

This week over at My Home Truths Kirsty has asked us to share some advice or words of wisdom.... I love my Monday link up - don't really have to think!

If you have been reading my whinge fest blog lately you'll know that it's been a bit cray cray around here lately and when things get cray cray in the life of me I turn to some of my closest friends for advice. So given my current state of mind, I am not sure that I the best person to be giving out advice but what I will confess is that...

I am an adviceaholic.....

yep, there I said it!

When I am stuck in a bind, not sure what to do, have a decision to make, have something weighing on my mind I will talk to as many people as I can get to listen about it and get their advice and their perspective. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life, many of who I know I can call/text/facebook/skype at the drop of a hat and that they will be there to answer with wonderful words of wisdom.

Problem is.. (that was pointed out to me during a recent deep and meaningful conversation full of wonderful advice with my bestie) is that sometimes I ask too many people for advice, get too many opinions and then talk myself out of making the decision on my own and then do nothing or confuse myself even more.

Image source
Perhaps this is why??? lol....

What's the best advice someone has given you? Are you an adviceaholic like me? Head over the My Home Truths and make your confession today!



Monday, 1 July 2013

to confess some regrets

Am writing off topic this week for Kirsty's I must confess linky as there has been something playing on my mind for a while that I wanted to write about.....

So I must confess I have some blogging regrets.....

My blog is still quite young having only started at the end of January but I already wish I had done a few things differently.

Blogging was something that has interested me for a while and if you do look back to my first post you'll see that starting the Michelle Bridges 12wbt and my friend starting her own blog was the final shove I needed to get it going. So of course, like I have a tendency to do, I jumped feet first in the deep end and didn't really really think about it.

I wanted it to be a place where I could just write and write and write and write and not really have to think about it too much, I wanted it to be a place where perhaps I could share some of my innermost thoughts and just go "blergh" on the page and if someone read it so be it. I quickly got caught up in the whole blogging world and started following, or stalking as some may say ;-) others, linking up and getting a little absorbed by it all. I started sharing my blog posts on facebook and twitter and telling anyone who would listen that I have a blog now! Some of my nearest and dearest tell me often how much they love reading my blog and how they are learning more about me and how it makes them laugh and they look forward to it and so on - all of which makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside, don't get me wrong!

So what is my problem you may ask...???

My problem is that now I feel like I constantly have to think very carefully about what I write so as to not offend anyone close to me who may take what I write or what I say the wrong way. There are a few things that have happened of late that I have thought - "I'm so going to blog about that and see what other people think!!!!" but then when I sit down to do it I realise that for various reasons I can't. I wish I was one of those people who had the attitude "It's my blog I don't care what other people think!" and write whatever I want but I am not, I am constantly worried about upsetting others and I avoid conflict like the plague, so I just stew and vent on the inside instead.

Sometimes it's a little scary to think that I have put myself 'out there' for everyone and anyone and wonder if I have given too much of myself to my blog...... hmmmmm... I tell people about my blog without really thinking of the repercussions, they now have an insight in to my life forever, it's not like on facebook where you can "unfriend" or "defriend" (never quite sure which one it is) or block someone, once someone starts reading your blog they can have access to that forever, unless of course I decide to cease writing (which is not something I am going to do!)

So perhaps if I could turn back the clock I would make my blog anonymous and not share it with all those in my 'real' world', that way I could write what I like when I like and have no regrets or give it a second thought!

How do you overcome these things on your blog? Did you decide to keep your blog anonymous and why did you decide to do that?

What do you have to confess this week? Head over to My Home Truths to get it off your shoulders!


Tuesday, 30 April 2013

for IBOT! (because I couldn't think of another title!)

So when considering a topic for this weeks IBOT I couldn't go past discussing a little event that happened over the weekend.....

(*insert side note/disclaimer here - if you know me in "real" life and read this and wonder if I am talking about you, then I probably am but it doesn't mean I love you any less!*)

On Saturday I ventured out to the Mummy Tree Markets - now given the title of said markets I should have gathered that 90% of the stalls would be in fact aimed at Mummies, of which I am not! There was some absolutely beautiful things there and I did still manage to spend some money on some gorgeous jewellery and drool over some wallets and the new Tupperware modular mates with pink lids.....anyway I digress....

There I was with my friend (who is a Mummy so I pushed the pram every chance I got and attempted to claim Clayton's Mummy status! lol) and we were wandering around when all over a sudden BAM! a voice from my past is calling my name... I turn to see a girl I worked with some years ago behind me, rocking a baby in her arms.. So we do the obligatory "How are you?" "What are you up to these days?" "Who's this little fella?" etc etc... and then she asked that question that I just dread in these situations....

"So is there anyone special in your life or are you still single?"
Wish I knew this off by heart so I could recite it to her!

It is at this point that I have one of those visions that you see on TV shows like Offspring where I  start going completely nutso, take her baby off her and give it to the nearest person while I crash tackle her to the ground!! (slightly overreacting much??)...
But instead I say "No no, still just me" to which she responds "awwww Zita, what are you doing?" in this really weird "you are so pathetic" tone....
How do I respond to this? What am I doing??? What am I doing???? Like I must be doing something wrong??? What does this even mean!! So I just shrugged....and then she launched into the....
"oh don't give up, you'll meet someone"
"it'll happen when you least expect it"
"I'm sure he's just around the corner"
"one day you'll be making plans and then all of a sudden you'll meet someone and the next thing you know you'll have a ring on your finger"

I mean serioulsy how many of these bloody cliches could she have thrown into a 5 minute conversation! Have I mentioned how much I hate these phrases.... Every time someone says to me in that tone "You'll meet someone one day"....I want to reply with "Sorry I didn't realise you were freakin psychic!" 

The way I figure it there are only 2 things that are certain in life....


So when people say things like "There's no way you will be single forever you are too amazing" or "There's no way someone like you will be single forever" part of me wants to hug them and thank them for being such an amazing friend and seeing the good in me but then the other part just wants to tell them where to go! 

I think the question that I hate the most is...

"Why are you still single?"

Yep people actually ask that like I know the answer.... I usually respond with "Well if I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be single!" but the real answer is.....
hehehehehehe.....
Another one I just *love* is...
"you must be too fussy!"
Like I've got them lining up at the door every day and I am turning them away because they are wearing a green shirt instead of a blue one!!! My usual response to laugh this one of is "I don't think expecting them to be breathing is being too fussy!" 
 
Let's get real here..... there are people in this world who go through their whole lives without meeting the love of their life, it's a fact! There are people who never marry and live alone all their lives. I'm not going to say that is me because I do like to think that there is still time and I try and be positive as much as possible but I am not going to say it isn't going to be me either because despite what anyone says, no one can guarantee I will meet someone...and you know what.... I will be OK!

The sun will still rise tomorrow....

Having a husband and a family is definitely, absolutely, not gonna lie, something that I want and I am not ashamed to admit that I have cried into my wine glass on more than one occasion because I don't yet have it.....but I know it's not necessarily something I need.... being single for as long as I have been has certainly taught me a lot about myself, the main point being that I am a strong independent woman who can take care of herself and do what needs to be done! (most of the time, and if I can't I can pay someone to do it for me or I am lucky enough to have so many wonderful friends married to wonderful men who can do it for me!)

I love these pics!! LOL....

I am proud of who I am and what I have achieved in my life....would I trade it tomorrow for the love of my life....you betcha! But in the meantime I am focused on being the best me I can be!


Because it's Tuesday of course I am linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT



I am always interested in hearing how people met their signifcant other... so if you have one, how did you meet??

Thursday, 18 April 2013

for Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for 2 things....

1. This linky! I love Thankful Thursday with Leigh from Six by the Bay as it forces me to sit and think of the good that is happening in my life behind all the craziness...

2. I am thankful for my dear darling friend Tas! Without going into all the details just know that I don't think I could have gotten through the last week without her! Excuse the dreadful pic, it's all I've got (must amend that!)

  

Check out Leigh from Six by the Bay and find something to be thankful for!

Thankful Thursday