I am SO loving this site, brought to my attention by Rowena. I hope the widget comes up ok..if not here's the link, its definitely worth checking out.
http://www.wordnik.com/
Bring on the words!!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Final Analysis
Well! The big day has come and gone and I'm feeling a little worse for wear but blissfully happy. I really feel MARRIED and I like it. I got a little shtick from my mother about changing my name which I expected but it feels right and I know its important to his mum and dad and they are important to me. I'm going to put some wedding pics at the end of this post but now for the final cost analysis!!
Clothes:
Dress $240 (present from naughty Jane)
Lingerie $ 43
Shoes Mim $ 20
Shoes Mark $ 70 (that doesn't seem fair!)
Suit $ 99
Shirt $ 10
Tie $ 20
Alterations $100
TOTAL $602
Reception:
Food $300
Cake $220
Booze $450
Non booze drinks $ 20 (what does this say about us?)
TOTAL: $990
Other:
Rings $170
Ceremony/Paperwork $235
Flowers $ 40
Invites $ 22
Ribbon etc $ 10
Hair $ 26
Ties for boys $ 40
TOTAL: $543
GRAND TOTAL: $2135
PARENTS CONTRIBUTION: $ 970
NAUGHTY JANE'S GIFT: $ 240
COST TO US: $ 925
WOW!! The actual wedding cost a little more than I expected but the cost to us was about right. I knew the olds would want to contribute but they gave a little more than expected which freed us up to be a little more generous with food and booze at the reception. It does prove that you can have a fantastic wedding at a fraction the cost of most bridal extravaganzas. Most recent figures put the average Adelaide wedding at $31,185...cheapest of all the capital cities. Sydney is the most expensive with an AVERAGE cost of $54,173. That's insane...that's a house deposit. For one day. Our day was about celebrating us and our commitment with family and friends....it was not about the dress or the cars or the swanky restaurant. And it was wonderful....as you can see by the pictures!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wedding Update
Plans are well and truly underway!! Which is good seeing as I am getting hitched in a little over two weeks.
I picked up Mark's suit today, and have bought him a swanky new shirt ($10 down from $80 great success). Now all he needs are new shoes which means I have to drag him kicking and screaming to an actual shopping centre.
I got myself some silver sparkly ballet flats for $20 from Rubi shoes which will go beautifully with the fabulous costume jewels Mistress Jane is lending me. Also picked up very sexy bra and knickers (very important for blushing bride to have) from a factory outlet for $42.90. So I am all set costume wise.
I had to change my plans for invitations due to printing turnaround time, but managed to pick up some lovely ones in a clearance bin for $1.95 for 10 with matching envelopes! Silver printed inserts and tape to attach came to $22.00 all up so I am pretty happy with that.
The lovely Rene is doing my hair and I am seeing her at home for a cut and colour the Monday before the wedding. She is doing it for cost of colour so it will depend how outrageous we get.
My conversations with florists have been scary. One place quoted me almost $200 for an arm sheath of 10 lilies. I don't think so. I spoke to a lovely chap at the wholesalers this morning and I am collecting 20 deep purple calla lilies up from him the afternoon before the wedding for the princely sum of $40. I am pretty sure my creative talents can stretch to tying a bow around them. The ribbon was five bucks.
Manda the magnificent is making me a two tiered chocolate cake with dark choc ganache icing and toffee scrolls to feed forty. It will be a little over $100 she thinks, which is about one third of the other quotes.
I am getting ready at my friend Nyre's place and her housemate Tim is going to drive us in his swanky auto as a favour. He's even putting ribbon on it (chuckle).
Mistress Jane has her suit and shoes all organised and Nyre is doing makeup for us both. Phew.
Next (and last really, I think) is savoury fare and booze. Onwards and upwards!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Its been two years of real love
Real Love
All my little plans and schemes,
lost like some forgotten dreams.
Seems that all I really was doing
was waitin' for you.
Just like little girls and boys,
playing with their little toys.
Seems like all we really were doing
was waitin' for love.
Don't need to be alone,
No need to be alone.
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real.
From this moment on I know,
exactly where my life will go.
Seems that all I really was doing
was waitin' for love.
Don't need to be afraid,
No need to be afraid.
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real.
Thought I'd been in love before,
but in my heart I wanted more.
Seems like all I really was doing
was waitin' for you.
Don't to be alone,
No need to be alone.
It's real love, yeah it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes, it's real love, it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love....
My thanks to Marco for two magnificent years with many more to come...and my thanks to John for being a genius
All my little plans and schemes,
lost like some forgotten dreams.
Seems that all I really was doing
was waitin' for you.
Just like little girls and boys,
playing with their little toys.
Seems like all we really were doing
was waitin' for love.
Don't need to be alone,
No need to be alone.
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real.
From this moment on I know,
exactly where my life will go.
Seems that all I really was doing
was waitin' for love.
Don't need to be afraid,
No need to be afraid.
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real.
Thought I'd been in love before,
but in my heart I wanted more.
Seems like all I really was doing
was waitin' for you.
Don't to be alone,
No need to be alone.
It's real love, yeah it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes, it's real love, it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love, it's real,
It's real love, it's real,
Yes it's real love....
My thanks to Marco for two magnificent years with many more to come...and my thanks to John for being a genius
Faith Restored
Masquerading as a wedding blog comes a little lesson from the universe that all is not lost. As per usual Mark and I have been wallowing in paperwork. This time the necessaries for the nuptials. Amazingly enough we managed to locate my birth certificate and passport, Mark's passport and our respective divorce papers. But then....
Mark's passport is not acceptable ID as its Commonwealth law to provide a birth cert when applying for a wedding license (despite the fact that you have to produce a birth cert to get a passport). So he applies for one online with no need to produce ID. Great success. But then...of course its person to person registered post and when my lovely postman with his usual dog treats on board swings by this arvo he tells me he can't hand it over to me and it will have to go back to our local post office for Mark to collect between the hours of 9am and 5pm this week. I'll admit I made a pain face...it was involuntary. I explained we needed the papers to organise our wedding and time was getting tight. Mark works full time and there is no way he can get there during that time frame. We had a discussion about options and he gave me a slip of paper with the reference number and the contact details for our local PO. I called them and was told that Mark would either have to collect his mail personally with ID or pay an extra $5.50 to have it forwarded to a PO in town where he could collect it during his lunch hour. I was cranky at this point so decided to ignore it and have a wine....
About an hour later a car pulls up the front. Its the postman in his own time asking if Mark is home from work yet. He's not so my posty says he'll come back in another hour or so to deliver the birth cert as he has a meeting to attend in our area. The man has kept the mail and made a personal commitment to make sure it ends up where it needs too...tonight. As promised he delivers the birth certificate to our door just after 7 pm. We chat with the neighbours, hang out at the front gate with the dogs and get to know one another. His name's Doug. Our neighbours have known him since he was a kid...his dad was the posty here before him. He's a delightful man and wishes us the best for our wedding and marriage in the knowledge that he will see us again. Many times.
Today thanks go our from Mark and I to Doug the posty...your letter of recommendation is in the mail.
Mark's passport is not acceptable ID as its Commonwealth law to provide a birth cert when applying for a wedding license (despite the fact that you have to produce a birth cert to get a passport). So he applies for one online with no need to produce ID. Great success. But then...of course its person to person registered post and when my lovely postman with his usual dog treats on board swings by this arvo he tells me he can't hand it over to me and it will have to go back to our local post office for Mark to collect between the hours of 9am and 5pm this week. I'll admit I made a pain face...it was involuntary. I explained we needed the papers to organise our wedding and time was getting tight. Mark works full time and there is no way he can get there during that time frame. We had a discussion about options and he gave me a slip of paper with the reference number and the contact details for our local PO. I called them and was told that Mark would either have to collect his mail personally with ID or pay an extra $5.50 to have it forwarded to a PO in town where he could collect it during his lunch hour. I was cranky at this point so decided to ignore it and have a wine....
About an hour later a car pulls up the front. Its the postman in his own time asking if Mark is home from work yet. He's not so my posty says he'll come back in another hour or so to deliver the birth cert as he has a meeting to attend in our area. The man has kept the mail and made a personal commitment to make sure it ends up where it needs too...tonight. As promised he delivers the birth certificate to our door just after 7 pm. We chat with the neighbours, hang out at the front gate with the dogs and get to know one another. His name's Doug. Our neighbours have known him since he was a kid...his dad was the posty here before him. He's a delightful man and wishes us the best for our wedding and marriage in the knowledge that he will see us again. Many times.
Today thanks go our from Mark and I to Doug the posty...your letter of recommendation is in the mail.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The wonders of women's work
I had a stuck speculum at work tonight. I wonder how many times that has been the opening sentence to a blog post? No, I am not going to bore you with a dissertation on how to fold fitted sheets or the best way to get purple texta out of doona covers. We're talking paid women's work here. Allow me to explain.
I work with a fantastic group of women who teach medical students how to perform women friendly (can anyone think of a better way to describe it??) pap smears and breast checks. We come from all walks of life and bring a diversity of experience to our work. We are well trained and provide an invaluable teaching service to students.
We demonstrate the procedure to the students in groups (one of us performing the examination and one modelling usually with about six students) then split into groups of two students and two teaching associates (TAs). One of us is examined by a student while the other TA provides support and then we swap. It means the students get to perform this intimate and important examination for the first time in a supportive learning environment where they receive useful clinical information and a different insight from us into the true meaning of a partnership in care. Many people find the very idea of this work confronting and associated with a major ick factor. I love it and think its a great opportunity for these students.
So...on to stuck speculum's...Most women and many clinicians never hear about this issue. We believe that its one of the reasons that women find pap smears painful and don't reappoint at the 2yr mark. Basically what happens is the bills of the speculum create a vacuum against the vaginal walls and the speculum literally becomes stuck. The telltale sign is that when you start to remove the speculum it draws the cervix with it. This can be visualised as the cervix bulging forward as the speculum is removed causing resistance for the clinician and pain (cramping) for the woman. If it is not recognised and the speculum is removed without addressing the problem this pain can be persistent over many days. If a few simple measures are used at the time (getting the woman to cough, lower and raise one leg or dismantling the spec) this significant problem can be averted. Its something that all med students and beginning clinicians should be aware of and know how to deal with...I hope this means they will have the capacity and motivation to teach others. If we can get the word out there clinical practice will improve and women will be more likely to come back.
On that note all the students we taught tonight gave us brilliant feedback and even a round of applause at the end of the session. They were all brilliant, attentive and respectful. A group of 5th years on their way to becoming excellent doctors. Now that makes me all warm and fuzzy!
I work with a fantastic group of women who teach medical students how to perform women friendly (can anyone think of a better way to describe it??) pap smears and breast checks. We come from all walks of life and bring a diversity of experience to our work. We are well trained and provide an invaluable teaching service to students.
We demonstrate the procedure to the students in groups (one of us performing the examination and one modelling usually with about six students) then split into groups of two students and two teaching associates (TAs). One of us is examined by a student while the other TA provides support and then we swap. It means the students get to perform this intimate and important examination for the first time in a supportive learning environment where they receive useful clinical information and a different insight from us into the true meaning of a partnership in care. Many people find the very idea of this work confronting and associated with a major ick factor. I love it and think its a great opportunity for these students.
So...on to stuck speculum's...Most women and many clinicians never hear about this issue. We believe that its one of the reasons that women find pap smears painful and don't reappoint at the 2yr mark. Basically what happens is the bills of the speculum create a vacuum against the vaginal walls and the speculum literally becomes stuck. The telltale sign is that when you start to remove the speculum it draws the cervix with it. This can be visualised as the cervix bulging forward as the speculum is removed causing resistance for the clinician and pain (cramping) for the woman. If it is not recognised and the speculum is removed without addressing the problem this pain can be persistent over many days. If a few simple measures are used at the time (getting the woman to cough, lower and raise one leg or dismantling the spec) this significant problem can be averted. Its something that all med students and beginning clinicians should be aware of and know how to deal with...I hope this means they will have the capacity and motivation to teach others. If we can get the word out there clinical practice will improve and women will be more likely to come back.
On that note all the students we taught tonight gave us brilliant feedback and even a round of applause at the end of the session. They were all brilliant, attentive and respectful. A group of 5th years on their way to becoming excellent doctors. Now that makes me all warm and fuzzy!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Time to talk Nuptials
Right....I've been thinking along these lines for some time now but have been spurred into action by good friend and colleague Kathryn who seems to think the bridezillas of the world need to hear from me personally. Frankly I reckon they're probably too busy shrieking at their wedding planners or chucking tantrums in Vera Wang to take much notice. If it only provides a little light entertainment for the interested few that's fine with me. So topic numero uno for the blog will feature my wedding plans such as they are. I hope it demonstrates that this undeniably significant day does not require a 50K budget or for anyone to end up breathing into a paper bag. It can actually be fun, exciting, cheap and stress free.
Mark and I have been talking about getting the formal stamp for a little over a year now. We are in love and we want EVERYONE to know about it. All the important peeps at least. Plans for a spring wedding have been truncated for pragmatic reasons so I have less than seven weeks to plan the big day. More like five...and a bit.
So far I have tackled
Mark and I have been talking about getting the formal stamp for a little over a year now. We are in love and we want EVERYONE to know about it. All the important peeps at least. Plans for a spring wedding have been truncated for pragmatic reasons so I have less than seven weeks to plan the big day. More like five...and a bit.
So far I have tackled
- Dress (less than 2 hrs in 2 shops, off the rack, minor alterations to be completed by the talented Mistress Jane). I love it...pics to follow. Cost....$240.
- Suit and tie (10 minutes in menswear shop sans partner, off the rack again). Its a lovely pin stripe wool blend that was on super special for less than any hire cost I was quoted. Cost for suit $99, tie $20.
- Wedding rings (about an hour trawling online after several unproductive hours in overpriced jewellers). They are tungsten carbide and 18K gold inlay. Cost $169.99 for 2.
- Venue (quick google search for local registry office, three forms downloaded and printed, two phone calls with celebrant). The room is perfectly lovely and centrally located and the peeps there are sweet. Cost $235...this includes all official documentation.
- Invitations (google is my friend again). Customised and created online, professionally printed and delivered to my door. Cost....$14 for ten with matching envelopes.
Next on the list is shoes as Mistress Jane needs to know how much hemming to do asap and then reception. I'll keep you posted!
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