Throught for the evening...

I was predestined to choose to make this post. You chose but were pre-destined to read it.

The Foxtel Lap Shameless Plug

<shameless plug>

Hi all,

I have joined the Deloitte team to run in the FOXTEL Lap which supports the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, dedicated to helping children live happier, healthier lives.

I'll be running/walking for 30 minutes on the Deloitte/Eclipse treadmill to complete as many 100m laps as I can, on Friday 17 Oct, 2008, in Victoria Square, Adelaide.

Please support my run by making a donation here: http://www.foxtellap.com.au/goto/sponsor. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

For more information visit www.foxtellap.com.au

The FOXTEL Lap is proudly supported by FOXTEL, Nova, NAB, Eclipse and Virgin Blue.
Many thanks,

Jonny
</shameless plug>

Please sponsor me!

A lot at steak

Last weekend I had a bucks weekend here in Adelaide. As apart of the awesome and very fun weekend we were very Australian and went to the 'Ned Kelly's Retreat' restaurant in North Adelaide. Saturday was a day of firsts for me. A day where I did several things I'd always wanted to do. Including.... eating a 1 kilo steak. It was AWESOME!!! 

'Euroa Kilo Steak' - Medium-Well done with Gravy.

Thinking about it however, I can see many parallels between eating a kilo of steak and getting married.

1. It's takes ages to arrive. Which is good and bad. Whilst you are excited and impatient while waiting, the reality is that any sooner and it would still be raw and not enjoyable at all. 
2. The closer you get to it arriving (6 weeks today!) the faster you want it to arrive. 
3. When it finally arrives, you realise the enormity of whats about to happen and wonder if you've bitten off more than you can chew. 
4. You start, and it's all you've imagined and more. Juicy, tender and you savor every moment.
5. Despite the amazing beginning you realise that it is a marathon and not a sprint. You're in this for the long haul, come what may. 
6. You're a little way in and it keeps getting better! Despite the initial excitement wearing off, it's still delicious and nourishing. 
7. You have tough patches.
8. Despite the tough patches & the taste being a little different to how it was at the start. You're still glad you did it.
9. You get towards the end and you wonder how on earth you made it this far. But deep down you know it was through persistence, patience, a lot of hard work, and encouragement from those around you. 
10. It's something you only wish to do once!

And Finally:

It is satisfying. Immensely more so than you ever imagined. It is wonderful and beautiful. 

Tiarnees 21st!

I've just had the most awesome week! It was my beautiful fiancees 21st birthday on Wednesday & so to celebrate she's had a 4 day celebration! 

After work on Friday I got all dressed up (shirt & tie) & took Tiarnee out for a (suprise location) dinner at the Mt. Lofty Summit resturant. After a deceptively large piece of Atlantic Salmon & a top shelf LL&B we admired the view of Adelaide for a couple of minutes in the cold and then drove back down to my place. The suprises there continued when I had my first ever attempt at a mud cake iced and decorated along with her present. (See photo) I might add that the attempt at the cake was VERY successful. It was a very fun night.

Then last night was her party at a pub in Adelaide. Again a fun night with a good parma* some more yummy Cheesecake Shop cake & even some time on the D. floor. As well as catching up with everyone! 

So Happy Birthday Tiarnee! This year is going to be the most amazing of our lives!! So far!

*I will most likely never have a great parma ever again. The reason? No parma anywhere I've seen has come close to matching the $10 Bunny Pub parmas had back in 1st year Uni. I'd be scared if I ever saw a chicken that big in real life....

Time well spent

This is my first post in 2.5 months and I've done 4 posts since March. Not that nothing has been happening for the past 5 months, quite the opposite. You wouldn't know it from this blog but not only is the date for the big day finally set, it's only just over 2.5 months away. It's actually all a bit surreal. After going out with Tiarnee since the beginning of 2005 & being engaged since July last year it's hard to believe that it's almost here.

I've grown so much in the past few months & yet such growth only makes me painfully aware of the growth still to come. I've lost weight, through a (generally) healthier lifestyle. It seems getting paid to sit on your butt in front of your computer is healthier than doing it voluntarily at Uni. God has been teaching me an awful lot about myself. I've almost adapted to living in Adelaide, the traffic lights still annoy the you-know-what out of me. I still think it's ridiculous that it takes me 15-25 mins to travel 4.5 kms (That's right Melbournites, I can afford to live that close to the CBD) every morning& that it's no slower to ride my bike than catch the bus. The excitement & responsibility of becomming a husband both scares me to death and gives me a reason to get up in the morning. Over the last few weeks I have and am confronting issues that I've been ignoring and running from for almost half my life. I've started playing squash again. I've won 1 of my first 4 matches. This week I learnt a fair bit about Microsoft SQL Server 2005 & stored proceedures. Oh & did I mention I'm planning a wedding? Invitions are currently under construction.

It's great running through life having little idea as to what I'm doing, but knowing that God does.

My aim is to start posting fairly regularly again. There's plenty going on that I could blog about, and when I was posting regularly, there were actually people reading what I had to say. The amazing thing is that this is true inspite of the fact that I was just a bored Uni student back then.

Before and After

I posted an image last year showing how far apart Tiarnee & I were. Doing it 'tough' as a 'long-distance relationship'. I can now do a before and after to show how things have changed.

BEFORE

AFTERThere's so many things I could say (& hopefully will with some organisation) about my move to Adelaide. But this is the awesome thing that stands out amongst them.