Over a month...

That's how long it's been since I've blogged! Sorry, Rach!

In the past month a lot has happened.

We went to Stansbury on the 19th of December to spend Christmas away from home. Michael, Mel, Caleb, and Tim all came down on the 23rd, and we celebrated Christmas on the 24th because Mike, Mel, and Caleb had to go back that night.
We played tennis on Christmas Day, and ate 3 types of roast meat for lunch.
I got a CD player for Christmas, a nice top, a picnic rug, and a few bits and pieces.
We got back from Stansbury on the 26th, and Kristy and I went into Koorong with Rosie because of the sale :)

We left for McLaren Vale on the 28th and spent a very fun week there camping with people from church. We celebrated Mum's birthday on the 31st, and New Year's Day on the 1st. We were struggling to stay up until midnight, but we all managed to do it. Just.
We left McLaren Vale on the 5th, and were home for 4 days before leaving for Mt. Gambier on the 10th. It was great being down in Mt. Gambier and catching up with Kristy. I read lots of books, and we got icecream at Badenocks (spelling?). The coolest thing was that on Sunday afternoon, we had just gotten icecream from Badenocks and we spontaneously decided to go to Portland (about 1 1/2 hours away in Victoria). We hung out there for most of the afternoon, and we went into this little cafe that had HOMEMADE ICECREAM! We were soo wishing that we hadn't bought icecream earlier because they had Apple Pie Icecream, and Coconut Icecream, and a whole bunch of other flavours, and they all looked absolutely delicious!

We got back from Mt. Gambier on the 14th, and it's really nice to be done with travelling. I loved the time away, but it's nice not to have to pack up and ride in the car for a couple hours anymore :)

P.S. That was a really run-on post :P

100th post

I have two choices:

1. Take my hair down because I believe that it being up at the moment is giving me a headache

2. Sit at the computer, eat lollies, and hope that the headache will go away because, hello! my hair is finally out of my face!

I'll leave you to decide what choice I made :P



In other news, this is my 100th post!!!! Yay! Let's have a party!

That's actually quite sad considering I've had this blog for over a year.

Hmmm.... anyone getting the feeling that I need to post more?

Last Saturday I went to Kapunda with Rach to hand out juice, balloons, and stickers at a street party. Rach works for Flow FM which is a radio station. Flow FM were emceeing the event and were handing out free stuff, and so Rach asked me if I wanted to come and help.

I had so much fun! We walked up and down the main street about a hundred times, which was probably a good thing because we ate three doughnuts each, and had a steak sandwich for lunch. It was great to be able to hand out free stuff, and see little kids smiling. We were smiling all day :)

At one point, Lisa's (she and her husband Wayne own the radio station) shoe broke, and so we went with her to see where we could find a pair of shoes that she could buy. First we went to the chemist, but all they had were some ugly masseuse (?) shoes. However, one of the women working there said that the op-shop at the AOG church were having a sale, and so we headed on down there. When we got down there, they had some good shoes that both Lisa and Rach loved. What was most exciting though, was that all their women's clothing was $1 each!!!! I got a gorgeous red dress, and a pair of 3/4 bright yellow pants, and Rach got a few things as well. The great thing about the red dress was that it would normally cost at least $30, but I got it for $1 :)

Another highlight of the day was that I got to hold a snake!! Twice!

I got a little creeped out when it started to turn its head my way, and again when a kid brushed it up against my arm when I wasn't expecting it, but it was so cool!

Some kids finally got Rach to hold one as well, and we got heaps of photos of both of us holding the snakes, and also other kids holding the snakes.

We got heaps of photos from the day, but I have to get them off of Rach first.

It was a great day, and I'm so glad I went :D

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is held on the fourth Thursday of November in America.
We don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day in Australia, but I thought that I would post about some of the things that I'm thankful for:

My parents
My brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, and sister-in-law
My nieces and nephews
A house that we can finally say is ours
My own room
Friends that accept me the way I am
Friends and family that put up with quite a lot from me
Wise parents whose advice I can trust
The fact that even though I may have to make a hard decision, my friends and family will back me up in it
The colour yellow
Spots and polka dots
My church
My church family
Friends whose advice I can seek
People that love me
My future husband
Babies
Children
That Kymberley got off safely this morning
That I got to TAFE early instead of late

And the list goes on and on and on and on......

I need......

SLEEP!

And unfortunately, I don't see it in the near future....

You didn't know I could see into the future, did you????

My Birthday!

Okay, I'm a little late in posting, but yesterday was my birthday!
I turned 17 :)

It started out with getting woken up at 5:40 by Mr. Fisher sending me an SMS saying happy birthday. After sending him one back saying he was crazy, he apologized saying that he didn't think I'd have my phone on.
I went back to sleep and slept really well after that until 6:45 when I had to get up to get ready for TAFE. Mum came in at about 7:10 and said breakfast was ready! She'd made me bacon and eggs for breakfast :D Normally I'm the one making them for someone else's birthday brekkie. I got my presents then.
I went to TAFE, and then I went out for lunch with Aunty Di, Mum, and Lisa. It was really, really yummy.
After lunch I had to go back to TAFE for the rest of the afternoon (by the way, I think it should be against the law to go to TAFE, school, or work on your birthday) and then Mum picked me up at 4. We went out to the Fisher's so that Rach and I could catch up, and then headed on out to Auburn. We went out to Auburn to have tea with Dad, Jo, Jimmy, Dave, and Josiah (my dad, brother, and the guys that are working with them). It was so much fun! It was great seeing Dad and all of them on my birthday. The hotel that we went to for tea was in an old house, and they'd set us up in a separate room.
It was so great.
It was a really good birthday!

Oh man!

Whoa! I can't believe it, but I almost forgot to blog about something really cool that happened to me yesterday!

I got my P's! I passed my driving test!!!!

Apparently I didn't break any laws (which means I didn't creep over the speed limit. YAY!!!), and even though my parallel parking was a little shoddy, I still passed :)
We got back after the test and John (the guy who gave me my test) turned to me and said "You passed", and I replied "Are you serious?!"
I was so stoked! I'd been praying so hard.

Funny story: Mum and I went to exchange my certificate of passing (passification??? lol) for a sheet of paper that I get to keep til my driver's license comes in the post, and after I had my photo taken for my driver's license photo the guy who was taking my photo turned to me and said "Have a great day next Tuesday". I said thanks and walked out with Mum. As we got out of the Department of Motor Vehicle Registration (mental blank. Is that the right title?) I turned to Mum and I said, "What's next Tuesday?". She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy and said "Um, your birthday?!". We lost it. It was so funny!
In my defense of my absolutely over-the-top blonde comment, it WAS a random stranger saying it. You don't really expect a random stranger to be wishing you a great day on your birthday.
Even though it made me look really blonde, it made me laugh.

I knew it! I have the plague!

On Tuesdays and Fridays I go to TAFE. This means that I take the bus four times a week.
I sit next to the window with my backpack on my lap so that people are able to sit next to me.
However, it's actually quite hard to get people to sit next to me (not that I try). Quite often, like today, I'll get to Tea Tree Plaza and no one has sat next to me the whole 1/2 hour trip. I've only ever had ONE guy sit next to me, and people my age tend to avoid me like the plague (hence the title).
I really don't mind, but I just think it's funny to sit there watching the bus fill up while people around me either move past me to sit somewhere else or stand while there's a free spot next to me!

Ahh well, their loss

Go check it out!

Tomorrow I'm touring a book called 'Plain Perfect' by Beth Wiseman. It's about the Amish, and in light of that, on my book blog I've linked to a few websites about the Amish, what they believe, their wedding customs, and some of the quilts they make.

So, go check it out :)

Haha!!!

We went to Macca's tonight after church. It was lots of fun!
Jimmy stole a little converse shoe keyring off of Steph's main keyring, and gave it to me to hold onto. Well, when Steph noticed that it was missing, all hell broke loose! She was yelling (all in good fun) and going on and on.... She suspected me at first, but I told her that "I didn't take it! I promise I did not take it this time! I swear that I did not take it!" She believed me. Then she wanted to know where I'd put it. I kept saying "I didn't take it!". Emma (traitor!!!!!!!!) told her that I had it, and while she was busy betraying me, I went out to the playground with Jack. Steph came out and was trying to figure out where it was. She gave up after a little bit, and Jack and I sat and chatted for awhile. Later on, Jason, Jo, and Moses came out to the playground. Jason warned me that Steph was incoming, and I started freaking out :P
Jack held Steph off, and then showed me how to get to the back of the playground (where you're not s'posed to go). We got away from her that time, but she came out later and pretended to frisk me. By this time Jason had taken it out of my bag, so when she asked me (again!) where it was, I could honestly say that "I don't know. I did know. It was in my bag originally, but Jason took it and I have no idea where it is!" Jason had put it in his pocket, and ended up giving it to her a short time afterwards, but it was so much fun!

Oh, and keep in mind that I was doing all this climbing over the playground in a knee-length skirt! I was very proud of myself :)

TAFE and a pledge

I'm at TAFE today (yes, I'm supposed to be working), and I'm doing Computing. That means that I'm learning how to use Xcel. Xcel isn't too bad, but I think I preferred Word because I could type fast and get through heaps quickly. With Xcel however, it's constant clicking around, and you can't really get into a rhythm like you can with Word.

I've been really naughty today. So far, I've eaten a dim sim, raspberry licorice, and sour cream & onion chips. It tasted really nice though.
As of right now, I've decided that I need to start eating more healthily, exercising more, and watching how much money I'm spending. So, in order to help me with that, I'm not going to buy anything while I'm at TAFE, I'm going to go for a walk at least 4 times a week, and I'm not going to buy anything unnecessary (eg. clothes, food etc). This starts today. Yes, I realize I've already bought things today, but I mean that it's starting from now.

As of, 3:04 pm, I, Julia Elisabeth Graham, will not buy anything at TAFE, I will go for a walk at least 4 times a week, and I will not buy anything unnecessary.

All of you are my witnesses :)