We officially survived our first family holiday - and had an amazing time. Fiji - you guys - it's beautiful.

It's time to head off on our much-needed getaway. 

Hubby was thrilled - he's a HUGE fan of traditional Christmas puds. The giftbox from Itha's Puddings was very sweetly wrapped; all beautiful touches. It arrived in the morning, and we decided to indulge for dessert.I have one word for you... YUM. The pudding itself was soft and fruity, but the icing on the cake was the Brandy Butterscotch sauce that came with it - paired with a scoop of ice-cream, we felt we were having a very guilty dessert. (And I may or may not have had another bowl of ice-cream this evening, with warm, goopy butterscotch sauce on top. Sssh.)

From the website:
Itha, (pron. I-tha) has been hand-making her gourmet Christmas Plum Puddings for over 50 years to a traditional recipe inherited from her grandmother. This old fashioned ‘cooked in the cloth’ recipe dates back to at least 1912. Every pudding is individually handmade. Puddings are cooked up to ten hours and then hung to age and mature, ensuring each pudding is unique with the look, feel and taste of yesteryear.

Seriously, delish. For someone who is a fussy eater, and who has been known to steer clear of fruit cakes {wouldn't even have one for our wedding!} I was pleasantly surprised. And the sauce. Oh, the sauce. The only thing that could have been better was if it had been the Triple Chocolate Pudding that I'd sampled! Thoroughly enjoyed it - and now I'm looking forward to the feasts of the festive season that are coming up.

I promise I'll update some more soon, especially as Georgia's Christmas month continues.

I received products to trial & review from Itha's Puddings via the team at Piccolo PR - all reviews are my own. If you are interested in a product review appearing on Breathe Gently, please email me.

I'm so sorry I've slacked off lately - bogged down with loads of stuff happening. Things are INSANE right now. But I promise I'll be good and update soon.... after we're back from here:

It's time for our Phuket trip. These pictures are supposedly taken from the room we're staying in. I better get that view... and that swim up pool!

See you in a few days!

For more countries visited on this whirlwind trip, you can start reading from here:

The last time I attempted to do travel recaps, I got half-way through my American road trip & then got sidetracked, never to finish it again. It's a shame, really, because some of my favourite shots were taken in Washington & New York City. Maybe one day I'll go back and highlight some of my memories from that trip.

Instead, I'm going to go right ahead and catch up with my (somewhat-epic) travel recaps from the last few months. The first month was travelling with Miss K, rediscovering Europe in Autumn and very early Winter. I hope you'll enjoy my little adventures, or at least the pictures that go along with them.

Oh, how I love Paris. 

Really, I can't put how much I love Paris into words. I feel so lucky that I was able to visit this beautiful city on so many occasions - twice with Jason, once with my little brother, and twice with my best friend. It's so big and so vast that every time I visited, I got to see something new and different. I find it very easy to fit in there, despite being a very obvious snap-happy tourist: it's a city I could see myself living in one day.

This visit was only fleeting, but we crammed in lots of sightseeing, as would be expected. This time, I got to explore Les Invalides & Napoleon's Tomb, as well as Montmartre & Pigalle by night. Okay, enough with the talking: it's time to get on to the good stuff: the pictures!

I never thought it would take me such a long time to touch base after we'd made the move back home. It's crazy to think that this time last week we were spending our last day on the beach in Hawaii - and now I'm here. You guys, it was such an awesome holiday, it really was. We went to so many different places, adapted to a billion different climates, met some awesome people & took way more photos than I'd care to admit.

But then, all too quickly, it was all over. Jase and I flew home together but then went off to our separate homes - which has been more than a little strange. We picked up Oscar-cat the following day and have been trying to see each other as much as possible since then - which is a bit tricky at the moment, since I still have to buy a car & because we live half an hour apart. Oy, I miss having our own little apartment to come home to.

The goals for the next few weeks are to a) find a car, b) find a rental property and c) make a decision about which house to build on our block. Add in me finding a job to the mix as well as, oh, you know, CHRISTMAS {what? It's December?} and it's going to just fly by. I feel like my head is all over the place, but I'm going to just keep swimming and see what happens. I'll do some travel recaps over the next few days {or weeks?} but I just wanted to say hello & see what I've been missing out on. How's everything with you?

I'll leave you with the view of Waikiki Beach we had from our hotel room - aaah, bliss. Take me back!

Hello, blog lovelies - boy, have I missed your faces!

It's been an insanely busy few weeks {where did October go?} and this is the first time I've slowed down since I left for Europe. I'm not even going to attempt to recap my travels until I'm home and have more time and more access to my photos, but it was beautiful. We lucked out and had mostly perfect weather, really mild for Autumn too, and then it cooled down in Berlin and Amsterdam towards the end.

I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Florida, reunited with Jase and enjoying some down-time at the Disney World complex - well, as much down-time as you can get when you're on a mission to explore as many theme parks as humanly possible in five days! We're off to Las Vegas and to Vancouver next, we're I'm really, really excited to hopefully be meeting (and tackle-hugging) Heidi and Britt. Squee!

And because I know some of you might be curious, Oscar has officially made the transition down under! He flew out to Sydney last week, survived the super long flight and is currently chilling out in his own little room in the quarantine station back there. My mum went to visit her grandkitty for the first time, and took some photos to show me {I was more than a little frantic with worry that he was settling in okay} and here he is: only a few weeks until I join him! Er, not in quarantine though, as far as I know!

As I write this blog post, I'm lying on a mattress that's sprawled out on our living room floor.

Looking around the flat, I'm taking in my surroundings. There are moving boxes stacked in the corner, the corner where the treadmill used to lie and where Oscar used to sleep on. Looking around a little further, I can see the square alcove in the wall - we never did figure out what it was originally used for, but we turned it into a storage space for blankets & occasionally to store the cat toys. The huge l-shaped lounge, with its annoying pillows that always, always get messed up. Our orange kitchen, the one that is so modern that it doesn't need doors on any of the cupboards. The drawers, which we had to move all of our food products out of, because the cat figured out how to stand on his hind legs and open them. The full length windows with beautiful light and their view down Ladbroke Grove, the millions of buses with squeaky brakes, the ambulance, fire and police sirens that blare down our street every night, the tourists that hoard the neighbourhood each weekend for the Portobello Markets, that really pretty church I've always wanted to visit... this is our home. This was our home.

And even before this, our old apartment in the East side of London - with views across the Thames to the o2 stadium and to Canary Wharf. Our old noisy neighbours and our mouldy bathroom with its crusty ventilation fan. The place where we brought Oscar home as a kitten, lost him under the refrigerator that one time, and called home first.

So many memories. I could go on and on.

Somehow, I've reached the end of my London journey. I can't even describe what an experience it has been for me, but I do know that it's one I'll never forget. I'm surprised to admit that it even makes me a little emotional thinking of leaving here for good - who knew I'd grow so attached to a city thousands of miles away from 'home'? But, as people predicted, I learned to call it 'home' here too. And I will miss this place.

Jase and I accomplished a lot during our time spent over here. We moved in together for the first time. We celebrated our sixth, seventh & eighth anniversaries. We survived an apartment move, clear from one side of the city to the other. We adopted Oscar-cat and started our own little family. We worked and lived on a joint budget. We got engaged and we started planning a wedding. We used our long weekends wisely, and added some new European cities to our 'countries visited' list. We've grown up, so much, together.

I'll always remember these things as happening during the time I lived in London.

Tomorrow I set off on my travels - a month discovering Europe with two of my best girlfriends, followed by an amazing pre-wedding-moon with my amazing & hard-working fiancé. I still can't believe how fast time has gone, but here we are. Farewell London: thanks for the memories.

This blog will soon play host to some fabulous guest bloggers that I am lucky to call friends, so please show them some love while they're here. And if you're in need of some wedding-related rambles, I'll be posting at Weddingbee while I'm away - so make sure you add my feed to your readers.

Be safe & well, friends - I can't wait to speak with you again from the other side of the globe in a few weeks time.  I hope you'll stick around as we embark on a whole new set of adventures back in Sydney.

I realised the other day that I forgot to mention how everything was going with Oscar-cat and his transition to moving overseas with us. Let me just start by announcing this: SENDING A PET OVERSEAS IS FREAKING EXPENSIVE. Okay, I feel better already. Well, I don't really - I'm still in a bit of shock as to how much this is costing us, but you do what you've got to do when it's for your family.

Yes, we consider him to be a part of our family. No, he's not just a cat. Yes, we could have left him behind and saved some money. No, we're not those kind of people. Seriously, you should hear some of the things people say when we explain how difficult this process has been for us. They're beyond obnoxious. Do they think we don't know that this is a costly venture that not everyone would choose to pay out for? Do they think we don't know that we could have an entire farm full of kittens for what we're paying for Oscar? He's our pet. When we adopted him over here back in 2008, this was one of the decisions we were prepared for.

Okay, rant over. To summarise what's happened so far, here's a bit of background information for you:

Two years ago, I researched the cost involved in having Oscar imported. You paid a fairly hefty sum in British Pounds for his export certificate, his specially made travel crate and his actual plane ticket. And then, upon arrival back in Sydney, you paid the Australian quarantine agency a per day fee {like a boarding fee} which would cover his mandatory 30-day stay there. Back then, the cost was pretty reasonable: around $15 per day, in Australian dollars. Still a bit hefty, yes, but it's pretty comparable to if you were simply boarding a pet in a kennel.

Unfortunately, when I got more quotes in the past few months, the prices had skyrocketed. I'm not just talking an increase of a couple of dollars, I'm talking over double the original cost. And here's the problem: it's not like you can shop around and get a better deal. Quarantine is quarantine. You pay, or you don't take your pet home with you.

This threw a few spanners in the works, especially in budgeting terms, but we'd already made our minds up. Let's face it, we knew the day we brought his gorgeous kitten face home with us, that he'd be ours. Always. No getting around it. I mean: LOOK AT HIM. And he's gotten even more handsome as he grows up.

Fast forwarding to now: we have his flight paid for. We have a company organising his carry case. We've done all his shots. We have his final veterinary visit booked for next month, which Jase is in charge of chauffeuring. His place is booked in the quarantine cattery back in Sydney. He's all set to go. We've timed our own travels so time up perfectly with his release from quarantine. We fly home from Honolulu and pick him up that very same afternoon.

I know we're doing the right thing by sending him home - but I still have The Guilt about doing it. He'll be travelling by himself, he'll be looked after by strangers for an entire month, and he'll exit all of that in a very hot Australian December to a brand new place to live. I plan on spending as much quality time with him this week as I can.. because I know how much I'll be missing my little man for the next two months.

This week I had a delayed reaction lightbulb moment where I realised we were ploughing through September. And I realised that this time next month? I'll be travelling around Europe. In fact, I'll have already been gone for about a week - which means I'm probably somewhere in Barcelona or heading towards Nice and the French Riviera.

This year has gone by in a big old rush. I clearly remember sitting at home with Jase on New Years Day, figuring out where we could go and how we should get home at the end of the year. It was so hard to plan back then, because it was too early for flights and for cheap travel deals, so I concentrated on other things throughout the year.

I got busy with wedding planning during my April trip home to Sydney.
I handed in my notice at work and finished up at my job.
Then it was focus, focus, focus on the health and exercise as I became bffs with my local gym.
Then came summer, with its constant stream of visitors.
My little brother and his girlfriend have come and gone, and I miss them already!
The in-laws have also come and gone, on several different occasions.

The boy's dad has left for home now, but his Mum will be back with us again in another week, before heading home for good. Soon after that, two of my favourite girls from Sydney will arrive - and then I'll be gone too.

Say what? Where has the time gone? I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO, omgz.

After putting on my London and Paris tour-guide hat last this week, I came home completely exhausted. Travelling is hard work, you know. I can't even imagine how I'm going to feel after a month in Europe, followed by a month in the US/Canada. I'm not complaining {please don't hurl rotten fruits at me} but I'm just being realistic about getting mentally prepared for being on the road again for such a long period of time.

So I'm a forward planner, we all know that. I have a whole stack of items on my to-do list, which I'm sure you'll hear more about soon. Getting organised for me means sorting out things weeks in advance, if possible. My next focus? Working out how I'm going to manage my money while I'm travelling. These days, banks offer all sorts of fancy money cards that you can load up and use just like a credit card while you're away - but I want to steer clear of this, as we'll not be returning to the UK and I don't want to get stuck with a card I can't use.

I'm thinking I'll probably stick to just using my current credit cards {if I need them} and making sure I carry a heap of Euros & Canadian/US dollars with me. In fact, since I'll be meeting up with Jase in Florida (he flies over there from London a few days before I do) I think I'll let him be in charge of the North American currency until I arrive, and I'll just stick to the European currency myself. I'm not a huge fan of carrying cash around with me, but I have an assortment of hidey holes in my suitcases and carry-on luggage that will get me through.

I totally intend to tuck a little hunk of cash away while I travel - or possibly even spreading little amounts out in my random bags. It's partially so that I know I always have a back-up, but it's mostly because finding a little windfall towards the end of a long trip is fabulous & means I'll have more {well, the same amount really} of my own money to spend! Sometimes my backwards logic astounds me, but hey! Works for me.

How do you manage your money while you're travelling in long stints?

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”
– Mark Twain

Sometimes stepping away from technology for a while can be a good thing. Travelling is a great excuse to take a few days off from posting - even though we got back from Paris last night, we've been out and about all day once again. Oh my goodness, it has been so wonderful having the Brother and his Girlfriend staying with us. It really has.

They are so genuinely excited to be over here discovering Europe and are just as sweet together as I remembered.

I keep having flashbacks to 2004 when Jase and I came to the UK; we were so tired and jet-lagged that we staggered around in a daze our first day before passing out over a plate of Chinese food that night. These two were so keen to get out and see everything that on the same day they arrived, they saw basically all of the big tourist spots in London.


And honestly, despite wanting to deliver a hearty kick to the Brother's backside every now and again (boys, you know) we travelled really well together. His girlfriend is hilarious, and kept us in stitches the entire time we were in Paris. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time, and it was a fabulous city get-away.

And oh, Paris. Where to begin? It was a little grey to begin with, but the sun eventually came out which was lovely!

This was my fifth or sixth visit to this fair city and I can make my way around pretty well after all this time. I like to think I'm a pretty easy-going travelling companion, if you can put up with my compulsive need to be early for everything and my severe irritation with people cutting in front of me in lines, that is. But despite those little annoyances, I think we did well, hoofing it around on foot and by metro and exploring the traditional sights as well as some random ones along the way. We did such a lot of walking, I'm still paying for it today.

And then there was Disneyland Paris, which can be summed up in just a few quick images:

The next few days we'll be London-bound, enjoying their company for a little longer before they then head off for a week long stint in Italy. And I'm happy to admit that we have another groomsman in our bridal party: he said yes!

How was this week for you - what exciting things have I missed being away?

I've been nagging my little brother to come and visit us here in London since the day I arrived here myself.

Other than travelling with our parents to California when we were younger, he has never really travelled outside of Australia. His interests didn't lie with travelling; they were with fixing up cars and spending money on the latest gadgets. We were offering him free accommodation in one of the most notoriously expensive cities in the world, and he didn't want to save for the flight to come and visit? He's crazy! I couldn't understand it. After a while, I gave up asking him about coming; he'd turned me down so many times, I knew he wasn't interested.

My little brother is actually not so little. In fact, he's considerably taller than me and possesses a metabolism that I covet, which enables him to stuff himself full of food and never gain a pound. Ridiculously unfair.

I wasn't always such a great big sister. Or maybe I was trying to be, but I didn't really know how to be one. And let's face it, he was an annoying little brat growing up - always irritating me, knowing all the right buttons to push to send me over the edge. I can't even begin to tell you how many times he managed to start something, see me snap in a spectacular fashion, and then sit back grinning while I copped all the flack from my parents. Brothers, I tell you.

He had his share of girlfriends as a young'un. And being the big sister, I judged them all and deemed them not worthy. If you know me at all, you'll know that I can pull off a pretty incredibly stern face. These girls, they were just babies. I'll admit it, I never want out of my way to be nice to them. Why would I? They weren't going to last. They weren't right for my brother, and I wasn't going to waste any time on them.

Until he met this girl. She was gorgeous - the kind of girl who cannot take a bad picture. She's sweet. She's funny. They're a perfect match. I love how she changed my little brother, and they give me the warm fuzzies.

The cuteness, it blinds me. Also, I wish J & I could get some sweet shots like that! These two make it look effortless.

Fast forward a few years, and I randomly get am email from my brother - telling me he's going to be here in September. Say, what? They are coming to London! A few phone calls, frantic text messages and late night emails later, and I found out the details: the pair were going to be in London for a week, followed by a week frolicking around Italy together before he heads back to Australia for work, and H heads to Europe with her girlfriends.

I am so, so excited for them to be here. They'll get to see our cosy little apartment and they'll get to see the city we've called home for the past three years.They'll get to travel internationally together for the first time. When they were planning, they mentioned wanting to visit Disneyland Paris, and having been there a few times (hi, I'm obsessed!) I began throwing a million ideas their way to help them with their planning.

Then something awesome happened; they invited us to go with them! Unfortunately Jase is working so isn't available, but I jumped at the chance to visit one more time - so from this Monday to Wednesday, I'll be off in France with my sibling and relishing being a third wheel. Paris, je t'aime! It's one of my favourite cities.

But aside from all of that, we do have one more ulterior motive to be so excited about their visit. My brother doesn't know it yet, but Jason is planning on asking him to be a groomsman on our wedding day. It would be awesome to have him involved, I can't wait to see his expression. I hope he'll be as excited about it as we are!

Did you, or are you planning to involve your siblings in your bridal party?

I've only mentioned that Jase and I are taking the long way home about a gazillion times, but I just can't help myself! The reason this trip makes me so happy {aside from visiting lovely places, of course} is because it's one that I get to share with the boy, with just the two of us. Aside from little long weekend trips to places like Paris, Zurich, Bruges, Copenhagen & Prague, the last BIG trip we took together was New Zealand back in 2006.

Did you know that my amazing fiancé has not taken a single day off work in the entire time he's been in the UK? Not a day. Not a sick day, not a half day, not a vacation day, nothing. He's a contracter, so he gets paid a higher daily wage but doesn't reap the rewards of sick pay, holidays or fancy benefits - so it's in his best interests, money-wise, to work as much as possible. There's that. But there's also the fact that he's the most super hard-working person I've ever met, and he's worked his butt off to be able to support us a) here in London, b) while I've been off work myself and c) for us to be able to have saved some income to take home with us.

I've been spoiled since arriving here. I spent six weeks in America in 2008, roadtripping with my best girlfriend. And in just a couple of months, I'll be doing it all over again, this time through Europe - all while the boy continues to finish up his contract and get everything in order here at home & is a single cat-daddy.

Say it with me now: luckiest. woman. alive. I know, I know. I'm super blessed in the travel {and fiancé} department!

So I am thrilled that now it's HIS turn to do some stress-free travelling on our way home. I've jokingly started calling it our Pre-Wedding-Moon, because this sort of trip would be perfect for a honeymoon, you know, if we were actually married yet! But since we're up in the Northern Hemisphere already and flights are so cheap, we're doing it now. And when it comes time for the actual honeymoon, we'll find somewhere with a smaller budget that is closer to home back in Sydney. Not many couples get to have two holidays away together in the space of a year.

Anyway, onto our trip.. this is what you call us taking the long way 'round back home to Sydney.

First stop: Orlando, Florida!

Jase and I will be flying separately for this part of the journey {remember this post?} so the boy actually lands in Florida a day or two before I will. We're spending six days in a Disney World resort and plan on doing nothing but relaxing, enjoying each other's company and nerding it up at the theme parks. I stopped by Florida as part of the whirlwind USA trip, but we only managed to get one day at Magic Kingdom and one day at Universal Studios then, and hardly got to see anything. This time around, there'll be plenty of time to take it all in with just the two of us.

And... this is the part where I get all wheezy and start making squeeing noises that leaves the boy rolling his eyes... it gets better. We'll also paying a visit to Universal Studio, and you know what that means? I will be releasing my inner geek at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!! Yes, that warrants bold text and yes, that warrant a barrage of exclamation points. In fact, I think it needs some more. {!!!!!} I can't even tell you how happy this makes me. So happy that I'm planning on holding a movie marathon of all the Harry films before I leave, just to bring Jason up to speed. He doesn't know about that yet. I'm sure he's going to be thrilled.

Next Stop: Las Vegas!

I spent ages figuring out this part of the trip, because I wanted it to be awesome for Jason. He's only been once, as a kid, and he was keen on the gambling aspect of it all - plus checking out all the hotels. I found a great deal on flights, so we booked it! And, best of all, I found a discount for hotels mid-week, and scored four nights at the Bellagio - talk about fancy! I've never stayed in a hotel that nice before. I can't wait to see what it looks like on the inside.

We'll be doing a day trip out to the Grand Canyon on one of our days here, because it's another amazing place the boy hasn't been to and I can't wait to share it with him. I've already started researching other random things to do in Vegas, but we're open to recommendations. I know I want to do some serious clothes shopping, and it looks like there are quite a few malls near the strip. Any ideas for me?

Next stop: Vancouver!

This is the part of the trip that we're really looking forward to - because neither of us have ever been to Canada before. Initially we weren't going to have enough time to spend in Vancouver, but since Norway was a bust, we quickly locked this in instead. A few people asked why, and to that I respond with this:

Beautiful city, gorgeous harbourside and scenic mountain ranges - why wouldn't we want to visit here? We are boring tourists who like looking at scenic stuff, and it'll be pretty in winter. Looking forward to a lot of walking around downtown Vancouver, spending a day in Victoria, and hopefully hitting up Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge, if all goes well. It looks like my kind of city.

Next stop: Calgary and the Rockies!

This is the only leg of our travels that is slightly organised - because it's winter in Canada when we're there at the end of November, we couldn't find any of the cross country scenic rail journeys in operation. Instead, we're hopping on a short flight over to Calgary and joining a coach tour that will take us around the Rocky Mountains and National Parks. Weather permitting, we'll be stopping at lodges in Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise.

It's going to be coooold, and I really need to invest in a waterproof jacket. It should also make for some stunning scenery. Maybe I'll spot a moose! Or a bear! Or maybe just a whole lot of snow. Well, it'll be beautiful regardless.

Next stop: Waikiki, Hawaii! 

So we're going from an arctic winter to a super mild tropical vacation - I love it! The way I see it, we're gradually increasing our temperature from freezing to mild, ready to be thrown into a stinking hot Australian summer. You guys, we're going to be spending four lovely nights on Waikiki Beach before heading home, which is going to be fabulous. This alone is worthy of a pre-wedding-moon, yes?
I intend on drinking a whole lot of cocktails here, enough that I feel brave enough to don my swimming costume and lie on the beach. {I've spent hours google mapping the hotel location and ogling the blue, blue water.} We're planning on being good tourists and doing a luau while we're there, but also a day trip down to the Big Island to check out the volcanoes and national parks. I wish we had more time to spend in Hawaii so we could see the other islands too, but unfortunately we have to be home to pick up Oscar-cat.

After recuperating in Hawaii, we'll be flying home back to Sydney on a direct flight which I scored free for both of us, thanks to our frequent flyer miles. {Score!} And then, it'll be straight back to reality.. back with our parents for a little while as we find a rental apartment, find cars, find jobs. But we'll be home. And home will be just lovely.

You made it to the end; well done! Any suggestions for things to do in any of our travel locations?

Thanks to everyone who jumped in and left a question for me over the weekend - it's been great to have some food for thought while I try and arrange the other random bits of information that are spinning around my brain right now. The travel plans are pretty much all officially booked now, so I'll be sharing those details with you soon as well.

So without further ado, here's the Q&A responses; this will be broken into two posts, so it's not too heavy on the eyes.

Valerie asked: Since you're getting married, I'm sure people will be asking you this soon: Do you and your wonderful fiancé plan on having kids?

We definitely plan on it - and hopefully not too far into the future. Obviously we're not going to be actively trying until after the wedding next year, but all things going well medical-wise, I hope to fall pregnant the following year. That will give us some time to enjoy being 'us' and getting settled back in Sydney. Of course, who knows what will happen - depends on how much of a hindrance my PCOS diagnosis will be when it comes to fertility.

Britt asked: What made you guys decide to move abroad? Were your families ok with it?

We had talked about it for a while before we made the decision, for a good few years actually. We'd both travelled together to Europe back in 2004 and had fallen in love with it, and Jason's older brother had already moved here with his girlfriend at that stage. I wanted to get a few years of teaching under my belt before we could really consider it, as did the boy with his IT career - and then one day he found a job, interviewed for it, and was offered - it all happened really fast. He ended up moving over mid-year in August 2007 while I finished my teaching year out and joined him in December 2007. The rest is history! His family was very supportive, and knew it would be a good move career & finance wise. My family were supportive as well, but not as pleased when the original twelve months turned into two years, then three.. hee. They're pretty happy we're moving back home soon!

& What is your most favourite aspect of your wedding so far (besides your groom of course!)

Hee, I do rather like my groom. From the little bits I've managed to scrape together so far, I have to say my favourite thing has been how supportive everyone has been so far. My parents have been great, driving to random venues and bridal shops while I've been away, my girlfriends have tried on dresses and got excited over little things like stationery with me, and it's sweet to see the boy starting to look forward to it a little bit more since it's not quite as far away in the distance any more. (I may or may not have a countdown going.)

Britt is getting married in just over a week - squee! You should totally stop by her blog & send her some well wishes.

Mary & Britt asked: Where else do you want to live? Will you move abroad again?

To be honest, once we're based back in Sydney I don't think we will move again. I'm itching to get back home, to get back to the suburbs and to eventually own our own home. At the moment, we have our little plot of land ready to go, but we're not in the right position to build yet - so we'll get there, slowly. Plus, our stint here ended up being 3.5 years for Jason/3 years for me, and I don't see us living abroad again when we have a family. Plus, I think my mum would kill me if I left her to go overseas again!

Amanda asked: Would you like to have coffee with me?

Um, yes! Let's hurry up and organise it soon.. this year is going by way too fast.

& Have you done your US electronic travel notice thingemy? They're going to start charging, so do it while it's free.

Yes, we certainly have. I did it as soon as I found out we were definitely going home via the USA. If you follow me on twitter {@breathegently} you probably already have a brief idea on where we'll be going, because I hollered out for help & advice so many times in the past few weeks. But still.. you'll find out for yourself soon enough!

& What are you planning on doing once you get home? Going back to work? Same field/different field?

I'm not entirely sure. Logically, I feel like I should go back into teaching - maybe just as a relief teacher for a little while to get my foot back in the door again. The problem is that we will be home in December, as most schools are closing for the year - and they won't re-open until late January. I'd prefer to work almost straight away when I get home, as we'll both need income in order to find an apartment or house to rent and to pay off wedding costs & start saving for a home. If I don't teach, I don't know what I'll do; possibly look at something else within the education field, maybe recruitment - but I'm open to anything. If you know anyone with jobs going in Sydney, holler at me.

Becky asked: Have you ever been to the U.S.? Would you ever come to Washington, D.C. (hint, hint!)

Oh my lovely, I have been there before - and to Washington to boot! You can read about my epic USA adventure by clicking here. I did start recapping everything but apparently I got tired at around the Texas mid-way point of our trip. Lazy blogger! I would love to come back to D.C. at some point in the future, we had such a good time checking out the monuments & museums. Would you ever come to London/Sydney?

& Since you and J are taking such big holidays at the end of this year, are you going to take a big honeymoon or scale it back a little?

We'll definitely be scaling it back. I keep calling this trip our pre-wedding-moon, because we'll be visiting some pretty scenic and amazing places together. It just makes more sense for us to see the northern hemisphere now while we can, rather than adding on a crazy long and expensive flight back here again in the future after the wedding. We haven't decided on honeymoon locations yet, but we're thinking of somewhere closer to Australia: maybe New Zealand or the Pacific Islands. {Bora Bora, I'm looking at you. Lush!}

Kathy asked: What have been the 5 highlights of your time OS?

1. Finally moving in with Jason - our first five years together were spent living with our parents.
2. Getting to revisit some of my favourite countries on several occasions, especially France & Switzerland.
3. Oscar. He's one of the best things that could have happened to us, and we love him so.
4. Being self sufficient, saving our money {thanks to my hard-working fiancé} & getting ready to take the next step.
5. Realising how amazing Australia is. Being away from where you grew up makes you appreciate it so much more.

Nathan went crazy on Formspring & asked several questions: What is your biggest failure?

There are two things that come to mind when I think of failure. The first: health, body image and weight loss. I've always struggled to get it under control and even now, years later, my sole focus still remains on getting healthy. I hate that it's always been such a struggle and I hate that I didn't manage to have this sorted out years and years ago. The second: not being as social as I would like. But I've grown to love this - not everyone is meant to be a social butterfly, and living abroad and away from friends & family gives you a good indication of who really is a good friend. I've always said I'd be happier with just one or two really close friends than a room full of acquaintances, and I stand by that.

& What is your adult beverage of choice and which one is guaranteed to be your poison (bad experience)?

I'm not a big drinker, I never have been. If I am drinking, I'll tend to go for vodka and lemonade or vodka and diet coke - mainly because they're light in calories. The drink I've had the most, er, tipsy experiences with would have to be cider. I never drank it before I came to the UK, but since I don't like beer, I had to find something I liked that was on tap. Queue the cider. It's great, but wow, it hits me really hard.

& Body hair: Like? Dislike? On You? On Others?

This question made me laugh. I've never really had a big stance on body hair.. to each their own and all that. I'm blessed in the fair hair/pale skin department, so I've never really worried much about body hair. My mum taught me two things: don't pluck/wax your eyebrows & don't shave above your knees if you don't have to. I haven't done either of those things in my twenty-six years. Again, all praise goes to the pale genes for that. What I do dislike on me would be the chin hairs that sprouted when my PCOS problems went nuts. Those I could live without, they make me really self conscious. On others, I don't mind. Jase is really cute with a five o'clock shadow, I like guys who are fairly natural in the body hair department. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of a full blown 'stache. Unless it's like this:

There will be a few more answers coming soon - and if you haven't already left a question, feel free to add one below!

London in the midst of grey and dreary weather is perfect - moody, full of history & like it's meant to be that way.

Since our flights have now been booked and our e-tickets are waiting patiently in our inbox, I can break the news:

Remember how I'm a slightly obsessed planner and an organiser?

Well as I mentioned a few days ago, I've been spending a lot of time planning for how the end of the year is going to work for us. It was one thing moving from Sydney to London - trying to plan for a life on the other side of the world with just one suitcase and a carry on bag to contend with. But that little life experience was nothing compared to how difficult it is preparing for the opposite journey home. People, it is harder than I imagined. Insanely difficult.

I should put it out there and say that we'll be officially out of the UK by November - which is only just over four months from now. I've already started the ball rolling for Oscar's departure and he's now the proud owner of an import licence from the Australian government quarantine officials, woohoo! Very soon I'll be handing over an extraordinary amount of money to a pet transportation company to arrange Oscar's flight details, travel crate, quarantine stay and vet fees, and then he'll be ready for the travel process in November when we are.

And as for Jase and me? Well, I've become a one-woman planning machine. I've started getting quotes for excess baggage. I've started donating things and throwing out items we won't be taking home with us at the end of the year. I've started researching travel deals some more and have been frantically trying to make dates match up to go on a travel adventure or two prior to heading back to Sydney - and that part has been more than a little bit stressful. It's not just our own travel dates that I have to work with here: it's tour operator dates, it's the date I return from Europe, and it's Oscar's travel preparation and flight dates. And, oh yes, it's the expiry  date on Jase's UK Work Permit in mid-November that we've been working with, too.

Wait, did I say mid-November? Silly me! After finally working out dates that matched up and getting a mock itinerary scripted - with papers and dates and prices strewn all around me, I had this horrible feeling that we were forgetting something. I went and checked the date on the boy's Visa and then I died.

Okay, so I didn't really die, but my heart did stop beating for just a few seconds & I believe I looked a bit like this:

When I'd asked what date we were working on him having to be out of the UK by, he'd sworn it was the 14th or 15th of November, so I was working on that assumption - which worked great with our dates: I returned from Europe on the 8th, we'd have a week to get the cat sorted out, finish cleaning and packing, hand over our apartment keys and fly away to our first travel destination. Er, no, not that simple. The expiry date on his Visa is NOVEMBER 7th.

(!!!!!!)

If you go back and read my last sentence, you might recall that I don't get back to London until the 8th. And the boy has to leave the UK by the 7th! Cue panic and freaking out. Basically, we're going to have to readjust everything - dates we leave, who does what, plan plan plan and so on and so forth. While I was going to be the one in charge of Oscar's vet visits and final transportation, that is now going to fall on Jase - so I'll have to get him up to speed and in charge of the paperwork very soon. It also means that he'll be finalising all of the apartment cleaning and handing the keys over - and then he'll fly over to our first travel destination and wait for me to join him a few days later. It's crazy: it also means that after living out of a suitcase for a month in Europe, I'll have no home to come back to - so I sense a whole lot of washing will have to be done in a random European laundromat somewhere along the way!

We'll manage, we always do. And I'm glad we found the spanner in the works this early on before all of our travel plans were booked and set in stone. See? Always have trust in your gut instincts. I firmly believe in mine!

We haven't done things the easy way; we never have. If we'd wanted that, we would have stayed back in Sydney, got married, bought a house and a dog and maybe popped out 2.5 children, or whatever the 'average' is nowadays. Instead, we've had an awesome adventure. We've travelled. We've saved. We rescued a cat, who is possibly the best thing that's happened to us since being here. We've lived together and learned together as a couple before finally getting engaged - and now we get to plan the long way around back to where we started from.

Wish me luck with this travel planning: to be honest, I'll need as much as possible to make this all work!

While doing some more travel planning this weekend, I found myself combing through the bookmarks tabs in all of my browser windows: yes, silly me has separate favourites saved in IE, evil Firefox AND Chrome. I'm slightly too organised for my own good. I noticed while doing so, that I've saved an awful lot of wedding-related pictures and how-to's - which led to me wondering about how to showcase these more effectively.