A Much Happier Mina

Happily, I have an update to my July post titled "Much Ado About Nothing".

We have not heard any more peeps out of Mina about not wanting to come for sleepovers. We have no idea what happened to cause her upset to start with, but since the wedding, we have had no problems at all.

It may have to do with the fact that Mina knows she will be a big sister come Christmas time. Or that she knows she has an important role in our search for a perfect home. Or that she knows the negative and very upsetting impact that she has on everyone when she creates a fuss about coming to our place for sleepovers. Or that "intervention / confrontation" we had to have with Mina, with Jonathan, myself and Mina's mother all present, telling Mina that if she changes her mind, it will upset everyone and no one wants any more upsets, plus she will never come for a sleepover again. Or that we made her totally aware that if she insists on not wanting to sleepover, she will never get her own bedroom at our new home. Or that she's simply stopped being naughty and snapped out of the funk she was in. Any way you look at it, there has been no more fuss nor bother. At least, none that we've heard.

The weekend before last, I had to travel with the crew to drop Mina home. We had been out at the movies and there simply wasn't enough time to drop me home before Jonathan made the trip to Mina's house. That was the weekend we "confronted" Mina and her mother. The "intervention / confrontation" was for the sake of Mina as much as it was for her mother - because that woman simply has no idea how much impact her failure to be a parent / adult has on our lives. Addressing both of them at the same time, I told them (with Jonathan's full backing) that Jonathan and I had no problems with Mina changing her mind about sleeping over, as long as we are notified by the Tuesday evening before the sleepover weekend, and not at 8pm on the Thursday night, or at an even uglier 5pm on a Friday night. I told them both that we have busy lives and many social engagements that we would like to go to, and to tell us on Thursday night is simply too late and far too rude.

As we haven't heard anything more since that weekend, we can only assume that the message got through.

Every weekend since then, we have a happy little girl who is genuinely happy and excited to be at our place. No fuss. No bother. Here's hoping that we have seen the end of the stupidity that should have been stopped in the first place, if only someone had been mature enough to be an adult and a parent to her child, instead of giving in and then letting others deal with the fallout.

Project New Car!

As if we haven’t got enough on our plates already, we have now commenced yet another project - Project New Car.

With a baby on the way, and coinciding with our search for a new home, Andrew our finance guru thought it would be best to roll the cost of purchasing a new car into our mortgage. My car, Tom the yellow Holden Cruze, has served me well for the past 7 years, and even though it is still in "near new" condition, having clocked less than 50,000km since driving out of the showroom in August 2003, it was time to consider upgrading to a bigger "family" car.

Jonathan and I had differing ideas as to what would be the most suitable new car. Jonathan wanted a car that wasn't too much bigger than Tom, and in a more acceptable colour. I wanted a bigger version of Tom, either an AWD or 4WD, that sits higher in traffic than a sedan.

In any case, we are in agreement on a few things - the car had to have automatic transmission, it had to have ample boot space (for a pram, a stroller and the groceries), and the back seat needed to be wide enough to fit 3 adults (or a baby capsule, a child's car seat and a booster) comfortably. It also had to be within a certain price range, and it had to come with a good factory warranty.

After some extensive research, we narrowed our wish list to Kia Sportage and Mitsubishi Outlander.

The Kia Sportage had received some good reviews, and with a warranty of 5 years | 130,000km, we were keen to have a look at this car. Jonathan was rather taken with the Mitsubishi Outlander, which came with the Diamond Advantage 10 | 5 years warranty, and I was more than happy to have a closer look too.

After our disappointing house hunting expedition, we headed to the Kia dealership in Waitara. The models available for our viewing were the basic model and the mid range model. We chose to sit in the mid-range model, which had the nicer seats and trims. There was plenty of leg room in the front, and the back seat was quite spacious. The dash had all these new and spandangly looking buttons, which looked very swish. The boot was deep and wide, which was great.

While we were waiting to collect some information, we were talked into having a look at the Sorento, the big brother of the Sportage. Neither Jonathan nor I were taken with the Sorento - it was far too big for Jonathan's liking, and I felt the same way.

The Kia dealership shared the lot with the Holden dealership, so with time on our hands, we wandered over to inspect the Capitva range.

What we didn't realise prior to wandering over was that the Capitva range had 2 quite different cars - the Capitva 5 and the Capitva 7. The Capitva 5 had two different models: the manual and the automatic, whereas the Captiva 7 had three: the basic, the mid-range and the top of the line. You may have guessed what the numbers mean - the Capitva 5 is a 5-seater, whereas the Capitva 7 is a 7-seater.

As the Capitva 5 seemed to be a limited range, we investigated the Capitva 7 range a little further. Certainly, the Capitva 7 was very spacious, ticking all the right boxes, and with 7 seats, we would never run out of room. The dealership had a special running, with a bonus electric sunroof and side steps with every Captiva 7. I was keen on the Capitva, and in fact have been keen on a Captiva for ages, but Jonathan wasn't so keen. His argument was that it was bigger than the Sportage (and yes, it was marginally bigger), and he felt the Sportage was big enough already.

On our way home, we drove past a Mitsubishi dealership and decided to pop in to have a quick look at the Outlander. We had to walk past the newly released ASX, which Jonathan had shown an interest in. I wasn't keen on it, because the ASX was more or less a newer version of Tom. And I was right. Even Jonathan conceded that the ASX was a lot smaller in real life than it looked on the TV.

We climbed into the Outlander and had a closer look. The first thing that struck us was the lack of leg room in the front passenger seat. Whereas the Sportage and the Captiva had ample leg room, enough space for an adult to sit crouched on the floor next to my feet with no trouble at all, it didn't feel quite the same with the Outlander. The back seat was also less spacious. And while the Sportage and the Capitva both had 3 anchor points for baby / child seats in the back seat, the Outlander only had 2.

Now that we've had a look at 3 cars, we are keen to have a look at others that are similar to these 3. There's no rush - we won't be buying the car until after we've bought the new home, and we can only really go car shopping on the weekends when we don't have Mina for sleepovers.

Here's to the start of yet another exciting project!

Project New Home: Homes Viewed = 11

Open house inspections for this week were lean and mean this week, but I still managed to find 2 properties for us to look at.

Admittedly, one of the properties was suppose to have been sold at auction on Thursday evening, but as it was still listed, I added it to the Inspection Planner. Alas, I should have known that the information on the website would be out of date, and I should have checked with the agent prior to driving past the property. The agent was, after all, the twat who turned an old apartment into a hot box during a previous open house inspection.

Yes, the property was sold at auction. And there was a big sign out the front of the house, with a big "Sold" sticker on the big sign. Oh well. Another one bites the dust.

There was another property that was open for inspection at the same time, in Epping, on the other side of the train line from the above property, so we hightailed it over there to have a look. And the minute we arrived, we wanted to leave.

Firstly, it was a townhouse in a complex that was right on the train line. The townhouse was on the train track side of the complex too. Secondly, the complex could not have been any closer to the train line if it tried. And lastly, the property sat literally on top of one of the tracks.

And once inside, we wondered how long we would have to stay to not seem overly keen to get the heck out and that the property was crap.

The townhouse was brand new, which was about the only thing going for it. The downstairs area was tiny, with an even tinier kitchen - and yes, it was even smaller than my current kitchen. There was a tiny tiny tiny backyard which was right on the train track. There was a tiny tiny tiny toilet downstairs, and even the garage looked tiny.

Upstairs, there were 3 bedrooms - all very oddly shaped, and only 2 of the 3 bedrooms had built ins, which was a rather odd feature to have considering this was a brand new development. I would have expected built ins in all the bedrooms!

A train passed as we were inspecting the property, and it was loud even through the closed doors and windows.

We got the heck out of there, without stopping to talk to either of the real estate agents who had strategically placed themselvs at the top of the driveway. We ducked our heads and hurried past, mumbling thanks while running to the car.

We had planned to attend the auction for the Marsfield property we viewed last weekend, so after a spot of lunch at The Ranch, we headed to the auction. As expected, the opening bid was towards our upper limit, with the auctioneer interested in $20,000 bids at the start of the auction. The bids eventually slowed to $5,000 bids, and when they finally dried up, the price was well beyond our reach, but close to what I was expecting the property would sell for. It was eventually passed in, and at that time, Jonathan and I left to continue our busy Saturday.

Hopefully, there will be a few more open houses to attend next weekend. I'm starting to become a little bit impatient and a little bit panicky about finding a new house, with the feeling in direct proportion to the speed with which my waistline is expanding. Fingers crossed we see a few more properties next weekend!

Updated on September 1

The Marsfield duplex, the auction of which we attended, is now relisted on the market for a huge princely sum, $70,000 more than the final bid on Saturday. The new asking price is totally beyond what I had expected the property to be worth, and to be honest, the vendors are kidding themselves if they think they will end up selling the property with that asking price.

Project New Home: Homes Viewed = 10

Guess who got conditional approval for a very big bucket of money to buy a new home???

The conditional approval for our mortgage came through yesterday - thanks so much to our gorgeous friend Andrew. The email came through while I was at work, and I was so excited I had to call Jonathan straight away. While we were on the phone, the enormity of our quest finally dawned on us, and although we were excited, we were also a little bit scared.

With this weekend being a sleepover weekend, we were house hunting with Mina, our power point counter and bath spotter. I found 3 properties open for inspection: 1 in Eastwood, 1 in Marsfield, and 1 in Epping.

The first property in Eastwood was a villa in a small complex of 4 villas. Although the property was on one of the busiest roads in Eastwood, the complex was set right back from the street, and the villa was at the very back of the complex which actually made it very quiet.

Upon entering the villa, we were greeted with a narrow but long lounge room, which the owners had furnished with both a lounge and a dining table. This flowed into an open plan kitchen, and a "family" space with easy access to the small courtyard which wrapped around the back of the property, which provides another entry point into the villa via the laundry.

The villa had 3 bedrooms - all very very generously sized. In fact, they were all double sized bedrooms, with the master bedroom having its own ensuite, and a really big ensuite to boot (it was almost the same size as the main bathroom). All the bedrooms had built in wardrobes, and the main bathroom had a bath. The double tandem garage was laid out so that the front of the garage housed the car, and the back of the garage was furnished like a "spare" living space.

This was a lovely villa. And it would have been perfect for us if we were a family with teenage children who spent a lot of time in their rooms, or a young couple looking to turn the villa into a share house to help pay the mortgage. As a couple with a young child and another on the way, we felt that we needed more family living space for our young family.

We went for some lunch at Macquarie Centre before heading to the inspection at the Marsfield property. Even before we arrived at the duplex, I knew this would be one property that I would fall in love with. And I was right.

The 2 storey duplex was at the bottom of a cul-de-sac in a gorgeous area, far enough removed from the hustle and bustle of Marsfield / North Ryde, but close enough to all the amenities. The property looked very well maintained, and the garden well groomed.

Once inside, we were greeted with dark redwood flooring, which Jonathan balked at immediately. We had seen the same kind of flooring at the first property we viewed at the start of our house hunting adventure, and Jonathan wasn't that keen on the flooring back then, and even less impressed with it now. The flooring just screamed "Asian", and to be honest, I wasn't that taken with it either, especially when it was so expansively installed throughout the duplex.

Downstairs, there was an ample living room and family room, which was contained to one side of the duplex. The kitchen was through a door in the centre of the ground floor, and I just fell in love with the kitchen. Big open space, with a dining area at the back of the big open space. There was also a small covered patio off the dining area. I could picture myself cooking for everyone and have them all seated at the dining table, keeping me company and enjoying the lovely aromas.

Upstairs was lovely too, with 3 massive bedrooms all with built ins - the master bedroom has a walk in wardrobe! The bathroom upstairs was amazing - the owners must have put a fair bit of money into renovating the bathroom - it was probably the best room in the house besides the kitchen.

Besides the flooring, this place was lovely lovely lovely. A huge problem though was that the property was scheduled to go to auction, with the starting bid being our upper limit. The auction will be held on site on August 28, so Jonathan and I decided we would come back to see how much the property would sell for.

The 3rd and last property for the day was in Epping, which was being listed by the same real estate agent who was selling first property we viewed - yes, Dad's friend, who was out the front of the property greeting potential buyers as we arrived.

The townhouse was at the back of the complex, which unfortunately also meant the townhouse more or less backed on to Beecroft Road. The complex also sloped down towards Beecroft Road, which meant the townhouse was at the bottom of the slope.

The entry level was the "upper" level, and we walked into a lovely lounge room with lovely rented furnishings. Two bedrooms and a bathroom made up the "upper" level, with built ins in both bedrooms.

Downstairs, there was a poorly constructed 3rd bedroom directly under the "upper" living space, with a small kitchen and an even smaller dining space. Access to the backyard was through the sliding doors adjoining the dining space, and although it was advertised as a "covered garden", the "covering" was provided by the trees from the other side of the back fence. There wasn't one flat surface in the backyard, which was a bit overgrown and looked very unloved. In fact, it didn't look like anything could grow in that backyard, and even if someone wanted to blitz it, there was little to no access for one to bring in the bobcat and other necessary equipment to do the landscaping.

And there was another problem. The 3rd bedroom wasn't always a bedroom. It looked like someone had decided at one point to put up some gyprock and enclose the downstairs living area to create a 3rd bedroom. It was dark and dingy and it actually felt damp. We weren't sure if that room got much natural sunlight at all.

It only got worse. The garage wasn't connected to the townhouse. It was displaced about 15m from the front door.

This property didn't sing to us at all, and we left in a bit of a hurry so we wouldn't be caught up talking to the agent for too long.

We've now seen 10 properties, and armed with our conditional finance approval, we are totally ready to make an offer on that perfect property. Bring it on!

Back to Reality

After all the craziness with the wedding and visiting family members, followed by a nice and relaxing honeymoon in Vanuatu, which included a wild experience of surviving an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, topped off by 2 unexpected emergency visits to the dentist and a bout of chest infection, we are now back in the real world and back to reality.

We have lots of news to tell, so stay tuned. We also have lots of photos to post - from the wedding, from our honeymoon, and everything in between. As soon as I've sorted out where I'm at with work (apparently, they missed me - a lot), the blog entries and the photos will go up.

In the meantime, thank you to everyone who shared our happiness and love on the wedding day. It was a most perfect day in every way and we feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives.

More updates soon!

Project New Home: Homes Viewed = 7

New homes viewed count is now at 7.

Resuming our house hunting after our honeymoon, we found 2 properties to inspect this weekend. The first was in North Ryde, in the same complex as another townhouse that we had viewed when we first started looking. The second was in Boronia Gardens, a much sought after location in Epping.

The North Ryde property was on the edge of the complex, which has frontage on two roads - one busy-ish road, and one quiet road that leads to a cul-de-sac. The townhouse backs on to the quiet road. It shared one common wall with another townhouse. The "front" of the property is actually inside the complex - the back door, which seems to be utilised as the main entrance, actually opens out to the road.

The owners had obviously done a lot of work to the interior - the renovations made the place very very very well presented - totally gorgeous. Everything looked newly renovated, and clean, and well maintained. Upstairs, there were 3 good sized bedrooms, all with built in wardrobes. The smallest of the rooms had a "built in" study nook too, which was awesome. The bathroom was well laid out with plenty of room.

Downstairs was just as lovely. The open plan dining and living space was light and airy, which flowed out into an outdoor entertaining area - an enclosed courtyard that really was the "front" entrance to the property. There was a toilet in the laundry, which was great as there was no need to traipse up and down the stairs to relieve oneself. The kitchen was fab - it was a bit on the small side, but I could have lived with it!

Plenty of storage space throughout the townhouse - nice cupboard / linen press upstairs, spacious under stairs storage space, and the property came with a tandem lock up garage, although we weren't exactly sure where the garage was in comparison to the townhouse.

There really wasn't anything wrong with the townhouse. It really was the nicest one we had seen to date, and it ticked pretty much every box. Close to public transport (a short-ish walk to the station, bus stop right out the front), close to the shops (Macquarie Centre was literally just down the road), near quite a few parks, straight move in without having to do any work. It was almost perfect.

Unfortunately, our finances hadn't been approved yet, and we weren't in a position to make an offer. Plus, the strata fees were quite high, with nothing really to show for it (no pool, no gym, no elevators, and the fees were about the same as those we are paying now). On top of that, we really had no idea where the garage was - more than likely, it was a long long way away from the townhouse, which could prove to be difficult with a baby, a pram and bags of groceries.

The second place was in a complex that I had wanted to live in. Dad use to own property in this complex, and I thought it would be great to have an opportunity to live there too. After inspecting the property at North Ryde, we were hoping the standards would be on par.

Sadly, we were to be totally disappointed.

In total contrast to the North Ryde property, the Epping property was totally vacant. No expenses were spared to dress this place up - and no, we are not kidding. Not one stick of furniture was hired to make this place look presentable, which only showed up how old and tired the apartment looked. The real estate agent did himself nor the property any favours by cranking up the air conditioning to full force hot.

The property was around 30 years old, and you could really tell its age. The walls looked like it carried 30 years of wear and tear, and although the carpet looked newer, it too had seen its best years. The kitchen was so typical of the trend that was 30 years ago, and the bathrooms were hilarious! The sinks were placed so low that when Jonathan stood over them with his back straight, he couldn't reach the taps!

This was a fixer-upper-er, and we are in no way interested in buying a fixer-upper-er. So we hightailed it out of there after a 5 minute inspection.

We have now seen the almost perfect property. Almost perfect. Which we suspect will be snapped up very quickly. With our finances still to be finalised, we will keep looking for that perfect place!

Updated on August 30

The North Ryde property went for a price that was well within our reach, now that our finances have been finalised and we have conditional approval for a truckload of money. Oh well. The search continues!

Wedding Day Recap

The wedding day flew by much quicker than I thought it would. But the most important thing is - Jonathan and I are married!

Just after 9.30am, Carolyn and I arrived at Xquizit to begin the transformation process. Lou and Eva were waiting eagerly for us to arrive, and the hair styling began as soon as we were seated and comfortable.

Grace and Renée arrived shortly after 10.00am, with Georgianna not far behind. Georgianna brought her camera with her, and took loads of photos of us all getting our hair and make up done. My hair was finished in no time, and Eva did an awesome job. Eva then moved on to Renée, and gave her a hair do that would match mine. Renée looked so gorgeous!

Mum was the last to arrive, and was actually quite late in arriving at the hairdressers. We were actually getting a little bit worried about her by the time she arrived. But once there, all was well and we continued with getting dolled up.

At the same time as our hair and make up appointment, Jonathan was taking Mina to her swimming lesson. Malcolm and Robin also went along to the lesson to see how Mina has improved with her swimming.

By 11.30am, we were all made up and hair sprayed down, and while Georgianna went home to dress her boys and Mum went home to man the fort, Grace and Renée came back to the hotel to get ready with Carolyn and me. I immediately ordered a platter of sandwiches for our lunch, which took forever to arrive in our suite. When it finally did, we were treated to an assortment of sandwiches, a bowl of chips and apple and orange juices.

Around this time, I received a phone call from a sheepish Jonathan telling me that he had locked himself out of the apartment, and that he was sending his father to my hotel room to pick up my set of keys. I had to laugh - so typical!

Time flies when one's having fun, and before too long, we had to start getting ready, as the photographer arrived at the hotel spot on 1.30pm. Quickly, we cleared away the lunch plates and platter, and raced around getting into our dresses.

The photographer took the wedding dress and hung it up against the window for some artistic shots, and took my shoes to do the same. This gave Grace some time to help Renée into her dress and Carolyn time to get into her own dress, before helping me get into my wedding dress. All at once, I felt like a princess. Grace was the last to get dressed,

The photographer busily snapped away while we were putting on our finishing touches on each other, and before we knew what time it was, the wedding car had arrived and was waiting patiently for us outside the hotel. We hurriedly gathered our bags and paraded ourselves through the lobby, ready for our short trip to Dad and Mum's place for the tea ceremony.

The gorgeous Gypsy London Black Cab awaited our arrival, and while Grace and Renée drove in their car, Carolyn and I along with the photographer piled into Gypsy. Thankfully, the trip was a short one, as we were running a little bit late.

Everyone was already there by the time we arrived, and we made our entrance like royalty. Photos photos and more photos, before we finally got around to the tea ceremony. Through many tears, I managed to serve tea to my parents, my uncles and aunts without spilling anything. I was just so thankful and grateful and felt so blessed and loved by my family - I couldn't stop blubbering.

By the time we finished the tea ceremony, it really was time to head to the church. Unfortunately, for the next 10 minutes, many discussions were had about who was to travel with who in which car. By the time we left Dad and Mum's place, we were running very very late.

We finally arrived at the church at 3.15pm to be greeted by an anxious looking Father Coleman. More photos were taken of me getting out of the wedding car, before I was allowed to step out and head up the stairs to the foyer, ready for my entrance into the church. A frantic search for Dad was on, as no one seemed to know where he went after he parked the car. It turned out that Father Coleman had asked him to take his place inside the church foyer already, and was oblivious to everyone looking for him!

The guests were getting a little bit restless, and Jonathan was starting to pace by the time we were finally ready to head into the church. Once my family was all seated, Father Coleman gave the go-ahead to our friend Cathie who was in charge of the music to play the bridal procession.

I practically floated down the aisle to Bach's "Air On The G String" on Dad's arm. There were so many of our friends and family in the church - even Dad commented on the number of people who came to see Jonathan and I become man and wife. As I headed up towards the altar, I could see Jonathan beaming at me. And that was all I needed.

The ceremony flew by, with our friend Lloyd and Jonathan's brother David doing fantastic jobs with their readings. Father Coleman was up next with a lovely Gospel reading and a short and sweet homily, and before long, Dad was asked to "entrust" me to Jonathan's care, and to place my right hand into Jonathan's hands. Dad was so happy - he was giggling like mad and didn't let go for a bit, which made us giggle with him.

When it came time to say our vows, surprisingly, we got through them with no tears, unlike the dress rehearsal when I bawled my eyes out and Jonathan teared up a little. At the exchange of rings, we fell into fits of laughter again, because I had placed my right hand into Jonathan's hands. We didn't realise my mistake until he was asked to put the ring on my hand, and I realised he should be holding my left hand.

There was a little bit of confusion as to what we needed to do next, so there was more laughter when Father Coleman instructed Jonathan to lift my veil, and then gave more instructions for us to kiss. Hoorah! And we were married!

The candle ceremony was beautiful. Our mothers did a perfect job, and neither Jonathan nor I burned ourselves with the fire or the wax. Our union candle took ages to light, but we managed to get it lit before returning to our places for the reading of the Prayers of the Faithful, with thanks to my oldest friends David & Chuck.

We chose to play "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz during the signing of the register, a song that Jonathan and I both know well. When we first started dating, this was the song that I used as my weekday alarm and greeted us first thing every morning. As our fathers were doing their part as our witnesses, Jonathan and I took to singing the song to each other. We were told much later that it was one of the most "awwww" things our guests had seen at a wedding.

Finally, after all the signing and the official parts were over, we were now married. Very married. To the strains of Plain White Ts' "1 2 3 4", we headed out of the church as Husband and Wife. Mr and Mrs Hill. Yay!!!

Once outside, we were greeted warmly by one and all who came to the church. Photos were taken, before Jonathan and I headed off to have more photos at Blues Point Park. Our guests headed off in every direction - my family split into 3 groups, with the rest of the guests heading to the Vibe Hotel for pre-dinner drinks.

Jonathan and I had a lovely time at Blues Point Park. We posed for some photos, and clowned around for the others. It was a beautiful afternoon, but we only got a small number of shots. 5pm came by very quickly, and we headed back to the hotel to continue the festivities.

Janine greeted us at the hotel upon our arrival, and took us up to our room with an armful of goodies for us to enjoy - sparkling wine, choc dipped strawberries, platters of canapés. Yum! We managed to relax for a short time, and even managed to update our Facebook statuses!

When it came time to head downstairs, the one person who knew how to put up my bustle on my wedding dress was missing in action. Grace had taken her brood home to feed Danielle and change Renée into her party dress, and had yet to return to the hotel. A search proved futile, but thankfully, Carolyn stepped up to the challenge. At one stage, I had Jonathan, Carolyn and Janine all helping to find the tiny hidden loops to put onto the hooks!

By the time we were finally ready to make an entrance, we were running very very late. Poor Emily was left standing up, waiting to announce our entrance for at least 30 minutes! When we did finally arrive, we were greeted very warmly and enthusiastically by one and all.

Just after we were seated, Grace & Vinay and their family, as well as Georgianna & Tim and their family finally arrived. And the festivities began.

So many people in the room, and so little time! As soon as we were seated in our "throne" (the big yellow sofa that was just the right size for the 2 of us), we were joined by various people wishing to congratulate us. Dad Malcolm and Mum Robin came for a bit of a catch up and a chat, then we were joined by various other friends who wanted photos and to congratulate us.

The food arrived thick and fast, and each course was totally delicious. Jonathan and I were able to eat every bite of our delicious meals, while everyone else also enjoyed their dinners.

Before too long, it was time for speeches. Vinay went first, speaking on behalf of my family. His speech was so heartfelt - he talked about his impressions of me when he first met me, and how much he now loves and respects me, and how lucky his kids are to have a fantastic aunt like me. Vinay also spoke of how wonderful it has been to have Jonathan in our lives. I couldn't help but shed a few tears through the speech - it was so beautiful.

Then I got Rick Rolled. Hilarious!

Renée had alluded to the fact that her daddy had written a poem just for us, and I was expecting something eloquent and heartfelt. So when Vinay came to read the poem, I made sure to listen very carefully. "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you." Bless!!!

Then it was Dave's turn to speak on behalf of the Hills. Dave too spoke beautifully, telling everyone how happy Jonathan was to have met me, and how proud he was to welcome me into the family on behalf of the Hills and Sharpleys.

After that, it was our turn to thank everyone for being at the wedding. I spoke for a very short time, before handing the microphone to Jonathan, who nervously thanked his family for coming from NZ to be part of our big day. He also thanked my parents for raising me and making me who I am. As I always have the last word, once Jonathan was finished, I continued to thank people.

I tried to thank my parents in Cantonese, but I was pretty much speechless by then. All I could say was "thank you", when there were so many more things I wanted to say. I thanked the sisters and their families for always being there. I thanked my uncles and aunties and Carolyn for travelling so far to be in Sydney. Then I thanked Jonathan's family for their warm welcome into the family and spoke of how proud I was to be a Hill.

And of course, I thanked all the special people who made the day possible - Emily for being our wonderful MC, Fiona for the gorgeous wedding stationery, and Penny and Ian for being great usher. Last but not least, I thanked each and every one of our friends for being there with us, one who flew half way around the world for the occasion, celebrating and toasting us on the biggest day of our lives. We truly felt so blessed to be surrounded by so much love.

We cut the cake next, in front of a plethora of cameras and flashes, before moving back to the dance floor for our first dance, to "She" by Elvis Costello.

Once our first dance was over, everyone joined in. The kids were the first to hit the dance floor, and once they started, they didn't want to leave! A lot of our guests also joined in and carved up the dance floor with style.

Time was flying by, and there were so many people we wanted to catch up with but didn't have time. We barely managed to speak to everyone before it was time for them to leave.

The rest of the night was a huge blur. At one point, the elders left to head home after a long day. Soon after that, the sisters and their families also left. And our guests were thinning out quite quickly too.

Things started winding down just before 11pm. The dancing came to an end, as we farewelled the last of our guests before heading up to the bridal suite.

It had been a long long day, but it was a fantastic, most wonderful day. We are finally married. And we couldn't be happier!

Here's to us - Mr and Mrs Hill! Squee!!!

WEDDING DAY! ♥♥♥

Our long awaited wedding day is finally upon us. By hook or by crook, Jonathan and I will husband and wife by 4pm today.

Just so you're aware, I'm running on 3 hours of sleep - I was far too excited to sleep properly, and Carolyn and I spent hours talking before finally calling it a night. It took me ages to fall asleep before waking at 7.30am and just plain could not go back to sleep, so I got up, had a shower and got dressed.

I dared not peep out the window to see the weather while Carolyn was still sleeping, for if it was horrible and raining, I didn't want to wake her with a scream of horror. The plan was to wake Carolyn at 9am, so I did, before we opened to the curtains to my hotel room to find ...

... the most gorgeous Sydney winter day.

Bright, sunny, crystal clear.

Bless the weather gods. Thank you.

The crazy day is about to start for us, which means I will not be blogging now until Monday night. Thanks to everyone who has sent us well wishes, and are keeping us in their thoughts - you are all so special to us and we are honoured to have so many people who care for us so much.

Stay tuned for the exciting update soon. I hope I remember to tell you everything!

In the meantime, the countdown is now in hours - 5.5 hours to go!!!