Our 2011

We have a lot to be thankful for in 2011. It had shaped to be a very memorable year for us. This is the year when Celine and Jessica marched into the Great Hall of the University of Sydney to received their undergraduate degrees.

Celine graduated with First Class Honours in Speech Pathology. Jessica received her degree in Psychology and have now started her Masters in Jurors Doctor at the University of Technology Sydney.

January started off with a bang. TJ and James gave us a gift we’ll remember for ages. Tickets to the Australian Open. We’ve seen Nadal and the future of Australian Tennis – Bernard Tomic. We also saw the top Australian women tennis player – Sam Stosur. We’ve posted the pictures in Flickr

In February – I also started on a new employment. It was a welcome change as it felt as if my career had been in limbo in 2010. There are now fresh hopes and aspirations. I am now a lot happier going to work and feel more fulfilled facing new challenges.

In late April, our friend Rick and Tess from Hawaii was in town. Tess was the organiser of a medical convention and Rick tagged along to play golf. We took them for dinner at the Banjo Patterson Restaurant at Hunters Hill. We also had a chance to show Rick the Bicentennial Park on push bikes.

Celine also got her license to drive in May 2011. For those who saw her learn how to drive, appreciate this milestone. Driving did not come easy for Celine. Having a creative mind sometimes hampers the mechanical skills. Yet she persevered despite an over protective and most of the time ‘freaked-out’ dad who made her learning more daunting. Sorry Celine.

We had an old car – affectionately (or not) nicknamed by Jessica as ‘Two-Crap’ because it is too crap to drive anywhere. On the day Celine got her license, her sister challenged her to reverse park Two-Crap through our gates into our backyard. And so Celine took on the challenge, breaking a side mirror in the process. Still, I’m thankful at this little mishap, though still costs a small fortune to fix – had taught Celine to be a lot more careful behind the wheels – much more than any yelling or instructions can do.

This is also the year that Jessica bought her first ‘real car’. She has been working full time for almost two-years now and so she decided it was time to take on a lease on a Mazda 3 SP25. She convinced us to cleanup our garage which has now turned into a storage. We were forced to sort items that we can throw, sell, give away and keep. The process was brutal, passionate and had led to many arguments. But we stuck to it and had the arguments and letting go. There were weekends when we fill up our car to the roof with brick-braks to take to the Blacktown Markets to sell. In the end – we achived our goal, the garage is usuable once again and had became the home of Jessica’s pride and Joy.

This is also the year that we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and Jeanne turned 50. The celebration for both was held on the same day – yet the preparation took most of the year. Noone enjoyed it more that Jeanne, as she spent time with various group of friends to practice dancing and a lot of bonding time. Meanwhile, Celine, Jessica and I became regulars on various local restaurants and take-away shops – for dinner without mum might as well be cooked by someone else.

Yes 2011 is indeed a year to remember for us. As the holiday draws in closer, we are awaiting the return of Jessica from her trip to U.S. which includes a visit to Carlos Bakery in Jersey – the site of their favourite lifestyle program – Cake Boss.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!