The Kiwi + His Girl + Their Little Lambies: 2009

December 21, 2009

Waving Goodbye to 2009

What an amazing year this has been! We are now 4 sleeps to Christmas, and 10 sleeps to a brand new decade, and I am feeling so blessed.

Firstly, and without further ado, Jonathan and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. May all your wishes come true in 2010!

2009 has been a fantastic year. So much has happened this year that I feel I need to list everything in a chronological order:

January: Hip surgery. A success story, in the sense that I am no longer in pain, much. Every now and again, the hip still hurts, but this only happens when the weather is about to turn nasty. On the bright side, my hip has turned into a weather vane of sorts; I can always tell when it's going to rain!

January: Mum reaches "official retirement age".

January: Tommy turns 3. We had a lovely party in the park to celebrate the occasion.

March: Mina turns 4.

March: Lucas turns 1.

March: New job. I started working for the Government in March, after securing a role through the lovely Deanne. What was originally a 2-week temporary placement has now been extended to the end of April next year.

April: Holiday plans. When our darling friend Belinda announced she was getting married to her beau Pete in November, she invited us to attend the wedding, in NYC. We got very excited and started wishing and hoping and made tentative plans to attend.

May: When 2 homes become 1. After 18 months together, Jonathan moved in with me.

June: Renée turns 5. We had a gorgeous dinner to mark the occasion. She is such a little lady now!

June: More holiday plans. Jonathan and I booked our holiday to visit his family in NZ. We were to take Mina with us, making our first holiday together a family affair.

July: Dad & Mum's love story continues. My folks celebrated 39 years of marriage this year!

July: Redkite Ultra Violet Ball. This year's colour theme for the Redkite Colour Ball was Ultra Violet. We had a terrific night, and I even got up close and personal with the very tall and dashing Tom Williams.

August: NZ Holiday. Jonathan, Mina and I spent a week in Auckland with Jonathan's folks, Malcolm and Robin, and Jonathan's grandmothers Gran Pat and Nana Una. Jonathan's brother Dave, his newly pregnant wife Jolie and their darling little girl Alyssa took time out of their busy schedules and spent some time with us too, which was lovely. During this holiday, we also attended our friend Laura's 21st birthday in Hamilton, an hour away from Auckland. It was a fantastic week.

August: NYC all locked in. We booked and paid for our NYC trip before we headed off to NZ. Months of longing and wishful thinking became a reality as we locked in our non-refundable flights and accommodation. Squee!

October: 1 more niece! Danielle became the newest addition to our family, when Grace gave birth in mid-October.

November: New York, New York! Well, you know the rest. But in case you don't, we had a great time on holidays, loved every bit of New York, shopped, ate, saw the sights. Oh, and got engaged, at the top of the Empire State Building, on the same night the New York Yankees won their 27th World Series.

December: Birthdays & Christmas. I just had a birthday, and Kiran turned 3 the day after me, so we jointly celebrated our milestones with the family over a lovely lovely dinner. Jonathan is about to have a birthday, and we're so very fortunate to have Mina with us for a sleepover to mark the big day. And Christmas is a mere 4 sleeps away!

I look back on this past decade, and realise how fortunate I've been. There's been talk of this past decade being the hardest for some, but I can't agree with them. My blessings include getting my uni degree, gaining 2 brothers in law, becoming an aunty to 2 beautiful nieces and 3 gorgeous nephews, meeting and becoming engaged to the man of (and beyond) my dreams, and becoming a stepmother to Mina. I must say, this past decade has been awesome!

We are both looking so much forward to what 2010 will hold for us. Jonathan and I will "officially" begin our lives together in October 2010, and we have so many plans, such as our wedding, our honeymoon to Hong Kong for Jonathan to meet the extended family, and the possibility of buying a new (and bigger) home.

In the meantime, there is the Christmas break to look forward to, and a chance for me to upload all those photos from our trip to New York! Stay tuned!

November 20, 2009

A Perfect 10 Wedding Date!

We have set a date!

The wedding will be held on Sunday 10 October 2010 in Sydney.

Our Perfect 10 wedding has already been blessed with the most important things being available and now booked by us, including the church, the priest, the reception venue, and the photographer.

We are hoping the blessings continue as we continue this wonderful journey to marriage!

November 18, 2009

Jonathan & Gloria's Engagement

21 months, 2 weeks and 2 days after that fateful meeting at the Crows Nest Hotel, Jonathan and Gloria became engaged!

The very romantic leading man in our story proposed on bended knee during our NYC trip, on the evening of 4 November 2009, at the top of the Empire State Building. The clueless heroine was quite surprised and, for the first time in her life, was left speechless.

Although we had purchased the ring together in NYC earlier in our trip, and picked up the ring earlier that day, Jonathan had made a few comments which led Gloria to believe he would not be proposing for some time. To say the least, Gloria was a little disappointed at the time that they would not become engaged in NYC, but was excited by the idea that he could propose to her in front of her family on her birthday in early December.

Imagine Gloria's surprise when Jonathan did in fact propose that evening!

Both Jonathan and Gloria are now sporting stunning his and hers engagement rings. Jonathan's ring, Ross, is a Tungsten Carbide ring with rosewood inlay. Gloria's ring, Stella is an 18kt white gold ring with 3.5ct Tanzanite surrounded by lots and lots and lots of diamonds.

A date will be announced in the near future. We do have a date in mind, and we are now hoping that the venues are all available on that date. Stay tuned!