94. Buy a deliciously expensive piece of jewlery - Tiffany's celebration ring anyone???

Well I'm not quite closing this particular task out with a pretty little piece of bling on my finger... BUT I am closing it out with a spectacular piece of jewelry from every girls favourite premiere jeweler.. there really is something special about that little blue box wrapped in the cream ribbon that seems to set every girls heart aflutter... Yesterday my amazing and fantastic hubby treated me to my first piece from Tiffany & Co! 

I've been eying off the Platinum and diamond Tiffany Garden Bee Pendant since its release earlier in the year however I was bitterly disappointed when weeks after its initial release it was pulled from the Tiffany website and replaced with a two tone (white/yellow gold) version that, I personally, was not as impressed with.. my heart kinda broke a little.. the potentially perfect pendant had slipped through my fingers... Well yesterday morning I was browsing the Tiffany website when what do I spy... the original pendant back in stock.. I ran upstairs woke up sleeping beauty and convinced him to head to Galleria with me just to see if this was indeed something I wanted to continue to lust over... 

We arrived at Tiffany, after stopping for a little pre-shopping fuel.. and was soon trying on my lust worthy piece, lust worthy indeed, it was perfect! So sweet, so feminine, so dainty, the perfect little sparkly bee on a teeny tiny little platinum chain... Just as I was asking the sales associate how long Tiffany usually keeps designs in stock, the hubby turns to me and says 'Do you want it? Let's do it'. Talk about shocking me!! Tears literally sprang to my eyes.. apparently it looked so absolutely perfect on me that he just couldn't walk away from it... awwww... what did I do to deserve such an amazingly generous man?!?!?

So the sales associate wrapped my little bee up in the beautiful Tiffany box, swiped the credit card and we were walking out the door with a deliciously fantastic diamond pendant... just because! 

91. Read and Review 100 Books (17/100) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski

'Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose remarkable gift for companionship in epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's life long friend and ally. Edgar seems poised to carry on his families traditions, but when catastrophe strikes, he finds his once-peaceful home engulfed in turmoil. 


Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the Sawtelle farm. Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yealing dogs who accompany him, until the day he is forced to choose between leaving forever or returning home to confront the mysteries he has left unsolved. 


Filled with breathtaking scenes - the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a meditation on the limits of language and what lies beyond, a brilliantly inventive retelling of an ancient story, and courage in the American heartland.' 


Loved this book.. the characters are loveable and tragic.. there were times where I almost threw the book down and swore I wouldn't read a word more as I was so invested in the characters and I though something bad was on the horizon... A truly iconic American novel - you'll laugh, you'll cry.. you'll be totally enthralled with Edgar and his bad of intuitive pups.

49. My two words of the month

Since we seem to be having so many darn incidents at work lately, and I feel as if my job is nothing more than investigation and recommendation writing, it made sense that my words this month where so related...

as·sid·u·ous

   [uh-sij-oo-uhs]

–adjective

1.

constant; unremitting: assiduous reading.

2.

constant in application or effort; working diligently at a task;persevering; industrious; attentive: an assiduous student.

AND

ca·lam·i·ty

   [kuh-lam-i-tee] 

–noun, plural -ties.

1.

a great misfortune or disaster, as a flood or serious injury.

2.

grievous affliction; adversity; misery: the calamity of wa

44. Learn how to cook 10 traditional American dishes (2.5/10) - Southern Style Sun Tea

In the lazy, hazy days of summer, when the mercury hits well over a hundred and its just to darn hot to even work let alone boil water, its time to make a cup of sun tea in the good old south.. Sun tea is basically brewing tea using nothing more than the natural energy of the sun and you know what, it really does actually taste that little bit better than the hot water kind...

Ingredients 
6-8 cups of water
4-6 tea bags

Directions:
Wash container thoroughly with warm water and anti-bacterial soap (to ensure no bacterial growth during brewing process). Fill container with cold water water, add tea bags, cover the container securely and place the container in the direct sunlight for at least two hours.

Taste periodically and once its to your personal liking, remove the tea bags, pour into glasses and serve over ice. Drink tea within a few hours to once again, avoid any bacterial growth.

Feel free to add a touch of lemon, lime, a couple of sprigs of mint or even a couple of crushed raspberries.. the end result? You've captured summer in a jar... delicious!

86. Send a birthday card snail mail to every member of my immediate family for a year (6/11)

When I first saw this card at the store I fell in love with it... it was witty, it was cute, it was everything a birthday card should be.. and so of course I bought it home with me and have been struggling with who to give it to ever since (I've literally been hoarding the card for around 6-9 months now)... until now! My father in law is a little like this card.. sweet, witty, with a good sense of humour.. the perfect recipient!

Hippo Bir-die two ewe deer Bill - Hopefully this card brings as big a smile to your face as it did to mine... Wish we could be in cold and wintery Melbourne to celebrate with a glass of Paradigm Hill L'ami Sage Pinot Noir and a couple of Patons Macadamia Royals procured from a Qantas business class section or two... mmmmm.. now there is a drool worth birthday feast!! 

19. Spend at least 24 hours in 10 states (3/10) - Oklahoma

OooOOoo klahoma... where the wind comes sweeping down the plains... but apart from the musical and twisters, what else is Okie state really known for.. farm land and a horrific bombing?? You know what, I need to Google this.. population 3.6 million, member of the bible belt, large Native Indian population, state beverage is milk... and a major producer of natural gas and oil... ahhhh now my trip is suddenly making sense!!

This week I made my way to teeny tiny Velma, Oklahoma to co-present a pre-spud safety meeting for a drilling program we are about to start in town.  Due to the size of Velma (official population 750) I stayed overnight in nearby Duncan - a town that I swear must, at some point in the distant past in become a subsidiary of Halliburton!! There was a Halliburton Lane, Halliburton Blvd, Halliburton Research Centre, Halliburton Credit Union, I could even get a Halliburger at the local bar and grill.. you get the point!! But I think what I was most surprised with was how beautiful the countryside really was in Okie... everything was the most amazing shade of green, rolling hills, small country towns, farms and thousands of fat, happily content looking cows all lazing around chewing their cud... it'll be interesting to see what the change of seasons does to all the beauty when I return in a couple of weeks.

42. Take the PADI Nitrox Course

I've been meaning to complete my Nitrox certification since, well forever... Nitrox, or Enriched Air Diving (EANx) is basically diving on a tank containing a mix of nitrogen and oxygen (where oxygen content is between 22-40%). It gives you more no decompression time meaning you can usually stay underwater longer and get back in the water again sooner... and of course you can fly sooner, AND you feel better... due to the higher concentration of oxygen in the mix.

Honestly the course was a bit of a farce, a money making event for PADI and its dive certification stores.. Upon signing up you're given a book and a dvd and expected to go home and do a whole heap of pre-work, read the guide, watch the 45 minute DVD and complete all the review questions and dive table calculations... you then head into the class room and, with an instructor basically review the information, run through the oxygen analysing procedure and then complete the exam... two hours later and a exam score of at least 75% and voila.. you're Nitrox certified... without a single dive!

The best thing about completing the course (aside from the fact that I now have a dive certification issued in Fremantle and in Houston... hmmm what course am I going to complete when I move to Indo??) is that we've found an awesome dive shop.. one that we hope to become quite involved in, socially as well as recreationally... In fact we've already signed up on one of their group dive trips to the Flower Gardens National Park, a three day live aboard dive trip into the Gulf of Mexico... looks like that Nitrox training is going to be a very worthwhile investment!!