The worlds most beautiful little girl

It's been almost 2 months since my last post, so I thought I'd better make a return ;) A huge thank you to abby for her post - it totally cracked me up, and it was the most fun I've ever had reading my own blog. I'm thinking we should make her a regular guest poster (what do you think flabby?!). I will try and jump back on a little later to give you a bit more of a written post, but I wanted to post some photos of the gorgeous Jenna Munro - the cutest little girl/niece on the planet earth :) For Christmas, Jonny & Jessima's friend took a bunch of photos of the three of them (mainly of Jenna) at our house, and Mum put together a really cute little wall display of photos for Jessima as her Christmas present. So here are a few of the (hundreds) of photos their friend took (mum's doctored some of them, that's why you might see a little bit of a difference in quality). She's just the most special little girl and she's so funny. She was born in September, so she's just over 3 months old, and in the last couple of weeks she's gotten better at following everyone with her eyes, grasping things with her hands, and she rolled over (3 times) all by herself. She'll probably be talking by next week! She's also incredibly good at sleeping through large volumes of noise (since the poor thing was sent to this rather large and noisy faimly!)

On Behalf of Tammy...

First of all, Tammy's not dead. I thought it was important to put that there, because if she were dead, that might be the title of a blog I'd post on her blogspot... especially because now that I know her password.

This is her personal assistant, phone-call screener, room-temerature-water-fetcher, door-opener, window-opener, lunch buddy/eater, AKA sister. Sadly my actual job description does right now involve doing basically eveything she tells me too, because she is a high-powered producer and I am the part-time receptionist on my days off from uni, but it just mirrors the roles she forged for us when I was born. This is okay because the pecking order flows down throughout our family and I have a little sister who does the same for me, but that's another story. Just know that Tammy was a very shrewd little 3-year-old, and planned things out very clearly and satisfactorily in relation to future siblings...

Obviously Tammy's been beyond slack with her blog, and since she's rushing around working like mad and I'm sitting at my great glass escritoire wishing businesses closed when schools did for Christmas holidays, she asked me to post for her, and tell you what's going on in her life.

CHRISTMAS PARTY: Every year for as long as we can remember, whether or not to have a Christmas party has been a generally debated topic leading up to Christmas.

Arguments FOR: It makes people happy, we enjoy it once the guests arrive, we learn to cook and work together, we get heaps of leftovers for Christmas Day, it gets us 'in the spirit'
Arguments AGAINST: We go nuts with preparations for weeks before, and every year we say 'never again' as we shake our heads with fatigue and clean up.

Last year my big wedding a month before Christmas ruined it for everyone, so this year it was a hotter-than-ever topic. Dad said 'Not even a topic of discussion' all the way up until 3 days ago or so when he approached mum about having it, much to almost everybody's delight. So it's tomorow night. Which is short notice. But when you're mother is superwoman and she has the kind of first class help you only get when you've given birth to it or married it, we hope we can pull it off!

In past years we've tried to 'downscale' to make ourselves think we won't go overboard, by calling it a 'gathering', holding it on Christmas Even in hopes that nobody will come (apparently nobody has anything on that night), etc., but it does nothing, and they are growing, as old friends are as dear as ever and new friends pop up each year. This year's tactic is to just not to stress, and to focus on 'yay, we're having a fun party' instead of 'okay we have 2 days to do the kind of extravaganza only mum would imagine normal and expected'. (These parties are HUGE, and involve hundreds of people, decorations and food that you see at classy weddings on movies).

Tammy's Christmas presents have gone to hell (haha - sorry, I just said that cause I know this is basically a 'Northern Hemisphere'-audienced blog and I know Tammy would want me to..) because now every spare second is cooking etc, but we are very excited. Speaking of Tammy's Northern Hemisphere friends, if you ever decided to be here around this time of year, we'd totally have this party, so you could come. We wish you would! :)

What else is new in Tamster's world? On Sunday at church she sang 'O Holy Night', which my Dad makes her do every year, so he can cry and be grateful for her beautiful gift, and help him think of the Saviour. We love it, if you haven't heard her sing, because in America she was 'film girl' instead of 'singing and piano girl' when it came to general perception from what I gather, you should hear it. We are blessed to have her and her wonderful talents in our family!

Okay, I just called up to Tammy's office to see if there was anything she actually wanted me to write about, and she said there are tons of things she's been meaning to write about but hasn't gotten onto it!

Here are some of them, as far as I remember them from her telling me over the last little while...

1. 'Manhole' - Okay Tammy fell down one. Yup, legitimately, fell down a manhole. It boggles my mind, it's amazing and funny and I love that story. Unfortunately, I forget every single portion of detail. Maybe ask Tammy...


2. 'Body Lotion' - So Tammy wanted some new body lotion, she went out and bought some nice Dove lotion, went home and began using it. She was especially generous around her knees and feet, because these are the dryer parts of one's legs. One day, Tammy was in the shower, washing herself, when she noticed she couldn't get her feet very clean. After a little while, Tammy noticed other dirty spots on her knees. I can't remember how it all came together, but if the brown bottle, and brown 'lotion' weren't enough to tip her off, and Tammy never did notice the 'a soft glow will develop after multiple uses' label, or become aware of the fact that she was shopping for moisturiser in the 'tanning lotion' section, maybe it was the 'dirty' knees and feet that did the trick. Hahaha. My favourite bit is when she quite seriously asked mum (who was nearby, convulsed with laughter) if she should 'redo' the normal parts of her legs so they all looked the same colour. Bless Tammy!


3. 'Jenna is soooooooo Cute!' - Tammy was going to rave about how cute our niece is, and how we have the cutest niece in the whole world, and she was going to be right. Jenna is adorable! She grows every day and becomes more aware and cute and gorgeous, and is bringing our whole family so much joy that you can only know if you are part of a big family who had for a long time only 1 second-generation member to 'coo' over for hours at a time. If you are on facebook and this works (I don't know anything about facebook) look at Jonathon or Jessima's page (her parents) - you'll find them amongst Tammy's friends, I'm sure, but they have pictures up. She is so grumpy, and when you try really hard to make her smile she looks at you with one eyebrow up like a schoolteacher who is beyond, unimpressed, but then she'll break out in a big grin a second later. The other day Tammy was holding her and her nappy exploded down her legs. The look on Tammy's face was priceless, as she fought herself over whether to hold dripping with poo baby over the carpet or over her dress!


4. 'Christmas Day' - we had a 'home-holiday', which means we saved the money from accomodation and did fun stuff with it, like go on high ropes courses and ate yummy big dinners etc. Tammy wanted you to know that her favourite day was the 'Christmas Day', when we dressed Christmassy, baked cookies together, learnt 'Ring Christmas Bells' in 4-part harmony (go us!), watched Fred Claus and went carolling. It was really nice and fun and Christmassy and yummy, and we were all a little chuffed by ourselves with our 4-part harmony


5. 'Can't Wait!' - for a break. Work is obviously very busy for Tammy

Okay you must all be sick of reading - what a long blog entry! But just think of all the time you've saved not reading any blog entries in the past few weeks!

Tammy will, I'm sure check the comments on this blog, so just write like you're writing to her! I'm sure also that she wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas - I'll crack my little and somewhat insignifiant but well-meaning whip and see if I can get her to post a Christmas entry... wish me luck, have a great season!

Abby xo

Hip, Hip, Horray

So I'm 27. The birthday came and went, and I'm pleased to say that there's little evidence of extra wrinkles or grey hairs. For all my sincere and passionate whining and winging though, I sort of figured that once the day actually passed I'd feel pretty much the same as I had the day before, and just keep moving forward.

But despite the fact that it turned out to be a really lovely day in the end (I always remember how much I actually love birthdays when I suddenly find myself sitting there with the first present on my lap), I still can't actually shake the niggling in the back of my mind that things really AREN'T the same. I'm older. Which is less scary to me in a 'I'm closer to death' way than it is in a 'have I accomplished the things I was supposed to by this point?' way.

And honestly, I don't think I have. I've done a couple of good 'things to be proud of' in the last year or two, but mostly, I've just let time pass. And now that I'm 27, the reality of 'wasted time' is really bothering me. I just don't want to get to 28 feeling the same way!

So, though it's not really 'new years day' until January, I'm feeling quite the 'set goals, quick!' surge! I've been ironing some specific goals out in my head over the last few days, and I think I'm ready to start working towards them. I just can't bear the thought of getting to my next birthday, knowing that I didn't have an 'accomplished and worthwhile' year. I want to be excited to turn 28, and I think the key to that will be to be excited about the year I've just had. So I've got some spiritual goals, some physical goals, some financial goals, some social goals, and some life-experience goals.

I'm a little nervous - I've been less successful with the goal conquering thing over the last few years, but I figure it's imperative to try. I'll definitely need Heavenly Father's help and I'm 100% confident that he'll come through - It's really just my ability to deliver that terrifies me! But that fear's what's kept me from actually 'setting' goals for the last few years, which in turn, has kept me from 'conquering' any over the last few years, and that just makes me miserable! So with a little nudge from President Uchtdorf's wonderfully inspired conference talks, and from the reminder that time marches on, I figure it's time to give me another chance.

Wish me luck, and say a prayer for me - I'm going to need some strength and encouragement beyond my own.

xo Tammy

This made me think...

Just down the road from where I live they've been building a new bookstore, and the other night as I was driving home, I noticed that it was open. It looked like a big Borders which was really exciting because Borders is one of my favourite places on earth, and our closest Borders is a good 20 minutes away. I was excited as I parked my car and walked in the door, but it didn't take me long to realize that I was actually in a Christian bookstore! It looked exactly like a Desert Books! It had a music section with CDs and DVDs, there were sections for teenagers, women, men and kids (with colour in books, storybooks, toys and boardgames about bible stories etc.). They had a big artwork section with paintings and pictures, and those wooden 'love at home' type plaques. They even had a giant section for bibles, with nice leather or fabric bible cases (didn't realize other churches had those!). There was a little children's playground, and a cafe up the back, and as I walked around browsing through the different sections, I felt happy.

It reminded me of Utah, and being surrounded by people who feel like I do. I looked around at all the people in store (I was surprised really, at how many people were there), and felt excited to think that there are this many Christians in my neighbourhood! As Australians we're not known for our religious fervor and I don't have any non-mormon friends who go to any church at all, so it was exciting to me to think there was more of us Christians around than I'd realized.

As I was wandering, all warm and fuzzy, through the store, I noticed that their books were a little different, and written mostly by men and women who I recognize as television evangelists, but I figured there was probably a lot of good stuff in the store. I was keeping an eye out for any mormon-type literature, because it looked like it would fit nicely in the store,but I couldn't see any. I passed their 'world religion' section, and saw a book called 'World Religions 101', and I picked it up - curious to see if mormonism was listed...

Well, did I learn a few things! Turns out I'm not Christian after all - I'm actually a brainwashed and disillusioned cult worshiper. According to the chapter on mormons (which came first, and was apparently seen by the author as the most dangerous of them all), I believe that Christ was just a man, and not divine at all. Apparently I think that God is flawed and finite, and that - well, I think I'll just stop there. It went on and on, and I really should have just stopped reading - but i was too shocked and stunned at first. Some fellow named 'Dr. Hazam' wrote little boxed in commentaries on the 'facts' as they were revealed, sounding a warning voice to all so they couldn't be led astray by our terrible falsehoods, and I confess that I was ready to punch Dr. Hazam in the nose after about 5 minutes - especially since he claimed to be giving an 'unbiased presentation of the facts so that all could decide on the truth for themselves'. The thing was, it wasn't even based on facts.

The book really upset me. Not because it made me doubt my faith at all, but just because they were such lies! I felt like my eyes were suddenly opened, and found myself looking at the store through new eyes. I'm not saying that there wasn't some good found in the store, or that people can't feel uplifted or learn good things there, but isn't that how Satan often works? He's the master of taking 'some' good, or 'some' truth, and then slyly mixing it all in with some terribly destructive ideas or teachings. He'd rather give people 'some good' if that's the best way to keep them from 'all of the good' they could have. Here was an entire store that apparently existed to help bring people to Christ, and yet here in the book, they made a mockery out of His church and it's restoration on the earth. They refused to accept doctrine and scriptures that Christ himself has re-established in this dispensation. Most of all, it just upset me because it was hiding a truth so wonderful it should be being shouted from the rooftops.

It also upset me because I hold my Saviour and his teachings really close to my heart - my testimony and my relationship with my Heavenly Father are really personal, and I was hurt to have it ridiculed and mocked. I realize that the battle was only between me and the illusive Dr. Hazam, and that it took place entirely in my head, but it was still hurtful.

I've thought a lot about that incident over the last few days, and I've realized just how important it is to respect and honor other people's faith. I thought about the experience Emily and Chris had when they went to a friends church several months ago, and had to leave when the minister started 'railing on the mormons'. I'm so glad that as Mormons we're taught from primary to respect everyone's right to worship according to the dictates of their own heart. Spiritual stirrings are so personal, and while I think it's wonderful to share with each other, and teach those who would like to learn, I'd never belittle someone's personal and sincere feelings.

Anyway, I was just thinking about that. It's wonderful to live in a country and in a society where I have true religious freedom, and I feel a little more grateful for that freedom this weekend.

xo Tammy

*sigh*

It's 10 minutes past nine in the evening, and I'm still at work. It's been a very long week, and it's only Wednesday. One of the editors and I have been cutting a 45 sec TVC that's come in at the last minute and is on air Friday (that's only 2 sleeps people). I've come back to my desk and left him to do the 30 sec cut-down version so I can then send them on to the client for approval. I have a mountain of emails to answer and scripts to write and budgets to update and invoices to process and quotes to write and shoots to schedule and to be honest, I just don't feel like doing any of it at the moment.

Today was really hectic. One of our editors were sick, and I had both editors completely booked out doing things that had to be done by today, so it all fell to poor Shannon to do two lots of work in one day. I spent 4 hours in meetings with new clients (meetings went well - we won their work - I don't have time to do it), directed 2 voice over recording sessions, spent 2 hours with a couple of the graphics guys doing pre-prod for an upcoming job, wrote a script, scheduled a shoot (since my assistant was out today) and was constantly on the phone, writing and replying to emails. I haven't done a single thing that I had on my list of 'absolutely must get done before you leave todays'. I'm also hungry, because I didn't have time for lunch or dinner, and haven't stopped until now - when I got online to whinge :)

I'm listening to the country station online as I type. I like country. But it seems awfully melancholy sometimes, doesn't it? Such sad songs a lot of them. Maybe it's just my mood that's making them seem melancholy. Or maybe it's just the kind of country that stations play at 5am (which is the current time from where the station is broadcasting).

Yep. Definitely feeling melancholy. If my life had a soundtrack, I think we'd be featuring the string section at the moment...

haha! I'm such a whiner :)

Anyway, that was my whinge. I've got to get back to work now :)

Love to all!
xo Tammy

I'm an Aunty!

Yay! Little Jenna was born at 7:45am this morning!
SO EXCITED :)

xo Tammy

Drum Roll Please.....

Jessima went into labour at 1am this morning.

Stand by.... I'm about to become an aunty!

xo Tammy

A few little thoughts & updates

1) Sorry - I know. I've been really slack! Not only have I not written on my own blog for a week and a half, but I hadn't looked at anyone else's blog so:
- I didn't realize that Chris was getting baptized! Ahhhh! Such wonderful wonderful news.
- I missed 4 whole days where I could have been counting how many times per day I see a cow, and
- I missed Brecken's Birthday! *gggrrrr*. Brecken I love you! Happy birthday :)

2) I was remembering the other day, that we're entering birthday season! yay! Brecken, Justin, Emily, Jess, Abby - I believe you all have birthday's coming up. I remember abby's (because it's exactly 3 weeks before mine), but I'm notoriously bad at remembering birthdays, so if you could all just comment or email me your birthdates, I'd be very grateful. I love birthdays :)

3) On Saturday, I got my hair cut and coloured! It's wonderful :) I love a change, and the lady did a really great job, so I'm feeling very happy.

4) I also joined the gym last week. (We'll have to do this together Brecken!). It's turning to Summer here, and it's the perfect time. As I drive home from work I always pass people running and biking, so this way I can get 'in the mood' as I drive home, and then just before I get home, I drive to the gym instead :) Ask me how it's going in about 2 weeks...

5) Any day now, I'm going to become an Aunty! Jessima is now 3 days overdue, and we're all very very excited! I'll let you know the second it happens!

6) On Monday this week, I got to work and decided I didn't want to be there! So I took Wednesday and Thursday off. Exciting, huh?! I've got my days chockablock with errands and tasks that I've been wanting to do for a while now, so I'm very excited!

xo Tammy

Tammy Vs. Agnus

Agnus is a Samoan women in our ward who sings so loudly, that she competes with the organ.
Tammy is the girl who plays the organ.
Agnus likes the hymns to be sung VERY slowly.
Tammy likes the hymns to be sung at a REASONABLE pace (ie. much faster than Agnus)

Today, Tammy started the introduction to 'Let us all press on' nice and quickly (as marked in the hymnbook).

Agnus came in at the first verse, singing from her place in the 4th row, and slowed the entire congregation down (including the chorister) from about 100 beats a minute to about 40 beats a minute - in 3 bars flat!

Tammy put up a good fight. Every time the congregation had a whole note, Tammy sped up the other notes in the bar with her accompaniment.

But Agnus was awfully good.

Tammy frowned and scowled and powered ahead as much as she could without getting an entire line out of sync with the congregation.... but to no avail!

By the end of the second verse, Tammy graciously conceded defeat and worked at controlling her sudden desire to giggle.

*sigh*

Tammy finds it frustrating that Agnus won the battle. Especially since she's pretty sure Agnus is completely unaware that the battle even took place!

xo Tammy

Memoirs of a Lazy Weekend

Friday
Was very excited when I woke up on Friday. Really love Fridays. Work was a bit of a blur, and by the time I got home I was desperate to go out and do something FUN! Unfortunately, I sat down for a moment, and got really tired, so the GOING OUT turned into FLOPPING OUT on the couch.... But I watched a really great little film with some of my family. Brecken and Justin, I think you guys should really track this one down if you can, because I think you'd really like it. It's called 'Razzle Dazzle' and it's a little Australian Mockumentary about the world of children's dance eisteddfods! We were laughing really hard, and we haven't stopped quoting it. I warn you though: It's full of that dead-pan Aussie humor that tends to go over American heads... but I think you 2 will be safe :)


Saturday
Saturday Morning I got up at about 7am, because I was taking the twins to their basketball game. The game was way out past Ipswich, so it was about an hour and a half west - out in the country :) I was a little bit 'groan I wanted to sleep' at first, but I actually really enjoyed the drive. It was a gorgeous morning, and it's just starting to head out of winter here, so there was that crispness in the air that makes everything feel clean and fresh. We rolled down the windows (especially on the way home, when we had two smelly post-game 16 year olds in the car), and turned up the music (country of course. Saturday morning drives and boppy country are a really great match), and we drove through some beautiful bushland. It reminded me a little of the Saturday spring jeep rides up into the mountains that I used to love when I was living in Utah. I I just love how beautiful the world is sometimes :) And the twins won their game 75-11, so the morning was a success :)

The rest of Saturday was pretty normal, did a few things around the house, watched a little West Wing on DVD (haven't seen session 6, so watched a couple of episodes). I'm actually trying to remember what exactly I did on Saturday night, and nothing's coming to me... so I'm guessing it wasn't anything too exciting.... :)

Sunday

Got up early and prepared my Sunday School lesson. I teach the 16-17 year old class and we were looking at the chapters in Alma where Alma's teaching Corianton about the resurrection. Really enjoyed the class. The kids ask really interesting questions sometimes, and I love learning and helping them learn and understand the beautiful truths of the gospel. Sometimes they ask a question that tells me they really don't understand a principle properly, and I really feel blessed to be able to help them understand something that will make a difference to the way they think. Nothing big, just little lights that go on here and there - and more often than not they're lights going on in my own head.

I played the organ as usual. Didn't really worry about the fancy foot peddle work this week :) And I banged my knee against the corner of the organ - really hard - when I got up after the intermediate hymn. That wasn't good. Still hurts. I think it's bruising... *sniff* ... My sister Bethany gave a lovely talk, and my friend Brodie taught a lovely Relief Society lesson.

After church we rushed home because we had a friend coming over for dinner and we had a bit of work left to do. We had an early dinner (4:45pm) because we all had to head off in different directions in the evening. Dad and the twins went to Bishop's Youth Discussion, and James, Abby and I went to choir practise.

And I really enjoyed choir practise! This is a choir that's being put together for a musical fireside in October, and it was an 'invitation only' choir - which is a bit unusual. From what I understand, they invited people who were musically inclined, and who they thought would be committed, so I guess the 3 of us were lucky we got picked :) It's been a really long time (years I think) since I've sung in a choir, and Sunday night was the first night. I expected it would be good, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did! It was SO fun to be singing some really beautiful songs and to make wonderful harmonies as a group :) Rehearsal went for an hour and a half, and I could easily have continued for another few hours! I was a little dismayed to feel how rusty my throat is, but hopefully it'll shape up over the next few months as we practise.

Monday

Not technically part of the weekend, I know. But I thought I'd mention Monday. My new assistant started - so that was exciting! She seems good, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things go. Turns out it's not quite like picking something off a menu. With food, you pretty much know everything once you've taken the first bite. With people, you have to give them time to settle in... I'll keep you posted :)

Monday night was FHE. Once a month or so we try and have an extended family FHE, and last night it was at Abby and James' house. Jonny and Jessima (who's due in 2 weeks, so she's VERY ready to pop), and the rest of us didn't get there till a little after 7:30pm because of work etc., and I know we were all (well, I was) feeling VERY tired, but I'm glad we did it, because I had a fun time hanging out with everyone. Jessima gave a lovely lesson, I gave the 'preach my gospel' spot, and mum did the activity. She made the game up, and it had a few holes ;) but it was really funny and we were all laughing by the end. After it finished, we sat around for a bit and ate fairy bread made by Bethy for supper. We were talking about accents, and how everyone in our family (not just me, it turns out) always end up in an Indian accent whenever we try and speak in an accent! It also turns out that Ben does the best Indian accent in the family. We told him to pick up a book and read it in an accent (so we could laugh), and he picked up a Yoga book that abby had on the coffee table (have you ever even read it abby?). Somehow, we convinced Jonny to stand in the middle of room, and follow the yoga instructions with his body as Ben read them out loud. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Jonny didn't have a clue what he was doing (turns out 'the mountain pose' is standing up straight with your palms pressed together as if you're praying; NOT - as Jonny assumed - bent over with your hands and feet on the floor and your bottom in the air... especially since Jonny looked more like a crooked 'hill' in that position than a 'mountain'). Jonny's also very UNflexable so there was lots of accidental rolls to the side and high pitched 'ahhhh's. Good times!

So there you have it: my weekend :)

xo Tammy

I'll have what she's having

I once heard a fabulous story (told by a wonderfully entertaining storyteller) about a kid who was riding his bike really fast down a steep hill, when he saw a large tree right in the middle of his path. In the several seconds leading up to his impact with the tree, he tried desperately to decide whether he wanted to veer left around the tree, or right around the tree. Alas and alack, the poor fellow couldn't make up his mind and so instead crashed straight into the tree.

I have a giant pile of empathy for that kid.

Caesar Salad or something new that I've never had? Caesar Salad or something new? Caesar Salad? Something new? ... oh sorry. My turn? .... ah..... has everyone else ordered? Oh, okay, ah. ........ I'm just - .... hmmmm.... what would you recommend? ..... Right.... Um, I'm just - did you all order? .... (Caesar Salad? or Something new? Caesar Salad? or Something new?) .... Sorry! Ahh..... I'll have the Caesar Salad please! ..... *deflating sigh* ... (I should have ordered the something new...).... *sad, disappointed sigh*

*sniffle*

Recently, at work, I was given a personal assistant! I used to share an assistant with the other 2 women, but 2 weeks ago we restructured, and I was given one of my own! Yay! The plan was for me to now start working normal hours and actually start having a life :) And I was really excited because she's a lovely girl who I already new really well, and I was thrilled at the idea of having someone I could work closely with, and share the load with, and have fun with....

So things at work were going very well... Until she suddenly quit! *gasp* She got a job as a project manager at another production house, and I don't blame her for taking the job - it was a big promotion for her, and she was much too talented and capable to be an assistant anyway :(
I figured I'd be back to working ridiculously long hours for a while, and I was actually taking the whole abandonment thing quite well (hark! a violin!) until someone pointed out the obvious fact that I now had to interview and hire someone new!

*gasp*

It's hard enough trying to decide what to order at a restaurant or which way to go around a tree, without having to make a decision that could dramatically effect another person's WHOLE LIFE! What if I hire someone who doesn't really need this job, instead of someone who desperately needs the job?! Talk about pressure! The old assistant (we'll call her the 'traitor' just for the purposes of this blog entry) posted an add online, and within 2 days, I had over 80 applications in my inbox (at which point I pleaded with the traitor to take the post down again). I felt like I should give every resume a fair go (I mean they did take the time to put it together), and it took AGES! Luckily, some of them were OBVIOUSLY terrible (couldn't spell, entire sentences didn't make sense, couldn't actually speak English, etc.) so that was great :) I had about 20 people that I thought we should interview, but luckily, the traitor was able to help me narrow it down. In the end we interviewed 4 people. And oh, how I agonized! 2 off them were obviously not as good as the other 2, so that was sad, but helpful! (like realizing you can exclude the entire satay side of the menu because you're allergic to peanuts).

But the other two were BOTH perfect!

It was a very traumatic few days! There was lots of hand holding from the traitor (why oh why is she leaving me?!) who sat in on interviews and was very gently helpful with her suggestions about which one she thought would be better, and I complained loudly enough that a few people at work have offered to conduct the interviews FOR me next time (thank goodness!)

But finally, (dare I say it) we had a decision! Calling the girl who didn't get it was hard (especially since I realized - as soon as she picked up the phone - that she'd thought she'd gotten the job). And now, I'm worrying about whether or not we made the right decision! Ahhh! The new girl seems lovely, and she was SO excited to get the job, so that was wonderful... And she's very capable... and very eager to learn... and very fast... but.... What if I should have ordered something else?!

She starts on Monday.

I'll let you know how she tastes - I mean, how she goes.

um.....

At least I didn't crash into the tree, right?

xo Tammy

I was tagged...

Okay, I've always ignored being tagged in the past, but this time I was tagged by two people at the same time, so I guess I'll give it a try :) I must warn you though: I find the whole 'list four things' a little restrictive, and I will probably need to make disclaimers as I go... :)


4 places I 've lived:
1. Brisbane, Australia
2. Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea
3. Provo, Utah
4. That's it! I've only really lived in 3 places... Well, I've lived in several houses more than that, you know, several different parts of Brisbane... and now, technically, I live in 'Logan City' which is right next to Brisbane City... Maybe I should have made Logan City number four.... It also depends how long you have to 'be somewhere' to be living there, and I bet you had to have been in a 'house' and not a 'hotel'... I spent a week in Italy living with a host family once.... And I spent 2 weeks in Colorado over Christmas once (anyone remember THAT part of my life? haha!)



4 shows I watch
Well, we don't actually watch TV in our house... strange I know... but it works for us :) We have a television set, but no antenna, so we only watch DVDs. We love watching TV series on DVD though... :) Some of my favourites have been
1. Gilmour Girls (yay!)
2. Prison Break
3. Numbers
4. Veronica Mars (only the first one and a half seasons though... then it got soap opera-y)
Oh - the rule though, is that you have to sing the theme song really loudly with the people around you :) (Here is where Numbers loses out - you really can't sing their theme song...) I've never seen monk... maybe it's one I should look into since so many of you love it!



4 jobs I have had
I've had lots I think! So I'll just list the last four... :)
1. BYU Computer Tech (haha. STILL think that's funny)
2. Office person '2nd 2nd AD' (on Jeff's film)
3. Lecturer/Teacher (film school here in Brisbane)
4. Producer (current job!)



4 places I've visited
1. Europe (London, Dover, Paris, Bonn, Zurich, Rome, Florence, Venice) - on a music tour when I was 14 - SUCH a lucky girl :)
2. Parts of Western US (Utah, Idaho, California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico)
3. Hawaii - for free! (thank you Devine Comedy!)
4. And then there's the places I've seen the airports of (Singapore, Tokyo, Some other Japanese city I can't remember, Philippines, Auckland in New Zealand)

4 blogs I read regularly.
1. Brecken
2. Emily
3. Jess
4. Jenny
(That's the order of blogs most regularly updated too... haha!)

4 favorite foods
1. Chocolate!
2. Ceasar Salad
3. Avocado
4. Watermelon
5. And here's one I really miss: Cafe Rio Salads.... *sob*


4 places i would like to visit
1. New York
2. London
3. Utah
4. Seattle
And LUCKILY, I know people in each of those places.... :)


4 things I do in my spare time.
1. Read
2. Going to the mall (movies and shopping)
3. Talk with family/friends
4. Sleep! (I'm always tired!)

4 favorite things to do with kids/family
1. Just sit and talk and laugh
2. Go to a movie
3. Have family fun days (scavenger hunts, survivor olympics, silly and childish games)
4. Just sit and talk and laugh :)

I tag: Jenny! So she'll write on her blog again!

Happy Thoughts

2 inches off the bottom

I've been desperately needing a haircut for about 4 months now! Lots of split ends and rats tails, so on Saturday I finally sat down and asked Mum to trim my hair for me. She ended up taking about 2 inches off I think (which really isn't that much), but it made my hair much shorter! Well, shorter to me. No one has mentioned my drastically shorter hair, so I'm assuming it's actually looking exactly the same as it did before, but no mind! It's enough! I feel like a new woman :) Isn't it wonderful how even a small change can make you feel like you've got the opportunity for a fresh start?

There is beauty all around

Every morning on the way to work, I drive the short road at the top of the Kangaroo Point cliffs, over looking the city, and lately the mornings have been beautiful. This is my favourite view of the city, and I especially love it when the sun shimmers on the water :) I didn't take this photo (thank you google!) but this is pretty much what

I see to my left every morning.

And then, just to make the morning even better, if I glance to my right I see the Brisbane Temple. Again, I didn't take this picture (and it's not the best one), but you get the point: Every morning I see these two wonderful views, and then 2 minutes later, I get to work in a good mood :)

International Phone calls
I was lucky to speak to a few friends on the phone this week - and that made me really happy :) Blogging is wonderful because it means that when you speak with someone after a long period of 'not speaking', you're able to pickup exactly where you are. What a wonderful blessing!

From Bikes to Cars

This morning, as I did the seminary run around 6am (Dad's been sick this week, so I've been dropping the twins to seminary), I saw a guy doing his paper run, in a car! He was driving really slowly, and throwing the newspapers out of the car window, over the car, and into peoples yards. I guess bikes are outdated - especially in winter! Anyway, this made me smile, because it reminded me of that delightfully pointless scene in 'While you were Sleeping' where the paperboy falls of his bike :)

Well, have a happy day!

xo Tammy

Thanks!

Yesterday when I got home from work, I went through the day's mail on the little bench in the kitchen and was excited to see an envelope with my name handwritten on the front! It's so rare and so exciting to see your name handwritten on the mail. These days its all typed, and it's always a bill, a bank statement or a 'buy this' letter. I figured it must be a wedding announcement (because that's usually what a hand written envelope means), but instead it was a thank you card from Jessima's Mum Michelle, for inviting her to my little tea party last week!



Isn't that lovely? People don't really write thankyou cards anymore, and I think that's sad. It was really nice to get the card and it made my day. I think I'm going to buy some thankyou cards that I can keep in my desk drawer so that I can be a 'thankyou card sender' too :)



xo Tammy

High Tea

About six months ago, my bosses at work (they're a brother and sister team) called me in and gave me a voucher for six to a place called High Societea, as a bit of a 'thanks for your hard work'. It was a lovely surprise, and I was excited to take Mum, Jessima, Abby, Bethany and Jessima's mum Michelle. We put it off for several months though, because Michelle was moving back down to Brisbane from Cairns, and we wanted to wait until she was here.

Anyway, last Saturday morning was the big day. The voucher was for the Royal Asscot tea, and we'd booked ourselves in for the 9:30am sitting, since we all had busy days planned :) The place is a really cute little teashop that's won a lot of awards over the last few years. Very cute, with Roses and tea-sets everywhere. They brought out cute little three tier stands with savouries on the bottom, scones and picklets with jam and cream in the middle and sweets/desserts on the top tier. It's not a great photo, but here's was our little group. From the left, there's Mum, Abby, Jessima, Michelle and Bethany.













And this photo shows a little more of the shop, but it was out of focus (sorry!).












Here's Jessima and Michelle trying to make up their minds....












Our little three tiered stands :




















My plate full of savouries:













And this is the desserts tier: Sadly, it was the most unappreciated part of the tea party - hardly any chocolate!












Anyway, it was a really fun little tea party. Jessima's baby shower is coming up (Mum's putting it on), and it's going to be a high tea party, so Mum spent half of the tea party taking notes on everything that was being served ('Wait, everyone, the circular sandwich... is that, Samon?').... Isn't it fun to be a girl?!

xo Tammy

Truly Brilliant Idea!

Okay, I just finished reading Jess' blog, and all her talk of brilliant ideas (teleportation etc) inspired me with a brilliant idea in response to my own 'gas prices are killing me' type question...

My conundrum is simple: I'm a truly terrible blogger.

I mean to be good - I really do, but then I get so busy during the week that I never write, and then when the weekend finally rolls around, and I have time to write, I write more than most people could possibly have time to read! It's no good feeding a child a massive banquet once a month, and then feeding them nothing in between. Children in those scenarios die. And the people responsible, they go to jail.

I don't want to go to jail.

SO! I here's the brilliant idea: Every weekend, I'll write a bunch of posts (because as soon as I sit down to write, I suddenly have a lot to say), and I'll keep them as 'drafts'. And then every day or two, I'll publish one!

Brilliant, right?! That way, you all feel loved (which you are), nobody dies of starvation, and I don't go to jail!

I think this could work... I have to go now - I have several posts to write.

xo Tammy

4 Happy Thoughts

PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER

Every morning, I get in my car and drive into the city. The otherwise 17 minute drive usually takes 45 minutes to an hour because of the thousands of other people who are also driving into the city during peak-hour. So there we all sit: alone in our cars, thinking about the night before, or the morning, or our upcoming day, and we each do it in isolation - even though we're surrounded by hundreds of other people all sitting in their own cars; all doing the same thing.

Every now and again, though, something happens that makes me feel like we're all part of the same giant community - and I always love it when that happens. I like to listen to the radio in the morning, because it's the only time I hear the news or can keep up with what's going on. People call in, and talk about traffic accidents and everyone around me nods, because now we all know that the left lane is blocked up ahead. Indicators go on, and everyone starts to move over into the right hand lanes. Occasionally, you're singing and dancing along to a great song on the radio, and you glance in the rear view mirror and see the person in the car behind you dancing and singing along to the same song. That makes me smile :)

A few nights ago, I was driving home at about 7pm, and the roads getting onto the freeway to head out of the city were still really congested. All of a sudden, I heard an ambulance coming up behind me. I quickly maneuvered my car awkwardly over to the side of the road, and made some space for it to get through. I was coming down a bit of a hill at the time, so I could see the roads and intersections stretching out in front of me as they merged to the highway. Now, I know that an ambulance isn't the kind of thing that makes most people grin - and I hate to think about the poor person who needs the ambulance - but I have to say that seeing an ambulance on the road like that always makes me smile in a deep down happy kind of a way. As the ambulance went past me, I saw each of the crazily congested cars in front of me likewise move off to the side to let the ambulance through. People with green lights stopped so the ambulance could zip safely across the intersections, and space was created where there literally wasn't any space before. All so that someone we'd never met could get the help they needed as quickly as possible. I realize that there's a law saying that people have to move for an ambulance, but still, I get excited to be part of a giant, unspoken, community cooperation. It made me smile the whole way home.

A GESTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

You know what else made me smile? Yesterday morning, I was driving past a little cafe, and I saw a guy standing out on the curb, talking on his mobile phone. As I glanced at him, I realized that he was giving someone street directions on how to get there. How did I know this? well, because he was standing there (all alone) with one hand holding his phone to his ear, and the other hand actioning out the directions. From what I was able to gather, his friend needs to head straight for a good little while, then vear to the left for a couple of minutes before turning right at a round about to move around and under a bridge (which would make sense, because the cafe was actually under a bridge). His brow was wrinkled in concerntration, and it made me smile to think that the fellow probably didn't even realize he was gesturing for a person who couldn't see him.

BANG BANG

About four weeks ago, we received a letter at work that let us know that some apartments were going up on the vacant block across the road from us. We'd seen signs, so we weren't surprised. But they did say that they'd be putting in the foundations over a three week period, and that neighbours in the area might experience 'some noise disruption' during that period. I think the note got pinned up on the kitchen notice board, but we didn't think too much about it. Well, about a week later, workers started arriving on the site. Here is what I have learnt, 3 weeks later, about their particular approach to dropping a foundation:

1) Every morning, huge piles of wooden poles (about the height of tall telephone poles) get delivered across the road. 2) The hammer machine then lifts one pole at a time, and BANGS it into the ground. This BANGING makes A LOT OF NOISE. 3) Once that pole is all the way into the ground, they lift another pole up on top of the pole already in the ground, and bang it down on top of the original pole. 4) A third pole gets banged down on top of the second pole until suddenly, when it's almost all the way in, the ground (for about a 5 block radius), SHAKES VIOLENTLY. This means that first/bottom pole has finally hit bedrock (the rock layer beneath the dirt layer). 5) the machine then moves about a foot to the left or right, and starts the process ALL OVER AGAIN. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!!

When the entire block is riddled with these poles, they'll cut off the tops, and pour a cement slab that covers/joins the pole. Apparently this means the foundations for the building is sitting on the bedrock, and the building's more secure. Seems a bit strange to me, but I figure they know what they're doing.

This has been going on, across the road from my office, everyday, nonestop, from 7am-5pm, for 3 LONG WEEKS! The only reprieve I have is if I'm in one of the sound proof studios downstairs, but my office upstairs is defiantly not sound proof, and anyway, even when you're in the sound proof rooms, the ground still SHAKES VIOLENTLY periodically! I had to move a studio shoot last week to a studio off site because the ground kept shaking in the studio!

Naturally, the works across the road have been a source of discussion for the past weeks - culminating, yesterday, in rumours that the yesterday (Friday) was the last day. By our calculations, the three weeks should be up, and on Monday, we should be back to a quiet normal. What's funny - or what made me smile - was realizing that by the end of last week, I'd grown completely accustomed to the constant banging. i hadn't really thought about it for 2 days. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicious, that come Monday, if that noise isn't there, I might have a hard time concentrating! How crazy would that be?! What strange confused beings we are!

I'M MELTING!
My final little happy/funny thought for today is dedicated to my brothers: Last night we had a Stake Relief Society 'Christmas in July' activity, and I had been asked to sing a few Christmas songs. I was late home from work, and then I had to quickly download backing tracks for the songs etc., so I was running late. I discovered a few years ago, that drinking hot water before I sing is a really quickly easy way to warm up my voice, and since I was running late, I asked my brothers (Micky, Oliver and Ben) who were all home, if they'd put some hot water in my drink bottle. Within minutes though, the water was getting cold again, so I asked them if they would mind boiling some water in the microwave and then putting it in my water bottle, so that by the time I came to sing a couple of hours later, the water would probably still be hot. As I was running out the door a few minutes later, Micky give me the water bottle, and it was really hot. I actually tried to drink a bit in the car, and burnt my tongue. It was even still hot when I swallowed a few mouthfuls before singing an hour or two later, so good job boys - it was well boiled!

When I got home late last night with Mum and Bethy though, I looked at the bottle as I took it out of my bag, and then I burst out laughing! I pulled another water bottle (same brand) out of the cupboard, and compared them both...

The one I took with me is the tiny shrunken one, but this photo really doesn't do it justice! Trust me, it's even smaller in real life! What did they do to the bottle?! I'm guessing they must have put the water bottle IN the microwave to boil the water?! Either way, If I happen to die some time this week, have them check my stomach - I'm pretty sure I must have drunk the missing half of the water bottle!

xo Tammy

I wish you really COULD jump into chalk pavement pictures...

I've decided to go on a holiday. It might not eventuate for years, but I'd at least like to dream about it :) I don't want to talk about work - because that's all I talk about on my blog - but it has been crazier than usual lately, and I've been working longer hours than usual (which is saying something!) Several people are away at the moment for various reasons, and I've had to pick up a lot of 'extras', and then I've had several really big jobs with converging deadlines - so it's been a little ridiculous. Jobs on my docket over the last two weeks have included:

1) Shoot & post for a 20 minute doc about the history of a global mining company (ergo the trip to Mt. Isa and organizing shoots in London and Johannesburg);
2) Desiging, storyboarding and directing production of an interactive website for an energy distribution company;
3) 10 minute DVD (with a 3 minute showreel and 4 x 2 minute 'people spotlights') for a global consortium who are pitching for the contract to build a dam here in Australia (this also included organizing shoots in Paris and London);
4) Shooting & post for a series of interactive AV's for a HR company's website;
5) continuing the post for an energy company who we're producing 9 induction videos for (a total of 12 shooting days, on four locations finished earlier this month - thank goodness!);
6) Writing, shooting & producing a series of short A/Vs for a big bank's website;
7) Producing a series of animations to be played on the website and on instore plasmas for a national phone company;
8) Overseeing post and station distribution for 9 TVCs and 2 Radio commercials for a construction client;
9) and quoting for an endless stream of job requests that keep coming through the door.
- And of course each job includes endless too-ings and fro-ings with clients (who all seem to somehow have my mobile number, and call anytime between 6am till 9pm)

I do like my job, and I was lucky to find it, but over the last two weeks, I've worked several 12-17 hour days, and after a while you find yourself, well, dreaming about going on a holiday! I'm just trying to get through this crunchtime which will hopefully wind up in the next few weeks, and wait until a few people get back to work, and then I'll see about taking a day or two off :)

Maybe I'll go visit the Greek Islands.... or drop into Beijing for the olympics.... or go hole up in a B&B in Ireland.... or catch a musical on Broadway... or visit the Inca ruins.... or take an African Safari, or go hiking in the Swiss Alps, or go digging in Egypt...

At this point, I'd just settle for a day at home :)

xo Tammy

PS. I miss uni, where the holidays were built in!

Can't believe it's almost half way through the year!

This entry isn't particularly about the fact that it's almost half way through the year (although I honestly can't believe that it's almost half way through the year), but I needed to call this entry something other than 'hello again' or 'sorry I haven't written for ages', so I decided to mention the date... Maybe I'll title my next blog entry 'so how about that weather?'

Anyway, I am sorry that I haven't written for ages... again. Sometimes I feel like my blog is just another area of my life that I'm failing in! But then, like all of those other failing areas, I guess I'll just try again :)

So... my week... Well, more jobs just keep pouring in the door at work, so I'm being kept busy there and it's all good. Sometimes I wish they'd stop pouring in, just for a few days even, but I can't complain. I spent a few days up in Mt. Isa again, and it was the second time in 2 weeks that I've been up in Mt. Isa. The thing I like most about Mt. Isa is knowing that I'm 'way out in the outback' :) It probably doesn't mean tooooo much to anyone who doesn't know Australia very well, but it's a very long way from Brisbane. I got this map of Australia off the Internet, and I added in Mt. Isa (in blue) since it wasn't on the map (since it's a tiny place). As you can see, Brisbane is halfway down the east coast, and it's 1829 km (or 1,136 miles) from Mt. Isa.

Last time I went to Mt. Isa, I think I told you that I didn't think too much of the town itself (I thought it was old and not very pretty) but that the surrounding country was fabulous. Well, this trip was to do some shooting at the mines (it's a mining town) and to interview and spend some time shooting with the ex-mayor of Mt. Isa (he finished up 3 months ago). Well, he was a lovely old fellow, and I really enjoyed my day. He's originally from Ireland (so he has a wonderful accent) but he's been living in Mt. Isa for about 40 years now, and he LOVES Mt. Isa. He was so enthusiastic about it, and all the projects they've worked on there and the community facilities etc. He honestly isn't interested in ever living anywhere else. He's convinced he lives in paradise. He was very understated and subtle about it, but as the day progressed I started wondering how on earth I missed the magic of the place on my last visit! How did I not notice it's charm, it's beauty, it's history and heritage? I was telling the camera man later that it was a good thing the day didn't last any longer than it did, because if it had, I reckon I'd have bought myself a property in Mt. Isa and refused to ever leave :)

I thought he was a wonderful example of a civic servant: When it was decided they'd build a tourist mine to give people the chance to see what it was like in the mines, and when funds were tight, his wife would often find him at 3am in the morning down in the tourist mine laying track or working the digging machines all by himself. I really love meeting new people and learning about them. That was so fun.

The other cool thing, of course, was spending some time at the mines. The first mine I went to was an underground mine, and we suited up and headed down. I didn't take any pictures of myself, but I found this picture online, and it was taken in the same place ( I recognize it actually!) So I looked like this - except for that weird thing the guy is holding in his hand.... I'm not actually sure what that is.... and of course I did up the extra button on my shirt...

Turns out I'm not claustrophobic, so that's good :) There was one slightly unnerving moment though, when we were in a section with no lighting, and the guy we were with had us turn of our helmet lights just to see how dark it gets. In case you've ever wondered, it gets very dark. I sat there 'not panicing' for what seemed like an extremely long time saying things like the other guys were saying ('yeah, it's dark alright' and 'I can imagine it would be a little scary if you were trapped down here' etc. etc.) and I did a very good job of not letting my voice crack and squeak with fear. I was very relieved when we turned the lights back on. Yep. Pretty sure I'll never work in an underground mine.

The other Mines up at Mt. Isa are open cut mines, and they have processing and smelting plants on site too. Boy - is that place dirty! At the end of the day when I took off my steel capped boots (yes - I have a pair of steel capped boots that I take with me when ever I'm on 'dangerous sites' - haha, I know, I know, it's very un-Tammy of me!), I smacked them together to shake off any dirt before putting them in my suitcase, and a huge cloud of black dust came off my shoes. So I banged them together again. Another cloud of dust. Again, another. Again, another. I gave up after about 10 bangs and just put my very dust filled shoes in a plastic bag before putting them in my suitcase! Those open cut mines are HUGE, and there are so many HUGE trucks and machines working down there. The processing plants were huge too. I really can't describe just how big these places are. I think you really have to see it for yourself (which you'll do if you ever come and visit me one day - since I'm moving to Mt. Isa and all).

At one point, we stopped up on a higher part of the site and got out of the truck so we could get some shots of an open-aired (no walls) smelting plant that was down the hill from us. Again, I didn't take photos, but I found this online. Basically the smelting is where they melt the metal. As we were standing there (probably about 500 metres from the plant) I guess the wind changed and brought the fumes up to us, and I almost died! I've never experienced something so horrible before. I was a terrible, terrible smell, but it was much more than just a smell - it was like a noxious gas that got down into my lungs and I could barely breath! Me, the client and the sound guy ran back to the car, while our heroic camera man got the shots. I think I yelled something like 'just get 4 or 5 nice ones' over my shoulder as I cowardly saved myself - poor fellow. I was chesty for the next several hours and still had that horrible taste in my mouth a few days later.

People always talk about how much money people who work up in the mines make - well let me tell you this: they deserve it! I can't imagine doing it day after day like that! (you'll notice the guy in the photo is wearing a gas mask, just like the guys on site were doing, but I think that it would still be like working in a nuclear holocaust of something!)

Anyway, all in all I enjoyed the trip. I love to see and do new things, and this was fun. Mr Mayor has convinced me to retire to the mining town of Mt. Isa one day, so you'll all get to see the mines for yourself when you come to visit me :) Lucky!

Till next time!

xo Tammy

PS. Oh, I was going to tell you something that made me laugh: I stayed in the same (really nice) hotel I was in last time, and last time we all noticed that there was a channel on the TV that seemed to be playing the same movie (staring Jim Beluchi and a dog? Justin do you know what it is?) over and over again. We were there for 3 days last time, and the movie was on every time you checked. One time, I flicked to the channel just as the movie was finishing and saw that it just started right over again! Well anyway this time, 2 weeks later, I was delighted to discover that the same channel was still playing the same movie . I thought that was great :)

Chuggin' Along

I don't really have anything exciting to write about, but I realize it's been about 10 days (or 12 posts on Brecken's blog) since I've last written, and I felt bad for neglecting you all, so I thought I'd better write.

We've got an American visitor staying with us at the moment - he's a 17 year old Idaho boy who's dad was mission companions with my Dad in Auckland NZ many moons ago :) My parents stayed with his family last year when they were overseas, and when he met them, young Jason started saving up to come and visit Australia. He arrived almost 2 weeks ago now, and will be here for a month. His first week was spent checking out Brisbane. This week, Mum, Dad, Abby, James and Jason are down in Victoria visiting the great ocean road (along Australian's southern cost). It's supposed to be gorgeous and I was jealous, but I had too much going on at work to take the time out. They'll get back on Monday, after a week, and they'll be here for a day before Mum, Dad, Jason, Ben and Oliver head up to North QLD to spend 6 days in Cairns where they'll go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and white water rafting among their other adventures. Jason's having a fabulous holiday!

Why do I bring this up? Oh, I don't know. I guess it's just to point out how well we Munro's look after any Americans who decide to come and visit us.... :)

Nothing much is new in my world - work work work. I've been shooting locally for the last three days - so it's been nice to be shooting during the day and sleeping in my own bed at night. Now I've got a few days in the office, and then next week I'll be back up to Mt. Isa for a few days. This time the job will be to shoot down in the underground mines - that should be interesting. I don't think I'm particularly claustrophobic, but I guess I'll find out ;)

Hope everything's well with all of you!
xo Tammy

Pictures I owe you...

Since starting a blog, I always keep my camera in my handbag (you know, the bag I take with me EVERYWHERE). I do this so that I can ALWAYS take a quick photo of whatever is going on around me and show it to you :) You'll be surprised, but I actually DO take these photos. The problem is that they rarely make it to you.... *sigh*

So I thought I'd play a little catchup and show you some of the photos with a brief blurb of what they are! Enjoy :)

YARD WORK

As I've mentioned a few times, this last month has been 'major re-haul of the house and yard' spring cleaning (yes Emily - complete with Von Trapp outfits). We've laid new carpet, got the old carpet (staying in some rooms) cleaned, re-plastered and painted walls, cleaned every cupboard in the house and then some, hung new pictures, redecorated certain rooms, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Our house now looks VERY nice, and I'm so very glad it's DONE! My favourite though, is yard work, because then I get a tan, and I get to feel all 'outdoorsy and sportsy' for the duration :)

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of Dad and James working up on the lattice work over an outdoor patio in the yard. You can see the neighbours house (the tall one) in the back ground. I actually took these photos for Dad - he was going to put them on his blog - but that was weeks ago, and he still hasn't posted them so..... :)

WARD ACTIVITIES

We have a LOT of ward activities in our ward! I took a little video recently of the youth in our ward doing a dance they'd made up for a ward activity. They're really into costumes, and even the boys like to sing and dance! It was fun to watch them :)

Then, about an hour later, I walked into the kitchen and found all of the youth - still in their costumes - doing all the washing up. I thought that was so wonderful that I took another picture!

MELBOURNE TRIP

I always mean to take great photos on each of my work trips, but I usually get too busy working, and I forget! I did take a photo of my hotel room though, because I liked the reds, and because it was nice. I've stayed in some lovely places, and I've stayed in some real dives! The horrible ones are usually the 'only ones' ...

LUNCH WITH JESSIMA

Jessima (my sister-in-law) works across the river from me in the city, so whenever we can both make it (which isn't all that often unfortunately) we both meet for a bit of lunch. I work right on the river, so I cross the river in the City Cat (ferry) and she works down to the river and meets me at the dock. Then we eat at the Coffee Club and enjoy a yummy lunch together. Anyway, we had lunch last week, and I took some photos for you all to enjoy :)

This photo is the view from the ferry of the city.

This photo is the Coffe Club on the pier as I pulled up in the ferry.

This is Jessima at lunch - looking very pregnant (yay!)

On the way back, I was so distracted taking photos, that I got on the wrong ferry, headed to the WRONG station. *sigh* This is the view back towards the city during my half hour walk BACK to work after taking the wrong ferry and getting off at the wrong ferry station!

These are some of the lovely apartments I passed on my walk back to work... I wonder how much they cost? They're right on the river with a great view of the city :)

MT. ISA

I just got back from a trip to Mt. Isa. Did any of you look it up to see where it is?! I didn't realize it, but it's actually way way in the outback :) In fact it would have only been a two hour drive from Mt. Isa to the Northern Territory border (I really wanted to go - but I couldn't convince the camera man and client that it was worthwhile *sigh* I know there'd have been nothing there but desert and scrubs and maybe some crocodiles and Crocodile Dundee, but STILL, I think it would have been VERY cool!). Anyway, Mt. Isa is a small town, in the middle of the nowhere, surrounded by red rock hills with bush trees and scrubs dotting them. The town isn't a nice town - the houses are all old and little and run down - but from the town lookout, you can see that there are lots of green trees in the town, and they really stand out from the deserty red hills surrounding the town. I really loved the country, even though I didn't love the town. I was there to film at the Power Station just out of town (This was my forth power station, and I'm starting to find them quite beautiful! But when you go anywhere with the intent to shoot it, you start looking at the place as if you're looking at it through a lens, and before you know it, you're seeing beauty where you never would have seen it before! I'm afraid that beautiful light on shiny towers is starting to be very exciting!), but most of the people in town work at the mine. And this is what was funny- the mine is right there in the town! Usually there's a space of some sort separating them, but the town comes right up to the mine - there's only a normal road separating them - and I found that very unusual. The stacks were spewing out some scary looking smoke! I think I'll be back in Mt. Isa in the next few weeks to shoot at the mine, but I'll let you know if that happens.

Our hotel was very nice (sorry no pictures) - apparently it was a 5 star place, which is surprising considering I was in Mt. Isa! But it was very nice. My favourite part of the trip though, is that they flew us back to Brisbane in business class. I LOVE business class! There were only 12 business class seats on the plane, and the seat us first. They they come round (having memorized our 12 names) and say things like 'Ms. Munro, can I get you a drink before take-off?' So I sit there sipping orange juice from a champaign flute, and watching all of the other poor economy fliers walk through my fancy cabin on their slums out the back. The longer I sat, sipped and pitied, the higher my nose rose into the air! :) I understand why I'm not mega rich now - I'd be too proud and end up in hell! But it was lovely while it lasted :) They fed us yummy yummy food on real china *sigh* It was heaven. Our little toilet actually had fresh flowers in it! When we got off the plane, our luggage all comes through first, because it's got bright pink 'business class' tags on it. So I had to step forward - with the economy hoards watching - and collect my bag, which was hard to see because (again) my nose was pointing straight up and my bag was down on the conveyor belt. I was a bit surprised, actually, that someone didn't come and collect my bags for me - I really shouldn't have to bend down like that!

Yep. Definitely going to Hell.