On the trail we blaze...

I had been hoping to put this up earlier....

Ali came over to Sydney to visit for three weeks over New Years, and I was hoping to be able to put up a collection of pics from her holidays, but as the only ones that were actually on my camera are pics of her riding Blaze, and waiting for the others has taken this long already, I decided maybe it was time just to put up what I had.

So please find below a collection of pics of Ali's first riding lesson - she was pretty petrified, so all in all she did really well, and we were all very proud of her!!

Amazingly despite her greatest concerns... she didn't get eaten by any of the horses!!!

Ali getting Blaze ready for his ride

Getting some instructions

Off she goes...

And goes....

And goes.........

Safely on the ground again, Ali and Chino

This is "pants". I'm positively sure that's not his real name... but he lives on the same road as my horsies and Ali took a fancy to him, and as such decided to name him pants!! Go figure!!

Heard it on the grapevine....

Well, for once I actually have some news of a decent level to report on!!! As the title suggests - some of you have most likely heard this on the grapevine already!!

Rob has taken an offer from his work, to spend two years living in the UK, and while nothing is ever set in concrete with his job it seems pretty likely he will be leaving sometime around October.

Yes... ok... note the use of the word "he" will be leaving, not "we" will be leaving...To the delight of my Sydney friends, I'm not going with him, to the slight annoyance of my Adelaide friends, I'm not moving back there either... that's right... I'm staying put!! As most of you know I found moving to Sydney pretty stressful and just don't want to move again... stubborn I know!!

So through much discussion, we've decided to try the whole long distance thing again (done it before peeps - know what we're in for!! except a lot more European holidays this time instead of Scone and outer Perth!!!) then when Rob comes back we'll hopefully be able to settle down a bit as taking this job pretty much secures him a spot in NSW for the rest of his time, which certainly wasn't the case before!! So all in all a new adventure begins!!

As for me... dreaming of all the European holidays... I don't even have a passport - yep, that's right, never been overseas...(I'm pretty sure the fairy penguin island at Victor Harbour doesn't count, although that is the only time I've been off mainland Australia!!) but that's all about to change also!! Some of you would know that my Aunty Em has been living in London for a few years now, and thinks her time there might be coming to an end.... So to take the opportunity before it dissappears I'm planning a trip to visit in July for a couple of weeks, nicely tied in to a family wedding!!! So exciting!!!

On the work front... still love my new job, certainly no regrets in leaving the old one!!! Despite the recent craziness and stress with it being so busy, I'm starting to meet some lovely clients and build some really good new friendships with my work mates!!! Yay!!! Oh yeah... and for those of you who know/have heard of Fleur.... she came to work there as well, so its a full on migration!!! Have added some pics below from her (now not so recent) birthday party!!

Mel and Fleur, showing off the stunning swarovski necklace we got Fleur.

Maggie, Michelle and me on the other side of the table...Mags just did the CA exam with me... go us!!

The ponies are going brilliantly - I LOVE Chino!!! And now before you all go on at me about loving them equally, at this point in time Blaze has managed to dump me twice, the second time quite hard (couldn't sit properly for three weeks!!) so until Chino catches up (which fingers crossed he won't) I'm allowed to have favourites!!!! Blaze has made dramatic improvement in the last month though, settling in really nicely at the farm, and brother bonding with Chino (he adores him!!). The vet came out to see him recently (for a completely separate issue, which Blaze has asked me not to mention as it was a bit embarassing!!) and the vet spent the entire time telling us how FAT Blaze is (like we didn't know!!) especially since it turned out there was nothing else wrong with him!! So he's on a strict diet (ie grass - Yum!!) and have been trying to exercise him as much as possible, it was pretty funny at first, he was like a big fat man on the biggest loser, plodding and puffing his way around the arena, but he is starting to get his fittness up a bit now!! Apart from getting his leg stuck in the fence and cutting it up pretty badly, Chino has been a dream!! He loves cuddles and kisses, and just gives and gives an gives... I'm so excited.. I know he's going to teach me a lot!!!

Archer and Ciska are doing well also... Archer has been coming out to the farm and hanging out with the horses. Ciska would like to come, but only so she can run away!!! Archer just hangs out, and if i go for a ride on Chino, Archer just tags along behind or alongside, although sometimes a little too close to Chino's back legs for my comfort, but Chino never seems fussed by him (Blaze on the other hand isn't so sure!!!)

Well, I think that's the bulk of my news... I have a new evil plan.... to be on msn on Wednesday nights, so if you have msn and want to chat - I should be around!!

It aint over till the fat lady sings...

Well, the fat lady certainly hasn't sung yet, but hopefully she'll be singing a happy tune on the 20th of April!! Yep, yesterday I sat my final exam for CA!! Although a lot of partying was planned none of us really anticipated the way we would feel when it was actually completed, we all thought we'd be over the freakin moon, but instead we realised none of us really want to get our hopes up just yet!!

If we've learned anything throughout this process it's not how to record consolidation journals, or the intricacies of tax law, it's that the institute operates in its own little world and can and will throw anything at you. I know very few people who will walk confidently out of an institute exam, after reading the feedback from past exams, you know there will be curve balls in there and they can be so fickle in awarding marks. But at the end of the day I guess thats what makes it such an achievement when you come out the other end!!

So although a little bit of me wants to be excited at the idea of never having to pick up another big brown box of institute horrors, I'll keep it under wraps until the 20th!!