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It Seems To Be Quarterly Update Time

I’ve seemed to have forgotten about the blog once again, so many things have happened in the first quarter of 2016, it’s crazy to think that the first quarter is almost done! I must say, if the first quarter of the year is any indication of how the year is going to go, I think it will be a pretty smashing one!

 

January

My most favourite month of the year! This January I turned 30 on the 30th & had a nice quiet dinner at the Atrium, along with free champagne & cake. Was certainly a low key affair & I got to indulge in seafood that night, so I was a happy girl! January was also extra special as Matt popped the question officially & we got engaged on the 9th! I think that story deserves a post on its own 🙂

 

January also marked the point that I have been at work for 2 months in my new-ish job. In that time, we’ve had people start and quit the role & learned heaps of things in the role. Needless to say in my role, there were never 2 days alike & I made lots of phone calls & negotiated heaps to get good outcomes for the families and individuals I worked with.

 

On a personal note, I made the first steps of enquiring about switching my mortgage over to another bank as my current bank was going to hike the rates up as I was currently in a honeymoon phase of discounted rates. A whole 1% difference in interest sure adds up over the years & I’m quite keen to secure the best rates to be able to not pay so much to the banks & be a slave to them.

 

February

It was Matt’s birthday in February, so we celebrated with a nice dinner down at Paparazzi in Mandurah. If you haven’t had really good Italian food, I’d suggest they are worth a visit! Portion sizes are huge, but oh so yummy!

 

February also marked the point where I made the steps to actually swap over my mortgage & waited for the banks to talk to each other to organise the switch. Thankfully the people at my new bank are really good & have been very helpful every step of the way. Currently we’re just waiting on my soon-to-be old bank to give my soon-to-be new bank a settlement date. They’ve told my new bank to ring back on the 11th to book in a date. Cheeky buggers are trying to get the extra $87 (+$10 offset account fee) by letting my loan sit there for an extra month. I’ll be glad to be rid of them soon.

 

We also decided on a date for our engagement party & have begun organising for it. It’ll be a pretty cool test for planning for the actual wedding, given that we’re DIY-ing most things & going for a pretty cheap options. Am really looking forward to it all! Poor Matt is going to have to face a crazy Kristine for a while! 😛 We’ve also confirmed 2 bridesmaids & 2 groomsmen so we’re on our way!

 

I’ve also been catching up with friends & family a bit more lately, so we’ve been rather busy this year. Am really looking forward to being more social & catching up with our circle of friends. The first 2 months of the year have been pretty good so far & we’re thoroughly looking forward to the rest of the year!

Update September 2015

It has been quite a while since my last update & there’s pretty good reasons for it. As some of you might know, I’ve been working full time, doing uni part time & been busy applying for jobs lately. It’s been quite a full on couple of months & I’ve been struggling to get into the rhythm of things. I was taking 2 units at uni, which equated to approximately 24 hours of studying & assignments each week. I never got close to even that, I’d say I average about 3 to 5 hours each week at most.

There was an assignment that was due on Friday at 11.59pm & I’ve learned that I can only do assignments if I sit down & do them all in one shot. It’s how I’ve always learned & no matter how hard I tried to space things out more, it’s never worked for me any other way. So I started doing my assignment & hit a mental wall just before the deadline & cracked it. It was one of those hurdles that I wasn’t going to be able to jump through this time.

Matt had been cajoling me & encouraging me every step of the way but no matter what, I just could not make myself go on past that point. And I’m glad he knows me well enough to know when I’ve had enough. It came to the point where he was going to walk me through my assignment each step, and that was when I just broke down, unable to tell him what I needed to do & just blubbered some gibberish while crying.

We then talked it through & he told me something that I thought was very profound: that I need some down time & I don’t need to be on the go all the time. I think that hit the proverbial nail on its head. I’ve been working FT since May last year without a decent holiday from work, all the while studying as well. I’ve been trying to finish up my Masters ASAP, all without taking time to breathe & just chill. I admit, I run on deadlines & stress but I think my head just gave up after this stint.

I’m not at all ashamed to admit that I’ve decided to withdraw from that unit & continue with one unit a semester. If I can’t live with time to enjoy life, I don’t see the point. The thing that really cemented this decision is when work rejected my application for the vacation program, which essentially means that I’m in no rush to finish studying or do I intend to apply for their graduate program. It’s been a convoluted blessing in disguise as I’m in a pool for a job that I know is hard but also rewarding at the same time, and back in my initial field of OT & disability. I’m also in the process of finding out if I’m in 2 other pools for another job within the same sector. All 3 of which pays incredibly well.

I’m thinking of having a break next semester from uni to really recharge my batteries & to extend my Masters by a year. At this point, I’m only doing it just so I’ve got an extra qualification. I’m not 100% about working within the industry, which I’m ok with. My ultimate dream job has nothing to do with anything I’m studying or have studied, so I’m just happy enough with whatever comes along for now.

I’m quite relieved at the turn of events & the decision I’ve made this weekend. It’s also come at a good time as Matt was there to support me in what I decided & knew me well enough to help my decision along & to have my best interest at heart. On a lighter note, I feel that one unit at uni is now doable & I’ve only got another 7 weeks till I’ve got a long break again & I’m looking forward to the Royal Show next weekend!

The Big Chop

If you’ve been following me on Twitter for a while, you’ll know I’ve been pretty annoyed at my long hair & have been talking about lobbing it all off. I’ve talked myself into chopping it off, but never made it to the hairdressers till this weekend.

I felt ready to make the big chop & walked into the salon to get it chopped off & my hair washed as a bit of a treat to myself. I should’ve done this earlier, but am glad I got it all chopped off. Now, I get to grow it all out again & have my natural hair colour again.

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It feels like a big weight off my shoulders, quite literally. I am pretty pleased with it, but am waiting till it grows out a bit more so I can lob more layers into it 🙂

The Week That’s Been

It’s been one of those weeks post public holidays that is a 5 day week but feels shorter. Anyone else with me? It’s just weird.

It hasn’t been a particularly exciting week, mainly cause things at work has been very quiet & I’m waiting to hear back on the job hunting front. The problem with having a job while looking for another is the ability to take time off work to attend interviews. I haven’t dared to apply for as many positions as I would’ve liked because of this, but the ones I’m picking & choosing are my better picks in a sense. Better to hedge my bets at this point than lose my job completely.

Here’s my week in pictures!

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I found a plant growing in a drain in St Georges Terrace while walking to work one day. Someone on Instagram pointed out that things just grow where they want sometimes, which reminded me of tenacity & when there’s a will, there’s a way. Was good motivation to keep me perky in my job hunting.

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Matt & I were chatting about playing Borderlands 2 this weekend when this typo came about. Haha luckily I knew what was going on, but I haven’t seen him type so many messages so quick in a while!

I’ve got a few things on my list of things to do this weekend which include:
– Studying
– Fixing some broken plugins on my blog
– Sorting out my phone data sharing issues
– Sorting out my TV warranty & repair

What have you got planned for your weekend? Anything remotely exciting? Comment below!

Unmotivated

It’s now week 3 of uni & I’ve fell into a bit a heap, study wise. I had a site visit yesterday which I had to take time off from work for, which in the end, I didn’t learn much from due to a few reasons. I was with a bunch of noisy first years & I’m a learner who prefers to do their own thing at their own pace. To have so many people around me who knew each other, was a little intimidating to be honest. I can talk to CEOs & Directors but I can’t cope with 40 other students. Go figure.

I also spent a lot of my first year as an OT supporting someone who worked at the site & it brought back so many memories, both good & bad. It reminded me so much of how my old career intersects with my new. It’s strange. It also didn’t help that the bulk of the group were first year students, so the content of the site visit was very much aimed that way. I had to sit through explanations of stuff I do on a daily basis, no offence but I just wasn’t patient enough to do that yesterday, given that I had just sacrificed some work time for it. It just wasn’t enough bang for my buck. Literally.

I did pick up some things which I guess helped a bit but it’s mostly what I do on a daily basis in my job anyway. Just in a government department instead of the private sector. And on a much smaller scale. The thing that I took from the whole session is that they are hiring & for us to apply.

I know I sound pessimistic at the moment but I’m so unmotivated & am exhausted from it all. I work hard for things but don’t see results, which I guess deters me & unmotivates me in a way. I hate being on this head space & in a rut. I’m waiting on news to see if my interview 2 weeks ago went any good, I really need to be earning decent money again. And I need to be doing what I want to do. In which career, it doesn’t matter so much to me anymore, as long as I am able to have a balance in life.

Need to get it all out of me today to try to purge myself of all the negativity & reinvigorate my brain. It’s just been one of those days.