Thursday, June 30, 2005

Yay!!

As the interview drew closer I became more anxious and more nervous. Of all the places that he applied he wanted this one the most. It had been such a long time since I felt this way but for his sake I had to remain composed; I even acted as though I didn't really care – but I did.

As expected I prepared him as much a girlfriend in recruitment could, the rest would be up to him. I lent him my compendium, made sure that his tie matched his shirt and sent him on his way – he looked so smart in his suit.

When the interview finished I couldn’t help but quiz him like I do my candidates, how did the interview go?? Who did you meet? What type of questions did they ask you?? How did you answer the question?? What did you think of the organisation?? Did they ask you how they would proceed moving forward???? It would seem that things went very well, I was happy with the way he answered the questions – I felt oh-so-proud.

So that was yesterday, today at 5:35pm he received the offer to work as a Graduate Engineer with Ove ARUP an International Engineering Consulting firm. These are the guys who worked on projects like the Sydney Opera House, the Hong Kong MTR, Hong Kong Airport, The Beijing Olympic Aquatic Center, The London Eye and so fourth.

After all the hard yards, and years of wondering whether he made the right career choice he’s finally got his foot in the door – The future looks very bright.

Congratulations Baby!

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Vote!

To Settle a debate between Christian and myself I've decided to put up this post.
Who is Hotter? Jessica Alba or Natalie Portman?
Vote!

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Same life time, different lives..

I haven’t worked a whole shift at our Myer store in close to 2 years, towards the end of my shift I saw something that made my heart skip a little beat.

When I was in year 9 (around 15 at the time) I became really good friends with a Lebanese girl; she was really beautiful and had the most amazing blue eyes against long black curly hair, she reminded me of an Arabian princess. By the time she was 16 she would be sent to America and married to someone she barely knew.

16 is such a young age, I didn't know much about her Fiancé except thinking that he looked hairy and old in the photos (she would meet him for the first time at her engagement dinner). I remember her pretending to be excited but you could always sense her fear. Right before she left for America she confided in me that she didn't want to go through with the marriage, but there would be no backing out.

After she left I never heard from her again, her sister did mention to us once that after they were married she refused to sleep with him which was making her husband angry. Her sister who was only 13 or 14 at the time swore that she would never be pressured into an arranged marriage and that she would run away before she ever let it happen.

I saw her today shopping with her mother; she must be 20 or 21 at the most? On her left hand was a thick gold wedding ring; she was pregnant ready to give birth any day now. Maybe she chose this path and I am in no position to judge, but I remember so clearly the strong minded 14 year old girl who was so angry that her sister got sent away and so determined that she would lead a different life.

My heart sank a little; I’ve never ever stopped wondering how my friend was doing. Considering that she has another 3 younger sisters, I wonder what the future holds for them.

Happy 23rd Belinda

Had a great night tonight the food was excellent and we had a lot of fun preparing it. Thanks for a great night Belly! (The rest of the pics will be up on the other page soon, you know where to find them).


Table
(did you like my pink theme?)


Asparagus, smoked Salmon and haloumi with an olive oil/caper dressing with a lemon wedge.

Lime Sorbet for in between

Barramundi Fillet on top of a warm spinach and oven roasted tomato salad


Fondue with fruit

Souffle (Minus the Cream)


The Chefs

Friday, June 24, 2005

Cook Up!

The Girls are getting together for a cook up for Belinda's Birthday tomorrow; very excited. Putting our culinary skills to good use, here is our proposed menu:
Entree: Asparagus, smoked Salmon and haloumi with an olive oil/caper dressing with a lemon wedge.

Main: Barramundi Fillet on top of a warm spinach and oven roasted tomato salad (with bits of bacon and pinenuts in it)

Dessert: Chocolate Soufflé with King Island Cream
Fondue with fruit

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Believe what you will...

So I’ve been pimping my psychic recently, I went for the very first time last Wednesday and must admit that it was an extremely interesting experience. The last few months have been a very confusing time in my life where I have questioned career choices and pondered on what I am actually doing to get where I want to be. After many weeks of pondering I finally reached some important decisions, it was as if a big weight had been lifted and I felt I was ready to hear what someone else had to say.

I didn't go into this expecting answers or believing things word for word, but it’s always been on my ‘things to do list’. So off I went to a psychic highly recommended by the people at work. She carried out the reading using Tarot cards. I shuffled the cards and then divided them into 3 piles, from there the reading began:

What she said (keep in mind that as she is talking I don’t give much away and remain silent most of the time)

Choices – sees that I have been struggling with a lot of them right now and that they haven’t been easy. Sees new things in the pipelines for me (most probably for later in the year) and that I will feel positive and a sense of pride with this new path that I may take..

The next set of card had something to do with kids. She said that she hopes that I want children – my cards tells me that it will be a big part of my life. Specifically sees a little girl in my life. (I wonder if she was picking up the vibe from the wrong person, because Jacky’s sister is about her have her baby in 2 months time?)

Says that I am rather stubborn – but how this relates to everything else is that it has resulted in a positive for me because “where others have given up and left” I’ve stayed on and have “been determined to succeed”. This probably did hit home a bit, when I started with the company I became really good friends with 2 people in particular, one left last year and the other left a few weeks ago – it was pretty hard for me to see them go. Everyone wondered why I stayed and would try convincing me to go with them, but I wasn’t ready to let go of all my hard work and have been determined to do really well in my patch. So where others have left, I’ve stayed – I was so surprised to hear the psychic repeat these exact words to me.

The next set of cards was that of 2 males. These 2 cards represented the 2 males in my life who has the biggest impact on me, one is older so she assumes it my father and anther younger who she identified as my partner. She asked for the star sign of this younger male and I told her Gemini.

With this younger male in my life she sees that he feels a lot of pressure. That he feels trapped in a corner (This statement worried me, she would elaborate on this matter later).

She then moved on to ask if I worked for a family business? I said that I worked 2 jobs and one of them was a family business. She sees that down the track this job will play a bigger role in my life and to not let it go - My Baku Boss has been trying to get me to work full time for them for years, he has made big promises and said that he would even send me overseas to buy stock. For me it sounds good, but I have never taken it too seriously…who knows.

The next 3 cards represented me, my partner and another female. This second female would cause trouble in our relationship. I asked her if it was a younger or older female. She felt that it was an older person and the ‘trouble’ that she causes is more verbal i.e. she tends to say things that hurt my feelings. As a result there will be a lot of obstacles that I would have to work through, she advised me that I must do what’s best for me and to put myself first The psychic also sensed that I think too much, she advised me to let things happen and take it as it comes.

She feels that my relationship with my partner is moving to another level but something is stopping it. *Long pause* she believes that this has to do with Money and security – she could not be more spot on!

She further went on to say that possibly this pressure that my partner feels comes from his fear that he can’t offer me the security or look after me the way that he wants to – Jacky works full time, is completing his Capstone at Uni and studies at Tafe during the night to get his electricians license to complement his engineering degree. On weekends he helps at the family restaurant. His internship ends early next year and he has begun applying for engineering positions – it’s an uncertain time for him.

The next set of cards revealed a lot of celebration, ‘an abundance of love and joy’ followed by more celebration – I had my reading done right before Jon’s birthday celebrations and our 7 year anniversary + Jacky’s birthday. It was a great weekend and there was a lot of celebration!
I don’t know whether it was in my cards or she just sensed it, but she turned to me and said “Travel! It’s a big part of your life”. I asked if she meant a holiday was coming up? But she felt that it was deeper than that and possibly to do with my work, could even be a matter of me moving to work overseas. More specifically a Lady is going to make this possible for me down the track – if you have followed my blogs or know me in person you would know that I frequently talk about moving to Canada to live, we’re very serious about this and it’s still in the pipelines.

The psychic then told me that my money, career is all on track, new opportunities will come, sees September & October to be a important time for me in terms of career either in the form of a new job or promotion. She said that I have really “built the foundations and the rewards will come” – this was freaky because my manager says this phrase to me every Monday at catch up.

Learning; sees learning in my future not sure how that fit in with things or if I had the intention – funny that, 3 days prior to my reading I decided to email HR to enquire about study assistance if I chose to do my Masters. It came quite randomly and I only thought about this issue very recently.

The money situation is only temporary and things are going to work out fine, something will happen down the track that will lift a lot of the pressure – you must read this and wonder why money keeps coming up, Jacky and I have been trying to put together a house deposit and hope to buy property some time next year.

I have left out a few things but towards the end of the reading she asked if I had any questions. I wanted to ask about the health of my parents. It was quite freaky how accurate she was, she knew that my grandfather (dad’s side) had passed away when dad was young, she told me when he was in his 60s? I said that I didn't know (I later found out that my grandfather had a heart attack when he was in his 60s many years before I was even born). She wanted to let me know that she sees my dad living till his 80s; she asked me why the image of my father at an old age kept coming to her and the relevance. I said that my dad is nearing the age that my grandfather passed away and it was something I would worry about at the back of my mind.

She knew that I had a sister, a younger sister although she couldn’t sense anything about her – Sophia is very closed to the idea of a psychic and it didn't come as a surprise. The psychic then asked if I had two sisters, I said no just the one. At this point she became a bit flustered and was quite adamant that I had two. I replied that I had just the one, what I have never told anyone was that after Sophia was born, mum lost a baby – there should have been 3 of us.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

More Celebrations!

It’s almost 11pm and usually I would be in bed fast asleep, but I just came home from our 7 year anniversary celebration dinner with a few of my close girlfriends - I am on such a high! It was a fantastic night! We had dinner at Thai Pothong in Newtown and I highly recommend it; the atmosphere is great, the staff are excellent and the food is really good!

A Big Thank you from Jacky and I to everyone that came and a massive thanks to Betty, Katina, Lisa, Sarah and Belinda for the amazing cake! You truly out did yourselves, I didn't expect it at all! (Loved the card Betty! Very clever indeed)

The girls bought us this cake with a picture of us, how they got the photo I am not too sure...when the waitress brought it out they started singing Happy anniversary to the tune of Happy Birthday - It was quite a funny moment. The whole thing was so over the top, a bit embrassing but oh-so-fun.

(Click Photos to enlarge)




Our anniversary is actually tomorrow, but hey any excuse to celebrate!

Celebrations

This is our anniversary weekend; Jacky told me earlier in the week that he had a surprise for me Saturday morning. So I asked the all important question of whether I could wear heels to which he replied ‘no’. The surprise ended up being a very romantic 1 horse ride around Centennial Park – the morning air was cold but refreshing, it was a perfect surprise. I use to ride when I was younger; it was almost like reliving parts of my childhood again.

My Horse was called Dax and Jacky's one was called Blaze

Later that night we joined a large group of friends at The Athenian Restaurant in the City to celebrate Jon's 24th Birthday(Happy Birthday Jon! you sexy beast you). The waitress was a bit pushy but she gave us a good laugh, it was a great night overall. There was a lot of familiar faces...everyone knows some one in some way.

Our table, I didn't manage to get a pic of the other table (sorry)

Wendy Fan! Wendy Fan!....and the Lovely Vivien...

LEFT: Jon, Cordia and Reeve a glimpse of the future? *grins* RIGHT: Jon, Matty, Viv and Tim

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

For My Girls...

Just Received this email from the Hudson Culture Club: Bare By Rebecca Davies is coming to Hudson

"The Culture Club is pleased to announce that Bare, a leading Australian Women's Designer is going to be holding a sale in our boardrooms for staff offering their current and future stock at a 35% discount next Thursday 16th June between 6-8pm

There will be approximately 150 garments in sizes, XS, Small, Medium and Large. Credit Card details will be taken on the night and the purchases will be delivered back to the boardrooms to be picked up on Friday afternoon. Details of pick-up time will be sent out shortly.

Bare by Rebecca Davies has been established and trading for over 10 years. Rebecca Davies is a high end fashion designer and is extremely reputable all over Australia and the World for the gorgeous silks, colours beads and sequins she uses. Celebrities all over Australia and the World wear her dresses regularly and Rebecca appears on TV regularly also.

Bare has have 4 stores in Sydney, Paddington, Double Bay, City (Strand Arcade) and Chatswood and David Jones also stock some of their collection. International stockists include Harvey Nichols Hong Kong, Selfridges London and Bloomingdales New York.

Collection consists mainly dresses, beautiful kaftans, pants, coats, furs, jackets, skirts and tops. Bare has appeared in the Mercedes Australian Fashion week 4 times and are extremely successful in securing new stockists at this event every year.

Bare are offering the opportunity of viewing their current and up coming collections from our boardrooms at a discount of 35% off the retail price. The normal price range is $200-$400 per garment."
I'm not sure if I can sneak people in or not, but if there are any pieces that you guys want email me with the style number and size and I'll see if I can get it for you.

www.ebare.com.au

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

=P

After 1.5 years of being in this job and placing numerous candidates in various roles I finally received my first thank you card.

“Dear Miss Emily,

I can’t express how grateful I’m.
Thanks for your genuine care and great help and efficiency.
You make my prefect full stop to my job-hunting journey.

Lots of Thanks,
J.”


That's what they wrote word for word....maybe next time I'll be some one's great exclamation mark!

Friday, June 10, 2005

Over and Out

Today was an interesting day; it ended on quite a high with 3 placements in the team and for the first time in a long time morale was high. On a sad note it was also Nicola’s last day, it’s not good bye because I know that like Luke we’ll stay in touch. I also know that when I look at her empty desk on Tuesday it’s not going to be easy.

Its funny how things turn out, who would have thought that we'd become such good friends. When she first came I was really intimidated by her, she was beautiful, strong minded and she wasn’t afraid to say exactly what she thought. I guess under normal circumstances we probably wouldn’t have crossed paths but there we both were a girl from the North and a girl from the South both at Hudson Parramatta.

Nic, thank you for your friendship, your advice, your honesty, for always sticking up for me. I'll miss our catch ups walking to and from the car park all those mornings and afternoons. The office won’t be the same without you and the city won’t know what’s about to hit them. There is no doubt that you will be a great success in your new role.
Long live The Hoff!

Much Love
Em
xxoox

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Wendy Fan! Wendy Fan!

Last night just over 10 of us gathered at Bar333 to celebrate Wendy’s 23rd birthday. It was so nice to catch up with a few old friends, there’s nothing quite like the familiar faces and lame jokes - still funny 9 years later. It was kind of sad to see that a few of us were absent, but time, different Uni’s and work made it a bit hard to stay in touch.

For those who don’t already know her let me introduce you to my friend Wendy. Wendy and I have been friends since high school, from year 9 we were pretty much joined at the hip. We laughed together, shopped together, waited for the bus together, hung out on weekends and gossiped on the phone for hours on end. Looking back we even sported the same short hair cut – as friends do.

What I really liked most about being around Wendy was that she made high school fun! I was always the more cautious one, even a little bit serious at times, but her ditzy ness, humour and ability to know every single Asian person in Hurstville always managed to put a smile on my face. I really believe that Wendy played a bit part in shaping the person that I am today.

Time passed, we went to different Uni’s, studied different courses and worked at different places. We caught up here and there but not as much as we wanted to. Its funny how you blink and years pass without you even realising; when you do, you wonder what hit you.

We’re both a bit older and wiser (I hope) but deep down we’re still the same two girls who hung out at Hurstville library, ate chicken laksas at Dixon’s and wrote each others permission note to go shopping at Westfields.

Wendy Fan here is to a long friendship and all the good times. Happy Birthday!

Wendy, Me, Phyllis, Lisa

Nigel and Wendy...awww

Westie, the photo below is for you, you wouldn't believe who we ran into. I had to get Allan to pretend to take a photo of Jacky so it wouldn't look obvious that we were taking a pic of him. Click on the photo to enlarge and see if you recognise who it is.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

A Must See

The Lion King was Excellent! I know that a lot of people told me that it would be good, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The colours, costumes and special lighting effects were just spectacular. We had really good seats and sitting right in the middle in the second row allowed us to see a lot of the detail in the costumes and facial expressions.

I’m so glad that I went, only now do I realise what I would have missed out on if I didn't go, so when I came home today I quickly booked some tickets for mum and my uncle to see the show. I’m so excited I can’t wait till she sees it!

So if you haven’t gone already what you waiting for??!?! Go to Ticketmaster7 right now! (the show closes this month)

Guy Sebastian

Saw Guy's concert tonight, it was a fantastic show!

See this hand?!? Guy shook my hand - I didn't wash it for 3 whole hours! =P
And here are some photos from the show below, the show started at 8:30 and went till 11:00 with Paulini singing 40 mins worth of songs and a 30 minute break in between. At $42 a ticket it was a great show! click the pictures to enlarge