Jess' Blog

For a while now I've been wrestling with and grumbling at my hair. It was getting way too long and I had very little time to properly look after it... Ever had those days where you get so annoyed with your hair that you almost consider shaving it off? Well I had at least 2 day per week like that. So I finally decided, I'd put up with it LONG enough (pun intended lol), and booked myself in for a haircut. It didn't take me long to find a style I hadn't tried before (I've tried MANY many styles over the years) and off I went. My hairdresser was excellent. I gave her one picture, she asked me a few questions and viola! I had a cut just like the picture! I love my new haircut :D

Well, it's been a while I know...

Last time I posted I was still recovering from being unwell, was unemployed, adjusting to living in Hobart, and sitting at home alone a lot.

Now, I am happy and healthy (relative term!), employed, enjoying Hobart and all it has to offer, and am rarely home!

Anthony and I have become a DINK couple (Double-Income-No-Kids). But we're loving it ;)

He works at Glenorchy City Council, full time.

And I work at Lipscombe Child Care Services in Sandy Bay, as a casual, but doing almost full-time hours regularly!

It's great. The staff are great. Location is great. And I love working with children!

So work takes up about 70-80% of my time during the week. The rest of my time is distributed between UNI (I'm doing summer school), Anthony, home stuff(you know, cleaning, cooking, etc), and "me time" (showering, grooming, sleeping, eating, reading, playing guitar). Usually.

Sometimes, I'll have time to spontaneously be social and have a games night with friends or something... But that's probably only once or twice a month. So, not as often as I'd like ;)

And... yeah.

That's everything.

My life is just work at the moment...

... And my life is good :)

Sooooo, for those of you who don't already know, I like to draw/paint people's portraits. I've been doing it as a hobby to pay for my textbooks each semester but I'd like to one day do it as a full-time thing (looong way to go til i get that kind of business!)

I recently updated my art blog and created a Facebook page.

My art blog:

J.W. Portrait Art

My facebook page:

Jessica Wheeler's Portrait Art

Please share the links around :)

Phew!

Where do I start?

I suppose I'll start waay back...

...I received the Dean's Roll of Excellence Award...

...visited my family in Deloraine, lit stuff on fire :D :D!!...

...saw The Avengers (it was everything i expected and then some!), at the cinemas-gold class style...

...played some scrabble...

...went to Adelaide, abducted my lil sister, drove from Adelaide to Melbourne on part of the Great Ocean Road (saw what was left of the 12 Apostles), then took the Spirit back to Tasmania...

...visited my family in Deloraine again, made blue banana pancakes...

...and buried a close friend...

...wished my lil sister Kayla a happy 16th birthday...

...wished my lil brother Jonny a happy 11th birthday...

...went on a 3-day hike around the Freycinet Penninsula with Bekah, Kayla, Alisha, Jonny and Kayla's friend Lillie-Mae. It was amazing!...

...babysat my girlfriend's son (he loves to cook when he comes over)...

...painted some soldiers...

...which were used at a youth dance (win!)...

...went to Silvers Circus (soo magical!)...

...lil sisters Bekah, Leia and Kayla, and cousin Amber-lee visited. We ate lots of home-made pizzas (Tandoori chicken pictured) and had dramas with Leia's new puppy dog...

...and as a result of my adventures, I've been doing an awful lot of this:

Wow. 3 years.

I've been married for 3 years, today.

Has it been tough? Yes.

Has it been life-changing? Yes.

Has it been worth it? Absolutely!

Despite what a lot of people say, marriage to me isn't something you can just run away from when it's no longer convenient or euphoric. If you've committed to it, you endure it, and learn to enjoy it. Come what may and love it.

Like every thing that's worth anything in life, it takes a bit of work, a bit of patience, endurance, and, in my experience, a whole lot of humour!

To mark 3 eventful years of marriage, here's some funny quotes about marriage:

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. ~Paul Sweeney

Spouse: someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single. ~Author Unknown

Love is a sweet tyranny, because the lover endureth his torments willingly. ~Proverb

Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. ~Anonymous

Whoever says marriage is a fifty-fifty proposition doesn’t know the half of it. ~Anonymous

Whatever you may look like, marry a man your own age –as your beauty fades, so will his eyesight. ~Phyllis Diller

Only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other, to let her have it. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

We both said “I do” and we haven’t agreed on a single thing since. ~Stuart Mackenzie

We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops. ~Unknown

Marriage is when a man looses his bachelors degree and woman gets her masters degree. ~Ramakochhar

Women marry men hoping they will change. Men marry women hoping they will not. ~Albert Einstein

Love is blind, marriage is the eye-opener. ~Unknown.

BAhahahahahaha.

Here's to 3 years of tears, bumps and giggles!

I love you Antho! xo

"They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."

Lest we forget.

(Laurence Binyon, 'For the fallen', 1914).

When it hurts so bad...

When your heart is worse than broken...

When you feel so alone...

When you are so lost and confused...

When you cry yourself to sleep every night...

When you cry inwardly where no one else can see...

When you are in so much agony...

When you feel utterly hopeless...

When you feel completely helpless...

When you are terrified and afraid...

When you feel like nothing...

When you despise and hate what you see in the mirror...

When it is so overwhelming with no sign of relief...

When you are so far beyond exhausted and tired...

When everything around you is devoid of comfort...

When life has felt like one blow after another, when you can't catch a break...

When your emotions are so intense you can hardly breathe...

When you can't bear the thought of waking up to endure another day of this...

When you pray in earnest desperation for it all to end...

...Remember this ...

*(Isaiah 41: 10, 13)
^(John 14: 1,18)
`(Matt 11: 28-29)
**(2 Kings 20:5)

Whew! Have I had an awesome day today!

I'll just keep this simple and stick to the highlights.

Antho and I decided to go kayaking all day because its a beautiful day, we like outdoorsy activities and I'm a fish!

Here's a map of our kayak journeyings:

(If I calculated correctly the total journey was approx. 7.5km!)

We almost made it to woody island before we noticed the sheer cliffs of woody Island and realised we wouldn't be able to stop there so we detoured to a secluded beach for lunch:

Our private beach was very romantic. We were all alone for miles around. Exploring, snuggles, strolls and munchies... all alone. Just the two of us!

The beach there was untouched by other humans (as far as we know and excepting Antho and I of course) so the shells were both enormous and perfectly un-crushed and un-chipped! I haven't got a photo yet, but I collected a massive conch-like shell and fan shell both larger than my hands and perfectly formed, no chips or anything!

The view from our secluded beach (excluding Woody Island which would have been to the very left of this photo):

Checking out the view, where we've been and where we're going:

Antho and I in action:

[NB: The reason Antho hasn't got his life jacket on is because it was an ugly orange jacket and I told him to take it off for the photo... just in case you were wondering ;) ]

The Sand dunes (which look MUCH bigger in person):

The little ramp we used that was next to the jetty and main boat ramp (we didn't want to get squashed by the bigger boats that were coming and going!):

Here comes Antho in the 4WD!...

Packing up (it's a bit of a process!!):

Had a quick swim before finally saying goodbye... And after such a big day I only came home with a light pink glow. Win!