Yesterday was one of the oddest, most exhausting and yet most fun day’s I’ve had in a long time.

It all started on Thursday night when I was out for drinks with a couple of work colleagues and I got a phone call from my boss. He informed me that the film crew who were doing a few short commercials for our company would be starting filming and I was to meet them at a little airport just outside of Melbourne at 8:30am the following day. The reason I had to meet them is because when my boss got the story boards for the commercials, I got very excited mentioned that I thought it would be a great idea for us to get a photographer to do stills of the commercials so that we could use the characters in our marketing material. I had mentioned to him a while back that I did photography as a hobby and so he decided that I was to be the right person for the job *grin*

So Friday morning I woke up bright and early and hopped in a taxi to Essendon airport. The first shoot was of a woman “skydiving” out of a plane. She wasn’t really going to be skydiving but we had to make it look like it. Lucky (or not) for us, there happened to be a 40 knot wind blowing and they didn’t even need to use the huge big fan that they had hired for the job. It was extremely hot and too!

I had a bit of an incident when an incredibly powerful gust of wind took hold of the big, heavy, big mat that the woman was jumping onto (which I happened to be leaning on) and threw it straight into my face! I thought my nose was broken. I still can’t blow my nose without tears streaming out my eyes.

But it was so much fun! I got some GREAT snaps which made the woman look like she was really jumping out of the plane!!!

Our next destination was Avalon Airport, which is about a 40 minute drive from Melbourne. There happened to be an air show on at the same time too! The only problem was that the wind had picked up even more and because of the terrible drought there was a huge amount of dust and dirt flying all over the place. I don’t recall ever feeling so dirty and grimy.

This shoot was to take place in the toilet of an aeroplane. The production company managed to get permission from the British Military to shoot the commercial inside a their plane that had a toilet at the back which looked like a toilet on any commercial airline. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it was having special security clearance to go into the air show and onto the plane. I certainly felt very important.

So we arrive at the airport to find that we only had one clearance sticker for one vehicle! This meant that the camera guy had to shuttle use in two groups of six, the terminal building to the plane. It was quite a mission. Especially since I was in group 2 and had to wait in the howling wind, sun and dust for him to get back to us. It took him almost an hour to get the first group dropped off. (they had issues at security).

So eventually we all managed to make our way to the plane. OMG you have never seen such an impressive thing in your life!!! This is a Reconnaissance plane that at over 30000 ft in the air, can zoom in on a person walking in the street!!!!! It looked like a sci fi movie onboard.

So there we were, all hot, sweaty and very dirty. The make up lady was busy putting the finishing touches on the two actors when our producers were called away by some old guy in uniform. This old guy happened to be the Secretary of State! Or something that sounded just as important. I’m sure that that’s who he was… anyway what happened was that he asked what the commercial was about and when he heard that it was for a betting company, he had a change of heart and refused to allow us to continue. He didn’t want his plane or country associated with the betting industry. I guess that is fair enough however the production company did mention what the ad was for when they initially got permission.

So with heavy hearts we all packed up our stuff, and headed off into the dusty, windy, afternoon…

I must say though that the soldiers onboard the plane were really nice and gave us a bit of a tour. So it wasn’t all a waste – for me anyway ;) (I love planes)

This is the toilet that didn't quite find its fame and fortune.

We had one last commercial to shoot for the day. (There are a whole series of them in case you were wondering). And this one took place in a hotel room in St Kilda. At least they had a bathroom where we could all wash the dirt off ourselves and freshen up a bit.

I managed to get some really great shots and had an awesome experience at the same time. Not to mention that I got to spend an entire day out of the office FOR WORK!!!!!

I am still finding dirt in the oddest places – but it was all worth it.

*happy sigh*

It definitely makes working today (Saturday) so much more bearable *grin*

Well it WAS my party last night and boy what a great night it was. The only thing that would have made it more perfect is if my family and friends from South Africa could have been there too. But it was exactly how I wanted my 30th birthday to be.

I decided to have a real South African Braai / BBQ. I paid a visit to the South Africa shop last week and bought all my supplies and then on the day my sister and I got everything prepared to perfection! I even managed to rope my cousin in to do the actual Braaing/BBQing. He is also an ex South African so it was a genuine braai!!!

I was very lucky to have Ails (all the way from Bendigo), Brooke, Linda and Phil there. Thanks guys for being there and making my party that much more special. I even got them all to taste some "boereworse" (South African Sausage) and Millie Pap (Mashed corn stuff). I think they enjoyed themselves.

My sister made my cake. I must admit, it was a little odd seeing my face on a cake but it tasted divine!!!!

Having my sister here this weekend was awesome! She arrived on Thursday night, after missing her flight.. So we went for a very late dinner in China Town. We still managed to polish off a bottle of champagne though!

Then on Friday morning we set off on a full day shopping adventure! The only trouble is that neither of us were in the right frame of mind to shop - me stressing over my party and my sister stressing over work :) BUT we still had a good day and even managed to buy something in the last hour!

I don't know how I am going to survive winter! I have no winter clothes and I am not having any luck at all in finding any. What is with the fashions this year???

After waking up bright and early to the site of about 8 hot air balloons going past my window on Saturday morning, we tried the shopping thing again. My sister was very successful but alas, I didn't find a thing. The rest of Saturday was spent doing party prep stuff and then Saturday night was the big event.

My sister left this morning to head back to Sydney and I went to finish cleaning up at my cousins place. I hate cleaning up after a party!

So I am now feeling very tired after such a busy weekend but I am happy.

Tomorrow I will turn the big 30 and I am ready to enter into a new phase of my life :) eeeeeek

Its great having a milestone to use as an excuse to get back into eating and living healthily. I haven't been that bad but I haven't been 100% good either. After the evil shopping experience this weekend and not being able to find ANYTHING that looked and felt good, I know that I have a hell of a lot of work to do. I also have to fix up all the hard work that I managed to undo over the past few months. I want to feel happy in my body again and I will! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

I'm pleased to say that things improved quite a lot this week. Apart from the fact that it is Saturday morning and I am sitting all on my lonesome at the office. Usually there is at least one other member of my team here but for some reason no one else came in today. I can’t even escape because every now and then one of the bosses either phones me (to pretend to give me work or ask me an important question but in reality I'm sure that they are just checking that I haven't gone AWOL) or they send me an email that requires immediate response! NOW!!! ;) teehee

But as I said, it has improved somewhat and I have managed to convince the powers that be that we do need SOME public holidays off. So as of this weekend (which is a long weekend in Melbourne) half the team gets to have a glorious, luxurious, amazingly entire day off on Monday and the rest of us (me) gets to come into the office on Saturday AND Monday… boy I really do feel fortunate right now. HOWEVER, that said. I have taken next Friday as a leave day to spend with my sister and hopefully manage to organise my birthday party. That means that I get 3 whole days off!!!!!!!!!!! In a row!!!!! Omg omg omg how exciting.

I also get Easter Monday off :) (but yes, I am working Friday and Saturday too) BUT I am finding the positives in this.. well.. I am trying really hard to! Hehe The good thing is that being so high up (on the 33^rd floor), I get to see everyone enjoying their weekend and having fun. But don’t worry, there are no windows that open so I can’t jump out if I ever happen to get the urge to do so.

We did have a team meeting this week that went very well and left me feeling a lot more positive and happier about things.

At least my homesickalitis has cleared up.

On another totally different note, I have been talked into going to a singles evening in two weeks time. It is a dinner at a restaurant with 9 other single people. What fun! (said with lost of sarcasm) – hey, I have to at least try things once. If it is totally horrible I just won’t go that route again. Simple. Don't worry, I will be sure to tell you all about it the next day.

I am being a total rebel today! I am listening to streaming radio!!!! Shhhhhh don't tell anyone!!! But I am so sick to death of my own music that I have been playing (very quietly) every day since I started at this job – actually, since I managed to convince my bosses that I need music to aid in my creativity *snort* :) I need an ipod! I do! Maybe I should write to santa! Teehee

Okay, I am just talking shit now. I will stop. But it feels so good to be able to write a blog post, during the day, at work! Feels like the old days ;)

Hope you are all having a great weekend!!!!

Today is probably my first day of real home sickness. I miss my family, I miss my old life, I miss my friends and more. I think this has a lot to do with this weekend. I had such a great time in Sydney with my sister, nephew and brother in-law. There is something about a sisterly bond that just can’t be replaced. My sister and I are very close, she is someone that I am happy to talk about anything and everything. As much as I have the most incredible support group in Melbourne, I really do miss my family.

I think that what I am feeling has a lot to do with the general anxiety that has been building up inside me over the past few weeks. The company that I work for is great however there are a few issues that I have encountered lately that are worrying me and I really hope that I haven’t made a huge big mistake. In general, the moral in my team is very low. We are all expected to work hard and give our all, which I am more than happy to do! But it seems that our all is just not enough. I am just going to have to continue working hard and I hope that my bit is enough for them. I know that I am being very vague, it is just something I have to work through and hopefully things will sort themselves out soon.

So this weekend I found myself in Sydney. It was incredibly humid and very hot! I had the most amazing time with Aaron (my nephew) He really is just the sweetest little man in the world. It was as if the month since I last saw him never happened (aside from him growing a hell of a lot). He was comfortable with me from the word go which made things so much nicer. Often kids seem to take a while to warm up to people, but not Aaron J I spent most of the time at my sister’s house which suited me perfectly! We did go to a friends wedding on Saturday night and then to another family function this morning so at least I got to say hi to all the Sydney family in one go J

At least I know that my sister will be in Melbourne in just under two weeks time. It’s these little things that we must be grateful for and not take them for granted.

Not a very inspiring post but I just had to jot down a few of the things that have been buzzing around my head. I think a decent night’s sleep will do me the world of good. I am also going to start running on the treadmill again from tomorrow morning. I know that exercise is greatly lacking from my life right now and that it will help me to put things into perspective and to de-stress!

------------------NEXT DAY-------------------

So I woke up this morning determined to get myself out of the unhappy, anxious state and I hit the treadmill with a vengeance! I feel so much better now. Still not 100% calm and happy but I’ll get there. Moving over here has been huge and I am surprised that I haven’t had an anxiety attack up till now. I am starting this week on a positive note and I know that it will all go upwards from here!

I love running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!