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