A WOMEN'S RIGHT TO SPENDING MONEY

I have a bit of an issue a la Carrie Bradshaw in the episode - A Womens Right to Shoes of SATC.

I have a friend from back in the school days era…who is getting married next weekend. I am really pleased for her as she seems very happy and content. C & T got engaged early last year and also moved into the house they had just bought – so they combined their engagement and housewarming together. I’ll admit that I was a little shocked when I got an invitation to the party because I could probably count the number of times I’ve seen her since school days. Never-the-less I went with the girls and we each chucked in $25 each for an Egyptian cotton towel set.

A few months later I got an invitation to her 21st birthday party ( I know, 21 is VERY young to be getting married) so of course we went to take advantage of the free booze and food. Oh and also spent $50 each on a gift voucher for a wedding package at a luxury spa as her present.

Fast forward 10 months and I get an envelope the size of a package in the mail – invitations for the Kitchen Tea/Bridal Shower, Hens Night and of course, the wedding.

She had her Kitchen Tea first. I did consider not going to this because I can’t think of anything worse than spending an afternoon with drunken old ladies making a wedding dress out of toilet paper. But I did the right thing and went for a few hours…taking with me my share ($25) of the $150 gift voucher for a Home and Garden place she’s been raving about.

Then we had the Hens Night (probably the only thing I was really looking forward to) which consisted of a bus to pick us up and drive us around all night… $25 each. Then onto Pole Dancing lesson with champers…$35.00 per person. Then a Comedy Cruise on the Harbour at $60 a head. Then onto whatever sleezy bar in Cockle Bay Wharf we could drag her into. That’s $120 before you include alcohol throughout the night (and trust me…there was A LOT of drinking)

With the wedding coming up next weekend – I’ll be up for another $100 for the ‘Wishing Well’ that we are contributing to at the Wedding. And don’t even get started on the fact that I’ll probably be up for a new dress and/or heels for the day/night.

So that’s a grand total of $320!!! Now, I know you don’t give presents to receive them in return…but unless I get engaged, married, become pregnant and move house any time soon there’s not way C & T will spend that amount of money on me as we don’t buy birthday presents for each other - we are lucky to even catch up for drinks for our birthdays.

I guess I shouldn’t complain…I’m lucky that a group of my pals are also invitees and we’re able to all chuck in for a present and get out of it reasonably cheap while still giving a decent present. In saying that, I would've much rather not spend little amounts here and there and just give me a $250 wedding present.

Perhaps I’ll send out invitations letting people know I am marrying myself and that I have my gift registry set up at Manolo Blahnik. Or maybe they'd like to contribute to my 'honeymoon' registry at Flight Centre =)

CHARITY

Lately, I've been thinking I should start contributing, on a regular basis, to a charity of some kind.

I can admit that I know jack all about politics and world events...so I'm not sure what charity I should become involved it.

I've thought about donating to The Cancer Council...or volunteering to the Look Good...Feel Better (a program that female cancer patients apperance related side of their treatments such as hair loss) because my mum died of cancer 8 years ago. But that all seems a little selfish.

So maybe sponsoring a child in Sth Africa? Tanzania? Ethiopia? There are so many options and so many organisations. How do I choose?

Global Warming is something that I think is a major problem. But again my reasons are a little selfish...I would hate to see a world where every country is in the same climate. There would be no fun in going to Europe in the middle of Winter if it wasn't freezing cold. Or spending some time in Outback Australia would lose its effect.

There are all the natural diasters funds, such as Hurrican Katrina and, more recently, the tsunami in Solomon Islands but that's obviously only a temporary thing.

So I want to know if you donate to a charity, or if you have any suggestions.

I NEED TO GETAWAY PART 2

For all those who wanted to get away with me...here are a few of my fav pic's from when I was in London in Feb this year.

Big Ben at 2pm;

Tower Bridge from South of the Thames;

London Eye from North of the Thames;

Trafalgar Sqaure;

Somedays I really wish I was back there =(

I NEED TO GETAWAY

Bonjour.

Conduisez-moi a l’a’eroport, s’il vous plait

C’est tout, merci

Translation:

Hello

Please take me to the airport

That’s all, thankyou.

I need to getaway. Somewhere. Anywhere.

Oh, and I'm learning french online for when I go to Europe in September.

MY BESTIE

I hope everyone had a happy Easter!!!

I was going thru some stuff this long weekend, trying to spring clean in autumn when I came across the speech that my best friend, maree*, wrote for me at my 21st birthday party. I wanted to share it because it nearly brings tears to my eyes every time I read it.

Where do I possibly start! For those of you who don't know, Del* and I were actually born 19 hours apart in hospital. This means that right now is part of only 19 hours where I am actually a year older in years than Del!

It's been 21 years since those two days when we were born and obviously were best friends since then. When it came to writing this it was really hard to put 21 years of friendship into one short speech. It is hard to try and begin to explain how much Del means to me and what influence she has had on my life.

Del has been more of a sister to me than anything else. We have also been a part of each others families our entire lives. We went to play group together and loved to play dress ups! We went to pre school together and will never forget building the textured garden. Then we went to SW Public Primary School together until Del changed to StM Catholic Primary School. This was a massive change not seeing each other every day. We went to BPC Catholic High School together and started a new part of our life as good catholic girls - I'm so glad that to this day nothing has changed. "Insert friends and families laughter and 'pft yeah right' comments here"

In 21 years there have been a lot of funny times which leave us with great memories that I will cherish forever. But we haven't gone without some really difficult times which only made our friendship stronger - everytime we somehow manage to get each other through it. I now that there are a couple of people who constantly watch over Del and I know she wishes more than anything that they could be there tonight.

I have a few funny memories I'd like to share from when we were growing up. I will never forget Del's ability to sleep anywhere when we were younger - particularly under tables when we went out to dinner. When it all got a bit too much, Del would crawl under the table and catch up on some sleep. That was until she was bitten by fleas at one Chinese restaurant.

For those people that remember the restaurant Sizzler it was a favourite for Del & I. Del was quite fond of the self serve ice cream machine and was helping herself one day until the tears came when the machine wouldn't stop and Del ended up with a whole lot more than one bowl of ice cream.

It was when we became older and discovered alcohol that a lot of our funny times occurred and these are more recent in my mind. Del loves to party and have a 'few' drinks. One night at my place before we were 18 we had a gathering and a few drinks quickly turned into a lot - it was Del that when standing up against the back door at the end of the night slowly slid down the door and "rested her eyes" on the floor. I'm sure it was only tiredness not related at all the amount of alcohol consumed.

Dave gave Del and I affectionate nicknames of ugly and uglier. When I look at Del now this couldn't be further from the truth as I know I have a gorgeous best friend both inside and out.

I know that Del will go far in her life as she has already been through so much but moved forward so far. I would do anything for her and have always prided myself in being her old sister and looking out for her.

I can think of so many words to describe Del - kind, caring, considerate, compassionate, slight crazy, funny, adventurous, honest, fun loving, amazing and my best friend.

I have watched Del's fashion sense develop of the past years - I only hope that wherever she may end up in the years ahead that she remembers - you can take the girl out of Sth Windsor, but you can never take the Sth Windsor out of the girl! "Insert cheers and whooping from fellow redneck family members and friends"

Despite the brand name clothing, shoes and handbags Del owns - underneath the fashionable lady is a shagga who will often burp and blow into my face. This of course is a showing of affection between Del & I.

Del has been a fantastic friend to me and to all the people here tonight. I can say that I am extremely proud to be a friend of hers and to have grown up with such a great person.

You'll always be in my heart

Our friendship has no end

I hope you know how honoured I am

To have you as my best friend

Just another dedication to my fabulous friends.

xoxo

TO DATE OR NOT TO DATE?

As I’ve previously mentioned I am recently single after a nearly 3 year relationship.

This, of course, means I have to get back into the dating game…which is something I am kind of scared of.

Apart from all the usual woe’s of dating: Why won't he call? Where is this going? etc... – I have a particular question that I am battling with;

Is it right to date someone, if I definitely don’t want a relationship?

I am hesitant to even go on a date with someone because I know that even if the man of my dreams came and swept me off my feet I wouldn’t get into a relationship right now because a) I still have strong feelings for my ex and b) After 3 years I want to be single for long enough to get my independence back.

I’m not saying I’m totally refraining from male attention of that kind at all. Infact, Casual and/or drunk hook ups are suiting me just fine at the moment. But I’ve met some really great guys who have asked me out on a date and I’ve just avoiding answering or making plans with them because I’m unsure if I should go on a date with someone who I could potentially fall for – when I am certain I don’t want to be with anyone for a while. In fact, if I happened to go one a date which leads to a few more dates which some how leads to us spending every other night together – I think I’d end up resenting them for taking away my single time.

So what do you think? Is it OK to ‘date’ if I am not interested in a relationship for the time being?