Reasons why I haven't been blogging

I know, I know ... I've been pretty poor with the lack of posts lately. You would think someone who isn't working would have all the time in the world to be able to post regularly ... wrong!

One of the main reasons I haven't posted is hubby is still on leave and I rather not waste his precious holiday time blogging, I can do that when he's at work. That said I've also been utilising his time off to get some help around the house. Not just with Eli but general house keeping and home improvements. We're still unpacking and rearranging our home since our move in October.

One reason why I haven't been able to blog is Eli has been very needy and is my constant shadow lately. I think he's reached that point, the point where a child only prefers one parent in particular and only wants to be with that one parent. Ian has to physically peel him off me when he tries to take Eli away from me. My ever move he wants to be close restricting me to do much at all, hence why Ian's presence has been very usefully lately.

Another reason why he wants extra cuddles is the poor guy hurt himself really bad on Monday. One minute he was eating his potato gems watching tv, next he turned 180 degrees, loss his balance and landed face first on the tiles. There was a big cut on his chin and blood coming everywhere in his mouth. At first I thought he had bitten through the skin of chin. While we tried to cease the blood Ian thought maybe he lost some of his teeth but he soon realised the solid bits he could feel were the potato gems.

Straight away Ian wanted to take him to the doctors. My first instinct was to clean him up and assess the injury but seeing the amount of blood still flowing I agreed to go to the doctors. I suggested to go to his local doctors at The Practice, but he insisted to go to the local hospital.

Later on as I recalled that events of that day, it was interesting how we processed the same situation. I wanted to wait and see how bad it was, believing it wasn't that bad and he was at the other side of the scale, straight to the hospital. Growing up no one in our family ever went to the hospital for any reason. Yes that is a good thing and knock on wood it continues ... but we just didn't jump to those measures. We normally just dealt with whatever pain or sickness we had with a sense of ... strength, will power, apathy. Those were the kind of values that were instilled in me and makes me the person I am today but is it the kind of values I want to teach Eli or my children?

I believe how we react to all situations is fundamentally the same. How we react is based on our personality, characteristics and values. It's hard to act one way towards a situation and act differently in another situation. My attitude towards physical pain is a reflection on how I deal with emotional pain ... strength, will power, apathy. Yes there is no harm in containing these values, but the values I wasn't taught but (still) learning to exhibit are attributes to balance out the bleak characteristics.

I was taught to be tough in all situations, to show no emotions, no weakness. It's this attitude which has helped and failed me throughout my life. I won't talk of the good it has done because those who know me personally know how I am and how my personality has helped me in certain situations. The repercussion of my characteristics has hindered me from asking for help when I needed it, speaking up when I've had enough or hurting others because I wouldn't waive my behavior. Those are the kinds of lessons learnt I actually want to teach my children. It's not all about being strong minded but being able balance the right characteristics between defiant and humbleness.

Well this post was a surprise. Here I was just planning to write a short update on reasons why I have been MIA, update (and potential post) other draft posts I have written about other topics i.e. holidays, managing money, allergies but ended up writing what was going through my mind at this point in time. So I'll post it, complete with all grammatical and spelling errors, enjoy. Exhaustion has suddenly hit me now, goodnight.        

Home

We're back from our Christmas / New Year family holiday.

I can't speak for everyone else who was there but overall I had a relaxing time doing pretty nothing but enjoying the beach and spending time with my family.

Christmas Day our family spent it feasting, reminiscing, laughing and more feasting. Eli fell asleep early so we all waited for him to wake up so we can all finally open presents. Once again he was very spoilt not just by family but by friends who generously also gave him gifts.

New Year's eve we had dinner at home then walked to the local beach as they were throwing a free concert and fireworks.    

the little raver man and his glow sticks

We really didn't do anything exciting or ventured far from where we were based. We didn't take the little one to any of the theme parks, he would be too young to enjoy it plus the crowds at that time of the year would make the experience painfully not worth it.

The first 5 nights we stayed in a service apartment cause my uncle's investment property is very old and lacked certain creature comforts and feared Eli might not adjust easily.

View from our balcony

My favorite shot ... Ian looks more scared than Eli

The following 5 nights we stayed in my uncle's property. Both were walking distance from a beach, which I loved ... cause I love the beach.

The daily literary involved wake up around 6ish, going for a run, breakfast, off to the beach, return home around mid afternoon, unwind, prepare for dinner, dinner, tv or conversation, sleep, repeat.

Ian Dipple Lagoon, prefect swimming spot for families. Area also had many tables and children play areas.

I really liked Paradise Point, where my uncle's investment property is located. The area is quiet, mostly retirees (so I noticed), beaches are flat and family friendly, public areas are well maintained and lots of small independent grocers and coffee shops. There isn't a lot of mansions (yet) so it feel like you're in the suburbs but you take a right at the end of the street and you're at the beach or you drive 10 minutes down the main road and you're in the heart of Surfers Paradise. It's so relaxing when you're there in that area ... I can now see why my parents are considering living there. 

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. 

2013 New Year's Resolutions

I don't know about you but I like to write down New Year's Resolutions. I like to make them for a number of reasons:

• I like giving myself new challenges or goals to achieve. 
• Making them at the beginning of the year sets the boundaries or time frame of when I will aim to achieve my resolutions.  
• Physically writing down my goals is a reminder to myself. By putting it out there for me to visually see regularly, I'm making myself accountable. Subconsciously motivating me to achieve these goals. 

So what were my resolutions 12 months ago and if I did a PIR (post implementation review .. project terminology and process conducted after IT projects have been completed) on these goals what would be my assessment?

[X] Be Fitter Than I was 14 Months Ago

Somewhat achieved. The first 10 months of 2012 I was pretty dedicated to exercising. I was more religious and disciplined than I thought I could be. I was actually a lot more stronger and felt my reflexes had improved. You hear personal trainers talk about how exercise (and diet) is a life style change .... I got that, as in I understood what that finally meant. I didn't find exercising a chore or something I should do but I felt it was a daily task that was part of my life. I didn't second guess doing it anymore, I just did it. I was doing P90X / P90X2 every morning then either running at lunch or playing ball in the evenings. Then in October we moved and the change in environment impacted my routine. I was tired more resulting in being lazier about exercising and even more lazier about dieting. After a long day I'm too exhausted and hungry to cook something healthy. Most week nights I was up later catching up on home chores making me still tired to get up early in the mornings to work out.

But this year I want to revert back to my work out routine and incorporate a eating plan. The reasons why I failed to achieve better results was due to my diet. I didn't plan what I ate and sugar is my kryptonite.

[X] Be Available to Family More

Having Eli definitely has bought us closer to our families. He brings us all a lot of joy and sharing more experiences together. I love having a growing extended family. 

[X] Find a Home for My Family

Achieved.

[X] Clarity in my Career Path

Achieved. I know when I'm ready to start working again what I want to do next and what I've out grown. Next step would be doing some training to make it happen.

[X] Go on an Overseas Family Holiday

Does my current vaccay to QLD count? I'd still consider this resolution achieved because I did go on my dream European holiday this year although not as a family. I was able to visit London, Paris, Florence, Rome, Crete and Santorini. I'm still to complete the detailed posts for the last few cities we visited. 

[X] Blog as Much as Possible

Achieved. I've even publicly started sharing it with people.

[ ] Learn Something New

How did I miss this one? I don't think I've learnt anything new. Does blindly navigating through motherhood and learning what does or doesn't work count? 

[ ] Pursue My Own Business

Still figuring this out.

[X] Give Back to Australian Charities

I've put my hand up and volunteered for a few charities this year and a registered blood donor. Admittedly I'm not regularly contributing to a charity. I'm yet to find one I'm passionate and completely interested about. If anything I've been reading a lot about the unspoken violence against women in India.

So what are my 2013 New Year's Resolutions? This year I want to challenge the following areas in my life:

• Change my eating habits. Eat healthier and minimise sugar intake. Minimise eating pre-packaged/pre-made foods and learn to cook basic stuff from scratch
• Tone my temple
• Study appropriate course for my next career move
• Take up a new hobby that I will continue to do post learning how to do it
• To not be not afraid to take more chances
• Seriously document and speak to someone about my patent idea
• Really understand Eli's allergies and get him eating more 
• Plan for Baby #2
• Stop over analysing and just be me

I think that's plenty for 2013 and will be a challenge to achieve some of those goals.


Do you make new year's resolutions? Care to share?
Are you good at sticking to them?

Quick post

Just a quick hello. Really enjoying our time here at Biggera Waters. Our apartment has an amazing view and walking distance from family friendly beaches. 

Christmas was merry and as usual lots and lots of eating. This has been one of the most relaxing holidays I've had and its great to be spending it with my whole family.

I've been taking Eli to the beach to get him familiar with sand and water. He doesn't seem to like the beach that much. He stands like a statue when his feet touches the sand and he climbs you as high as he can when you put him in the water, its quiet funny actually.

Hope you had a merry christmas too

Road Trip

I'm writing this from our vehicle as we're driving through the north coast of NSW.

My whole family is spending Christmas in Queensland as we have extended family up here. Actually we lived in Queensland when we first migrated to Australia. We lived there for twelve months before moving to Sydney. All the jobs were in Sydney so my family decided to leave their network of support people and take a punt at life in Sydney.

We're driving up, yep the whole 12-15 hour drive (depending on how fast you're going) however we're breaking up the transit by staying over night at Coffs Harbour. We're about 30mins away from Coffs now.

So if it's even more quieter than usual on this blog you know why.

Have a safe and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Eiffel Tower Dinner and Moulin Rouge Show

I missed publishing this post ... oppsie ....

Another tour Ian and I did while we were in Paris was the Eiffel Tower dinner, River Seine cruise and Moulin Rouge show. This tour was highly recommended by friends who attended the same tour a few months earlier. They advised to book early to avoid disappointment especially if you want to have dinner on the Eiffel Tower itself.

We booked this tour viator and paid roughly $246 per person for the experience. The cost varies between the exchange rate and season. 

The tour begins from their offices however at the end of the tour buses drop you back to your hotel or accommodation. Their office is located very close to the Louvre literally across the road from it.

The tour was well organised. Their staff which spoke very well english reiterated information to group regularly to ensure we stick to their schedule. They were also very approachable and knowledge of Paris.

Our first stop was dinner on the Eiffel Tower. A few weeks prior I received an email stating that dinner would not be on the tower as not all lifts were working due to current renovations and we were able to choose from two alternative restaurants or alternatively cancel the booking and get a refund. When we arrived and check in our attendance we were pleased to learn dinner was now available on the tower that night. Upon arrival at the base of the tower the tour group was able to jump the lift queue and was taken straight to the second deck.

Once in the restaurant we were told where to seat, unable to choose where you want to sit. There were not tables for two so everyone did get seated with other people too. The dinner was a 3 course meal, well cooked but nothing extraordinary.

 

After dinner we had about 30mins free time to check out the tower, take photos. I didn't think this was enough time however we did climb the tower previously. I don't recommend this tour as the only time you climb the tower as you will be disappointed in the limited time you have to enjoy it.

After dinner we walked over to the river and caught a boat to cruise the Seine. The boat was packed with tourist, nothing like the cruise we did earlier when we did the bike tour. There was an audio guide on board which played a recording of facts and information about the sites the boat was passing through. 

  

  

After the cruise we were taken via coach bus to Moulin Rouge. We were scheduled to watch the 9:30pm show, every night they do two shows a night. The show itself was in my opinion ... alright. I don't know maybe I had high expectations, like dancers to dance on point? But it's definitely a must see in Paris, hello its the famous burlesques show.

Out of office effective immediately!

Yesterday I received some unexpected news that has changed my current situation. 

At 10am my boss' fill in (as she is currently on leave) another manager, sent me a meeting invite for 2pm. No meeting subject or info just request to attend an important meeting. He was on communicator so I ping-ed him asking him what it was about. He replied with "all will be reviled at 2pm." At first I thought it was a continuation of last week's incident he got involved in to mediate. Long story short I brushed the feathers of the Business Program Manager and the last straw was a rude email to me which she included other colleagues so I raised it with my bosses fill in. I thought maybe this was a new tactic of the Business Program Manager, to including him or bring him on all issues. 

2pm arrived. As I walked in the meeting room I saw about half a dozen IT staff members, all IT managers, HR and the Head of Operations and Technology was in the room .... straight away I knew what this was about. He went straight to the point, the reason we were all there was to tell us as of 31st December 2012 our roles are being made redundant.

I was (and still am) in shock and just speechless really. Did not see this coming at all. The news is still sinking in. I'm not upset .... (yet?) I'm just surprised.

I'm surprised as to why me. I did ask that question. Unfortunately the manager who sat in on the meeting between HR and I could only speak on her reasons or process of elimination on how she was able to determine who from her staff was to be made redundant. Their reason is budget and cutting down on projects. They identified which projects they will be working on next year, which staff are being allocated to those projects and who isn't allocated. Fair formula but I'm part of the second biggest project globally for Marsh. How did I not make the cut? Actually two of us who are both reporting to the same manager and on the project didn't make the cut. They just lost their knowledge source and key business contact for one of the main systems implemented in October and who spec-ed out the upcoming commercial version of the same tool. Prior to the meeting I was in the middle of QA testing and so far have raised 18 defects. I'm surprised of their decision but it's their decision and when my boss comes back I want to hear her reasons as to why me. I deserve that at least.      

Because of all the issues and politics related to the project I'm glad its all done with now. I would dread Monday's, complain and take out my work frustrations on Ian - it's all over now and I got to leave it cold turkey i.e no hand over and with a severance pay too.   

So what now? The timing was fortunate with Ian currently on leave so we can enjoy his time off together as a family. Christmas and New Year are only a few days away so will relax and enjoy the festive season. I think I might actually take a few months off and stay home with Eli .... maybe start baby number 2 hahahaaa. Ian's response was if only we stuck to his plan which was to have baby number 2 around about Eli's birthday this news would have been perfect, ha!

Things happen for a reason. I see this as an opportunity. There are events in life that push us to take that leap and I'm ready to jump.