So I'm taking up Pole Dancing Classes...

A few girls from my team (including my Manager) were looking for a new way to have fun and keep fit. With the magazines and celebrities all screaming the benefits of pole dancing, we just had to give it a go. We're trying to get a group of 10 and there's a few spots left (see email below):

"OK Girls
I have spoken to the lady from Bobbi’s Pole Studio on 203 Castlereagh St that does lessons on the weekend. They do lap dancing too! Provided that we can get a minimum of 10 of us to commit she will run private classes for our group. She can do them at 9.00am on a Saturday morning.

The cost is $220 for 8 weeks. We will need to pay half of this on the first lesson and the balance a few weeks into the course. The first class will be on the 5th of November. Can you please get back to me ASAP if you are interested in moving forward with these classes so that we can confirm.

We have a few spare spots so if anyone else has a friend they would like to bring along that is fine, however we just need to have definate numbers.
http://www.bobbispolestudio.com.au/nsw/home.php

If my Cousin is reading this, I assure you I'm in it for good clean fun! Does anyone else want to do this with me?? msg/email me asap! It'll be fun!!

*edit* The classes have proven to be very popular! so besides Di + 1, I think I'm out of spots as we have over 16 people - but if you are keen still let me know and I will find out for you.

The slip of a button

Imagine my horror this morning when instead of sending the link of the race photos to my team, I sent it to ALL of Hudson non-exec accounting in NSW (this mailing list included various managers across the business). The worst thing was that I didn't even notice that I had made the mistake until I started getting read receipts from people who were not suppose to ever read the email.

Technology can be a very dangerous thing.

Carnival Day @ Randwick

I hadn’t been to the races before, but there’s always a first time for everything and the girls assured me that I would have an excellent time! It was really nice getting all dressed up, the dress was a lot lower that what I have ever dared to wear, but I bought it so i had to wear it! (at least once anyway). It was also a nice change from corporate wear and something to brighten my mood.

Armed with our passes to the member’s area we made bets on 4 races and picked the winners of all 4. I only made small bets like $5-10 here and there but finished the day $40 richer (thanks Mitch!). We spent the rest of the day eating gelato; fighting off cheesy pick up lines and having some guy who we named “Mr Lucky” buy us free drinks for the day.

On the drive home we worked out the 3 most common pick up lines (for the races):

“Have you won anything?”

“Are you up?”

“Ladies!?”

We came to the conclusion that if they were good looking it was cute and if they were ugly it was sleazy. Shallow...I know...but hey! We had such a good time that we're considering going to down to Melbourne for the races next year.

Member passes, My 2nd winning ticket, Miss leopard print Lisa

Di to answer your question of "What's the appeal?" - I think it's about dressing up, feeling good and getting into the spirit of things. Come along next time and you and Ken can enter the 'Cutest Couple comp!'.

Sarah - Wish you were here.

More photos here.

*edit* - Betty & Lisa's photos added

Martha Stewart eat your heart out =P

We're off to the Races on Saturday and very excited! After wearing suits 7 days a week any excuse to dress up will do. Our dilemma was that we didn't own hats or fascinators, to buy one for over $100 seemed a little silly.

Solution: make our own!!

Here were the results: (Click to enlarge)

Not the clearest pics, they look so much better real life because you can see the colours in the feathers. I didn't have my camera tonight but will try take some better shots on Sat. Saturday should be great fun...please dont rain!

She's Back

I came back to work today after 4 days off and returned to 3 empty desks, it’s only been 4 Days! That’s almost 1 person leaving per day. One person went to a competitor and got finished up early, another decided to leave before her 3 months probation (the sales side wasn’t for her) and a lady in our exec team had a dummy spit and walked out.

In the week I was absent I lost 2 jobs, placed 1 and picked up another two leaving me with a total of 10 jobs to follow up this week. Holiday? What holiday? No rest for the wicked.

It's Done.

Remember this post? well for the first time in my adult life I don’t have a penny to my name – like nothing, zilch, zero. This weekend I withdrew all my savings and paid off my parent’s mortgage. It was a big decision and one that took me a while to make, but in the end I know that I made the right decision and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I expected to feel a little better or more excited than what I do right now. Instead I feel a little scared and a little lost – where to now? All these years I’ve worked and worked, now I just want to let go and enjoy but my nest egg isn’t there and I don’t have the energy or desire to work as much as I use to.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to see me out of my comfort zone, well I’m there. Money I know I can make again, but it just means that I can't afford to travel and my own house buying plans are on hold. It's going to be hard to start again.

Mum doesn't know yet, I'll wait till the cheque clears before I tell her - That will be a good day.

Special Things

I’ve had 4 days off and I’ve really done nothing except sleep. I haven’t looked for work, haven’t cleaned my wardrobe, nothing. I have been able to catch up on my blog reading and comment during work hours! Ahhh the small things.

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Accessing work email from home a blessing or a curse? I’m on leave; I should have known better than to check my email. Now I am all upset because a candidate sent me a rather abusive email – something I really don’t need to deal with or think about till Monday. So to cheer myself up I thought that I would share some of my favourite and most cherished items.

This is probably one of the most special presents Jacky has ever gotten me. It is a brick that is laid at Fig Grove, right in the heart of Sydney Olympic Park Homebush. Jacky bought this in 1999 before everything had been built. This is something that was dedicated to me and will remain there forever, maybe for one of our anniversaries we'll go back to visit.

Our Crystalix Crystal, I know that there’s quite a few places that does it now but we did ours back in 2002 in Las Vegas (before the technology was available in Australia). There’s something so magical about Vegas, I can truly say that it was one of the happiest times in my life.

Scary to some, special to us. Back then the computer couldn't detect black hair so we look bald.

Just finishing uni we were so broke, $1 AUD was $0.50 USD we ate subway sandwiches all day long and the most ferrel looking hot dogs. But with a world trip ahead nothing could dull our mood. The thought of secretly eloping did cross our minds (we had already been together 5 years by then) but I guess at the end of the day it’s something you do once so we wanted to do it right. Imagine if we did go through with it we'd be celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary now!

I use to make so many cards, I love drawing, scrapbooking anything arts and crafts. I made most of these in our first 2-3 years together (back then I had a lot more time), you can't tell from the picture but I actually drew most of these freehand. In one of them I drew the bear using my mouse in MS Paint (had to keep a steady hand for that one), he's wearing a pair of South Park boxers that was part of my present.

Reminiscing the old days

Things we plan to do in the near future:

1. Sydney Tower Sky Walk (I've just booked online for Thursday 19th January 2006 9:00am $109 per person - anyone interested? try get this time, the more the merrier!). Extra props to Matty for telling me about the Sky Walk to begin with!
2. Bridge Climb - one day...
3. Beach Holiday - We're saving, so going on another world trip is probably out of the question at the moment. Any cheap Vacation recommendations?

Greetings From Israel

Sarah Sent us a postcard!

Back

Front

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In other news the camera is a lot harder to use than expected. So man buttons and settings so I am going to do what I always do - get Jacky to read the whole manual, learn what to do and then teach me!

Taking the Plunge

We've been wanting one for a while now and we finally did it! Jacky and I welcomed our new baby to the family today, the Nikon D70s (18-70mm Lens) with the SB600 speedlight. Very excited but so much to learn.

A Fabulous Saturday!

Pyrmont Gourmet Food/ Growers Markets
The weather was excellent and we spent the morning taste testing everything from dips to cheeses, juices and more! We couldn't leave without splurging on some Salmon sausages, homemade yogurt, organic nuts, dried fruits and hot apple cider.

Mum with her hot Apple cider - she so cute!

Flemington Markets
With our recent purchase of a food Dehydrator and a Bevilles juicer we headed off to Flemington markets to stock up on fruit and veggies. I haven’t been to Flemington markets in like 6 years and boy has it changed! The traffic is crazy, people drive and park all over the place, if I was the one driving It would have been enough to give me a mild heart attack.

Wearing thongs was a terrible idea, everyone was pushing and shoving with their trolleys, I was terrified that someone would run over my toes. To top it off, some sleazy old Asian guy tried to take pictures of me with his mobile phone! Luckily Jacky knew what was going on a stood in his way. We ended up leaving with enough fruit to start my own Boost Juice store, but next time I think I’ll pay a little extra for the luxury of Coles or even Harris Farm.

Camera Shopping
We had been thinking about getting a digital SLR for some time now, our little Cannon s45 has served us very well and has taken over 6000 photos since 2003. But the button has worn out and we miss out on a lot of shots because the button doesn’t respond. So we went camera shopping and we’re now deciding between the cannon EOS 350D or the Nikon D70S, despite telling Joel that we were getting the Cannon 2 days ago I think we’ve now settled on the Nikon D70s. I feel a bit guilty though because after we buy the speedlite and memory card the total comes to around $2500, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one.

John Legend @ The Metro
The concert was excellent I was gutted when I missed him the first time, but when Jacky pulled out 2 tickets it was like Charlie winning the golden ticket.

We secured a spot very close to the stage and he sung for just under 2 hours. He did most of the songs from his album and gave us a preview of a few from his next. His voice is amazing!! And his personality captivates you from the very beginning. I was blown away! I knew it would be good but this was better than excellent! For $35 this was THE biggest bargain of the year and I feel oh-so-lucky.

Sing it! Baby Sing it!


Look It's that guy from the Peas!


I stood next to this guy Kyle all night, no one really paid much attention to him but you might have seen his clips on a Saturday morning?

More photos Here.

It's Time to go...

It was such a great night!! We waited in line for about 2 hrs? And waved frantically at every ‘celebrity’ that walked past Marcia! Marcia! When we spotted James we had to take a photo for Emma or we would never hear the end of it.

What you get out of it usually depends on how much effort you put in; although we looked a little strange you got to give us an A for effort! We didn't get to take many photos because all cameras, phones and handbags are banned from the set. Unfortunately the ones we did take were rather blurry.

Our faces are really warped in this shot, I tried to sharpen it in photoshop, this was the best i could do

As we walked up to take a seat people ran up to shake our hands like we were celebrities! We were thinking what’s going on?? Turns out it was Dan’s family who wanted to thank us for supporting Dan.

Leah also came to interview us for inside idol, I was standing at such an awkward angle that I’m sure I’ll have a double chin in the shot. I’ll also be smiling like a real idiot because I didn't know what else to do or where to look. Let’s hope our footage doesn’t make the cut.

The staff were excellent at pumping the crowd up and when they say that the camera adds extra pounds they weren’t kidding! Natalie who looked rather big on TV is tiny in real life! And Kate’s arms didn't look big from where I was sitting! So much to blog about but so tired, will save it for another day.

I do want to say that I think James is a real Dik and I hope that he goes next!

Feeling Excited

October is going to be such an exciting month, so much to look forward to. After 9 months straight of really hard work I should finish with my highest billing month ever and I’m going to ask for a holiday (my first this year).

October will also be the time when my friends Yen and Tuyet tie the knot, after 5 years together (and being engaged for 3 of those years), it’s about time!! The date is set and I’ll finally get to wear one of my new dresses. It’s the first wedding out of my highschool friends and I’m sooo excited! I’m more excited by the fact that I will catch up with a lot of old faces. We kinda grew apart after year 10 but I never stopped wondering how everyone was, after 8 years it’s a long awaited reunion.

To add to the excitement Christina and Stephen is also having their engagement dinner the very same weekend. It was suppose to be scheduled for sometime next year, but when they tried to book a date at Doltone House all the dates were taken - so October it is! It should be a fabulous night!

In the spirit of weddings, a good friend of mine revealed to me on Friday that he is going to pop the questions to his girl friend soon. If only I could share the details, I’m so excited I could burst!!! And the ring…oh the ring…lets just say for $20k you would expect a very nice ring! What a lucky girl, she couldn't be marrying a nicer guy!!

In something totally unrelated, if you are an Idol fan watch out for me on the eviction show tomorrow night. I will be with 3 other people wearing pink veils, a white T-Shirt with a letter spelling out D – A – N - ! we will also be holding the banner as featured below.

For the record I am doing this out of peer pressure & to have a bit of fun, and No we do not really want Dan to marry us or think that he is Hot - but he's definitely very talented!

I wanted to do the banner "Laura it's time to go!"

I feel a little bad because I'm a big Emily fan and I wanted to show my support for her too.

Yay the Mushrooms!

M for Mighty, M for Mushrooms! (Team Colours too!)

Congratulations on the Win - great game!!

Trish's Fab Photo's Here

Help!!

Surely it cannot be THIS hard to find a good accounting candidate who can work out West. Someone MUST know someone! If you’re at Uni now and know people who live out West and wants to work close to home please spread the word!

Studying Part time at University?

* Assistant Accountant

* Entry Level Role

* Full time opportunity

This large corporation, with a reputation for growth is a market leader in the manufacturing industry. An exciting opportunity has arisen for an outstanding candidate, who is looking to take ownership of a challenging role and deliver first class results.

To be successful you will be studying part time Accounting at University and looking to work full time to begin your accounting career.

Like to know more?

Enquiries can be made to Emily ***** or Anita Stjepic at Hudson Accounting & Finance in our Parramatta office on (02) 8836 0222, quoting Ref. No. BX/03333 Alternatively email sydapply@hudson.com

Your interest will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

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For tonight's game GOOO Mushrooms!!!!

Pull the other leg

In previous posts I’ve often spoken about ‘crazy’ candidates and the lies that they tell to get themselves out of situations or make themselves sound better. The last 2 weeks have brought out real winners. I personally am disgusted with them, but its sad to say that it’s becoming a really common thing.

With one of my work colleagues on leave I had to cover the contractor desk for one day and made my first contract placement. The excitement quickly turned to annoyance when the candidate pulled out after only one days work. Apparently someone in her family died of cancer and she would need to take the week off to help with the arrangements.

I would have been more inclined to express some sort of sympathy had she not called another colleague straight after to enquire about other jobs. Why people feel the need to make up lies I have no idea, and sadly the ‘Someone in my family just died of cancer line’ is rather old. All I ask for is honesty; if the location is too far, tell me!! Don’t tell me someone has died!! Aren’t you afraid of Karma?!?! Why would you even want to wish these things on people in your own family?

If you lie and we catch you out, we will record it! The world is small and our database is comprehensive. The notes will be in there long after we’re gone. I must sound like an absolute biatch at the moment, but I am just fed up. I realise that there are genuine cases out there but the amount of times that we catch people out…it really makes you wonder.

Take the most recent case for example. My colleague filled a really difficult role with an even more difficult client. The client rejected the candidate initially as she hadn’t been working in 2 years (maternity). But she seemed like such a nice lady… so we fought hard for her and we got the employer to give her a go.

One month into the role she started coming in late to work, had a few sick days but was always very sorry. A few weeks later she officially resigned as it had been discovered that she had a brain tumour. As a team we were gutted by the news, a young mother with 2 young children, what could be worse? Morale was pretty low and we sent a get-well card with heart-felt messages.

2 weeks went by and no news, life went on and my colleague worked hard to find a free replacement. Just by chance this candidate was a distant relative of one of the people at work. After being invited along to a family dinner we were to find out that this candidate never had cancer…in fact she was never sick at all. Instead she started a new job 2 weeks ago at a company that was slightly closer to home.

We were disgusted. The silence spoke louder than words.

To think that after only 2 years of recruitment I could write a whole book of stories like this *Deep Sigh*

Suffering a blogging drought

Wanting to post but feeling very uninspired.
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Well my Manager won tickets to the Idol eviction show next Monday and she's taking me along. Look out for me on Teevee I might make a sign (For the record my favs are Emily and Dan- Woot!)

Tagged!

Tagged by Christian

1) Total number of books you own?
I really have no idea; the bookshelves in my room are full of textbooks and the rest I’ve donated to the Salvos. All the ones I couldn’t bear to part with are in storage downstairs.

2) What was the last book you bought?
Does a cook book count? If so then Bills Open Kitchen

Otherwise Grand Avenue by Joy Fielding, I have no idea why I bought this book, maybe because it was so different to anything I usually read. It sits on my shelf – I haven’t touched it……..another on my long list of ‘books to read’

3) What was the last book you read?
Harry Potter the recent ones are kinda dark, even a little depressing. I enjoyed the first 4 a lot more.

4) List five books that are particularly meaningful to you (in no particular order)

1. Any of the Enid Blyton books

(Because she started me reading from the Far Away Tree to The Secret Seven)

2. BFG by Roald Dahl

(Loveeed Roald Dahl)

3. Unmentionable, Uncovered, Undone Uncanny By Paul Jennings

(This Particular series was excellent! Not so sure about his other books though)

5. Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

6. The Secret Circle Vol 1,2,3 by L.J.Smith

(This was during my Witchcraft, Vampire novel Phase - I think Jill lent me these books once)

7. Macbeth by William Shakespeare

(there was this crazy time in high school where I knew every line of Lady Macbeth by heart)

8. Not Without My daughter by Betty Mahmoody

(I didn't particularly enjoy reading this book, it scared me but touched me. It made me feel so lucky living as a free woman in Australia).

9. The Bible

(would you believe that in year 7 I tried to read the whole Bible word for word because Katrina did it?? I almost finished the old testament when I finally gave up. All that just to win a bet).

10. The Notebook by Nicholas Spark

(I love a good love story)

Ok that wasn't 5...by hey! In doing this exercise I found that despite having read many good books through the years; it's the ones that I read as a child that have stuck the most in my mind. I probably need to give a special mention to R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike as well - I use to be addicted to 'Scary Books'.

5) Tag five people and have them fill out the list on their own blogs (if they can be bothered)

1. Sarah
2. Matty
3. Vivien
4. Di
5. Tash

Site Restricted

As of today the Xanga and Blogspot websites have been banned at work.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

If Garfield was a Dog...

Earlier this year Sarah's family rescued a little dog that was running onto the highway into traffic. When the RSPCA wouldn't help and no one wanted it, they decided to give her a home and called her Tia. She's sooo cute...just look at her now! Great job Westwoods!!

Boyz II Men

Just got home from the Boy II Men concert and it was AWESOME!! We paid for really good seats and even got to run up to the stage during the concert. I love them!! Like I really LOVE them!! They’ve been around for 15 yrs and I’ve grown up with their music, the lyrics are so meaningful and their songs bring back so many memories of growing up. The best part was when they sang and the whole crowd sang along...everyone knew every single word..the crowd was soo loud! I also bumped into people I hadn't seen in years, high school friends, IRC friends, St George girls.....what a great night!

Random was the support act and I think they did an great job with working up the crowd and beat boxing. They have great voices and I think they have a lot of potential they just need to write better songs and make less cheesy clips =P

Shawn, Nathan, Wanya in the flesh!!

I was so close I could almost touch them!

Pick me! Pick me!!

At one stage they each had a bunch of Roses that they were throwing out to the crowd, up until this time I was seated, when I saw them throw Roses I bolted to the front. It was crazy out there and at one point a rose landed in my direction but some crazy girl tried to claw my eyes out, with impaired vision I couldn't see where it went. I could only hear Katina screaming in the left side of my ear “EMILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY WHERE IS ITTTTTTT?!!?!?”

After the concert, alive and well (but no rose...only a sore eye and a deaf left ear)

Oh, I almost had to go to the concert in a full suit because I forgot to bring my jeans, so I did what every girl would do...I went out and bought a pair (I so didn't need another pair of jeans and now I'm $90 poorer). Joel stop laughing at me and show me your photos!!

Photos from the Concert Here

Joel's Photos Here (he had 2nd row seats!)