{10 on 10}

#1

: : That time of year already! This is my first one done, will be busy with the rest in the coming week or two! : :

 #2

: : Everyone else is in bed, so the neighbour's cat is making himself at home! : :

 #3

: : My Snowy <3 :="" td="">

#4

: : Yep, peeps, I got it. Yay! :) : :

 #5

: : Working on it. One of these days I'll graduate! : :

#6

: : See below : :

 #7

: : I think I've said before that Summer is my favourite season. : :
But wedding season isn't so bad either! ;)

#8

: : End-of-year certificates for recorder students : :
I've taught for two whole years now!

 #9

: : Abstract photography? : :

 #10

: : So when I photograph plants, the background gets thrown out of focus . . .  : :
now I just need to get the same effect with portrait photography!

Becka's 18th Birthday

Becka did a double-celebration for her 18th birthday (also in June) this year - ice skating one Saturday afternoon for everyone, and a mothers & daughters dinner at Masala on a Tuesday roughly a two weeks later.

Ice skating; left to right: Esther, Marieke, me, Becka, Suzanne
Jarrod, Toby, Rueben S., Ruth
Jordan, Middy, Rueben R.
Mum, Bryce, Abigail
Maria, Danielle, Monique, Dad & Diana, Natalie & a friend

We actually had more people come ice skating but some had already left when we took this photo...
Except for the blisters afterwards, it was awesome!! haha :P

A photo I talk of myself before we went to
Masala, and yes, I've photoshopped it...

I don't have much to say about Masala (Indian restaurant in Papakura) either I'm afraid, except that the food was great and we really enjoyed talking and being together. Oh yeah and we got some cool pics ;)
Afterwards we went to McDonald's for dessert :)

: : Me with Becks : :

: : Suz and I : :

Athletics Prizegiving

The most recent athletics season ran from late October 2011 to late March 2012. Prizegiving was held at Clayton Park School on Saturday, May 19th.

Although Laura was born before the end of the season, this was the first time the club had seen her, so she was very popular, to say the least! lol

I helped out again this year, getting the athletes from a certain age group in line, removing from the pile certificates for those athletes not in attendance, walking around the outside of the hall and bringing the group in again through the back entrance next to the stage. When either Terry or Albert was ready (they were presenting the awards), I handed the pile of certificates to him, and went to get the next pile and start the process again! I was pleased we only had a slight drizzle occasionally, otherwise I could have been quite wet!



Essie and I

 Finally it came to my turn. "Bianca Jago: First in . . . {everything}, overall aggregate, total track, total field." [Yeah, I was the only person in my age group! haha] Honestly though, I'm not sure how one is supposed to carry that many trophies at once! :D


I think Diana and I brought home three trophies each . . . we're building quite a collection now!

After all the age groups had their certificates, the other trophies were awarded, i.e. Sportsperson of the year and others.

  

Once the award ceremony was completely finished, we could all go out the front for sausages, drinks, and ice blocks. It started getting cold and dark, so a few of us came inside to hang out, and were given a chocolate bar each...yummy!

Hanging out afterwards (sorry, I don't have a good pic)
Clockwise: Jarrod, Diana, Suzanne, Esther, Ruth, Monique, me

Essie's 15th Birthday

 

The awesome pressie I gave Es.
I was trying for a vintage look, and no, the fact that we didn't
 have much gift wrap didn't have anything to do with it!!! :P
I think next time I'll make sure I have plain  black-and-white
 paper for the flower, and maybe use tea  to
give the paper a brownish-yellow colour.

 After the airport on Tuesday, Mum took someone for a doctor's visit, Monique and Jarrod had a violin lesson, at some stage we had lunch, and then we rushed off to my orthodontist appointment. After that (I think) we picked up some packaging for Dad, and finally, we headed out to the Sonnevelds'. I was going for Essie's birthday that evening, and my mum and siblings had been invited for afternoon tea (which, by the way, was VERY exciting for my little siblings!).

When we arrived, I helped Es out with the massive amount of baking she was doing for that night; by the time we were done with that, the rest of my family was leaving, and Suzanne, Esther, and I were going to play a game. Just as we were starting to play, Es thought she'd better work out when we'd need to start dinner in order to have it ready on time.

Ever-exciting chocolate!!!

As it happened, we ended up leaving the game and making dinner! Neither of us were familiar with marinating meat, so were unaware that the process should have been started hours earlier! We ended up calling on Suzanne to use her cooking skills (she's done classes at MIT) to help us.
 

Ruthie posing...

Finally we were just about finished preparing the food, and the expected arrival of two more friends was fast approaching. Es, Ruth (who'd just arrived home from a run) and I started taking various items for the evening out to the flat (above their double garage). I wouldn't have been overly surprised if someone had told me there was laughing gas in the air right about then! 'Hyper' would have described us quite well when Becks and Middy arrived!

Hungry? lol this was our dessert

We finished transferring everything we could think of from the house to the flat, and started cooking the meat. Soon we sat down, and our hunger was evidenced by our somewhat sudden silence.

Dinner was soon finished, and we made quick work of the dishes before preparing our desserts, and sitting down with them to watch The Ultimate Gift, one of Esther's birthday presents.

watching a movie

I think we all enjoyed the movie, despite its many sad  moments. At some point we paused it to get Fanta and lollies (we decided to forget the muffins, yummy as they looked!). I forget why, but for some reason some of us had to go back to the house - wow was it COLD outside!! A few days before it had still seemed like summer, now it was FROSTY!

on the way home =)



Once the movie finished, we restored the flat to its former state, and piled into the car for the trip home. Spirits were high during the drive, and before long we were returned to our own homes, thus ending our awesome evening! (Of course, I get to relive it, at least to some extent, while I write this! =))



Laura

Hey Readers! =)

More journal-type posts coming, but for now, here are some more pics of my new little sis, Laura.

My friend Ruth =)

Uncle Paul

Anne Roos and Mrs de Boer

Bryce (4)



Essie (another friend)



My friend Suzanne

Inspire 2011 - Part 1

Ok so I havn't posted in AGES (sorry everyone..), and Inspire was ..let's see...in February..! So I'm not sure how much I'll be able to remember, but I'll have a crack at it anyway...


So on Friday 16th Feb, Anne Roos picked me up (Thanks!) and we went to the Sonnevelds,' where we had pizza before six of us girls (Anne Roos, Suzanne, Ruth, Esther, Emma Fussel and I) left for Ngaruawahia ,where we were all attending Inspire Girls Camp for the first time.
About 5 we stopped at McD's for dinner, before continuing on to the camp where we registered, found and set up our room, and said hi to the many people we knew.

Finally it was time to head to the main hall for the welcome, games, and a talk from Alana Dixon (recently married) about dating, courtship, and doing relationships God's way. Alana has a great sense-of-humour, and I'd be surprised if there was anyone who hadn't laughed by the end of her talk!

Then we watched a movie called Saving Sarah Cain before going to bed...where we talked/txt (*grin*) for ages...!

Sorry this post is kinda short, but the next one is really long to make up for it =)