:: Talent ::

I'm so glad you all agree that I look absolutely fabulous as Princess Jasmine! That picture was drawn for me by my youngest sister. She loves to draw and create - we have two huge scrapbook's full of her creations already (she's six).

Yesterday afternoon I was on the train with my sister-in-law and we were discussing the different types of talent people have. Some people are crafty, some people can draw, some people can bake, some people can create, and so on and so forth. One talent I'd love to have is the gift of song. I can carry a tune, but I'll be honest - no one wants to hear me sing! The singing gene in my family was given to my younger sister.

What talent do you wish you had? Apart from singing, I also wish I had the talent of fast metabolism! Ha!

I hope you're all having a fantastic Wednesday.

:: Princess Jasmine ::

I just wanted to share with you all how amazing I look as a Disney Princess - Princess Jasmine, naturally! :)

Have a great weekend!

:: Gym vs Biscuits ::

About three weeks ago I joined a gym. It was probably the most spontaneous decision I have ever made. I was having a discussion about weight with a girl I work with, and she mentioned we get a discount to a gym in the city because of where we work. Within about 10 minutes I had emailed the gym and had a consultation booked for the next day!

I am not a big fan of exercise and every afternoon I have to practically drag myself to the gym, but I am slowly finding that once I am there I quite enjoy myself. I like the fact that for an hour each afternoon I can switch off and simply concentrate on the sound of my own breathing. I am terrible at cardio, so while I am on the rower/bike/cross-trainer my breathing sounds a bit like this: "*Supressed groan*, *puff puff*, *long exhaled breath with big puffy cheeks*, *wheeze* [insert the sonds of taking my asthma puffer here]" and well, you get the point! I love doing weights though, so I change up my sessions a little to add in some things I don't like with some things that I do. If only my gym had a pool!

The snap decision to join a gym was partly because of my wedding and partly because of how I have been feeling lately. In the past few weeks I have had a lot more energy and I feel a lot better about myself. I have decided not to stare at the number on the scales and instead focus on how I feel and also how my clothes feel. And let me tell you, already my clothes and I are starting to feel great!

Now I need to focus on what I put in my mouth. I have been teaching myself new recipes so I am not so repetitive in the kitchen when I move in with Mr LG. The problem is, the biscuits taste so good! The more I learn to cook/bake, the more I want to eat them!

What's your favourite form of exercise? Mine is swimming, but it's still a little too chilly here to brave the water! What's your food weakness? Mine is potato. I could eat it all day, every day!

:: Flower Inspiration ::

Last Friday marked six months 'til Mr LG and I get married! In my free time this week I have been scouring my wedding magazine collection for checklists to make sure we are on-track and that there is nothing we are missing. From what I can see, we are up-to-date. Phew!

I took a day off work today (yay!) and went to visit a florist. Now, I do not pretend to know a lot about flowers. In fact, I know very little. That's not because I don't like flowers - I do! Flowers just aren't my forte. When I emailed this particular florist last week I asked for some basic quotes. She replied asking what kinds of flowers I was after. I sent her some pictures in response, because I didn't know the names of them!  Anyway, daftness aside, she is wonderful and I have booked her in for the big day. Hooray!

I would like to source these pictures, but I can't remember where I found them! If any of you know, please let me know so I can properly credit them.

I think the softness of these flowers will work well with the hairstyles and dress inspiration I have for my beautiful bridesmaids (no hints as to what I will be wearing or how my hair will sit, as Mr LG reads this blog). My next venture is to figure out how to decorate the reception tables. We will be having rectangular tables with 8-10 people per table. We do not want the centrepieces to block people's view, so our choices are very low or very high.

To all you married ladies out there, what did you have for table centrepieces? And to all you non-married ladies, do you have any suggestions for me? Any help is greatly appreciated, I can assure you!

Much love.

:: Memories ::

I'm back from my unplanned hiatus. I'm not quite sure where the time went, and I can't quite tell you what I did - it seems that making a living got in the way of having a life!

My family has been away all week. Mr LG finishes work later than I do (he stayed over to keep me company), and it was quite unusual to come home to an empty house. I come from a large family (6 kids), so I'm used to some sort of noise at all times. I'm not saying I don't like the quiet or time to myself - I do! It's just funny how you can get used to something that someone else might find irritating.

One of the biggest noise makers in my house is my 6 (and a half) year old sister. I'm always amazed at how much energy she has and I love seeing the world through her eyes. She is quite creative and spends a lot of time at her little table creating some sort of masterpiece. My favourite creation of hers was her name, cut out of paper and glued together. That may not sound like anything too special, but I was sitting next to her while she was making it and I watched as she used sticky tape to stick random shapes together in, what looked to me, a haphazard way. I asked her what it was (because honestly, it looked like a mess!) and she told me it was her name and proceeded to flip the creation over to reveal she'd spelt her name out. She created her name, back-to-front and spelt backwards, so that when she flipped it over it spelt her name correctly. It was pretty cool to watch.

Having a sister so much younger than me has allowed me to revisit memories of my childhood. Things we used to do all the time, but now we're 'too busy' or 'too tired' ... always 'too [something]' to stop and enjoy. I think that's what happened to me these past few weeks, I was 'too busy' doing nothing of great importance that I forgot to stop and do the things I actually enjoy. I've found a few pictures of things I used to love doing as a child, but don't do nearly enough of anymore.

:: Feed the ducks at the park ::

:: Play Totem Tennis ::

:: Fly a kite ::

:: Ride a bike with no hands ::

(Gotta love my Dad's bright pink boardies!)

:: Bake cupcakes ::

:: Go to the park with friends ::

:: Sing and dance while you're walking ::

And on that note, I'm going to go make myself an 'irresponsible' dinner of hot chips (with lots of chicken salt and tomato sauce, naturally), and then spend the rest of my night doing things I want to do rather than doing the things I 'need' to do.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend filled with things you love.