AWOL

Hey folks! Just popping in to let you know I'll be taking a blogging break for the next few weeks. Wedding planning / mothering / housewife'ing has got me at maximum capacity for now. I'll be back post-Bali a married woman with many a tale to tell so stay tuned for June. 

Wish us luck, shit is about to get hectic!

Gemma Warner (thought I would sign off with my soon to be old name, weeeeeiiiirrrrdddd)

Thought of the day "just one thought? Ahhhh....bacon."

Frock Fail

Hey folks, how are we all doing on this fine Tuesday evening? 

Sorry I've been awol this past week. I had been having a minor meltdown due to a disastrous wedding dress dilemma. Long story short- for a long while now, too long actually, I had been surpressing an overwhelming dread about my wedding dress. Each fitting I would go to, I would leave feeling unsatisfied, incredibly anxious, and increasingly nervous. "It's ok, it's not finished, it will be FUCKING FABULOUS when it is finished, and I will feel that huge YES!! THIS IS THE ONE! moment that every other bride-to-be describes".

Yet, as I arrived home from my second to last fitting on Saturday, I collapsed on the couch, and broke down. And once I popped, I couldn't stop. "What am I going to do, what am I going to do, what am I going to do", was coming out of my mouth in panicked sobs, whilst Oli looked on helplessly, struggling to finds the words to comfort me in an extremely uncomfortable situation. 

Epiphany moment- I've got to get a new dress. How can I get married in a dress that makes me cry unhappy tears? 

Oli concurred, it's time for a new dress. The next problem was, how the hell am I going to find a new dress with only 6 weeks to go? Within minutes I had phoned the only store in WA who sold 'Anna Campbell' dresses which I had seen & loved online, and the absolute legend of a woman there, upon hearing my dire situation, opened up her shop an hour early on Sunday to squeeze me in. The very first dress I tried on, instantly gave me that feeling. Tears sprung up in the corner of my eyes, as I realised, the world would not be ending, I would be wearing a dress that I adored. Of course, I didn't instantly say YES I'LL TAKE IT (I had at least learnt something over the last 12 months), I tried on every other dress in their store just in case. Alas, as expected, the one that gave me my precious YES, was the winner. It literally felt as though relief flooded through my veins, flowing gloriously & abundantly.

What followed within the next few days however was far from pleasant, most noteably, breaking the news to my dressmaker. It was awkward, and shitty, and I felt as though I could see his ego being crushed like a clove of garlic through the phone line. I should have spoken up sooner, I shouldn't have let it go as far as I did, I wasted so much of his time, and of my own, but in the end, it is all OK. 

Funny that isn't it? Its ok now. I had been so distraught, so wound up, such a bloody wreck on Saturday, and it's now Tuesday and it is ok. 

To be totally honest with you, this entire process of planning a wedding, has been far more stressful than I had imagined. Doing it here in Perth by ourselves, not being able to share it with our family & friends, has put a big dark cloud over the whole process. I've no doubt that when the week comes it'll be everything we ever dreamed of and more, however, I wish it would just hurry the fuck up already so we can enjoy it & embrace it rather than worry about it. 

One thing is for sure, I'll be sticking with Oli from here on out as there's absolutely no way I am getting married again.

Now that we are over that gigantic hurdle, it's time for a big glass of wine, and some Game of Thrones methinks,

Magic

Bye for now!

Gem 

Thought of the day "who knew that The Beatles are the ultimate workout music? It's incredible!"

Updates

Whatup party people! Howsit hanging?

How's my original blog title? 'Updates', haha, getting desperate around here, recycling all the oldies. I find picking out the title to be the hardest part of this blogging process actually. Once my fingers hit the board it's all go go go, but putting a name on my ramblings? Uh...uh, 'blah blah blah?', will that do? Considering today's post will be a big mash up of many different topics, 'updates' shall suffice. 

Firstly, the big W. We are officially six weeks out people, six. It might as well be tomorrow with the rate at which 2015 is travelling. Here I am still blowing streamers to see in the New Year, and here 2015 is saying 'see ya' to Easter. Fuck me, chill out would ya? 

So six weeks, and still an infinitely long list of to-do's remain. Thankfully all of the big stuff is complete, we will have a place to wed, and we will be dressed, and someone will be snapping photos, and there will be music, food & booze galore. Tick tick tick. It's all of the nitty grittys that we are delving into now, the little tid bits that I have put off for 12 months. For one, I cannot decide on a hairstyle. Up, down, left, right, bald? In all seriousness, I'm considering chopping off my mop that I've been growing out for a year solely for this day, that way I'll only have one option of hairstyle to choose from. And then, what jewels do I wear? Do I wear some sort of statement piece or stick to my usual 'less is more approach'? But it's my big day, surely I should step outside my comfort zone? This is what is happening inside my dome. Fun eh? There's also figuring out the flowers (Balinese flowers are seasonal and change by the month), what accessories the bridal party will wear, what colour we should paint our nails, how on earth we are going to pull off our first dance with absolutely no practise or experience (without looking like total spastics), what kind of guestbook we should have, who should speak first (who shouldn't speak at all), organising certain photos we 'have' to get, and coming to terms with changing my name. It's just sinking in that I will no longer be Gemma Warner, and although I am thrilled to become a Tabak, it's also a bit mind boggling to just have a new name you know? One uber exciting thing is my big frock will be ready to collect very soon (¥>#%%**}{%^£!!!!!!&&@$@"!), I have the final fitting this Saturday, and in three weeks she will be relocating to her new home, hanging inconspicuously in the wardrobe. Yikes! (I'm yet to figure out how I'm actually going to get the big girl to Bali too?). Its all really happening now isn't it!!!! My continued overuse of exclamations are a bit much aren't they? Sorry.

But I'm excited.

Another wedding related topic is my diet laden full of sugars & trans fats of late. Oops. I'm not sure where or when I went off track, but the last few weeks have been a bit of a diet downward spiral. I think I peaked too soon? I also think running every day (which I absolutely f'n LOVE) is encouraging me to eat at least four loaves of bread in one sitting, it feels like I'm breastfeeding again. Bit of a catch 22 running isn't it? 'Yeah do loads of cardio as it's the easiest way to lean out, but let's not mention the small fact of your body craving huge amounts of carbohydrates to replenish your energy stores'. Time to bust out the brown rice &  sweet potato again I think-

I know, I know booooring. All for a good cause though right? Plus knowing I can blow out again in a few weeks is a bonus (just joking, or am I?) Oli will be stuck with me regardless muahahhaha. 

In other news, Perth's skies have been swelling for weeks, and they finally gave out as of Monday. Rain, sweet sweet rain, welcome back. Rain means only one thing around here (besides uggs), Soup season is upon us! 

 

This tremendous pot of gold was our first batch for the season, and it evaporated magically within 24 hours... (Ingredients; vegetable stock, tinned toms x 3, leeks, garlic, celery, zucchini, carrot, potato, and 3 x bay leaves). This soup warmed my soul.

On the topic of winter, for the first time in over 6 months it's time to wear some jeans. I snagged a bargain and found these One Teaspoon 'awesome baggies' online a few weeks ago on sale;

(Not quite cool enough for covered footwear)

Can you see our mothers reactions already? "But why on earth would you buy a pair of ripped jeans Gemma? Isn't that just the silliest thing? You youngens, sometimes I just don't get you". Oh Mother... These jeans fucking rule that's why.

And finally, 

Yes, I am still a mother to the two niftiest, most delectable, children in all of the land.

And when they wear socks I feel like I could smother them with smooches until they scream to be released.

And that's a wrap around here folks! I'm procrastinating instead of cooking as we speak, Uncle Andy is headed our way for dinner and I have 3kgs of pork ribs to marinate and get in the oven, one Texan feast coming right up! 

Arrrriibbbaa

(I realise that's mexican)

Gem

Thought of the day "I'll reign in that diet tomorrow, after my mountain of ribs"

 

Easter Break

Happy Easter you fluffy little bunnies! Im assuming everyone over indulged and is carrying a little extra bulge on this dreary Tues morn? I know I am... 

Thanks to commercialism & consumerism, I was all egg'd out come Easter. (This happens every year). I believe I cracked my first egg in early Feb, so the novelty had long worn off come Easter Sunday.. However I made up for my lack of chocolate by consuming high quantities of beer. Yip, litres of the stuff. It kick started on Thurs eve with a trip to the pub for "1 or 2" drinks with some old friends... This quickly turned into six or seven pints which is more than enough to have my high pitched voice on, cracking jokes that otherwise would be well below average on the funny scale. Oh alcohol, you trickster you. We had a hoot anyway;

Natalie, Matt, James and I go way back to early-pubescent days, so it was marvellous to have a laugh about how old we are getting and so on.

Friday was spent wallowing in self pity & eating deep fried anything (standard hang over events). And by Saturday morn, we were packing up camp, ready to take our first roady with two kids to Lancelin. Full of high hopes for the perfect, stress-free, family getaway- all giggling children frolicking in the sand, beers under a glowing sunset, feet up, pants off kind of stuff. Turns out it was a heck of a lot more stressful than anticipated. We were staying at a beautiful bach, with our friends Abbey & Leon and a few of their companions + 3 dogs. The perfect summer scene was set- there was a huge backyard with two hammocks (highlights), a ping pong table, cricket & pétanque, a neighbouring pub, cold beers for miles & brilliant company. Despite everything being so on point, without the comforts of our own home (spare bedrooms for snoozing babies, child proofing galore, the playpen, Blakes potty etc..), it was ridiculously difficult to relax. Blake wouldn't use the toilet, so she had wet through all of her clothes on the first night, Oscar bluntly refused to sleep in the portacot, Oli and I both had to be on watch 24/7 incase they picked something up and decided to eat it resulting in immediate death, and so on... You should have seen our car and how much we bought, and yet, it wasn't enough for our boisterous babes. Next time, if we are ever brave enough, we will most definitely bring a little playpen fence so we can at least leave the kids to play without sprouting grey hairs. Funny how you have no idea how easy it is at home until you leave for a short while right? It's not so much Blake, she has smarts for miles, but Oscar? Danger isn't even on his radar. He will touch, eat, pull, and crawl through anything. Anything.

Alas, despite the kids driving us mad, we did indeed get in many laughs, and saw some picturesque sights;

The sunset from the backyard on Saturday afternoon

Abbey holding down the troops 

Getting frisky with Louie 

Family snap

Oscar & Roxy sharing some watermelon in the nud

We hung out on the hammocks 99% of the time

Don't call CYFS

Another unpictured highlight was Olis highly intoxicated 'sexy' dance especially for Abbey and I, and Jenga- because who doesn't love Jenga.

Upon arriving home, the rest of our long weekend was spent unpacking, doing mountains of washing, watching movies (Big Eyes was brilliant), and growing increasingly furious with our completely ignorant neighbours. They've now got a tiny puppy that yaps right by our fence when they're at work, as if to say 'hey, just because those guys are at work doesn't mean you should get any peace and quiet'. Fuckers / poor puppy. 

Lastly, I made some bad ass mexican tacos last night that tasted like a mariachi band in my mouth;

 

Mexican (and Thai) have got to be the most delicious cuisines period.

Better go, children to be fed, house to be cleaned, circle of life to continue.

Hope you all had a fabulous long weekend!

Gemma

Thought of the day "watch out for us on 'neighbours at war'"