I have had a huge week and weekend, and it has been lovely!! I went back to work on Tuesday, and while the planned move to the next role didn’t happen because of staff sick leave, I did have a nice week back telling a whole lot of China stories.

On Saturday we celebrated my mum. It was a just because we want to, and because sometimes it’s just nice. We had an Un-birthday. Her actual birthday is in August, but we wanted to surprise her, and let her know how much we love her and so had to choose a completely unrelated date. Invitations went out weeks ago, and the sneaker-y began. Group chats were managed, photos collated and a venue organised!

My my mum is a pretty clue-y person, so to get one over on her takes some doing… I’m not really sure that it has ever been done before! My Aunty and Uncle came for the weekend – something they do pretty often, so no suspicion raised, and one of my girlfriends ‘conicidentally’ (wink wink nudge nudge) mentioned in passing that there would be live music at the venue she manages just down the road. … a no brainer and an easy Saturday afternoon. What my mum didn’t know was that there would be around 50 (or so) people waiting to surprise her.

As I said, she knows most thing that are going on around her, but she missed this one! – she actually nearly didn’t come cause of not feeling great – causing minor panic from those of us organising, but did manage to arrive just in time. It took her a minute or two ..we didn’t yell out surprise, but rather wanted her to see familiar faces and then realise, but when she did she was pretty overwhelmed!

It ended up being a super lovely evening, with a whole lot of her favourite people. Thank you to all of you who were able to come and surprise her with us, and to Uncle J for his musical contribution (a song about the time he shot my mum when they were kids) … I’ll share the poem that was written for her as a seperate post.

Sunday for me started super early and was amazing. I got up really early to pick up a friend and we then made our way up to Caloundra for sunrise. It did not disappoint!! From there we went up to Noosa. It’s been a pretty long time since I was last there and it is certainly a much busier place now! We sat on the beach, swam, walked in the national Park, explored Hasting Street and then had some lunch at the surf club and people watched.

We went to a different spot for a drink and I got an unplanned introduction to UFC (- not my sport!) and after checking in to our accomodation had a super delicious Japanese meal for dinner. It is such a fabulous day, an absolute corker! Blue sky, warm temps, the perfect water as well and the best kind of company. It was fun, relaxed and easy and will absolutely happen again.

It was a happy delightful weekend and I feel like I am ready to face another work week. – obviously if the lotto fairies come through for me I will be in permanent holiday mode, but for now I’m in a pretty good place and ready to see what comes next.