April’s Reasons to be Grateful

April has just been jam packed with great times! It is the only month of the year that is chocked with 4 Aussie Stat holidays, which made for 3 short work weeks! Here are the things that made us two happy campers this month.

Grateful for my hilariously funny April Fool, who can be so gullible sometimes. He makes me laugh...he even spoiled me with chocolate chip cookies even though I totally faked him out.

Grateful for the Open Air Cinema! Snuggling up to a good flick with some popcorn, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and a side of fresh air...aaaah! We saw The Tourist on a beautiful autumn evening. Nothing like watching Angelina Jolie’s romantic encounter unfold with Johnny Depp into a whirlwind of intrigue and danger across the beautiful country that is Italy!

 

 Grateful that fireflies really do exist. I know because I saw them (Finally!!) flashing in front of our eyes at the outdoor movies.

Grateful for my sweet ride, that took me to The Script concert. She`s a beaut!

Grateful for the opportunity to travel and discover another beautiful country. We spent five fabulous days in New Zealand over Easter and it rocked!! (Sometimes I’m so funny...there were a lot of big rocks there haha)

Grateful for my sweet sister Sabi
My awesome Pop and my amazing Gramps
who are all born in April
and celebrated another trip
around the sun this month!

Grateful to have family connections in Brisbane! Dave’s cousin Chantelle, her husband Ivan and their three kiddos moved back to Brissy, from Halifax, this month! We’ve taken full advantage of having family in town with a Friday night out for pizza and ice cream and a Sunday picnic at Roma St Parklands. 

Grateful for another bold dip in the cold water!

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the gardeners who make our souls blossom. I'm thankful for all of my brilliant friends who come to check out my new blog posts from time to time! You’re the best!

xo Tegs

For the love of all things Kiwi

Hi Friends!

I can barely contain my excitement for Easter holidays, which will start in only 3 more days!!

This week Dave and I are jet setting to New Zealand in search of adventure. Another new country to add to our incredible journey and I’ve already packed my bag...yes, that is not a typo!! Just one single bag, carry-on size (however I have a hard time believing it will pass as carry on size, but we shall see on Friday). We are flying into Wellington which is on the southern tip of the North Island, and staying at the ritzy Mercure Hotel. Apparently it’s right in the trendy part of the city as I’ve been asking my friend Gretch, whom I work with, all about her hometown for days now. We will be right near Cuba St which is the heart of the city and the hub of all things fabulous like delish cafes, coffee shops and a short walk to New Zealand’s national Te Papa Museum! Can’t wait to take in all the culture that is Kiwi! Since we are now into Autumn, the temps have dropped and there has even been some light snowfalls there recently. I never thought I would ever say these words, but Dave and I are actually looking forward to a season change! If that means snow, we’ll take what we can get! (I know all of my Canadian friends and family are shivering at the thought!)

We will then hop the Ferry to the South Island and pick up our car on the other side, in Picton. From there it’s just me, my love, and the open road ahead. We’ve folded a few pages in the old Lonely Planet Guide, but we are simply looking forward to seeing where each day takes us between Picton and our departure destination, Christchurch.

I've been dabbling more and more with photography lately so I am thinking I would like to use this blog space to post some recent work. I don’t have much yet, but I will use our NZ expedition as a chance to capture the culture and beauty of another new country. I will be sure to post all about it when we get back, so check back here for more soon!

C'mon sweet thang, the moon is high and the night is young...

Wow, so its no surprise that I love me my Keith Urban, and last night he did not disappoint! The show was extra amazing because Brissy is Keith’s hometown, so he played for all of his family and friends to close out the Australian tour. This type of gig always has the added bonuses of hometown stories  and a bit of extra showing off. He is a brilliant musician, where do i sign up to learn to play the guitar like that??

On our way to the concert!!

March’s Reasons to be Grateful

March has flown by; I really can’t believe it’s over already! I’m sure that I’m starting to sound like a broken record by now, but I think that might be my tag line for the year because I’ve said that at the end of each month of 2011!

Grateful for my handsome, charming, funny, kind, thoughtful and amazing fiancé who was born 25 years ago, this month. I am forever thankful for all of the sunshine he brings into my life every single day.

Grateful for the wide open spaces that make us feel like we are living in the clouds!

Grateful for family...who we wish we could chat with more on Skype!!

And for three gorgeous nieces...Cody, Sauyer & Quinn ...who are growing up to be beautiful little girls.  (Doesn't the look on Quinn's face say it all?!? She's ready for some beach time with Aunty & Uncle in Oz!!)

Grateful for Adele and her music, I could listen to her for hours on end.

 

Grateful for totally random acts of fireworks! We don't know what the occasion was but it was a brilliant display, from a boat on the river just outside of our living room window!

Grateful for puddle jumping...obviously you have to be good at it when your entire city is prone to going under water! Grateful for our health and the ability to exercise, and for discovering Bikram yoga...whoa nelly, it packs the heat!!

   
Grateful for my job which continually challenges me to be better at what I do, and thankful for the opportunity to learn new things every day.

Grateful for my fun friends who I get to see at work daily, but also on the weekends if I’m lucky!

 Grateful for the days that I can meet my love at home on my lunch break and jump into the pool for a swim!

Happiness is sand between our toes and weekends spent laying on the beach!

We already have tons of fabulous plans in store for April, plenty of abundance to dance for at our place!! 

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Love to all,

Tegs xoxox

Fishing for Some Big Birthday Adventure!

This past weekend Dave turned the big 25 so Friday night we celebrated at Casablanca on Caxton St. with dinner and drinks and then headed back home to delve into the delish homemade Rolo Cake I whipped up for the birthday boy!! (ps - did you know that skor bar does not exist here nor does cool whip?? two of my main ingredients for this cake. They looked at me like i was insane...little do they know they are missing out BIG time!) Since a quarter of a century is such a momentous occasion, we intended to whoop it up with a weekend on the Gold Coast! I had major plans in place to rent a car, drive down to Surfer’s Paradise, shop around for a board, surf all day Saturday and then stay the night where we were to catch our deep sea fishing charter the following morning. However, Mother Nature took her course and... wait for the shocking surprise...the forecast called for heavy rains!! Gotta love tropical Queensland. So what’s plan B when it’s showering outside?? 

Puddle Jumping of course!!

 

 

 

 

Once we got good and soaked we curled up inside to a movie night with left over birthday cake and ordered in!!

Surprisingly enough, our fishing charter was still on for Sunday so we did still get one day on the coast.

Now, before we got on the charter I was forewarned by several people (including my mom...note to self: always listen to your mother!!!) to make sure I take some seasickness tablets and I thought ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been on a boat SO many times but heck why not, I should probably take some’. I figured we’d just pick up some pills at the wharf once we arrived, but on the way there we got stuck in a haze of traffic fury on the M1 and since we were now almost running late we quickly found our way to the boat, not stopping once to think about the tablets. The cruise out to the middle of the ocean was fun and we were stoked to go Deep Sea Fishing...I’m thinking ‘oh yeah, you go girl...out there fishing with the big guys!!' A good ol Aussie BBQ was served as we cruised out of the wharf...snags and skewers...cause if you are going to be sea sick, heck it might as well be on a stomach full of greasy BBQ food. Thankfully I wasn’t really feeling the lunch menu, so I opted out. I started to feel a little queasy once we’d been through the rough water, with the charming smells of salt water and fishiness starting to brew, but I wasn’t doing too badly. At least that was until we stopped the boat to cast the lines and it hit me like a sac of bricks as I bee-lined it for the side of the boat where no one was standing (or looking...of course I checked first!!!) and up it came. Now I realize that this is a totally disgusting topic to blog about, but for those who know me really well...I don’t ever puke, like ever!! So this is a big deal here...I was flat out for most of the afternoon. But I like to think that my contribution to the water might have intrigued the fish below because right after, one guy caught the only fish of the day!! Oh yeah!! Now before you all go on thinking I’m a total wuss, may I tell you over half of the people on the boat were following suit in short order...young guys, old guys, the captain...haha ok maybe not him, but he did say the trip was borderline a no-go with the knots (is that the right term?? He used some sailing lingo...I went with it). The deck hand dude did give me a seasickness pill and I was able to keep it down long enough to feel the benefits so the ride home was at least enjoyable...notice the nice pictures. Dave asked me ‘Tegs are you feeling well enough to go hold onto that rail over there? I’ll just take one, put your hand on the rod!’ haha so here it is...I gave it my best fake ‘I heart fishing’ smile. 

All in all, I chalk this one up to some real life experience, it sure is funny now that I think about it, and I had one heck of a sweet fishing mate that took excellent care of his sick fiancé while still reelin the rod...pretty much a superstar!!

Moral of the story peeps...if you ever decide to roll with the big guys on a fishing trip...don’t listen to the people who say “oh you might want to pop a sea sickness tablet when you go’ listen to me when I say ‘dude, if you don’t want to cause your own death via a long, slow, painful torture, you MUST take 2 tablets 1 hour prior to stepping foot on a boat, bring about 4 more in your pocket and oh you might want to skip lunch before you go.” Just sayin!

Now that you know all the juicy details of our fishing trip I would like to add that Dave had a great time, next time he might want to pick a different partner though!! All the cake has been eaten and birthday week is over in this house for another year

Happy 25^th Davey Doo!!

Love you babe.

Tegs xoxo

This one's for the Ladies!

Im excited about March, because March is the SECOND best month of the whole year (next to November, obviously) because it’s Dave’s BIRTHDAY! My crazy plans are already underway for a fabulous weekend getaway...and since I’m convinced he doesn’t read these blogs...i can fill you in on the deets in my next post! Well actually the celebrations have started a wee bit early this year as Dave’s bud Ryan is living on our futon for the next two weeks just up until St. Patrick’s Day. So since he wont be here for the actual bday, the guys went golfing this weekend, while I ran a 5k race with a team of six ladies from work, sponsored by Klohn!

The weekend was super busy, but it felt fantastic to finish the race around the 30 min mark in the International Women’s Day Fun Run! I know...I could hardly believe it myself, but I ran the entire way...I just kept thinking “dont lose the girls, don’t lose the girls!” I should mention that there were about 8000 other ladies out there amongst a sea of pink and Gretch & Michelle (my teammates) are superstar runners who made the course look like a breezy Sunday stroll. All worth it for a fantastic cause, and seeing as we were finished by about 7:30am, we all celebrated with a yummy brekkie at Era Cafe after!

I'm always keen on rallying the troops when it comes to mobilizing change for women around the world, I mean let’s face it...in my micro-world it’s all about the ladies! Going strong with a 5:1 ratio growing up in my household and a 2:1 ratio in Dave’s (that’s right my fiancé KNOWS women and will not be escaping them anytime soon!)

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change in society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased number of impressive female role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, and women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics...HELLO...lets not forget engineering!! I read yesterday in the news (Australian) that of the top 200 companies in this country, only 11% of women hold managerial roles and only 2% hold CEO roles!! However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, women can work and have a family, women have real choices.  Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. 

What are you doing to make a difference? Think globally and act locally!! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding. Hope all my ladies out there are going wonderful!

xo

February’s Reasons To Be Grateful!

Nowhere in the midst of our whirlwind holiday with my parents did I stop to post a single blog...which resulted in no new postings for the entire month of Feb. That pretty much sums up how busy we kept ourselves during their month long stay. But in keeping with my goal to post one blog per month on “Reason’s to be Grateful” I’m posting it now...hopefully better late than never at all!

Grateful for a weekend rendezvous in Sydney.

Grateful for an evening to celebrate our engagement at the stunning Sydney Opera House.

 

 Grateful for dancing with my love, even it's in 

the middle of an old theater at Circular Quay.

 

Grateful for my beautiful muz.

 

Grateful for talented friends whose Olympic dreams bring them to Australia to train!

 

Grateful for time to frolic on Bondi beach.

 

 

Grateful for getting outside and enjoying nature in the New South Wales Hinterlands. 

 

 

Grateful for a family night out at Broadway's classic show, Wicked.

Grateful for a beautiful visit with my parents in Australia!

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it. With that, I look forward to the blessings that March brings!

Tegs xo