Townsville Wedding

Scott and I flew to Townsville for a wedding this past weekend.

It was my first time in Townsvile. I thought it would be a small, rural country town with no personality. A typical Queensland industrial town full of fat people and young girls pushing babies in crappy $20 prams.

......Instead, i was greeted with a fresh cosmopolitan town that had managed to respect the beautiful, grand buildings of its past and blend them with a fresh, contemporary look. The main part of town is close to the ocean and all along 'The Strand' the use of trees and landscaping mixes in with barbeque areas and childrens playgrounds that encouraged a very 'outdoorsy' culture. I couldn't believe how well dressed (fit, young and slender) the population was. I was very impressed.



Manmade lagoon style pool complete with Surf Club and lawn areas with childrens play equipment.


Scott having fun on the childrens play equipment.


Healthy breakfast of McDonalds at the top of a mountain






The wedding itself was a fairly standard outdoor ceremony followed by a reception in the backyard of the couples home. I was hoping for something different to give me ideas for our wedding. oh well. I'm just going to have to use my imagination. To be honest I'm scared of planning my own wedding. I'm worried about being able to pull off something that is both creative, enjoyable for all the guests, and under budget!

The park along 'The Strand' where ceremony was held. This is a picture of the guests gathered to wait for the bride.


Scott at the wedding.


Bride walking down the 'isle'


Bride and Groom exchanging wedding bands



Well, I'm off to read my new copy of 'Cosmopolitan Bride'....

My beautiful niece...in MY beautiful dresses

My niece is a tiny little thing and ways about 50kg. She does not diet. In fact, she eats junk food as though her life depended on it.

We were going through some of my clothes. This black dress is a size 8 and I thought that it would be nice to lose weight and wear it to dinner and surprise Scott with how gorgeous I looked.

Well, that was over a year ago (the tags are still on it) and I'm determined to fit into that blasted dress! It wasn't cheap and I absolutely adore it.

My niece and I now have a bet going. I bet her that I will fit into the black dress in time to wear it to the Gold Coast engagement party... If I can't, she gets to wear it instead.

Fingers AND toes crossed!!!!!




This is a dress I bought when I was about 21 and weighed 54kg. It cost me about $150 and I wore it to a fancy event in my hometown. I felt like a model when I wore this dress. It gave me so much confidence and I got lots of compliments.

Its made of silk and is really comfortable to wear in summer. The skirt is quite short on me, but the layered skirt stops it from looking slutty. Looks great with a tan!

I have only worn it twice because back then there weren't many places to go dressed up (I lived in a country town).

I would love to fit back into this dress by this summer!!!

Walking to the shops instead of taking the car

I've been trying to get into the habit of walking to the shops instead of taking the car.

I'm embarrassed to admit the shops are only two blocks away. I'm even more embarrassed to admit that there is a lovely, wide pathway along the beach so there are no excuses to not walk.

On this particular day, there was a storm rolling in over the ocean and instead of the usual excuse of 'oh well, better take the car because it might rain', I walked.

I'm so glad that I did because it was really beautiful.


This is the view as I was walking back home. It looks out over the entire gold coast as it curves to the right.




The thundering sound as the waves crashed on the beach was very dramatic.

Engagement Party in hometown

The engagement party in our hometown went really well.

Scott's parents were so wonderful for hosting the party, organising it and taking care of all the arrangements. We drove up on the Friday morning in time for breakfast. We got up at 2am and I am very proud to say that I did my Friday weights workout before heading off.

Scott worked with his father on the ute and I spent the day with his mother, having lunch and shopping for the party. We went to the movies later that night with his brother and sister-in-law. Big mistake. We were so tired and hadn't had a nap so come the next day we were worn out. Unfortunately, Scott had to continue working on his ute and I had promised to go see my fathers new house (an hour out of town) which took up most of the day. Then it was on to party prep and then the party. I didn't get to sleep until 1am but could have crawled into bed at 10.30pm.

The next morning was a rushed breakfast, then cleaning and packing up while Scott finalised the work on his ute before heading off home. It was about 9pm before we got home and we were so glad to go to bed I can tell you.

Learnt some lessons from this weekend that I hope to avoid for the wedding -

a) don't over-schedule yourself
b) don't stay up late the night before the wedding day thinking that you will get a chance to have a nap beforehand
c) plan, plan and have a timeline plan


Everyone was so generous with gifts and well wishes. It was really exiting the next morning opening up the presents, even better than Christmas!

Here are some of the gifts....























I wore my new hair extension pieces for the first time at the party. Martin was walking past when I was putting them in, so we couldn't resist playing around...