The weekend after Easterfest the same group of friends headed down the east coast of Australia to Byron Bay. We stayed in Lennox Head- about 15 minutes from Byron, and enjoyed the sun, shopping, and spa!

A friend of ours, Peter, is a mime. He was performing at Easterfest, a christian music festival in Toowoomba. We went along to support him, and see what all the fuss is about! It was a fun weekend, except for the crazy rain that fell on the Saturday night, washing us away! The little flash flood was over in the morning, and we were safe (just a bit wet from sleeping on our wet, wet, air mattress)! Here are some pictures of the long weekend:

Crocodile for dinner the first night!

Pete the mime!

The night flood came. This was in the eating tent, and the water started piling up!

The next morning we just threw everything into garbage bags to take home and sort!

My party was yesterday (Sunday) and I had the most marvelous time! It was tea party in the park at Cotton Tree, and I felt so blessed to have so many beautiful friends there to share the fun with! My only regret- not many photos. It is hard to take photo when you’re talking to lots of people. Even harder to get photos of yourself! Thankfully I have scavenged a few picture from people who have uploaded them to facebook!

Does anyone else have this problem?!

The conversations that sprung from that really cemented in my Ming some if the learning Ive been doing about the importance of quality networks.

I add people to my networks for the following reasons.

1. To learn from- usually other teachers and eLearning professionals who I can converse with about issues we deal with professionally.

2. To teach- generally in the same area as above.

3. Other geeks, usually female. I network with these people because we share a common interest and talk about similar things in our networks. Its a great opportunity to have fun and stay informed, as well as hear a variety of opinions- many I dont personally agree with.

4. Friends. While my current major use of social networking (except facebook) is for expressing either the teacher side of me, or the arts side of me, I recognize that social interaction with friends I see regularly is important. Social media is a great way to accomplish that, and to make collegues, friends.

So these are my qualifiers if you like. There are people I am networked with who dont fit into these categories, and thats fine. Some of them stay, some dont, as long as were mutually beneficial, then Im happy.

What are some of the reasons you add people to your social networks?

P.S. I wrote this all on my iPhone, proud of me?!

1. Before my husband and I started going out, we were BEST friends. There a came a time though when he made it pretty clear to me that his intention was to marry me. My reaction? “Well, you’d better ask me out then!”

2. I’m not a fan of shoes… I wear them cause I have too, but it’s not my preference, and I don’t own very many (a lot less since Pepper came into the equation).

3. I honestly believe that it is my ‘call’ to be a mum. I think it’s what God wants me to be, and I think that with his help I’ll be able to do it well.

4. My computer at work is a mac mini, and my computer at home is a hackintosh.

5. I’m incredibly spoilt. Luke says I’m not allowed to spoil out children, or they will be… well… spoilt. Like me.

6. I can validly (without including airports) tick off 4 countries that I’ve been to. Australia, London, Tunisia and Indonesia. I will tick off another 3 in about 13 days!! (Israel, Jordan & Egypt)

7. I have a wii fit and Rockband. Guess which gets used more…

Most people have already done this now, so I will endeavour to choose people who haven’t…

So the people I am tagging are:

Luke

Bettina

Julian

Esther

Zoey

Bekky

And people I would have tagged, had they not already are Simon, Sue, Tawny, and many others…

We’re graduating at different times for different reasons, but the point is that we’re not all at Uni anymore. Before our lives, though different, were all consumed by a common factor- Uni. Now we’re all in different places and we talk about different things. Every school holidays Katie comes back to the coast (her and Alex moved to Emerald to teach), and we all get together for a ‘uni night’. It’s always fun to talk and catch up and hang out with these people that for the last 3 years I have spent so much time with!!

The thing I noticed about Monday night (our most recent Uni night), was the different conversations that went round the table, and how the amount of conversations that included everyone was decreasing. Rachel and I could talk about puppies, Katie and Carmen about graduation… there were conversations about being married, getting engaged, engagement rings, churches, friends, girlfriends, children, houses… the list goes on.

I guess the thing I love is that even though we’re all at different places in life right now, we are still able to get together and talk for hours and hours. I hope that this never dies, as long, good friends are hard to find.

So this is my special dedication to Rachel, who helped with all our moving on Monday, and then when ‘the car incident/ accident’ happened on Monday arvo she was over at our old place cleaning! Then last night helped clean again. And we were cleaning for HOURS last night. And to top it off she buys pizza on the way back to our new place. She is ADORABLE, and I am indebted to her. Last night I realised how much I don’t deserve a friend like her- someone who is willing to sacrifice her time and effort, and time with her sister (Kathryn- who helped us clean), just because we’re friends, and I needed help. I am seriously in awe, and this little paragraph in no ways explain how grateful I am, or how much I am amazed at your commitment, friendship, loving heart, and specialness! I am seriously trying to find some way to thank you properly.

Oh, can I also give a big shout out to Kathryn, who was an excellent cleaner! She came over to clean, and I am very, very thankful!

Thanks to Carmen, who was the first one to help us clean, and when I had messaged her to ask if she could help she so quickly replied ‘yes’ and sounded so excited! You really gave me hope, Carms, that this whole cleaning thing would be okay.

Jeff deserves a huge shout-out as well. He helped us clean all the places we forgot, and then after dinner, at our new place, he washed up!! I am so blessed to have a friend like that as well!!

Thank you to my husband as well, who did all the little things on the list I gave him yesterday- including the washing up, and finding some plates in a box. And thank you Luke for taking responsibility with me for cleaning our old place. I really appreciate you and the way you look after me- especially when I have nose issues at night, and feel like I’m dying. I love you.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Oh, and thanks to Aaron for coming to eat Pizza with us and play Absolute Boulderdash. haha.