Melbourne

On Friday, I went to work, like any normal day. I had a busy morning and my last meeting ended at 12.30pm. Grumpy said lets have lunch, but I said "No! I'm heading to the gym". Then I added "But.. you can be a gentleman and grab sushi for me. When I am done, I will come and meet you". He agreed.

My usual gym routine during my lunch breaks go for about 1 hr 15 mins, which is made up of my usual 30-minute treadmill run followed by a quick shower, getting dressed, then blow dry my hair, touch up some make up etc. I got a text from Grumpy around 1pm saying "I'm hungry I'm going to get sushi already". And so I cut short my gym time by 10 mins, and finished at exactly 1.30pm. I stepped out of the gym, which was Fitness First on Bourke St Mall (corner of Elizabeth Street). Grumpy was seated on a bench in front of Myer, waiting for me. So I crossed the tram tracks, found him, sat down, and we just enjoyed our sushi's together, under the sun. We heard helicopters above us, and I said "maybe its the tennis?". The time was 1.40pm, and the next thing we knew, a maroon car was driving right before us, only 25 metres away, driving straight into people, on the foot path, and I saw three bodies fly up in the air, and then landing on the ground - motionless. I screamed! I screamed "FUCK!!!!" and Grumpy shielded me, worried there was more coming. Police chase after the maroon car. I saw bodies on the ground, one at the entrance of Block Arcade, one at Cotton On, and one, exactly where I stood only minutes before, at the entrance of my gym. I said to Grumpy, "No one could live through that right? Not when you are hit at such speed, and fly up to the air, and somersault and land on the ground like that..?" It could have been me, because that is exactly where I stood, before I walked to meet Grumpy.

Moments later, Bourke St Mall was in utter mayhem. We decided to head back to work, where it was safe. We ran up on Little Bourke St. When I got to my office, the building was already in lock down mode. Only employees of the bank were allowed to enter the building.

I got to my floor, and my whole body was shaking. My bosses brought me into a room, and I told them exactly what I saw. My office is not far from Bourke St Mall/ Myer, and workmates said they counted up to 10-15 bodies lying on the ground, covered in a pool of blood. My body was shaking for nearly an hour. After that, my tummy was in cramps. I felt sick. 

A counselling session was set up at the ground floor auditorium, which I was asked to attend. I did, and was advised to: (1) talk about it, (2) be emotional if I need to be (3) seek further help if I need it. Most people at work were incredibly supportive. Workmates came to talk to me and asked if I was okay. My friends were texting me and ringing if I was okay. Then I decided I should ring my parents to let them know. I was pretty much in tears when telling my mum what had happened. She said "It is usually something we read in the news or watch on TV, not something that really happened right in our own city, in front our eyes". The entire Melbourne city was shaken. Our hearts were broken. We saw pictures of a broken pram, lying on a street. Innocent people, innocent children. Dopey was in Thailand, and he messaged me "Is there a terrorist attack?"

My head was trying to make sense of the trauma. I was thinking, how different things would have been if Grumpy did not meet me for lunch? If I was not rushed by him, I would have carried on with gym, taken my time, like normal, and stepped out at exactly 1.40pm-1.45pm, which was when the evil person struck. Or even, what if Grumpy met me after gym, and decided we would just eat at our desks and not at the bench, meaning we would be walking back to my office together first, along Bourke St.. where the lunatic then drove along after Bourke St Mall, to continue ramming into people. Maybe both of us would have been run down. Also, we would have been facing the same direction where he was heading, meaning if we were not paying too much attention to our surroundings, we would not have known the attacker was coming from behind. If things were different, who knows, either one of us, or both of us, would never have seen our Little Bambi ever again. Did I give her a hug and a kiss that morning before I left the house? 

Sad.

Good night,

Jules

Six Days Into the New Year

First week into 2017 and already, it feels like forever!

I started work immediately after New Years Day, but Grumpy stayed home an extra week to look after Little Bambi as her creche is still closed. Grumpy took her to watch Sing at the movies, visits to the park to practise cycling her new bike (from Santa), there were two playdates with friends (much to Grumpy's dismay - put it this way, he is not a fan of playdates with 4 year old kids) and today a trip to the city to meet me for lunch, followed by a visit to the Melbourne Museum. Overall, Grumpy did a great job, keeping her occupied. At the end of  today, I asked Little Bambi, "Which was the best part of today?" to which she said "There was no best part, mum, because you were not there at the museum with me". Such simple words yet enough to pierce me right in the heart!

Work has been fairly quiet with most of senior management away. My two other team mates, Miss Narcissist and Mr Egoistic, are both around, and I swear, they have both been doing my head in. As we are all peers in the team, I find everyone constantly trying to outdo each other. Because I am female, Miss Narcissist views me, personally, as a threat, and on the other hand, Mr Egoistic treats females like second class citizens. Yes it is great working with these wonderful people. Also, the team eagerly awaits our new manager who starts next Monday.

This week we were also notified of a family friend who is interested with renting our one bedroom apartment for their son who will be studying at Monash University this year. There are various factors Grumpy and I had to consider, but the most important factor to me, was that we can use this property to put Little Bambi in the school that we want (that comes with school zoning restrictions).

Dopey's permanent move back to Malaysia, and gifted me with the joys of running all sorts of errands for him this week, from returning his Foxtel box to organising for his car service, paying for car registration, insurance, etc.

Little Bambi had her first visit for the year to the Royal Children's Hospital this week as part of her blind clinical trial for peanut allergy - this requires a post of its own!

Today I had to get a blood test today due to previous test results which showed I was low in thyroid levels. I have been taking Thyroxine since, so am hoping for the test results to come back with more positive news.

Tomorrow we attend our neighbour's wedding, with Little Bambi doing her 3rd stint as flower girl.

And finally, to make my nights appear even longer than they should be, I am glued to Netflix dramas. Grumpy and I just finished watching Narcos, and now we are on to The Crown.

How is it possible that so many things can happen in just 6 days into the New Year?

Little Bambi with her friends playing dress up

Good night!
With love, Jules

2016 in review

It has been a crazy year, and that explains my long absence here on my blog. I have not forgotten about my blog, and I still want to keep this as it is where I capture memories, thoughts etc. Sometimes I come back here and reflect on myself, who am I as a person, what defines me. So there you go, my only post for 2016, but looking forward to posting more in new year.

2016 in review:

Weddings and Travel - This has been THE year of weddings. Over the start of 2016, we were in Malaysia celebrating Grumpy's BFF's wedding. Then in April, we travelled to the Gold Coast to celebrate Little-Miss-Bargain-Hunter's wedding (maybe she's not 'Little-Miss' anymore, but rather 'Little-Mrs'). A few months later, it was my brother Dopey's turn to say I Do! Dopey had two weddings, which was twice the fun, but also twice the effort (Melbourne and KL). And now with the wedding festivities over, Grumpy and I will hopefully be able to focus more on getting pregnant (something we have failed for the entire year, much to my disappointment!).

Motherhood and Family - Little Bambi has grown into a gorgeous little 4 year old. She is like my very own best friend, with a strong personality, funny, a bit nuts at times, but usually bubbly and caring. 2016 has been the year with lots of birthday parties with her friends. Most of the parents of her friends Grumpy and I have become quite fond of. However in the new year, majority of her friends will move on to prep, while she stays behind in kindergarten. Next year will be interesting, as we will have to make new friends again with new kids from kindergarten, but the best news I received last week, was that the two educators which will be caring for her in the new year, are the best educators in her childcare. They have cared for Little Bambi before, in the previous years. So yes, while we lose some the friendships we have made over the past 4 years, we have two of the most amazing educators for her final year in childcare before she goes to school, and that beats everything else. 

Work - Work has been interesting and challenging for me. I was given a piece of shitburger around the start of the year, which I had ZERO knowledge on. I took it on, read up on everything I could get my hands on, reached out to others for help, and finally delivered a piece of work that went straight to the regulator. This piece of shitburger then came with the best recognition I have received, from my stakeholders, EVER, in my entire career. To have one of the senior leaders in the bank, write an email on my performance review to my bosses saying that I was 'highly intelligent and one of the high performers in the team' has made me truly humbled and it felt so rewarding! I usually doubt myself, as I have never been a very vocal person in my team, and still new in the world of Risk, I usually try to stay 'low' and under the radar. Later part in the year, again, given a 2nd piece of shitburger, working on a piece of work that could have put anyone to sleep, I was able to take my stakeholders through the journey (which was mandatory across the entire bank), and come out with a very good outcome (where we were reviewed by an external party and given an excellent rating), again, one of the most difficult stakeholders for my team, was happy with my work and made it loud and clear to my boss. I finished up at work last week, feeling relieved and glad I was able to squeeze in a last minute Sydney work trip, and even visit my old Dublin boss, who is now based there. On another note, my previous manager, who was an amazing mentor to me, left the team, and so for the new year, I will have a new manager. Fingers crossed, we will be able to work together as a team, and I will feel supported. 

Okay I have to go now, we are celebrating New Years Eve with friends with teppanyaki! Goodbye 2016, hello 2017!

Much love,
Jules

Kathina ceremony

Three weeks in my new role, and while I like it, there is so much to learn and a lot of it takes time and experience to really understand what is going on. Overall, I am not feeling 110% at the moment. I am due to present at our End of Year wrap up (in front of more than 100 people) on my last day of work (before we fly off to Malaysia) next month. I HATE PUBLIC SPEAKING. I DO, I REALLY HATE IT! Our bosses push us to do it, but I still think if its not for me, it is not for me!

Back at home, we finally completed painting the house! It only took us a good 8 weeks to paint two bedrooms, a hall way, the kitchen and the dining area! I still can't believe we lived with green walls for 8 and a half years. Like seriously, what were we thinking?? It is now 'Natural White'. It looks great. We also replaced the carpets in all the bedrooms. The old carpets were more than 15 years old. Exactly. What were we thinking?

And today, was a special day for Buddhist followers at the Warburton monastery. It is the annual Kathina ceremony, where we get to offer robes to the monks. I was able to get in touch with a lady who organised the robes, and she secured two robes for us, one for myself and one for my brother. I was not sure on how to persuade Grumpy to attend this day with me (as it is a 90 minute drive from home), considering he calls himself, and our child, Christians! But he agreed! Little Bambi was quite excited. She attends church and reads books about the Bible, yet she knows the Buddha and is able to also do some basic Buddhist chanting. We stood in line and offered rice to the monks for their lunch. Grumpy helped Little Bambi offer rice to the monks bowl (melts my heart!). As soon as she was done with the rice offering, she started eating the rice herself!

While we were having our lunch at the monastery, Little Bambi was getting bored and so I agreed to take her to the field for a walk. She enjoyed running around the big open space. As Little Bambi and I were playing and talking, a monk walked past us as he finished his lunch and was returning to keep his bowl. He saw us and then he stopped. He turned around and asked if we wanted ice cream? Of course we want ice cream! The monk then said he had to place it on the ground to pass it to us, which is part of our Buddhist custom. I bowed to the monk and said "Thank you!" We ran back to Grumpy "Guess what? A monk just gave us a Magnum!" HAHA It was funny then but now as I sit down in bed and reflect, I think how incredibly special that was! Very rarely we get offered ice cream by a Buddhist monk!

After we offered the robes, we stopped by at a cherry farm on the way home. 

Grumpy and I, completely clueless to the conditions of entry. We filled up two big buckets with cherries, thinking they were 'free' and part of the $9 entry fee. Hahaha when we were done, we were a further $55 poorer! Damnit! We drove home thinking, WHAT are we going to do with $55 worth of cherries?!?!? Oh well, Little Bambi enjoyed it and we had a pretty eventful day. 

Good night! xx
Jules

Muffin Tray

We arrive at our local swimming pool, just two minutes before class. I usually like to give Little Bambi about half an hour of play time before her swimming lesson. But obviously, there is no time for that. 

Grumpy unlocks her car seat belt and lifts her down to the ground. Little Bambi, all ready and dressed up in her bathing suit, she holds on to a muffin tray, for dear life.

Grumpy "LITTLE BAMBI, YOU CAN'T take your baking tray to the swimming pool!!!!!"

Little Bambi "BUT I WANT TO TAKE MY BAKING TRAY to the swimming pool!!!!!!"

Me (looking at the time) "JUST LET HER TAKE THE BAKING TRAY TO THE SWIMMING POOL!!!!!!!!"

She finally jumps into the pool with her swimming instructor and her friends, showing off her baking tray. 

One of the mums come to me and goes "What an interesting toy to bring to the swimming pool?!!!!"

"Oh god don't ask!"

Just a regular Saturday morning with the family!

Promotion

Work - I finally got the promotion I have been waiting for!! It was all dependant on this guy Arthur, leaving his role to work in a different department. I will be taking over Arthur's old role. There were no interviews (which was GOOD! But I did apply for a different role in that same team earlier in the year and was unsuccessful at that time). I do not have a start date yet, or details of a pay rise. Regardless I am very happy with the outcome. 

Yoga - YES! A crow pose, baby! It took a good three months of practice to hold myself up on my palms. It all happened on Grand Final Friday. I went for a morning class where the instructor did heaps of upper arm strengths variations. I attempted the crow pose there, but it did not work. Yet I felt I was ready. I got home, pulled out my mat again, gave it a shot and it worked! It felt effortless. I was extremely proud of myself! Grumpy and Little Bambi on the other hand, did not share the same level of excitement as I did. But whatever, I finally did the bakasana! Next up, a side crow!

Crow pose (bakasana)

Money - As much as I love yoga, it is not a cheap practice and I simply cannot afford paying for both yoga classes and my gym membership simultaneously. My monthly yoga pass has expired and I have another 6 months to go on my Fitness First contract. Sadly, I have to continue with the gym as it is the cheaper option. Boo!

Family - Now that winter is over, we finally made it to the beach for the first time since winter. Little Bambi absolutely loved it! Having said that, we have not had much luck with swimming lessons. The previous three lessons comprised of this same girl, screaming and crying during the entire lesson, for all three lessons.

Loving the warmer weather

Friends - Sydney boy spent the weekend in Melbourne and Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and I decided to meet him for breakfast on a Saturday morning. This is at The Grain Store, and the food was absolutely delicious.

Bed time!

Good night xx Jules

Patience

The past couple of months have been extremely busy.

Work is going really well. I really do enjoy what I am doing, the team that I am working with and all the new things I am learning. However, I am still impatiently waiting for the promotion I was promised. It still has not happened yet, and while I am doubtful, there is still a glimmer of hope that it could happen before year end. Sometimes I think maybe I should just leave, find another role that pays more. Yet, it is the people that I work with that makes a difference. They are a lovely bunch, very smart and friendly. I just need to be a bit more patient. 

Little Bambi and I travelled to Malaysia in July for a two week holiday. During my time in Malaysia, I got hooked on yoga. I used to do Body Balance in the gym and declared myself a yoga enthusiast. I was confident and told myself I was good at it. Boy, was I wrong. Now that I am doing yoga alone, I realised I never mastered the basics to begin with. To help improve my yoga practice, I decided to freeze my Fitness First membership and signed up for a month of unlimited classes at a yoga teacher training school. I am not doing yoga teacher training per se, but they do normal classes as well. I would actually love to do teacher training. If only I could afford the $7k fee (and time and commitment, i.e. potentially lose my day job). The best part of my yoga classes is my incredibly handsome male instructor. Did I mention he was Irish? Haha.

While I embrace yoga in recent months, I have also decided it is time for Little Bambi to start her swimming lessons again after her first attempt when she was 6 months old. We did not start off on the right foot back then, and unfortunately it seems like the tables have not turned. She is still crying in every class, and only wants to play in the baby pool! OH MY! I am a good swimmer (this one I stand by strongly, unlike my previous yoga claim). I have been swimming since I was a child (being the daughter of a navy captain). Swimming is very much in my DNA. I love it. And the funny part is that my daughter absolutely hates it. 

Since we returned from Malaysia, I have also started baking my own sourdough bread. It is quite an interesting process. It is not hard to bake your own bread. Just requires a bit of planning and patience. Lots of patience. Just like Little Bambi and her swimming lessons. 

Patience Jules, patience. 

And finally, just quickly, to follow up from my previous post, Little Bambi's third laser attempt has been a huge success! The birthmark is no longer visible and it appears that she has recovered so well from it. There is no scaring and the skin colour has adjusted back to normal. 

Okay, time to hit the sack now.

Good night!