Sunday, September 28, 2008

GRAND FINAL for AFL!

After the Billy-Kart Challenge, Danyall Richard, Luke Radosavlejvic, Jack Prebble, Sam Prebble, Jasmine Robins, Kieran Spilling, Myself, Bekah Bradbury, Leia Bradbury, [Alisha & Jonny Bradbury] all piled into the Bradbury Family Home to watch the AFL Grand Final.
On our way home, we stopped at Woolworths [still smelling of poop from the billy-kart challenge] and picked up some supplies for the grand event! I grabbed just a megapack of lollies, Jack came round the corner with an overflowing armful of chips, drinks, and who-knows-what-else! Haha, it was quite a sight :P
There was plenty of food, but it went fast because we were all starving from running up and down a hill all morning!

We all patriotically joined in the singing of the National Anthem at the opening of the game:

First quarter excitement...


...everyone went crazy with excited energy!

First Quarter: Geelong 33 - Hawks 32

Second Quarter: Hawthorn 51 - Geelong 48

At Half time we all spontaneously enjoyed a game of "Marks Up" (a footy game) in the front yard. Some die-hard basketball fans (cough-cough-Jack and Dan - cough-cough) shot some hoops, with Dan nearly busting our plastic ring with his slam dunk! But before we even started Marks Up, some silly muppet kicked the football into the tree!!


[The little yellow bit amongst the branches is the football!!]


[Dan Dan the basketball Man]


[The "Holy Grail" of patriotic Australia - football]


[Alisha ducking for cover as Luke makes a beautiful kick!]

When 3rd Quarter started, we all dropped everything and ran back inside! It was a close game! All that were in the room were barracking for the mighty Hawks.... except for Dad and Kieran. (Mum 'supported' the Cats only because, "i'm being a supportive wife", because dad was going for Geelong! Haha!!)

There was alot of screaming and general noise. Most of the screaming occurred when Hawks kicked a goal. A memorable scream came from the most amazing goal of the game, kicked by "Number 7" (as Leia and I kept shouting), who we now know to be Michael Osbourne.

Third Quarter: Hawthorn 89 - Geelong 72

Buddy Franklin remained the player the girls drooled over. He's a very good-looking chap, i must say ;)

Full-time: Hawks 115 defeat Cats 89 accompanied by a massive 3minute long roar from Hawks fans all over Australia - and our place was no exception!

Our Heroes of the Day:
Hawthorn : S Gilham, T Croad, B Guerra, R Ladson, L Hodge, G Birchall, J Lewis, S Mitchell , C Bateman, C Rioli, L Franklin, M Osbourne, M Williams, J Roughead, C Brown, T Campbell, B Sewell, S Crawford. Interchange: S Dew, X Ellis, B Renouf, C Young.

Hawthorn's first grand final title since 1991 (i think thats right).
Congrats.
A mighty win for the Hawks!!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Devonport Stake Youth Billy-Kart Challenge 2008

[ Firstly, I would just like to note that within fifteen minutes the batteries in my camera died so there arent many pictures of the event on my camera...but Jack Prebble should have heaps on his ;) ]

On Saturday [28th September] a massive congregration of young men and women, plus a whole heap of parents, friends, billy-kart engineers, bloggers, spectators, missionaries and more gathered on a random hill in Sheffield, Tasmania for the annual event:

the
Devonport Stake Youth Billy-Kart Challenge !

There was a great deal of enthusiasm, team spirit, competition, and quite a few interesting billy-karts!
Here are just a small few of the masterpieces:

Teams were: Launceston West Ward Boys & Girls [combined team], Launceston East Ward Boys, Deloraine Ward Boys, Deloraine Ward Girls, Burnie Ward Boys & Girls, Devonport Ward Boys... Deloraine Ward Girls won pretty much every event. Their billy-kart, and team enthusiasm & involvement, was pretty much awesome!

My favourite teams (and i admit there is a bias element in this):


Deloraine Ward Girls and Launceston West Boys & Girls

Highlights and Other bits:
- Cade Triffitt and Paul Scicluna driving their billy-kart (which was simply two barrels joined by some wood and a seat inbetween, kind of like a bidget steam-roller, haha!) straight over the one and only large pothole on the hill!! The pothole had witches hats surrounding it, but hey, those hats didn't stand a chance against those boys and their billy kart!! Paul was sent flying in the air, closely followed by Cade! Both boys recovered quickly and luckily nothing got broken :D

- Many near-misses of the dreaded pothole!

- How the Launceston wards transported their billy-karts UP the hill:
Above:pulled up the hill by a quad-bike.
How the rest of them had to get their billy-karts UP the hill:
Above: Pushing it up the hill, the boys running to help out.


[ This guy is a legend! Chey Graham]


[Leia Bradbury and Tayla Christie's Outfits!]

And after all the wonderful socialising, racing, laughs and more everyone went their seperate ways... except for a whole bunch of youth that came over to our place (The Bradbury Home in Deloraine) to watch the highly anticipated Grand Final of AFL! But thats another story...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Something people do when they're bored...

Now, i know that at some point in a person's life, they will find themselves on a computer - very bored - with the internet. And eventually they will give in to curiosity and do what so many before have done: type your name into Google!
I've always been a curious cat, so naturally, i did it !

Here's the results:

[Above:] Turns out i'm a hot-as model for L'Oreal, strutting my stuff in Melbourne...?
http://www.titomedia.com/site/show_gallery/1538

I'm also a renowned Author who publishes many articles about everything from Irritable-bowel syndrome to perfume allergies...
http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/jessica-bradbury/39097.htm
But as i look further i find i actually specialise in Addictions, Allergies and Women's Health.

I'm also a Compensation and Benefits Specialist at Sensata Technologies on Rhode Island...
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/38B/09A

I'm also a specialist of some kind for Debt and Credit Relief...
http://www.newworldproducts.org/Articles/Author/481/Jessica-Bradbury.html
That'll come in handy!

And i must add, apparently i've performed a dance solo in Hamilton, Ontario...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2VOAWDCYBN7C9

And the fourth image that came up in the image google search for "Jessica Bradbury" was....

*drum roll*

Ta-da!

[A VERY old picture... from the Deloraine Relief Society Blog]
http://delrs.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

So there you have it! That's Jessica Bradbury, brought to you by Google!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Life's a Garden, Dig It... PART 2 !

Well, once again, Kayla and I took advantage of the sunshine and got straight into the gardening.
We did a total of 6 hours hard labour today! My everything hurts, but i feel great! Haha!

Due to all the rain we've been having we did end up very very muddy!
I'm pretty sure i've ruined another pair of trackies - oh dear.

The highlights of our gardening adventure today:

  • A 3-hour long fight with the blasted dead raspberry bushes... they won. My arms are scratched to pieces!
  • Shovelling poop, mixing it into the soil, gasping/gagging from the smell - chook poo is great for the veggies but man! it STINKS!
  • Demolishing the "too-expensive-to-repair" hot house:

[Above Left: what's left of the hot house after we stripped it and sledge-hammered off some rusty poles. ... Above Right: the bits of poles i hammered off the frame.]

  • Planting the first of the vegetables!:


[A really bad photo of the beginnings of our vegie patch]


[Cucumber patch, Carrot patch, Lettuce Patch]

  • The end of a hard day's work:


[Yes, that IS a pile of poop in the bottom-right corner :P]

A Profound Question: "What If There's Nothing To Say?"

Its interesting... When you experience a pivotal moment in your life and commit to change, how everything feels different.

Imagine, or think of a time, when you've experienced something that has stirred a change in you.

For me, it was 'the crucible' moment of my life - where life felt like the boiling point of trials and challenges; testing me, moulding me - and the very moment that i thought would kill me [literally], changed me.

I notice the change more and more everyday.

I want different things. I'm thinking in a new way. I'm more aware of my feelings. And i'm doing things i've always wanted to.

I'm making my life what i want it to be, right now, today!

One thing in particular that i've wanted to for a long time now is to move on.

"Move on from what?" you say..

Well here's the story:

For over a year i've been fighting the many feelings i've had towards a friend of mine.

[We had a 'thing' once - He moved on. I couldn't.]

Unrequited love is torture.

I desperately needed to end that chapter of my life.

So i did what many fear to do, I called. I poured my heart out and explained how I had been feeling.

I told him how i still had feelings for him despite the time that'd past and that i didn't want to feel that way anymore!

I told him how frustrated i felt because he could affect me so easily [I'd have so many thoughts ticking over in my head whenever i was near him that i would end up doing/saying something stupid!]

At a heated point in conversation, I asked him about his feelings about it all - about me - and he said, "What do you want me to say!?"

In my frustration, i was a little blunt in my reply: "What YOU really feel! YOU. Not what i want to hear, not what you 'should' say - what YOU want to say!"

Then it happened. He said it:

"What if there's nothing to say!?"

I learned an important lesson from this.

Sometimes the closure we seek in life can't be given to us by others. We must make it within ourselves.

I had called him hoping he would say, "I don't love you" believing that that would be the closure i needed to move on. But instead, there was nothing.

There didn't need to be anything.

Nothing turned out to be all i needed.

Other people can not be held responsible for bringing us our own inner peace (or misery), we do that for/to ourselves.

Now, coming back to you fellow bloggers, when you reach that moment in your life where change is only one decision away... "What if there's nothing [...]?"...

...Then you have a choice. Figure it out yourself, or, continue to wander in confusion and frustration. Find your own inner voice and make something to say!

I never knew i would find relief and peace in those 6 words, but i will be forever grateful for the lesson my dear friend taught me!

Jess' Cooking Designs! Ep. 1.

For those that know me well, i'm quite comfortable working my way around a kitchen.

I LOVE cooking!

I've just recently began dieting again, which means i can no longer eat the majority of food Mum cooks for dinner. SO, I've been cooking my own Dinner!

Jess' Salmon Salad

Ingredients:
Thinly-sliced Smoked Salmon

Green Leaf Mix

Carrot (stripped/ finely sliced)

Celery (finely sliced)

Mushrooms

Crushed Garlic

Rosemary

Pure Olive Oil

Method:

In a Frying-pan, lighty cover mushrooms in olive oil with approx 1tsp of crushed garlic and a sprinkle of rosemary. Cook until brown.

Finely slice carrot and celery (so it makes thin strips).

Combine Green Leaf Mix, Carrot and Celery.

Add Mushrooms on top (The excess oil from the mushrooms can be used as a yummy dressing!)

Add Salmon pieces.

Enjoy!
Friday, September 12, 2008

A Day of Mummies, handstands, and hot chips and tomato sauce sandwhiches!

Wednesday [10th September, 2008] a group of awesome friends gathered together at the Village Cinemas in Launceston to begin a day of fun, food and laughter!

People who came: Jess Richards, Danyall Richards, Mackay Wilday, Jack Prebble, Luke Radosavlejvic (dunno how to spell it properly, that was just a guess!), Bekah Bradbury, Jess Bradbury (Me!), Hannah Rattray, and Kieran Spilling.

At 11:15am, we all filled up a row at the cinemas and watched "The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer" I found it pretty scary, but then you have to take into account that i don't do so well with scary/tension movies [i got scared in "Treasure Planet" - its an animated movie :P]! Haha.

After the movie, we bought some tomato sauce and a loaf of bread, then headed to Kings Bridge to begin the gorgeous walking track into The Gorge.

The Walk into the Gorge:

We began with talking in our "Native Tongue", Aimlessly looking at a random chunk of metal sticking out of a rock [and causing many other walkers to aimlessly look up too!], and doing the folded-arm-footy-pose...

We asked some random girls to take a picture of us at the Shelter thingy along the way...

There's a random cave alongside the walking track, so we behaved as anyone would when inside a cave - like cavemen/cavewomen!!

Everyone [except me, i took the photo from the ground] climbed up the perilous stairs to the lookout. Jack and Jess reinacted a scene from titantic [the "hold me jack", imagining to fly at the front of the titanic scene lol].


[High up on the lookout: Jess, Hannah, Jack, Luke, Kieran, Mackay, Bek and Dan (who is still climbing the stairs)]

At the "Listening place" Jack got in touch with his alternative side and went into meditation and learned a new pearl of wisdom: When one crosses his legs, one experiences much pain! Haha.

At the Gorge:

When we finally arrived, we crossed to bouncy bridge, bought a STACK of hot chips and settled beside the pool on the stairs to eat lunch. It was upon these steps that the boys introduced to me the Hot chips and tomatoe sauce sandwhich! It was grose. But hey, at least they loved it!


[Jack, Hannah and Jess on the steps where we ate lunch]

The daffodils were in full bloom at the gorge, so naturally Kieran and I picked some! I eventually got sick of mine and threw it into the pool, only to regret doing it later. So as the wind blew the daffodil further and further towards the divider in the pool, i raced off to retrieve my flower! Dan attempted to intercept by nearly throwing me in! Glad to announce that i got the daffodil and i was only wet up to my shins :D


[Yay! I got the Daffodil!]

Dan sparked off a handstand fiasco!

Soon they were doing all kinds of crazy things, like leap-frogging over each other while STANDING UP! Jack managed to spring clear over Dan (who is much taller than jack) but unfortunately Dan didn't manage to make it over Jack. And again, later, poor Jack copped a fair knee to the back of the head when Dan tried to jump over him! Ouch! And somewhere amongst the madness, Dan kidnapped Hannah...


[Dan NEARLY making it over Jack. I said "Nearly"...]


[Jack about to miraculously make it clear over Dan!]


[Ouch!]


[Dan running away with poor Hannah slung over his shoulder!]

Once the testosterone had died down a bit, we all sat along the wall overlooking the river. There was lots of random chit-chat about everything from Dating to Cats and MORE!


[Not sure what Jack is doing down the bottom of this shot but anyway...]


[Lots of laughing and good times]

And then there was a random council worker swinging on the swings by himself... BAHAHA! It was random and hilarious!

By about 3:30pm Bekah and i left the happy group to begin the walk to Duck Reach Power Station. From Duck reach we walked down Corin Street, and then arrived at the Terry's to await our ride home to Deloraine with Dad.

It was a great day out, great company, kinda sucky weather, but gee it was nice!

About Me

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Jess [Bradbury] Wheeler
Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
Hey. If you are reading this, you probably already know who I am. But just in case you're new... Call me Jess, I'm a human being, and this blog is a mixture of a) updating the gossip grapevine and b) personal therapeutic word-vomit and such. Have a wander, expect the unexpected, leave a comment and then go right on doing whatever it is that you do each day. Keep it simple, keep it real ;) Love Jess.
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