101 things to do before I die

Emma's version:

1. Get married
2. Have a baby
3. Adopt a child
4. Get to a healthy BMI
5. Be a size 12
6. Live abroad for an extended period
7. Work for myself full time
8. Get a degree
9. Visit NYC and; eat a Levain cookie, get hot chocolate with marshmallow at City Bakery, go to Shake Shack
10. Climb Kilimanjaro
11. Go on a food tour roadtrip of USA with Beth
12. Have Jonas Peterson or another amazing photographer take photos of Adam and I
13. Visit all 7 continents
14. Go on safari
15. Skydive
16. Cage dive with great white sharks
17. Start a YouTube channel and have 1000 followers
18. Snorkel at Lady Elliott Island again
19. Take Mum on a dream holiday
20. Live in a city again
21. Be an Auntie
22. Visit friends overseas
23. Wear a bikini
24. Own a Luis Vuitton weekend bag
25. Go abroad on a business trip
26. See killer whales/orcas in the wild
27. Try almond milk
28. Go skinny dipping
29. Get a masters degree
30. Win an award (I don’t necessarily mind what in!)
31. Write a book
32. Travel to China
33. Do artisan baking course
34. Have market stall selling artisan baking
35. Go to Washington, Conneticut to see the town that inspired Gilmore Girls
36. Learn graphic design
37. Set up and run an etsy shop
38. Be good at crochet
39. Be good at knitting
40. Visit Big Sur, stop in a very fancy hotel with private hot tub on own private terrace
41. Go back to Australia
42. Make cheese
43. Go on a massive clothes shopping spree once I reach a size 12
44. Go to Tokyo Disneyland
45. Take children on an amazing holiday
46. Have a tattoo
47. Touch a tiger
48. Take my children to a big festival
49. See the Lion King in a theatre
50. See Rocky Horror Picture Show in a theatre
51. Donate my eggs if possible
52. Visit Iceland
53. Travel in Japan
54. Drive a monster truck
55. Go to Glastonbury for Dad
56. Knit a cardigan
57. Jump off a waterfall
58. Visit 50 countries
59. Visit Washington DC
60. See inside a volcano
61. Have a photo I took printed
62. Have something I wrote printed
63. Own my home outright
64. Own a second home outright
65. Watch the salmon run in a peak year
66. Go storm chasing and see a tornado
67. Stay in a Four Seasons hotel
68. Go in a hot air balloon
69. See the Aurora Borealis
70. Go to Coachella
71. See the following animals in the wild; gorilla, lion, tiger, elephant, orangutan
72. Swim with dolphins
73. Walk coast to coast from England
74. Conquer my fear of spiders
75. Go zip lining
76. Go skinny dipping
77. Be able to do the following yoga poses: dancer, wheel, crow, scorpion
78. Swim in Devil's Pool at Victoria Falls.
79. Brew my own beer/wine - that tastes nice!
80. Go to Loch Ness
81. Visit the door to Hell
82. Climb the stairs to Heaven
83. Get acupuncture
84. Go to Plitvice Lakes National Park
85. Go to the Great Blue Hole
86. Stand in the centre of Stonehenge
87. Be in Mexico for Dia de los Muertos
88. Go on a sunset lava cruise in Hawaii
89. Go to Lake Hillier
90. Learn to spin a car into a parking space
91. Go to Maho Beach
92. Go to Mass Games in North Korea
93. Learn to speak Spanish
94. Visit 100 countries and join TCC
95. Have cooking lessons in: Mexico, Thailand, India, Japan
96. Visit a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico
97. Take trapeze lessons
98. Hand feed flamingos on flamingo beach, Renaissance Island, Aruba
99. See a wild polar bear
100. Lunch in December at Petersham Nurseries
101. Go on holiday on my own

Goals completed: 5/95

...to be continued...

Izzy

I love this furry little face so much.

Life Lately

Watching Breaking Dawn Part 1 // Playing Disney Trivial Pursuit
Roxy watching Marley & Me // Izzy
Cuddling her foot // Making herself comfy in our bed
Lucy and dogs // Her favourite toy

Three Things

I'm trying to stay as happy and positive as is even remotely possible in this kind of situation. I'm still sad beyond belief, and had a particularly bad night a couple of nights ago where I just couldn't stop sobbing and I woke up the next morning looking particularly horrendous. But I'm trying to find the joy in the little things, so I just wanted to write about three happy things from this week:

I joined Slimming World. I know, I know - I've been here before. But I really want to try hard and commit to it for the long haul now. I want a baby, and I know that I need to lose weight to make it happen. Both Adam and I can't wait to start a family, I'm ready for my little girl Ivy Louise or my little boy Austin Peter.

Sammy and I went out for the day to Ripley Castle. We did this today, and it was actually really lovely. Ripley is beautiful, it's just my cup of tea, old quaint town with cute little shops. I loved it. We even paid to go into the Castle itself, and did a guided tour of the house as the family that own it still live in it. There was an absolutely stunning staircase and Sammy wants to get married there. It's been around since the 1500's or something, and there are painted portraits of the Ingilby family's ancestors. There are things like recipe books, diaries, letters... I'd love to have such a record of my family's past. Makes me even more determined to start being better at documenting our life.

Adam and I booked a two night trip to London for New Years Eve! I'm so excited. I love London, and we're stopping in what looks to be a lovely hotel, I absolutely cannot wait. I checked with Mum if she minded if we went. I feel like Christmas is going to be really hard this year, but so is New Years Eve. We always went to my Mum and Dad's for New Years Eve. I don't know what we'll do now without my Dad. So I'm glad to have something to look forward to, and to take my mind off of things and hopefully cheer me up after a sad Christmas.

Happy Halloween 2012!

Engagement Ring

When Adam and I first got engaged (over a year ago now!), I went outside to take a couple of photos of my engagement ring. I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I'm posting all three photos:







On an unrelated note: I'm absolutely loving having an online diary, so many mini photo sessions that I want to post!

Beth's Birthday Rocky Road

Okay so it seems kind of silly to share a recipe for Rocky Road, as it's probably the most simple thing in the world to make. You don't even have to bake anything! Just melt the chocolate and stir in whatever you fancy.

That being said, I made Beth some Rocky Road for her 18th birthday (don't worry, I bought her a proper present too!) and documented it, so I thought it would be fun just to share. For the record, she said this was the best Rocky Road she had ever had! I think she knows flattery will get her everywhere with me...



My sisters extra special birthday Rocky Road included:

Shortbread biscuits

Bourbon biscuits

Mini oreos

Marhsmallows

White chocolate buttons

Twix

Maltesers

Please note: Normally she wouldn't get anything quite as fancy, but it was her 18th so I decided to spoil her!



Chopped bourbon biscuits. I chopped the bigger biscuits (twix, bourbons, shortbread) and the marshmallows and I bashed the maltesers up a bit but I left the mini oreos whole.



Melting chocolate



Waiting to be stirred. My mouth is watering so much looking at this photo. I could just dive in!



Cooling



The finished product



All packaged up in a cute tin with birthday card and ready to go!



The birthday girl and her gifts!