A bit of a late update, but here goes...

With all the nervousness in getting ready for my talk I totally forgot to share photos of Caitlyn's birthday party. 

Just like last year we had her party at the Kapiti Gym.  It is a great venue.  For the first hour the kids do a gym session and you can either opt to do a proper session or just "go wild for an hour".  We opted for the "go wild for an hour" and the kids absolutely loved it. 

And just like last year I left the cake until the last minute.  Really?  Why do I keep doing this to myself?  Will I never learn?  Instead of one big cake I made a cake that I cut into squares which I then covered with white icing and attempted to make them look like little bags.  Then on top I put a little teddy which I made with brown icing as well as some lollies.  I did last year in the place of party bags at the end of the party and we did the same this year.  It worked very well.

For some strange reason we seemed incredibly organised.  Last year we were running around like mad things just trying to be on time, but this year, we arrived at the venue early, Sarah helped blow up balloons and I quickly (with the help of Rose) got the food ready and suddenly thought there must be something wrong because we are never this organised.  Nothing major went wrong, so we couldn't have forgotten about anything big - so who knows...

Once the hour gym session was finished everybody came upstairs for lunch. 

Wonder what they were discussing about the cake...

Trying the Fairy Bread.  And the verdict?  It tastes just like normal bread with sprinkles on

Then it was time for Caitlyn to open her presents.

And blow out her candles. 

Caitlyn got so many nice presents.  And Sarah made this cool voucher where Caitlyn will be transformed into a princess for a day.  Sarah, Caitlyn cannot wait!

Fitness Buddies

Marion talked about having fitness buddies (click here). 

I have to agree with her - fitness buddies make a huge difference. I didn't always believe that and at first I was way more comfortable just doing my training completely on my own, preferably at a time when nobody was around to see me.  Then when I was finally in a group setting to my surprise I realised I wasn't the slowest or the most unfit.  It was then that I realised training with others alongside training on your own could actually be quite fun!

I am lucky to have a few fitness buddies. 

Paul is an amazing athlete!  I wouldn't go running or cycling with him because for one it would be way too intimidating for me, and he would also get utterly bored in the process.  I really enjoy reading about his running adventures and following the progress of his cycling.  He is a huge inspiration to me and incredibly determined.  It doesn't matter if it is freezing cold outside or if it is pouring down with rain, he is always out and about.  I really appreciate Paul's advice and his support.

Then there is my friend Rose.

Rose is the one that I will go out with and do a run, swim or bike session.  We have similar fitness levels and deal with similar struggles as we are trying to get fit.  Of course Rose is also the one who will keep convincing me to do different things and really the reason I ended up doing the Kapiti Women's Triathlon and now have about 3 more events lined up. 

Rose and I at our recent triathlon

Then there was the Saturday training group.  I have to admit that at first I was rather scared to go because what if I was so incredibly slow and the most unfit, but it turned out to be a great group of ladies and it was incredibly supportive.  It was great preparation for both Rose and I as we worked towards the Kapiti Women's Triathlon.  The Saturday training sessions have stopped for now, but both Rose and I hope that a group of us might be able to continue.  Have to say I'm really missing these sessions.

Some of the Saturday training group ladies

Having these fitness buddies really make a difference and it is great to have people who could inspire, motivate and support you. 

A relaxing weekend spent with friends

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last blog entry!  I really appreciate it!  Lien, I'll share my talk (or at least what I intended to say) shortly, but I've not had a chance to type it out.

And so another weekend has come to an end.  For most of it it was simply a quiet relaxing weekend spending time with friends.

On Friday and Saturday evening Paul and I caught up on gmail chat and listened to some Elliott Smith concerts together.  We listen to his music and then we discuss which tracks we like and what we think of the lyrics.  There are very few of Elliott Smith's songs we don't like, but choosing favourites has become a really hard job - there are just too many we like!

Yesterday afternoon Mike and Rose invited us to go and visit them at their house and in the end they asked us to stay for dinner.  Because the weather was absolutely miserable it was a great way to end up spending our Saturday.

This afternoon Rose and I decided to go out and get some training in for our upcoming triathlon.  We planned to do a bike ride and a run, but then we found it was way too windy and decided to just do the 3km run.  We only did a 3km run because we were trying to work out how long it would take us.  The run in the upcoming triathlon is 3km.  Today I managed it in 21 minutes and Rose did 23 minutes.  Tomorrow we'll be doing a bike ride and a swim session.  Rose and family then came to our place for dinner.

And that was pretty much our weekend in a nutshell. 

So what did you get up to this weekend?

Embarrassing my kid in 3...2...1...Go!

I want to say thank you so much for all the supportive and encouraging words I have received on my blog, Facebook, email, Skype and gmail chats. Here is an account of my first public speaking engagement. 

The Professionals (real estate agents) organised a charity golf day for the Child Cancer Foundation.  Then afterwards there was an auction and a dinner with all proceeds to the Child Cancer Foundation.  Bianca and I were part of the evening festivities. 

I had my speech all planned and had bullet points of the points I wanted to cover, I practised it and was confident I would do great!  And so we got there and we met some really really nice people who are so devoted to supporting the Child Cancer Foundation.  They asked us if we would stay for dinner (or tea as they say here) afterwards and showed us to our seats. 

Here Bianca and I are with John and Leanne as well as Malcolm from The Professionals.

From left to right - Lea, Bianca, John, Leanne, Malcolm (The Professionals)

These people were very interested in some of Bianca's beads

The CCF branch chair lady - Leanne got up first to say a few words.  She is a volunteer working for CCF.  She became involved because her and her husband John (who was also there last night) also had a son with leukemia who sadly passed away 18 years ago at the age of 4.

So strong and so composed

Then it was our turn.  Sorry Lien, I didn't manage to get video or photos of me doing my speech.

Bianca was sitting on a chair next to me.  I started all confident and did my intro and then... I just became incredibly overwhelmed and emotional and had to stop and catch my breath and compose myself before I could carry on.  I didn't refer to any of my bullet points in the end.  I know I referred to Bianca's beads.  I know I referred to some of the challenges she faced during her treatment and I know I spoke of the wonderful support we've always had from the very start with CCF.  I cannot believe I became all emotional for the full duration of my talk.  Really?  Speaking to 1 person I have absolutely no problem.  I can tell you anything you want to  know and more without even blinking, but suddenly in front of the crowd - oh wow! 

If there is one positive from this, I guess is that in Dale Carnegie they say you have to start with impact.  And I think I did.  As soon as I did my intro and I stood there catching my breath I had most of the 80 - 100 people in tears.  I'm happy for them to be in tears, but didn't want me to be emotional as well.  Sigh!  Sometimes I wish I was stronger.  I thought I was.  I'll definitely have to re-work my talk next time.  Maybe find a different way to open.

When I got back to my seat I had a few people coming up saying that they wanted to thank me for getting up there and sharing our journey and that they were touched. One guy said he wanted to come and help me as I stood up there, but he was crying too much.

I can tell you it wasn't how I practised it.

And as soon as I was done I had no problem telling people anything they wanted to know and more, so I have no idea what was up with me last night!

Then it was time for the auction.  For part of the auction Bianca helped out holding the item up so people could see it to bid on it.  I was pleasantly surprised to see one of Caitlyn's artworks that we had done a while ago for CCF which the Professionals requested to use as part of their initiatives to help raise money for CCF.  Caitlyn's painting raised about $150.  How neat is that!

Caitlyn's first artwork up for display and auction :-)

Bianca was a great assistant

Dinner (or tea) was lovely and it was so nice being included.  When we were sitting there a lady came up to me with tears rolling down her cheeks and she told me that me getting up there and seeing Bianca has touched her like nothing ever did.  She then gave me the bracelet (click here to read about it) she paid around $150 for in the auction. 

Despite absolutely embarrassing myself and Bianca, I'm really glad we were able to be there last night to help make a difference.  It is so heart-warming seeing these people so committed at making a difference and supporting a charity that doesn't get any government funding at all.  Last night people dug really deep and it was amazing to see!  Thank you!

PS - Thanks Paul for the chat last night about the evening and all your reassuring words! 

Dreams

Last night was weird!

Usually when I dream I don't always remember what I was dreaming about.  But I found myself dreaming that I was waking up and noticed that I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor next to our bed.  And so I lay there completely baffled as to why I was there and how in the world that happened. Suddenly I realised that Terence was also there.  Really??? Why???  How???  I then suddenly woke up to realise that I was in fact lying in bed and not on the floor.  It felt so real.  It was the weirdest thing. 

I then proceeded to dream that Rose and I were doing some or the other event.  And the second part to the event was that we had to go on scooters (yes scooters - mine was a pink razor one like Caitlyn's), except when I got to mine, it was all taken apart by a child who thought it would be fun to take it apart and put it back together again.  Except I couldn't get him to actually put it together again.  His dad finally said he would sort it by the next day.  Rose then asked me "so if you can't use your scooter, what part will you play tomorrow?" And I said "Maybe I'll just be the prison guard as I won't need my scooter for that".  Oh my goodness!  What weird dreams! 

If you are into dream analysis please don't analyse my dream as I already know I'm half crazy ;-)

What was the weirdest dream you ever had?  Do you tend to remember your dreams when you wake up?

Last night reminded me of a very real and vivid dream I had when I was 13. 

When I was 13 (and in my last year of primary school) I had a dream that there was some or the other event at school.  Suddenly there was a fire and all of us were just running around like crazy.  It felt so real. 

What I didn't know was that this would pretty much happen the following year.

In 1990 I started high school at Sasolburg High School.  It was a really good school (click here for the website) with an extremely high standard of education.  They had lots of opportunity for cultural and after school activities.  And I think they had a great choice of subjects.  The only downside I think was the ugly orange and brown school uniforms. 

Every year they would have some or the other theme for their cultural festival.  That year was a German festival.  It is where everybody would dress up in traditional German clothes, do German dances and enjoy German food.  As per tradition, all the kids (all 900 and something of us) were to meet in the centre of town where we would light torches and then march all the way to school where the festivities would begin as soon as we all arrived. 

That night my mum dropped me off and then left so she could meet me back at school which was on the other side of town.  In this parking lot they put all the kids into their year groups and then the plan was that they would move us into the street where they would space us out so they could light all the torches ready for our parade.  Except somebody started lighting the torches while we were all in the parking lot and soon all the torches were lit, but because we were too close to each other somebody bumped into somebody else and well as you can imagine - absolute chaos.  There were flames and screaming and running kids everywhere.  I remember staring at flames under a car suddenly panicking thinking that I simply had to get away.  And then somebody told me to drop and roll in the sand as my hair was on fire.  I didn't get hurt (except a bit on my hand) because I was close to the fence and didn't end up running through all the flames, but my friend next to me got hurt quite a bit.  Several others had quite severe burns.  I think about 80 kids got injured.

I have no idea how my mum knew to come back, but I went to stand out by the road thinking that I would just wait there for her and the next moment she came driving past. 

I think that was the one and only time one of my dreams actually happened.

Have any of your dreams ever come true?