You Should See The Other Guy...

Well, it just never ends does it?!  I've officially finished my first two weeks of my new job and all I can say is I'm still not sure if I like it or not?!  It's a lot more customer focused and the customer is 'always' right!  UGH!  I got yelled at the other day by and angry woman who didn't want to provider her I.D. to drop her child off in Smaland, it's part of the legislation.  That was fun....NOT!  Had to get two other managers to help me calm her down and talk to her, she just wouldn't listen, wouldn't let us get a word in edge wise.  Oh well.  Still getting used to it all I suppose and if worse comes to worse it's only until mid-Feb...right?!  I'm doing a lot more over time in this job too (which sucks!  Especially b/c I don't get paid for it) and the management team have a habit of not taking their breaks or giving me mine, so I'm over worked and always hungry/tired!  We'll see how this week goes...

Got my first Remedial Massage the other day.  It's a deep tissue massage, kind of like a sports massage.  Man it was painful, but felt so good.  She worked on my calves and my back and as you can see above, she did some cupping on me:

"Cupping is an ancient Chinese therapy in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced (either by heat or suction) in order to draw and hold skin and superficial muscles inside the cup. Sometimes, while the suction is active, the cup is moved, causing the skin and muscle to be pulled. This is called gliding cupping.

Cupping is applied to certain acupuncture points as well as to parts of the body that have been affected by pain, where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled. Cupping has greater emphasis on the back acupuncture due to the ease with which it can be performed on the back. Most practitioners use the back shu points or bladder meridian and the dazhui. It is frequently used after acupuncture, blood letting, or plum blossom treatment."

It definitely felt weird!!  And as you can see it's drawn the blood to the top of my skin on my back, doesn't hurt though, not like a bruise.  Just looks nasty, like someone took a bat to my back :P  I'm heading back again at the end of this week for another session, the first one definitely helped loosen me up.

Sleepy??  Junior's night time face, too cute!!

Reckon he's comfy??

Dan starts his new position this coming Monday.  Yup, that's right, he got his promotion.  So he will be an assistant manager along side another assistant manager, no team leader/manager position/hierarchy anymore.  I think he's looking forward to it and looking forward to having some more authority to making those needed changes plus some more support.

Been doing plenty of wedding planning as of late.  I've made up a 'to do' list for each month leading up to the wedding, organized much?! ;)  hehe.  Hopefully everything should go smoothly and all should be ready to go on our big day :)  We're SO excited!!  It's going to be so much fun!!  And so beautiful!! :)

Can you believe Christmas is coming???  SO SOON!!  I can't.  I'm still in denial.  I let out an annoying sigh every time I walk into a shop and it's playing Christmas music, UGH!  Started beginning of Nov, WAY too early.  Although I am looking forward to our staff Christmas Party which is this coming weekend.  Get to get all dolled up and have free food and booze.  Will be nice to catch up with some people I haven't seen since I swapped departments and have a bit of fun of course :)

Dan's taken up boxing.  I'm thinking I need to do something to get some frustration out  (from work stresses)!  Someone said the driving range is good?!  But I don't think that's why he's doing boxing, he's on his third class and seems to be enjoying it.  Learning something different, having someone challenge him more.  Going with a couple guys he/we met at the dog park so that's good.

What else?!  There's so much that's been going on I can't even remember what we've been up to?!  Oh ya, we had family photos the other weekend, those should turn out interesting.  Just had them at the brother in-laws place, not professionally done, semi-professional I suppose (done by Dan's brother Andrew who has all the camera toys).  I suppose not too much else has been going on other then all that.  Working all these hours doesn't leave much time left for me to do other things and of course trying to keep on top of those everyday life chores.  I had the day off today, managed to get most things done which means this coming weekend Dan and I are free to chill out and have some fun together.  We were hoping to go for a kayak, but looking at the weather forecast it's supposed to be a bit cooler and rain :(  BOOOO!!  Of course, the weekend I have off :(  It was 32 C last weekend!  Sigh, we might go to the driving range, or hopefully a motor bike ride, lunch out, mini golf, who knows we might even decide just to stay home and do absolutely nothing which would be nice too.  We'll see.  Christmas party is Sun eve, so that leaves the weekend wide open.

Alright, since I can't seem to remember what else I wanted to write on this post I suppose I should have some dinner.  Love to you all xx  Hope life is treating you well.  Oh, can't forget this:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE STEVE!!  (only a few days late;) xxxx  Hope you got spoiled with love :)

Chugging along...

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  (hehe, one of my favourite photos:)

Dan & Junior <3 p="p">

Some shots of Dan's Mum's (Sussie) garden, so gorgeous.

His favourite toy, a stick.

Thought this one was pretty cute, especially with his tongue hanging out :)  You can see the tiredness in his eyes, absolutely loves going up to the in-laws and wears him out pretty quickly all that smelling, running round and mulching :P

So we enjoyed a lovely weekend away.  Friday night (our anniversary) we went out for dinner and a movie which was nice.  Saw 'End of Watch', was a bit different but still really good.  About two city cops in a very gang populated area.  So that evening was nice a chill, enjoyed each others company :)

We headed up to Warburton mid-morning Saturday, stopped in Warburton for some lunch and a little stroll around, was a gorgeous day out, both days were! :)  We got some wedding plans in place, yippeee!  Spent most of Saturday afternoon/evening making some decisions together which was nice to get some of it done.  Sunday was pretty chill, Dan chopped some wood, looked a few more wedding things and then Dan's parents came home just after lunch, so we had a nice catch up with them.  Then home time to get ready for work the next day :(  It was probably around 30 C on Sunday, not sure what it was Sat, around there too, SO nice :)

My head hurt after work yesterday that's for sure!  A LOT to take in on the first day, didn't realize how many different computer systems they use, will get the hang of it soon enough I'm sure :)  The first couple weeks are always the hardest.  But the team seem really easy going so far and my management team are supportive which always helps.  I'll let you know how it goes over the next couple of weeks.  Hard to judge it from only working one day.

Well, best get going, have to finish up in the garden before this lovely sunshine goes away for the day.  xx

Happy Six Year Anniversary!

All good things must come to an end.  Although it didn't always seem good, over all it was really good.  Had my last day in IKEA Food today :(  I am sad to be leaving such a great group of people (yes I will still see them around the store, but not be working closely with them anymore, will have a new team to get to know).  Had a 'farewell' today with all of IKEA Food leadership team, my new manager in Customer Relations, the store manager and some co workers.  Was really nice!  Some very endearing speeches were made, it really makes me feel appreciated which is such a great feeling.  It is nice to be recognized and rewarded for all my hard efforts, one of the reasons I love IKEA so much (the opportunities for those who want and work hard for them) and of course all of the people I work with.

I suppose I should enjoy my weekend of 'empty brain'.  (in between jobs so I have no stresses right now, finished with one and have yet to start the next:)

Dan and I 6 year Anniversary today:

Happy 6 years to such a wonderful and amazing person!  I love you beyond words, you are my anchor in life and always will be.  I'm so lucky to have met you on this day 6 years ago, I can't imagine my life without you in it, sharing every moment, every emotion.  Who knows what our future holds, all I know is it looks pretty damn exciting! xoxoxox

Not sure what the plan is yet for tonight, waiting for Dan to get home from work first.  Tomorrow we plan to head to Warburton for the night/weekend.  Dan's parent's are up North for a little while, so we thought we'd take advantage of a little getaway together this weekend.  So nice and peaceful up there, away from the hussle and bussle in the mountains/countryside, will be an 'ahhhhhh' weekend.  We plan to just relax, hopefully get a few wedding plans in place, maybe a nice walk somewhere (there's some great trails around that area so hopefully the weathers nice and we can take Junior for a stroll).  That's pretty much the weekend there, I'm SO looking forward to it :)

Got me some new glasses the other day.  Two for the price of one, gotta like it! :)  I think I look quite studious.  Will be needed if I meant to stare at a computer screen all day every day during studies.  If I get a good photo of myself in them I'll put it up ;)

Still waiting to receive my letter of offer from school, was supposed to get it a week-week and a half ago, hopefully it comes this coming week.  Need to get a few things in order so I'm able to actually study.  I'm so excited to do this!  I was having a chat with the store manager Innes the other day, he seemed pretty excited that I'm going to study Graphic Design and hopefully get into Comm&In (communications & interior design) afterwards, he said there's some great opportunities there be it I fill in while people are away in other countries working on projects or I myself get to go to other countries like China, Sweden, etc to work on projects.  Mel, the Graphic Design manager is in Sweden right now for 2.5 months working on a project and a few girls went to China not to long ago to help open a new store.  Pretty exciting!!  Let's hope it all works out for the best.

Junior in his favourite spot.  He had just woken up, but you could never tell....hehe

So we had a bit of a prank week at work, had to get in my last jokes before I left.  It all started at the beginning of the week when I sticky taped all the mouses down in the office (hehehe:).  When Con & Peter came in the next day they had a good laugh at that.  So before they left that day they decided to demolish the office incl: the chairs and my computer area.  Very funny (I work with a bunch of children?!).  So that night before I left, I put tape on the bottom of all of the mouses, so when they try to use them it doesn't register on the computer b/c the tape is blocking the laser on the bottom (hehehehe:).  Well, luckily I got the last prank b/c I think they gave up after that. (I hope?!).  I did have to watch my back all day today b/c I wasn't sure if I was going to walk in on anything or not :P

Well, best sign off, time to get on with this weekend, oh, I get two weekends in a row off too!! :D  yeehaa!  With my roster changing in the this new role I start Monday it works out that I get two off in a row, VERY excited about that :D  Chow for now xxx