Oh Michelle!!!!!

I don't know how you do it - you really are a very strong woman!

Oh Michelle, that sucks... no good at all! We need to get you a job... I will look at that selection criteria in the morning at work, promise. I am so tired right now that I dont think that I would do it justice. i will have it ready for you to have back by the end of tomorrow. xxxxoooo

Chloe, I am sorry that you had a bit of a cry with/at your mum. I am sure that your dress will be finished, and that it will be sensational. her daughter is getting married, and she will not settle for anything less than perfect. I have said it before - you are going to look like a princess.

Amanda, you have a spunky H2B!! he he

Thanks so much for the long update, MichelleBelle! It is so cool that your dad is starting to get excited about everything! Yay! You will feel great when you have your honeymoon booked and paid for - I am with you, i need a holiday. Something shocking.

I rang our minister tonight and he's in hospital having open heart surgery. Can it get any worse? We have like, 10 days to lodge our Notice of Intent.

Hi Girls,

geez, I was only in here yesterday and already so much activity

Michelle - 4 months & Iraq I don't know how you do it either.

Beck - only 8 RSVP's to go for you - woohoo Hopefully they are all 'yes' for you. Do you have a minimum number count for your reception?

Carolyn - if you are used to applying your make-up yourself every day, why not do it yourself? Do a 'trial' on yourself and take some pic's and if you're happy, then go for it

Amanda, we are also having two songs for the signing - just in case. LOL at your honeymoon suite! If it has 3 rooms, maybe you just sleep in the bedroom and 'ahemm', cuddle in the other rooms!

Kathy, you are absolutely right about the hair. I would never have thought the hairdresser could get that style out of my hair. It is reasonably long, but is also very fine and wispy.

Michelle, how did your day of Cinderella hell go? Hope you made it out the other side

MichelleBelle - it sounds like you've been a very busy bee. Good on your for getting so much organised!

Laurette, I'm so sorry to hear that your Dad is causing you issues. I also have a 'very less than perfect' father, so I know how you feel. My Dad has also not offered a cent towards our wedding. At least he is showing a bit more interest now. At the beginning he was almost rude whenever I bought it up. Anyhoo, I'm thinking of you. Try not to let him upset you too much

Chloe, firstly, Happy New Year for yesterday (sorry I'm a day late)! Now on to serious dress business. I'm absolutely positive that your Mum will finish your dress in time and it will be STUNNING (she wouldn't want you running down the aisle in the nuddy ). It's a good thing that the BM's are being made by someone else though to take some pressure off her. Our mummies, do tend to try and be superwomen. Try not to stress Oh, and your photo is gorgeous.

bed time for me! I've got my final dress fitting tomorrow afternoon. I'm felt a bit bummed the last couple of days for some unknown reason (maybe something in that tantie-time ), so hopefully my dress will pick me up

have a good day tomorrow girls.

jo.

GOD its early!

My little precious' sit their exam today so I thought I'd come into work early and make sure there were no last minute issues (like 'oh you mean the exam is TODAY?!?!?!)

Thanks Laurette....I'm sure Paddy will be pleased to hear someone think he is spunky....mum and I spend all our time telling him what a dag he is! Heheheh. No good about the minister....we had similar (though not as life threatening) issues....ours didnt know til 2 weeks ago whether he was to be relocated or not. So he said 'don't worry if I go there will be an alternative', yes - either the man who was a heavily suspected paedophile, or perhaps the creepy one who uses the term 'marital intercourse' whenever talking about sex. Ew.

But he is staying now. So its ok!

Chloe....I forgot to ask....what did you do for Chinese New Year? We are off to puppy school tonight with our dog Seamus and they have extra special suprises tonight to celebrate year of the dog!

Anyway girls, better roll and try to get that thesis presentation done that is due in just over 24 hours. If they don't like it this time, I'm well and truly up shit creek (don't pay any attention to that mum....heh)

AW

Hi Jo, Yes, there is a minimum number count for my reception, it's 50, which we're way over, but the problem is they do their pricing in brackets so 50-60 people costs $x 61-70 costs $x and so on and the lower the amount of people, the more expensive it is per head. We were originally in the 81-90 people price bracket, then we droppped some numbers and went up/down to the 71-80 people price bracket, but it went down enough to start saving money coz the drop in the number of people outweighed how much it went up by. But if it drops below 71, we'll drop down/up another price bracket and be back in the situation where there's less people, but we're not saving any money. I hope this makes sense, it's before 9am and my brain aint working that well.

Amanda, i have pics of all my stationery on my webpage, the link is just below my signature. But to give you an idea of what i did, here is a pic of my invite



My colours are purple and silver and there's a butterfly theme throughout my stationery.

Beck

Nice Beck....

That's crazy with your price brackets....hopefully you get some numbers just in the right spot then!

For some strange reason we don't have to guarantee a minimum, which I'm glad of, because at the moment I only have 4 official yes RSVPs! He he he.

Howdy girls.

Ethical question of the day

If I get called tomorrow and offered a part time job (20 hours a week) should I take it? Or hang out for the job that closes on Friday which is full time?

If I do accept the part time job, then get an interview for the full time job and somehow manage to get offered the full time job, should I then quit the part time job and take the full time job.

I dont want to say no to the part time job and then miss out on both. I really want this full time job though. I am such a softy I have never quit a job before (well I have but for relocation purposes)

Is it rude to accept a job then quit after say a week to work somewhere else.

Ok, Im probably jumping the gun, chances are I wont get either job but I still need reassurance abotu what to do, just in case

Hi girls,

Michelle,

Its not an easy question to answer but if it was me i would say yes to the part time and then yes to the full time.The people from the part time wont be impressed if you leave after a week but they probably wont see you again after that so IMO go for it at least in the you will have a job of some sort.

Everything crossed for you hope you get one of them.



Now im going to Brisbane at the end of the week to get my MOB dress does anyone know of some good dress shops in Queen St mall beside Myers and David Jones.


kathyxxx

Thanks for that Kathy, thats what Im thinking too, now my next problem is actually getting EITHER of the jobs, but its nice to day dream that Im so good that everyone wants to employ me

I dont know any places in brissie sorry, Chloe might shes been there recently.

We "should" get a copy of our wedding ceremony emailed to us today from the celebrant. Im interested in what he has to say everyone raves over his ceremonies.

Hi Michelle - I agree with mum, but then again I am Captain Scammer so perhaps my opinion isn't the best to take! But you need to put your interests first....you owe no loyalties to anyone else... and as someone who teaches employment law, I can tell you that the conditions are better stacked in your favour in the full time gig. Just don't accept an Australian Workplace Agreement!

Mum....whilst you are in Queen St, you could pop into the recently opened Brisbane branch of Tiffany's. I hear they have some noice jewelry, and I'm always in need of some!

HA!

Hi All

OOohh Michelle that's a really tricky one. I think you need to look after yourself and say yes to the part time and the full time. Just say it was something you pursued before you got the part time job and didn't think you'd get it but it's really too good an opportunity to pass up. Good luck!!

Kathy - dress shopping how exciting! I believe there are some really nice boutiques (potentially pricey?) just off the mall in the arcade... Don't know if I can remember the name of the arcade but its where the Darrell Lea shop faces the mall (about halfway between Myers and DJ's).

Myers have completely renovated and are stocking some lovely things so you might actually have some luck there. The new DJ's at the moment is actually smaller than the old DJ's. Alternatively, I've always found the boutiques at Paddington very good - I would probably go there if you have a chance or an early start.

Good luck!

Beck - I can see how your juggling of the RSVPs might be very stressful given your arrangement with the reception venue... Ours is just a minimum of 100 guests and I'm sure we will reach that. Be nice if we didn't go too far over that but somehow I doubt it...

Amanda we didn't really do anything for Chinese New Year. Just dress fittings. I got a few red packets (red envelopes with money inside from married couples to single people). This will be my last year I can collect red packets. Next year *sniff* I will have to give them out. Maybe we shouldn't get married...?!??

Have a fantastic time with your puppy tonight! I love puppy school. I love puppies. Wish mine would shrink back to puppy phase again

The dress:

I'm feeling a mixture of anger, frustration, heartbreak and guilt. Basically mum got to the stage on Sunday that she didn't feel she could sew the dress. That's why we were both very upset. Mind you, we were both sleep-deprived (still are - well I am anyway) but its not that I haven't faith in her. She now wants to get a tailor to do it. Now i'm the one saying, you'll be fine. It'll get done. Even if I have to fly up every single weekend between now and the wedding (which would cost like, I don't know, a whole couture dress from High St...) we'll get there. Maybe?

Last night she went to see a professional sewer (is that even an occupation title?) a friiend of hers knows through a friend (etc).

She keeps re-doing the same part. SHe's redone it about 5 times now. We're running out of time.

I'm forcing her to continue with what she's done. It doesn't fit perfectly, but I'd rather she alter it and alter it, than start again which will take us back to square one for like the 5th time in a row.

I got really upset last night again when talking to her over the phone (while staying up all night to do my business plan which is due today). She was wanting to ask another person for help, or give me money (that she doesn't have) to go and buy a dress (at this last minute?). I'm finding it hard to manage her stress and boulster her confidence as well as my own.

We booked a trip next weekend to go back to Brisbane and I'm even considering going back this weekend as well. The difficulty is she is sewing without my body there to check at each stage how things are going...

Well, there's another chapter of ranting from me. So sorry girls. And thank you so much for your support - not sure actually if I'd get through all this stuff without this thread to download it all to!!!

Chloe XOXO
aka, the naked bride who might be attended by naked bridesmaids

sorry more job related ramblings

Does anyone know how much notice I would have to give the part time place if I was going to quit? If I am on a trial do I have to give any notice at all? It would be permanant part time and everywhere else I have worked needs a few weeks notice - does this still apply if youve only just started?

Hi Michelle,

It all depends on the contract of employment...though I suspect if it is a 'trial' period you may not have to give any notice - it really depends on the contract. Do you know if its a contract? Enterprise agreement? AWA? If so...do you know what it says? This may not be something you find out until an actual offer is made, so just wait to see....

....BUT....if you got the other job as well, you could just leave the part time one and forfeit the pay in lieu of notice, especially if you are able to start a new job straight away, thus meaning that money isnt an issue. Your only obligation to them is notice, and if you fail to give it then all that does is relinquish their obligation to pay you for the notice period.

PM me if you want to talk more about it, especially once you know what the contract is like....

AW

Thanks Amanda, like I said I havent even been offered ANY job yet, but just thinking ahead. I will let you know if/when I find out what type of contract it is. Hopefully they just give me a 3 month probationary period, during which I hope I can quit if needed and not worry about the notice period.

Hi girls,

daily check in here

Michelle, that is a tough one with the job, but like the other girls I would take the part time job if you get offered it, then if you get the full time one later on, leave the part time. It sucks a bit for the part time place, but you've got to look after yourself and its about time you were no. 1 And besides, the part time place will presumably have other resumes on file and will be able to get someone else in.

Beck, that is a pain about the numbers. Fingers crossed that you get exactly the right amount. We have a minimum of 140 with 162 people invited. I'm hoping for a nice 142 (but of course that's in the perfect world and not very likely ).

Amanda, did your get your thesis structure finished?

Laurette, I can't believe your minister is having open heart surgery Did you know that he was due to go in to hospital or is this out of the blue?

Oh Chloe, my heart is with you over your dress. What a stressful situation to be in and your Mum must be just beside herself She obviously wants so badly to give you the dress you deserve, but is scared she will stuff it up. Did she feel a bit better after speaking to the professional sewer? Can she make it up as best she can and then you take it to a tailor/dressmaker to get altered to fit you perfectly?

Dinners here (chile con carne!), better go eat.

Jo.

(Chloe, I'm always loved the idea of those red packets Nearly a good arguement for not getting married.....nearly !

Argh! I haven't been keeping up at all. I loved the Alex Perry dress a few pages back but keep losing track. I need to do a daily check in as well.

Can you believe that we're all getting married NEXT MONTH!! Just had a little moment of excitement about that one (although I hope I didn't stress you out further about the dress Chloe).

Shall try and keep up more. Oh and we finally booked that last thing for the wedding - we've now got transport - so I'm feeling like we've reached a small milestone. I also get my dress sometime this month. Can't really remember what it looks like
Karen

Hi Girls,

aww Chole, I hope your dress works out. It seems to be causing you so much stress and worry. Just know on the day that you'll be a glowing bride no matter what.


Michelle- on the job front, if you do get the part-time job and need to turn it down, I would just blame an extenuating circumstance. (naughty I know ) but you need to look after yourself first, just like many businesses/companies look after their own interests.

Laurette, I hope your minister is going to be ok. We're going to lodge our notice of intent tomorrow. If your minister is still in hospital, could you go down the the registry place and lodge it yourself? There has to be an alternative way around it in these types of situations.

Hi all, yes its official, we are getting married next month! ARGH!

Some funny news:

Paddy's folks got invited to a wedding on Valentine's day, children of an old family friend....it was all very rushed (i.e. invites came out 2 weeks ago) and they haven't got time to go. Anyway, the reason it was so rushed - the H2B won the wedding on a radio program, he had to be chained to his FMIL for a week in a shop window so people could see them, and they had to do all of this crazy stuff like sing a duet etc. Makes you wonder how far people would go to save money! Anyway, they are getting the wedding paid for - but they had to do it on Valentines day....and they get a $5000 honeymoon, though not sure of the details.

Weird or what?

Then this morning at our spin class, the instructor is trying to organise a spin marathon or something where we cycle for like 24 hours (like I'd go) and then she goes "Hey we could have it on the weekend of Amanda and Paddy's wedding....we could have a spin wedding". I couldn't imagine anything better....NOT!

So that's been my brush with novelty weddings in the last 24 hours. I'm going back to the normality of waiting for RSVP's today! We had a yes come in yesterday from old friends of Paddy's folks, which we werent expecting, so thats nice.

Chloe....any updates on your mum?

Michelle... do let me know if you want me to look at any contract for you, but the consensus seems to be not to get too worried about 'doing the dodgy' so to speak.

Anyway, better roll....thesis meeting in 1 hour 10 minutes. None of them are here yet, but I gave them the proposal yesterday. If they like it, I can start writing (shit) but if they hate it....welll....double shit! I will have to go and find something else to write about!

Hey girls.


Amanda no matter what the prize was, I couldnt chain myself to FMIL for a week hehe NO WAY!

Well you wont have to worry about looking into the contract for me, I got offfered the part time job but she said are you going to keep looking for full time work and I (stupid me) said yes probably so.. Oh well.

We had dance classes last night. We are soo bad, it doesnt help that Neils legs are like twice the size of mine, that the poor boy has no sense of rhythm and that Im unco. We had heaps of fun though and laughed at ourselves lots. I said to him the pressure will be on him, as no one will be able to see what mistakes my legs are making under my drress, so he better make sure he knows his stuff hehe.

Michelle, can you email me that stuff again?

sent!

The centrepieces we have decided on - they come free with the reception place . Only ours wil be more ivory and light pinkish coloured. We will also put them on top of the square mirrors we bought

Hi girls,

Michelle,

I love the centerpieces.Because you sad yes to looking for fulltime work did they say you wont get the part time job?


Amanda,

I could chain myself to paddy for $5000 but i dont think he could put up with me and i think we would look funny running up the beach chained together

By the way just so you dont get your hopes up the only little blue boxes i will be buying are for me


Chloe,

Hope everything works out with your dress maybe now that your mum has spoken to a pro-sewer it will all work out.Thanks for the info on Queen st mall will keep an eye out for Daryl lee.


kathyxxx

Yep Kathy.

The part time lady said only 5 people applied for the job though, so Im hoping its the same for the full time job, and that there is somehow miraculously a medical receptionist shortage here and they full time people will employ me (wishful thinking hehe)

Great thanks Jo. Make me look like Captain Tightarse. I was hoping mum had a need for some one-off 'Amanda and Patrick' boiled lollies. I have 10kg on order and I'm sure there will be leftovers!

Thesis meeting went extremely well....I've been given the green light to start writing, so only 6 months and 100,000 words to go! JOY!

By the way...I was joking in that last post!

I got my first blue box the other week... a pair of earrings that got damaged when I had my hair coloured the other week. I am an idiot, I know.

Good luck with the thesis Amanda? What's it on, if you dont mind me asking?

Ive never had a blue box. But last year he brought me a bracelet, necklace and a ring, so we are slowly getting there. We can progress up to the blue box later on Im just happy to recieve anything!

Laurette MWAH!! You are the greatest, thanks for all your help recently

Actually, I want to say thanks to EVERY ONE OF YOU MARCH GIRLS/MARCH MOTHERS , you have supported me, listened to me whinge, listened to me stress, listened to me ramble (as I am now) I know we are all having a bit of a rough time at the moment with wedding stuff and just life in general, but I know I wouldnt have got through the last few months without you gals.

I hope we all keep in contact after our weddings, if your ever up in the top end, let me know.



Sorry for getting all mushy, but seriously, you girls have kept me sane.

Michelle, you aint getting rid of me that easily! I will be bugging your forever, I reckon!

I will try to reply to your email tonight, and I am glad that I could help you out.

Chloe, I am sorry that I have posted for you in regard to your dress and everything, but just know, that I am thinking of you, K. I just have a bit going on at the moment.

While Michelle is on her teary soapbox, I would just like to say thanks to all the beautiful beautiful girls that we have here, you have kept us sane, I guess that we have all been goof for each other. We are supposed to be at the happiest time of our lives so far, and it's just all so hard. I really appreciate everything that you girls in here have done for me. Love yous all.

Laurette
xx

*teary eyed*

Seroiusly girls, you're all the best. *sniff*

Laurette - hope everything is ok. I'm pretty sure I missed the post about yoru priest not being well (?) but read everone else's post about it. I realy hope it all works out.

I think everyone's been through a really stressful time recently. I mean, really, in the grand scheme of things, a wedding dress isn't that important - I know that. Buts its the strain on relationships that I think wedding organising brings out. I think I'm not upset about the dress, I'm really just worried about mum and I. And that's way more important than a dress I"m only goign to wear for about 12 hours.

I think it means that as a couple, if you can get through family issues, moving house, looking for jobs, dealing with jobs, managing RSVPs, juggling split families (and being tactful about their partners - this includes my dad and his wife...) etc etc etc, without going through a premature divorce or being disowned by your parents...

...then we all deserve to get married!

And will never want to do it again anyway

My mushy two cents: Feel like we are all really really close friends. Your support has really kept me sane. My friends (bm's) keep saying why don't I talk about the wedding more often? Why aren't I as upset as I should be about various things not goign right? Basically its cos I've got your shoulders to lean on and listen to me and empathise and say everything will work out. So thank you. Big time. MWAAAHHHH!.

End mushiness.

Jo - I ordered the same cufflinks as you did! (hope you don't mind!) Not sure if I will actually get them but they look fantastic in the photos!!! Your 'C' necklace sounds lovely. Just in case, if she doesn't like it (which of course she won't because she will probably cry when she gets it..) my name starts with 'c'. Just in case....

Amanda - CONGRATS!!! SOunds like a win for you re your thesis. Think we should perhaps open up a bottle of champagne? or if that isn't a good enough reason, how about the fact that its Wednesday?

Update re my mum: I have convinced her that everything will be alright. I think she is feeling much better. We're just going to go forward from here and I'll be up two weekends in a row and we'll see how it goes - if she needs me, I'll fly up every weekend if I have to.

Again, if we survive this, we'll probably be stronger for it. I've changed the style of the dress to make it easier. We're possibly going to make the skirt more puffier (to hide any boning that was sticking out) and maybe keep it as a strapless (to make the dress simpler).

Laurette speaking of priests, ours has gone MIA. He hasn't returned anyone's phone calls and we haven't been able to contact him since new years. Hope he is ok as he has had some serious operations and been in and out of hospital over the past 2 years himself... He's truly one of the nicest coolest 'men of the cloth' that I know. (not that I know many) and am a bit worried about him.

Yay. I don't have to work tonight. I might even sleep for a change.

Glad I didn't freak anyone out too much this morning.

Amanda - great news about the PhD. Have fun writing it up.. no seriously... (am blocking mental images of writing up my pissy little project thesis for my degree some years back...)

Saffire - glad you're able to sort things out with your mum and the dress.

I'm feeling really really cheap... my guests aren't even getting bonboniere(?sp).. let alone gifts for anyone else...

I got a phone call today - my dress is in!! Yay! first fitting is next Tuesday.. I'm paranoid that I'm not going to fit into after Christmas indulgences so I hope it goes OK.

Our celebrant is MIA as well. I feel like we should be working on our ceremony or something but I haven't heard anything from her yet.. Might give her a call on Fri..

Laurette I hope you're OK.

Chloe, you've got me in tears. I promise that I will be back with updates and stuff sometime soon... for the moment girls, please dont be offended if I just read a bit and post the odd wacky sentence.

Michelle, public THANKYOU for letting me dump on you today - I know you have a bit of your own stuff happening, but you dont know how much I appreciate it!

Chloe, I think that your dress will be beautiful, and you can join my strapless big skirt club! I seriously hope that things are well with your mum - I promise that all the stress of the day will melt away when she sees you on your wedding day, and particularly at the top of the aisle.

Karen, how exciting about your dress! that is awesome, make sure that you post us some piccies please! and thankyou for your concern, I will be OK, might just take a bit of time! Please dont feel cheap about the lack of bonboinere (that's spelt wrong, I know). Our guests wouldnt be getting them either at this stage if I didnt have 160 glossy white boxes staring at me already paid for, and $200 worth of hot pink ribbon to tie around them. I spose that I could flog it on Ebay, but wouldnt get enough $$ back for them.

Off to watch Prison Break and have a snuggle with Glenn now.

Night all
xx

Hooray for you Amanda it must be a huge stress off you mind to know that what you're planning on writing about is approved!

Karen, don't stress about not having bonboniere, we're not having them either, we 'um'ed and 'ah'ed about it for a while and then decided that we couldn't really afford it and basides, you hear so many stories of guests leaving them behind, it'd be heartbreaking to spend all that money and see half of them left on the tables at the end of the night!!

Laurette, kisses and hugs for you, hopefully whatever is wrong will sort itself out quickly.

I've never been given a 'blue box' either, not that it bothers me, i have incredibly picky taste in jewelery and i would probably be hard pressed to find something i liked under $3000, unfortunately, i inherited my mothers expensive taste, even if there's no price tag, guaranteed i'll always only like the most expensive thing in the shop. H2B thinks i look at the price tag first and then decide i like it, but i swear, it's not the case!

I'm not too good at soppy speaches, but it's been super great to have lots of friendly girls to share my ups and dows with.

My ticker seems to have lost the plot today, i'm glad i'm not the only one coz i can see it's done the same thing to you Laurette. Have you noticed your ticker has magically added on like 3 extra days to your ticker from nowhere???
I hope both of our tickers get back to normal soon.

Beck

Hang in there ladies...it's not long now. You're all doing so well (yes, I'm a secret lurker....blame Laurette!) and I'm SO looking forward to reading the posts about all your weddings as they sound wonderful. (((HUGS))) for those having a tough time....I had one of those about a month and a half before my wedding...but it turned out beautifully and I'm sure yours will too. It's a very scary time as you head towards your wedding day, but it will go wonderfully and you will look back on the day knowing that all your planning and agonising about small details made it the most wonderful day ever.

Awwww ...sniff, sniff..... all your beautiful comments have made me all emotional. I too have appreciated you girls and all the support you've given. It really is so nice to be able to offload to open and sympathetic ears

LOL, Amanda, I'm sure your Mum will treasure the candy Congrat's too on getting through the first step in your Thesis, now the fun begins

Laurette, I have noticed that you haven't been posting much the last few days. I was going to send you a PM and see if you were O.K. I'm thinking of you and hope that whatever it is that causing you upset gets sorted out soon. My email and PM box is open if you need another person to offload to.

Kaygee, great news about your dress Make sure you post us some pics!! And don't worry about the bon-bon's. People probably won't even notice and I've been to weddings before where they didn't have any and it certainly didn't bother me! And as Bec said, they often do get left behind

Chloe, it sounds like things are a bit better with your Mum. As you said, this will only make your relationship stronger. It's a pity is just so hard now! The changes sound like a good idea to help your Mum and your dress will still look stunning

I had my final dress fitting last night. I was very happy and now have my dress home with me. I'll try to post some pic's on the weekend, but it's my Hens on
Saturday ( ), so I don't know what state I'll be in, LOL.

Speak to you tomorrow girls. Everyone take care and I'm sending you all happy twinnie vibes

Jo.
xx

*Chloe sings to the white christmas song tune*

I'm...

Saving...

For a White ribbon.... and Blue box......

(pause)

Just like the one on my computer wallpaper...

May your dreams be merrry... and... trueeeee

And may all your jewellry boxes be blue:)

I'm saving so hard to buy stuff in New York. I'm almost considering backpacking the honeymoon in Europe so we can afford to buy a suitcase worth of blue boxes. But we won't because Alex like his bathroom clean and private. I say, where are your priorities old boy?!?

Off to go dream of little blue boxes!!! Night girls:)

He he he you girls are great. Things have been good here since 11am yesterday when the meeting finished and the supervisors basically gave me the all clear to start writing.

Laurette....you really don't want to know what my thesis is about, but in a nutshell, I'm looking at the use of individual employment contracts within universities and whether they are being used to strategically erode conditions and entitlements outside of the enterprise bargaining agreement. Boring legal shit basically. I know I'm bored with it, but with 6 months to go, there's not a lot you can do.

Actually....that's a thought....two of my colleagues were in my office yesterday asking if I was going to change my name at work...I have always said I would change my name, but it has really hit home this week that all of my other degrees, my admission as a lawyer, and all of my academic writing (conference papers and my 1 journal article) is in my maiden name. Not that it is an illustrious 'career' by any stretch, but they were saying that I am letting go of a professional identity nonetheless....and suggested I keep my maiden name for work and use Kennedy elsewhere. Now I'm really stuck as to what to do! What are you guys doing? All three of my female supervisors have kept their maiden names for work, and just use their married names for things like bank accounts, bills, licenses etc.

Having two identities would be kinda cool!

Karen, good luck with the dress and don't worry about bomboniere. As with Laurette, the only reason I'm doing it is because mum bought the stuff about a year ago in a moment of excitement. Its going to take us a whole weekend to assemble!

Laurette, good to see you back in here btw. Good that things are getting sorted out. Hope Prison Break was good (I can't watch it as we don't get Channel 7).

Michelle, thanks for starting the emotional outpouring! Seriously though, I think we all feel the same...its good to have a bit of support from people who understand what you are going through. My BM's just dont seem to understand why I'm upset about some of the little things....but in BrideLand they really do matter!

Jo!!!!! HOW EXCITING!!!! My fitting is next week, cant wait to see some pics of your dress...what are you doing for your hens night? Will there be naked men involved? Pinning dongers on dudes?

Chloe...good to hear things are getting back to normal with your mum. You are right too, that at the end of the day its not about the dress, it is about you guys. Plus - you always have ALEX (Perry, that is!)....did anyone see Mr Perry on Australia's Next Top Model last night? Have any of you been watching it? Those chicks are a bunch of s%#@*!!!! They need to seriously grow up. But it is classic to watch.

Anyway, better go. Have to start writing said thesis.....ergggh.

Amanda

Hi girls,


Getting the tissues out and dabbing away tears after reading the previous posts.I have enjoyed the last 12mths with you girls and thanks to all of you for sharing your wedding plans with me MWAH

ATTENTION AMANDA!!!!!!!

Do you see what a good daughter Jo is look what she is buying her mum isnt she a wonderful daughter.

I WANT A BLUE BOX (with something in it not just the empty box)

Congratulations on the thesis (your so smart you got that gene from me by the way)


Chloe,

Glad to see that your dress is coming together and your mum is feeling better about doing it.


Laurette,

Hope everything is ok with you.By the way i still havent seen a photo of you in your gown are you going to make us wait till next month????


Michelle,

Still have fingers crossed and sending good thoughts your way for the full time job.


kathyxxx

Amanda forgot to say congratulations on the thesis. The topic of it sounds really interesting (I like to pretend I understand what it means). If I ever break the law and need legal representation, I know where to come

Heh, sure no worries Michelle....I'll probably give you the same advice I give everyone - you need a better lawyer than me!

No chance of a blue box mum....sorry! How does a wet fish sound instead?

AW

Only if you're going to slap her over the head with it Amanda

I'm so glad my mum doesn't read anything on the net

One of my girlfriends changed her name halfway through her PhD in commerce. I think that she wanted to get it done sooner then later, and by the time she got married she knew that she didn't want to have an academic career and therefore didn't find that the name she'd built up for herself in academia was as important. I think it really does depend on how you plan to build on your current career.

I'm changing my surname. All my girlfriends in my profession changed their surname when they got married. There's so few female engineers that it doesn't seem to really matter. If someone rings the office and says "I was talking to some woman about high voltage protection equipment" everyone would know to put them through to me.

LOL Karen!

I am changing my surname too...

In five weeks and two days I will be Mrs Glenn Chessor...

Yup! I'm changing my surname too, but i'm in Retail, so i really doubt that it'll make any big splashes.

In 5 weeks and 2 days i will be Mrs Rebecca George!!



Beck

Hi

My name is Chloe Chan

My future name will be Chloe Chan - however Alex thinks it would be humourous for me to hyphenate.

Chloe Chan-Chan.

Yes. We both have the same surnames. Guess that makes it simpler for me huh?



It's our 4-year anniversary tomorrow!

(and today is our 1 year engagement anniversary!)

I don't have a present for Alex, but thought I would wake up early tomorrow and make breakfast for Alex before he gets up for work. Then I would drive to his office around lunch time and surprise him with a quick lunch. Then we're going out to dinner - he's organised it already at 'Our' restaurant (intimate italian place in the city). Then we're just going to chill out

Jo congrats on your dress - forgot to say this yesteday.. You must be soooooo excited!!! Please tell us how your hens night goes - I think yours is the first so far... Am I right? Have a BALL!!!!!!!!!! Where are you going? Maybe I'll just pop in accidently...

Kaygee - congrats on your dress too!!! We're not really have bonbonierres. Just personalised candle place cards that guests can take home with them. But we need more information about your dress!

Michelle - any news on the job front? You'll hear tomorrow about the full time - be sure to keep us informed!!! So what happened when you told the part time guys you'd still be looking for full time work?

I've broken my no alcohol rule and had 2 glass of wine tonight. It's been a stressful week and I was videotaped today for some sort of assessment thing for work. I can finally relax and things will be nice and quiet this weekend. I hope. ANyway, I thought I might as well drink to celebrate Amanda's thesis... and the fact that today is Thursday.

Get that girls? You should all be having a drink as well!

Cheers!!!!
hic!

XOXXOXOXOXOXOX

Who would have thought that Billy Idol would get me excited about a white wedding... LOL.

I have been prancing around the house cleaning up to the strains of Billy's 11 Greatest Hits, and when White Wedding came on, I got overly excited. All sort of surreal, actually.

Glad Glenn wasnt home to see it!

Chloe, I reckon that it would be cool to hyphenate too... he heheh...

Hey Beck... 5 weeks and 2 days to go!!!

Find out tomorrow night what is going on with the minister...

Saturday Glenn has promised to help me fold all the boxes... so that will be fun.

Chloe, Ive had 2 glasses of wine as well just to help you celebrate. Congratulations on your 4 year anniversary.

Yesterday was our 4 year and 8 month anniversary maybe I should have hit him up for a present.

By the way, I dont think Im going to change my name, at least not straight away...