5 happy moments this week

Inspired by We heart life.

one
My boyfriend proposed. After 4 years together, we are getting married!

two
The ring. It is the prettiest thing I have ever seen. And he designed it for me.

three
Receiving the excited congratulations of family and friends.

four
Finally being able to purchase a bridal magazine without shame or social ostracism.

five
Having my boyfriend's parents here to share our joy.

On blogger's block

I can't blog. I have seriously been thinking about it for days but I just don't know what to write.

The flooding in Brisbane these past few days, and the flooding in the rest of Qld over the past few weeks has made me anxious, scared, heartbroken, annoyed, angry, sad and basically feel helpless (not necessarily in that order).

There really are no words. Except I have an admission - this evening, I'm feeling overwhelmingly GUILTY. Because my home is untouched. Not inundated, not damaged. And so many others lost everything. I can't even imagine what it's like. Is this non-victim guilt? It's weird and unsettling.

I think I need to go back to work. Being on holiday makes me feel lazy and stupid. When I go back to work, I can contribute in a material way to the lives of people affected. Here's hoping anyway.

On my birthday

Yesterday I turned 30. It was a pretty big milestone for me. I always thought by the time I'd turned 30 that I'd be living my dreams. Not entirely sure what those dreams ARE (see previous blogs about lack of life direction) but putting some things into perspective I'm not doing too badly by my own yardstick of estimation. I have a wonderful boyfriend who loves me. I own a house. I love living where I live. And I have a job that's not too hard and pays fairly decently. I'm rich in these things!

To celebrate my birthday, C offered to take me out for a meal, where-ever I wished. I chose lunch at Mt Glorious Restaurant and Cafe. The idea was, we could enjoy the gorgeous view whilst having a lovely meal. Reality didn't quite turn out as planned.

First, it rained. A lot. When the rain stopped for a bit, the mountain was still shrouded in cloud and the view over the valley wasn't QUITE what I'd hoped. Oh well.
Here's some photos - spooky huh?

When we got to the restaurant, first the service was a tad slow. Nobody came to take our order for about 5 mins after seating. It was in those 5 mins that we realised to our horror, that neither of us liked a damn thing that was on the menu. I have NEVER had that happen before. Not ONE SINGLE THING looked appetising. I'm going to call it "posh food" but you can interpret it how you like - C and I are quite fussy and neither of us eats things like seafood, spinach, pumpkin, mushrooms... and it seemed the entire menu was made up of just those things we both hate! So when nobody came to take our order, we decided to just leave.

Was it rude? Probably, since I'd booked the table and everything. We could have told the staff we had changed our plans before leaving, yes, but there was no staff even around to tell. But at the end of the day, I didn't have to pay $28 for a lunch I probably wouldn't like. Yes, that was how expensive the meals were.

We ended up going up the road to Mialiala diner. It's a great hangout and we've had breakfast there before. It's very popular with motorbike riders that love the mountain roads on the weekend, and the food is very good. We managed to get a seat inside (though it had stopped raining it looked like it would start again at any time) and I ordered a steak burger and chips, while C got lasagne and salad. And boy oh boy, was it good. My chips must have been fried in an oil made from sunshine and raindrops from a unicorn's mane because they were FANTASTIC.

So in the end it worked out. I didn't care that I wasn't having a fancy meal for my birthday, because sometimes, simple is better. I'm having a party with friends and family next week, but from the forecast it looks like it will be miserably wet and raining. For a change. Bah!

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Originally uploaded by surelysarah

Learning to blog from flickr. This is one of my favourite photos taken recently - we were following another car through a cane field up near Serena, and the dust thrown up made the sunset spectacular.