Things to look forward to

Lately I have been working overtime to the extreme. I wouldn't mind it so much if I had a job where I could sit down, but walking around serving people for 7 hours a day, 4 or 5 days in a row really wears you out. The only thing keeping me going is is the thought of my fast approaching holidays:

In 7 days time I will be going out to Cowra, which is about 4 hours west of Sydney. 

Our relatives have a farm out there and every July the town hosts the Cowra Picnic Races 

(basically a huge country 'day at the races'). I absolutely love spending time out there 

and cannot wait to get all dressed up and bet on the horses. 

Straight after Cowra in 12 days time I will be heading down to the snow with my 

family and Will. Where we will also catch up with Soph and George. Seeing as I didn't get to

 go skiing last year, I am so anxious and excited!!! Thredbo is my favourite resort 

to ski at, and I have so many great memories there. 

And of course, in 39 days I will start my big adventure to India. Which unfortunately

 still seems like a million years away :(

A night by the fire

We had Soph, George and the rest of the gang over for a lovely homemade dinner on Friday night. We sat around the fire, drinking wine (and lemoncello) and soaking up Soph and George's presence while we have time with them. It was such a fun night, I love spending time with family and close friends. 

A lot of these photos were also taken by Soph and Ed. 

Oh how the pictures have changed

I feel like lately I haven't really been blogging about what my blog is about (errr hope that made sense). What I'm trying to say is, I need to bring my posts back to the idea of a picture speaks a thousand words. So today I was looking at some old family photos and was thinking just how much photos have changed. Obviously the quality and what we can do with them is amazing nowadays, but I really like the simplicity and looks of 'old' photos. They all just look so classy and professional, like they are from a postcard. Once again, I don't think that made sense, but I don't quite know how to describe what I'm on about. So of course, I'll do what I do best and show you! These are some of my favourite photos I dug out. 

My beautiful grandma 

 Mum and an old friend

 My grandpa and grandma on their honeymoon

 Mum and her brother

 Grandma

 Dad and his brother

 Grandma and her sister (I find this photo is such a stereotype of the 50's)

Mum on her last day of school

A new home

So I thought some of you might be interested to know where I will be living in India. You may have already read that I will be living in Udaipur, which is in the state of Rajasthan.
Here are a couple of photos, of the beautiful city:

via

via

This is the actual house I will be living in

This is the view from the roof

The bedrooms (nothing special)

One of the classrooms I may be teaching in

And a beautiful local hotel where we can spend our weekends relaxing by the pool. 

It's the little things

This photo was obviously not taken this morning. Although it may surprise you, I do not wake up looking like that. 

This morning I was woken up by my 21 year old cousin Matt, smashing down my door and leaping from across the room to land on top of me. I was so dazed, confused and scared - I didn't know what was going on! Anyway he was in the area and decided to stop by for a catch up and to cook me breakfast (how sweet, I know). And it made me think how the littlest things can make you happy and help you start your day. It was such a lovely surprise and put me in the best mood. Here are a few other 'little things' making me happy at the moment:

• Going for coffee with a good friend this morning before he leaves for Europe tomorrow.
• Finally getting a Saturday off work so I can go watch Will play footy.
• Finally getting to go watch a Super 15 (a rugby union competition played between Australian, South African and New Zealand teams) match, as I haven't seen ANY all season! 
• Having my last shift at the restaurant last night (so I now have all my nights free before I leave for India)
• The Sydney weather - the sun is finally out today. And it couldn't have arrived at a better time.

What's making you happy at the moment?

Baby it's cold outside

We have been experiencing shocking weather over the past week in Sydney. Every day it has been cold, rainy and windy and I'm finding it oh so depressing! So to cheer myself up I have been indulging in my favourite breakfast - pancakes (although I make mine more like crepes)!

Will and I took a trip down to Manly for dinner. We I decided to take some photos down by the beach, only for them to be completely ruined by the icy cold wind. Which doesn't help when you're trying to get your boyfriend to smile but he just keeps swearing he's so annoyed and cold. Needless to say, the photos weren't crash hot, but we did get a few laughs out of it.

So anyway, I've come to realise the only thing to do while waiting for the bad weather to bugger off, is drink lots of hot chocolates and snuggle!

Welcome home

I'm so excited, because on Sunday my good family friend Sophie (from The Littlest Things) came home to Australia! And yesterday her family had a big BBQ to welcome her home and celebrate her birthday. It's so nice to have her back and I can't wait to spent time with her. You always appreciate the time you have with friends more, when they live overseas and you don't see them often. 

circa 1994

Will's Birthday

On Thursday it was Will's 21st! We started off by having breakfast at the cafe where I work (and they were so sweet they brought him out a little cake with a candle!) Then I took him on a surprise picnic down at Bobbin Head, which was lovely - but very cold! We had dinner with his family and a couple of friends down at Manly and then headed back to his place for a few drinks (and cigars for the boys). I can't believe he is 21 - I'm so proud of him.