Again with a P!nk post; but I thought I might upload video from the evening...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I've gone P!nk!!!!
I don't get out a lot for what are commonly called 'girls nights'. I don't have many girl friends, and those I do have tend to either be right in the middle of nappy season, or have left the country for far off fields like Zimbabwe!
But last night was different. Two women from work and I got all dressed up and gorgeous, and headed off to P!nk.
Oh my goodness. I don't think I've been to a more frenetic, more amazing, BIGGER concert than hers. Whilst nothing will ever top U2 for me, I have to admit their stage makeup looked like child's play compared to hers.
Circus acts. Massive couches & beds. Slippery dips. Circus freaks. Scary clowns. The list just went on! And the costumes, my goodness, elaborate and beautiful.
Tell you what, I might want to take up trapeze work soon! Especially if it gets me a toned stomach like hers!!!
Anyway, enjoy the piccies...
Stay tuned for some video!
But last night was different. Two women from work and I got all dressed up and gorgeous, and headed off to P!nk.
Oh my goodness. I don't think I've been to a more frenetic, more amazing, BIGGER concert than hers. Whilst nothing will ever top U2 for me, I have to admit their stage makeup looked like child's play compared to hers.
Circus acts. Massive couches & beds. Slippery dips. Circus freaks. Scary clowns. The list just went on! And the costumes, my goodness, elaborate and beautiful.
Tell you what, I might want to take up trapeze work soon! Especially if it gets me a toned stomach like hers!!!
Anyway, enjoy the piccies...
The Stage; looking awesome during 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
One of the lounges as she sang 'Leave me Alone (I'm Lonely)'
Yes, she is singing on that trapeze - 'Get This Party Started' to be precise
Stay tuned for some video!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
New Haircut
I've often said I'm not very 'girly'. Hair, makeup, clothes - not something I really spend a lot of time thinking about. They just don't rank highly on my priorities.
However, I do have a favourite hair dresser, and despite it costing a small fortune to get my hair 'remastered', I save up my pennies and get it done once a year.
This time I also went a colour. And here's the final result...
(the colour doesn't show up too well - it's a nice mahogany-tinged red).
Sunday, July 5, 2009
My favourite photo
So after tagging a few friends with the 'Who am I' questionnaire, I soon found myself being tagged for another 'please post a part of your life' item.
Beck tagged me and asked for my favourite photo. I have so many 'favourites', but this one wins by a long shot.
Now I know you've all seen this photo, simply because you find it to the right of my blog, just before I do my little snapshot of who I am, and what my passions are.
But I haven't ever really shared the story behind it before.
This was taken in Rwanda back in 2008, in a tiny little village named Kayenzi perched on the side of a mountain.
Rwanda is a part of me. I can quite literally say that my first thought every morning and my last thought every night is about Rwanda and the people I met there. My whole life is directed right now towards getting back there in the near future. There are a lot of tears shed in private due to my longing to be back there. It sounds ridiculous, but Rwanda is my home and I will not rest until I am back there.
I never got to know this little girl's name, but I met her within an hour of being on the ground in Kayenzi. We arrived to a huge circle of little children all singing to us and welcoming us to their home. In her grubby little dress (probably the only 'Sunday' dress she owns) and with her cheeky little smile she made a beeline for me, grabbed my hand, and stole my heart forever.
She was such a shy little girl up until this photo. She just wanted to cuddle with me and rest her hand in mine.
But when Paul got his camera out - she was a star! She was in my arms as he came up to us and she just leant out with this massive grin and left me with a photo that summed up my whole journey in Rwanda.
This photo is my commitment to returning to Rwanda. Every time I look at it I pray over this child and make the thousandth promise to return and see her and play with her again.
Turn around and it's GONE!
Someone PLEASE tell me where June went? Oh my goodness, turn around for five seconds and a whole month passes in a blink of an eye. Now I know my mother always told me that time flew as you got older - but I didn't really think I'd reached the age where a month happens and you barely notice.
So, what was the highlight of my June?
Last Sunday we went to the Multicultural Festival at Annerley Soccer Fields. There were so many different cultures represented and so much to eat, watch and do the whole day that it seemed to fly.
Brad had great fun watching the soccer, and I was able to indulge in everything African once more.
But the highlight of my day BY FAR was meeting the people running the Rwandan Queensland Association food stall. I didn't even know there was a Rwandan association in Queensland!
So I went up to the stall (to order some delicious brochette - man I miss that from Rwanda!), and as they started serving me, out I came with Muraho (hello), Amakuru (how are you) and Nitwa Umufasha (my name is Umufasha - umufasha is a Kinyarwandan word meaning helper, which is what Sascha means).
The poor lady almost fell over! She started crying and hugging me and just couldn't believe an Australian knew her language! I was just so excited to finally talk to someone who understood kinyarwandan, and was so glad she didn't think I was an idiot. She and her male helper wanted to know who had been teaching me, so when I told them I'd visited Rwanda last year, they almost started crying again. It's amazing to me how much being aware of another person's culture can make them so emotional and thankful.
I was on a massive high for the rest of the day, and it really made my year.
Brad had great fun watching the soccer whenever he got tired of walking around stalls with me
This Rwandan girl was so tiny, yet her voice was massive!
These young girls were from the Rwandan Queensland Association, and did their nation proud with cultural dance
Now I know I talk a lot about how much I miss Rwanda and how I would go back in a heartbeat, but to just meet up with a Rwandan family and talk with them really made it so much more clear to me that Rwanda is always going to be a part of me, and will never leave me.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Who Am I
I haven't actually been tagged for this, but I've seen this on a couple of the other blogs I stalk, and seeing that I can't actually hook up my camera and blog what I want to about the past week just yet, I'll do this instead.
What Is Your Current Obsession?
Apart from the usual (babies and Africa)? The most current one is probably Twilight. I know that's completely unoriginal, and that many of my friends are in exactly the same predicament - but hey, at least we can mutually appreciate the sadness that is our escape into Forkes.
What Are You Wearing Today?
Well excluding the very glamorous towel on my head, I am wearing my comfy jeans, teal long sleeved tshirt, purple polo neck 'skivvy', and my very fancy very new silver ballet flats.
What's for dinner?
I'll be at work during dinner (late shift for me, hurrah!), so it will most probably be spaghetti on toast.
What Would You Eat for Your Last Meal?
It would be a grand meal. First off the entree would be a delicious steaming bowl of mum's slow-cooked pumpkin soup. Then the main meal would be chicken schnitzel on a bed of sweet potato. Dessert would be a very nice piece of wildberry cheesecake, or mums apple cinnamon teacake. And then a platter of Maleny triple cream brie, proscuitto and olives.
What's the Last Thing You Bought?
The ballet flats I'm wearing. Along with Dr Pepper for hubby; a scarf for me; and a pair of black ballet flats (it was a 2-pair deal!).
What Are You Listening To Right Now?
A lot of P!nk. Otherwise the 'fast song' playlist on my IPhone (again with the Pink, No Doubt, Powderfinger, U2, The Cat Empire, Muse and Evanescence).
If you could go anywhere in the world in the next hour, where would you go?
Rwanda, obviously. Passing that, probably London. Or Washington State.
Which language do you want to learn?
Kinyarwandan, obviously. I'd really like to go back to intensive French, just to get my speed up and the grammar down again.
What do you love most about where you currently live?
I love that my family is close by. I love the fact that we own this house, and that it's bigger and better than I ever expected to own at my age. I love that we are really close to the ocean, and also not too far away from the mountains. I love the sunshine in winter; and I love that we don't have the traffic issues of some other places.
What is your favourite colour?
Purple. Definitely. Although I do own a lot of black, white and deep blue in my wardrobe!
What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
It's a tie between two corsets. One is a deep red with black embroidery and the other is a blue with metallic-type gold woven through it. Couple either of these with my long black satin skirt and my calf length lace up 'emo' boots.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I was still recovering from my first breakup. Half way through my first year of my BNursing degree. Still living at home, and adjusting to mum's remarriage/the addition of stepsiblings/the new house.
Describe your personal style?
I'm very much a comfort girl. With my job, I really don't have the time or reason to be as quirky as I'd like. If I did have the time and the money, I'd probably have a look not disimilar to Abby in NCIS (minus labcoat).
If you had $300 right now what would you spend it on?
Totally unglamorous, but probably getting the drains fixed at home. Or, if I was going to splurge, a 2 day minibreak at the Marriott Gold Coast. With the breakfast.
What are you going to do after this?
Check that the upgrade to my IPhone worked. Then dry my hair and go claim money on medicare and get some more drugs.
What inspires you?
Reading about people who do an "Africa Change". People who work with NGOs in Africa. People doing medical work in Africa.
What are your favourite films?
Michael Caton-Jones' 'Shooting Dogs' has been my favourite for about 2 years now. I don't see that changing. Honourable Mentions include Amazing Grace, Sometimes in April, The Kite Runner and Juno.
Who's work/designs are you inspired by?
I'm very inspired by Bells, my blog & forum friend. We've never met, but I always find her blog posts about her latest clothing creations cheer me up and inspire me to get creative.
Your favourite books?
We Wish to Inform You that We Will be Killed Along With Our Families (Phillip Gourevitch) is one of the most heart-wrenching and impacting books I've read in a long time.
Do You Collect Anything?
Cows! Soft toy ones. I don't really tell many people that, simply because I'm very particular as to the cows that come into our family, and I don't want to turn around and be overrun by cowprint one day. I'm sure you understand.
What makes you follow a blog?
Most of the ones I follow are written by friends. Although I do like reading blogs by people who are working in Rwanda. And I do read a few blogs by people going through infertility/assisted reproduction.
What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Probably the cup of coffee and piece of chocolate cake I just ate. It was a pretty lousy day before that.
What's one thing you dream of doing?
Living in Rwanda, with my children and my husband, running or at the very least working as part of an NGO based around women, women's health and children.
Here we go.
What Is Your Current Obsession?
Apart from the usual (babies and Africa)? The most current one is probably Twilight. I know that's completely unoriginal, and that many of my friends are in exactly the same predicament - but hey, at least we can mutually appreciate the sadness that is our escape into Forkes.
What Are You Wearing Today?
Well excluding the very glamorous towel on my head, I am wearing my comfy jeans, teal long sleeved tshirt, purple polo neck 'skivvy', and my very fancy very new silver ballet flats.
What's for dinner?
I'll be at work during dinner (late shift for me, hurrah!), so it will most probably be spaghetti on toast.
What Would You Eat for Your Last Meal?
It would be a grand meal. First off the entree would be a delicious steaming bowl of mum's slow-cooked pumpkin soup. Then the main meal would be chicken schnitzel on a bed of sweet potato. Dessert would be a very nice piece of wildberry cheesecake, or mums apple cinnamon teacake. And then a platter of Maleny triple cream brie, proscuitto and olives.
Drinks would be Coffee Club Pine Lime Ice Frappe Splice for the entree; Forest Estate Pinot Gris for the schnitzel; Brown Brothers Dolcetta & Syrah for the dessert and then Irish Creme Latte (with Baileys) for the platter.
What's the Last Thing You Bought?
The ballet flats I'm wearing. Along with Dr Pepper for hubby; a scarf for me; and a pair of black ballet flats (it was a 2-pair deal!).
What Are You Listening To Right Now?
A lot of P!nk. Otherwise the 'fast song' playlist on my IPhone (again with the Pink, No Doubt, Powderfinger, U2, The Cat Empire, Muse and Evanescence).
If you could go anywhere in the world in the next hour, where would you go?
Rwanda, obviously. Passing that, probably London. Or Washington State.
Which language do you want to learn?
Kinyarwandan, obviously. I'd really like to go back to intensive French, just to get my speed up and the grammar down again.
What do you love most about where you currently live?
I love that my family is close by. I love the fact that we own this house, and that it's bigger and better than I ever expected to own at my age. I love that we are really close to the ocean, and also not too far away from the mountains. I love the sunshine in winter; and I love that we don't have the traffic issues of some other places.
What is your favourite colour?
Purple. Definitely. Although I do own a lot of black, white and deep blue in my wardrobe!
What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
It's a tie between two corsets. One is a deep red with black embroidery and the other is a blue with metallic-type gold woven through it. Couple either of these with my long black satin skirt and my calf length lace up 'emo' boots.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I was still recovering from my first breakup. Half way through my first year of my BNursing degree. Still living at home, and adjusting to mum's remarriage/the addition of stepsiblings/the new house.
Describe your personal style?
I'm very much a comfort girl. With my job, I really don't have the time or reason to be as quirky as I'd like. If I did have the time and the money, I'd probably have a look not disimilar to Abby in NCIS (minus labcoat).
If you had $300 right now what would you spend it on?
Totally unglamorous, but probably getting the drains fixed at home. Or, if I was going to splurge, a 2 day minibreak at the Marriott Gold Coast. With the breakfast.
What are you going to do after this?
Check that the upgrade to my IPhone worked. Then dry my hair and go claim money on medicare and get some more drugs.
What inspires you?
Reading about people who do an "Africa Change". People who work with NGOs in Africa. People doing medical work in Africa.
What are your favourite films?
Michael Caton-Jones' 'Shooting Dogs' has been my favourite for about 2 years now. I don't see that changing. Honourable Mentions include Amazing Grace, Sometimes in April, The Kite Runner and Juno.
Who's work/designs are you inspired by?
I'm very inspired by Bells, my blog & forum friend. We've never met, but I always find her blog posts about her latest clothing creations cheer me up and inspire me to get creative.
On a more 'Africa' front, and a different type of work entirely, I have been very inspired by Dr Catherine Hamlin (started Fistula Clinics in Ethiopia); Gemma Sisia (started the St Jude's School in Tanzania); Gary & Marilyn Skinner (started the Watoto villages in Uganda); Donna & Errol Spence (started the VANA village in Chivhu, Zimbabwe).
And I'm really inspired by my best friends Dion and Bek Allen, and their work in Zimbabwe (with VANA) at the moment.
Your favourite books?
We Wish to Inform You that We Will be Killed Along With Our Families (Phillip Gourevitch) is one of the most heart-wrenching and impacting books I've read in a long time.
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) is a book that I don't think will ever leave me.
And who could go past Austen?
Do You Collect Anything?
Cows! Soft toy ones. I don't really tell many people that, simply because I'm very particular as to the cows that come into our family, and I don't want to turn around and be overrun by cowprint one day. I'm sure you understand.
What makes you follow a blog?
Most of the ones I follow are written by friends. Although I do like reading blogs by people who are working in Rwanda. And I do read a few blogs by people going through infertility/assisted reproduction.
What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Probably the cup of coffee and piece of chocolate cake I just ate. It was a pretty lousy day before that.
What's one thing you dream of doing?
Living in Rwanda, with my children and my husband, running or at the very least working as part of an NGO based around women, women's health and children.
And, my final question...
Who's getting tagged?
(I'd tag the Allens too, were it not for no power and limited internet access when they DO travel to get emails and read blogs!).
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
New Favourite Song
Shouldn't take much to work out why I love this song.
Just over 3 months til Africa. A bit of a mantra in my head lately.
What is it about Africa and its people that embeds itself so deeply in a soul?
Just over 3 months til Africa. A bit of a mantra in my head lately.
What is it about Africa and its people that embeds itself so deeply in a soul?
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