It happened.

I turned 30. 

And the world didn't end. Nor did I suddenly sprout 5000 grey hairs and develop a bunch of (new) wrinkles. Phew!

I will admit I was pretty moody about the whole thing in the lead up to my birthday. Most people I shared my concern with laughed at me, however (not very sympathetic) - but that is probably because nearly all of those people are over 30. Most even said things are better in your 30s compared to 20s. 

On my actual birthday, after work Husband and I went to The Australian Museum. They had an Aztec exhibit and on the date of my birthday there just so happened to be a special event called 'Tequila Sunsets' where they kept the museum and the Aztec exhibit open late, served tequila and Mexican food, and even had a Mariachi band. It was pretty packed (I'm generally not a fan of people...!) but very cool. 

Ladybug and Luigi

Then on Saturday, I was on my way to what I thought was a birthday dinner, which turned out to be a surprise party! I knew something was up as Husband disappeared part way through the day and my friend came and picked me up. Not to mention the fact that I had to walk with my eyes closed to the location. It still didn't click that it was a party though, I just thought Husband might have picked somewhere different for dinner and wanted to add a bit of mystery. I was expecting around 15 people there. Instead he'd actually planned a whole event with a lot of extra people, and it even had a theme! Everyone had to come in costume as something starting with 'L' (not surprisingly, given that's what my name starts with). He'd even gotten a costume for me - a ladybug. I am super impressed with all the effort he went to, but disappointed at my lack of lie detection skills... so many lies were told to me in the lead up and I was not even a tiny bit suspicious haha. Probably a good thing though that I'm so trusting, so I didn't ruin all his hard work by guessing. 

So, turning 30 wasn't too bad after all!

Question for you: have you ever had a surprise party, and did you have any idea it was happening?

Anniversary

Yesterday (Sunday) was my one year wedding anniversary with my husband. I can hardly believe it's been that long already! We didn't do too much, as we mostly celebrated a few weeks ago when we went to the Blue Mountains. We did however go out to dinner Saturday night - and got to see a lot of weird halloween costumes also. Unfortuantely Husband had a cold, so we kept the rest of the weekend fairly quiet, we've postponed our trip to the zoo 'til next week. As promised however I will now show you the present I gave him. It's nothing too big (as our present to each other was the trip), but he really seemed to like it anyway which is good. 

What is that? You ask. Well it's a picture frame with the speech I said to Husband at our wedding reception. It's not written in squibbly - it's actually Greek. For those of you who don't know, Husband is Greek and I spent the year leading up to our wedding secretly taking Greek lessons so I could surprise him and his family on the day.

I am usually not the sappy type, but I do think I'll share this. I forgot that just before my wedding I sent myself an email using the cool website FutureMe to be sent on our anniversary. So here it is (slightly edited):

Thanks!

Just a quick note today, to say thanks very much to YOU - the regular readers of my blog. It's very affirming to see (according to google) that at least 50 people think I'm interesting enough to follow. I really do appreciate all the comments I get, and also always try to comment back.

What else...? Oh, um - look at this cat. 

You actually really should visit the nyan cat website. It has a song!

That is all.

Something Cheerful.

I have been a bit mopey of late, not due to anything particularly serious, more just a combination of a couple of small things - such as my paper for my first experiment being rejected by a second journal. However I don't particularly want a blog of complaints, so instead I choose to focus on a few of the things that made me smile this week:

[source]

• Babies. My friend gave birth on Friday night and yesterday Husband and I had the privilege of going to meet this new little person in hospital. It still astounds me how one day someone just has a big stomach and the next time you see them they are holding a baby (obviously a lot of pain occurs in the mean time, but the result is pretty good!). You know what gets me every time? Seeing their tiny tiny fingernails. I don't know why but it just makes me marvel at how amazing the human body is.
• Seeing knights at uni. During O-Week (orientation at the start of semester) there are a lot of stalls for people to join various clubs and societies. I was particularly amused by the Quidditch Club and the silent disco. Also seeing the knights getting ready for a fight (I'm assuming Medieval Society) was fun. It's days like these that I really enjoy being at my uni. 
• Smells. Nice ones obviously. I came across this article about a group of people who are trying to recreate smells of the past. Interested in what type of perfume Egyptian Pharaoh Hatshepsut wore 3500 years ago? They're working on it. Awesome.
• Fingerprint scanners that can stop Zombies getting in. Very clever!
• Walking on the beach. There is a beach a bit over 20 minutes walk from my house. Yesterday was a lovely clear day and a good friend and I went for a long walk. It was great to catch up, and to see blue everywhere (my favourite colour). Thankfully my knees are also a lot better than they were so walking was fine (I'm ignoring the part where I got a giant blister hehe).

[source]

 

...why was I grumpy again?? :P

What makes you smile when you're grumpy? I'd be happy to think about more cheerful stuff!

P.S. Check out this website: 1000 awesome things. Always cheerful.

Husband Quotes

via

"Come look, it's the Paso doble!" 

I went out to the loungeroom to see Husband in my snuggie (yes I have one and I love it) on the lounge watching So You Think You Can Dance.

...Interesting.

Kitten riding tortoise. That is all.

Happy Friday!! I dare you not to get the song stuck in your head...

Yet again more thanks to AR. Do you do any work!? :P

Awards!

I've been a bit slack in getting around to this, but I've been nominated for two blog awards!

Police Puppies!

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Super cute. You can vote on facebook to name them! 

"They will play catch like regular dogs but instead of balls and sticks they will retrieve drugs and explosives and track down bodies." ... AWWW (?)

Read more here.

P.S. Thanks again to AR, purveyor of cute things.

The Day I Met My Husband

In honour of our 6 month-aversary yesterday (which was very nice by the way) I thought I would get a bit lovey-dovey here (I'll wait while you vomit - also feel free to skip down to the end of this post where I have a section for you cynical types) and talk about the day I first met Husband. 

The actual first time we met was in line for school photos in year 12. Husband has a twin (identical), and Twin was friends with my friend so we were all in line chatting. I couldn't tell them apart, and Husband doesn't actually remember this. So we don't really count this one. Anyway, a bit later I ended up becoming friends with Twin.

Husband REFUSES to buy me a horse.

Nevermind that we live in a 4th floor apartment... I just want one! Here are a few snaps from our lovely weekend in the country for Easter. 

P.S. Today (Sat 30th) is our 6 month-aversary of being married! I can't really believe it's been that long already.
P.P.S. Many more pics on my Flickr account 

Made my day!

A cat playing with dolphins - awwww.

That is all.

P.S. Thanks AR for sending me this! :)