The countdown is on...

It happened in Paris...

So sorry I've been so slack with my posts. There's obviously a few things I need to catch you up with...

Chris took me to Paris to celebrate our 6 year anniversary on the 18th February and while we were there he proposed!

Here's our proposal story...

Emma and Chris were about to celebrate their six year anniversary and Chris had organised a holiday in Paris for the occasion.

For the night of their anniversary, 18th February 2009, Chris had booked into the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, Le Jules Verne, for a romantic dinner.

That night, after a decadant French meal Chris took Emma to the top of the Eiffel Tower to enjoy the view. As February is wintertime in Paris it was quite cold on the top level and while Emma was dressed nicely for dinner she wasn't dressed warmly enough for the temperature up there.

While Chris was looking at the amazing view, Emma stayed away from the edge because of her fear of heights as the top level is 276 metres high.

Chris persuaded Emma to walk around the top level to see the whole view and while Emma complained about the cold Chris reminded her that they wouldn't be going to the top again so taking some time to enjoy the view would be a good idea.

While Chris took some photos at the edge Emma found the warmest spot to stand and looked out over Paris.

Chris came back to stand with Emma and told her that he thought this might be a good time to give her his anniversary present. Emma was confused as she had thought the trip to Paris was the present. Chris told her that he had gotten her something else and handed Emma a bag from Tiffany and Co.

Inside the bag was a bracelet and on the bracelet was a charm on which Chris had engraved "For 6 Years 18-2-09". Emma was reading this when Chris asked

"Have you seen it?"

"Well I'm looking at it!" Emma replied.

Then Chris showed Emma the second charm on the bracelet on which he had engraved "Will you marry me?"

As Emma read this Chris got down on one knee and held out the ring you see in the photo above. He said

"I love you, will you marry me?"

Emma replied with an excited "Yes!"

And as Chris slipped the ring on Emma's finger the small crowd that had formed cheered!

Apparently everyone we knew thought that Chris was going to propose, I however was clueless. Sure, I had thought Paris would be a romantic place for it and yes I know it was our anniversary but I was convinced that the trip to Paris was all Chris had organised (and all he could afford to do!). Let's just say I underestimated him!

Our wedding will be on our anniversary as well. We will be getting married on Saturday 18th February 2012, which will be our ninth anniversary!

Looking forward to sharing the wedding planning with you...

Grand Final Excitement? Or Not...

I'm an NRL fan. A Broncos fan to be exact. And today is NRL Grand Final day. I'm at my Mum's house watching the footy with Chris, my Mum and my sister, Kat and I'm not very excited.

I often find that the final game of the season is rather anti-climatic. After weeks, well months actually, of games to get here the last game of the season, months of build up for a game that isn't very exciting or suspenseful.

And this year is supposed to be a big year for Rugby League because it's the centenary. Something tells me this means the final game will be even more disappointing than usual. (Gee I sound negative don't I? Maybe I'm bitter because my team isn't playing and their coach, Wayne Bennett - who I think is the best coach in the game, won't be with them next season).

But we're watching the game anyway, it's tradition. And we've ordered pizzas for the occasion (we rarely get pizzas). Kat's interest in the game is mainly for the players; her only comments are things like "He's hot! What's his name?!" she was more interested in footy when Ryan Girdler was playing. Here's why:

Girdler's in the middle. Now what was I talking about?

That's right, footy... As I said I'm a Broncos supporter and the Broncos aren't in the Grand Final this year so already the game lost some of my interest. Plus the two teams that are in the game, well let's just say the words "who cares?" come to mind...

Firstly, the Manly Sea Eagles:

Arguably the game's most hated team. Funny, I don't know why!

And then there's the Melbourne Storm:

From the state where no-one even supports NRL. I'm not really sure why Melbourne has a team.

I'm so disinterested that when there was a raffle at work to win tickets to the game I didn't buy a single ticket.

So who to support? A Sydney team with a lot of loyal followers? Or a team from Victoria who may need the support?

I don't really care who wins, probably because I don't have a stake in the game emotionally. But part of me would like to see Manly win for their supporters. I'm not sure how long Manly have been in the competition, but I know it's longer than Melbourne, and they have a loyal fan base.

But then again Melbourne is my favourite city, so maybe I should support their team? Plus there colour is purple, also my favourite colour... (In some ways it would be so much easier if Brisbane were playing, but then it would also be more stressful).

I think I'll try to enjoy just the game with my family. I hope it's a good one.

How did you spend Grand Final Sunday? (Or did you celebrate Grand Final Saturday last week? (For the AFL).

UPDATE : It wasn't a good game. Not at all. Manly won 40 - 0. That's right, Melbourne scored ZERO!!! Not an exciting game by any means. What a let down. At least the pizza was yummy.

They're free, so I'll take five...

Recently while catching up on posts at one of my fave blogs, Dooce, I was directed to one of her archived posts from 2002. Read it here.

In her post she was talking about what she calls her “Five Fame Fuckers List”, something you may remember from Friends as the “Freebie List”. It was in “The One With Frank Jr.” (Season 3, Episode 5) – this might refresh your memory:

Chandler: Well, we have a deal where we each get to pick five different celebrities that we can sleep with, and the other one can't get mad.
Ross: Ah, the heart of every healthy relationship: Honesty, respect, and sex with celebrities.
Monica: So, Chandler... who's on your list?
Chandler: Uh, Kim Basinger, Cindy Crawford, Halle Berry, Yasmine Bleeth, and, ah, Jessica Rabbit.
Rachel: Now, you do realize that she's a cartoon... and way out of your league?
Chandler: I know, I know, I just always wondered if I could get her eyes to pop out of her head.

Rachel: Oh, I don't know. I guess... Chris O'Donnel, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Daniel Day Lewis, Sting, and Parker Stevenson.

Ross: Okay, I'm done with my choices. These are final.
Rachel: Well, it's about time.
Joey: Ooh, very official.
Ross: Oh, yeah, well, ya know, Chandler printed it up on his computer.
Monica: And who laminated it?
Ross: That was me.
Rachel: Alright, let me see. Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Elizabeth Hurely, Michelle Pfieffer, and... Dorothy Hammill?
Ross: Hey, it's my list.
Rachel: Okay, honey, you do realize she only spins like that on ice?

And Dooce explained it like this:

Let me just take a moment to explain the Five Fame Fuckers list for those of you who don't already have one: if you're in a committed relationship, you're allowed to compile a list of five people you'd like to sleep with, but the people on the list not only have to be celebrities, they also have to be celebrities you don't know or wouldn't ever happen to bump into, even in the most remote social situation. To make things fair, the person you're in the committed relationship with gets to compile his/her own list. So, if you don't have one, please do us all a favor and get one.

At that time this was Dooce’s List:

1. Jake Gyllenhaal
2. Ed O'Brien
3. Clive Owen
4. Benecio Del Toro
5. Brad Pitt

And her husband Jon’s list was:

1. Charlize Theron
2. Katie Holmes
3. Rene Russo
4. Tea Leone
5. Cameron Diaz

Recently Dooce updated her list, she says it’s due to “recent international events” a.k.a the Olympic Games...*

1. Chris Martin
2. Ed O'Brien
3. Brad Pitt
4. Michael Phelps
5. Michael Phelps

I’m not sure, but this may mean she is allowed to sleep with Michael Phelps twice. Someone described Michael Phelps like this “This is what I call a Prawn. Tasty body, discard the head!!” and I can’t help but agree.

Anyway, I think it’s obvious where this post is going – who are my five? No, Michael Phelps would not take a place on my list. But who would? That got me thinking. And I think a list like this one deserves some serious thought; a cue I took from Ross who was so serious he laminated his final list.

The names that popped into my head are the names of celebrities I have had crushes on over the years, so let me tell you about them...

My main celebrity crushes are men from TV shows I loved at the time. Basically from my favourite shows over the years I have had a crush on one character from each show...

Starting with Full House and Uncle Jesse (a.k.a John Stamos) I had a big crush on the character of Uncle Jesse (But I didn’t like him this much) maybe becuase he was the only desirable man from Full House but more likely because he was my type. I guess even at a young age I knew my type and I haven't actually changed alot (purple has always been my favourite colour too) and you'll see from each of my crushes who fit my type (looks-wise anyway).

Anyway, this was John Stamos in Full House.

Sooo my type - older than me with dark eyes, olive skin, full head of dark hair and a sexy voice (hear him sing here, he toured with The Beach Boys!).

This is what he looks like now twenty years later in E.R.

Still looks good if you ask me! Especially for 45!


Next there was Dylan McKay from Beverly Hills 90210.

I think I had a crush on Dylan because I wanted to be Brenda Walsh. I thought they were a great couple and I hated Kelly Taylor for breaking them up. I also hated my father for not letting me watch 90210...

So Dylan was played by Luke Perry and I haven't seen him in anything since the 90210 Reunion Special, which may be because he now looks like this:

And because of that picture Luke Perry is now out of contention for my top five. I guess he is 42 and looks his age (somehow that makes John Stamos look even better...). But if I could turn back time he’d be in my top five for sure!


Next there was Clark Kent from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Once again I wanted to be the female lead character, Lois. It was while watching this show that I had dreams of becoming a journalist... and meeting my own Clark:

That was Clark, played be Dean Cain and last time I saw him he was on Las Vegas, giving Josh Duhamel a run for his money looking like this.

And he is also 42, but looking alot better than Luke Perry. Some men age so damn well!

Next was Dawson's Creek and Pacey Witter. I was in high school when Dawson's Creek was on and all my friends and I thought Pacey was wonderful.


He was played by Joshua Jackson and I remember for my 16th birthday we all went to see Josh in The Skulls. At sleepovers we used to watch little Josh in The Mighty Ducks movies. My crush on Pacey/Josh was probably the most intense one because of my age at that time. As usual I had more of a crush on the character than the actor; because I felt I knew the character and I think it felt safer to have a crush on someone who wasn't real.

Josh was most recently in the movie Shutter with Aussie Rachel Taylor, looking like this:

He is 30 now and still looks good. But I wonder if he'll look better than John Stamos at 45?

So here is what you've been waiting for, I'm sure -

My Five Freebies (in no particular order):

1. Joshua Jackson

2. John Stamos

3. Dean Cain

4. Hugh Jackman

5. Brad Pitt

You know, just off the top of my head...

So the last two were a surprise but I've loved Hugh Jackman since Paperback Hero and he's been in my favourite musical ever, Oklahoma! (and I was so excited after seeing him in real life and up close as Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz) and now I can't wait to see Australia.

And I picked Brad Pitt because, even though he's not my type, who would turn down the chance to sleep with Brad Pitt? Seriously? You could brag about it forever! I bet Jennifer Aniston does! Plus he does look pretty good in this pic (except I don't like too much facial hair, my father has a beard).

But if my list were of Five TV Show Characters it would be:

1. Dylan McKay (if I could turn back time)

2. Clark Kent (only the Dean Cain version)

3. Pacey Witter (after the first season)

4. Denny Duquette

5. Kirby Atwood

Ahh, Denny Duquette**. Who didn't love him?

And have you seen Lipstick Jungle? This photo will show you what you've been missing: Kirby Atwood***

So what do you think of my list? Who would be on your list? Do you know who would be on your partner's list? And what's your type? Do you even have a type? Let me know in the comments!

I've asked Chris (who is most definetely my type) who his five famous freebies are, just to add a male perspective:

1. Cindy Crawford

2. Alyssa Milano

3. Milla Jovovich

4. Keira Knightley

5. Halle Berry

* Read about Dooce's updated list here. My list is in the comments.

** Denny Duquette was played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

*** Kirby Atwood is played by Robert Buckley. He doesn't look like a 'Robert' to me though, he suits Kirby much better. In real life his middle name is Earl too...

Congratulations Ellen & Portia!

Who could look at the picture above and deem it wrong? Lots of people apparently. But not me.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi began dating in 2004 and last week they got married.

The couple joined thousands of others in California taking advantage of the state's landmark court ruling in May allowing gay marriage.

This law, however, may soon be overturned because groups in California opposing gay marriage have successfully applied to have the issue decided by the state's voters when they go to the polls for the November 4th presidential election.

You can see the couple during their wedding ceremony above. They are sitting down on the floor for it - how relaxed is that?!

Ellen's mum, Betty, said of her daughter's wedding:

"It was a magical evening. My daughter and the love of her life are married. They have the legal civil rights that every other loving couple has. And what's wrong with that?"

My thoughts exactly; what is wrong with that?

And my question to the groups in California opposing gay marriage: why are you doing this? Who are Ellen, Portia and others hurting?!

I don't believe the couples are trying to push their lifestyle on others. I don't think they're trying to force anyone to be gay or force anyone to be ok with them being gay. I think what they are doing is living their lives and wanting to celebrate their love for someone and share that with those closest to them. They are trying to legalise the union they have with someone; become a family.

Something most people probably take for granted.

I am not gay. So I have the right to marry the person I love. My relationship is recognised by society and the law. But why shouldn't more people enjoy that right?

There are so many horrible things happening in the world - war, famine, death, suffering. Why don't these people focus their energy on fixing those things instead?

I think maybe we need a little more love in the world. Who cares if that love is between two women, two men or a man and a woman; as long as it allowed to exist maybe it will make the world a better place?

Like the Beatles said: All you need is love...

And Ellen said: "You've chosen right if you marry in white" and "You'll forever be blessed if you marry in a vest"!

Congratulations Ellen and Portia, I hope you had a wonderful day.

You can see more pics here.
And video here and here.

Good Mornin', Good Mornin'...

Well after seven weeks of training a my new job where I worked 8am 'til 4pm Monday 'til Friday, today I have my first weekend shift.

My morning ritual each day has included morning television, namely Sunrise. Each morning I get up, turn the kettle on, put the heater on and then put Sunrise on. I find it helps me wake up, plus I get the news of the day, and the weather plus the all important celebrity gossip.

Today, being Saturday, I got up, turned the kettle on, put the heater on and then put the television on to find cartoons and kiddies shows on every channel! Every channel! (And no, I don't have Foxtel).

Now, if I were someone who had kiddies I might find this helpful, but I don't have kiddies and I need my morning television! It's part of my morning ritual, don't the networks understand that?!

Now, without telling me that you all have the weekend off and are sleeping in, don't you think it would be nice to have something worth watching for adults on a Saturday morning? Especially with so many people working on weekends in retail, hospitality, customer service, etc, etc...

Or is it just me?

Sweet Dreams...

I consider myself to be quite the dreamer. Daytime or nighttime; I dream quite a lot. And I'm one of those people who, more often than not, remembers their dreams. I'm talking about the nighttime ones, although I remember the daydreams too...

And, again more often than not, my dreams are kinda weird. They don't always make a lot of sense. I can never interpret them with dream guides because there are too many things happening in my dreams. For example, in the dream guide you may be able to look up a dream where you're on a farm, but my dream couldn't be that simple, in my dream I'd be on a farm where I was growing scarecrows and selling them on eBay to French people who put them in their houses as art while my house is being robbed by my father.* How would I look that up?!
Sometimes I remember the dreams as soon as I wake up but there are other times I'll remember them randomly throughout the day.

This is what happened to me the other day at work. I was still in training at my new job last week. I was at my desk working and I could hear my trainers (there were three trainers for my training group) talking about their dogs and I joined the conversation because we were having a slow day at work and after seven weeks of training we had all gotten a bit familiar. Karen was talking about the dog she used to have called Emma.** That is when I remembered part of a dream I had the night before. I dreamt that I was coming back from my lunch break and walked past my trainer's desks, and one of my trainer's, Michelle, had bought a puppy in her lunchbreak. The puppy, a male beagle, was asleep in a doggie bed next to her desk.

Doesn't sound like such a weird dream, right? Well here's the weird part: I described the dream to Michelle and the other trainers. Then they all looked at each other. I was thinking maybe I had over-shared? Maybe they thought it was creepy I dreamt about them at work? But then Michelle said "I have a beagle at home" and Karen added "And she bought him in her lunchbreak from the pet shop!”

I didn't know any of this, so it kinda freaked me out. And it explained their weird looks.

Obviously I'm not psychic, but maybe reverse psychic?!

What do you think? Has anyone else ever had something like this happen?

Or maybe a dream that predicted something was going to happen? (As opposed to dreaming about something that already happened that you didn't know had happened...)

* This is not a dream I actually had. But often my dreams include my father. Things I repress in life come out in my dreams...

** Is Emma a dog name?! Would you call a dog Emma? There are some names that I hear that I think would be better for a puppy than a person, but is Emma one of them?!

The image is from here.

80 Years of Oscar Award Winning Best Pictures...

And just so you can join in the fun, here is a montage of the 80 winners of the Best Picture Oscar...

(This is the very first time I've posted a video, so hope it works!)

How many have you seen?

I'm currently at thirty-four out of eighty...

When Two Become One...

So this is a girl called Evan Rachel Wood. She is an American actress who turns 21 this year. She was in ‘Practical Magic’ with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock when she was 11. Apart from that she hasn’t been in any movies I’ve seen. Have a look for yourself here.

But now she is Marilyn Manson’s girlfriend. And now she looks like this...

Why has she done this? I couldn’t say. But what confuses me is this; Marilyn Manson must have found her attractive as she originally looked, or they wouldn’t have started going out, right? So why did she need to become more like him?

This is her full transformation. I found it here. (In the second picture below they may be wearing the same lipstick, but I can't be sure)


Anyway enough about them. If I think about Marilyn Manson for too long I start to feel ill. So I’ll talk about Brad Pitt instead...

So Brad Pitt has had at least three high profile serious relationships. Firstly he was engaged to Gwyneth Paltrow. This is when they were happily engaged, notice the matching haircuts and hair colour (not to mention the matching outfits and matching expressions)...


Then he married Jennifer Aniston. This is just before they got hitched, notice the matching fake dreds (hers all over, his just the fringe)...

And this is more recently when he started a family with Angelina Jolie, notice the matching hair colour...
It’s interesting isn’t it, how he changes his look to match that of his fiancée/wife/partner? Does this mean he allows each woman to change him? Does this make him insecure? Does it mean he doesn’t know who he is? Or maybe he changes hairdressers when he changes girlfriends? I’m not sure. What do you think?

Also, is Brad a serial monogamist? Maybe... this is the definition of serial monogamy from Wikipedia: “Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term, exclusive sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan. In common usage the two partners need not be married, but may be involved in a serious relationship. This behavior is a variant of monogamy, in which a given individual has only one sexual partner throughout life.”

He certainly fits the description anyway.

Reckless or Romantic?

So we've all heard what Prince William did now. He flew his helicopter to visit his girlfriend, Kate Middleton at her parent’s house. Naughty, naughty William!

An ‘unnamed Royal insider’ has said he "obviously wanted to show off his skills to his girlfriend" because "there's nothing more macho than landing a helicopter in your girlfriend's back yard".

So was it just an impulsive romantic gesture? I couldn’t say.

But on The Morning Show today their UK correspondent said it’s not uncommon for the RAF to practice landing and taking off from the local farms. So maybe he was just practising and took the opportunity to visit his girlfriend, you know, two birds, one stone?

But then there’s the other news that Prince William had used another Royal Air Force helicopter to pick up his younger brother Prince Harry in London before flying to a buck's night on the Isle of Wight.

Not as romantic but is it a reckless use of RAF resources? In both cases Britain's Ministry of Defence has defended these flights as part of William’s training, like they said on The Morning Show.

But what sort of training requires going to a buck’s night in a helicopter? I’m thinking if William is ever required to serve he might be surprised at the sort of work he is required to do. Because I’m sure they wouldn’t send him to Iraq or Afghanistan to pick some blokes up for a night out or to take them to visit their girlfriends.

Oh well. I would guess that this will be used as another reason why Australia should become a republic. They'll say - why do we want a head of state that would do something so reckless with government resources? Because all the reasons are as sensible as that one is, really.

Read the story from my sources here and here. The image is from here.