Okay - so I'm a little excited - but it's been such a long time coming - I've finished my University degree!!!!!! Yesterday I handed in my final papers for all my subjects, my 'Novel Ideas' creative writing final submission was due yesterday, handed it in. My manuscript for my Production Workshop wasn't due until today (Friday) but I finished editing it on Wed night and handed it in yesterday too which meant that subject was done and then I only had my 1200 word Communication essay to finish (oh - and start!). I spent from 10am - 6pm at Uni yesterday, I had a 1hr final lecture in the middle and had a bit of a chat to a few people but most of that time was writing my essay which I started, finished and handed in - it wasn't due until next Friday (November 3rd) but I really wanted to get it all done yesterday and I did - whooohoooo!!
Sending that final paper down the submission box was a big moment for me - for many reasons. Firstly I'd finally achieved what I set out to do 14 years ago (1992) when I enrolled in my first degree. Admittedly my major has morphed a lot since then, and being an 18yo straight out of boarding school wasn't very condusive to personal academic application! Then I enrolled in 1994, part time as I was working full time - I did 2 semesters but the focus wasn't really there so... adios amigos.
Then, after returning to Australia from the USA in 2002 I decided it was time to give it all another go. I enrolled and started first semester 2003 in the Bachelor of Computer Based Art & Design, at the end of '03 I fell preg with Hayden and then took semester 1 2004 off to 'be' preg. He was born in May '04 and I returned to semester 2 '04 when he was 7 weeks old. From then on I have completed every semester, and even doing one summer semester. My major changed a few times, but I settled on a major in communication with a minor in International Relations & Politics. I have taken a full time course load the whole way though - managing mostly 3 subjects per semester but in sem. 1 this year I took 4 subjects, that was a struggle!
So now it's done - I've come out with an average GPA of just over 6 - the highest possible score is a 7 and that would mean perfect 'high disctinctions' for the whole degree - so, I'm pretty proud of myself. In the time that I've been completing this I've also been running my own business in Graphic Design, I've raised an infant to a toddler to a 2.5yo and I've project managed a major home renovation. Yep - it's been a tough slog but I GOT THERE!!!!!
So - now what????? I'm going to go back and do honours next year (I think I've already mentioned that in a previous post) and will also be teaching subjects in media.
Anyway - that's my little self-indulgent 'look at me' post - our graduation ceremony isn't until APRIL - which is highly ridiculous so there won't be any pix of me in my academic regalia until then!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
We'll all sleep well tonight!
Wow - what a weekend - and it isn't even over yet.
Yesterday we had another open house, no buyers through though :-(
After Hayden's sleep we went up to the Buddina School 'Big Day Out' which was basically their school fete/fair. The first thing Hayden did was have his face painted...
(do you see a trend emerging?!!)
Then it was time for some rides, we did the giant slide - 4 times (with Daddy of course)
And also the UFO ride (twice)
he also rode on a truck that was painted up like a fire engine, had a great play in the ball pit and patted the animals in Old McDonald's Farm (although had to overcome being bitten by a chicken when he stuck his hand thru the fence into it's mouth!!) We also saw lots of little friend there, both his 'Emily' friends, who he had a wonderful time running races with and then falling on the ground in fits of laughter - only to have either Emily fall down with him and giggle too, such the comedian!
We left the fair a bit after 6pm just as a thunder storm was rolling in. We had dinner at Mum and Dad's and Hayden had special chicken drumsticks, mmmmm.
Then onto today - the weather was cloudy and windy so Erin wasn't going to be jumping, we decided to go out for breakfast to Chancellors Tavern, it has a great play area for kids and Hayden can wander around and not get into any (ahem - much) harm, he's mezmerised by the big 'claw' toys where you have to manouver the claw to grab a toy or some chocolate bars etc, another family was playing and won some chocolate and Hayden did the quick grab and run and made off with a handful of chocolates - OMG!!! We made him give them back and the family let him keep a freddo frog... choccie thief!! Anyway, had a great breakfast and then went down to the HMAS Brisbane Memorial as Erin hadn't seen it, then we decided to hit the home show, one of my clients had a stall there so we checked it out and looked around, we ended up being there for over 2 hrs as Hayden fell asleep in the pram so we killed some time and watched the motorbike display. When he woke up he was hungry but all he wanted was an...
Ice Cream.... yum!!
Now I'm exhausted!! It was really nice to hang out as a family over the weekend though, something we don't get to do very often. I sure will sleep well tonight!
Yesterday we had another open house, no buyers through though :-(
After Hayden's sleep we went up to the Buddina School 'Big Day Out' which was basically their school fete/fair. The first thing Hayden did was have his face painted...
(do you see a trend emerging?!!)
Then it was time for some rides, we did the giant slide - 4 times (with Daddy of course)
And also the UFO ride (twice)
he also rode on a truck that was painted up like a fire engine, had a great play in the ball pit and patted the animals in Old McDonald's Farm (although had to overcome being bitten by a chicken when he stuck his hand thru the fence into it's mouth!!) We also saw lots of little friend there, both his 'Emily' friends, who he had a wonderful time running races with and then falling on the ground in fits of laughter - only to have either Emily fall down with him and giggle too, such the comedian!
We left the fair a bit after 6pm just as a thunder storm was rolling in. We had dinner at Mum and Dad's and Hayden had special chicken drumsticks, mmmmm.
Then onto today - the weather was cloudy and windy so Erin wasn't going to be jumping, we decided to go out for breakfast to Chancellors Tavern, it has a great play area for kids and Hayden can wander around and not get into any (ahem - much) harm, he's mezmerised by the big 'claw' toys where you have to manouver the claw to grab a toy or some chocolate bars etc, another family was playing and won some chocolate and Hayden did the quick grab and run and made off with a handful of chocolates - OMG!!! We made him give them back and the family let him keep a freddo frog... choccie thief!! Anyway, had a great breakfast and then went down to the HMAS Brisbane Memorial as Erin hadn't seen it, then we decided to hit the home show, one of my clients had a stall there so we checked it out and looked around, we ended up being there for over 2 hrs as Hayden fell asleep in the pram so we killed some time and watched the motorbike display. When he woke up he was hungry but all he wanted was an...
Ice Cream.... yum!!
Now I'm exhausted!! It was really nice to hang out as a family over the weekend though, something we don't get to do very often. I sure will sleep well tonight!
Friday, October 20, 2006
Oh Dear... Unexplained Absence!
Gazillions of apologies - time just gets away sometimes. You EB girls will know most of the *gory details* of why I haven't had the time to update, for the rest of the world (does anyone else even know this is here?? LOL) you'll just have to be satisfied with 'Sorry'.
Ok - well one excuse is good news - On 4th June 2007 we're expecting our 2nd child - yay! So I'm currently almost 8 weeks (Monday is my 'click-over' day) and feeling fine. Tired but fine. In terms of nausea, I only get it very occasionally and generally when I first wake up, which these days is around 4am, which in itself is getting a little old but that's a whloe other winge! The diet has gone out the window so the 10kg I just lost (22lbs for you guys over the pond) will just come right back on no doubt. Although, my new gym opens on Monday and I have an assessment on Tuesday arv with a trainer to see what I can do and what my exercise program should be while pg. My biggest symptom of pg is hunger, and the sweet tooth is back - although perhaps not as much as last time (YET!!).
Right - so what else... work has been stupidly busy, I've billed more in the last 10 days than I did practically all of last year... phew... money comes in very handy right now though.
House still not sold but only week 2 this weekend with the new agents, something will happen. We've found a new house so we just have to be patient and wait till we get a serious offer so that we can then buy. The one we're looking at buying is here I didn't realise there were so many photos on that listing - heaps! Anyway - I'll keep you all posted on any developments.
Umm... oh, we got a new car. We've bought a 4yo Nissan Pathfinder from Mum and Dad - it's like brand new as Dad's taken immaculate care of it. They upgraded to the latest model so we swooped in and grabbed a bargin. Now we'll sell Erin's old POC!
I'm struggling to think of any new photos to add, just to keep this a bit more interesting... let me go have a look-see and see if I come up with anything... Oh, here is a cute one of Emily and Hayden playing at Emily's place a couple of weeks (2 weeks) ago. I had to take some shots for a brochure for a client and then was just messing around, they were laughing at Sophie playing peek-a-boo behind me - too cute.
Uni - that's the other thing going on right now - I did a speech last week which went exceptionally well (those of you who know me probably won't be surprised :-)) and all I have left to complete is 1200 words of my major manuscript and a 1200 word essay - then I'm DONE - my whole degree - YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still going back next year though and starting honours and I'm also going to be teaching classes. I'm going to be taking (teaching) about 4 classes of one subject in Australian Media Industries - I did the subject a couple of years ago and loved it, it will be a great one to teach.
Right - so that's pretty much it - you're all up-to-date!
I'll be back in here soon - promise!!
Ok - well one excuse is good news - On 4th June 2007 we're expecting our 2nd child - yay! So I'm currently almost 8 weeks (Monday is my 'click-over' day) and feeling fine. Tired but fine. In terms of nausea, I only get it very occasionally and generally when I first wake up, which these days is around 4am, which in itself is getting a little old but that's a whloe other winge! The diet has gone out the window so the 10kg I just lost (22lbs for you guys over the pond) will just come right back on no doubt. Although, my new gym opens on Monday and I have an assessment on Tuesday arv with a trainer to see what I can do and what my exercise program should be while pg. My biggest symptom of pg is hunger, and the sweet tooth is back - although perhaps not as much as last time (YET!!).
Right - so what else... work has been stupidly busy, I've billed more in the last 10 days than I did practically all of last year... phew... money comes in very handy right now though.
House still not sold but only week 2 this weekend with the new agents, something will happen. We've found a new house so we just have to be patient and wait till we get a serious offer so that we can then buy. The one we're looking at buying is here I didn't realise there were so many photos on that listing - heaps! Anyway - I'll keep you all posted on any developments.
Umm... oh, we got a new car. We've bought a 4yo Nissan Pathfinder from Mum and Dad - it's like brand new as Dad's taken immaculate care of it. They upgraded to the latest model so we swooped in and grabbed a bargin. Now we'll sell Erin's old POC!
I'm struggling to think of any new photos to add, just to keep this a bit more interesting... let me go have a look-see and see if I come up with anything... Oh, here is a cute one of Emily and Hayden playing at Emily's place a couple of weeks (2 weeks) ago. I had to take some shots for a brochure for a client and then was just messing around, they were laughing at Sophie playing peek-a-boo behind me - too cute.
Uni - that's the other thing going on right now - I did a speech last week which went exceptionally well (those of you who know me probably won't be surprised :-)) and all I have left to complete is 1200 words of my major manuscript and a 1200 word essay - then I'm DONE - my whole degree - YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still going back next year though and starting honours and I'm also going to be teaching classes. I'm going to be taking (teaching) about 4 classes of one subject in Australian Media Industries - I did the subject a couple of years ago and loved it, it will be a great one to teach.
Right - so that's pretty much it - you're all up-to-date!
I'll be back in here soon - promise!!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The Newest Australian
It's now official - Erin is an Australian!We had his citizenship ceremony yesterday at home in conjunction with his 30th Birthday Party. Our Federal Member Peter Slipper MP offered to perform the ceremony for us. The proceedings started straight after the AFL Grand Final (yay Weagles!) in front of family and friends. Erin said his citizenship pledge and then fired up the barbie in true Aussie style.
A Whale of a Time
Monday 25th September was Erin's 30th Birthday so in order to celebrate we went up to Hervey Bay to go Whale Watching. It's about a 2.5 hr drive up there, so it was a nice easy day trip. We went out with Whalesong Cruises and did the 1pm - 5.30pm lunch time cruise. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm and the bay was very calm, unfortunately the whales are pretty docile in calm water. Our talented captain was able to find some playful pods nevertheless and we saw some amazing breeches, pectoral slaps and tail slaps. It was pretty stunning seeing these awesome creatures up close, some were within 20 - 30 meters from the boat. The power of them is massive but the grace with which they move is almost at odds with their size.Hayden was perhaps a few months too young to really take in the adventure, he didn't process that we had to be on the boat for about an hour and a half before we saw any whales, he was tired of being in a confined space and he asked to 'go home' a couple of times. After we'd stopped to view the first calf and mother I took him inside where there were some toys and then the crew put a video on for the kids, kept him occupied for the rest of the trip!! He came out to see the whales at the end as they were waving bye-bye so that was good enough for him. We'd evidently gone a lot further north than they usually do in order to find an active pod so our ride back into the harbour was over 2 hours, we were consequently late arriving back but the consolation was the wonderful sunset we witnessed as we headed to shore - nature never ceases to provide does she!
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